Work Text:
TUBBOOOOO
TUBBOOOOO
TOMMY!!! OPEN THE WINDOW!!!!
T-Minus
WTF????
Tommy swung himself up and opened the living room window. Just in time before Tubbo, or should he say Apoidea, flew into the flat. “What the fuck?!”
Tubbo gasped, breath heavy as he landed on the sofa. “Fuck! Chromatism almost got me!” He tore off the villain suit, tossing away the yellow and black striped jacket as well as the yellow-tinted glasses. “They got a power-up and– fuck!” He made a run to his bedroom to grab a different shirt and trousers. “I didn’t know that fucker could get any stronger!”
“I mean, Chromatism is a cool hero.” Tommy followed behind, picking up the first aid case as he walked into his friend’s room. “And he is in the top 10 heroes.”
“I don’t need that reminder!” Tubbo yelled as he raised his arms for Tommy to take a look at his upper body. Upon Tommy’s nod, he pulled on a shirt. “Guess at least I am not injured.”
“Yeah, but I would still check you for internal injuries.”
“Can that wait until I’m done showering?” Tubbo asked with a bright smile. He didn’t even wait for an answer as he ran off towards the bathroom. “Thanks!”
Tommy sighed as he watched his friend disappear, setting the first aid kit aside as he grabbed the villain's attire and tossed them into the special laundry basket he had bought. Just in time because at the same moment, Ranboo stumbled in. “Tommy?”
“Ran!” Tommy walked towards his friend, catching them as they almost fell forward. “What happened?”
Ranboo struggled with pulling off the red and green-tinted glasses. “Apoidea’s stingers were kind of…” he laughed. “A lot.”
Tommy winced as he brought Ranboo to their bedroom. “You need to be more careful, god damn. Tubbo’s also in the showers so be quiet, bitch.” He grabbed the first aid kit again.
Ranboo, also called Chromatism by his hero name, just cracked a smile. “One of us got to pay the bills after all.”
“Tubbo works! And I am currently still in the process of getting that hospital position I wanted.” Tommy huffed before putting them down on the bed. He hurried off towards the wardrobe to grab a shirt and a pair of trousers. “Where were you hit?”
“Left side.” Ranboo shrugged off his hero costume, wincing in pain every few movements. “I don’t get how a bee-themed villain could just make stingers that explode!”
“Yeah well.” Tommy tossed him the shirt and trousers before grabbing his hand. “Now hold still.” For a few seconds, he simply closed his eyes, breathing out as he let his powers search for the destroyed tissues. Once he had found what he was looking for, he squeezed the hand tightly, a soft yellow light emitting from his hands as the tissue growth accelerated and Ranboo’s wound was closed once again, leaving behind a faint scar in place. “There we go.” He sighed as he opened his eyes. “Don’t get messed up with Apoidea again. Your powers aren’t compatible.”
“I was the only hero on patrol nearby!” Ranboo complained as they shook their arm, adjusting to the painless movements before finally grabbing his shirt to pull on. “I couldn’t possibly say no to stopping a bank robbery.”
Tommy winced for a second. He supposed that was true. “Just don’t let it happen again.” He stretched himself, feeling the familiar ache of the usage of his power. “Why’d they send you home instead of fixing you up at the tower?”
“They know I have a healer at home and don't want to waste more resources.” Ranboo made a face. “You’re so lucky you are protected by the state so the heroes can’t even try to recruit him.”
He wanted to wince again but stopped himself. “You are a great hero though.” He was lucky that his healing power had been classified as being on stage five. Stage five essentially meant his power was incredibly powerful and therefore he had been exempt from any attempts of recruitment. Or more likely, he was not to be recruited unless he offered to be recruited so that they couldn’t exploit him.
“Obviously not against Apoidea.” Ranboo snorted before getting up. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Yeah, Tubbo will be done soon.” He folded the hero suit and grabbed the first aid kit. “I’ll be out in the living room soon.”
“Take your time, Tommy.” Ranboo’s eyebrows furrowed. “Thank you by the way.”
“It’s whatever, Ran. Don’t bother thanking me.” He smiled and headed off towards his bedroom.
Once out, he sighed. That had been very close.
Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo had known each other since primary school. They had all gone to a class together and were assigned seats next to each other. Ever since then, they had been inseparable, no matter how harsh the world was to them and no matter their different backgrounds.
Tommy had developed his powers as the first of them. It had been an accident when his self-sacrificial ass had hauled himself over a burning street to hug his brother, the number one hero Blade, when he had laid on the ground, injured by another villain's attack on L’Manburg. He had activated his healing power then, motivated by panic and stress at the age of just seven.
It had been a scary affair especially as right after, he had been prodded with needles until the scientists had been satisfied and given him a stage 5. It had likely been his hero family’s influence too.
Tubbo and Ranboo were decisively later than him and they had also developed their powers at entirely different times.
Ranboo developed his powers next. He had been doing absolutely nothing worthwhile, just sitting next to Tommy on a bench. And suddenly in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared, suddenly holding a kitten in his arms under a nearby tree. Tommy screamed. Then Ranboo screamed. And then the Hero Association had found them.
His friend had been rushed in for testing and they had found he had a weaker form of controlling mattery. Since the form was weaker, Ranboo had been given a good stage 4 which made him eligible for recruitment. And they did.
If Tommy hadn’t been deep in the hero business, he wouldn’t have known when Ranboo had been whisked away to Iceland to complete his training. And Tubbo had been told that Ranboo was doing an exchange year.
During said ‘exchange year’, Tubbo had developed his power. He was fully capable of flight and he was incredibly cool in the way his entire body was suddenly enhanced and he could summon a stinger that could be changed to whatever effect and it would have earned him a solid 5 for sure. But Tubbo had been smart enough to know that he could also earn a 4 for his power just based on corruption. So he had only ever told Tommy about it.
And one thing had led to another and suddenly Tubbo was robbing banks while Ranboo came back from training to debut as Chromatism. Suddenly they had finished high school and moved in together and it was a whole chaos.
Tubbo and Ranboo had just never bothered telling the other about their powers out of fear of being recognised.
So Tommy was left with the duties of being the sole secret keeper because he was not letting even one of them move out of this flat.
“Tubbo, hold still, bloody hell…” Tommy raised his friend’s arms as he felt for internal injuries. “I heard you robbed the bank?
“Are the news actually that quick?” Tubbo raised a brow as he let himself be prodded.
“I am the son of the number two hero and the brother of number one and three. I think the news would reach me pretty quickly.” He hummed as he ran some of his power into a spot.
“And still we are always short on rent.”
“Well that is not entirely my fault but rather because we decided to move into a three-bedroom flat straight out of high school and insisted we didn’t need any of our family’s help.” Tommy sighed as he ran another check, hitting Tubbo’s back once he was done. “Get up. You are on dinner duty.”
Tubbo rolled his eyes. “I don’t even have a family to ask. And I put money on the table today so why am I on dinner duty?”
“Tough luck.” Tommy pushed away the first aid kit into the corner. “Well.” He chuckled. “Because I have a hospital shift first thing in the morning and while I get that robbery is important, I also want a fucking meal.”
His friend just rolled his eyes another time and then got up. “Whatever. I’m going to ask Ranboo to help me.”
“Good luck!” Tommy waved to him as he returned to his room, sighing once more.
Everything was sore in him. The drawback of guarding his friends’ secrets was his back pain when he had to patch them up after a particularly hard fight. Especially against each other.
Tubbo had a tendency of getting himself in trouble. He was smart but in the heat of the battle, he tended to get a bit unfocused and could easily get blasted by a hero’s powers. He was flexible in all that he did but Tubbo didn’t have the best escape methods and he was not the best shot when it came to the stingers.
On the other hand, Ranboo had been trained in combat. He was sharp in everything he did physically. He was just a huge mess when stressed and the moment that happened, he was more than likely to fuck up his powers and accidentally teleport himself into a villain’s power or fuck up a particular matter manipulation. It had happened before and it had not been particularly pretty. It had been so bad that Tommy had been called to the hero tower.
Anyhow, them mixing was never the best idea because no matter how concealed their identities were, it was fairly obvious they could still predict each other without knowing their true identities. Tommy could see so much in the way they danced around each other in combat, somehow knowing on instinct what needed to be done. It made him fucking worried about when they would figure out their identities.
He sighed and pulled out his phone.
1, 2, 3, Unranked
Unranked
Give, give
1
He is getting faster
3
He is like a gremlin
2
Boys, don’t call your brother a gremlin.
Do you want the Apoidea and Chromatism report, mate?
Unranked
Yes!
Please, Dad!
1
Sometimes I question whether this is a security risk or not.
It probably is.
2
Shush
A/C.fight.pdf
Here you go, mate
Unranked
Thank you, Dad!
:D
Tommy clicked on the pdf, skimming over it as he tried to memorise the information as far as he was capable. It was rather boring but the subtext was more important for him. He just needed to know how close they were to recognising the other just a little bit too much.
“Tommy! Dinner is ready!”
“Coming!” He made a decision as he set his phone aside and joined his roommates at the table. “Did you really just make garlic bread and salmon?”
“Hey! One of us has to go shopping!” Tubbo grinned. “And it won’t be me.”
“I can pick up some groceries tomorrow after my shift,” Ranboo offered.
Tommy waved him off. “The hospital is right next to the grocery store so I can go pick it all up.” He sat down and extended his hands to them. “Can we say Grace today?”
“What, today?” Ranboo snickered. “Do you want to thank god for the garlic bread and salmon? Because I think it was not really god’s work.”
“I just wanted to say grace. Please?”
His friends shrugged but took each others’ hands to say grace. Tommy also took their hands as he closed his eyes and said the words. A small light emitted from his hands but none of his friends noticed with their eyes closed. He released their hands first as he opened his eyes, smiling. “Well then, let’s dig in.”
Tubbo and Ranboo didn’t have to be told twice, hungry from fighting, and dug right in.
Tommy started eating as well, smiling. As far as he could keep it that way, they would never figure out each other’s secret identities.
His true power was never just healing but tissue manipulation. And the brain just happened to be made primarily out of tissue.