Chapter Text
Today was the recruitment exam.
And Tommy knows for a fact he's gonna make it possible to fail that stupid thing even if it costs his life.
The whole thing is ridiculous for crying out loud!
In a world where there's supposed freedom and human rights, orphans are still considered government lab rats and future investments to make all the greatly adored and claimed superheroes.
And over the years, that program has taken over a fundamental role today and replaced other people's jobs.
Police department? No, Reinforcers.
Firefighters? Fast emergency heroes. (Yup, firefighters are no more. Only people with water-based powers.)
Bodyguards for celebrities? The Circle.
(If you have the money you can hire any hero available by commission, no questions asked.)
911? Fast emergency hotline. (we still call the hotline 911 though.)
The military? The legion.
An actual monster that can cause a large range of structural damage and also kill hundreds of people? Heroes.
Tommy doesn't know much about how the rise of heroes and villains occurred since he still was too young to remember the details.
He may also be too preoccupied with getting abandoned by his mum at the entrance of a random orphanage building…
You know, the mandatory tragic backstory we all get when you get superpowers.
But according to Puffy, this change began when powers or abilities passed from being an anomaly to just being the norm nowadays.
This makes sense, in a way, if there was an increase in a group of people being able to do crazy shit, we should adapt to that, especially if there's an increase in crime with it too.
But forcing children to be soldiers is still shitty.
It was currently seven in the morning, Tommy knows that because he could hear Tubbo's alarm clock go off, the only technological thing they own actually.
Tommy grunts, covering his face with his blanket. Just thinking about all of this gives him less motivation to wake up, if anything is making him more depressed.
Tommy never considered sitting down to think about what he wanted to do in the future or what he would like to do as a job.
He's barely beginning his teens, and honestly? Tommy feels like he still doesn't have any particular talent or any remarkable characteristic that at least gives him a hint of any sort of passion.
The only thing Tommy's sure of is that he doesn't want to be a goddamn flashy superhero.
Is too much of a hassle and the teenager personally doesn't like the tights and campy designs of their uniforms, is just goofy, even with them supposedly being the strongest in the city with crazy powers and abilities.
There has been a rumour that the Hero Tower has a design department, but for the gods, Tommy thinks they're not being paid enough with all those neon colours and capes.
So many capes.
They even gave capes to people who can fly too. Just because apparently it looks cool?
Puffy was complaining the other day to a few of their caretakers about how incompetent it was for The Tower to just give capes to everyone without any consideration for the hero's powers and abilities.
She was really passionate about the subject, even getting Tommy interested in it. Apparently, capes are useful for people who can fly without the use of wings, who would've thought about that, right?
Speaking about powers, for some reason Tommy got two separate abilities that had nothing to do with each other.
Well, almost.
He could levitate things, like, make them move with his mind.
Tubbo said that that ability was called telekinesis; but it isn't as cool as it sounds, not at all.
Tommy could just make small things float his way. Most of the time his phone, since the teenager would not waste any opportunity he gets to be lazy.
But he's pretty sure that if the object weighs more than two pounds, it'll be more difficult. Wait, maybe three pounds, or five…? Is five a lot?
The point is that it is not like Tommy can lift a car or a whole table, less than that, a simple chair.
When he tries to lift something heavier than what he can do, his head starts spinning and throwing, and before he knows it, there's a nosebleed staining his shirt.
He's the British bootleg version of Eleven .
But hey, it is not like Tommy is not gonna use those for anything that isn't his daily routine. And is not like he hates it or ever felt sad that the powers aren't stronger.
On the contrary, when his powers awakened, little genius seven-year-old Tommy took it upon himself to make the most out of it.
He pulled out numerous pranks on the kids he didn't fancy that much in the orphanage, moving their things out of place or pulling up their pants to make them feel uncomfortable, making them trip over objects on the floor, and so on.
Tommy also applied those pranks to some of his caretakers; but that was occasionally, or if they really deserved them. Which… depending on the person, could result in an everyday endeavour.
Everyone in the orphanage knows this flowy ability of his, especially when he uses it so often.
Tommy would snicker under his breath when Tubbo groaned every time Tommy would purposely place an object his friend asked a little far away so Tubbo had to go and grab it.
Sometimes it isn't that fun, some kids would go to him to ask for help and get the ball they accidentally kicked on the roof, or get something like a snack from the very tall cupboards (the little kids were normally making that request to the teen).
One of the craziest requests he had was to get a spider that got inside the orphanage and one of the caretakers who was a humongous wimp ordered Tommy to throw it out.
Needless to say, it was a traumatic experience for Tommy and he made sworn the whole staff (EVEN PUFFY FOR FUCK'S SAKE, NOBODY WILL GO UNSCATHED. HE COULD FEEL THE LITTLE THING'S LEGS EVEN WITHOUT TOUCHING IT.) to never ever make him do this again.
After that incident, they asked Tommy to throw a boot at another bug that infiltrated months later from a safe distance and the teen deemed that it was a fair enough request for him.
All the details about how weak and useless his power is are on record, and Tommy's sure this would be enough for him to be written off from the hero recruitment list.
The Hero Tower only cares about scouting the next Dream or even The Rage (But you know, a good guy instead of a supervillain). It can be any power at all, but if it has the potential to really grow , then they don't waste a second before taking that kid and sending them to the Hero Training Tower.
Tommy grew up seeing orphan kids with amazing abilities practically being dragged by reinforcers because they simply don't want to risk their lives and be a hero.
One of those unfortunate children was someone who shared a room with Tommy and Tubbo.
Tommy knew him personally, and the boy was still a little child when they took him, but he had an extremely rare power that the Hero association couldn't simply overlook.
He could see the future.
But not like the future future .
Where you could say:
Oh, the apocalypse is near! It would be on a Tuesday night around midnight, there would be monsters eating us all and it all ends with a big fireball crashing to the ground!
Nah, it was more like
Whatever you do, don't wear yellow tomorrow and don't eat the pizza in the cafeteria. Wednesday is a good day to wear a white cap on your head.
They were really random prophecies. The kid was also very cryptic when giving them, so you'll be left alone to figure that out yourself.
But for some reason, the child could never be able to predict big events, like King Eret's coronation or that big battle that went down inside The Hero Tower on that same event, letting out lots of tragedies and betrayals.
Tommy asked the kid about it, and they just stared at Tommy like the blonde child was asking him something crazy.
Less than that, the armed robbery on the bank that was in their neighbourhood a week later.
They tried to get something, to at least predict a crime. Tubbo recommended seeing any future murders, but the kid would shiver and shake his head reluctantly.
That boy was always a frightened little thing, so after Tommy gave one reprimanded smack to Tubbo, his friend stopped insisting on the whole ordeal.
Tommy realised later on, years later, that maybe the kid did see those important events. But he was either too scared to share about it or just straight-up ignored them.
When either Tubbo or Tommy asked him how he knew these things, the child would smile awkwardly and shrug it off as if "it's just a gut feeling."
In a way, Tommy always admired those powers. They felt important, like Tommy's witnessing something that'll change that kid's life forever.
He couldn't stop comparing that little kid with the characters they'll see on TV.
Normal and kind-hearted people with a double identity, free of any bounds, no organisation, no hero program, just them and their masks and the world as it used to be.
The kid kept his powers a secret, apart from his friends. He was always nervous about them because according to him, the child felt they weren't natural, he found them embarrassing.
Embarrassing.
Tommy laughed the first time he heard it, and at that time it was Tubbo's turn to reprimand Tommy and smack him in the head.
The sad thing is, Tommy outed that kid to the caretakers of the orphanage. And even now he regrets it entirely.
It was an innocent thing, really.
Tommy and Tubbo were curious children.
Maybe too curious.
Their new friend was extremely overwhelmed with all the attention and questions he was getting in his way. Questions he didn't have an answer for because it never occurred to him to try anything with his powers other than just casually browsing over them.
So there was only one answer to this, training.
They tried to see the future in any way possible. Tried various possibilities, they even made up scenarios and asked the boy if he could grasp something similar.
Tubbo asked if he could see dead people and Tommy smacked him because That was an extremely stupid question and shut the fuck up! I'm not scared of ghosts!
At least they confirmed the boy didn't see ghosts. So that was checked out of the list.
Tommy noticed with every passing week after the experiments, that his friend was starting to have nightmares. More frequently than not. He would whimper and cry in his sleep, speaking a language Tommy wasn't able to recognize. But it sounded like he was asking for help. Tubbo also heard it, and the two kids looked at each other helplessly as they tried to console their friend every time they could.
But the nightmares passed from being a nightly thing to the boy just randomly getting a jump scared over himself or just cowering in a corner, trembling and whimpering like a kicked dog.
When either Tommy or Tubbo asks him what's wrong. The boy would only cry and whisper. "I can't do this, I don't want this…" over and over again.
It reached a breaking point of course. Tubbo and Tommy are out of any options on how to help their friend and the caretakers were already aware of the kid's sudden panic attacks. The only way to coax the boy out of one of his episodes was when Tommy would hold his hand, thinking that would keep him grounded. It worked for the first couple of hours, but it would return to chaos once again.
Tommy was desperate. He could feel that panic and fear crawl on his skin and weight on his mind. So he did the best thing he could do.
Tommy talked to an adult about it.
Sarah always had a kind smile and a bright disposition every time Tommy would approach her. She barely had one year working here and half of the kids had already gotten close to her and reached out to her with warm smiles and hugs. Tommy is one of those who reached Sarah now and then.
He trusted her. He believed in those hugs and reassuring smiles. He poured his heart and soul into her, expecting she'll understand him and would do everything to help him and his friends.
But life's a bitch and all that.
Apparently, there's a high price for people who find rare powers and report them to the hero tower as a new and fresh talent. It doesn't matter the age of who's reporting; Fuck, it could be a newborn, but if that baby shoots lasers seconds after popping out of this world, they would take it, no questions asked.
And Tommy happened to tell the only caretaker in the orphanage that owes a lot of money that his best friend was a goldmine.
The reinforcers took him away while the kid whined and cried, trying to reach the hands of his friends who were trying just as hard to get to him but were stopped by the employees of the orphanage.
Waves of reds and greens brush from the boy to Tommy and he could see it clear as day.
Shortly there was a vivid green wave brushing through, but it wasn't coming from the boy, it was from Tubbo.
And that's the moment Tommy realised he had a second power after all.
"Tommy, wake up…! Hey, dickhead!"
Tommy frowned and faced his body to the other side.
"Don't just turn around! We'll make Puffy furious if we don't go down in five minutes." Tommy groaned loudly, still not moving."Dude, I have a bucket of iced water, don't make me use it on you."
Tommy considered keeping ignoring Tubbo and extending his wonderful sleep. But a couple of drops of cold water in his face made him jolt forward. A mocking laugh was coming from his right.
"You fucker!"
"Great, you're awake now!" Tubbo grinned. Apparently, he already had his green sweater and jeans on. And his hair was suspiciously less tangled than usual. The boy lowered his glass of water and put it on the bedside table. That bitch . "Get change so we can have breakfast, bossman."
Bright green waves circled around his friend. Tommy rolled his eyes.
"You should've let me die," Tommy grumbled, extending his hand.
He was pretty sure his white and red sweater was in the left corner of the room. The little ball of fabric rolling in the distance confirmed it. Tommy made the thing move more quickly to him until it reached his hand.
"And go to the recruitment test by myself? No can do." Tommy huffs, getting his head go through the neck of the shirt.
"ah yes, I'm excellent company after all." Tommy looks around the room to see where he put his sneakers next, and after a couple of seconds, he realized they were right beside him. Tommy rolled his eyes and proceeded with his task. " Bet you'll be all crying 'n shittin' your pants if I'm not with you. Can't relate."
Tubbo scrunched his nose in disgust. "I won't be shitting…"
"Clingy bitch."
"Listen…"
"Clingy little bitch boy."
Tommy's smile was wiped off when he saw the crazy eyes Tubbo had accompanied by ominous dark green waves brushing the guy's hair. Tommy was prepared to make a run for it but his friend already had a pillow… oh god there are two pillows in his hands.
"DOCTOR MINGLE DOESN'T TOLERATE ANY DISRESPECT"
Tommy knows he should be scared right now. Terrified. We're talking about a Tubbo-attack. But… Tommy snorts.
"Who the fuck is Doctor Mingle?"
Apparently, that was the wrong move because the dark waves changed to lemon green. Tubbo smiled wide, raising his pillows.
"MINGLE THESE FUCKING NUTS, BITCH."
"That doesn't make any sen- ow! That's playing dirty! I wasn't even pre- ow, stop! I'm sorry!"
____
One Tommy reduced into dust and one beaming Tubbo placed themselves on the table while the rest of the kids were preoccupied with themselves.
Tubbo greeted everyone with a smile while Tommy mumbled a defeated ' morning.
Food for today was of course porridge and a slice of buttered toast. A couple of the caretakers were serving the food for the youngest children or just helping them eat.
This orphanage was rather small. Mostly because they weren't in any type of orphanage, they focused on housing only hybrid-type kids or kids with abilities or signs they show they'll manifest an ability soon.
It is why there are only at least fifteen kids in total living here, and also the reason that more than half had animalistic features. That includes some of the caretakers as well.
The orphanage dean, Puffy, was a ram hybrid, just like Tubbo. Both share their big rounded horns and flat nose.
Puffy always jokes around that she and Tubbo would pass on as mother and son, going as far as to even teach the kid how to polish the horns and maintain them sharp and pretty.
And when there's a hopeful smile from Tubbo, waiting for Puffy to actually give the next step and actually adopt him, Tommy ignores it. Because he sees the hesitation and distance Puffy tries to unsuccessfully place with the rest.
That's for them to resolve with each other.
As for Tommy… he isn't all that big for attachments. After the incident that happened in his childhood, Tommy never let his guard down for any new interaction with any adults. He used to be just like Tubbo, looking at Puffy with admiration and with a sort of expectation in his eyes.
But one of her employees betrayed not only Tommy, but also his friend, and Puffy just watched as that innocent boy was dragged out of her orphanage.
Who is to say she wouldn't do the same for Tommy?
Tommy's second power is weird. Weird in a way he cannot express yet. He's… an empath? Well, not exactly.
Tommy can see emotions or more than that, he sees the auras that come with it. Sometimes, when Tommy focuses enough, he could also somewhat hear people's thoughts but comes into whispers or half-baked sentences. But that's not what Tommy worries about for anyone else to find out, those little things are useless in a way.
He can also control people's minds.
Well, it is complicated. But Tommy can make people do his deed at times and is more manageable when he figures out how the other person feels or thinks, which are two things he can do.
One day, just for fun, he wondered if he could make Tubbo have an obsession with bees… after that, it became his friend's favourite animal and Tommy thinks it's impossible to erase now.
Tommy even made a stranger buy him and Tubbo Christmas gifts one year because he felt sad about not getting one. The person who gave the gifts was extremely confused but did not question anything while giving out the wrapped boxes.
Mind control exists, sure. But it's not permanent, it has a temporary effect and is also very straightforward.
For Tommy however, he feels like he needs to convince someone they want to do something or make a specific action or just convince them of a preference. But since it requires a change of mind, it cannot go away, unless Tommy has an alternative.
Tubbo's affection for bees never went away, that guy who gave Tommy and Tubbo gifts always comes back every year because according to him, it's his good deed of the year to give orphans - just those two because he isn't a Saint. - a Christmas present. Tommy was lucky enough to guess that guy was the most basic dude he found on the street and could figure out how to force him to do something the man normally wouldn't.
In other words, it's dangerous and needlessly complicated. Tommy only tries it a couple of times after he discovered that fact. Too afraid to overuse his powers and end up unstable like the best friend that was taken away. Also too afraid of anyone else noticing it and being taken away too.
Unfortunately, he can't turn off the flashy colours that clash around his view. Tommy has become hyper-aware of everyone's feelings over the years and he also has a little notebook where he writes down his observations and what he can do with them.
Tommy has a theory that he sees the souls of people. Or at least a manifestation of it. He begins to theorise this when noticing that everyone has a different colour emanating from them. And sometimes it wouldn't be so constant depending on their emotions.
Tubbo is the hardest to understand, to be honest. Tommy may understand his friend because they've known each other for a long time now, but it's hard to read his colours. Tommy had managed to have some pointers though.
The boy has a constant tone range of greens around him, always grounded and with a weak glow at times.
Sometimes it's really hard to decipher what Tubbo is feeling or thinking because a bluish shade of green doesn't necessarily mean he's sad, he could be spaced out or just being thoughtful.
Hell, Tommy realised a dark forest green meant Tubbo was upset after a year and a half of trying to figure out his powers.
Not angry, not furious, just… upset. When his friend emanates a light olive tone, that means happy and if there's a bright forest green, he's energetic or excited.
"Where's Puffy?" Tubbo asks one of the caretakers, taking a distracted bite from his toast. "I thought I heard her here earlier."
"Oh, the madam is at her office." The one at the right side of the table answered while wiping off porridge from a little cat hybrid. "She had someone calling her suddenly so she had to excuse herself."
"Is everything okay?" Tommy raised an eyebrow, the caretaker sighs.
"It's recruitment day, Tommy." They made it sound like that's an obvious reason. "We haven't had one of those in a while, she's trying to get things ready for when… well… if one of you two…" They seemed really uncomfortable continuing that sentence, and that caretaker was looking especially at Tommy weirdly.
"That won't happen." "Oh, I'm all ready for it."
Tommy and Tubbo shared a look of disbelief at each other but did not elaborate on that. Turning their faces away from each other with a thoughtful look at their plate.
"Oookay…?" The caretaker raised a brow looking at both teenagers who were apparently having a silent argument. "Well, anyways, she's not able to say goodbye to you but you're gonna find her at the facility later."
"Cool." was the only thing Tommy let out before taking his plate, still full of porridge to the sink. Is not like he's wasting anything, Tommy's pretty sure it's an actual leftover of something else from how awful it tastes. "Welp, pleasure talking to you and all!"
The caretaker raised their brows. "Tommy wai-!"
Tommy dragged Tubbo outside with a little yelp from his friend.
"Hey! I wasn't finished with that!" Tubbo grumbled.
"I swear to god, this place killed your taste buds permanently." Tommy rolled his eyes. "C'mon, I got something for you."
Tubbo tilts his head. "What?"
"Just… follow me, bee boy!" Tommy starts rushing directly to where the train station was. Tubbo rushed behind him.
_____
Tommy stopped his steps when reaching a commercial area. Tubbo almost bumped into Tommy's back with the sudden stop. Tubbo raises an eyebrow.
"Where are we?" Tommy doesn't respond. He just wanders for a bit with his eyes, until he notices a familiar coffee shop on the corner of the street.
"Let's treat you to a real breakfast, my dearest friend," Tommy smirks nonchalantly, pulling Tubbo to the store.
"Wha-" Tubbo reads the sign. "Nook's?! We can't afford a place like this, only Puffy can!" Tommy's ears redden at that.
"I saved up money…" He murmurs.
"What?" Tubbo sounded genuinely confused. Tommy takes a deep breath.
"I saved money for today! Now get in!" Tommy pushes his friend inside of the store. Trying to hide his embarrassment at the same time.
Lucky for Tommy, Tubbo doesn't have enough energy in the mornings for any teasing. His friend just stares at him in confusion.
" Welcome to Nook's! What can I get you today?" Says the person on the counter when Tommy approaches them. Tommy looks at Tubbo expectantly, Tubbo raises a brow.
"So? Go ahead." Tommy nudges Tubbo forward. The shorter stammering nervously while looking at the menu.
"Are you sure?" He says, giving a hesitant look at Tommy.
"Yup. Go ahead, big man. Order whatever you want."
"Alright… A big mochaccino with almond milk and extra cream on top, oh, and an extra shot of vanilla too with extra cinnamon. I also want two croissants."
Tubbo snickers when hearing Tommy silently lose his shit. Of course, the fucker would go and purposely order the most expensive thing on the menu." and to him just give him a medium black coffee."
"What?!" Tubbo somehow already had a hold of Tommy's wallet and paid the barista before Tommy could start complaining. "You're such an arse!" Tubbo pays him no mind and just pushes Tommy to one of the tables that are at the window. "What the hell man?!"
Bright apple-toned green waves circle around Tubbo when he takes a seat. A little sheepish smile adorned his face, looking at Tommy directly in the eyes with not a hint of remorse. Tommy groans.
"I fucking hate black coffee, is bitter and ugly looking, you know that." He drops his head to the table with a whine.
"You said I could order anything." Tubbo shrugs.
"For you, not for me!"
"You didn't have enough money to order something else anyways, bossman. Black coffees are cheap." Tommy groans once again.
"You're a menace and a dick."
"I'm a proud dick!"
"Please never say that again."
Tubbo's smile softens. The waves dip into an emerald tone now, less intense, softer on the edges.
"You… didn't have to do this, really." Tommy raises his head.
"Of course, I had to, you're my best friend." Tommy smiles back. "I just wanted to say goodbye properly before you go and join the one percent and shit…" Tommy scrapes his neck. "Have like a… final breakfast."
"I'm not joining the one percent, I'll mostly be in training for a year before being assigned as someone's sidekick" Tubbo rolls his eyes."To which I heard their salary is not better than a part-time intern." The teen gives an unimpressed look. "And we're not saying goodbye, I'll come back."
"Aw poor Tubso, how are you gonna survive without me for a year?" Tommy wheezes nervously when noticing the murderous aura from his friend. "I mean! You are clingy, you can't really go to the recruitment tests without my awesome company."
"That's true." Tommy stopped grinning.
The waves around Tubbo started going bluer and less radiant as if they were trying to hide behind the boy.
Tubbo's face itself was a little sombre, Tommy tried to speak but Tubbo beat him up to it. "You could just come with me, you know?"
"We both know that's not possible." Tommy tried his best not to sound too restrained. "I barely can lift rocks from the ground, what am I gonna be? Peddleman ?"
"Tommy, I may appear naive but I'm not stupid."
"Tubb-"
"You're pretending to be weak, you're hiding your true potential!" Tubbo stood up from the chair, slamming his hands on the table. "And I wouldn't be so pushy about this if I don't know for a fact you want this!"
"W-what? I don't want to be a fucking hero, I quite enjoy being alive." Tommy glared at Tubbo. "And I especially don't want to be involved with the jackasses who kidnapped our friend when we were kids! That's fucked." Tubbo thinned his lips.
"We don't know for sure what happened to him!" Tubbo leaned in. Dark waves of forest green frame his silhouette. "Maybe he's in a good place, with a family, proper education, or he's with someone who actually helped him with his powers!"
"Jesus fucking christ Tubbo! Do you hear yourself?" Tommy slammed the table back to his friend with force. "He was dragged against his fucking will to a damn black van at midnight! The fucking reinforcers came for him like he was a motherfucking criminal!" Tommy's hands trembled, digging his fingers into his hand.
But Tubbo remained grounded, un-movable, unconvinced. Like always.
"He could see the future, and was an enderman hybrid that started to get out of control." Said as a matter of fact." Who knows what he was capable of? It was an extreme measure, sure. But I think it was reasonable and justified."
Tommy laughed. It was more one of disbelief than anything else.
"You talk like he was a wild animal we happened to come across rather than our friend!"
Tubbo opened his mouth but was cut off by the barista, who looked at the two awkwardly.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but… a big mochaccino, a medium black coffee and two croissants for… Big Man?" Tommy snorted.
"Big man?" He looked at Tubbo. His friend just shrugged, relaxing his shoulders.
"You're a big man." Tubbo nudges his head towards the counter. "Go get it." Tommy rolled his eyes, but this time it had a tired fondness to it.
Unfortunately, he couldn't float the items to the table because Tommy knows for a fact that he wouldn't be able to keep his balance and spill everything to the floor. (This was tested and confirmed, don't give Tommy any coffee to float around.)
The poor barista quickly gave the items to Tommy and he could see the relief in their eyes when a new customer came in. He can't really blame them, honestly.
Nobody would want to hear two kids squabble so early in the morning.
The aggressive tension from before was already broken when Tommy came back to the table, it just left an awkward feeling in the air.
Tommy handed the mochaccino towards Tubbo and he placed it on Tommy's seat, taking the plain black coffee instead.
"I don't like sweet stuff, that's your thing." He shrugged when he saw Tommy's confused face. Tommy just snorted in response, giving a taste to the drink. It was good.
This wasn't the first time they had an argument like that. It has been almost a month since they yelled at each other or even touched this matter in particular.
Both of them were really careful to tiptoe around the subject, but not really taking an initiative about tackling it for a second time because they knew it was to end up in fighting once again.
Tubbo has his opinions about the recruitment and the program as a whole, he's amazed about the technology heroes are allowed to use and he's very passionate about the mechanics and weapons behind it.
Tubbo doesn't want to be a hero per se, he wants to be an engineer, but he's adamant that at least having a couple of years of experience working in the tower was essential to apply for engineering.
When Tommy heard Tubbo's plan for the first time, he was pissed.
Tommy felt betrayed in a way, he always thought that Tubbo hated the Hero tower as much as he, that Tubbo felt as horrified and scarred as him on the night they took their friend away, that Tubbo felt the same guilt that burned Tommy's back when he layed up late at night. This whole time Tommy thought Tubbo just got him.
But Tubbo is more detached than Tommy expected, and the ram also heals quickly, completely, without a trace, or a single mark behind.
And finding that fact about his friend hurt more than Tommy would like to admit. It was jarring how you think just because you spend most of your life with someone, it's never enough time to know them fully.
Tommy knew about Tubbo's passion for the Hero Tower's technology, but Tommy just brushed it off as one of his big old psychotic Tubbo shenanigans. He never considered it as an actual passion for his friend.
Tubbo is very closed off, the ram very much prefers to avoid any conflict if he can. Since small, he was cooped inside the room whenever he heard squabbling from the other kids.
Tommy thinks that because Tubbo practically was born into the orphanage, his friend developed an attachment to isolation and loneliness.
But also, getting to know a lot of kids from very young and seeing them all go can do a lot to one's psyche. So Ranboo became one of those kids who were just out of the picture, it doesn't matter the way that they went, it was done.
That was the significance of their first fight last month.
After some isolated reflection, Tommy decided to just accept Tubbo's decision and support his friend the best way he can.
Tommy would put all his hatred and trauma aside just to back up his best friend for years. And he knows Tubbo, he knows Tubbo would try to stay true to himself and wouldn't end up like those assholes, corrupted heroes or that messed up system. Tubbo is a badass after all and that's enough for Tommy to just be okay with everything.
But obviously, that doesn't make it okay in Tommy's mind, to say goodbye. None of them is happy about being separated, and it hurts too much to think that it's just inevitable, that is to be expected or to be seen.
Tommy absentmindedly stirred up his drink.
"I'm sorry." Tubbo looks up. "You were trying to do something nice for me and I ruined it…" And Tommy sighs with a small smile.
"It's okay, don't worry about it."
"No, it's not okay." Tubbo crosses his arms with a serious face.
"No, I understand Tubbs. You have your own opinions and-"
"Shut the fuck up you beautiful king."
Tommy stares at his friend. Because… what?
"I shouldn't have forced you to do things you don't feel comfortable with doing, It's not okay" He shakes his head. "I also… didn't know how much it affected the thing that happened when we were little." Tubbo's eyes soften with regret. Dull greyish-green waves circle around.
"I wasn't as close with that kid as you were with him."
That was kind of true, Tubbo always seemed to be preoccupied with doing things by himself while Tommy hung out with his friend.
"Quite frankly, you two used to hang out together more than I did, even if we shared a room…" Tubbo looked Tommy in the eyes. Like he's trying his best to communicate that he's being truthful." So it never occurred to me that even years after that… you still struggle with it, I… I didn't think about you at all, to be honest. "
He lets out a sigh." I was just thinking about myself and us being together no matter what." Tommy smiles."I'm sorry for being a dick to you."
"You're a proud dick, remember?" The teen snorts. "And hey, we will be together." Tommy takes Tubbo's hands, determination in his eyes. "After the stupid training and the whole sidekick gig." Tommy nods like he's not only talking to Tubbo, but he's also trying to convince himself. "You'll strip the fucking hero tower out of all the fucking technology they don't deserve and go out and be a mad scientist on the sewers, 'cause that'll be a cool place for a secret villain hideout."
"That's the stinkiest place ever." Tubbo snorts.
"Bitch, you're ruining my vision."
"A shit vision, pun intended." Tommy rolled his eyes, trying his best to hide the smile that was creeping up, but he failed miserably.
"No matter what, we'll figure it out."
"Together," Tubbo adds, matching Tommy's smile.
"As always." Tommy nods.
And just like that, things are alright again.
Yeah… Tommy will not let anyone take another friend away from him. And Tubbo will refuse to go just like that because he's clingy as fuck. But that's fine, they'll be fine.
The recruitment exam will be in two hours. Tommy's still dreading it with his whole being, but for now, he just wants to stay here, in this fancy coffee shop and drink pretentious hot cocoa with caffeine alongside his best friend.
Nothing can beat this moment. He'll treasure it with all his heart.