tommyinnit isn't your personal i-phone charger

by Rhapsoddity

Summary:

Unfair. That's what the world is. In the ideal world, good and bad would be perfectly balanced, but this was Tommy's world, so it was shit. No money, no parents, and a city full of superpowered dickheads? How peachy. At least little ol' Tommy hasn't gotten onto any heroes' or villains' radars yet.... right?... RIGHT??? [UNFINISHED, ABANDONED]

Notes:

• Inspired by tommyinnit's clinic for supervillains by bonesandthebees (bonesandcacti)
• Inspired by [Restricted Work] by eneliii (Log in to access.)
• Inspired by the world forgetting by the world forgot by bonesandthebees (bonesandcacti)

I don't really write fanfics anymore, as yall can tell by how often I post here, but I binged through tommyinnit's clinic for supervillains by bonesandthebees and oh no now I have the start of an sbi / benchtrio superpowers fanfic -
and I apologise for the title in advance, I jokingly called it that and :/ now it stuck dsnjdsnjnk

Chapter 1: A little shopping hurt nobody

Tommy wasn't a bad guy. 

 

Of course not. 

 

Big man was the best man you'd ever meet. Was stealing wrong? I mean, in most contexts, yeah. But he needed the food, deserved it even, and this supermarket had soooo much of it. What's the matter if he didn't pay for anything he put in his basket?

 

He didn't give a second thought to the security cameras on every aisle as he browsed around. Tubbo had given him a specific shopping list but Tommy couldn't be arsed to check what he was missing. Milk; cereal; Spaghetti; chocolate… and all the miscellaneous shit Tommy had already dumped into his basket.

 

He paid in mind not to get too carried away, he couldn't risk drawing too much attention to himself. He was already banned from five local supermarkets, and he wasn't sure how long it would take before he'd have to stop stealing all together… and send his friend Ranboo in his place.

 

Taking a short break from the task at hand, Tommy wandered over to the pet section, tucked in the back corner of the store. He'd always wanted a pet. He didn't think he'd cope with the responsibility of a larger animal, but a rat or a goldfish? Tommy reckoned that they couldn't be that hard to raise. Unfortunately, Tubbo had already set down the house rules years ago, and although Tommy was a little shit, he may lean on the rules but he wasn't going to break them. 

 

No pets allowed.

 

Shuffling away from the goldfish tanks, he could feel the hair on the back of his neck raise. Someone was looking at him. He tried to remain as natural as possible, keeping an ear out.

 

"Yes, that's the kid."

 

"Are you sure a child that scrawny could steal over £100 in product?? Don't you have security over there?"

 

A customer, who sounded like he was from another supermarket he'd visited, scoffed.

 

"The little shit somehow figured out how to avoid the sensors!"

 

"Well he's not leaving here, security is waiting at the doors."

 

Well shit.

 

The easy way out was fucked? Plan B it is then. Tommy idly wandered over to the toy section, Now as I said before, Tommy wasn't a bad person. However, he was a disruptive asshat. He picked up a children's learn the animal sounds toy, looking it over briefly before putting it back and walking away as far as he could from that aisle.

 

That's when all hell broke loose. Honestly, it sounded what hell probably sounds like. What seemed like every toy that could make noise, set itself off at once in a cacophony of noise. Tommy had to contain his devious smirk as even the security made a beeline to the chaos, leaving the exit wide open.

 

He walked out of the artificial fluorescence and out into the warm sunlight, glad he made it out of there with no trouble-

 

"Put your hands in the air, don't make this difficult kid."

 

Fucking coME ON.

 

The police???

 

He'd only stolen a FEW things here and there. Maybe a few more than he really should have, but corporations like this could afford to be robbed. He wouldn't dare pinch from family businesses, but a plain old Tesco or Asda? Free fucking game.

 

"Woah is there someone scary around-?" Tommy faked concern as he looked around. There wasn't really anyone about. "I- Oh you're talking to me big man?"

 

"This is the last store you're stealing from. We can help you get into a better environment. You won't have to steal, just come with us."

 

HA, like Tommy was going to fall for that bullshit. You just can't trust adults.

 

"Sounds fake but okay," Tommy shrugged, taking a fairly unassuming step towards them, before spinning on his heels and legging it as fast as he could. The cops may have cars, but Tommy knew this neighbourhood like the back of his hand, they'd lose his trail fairly quickly and yet again the Great and Powerful Tommy would return home with his spoils of war.

 

He kind of regretted grabbing so many snacks, the metal basket wasn't the easiest to run with, but as soon as he had a free moment, he ducked into an alley and filled his backpack to the brim, abandoning the basket. Now, he looked less suspicious, and before long, Tommy blended into the general public. Just another average day for Tommy. He was just glad there was no hero run-ins today.

 

You see, L'manburg wasn't the safest city. It was well known to be host to a plethora of incredibly powerful superpowered individuals. Most people didn't have abilities, but those who did fit into a strict black and white according to the media. Heroes and villains. That was bullshit, but Tommy didn't like either party. They both caused a fuckton of damage, which in the poorer areas, never really got repaired.

 

Didn't seem like either party liked Tommy either. He hadn't like, sat down to have tea with them and politely discussed what his issues with them were. But seeing as they shared a city, occasionally Tommy had gotten caught close to a fight here and there. One time he'd even been briefly lectured by Phoenix - a villain with massive seemingly bulletproof wings - about a kid his age being out this late, no less. Tommy didn't kick off at this guy for treating him like a child; Phoenix is a fucking villain. As much mistrust as he had, he'd rather not become a human shish kebab by either side. The rudest contact he'd successfully got was flipping off Hellfire in passing, which earned Tommy an eye-roll.

 

Thank God, his journey home was uneventful. Soon he was out of what he called the danger zone, and into the outskirts of L’manburg and to his house. Tommy liked to call it "my house" and Ranboo liked to call it "our house" but in all technicalities, it was Tubbo's house. His dad paid for all the utilities and fucked off. None of them had met the guy, I mean, bar Tubbo who really didn't like talking about him, and no one wanted to meet him. If Tubbo wouldn't talk, Tommy was sure Mr dad was a wrong un, he may pay for them to have a place to live, but that didn't make him good.

 

"I Tomathy the glorious have returned to my subjects!" Tommy grinned, swinging the backpack off of his shoulder.

 

"Did you remember the spaghetti?" Tubbo rolled his eyes at Tommy from the other side of the living room. He was invested in the switch on his lap, knowing Tubbo it was probably Animal Crossing or something. Tommy fished the pack of spaghetti sticks out from the backpack, brandishing it like a sword.

 

"For a short time only, this premium, I repeat, PREMIUM spaghetti for the low low price of free!"

 

That earned a snort from Ranboo as he wandered in.

 

"We should really start paying for things at some point."

 

"Sure sure big man, with the money appearing out of thin air. Is that one of your powers now tallass?" 

 

"We could just rob a bank," Tubbo interjected, grinning.

 

"Ah yes, that can't go wrong," Tommy put the backpack down and jumped onto the sofa next to Tubbo. "I can picture the news now: Human tazer apprehended, picked up by the scruff of his neck by fucking uuuuh Evergreen."

 

"I thought you said yesterday you could take him?"

 

"Oh I absolutely could! But I don't trust the media not to fuck up my pristine image."

 

Honestly, the fewer people that knew about his powers, the better. The three of them wouldn't say they were blessed with superpowers, but they sure had powers. And it’d be better if people weren’t taking advantage of them.

 

Tommy? He could mess with electrical currents, charge your phone in an instant, and even shock you if he tried. Tubbo couldn’t really wear shoes, cause his power he connected to the earth, to move the stone and earth around them. Ranboo had a less obvious power. He wouldn't show up on video or in photos, which meant security cameras never caught him. Oh, and he could also teleport.

 

Needless to say, the trio recognised the potential in their powers and knew to stay hush. If the wrong people found out, they'd probably be forced to terraform, do reconnaissance and-

Tommy cut that thought short. He did not want to picture what he could power. He was perfectly happy keeping this to themselves.

 

"You up for spaghetti tonight?"

 

Tommy pulled a face.

 

"Again? Nah I'm alright, I grabbed a tin of beans when I was out so I'll heat that up later."

 

"Your loss Tommy," Ranboo shrugged.

 

---

It was another week or so till Tommy had to go grab more food. The day was almost going too well. The bus wasn't late for once, the weather was perfect, and Tommy was on track to rob a grocery further off than he usually went. He couldn't be a regular at any store, so this place was next on the rotation. All the people on the bus kept comfortably to themselves, everyone on this commute just wanted to get to the destination on time. There wasn’t even that much traffic.

 

And then something had to fuck up.

 

This was the risk of travelling further out to provide for his friends; the heroes were more active here. And Jubilee and Hellfire's fight was in full swing. Fuckng hell. Tommy could feel everyone's fingers crossed as we drove closer and closer to the chaos, they all had places to be.

 

And then Hellfire decided to have shitty ass aim and hit the bus with his blast. To his credit, it wasn't his fault Jubilee was so good at dodging, but weren't heroes meant to protect civilians, not melt them alive? Tommy’s luck too; he was on the side of the bus that got hit. It didn’t take long for the heat to spread inside, Tommy muttering under his breath as he leapt away from the danger zone.

 

Everyone jumped away from the side of the bus that got hit, afraid to get burnt. And then someone tried the door. Stuck. Panic started to arise. People started to hit on the windows, having not found the emergency escape in the five seconds they looked around before they decided to go apeshit.

 

Tommy just calmly walked to the door and being careful not to burn himself, touched the door. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, he could feel the electrical currents. The first thing he did didn't work, but with a little concentration the door slid open.

 

"SINGLE FILE, CALMLY, EVERYONE GET THE FUCK OUT!" Tommy called out, before hopping out of the doors and aside so he wouldn't get run over by everyone exiting. In a matter of a minute everyone was out and making a safe distance away. Tommy was taking his time. He was now having a shit day and he was not going to put the effort in to run when in all likelihood he wouldn't get his while the boys were fighting.

 

Tommy was a little surprised when the noise of the pair clashing fizzled off fairly quickly. Good, that meant they were doing less damage. He didn't care to look back and check, he was just glad they had shut the fuck up.

 

Hellfire howled in frustration. Sounded like Jubilee had managed to slip away. Everyone had cleared out the area by now. Everyone but Tommy, who was still clueless to what was about to happen behind him.

 

Two things happened.

 

One; Hellfire had basically a tantrum in losing Jubilee, sending a huge wave of fire around him before leaving. A wave that happened to head straight towards Tommy.

 

Two; his body moved without him thinking, like a puppet. He jerked toward a nearby alleyway. 

 

But he wasn't quick enough.

 

And the wave of fire hit him.

Chapter 2: Crack him like a fuckin glowstick

Summary:

After getting hit with Hellfire's blast, turns out Tommy is not dead, but is IS having an electrical surge. Good thing there's someone in the alley to help him,,, right?

The jerk sideways combined with the impact of the blast sent Tommy into a spin, easily tripping and making friends with a thing called the floor as he entered the alleyway. Tommy gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut at the pain of the fall, before realising he was hotter than he usually was. Tommy was absolutely poggers he could get all the ladies so of course he was hot, but in this case, it was temperature hot. Was it the fire? Or was it something else?

 

Everything felt too much, everything too bright.

 

He was lucky as far as he could tell, he wasn’t on fire. Tommy felt someone lift him off of the ground and prop him up against the wall, to a more comfortable and honestly respectable position. Was he hallucinating now? Tommy whined. Why the fuck today? Any other day, not when he was so far away from any sort of support-

 

“Kid? Can you hear me?”

 

Oh shit. There was actually someone here. 

 

“mMMnGhh”

 

“Don’t try to move yet,” they said softly, clearly concerned about Tommy, “You got hit pretty bad.”

 

“I’m… fine bossman, now kindly fuck off.”

 

Tommy could feel his body growing hotter by the second. He considered himself lucky. If he had been hit with that blast on any other day he would be toast, literally, but today he had happened to start a power surge and the perfect time. Not so perfect to have a witness though. He didn’t want to be arrested for frying some random civilian. He could tell this was definitely a surge; he tried opening his eyes, only to see bright white - Tommy’s eyes were glowing.

 

“Clearly not… kid you’re glowing .”

 

“First, I’m not a child, fuck you. Secondly, thank you I’ve been trying this new moisturising line-”

 

“You’re a fucking torch asshole unless all your power is a parlour trick you need help.”

 

Tommy sighed.

“Why the fuck couldn’t this happen at home- aggHhghh,” Tommy clutched at his stomach. “You need to back the fuck up.” He wasn’t sure how close the stranger was, but he wasn’t going to risk hurting them.

 

“Look I’m just trying to help-”

 

“If you don’t want to be fried, back up, get off the ground, any-anything,” Tommy groaned, placing his palms on the ground in front of him, “I’m just having a s-surge, I’m fine.”

 

Tommy did not feel fine after this surge. He’d randomly get these surges of extra power, and his body was not made for this. He was scared that it would tear him apart if he didn’t release it. At home, he’d just offload it into their emergency generators, but all he had here was the ground to earth the charge. Releasing all this energy felt different somehow. Usually, he was functional after a surge but after releasing the energy this time, he collapsed forwards, heavily breathing.

 

Holy shit that took a fuck ton out of him. With great effort, he pulled himself back up against the wall. His head felt like a bowling ball, fucking hell. He was definitely going to be late back.

 

“You okay now?”

 

Tommy could finally see again, his power not leaking from his eyes anymore-

 

And Jubilee was stood beside him.

 

Jubilee was a villain. And a scary one at that. Everyone at least knew of him. An iconic trenchcoat, a yellow turtle neck and flasks and containers of what was probably explosives slung across his chest on a belt. Tommy had made fun of his looks before; his most common was that he looked like a Poundland JD. But Tommy knew how brutal the man was. He had some sort of charm-speaking power to force people to do his bidding, usually using police as meat shields from heroes. It seemed like controlling people with powers was a little harder, but he’d seen him control Evergreen on television before as a diversion so he could escape. Jubilee was not to be messed with. 

 

And here he was. Worried about little ol’ Tommy.

 

“H-H-HOLY SHIT-”

 

Tommy tried to scramble away a little but he genuinely didn’t have much strength to move right now. Jubilee grimaced at that.

 

“You’re in pain, oh fuck try not to go into shock-”

 

“ Was that a fucking electricity joke dickhead?! ”

 

Jubilee fucking snorted at that.

 

“That wasn’t intentional but hey, it snapped you out of screaming at me,” Jubilee shrugged, offering Tommy a hand in getting up.

 

Tommy eyed the hand suspiciously. Although he trusted neither side, villains were traditionally meant to be the more untrustworthy ones. But he took the hand. However, Tommy didn’t have the strength to stand, and immediately buckled. Man, why was that surge so different?? Jubilee immediately gave him ample support, taking as much weight off Tommy’s legs as he could.

 

“You’re fucking Jubilee dickhead, that alone is a free pass to scream at you bigman,” Tommy grumbled, though, under his rudeness, he was grateful for the help. He’d be probably passed out here for hours if Jubilee hadn’t been there. 

 

“I’ll have you know I give those passes out to heroes generally, y’know I don’t remember ever giving you one.”

 

“Ah you see here’s the thing; I am an exception.”

 

“Oh really? “ Jubilee chuckled.

 

“I’m just so awesome that I just get one for free, you know? I also get a free pass to scream at the heroes too, so don’t feel too special.”

 

“You… don’t like heroes?”

 

“Nah they’re full of shit, and get away with everything,” Tommy rolled his eyes, “Not that you villains are any better.”

 

“Honestly that’s fair. Can you stand yet, or does this full of shit villain need to support you for longer?”

 

“What are you gonna do, drop me?”

 

“Pffft don’t tempt me dude, you weigh like maybe a handful of grapes, but it would be funny to drop you.”

 

“It’s fine, I’m alright to sit down there till I can get my bearings-”

 

“I’m not leaving some kid-”

 

“-I’m seventeen for fucks sake-”

 

“- some teenager , then, in the wreckage of a hero-villain fight with no transport home, cause god knows no buses are going this route till a clear up crew gets here and who knows how long that’ll take.”

 

“And why do you think a random civilian would trust fuCKING JUBILEE to know where I live?”

 

“Oh come off it, I don’t expect you to order me to your address, just close enough to get home.” Jubilee got this look in his eye. “What d’ya think im going to do? Hurt you? I’ve had plenty of chance to already, I fight assholes with powers, not dickheads with powers.”

 

Okay okay, that got a chuckle out of Tommy.

 

“There’s a difference!?”

 

“Oh, you innocent child-”

 

“HEY!-”

 

“-so clueless to the world. You’ll understand the difference when you’re older.”

 

Tommy didn’t have to look at Jubilee to know he had a shit-eating grin right now.

 

“Fuck you Jubilee.”

 

“Now where do you want dropped off?”

 

“Ugh fine, my housemates are probably worrying about me anyway. Anywhere in North L’manburg is fine.”

 

And then Tommy passed out.

 

Alright, I’m making it sound more dramatic than it actually is, but Tommy did actually pass out. After giving Jubilee an area to go Tommy’s vision got darker, everything spinning and his legs giving more out below him. He was gone within seconds.

 

---

When he came to, Jubilee was gone. But… this wasn’t the alley he’d passed out in. The fucker had abandoned him in an alley, unconscious and vulnerable. Dickhead. Tommy grumbled as he got up, brushing the grime off his hoodie. At least he’d regained his strength for now. He stomped off home, not noticing a figure above the buildings, making sure he was alright before disappearing as to not get noticed.

 

Tommy did not have the energy to deal with Tubbo and Ranboo immediately on his ass once he walked through the door.

 

“ TOMMY WHAT THE FUCK. ”

 

“Fuck off, I’m tired.” He batted them away dismissively.

 

“Tommy are you alright?? We saw the news and recognised y-”

 

Now THAT got his attention.

 

“Woah Woah slow down. I’m on the news bigman???”

 

“Yeah, Jubilee was spotted with some blonde kid in a red and white hoodie unconscious under his arm,” Ranboo explained, “Media assumed he was kidnapping you or using you as a hostage? How did you escape?”

 

Tommy pinched the bridge of his nose. Jubilee was really giving him a headache.

 

“He was just being my taxi service after I had a really bad surge.”

 

“Taxi? Wha- Jubilee saw you surge ?!?”

 

“Eugh yeah, unfortunately. This also means I didn’t bring any food home, sorry.”

 

“It’s fine, you can go lie down… I’ll find something for us tomorrow, you’ve gone through a lot.”

 

Tubbo put his hand on Tommy’s arm before he left for his room.

 

“Did he hurt you? Use his powers on you?”

 

“...I’m fine Tubbo, I promise. He may be a villain, and he may sometimes be a monster, but do I really look like a threat to him?”

 

Probably. 

 

Tommy was a walking supercharged taser, he wasn’t exactly safe.

 

He just hoped Jubilee would forget about him.

 

And hopefully, nothing would come of this.

Notes:

thankyou all for such a strong response to chapter 1!
I have a feeling this is gonna overtake all my hermitcraft oneshots veeeery quickly oOp
a shorter chapter this time, just as I try and figure out how writing this works hehe
look forward to whenever I get to the next chapter, cause I kinda binge wrote this one, cause mMMMMMM the next chapter if not next two chapters are MMMMM inch resting to say the least if my plot plan goes through

Chapter 3: That's a little more than a static shock

Summary:

Tommy isn't coping well in processing his run in with Jubilee, and he's about to cope a whole lot less :)

Notes:

Content warning for a panic attack :)

"Listen Phil," Wilbur stuffed a handful of fries into his mouth, lounging across the entire sofa, "We should keep an eye out for this kid."

 

"Why, isn't he just some random civilian that got caught in the crossfire of your fight?" Philza gestured with a burger in hand, "There are plenty of people who have powers and don't use them for their hero complex."

 

"I don't think he understands the extent of his power. He seems to think he has lighting powers, but I watched him get hit by and absorb Hellfire's blast."

 

"W-what??" He almost choked on his burger. He'd seen first hand the burns sustained from a direct Hellfire blast before.

 

"Whatever his power is, it's got potential. I dread to think what someone could use him for…his body struggled with releasing that safely..."

 

"It's not like you to want to pick up children off the streets, you going soft Will?"

 

"Oh fuck off."

 

---

Tommy didn't leave the house for two weeks. After the Jubilee incident, he'd found himself becoming increasingly ansty. Jubilee knew of his powers. And that terrified him. Tommy didn't know what it was about it, but other than Tubbo and Ranboo, he was petrified of anyone knowing of his powers.

 

What if Jubilee found him again? Of course he'd seemed nice enough for a dick, but that could have all been a ploy. What if he made him power some fucked up shit? What if he made him use his powers on people?? What if-

 

Breathe Tommy. In. Out. In. Out.

 

His panic attacks had been getting worse recently, probably the rise in stress bringing this on. Fucking hell. He just wanted a quiet life with his best friend's, was that so much to ask for?

 

To give him at least a little peace of mind, they downloaded a tracking app on Tommy's phone. If he were to run into any trouble, they'd know where he was. Although it felt quite intrusive, it did make him feel a little safer at least.

 

There'd only been one instance of Jubilee out in the public since they met, he got in a fight against Avalon. Avalon was classed as, like, the best of the best. He could create illusions that felt real, so he was always a tough opponent. Most of the media and the general public liked the mask Avalon wore. It was a simple smile, but something about it unnerved Tommy. Avalon could probably look downright disturbing under there and no-one would know.

 

He couldn't stay cooped up forever, Ranboo took far less risks than him and they were running out of supplies. He needed to go "shopping" again.

 

Nothing would fuck up this time, right?

 

Tommy was on edge his entire shop. Although he went to a store he'd not been previously, he was extra cautious and sneaky this time. The less attention he got, the better. He got lucky this time, there was another, less subtle, thief in the store so all eyes were on her, and not him.

 

He left with his sizable loot without a hitch. Tommy felt like he had been holding his breath the entire time, so he was glad to get out unscathed. Slowly but surely he began to let his guard down. The majority of the journey back had been uneventful, and he was ready to wind down at home. 

 

His body stopped reacting to his instructions. At first he didn't notice himself slowing down, but he quickly realised that he wasn't going the route he wanted to. Panic rose in his throat. Jubilee had found him again. And by the looks of it, was nearby controlling him to somewhere private. Tommy's suspensions were confirmed as he turned the corner into an alley to be met with Jubilee.

 

Tommy immediately reached for his phone, unlocking it and about to call Tubbo or Ranboo when-

 

"Stop. Put your phone down." Jubilee gestured to the floor.

 

Tommy tried to resist but Jubilee's power was much stronger than him. He gently placed the phone on the floor in-between the pair.

 

"I just wanted to check in on you kid, no need to call the police on me." Jubilee said calmly, pushing his fringe back. "What happened to your attitude? Only when you're pumped with adrenaline?"

 

Tommy pushed down his anxiety. It was going to be fine .

 

"I've just had a bad week and I dunno if a second run in with a villain makes it worse or not." He grumbled.

 

"Anyone I know give you any trouble?"

 

"Why do you care? You're just some villain and I'm just some dude."

 

"I- I can't answer that."

 

Tommy did not trust that answer one bit. Not that he trusted Jubilee at all. He's a villain. He's an adult.

 

"If that's all, I'm just gonna go-"

 

"Wait-"

 

Tommy turned away to leave, not even considering his phone on the concrete when Jubilee grabbed his wrist. You'd think he'd charmspeak Tommy to stop him but no. He grabbed his wrist.

 

What Jubilee was unaware of was what set Tommy off. He didn't know why, but whenever people grabbed him by the wrists or lower arms, he freaked the fuck out. He had scars across his arms that he didn't have the memory of getting so he assumed it was from them, whatever that happened.

 

So when Jubilee grabbed Tommy's wrist, combined with Tommy's anxiety already? He released a zap of energy into Jubilee. He cried out in pain as he let go, falling to the floor. 

 

Then Tommy realised what he just did. He just electrocuted one of L'manburg's most notorious villains. Oh no. Oh fuck. Tommy felt the panic rose in his throat. He'd fucked up big time. He went to grab his phone when-

 

He was suddenly against the wall, a large blade to throat by a fucking imposing figure. Huge wings behind his back, a large green and white brimmed veiled hat and a bird-like mask underneath. Jubilee hadn't come alone. He'd come with Phoenix.

 

" What the fuck did you do to Jubilee?" He growled.

 

Evidently he only noticed the commotion once he'd shocked Jubilee. Tommy flinched against the blade, he could feel it dig into the surface layer of skin. Tommy couldn't form words, just a terrified whimper.

 

"Ph-phoeinix, don't, hes-" Jubilee groaned from the floor.

 

When Phoenix returned his attention back to Tommy, he realised what he was dealing with. A shaking, terrified child on the borderline of crying was on the other side of his blade. A kid with powers, but still a kid. He'd hurt his teammate, but it seemed like it was in self defense now. Was this who Wil had been on about? Shit.

 

This time the electrocution was more accidental rather that reactionary, as Tommy's ticked over into fight or flight. Phoenix was especially susceptible to Tommy's abilities; his power was metal manipulation… which meant his massive looking wings? Yeah those were made out of metal. And just so happened to conduct electricity well.

 

Tommy was teetering on a panic attack, stifling the sobs that threatened to spill out of him. He'd floored two of the most powerful villains in L'manburg. Tommy was fucked . He snatched his phone off the ground and sprinted out of the alley, getting home in record time.

 

He threw the groceries in the living room as he bee lined straight to his room. As soon as he shut his door Tommy cracked. He could only keep up his extroverted exterior for so long. He let out a sob. And then another sob. He crumpled beside his bed. He could barely breathe between sobs. Everything was too much. The stress of having to steal to survive, the stress of having to contain his powers so he didn't hurt anyone, the stress of being in a city of super dickheads. 

 

He hadn't had a good cry in a long time, it hurt like hell but it felt good to finally release it all. Tommy barely noticed as a blanket was draped around his shoulders and a plush bee was put into his arms. He squeezed that poor thing to death in the breakdown.

 

It felt like forever, but eventually the sobs turned to sniffled, and he could register that his best friend's were beside him.

 

"I- I hurt them-" Tommy sniffled, barely understandable.

 

"Who buddy?"

 

"Ph-phoe-phoenix and joo-b-jubilee…"

 

"It's alright Tom, you're safe now."

 

"I- I'm fucked they'll c-come for m-me."

 

"I'm sure they have bigger fish to fry."

 

"But what if I've severely pissed them off?!? Saber has killed people for less-"

 

"Was he there too?"

 

"N-no."

 

"Then I'm sure you'll be alright Toms. Are you alright with contact?" Tubbo spoke softly.

 

Tommy nodded and Tubbo and Ranboo went in for the hug. He was so glad to have the pair, he wasn't sure what he'd do without their support. Sure they were annoying dickheads every now and then, but they were a blessing to have.

Notes:

How the fuck I'm just cranking out chapters I do not know, but have Tommy having a break doooown :)

Chapter 4: Stop terrorising Tommy FFS ugh

Summary:

Jubilee and Phoenix clash with Evergreen with mixed results, and Saber finally gets to meet our protagonist :)

"Phoenix, it happens."

 

Jubilee effortlessly leapt out of the way of a giant thorny vine that slashed at him, as if Evergreen fighting them was just a mild inconvenience.

 

"Doesn't stop me from being mortified. He was just a fucking kid."

 

Phoenix ducked as another vine swiped for his head, almost knocking his hat off. Evergreen was progressively getting more and more frustrated at the pair ignoring him and having a conversation like they were just on a stroll or some shit.

 

"You just went dad-mode, I get it," Jubilee danced around Evergreen's attacks, "Though now I am worried about him now. But now the best move is to try not to run into him, bless."

 

"I looked like I was gonna kill him!"

 

"Mate you could kill him. Kid's squishy-"

 

"Could you two shut the fuck up?!" Evergreen growled. They were really getting on his nerves. "Is this really the best time for-"

 

"How about you shut the fuck up?" Jubilee turned to the hero, freezing him the best he could in place.

 

Phoenix followed Jubilee's train of thought and threw a blade towards Evergreen. He broke out of Jubilee's control just in time to not get hit anywhere vital, but he wasn't quick enough and still managed to get a knife to the shoulder. He stumbled back as Phoenix summoned his blade back to him.

 

Gritting his teeth through the pain, Evergreen let himself drop to his knees, slamming a hand on the ground. A wave of power rippled out from him, moss and mushrooms sprouting in patches around him. Jubilee reacted quick enough and jumped out of the way, but Phoenix wasn't so lucky. Thick brambles sprouted from the ground, wrapping around his legs and digging into his skin, tugging the villain down, where more brambles sprouted out and continued to wrap around Phoenix, pinning him down painfully.

 

"Fuck!"

 

Phoenix was trying to cut through the brambles but they grew back faster than he could cut. Fuck. Evergreen hadn't used this move before, and man it was effective. Jubilee could see the flash of panic in Phoenix's eyes. They weren't prepared.

 

"Stop this," Jubilee growled.

 

And then the brambles shrivelled up. Jubilee didn't have any sort of charm-speak, he just rolled with it after the media assumed his powerset. It was better to mislead everyone and have the upper hand. Jubilee had hydrokinesis. The way he controlled people was through bloodbending basically. It had taken him years to perfect it in a way that didn't harm who he was controlling, but now he could use the cover of the misunderstood power to his advantage.

 

Jubilee sucked all the moisture from the brambles, returning it to the earth, before messing with Evergreen a bit. Controlling people with powers was harder than normal people, their powers fought against his interference, but with enough focus he could mess with them, freezing Evergreen earlier as an example.

 

He did two things. He forced Evergreen's wound to bleed harder, and he made a bunch of blood rush to his head, making him feel faint. He could feel his power fight back, it felt like poison to go against but he pushed through. As he saw the hero slump a little, woozy, Jubilee took it as their sign to get out of there. Grabbing Phoenix, they fled, and by the time Evergreen focused again, they were gone.

 

--

 

"Fucking hell dad, is it time for you to go to the retirement home? I thought you were quicker than Evergreen."

 

Phil flinched as his other son cleaned his wounds. Wilbur had left his twin Techno to deal with Phil's fight aftercare, not feeling great after that last bloodbending and needing a lie-down.

 

"Oi fuck you Tech, he's got a new attack, how was I to know he'd grow a fucking live blackberry bush or something under me."

 

"Oh nooOoo, blackberries," Techno grinned, "I'm gonna have a fruity snack while I fight a hero."

 

"Mock me all you want, it's your turn to go on next watch"

 

"I'm not going to get my ass handed to me old man."

 

Philza’s injuries had ended up being laced with poison from the thorns, and so he was out of commission for a little while. For the next month, Wil and Techno just took turns terrorising the heroes, managing fairly well by themselves. Techno was on a lap of L’manburg, honestly ready to go home when Avalon tried to ambush him, and Saber had to ground himself in the city centre, surrounded by innocents that he didn’t really want to hurt.

 

The inky darkness grew around Saber, threatening to swallow him whole. He seemed somewhat unaffected as if he'd been through this song and dance before. Summoning a sword to his side, he swung blindly, seeming to manage to make contact with another blade.

 

"Your tricks are getting old and predictable Avalon," Saber grinned, sensing the hero stumbling back. He had to admit Avalon could hold his own, but in pure fighting skill, Saber was far superior. At least Avalon putting up a fight was pretty entertaining. It was a struggle nowadays to find someone fun to fight, most people didn't last long at all against him. “You’re gonna embarrass yourself in front of an audience!”

 

"Are you sure about that?"

 

Avalon's voice echoed around him. I suppose for most people it was menacing, but Saber just found it a little too theatrical. He was one to talk, Saber had the gaudiest fucking outfit, he insisted on looking regal despite it not being practical.

 

"Heh? Yeah, I'm pretty sure-"

 

Avalon made illusions of his teammates walking out of the darkness, looking severely battered and bruised, needing to give in, before collapsing. Were they dead? If he was the emotional type, they would've shaken him, but there were clear inconsistencies. Phoenix had a couple of scars missing and Jubilee's stupid mop of curly hair looked nothing like that.

 

"Holy shit dude, I didn't think you could get worse at these but man you've proved me wrong!"

 

The illusions of Jubilee and Phoenix mimicked the look of irritation that Avalon presumably had plastered over his face, which just made Saber laugh. Avalon clearly didn't know what scared Saber. The main reason Avalon was ineffective against him was that Saber's senses were much higher than your average individual, and so he could figure out the general vibe of where Avalon was behind all the illusions. He could also sense where the handful of civilians around them were. 

 

Time to mix things up a little. 

 

Was it particularly kosher what he was about to do? Pffft no, but he was a villain, might as well live up to the title. Before Avalon could process what Saber was doing, he’d snatched up the nearest innocent civilian to hold hostage. The illusions immediately seemed to drop.

 

“Let go of me you fUCK!”

 

Saber had grabbed some blonde kid. He didn’t plan to actually hurt him, but in taking a hostage he could dissolve this fight soon enough and he could go home and watch TV. He could see Avalon’s internal struggle with fighting him or rescuing the kid.

 

“I’ll make this plain and simple Avalon. I’m bored. So fuck off and the kid doesn’t get hurt,” Saber smiled, pressing his blade closer to the boy’s neck. “Tick-tock, it’d be a shame to make a mess here.”

 

His hostage wriggled in this grip. Bless him, he looked terrified. Not that he blamed him. He knew his own reputation, no one wanted to be in this sort of situation. This kid just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

“You don’t have to do this.”

 

“No, but I want to. What’s your pick?”

 

And then he… dropped the hostage? Fuck. It was more like the kid had wriggled like his life depended on it, and Saber’s clothes weren’t the most grippy. Luckily the kid wasn’t the fastest, and Saber just knocked him out with the hilt of his sword, lifting him back up.

 

“I’m waiting Avalon.”

 

---

Tommy didn't leave the house for a month. He was understandably anxious that Phoenix and Jubilee would be out to get him, despite him shocking them was no fault of his own. Honestly, he wished they could just move house to somewhere safer. The dream was to move to Hermitcraft, a distant metropolis where everyone had powers, and people abusing said powers were few and far between. However Hermitcraft had strict borders, the reason why power-based crime was so low, and he knew he'd never get in. He'd heard the horror stories of people trying to break-in, the last time he'd heard of people trying, they'd fucked up enough to get on the wrong side of Hermitcraft's mayor and he'd banished them to the Void, a high-security prison overseas. Tommy didn't want to imagine what they'd tried to get that bad a punishment. And with his luck, he expected if he tried he might end up in a similar situation.

 

Tubbo and Ranboo didn't push for Tommy to get out. Although they'd not really interacted much with the villains to the best of Tommy's knowledge, they seemed pretty sure they weren’t gonna go after him. He tried his best to put his trust in his friends. He had fucking atrocious luck, but maybe his unlucky streak had run out? It had been a month, surely that was long enough for something to go right for once?

 

Tommy booted up the tracking app, just in case. Nothing bad was going to happen, but it lightened his worry a little. And at this point? Anything that made him chill out was welcome. He also dressed up a little differently and put on a mask. He’d rather not be recognised by another villain.

 

He wasn’t going for anything big today. He was going to be rusty at this, just in and out of one shop, and then go home. It would be fine, Jubilee would be fucking miles away and he wouldn’t have anyone threatening him. The journey up? Safe. Stealing from a store in the heart of L’manburg? Surprisingly easy.

 

But the second he stepped out of the store, Saber landed in front of him. Tommy panicked and froze, honestly, a lot of people did, not sure what to do. Some people ignored the fight, honestly desensitised to this shit by now. Tommy’s blood ran cold. It was Avalon and Saber . Both of them terrified them. Avalon with illusion making, and Saber with summoning weapons from hammerspace? They were evenly matched foes. The pair clashed blades, Saber seemingly unaffected by whatever Avalon was showing him. Tommy tuned out their conversation, scanning for a safe route away.

 

And then Tommy was snatched up by Saber.

 

Fuck.

“Let go of me you fUCK!”

 

He started writhing in the villain’s grasp. He didn’t want to die, he’d moved from freeze to flight and he’d like to be as far away from these two as possible. Saber’s grip was strong and his blade uncomfortably close to Tommy’s neck, but Saber wasn’t experienced with Tommy being the world’s wriggliest bitch. While the villain was negotiating with Avalon, Tommy forced his way out of his grip and managed to escape!

 

And then everything went black.

 

---

 

“Tubbo calm down, please .”

 

The television blared behind them, showing blurry footage of Saber making off with his hostage.

 

“ No. We told Tommy he’d be safe. Why do the fuckers have to target him ?!?”

 

“And the heroes will save him! We can't do anything about it...right?”

 

Tubbo pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

“...Tubbo?”

 

“There’s… something I’ve been hiding from you.”

Notes:

I only made hermitcraft canon in this universe just cause I wanted Evil X and Wormman to exist cause I love them, rip them I guess, banned and sent to the void lmaooo

Let myself slow down making these chapters so I don't burn out aaaas quick, don't expect chapters every day anymore, maybe once a week or longer? I have big projects in other fandoms to work on as well lmao (if u like BMC and Hermitcraft hmu nxksbsks)

Chapter 5: put him back or so help me

Summary:

Tommy may not be a kid, but he sure has been kid-nnaped. Jubilee feels bad for making Tommy an anxious wreck and apologises.

Notes:

content warning; restraints, implied torture ig?? I'd class it as torturing him ngl.

Everything was fuzzy. Tommy couldn't focus even five feet ahead of him; he didn't have the energy. He didn't have the energy to move either, but it's not like he could. Both his arms and legs were restrained, his arms forced in the air. He couldn't even really strain against them, every movement was agony. It was like every drip of energy that Tommy gathered was immediately sucked away from his grasp. He slumped. There was no escape from this. A hand grabbed his chin, tilting it up.

 

"You're doing so well brother," a voice cooed, but Tommy could barely make out who it was. They had the same colour hair as Tommy, but longer and tied back from what he could make out, “Just one more power drain and we’ll be done for this week.”

 

Their voice was soft and caring, a huge contrast to the situation he was in. He felt some familiarity with whoever was here… but he was also terrified of them. They put him through all this pain after all.

 

“Remember this is for the safety of L’manburg Theseus… this is needed to keep everyone safe.”

 

And then Tommy was in unimaginable pain, like every essence of his life force was being ripped from him forcefully. He would scream out but his throat was rough, already screamed dry long ago.

 

---

 

Tommy woke up in a cold sweat against cold concrete, his head throbbing. This wasn’t his bed, he didn’t remember it being this hard, this cold- Fuck. Saber and Avalon. Getting grabbed as a hostage. All of it came back to him. Tommy was in an empty warehouse, meaning the heroes didn’t win in the end. Avalon had let him be kidnapped by Saber, so much for being a hero I guess. But why take him? If Tommy was just a bargaining chip to get out of fighting today, why wasn’t he just tossed aside after the fight? Had the others told him about Tommy electrocuting them? Did they take him here to punish him??

 

Tommy sat up, struggling to do so. Along with everything generally aching from the cold, and his head throbbing from Saber knocking him out, he couldn’t really move his hands; Saber had bound his wrists together. Tommy sucked in a breath on realising this, tensing up. His nightmare was quickly fading, but the echo of fear while being restrained bounced around in his mind. He already knew people grabbing him there set off alarm bells but actually being tied up for the first time? Yep, this absolutely triggered panic deep within Tommy.

 

He had no time to resist being pulled over the edge into a panic attack. He’d already been anxious to begin with, and actually being fucking kidnapped and tied up was his breaking point. Tommy couldn’t breathe as tears streamed down his cheeks, sobs breaking out from deep within his chest. He wished he was safe, he wished that he had his best friends, he wished he didn’t live in this godforsaken city, he wished he never had powers in the first place-

His cries echoed in the empty space, further emphasising how alone he was right now. We’re Tubbo and Ranboo even coming for him? Or had they gotten tired of Tommy’s shit luck and left him to whatever fate Saber had in store for him. Eventually, his sobs turned to whimpers and Tommy wore himself thin, passing out once more, probably into another nightmare.

 

---

 

“For fuck’s sake Techno !”

 

“How was I supposed to know the kid’s the same one you scared?!?”

 

“How many blonde electricity wielding teenagers do you know?”

 

“He didn’t get an opportunity to use his powers, Wilbur!” His brother was giving Techno a headache. “The chance he was the one civilian within arms reach, how shit is his luck?!”

 

“Incredibly. Which is why we’re trying to leave the poor dude alone. He’s terrified of us.”

 

Wilbur took a deep breath, pacing outside the warehouse. He couldn’t change what his dumbass brother had done now. He was just fucking worried about the kid. Usually, with hostages, they’d abandon them in an abandoned warehouse with a tip for heroes or vigilante’s to pick them up, but he was an exception. Wil didn't know what it was, but he had a feeling he’d hate them even more if he was just left there. He felt guilty, if he hadn’t tried keeping an eye on the boy, then he probably would be ten times less anxious and honestly probably wouldn’t have ended up running into Techno’s fight.

 

“... It’s fine, I- Just let me fix this.”

 

“We’re not doing the usual?”

 

“We don’t usually kidnap kids Techno, I know what area of the city he lives in anyway…” Wilbur sighed, slipping his mask back on. “He’s my problem now.”

 

Wilbur grimaced as he closed the door behind him. The blonde was slumped on the floor, wrists sore from struggling and face tearstained from crying. He was shivering, and by the looks of it, whatever he was dreaming about wasn’t good, he was flinching and whimpering in his sleep. They were really living up to the title of villain, weren't they? Kidnapping and traumatising a teenager. Honestly, Wil had done worse, but this felt worse. He cut him from his restraints, there was no need for that. He was pretty sure the boy didn’t need his hands to fry him anyway, and he was too scrawny to actually hit him. Now that he got a good look at him, the kid did worry him. He still had baby fat on his face, making him look younger, but the rest of him? It was almost skin on bone. Did he even eat? Wil obviously wasn’t privy to his home life, and even though he was a stranger, Wil was worried for him. 

 

He took off his jacket and beanie, putting them on the unconscious boy. That seemed to help a little. He didn’t want to wake him, Wilbur had heard that it was like the worst thing to do. It wasn’t like it was long before he woke up though. He was dazed first, confused again to where he was, before realising and slumping down. Then Tommy noticed three things. First, that he wasn’t restrained anymore. Second, that he was wearing Jubilee’s beanie and trenchcoat. And third, Jubilee was sitting beside him.

 

Tommy scrambled away from him a little in surprise and fear, before realising Jubilee wasn’t in an offensive opposition at all. He was just sitting there, looking worried and guiltily at him.

 

“You… you’re not going to hurt me?”

 

Tommy tried to not let the fear seep into his voice, but he knew it was painfully obvious. Jubilee shook his head.

 

“A-are you s-sure? I hurt you and Ph-Phoenix.”

 

“He overreacted and is super apologetic about it, and I’ve already had a go at Saber for you. I’m sorry.”

 

“S-sorry?? What the actual fuck??”

 

“I don’t expect you to forgive us, and I don’t encourage you to. We are villains after all.”

 

Tommy was reeling. This highly feared villain… apologised to him? What the fuck????

 

“Did you get hit in the head dickhead??”

 

There was the mouthy kid he knew and loved, not the timid and terrified teen that was underneath. Jubilee rolled with this, he wanted to calm down him before getting him home.

 

“Fuck you,” Jubilee rolled his eyes. “Don’t get this mixed up, I’m not going soft for some civilian-”

 

“Oh imagine the media eating this up; Jubilee is no longer fucking terrifying after three run-ins with a random teenager .”

 

Jubilee snorted. At least the tense atmosphere was fading.

 

“Oh am I not scary now?”

 

“I mean, yeah ‘cause you’re Jubilee, you are inherently scary, dude , but… you’ve been trying not to hurt me. I dunno bigman, makes you seem less evil.”

 

“Oh no~” Jubilee smiled. “My reputation is gone ! Evil no more!!”

 

“Fuck you.”

 

The kid was chuckling, so this was a win in Jubilee’s books. Jubilee composed himself a little. He was enjoying bouncing off of him, but he still wanted to give a proper apology.

 

“Seriously though, I am sorry. I don’t care if your luck is shit, if i hadn’t followed you in the first place, I feel like none of this would’ve happened. I was just worried about you, I never expected all this shit to happen to you.”

 

“I’m just some dude though?”

 

“Fuck… how do I word this… I think there is far more to your powers than you know. In the wrong hands… I don’t want to think what the wrong people could use you for.”

 

“Jubilee, the notorious villain, see’s potential in me ?”

 

“Yeah, I do,” he grinned. “But I think I need to start from the beginning with you again. So uh, hi, I’m Jubilee.”

 

Tommy scoffed at Jubilee’s outstretched hand.

 

“I know that you dumbass.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “I’m Tommy.”

 

Tommy shouldn’t really give his name like that, especially to a villain of this calibre, but he was fucking sick of being called kid and child, and he didn’t think fast enough to make up a fake name. He went to reach for Jubilee’s hand when two things happened.

 

First of all, the ground beneath Jubilee began to shift, the concrete moving like sand, the villain sinking into the ground. Second, Tommy was scooped up into someone’s arms, seemingly having had appeared from nowhere.

 

“ Saber! Help! ”

 

In seconds Jubilee’s teammate was through the warehouse doors and on them, sword in hand, getting closer-

 

“ Stay away from Tommy. ”

 

And then Tommy and the guy holding him vanished.

Notes:

thankyou so much for such a response to this fic! I didn't expect people to actually care about what I write, so its damn cool to see y'all get invested in this :)

I've been very damn impatient to start involving characters backstories in this fic, so now y'all have a sliver of Tommy's backstory... or is it just a dream, and it isn't literal? hehehe we'll see.

I have a general discord, but I have recently made a thread for posting my doodles of ppls designs in this, so feel free to join https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

Chapter 6: I can't imagine Tommy doing housework, yet here we are

Summary:

Jubilee and Saber process that Tommy has been kidnapped². Tommy understandably stays home so he doesn't have to run into the villains again,,, even that doesn't go well.

Everything had happened so quickly. Jubilee had thought he was making progress with Tommy, maybe gaining a tiny bit of forgiveness, and then he was hip deep in the ground, watching him being snatched away by a stranger. Tommy being double kidnapped was concerning sure, but he was more worried who . The guy was tall, wearing a shapeless cloak, and had a half mask that looked like an imitation of Avalon's one. Had he found out about Tommy too? Fuck.

 

Avalon knowing about Tommy was a recipe for disaster. Jubilee knew how not heroic Avalon was, and was frankly scared of Jubilee. Tommy was just a kid, but knowing Avalon he'd get the poor kid to fry villains or even power stuff back at their headquarters. Jubilee didn't want to dwell on that last one much, it wouldn't surprise him of Avalon to much much worse.

 

As quickly as the stranger had appeared, he vanished, Tommy along with him. Saber looked equally as thrown.

 

"Was that one of Aval-"

 

"No."

 

What??? Why did Saber sound so… sure? The dude had an Avalon mask on, of course they were working with the hero!

 

"But the mask-?"

 

"Using what he had on hand to hide his face? Do you think they want a villain knowing they can teleport? Anyways he's safe... I think…"

 

"You think?"

 

"He wasn't working alone;  judging by your height right now, it looks like Quake isn't retired anymore."

 

" Tommy knows Quake??? "

 

---

 

Tommy could recognise his housemate's power, and the disorientation and dizziness that followed suit as they suddenly appeared outside a warehouse complex.

 

"What the fuck Ra-"

 

"Shhh. Not yet. Once you're home we can talk."

 

Another teleport and they were back home. Ranboo placed Tommy on the couch before disappearing, a few moments later reappearing with Tubbo in his arms.

 

Thier get up's were… interesting to say the least. Ranboo was in an old suit and was wearing his Avalon mask from two Halloween's ago, and Tubbo had a facemask and massive goggles on, and an oversized aviator jacket that Tommy had never seen him wear before. He had to give it to them; they did look unrecognisable. But they also looked incredibly dumb. He guessed it was a rush to throw on whatever they could to hide themselves before hunting after him.

 

"Okay guys what the f-"

 

Tubbo cut him off with a sense of urgency.

 

" Tom Simons, did they hurt you? "

 

Ouugh, being full named caught him off guard. Tubbo only did that when he was angry with Tommy. But as Tubbo was taking of his goggles, he didn't seem angry, just deeply worried. The full name was probably just to get Tommy's full attention, but damn… 

 

He immediately averted his eyes to the floor.

 

"No, I'm fine."

 

Tubbo relaxed a bit. Not fully, but a little was something.

 

"Dude… you look like you've been crying, are you sure?"

 

Tommy composed himself and looked back up. Tubbo looked like he was about to cry, not angry in the slightest. He still had an anxious knot in his stomach though.

 

"I… had a panic attack… but I'm fine now!"

 

He could see Tubbo internally rile up at that, overprotective of his best friend, practically family at this point.

 

"I'm gonna kill them."

 

" Tubbo -"

 

"How many times do they have to target you-"

 

Tommy was the one to interrupt this time.

 

"They're not doing it intentionally! And besides… Jubilee apologized for all of this." Tommy responded, fiddling with the coat before noticing what he was wearing. Jubilee had put his beanie and trench coat on him to keep him warm in the warehouse. "Oh shit I still have his clothes-"

 

This made Tubbo pause. They were all pricks in his eyes, he didn't- no he couldn't trust them one bit, so the realisation that Jubilee had covered Tommy in his villain outfit for… warmth? That threw him. What did this mean? Was Jubilee going soft on civilians? Or did he have an ulterior motive? Maybe he saw potential in Tommy, Tubbo wouldn't blame him for that, Tommy still had a lot to figure out about his powers, as did they all. Or maybe it was as Tommy had been worrying previously, maybe Jubilee wanted to take advantage of Tommy and his powers?

 

Tubbo took a breath, took a second to sort out his thoughts and emotions. Tommy has been through a lot, there was no need to have an outburst.

 

"I'm sure he has back ups, don't worry, we'll find a way to return his clothes without you having to get wrapped up in more shit."

 

That seemed to calm Tommy a little.

 

"Do you want a drink?"

 

"Coffee please ," Tommy groaned, "I'm gonna pass out again from all of this if I don't."

 

---

 

Tommy didn't leave the house for months. He'd learnt it was right to be paranoid of the outside world. He'd love to go back to normalcy, but it was understandable that he'd need a good long break from the chaos so he can recover and readjust.

 

Before, he was the primary provider of stolen food, so he wasn't home as long as either of his friends, but now he had unlimited hours to burn through. The first week or so, he mostly kept to himself, trying to process all his run-ins with the villains and how he felt about it all. This wasn't all black and white, no matter how much Tommy wished it was.

 

He was lucky he was a human battery, the amount of time he was on his phone, it usually would've died three times over. Mindless phone games was an easy escape from his thoughts. The one con of their home is they didn't have WiFi (Tubbo somehow had wired a connection but Tommy didn't know how tech worked enough to question it.) But the amount of stores with free wi-fi about? Tommy had a large arsenal of games, threatening to run out of space on it.

 

He got bored of them about a month in, and started doing what was mostly unheard of for Tommy; housework. He'd never had time for it before, always getting out of doing anything because he was the one getting food and risking his ass out there, but he had far too much time on his hands, and he was fucking bored.

 

He left the areas Tubbo liked dumping things alone; that was organised chaos he didn't want to risk messing with. But the rest of the house was free game. Honestly this was the tidiest the house had been in years. Tommy wasn't sure if he liked it this clean, it was something new, but it was filling the time. It wasn't a small house by any means, and there was only three of them, so a lot of the house went unused and untouched. He was relearning the layout of his home of the last two years, and cleaning brought up questions that he didn't dare ask. In the more unused rooms, it was a time capsule to before Tommy and Ranboo were around, before Tubbo's hair was so unkept and long. 

 

He found a framed photo of Tubbo and the mayor of L'manburg, Mr J. Shlatt, from several years ago. They looked younger. Happier. Shlatt didn't look like the current asshat he was, and Tubbo looked so much more full of life and wonder. Tubbo didn't have a relationship with his father apart from this house anymore, and with how troubled he seemed when he talked about his past, Tommy didn't ask. He didn't need to know. He liked Tubbo, no matter his backstory.

 

Something had to go wrong, even while he was at home. Tommy was slowly coming to terms with the fact that disaster was just drawn to him, but at least it wasn't anything that scared him, like uh, people. 

 

A storm had rolled into L'manburg while Tommy had been cleaning up their garden. He paid it no mind, he loved the rain. The cold drops hitting his skin was refreshing. It was in this weather he could clear his head properly, his worries washed away by the water. Tommy abandoned his tidying and led in the grass, letting himself get soaked.

 

And then?

 

CRASH

 

A lightning bolt cut across the sky and rocketed straight into Tommy. He went from soaked to bone dry in seconds. He groaned, squinting through his now glowing eyes. Getting struck was the easiest way to surge, wasn't the worst way to get them but still Tommy wasn't a fan. He propped himself up on his elbows, scanning the sky for any sign that there were more bolts to come. I guess this was his sign to head back indoors.

 

Tommy grumbled, wiping himself down before heading towards the house. With his luck? He didn't even make it three steps before four more bolts hit him, quadrupling his overcharge.

 

So naturally Tommy blacked out.

Notes:

I tried my fucking best to not have Tommy run into trouble this chapter, but OoP there we go kdbdjsb I'm soRrY TOMS-

Chapter 7: So there iS WI-FI IN THIS HOUSE?!?

Summary:

Tommy recovers from getting fucking hit by too many lighting bolts, and Tubbo reveals a secret to Tommy.

Notes:

HOLY SHIT THIS FIC BLEW UP im,,, I've never had this many ppl reading my fics before... uh hello? enjoy this new chapter? :)

Everything was warm. 

 

Not unconformably so, just enough to keep him dozing, barely resurfacing to consciousness before floating back down again. It was nice. With all the stress Tommy had been going through the past few months, this was just what he needed. Toasty silent relaxation. Why was he warm? Did he get back indoors? Those questions were pushed down by another wave of warmth. 

 

No thoughts, everything's fine.

 

The cycle continued. He had no clue how long he'd been like this, more did he care. He deserved to have a break from everything that had been going on. And then Tommy shifted slightly, and aches echoed up his muscles. Eugggh . He'd been passed out on his front and laid there for far too long.

 

Why was he sleeping anyway- 

 

Tommy remembered the lighting. Had he even gotten indoors??? Tommy was far more conscious now, pushing past the warmth trying to drag him back into himself. It didn't feel good at all to move, so he just focused on waking up, opening his eyes to answer some of his questions.

 

He peeked through his heavy eyes, squinting at the sunlight now hitting them. He was laid looking at… burnt grass ??? Tommy hadn't made it anywhere close to the door when the lighting hit, but he had a charred blanket over him and there was a black and white phone case face down a few metres away playing some funky music, Lemon Demon he thought? Huh???

 

"Rise and shine dumbass."

 

Tommy strained his head to the direction Ranboo's voice came from.

 

"You know you gotta be more careful during thunderstorms," he smiled, "You still sparky? Or can I help you inside now?"

 

Tommy groaned.

 

"How long have I been on the fuckin grass like this? Overnight?"

 

Ranboo grimaced at that. Oh… fun .

 

"You've been surging for three days straight. The electricity was so hot, we couldn't move you."

 

"THREE DAYS???"

 

"Um, yeah. Also, Tubbo told me not to snitch but we did fry an egg on you."

 

Okay, that did distract Tommy away from the whole surging for three days thing.

 

"Why??"

 

"Wanted to see if it was possible," Ranboo shrugged, offering Tommy a hand up, "If you didn't stop surging today we were gonna try pasta-"

 

"Pfffft of course you were. At least tell me you took pictures."

 

"Hey! What's that meant to mean?!"

 

His body ached as he got up, relying mostly on Ranboo to remain upright. Being so still for days on end was not agreeing with his muscles one bit. At least he was glad to go back indoors. There was no sign of Tubbo, but Tommy just assumed he was the one getting the groceries today.

 

Ranboo had seemed tense when Tommy had woken up, but despite Tommy being okay now, he still looked stressed. Tommy wasn't gonna push, not yet. Besides, Ranboo was closer to Tubbo, not Tommy. He was sure whenever Ranboo wanted to open up to Tommy, he would. Maybe something happened when he was passed out? Tommy wasn’t going to dwell on it much.

 

What Tommy did dwell on was that lightning. He wasn’t sure he’d ever contained that much energy before. He was only human, and his body was only made for so much. He wouldn’t show it - he worried his friends too much already - but holding onto that much power was fucking terrifying . It had slowly dissipated into the ground, not sure exactly how that works but at least it was gone now, over the last three days but if he’d released that all at once ? Tommy was fully aware of just how destructive and fatal his powers were. He was frightened of the fact that one wrong move and he could easily kill those he loves. 

 

Tommy was also glad they lived so far out. Because this is one of Mayor Shlatt’s houses, there weren’t any residential homes nearby, he had quite a walk between the populated area of North L’Manburg and the path to their house, which means sure people could probably see lightning hit over here multiple times, but it was far enough away that only a few people might find that suspicious; there was lightning striking everywhere else during the storm too… just not that many times at once. He just hoped and prayed nobody noticed, or at least that nothing came of this. His luck may be shit, but this was his safe haven, and he was not having that taken away by those wanting to take advantage of his human lightning rod abilities.

 

Tommy had to rest up for the next week or so, his body protesting whenever he tried to do anything big. He was even struggling to use his powers, his body understandably drained from the event. Not that he could do much. At the first sign of rain, he’d been housebound. This was on Tubbo’s orders, Tommy could easily read of stressed he was. He wasn’t sure if it was just over him, or something more, but at this point, Tubbo was being oppressively protective over him. Tommy wasn’t strong enough to complain right now, it’s not like he wanted to go out anymore too. He’d practically closed himself off from the outside world. He kind of missed it, but his paranoia of getting caught in a hero-villain fight was far too strong. He wanted nothing to do with all that drama.

 

Staying home and mostly inside was taking its toll on Tommy though. It was boring as shit, and at this point, he’d run out of things to do. If they’d had wifi, maybe he could have entertained himself more, but no Tubbo’s shitty dad couldn’t even pay for internet for them?? Ugh . At this rate, Tommy was going to go mad. Then there was the problem with Tubbo and Ranboo. It seemed they’d mostly calmed down from Tommy’s latest stunt, but something was still up with them. They occasionally talked in hushed voices around him, or get all skittish when he walked in on them chatting. They were hiding something from Tommy. Not gonna lie, it did sting a little. There were three of them, it was inevitable he was going to be left out sometimes. Honestly, he expected that one-day Tubbo and Ranboo were going to leave him behind, reaching for a better world for the pair of them. As much as Tommy provided for the group, Tubbo and Ranboo were skilled in their own right, if they applied themselves properly, Tommy was sure they could integrate themselves into civilisation easily. Tommy though? Tommy would be left alone. There was something deeply ingrained in him that he was better off alone, that he deserved the isolation somehow. He’d be L’Manburg’s human racoon or some shit, fending for himself and stealing for scraps of food. He’d probably end up caught in a fight and eventually rot away somewhere….

 

He needed to shake off these shitty thoughts. No use of spiralling in them.

 

He didn't want to confront them, but it was driving him mad already. He’d already tried once with ranboo, who just teleported away, the coward. Tommy had figured he’d get more information out of Tubbo somehow. The time came as Tubbo returned from stealing some food for them, Tommy went for the opportunity before Tubbo could flee.

 

“What are you and Ranboo hiding?”

 

Tubbo looked frightened, then surprised, before quickly trying to mask his reaction. There it was. The confirmation they were withholding something from him. Lovely.

 

“What are y-”

“Tubbo. I’m not stupid, and I’ve been stuck in here 24/7. You don't have to tell me everything, but come on bigman.”

 

Tommy was tired. If Tubbo didn’t crack here, Tommy was just going to avoid the subject and hope they told him in their own time, at some point before he went insane from wondering probably. Tubbo hesitated a minute, before sighing and putting the tins he was holding down.

 

“Fine.”

 

“R-really?” Tommy didn’t think it was going to be that easy.

 

“I was just waiting for the right time,” Tubbo sat down next to Tommy, “Turns out there’s never a right time. So sorry for avoiding this for so long.”

“It’s alright dude, this sounds serious though, are you alright?”

 

“Yeah Im fine,” Tubbo fidgeted with his hands, “This is just going to require a lot of explaining though.”

 

Now Tommy was even more curious about what was going on.

 

“God, where do I start?” He grimaced, wracking his brain. “I let Boo in on my secret before we went and rescued you from Saber and Jubilee, it was the only way we were gonna reach you so quickly. But to get to explaining that, I have to explain my past-”

 

“Are you sure Tubbo?” Tommy reassured him. “I know you don’t like talking about it.”

 

“I told Ranboo, it’s only fair. Sure it hurts, but I’m slowly healing. I needed some time between each explanation to recover, but I’m ready to tell you. I used to be a superhero”

 

“ WHAT??!? ”

 

“Technically I was a vigilante, Quake , but we thought we were in the right. There was only a handful of us, rebelling against Shlatt’s shitty control over the city. Fuck, I even worked with Jubilee before he defected.”

 

“Did Shlatt know?”

 

“...no. Not at first. This was a year before I met you guys. People thought I was short, but I used a voice changer, so no-one knew I was just a fourteen year old. At first, I was fighting to let off steam, for fun even, but everything spiralled and then it was my job . I’d lost my chance of a normal childhood, Dad didn’t pay attention to me anyway so of course, it got out of control.”

 

Tubbo gripped at his jeans, pushing through the tough memories.

 

“It went wrong. Dad- Shaltt’s people, Mallard and Evergreen for example, trapped me and then…”

 

He lifted up his fringe. Tommy had seen the bottom of the scar, but he’d never realised how severe it was and how much of Tubbo’s face it consumed. Tubbo was blind in one eye . His other eye looked perpetually exhausted. 

 

“He pressured Saber into attacking me, not with his powers thank god . That’s when Shlaltt realised who I was, my mask had been burnt off. Messed him up royally that he’d been fighting his only son, that's one of the reasons he's the way he is now.”

 

He covered his eyes with his hair again.

 

“I got taken to safety to heal up, and one thing led to another and we ended up going out for revenge. Jubilee had broken off from us, Mallard replacing him after leaving my dad after going through his own shit, and coming with a few more people. We called ourselves the butcher army . Everyone had their own reasons to go after Saber. Fuck, we were actually pretty good together, we temporarily prevented Phoenix from getting involved and we managed to trap Saber.”

 

Tubbo took another moment to himself. It couldn't be easy reliving this.

 

“He was a step ahead of us somehow. I don’t know how he escaped, but i have a slash scar across my back from the chaos ensured afterwards, I know Mallard wasn’t so lucky and had a slash down his face. You’re not the only one with shit luck . I quit after that. I couldn’t cope. I ended up offering Mallard, though at that point he’d rebranded as a villain called Roulette, a safe house if he ever needed it before we parted ways.”

 

He was leading to his main point, the main secret he’d been hiding.

 

“Being one of Shlatt’s houses, our house has another layer, an emergency bunker or panic room of sorts. Secret rooms, a basement, and an underground travel network, emergency supplies, wi-fi, weapons, all just in case-”

 

“THERE’S FUCKING WI-FI?!?!?”

 

“Is that the bit you’re mad about?”

“YES. I can process the rest, but Tubbo I’ve been bored off my ass. I could’ve been fucking… playing online games, getting social media… why hide this?”

 

“I… I didn’t want to think about my past. When I met y’all it was still pretty fresh to me. The further time went on, it was harder to explain. Im sorry.”

 

“It’s alright. I’m glad you were comfortable finally telling me.”

 

“Do you wanna see it?” Ranboo stuck his head around the corner. Evidently, he’d not wanted to interrupt.

 

“Uh, fuck yeah is that even a question. And I want the wi-fi password.”

 

“Pfft fine.”

 

The trio made their way over to a bookcase in the living room. It was part of Tubbo’s personal dumping ground, so Tommy had never bothered to touch it. But on being directed to pull a lever hidden as a book? The entire bookcase whizzed to life. Tommy could hear gears turning as the bookshelf rose, and slid away. Tommy was expecting a cool fucking bunker, and frankly, it was.

 

 

 

 

But nobody was expecting was people to be in the bunker.

Notes:

Holy fucking shit hello everyone! Thankyou for the 1000+ kudos!!! And hello to all those who came from my tiktok, how the fuCK did I get almost 30k views on an art video?!? the algorithm rlly likes this fic huh- yall terrify me I moved on from the DSMP fandom to Hermitcraft, I stick my head back in DSMP for five seconds and BAM yall arrive jasnjkdsjknds
I really struggled with writing this chapter, I'm horrific at pacing events which is why Tommy has shitty luck, but I'm desperately trying to slow the plot down so I only lightly inconvenience Tommy, not fuckin traumatise him lmaoooo
I was really wanting to hold this Tubbo backstory till next chapter but oh well, this story is self-indulgent anyway so I can write this as shittily as I want despite the fact I have an audience now ooP
Also a reminder that i have a discord server (cause no one is in my thread about this fic i neEd to talk about it jajndasndsjknads)
https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC
Its a general discord for all my content, not just this fic, but :P

Chapter 8: Tis just a flesh wound

Summary:

Jubilee gets into a fight with the Dream Team and it doesn't go well, and y'all get to know whos in the bunker :)

Notes:

404 didn't suit Gogy's powers so I've renamed him in all of the chapters! His hero alias is now Evergreen! :)

A longer chapter as a reward for y’all being real pog

Content warnings for; violence lol, blood and bodily injury, poisoning
:D the fun of fights hehe

Never fight an unfair battle.

 

Sure, Jubilee was a cocky motherfucker, but every day wasn't his best day, not that he'd ever admit that. But today going out alone was a mistake, he was soon to find out. 

 

Fucking all three.

 

The "Dream Team".

 

He could take one hero easily. Two was quite the struggle. Three!?! He for sure wasn't going to come out of this unscathed.

 

"Awe, I'm a big enough threat that you're ganging up on me?" Jubilee sneered, barely dodging rapid-fire blasts from Hellfire.

 

His head already felt fuzzy from briefly knocking Avalon out with his powers, Avalon creating illusions while he was fighting would fuck him up easily , and Jubilee had a feeling these heroes knew that. Jubilee was a better teammate than a fighter, Saber was the brawn and Jubilee was the brains. But here he didn't have his player two, and being strategic would only get Jubilee so far.

 

He dodged two hooks from Hellfire before being smacked across the street by one of Evergreen's vines. He smashed through a shop window and into a display stand. Jubilee barely had time to scramble up before Hellfire threw a blast in there for good measure. Fucking hell, these guys had no thought to the property damage they were causing. I mean luckily as this was a more well off area, so these storefronts would have an actual chance of repairing what's being done, but still.

 

Jubilee was winded and choked for air as smoke surrounded him. He didn't have a moment to catch his breath, he had to keep moving otherwise he'd surely lose this fight. Leaping through the broken window he grimaced. He could see Avalon starting to get up. Fuck. 

 

Jubilee sprinted forward Evergreen, glancing about for Hellfire. Good thing he did because he was shooting another blast of fire his way. Jubilee launched himself in the air, doing a front flip over the blast. The tips of his trenchcoat smoked a little bit, nothing catching properly thank God. Following through with his momentum, Jubilee launched his knee into Evergreen's jaw. He definitely did some damage; Evergreen fell back, clutching at his face. He'd be fine…probably, the heroes usually had people to heal them back at their HQ. One hero down. Two to go.

 

" You fucker ," Hellfire growled, practically launching himself into Jubilee. 

 

Jubilee recoiled as Hellfire landed a strong hit across his face, stumbling back. The impact burnt, Hellfire having imbued some part of his power into that hit. And then he hit the floor, being kicked from behind. Fuck, Avalon had recovered.

 

"Do us a favour, and give up Jubilee."

 

Avalon's voice made his blood boil. He could tolerate the other two heroes to a degree, but Avalon? He was full of himself, and it infuriated Jubilee. Sure, you could be confident, but Avalon wasn't even stylish about it like Saber was. Jubilee rolled over and scrambled to his feet, but when he got up? Avalon was nowhere to be seen and there were three Hellfires. Shit .

 

He focused his energy on watching out for anyone getting too close and dodging their attacks. As soon as he got close to one Hellfire, another would try and blast him and he’d barely get out of the way in time. At this rate, they were going to wear him out and then go in for the fill. Focus Jubilee, focus . Instead of trying to take them out one by one, Jubilee tried to see which Hellfire had blood. Behind him . Perfect.

 

That’s one of Avalon’s downfalls with his illusions. They may look and feel fairly realistic, but they weren’t living. They had no water content, nothing for Jubilee to manipulate. Hellfire looked caught off guard by Jubilee figuring he’d the real one out this quickly, giving a panicked look over Jubilee’s shoulder. That’s where Avalon was, thank you Hellfire for being a dumbass and revealing his location. Jubilee sparred with Hellfire for a couple of seconds, looking for an opening. When it came, he swept Hellfire’s legs out. He didn’t need to knock him out, just down him for a minute. Jubilee then made a beeline to Avalon.

 

“Your tricks are getting stale Avalon,” Jubilee scoffed, “I thought you were the best of the best ? Pffft.”

 

Jubilee’s high kick was blocked and all the illusions dropped, revealing Avalon’s blankly smiling mask in front of him, stopping that kick. Avalon was better than Hellfire in this kind of combat, staying on the defensive. Punch after punch, kick after kick, Avalon continued to block Jubilee’s attacks. Even when Jubilee tried to disorientate Avalon with a rush of blood to his head, his defence stayed first. Damn . Jubilee hadn’t fought Avalon alone before, but he was more formidable than he’d initially thought. Although most of his focus was on Avalon, he was aware of the other two heroes behind him, probably recovering while he fought. He couldn’t see them but just by their blood, he could tell that Hellfire was checking in on Evergreen.

 

A quick nod from Avalon was all Jubilee needed to see to know he was about to get attacked. But being worn out from blocked attack after blocked attack, he didn't jump away quickly enough. In dodging, it missed any fatal points. But a giant thorned vine had burst out of the ground and ripped through his side. Jubilee screamed out in pain, collapsing to his side. His hands went to his side, coming away slick with blood. Jubilee sucked in a breath. As much as his body was screaming for him to deal with the wound, go to a hospital, anything , Jubilee knew he couldn’t. They were going to kill him. Here and now.

 

Jubilee dragged himself to his feet, trying desperately to use his powers to contain his blood and stop himself from bleeding out. The Dream Team had him surrounded, circling him like vultures. He had nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. And he was going to die. Well shit .

 

“Any last words Jubilee?” Jubilee could almost hear the grin in Avalon’s voice through his mask. “Any messages we should forward to your associates?”

 

“F-Fuck you-”

 

Jubilee manipulated all three heroes blood at the same time, temporarily knocking them all out. As soon as he heard their bodies hit the floor he stumbled away, groaning in pain. He never bloodbended multiple people with powers at once, he knew he couldn’t handle the consequences of that. But this was life or death. His blood felt like it was on fire, he was sure Evergreen’s toxins were flowing through his veins, and Avalon’s power made his vision practically unusable at this point. He shuffled away using muscle memory alone, hoping the trio would be downed long enough for Jubilee to get home. Just don’t go into shock… don’t go into shock… don't… 

 

Worry plagued his mind. In all likelihood, his wound was probably just a vicious bleeder and not life-threatening, but combined with the side effects of trying to bloodbend the Dream Team? What if he never got home, and died in a dingy alleyway, slowly bleeding out alone? What if He’d failed to knock them out properly and they were already after him again? What if he was too far gone, and never recovered from this, no matter how many health potions Phil made for him?

 

Jubilee made it to the house, opening the door… before collapsing, feverish, unable to go any further. The thud quickly drew the attention of Phil, who knew Wilbur was out on patrol today but hadn’t expected him back so soon.

 

“How’d it go, mate… Wil?”

 

Then he saw his son, unconscious and bleeding out.

 

“WILBUR!”

 

“Gnnngh, hi dad…”

 

He scooped up his son, kicking the front door shut, and immediately sprinted across the house with him, laying him on the counter closest to their stash of medical supplies.

 

“ TECHNO ! GET SOME HEALING POTIONS!”

 

This family wasn’t unfamiliar with injuries like this. When Techno was young and hadn’t figured out his powers yet, he’d gotten a lot of worrying slashes and cuts from not summoning his weapons in the right place. Wiping at the excess blood, Phil could tell that this was right a brutal bleeder, but this wasn’t life-threatening if they dealt with it quickly and smartly.

 

Phil propped Wilbur up a little bit, it definitely looked like he’d lost a fight against Evergreen. If he used his bloodbending against the hero, the likelihood was that the poor guy had gotten poisoned. Judging by how feverish Wil was, it was probably the case, and Phil didn’t want the poison to spread through into his heart and into his brain, that was a recipe for disaster. To be fair, the poison had probably made it’s way around a lot in Wilburs trek back. Being in a safe environment, Wilbur let his guard break and began to sob. Everything hurt so bad.

 

“B-be honest, Dad do I look like I kick-kicked some ass, cause -” Wil got interrupted by a string of blood filled coughs. “- Cause I feel like-like I kicked ss-som-s-some ass.”

 

Wilbur clung to his father. It wasn’t easy seeing Wilbur like this. It never was. But they’d all chosen to follow the life of a villain in L’Manburg, this was one of the dangers that they’d accepted. Techno grimaced as he walked in on Phil keeping pressure on his brother’s wound.

 

“You sure do mate,” He grabbed a potion off of Techno, “Drink this a minute.”

 

He carefully poured into his son’s mouth, his expression relaxing a bit.

 

“They fucking ga-ganged up on me!”

 

“They? The whole Dream Team?!”

 

“Yeah! Eughh-” Phil had shifted slightly in his pressure on the wound. The poison was still active in Wilbur’s system, it was going to take more than one healing potion to get him back to stability, judging by the number of tears streaming down his face still. “I got fuc-fucking lucky. I do not recommend fig-fighting them all at once it is not a f-fun time.”

 

“Why would they all be together?”

 

“They’re t-trying to pick us off one by o-one, but evid-evidently they’ve failed with m-me. I’m just t-too amazing for them to ki-kill.”

 

That explained why Wil looked like shit. Phil concentrated on slowly feeding Wil potions while distracting him from the pain with the conversation, but Techno’s focus was elsewhere. Something didn't feel right. Wilbur liked to call it his spider-sense, and Phil didn’t think it was to do with Techno’s powers at all, but he had strong gut feelings that were never wrong.

 

Right now that gut feeling was telling him something was coming. Judging by the rough state his brother was in? He’d probably unintentionally led the heroes to their safe zone. He could berate Wilbur later when he wasn’t at risk of dying. Right now he had to focus. His power meant he could pull weapons out of hammerspace, but those were basically made out of energy, and he could choose what and who that energy came in contact with. What few knew is that he could store real objects in there too. Doing so made him nauseous as fuck, but right now he accepted he was going to feel like shit. 

 

Techno speed-walked around the house, absorbing as many important items, clothes, and documents he could find, before returning to his dad and Wilbur, who looked rough, but the bleeding has significantly lessened.

 

“Everybody up,” Techno tried to appear as calm as possible, but the approaching danger was getting closer, he could feel it.

 

“W-why?”

 

“I can feel it in my gut. We need to leave right now, I’ve collected everything important.”

 

Wilbur and Phil shared a look of worry.

 

“Did you get my guitar?”

 

Was that really something to worry about right now?

 

“Yes Wil, I have everything. I feel like im going to pass out right now if that answers how much im containing.”

 

“Holy shit alright.”

 

Phil scooped up Wilbur once more, keeping pressure on the wound as he pulled a wall away. The majority of the walls, though disguised to look more normal, were made of metal, so Phil could rearrange the house how he liked. Behind the wall revealed a dark and dusty passageway, clearly long unused. Their timing was perfect because as he manipulated the wall back into place, he could feel a rush of heat and the distant voices of Avalon, Evergreen, and Hellfire who had started to burn their family home down.

 

Both being villains, the three of them had had some run-ins with Roulette, owner of the Las Nevadas casino, and well known winged villain. Some good, some bad. At one point a young hero that would eventually become Roulette tried to execute Saber. Since then they’d somewhat made amends, having teamed up to defend themselves against heroes various times. One team up, Roulette had mentioned a safe house, if they were ever needing a palace to lie low for a while, that was where to go.

 

They weren’t sure what to expect when they emerged out but it felt like they had been walking across all of L’manburg at this rate. But they’d made it . The safe house looked like a bunker. There were no windows and everything was painted in a cold grey. Good that it wasn’t white, they didn’t want to stain anything with Wil’s blood. There were weapons, a small kitchen setup, and behind a sliding cabinet, Techno found mattresses and bedding. Phil found somewhere to sit Wilbur while Techno emptied his hammerspace out into the corner, finally getting some respite from containing it all.

 

They were safe . They’d lost their home, their comfort, but they were safe.

 

And then one of the wall behind them slid away.

 

Three kids were staring at a bloody Jubilee, and a maskless Phoenix and Saber. Saber was possibly unrecognisable, but seeing as Phil summoned the blades that formed his wings out to hide them it was too late. They’d seen their faces. Why now?!? Did they also live in the bunker? Why would there be children in the bunker Roulette offered them?

 

Phil recognised one of their faces. A blonde teen in a red hoodie. Oh shit, the safe house was where Tommy lived?!?

 

Tommy had frozen in surprise, and Tubbo was shaking. He’d just relived some of his worse moments, and now the man who gave him his scar was just standing in his bunker. His feelings were raw as shit and on full display right now. Neither of the boys were reacting well. Ranboo thankfully hadn’t been traumatised by anyone in the bunker yet, so he moved himself protectively in front of his friends.

 

“ What are you doing in our basement.”

 

Ranboo didn’t often use that tone of voice, he usually wasn’t particularly serious, but when he felt his friends were in danger? Good god, he could be assertive.

 

“Roulette gave us the details of the safe house,” Phoenix responded quickly, adjusting his feathers to make sure both he and Saber’s faces were obscured. “Jubilee’s is poisoned and got impaled, and the heroes just destroyed our home. We have nowhere else to go.”

 

Before Ranboo could respond, Tubbo did.

 

“I don't care. Go anywhere but here, fuck off,” He spat. “It is my house and im not having him ,” Tubbo gestured towards Saber, “in my home. I gave permission to Roulette, not you guys.”

 

“I-” Phoenix hesitated. Clearly, this kid had seething hate for them, but he couldn’t see why he hated Saber in particular. He peeked through his wings again. The kid looked young, but he wasn’t a good judge of people’s ages honestly, and he’d covered his eyes with his curly brown locks. It looked like he had a nasty scar under there. An old burn scar? He quickly connected the dots. His voice was familiar, even after all this time. He’d only ever seen the kid’s bare face once when his son had attacked him on Mayor Shlatt’s command years ago. “ Quake ?!?”

 

He grimaced at hearing himself being called that name. He hadn’t been called that in years, but he nodded in confirmation.

“I hold a fucking grudge. Get out of my house.”

Notes:

Still fucking surreal that there's so many of yall now. This is the SECOND time I've slipped into a niche to make content for at the perfect time to gain an audience, the fucking chances of this happening twice

(First time this happened was making a dystopian BMC comic just as there was a gap in the market for one, and now it's been 2 years of comics lol)

Managed to get another chapter out fairly quick! Woo!! I’m probably gonna slow down even more over this Christmas break cause I work retail, and have two other AUs, a commission and an RP to work on, but thank you so much for the demand for this AU! Now you know whos in the bunker, not Quackity/Roulette, not Michael, but our beloved family of villains. :)

Someone wanted a list of names so!!
Wilbur - Jubilee
Techno - Saber
Phil - Phoenix
Quackity - Mallard / Roulette
Tubbo - Quake
Dream - Avalon
George - Evergreen
Sapnap - Hellfire

Chapter 9: Tommy, you aren’t a human trashcan, leave their food ALONE

Summary:

Tommy suggests a compromise, and Tommy also steals food, but not his usual kind of stealing.

Notes:

okokok i saiD I WAS GONNA GO SLOW BC CHRISTMAS- but my laptop is fixed and the keyboard feels gODLY and i write literally at LIGHT SPEED on it i started this like Christmas day so like,,,, have a chapter? Merry post - chrimbo yall :P enjoy

Also i know change between the villain names and irl names, i know its confusing but my writing style be like that, soz nskkjsskskks

 

“I hold a fucking grudge. Get out of my house.”

The household was tense.

 

Phil was desperate to stay. Although they’d tried to ration out the healing potions to Wilbur, the emergency evacuation had reopened his wound somewhat, and Phil wasn’t sure how stable they’d be able to keep him seeing as they still hadn’t been able to make an antitoxin to combat Evergreen’s poison yet. But he also wanted to keep up the illusion of being a terrifyingly strong villain. He didn’t have the privilege of choosing to have that though. These three had seen his and Techno’s bare faces. He doubted they’d snitch on them. None of them seemed particularly into working with the Dream Team, Quake especially, but it didn’t help his stress levels right now.

 

He understood why the kid didn’t want them around though. Techno had long gotten over Quake trying to kill him, everyone had tried that at least once. Techno didn’t particularly like the kid, but in all fairness, Techno didn’t like any kids. He wasn’t obliged to forgive Techno, and it was fucking clear that the kid had been festering on his feelings all this time. It’s not like they’d seen eachother in years, no chances to explain motives and at least understand each other even if forgiveness wasn't an option.

 

“Tubbo…”

 

“Yes?” Tubbo’s attention snapped over to Tommy. It was clear Tubbo was trying to contain himself when talking to his friends. As much as he was angry right now, he was not going to take that out on his friends.

 

“I owe Jubilee a favour…”

“You fucking what ??”

 

“He helped me out after I had that super shitty surge! I fully understand why you don't want them staying, I don't blame you . And I get that technically you get the final say since it's your place. But he’s bleeding out Tubbo.”

 

“So what do you suggest? Do you want me to put aside everything that I went through -”

 

“Oi, I didn’t say shit . Let them stay until Jubilee is alright? That wouldn’t be that long… right?”

 

Phil nodded.

 

“We’ll go as soon as he can handle it.”

 

“Please?” Tommy asked. “I know this can’t be easy for you but…”

 

“...Fine. But only for your sake Toms, I’m not having you owe them shit.”

 

“Thank you Quake… Tubbo?”

 

“ Fuck off. ”

 

-----

 

Tubbo didn’t come out of his room for the rest of the day. Tommy felt kind of bad, but Ranboo insisted it wasn't his fault. Tubbo had been through a lot, and Tommy had kept someone who had given his best friend trauma in the house. Of course he was going to feel guilty. But he’d figured this was the easiest way to rid himself of any favours. Sure yeah, Jubilee was also going to take him home after Saber kidnapped him, but seeing as Ranboo had taken him instead he hadn’t really counted it.

 

Ranboo ended up spending a lot of time in Tubbo’s room too, calming him down. That left Tommy to his own devices for the rest of the day. Honestly, he ended up managing to burn through a lot of the day on the internet. He’d missed out on so much content from not having internet access here for two years, and so it was easy to lose himself in his phone. There were only so many offline based games he could play until he went insane, so multiplayer mobile games? That was a welcomed change for a bit. I was an escape from the ridiculous shit that was real life.

 

What drew him away from his phone was a gorgeous smell coming from the bunker. Tommy had never learned to cook. They didn’t have the food to waste if he messed it up, and he didn't want his friends to go hungry, so he never tried. Tubbo could only cook simple things and honestly, all Ranboo was capable of was pasta… they had learnt that one the hard way. Evidently, the bunker was stocked up with ingredients to keep whoever was holed down in there alive and fed. It smelt like… curry ? To be fair it wasn’t all food on his mind. Despite all the shit Tommy had gone through, he found himself worrying about Jubilee. How badly had he fucked up to get that badly injured, and then have them lose their home?

 

Tommy meant to only open the passage a tiny bit to get a better smell of the curry that was making his stomach rumble, but he wasn’t the most subtle. He froze, as three pairs of eyes were on him. They didn't seem that surprised it was him though.

 

“You alright mate?” Phoenix asked through a mouthful of food. Tommy was surprised to find no one was wearing their disguises now, their identities on full display. I guess there was no point anymore, not when they’d seen two out of three of them and it's not like any of the teens were likely to go snitch to the authorities. To be fair, the villains were just a bunch of nobodies without their masks on.

 

“I- shit.” He fumbled. Tommy didn’t plan this far. “To be honest I was just following my nose.”

 

“Do you want some? The premade portion size was for five, Wi- Jubilee may have a big mouth but he doesn't have the appetite to match.”

 

“HEY!” 

 

“Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude, and I know that Tubbo hates you guys and I wouldn’t want to-”

 

“Well, put it this way.” Phoenix smiled. “Have you eaten yet Tommy?”

 

“Well, no-”

 

“Then you’re free to join us,” Jubilee piped up, lounged across his DIY bed. To be frank, he was just draped across a mattress on the floor, his midsection wrapped in gauze. “Quake’s / Tubbo’s strained relationship or lack of with us doesn’t mean you can't hang with us. I mean considering all you’ve gone through I wouldn’t blame you for hating us like he does, but eh.” He shrugged.

 

Free food was free food, Tommy wasn’t going to complain. He went over and served himself a hefty serving. He may end up regretting that, but Tommy wasn't going to pass the chance up of a decent meal that he didn’t have to pay for, and it wasn’t even spaghetti! Sure, he was now sharing a meal with L’Manburg’s most notorious villains, but at this point, it was a normal Monday for him.

 

Tommy had to contain himself. He tried his best to mask his expression, but this curry was the best thing he’d eaten in months. There’s only so many times you can eat variants of spaghetti before it becomes old and repetitive. So this simple vegetable curry? Delicious as FUCK.

 

Tommy was so invested in his plate, he was clueless about the way the others were looking at him. Techno honestly couldn’t care less and was focused on his book while he ate, but Phil and Wilbur? They were trying to mask their look of wonder and worry at him. Tommy was shovelling the rice and curry into his mouth at an unhealthy speed like this was the only meal he’d had today. Surely they had someone outside the bunker, raising them. Maybe not Shlatt, but they had to have an adult out there looking after them, right ? Tommy was scrawny as shit, it was clear that he didn’t have a balanced or regular diet.

 

But they shouldn’t pry. They barely knew the kid, and as much as their fatherly and brotherly instincts were trying to kick in, Tommy was a stranger. With a family, and a home. It wasn’t their place to help, especially as villains. Tommy and co deserved a normal life. And if they got involved? They were sure to lose their childhoods and probably end up with a shit fate like the villains were destined for in all likelihood.

 

Still, the curiosity was getting the better of them.

 

“So Tommy,” Jubilee prodded, “Who usually cooks the food out there? You’re eating like this is the first meal you've ever had.”

 

“Pfffft,” Tommy chuckled, mouth still full, “I don’t think I’ve ever had curry bigman, not to the best of my memory. All we have is pasta and im going insane here. I love Ranboo, but I need variety sometimes, you know?”

 

“You… don't have a parent cooking?” Phoenix asked.

 

“I uh-”

 

“I don't mean to pry mate! If that's something heavy and private that’s fine-”

 

“It’s alright, you guys… know Tubbo’s dad and why he's not around. Ranboo, we’re trying to find his parents. And me?  Don’t even know if I have parents.”

 

Tommy prodded at his curry. He’d never told anyone but Tubbo and Ranboo about his lack of family, and the consequent lack of his memory. It was dumb to tell them. They were adults, after all, he wasn’t sure if he really trusted them, if he could trust them , but it was good to get it off of his shoulders for once.

 

“As in alive or?”

 

“ Jubilee.”

 

“What? Orphans are Saber’s mortal enemy!”

 

Saber was actually listening in on the conversation, and that got a good snort out of him, much to Phoenix’s chagrin.

“I-”  Tommy hesitated. What was he doing? He couldn't trust them. He barely knew them! He- “ I lost most of my memory. All I know is I woke up in L’Manburg two years ago and got taken in by those two… before that? Nothing. ”

Notes:

Thank you again for the massive response to this fanfic! I'm still in awe there's sO MANY OF YOU, here and on tiktok! I love y'all sm you are what's motivating me to continue this silly little self indulgent AU, like?? I was barely in the DSMP fandom, I was in the early fandom way back at the start of the server sure, but not nowadays? Yet now I have an audience for the fandom?? Wild bruh.

Thank you for the fanart and fan videos on Tiktok!! It's fucking surreal to have y'all popping up on my FYP with TIYPIC content. <3

I'll stop rambling now lmao, thank you again, and g'night hehe

Chapter 10: Tommy's head is empty, yEET-

Summary:

Tommy shares his memory issues with our bunker villains, and Tommy asks a tough favour from Tubbo. :)

Notes:

So i spedrun writing last chapter,,,,,, and then immediately got writers bloCK- This is what i get ffs. Though to be fair im up to the point that i’d planned in my head, now i gotta fill the gaps between each of the significant plot points ,,, i thiiink ive got planned up to chapter 13 rn? We’ll see
Also! Y’all terrify me, i cannot confirm what speculating comments are correct or not but sTOP KNOWIG MY FUTURE PLOT POINTS NDNJSDNDS /hj
Yall are catching me off guard man, daMN

Tommy was so damn close to closing himself off again. He didn't know these people, yet he was letting slip the tiniest bit of trauma. This vulnerability was terrifying. This is the closest he'd let himself to being open to an adult in literal years. When he first was taken in, when Tommy was first learning the ropes, when he shared how scared he was, any of his worries, the adults he told got all weird around him. Was it pity? Disgust? Either way, it made Tommy have an uncomfortable feeling settling in his gut. He'd learnt it was better of keeping to yourself than airing out your issues. 

 

Yet these three weren't getting all weird on him. It was a welcome change, but not something Tommy expected. Saber… let's be honest Saber was hard to read, always rather deadpan. But there was a hint of something there… intrigue possibly? Jubilee seemed genuinely worried, at knowing this about Tommy. And Phoenix? Well, Tommy wasn't sure how to feel about the reassuring hand placed on his shoulder. These were fucking villains, and of all things, they were better than all the adults he'd interacted with so far.

 

"Nothing at all?" Jubilee cocked his head, pushing the subject a little.

 

"I get fleeting scraps here and there, but I have nothing to go on, no matter how much Tubbo's scoured... It's like I don't exist …"

 

Tommy's expression was an open book to read. He was literally a nobody. No one was looking for him. No one was out there who loved him. Aside from Tubbo and Ranboo? He had no family.

 

It felt weird to just tell people. His trust in these three was shaky at best, and it wasn't every day that he could confide in an adult. He and his friends were still technically kids. Their childhood had been snatched away for survival. His guard was still up under the surface. The second Tommy caught a whiff of anything off from them and he was out. But despite being villains, they were awfully understanding and patient with him. Is this what adults were meant to be like?

 

"What about Ranboo?" Phil tried to steer the topic away, "You said you were trying to find his parents too?"

 

"I won't share his story, that's not my place to do so, he's in a similar boat to me," Tommy replied, still clearly somewhat withdrawn, "But he has small chunks of memory, we just can't figure out how they fit together."

 

"Do all of you have memory issues?" Saber asked. If looks could kill, Phoenix's glare at Saber could've ended him. It was very much a " dude not the fucking time " look.

 

"Not gonna lie, probably," Tommy chuckled, "With Tubbo's trauma? Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest."

 

The chances that all three of them in this household having amnesia was a slim chance but at this point, it was like how gays flock together, so do the local amnesiacs. Let's face it though, how many amnesiacs did L’Manburg really have? Probably not many more than these three.

 

“Does this mean you don’t remember your powers either?”

 

Oh god , Tommy had been dreading this topic. He was always anxious when talking about his abilities. He dreaded the idea of then being taken advantage of with a fucking passion. But at this point, what did Tommy really have to hide? They'd experienced his powers first hand. He immediately masked his reaction, his fear. Contain the fear, push it down for now.

 

“I mean, you’ve seen my powers, I know I have fucking electricity powers,” Tommy shrugged, “But I am a beginner with them bigman, since I’ve had to work from square one. I can shock people. That’s it right now .”

 

He didn’t tell them he didn’t know where his surges came from. He didn’t tell them that he thought his body couldn't actually contain the amount of power he sometimes had. He didn’t say that his powers terrified him to a degree-

 

“You seem pretty capable with them already mate,” Phoenix said, “You’ll catch up with yourself in no time.”

 

“You say that, but it’s not like there are many safe places to use them,” Tommy complained. “Why do you think it’s taken me two years to only get this far.”

 

“Well, we could help-”

 

Everyone turned to Jubilee. No one was expecting him to suggest that. Especially not Tommy.

 

“W-what the fuck?” Tommy was especially taken aback. Sure they were at least polite to Tommy, but straight up helping him???

 

“I mean we have experience against a wide range of powers, simple training wouldn’t be that hard,” Jubilee rambled, “And besides, we could class it as a thank you for convincing Tubbo to let us stay a little bit.”

 

“Jubilee, you’re in no state to be training a kid right now.”

 

“Oh god, true.” He grimaced and then shrugged. “Sucks to be you.”

 

“We didn't agree to this! An besides, Tommy hasn’t even accepted-”

 

“ Would you though ?”

 

Tommy looked so hopeful. This was an opportunity he wasn't going to pass up. Sure, he was still terrified of these three, he knows what shit they were capable of, but he’d do fucking anything to get better control of his powers. Maybe learning the ins and outs of them could make him less scared of going out in public, if he could defend himself he’d be alright… right?

 

“Mate… I can't say no to those eyes.”

 

“You see bigman, that's secretly my real power- being fucking irresistible.”

“ Pffft sure Tommy, sure.”

 

“Though where the fuck would you help me? I can’t exactly go zap zap in here.”

 

“You could speak to Tubbo and see if he’s willing to let us use your garden?” Saber interjected. “He hates us but you seem to be able to sway him.”

 

“I can’t make any promises with that, when he’s set at something, like hating y’all, he’s fucking stubborn. But I can try.”

 

---

 

Tommy didn’t ask Tubbo immediately. That would be a fool's errand, knowing how unstable Tubbo was right now.  He gave him a day or two of grumbling in his room before they ended up being in the same vicinity for an extended about of time. Tubbo was lounging about in the kitchen while Tommy was cooking some spaghetti. Tommy could cook pasta fine himself, but it was nice to have the company. And besides, this gave Tommy an opportunity to ask Tubbo about freeing the villains from the room.

 

“How you doing bigman?”

 

“I dunno, how would you feel if you aired out some trauma and then immediately come face to face with one of the people that gave you said trauma?”

 

“Not gonna lie, pretty shit?”

 

“Yep.”

 

Tommy genuinely felt bad for keeping the villains here, but he’d probably felt worse if he’d let Tubbo send Jubilee to die. There was no way of winning in this situation, someone was going to be in the shit either way, and Tommy didn't want someone's blood on his hands and conscience.

 

“Sorry for asking to let them stay dude.”

 

“It’s… fine .”

 

Tommy gave him a look.

“Dude it’s fucked you up.”

 

“Toms, I care about you enough to put aside my hate for them for a couple of days, for your sake.” Tubbo sighed, “I sware if you asked me to let them wander, you’d find some way to convince me-”

 

Then Tubbo saw Tommy’s hopeful expression. He’d known Tommy long enough to know what that meant.

“- OH FOR FUCKS SAKE TOM .”

 

“Fuck you I haven’t said anything!”

 

“You can't just look at me like that! Are you growing soft for fucking villains??”

 

“I don't fucking know! They want to help me with my powers!”

 

“ Doesn’t that terrify you though? It’s fucking Saber, Jubilee and Phoenix .”

 

“I guess??? But it’s a thank you for convincing you to let them stay. And they can't exactly help figure out my powers down there, I’ll fry fucking everything .”

“You’re fucking lucky you’re my best friend.” Tubbo pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

“Is that a yes?” His eyes lit up. “It’d only be in the garden!”

 

“...Just warn me when they're fucking out and about so I can disappear.”

 

“You’re the best Tubbster.”

Notes:

A shorter chapter but at least im getting smth out! Homefully I can get chapters out regularly, I really fucking want to get to chapter 13 cause that's when yall get a solid piece of Tommy backstory I aaaaaaaaa

Chapter 11: Well fuck, this isn’t particularly pogchamp

Summary:

Phoenix trains Tommy. Tubbo deals with his trauma. The SBI leaves finally.
Content warning for underage alcohol consumption, and big depresso Tubbo

Notes:

To compensate for the rlly short chapter last time, have a longer one! Took longer to write bc ive been hit with illness after illness with no breathing room, but ive managed to finish this njdsndfs
I’m also gonna put hero/villain alias’ at the start of each chapter now on to make it the easiest to tell whos who, even if yall get used to it

Jubilee - Wilbur, Phoenix - Phil, Saber - Techno

Btw I apologize for the plot moving so quickly jdjdbdksnskj I'm not great at pacing things (even im frustrated w how im pacing this) and this is just a self indulgent fic for myself to write so dksbkdbdkd but I hope y'all are enjoying all the angst OoP

Tommy was practically buzzing. He’d given Tubbo ample warning that he was letting the villains out of their confinement. Saber wasn’t interested in helping and wasn’t exactly being forced to yet, and Jubilee wasn’t in a state to be going anywhere. That meant Phoenix was stuck helping Tommy out. Though he complained when Jubilee had suggested it, Phoenix seemed pretty content to give a hand in figuring out his powers.

 

Tommy had to contain himself. He caught himself sparking and had to reel it in. He’d wrecked plenty of technology in the past by not showing a level of restraint, but he couldn't help being a little excited. A L’Manburg renowned villain training lil old Tommy. No matter how scared one may be of him, it was a pretty fucking cool opportunity. By the time Tommy had gotten his nerve in check, Phoenix was waiting for him outside. He was leant against the side of the building, the metal he used for his wings left in a pile a little ay away. Seeing as they were conductive, that made sense. Didn’t want him to get electrocuted… again . Tommy gave him a little nervous wave as he exited the back door.

 

“So uh, how are we going about this bigman?”

 

Phoenix shrugged at him.

 

“Without frying me to a crisp, show me what you can do already?”

 

“Aw and here I thought I could be a budding hero, seeing as I temporarily floored you guys-”

 

“Pfffft mate you’ve gotta do more than that to be a hero, and besides, I thought you didn't like heroes?”

 

“Eh.” Tommy rolled his eyes, grinning. “Don’t like villains either yet here we are.”

 

Tommy put on a little light show for the villain, letting electricity crackle around his body. He was glad he was wearing rougher clothes today because his electricity was singeing it here and there. He didn’t have the biggest repertoire, and he felt a little dumb looking performing like this, but it was for the good of learning or something like that. He was pretty glad it was clear skies today; he didn’t want a repeat of the lightning incident again any time soon.

 

“ Tada ~” Tommy jazz-handed at Phoenix. “Was that enough of an example?”

 

Phoenix nodded, giving him a light round of applause.

 

“I know you said you were a beginner, but you seem to have the basics of your electricity down,” Phoenix commented, “Though it seems kind of…. unpredictable ? Like you’re not fully controlling it?”

 

“You think I can’t control my own powers?” he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

 

“Now now kid, I didn’t say that,” he retorted, “I’m just coming from my own experience raising kids with powers, I’ve seen how sporadic and hit or miss powers can behave when you don't have a mastery of them.”

 

“ You’re a dad???? ” Tommy was shocked. “But you’re a villain!”

 

“Yeah? And?” Phoenix chuckled. “Why do you think I become a villain in the first place, aside from fighting against the injustices the heroes cause? I have to provide for my family first and foremost.”

 

Tommy hadn’t really seen it that way before. He’d honestly not considered why villains did what they did. Made them seem far less monstrous and more human with that kind of reasoning.

 

“So how do you suppose I’m meant to control my powers better old man. It’s not as simple as an on/off switch to get them in line.”

 

Phoenix rolled his eyes at being called old. He got that enough from his sons, and now Tommy? Smh.  

 

“Well, aside from the copious amount of training that we don't have time for…”

 

He dragged one of the metal feathers over with his powers, before moulding its shape. Slowly it smoothed out and rolled up into a metal baton.

 

“Here, try this.”

 

He levitated it over to Tommy and dropped it in his hands. Tommy was surprised at what a lightweight material Phoenix’s wings had been made from. Being metal, he’d just assumed they were heavy as shit, but it felt unusually comfortable in his hands. Tommy swung it around a couple of times before swinging it around dramatically. Phoenix could tell Tommy probably could do with combat training, he wasn’t going to be able to defend himself if he waved the baton like a fucking plastic sword, but at least the kid was having fun with it.

 

Tommy then tried powering up. He’d never tried using something as a conduit for his powers before, honestly, he hadn’t thought of trying something like this. Evidently, Phoenix’s experience served him well in this kind of situation. Electricity crackled across his body, flashing and arcing. Tommy pointed the baton at a rock halfway down the garden. The electricity sparked through the baton and shot straight for the rock, leaving a scorch mark.

 

“ HOLY SHIT. ”

 

His eyes lit up with excitement and honestly lit up with sparks as well. He wasn’t surging but despite that Tommy was glowing . It wasn’t particularly noticeable in the sunlight but Phoenix picked up on it and buried his warm smile a little. He couldn’t be getting too soft on this kid. They were just here by chance and repaying the favour of helping them stay and recover. He wasn’t going to get attached.

 

“ PHOENIX THAT WAS SO FUCKING OUUUUUGH- ”

 

Tommy started flapping his hands about, trying to rid himself of his excess excitement and energy. He’d never used his powers so… concentrated before . It was a new feeling, far less unpredictable . And it was cool as fuck.

 

“How did you know  that was going to work?”

 

“Understanding science? That and you look like the kinda guy to swing a stick around so I figured it’d be useful.”

 

Tommy went to give the baton back so Phoenix could turn it back into a feather but Phoenix shook his head, refusing to take it back.

 

“It’s your wing though?”

 

“Keep it mate, I have plenty of feathers in my wingspan to keep me going, and besides unlike you, I have a supplier if I run out of them. Giving one away isn’t much of an issue.”

 

Notorious villain, the terrifying and merciless Phoenix… was gifting Tommy one of his feathers?!?

 

“A-are you sure?”

 

Phoenix chuckled. No matter how much Tommy insisted he was a teen, those bright eyes of wonder definitely belonged to the soul of an excited curious child.

 

“You need it more than I do. Keep it.”

 

Tommy tried his best to reign in himself internally. He wasn’t going to geek out. He shouldn’t. Sure it was one of the top villains’ and he’d just turned it into a tool for Tommy, but he didn’t need a full freak out. It was just a gift, nothing more. Focus Tommy .

 

“Anything else about my powers you’ve sussed out that I haven’t considered yet?”

 

“Depends.”

 

“On?”

 

“Do you know where your surges come from?”

 

Phoenix had a potential idea of where his surges came from?!? He’d take any speculations right now.

 

“Nope. My last one I got struck by lightning, so I know there where the excess of energy came from, but I don’t have a clue otherwise.”

 

Phoenix had to contain his surprise as Tommy mentioned it so nonchalantly. What the fuck did this dude go through on a daily basis?? Was his luck that bad???

 

“L-lightning ?”

 

“Yeah, Tubbo and Ranboo fried a fucking egg on me while I was passed the fuck out, not my proudest moment,” He shrugged. “Anyway, your idea?”

 

“R-right mate.” Phoenix got back on track, bringing up a point he’d thought of when his son had first told him about this kid. “Have you considered that you’re just not working at full power?”

 

“I… I don't follow.”

 

“I don’t know the ins and outs of your powers, but what if you’re internally capping how much power you're using, and when you surge it's just some of your potential slipping out. It would explain how they appear so randomly and because you're not used to the potency, how strong they are. Just speculating here.”

 

That… wasn’t a completely fantastical idea. Tommy wasn’t sure if Phoenix’s idea was particularly accurate, but it had some possible credibility to it. But why cap his powers? If his suggestion was the cause, was something lost to his lack of memory why he didn’t just go on full blast? Was it to protect himself? Or was it to protect others? Phoenix had given Tommy a lot to think about. They’d made more progress today in an hour than Tommy had done himself in two years. Maybe a fresh perspective was all he really needed to boost himself forward in progress.

 

Tommy was in a good mood. He’d stayed outside after Phoenix wandered in, just so he could test out his new baton more. God this weapon was cool. It was simple, but Phoenix had made more progress with him than he'd managed alone. Tommy would never admit it, but he did manage to bash himself in the head with it. He… he definitely needed more practice at this.

 

Once he'd sufficiently brushed his ego, he wandered back inside. Tommy headed back towards his room, wanting to stash his baton away. As much as he found it cool, he didn't want to upset Tubbo with it, if he associated it with the villains. And speaking of Tubbo, he could hear his friends as he approached Tubbo’s bedroom.

 

“Tubbo, you need to ease up on the drink…”

 

Tommy paused as he was about to pass Tubbo's room, quietening his steps. Tubbo… was drinking?!? Where the fuck did he get alcohol from???

 

“Why should I?" Tubbo grumbled. "It’s better to numb it all out-”

 

“Bo… you know this isn’t healthy…” Ranboo sighed.

 

Was… Tubbo drinking to deal with the trauma being dredged up? A pang of guilt echoed in Tommy's chest. Would Tubbo have started drinking still if Tommy had let the villains get kicked out? Or had he been doing this before? Tommy felt like a bad friend, his good mood soured somewhat. How had he not picked up on how Tubbo was feeling before?? 

 

“My dad solves all his problems with alcohol!”

 

Ranboo groaned at him.

 

“And look how he’s turned out!”

 

“Well, maybe I’m destined to turn out like that too!" Tommy flinched at Tubbo's outburst. “ Like father like son .”

 

“...Bo I hate seeing you in pain like this." You could hear the gentle frown in Ranboo's voice, worried about his best friend. "Just please… promise me you’ll ease up. Not stop completely, but please…”

 

“I-”

 

There was a pause from Tubbo who was going to argue but reigned himself in. He hated worrying his friends… he hoped he could actually stick to this promise.

 

“Fine Boo… I’m sorry for worrying you.”

 

“It’s alright buddy, you deal with trauma how you deal with trauma, if that's unhealthily then so be it.”

 

“ Prime, we all need therapy .” Tubbo groaned.

 

Tubbo chuckled.

 

“Pfft amen to that.”

 

Tommy made a move at that point, silently moving away from the door. It felt disrespectful and weird to eavesdrop, especially on such a heavy topic. Clearly, there must be a reason Tubbo didn't want Tommy knowing about his unhealthy coping mechanisms. As much as he was worried deeply about Tubbo, there was an ache of something. He'd let Ranboo know, not him. Clearly, they were closer. Ah, that's the feeling; Tommy's abandonment issues. Tubbo could have just told him, it was nothing to be ashamed of. Tommy could be trying to help him! Hell, if he'd known sooner he'd encouraged the villains in the bunker to get a move on even more quickly. But he couldn’t change this now.

 

---

 

Jubilee was lucky, being able to relax and heal up, they were ready to leave in a handful of days. He wasn't a hundred percent, but stable enough to not be in danger if they had to flee again. This time Saber didn't contain all their things, he made Phoenix and Jubilee carry some stuff so he didn't have to feel so burdened with it.

 

"Sorry for kicking y'all out so soon," Tommy grimaced, giving the villains a wave.

 

Jubilee shook his head.

 

"It's fine, thank you for letting us stay. Forward that to Tubbo too, if he's comfy with being forwarded that message."

 

"Will do. Good luck out there."

 

"Stay safe Tommy," Phoenix smiled as they filed out the bunker back into the tunnels.

 

"I'll try, no promises," he snorted in response.

 

God with his luck, he hoped he'd stay safe. Or at least for a little while longer. With the villains gone, Tommy focused his attention back on Tubbo. He felt awful about how Tubbo was suffering. Tommy fully blamed himself, if he hadn’t convinced him to let them stay he’d feel less shitty. Hell, if Tommy hadn’t gotten kidnapped, then Tubbo wouldn’t have aired out his trauma and bunker in the first place. Sure, Tommy appreciated the wifi, but at the sake of his best friend being a wreck? Not great.

 

Tommy wasn’t the most familiar with hangovers, but he was sure Tubbo must have started being hit with one seeing as it wouldn't surprise Tommy if Tubbo had been regularly drinking all week. He knew that TUbbo would need to hydrate, and probably need something to eat, but that was the limits of his knowledge. After a little bit of googling, and good luck for once if finding that they did have some canned soup at the back of the cupboard, Tommy made some soup for Tubbo and a bottle of Gatorade. Not healthy, but hopefully make him feel a little bit better.

 

Tommy didn’t speak when he went to drop it off in Tubbo’s room. He gently knocked, before opening the door enough to slide the two in. He wasn’t even sure that Tubbo was awake.

 

“... Thank you Boo.”

 

Tommy shut the door, not wanting to disturb Tubbo any longer. He’d mistaken him for Ranboo, but Tommy didn’t mind. He’s fine working from the shadows if it meant Tubbo was feeling a little better. The weight the blame he put on himself lightened a little at that. He was sure he’d slowly find little ways to apologise, to get forgiveness for making so many problems.

 

Tommy just hoped Tubbo didn’t hate him for causing all this.

 

---

 

“Care to explain to me what the fuck is up with you two?”

 

Phil and Wilbur gave Techno a questioning look, their steps echoing around them as they put some distance between the safe house and themselves.

 

“What do you mean mate?”

 

Techno narrowed his eyes at the two.

 

“Well old man, you’ve gone from trying to kill him for hurting Will, to doting on him like he’s your third child.”

 

“I am not !” Phil defensively retorted.

 

“You two look like you’re practically begging to adopt him.”

 

“Fuck you Techno.”

 

“I’m just stating the obvious.” He rolled his eyes at them as they slowly made their way through the tunnels. “What’s gotten into y’all? It’s not like you to… be this mushy over some random kid?”

 

Wilbur sighed.

 

“I don’t fucking know. He’s annoying as shit but somehow… I’m not fucking attached to the asshole-”

 

“Mmhm. Sure.”

 

“- But he’d just a kid. That’s gone through far too much shit.”

 

“He’s not our problem though,” Techno argued lightly.

 

“Kinda made it our problem when you kidnapped him. We were trying to distance ourselves.”

“ Heh?!? I was doing the usual!” Techno complained. “Not my fault the usual might traumatise him and apparently get the two of you attached, prime .”

Notes:

wasnt sure where i was going to end this chapter,,, just means ooooHH BOY angst next chapter :)))
if u wanna chat w me about the fic, my general discord is still open for ya to vibe in https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

Chapter 12: He is gone.

Summary:

Tommy has another weird dream and has a fight with Tubbo. It… doesn’t go well.

Notes:

This is officially my longest fic! Absolutely fucking wild. My longest one before this is a jack frost x reader rise of the guardians fic i wrote on FF.net back in like,,, 2017 when i was a kid?? I think this fic is much better, since yknow, its not got random songfic elements and super inconsistent writing. TIYPIC actually has a little bit of structure and planning to it? Lmao

There’s a couple of IRL names in this one, in the first scene! (They aren’t /all/ the same as the CC’s irl names for uh… reasons ;D ) Cause they aren’t hero names, I wont be explaining them in the notes, but as per usual heres the hero/villain names for this chapter, the same usual three lmao

Jubilee - Wilbur, Saber - Techno, Phoenix - Phil

Everything was fuzzy.

 

Theseus’ muscles ached, begging for rest that hadn’t quite arrived yet. He could barely focus, fading in and out. Trying to wake up properly or trying to move just made it worse, so he just floated through his consciousness, occasionally dipping into being aware of his surroundings. He wasn’t in that horrible machine that drained his energy right now. Instead, he was in someone's arms. They were warm and although firm, they were gentle with him. The warmth didn’t help Theseus’case of concentrating. They helped him fall back into rest so damn easily.

 

There were voices around him. It was hard to absorb what they were saying while he was in this state, but they sounded stressed and worried, and the person carrying him had tensed up.

 

“ Karl, please -”

 

“Nick…what if I forget you and Alexis?” Karl rambled, worried to all hell. “I’ve not strained my powers this much before.  Anything could happen. I could lose you two .”

 

“I’ll find you… I’ll make you remember us , I promise.”

 

He was passed over Karl, whose arms were softer than Nick’s - he made contact with thick fleece rather than his bare arms like the other - they buckled a little under Theseus’ weight before adjusting to it.

 

“What if Caduceus finds out we took-”

 

“I can deal with him, he’s one of my best friends, I’ll find a way around this okay?” Nick reassured him. “Don't worry about me love, I’ll be fine. We just need to ensure Theseus is far out of his reach.”

 

His focus dipped again, curling into Karl’s chest. Everything was suddenly very bright. It wasn’t like fire, electricity, or any other light he was familiar with. Even with his eyes closed, he could see the strobes of swirling colours, bright and vibrant. Entering this brightness, Theseus’ head throbbed. It was overwhelming and disorientating. He squeezed his eyes shut. It was too much, he couldn’t get away from it, he just hoped he could dissociate enough to be unaffected by the overload of light.

 

Soon he was away from the brightness, now plunged into hazy darkness. The pitter of rain surrounded them. Theseus’ weak body was propped against a building. The frigid droplets chilled the drained boy to his bones. He’d been abandoned in some alley, in the middle of nowhere by Karl. No cover, no protection. And at this low energy, it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to the cold and moisture out here. What a shit way to go. He may have been rescued from one hell, but was this any better, drowning in his isolation? At least he could die here, he could finally be permanently free. He couldn’t be hurt again if he was dead.

 

C R A S H

 

What hit him felt like a sort of end. There was a rumble of thunder and then suddenly Theseus was unbearably hot, everything was bright around him, but hey, he was dry now! He let himself melt completely into this heat. He’d let it take him wherever it wanted. He hoped, he prayed , that this was the end.

 

---

Ever since the villains had vacated the bunker, Tommy had been practising with the baton. He had to admit, he was pretty shit with it. As fun as it was to swing it around and shoot random rocks with his electricity, just from looking at some staff fighting videos on Youtube, he could tell both his technique and form needed a hell of an improvement. Not that he planned to do any actual fighting. It was just a nice skill to have, and it would probably help Tommy so try some sort of working out, to get a little more fit. He wasn’t expecting to have to use his baton and powers against people, but he had a nagging voice at the back of his head to train anyway.

 

So he did. He had no one to instruct him, only youtube videos to reference, so he couldn’t tell if anything he was doing was wrong, but it was better than nothing. Slowly but surely the movements became muscle memory, leaving his limbs aching, but growing his confidence in defending himself. Sure, he would probably choke in the moment and panic if he got in an actual fight, but in theory he could feasibly defend himself now.

 

Tommy wasn’t sure how Tubbo was doing. He’d avoided being out for days after the trio had left. Tommy couldn’t deny he was worried about him. But he wasn’t sure how to go about approaching the whole drinking thing, and lets face it, the whole probable depression. Tommy had never had a way with words, and he was still scared Tubbo hated him or something, so he let Tubbo have his alone time. He could talk to Tommy when he was ready to.

 

It wasn’t like Tubbo didn’t interact with Tommy at all in this time. There was the odd hi, the very short conversation here and there, but nothing solid enough to understand what was up with his best friend. The worry was eating away at Tommy, but there was nothing he could do. It’s not like he could just roll up and go “ Sup Tubbo how shit is your mental health right now? I am here now you feel better right?” or some shit. Tommy didn’t know how to communicate his worry and want to help his best friend without coming off as a dickhead.

 

They eventually found somewhere to just talk . Ranboo was out on a ‘shopping trip’, and Tommy was making a super simple stir fry with some leftovers he’d found, figuring frying up some foods shouldn’t be that hard, not harder than cooking soup or pasta. Tubbo had wandered in while Tommy was chopping his ingredients. The poor kid looked like shit. His eyes were bloodshot from crying and he looked exhausted. Tommy tried not to make comment on how rough he looked.

 

“What ya cooking?”

 

Tommy gave Tubbo a little smile. He missed him.

 

“A stir fry… I think?” Tommy shrugged. “To be completely honest with you, I have no fucking clue what im doing, I’m just throwing shit in here and hoping it works out well. It’d be nice to find some variety in meals.”

 

“There’s something wrong with having spaghetti?”

 

“N-not inherently??? I just can only eat pasta so many times in a row before I go insane. I don't know how you and Ranboo do it. Your carb tolerance is powerful .”

 

“We’ve got a commitment to the pasta grind my friend.”

 

“Give it a hot minute and you’ll be married to pasta.”

“It’d be a fulfilling relationship Tommy, imagine .”

 

“I’d… rather not,” Tommy snorted. Fuck, he’d really missed interactions like this. Just mindless banter. He tossed his food scraps to one side, before putting handfuls of food into the steaming fryingpan. He wasn’t really sure what he was doing, he’d not bothered to google how to do a stirfry and was just playing this all by ear.

 

“What’s that sticking out of your pocket bigman?”

 

Oh fuck, Tommy had forgotten to leave the baton in his room. He’d wanted to avoid talking about any of this, but it was inevitable it was going to come up eventually.

 

“I uh, it’s a metal stick..?”

 

Please don’t ask further, please drop the subject - 

 

“What did you break to get a random stick dude??”

 

God damn it Tubbo.

 

“Pfft hey! I didn’t break anything… technically .” Tommy defensively chuckled.

 

“Okay, did Ranboo break something then?”

 

“No! Um, it’s one of Phoenix’s wing feathers?”

 

There was a break of silence, the only sound being the sizzle in the pan as Tommy moved everything around anxiously so nothing would burn. Tommy was faced away from Tubbo.WHat was his expression like? Worry? Distrust? Disappointment? It was chipping away at Tommy’s spiralling anxieties. What was Tubbo’s thoughts on this all?

 

“You stole a feather from him? Do you have a death wish ???”

 

“You know how they volunteered to help me figure out my powers as a thankyou for convincing you? Phoenix gave me his feather, he turned it into some fucking baton.”

 

“ You don’t want to owe them anything Tommy. ”

 

Tommy’s gut told him this conversation wasn’t going to go well. He’d been avoiding talking about the villains for so long. But just because Tubbo didn’t like them didn’t mean Tommy was going to put up with this.

 

“I don’t owe them shit Tubbo. This is it, transaction or whatever is over.” Tommy served up his food up before shit it the fan. He just didn’t have a good feeling about this, and he would like to eat his lunch at least before he fucked something up.

 

“I’m just trying to look out for you man. You can’t trust them, villains will fuck you up.”

 

“Tubbo,” Tommy sighed, “I know you have your problems and traumas that you’re working though. But they’ve made up for any shit they’ve caused me. People can change, they aren’t so bad-”

 

“Don’t say that Tommy, don’t fucking say that-”

 

Tommy rolled his eyes as he stuffed another forkful of food into his mouth, trying to not get irritated at Tubbo’s insistence. He didn't want to undermine Tubbo’s trauma, but from Tommy’s experience the villain’s scariness had degraded. Maybe not Saber… but Jubilee and Phoenix weren’t so bad.

 

“Phoenix is just a dad trying to provide for his family! Wow, so fucking scary .”

 

“Is that how little information you need about them to humanise them?!? Saber likes reading greek mythology and Jubilee plays the guitar. Does that make them less scary to you?”

 

“Yes????” Tommy was confused why Tubbo was getting so riled up about this. He was entitled to his own opinions of the trio of villains, he didn’t have to hate them too!

 

“Prime you’re foolish then.”

 

“Well sorry I don’t hate them forever like you do. They’re not so bad once you get to know them-”

 

“ You don’t know them Tommy. One moment they’re your teammates, the next minute they’re trying to blow your head off! ”

 

“Stop pushing your trauma on me! The most Saber has done is threaten to kill me and knock me out!”

 

“Isn’t that bad enough?!?”

 

“I’ve gotten over it! Prime, they’re just like us, a group of people with powers just trying to survive-”

 

“ Don’t compare those monsters to us .”

 

"I don’t fucking villainise and dehumanise you when you used to be a hero or vigilante or whatever; you’ve probably hurt people too apparently . If they’re monsters what does that make-”

 

“ Get out. ”

 

“For fucks-”

 

“ Tom. Leave. ”

 

Ah shit.

 

Tommy slammed his half-eaten plate on the counter and stormed off to his room, tears brewing. What the fuck was that? Tommy had been avoiding talking about the villains for this reason exactly. He didn’t want to get into Tubbo’s issues, not when he was either still drinking or at least recovering from drinking. He missed his best friend, but this is not how he wanted hanging out with him to go. Tubbo hated him. Tommy was sure of it. 

 

In all fairness, Tommy did say things he regretted. It was in the heat of the moment and butting heads lead one thing to another. But he couldn’t take that back now. He didn’t take the leave as a “go to your foom and fuck off”. He took it as a leave . Tommy had been terrified this day was going to come eventually. When Tubbo and Ranboo would grow tired of Tommy, abandoning him. Bitter tears burned down his cheeks as he packed his backpack with essentials.

 

He’d never had to live on the streets before, as soon as he’d met Tubbo and Ranboo, he’d been taken in by them, given a roof over his head. As cocky as Tommy was, he knew it was going to be rough out there. Maybe his powers would give him a step up, but he was not looking forward to this one bit. He luckily had some snacks stashed away in his room. It wasn’t much, but he couldn’t bear dealing with Tubbo again. Not yet.

 

---

 

It was late afternoon by the time Ranboo returned home. He could immediately sense something was up, abandoning the food he brought back on the counter. You could almost cut the tense atmosphere with a knife. But Tommy and Tubbo weren’t in the kitchen or the living room, though he did notice an abandoned plate of food. Both boys are living trash cans, they wouldn’t waste food like this.

 

“Tommy?”

 

He poked his head into Tommy’s room. He wasn’t in there. And a good chunk of his shit was missing??? Tommy didn’t own much, none of them did, so when someone took stuff you could tell. Larger items had been left behind, but most of his clothes were gone. He’d left behind a photo frame they all had a copy of, a photo of the trio. It was face down, and when Ranboo gingerly picked it up, on second inspection it’d been smashed.

 

Ranboo was more worried now. He quietly made his way over to Tubbo’s room, knocking gently.

 

“Bo?”

 

“ What do you want ?”

 

Tubbo had red eyes, clearly he’d been crying a lot again, and was drinking too. His room was a mess like a bomb had gone off in there. Items were angrily strewn across the place.

 

“I wanted to check in on you, the house is scarily quiet. What happened while I was gone ?”

 

Tubbo’s expression darkened as he took another swig.

 

“Tommy and I had a spat, we need some time apart right now okay?”

 

“Tubbo…what did you say to him?”

 

“Why do you need to know?” he growled.

 

“ Because his room has been stripped- ”

 

Tubbo put the bottle down, eyes widening.

 

“ He’s gone , Bo .”

Notes:

God, this was going to be longer, but I've split the chapters cause I don't have the patience sjndndsnsjfdjknd I guess that means y'all shit next chapter heheheh
but I'm glad I managed to figure out how to navigate the fight! I really struggle writing good arguments cause I'm conflict adverse lmaooooo
if u wanna chat w me about the fic, my general discord is still open for ya to vibe in https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

Chapter 13: Don't cause a power outage I stg

Summary:

Tommy deals with being homeless, discovers a new aspect of his powers, and has a run in with a hero

Notes:

Tommy is depressed, the poor lad is having a tough time a so uh
CW: suicidal thoughts, self deprication, general homelessness

The churning pit in Tommy's stomach that had appeared as he'd been packing didn't dissipate as he left the house. It just continued to make him feel more and more nauseous with each step towards the city. He didn't want to think how his best friend wanted him gone. He didn't want to think about the struggles ahead of him, the sleepless cold nights he was soon to experience. He didn't want to think how he was completely and utterly alone in the world now, that if he were to meet his end now, no one would miss him, no one would even care. Tommy didn't want to think.

 

He tried to distract himself. He hummed to himself, it was one way to pass the time. It was quiet, but he slowly made his way through all the Animal Crossing soundtrack that he had memorized. It wasn't a great distraction from his spiralling, but soon the gravel track away from the property changed to stones, and then a concrete pavement. Slow progress, but he'd get to somewhere with decent shelter options eventually. He was just glad he hadn't been kicked out during a storm or some shit, then he would have been fucked . I mean he was kind of fucked anyway, just slightly less.

 

Come on Thomas Simons. Think of anything but the looming future. Hey! Think about the fucked up dreams you've had instead! Tommy didn't understand the dreams he'd been having as of late. It wasn't a regular thing by any means, but he'd been having… memories possibly? He'd written them off as just dreams because from the point of view of the dream he was being called some dumbass Greek sounding name, but then again, Tommy didn't know his true legal name. He'd made up Thomas Simons and figured it was a normal enough name to roll with. It'd clicked with him far more than the name in his dream, Theseus. But seeing as some of the dreams were more like nightmares, maybe there was a reason why there was a disconnect to the name. He didn't want to have that kind of backstory. He hoped he had parents missing him, maybe a whole family searching for their missing son. Then again he'd been off the radar for two years. The world probably thought Tommy was dead, if the world even knew him at all.

 

Tommy didn't know where to start looking for shelter. He was privileged enough to have been brought in by Tubbo practically upon meeting each other, so he'd never had the chance to rough it out on his own out here, not that he'd willingly do this unless he had to. He had the common sense to know he didn't want to camp out in the open. He had heard enough horror stories of how authorities pushed the vulnerable homeless population about with no regard to their wellbeing. Tommy already had a bad rep with the cops anyways. He wanted to preferably avoid any run-ins at all costs.

 

Tommy could probably find a way onto some of the roofs in L'manburg, but then came the issue of cover from the elements, never mind if a storm rolled in. The simple option was homeless shelters, but that was too predictable, besides he didn't actually know where any were.

 

Tommy barely slept his first night alone in the city, exhausting himself by crying to sleep. He liked to think he was a tough bigman, but to be frank, he was drained and fucking terrified of his future prospects. He'd tucked himself behind some rubbish bins, using their open lids as shelter. Lucky, the night was mild out, and no one has messed with him. I mean worst comes to worst if he got mugged, Tommy could just shock them, but that was beside the point. How was he meant to spend his days? Thieving from shops? Set outside supermarkets, begging? He couldn't even use his phone to pass the time; he'd left that behind. Tommy was out of his depth here, and if he didn’t play his cards right he’d drown into the depths of L’manburg, not to be heard from again.

 

Despite occasionally stealing essentials from nearby stores, Tommy quickly found himself going hungry. Back living with the boys, they didn’t eat a lot, but now not having even a snack to his name? Tommy’s thin frame was quickly going to become prominent, more skeleton than Tom, not that he noticed. Sure, he was hungry and exhausted all the time, but there wasn’t a whole ton he could do about it. He missed his old home, he missed Tubbo and Ranboo. He’d actually seen Ranboo around town over the few days he’d been out here. Tommy had avoided contact, he wasn’t ready to make any sort of contact yet. Still, Ranboo looked as exhausted as Tommy felt. Maybe he’d got in a fight with Tubbo too?Tom wasn’t sure, and didn’t want to waste his thoughts on speculating about how life was at home. He shouldn’t really call it home anymore, should he? Since he was kicked out and all. Tommy was not to think about Mayor Shlatt’s spare home anymore.

 

Tommy couldn’t just sit and feel sorry for himself for days on end. If he was going to die on the streets, he was going to at least put up a little bit of a fight first. Tommy was trying to keep himself looking presentable as possible, so he didn’t draw unnecessary attention to himself, and so he’d actually be allowed in shops without being judged. He looked like he’d had better days, but that meant he could wander the malls and shopping complexes without worry. He’d not really had the time to wander around the before, he’d always had to focus on the priority of stealing supplies. He almost felt normal here. 

 

It was on one of these strolls through the mall that he noticed an abandoned area of the mall had been closed off for maintenance and no one was there right now. He slipped into the space before anyone could notice him going where he shouldn't. He walked around the empty half renovated space. This wouldn't be a permanent new home for him, but it had cover from the public and the elements, and as long as he was in there before the mall shut and didn't get noticed, and he wasn't around when the revocation work was being completed, he'd be good to live here for a little while. Beat being curled up under rubbish bins by a long shot.

 

It was a handful of days after he had made himself comfortable in the darkest nooks of the space that there were any more developments. You see, Tommy could only steal so much before he knew cops would be on his tail, and he couldn't risk being cornered in here, so he was slowly but surely starving himself. He could only stretch the food he had so far. In his weakened state, he was drawn towards some exposed wiring. He wasn't sure why until he reached out to touch it-

 

The lights in the entire mall flickered for a moment, before returning to normal. Tommy stumbled back, looking bewildered between his hand and the wire. He wasn't hungry anymore . Could Tommy last on electricity alone? He wasn't sure, but at this rate, it was worth a try. Doing this wasn't making him surge, and as long as it was big public buildings he didn't see any harm in it.

 

Tommy wasn't gaining any more weight from this, but at least he wasn't losing any more of what he barely had. How many calories was a spark of electricity anyway??? Tommy couldn't describe himself as happy out here, but at least he was more alive now. He wasn't thriving, but at least he was doing more than just surviving.

 

Tommy wasn't stupid. He rotated where he was absorbing his energy from, but it was only a matter of time before people started looking into why the electricals in the buildings we only now becoming wobbly. Tommy had expected maintenance workers… he'd not expected heroes and big-name ones at that. It'd only been like a week of doing it, what the fuck?! ?

 

Following his hunger for electricity, he'd followed the power to its source, a generator just behind a shopping complex. Tommy had only made a little ways down one of the alleys that led to the area it was being stored in, round the corner and unseen, when Tommy paused, hearing voices.

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea Ava?”

 

Tommy knew that voice.

 

“This is the only shred of a lead I've had for years Hellfire. I’m not missing this chance. ”

 

Holy shit, what did Tommy wander into? Avalon and Hellfire setting a trap???

 

“I’m not trying to dissuade you dude, but what if it’s not who you’re looking for?”

 

Avalon sighed, shaking his head.

 

“Then I see if they can be used to our advantage? I know every element of his powers… I’d be surprised if anyone else can absorb and use electricity like he can.”

 

Oh god, the heroes were after him. Tommy doubted he was who Avalon wanted, but unfortunately, he was the one causing the electrical issues. I guess Tommy and his energy habits were more trackable than he thought.

 

"You patrol that side and I'll lurk on this one. Don't get seen. Hopefully, we don't have to wait long."

 

"Alright."

 

And before Tommy could run and hide? Hellfire came round the corner. Tommy was a deer in headlights. To be fair, Hellfire was surprised to see someone around here so quick, though reading his expression, he seemed more surprised it was Tommy.

 

“Sorry- i-”

 

“Holy shit, how much did you hear- nevermind that- Theo you can’t be here-”

 

Who the fuck was Theo? Obviously, he knew of Hellfire, but something else was nagging at Tommy. His voice was familiar from somewhere else…

 

“I’m just passing thr- Wait what? Hellf-”

 

“If Avalon finds you, you’re toast. Please Theseus , run. ”

 

… Theseus?

 

Oh god, Tommy’s dreams; those had been memories .

 

He knew Hellfire’s voice.

 

He was the person who had rescued him.

 

God, what was his name? … Noah? Nate??

“... N-Nick??? Slow down. What the fuck is going on ?”

Notes:

holy shit hi :) i dont know how i busted this out in a week, i was just rlly motivated to get this out bc id already made some tiktok drafts i wanted to post about it snfdsnjksjndsfjkn thats why its a shorter chapter,, but man i dont have an argument to pad out the wordcount smh nsdsnjsdnjfds
Ive been DYING for these two to properly interact and its taken me 20k+ words to actually get there hot damn
For those who have been following my tiktoks, jack will be appearing next chapter ;)
if u wanna chat w me about the fic, or want doodles of em or want sneaky spoilers, my general discord is still open for ya to vibe in https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

Chapter 14: well, at least he’s staying out of trouble

Summary:

Hellfire gets Tommy to leave before Avalon can find out, and Tommy meets Jack Manifold

Notes:

DJJSNSKS I'm glad y'all liked screaming @ last chapter, though you'll probably be dissapointed at the crumbs I'm giving yall dkbdksbsjd I'm sorrRy

Avalon- Dream, Hellfire - Sapnap

CW: emetophobia warning, the final scene specifically!

"What's going on is Avalon wants to catch your ass, and it was enough trouble getting you out the first time. I can't feasibly do that again."

 

Tommy was reeling. He'd been betting on his dreams just being dreams. This sudden confirmation was a lot to grapple with.

 

"Why me?!? I'm nothing special-"

 

"God I don't know, your brother doesn't tell me shit," Hellfire grumbled.

 

"BROTHER?!?"

 

"SHHHH!!! Fucking dumbass, you're gonna get us caught, why are y- oh god, you don't-"

 

"Dude I don't know shit! That's why I'm asking you, asshole!"

 

Hellfire's eyes searched his, confused and concerned.

 

"God fuckin- I can't explain anything right now, too risky," Hellfire sighed. Just as he was about to continue, his comms started beeping, likely meaning Avalon wanted to talk, probably impatient with this all, knowing him.

 

"Fuck- you have to go. NOW. Get in contact with my ex- Roulette. If he can set us up a meeting or something, I'll answer your questions then." Hellfire's voice hushed, looking over his shoulder worried. "Hopefully Avalon will suspect none the wiser and you'll still be safe. Now RUN."

 

As much as Tommy was desperate for answers, he gave Hellfire a short nod and sprinted out of there, catching his breath when he was far enough away to blend into the crowds of people shopping.

 

Tommy… had a family. A brother at least! Hellfire knew his brother, was Avalon the said brother? Or was his brother safely at home and not doing hero shit. His thoughts were too jumbled right now to make sense of it all. Was his brother who had tortured him in Tommy's nightmare? Or someone else? God, he wished he could have asked every question under the sun at Hellfire. He finally had a connection to his past and through a fucking hero no less. He still didn't like Hellfire - he was still a hero that had no care for the damage he caused - but Tommy desperately needed to know where he came from, who he was as a person. Nick was the only contact he had.

 

God, it was weird to think he knew a hero's real name. It felt taboo. It's not like Tommy would be shouting it from the rooftops, it was just odd knowing it. Did he know any other people's? He knew Phoenix, Saber and Jubilee's faces under the mask, but not their actual names. He… might know Roulette's real name? If it was one of the names in his other dream-memory then he did. It'd make sense, one of the people Karl had been worried about losing in it, Alexis, being one of Hellfire's partners, or even Karl himself? He didn't dwell on that too much though. Maybe for when he went to get a meeting out of Roulette, not right now.

 

Tommy wasn't sure what to do with himself. He was running on the adrenaline of running into Hellfire. He didn't want to go out and do anything that could draw attention to himself, but that meant he couldn't steal food, and he couldn't steal electricity. God, that didn't leave much to do, except mope about. Tommy did stay in the general area, he wanted to know when Avalon and Hellfire had left. He was stressed about being spotted, but he didn't want to run into them again, so it was best to keep an eye out.

 

Tommy regretted hanging around and waiting. It was three long agonising hours until they fucked off, giving up on their little trap to catch Tommy. He was bored as fuck, stressed as fuck, and hungry as fuck. You’d think they could’ve wrapped this all up a lot quicker, but I guess not, Avalon was a patient man, and clearly, he would wait forever if it meant catching Tommy. Honestly, that sounded terrifying, so it was a good thing that Avalon’s image had already been marred for Tommy. He thought Avalon was an egotistical asshat, so him hunting one teen down? Not surprising. Only surprising that it was Tommy of all people he wanted.

 

He’d tucked himself behind some dumpsters as a black van pulled up where he’d exited the alley earlier in the day. Tommy’s blood ran cold as he watched Avalon and Hellfire exit the alley empty-handed. He held his breath. He wasn’t going to fuck this up by being caught at the last possible second. Obviously, he couldn’t see Avalon’s face, but he got the sense that Avalon was pissed, irritated that this was a wasted opportunity. He took his anger out on the poor guy that was tied up in the back of the van, throwing him out into the alley. Tommy flinched at the heavy impact. Avalon growled something to Hellfire that Tom didn't quite catch before the two climbed into the van and soon were long gone. Tommy hesitated a little while. He was really worried that Avalon and Hellfire would come back, and that there was nothing Hellfire would be able to do to stop Avalon from taking him. After Tommy had decided it was safe to move, he stepped out from behind the dumpsters.

 

The guy they’d chucked out looked like he had been beaten and bruised to the high heavens. Avalon and his posse were not one to be taken lightly. Honestly, Tommy was scared to approach him in case he just died then and there. But something in him told him to pass it forward. Jubilee had helped him after his surge, so Tommy was going to at least help this guy get to some first aid. 

 

"Are... You alright?"

 

The guy flinched, but not getting up yet. He didn’t blame him, there was no reason to trust that Tommy wouldn’t hurt him more.

 

“...Are they gone?”

 

“Avalon and co.? Yeah, I was waiting for them to fuck off.”

 

Tommy watched as the bulk of the tension left the guy’s shoulders.

 

“God, good.”

 

Tommy edged closer slowly, making sure he had no sudden movements to not spook him further.

 

“Do you want a hand getting up? I can take you to get first aid-”

 

“I don’t want to explain this shit to a nurse.”

 

“I’m not leaving you to rot in this alley after you got beat to shit by some heroes.” Tommy rolled his eyes. He was sounding awfully like Jubilee when they first met, man . “Is your house nearby then?”

 

“My apartment, yeah. But I can’t give you directions there.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“I can’t see.”

 

Now having a closer look at this guy, he wasn’t necessarily blind, but his eyes were grey and metallic looking. 

 

“ O-oh.”

 

“I have artificial eyes and they’ve fucked with them.”

 

Tommy was scared of fucking this up, but his gut told him that he could control his powers enough for the fine detail of messing with delicate electronics. He’d never tried it on such a small scale; he’d only really opened electric doors. There was no harm in offering, right?

 

“If you’re willing… I can try and see if I can fix them?”

 

He sat up a little, intrigued.

 

“Are you some tech whizz?”

 

“Nah but I do have compatible powers. It’s worth a try, right?”

 

“God, don’t completely fry them.” He chuckled.

 

“Pfft no promises but I’ll try not,” Tommy grinned.

 

Tommy knelt beside him, two fingers on each of his eyes. Tommy focused on the currents, following their path through the eyeballs until he hit a roadblock. It looked like all they needed was a quick reboot. Tommy reeled his powers in as much as he feasibly could, and zapped his eyes.

 

Tommy grimaced initially. Had… that worked? He blinked a couple of times, before a lightly glowing plus appeared on one eye, and a minus on the other.

 

“You… you managed it!” He beamed, looking about to make sure his eyes were 100% still working properly. “Fuck, I was scared I was going to have to rebuild them from scratch.”

 

“I don’t know how they work, so for all I know that was a temporary fix, but at least we can get you home to heal up now…?”

 

“Jack.”

 

“Tommy.”

 

---

 

Tommy had Jack half slung over his shoulder. He could walk but was awfully wobbly, and besides, his apartment was fairly close. He lived in a fairly good area of L’Manburg, Tommy was surprised that Jack was hurt by heroes when he lived in an affluent part of town. Helping Jack up the stairs? Now Tommy was beginning to regret this, this was too much exercise for one good deed. Tommy’s eye’s widened as he entered Jack’s apartment. Most of the contents didn’t surprise him, it was a little messy but wasn't everyone’s home. Was surprised Tommy was the costume and helmet left strewn across Jack’s sofa. As much as Tommy didn’t like heroes and villains alike, he kept track of them, along with the handful of vigilantes in the area, new ones always popping up. Jack seemed to follow Tommy’s eye line and cursed under his breath, tensing.

 

“Well, that explains why they fucked with you Highjack .”

 

God, knowing his real name, his vigilante alias was fucking stupid. Why would you name yourself after your real fucking name? 

 

“Hey, we were just doing what they’re meant to do. Didn’t expect them to kidnap us and take our powers.”

 

Woah woAH WOAH. HOLD UP.

 

“They WHAT ?!?”

 

Tommy felt sick, all the colour draining from his face.

 

“I don’t remember a lot of it, it hurt a lot…. It felt like they were trying to rip out my life itself.”

 

Tommy's stomach lurched. 

 

He forced down the thoughts of screaming his lungs raw. He didn’t think about his evaporating tears stinging his cheeks. He ignored the searing pain of his powers being ripped away from him, drop by agonising drop-

 

“You alright bud? You look like you’re about to-"

 

Tommy looked up, wide-eyed and pale. 

 

“Down there, the door on the left.”

 

Tommy sprinted to jack’s bathroom, emptying his already empty stomach into the toilet, before dry heaving. God, he hated throwing up. Tommy was even more distressed at what he was about to flush down the loo.

 

He hadn’t eaten anything; there was nothing to throw up.

 

So he’d thrown up blood instead.

 

Notes:

:) Sorry for not giving you guys more Tommy backstory lore, but yall gotta wait for that, I can only feed you crumbs for now hehehe
I'm gonna be starting another fic soon! It wont update nearly as often as TIYPIC, but its gonna be a villain Tommy, hero SBI story, so if ur interested for a fuckin unhinged villain tommy fic, keep an eye out for that :3
if u wanna chat w me about the fic, or want doodles of em or want sneaky spoilers, my general discord is still open for ya to vibe in https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

Chapter 15: cut Tommy a goddamn bREAK PLEASE

Summary:

Tommy finishes up at Jack's apartment. He runs into someone unsavoury and doesn't come out unscathed :) what a shame

Notes:

the title is a call out post for myself djdbsjbs he'll get a break,,, soon enough
Evergreen - Gogy
Phoenix - Phil
Jubilee - Wilbur

He knelt beside the toilet for a little while, making sure he wouldn't have to rush back in again. He was still horrified at the swirling red at the bottom. Blood. He'd thrown up blood. Was this the trade-off with his abilities? He didn't have to eat, but his body would bleed as a result? Was Tommy internally bleeding from constantly absorbing electricity? Or was the blood just the first thing his body could find to regurgitate? Fuck why would there be blood on his stomach anyway? He was scared, but it's not like he could undo the potential damage he'd done to himself now.

 

Just breathe Tommy.

 

It'd be fine.

 

Tommy shakily made his way back to the living room, where Jack had pushed all his shit out of the way and was just lounging on the sofa, fiddling with some half-built tech in his hands. His artificial pupils glowed as he focused on connecting parts together in a circuit. At hearing Tommy re-enter, he looked up, placing what he was working on away on the coffee table.

 

"You okay there dude?"

 

Tommy was still pale and sickly looking from the bathroom. Honestly, Tommy was slowly getting closer to how shit Jack looked still.

 

"Euggh, could be better," Tommy groaned, taking a seat next to Jack.

 

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, just trying to take a short respite from feeling like shit. Jack had registered the reaction Tommy had had to mean one thing; he was a victim of Avalon and his power draining too.

 

"...You too?"

 

Tommy's expression darkened in confirmation.

 

"Two years ago, I think…"

 

Jack cut him off from continuing that thought.

 

"No need to elaborate, you don't want to resurface those memories," Jack cut in. This kid looked like he'd been through enough already, and neither of them wanted to think about the pain that they'd been through.

 

"Hey, at least you know your powers will come back eventually," Tommy weakly smiled, "It's only a matter of time."

 

“I guess it’s a waiting game now…”

 

---

Tommy stayed in Jack’s apartment for another hour or so, making sure he was alright still. Jack let him freshen up before he left. Tommy wasn’t going to do a full clean, there was no way he was showing in a stranger’s home, but washing his face and hands of the grime they’d accrued was refreshing. It didn’t do leaps and bounds for him, but it did make him feel a tad better.

 

On leaving, Tommy felt drawn back to the isles of the supermarkets. If he didn’t want to be throwing up more blood, he really did have to revert back to the basics. He couldn’t rely on absorbing electricity without dire consequences. Still, but how shit he still looked, he was bound to be kicked out, or worse, caught stealing. Tommy was genuinely surprised that the staff left him alone as he filled up his bag and left the store. Tommy didn’t check around him to see if it was safe as he made his way away from the store. Success!

 

Oh, how naive that hope of not getting caught was.

 

" Put down the stolen contraband and we can do this the easy way ."

 

Tommy froze. He knew that voice - it was one of Avalon’s team members. Oh shit, Evergreen??? Tommy tried to play it off.

 

"I- You must be mistaken."

 

"No, I don't think I am."

 

God, Evergreen was set on catching him. Tommy was just some nobody thief, was he getting paid to do the easy jobs or something?

 

"Eh, it was worth a try."

 

Tommy took off in a sprint, hearing Evergreen in close pursuit behind. The thump of his trainers against the concrete echoed heavily in his ears, each step trying to launch him to safety. The cool autumn air burned his lungs. Why couldn't they have done this song and dance during Summer or something? He knew at best he'd only be a little injured and shipped off to the cops, but there was no one out there caring about him. Evergreen could kill him for shits and giggles and the world would keep on spinning.

 

Tommy didn't want to die.

 

Tommy was running for his life, barely scrambling around vines that Evergreen was sprouting, trying to trip him up. What Tommy didn't have in agility, he did have in being scrawny as fuck, and much to Evergreen's frustration meant he could slip away just in time to not get hit. Still, Tommy didn’t like how close he was to becoming a shishkabob.

 

"You're just making this worse for yourself kid, resisting arrest doesn't make you look good." 

 

He sounded like he hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

 

"Fuck you, I look fucking fabulous." Tommy wheezed, ducking under a swipe with a vine, brushing against the top of his hair. "A dudes gotta eat, not that any of you upper-class nob heads would get that."

 

"Juvie will have food for you."

 

Fuck, Tommy hadn't planned where he was running and had started into a dead-end alley, much to Evergreen's chagrin.

 

"Eh, but juvie would curb my wonderful hygiene regimen!"

 

Evergreen pulled a face at that. Tommy looked like he dumpster-dived every morning, which let's face it, in the dire times he was in, he probably did.

 

"Listen, dude, this is your last chance to come with me easily, I can try and lessen your punishment," Evergreen offered a hand to him. Tommy gave him the middle finger. "Or? I guess we're doing this the fun way."

 

Tommy put down his stolen goods and took out his baton. If he wanted to get out of this, he was going to have to fight for his life. He channelled all his frustration of having shit day after shit day, being a problem magnet. Tommy just wanted an uneventful life, just wants one fucking week where shit doesn't hit the fan, and he hadn’t been granted anything close to that. Everywhere he went, chaos followed and he was sick of it .

 

Evergreen tried grabbing his legs with thorned vines breaking through the cracked concrete beneath him, but Tommy stabbed down with his baton, electrocuting the vines till they started to smoke and wilt. Tommy wanted to avoid close-quarters combat. He had no fucking clue how to fight, and he was sure he’d be floored within seconds. He may have tried to teach himself off of youtube, but Evergreen was a professional.

 

Tommy could only keep dodging for so long. He was a cornered animal, scampering just barely away from each hit. He was already exhausted from running, out of breath and slowly getting more and more sluggish. The adrenaline was pumping through his system, the scrapes and scratches he was acquiring being largely ignored for his sense of survival. He had no chance of beating the hero. Barely would have a chance to escape. But he refused to go to prison simply for just fending for himself. 

 

Fuck it, Tommy decided to go for it. If he could manage to hurt Evergreen he might be able to run to somewhere safe! Bless Tommy’s optimism. As he leapt forward, Evergreen slashed with a vine. 

 

Tommy would never really recall what happened next. His brain blocked it out.

 

Evergreen watched as the kid stumbled forward, losing momentum, a gash seeping through his hoodie, or what was left of it. Evergreen grimaced, he didn’t mean to go this far, just to incapacitate or restrain him, the boy was just being difficult!. He knew he’d never get in trouble for this, it’d be blamed on the kid, or it’d be brushed under the rug. Either way, the kid wasn’t going anywhere. Tommy gazed wide-eyed between the seeping red wound and the hero who gave him it. Evergreen paid the teen’s panic no mind, opening up in comms.

 

“Got the thief kid, I’m going to transport him to the-”

 

Evergreen never got to finish the sentence. He didn’t even get a chance to react. In one electrical explosion from Tommy, the comms were knocked out, and the hero was too, shocked so hard that he passed out.

 

---

“Thank you for your purchase sir, have a nice day!"

 

"You too miss."

 

Wilbur Soot stepped out of the clothing store into the frigid air, shopping back in hand. After fully recovering from his wounds, Wil had wanted to go buy a replacement turtleneck. It’s what he got for wearing some of his normal clothes in his villain get up. He couldn’t help it, turtlenecks looked good on him. It wasn’t his fault that Avalon and co decided to rip a hole in it and stain it with blood. Yellow and red may be a cohesive colour combination, but Wil wasn’t a fan of bloodstains.

 

Honestly, he probably should redesign his whole villain look, with some protective measures, some stronger materials. But no, Wilbur wanted to be a fashionable bitch, not a practical one. Listen, if Techno could wear a fucking royal cape, Wil’s outfit wasn’t too out there. I guess in being twins they both had to be dramatic as fuck. 

 

He weaved his way through the morning footfall, keeping to the edges. As charismatic as he thought he was, crowds weren’t really his forte. Talking to them? Sure Wil was good with that, but just the general thing of being around lots of people? He would sense the blood pumping through their bodies. When it was just a couple of people he could block the thought out, but with crowds, there was too much blood to ignore. Not that he’d manipulate the water in them all willy nilly like that. He may be a villain with water bending abilities, but he wasn’t a monster. His powers were reserved for fighting heroes, but terrorising innocents? He would never do such a thing.

 

Wilbur found his way further out in L’manburg’s shopping district, idly window shopping as he moved out of the busier areas. His breath hung in the air as he took in the sounds of the city. He’d had to stay indoors in their second home for too long, and he was restless, itching it get back outside again. If Phil didn’t have a summer home, Wil wasn’t sure what he would’ve done. It was far more basic than their previous home, with no advanced security system, no entrance to the tunnels. Fuck, the fridge-freezer there didn’t even have an ice dispenser. Barbaric, really .

 

Wilbur was expecting a quiet day of shopping before heading home, but as he was passing a quieter area there was a loud crash. Wil froze, looking around for the source. He quickly identified it; sparks and a little smoke was coming from a nearby alley. He prepared himself, not sure what he was going to find.

 

Wilbur had to take a second to absorb the scene. 

 

Lying on the cold concrete, barely breathing was Evergreen. Wilted and burnt vines were strewn everywhere, pulling the concrete apart. His eyes followed the flow of chaos. A bag had been abandoned, the content having exploded during that explosion of energy. His eyes were then drawn to the splatters of blood…that led to a boy. Wilbur’s blood ran cold, it couldn’t be that dumbass kid with the worst luck in the world, right???

 

Wil pulled down Tommy’s mask, revealing his bleeding nose, and splatters of blood around his mouth from coughing it up. Tommy was still alive, Wil could sense that, but in this condition? He wouldn’t last long at all. Besides, with a knocked out Evergreen just meant that backup was on its way, and Wilbur didn’t want either of them getting wrapped up in any of that. He scooped Tommy up, even more concerned at just how light he was. Did this kid not eat at all?? He activated his power, keeping Tommy’s blood flowing in him and not out, soaking his ripped jumper any more than it already was. Being unconscious, it wasn’t that difficult to manipulate his blood; maybe just a little spicy, that’s all.

 

That explosion of power confirmed one of Wilbur’s many suspicions about Tommy; he was vastly more powerful than he thought he was. Not many people could say that they were untrained but yet could defeat one of the big three one on one. Neither was unscathed in the end, but it was an impressive show of power. He just needed to learn how to safely harness that power, instead of letting it out wildly like a bomb. Wilbur would let Tommy carve his own path in life, but he’d be a valuable ally if he were to join the fight against Avalon and his team.

 

Wilbur took back routes to stay away from prying eyes and called home while at it. To help Tommy heal the quickest, it’d be best to get Phil to grab some supplies to give him as soon as they got back.

 

“ ‘Ello?”

 

“Hey Dad, could you grab some healing potions?”

 

“God damn it, Wilbur.” He could hear the eye roll through the phone. “Who did you pick a fight with this time? I told you to take it easy!”

 

“ Tommy .”

 

“I- what?!”

 

“I’ll explain properly when we get back, but Tommy got in a fight with Evergreen, I’m stopping him from bleeding out.”

 

“ Good god ,” Phil sighed, “Get back here safely mate.”

 

“Will do.”

 

---

 

Tommy’s head throbbed like he’d been hit round the head with a baseball bat. Eugh, maybe the electricity consumption was getting to him, it wouldn’t surprise him. That said, everything throbbed. His midsection felt sore and tight as if wrapped in something. Tommy sifted a little, the pain jolting him to his senses a little. 

 

The bed was soft.  

 

He was in a bed .

 

Tommy shot up, immediately regretting the speed he did so. His whole world rocked for a good minute. Tommy tried to collect himself enough to take in his environment now he was conscious enough. He was in a medium-sized room. It felt kind of empty like it hadn’t been really lived in properly. There were a couple of piles of folded clothes in the corner beside the bed, a beanie resting on top of them. The other side of the bed was a small table with a glass of water and some painkillers on. Tommy gobbled them down, desperately needing relief from his growing head and side pain. Leant against the table was a guitar. It looked well-loved, the varnish chipping in places and scratches aplenty on the side and bottom.

 

A light knock drew his attention away from his eyes exploring the room. He was very surprised by the head that popped around the other side of the door; fucking Phoenix . He chuckled at the look at bewilderment that painted Tommy’s face. What the fuck was he doing here??? Wherever here was.

 

“How you holding up mate?”

 

“I feel like shit but- where the fuCK-”

 

“Our summer home,” He laughed. “It’s going to be a while till we can rebuild our old house, but at least we have this.”

 

“FUCK of course you guys are upper-class,” Tommy grumbled.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Pfft, Mr “ I-have-a-summer-house ”, this explains how you can afford to be villains, you’re fucking loaded!”

 

“Well, robbing banks does pay off, means we can budget being an actual threat.”

 

Tommy shook his head in disbelief. The three scariest villains were simply just rich white men… fighting three rich white men. At least they were equally matched in that regard.

“Jubilee found you bleeding out by an unconscious Evergreen, he took you home so we could patch you up… what happened?”

Notes:

This is the part of the plot I've been itching to get to for a loooong time. Fifteen chapters for him to get to the Soot household? damn,,,, at least now the ball is rlly moving.... hehhehe I've gotten to the point now that I have the whole plot planned out in my head bar the ending, but ill cross that bridge when I get to it djnnjdasjkn
I've started another fic! It's a villain! amnesiac! Tommy, hero! SBI fic :) I just wanted to write an unhinged Tommy like he deserves, so if you want to have a bit of a self-indulgent fic, go read "Damned if you do, Damned if you don't"! :D
if u wanna chat w me about the fic, or want doodles of em or want sneaky spoilers, my general discord is still open for ya to vibe in https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

Chapter 16: Eating electricity isn't fuCKING FOOD SMH GDI

Summary:

Tommy dreams of years far in the past, and Wilbur redesigns his villain get-up

Notes:

Lots of names in this chapter! Obviously y'all are used to Caduceus and Theseus, but now there's two more! Their parents rlly like Greek mythology, good loRD. I won't be explaining who the sisters are meant to be atm, so have fun linking them to dsmp characters :) I like to think it's fairly simple to figure out

Idk if i need to content warning it, but the tubbo fight made ppl sad so uh, there’s a argument in in the second scene, not nearly as angsty though and w different characters sdnjkdsdjkn

"Evergreen was hunting me."

 

Phoenix gave him a worried look.

 

" Please don't say that so nonchalantly ."

 

Tommy rolled his eyes.

 

"The police probably have my friends and I on a list or something," Tommy shrugged, "They can never catch us, so they got a hero to try getting me."

 

"Why would the police be after you Tommy?"

 

"Cause we have to steal to survive?"

 

He blinked in surprise, not expecting that answer. He knew that Tommy and co didn't have an adult looking after them, but they didn't have any other way of getting food? If Mayor Schlatt was paying for the house bills, he could spare some change for food for these kids, holy shit.

 

"Don't look so surprised old man, it's me we're talking about, of course, I have the worst luck out of the three of us."

 

That wasn't the main reason Phoenix was concerned about him, but he brushed aside his worry for now. While Tommy healed up, they could provide food so he wouldn't starve. It was surprising just how quickly they'd gotten attached to this kid. It was only a few months ago Phoenix had a blade to his neck, and now he was healing him.

 

"How are you feeling? Jubilee tried to stunt your bleeding, but there was only so much he could do till you got here."

 

Tommy had been trying to ignore his growing pains.

 

"I feel like I've been hit by a fucking truck," Tommy grumbled, "I'm surviving, but fuck if it hurts."

 

Phoenix gave Tommy a sympathetic look. Clearly, the last potion he'd administered had worn off, made worse by the fact that Tommy was awake to feel the pain, rather than sleeping through the healing process. He handed Tommy a small flask.

 

" The fucks this ?"

 

"A healing potion. It'll make you heal quicker and dampen the pain-" Tommy downed the bottle before he finished his sentence, "But it might knock you out, speeding up healing requires a lot of energy."

 

A chuckle slipped out at Tommy's impulsivity.

 

"That bad, huh?"

 

Tommy nodded, opening his mouth to speak before being hit with a wave of exhaustion. Holy shit, he didn't expect it to hit him that quickly. Phoenix easily noticed how distant Tommy was now looking, slipping the flask out of his hand. Bless him, the kid needed all the rest he could get. Tommy didn't want to sleep yet, but he was grasping onto his scraps of consciousness, the pull of the potion stronger than his will. Just a moment of weakness, a slip, and Tommy dropped into a deep sleep.

 

---

 

Theseus was crying, bitter tears rolling down his cheeks. Water blurred his vision as he tightened his grip on his older sister's hand. She gave him a little reassuring squeeze in return as she led him back towards his brother's room. He wished he could be more like his siblings. His older brother was really strong, though he was always scary to him. His older sister, though her powers not emerging as of yet, was the bravest and most stubborn person he knew! And his little sister could get him out of any situation that presented itself. He on the other hand was a crybaby with no backbone. Sure he had powers, but all he seemed to do is hurt others with them. Theseus wished he didn't have them at all.

 

His sister gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, before knocking on his brother's door, not waiting for an answer as they entered.

 

"Caduceus, mind telling me why Theseus came running into my room sobbing, crying about monsters under the bed?"

 

Theseus stayed behind his sister as a sort of shield against his brother, her long fluffy curls hiding him somewhat.

 

"I dunno, he's just a kid, something in the dark must have spooked him," he grumbled, rolling his eyes and mostly trying to ignore his siblings. "I'm not a mind reader, Iris."

 

"I left him with you for an hour while I picked Tyche up from her friend's house." Iris sighed, "I'm not angry with you, just tell me what's up, I can't make out what Theo is saying through his sobs."

 

Caduceus hesitated a moment, deciding whether to stay grumpy. Honestly, he really wanted to kick them out of his room, but while father was away she was in charge.

 

"He electrocuted me so I used my powers on him too…" he grumbled, giving Theseus the stink eye.

 

"Clay! I thought you knew better!"

 

"It fucking hurt! He can't always get away with not being able to control his powers like this!" He snapped back. "It's unfair!"

 

"Would you treat Tyche like this?"

 

He narrowed his eyes at Iris. She did not fucking go there.

 

"No! She doesn't have a destructive power!"

 

All this yelling made Theseus begin to cry again. He hated everyone fighting. Why couldn’t they be a happy nuclear family, with no issues or conflict?

 

"Clay, you can't play favourites."

 

"Bit hypocritical, don't you think."

 

“I’ve got to be the responsible one in this goddamned house, I don’t get to pick favourites.”

 

“Then why do you always defend him ?” Clay growled. “He’s eleven, even I had figured out my powers by then!”

 

“Imagine, having powers by eleven, can’t relate,” she sneered back. “If I ever get powers, do you think I’m going to be able to control them while being a hormonal kid? Fuck no!”

 

“You’re not a kid though Iris!”

 

“Yeah, so I can be accountable for the shit I do. You’re only three years younger than me dude, get a grip. Theo is a child, what’s your excuse ?”

 

“GOD just fucking, get OUT.”

 

---

Tommy’s head pounded, threatening to burst, the dream fading quickly from the front of his mind. That healing potion had clearly worn off again. The sharp pain in his side had subsided, it was good to feel that the potion was actually doing its job. Everything still ached like a bitch though. Tommy didn’t even attempt to move. There was no point really, it’d just aggravate his wounds and put him in more pain. It wasn’t like he was worried about where he was anymore. He was safe… in a house full of supervillains. God that was weird. No one else would say that they fucked about with Phoenix, Saber, and Jubilee and ended up on friendly terms with them.

 

He led there for a little while, just absorbing the ambient noise before his ears pricked up and focused on some quiet noises sounding like they were from the other side of the room. Scribbling, sighing, screwing up a piece of paper and throwing it in the bin. Sounded like someone was struggling for ideas. Tommy woke up a little more now, focusing in curiously. 

 

“Fuck, no.” The voice was hushed but irritated, clearly trying his best not to wake Tommy up. “Ugh, this looks like shit.”

 

Oh, Tommy knew that voice. 

 

He cracked an eye open, squinting at the light flooding his eyes. As his vision adjusted, he saw Jubilee hunched over a fold-up table, a small pile of crumpled paper growing beside him, muttering to himself. He was clearly frustrated and focused. And although tired, Tommy was feeling like being a distraction, he was pretty good at being a little shit.

 

“Then it looks like you, right?”

 

Jubilee sharply turned, clearly not expecting Tommy to have been awake.

 

“ Fucking hell Tommy , you made me jump, sorry if I woke you,” He sighed, “Also fuck you.”

 

Tommy grinned snarkily.

 

“What you moping about Jubilee?”

 

Wilbur hesitated for a short second, not enough for Tommy to notice. It was so weird to be called his villain name at home. Not that he’d share his real name with Tommy. As much as he doted on the kid, it was far too big a risk for him to know, especially as the poor boy had such a big target on his back. If Avalon caught him and interrogated him? He dreaded to think about the consequences. So for as far as Tommy was concerned, he was just Jubilee.

 

“Not that it matters to you,” Jubilee grumbled, “But Avalon and his team wreaked one of my favourite turtlenecks- hey don’t laugh! I almost died!”

 

“Woe is me,” Tommy laughed, “It’s such a fashion disaster! Blood red with mustard yellow? Call an ambulance !”

 

Jubilee fought back his smile, trying to retain the irritated expression he had on.

 

“ SO. I’m redesigning my costume, or at least trying to,” He grumbled. “Nothing looks right.”

 

“So you ARE a fashion disaster!”

 

“Shut the fuck up.”

 

“Do you want a fresh pair of eyes? I can’t promise to be nice though.”

 

Jubilee thought about it for a minute. He was protective of his work, probably insecure about it too. As much as Tommy joked, he wasn’t going to intentionally be mean to Jubilee. He came over to the side of the bed, a small sketchbook in hand. He flicked it open, turning it to Tommy.  There were a handful of sketches, they weren’t beautiful, but they got his ideas across. On the far side, there was a sketch of Jubilee’s current costume, with an ‘ X ’ written above it. The other sketches were variations on the design, some with more armour involved, some even excluding his iconic trenchcoat.

 

“Thoughts?”

 

Tommy could hear the “ please don’t make me cry ” in Jubilee’s voice. He’d be merciful, just this once. Besides, he was going to be honest. Tommy had little to no artistic ability, so he was easy to impress.

 

“Woah dude, these look sick!”

 

“R-really? ”

 

“Yeah! You’re too critical bossman.”

 

“Any thoughts? I’ve  looked at them so much that im almost to the point of hating them again.”

 

“I think you should keep the trenchcoat. It’s the iconic part of your costume. Maybe change its shape up a bit, make it have more sharp edges?”

 

Jubilee scribbled the feedback down in the corner of the page.

 

“Anything else?”

 

“I love yellow as much as the next person, but you’re a villain. Be edgier.” Tommy shrugged. “You don’t have to take any of this to heart, that’s just my thoughts.”

 

“No no it’s alright Toms, I’m just too self-conscious to ask dad or Saber for feedback.”

 

Dad? He knew the three was close, but it hadn’t occurred to Tommy that they were an actual family. I guess he figured Tommy was softer in critique than his family.

 

“How are you holding up anyway? You looked like shit.”

“Do I still look like shit?”

 

“I will neither confirm nor deny that, now answer my question prick.”

 

“Feel like shit,” Tommy rolled his eyes, before grimacing. “Better, but fuck I’m never getting anywhere near Evergreen ever again.”

 

“Phoenix filled me on what you told him. What I don’t understand is why you looked that rough.”

 

Tommy looked away. God, how do you explain to an adult that you were kicked out onto the streets? It wasn’t the most approachable subject, just thinking about it stressed Tommy out.

 

“I’m not living with Tubbo and Ranboo anymore.”

 

Jubilee looked confused for a moment. What did that have anything to do with what he asked- oh. Tommy was homeless? The fuck?

 

“If it’s okay to ask, what happened?”

 

“I- we had a fight. Said some stuff I regret. Figured he didn't want to see me again. But there are positives! I can eat electricity now!"

 

Good god, Tommy was good at glossing over the fact he’d been roughing it out on the streets for who knows how long after they’d left Tubbo’s bunker. He had to suppress the urge to just adopt this kid here and now. No, it wasn’t safe for him, it wouldn’t be fair. And besides, Tommy had said before that he was seventeen, he was almost an adult. No matter Jubilee’s brotherly instinct, he could only care for this annoying but endearing brat for so long before it made him a target.

 

"... There's no way that's healthy."

 

"Probably not,” Tommy shrugged. “I threw up blood" 

 

Jubilee was reeling.

Notes:

uwu if yall needed any more confirmation that Dream/Avalon is Caduceus, then this chapter is it sdsndsffds
I struggled so much with giving names to their sisters. Iris was fairly easy ngl, but Tyche? Not exactly a conventional sounding name but oh well dsjnfdsnjfjknds
if u wanna chat w me about the fic, or want doodles of em or want sneaky spoilers, my general discord is still open for ya to vibe in https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

Chapter 17: way to fuck up a perfectly good convo, now look, its got anxiety

Summary:

Avalon finds out what happened to Evergreen, and Tommy and Jubilee have a chat which... :/ doesn't go the best

Notes:

Note: content warning for emetophobia mention, just talking about the end of chapter 14

Avalon got to his teammate's location fifteen minutes after his comms went down. He'd expected his commission to go quickly, it was just a simple grab and go of a kid thief, nothing special. Yet when he arrived on scene, Evergreen was unconscious on the concrete and the kid was nowhere to be seen. Evergreen was breathing, thankfully, but how could some nobody beat him? Surely there was something more to this.

 

Whenever Evergreen got hurt Avalon had a twinge of guilt. This time he'd been so focused on the chance of the lifetime of finding his little brother again that he hadn't been immediately been on call. He felt like he was going mad, hunting after Theseus after two years of radio silence. But in his gut, he KNEW he was somewhere here in L'manburg. He was here alive, he had to be.

 

Lucky for Evergreen, they had state of the art facilities, and so healing him back up to his prime shouldn't take long at all. Once he'd carried him back and started him off with some healing potions, Avalon wandered off to look at the commission file Evergreen had been working on. The scrawny kid seemed to be in his late teens and was gifted in evading the authorities. The images in the file were painfully low quality, but they showed the kid. Avalon had to bury the little voice in his head that jumped to the conclusion that this was Theseus. It was just a blonde kid. Not every blonde teen was going to be Theseus… Considering Theseus' abilities, he could take Evergreen in a fight, but he sincerely doubted that this was him. Just probably some kid with a power that his teammate was weak against.

 

"Ngggh."

 

He returned to his side as he came to. He was groggy as all hell, but at least he was conscious now.

 

"George?"

 

"Clay… Am I back at HQ?"

 

"Yeah, your comms went down and you were unconscious in an alley."

 

George deflated somewhat, frustrated.

 

"Fuck, the kid got away."

 

"I thought you were going for an easy commission," Clay cooed.

 

"Well I didn't expect him to be so difficult," George grumbled, "I should've expected him to retaliate; I ended up slicing the kid."

 

"How'd he take you out? Not anyone could knock you out."

 

"Electrocuted me,” He groaned, “Lost control of his powers because of the pain probably. Of course the one easy commission I go for ends up being someone with volatile powers."

 

There were other blonde boys who wielded electricity in L'manburg… right? But someone with the power level high enough to go toe to toe with one of his teammates? He wasn't sure how much could stack up and still be a coincidence. Was he just too obsessed with locating his brother? Or was there something more to this?

---

“ What the fuck Tommy. ”

 

Tommy was being worryingly calm with the fact that he’d been throwing up blood. Usually, that would mean his stomach was being fucked up, but Jubilee doubted it was just a little bit of blood.

 

“Why are you so surprised?”

 

Why??? This kid, honestly… 

 

“Dude are you dying or some shit, how are you so calm about throwing up blood?!?”

 

“What use is there freaking out over it?” Tommy shrugged, giving Jubilee a tired look, “With how fucking weird my life is, what’s the point? Give it a week to a month, and something else will come along that’s even wilder.”

 

Tommy had given up on being surprised by his life right now. He hadn’t even given himself to process the whole Hellfire interaction in full. Every time he’d tried to mentally recover from an event, something else was dropped on him. He was so goddamn tired. One day he’d get to have a rest from all this bullshit, but honestly, Tommy expected to die before that happened. Jubilee didn’t know what to say. He was worried about Tommy. He felt a level of responsibility over him, that one fight with Hellfire could be classed as the catalyst to get the ball of Tommy’s bad luck rolling, and naturally, Jubilee blamed himself. The mix of worry and guilt wasn’t masked at all, it would take an idiot to not pick up on that.

 

“Why do you care?”

 

Jubilee had asked himself this before, and he was still coming short of an answer to that question.

 

“I don’t know!?” Jubilee huffed, “You’re my friend?”

 

“... We’re friends? ”

 

Did Tommy not class them as friends by now? Had Jubilee misconstrued the strained interactions? Sure, Jubilee was a villain, he’d done unforgivable things and would continue to do more, but he’d thought they’d come to a stalemate of being y’know… mates? Fuck, maybe Wilbur was taking this far too quickly. Jubilee bristled at Tommy’s response.

 

“Fuck,” Jubilee got up from the bedside, “Whatever.”

 

He hurried out of the room, though careful not to slam the door on the way out, his face beginning to flush. It’s not like he was going out of his way to befriend some kid, he’d just grown fond of him, he’d never had someone younger to banter with and so it was a new experience. Sure, he’d grown up with Techno, but being a twin was different. He’d never had a younger brother. Not that he saw Tommy as a younger brother. Far from it at the moment. He was just a brat that was younger than him, with a mouth like a sailor and a habit of talking back to the same degree that Jubilee did.

 

He shouldn't have expected Tommy to have grown fond of him as quickly as the vice versa had been. He wasn’t sure how to respond to Tommy’s question, and so he’d fled. Did that make him a coward? Maybe. But Jubilee wasn’t equipped to have a real ass conversation at the moment. He’d opened himself up to Tommy, letting him see his designs, letting himself be vulnerable for a rare occasion. Now? Now Jubilee closed himself completely off.

“ Fuck… ”

 

Tommy wasn’t sure why he’d opened his big gob and said that . He’d clearly thrown Jubilee by asking, him immediately leaving. Tommy had fucked that conversation up, hadn’t he. To be fair on him, he wasn’t sure what qualified them to be friends. To the best of his limited memory, Tubbo and Ranboo had been his only friends, and they were close enough to be family… or used to be at least. Tommy genuinely didn’t know what being friends entailed. Usually, he was annoying enough anyway to not expect to get friends. 

 

Did he want to be friends with Jubilee? I mean it’s not like he was the safest man to be around. Sure, he hadn’t threatened him yet, but for all he knew, it could only be a matter of time. Despite the danger, Tommy had grown a soft spot for the trenchcoat-sporting villain. He didn’t have to bring him home and treat Tommy’s wounds, any debts had already been repaid, yet he’d done so anyway.

 

With nobody looking over him at the moment, Tommy was curious how bad his injury had been. He shouldn't have been as surprised as he was to notice he’d long been changed out of his blood-stained jeans and ripped hoodie. He was wearing an oversized Joy Division t-shirt. Whoever owned this shirt was definitely fully grown, but on Tommy’s scrawny underweight frame, it could almost become a nightdress if he pulled it down enough. At least it was loose on him so it wouldn’t aggravate his wound. Tommy pulled the shirt up. His whole midsection was wrapped up, though judging by the skin that wasn’t bandaged nearby, it was healing pretty well. If all went well, he’d be healed and home.

 

Home…

 

What was home to Tommy? Wherever he saw in his dreams, with a dysfunctional family just out of his grasp? Or the building he’d lived in for the past two years, where he’d so quickly been let in with open arms, he’d also so quickly been kicked out? Maybe the half renovated room he’d been camping out? Or here, in a group of villains’ hideout?

… Did Tommy belong anywhere?

Tommy’s thoughts swirled, giving him an uneasy feeling in his stomach. As much as he was desperate for some permanence, people or places he could keep , he knew deep down he didn’t deserve that. He was rooted in a life of chaos, as much as he despised it there was nothing he could do about it. Anyone he got close to was destined to leave him.

Tommy was alone.

Notes:

shorter chapter bc writers block lmaoooo ive gotten past all my detailed notes so now I actually have to do more plot planning

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload tiktoks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 18: do NOT adopt the lightning child, do nOT-

Summary:

Phil, Wilbur and Techno have a discussion, Saber and Tommy finally have a one on one interaction, and it's missing Tommy hours for Tubbo and Ranboo lmao

Notes:

CW: mild dissociation, nightmares ig?

Helios - Nikki
Vulpes - Fundy

Been two weeks but! Finally, have a new chapter out! A reminder that although I try to get a chapter out a week, I don’t actually have a schedule so chapters appear inconsistently jnsnjsfdjkn

Tommy was in a foul mood for the rest of the day. It wasn't intentional, but it was just how Tommy coped with his feelings when he didn't want to process them sometimes. He just internalised them, brewing on them until he'd pop. It wasn't healthy in the slightest, but no one else returned to the room where he was healing in, so he was left to fester.

 

His head felt spacy from constantly pushing down the feelings crawling up his throat. He was hurting, in more ways than one, and he fully blamed himself for that. He wished he could just turn his emotions on and off on will. Tommy fell asleep eventually, greeted with a night of restless sleep, and rough dreams that he wouldn't retain when he rose next.

 

---

 

Techno was sprawled across the sofa, claiming the whole thing as he idly flicked through his novel, his golden rimmed glasses perched atop the end of this nose. With nowhere else to sit - they still hadn’t fully sorted out their new living situation - Wilbur had hoisted himself onto the counter, treating himself to an apple from the fruit basket. Spread across the other end of the counter were some of the feathers from Phil's metal wings. He had to keep on top of upkeep with them y'know, and so one by one he was polishing them until he could see his warped reflection in them.

 

“So dad, why’d you call us together to the living room? Big mission coming up?”

 

"That's one of the reasons. There are a couple of items of business. First of all, have you guys noticed people going missing? Helios has been off the radar for a while now." Phil asked.

 

"I'm not particularly social, I haven't really spoken to any of our allies lately." Techno didn't take his eyes off his book.

 

"There's been significantly less vigilante's getting in my way, I can tell you that… but it is a little strange." 

 

Why would vigilantes be going missing? Wilbur hadn't seen any news articles on the heroes cracking down on them any more than usual…

 

"I'll… ask about, see if we can reconnect with Helios and work from there. If I can’t find her, there's always her teammate Highjack."

 

"Thanks, Wil. Second thing; Vulpes has managed to secure us a shipment of weapons."

 

" Atta boy ," Will grinned.

 

"Obviously we are all trying to stay under the radar, so he's slowly transporting them to a warehouse just off of the docks," He continued, "He guesses it should take a month at most to finish moving everything for us. Techno and I will be picking it up, Will, you're back-up."

 

Wilbur pouted at that, dropping his grin.

 

" Why am I the back-up??? " He grumbled.

 

"Can you store shit in hammerspace? I think not. Also, we'd draw too much attention if all three of us went down there." Techno answered him, somewhat smugly.

 

" Moving on; Tommy. I know it's not my place to worry about him but-"

 

"You want to invite him to stay longer?"

 

"Techno, how'd you-?"

 

Phil was honestly bewildered that he caught on so quickly, not grasping how painfully clear it was that they were getting attached.

 

"Y'all obviously are itching to adopt the kid. 

 

"Techno!" 

 

"I don't see why, but I'm not bothered by it as long as he stays out of my room."

 

"Wilbur?"

 

"I don't want him on the streets any longer," he answered bluntly.

 

"He's homeless?! What happened to-"

 

" A fight. Not my story to tell, Dad. Honestly, I'm not sure how much more Tommy could have lasted out there." Wilbur hopped off of the counter. "He's been figuring out his powers at the detriment of his own health."

 

" Do you think he'd want to stay? "

 

"I… don't know if he likes us. We are villains after all. But it's worth offering, the worst he could say is no."

 

Actually, the worst he could do was treat them as the villains they were . Wilbur had grown accustomed to Tommy’s disregard of his villainy, Tommy saw them probably as annoying dickheads, maybe scary in some situations, but it was nice to have someone not fight or flight around them, that wasn’t in the hero or villain circles. As much as Wilbur didn’t want to get attached to Tommy, he couldn’t deny if Tommy decided to change his stride and vibe with the shit the heroes were up to, it would hurt.

 

" That’s that then , we can ask him later once he’s awake. You up to stretching your legs Wil? There’s a bank a couple of blocks down that’s calling my name."

 

"Why do we need money this time? I thought we were set to lie low for a bit?"

 

"Well, even if he turns the offer down, Tommy needs some clothing, right? I don’t think he can make do with those remaining scraps of his hoodie."

---

Tommy wasn't sure how long he'd been passed out for when he woke up again. His cheeks felt stiff with dried tears and he didn't feel well-rested at all. But the potions had definitely made quick work of his injury, it only stung a little. It was weird waking up in a bed, rather than on the uncomfortable concrete. He'd grown used to roughing it out, but he was thankful for the comfort while it lasted.

 

Straining his ears, it didn’t seem like anyone was nearby at the moment. The room was in the same state as it was when he passed out. Jubilee hadn’t come back it seemed. Not that he wanted him to come back. Fuck, no, that made it sound like he hated him. After Tommy had accidentally driven him out, Tommy reconned he should give him space, and then try and reconcile later. He didn’t want to be on anyone’s bad side in this household.

 

Tommy was going to go mad if he stayed cooped up in this bedroom any longer. It wasn’t like he was a prisoner here, he could leave whenever he wanted. Honestly, it felt like he should be being held prisoner, or at least kidnapped or something by these guys. But no, he could probably wander out, knowing where these three lived, and no one would stop him. Did he really want to leave though? He had warmth, food and lodging here. Sure, he couldn't stay forever, but what harm was there in taking advantage of their hospitality. Honestly occupying a room in a villain's household was far better than wilting away on the cold concrete.

 

Tommy felt naked in just this shirt. He was plenty covered up in it, but he wasn’t sure the last time he wasn’t wearing his hoodie. Obviously, it was going to be stained and ripped to all hell after that fight, but Tommy held onto the hope that it could be salvageable. Worst comes to worst, crop tops were in fashion, right?

 

Sitting up was fine, but as Tommy swung his legs round off of the bed, the aching began to kick in. Maybe getting up was going to be more of a challenge than he thought. He wasn't sure how long he'd been bedridden here, so he wasn't sure how much his legs were going to complain. Only one way to find out.

 

In one swift movement, Tommy hopped off of the bed. He was a little wobbly, and his wound was sore from the sudden movement, but thankfully he hadn't collapsed. He still used the walls for support, just in case they decided that enough was enough. Tommy turned the handle quietly. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to be stealthy. To not intrude? Maybe, he wasn't sure.

 

He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he left the room. It was already goddamn weird being in their home, part of him was expecting there to be fucking brimstone and fire just around the corner. With Saber's thing for theatrics, he wouldn't put it past them. Exiting the bedroom, he was met with a short corridor, with a couple more doers about, before looking like it opened out into a larger area. Although curious, Tommy didn't dare peek at where the other doors led. Instead, he followed the corridor out into a split living room and kitchen.

 

And he wasn't alone here anymore.

 

"Morning troublemaker."

 

Saber was at the counter, slicing a loaf of bread. Despite having eaten dinner around him before, that didn't make him any less intimidating. That breadknife wasn't harmless, but there was no reason for Saber to use it for anything other than cutting bread.

 

"... hi Saber.”

 

With Jubilee? Tommy knew that he could comfortably banter without the risk of many fuck ups. Talking with Saber, however? He didn’t know where to start. The man was known for being deadpan as fuck, and Tommy couldn’t read anything from him. Small talk would have to suffice until Saber said something Tommy could comfortably bounce off of.

 

“The slash healing?”

 

“Yeah, by fucking prime it hurt though,” Tommy grumbled.

 

“ Imagine , getting hit by Evergreen, I dunno man, sucks to be you.”

 

Tommy rolled his eyes. Ah, so Saber was a sarcastic smartass like Jubilee. Made sense I guess.

 

“ Oh fuck off, sorry im not a trained fighter.”

 

“Eh,” He shrugged, gesturing with the breadknife to Tommy, “You have enough of a fighter’s instinct, if he only got that one hit on you”

 

Was… that meant to be a compliment?

 

“I dunno man,” Tommy shrugged, leaning against the counter. “I recon Evergreen is getting old or some shit. If fighting me was like that, you guys can easily decimate him.”

 

Saber thought for a moment before responding.

 

“If you’re calling Evergreen old, what does that make us?”

 

“I dunno man. Ancient? You’re all goddamn adults, you’re either old or really old to me.”

 

“ And you’re surprised when people call you a child. ”

“ Fuck you Saber. ”

 

Finally, Saber cracked a grin. Tommy wasn’t growing on him. Of course not, he wasn’t like the rest of his family. Tommy was just a brat they’d picked up off the streets, Saber didn’t need another brother, Jubilee was well enough. Still, Tommy wasn't the worst company to have, especially since the kid hadn’t tried getting physical like Jubilee would when their bantering got heated. God, an angry Tommy would just be a loud pomeranian nipping at his ankles . That was funny to picture.

 

“Where's the others? Kicked out of the kitchen while you make sandwiches?”

 

“Out clothes shopping.”

 

“Did… y’alls shit get decimated by Avalon and co’s attack?”

 

Tommy was prepared for this to be a sore spot for the group, guaranteed he was going to feel bad if their things did get destroyed with their home.

 

“Nah, I stored all our essentials where I store my weapons with my power.”

 

“... is this another fucking upper-class thing that I don’t understand then? Of buying clothes when you don’t n-”

 

“They’re buying clothes for you .”

 

“I- what?! ”

 

Saber wholeass snorted at Tommy’s blatant surprise.

 

“I don’t know what they see in you-”

 

“ Gee thanks -”

 

“- But when they get back they were gonna offer you stay here.”

 

Frankly, Tommy was reeling. Living? With villains ? Sure, they were all on civil terms, if not friendly terms, but living with these guys? Tommy didn’t want to be thrown in with these guys. Morally, he disagreed with a lot of shit they’d done. But they were nice to him, and they were going to provide clothes, food and shelter for Tommy?

 

“God, I sware everyone in this house blind? Am I the only one that saw this coming?”

 

“... Why? ”

 

“Yet again I state that I don’t know what they see in you.” Saber shrugged, finishing making his sandwich and passing half to Tommy, who happily took the food. “We don’t have nefarious plans to take advantage of your powers or some shit, you just have potential I guess.”

 

---

Tubbo’s unruly fringe hid them, but his eyebags had tripled these past months. Alongside scraping together what they could, they’d been looking everywhere for Tommy. They’d tried ringing him initially, only to find he’d left his mobile phone in his room before he ran away. They scoured L’Manburg week after week to no avail.

 

Tubbo blamed himself. He could have kept it civil between Tommy and him, but he’d let himself get emotional and stick up for himself and his trauma this once and of course, it had to backfire miserably. Tubbo missed his bestfriend . Sure, he had Ranboo, but Tommy was another puzzle piece that made up Tubbo, an essential corner tile that Tubbo didn’t realise he needed so much until he’d lost him.

 

Ranboo was trying his goddamn best to help him through this, and Tubbo was thankful for that. Surely Ranboo was also struggling in his own ways, but slowly but surely Ranboo was helping ease his reliance on booze. They’d actually moved into Ranboo’s room to sleep in, to keep Tubbo away from his alcohol stash most of the time, and to give each other comfort at night. They’d both begun to have nightmares regularly; Tubbo was reliving his trauma and Ranboo… Ranboo didn’t remember any of his nightmares when he woke up, but the terror gripping him was retained for hours after.

 

Sometimes Tubbo would have nightmares about Tommy. About them fighting, but it devolves into more dark and manipulative words than were actually spoken. They were just a product of Tubbo’s spiralling thoughts and his guilt.

 

“Tubbo, it wasn’t your fault.”

 

Tubbo buried his face in Ranboo’s chest, trembling with tears brought on from his latest nightmare.

 

“B-but-”

 

“No buts. It wasn’t your fault, the situation both of y’all were in more complex than one person’s fault.”

 

“M-maybe I should’ve just let Phoenix and co stay. Then I wouldn’t have fought with Tommy in the first place…”

 

“ Don’t. ” Ranboo frowned softly. “Tommy was an ass for invalidating your trauma just ‘cause he’s found some adults that are actually nice to him for a change.”

 

“Ma-maybe they’ve ch-changed? Like T-Toms said?”

 

“Doesn’t mean you owe them forgiveness Bo. That doesn’t mean the shit they’ve done to you magically dissapears.”

Notes:

BTW Damned if i do, Damned if i don't (my villain tommy, hero sbi fic) has updated as well! :) Chapter 2 babeyyyy

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload tiktoks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 19: Moving in with supervillains i guess

Summary:

Tommy joins the household :)

Notes:

GOD I STRUGGLED WRITING THIS CHAPTER
Turns out when you primarily write angst in literally all of ur stories, you end up struggling with the mundane domestic shit. Eventually scraped this together i guess lmaoo. I PLANNED TO HAVE LIKE THREE CHAPTERS OF DOMESTIC CHILL BEFORE WE HIT MORE PLOT I CANT DO THAT dfsjndsndsfjknfdsjkn im sure i can figure something out
but yeah have a shorter chapter cause I'm struggling lol

Tommy returned to his room not long after his conversation with Saber. Well, considering that they were going to offer him a place to stay here, he wasn’t sure if this was going to be his room. It had seemed like one of the guys had been beginning to settle in this room before they rescued Tommy. Tommy put his bets on this being Phoenix’s room. Prime, it was still weird to this that through sheer coincidence he’d managed to befriend L’Manburg’s most wanted villains. Tommy wasn’t exactly sure what the perks there were to being friends with them. The obvious cons were that if he was seen in public interacting with them, Avalon would absolutely target him harder to try to get to them, and obviously gaining his brother as a plus.

 

Tommy… he’d been burying the discovery that Avalon was his brother. He didn’t like Avalon in the first place, he was an egotistical asshole who only really cared about people who would help him raise his place in society. And he didn’t like Caduceus, the cruel older brother who seemingly tortured him within an inch of his life. In some ways, them being one in the same made sense, and it explained some of Avalon’s behaviour. Kidnapping people with powers and draining them? Well, that’s simply what he was doing before, but on a larger scale. Somewhere deep in him, Tommy knew that Avalon doing this was because he didn’t have Tommy to drain anymore.

 

There was a long list of things Tommy was burying. Sure, one day he was going to burst, but right now he was managing pretty fine. No one had to know about his relation to the number one hero. No one needed to find out about his trauma. No one needed to know the broken and lonely Thomas Simons, and definitely not Theseus. The world was going to know the mouthy and upbeat Tommy. He wasn’t sure if that would harm him in the long run, but frankly, he didn’t care. He could cope with all of this on his shoulders; he was Tommy!

 

He didn’t want to think about all this and start spiralling again, especially as there was a light knock at the door, so Tommy shook those thoughts out for now. Phoenix entered, with a shopping bag in his hand. Saber hadn’t been lying then; they had been out shopping…for Tommy.

 

“How you feeling mate?” He asked, taking a seat on the end of the bed. “You look like you’ve moved, and you’re not nearly as pale as you were.”

 

“Yeah I wandered about a bit earlier, I didn’t want to stay cooped up in one place any longer,” Tommy admitted, shrugging, “I’m still a little sore, but for the most part I’m alright now.”

“That’s good, we were worried about you there.”

 

They barely knew him. As much as they’d done for him, he was still half expecting them to take advantage of him or mistreat him like every other adult he’d interacted with. 

 

“A measly slash cant take me down bigman!”

“I mean by definition you got taken down, you were on the fl-”

 

“ Oh shut up !” Tommy rolled his eyes as he gave Phoenix a playful shove.

 

“I’m just saying…” He chuckled. “Anyway, I came in here to ask you something.”

 

Ah, the question he’d been waiting for.

 

“What clothing sizes are you?”

 

I- That wasn’t what he was expecting. I mean sure, he was expecting the clothes, but not him to lead with that!

 

“You’re leading with the clothes?”

 

“You know-? Techno…” Phoenix grumbled.

 

“...whos Techno?”

 

Oh shit, did he just learn Saber’s real name?

 

“ Fuck . Um- I’ll get to the point since it’s been spoiled. We bought you some new clothes since Evergreen tore up your hoodie - what’s left of it is in the wash right now but hoestly I don’t know how much of it is salvageable. And I’ve been speaking with the boys and we’d like to offer you a room for a bit?”

 

“Any strings attached to this?”

 

“I- what?”

 

“As friendly as we are with one another, y’all are villains , it’s literally in your job description to fuck me over or something,” Tommy explained. He was surprised Phoenix hadn’t expected him to ask if there were any terms and conditions. It’s like he’d forgotten he was a well-known villain or something.

 

“Smart thinking kid, but no strings,” Phoenix answered, “You can leave whenever you want, I guess just don’t rat us out to Avalon and his team? I assume that’s a given since you haven’t already. So…what do you say Tommy?”

 

Even though Tommy knew this was coming, he did give it one last thought. Did he want to live here? I mean he definitely wasn’t ready to come to terms with the fight he and Tubbo had, which means he had no chance of returning to what he classed as his home. Frankly, he’d love to take advantage of the comfort and luxury of having an actual bed and heating, rather than being on the cold hard concrete 24/7.

 

“As long as you guys can tolerate me,” Tommy nodded, grinning. They were going to regret this when they learnt just how much of a menace Tommy was on a day to day business at full health. But he’d take advantage of their hospitality for now. “Now old man, what kind of stuff did you buy?”

 

“Well I have no clue about fashion,” Phoenix chuckled, handing the shopping bag to Tommy, “But Wil- Jubilee is really into fashion, and insisted on styling the wardrobe we got you.”

 

“W-wardrobe? I was maybe expecting a hoodie to replace my old one, or a T-shirt or something,” he stuttered.

 

“Tommy you deserve more than just wearing the same clothes day in day out,” Phoenix gave him a soft smile, getting off the bed. “I’ll leave you to try them on, I’ll be in the kitchen if you need to give me a shout. Welcome to the household Tommy.”

 

Tommy counted the footsteps of him walking down the corridor before he dropped his mask. He was determined to not cry, but it was an uphill battle. He couldn’t remember a time where he was welcomed in by an adult like this or given so much as a gift, not even a birthday or Christmas. He’d never experienced a conventional family, or at least closer to one compared to the households he’d been in previously. He started rooting through his new clothes. He was thankful that Jubilee had stuck to Tommy’s red colourscheme - it was his favourite colour. They’d bought him a couple of jeans, a pair of trainers to replace his scuffed and holey ones, some graphic tees, a couple of sweaters and a new hoodie. This one had a main red body and black hood and sleeves. Nothing could live up to his attachment to his original hoodie, but man, the softness of this one could surely challenge it.

 

Tommy’s hands were shaking. He’d only known these people for a handful of months, and they were willing to go this far for him? It was difficult for Tommy to picture adults being willing to show this kind of kindness. Ironic that the adults who were decent human beings also happened to be supervillains. No one is perfect I guess. Tommy’s resolve was cracking very goddamn quickly. One tear slipped past his guard, followed by another. After that, it was pretty hard to stop the waves of sobs that racked his small frame. He finally had somewhere that he didn’t have to fight tooth and nail to survive in. He wasn’t sure how much these three cared for him, but it was enough . 

 

---

 

Wilbur and Phil practically held their breath outside Wil’s room which Tommy had been healing up in. They didn’t mean to pry, they were just worried about Tommy. Wilbur had been heading towards his room to grab his guitar before they both stopped. Tommy had started sobbing in there. You could practically hear their hearts melting, communicating through their expressions silently. As much as the kid liked living with his friends, he had had it far too rough for so long, and when he finally got a break like this? He’d shattered.

 

There was a silent agreement between them. Within reason, they were going to spoil the shit out of Tommy. He had to grow up far to quickly having to steal to survive. He was only seventeen. He deserved to experience his teenage years properly. Sure, he was kind of a stranger, but they had known him for like five months now. And despite how they may deny it, Tommy was really growing on them. There was no harm in having another mouth to feed in here, right?

Notes:

yall before writing this chapter I plotted out the entire fic on a calendar so I could figure out seasons and holidays and shit bhdsbhdsabjhas
I didn't plan the passing of time ever well ngl jbadbhjdbjhad ive posted the calendar in the discord :3 for those who arent joining currently we’re at the start of October in the plot ndsnjksdfjkn Haloween chapter anyone? /hj

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload tiktoks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

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Chapter 20: stop stargazing and fucking go to bed

Summary:

The SBI put down some house rules, and Tommy goes stargazing

Notes:

I took a break from this! I didnt end up take a full writing break like I sHOULD, I just ended up pumping out some Damned if I do chapters lmao, Just cause I could actually write some angst for that hehe

But we’re back? Its a shorter chapter cause I dragged my feet so much writing this dsbnknfjdsknjfds but we’ll be back to more plot intensive chapters im excited for soon so sdjnnjkdsf

Tommy eventually emerged from the room, with no signs that he’d been sobbing previously, having thrown on a pair of new jeans and one of the graphic tees. He’d made sure of it. He didn’t want these guys to pity him any more than they already probably did. He was the annoying brat Tommy, not the pitiful homeless kid that they were adopting. He wasn’t close enough to them yet to reveal just how grateful he was for them taking him in and providing for him. They were still villains after all, chill as they were. His best friend had been given trauma by Saber, these three weren’t fully in Tommy’s good book for a good amount of reasons.

 

Tommy still felt bad for how he’d treated Tubbo, pushing his issues aside to rid himself of his debt to Jubilee. It was kinda fucked, but Tommy had been repeatedly repressing this all. He was scared to see Tubbo again and apologise to him, whenever that was. He was sure that Tubbo hated his guts by now, honestly, he wouldn’t blame him. Here he was, all chummy with people that had hurt him. It felt selfish, staying with these villains, the guilt heavy in his stomach. Tommy didn’t want to go back on the streets. If anything, he was going to take advantage of these three while he could.

 

He made his way to the living room, plopping his ass down on the sofa next to Jubilee, while Phoenix lent against the counter nearby. Saber was nowhere to be seen, presumably in his room. Tommy reckoned that he was just the more reclusive of these three, and trusted these two to deal with Tommy ninety percent of the time. Jubilee shifted a little, letting Tommy have a bit more space to get comfy.

 

“So, what are the house rules?”

 

Jubilee chuckled at Tommy getting straight to the point.

 

“Settling in quickly are you?”

 

“Hey, you’re the ones who offered me a place here, and I’d rather not get on your bad sides .” Tommy shrugged.

 

“In all honestly I haven’t thought this far.” Phoenix admitted, “Use common sense. Don’t invade people's rooms without permission. Clean up after yourself, obviously. Uhhh, No house parties?”

 

“That’s a given, I know that no one else can know where y’all live.”

 

Phoenix thought for a moment, trying to think of anything that he’d missed. There definitely was, but he figured future boundaries could be set when he figured out they were needed. He knew Tommy wasn’t stupid.

 

“Any questions?”

 

Tommy was curious on what living here entailed. Phoenix had already established that the offer of staying here had no strings attached, but Tommy couldn’t help but feel that they were going to treat him the same as every other adult had for as long as he could remember.

 

“Do I… have to be a villain?”

 

Jubilee stifled a laugh next to him, so naturally, Tommy shoved him.

 

“Of course not,” Phoenix responded, “Villainy is a job to us, not a way of life or some shit.”

 

“If anything I’d say we’d actively dissuade you from trying to be a villain,” Jubilee added.

 

"Second question then; when is he-" Tommy gestured to Jubilee, "- Getting his room back?"

 

"How'd you know that's my room?"

 

"'Cause you're not a clingy motherfucker as far as I know, but you were in the room as I recovered far more than the others," He shrugged.

 

"I was worried about you!" 

 

"Well I can't stay in his room forever, as funny as it'd be to take it over, I'm a guest here."

 

"We do have a guest room but…"

 

"It's full of shit?"

 

"For a lack of a better term? Yeah. We put all our stuff on there so Saber didn't have to hold it all on hammerspace, we haven't sorted through it all yet."

 

"It's fine, I'm happy to sleep on the couch."

 

"Are you sure?"

 

"A sofa is more comfortable than concrete bigman, I'll be fine."

 

Tommy had a thought though before they wrapped this up.

 

“Could… I add something to your house rules?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“No more calling me a kid. I’m a teenager, sure, but I’m fucking seventeen. I’ll be a legal adult next April, being significantly younger than you guys doesn't mean you can baby me. It gets on my nerves.”

 

“Sorry dude,” Jubilee apologised sheepishly.

 

“It’s okay, just pull back on it, I’ll even reel in my old man comments in solidarity.”

“Nah you dont have to do that,” Jubilee grinned, “Phil is ancient-”

 

“ Phil ?”

 

“ Fuck .”

 

“It’s okay, Wil ,” Tommy smiled.

 

“The fuck ?”

 

“ Phil has dropped both you and Techno’s names, not cutting off quick enough-”

 

“ Dad… ” Wil sighed.

 

“You caught that?”

 

“I’m not stupid???” Tommy was laughing now, “What’s Wil short for anyway? William? Wilford?”

 

“Wilbur.”

 

“Pfft what a lame name-” Wilbur shoved Tommy. 

 

“At least I don’t have a boringass common name like Tommy! ”

 

“Oi fuck you! Tommy is a fucking great name!”

 

---

 

Tommy fell into a rhythm with Wilbur, Phil, and Saber. As abrasive as Tommy could sometimes be, he somehow meshed with their family dynamic fine. Obviously he wasn’t their family, so there was always going to be a unseen distance separating them, but it was almost natural in the way he could bounce off of them. Tommy couldn’t place it, but it was different to when he would banter with Ranboo and Tubbo.

 

The conversation that Wilbur had walked out on didn’t resurface, even after a couple of days. Neither of them were good with words and emotions, so they glossed over it, pretending it never happened. Their dynamic returned to lightly bullying each other over the next few days. It nagged at Tommy a little, but like everything, he just buried it and moved on.

 

Living with them was weird. Tommy was wired to be almost constantly running on his survival instincts, but he had nothing to worry about here. He didn’t have to steal, he didn’t even have to cook. But doing nothing felt wrong. Tommy was growing restless very easily, but as nice as they’d been, Tommy was trying his best to not upset them. He was grateful for all of this, but he still feared the potential of what they were capable of doing to him if he fucked up sufficiently.

 

This bordem occumilated to him heading into their garden late one night and just lying on the grass out there. While he’d been homeless, he’d been too miserable to enjoy the clear nights skies. But here, where he was arguably the safest in a long time? The stars were breathtaking. Tommy could get lost in the twinkling constellations, his gaze drifting from one to another. He easily could ignore the cold of the night creeping in, he was enjoying stargazing far too much. He used to bring popcorn out as a kid and make it a competition with Tyche to see who could find and name the most constellations. Tommy would let her win most of the time, it was nice seeing her so happy and competitive.

 

Tommy metally reeled back a hot second. Since when did he know that? That memory was just there, like he’d never lost it at all. Tommy had gotten used to remembering things through his dreams and nightmares, so having things just come back to him ? It was obviously welcome, but it was a far cry from what he was used to.

 

Tommy couldn’t get back to drifting into the stars again, as he has made jump by Wilbur opening the back door to check up on him.

 

“You alright Tommy?”

 

“GOD!” He jumped, almost scrambling from his spot. “Yeah I’m fine, you made me fucking jump though.”

 

“I wasn’t even quiet dude.”

 

“Oh fuck you.”

 

Wilbur rolled his eyes, leaning against the frame of the door. Tommy thought something felt off about this. It wasn’t that he was up this late, he could fully expect that. Him checking in on him was in character too. His thoughts caught up to what he was seeing. Wil should’ve been backlit, yet he looked like light was coming from in front of him. But the only thing that was there was-

 

Tommy was glowing.

 

It wasn’t just his eyes, his whole body was gently glowing, spilling a warm light over his surroundings. On realising this the light flickered a bit in his surprise, before the glow subsided completely.

 

“ The fuck? ”

 

Wilbur let out a chuckle.

 

“How did you not realise you were lighting up like a Christmas tree?”

 

“I was a little preoccupied!”

 

He rolled his eyes.

 

“Can’t sleep too?”

 

Tommy shrugged.

 

“I’m adjusting to living here, it’s weird. I’ll get used to it eventually.”

 

“What’s weird about it?

 

“I’ve had to fight for my basic necessities for as long as i can remember, so everything being provided to me for free? I’m not sure what do do with myself now that I’m not just surviving anymore.” Tommy admitted.

 

“Then now’s your time to thrive instead.”

Notes:

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload tiktoks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 21: Tommy you're not a human torch, pLEASE-

Summary:

Tommy experiments with his powers, and the SBI go out on a mission

Notes:

Sorry for such a big writing break! I’ve been stressing about adult stuff (trying to find a house to move into, trying to find a better job, ect :/ ) and im been rlly depressed lately, so I just didn’t have the motivation or energy to work on either of my fics. I’m still meh as im typing this, but next chapter is a major plot point in my TIYPIC story plan so i NEED to get this chapter out nsnskdjnfdskjnf

I’ll be taking mental health breaks when i need em lol, so chapter’s prolly wont be out consistently weekly anymore asdfghjkl

I forgot to mention last chapter but we have four beta readers now! They’ve been helping me on both this fic and Damned! :) I never thought I’d have a big enough reader-base to need beta’s, but its rlly cool that y’all like my stories sm! <3

Tommy was frustrated.

 

Ever since he'd unknowingly been glowing that night, he'd been trying to replicate it. He wasn't sure how he'd been glowing without surging and his curiosity was getting the better of him. He hadn’t felt any sort of rush of energy when he’d been glowing, he’d been just stargazing. 

 

It felt like he was grasping at straws. Sometimes he forgot just how clueless he was about the extent of his powers. You could only experiment with no new results for so long. Sure he was limiting himself, but that was only to a reasonable degree so he didn't destroy their electronics. It was disheartening, to say the least.

 

He wasn't going to bother anyone with his struggles. He'd already trauma dumped on them before, as much as they were giving him a roof over his head and clothes to wear, he wasn't going to make himself any more of a burden. He could figure out how to glow again, right? It wasn’t the most useful power to have, but for all he knew, he might need to light up a space in the future.

 

“You look like you're trying not to shit yourself.”

 

He almost leapt from the couch, the sparks he was currently trying to manipulate dissipating from his fingertips. What was it with this lot and sneaking up on him? Techno had practically appeared behind him, hairbrush in one hand.

 

“ GOD !” Tommy let out a sigh. “I was concentrating! Do yall stealth about your house normally?!”

 

“No, you’re just unobservant,” Techno snorted. “What’s with the face you were pulling? You looked like you were gonna pop a blood vessel.”

 

“I’ll have you know I wasn’t- whatever . I was trying to get my powers to do what I want, but as you can tell I’m getting nowhere.”

 

By seventeen, Tommy should’ve had at least the basics of his powers figured out, but he was still discovering new elements to himself that he didn't realise he could do. He hated falling behind, though he knew it wasn’t his fault. It was his stupid amnesia. Still, that didn’t make him feel any better. Everyone else in this household had a mastery of their powers. Sure, they were adults and had to use their abilities to keep themselves alive in fights. Why couldn’t Tommy have that too?

 

“Techno?”

 

“Mmmn?”

 

“How do your powers work?”

 

“Heh?”

 

Clearly, he wasn’t expecting Tommy’s curiosity and the genuine tone at that.

 

“You don’t need to tell me every detail,” Tommy backtracked, explaining, “Just maybe if I have the perspective of how other powers work, maybe I can apply it to making mine behave.”

 

Techno considered it for a few moments, before taking a seat. He began brushing his hair, multitasking to talking to Tommy didn’t cut into his day.

 

“So I can draw things from a pocket dimension. I dunno where it actually leads to, I don't care,” Techno shrugged.

 

“Putting things in and taking them out, I focus my energy in my hands in a mental pushing or pulling motion..? Summoning my weapons is different though. I just-”

 

Techno reached his free hand out in front of him. The was a rush of energy towards his hand, a soft glow beginning to appear, and within several seconds a glowing cutlass expanded from the light.

 

“Focus what I want to hold and it materialises, though it takes a lot more effort than putting things in hammerspace.”

 

He gave the sword a twirl, before releasing it into the air, where it faded into nothingness. Techno pretended he didn't see the flash of awe in Tommy's eyes as he did that. Man, the kid was easy to impress.

 

“What are you wanting to do anyway?”

 

“I was stargazing and I started glowing. Not a useful skill," he explained, "But I’d like to at least understand how to utilise my powers.”

 

Techno paused, thinking a few moments, before telling Tommy to stay there. He couldn't read Techno's expression at all, Tommy just hoped whatever had sprung to Techno's mind was good. At this point, he'd take any spitballing that would turn his electricity into light. Techno returned with a handful of batteries.

 

"I- Batteries? I know I'm the human equivalent but-"

 

"Do you want my idea or not Tommy?"

 

"Fine, hit me with it bigman."

 

"This is just a test to see if your power behaves anyway like mine," Techno explained, handing Tommy a single battery. "Close your eyes. Focus on the small amount of energy in it, and try and draw the energy in it out, but don't let it get to wherever you feel your powers."

 

"Like my core or something?"

 

"Yeah, for now just try to keep that power in your fingers or something."

 

"N-now what?"

 

"Open your eyes."

 

On opening his eyes, the glow on the tips of his fingers sputtered out. His eyes immediately lit up in excitement, the glow unrelated to the activity they'd just done.

 

"How'd you know??!?"

 

"The weapon aspect of my powers is just energy manipulation, condensing my power into a physical form," Techno shrugged, dropping the rest of the batteries on the counter. "Yours obviously isn't the same as mine, but you're just spreading the release of your energy across your body, honestly in a safer way than zapping everything."

 

With that, Techno continued with the busy work he'd been occupied with before. Phil and Techno both seemed to be preparing for something today, but Tommy wasn't going to date pry. He didn't want anything to do with the world of heroes and villains for as long as he could help it.

 

Tommy surprisingly enough stayed focused for a few hours repeating the experiment Techno had him do. It took a good few tries - and recharging the batteries - but slowly but surely he was getting consistent results. Tommy went from glowing fingertips to his whole hand glowing. Any more and the brightness dulled significantly, there wasn’t a lot of power in those batteries, but it was a safe start. In theory, he could make his entire body glow, but that’d require some serious power.

 

At about noon Wilbur emerged from his room, his interest peaked from Tommy’s spread of batteries.

 

“I thought you were going to stop eating electricity now that we can provide food for you?” Wilbur raised an eyebrow, sitting beside Tommy.

 

“Pfft I’m not eating these batteries dude, I’m doing this;”

 

Tommy picked up a handful of them and demonstrated his hand lighting up.

 

“Woah! You figured it out?”

 

“Techno gave me some pointers, but yeah!” Tommy grinned. “Batteries only have enough juice for one hand, but image how bright I could go if I let myself get hit by lightning again!”

 

“You’re not going out in a thunderstorm.” Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. 

 

“Boo! Let me have fun !”

 

Wilbur shoved Tommy, batteries flying everywhere. That gave Wil a thought.

 

“Tommy?”

 

“Yeah dickhead?”

 

“Can you do it from a distance?”

 

Tommy hadn’t tried that yet . He shut his eyes, reaching out to the energy in the batteries about the room and tried to suck them dry into his hand. Peeking out of one eye, he was startled to find himself successful, hand emitting a warm glow.

 

“ Holy shit! I can!”

 

Wilbur and Tommy are a force to be reckoned with. Being left unattended to their own devices as Phil and Techno were still busy, the pair went hog wild messing around with Tommy’s powers. They didn't damage anything (permanently) other than accidentally blowing up a lamp in Wilbur’s room. Tommy hadn’t had this much fun with his powers in a while. Tubbo and Ranboo had always aired on the side of caution, not overusing or taking advantage of their powers, and they encouraged Tommy to do the same. Wil on the other hand ran on a similar train of thought to him in most things, bouncing ideas off of him. Tommy couldn’t lie, living with people who encouraged him to use his powers was something he really had to adjust to. It wasn’t bad, just different.

 

Before either of them had noticed, it’d gotten dark out. How long had they been mucking about ? They only realised this as Phil and Techno came out from a room deeper in the house, in full villain costume. Tommy waved at them as they came through… and accidentally released the energy he’d been messing with out from his hand. Techno covered his eyes quick enough, but Phil stumbled back a little before getting his senses back to him.

 

“Ah! Sorry Phil!” He apologised sheepishly. Clearly, he still had to work on his control.

 

“It’s fine Tommy,” Phil chuckled shaking his head. “Wil is in charge until we get back.”

 

“Villain shit?”

 

Techno nodded.

 

“Enjoy your fun then.”

 

---

 

It was initially a little odd not having the quiet ambient noises of the two in the house, but Tommy got over that pretty quickly, as Wilbur turned the evening into a movie night. Tommy had missed out on a lot of pop culture from being cooped up without internet or cable, not to mention the time he’d lost to his amnesia as well. Wilbur figured it’d be the easiest to start him off on Disney, though he let Tommy take the pick. He chose Tangled , a wonderful choice.

 

Wil had expected him to need to shush the loud teen every five minutes, but Tommy was really taken in by the movie, quietly munching on the popcorn he’d gotten out for the two of them. I guess Disney was a good shot then. 

 

“Rapunzel shouldn’t go back. Don’t tell me she goes back after she sees the lantern ceremony.”

 

“Mmn, why?”

 

“Clearly she’s going to be taken advantage of and locked up again by Gothel, Maybe even stricter!”

 

“Shhhh. She doesn’t understand how fucked up Gothel is yet.”

 

Tommy grumbled in response. There was something about the story that felt uncomfortably familiar. He never had a handsome rogue rescue him and go on a big musical filled adventure with him, and he sure as hell didn’t have many of his memories before being taken away from Caduceus, but Rapunzel's situation with Mother Gothel… he didn’t need all his memory back to know there were parallels. How many was another question, and Tommy wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

 

Their timing was impeccable. Just as the credits started rolling, Wilbur got a text and scrambled to his feet.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Dad and Techno need backup.”

 

Tommy, curious as ever, followed Wilbur down a corridor and down a flight of stairs, into what could only be described as a supervillain HQ. Variations on each of their costumes lined the walls, weapons of every shape and type mounted nearby them. Tommy resisted the urge to touch anything, knowing he’d hurt himself or some shit. He just looked around the room in awe as Wil quick changed into his Jubilee getup.

 

“Don’t destroy the house while I’m gone.”

 

“Pffft you leaving just means I’m in charge of the house now ,” Tommy grinned, leaving the room and heading back over to the living room to see Wil off.

 

“Whatever makes you feel good about yourself,” he grinned back.

 

---

 

Left to his own devices, Tommy pittered about the house for like half an hour, before getting too bored and switching the TV to cable channels. It was too quiet being alone in this house for him not to watch anything. He was just flicking through blindly before having to backtrack a couple of channels, a news feature catching his eye.

 

It was a shot from a helicopter above the scene, sending a bright spotlight onto the ground below.

 

They were surrounded. Jubilee had someone limp in his arms, Phoenix and Saber on either side of them to protect them from anyone daring to approach, though all of them looked significantly roughed up. Police in riot gear covered all escape routes. The big three, Evergreen, Hellfire and Avalon, circled the group, taunting them. They were going to be beaten by the heroes at this rate.

 

Fuck.

 

Notes:

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload TikToks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 22: What was that about not getting involved, Tommy?

Summary:

Tommy rushes into action, despite the fact he told himself he didn't want to get involved with this shit. He reacts pretty understandably.

Notes:

So :) Shit is beginning to hit the fan. I know I said I was slowing down working on the fic, but I busted this out in one sitting, I've just been pumped to get the ball rolling with the plot :)

CW!: blood / violence, dissociation / panic attack

Fuck.

 

Tommy felt frozen in place. Obviously Phil, Techno and Wil weren't helpless, they were notoriously feared villains, but seeing them so little, and so surrounded, Tommy couldn't help but panic. The riot police would be easy pickings, usually none of them would have powers - those who do usually were scouted to become low-level heroes elsewhere instead. But all three of the big heroes against them? Tommy could easily picture two of them alone managing to wipe them out.

 

He was meant to stay put. 

 

It’s not like he could help. 

 

But watching the pixels on the screen of them made something churn in Tommy’s gut. Tommy was on his feet before his thoughts could catch up to him. What was he doing? They were the bad guys, they were getting what they deserved as villains, right? Then why was he running to the room he'd followed Wilbur into?

 

He came to a halt in the centre of the room, surrounded by the villains' costumes and weapons, trying to talk himself out of this. What could he really do, electrocute everyone there? Tommy didn't want that on his conscience. Sure, he'd managed to presumably take down Evergreen before, but that was his body panickedly responding to his injury. Police and two more of L'manburg's top heroes? Even working with the villains, Tommy was sure that the heroes would end up on top. Despite this though, he reached for one of Jubilee's eye masks, and one of Saver's face masks. They'd housed him, so it was only fair for him to repay the favour, no matter how risky it was. He hoped the guys wouldn't mind him borrowing these, but he couldn't risk Avalon seeing any of his face right now and recognising him.

 

Tommy sprinted out of the front door, baton in hand. He took a moment to absorb where he was; he hadn't explored particularly far away from the house yet, so he hadn't actually known where the fuck they were. Turns out, they really meant it when they said this was their summer home. Despite the cover of night, he could recognise just how close to the docks and beach they were. That was convenient. You see, the helicopter shot of the gang showed a bird's eye view of some of the storage containers, and there were very few warehouses with those at this time of year. He wasn't familiar with the warehouses, but he knew if he followed the flow of police, he should find the fight.

 

His heart was beating in his ears as he sprinted through the night, the rhythm of the thud of his trainers against the tarmac syncing with it. Every step he was second-guessing himself. Even if Avalon and his team arrested them all, he could safely live in their house. However, that’d be no different to his living situation with Tubbo and Ranboo, except without any company or support. He didn’t want to stick his fingers into this hero vs villains shit, but he’d gotten to a point living with them where he didn’t have to barely live anymore. Tommy had a taste of thriving, and now he’d do anything to do more than survive.

 

He knew he was heading in the right direction when he could see the helicopter ahead, still casting a spotlight down on the area. He was heading straight into danger. Here’s his last chance to turn around and not fuck this up.

 

Tommy charged in.

 

With his small frame, weaving through the gatherings of police was child's play. What was harder was focusing on stealing the electricity from all their walkie talkies and phones, and not releasing it as anything. No crackle of electricity, no glowing. He had a plan, but he had the feeling that if he fucked it up, he was going to have his largest surge yet, and hurt everyone here. Hopefully, it didn’t come to that . There was some other energy that he could sense as he sucked the electricity into him. He took mental note of it, but there was no time to dwell on it right now. He had to focus on taking down their communication as he went.

 

“Hey, kid stop!”

 

Tommy felt the fingertips against the edge of his hood, but he barely jerked out of the way in time for the policewoman to fail to catch him. More eyes were on him, but that didn’t deter him, especially when they had no way of warning the riot police ahead that he was incoming.

 

He could tell he was getting close when the amount of police thickened, and he was using his momentum alone at this point to break through the crowd. None of them was expecting some gangly teen to barrel through them, they’d been focused on the real danger of the villains to have taken notice of the teen behind them. Tommy almost stumbled as he managed to push through the last of the police, just to find Hellfire turning to shoot a blast of fire at him instinctively.

 

 Tommy wasn’t sure how to process it as he dropped into a roll underneath the blast. Through pure panic he felt the blisteringly hot fire above him and then felt himself absorb it, joining the ticking time bomb of electricity he’d been storing. Any other time, he’d have a crisis over what the fuck that was with his powers, but right now he was kind of preoccupied with not dying. He sprinted over to the group of villains, clearly bewildered at his sudden entrance. Phoenix gave him a very strong " Tommy what the fuck are you doing here ” look, but he didn't have time to explain properly.

 

“I’m doing what I did at home, then make a break for it .”

 

Everyone got the message. Well, the ginger guy Jubilee was cradling in his arms didn’t, but Jubilee covered his eyes in time. Tommy focused as hard as he could, sucking all the electricity from the surrounding area. Lights blinked out in quick succession, one by one. Tommy was careful to only take out the helicopter’s light with this - he didn’t want to accidentally kill anyone - but with that, the warehouse complex was thrown into darkness.

 

One.

 

Two.

 

Three.

 

Tommy had given a few moments for people's eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness before blinding them with the release of the energy. It was an enormous flashbang. He was particularly satisfied by the sound of discomfort and surprise Avalon made. Everyone moved to plan, knocking over police like pins. Tommy brought up the rear of the group, barely keeping up with them. They were making quick work of putting as much distance between them and the heroes before they could recover and react as they could. However, it wasn’t long before he could hear the cries of frustration from the heroes.

 

The villains seemed to know this warehouse complex like the back of their hand and wanted to lose the trail of police that they had, so they split up. Jubilee one way, Phoenix another, and Saber different route. Tommy found himself trying to keep up with Saber, but slowly but surely, he was losing ground. They’d lost the police, but it was only a matter of time till one of the heroes caught up with one of the villains. Literally, the second Tommy lost sight of Saber, there was a hand around his wrist as he was jerked back.

 

Tommy cried out in pain and surprise as he was pulled back by a firm grip on his arm. As he turned, fighting against the grip, his blood turned to ice. He was greeted by a hero donned in draping emerald fabric, a plain white smiley face mask obscuring his face from view. 

 

Avalon . 

 

Shit.

 

“A new addition to their ranks?” Avalon's words dripped with venom.

 

Tommy wanted to throw up. It was taking everything in his power to not start trembling. He wasn’t ready to face his brother, it was far too soon. He’d come to terms with who he was, but he hadn’t come to terms with all the shit he’d put him through though. His pure and unbridled fear was evident even through the masks, Avalon laughing at the reaction.

 

“Seems that you were disposable,” Tommy could hear the sneer through the mask. “No one is coming back for you.”

 

He was wrong, right? Techno wouldn’t leave him behind, right ? But had he even noticed Tommy had stopped following him? He could easily picture him leaving without a second thought. They were villains, he wouldn't put it past them, especially with Saber. He was the most merciless of the group. Tommy was fucked, wasn’t he? And he’d brought this upon himself-

 

“Now I am very interested in that power of yours-”

 

Tommy tried to hit Avalon with his baton, finally somewhat breaking out of a little bit of his panic to try fighting back more. This was useless though, as Avalon easily knocked the metal out of his hand, twisting his wrist uncomfortably till his whole body twisted with it. Avalon used this reaction to pin Tommy to the nearby wall, pressing his face uncomfortably into the rough concrete. Tommy could not risk Avalon realising who Tommy was, so he reacted on instinct.

 

“ SABER! ”

 

Everything happened so quickly. Mere seconds after screaming out for the villain, Avalon was barged away by Saber, who scooped Tommy up into one arm. Tommy clung to him for dear life as he used the momentum to swing around and summon a blade in his hand, taking a swipe at the hero’s head. Avalon barely dodged in time, missing getting hit in the head. However, his mask didn't come out unscathed, the slice going all the way through it and cleaving it in half.

 

A sprinkle of soft freckles. 

 

A sliver of an electrical scar. 

 

A familiar sage green eye, wide in surprise.  

 

And then he scrambled to hold the two halves of his mask together before he could accidentally reveal more of his face.

 

Tommy had already confirmed to himself and somewhat come to terms that Caduceus and Avalon were one in the same, but seeing his face, just a crack, but the nail in the coffin. He hadn’t seen his brother in years. Even with the age in his features, Tommy couldn’t deny the resemblance. Some part of him had hoped he looked nothing like he remembered, but no. That was him.

 

“He’s ours ,” Saber growled.

 

With that, Saber fled, leaving Avalon reeling on the concrete. Tommy stayed in his arms, shaking. He was sure that if he was put down, his legs would give out underneath him. He felt so fragile right now. He’d just gone against the top heroes and survived to tell the tale . Not everyone could say that. He was reeling from the experience, no one could blame him for that. He wasn’t mentally prepared for any of that, he’d just gone to help fueled on impulse and panic.

 

Saber and the others reconvened closer to the summer house, everyone successfully getting out fairly unscathed. Phoenix’s veil looked charred on the edges and Jubilee was rather pale and his nose was bleeding, but no one was in life-threatening danger anymore. They filed into the house, the man Wilbur had been carrying was led on the kitchen counter, while Techno placed Tommy onto the couch. In the warm light, Tommy could see the poor guy’s injuries. He had a thick gash across his midsection, and what looked like a rough-looking burn that had caught his side. He had blood matting his white and ginger hair, seeming to have hit his head as well. The trio left Tommy to his own devices as they worked to stabilise the guy.

 

Tommy curled in on himself on the couch, ripping the masks off and burying himself in his hoodie. He could’ve died out there. He was very fucking lucky that everything went to plan. He’d exhausted himself, his powers, physically and mentally stretched as far as they could go. He refused to let himself cry, but his breathing picked up, something horrible lodging in his throat. The conversations of the villains faded out as he sunk into himself, losing awareness. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. This had been all too much. He was slipping away. His heartbeat was too loud. Everything was far too much-

 

And then a gentle touch. Someone had his hand and was talking to him. He couldn’t process any of it and let out a mumble. They continued, squeezing his fingertips and talking to him. Slowly but surely this was dragging Tommy back to the surface of his mind.

 

“Tommy, can you hear me?”

 

Wilbur?

Notes:

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload TikToks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 23: every character in this fic needs therapy, Tommy's no exception

Summary:

Wilbur gets Tommy out of his panic attack and helps him calm down

Notes:

I managed to get a new job! It's full-time cafe work, so unfortunately yeah my fic output is prolly gonna slow down even more, but it is what it is cause I want to actually have spending money each month after rent lol. I'm determined to finish this fic so dw, I WILL GET THIS DONE SJDBKSNDSK
I'm also moving house next week! So manny big adulting things happening! WaaAaaA-
I may or may not have had a stress dream about my posting rate,,, whoopsies! I promise im taking care of myself, my health comes before these fics sdnfjsdnfsk

It never failed to surprise Tommy that these guys genuinely seemed to care about him. He was fully prepared to ride out his panic attack and let himself be emotionally numb until he slept it off, but instead, Wilbur had pulled himself away from what Tommy thought was the priority - the injured guy on their kitchen counter - to come and help the distressed teen. Tommy couldn’t sense any out-of-control electricity within him, or even coming out of him. Sure, Tommy was having a breakdown, but it’s nothing the bigman couldn’t handle right? It’s not like it was anything new.

 

Yet here Wil was, trying to pull Tommy out of his haze. Tommy didn’t resist the aid. He followed Wilbur’s lead, as he slowly regained control of his breathing, all the jumbled noise coming back into focus. In - two, three, out - two, three. Tommy was still shaky as fuck, but the world didn’t feel like it was collapsing in on him anymore. He still wasn’t processing things fully though, and his eyesight was still flooded with tears, as Wil gently helped him up off of the sofa and into Wilbur’s room. The light was much softer in there, less to struggle to focus on.

 

Tommy focused on what would ground him. The feel of the cotton duvet below him. The smell of old books in the air. Wilbur beside him. Slowly but surely, his breathing was steadying though still shaky.

 

"You okay bud?"

 

He took a seat beside Tommy, giving him a reassuring look.

 

"I-I'll be fine."

 

Wilbur seemed to not quite believe that, raising one eyebrow.

 

"Are you hurt?"

 

"Not really," Tommy answered, "A-Avalon slammed me into a wall but it was less of an attack and more of an attempt to restrain me."

 

"God, good. I don't want him hurting you.” His look darkened. “Or being near you for that matter."

 

Preferably, Tommy didn’t want to be near Avalon again. His regained memories of his old life terrified him, and he would do anything in his power to stay away from his brother. There might come a day where he has come to terms with his trauma enough to face Caduceus, but right now that was a long way off.

 

That being said, Tommy ideally wouldn't have gone out there and interacted with him to begin with. He didn't want to be involved with any of this shit, he just wanted a quiet but steady life. Tommy was certain helping Wilbur and his family had sealed his fate now. He was going to get entangled in shit whether he wanted to or not.

 

“Sorry for running out there when I was meant to stay put… and stealing your costumes.”

 

“Are you kidding? Tommy, you gave us an out," Wilbur reassured, "Sure that was reckless as fuck, you could've gotten yourself killed , but your intervention meant none of us got seriously injured. If anything we should be thanking you."

 

Tommy could tell Wilbur was more worried than he let on, but Tommy didn’t push it. It was still alien to him having adults genuinely care about him and his safety. Wil’s expression shifted for a moment before turning to Tommy again.

 

"I do have to ask… why'd you help us? You've made it explicitly clear that you don't want anything to do with our hero-villain shit."

 

"I… You guys have given me a taste of a stable living, and I can't lose that. Not so soon."

 

"But you'll get hurt siding with us."

 

"Wilbur, my man, do you really think I'm stable enough to have that as a deterrent? I don't want to die, but I'm making my peace with the clear fact that chaos follows me."

 

There was a glint of worry growing in Wilbur's expression. He was incredibly concerned for him. Tommy had been through far too much for one boy, and he had a feeling there was plenty of Tommy's suffering that he'd kept to himself. Anyone else would become depressed over their chronic bad luck, but Wil wasn't sure whether he should be impressed or alarmed that Tommy was now trying to roll with the punches.

 

"Besides, it's not like I'm fighting to survive anymore. If you guys can change my luck like that, then maybe y'all aren't so bad after all."

 

"Oh wow is me, our reputation down the drain-"

 

Tommy shoved Wilbur, rolling his eyes, but that just fueled Wil's antics more. As serious as their conversation had been, it was in Wilbur's nature to joke about, especially if it helped Tommy wind down from his panic attack.

 

"- We help one guy and now we are angels, model citizens!"

 

"Pffft, if anything you'd be demonised for-" Tommy mimicked Wilbur's theatrics, "- manipulating a poor innocent boy to the dark side. How evil ."

 

"You're a genius! Our image is saved thanks to a glow stick!"

 

"Pffft shut your face," Tommy laughed.

 

Joking around like this with Wilbur was strangely comforting. Tommy couldn't exactly place the feeling, but it was filling a space in his heart that he didn't know was there. He wondered whether he had this dynamic with any of his siblings. Definitely not Caduceus, but Iris or Tyche? He seemed to have a much healthier relationship with them from the slivers that he'd regained about them.

 

Wil’s glow stick comment somehow brought his intervention into the forefront of his thoughts. Tommy had done the unexplainable as someone with electricity based power. Absorbing that blast should have been impossible. Yet… it clearly happened.

 

"Wil?"

 

"Mmm?"

 

"Did I absorb Hellfire's fire?"

 

He hesitated before responding.

 

"Tonight? Or when I first met you?"

 

What did he mean? He never absorbed any fire before now. Or had he. Tommy's eyes widened as he realised what Wilbur meant. He'd surged that first time from consuming so much energy at once. That energy in question being hit with that attack.

 

"O-oh."

 

“Yeah… I don’t think you’re powers are as simple as you’d hope.”

 

Tommy was silent for a bit, lost in his thoughts. He’d been lost as to where to figure out his powers in the first place, but it not being what he’d initially pegged it as being? It threw Tommy through a loop. What were his abilities then? Energy absorption? Energy manipulation ?? Trying to think through this all was beginning to give Tommy a headache, but perhaps that could have also been caused by being slammed into a rough wall at high force.

 

“If it’s any consolation, I didn’t figure out my powers till I was about your age.”

 

That definitely drew Tommy away from his thoughts.

 

“How do you not notice being able to control people with your voice, your words until you were seventeen?”

 

“ That’s not my power .”

 

Tommy’s brows furrowed. Every news article had clearly said that he could use siren speech. Hell, he swore he’d even seen it in action before.

 

“I’ve misled the media, and the heroes for that matter,” Wilbur shrugged, unphased by Tommys’ surprise at him opening up and revealing such a big secret, “I actually have hydrokinesis, and I make people do what I want by uh-” Wilbur grimaced a little. “-manipulating their blood?”

 

“Holy shit-” Tommy exclaimed, “Like Katara in that one episode of Avatar?”

 

“I thought you didn’t have much access to shit?” Wilbur laughed. He hadn’t expected that reaction to the truth about his powers.

 

“Tubbo gave me internet access and I immediately started trying to catch up with what I’ve missed out on bigman,” Tommy explained. “Prove it though.”

 

“... excuse me ?”

 

“You heard bitchboy,” Tommy grinned. “I one hundred percent believe you, but I want to see it. Show me your water-bending bitch.”

 

Wilbur rolled his eyes, but he humoured Tommy’s request. Tommy’s arm tensed unusually, and then it started moving independently to Tommy’s control. Tommy tried to fight it, but that just led to him having even less control. Wilbur forced Tommy’s hand to point a finger… and go right for Tommy’s nostril.

 

“ You ass! ” Tommy laughed, fighting to dodge his controlled hand away from his face, refusing to dig for gold up his nose. Wilbur had a little more fun before giving Tommy back control.

 

“You wanted an example,” Wil smiled innocently as if he hadn’t just terrorised his friend.

 

“Fuck you,” Tommy grinned.

 

“Fuck you too.”

Notes:

pretty short chapter but it means I can get to post the last chapter I'll write while in this house!

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload TikToks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 24: How well done do you like your toast?

Summary:

Tommy has a shitty dream, trends on twitter, and then burns his toast

Notes:

So! its been a while.
ive been on a big ol' hiatus, I just had no drive to write recently, not TIYPIC at least.
I had inspo for DiiDDiiD though, I've been regularly posting that tho
But!! I've been reading other vigilante tom fics (TINAAOS if you're curious lol) and that gave me the inspiration to get on with this lol

CW: nightmares, a panic attack

Tommy’s bare feet ripped across the concrete, regardless of how ragged raw they felt. He could review his injuries once he was safe. He wasn’t sure where he was, but he just knew he had to keep running. It was almost pitch black, he could barely see beyond each footstep. Just keep running. If he didn’t stop running, he could stay out of the impending danger indefinitely, right? Exhaustion clung to his bones, the air thick in his chest. He couldn't keep this up forever. 

An everpresent fear loomed over him, threatening to overtake him completely if he faltered in fleeing from the unseen. His heart threatened to burst out his chest. Despite his body crying out for an opening to collapse, he pushed on.

 

Tommy stumbled as there was a rumble of thunder, a giant searchlight appearing. Shit . Tommy picked up his pace, trying to put as much distance as he could between him and the blisteringly bright light. The light moved, searching for him, he was sure of it. Tommy was beginning to speed up when a second light appeared. Then a third, then a fourth. Shit. Fuck, fuck, fuck . He scrambled away just in time to avoid getting seen by one of the beams, which had moved to where he’d last been. That was all the confirmation he needed to know that the lights were bad news. There was nowhere to hide, nothing to duck under or behind, and it felt like these searchlights were tracking his last movements. It felt hopeless and draining, Tommy wanted to crumple at this point.

 

And then a spotlight appeared on him . Tommy was frozen in fear, his terror taking over. Good reason for that fear too; an all too familiar voice echoed out of the darkness.

 

“ You can’t hide from me Theseus .”

Tommy shot upright breathless, cold sweat clinging to his skin. Panic was still panting through his veins. He was biting back the surge to scream. Caduceus had found him, right? He was fucked, he was going to have to go back to him and go through all the torture of draining Tommy’s powers - 

 

“Tommy, buddy it's okay.”

 

Wilbur was now at his side. How’d he - oh yeah, Tommy had asked to sleep in the same room, too shaken from all the action from last night to be able to sleep alone. Wilbur had softly agreed to it and they’d somehow managed to both fit on the bed together without elbowing one of them off of it. Obviously, Wil had woken up earlier than Tommy.

 

“Nuh- he’s, he’s got me, h-he-”

 

“Avalon doesn’t have you Toms. You’re safe. Breathe for me okay?”

 

Technically , Wil was right about the person he was worried about. He wasn’t sure when he was going to tell them. Deep down he wanted to reveal Avalon’s civilian identity, for Tommy’s own safety, but at the same time, he desperately didn't want to reveal to them that he was brothers with the hero. As much as he trusted them, what if they took advantage of him and his relation to the hero? What if they gave him back to Avalon in some negotiation bullshit?

 

His breathing hitched, his heart rate picking up as he spiralled. This was the opposite of what Wilbur had asked but Tommy couldn’t help it. Last night had dredged up the trauma he’d been slowly regaining and it had shaken Tommy to his core. He was sure he wasn’t going to have a good night’s sleep for a long time. If anything he was almost glad that it was a nightmare and not a memory.

 

“Tommy?”

 

In - two, three. Out - two, three .

 

Rinse and repeat a few times and Tommy could just about breathe again. He was still awfully shakey, but he no longer was closing in on his own thoughts.

 

“Nightmare?”

 

Tommy nodded.

 

“Want something to distract you from it?”

 

“ Prime , yes please.”

 

Wilbur perched himself on the side of the bed.

 

“So last night was being broadcasted live by the overhead helicopter,” Wilbur explained, almost sheepishly, “And uh… a lot of people took a liking to you? You’re trending on Twitter .”

 

“The fuck???”

 

What did he fucking mean trending on Twitter? All he did was swoop in to help the villains, if anything people shouldn't like him.

 

Wil passed his phone over to Tommy and he wasn’t kidding. Thousands of tweets, discussing who he could be, how old he might be, anything and everything. The public had named him Flashbang, from his rescue technique there, and they were eating him up. Seemingly, the introduction of a new face, or lack-of, was refreshing and now somehow overnight Tommy had amassed a whole fandom. He had fanart, fucking fan edits, the whole nine yards. Why the fuck was he so popular all of a sudden when they didn't even know what he looked like?

 

[ @flashbangfan99 : You guy’s are blind. Clearly there was a reason for Flashbang to appear now, obviously he’s been working behind the scenes with them for years]

 

[ @gaygaymeadows : is it me or was #flashbang wearing Saber’s and Jubilee’s masks?

Reply from @ceo-of-f1ash8ang : The footage is blurry at best. They probably have matching costumes lmao]

 

[ @angelo-paradise : who’s gonna start making Flashbang merch. It’s been maybe a few hours but I will kill for a plushie of my scrunkly-]

 

“I- scrunkly??? Fucking hell, do you guys have Twitter stans?”

 

“I mean yeah, but none of us was an overnight success like you. Techno for example has been banned from Twitter three times for picking fights with people on there.”

 

“Pfft doesn’t surprise me one bit. Still reeling from this though.”

 

"Not gonna lie, so am I." Wilbur grinned, "I woke up to the entire internet oogling over their newest villain- vigilante? I dunno what you'd consider Flashbang as."

 

"A nuisance?" 

 

"Pffft, a menace to society-"

 

"Did you guys get to choose your names?"

 

"Yeah, we established ourselves in fights alongside dad so it was easy to control that. Sucks to be you though."

 

"Fuck you, can't I rename myself?"

 

"Nah it seems like they've clung to Flashbang. At least it's not a worse name-"

 

"What like Wilbur?"

 

"HEY-"

 

Tommy was shoved off of the bed.

 

“Oi!” Tommy cried out, though he was still grinning ear to ear. Man, Wilbur really had a skill of cheering Tommy up. “I’m your unstable guest and you launch me off your bed, how could you!”

 

“Perish.”

 

“Hmm, maybe I will.”

 

Wilbur rolled his eyes as he held out a hand to help Tommy back up. As much as they could stay in Wilbur’s room forever, bullying each other and judging Tommy’s fresh fandom, his stomach was putting up a protest. One does not ignore Tommy’s stomach, Wilbur learnt the hard way early on from the kid staying here that Tommy got cranky when hungry. How his housemates had tolerated him presumably constantly being like that was beyond him.

 

Tommy could almost forget that he wasn’t the only guest in the house today, so the ginger guy in Tommy’s usual couch spot did throw Tommy off his game before remembering the night before, the fact that this guy was fucked up.

 

“How you healing up Fundy?”

 

“Just peachy after being shot and then fucked with,” he grumbled, turning to look at them. “You know how it is-”

 

Fundy hesitated on seeing Tommy.

 

“‘Sup.”

 

“I thought Phil wasn’t so keen on adopting any more kids.”

 

“Well, he laid eyes on me and thought I was just so poggers and stole me.”

 

“They kidnapped you?” Fundy raised an eyebrow, chuckling.

 

“No!” Wilbur protested, but Tommy cut in again.

 

“It’s not the first time. Really, you get used to it after a while.”

 

“Tommy, Techno kidnaps you one time-”

 

Fundy’s expression shifted slightly. Surprise that Wilbur was using everyone’s real names to this stranger so casually maybe?

 

“Woe is me, the trauma -”

 

“We saved Tom from bleeding out-”

 

“- That’s what they all say -”

 

“- And now he’s wrapped up in our shit.”

 

Fundy thought for a moment before speaking again.

 

“Were you the one that saved our asses last night?”

 

“The one and only. Barely call that saving though. More like making an opening for y’all.”

 

Fundy’s expression softened.

 

“Thank you. Not anyone would throw normalcy out the window to help villains .”

 

“Don’t mention it,” Tommy shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t know how to respond to people thanking him. Usually, it was people yelling at him for stealing something. It was… weird to be thanked. 

 

Tommy left Wilbur to catch up and check in on Fundy properly and wandered over to the kitchen to rustle up some breakfast. Really Tommy shouldn’t be left to his own devices, as when he got two slices of bread out to make toast, his mind flitted to his conversation with Wil last night. Tommy didn’t have electricity manipulation. He could control more than that. He’d absorbed fire multiple times. In theory, then… did he need to use the toaster? Couldn’t he just use his hands? It was frankly a stupid idea, but that was right on brand for Tommy. Worst comes to worst? They probably had a fire extinguisher somewhere, or Wilbur could waterbend some water to put shit out.

 

Tommy focussed his energy to his hands, the light glow becoming brighter and brighter. He went one slice at a time, Uping his power in his hands, making sure no stray electricity was bouncing off of him anywhere. Something different was happening in his hands, that's for sure. Instead of pooling all his energy there and letting it out in waves, it was being focused and compressed even more but was coming out of his palms evenly. And then he smelt smoke.

 

“Fuck, shit-”

 

Tommy dropped the burnt toast on the counter, looking at his hands in awe. He’d started doing this half as a joke, he didn’t expect to actually be able to do that. This begged the question, where was the limit to his powers? Energy manipulation was a wide power set, a dangerously wide one. Why of all people would Tommy have main character powers? He was sure they’d get to the bottom of his powers, but not today. They had no deadline, he had plenty of time to figure his shit out.

 

“Tommy, did you burn your toast again?” Wilbur grumbled.

 

“Sorry!” Tommy grimaced, “I was toasting with my hands.”

 

Both Wilbur and Fundy looked perplexed.

“You said last night that I have a lot to learn about my powers,” Tommy picked up the other slice of bread, being more careful not to burn it this time. “Turns out im multifunctional. I’m a glowstick and a toaster!”

Notes:

disclaimer that all those twitter handles are made up so fbdsbshbhjfdsbjh if they actually exist sorry? idk sdbhfbfdsbjhsfd

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload TikToks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 25: Wilbur isn't me projecting on him, he’s just an artist fr fr

Summary:

Tommy helps Wilbur with designing villain costumes,
and asks Phil for help in finding out his past

Notes:

Dream face revealed, time for me to post a chapter/j
BLOODY HELL GUYS you really liked Toasterinnit
Like thats just a throwaway thing at the end but dbfdshjhbsjhd im glad yall liked it!
I've been taking a hot minute to write again cause I've been really dissatisfied with my writing lately? I've been reading a lot of superpower SBI fics and in reading more I'm realizing I have a lot to improve in my writing style. Not saying I'm shit, but eh, illustration is my shtick, so being less of a perfectionist over my writing will have to do.
Also delaying my writing? Designing Tommy's villain outfit. I've had Flashbang planned for a long while but MAN my original design for him was boring af. Frankly I need to redesign the rest of the SBI too, I've improved my costume design brain since I started the fic.
ANYWAY, ON WITH THE FIC!

A reminder on some of the aliases cause its been so long between chapters;
Jubilee - Wilbur, Hellfire - Sapnap, Roulette - Quackity, Avalon - Dream

" AuuUuugh this is all shit !"

 

The walls in this house weren’t enough to mask Wilbur’s bitching from his room. Phil and Techno had left to transport Fundy home safely, leaving Wilbur to supervise Tommy. Tommy didn’t exactly need to be babysat, and besides Wil’s life didn’t revolve around Tommy, so he was up to other things, abandoning Tommy to browse through the TV channels blindly. He wasn’t even sure if Wil knew how loud and annoying he was being, clearly getting progressively more frustrated.

 

Eventually, Tommy gave up on figuring out what to watch, discarding the remote and wandering over to his room. Tempting as it was to be a little shit and barge his way in, he was a guest here, and still didn’t want to be kicked out or something, so he decided to take the polite approach and knock on the door.

 

“Come in Toms!”

 

It was like a bomb had gone off in Wilbur's room. There was the spine of a pad of paper cast aside in his waste bin, hundreds of screwed-up or ripped-up sheets of paper scattered across the room. Sure, Wilbur’s room was regularly messy, but it was organised chaos. This was more of Wilbur discarding his rejected ideas in every direction possible. Tommy decided not to address the mess, but instead the incessant grumbles that he could hear from the other side of the building.

 

"What you bitching about now Wil?”

 

“ uuUUUUGHHHH- ”

 

He slumped in his chair like the dramatic theatre kid he was. Tommy rolled his eyes.

 

“‘Cause I could hear you from the living room.”

 

“Shit dude, did I disturb you or?”

 

“I mean your voice sounds like a fucking dog toy so of course, it's annoying-”

 

“ Fuck you, take that back! ” Wilbur sat back up, taking full offence.

 

“-but I’m mostly curious what a big man like you is bitching about.”

 

He sighed, brushing his hair out of his face.

 

“You know how I showed you my villain get-up designs when you first woke up while I was doodling way back when?”

 

Tommy nodded. Wil had been so self-conscious over his designs. Despite being one of the most charismatic villains, he was still human and clearly had some insecurities.

 

“Well, with the internet giving you an alias and shit, I figured we should make you a disguise? Just in case you have to save our asses again , I’m not suggesting you have to become a villain-” Wilbur gave himself a second to stop rambling and focus. 

“I designed you shit and thought I might as well redesign the whole SBI, I’ve been working on an updated look for myself anyway, the whole fucking yellow turtleneck thing doesn't work great for villainy.”

 

“Because blood stains it and ruins it?

 

“ Exactly . Black is the way to go.”

 

“Ah, Jubilee is emo now, good to note,” Tommy snorted, leaving the doorway and making himself at home on the end of Wilbur's bed, brushing the rejected designs out of his way. “Also, SBI?”

 

“The greater villain alliances as a collective are usually referred to as The Syndicate. However, our family unit is a group of our own in our own right. On paper , we don’t have a group, but I like our fun insider name.”

 

“What does it stand for? Super Boring Injury-makers? Seriously Bad Intentions?”

 

…Sleepy bois INC, very evil sounding, great for PR. ANYWAY! My own look was easy enough, and I’m happy with yours-” Wil interrupted himself, reading Tommy’s expression. “- No you’re not seeing it yet, I wanna tweak it a little and then I’ll show it to you, okay?”

 

“ Fiiiiiine . Anyway, continue.”

 

“I’m stuck on Phoenix and Saber.”

 

“Do you need to bounce ideas off of me? I am a bountiful fountain of fashion knowledge.”

 

“ Pfft, sure you are buddy .”

 

"How does Phil's outfit work anyway,” Tommy asked. It was nice to get Wilbur talking about design, he seemed really passionate about it. “Like everyone knows he can control metal, but his wings always seem to just fold out of him"

 

"There's a panel in the back of the coat with slits on either side of his shoulder blades to let the wings out,” He explained.

 

"He keeps fucking metal sheets up his back?!" Tommy was reeling. That could NOT be comfortable. 

 

"Good for his posture."

 

" Good god Wilbur .”

 

"Well, how would you design it then, if you're so smart, hmmm?"

Tommy thought for a bit. Wil probably meant that more sarcastically, but Tommy was here to bounce ideas off of Wilbur, he might as well put his two brain cells to good use. Stealing a pen from Wil, he scribbled onto the back of one of the rejected sheets. Tommy’s skill was no match to WIlburs, it was chicken scratches at best, but it was good enough for Tommy to try and explain it.

 

"His metal wings don't need to stay in the same form when not in use?” 

He worded that as a question. He knew the general gist of Phoenix’s powers, but he only really knew what the general public knew… which was not a whole lot. 

“I don't know shit about fashion, maybe some boning or lining made from his metal? Non-essential cosmetic shit, but enough to make his wings, and holes for the metal to escape from obviously.”

 

Tommy thought his idea wasn’t particularly feasible, he hadn’t the slightest clue how you’d get that much metal into an outfit without it collapsing when you took the boning out, but it seemed like the gears in Wils head were turning.

 

"...How the fuck did I not think of that, huh.”

 

“W-would that work??”

 

“Maybe! It’s honestly it’s a better idea than half the garbage I’m come up with over the last two hours.” He shrugged.

 

"Pfft, maybe I should be the designer around here.”

 

" Yeah, sure. You'd make us all wear hoodies or some shit.”

 

"They're comfy!”

They spent the rest of the day bouncing ideas off each other. Wilbur wasn’t sure how Tommy seemed to unlock his hidden extra brain cell when they were together, but he was grateful for it. His designs for the other half of the SBI weren’t entirely pinned down, but it wasn’t like it was a race to get these made. Wilbur was aiming to finish making these in time for whenever Flashbang was going to debut, whenever Tommy needed to temporarily blind someone for them or something, everyone having looks that matched well as a team.

 

When they were done for the day, Wilbur finally revealed his costume idea for Flashbang to Tommy. It was very Tommy. There was a black hoodie with red accents and hood, said hood having two little devil horns sticking out of it. Underneath, a fitted turtleneck with a red choker and crisscrossing red belts. To accessorise, Wilbur had drawn in some fingerless gloves, a black mask, and two ear/hair pieces also shaped like horns. He’d also scribbled in some black around his eyes - makeup Tommy assumed, and some coloured contacts red with gold irises.

 

Although it was only in the concept stages right now, it looked fucking cool. Whenever he’d imagined what he’d be like as a hero or a villain - because let's face it everyone has at some point - had always been some really cheesy get-up. This costume design though??? It itched Tommy’s brain in the right sort of way. Did he want to get involved more in villainy or even vigilantism? Not really. But if push came to shove? He was going to really turn some heads.

 

---

 

Tommy had pushed Hellfire’s request to the back of his mind for quite some time. Although he’d been regaining his memories slowly, he couldn’t deny he was itching to find out the truth. Right now all Tommy knew is he used to have two sisters and a brother, said brother now being the hero Avalon. And that Avalon used to torture him by draining his powers. Now that Tommy was missing, he’d been taking vigilantes to drain.

 

Tommy blamed himself a little, but despite this, he never wanted to go back. He wasn’t sure exactly how to get in contact with Hellfire’s ex, Roulette. He knew some info about him from Tubbo’s trauma dump, but it wasn’t exactly clear how he was meant to find him. So he went to Phil.

 

“Phil I have an odd question.” Tommy had draped himself over the sofa while Phil was chopping up some vegetables for dinner on the counter.

 

“Shoot mate.”

 

“Do you know how I can get in contact with Roulette?”

 

Phil paused at that question. He knew Tommy didn’t want to get involved with any hero/villain bullshit, yet wanted to talk to the sleaziest of information brokers? He was internally glad he’d asked him and not Wilbur, his son wouldn’t have responded about Roulette in the most savoury of ways.

 

“Is it okay for me to ask why?” Phil asked. “I can sort you out an appointment, but most people don’t go near Las Nevadas.”

 

“I had a run-in with Hellfire before Evergreen fucked up my shit.” Phil tried not to be concerned at that. “He needs Roulette to host a private and safe space for us to meet. He knew me before my amnesia Phil. ”

 

Phil went quiet in thought. He couldn’t deny how concerned he was over Tommy. The amount of trauma contained in one teen was scary, to say the least, and he didn’t like the idea of him getting entangled with heroes one bit. However, he wasn’t going to prevent the teen from learning about his past. He deserved at least that, even if it was from the asshole arsonist that burnt their home down.

 

“How do you know you can trust him?”

 

Tommy wasn’t going to reveal his thoughts on Hellfire. Not yet. As comfortable as he’d become with the SBI, he didn’t want them to change how they saw Tommy when it eventually got out his relation to the heroes. He could have his secrets for now.

 

“I have my reasons… and besides I know his civilian name as blackmail or some shit.”

 

“I- I’m not going to question how you know that mate. You don’t have to tell me them, but do you know any other heroes' identities?”

 

Phil was curious.

 

Tommy grinned.

 

“Yeah, some of them are compensating with their hero names, cause their civilian names are shitty as fuck. Shame on their parents for naming them that way.”

Notes:

Tommy isn't gonna leak his brother's name, but that doesn't stop him from making fun if it lmaoo stop judging him for being called Clay/Caduceus, ya had the same parents, good god tommy

Was originally going to have another 2 scenes but it was getting long enough and i get impatient wanting to post, which just means u get next chapter sooner! Hopefully…

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload TikToks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 26: Insert Training Montage Here

Summary:

Tommy gets some exercise lol, he also remembers some more shit

Notes:

New chapter!!! Honestly it's so weird to me that we're about to hit the main plot next chapter.
"What do u mean the last 20 or so chapters weren't main plot?"
I'm,,,, we are JUST hitting my first plot bullet point. Literally next chapter we have more hero interaction, meeting Quackity, maybe even some Tubbo n Ranboo content
Shits happening :D

Also PSPSPSPSP pls @ me when you post fanart, I wanna see it! I've been hunting down one y'all haven't sent me lmao

CW: panic attack, explosions n things going to shit ig?

Tommy wasn't sure where he stood. He was straight-up living with the three most well-known supervillains and was incredibly friendly with them. Did that make him a villain too? He disagreed with some of their methods, and he was definitely uncomfortable with the fact Saber had a kill count despite being fairly easy to get on with once you got to know him. It was jarring. Sure, he also had saved them from getting caught by the heroes, but he'd excused that in his mind.

 

He hadn't done anything he could legitimize to himself that he was a vigilante. He didn't care for the hero tower, he knew that there was definitely some corruption seeing as his brother was at the top, but he wasn't going to do anything to topple that. But he wasn't taking down villains and criminals either.

 

God trying to figure out who he was in all of this was giving him a headache. It wasn't as black and white as he wanted it to be. I mean, it was simple enough to induct himself into villainy, but he still had a pushback inside of him against that. He was already probably disappointing Tubbo further by getting involved in the hero-villain conflicts, he didn't want to be more of a fuck up yet.

 

God, he missed Tubbo and Ranboo. Sure he'd grown comfortable in this household, and he was thriving more than he could have ever imagined, but they were there for him when he first escaped Caduceus'grasp, head void of memory. He didn't necessarily want to return yet; he was scared of how Tubbo must see him now, but he wanted to at least apologize for their argument. Neither of them worded things well… and he missed his best friend.

 

Sooner or later he was going to end up helping the SBI again, whether he liked it or not, so he asked if he could have some combat training. Phil was… a little hesitant in letting him. Despite the time he'd stayed in their household, Tommy was still very much skin and bone, it was a struggle to get any meat to stick to him. However, Tommy did have a point, and Phil didn't want the kid getting killed because he wasn't taught how to defend himself, so he brought him to the training hall underneath the house. At this point, Tommy didn't question how many rooms he hadn't discovered in this house.

 

Tommy wouldn't say he regretted asking. He needed to know how to defend himself. But MAN did it hurt. He had some things already going for him, survival instincts that had kept him away from the authority's fingertips. His reaction speed was definitely above average, he was hyper-aware of when people had their eyes on him. But in the way of physical hand-on-hand? He had no clue how to block a punch. His strategy had always been to electrocute and run away.

 

Phil said he was going easy on him, starting with basic blocking and evasion tactics, but by the end of the first session, Tommy felt beaten and bruised. He didn't feel any better the day after, though his days sleeping on the couch didn't help.

 

Wilbur couldn't help but coo at Tommy's weak state, all too familiar with how Tommy was feeling.

 

" God how do you cope with feeling like this?! "

 

"Well, I haven't really ached as bad as you since I was about fifteen," he chuckled, perched on the edge of the couch as Tommy had sprawled out on it.

 

" You've been a villain since fifteen?!!? "

 

" God no !" Wilbur dreaded to think of a child getting into the shit that they did. I mean Tubbo was probably around that age when he became a vigilante but that's beside the point. "That's just when dad started teaching us self-defence. The SBI only started being villains as a family four years ago, and the syndicate as a whole three years ago."

 

"And it hurt like a bitch this much?"

 

"Probably not, I had chub on me and I regularly ran. But you'll get through it, you've just gotta get used to doing exercise."

 

"BooOOOOooo!" Tommy whined. "I wanna be a couch potato!"

 

"And you want to be a roast potato when Hellfire burns you to a crisp?"

 

"I can absorb his fire dumbass."

 

"Fine fucker, you wanna be mashed potato? Would you enjoy being pummeled into a pulp by Avalon?"

 

" Ughhhh no , fine I get it, I get it."

---

 

As much as his muscles ached after every single session, Tommy couldn't deny he was making progress. He was blocking or dodging eight out of ten of Phil's attacks, still getting some bruising out of this training. Learning how to attack was a little harder to be taught.

 

Everyone had a different fighting style, so Phil had decided to split combat training between the three of them, rotating who was going to beat him up each day. Phil was a midrange attacker, using his metal wings to keep opponents away and also slice at anyone that got too close. Wilbur was more of a ranged fighter. He could handle close hand-to-hand combat easily, but to use his powers out of the reach of the heroes hurting him, he usually hung back. Techno was a close-range fighter and his training was arguably the most brutal. He was patient with Tommy, teaching him how to wield a sword, but it was mostly a test of endurance. Clearly, Techno could see some potential in Tommy and pushed him harder. 

 

It was tough as fuck. The sword always felt too awkward in his hand, it didn't extend as far as he thought it should in his head. Techno eventually caught onto this without Tommy saying, taking the practice sword away. He came back with a wooden pole.

 

"The fucks that?"

 

"A bo staff. You're struggling with a sword, clearly it's not for you. I figure this might be more up your alley."

 

"But swords are so cool!"

 

"That is true, they are cool, but cool doesn't stop you from being killed if you're shit with your weapon," Techno explained, tossing the staff to Tommy. "If this ends up not being your thing, there's always other midrange weapons or even guns. Guns are the absolute last option though, too many things can go wrong with those. I dread to imagine you wielding a Glock."

 

Tommy grinned at the mental image of him running around with a pair of handguns, fucking up shit. Techno was right in keeping him from them, Tommy knew he couldn't keep a steady enough hand under pressure for anything ranged like that.

 

The bo staff wasn't actually a bad shout. It was fairly comfortable to hold as he shifted it between his hands. He didn't click with it immediately, as with any weapon he needed to be trained with it first, but it was clear to see that he could settle for it. When he'd been fighting with a sword, Tommy had barely been able to block or parry Techno's attacks, but with the staff, he was actually getting a handful of hits in.

 

Eventually, they began to train Tommy together. That's when something went wrong. Don't get me wrong, group training was great for Tommy's progress, but it also left room for error. Phil had set up the hall with metal pillars around the room, giving plenty of hiding spaces and vertical mobility. 

 

This activity was Phil and Tommy versus Wilbur and Techno. Wil wasn't allowed to use his powers on Tommy, on Wilbur's own request despite Tommy insisting that it was fine, so Wil was equipped with stun grenades and training throwing knives.

 

Tommy was honestly surprised at how far he'd come. Techno focused on taking down Phil while Wilbur targeted Tommy. He sprinted down the hall, weaving between pillars to narrowly miss getting hit by Wilbur's knives. He ducked behind one and held his breath, listening for Wilbur's footsteps. One, two, three- Tommy swung, Wil ducking under it and swinging a leg out to trip Tommy over. He went with the movement, throwing himself into a backwards roll before landing himself in a low steady stance.

 

He was proud of himself for that recovery, but unfortunately, he'd failed to notice the stun grenades Wilbur had thrown as he had rolled. 

 

It exploded right next to him. Tommy froze.

 

---

"You see the flask over there Theseus?"

 

Caduceus' voice echoed through the small lab, the man himself hidden away safe in the adjacent room, a thick pane of safety glass protecting him. Theseus nodded, fidgeting with his sleeve. He didn't like "helping" Clay with his experiments, but his brother had promised him that if he did this little session with him, he wouldn't bother him again for the rest of the month. Theo didn't like his brother particularly, so he thought this was a good deal.

 

"Drink the contents."

 

He swirled the contents of the container uneasily. The liquid was a highlighter blue. He didn't want to imagine what chemicals were combined in there. He gave a questioning look up to the glass.

 

"It's fine to ingest Theseus," Clay reassured with a chuckle, "Just do this for me, okay?"

 

As much of an asshole his brother was, he never would never go this out of the way to hurt him. Maybe when he was angry sure, but he'd be able to tell by Clay's tone of voice if he was out to get him. 

 

He gulped down the flask in one go. The chemical taste clung to the roof of his mouth uncomfortably, the liquid fizzling all the way down his throat, buzzing in his stomach. Putting the flask back, he turned again to Clay.

 

"Feel anything?"

 

" Fizzy ? I dunno, it’s yet to settle."

 

"Good to know. Do you see the big box on the other side of the lab?"

 

There was a cobbled-together generator, not that Theo had any idea what it was. To him, all it was was a weird-looking box, wires knotted in all sorts of directions, pieces of metal sticking out in odd places. It didn't look safe in the slightest, but he didn't really have a choice in taking the risk.

 

"I want you to hold onto the bars, and I want you to electrocute the box. You don't have to put all your power into it, just for like a full minute, and tell me how it's feeling. After that? We're done."

 

Theseus nodded, going over and doing as instructed. He was looking forward to being undisturbed by his brother for the next month. A whole month of sweet sweet silence from Caduceus, he’d do almost anything for that.

 

Initially, everything was fine, he was trying to steadily release electricity into the bars, for a good ten seconds. Then there was a weird lurch in his stomach…  was the liquid reacting badly to his powers? He continued to try his best to have a steady and safe output for the next few seconds, but he couldn’t prevent the arcs of his electricity that began leaping elsewhere. He didn’t feel like he was losing control, but he couldn’t call back the electricity to him. He couldn't bring himself to rip his hands off of the generator either. Panic began to rise in Theseus’ throat. This was clearly wrong, this wasn’t safe-

 

He turned to the glass, about to yell for help when his world shattered around him. First, it was the flasks, exploding like grenades around the lab. Theo shrieked, but despite trying to violently recoil from the explosions his hands stuck firm. Then the thicker glass in the room shattered, and he could hear Caduceus scream. Was he getting hurt because Theseus couldn't control his powers enough?!?  

 

Guilt mingled with the increasing pain, burning across his small frame. He began to buckle under the pain and power, his tears that welled up evaporating before they could fall. His screams drowned out the lab equipment overloading and breaking or exploding. This is how he was going to die. 

 

Suddenly, he was ripped away from the generator, pressed up against another body, and hugged tightly as the generator blew up as well.

 

---

 

Tommy scrambled away from the flash of light, throwing his staff away from himself in the process. Panic rose in his throat as he continued to back up until he was against the wall. Wilbur had stopped advancing, instead calling out to the others for them to stop fighting and come help. 

 

Not that Tommy noticed.

 

He curled in on himself, electricity crackling around him, eyes squeezed tight. He'd be safe if he was small. Right? He was trembling, ready for the shards and heat of the generator to hit him. He hadn't processed he was out of the memory. Tommy's breath was hitching, he was fighting against having a panic attack, but it was an uphill battle. 

 

And then he started to calm all of a sudden.

 

Tommy frowned. It felt unnatural. It wasn't him winding down from his high-strung fear, it was a cold and forceful calm coming over him as his racing heart slowed. 

 

He peeked through his lashes. Phil and Techno were nearby, worried and waiting for Tommy's arcing electricity to die down. And Wilbur? He was supporting himself against the wall as he used his bloodbending on Tommy, blood running down from his nose and shuddering as he fought the side effects of Tommy's powers.

Notes:

Smh Tommy stop having such strong main character powers that Wil using his powers gets a nosebleed and tasered from calming u/hj
Honestly one of the reasons this took so long was this was originally planned to be a chill Halloween chapter! But I couldn't make it flow right at all so I had to scrap it and made this which I am happier with.

A lot is gonna be happening rn,,, this chapter is around the end of October,, I might have his villain or whatever debut on in universe Halloween, but shit hits the fan in-fic December. Tommy has about one month left of happy times before I hit him with trauma tee hee :3

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload TikToks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 27: Tommy is far to easy to get attached to, gOD

Summary:

Tommy calms down from remembering /traaaaumaaaa/, he gets a surprise, and then we visit Las Nevadas! It's Quackity time babeyyyyYYYYY

Notes:

Uh. Hi guys. It's been a few months, hasn't it...where have I been?
So when I lose motivation on a project, I switch focus until I find the inspiration to work on it again. I'm not in the DSMP fandom anymore, so I've been working on a superpowers Empires SMP AU for a bit! Y'all might have heard of it, its the Vigilante Sheriff AU, the one where Scott is a hot villain called Spectrum, cause he's popped off in popularity on my twitter lmao
I'm determined to finish my two AU fics here, no matter how long it takes! I'll switch fandoms to write for after them, but these two tommy fics WILL get completed
Thank you for your patience yall! <3

Tommy stared wide-eyed, heart practically beating out of his chest. Wilbur was still dealing with the recoil of using his powers on Tommy, while Techno and Phil hovered by Tommy, fretting over him. A sour taste clung to the roof of his mouth.

 

"S-sorry." All Tommy could muster was a whisper. 

 

"It's okay mate, there's nothing to apologize for," Phil reassured, offering him a hand up. "Is touch alright Tommy?"

 

He nodded hesitantly. Tommy wasn't gonna lie, despite the training he's done, as soon as such a bad memory hit, he was rendered vulnerable. They'd never let Tommy out of their sight at this rate, and he wouldn't blame them. While still regaining his memories he was a liability and that is dangerous.

 

Phil didn't ask what he'd remembered, he didn't push for anything, just helped Tommy up and guided him out of the training hall, leaving Techno to help out his brother. He kept him close, making sure Tommy had sufficient support. Phil led him to the living room sofa, making sure he was comfortable, before leaving for a few moments. He returned with arms full of blankets and pillows and built a nest around Tommy. He didn’t resist this, it was comfy as hell, but he was a little lost why he was being buried in blankets.

 

This question was answered by Techno, who’d returned to the living room a little later and keeled over at the sight of little Tommy buried under all of that. Tommy gave him a questioning look, which made Techno double over again, laughter bubbling up his throat. It wasn't an easy task to break his stoic demeanour, but the nest… it sure was something. Eventually, he got ahold of himself and explained.

 

“When we were upset as kids, the only way he could seem to stop us crying was bundling us up in as much bedding as possible, so we were safe and warm.” Techno smiled softly. “You’re not physically hurt, and we’re not gonna force you to recount whatever trauma you remembered, so he was running on automatic to calm you down more in the way he knew how.”

 

"Are y-you sure he's not just a fucking bird?"

 

Techno shrugged, sitting next to Tommy's nest and getting himself comfy beside it, cushioned by the layers.

 

"Who can say really, maybe that's a nest on top of his head, have you checked it for eggs?"

 

Tommy couldn't help but laugh at that.

 

“H-hows Wilbur?”

 

“He’s had worse recoils from blood bending, he'll be fine."

 

"But… he got electrocuted?"

 

"The dude's also been electrocuted by sticking a fork in an outlet, if he survived that he can survive getting tazed by your blood."

 

"He wHAT?"

 

"Does Wil not look like the kind of guy that was an idiot child?"

 

"I dunno you both do-"

 

-----

 

Tommy must have fallen asleep at some point in the nest, worn out by his previous panic, as when he stirred it had become dark outside. He yawned, taking in his surroundings. The television had been turned on, but the volume turned down to act as background noise. He could hear a knife hitting a chopping board behind him, presumably Phil preparing food. He wasn't sure what they were having tonight, but it smelt good. The grumbling of his stomach gave him away, Tommy couldn't help he was hungry.

 

"How are you doing mate?"

 

Tommy fought against the blankets which threatened to smother him and turned on the couch to face Phil.

 

"Hungry. Sleepy. Annoyed that I couldn't finish that mock fight." He grumbled. "If it weren't for my dumb brain, I would've been able to kick Wilbur's ass."

 

Phil raised an eyebrow.

 

"Sure, keep telling yourself that buddy…"

 

"Oi! Aren't you meant to be the supportive adult and shit?" 

 

"Maybe, but I'm also a realist, and as much as you train, it's going to take you years to be on his level."

 

"Bullshit. Let me at him."

 

"Tommy, are you forgetting we are literally L'Manburg's top villains?"

 

"And? Y'all have gone soft for me, a civilian, there's no telling what weaknesses I could exploit," Tommy grinned. "For example, I just have to distract him with sand or talk of anteaters or something, and he'll be vulnerable!" 

 

Phil shook his head, chuckling, and continued to prepare dinner. He was right in some ways though. The SBI were feared criminals, people who one would beg to not see, and yet Tommy had quickly grown comfortable around them, treating them as if they wouldn't hurt a fly. 

 

The family couldn't help but fall for Tommy's charm. Worry over his safety had turned into worry about his living arrangements, and since moving into their home he had slotted into the family as a piece they didn't know fit. Phil wouldn't tell Tommy this, not this soon, but in the months he'd been living here Phil had grown to see Tommy as one of his sons. Tommy had a family; Tubbo and Ranboo. However, he'd always be open a place here.

 

 "Forgive me for asking, but when you trigger your memories - I'm assuming what that was earlier - is it always that volatile?"

 

"No, only the… bad ones."

 

"Feel free to keep them to yourself, but is there anything we need to know from them? We wouldn't want to set you off."

 

"No it's alright, you guys need to know what could potentially trigger me," Tommy shrugged, "I recently discovered that I have a living family member, an older brother. However, he isn't like Wilbur or Techno."

 

Tommy brushed past the fact he'd just implied he sees Techno and Wilbur as brother figures. He’d cross that bridge when he got to it.

 

"I caused an accident with my powers, and to fix it or something - I don’t know what’s going on in his head - he drained me of my powers repeatedly.”

 

“ Holy shit .”

 

"I'm loaded to the brim with trauma apparently," he joked. "So I'd probably say avoid loud noises or explosions? And I trust y'all but never use me as a fucking phone charger or something."

 

He finished that off with jazz hands, not that it would lighten the trauma dump.

 

"I'll bear that in mind and let the others know," Phil responded, "And we have plenty of outlets so you're definitely never going to use or lose your powers against your will."

 

My god, Phil was going to protect this teen with his life. He shouldn’t have to deal with so much trauma at such a young age, it was impressive Tommy was still so outgoing while coping with this all. I mean, the memory loss may have eased his attitude a little, but still.

 

*"*"*"*

 

They’d given Tommy a rest period of a couple of days from training. As much as Tommy insisted he was fine to go at it again, none of the trio was willing to train him. Sure, he could go in the training hall by himself, but he struggled to maintain concentration when there wasn’t anyone to bounce his snark off of. He felt like they were babying him, treating him as fragile since his last trigger, but they insisted he deserved a rest. Besides, they didn’t want Tommy all worn out before his surprise.

 

What’s the surprise you ask?

 

Well, Tommy was wondering that when Wilbur put his hands over Tommy’s eyes and told him to trust him.

 

“And why should I ever trust you, Will?” Tommy was being a dramatic bitch, as per usual. “For all I know you’re leading me to my death.”

 

“ Why would your certain death be down the corridor ?” Wilbur chuckled.

 

“Expect the unexpected.” 

 

“What even would I use to-”

 

“A door.”

 

“... a door ?”

 

“You heard me Wilbitch, you’re some fucking almighty villain, I’m sure you can figure out how to kill someone with a door.”

 

“Toms I’m not going to kill you with a door.”

 

“That’s what they always say.”

 

Tommy could feel the eye roll emanating from Wilbur as he led Tommy through the house. He tried to figure out by the number of steps and such to figure out what door they were at, but honestly, Tommy had no clue. Wilbur took back his hands, gesturing for Tommy to enter the room.

 

Tommy was speechless. He knew that he'd get a room in the house eventually, they just had to finish sorting out their belongings from the rushed move over to this house. Tommy had grown accustomed to sleeping on the couch, as bad as it was for his back. If he'd needed privacy he wandered into the garden or borrowed Wilbur's room. He hadn't noticed as they'd slowly emptied the spare bedroom, never mind completely missed them filling it up.

 

The room had been done up in what he figured was his signature colour scheme at this point; black, white, and red. The only thing that didn't fit that was the couple of Pokémon plushies scattered about, all electric types. Got to stay on theme I guess. There was a small desk with a pile of notebooks and some pens, and a wholeass laptop and phone. God those looked expensive . 

 

Tommy was fighting the urge to cry so badly as he wandered in. They really didn’t need to do all of this for him, he was happy enough on the couch. This was more stuff than he’d ever had in both his previous households combined, it was almost overwhelming. 

 

Draped over the bed was a familiar-looking costume, but now fully realised. A black turtleneck, a black and red hoodie with devil horns on the hood, some red belts and black trousers.

 

Oh.

 

They hadn’t been babying him.

 

They did actually believe he was capable of holding himself in combat.

 

Oh. 

 

The combination of that realisation plus taking in the whole room? Yeah, that was enough to make him crack. It felt odd to cry in a positive way, but Tommy would welcome that to the usual bitter sting that came with sad or angry tears.

 

“You okay buddy?” Wilbur asked softly, leaning against the doorframe.

 

Tommy refused to turn around and let Wilbur see his tears. However, the crack in his voice kind of gave him away.

 

“Ye- ah, I’m good-”

 

-+-+-

 

Tommy settled into his new room easily, the bed was immeasurably more comfortable than the couch, and they were spoiling him with the quality of sleep he was getting. He still had mixed feelings about this all; living with L’Manburg’s top villains, people that he should hate if anything, and caring for them. The image he had of the family, and the image he had of the SBI were conflicting, despite fully knowing they were one in the same. They could be ruthless and downright evil… but they’d never hurt Tommy, not if they could help it at least. 

 

A couple of days after Tommy had settled in his room, he donned his Flashbang costume for the first time. He had questioned why, and Phil had explained that today was the day they were going to Las Nevadas to speak to Roulette. With Flashbang’s popularity online, if Tommy walked in with his face uncovered, he’d connect the dots pretty easily, and would have Tommy’s identity for free.

 

Honestly, Tommy felt a little silly smearing black face paint across his eyes, but at least only having a face mask meant he wouldn’t have to get used to feeling something around his eyes constantly. He had to call Phil in for help with the contacts. Tommy figured normal contacts were easy enough to put in, but these covered the whites of his eyes too, and he couldn’t figure out how to get them in without flinching or blinking. Eventually, Phil guided him through the process and set out in Phil’s car to Las Nevadas.

 

Tommy tried not to let his nerves get to him as they approached the building. It was incredibly flashy and he suddenly felt far too young to be here. Still, with Phil in full Phoenix get-up, he didn’t have to worry about being stopped or thrown out. Tommy stuck to Phil like a lost child as they passed through a hall of slot machines. Phil seemed all too familiar with how to navigate the noisy casino, making a beeline to a man dressed in a green waistcoat, which stood out against the rest of Las Navadas’ red uniforms.

 

“Phoenix of The Syndicate! You haven’t been here in quite a while!” He smiled, then turned to Tommy. “And hello Flashbang of… I do not know where you are from friend.”

 

“Nowhere important,” He shrugged.

 

“Flashbang from nowhere! I am Slimesicle of Las Nevadas! Welcome!”

 

“Is Roulette ready for us?” Phoenix asked.

 

“Of course, right this way!”

 

Slimesicle led the pair through a staff-only door, and through a maze of corridors. Tommy had to restrain himself from gawking at how grandiose the entire place looked, even the areas that normal casino patrons would never lay their eyes on. Eventually, they stopped at a grand pair of dors, and he gestured for them to enter.

 

The office was equally as grand as the rest of the casino. Everything seemed to shimmer with gold accents, making the room almost glitter. Bookcases and paintings lined the walls, there was something expensive looking everywhere he looked. At the end of the room were two chairs, a desk, and practically a throne where Roulette sat.

 

Tommy was immediately intimidated. He’d never seen Roulette before and he was pretty sure he could kick Tommy’s as with a look alone. He wore a pricy-looking burgundy shirt, paired with black bracers, a poker chip pin and a feather pin attached to one side. In complete contrast to his formal wear, Roulette was wearing a beanie. Nothing fancy about it, just a normal beanie. Tommy tried not to stare, but he had a massive scar down one side of his face and was clearly now blind in one eye. He remembered Tubbo telling his tragic backstory, he knew exactly who gave Roulette that scar.

 

“Phoenix! Buddy, it’s been so long!” He greeted them with a big smile, his golden fang glinting in the light.

 

“It has, it has, we just haven’t been in need of any help until now.”

 

“That’s fair my friend.” He turned his attention to Tommy, who tried not to show how nervous he was. The hungry glint in Roulette's eyes told him that Tommy was shit at hiding his nerves, or he was just good at reading people. “And you must be Flashbang! A pleasure to make your acquaintance kid. You really got L’Manburgs attention there with your little stunt.”

 

“What can I say, I live for the attention, ‘ya know?”

 

“I feel that, take a seat you two. Want a drink?” 

 

He swilled around some liquid in a decanter, clearly alcohol.

 

“No thank you, we have to focus on business.”

 

“Your loss, means more for me,” He grinned, “Now what can I do for you gentlemen?”

 

“I need to host a meeting with someone, safe where no heroes can witness or overhear the conversation, and also need you to contact him about the time and room. I got told you were the man to ask.”

 

“Oh getting you a room for a couple of hours? Piece of cake. Who do you need to chat with?”

 

“Hellfire.”

 

Roulette’s smile dropped.

 

“I don’t want to even think about that bastard.”

 

“I understand he’s your ex and shit, but he’s the one that sent me to you. I need answers, and he’s the only one that can tell me shit apparently. I don’t even need that long with him, and you won’t have to see him at all if you dislike him so much. Please, Roulette, he’s the only lead I have.”

 

Roulette thought it over, clearly not happy about the idea of interacting with his ex, but also weighing up if this deal would be worth it.

 

“ UUGHHHH , fine, I can do that for you, but it depends on what I get in return. We have to have a fair deal you know.”

 

Phoenix went to speak, but Flashbang cut him off.

 

“Phoenix don’t, I have information to trade.”

 

“ You do ?”

 

Phil hadn’t expected Tommy to have anything he could bring to the table. The kid was full of surprises.

 

“And what makes you think it’s an equal deal?”

 

“I don’t know,” Flashbang led back in his chair with an air of confidence, ”I recon why vigilantes are being kidnapped and drained of their powers, and who is behind it is some really valuable information.”

 

“ Excuse me? Flashbang what - ” Phoenix sputtered.

 

“Ohoho!” Roulette grinned, “Not even Phoenix is privy to this information yet? I’ll bite .”

 

“Simply put, Avalon and his team are taking individuals that have energy-adjacent powers, whether that's fire or electricity or whatever, and harnessing it to boost their own powers. Not all of his team are necessarily willing , but Avalon is the man behind it.”

 

Roulette raised an eyebrow, taking in the information but clearly having an air of doubt around him.

 

“And how can I trust you’re a credible source? For all I know you’re just trying to paint Avalon in a bad light.”

 

“Well, they’re being used because his original human battery escaped. I can tell you from long-term experience that shit is traumatising.”

 

“ You were his battery?”

 

“Well, why else do you think I’m in associates with the top villains, not the top heroes? He may be a hero, but Avalon is not a good person.”

Notes:

Do you wanna know when this fic updates? Or when I upload TikToks about it? Maybe you just want to vibe. Well! My general discord is free for all to join :D https://discord.gg/YNDrQtZJrC

hmu on tiktok and tumblr at @rhapsoddity
and on twitter at @rhapsodditty

Chapter 28: PLOT EXPLANATION

Summary:

vauguely what i had planned for the fic years ago
CONTENT WARNING for attempted suicide at the end

i have no interest in DMSP and my executive fucition is so horrible its literally taken me like?? 2 years or soo to get round to trying to summarise the rest of the plot??

These are just like,, the main plot points i can remember!

 

- tommy revealing his first had trauma from avalon convices roulette to host a meeting
- tom and phil go back to the car, phil connects the dots that tommy is alavons brother, and tommy begs phil not to tell the others, terrified they'll hate him or smth

- day of the meeting, sapnap explains to tom how dream used him as a battery, and how he and karl rescued him, dream doesn't know it was them, and dream is going crazy looking for tommy, he's obsessed
- tommy was going to eventually return to his previous home with tubbo and ranboo, apologise for how he behaved. tubbo doesn't forgive him, its gonna take actions rather than words for that, but they at least talk it out civilly
- tommy explains the situation he's in now, plus the memories he's regained and the fact he's avalons sibling and all that shit

- avalon tries to get tommy when he's out and about and almost does, before jubilee swoops in and "kidnaps" him. a chase commences, leading into an aquarium that will ex works at?? idk but they collapse a water tunnel to escape. idk I remember this being planned to be a significant moment but I cant find anything in my notes about it anymore

- tommy and wilbur hang out, go to a cafe that's owned by the families friend
-said owned freaks out at tommy and vice versa uuuh have a chunk of dialogue I wrote back then

“IRIS??!?”

“THESEUS??!?”

“You’re supposed to be dead.” they cried in almost unison.

“Woah woah you two chill, what the fucks happening. Tommy?? Puffy??”

“What’s happening is your friend here must be a shapeshifter or something because the bastard looks like my dead brother!”

“Oi don’t call me a bastard! You’re the one who looks identical to my dead sister!”

“Why the fuck would I be the dead one?”

“Clay said the fire caught to the entire house??? We were the only two that survived, the rest of dads staff and both you and Tyche didn’t make it!”

Puffy lowered her guard a little.

“I was picking up Tyche from her friend’s house, when we came home all that was left was ashes. We were under the impression that you and Caduceus died in there.”

“Holy shit. Tommy the family that you remembered-”

“-Are your family friends? Apparently so, what are the chances.”

They hug or some shit

“If you want to reconnect with Clay, I don’t blame you… but you can’t let him know I’m alive.”

“Why?”

“After y’all passed, he got obsessed with fixing his mistake; me apparently. Forcibly drained my powers for years.”

“Isn’t that-”

“Incredibly painful? Yeah, not poggers I’ll tell you that.”

“Wait but didn’t you tell-”

“Wilbur I can tell you’re making the connection.

Clay’s a hero now, he’s doing pretty well for himself. He’s Avalon.”

- Iris goes by Caroline/Puffy and Tyche goes by Cleminine now

- tommy reveals his connection to avalon to the whole faimly (i mean techonos the only one who didnt know at this point lol)

- dream finally gets his mitts on tommy :/ never nailed down the details but basically experiments on tommy, ends up removing the limit on toms powers
- dream uses tommy as a battery to boost his powers, and then uses said boosted powers to trap tommy in a illusion/fantasy where its a world where he is a hero with his brother . in tommys head he's having a great time with his brother, in reality tommy is emotionless and vacant as he fights SBI (and ranboo/tubbo. they want their bestie back)
- eventually they get tommy back and snap him out of it but this kinds uh. i believe I comatose him?? but yeah that breaks smth in tommy that dream was trying to avoid. :) tommy slowly begins to wither his surroundings, absorbing the energy around him including life energy
- everyone evacuates the area, desperately trying to figure out how to fix this
-tommy eventually wakes up abandoned and alone, but finds a communication device they left behind and powers it, communicating with everyone. when he finds out whats happening to him he uh. he thinks the best option is to kill himself. that'll stop his power
- in a panic, wilbur convices ranboo to teleport him in to stop tommy at the last moment. tommy doesn't wanna die he's rlly scared, but he doesn't know what else to do. they then come up with a plan for wilbur to stop tommys heart long enough for the powers to deactivate and then start his hear t again all with the bloodbending
- uuuuuuuuuh it works? happy ending woo??

Notes:

I don't know how long my motivation will last but I'm gonna try and write as much of this au as I can before I fizzle out njdsndsknfdsjk thankyou for reading tho!!! I don't rlly do DSMP content so this is quite new to me, but hey at least im p aware how to characterise my favs dnndjksdjkn
Tags will be added as I figure out how ao3 tagging works, I was raised on ff.net and I am still learning ao3, I feel like an old man lmaooo (when I initially made this note I didn't realise this note was for the whole story not just the chapter! I'm learning lol! i just need to pace myself to get through writing this fic)

Tommy's powers are actually isnpired by my friend Twigs-Sprigs Supercharged AU back in like,,, January? He got lighting powers in that and I did fuse em with a different set of powers in my head but yeah :) you can unintentionally blame him for Tommy having electrical powers hehe