Tw: Swearing, bad sleep, bubblegum toothpaste, coca*n, drugs, hero-villian and everything in between(Does that count?), swords, SH mention, eating disorder, scar mentions,
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The blaring alarm that usually plays isn't what Tommy woke up to today. Instead the breaking of glass on tile followed shortly by a loud shout is what made him open his eyes with a groan. Tommy let out a small string of curses as he rubbed his nose and pain shot through his entire face. He pushes the covers of his legs and try's to ignore the thick sheen of sweat that clung to his skin like honey. His sleep last night had been spotty as a result of stress that he had no recollection of having.
Tommy runs his hand through his golden hair and grimaces when it returned back to him wet. He climbs down the ladder slowly as he makes sure to watch his footing. He walks out of his room and towards the bathroom. He opened the mirror cabinet to find bubblegum toothpaste and frowned as he pulled it out and dropped it into the trash can before taking his own hygiene products from his inventory and using those.
He closes the mirror and takes a good look at himself finding that he was in need of a haircut. His face wasn't much better as there was a small bruise forming on the bridge of his nose where the ladder had hit him and there was still dried blood under his nose. There were small eye bags like their usually is but they seemed deeper today that normal. The sweat wasn't as present on his face anymore but he still leaned over and splashed water onto his face and rubbed a towel over it.
He went through his routine of brushing his teeth and hair then putting on deodorant before heading back to his room to change. He pulled out his uniform which consisted of a white long sleeved cuff link shirt, blue jeans, and a nice green apron and topless hat and a binder underneath all of this. He puts the apron into his inventory and rolls up his sleeves so that they loosely hang at his wrists. Tommy clicks the back of the hat onto the belt loop on the hip of his jeans. He buttons the sleeves to keep them in place before turning and grabbing his laptop from its charger then leaving down the stairs.
Tommy walks down to the main floor and pauses when he catches sight of phil cleaning the glass offf the floor. The older man dumps the rest of it into the trash can before looking up and right into Tommy's eyes.
"Oh! Good afternoon Abby. I didn't wake you up did I? Techno said something about- wait, are you going on a date or something?" Phil asks as he gestures towards Tommy's work outfit with a kind smile as he turns and places two plates of food onto the table.
"Ehm, I'm just going to work and yeah you did wake me up but it's fine." Tommy shrugs and sets his laptop on the island.
Phil nods and turns around to grab the other two plates of spaghetti that were also made and he sets them onto the island as well. "Okay, well do you have time to eat a late of scetty?" He asks softly as he scoots a plate towards Tommy that has a noticeably smaller portion than the other three.
"Im sorry, scetty? Also yeah I have time." Tommy laughs and sits down on the corner stool. He pulls the plate towards himself and takes a forkful, twirling it around for a moment before eating it. It was fine and needed a small bit of garlic salt but it was fine otherwise.
"Ah, shut it child. Don't make fun of me. That's mean." Phil crosses his arms in a joking manner before yelling for the twins to come down for an early dinner.
There's a loud thud from upstairs then some shouting, another bang of body against body then Wilbur falling straight down the stairs face first. Techno follows his falling brother with one hand fixing his hair and the other holding a book. Wilbur grumbles something under his breath and right as he does he grabs technos ankle and techno falls forward.
His face contorts into a surprised anger and he doesn't reach out for the railing, instead his whole body tenses as he falls forward. He doesn't even throw his hands in front of himself to catch himself before the fall. He just seems to completely embrace the fall. His chest hits first and he lets out an oof and seemingly finds his body moving again as he pushes himself to his feet using the railing behind him as Wilbur howls in laughter.
Wilbur grabs onto technos shoulder and uses his brother to get up. Techno shoves him off and promptly walks away as wilbur legs tremble and Tommy can't tell if its because of the fall or the laughter but once he had calmed down he made his way over to the island where techno had already sat down on one side next to Phil.
Wilbur flops onto the stool next to mine and pulls the unclaimed plate of spaghetti towards himself. He turned to look at Tommy then grinned. "You missed breakfast and lunch Abby." Wilbur says and Tommy grimaces at the use of the name but makes no comment on it.
"Wilbur leave the child alone. The kid works the night shift so they sleep during the day." Techno says and tommy only managed to catch the first part of what techno had said.
"Im not a child." Tommy says sternly as he shoves a forkful of the food into his mouth.
"Yes yes, of course your not." Techno shruggs with the only emotion present being to slight corner of his mouth tilting upwards. "You're a big man." He quotes what Tommy had said last night but in monotone.
"Damn right i am." Tommy says to himself as the thought to censor himself doesn't cross his mind. Techno chuckles at this as he looks down at his book.
Wilbur looks towards Phil and raises an eyebrow. "Did something happen while we weren't looking?" He asks to the equally confused Phil who seemed shocked at technos display on emotion, however small it was.
"I have no idea Wilbur." Phil shakes his head.
"The child was doing Coke last night." Techno says nonchalantly and Tommy takes this as a sign of betrayal.
"I was not taking drugs! I told you i slipped and hit my nose on the ladder when i was coming down for a drink." Tommy tried to keep his voice under control but it pitched upwards and he felt his face burn a bit at the sound. Tommy set his fork down on the half eaten plate of spaghetti. His appetite, even though small as it was, had diminished. The thought of him getting in trouble with a foster parent, One whom had been so nice to him in the span of this first day, could send him back for drug abuse.
"I was joking." Techno deadpans as if the people around him could know that when his voice literally never changes.
"Yeah well how am i supposed to know that." Tommy was starting to feel defensive but didnt really know what he was defending. He instantly picked up in the way technos palm flattened against the pages in his book and the way that Phil and the second foster brother were looking between the two of them with confusion. "Am i just supposed to read your mind?" Tommy scoffs lightly, the only tell that he was mad was his voice. The one thing that he made sure to pour his emotion through especially when it was something so important. Other than that, if you looked at his body language a person wouldn't see a single tense muscle in his body.
"Wait, Abby" Phil speaks up in an attempt to kill the hostile feeling in the air. "Is that why you have a bruise on your nose?" Phil tilts his head in worry.
Tommy's mood lightens at the soft and caring voice of the foster parent. "Yep." He lets out a dramatic sigh as he mentally cleared out his head and readied himself to talk to Phil. "That's why my amazing face is all ruined." He sighs and Wilbur snorts lightly and takes a bite of his food. "Any way, I should probably head out. I dont wanna be late." Tommy says even though he knows its early to even think about waking up for him but he wants an excuse to get away from techno, since he most likely just ruined any chance of a brotherly bond between the two. Then as an after thought, Tommy looks down at his plate of food and asks. "What do you want me to do with this?"
"Dont worry about it Abby, I'll take care of it." Phil smiles and stands up with Tommy's plate in hand.
"Okay thanks, oh and thank you for the food. It was really good." Tommy responds as he grabs his laptop from the counter takes his pills without water and finds himself leaving the house without another word.
Once the door had closed he puts his laptop away into his bag and fastens the topless green hat onto his head. He starts off on his walk through this nice neighborhood and finds himself wondering if he was in the south end of la' Manberg or maybe even the west end with how rich this all felt. But not even five minutes into his walk did his alarm go off in his ears. He quickly pulled his phone out and clicked the stop button to see the numbers seventeen zero-zero shining up at him.
Tommy sighs softly as he tucks his phone into his pocket and continues his journey. He finds himself going through back alleys to avoid bumping into other people on the main sidewalks with the knowledge that he's going to open early today. It doesn't bother his though as it'll turn into overtime for him so, yay.
When he finally gets onto the street of the cafe' he can see a building getting a new window installed on the top floor. He snickers softly to himself when he sees 404 and Dream, his vigilante sidekick, talking to some of the workers. Tommy turns and unlocks the front door of the cafe' and flips the closed sign on the door to open. He heads back behind the bar and flips the light switches to turn on all the lights. He grabs his apron from his inventory which had the logo "PRIME" In dark purple lettering. He made sure it was tightened properly then clipped his name tag onto his apron. The small gold painted metal with the name Tommy in black print.
It was now six o' clock when the first person finally came in. The door chimed announcing the arrival of a customer and Tommy looked up from, his book and placed the iced coffee he was sipping on, onto the counter behind him. "Hello underscore, What can i get for you today?" Tommy asks with a smile since he had never seen this vigilante at his place before.
"Ehm, yeah hi. Is this the cafe that vigilantes are aloud to come to?" He asks and with how small the guy was you'd think he'd sound like a child but no. This guy sounded like he was eighteen.
"Yep." Tommy pops the P. "This is a neutral zone, any fighting here can and will result in a ban depending on the circumstances." Tommy recites from memory.
Underscore looked at him for a moment and Tommy took this time to observe the fellow up close. He sported a gas mask with hand painted hazards on the filters and a pair of goggles, but not the kind that suction your eyes out. He had a brown winter coat with patches on the elbows that seemed to have micro fiber reinforcements and well as his jeans that had the same patches on his knees. He didn't have a weapon on hand but it was obvious he had some with him. He had fingerless gloves that had a little bit of oil under the fingernails but his military boots look freshly painted in boot oil. He must be running a patrol today.
"Okay then can i get a hot chocolate and an Iced turtle frappe?" He asks with what Tommy can only assume is a smile when his voice changer sounds a little different from his normal speach.
"Yeah of course man. Although how will you drink it with the gas mask?" Tommy asks as he rings up the order and was turning around to the back counter.
"I can just take off my mask, i have goggles ya' know" Underscore says like its no big deal.
Tommy scoffs as he sets the hot cup under the machine and presses the button for hot water to pour into the hot chocolate powder while also turning on the blender for the turtle frappe. "That's not the best idea, hero's come here all the time and I can't stop them from looking." Tommy states as he takes the clear plastic cup and rotates it as he puts chocolate on one side of the cup walls and caramel on the other, it's his signature, what can he say?
"Well It'll be fine, they can't do anything with only one half of my face." Underscore shrugs And Tommy glances back to see him pulling his hair back into the pony tail it was just in.
"If it doesn't bother you," Tommy puts the lid onto the hot chocolate with one hand while the other pours the blended drink into the turtles cup. He moves the hot chocolate to the drop off counter and presses a lid onto the frappe before setting it next to the chocolate drink. "That'll be seven fifty."
"No tax?"
"Nope. The tax is taken out of the total already." Tommy shrugs as underscore pulls out a ten. He hands it to Tommy who was already grabbing the correct amount from the register and offering it to the vigilante.
"Thank you." Underscore says as he grabs both drinks and makes his way out of the building.
"Of course, and have a good patrol." Tommy grins at the mans back as he leaves. Tommy made more drinks for people with the occasional pastry as the day went on and it was honestly very nice and calm until around eight when a hero and their vigilante sidekick walked through the doors.
"Hello and welcome to the prime cafe' what can I get for you two today?" Tommy asks with a forced smile as the cloaked hero 404 with his sidekick Dream by his side.
Dream was wearing his signature white circular mask that sat over his entire face with two circular holes for eyes and a smile with black fabric covering each hole for breathing purposes. Dream was a particularly dangerous vigilante, When he activated his power his eyes would glow green and right now you could see them glowing. He was wearing a black sleeveless skintight shirt, a pair of blue jean shorts that was held up by a tool belt of sorts. His shorts cut off right above the knee to expose animalistic legs that almost resembled mayor Jshlatt's own with the only difference being that dreams fur matched the color of his hair. He also had big goat horns curled around his ears with the points meeting his jaw. Then a green cape that hung Down to right above the ram paws. Wait, didn't rams have hooves? Also normally he has ram ears but he has human ears right now. He probably just didn't want them right now.
"Hello," $04 leans forward which only makes him look even smaller when standing next to dream as he reads Tommy's name tag. "Tommy, could i get a mocha frappe with two extra shots of espresso and whipped cream on top?" He asks then rubs under his goggles as if to emphasize how tired he was.
"Yeah of course 404, and for you dream?"
"Ehm, The pink kiwi smoothie." He nods to himself while looking up at the display.
"Okay but that does have red bull and ice cream in it." Tommy warns.
"Sounds good. I need it." Dream says and makes direct contact with Tommy and Tommy can see the eye bags from the glow of his eyes.
"Okay then, that'll be" Tommy trails off under his breath as he adds up the extra shots. "Nine fifty. Five fifty for the coffee four for the smoothie." Tommy nods and starts making the two drinks. As he's blending the kiwi red bull and ice cream together he hears 404 yawn.
"Did you guys have a long night?" Tommy asks even though he knows that 404 probably spent hours looking for Tommy after he disappeared from the elevator.
"Yeah, that Dolos guy is pissing me off, He broke into some guys apartment then i had to see the apartments owner playing with himself. Then i lost Dolos when he went through the elevator. Plus the owner dick wasn't even good to look at, like, was he even holding anything?" He asks which makes dream snort and mutter under his breath that 404 was just used to seeing bigger guys which made 404 tell him to shut up.
"Who's dolos?" Tommy asked with a smile since he had never disclosed a vigilante name and had let the public choose it for him.
"That new vigilante who wears a red shirt and blue cape. He uses a staff and is really fast although he tends to avoid getting touched," 404 Says with a shrug.
Dream in erupts 404 quickly and adds on. "He fights like crazy! It's so hard to get a fit on him and i can only ever get his arms. He completely avoids anything that has to don with his chest it's weird. I think it's where he stores his staff." Dream says with almost a fanboy type of enthusiasm.
"Like a power item?" Tommy questions and turns to look back at the vigilante, pausing with an empty cup in hand.
"Yeah. I think it might be something he can support that's linked with his power." Dream nods and 404 sighs.
"That makes literally no sense, it's probably just a support item with the ability to collapse into itself." He scoffs at his partners antics and Tommy looks back toward the empty cup.
"Sounds like that Dolos guy is a prick." Tommy says with a forced laugh because the posability of them both finding out his power then logging it into the system to find him wouldn't be that hard. He takes both of the finished drinks and places them on the counter then places the lids onto them.
Dream wheezes at Tommy's statement but quickly dies down as he takes a good look at Tommy wile he takes a ten dollar bill from his pocket. "So how old are you anyway? You look to young to be working."
"Okay, first off im seventeen. And second, I dont just work here, i own this establishment." Tommy grumbles loudly in response as he works out the change. "And if we are going off of looks and jobs, then shouldn't you technically be in jail for vigilantism?" Tommy raises an eyebrow at the taller man while handing him back his change.
Dreams eyes seem to glow just a little brighter as he stares at the teen. "Okay sorry." He says sarcastically. "Didn't mean to get on your bad side; i was just curious." Dream sighs before 404 nudges his side and looks toward Tommy.
"Sorry about him, hes just naturally a curious person and he likes to ask questions about everything. Plus we've been up all night and all we managed to find was a bag pack on a roof a decent ways away but-" 404 cuts off his rambling and frowns at himself. "Sorry, forget i said anything. That's not public information yet." He trails off again and presses his lips into a thin line, probably thinking about paying the boy so he wont talk when Tommy laughs.
"Don't worry big man, my lips are sealed." Tommy responds with forced chill as his brain whirls with the worst possibilities. If they found his bag then they have access to his fingerprints, they could easily find out who he was. They could arrest him so quickly just for owning the bag. Maybe he should lay low for a bit as dolos and his personal self. It'd be a stretch but it could work, "Enjoy your drinks and feel free to use the Wi-Fi." Tommy smiles to pause his thoughts as he points towards a paper by the door.
404 smiles and takes the cups from the counter and Tommy turns and sits back into his chair behind the register. He pulls out his book 'What If It's Us" Because gay books are the best.
The door chimes not even ten minutes later and Tommy looked up to see the vigilante AvEnder stepping into the cafe' with their hands shaking nervously as they spot the duo sitting in a booth with 404 instantly meeting their gaze even with his clout goggles on. The air in the room shifts barely but Tommy notices the nerves. He instead smiles and welcomes the vigilante; he asks what he'll have as he sets his book down when he barely spots the motion of dreams hand slipping under the table where a sword was lain on the booths' cushion.
AvEnder instead looked towards Tommy and smiled at his voice. "Ehm, hello." He says and the voice changer makes their voice sound deeper than most would expect. His appearance was also something that people wouldn't expect to be good with movement. With all his clothes split down the middle with black on one side and white on the other then his clothes looking like business apparel. He had a face mask that was also split between the two colors and a pair of shades. His hair was also split died and even his nails were painted the same. But with his partner being a renounced tech savvy person his hair might not even be died. Or it's a wig. "You wouldn't happen to remember what underscore had gotten earlier today would you? He sent me here and i forgot what he told me he had gotten."
"Yeah i remember, would you also like to get another hot chocolate?" Tommy smiles at the vigilante as their kind voice had made Tommy want to be just as nice to the taller person. But he also wanted to kick them in the crotch because they were taller than Tommy and AvEnder had an American accent that Tommy just hated.
"Eh yes please." They say with a calm tone as Tommy goes to the register history to find the past order. Tommy reads over it quickly then turns to the back counter to start prepping the drinks.
Tommy could hear hushed talk between two people and knew that 404 and Dream were talking about AvEnder. Tommy could feel the anger and fear being pointed towards his back making him sigh. He wasn't exactly sure that the duo would keep to themselves but he hoped that they wouldn't cause trouble. But nothing happened and Tommy finished up the drinks.
"That'll be seven fifty." Tommy recites as he sets the drinks on the counter with the knowledge of the hero and vigilante duo were still watching him. AvEnder takes the money from his wallet and pays without needing change back. "Have a good day AvEnder." Tommy says as they leave with the cups in hand.
Once the door chime signaled that AvEnder was gone; Dream seemed to shift back into a comfortable position in his seat. Tommy felt the mood of his cafe' lighten and watched as his hand fell back to his laptop that the two had brought in a bag pack. 404 also seemed less tense and his eyes fell back to his book.
Tommy sat back down and pressed his elbows into the counter in front of him with his book between his hands. The regulars of the cafe' didnt say anything about what just happened but the duo in the booth both seemed to be slightly disturbed by what happened. Tommy had gotten halfway through his book when his nine thirty alarm went off which suddenly reminded him to eat. He ignored it and announced to anyone who was still here that the cafe' would close in thirty minutes even though the only people that remained was 404 and dream one of which had his face laying over his laptop which was conveniently powered off.
But right after he announced that the door chimed, Two well known villains walked in and right up to the counter. The woman of the two had pink hair and a pink mascaraed mask. She wore a tight black long sleeve shirt with a black loose fit short sleeve shirt over it. It had a wave covering from the bottom right of the shirt to the upper left shoulder with the black sport style pants with the same wave seeming to fall down from the shirt. Her partner wore the same outfit with the only difference being that his design was fire instead of water. The mans head was also almost completely shaved with only two centimeters of hair. He wore a face mask that was split down the middle with red and blue and a pair of 3D glasses to match.
"Welcome to the prime cafe' what can i get you both?" Tommy asks tiredly even though he was smiling at the two.
Thetys, the woman, laughs at the boredom that Tommy was radiating. "Hello Tommy, just the usual." She smiles and Tommy thinks it looks like the sun shining down to the depths of the ocean. (AKA beautiful)
"Alright." He says before turning to work on their normal drinks. "So why are you two so late?" He asks as he feels a certain hero's eyes looking in his direction. Which is followed by the unease that radiated from the hero sitting across from his sleeping partner.
"Oceanus and I forgot to set an alarm and we got caught up with shopping." She laughs with a voice filt with nothing but happiness that makes Tommy's mood lighten even more. He almost allows himself to ignore the hero's stare. "But it seems your cafe' is getting more notice." She then points the conversation towards Tommy.
"Nah, it's about the same." Tommy shrugs and turns to face them and his eyes settle on Oceanus who's playing a game on his phone. "Yup big man." Tommy greets and Oceanus looks up to meet Tommy's eyes and pockets his phone.
"Ayup to you Tommy. How have you been lately? No more slip-ups I presume?" Oceanus asks as he looks at Tommy's arms which were covered by his sleeves. Tommy could feel the air around them tense as he continues to stay quiet for just a second too long. He raised a hand to his opposite wrist which had only scars. There was nothing newer than three months.
"Nope, I've still been clean since that happened." Tommy says 'that' just a bit louder to emphasize what exactly he had been talking about. Tommy turns back towards the counter and pours milk over ice then adds the espresso. Tommy really didnt like thinking about 'that', how he had passed out behind the counter from lack of food and blood loss. He had woken up minutes later to Thetys sitting in the back room while Oceanus had taken care of the other customers in the front. Thetys was halfway through re bandaging his arms and his shirt had been removed to expose his binder. The shirt had bloodied sleeves that he hadn't even noticed when he was working and it was lying on the floor next to him and the female villain. Later after he was feeling better they had forced him to eat one of his hand made croissants that the cafe' sold then they both helped him close the cafe'.
Tommy puts lids on the two matching drinks with one having white chocolate and the other having caramel. He places them onto the counter as Oceanus smiles. "That's good man, Im proud." He nods at Tommy and Tommy scoffs scoffs and mutters 'fuck off' to him as Thetys hands him what the two owed even though Tommy hadn't told them yet.
"You've been eating better as well right?" Thetys speaks up as she sticks her straw into her drink and mixes his masterpiece.
"I haven't been eating worse?" Tommy try's his best to make himself sound sure but he hasn't really been keeping track. He maybe eats once every two days with the exception of coffee and the occasional pastries he makes for his cafe'.
Thetys frowns at Tommy which in turn makes him look down at his own hand resting on his wrist under the counter. Low-fi beats plays in the background as a intense silence builds. Tommy is the first to break the silence between the three with a sigh. "It's hard," He whispers and he can hear the femininity of his small voice crack. "To just look at food. Just the sight makes me want to throw up sometimes. Even the thought of eating will make me feel sick in the stomach. But, I haven't been puking anything up recently so it hasn't been worse. That's a plus right?" Tommy asks softly as he presses his thumb into his index finger. The entire situation was messing with him and was making him feel the need to release the pressure.
"Tommy," Her voice is soft and sweet and it makes Tommy tear up, or maybe that's the pain. "How much have you truly been eating?"
"I-" Tommy trails off and looks down at his wrist that was still concealed under the counter. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, he wasn't even sure when dream had woken up but Tommy could tell he was staring. So instead of saying anything that would expose him he chose a different strategy. "I've got a new foster home."
"You- Don't change the subject." She crosses her arms across her chest. "And stop doing that. Hands where i can see them." She says sternly but it's so soft and caring that it makes Tommy want to cry even though he felt himself holding back tears. He instantly puts his hands on the counter and winces when the numb feeling turns to one of pain. Thetys reaches forward and turns Tommy's arm so that his wrist was up in the air. Thetys frowns and runs her finger over the reddened indent.
A whimper erupts from Tommy's throat and he pulls his arm away from her. He hears someone stand up and walk towards the scene. Tommy holds his arm against his stomach and wants to hide in a corner because fuck, dreams walking over. The two villains turn and watch the vigilante as he walks over but all he does is put a small band aid on the counter next to Oceanus. Oceanus takes it and hands it to thetys who walks around the counter and grabs Tommy's arm from his stomach and places the bandaid over the now bleeding crescent indent.
She then looks up to dream with a smile and offers a small thank you to him.
Dream seems a little hesitant to respond but simply settles for a not as he makes his way back over to his partner 404 who had packed his book and dreams laptop into a bag pack. Dream takes the over his shoulder and they both make their way towards the door.
"Have a good night Tommy." 404 says softly right before the door closes.
Tommy nods and makes eye contact with thetys who was wearing a sad smile. Tommy hates sympathy, more than he hates himself so in an attempt to lighten the mood he smiles. "Guess i just lost my month streak." He laughs and thetys frowns at the joke made at the boys expense. Her hands rest themselves firmly onto the boys shoulders then she pulls him into a tight hug. Tommy can feel her sadness and he lets out a sigh and he lets himself rest his chin on her shoulder as his arms embrace her hourglass figure.
"How's the now home been?" She asks softly as she rubs her hand into Tommy's back.
"It's been more promising than the other homes." He shrugs and forces himself to pull away from the villian. "I should probably clean up." He mumbles as he looks at some of the used tables that need cleaning.
"We'll help." Oceanus speaks up and sets his half drunken coffee onto the counter.
"But then id have to pay you." Tommy whines as he completely forgets about the previous conflict that had started with his eating habits.