Chapter Text
Tommy yawns as he walks through the entrance of his apartment building. He is extremely tired, as one should be at eleven at night after a long day of work, stopping a robbery, and a sudden patrol. He lumbers over to the single elevator that the building has and presses the up button. Not even ten seconds later, the doors open with a horrible scraping sound that sends shivers through Tommy’s spine. Cautiously Tommy puts all his weight on one foot inside the lift. A couple of weeks ago, he read that some unfortunate person got in a lift and it fell straight down. Needless to say, he hasn’t stopped thinking about it.
When nothing happens, Tommy fully enters the metal cage and pushes the button for the sixth floor. Not many people live on the top floor (or any floor for that matter). Tubbo explains that it’s because all the sane people know to avoid living in the middle of L’Manberg and flock more towards the downtown area, other parts of the city, or the rest of Essempe. But Tommy loves L'Manberg. Despite the looming threats to its citizens, crime, poverty, a seeming everlasting political war, and countless other problems, they all form a sense of beauty to Tommy. Albeit, it’s a sense of beauty one can only have when they have lived in the city for their entire life.
The doors screech close and the lift begins to slowly rattle upwards. Tommy leans against the rusting walls, careful to lean at an angle so as to not crush the contents of his backpack, and wipes a hand over his face, pulling the bags under his eyes down in a useless attempt to wake up a little. Taking the stairs or the fire escape might have helped but Tommy doesn’t know if he would have made it all the way up. Plus, Tubbo doesn’t like it when Tommy comes in through the window. Believe it’s unnecessary unless Tommy’s hurt.
Almost silently, the lift gives a small ding as it arrives at the sixth floor. Once again, the doors grind open and Tommy groans when he sees that it stopped a bit below the sixth floor. Tommy removes his backpack from his shoulders and carefully tosses it through the fortunately big enough gap before grabbing the floor and pulling himself up and out of the lift. He grabs his backpack and stands.
“Bitch,” Tommy whispers at the lift before grabbing his backpack and walking away.
Tommy doesn’t go far until he is standing in front of the door to his home: a small one-room everything apartment with a couple of closets on the side of the building with perfect access to the fire escape (and roof). Tommy stands staring at the fading wood door for a minute, likely drifting in and out of sleep. He prepares himself for the high probability of Tubbo yelling at Tommy about being late and messing up his sleep schedule even more or about how Tommy is overworking himself. Or just about how Tubbo wants to eat and not feel bad about having to wait to consume dinner. Probably the last one, but this time, Tommy brought bribes.
He sticks a hand in his pocket and pulls out his bronze apartment key. As he goes to insert it into the keyhole, though, he hears a click from the other side of the door. Sighing, Tommy returns the key to the pocket of his dirty dark blue jeans as the door is whipped open to reveal Tommy’s other roommate Ranboo.
“Tommy!” Ranboo grins. Their eyes search Tommy for any blood or obvious wounds, a routine that the two of them have developed.
“Nothing to report today oreo boy. Just an unsuccessful robber and an uneventful patrol,” Tommy forces an exhausted smile as he steps around Ranboo’s tall frame and into their apartment.
“That’s good,” Ranboo says from behind Tommy as he locks the door again. “Tubbo is in the living room complaining about food.”
So Tommy was right. “Don’t worry, I brought something to appease him,” Tommy whispers while he takes off his scuffed-up sneakers and sets them next to the two other pairs sitting against the wall.
Again, he swings his backpack off his back but this time unzips it and takes out a slightly crushed pastel red and dark grey box. Ranboo’s eyes widen and Tommy raises his eyebrows with a huge smile. Tommy steps over to his closet and opens the door. Quickly he throws the still-open backpack onto the mattress that is stuffed in the confined space, some of the contents spilling out onto the blankets and single pillow, and shuts the door. Still smiling, he walks into the other room where he sees his best friend Tubbo laying on the couch with arms dramatically wrapped around his head.
“Hey, Tubbo!” Tommy greets and he gently sets the box down on Tubbo’s stomach.
Immediately, Tubbo’s arms release his head and he looks over at what Tommy placed on his abdomen. Like Ranboo’s, Tubbo’s eyes grow larger and his head swivels between Tommy and the striped box.
“Just this once I won’t be mad at you for making us wait to eat,” Tubbo says. He carefully sits up, grabs the box, and gets off their ratty couch.
Relief fills Tommy. Tubbo being mad can be scary. “I’ve told you guys that you can eat without me!” Tommy exclaims.
“Yeah, but we are your kind friends,” Tubbo explains. He has made his way over to the kitchen and set the box on the little table situated against the wall that the trio eats at. Ranboo has already seated themself.
Tommy scoffs and joins his roommates, sitting in the one of two vacant seats that is closest to the wall. Tubbo opens the box and they all might as well have started salivating at the sight and scent of Badboyhalo’s famous fudge chocolate chip muffins. Occasionally, Tommy’s boss (Mr. Badboyhalo) allows Tommy to grab some food from the bakery he works at, mostly if Tommy hasn’t been swearing a lot. The first time Tommy was allowed to take some food home, he grabbed the fudge chocolate chip muffins because that was the most popular item on the menu. Once he and his roommates tried them, they understood why. The chocolate is so gooey even when not warm and the muffin itself is so fluffy with the right distribution of lightless and heaviness. It became the apartment’s favorite food.
“Are we just going to stare at these muffins or what?!” Tommy cheers. Ranboo chuckles and Tubbo grabs a muffin. He might have grabbed more if Tommy and Ranboo hadn’t snatched theirs in time.
Ranboo closes the box on the three leftover pieces of treasure, the two others silently agreeing with him that those will be saved for tomorrow’s dinner. Not that they had plans for meals anyways. They usually just ate whatever was in their mini fridge and cupboards. Most of the time, Ranboo would make semi-edible concoctions, Tommy would just drink the discount coke from the grocery store, and Tubbo would bring home honey from his part-time job and slather that on a piece of bread.
Food, to them, was a funny thing to spend money on. They had better things to save up for, such as whatever Tubbo needed for his online college courses, materials for Tommy and Ranboo’s suits, and their inventions. While they are all pretty good at developing technology, they still need to buy the parts and things they can’t make themselves.
That reminds Tommy, he still has his suit on underneath his clothes. “I’ll be right back, don’t touch my muffin,” he orders Tubbo and Ranboo, glaring at them as he leaves the table and heads to the bathroom.
Inside, he removes his dark red sweater and jeans to reveal the black long-sleeved shirt with a built-in bulletproof vest and tan cargo pants that barely manage to comfortably hide underneath his casual pair of pants. His vigilante suit. The rest of the outfit is in his backpack, now probably spilled onto his bed in his closet bedroom. Tommy admits that his outfit isn’t very flashy like Ranboo’s but gets the job done and blocks the occasional knife and bullet pretty well. He removes the shirt, acknowledging the array of small scars and bruises on his torso, and pants before switching back to his jeans and sweater. The sweater isn’t that comfortable without a shirt underneath but it doesn’t irritate him too much.
Tommy grabs his suit and exits the small bathroom. He heads over to the closet again and throws the outfit in there, he’ll hang it up before he goes to sleep. Quickly, he returns to the kitchen and finds both of his roommates attempting to hide their smiles and stifle their giggles.
“What’s going on?” Tommy questions his friends suspiciously. But he knows the answer once he looks down at his muffin. A huge chunk is missing from it and based on how much Tubbo is trying not to laugh while Ranboo is trying to chew fast yet inconspicuously, Ranboo took that chunk.
“You fucking prick!” snarls Tommy. Tubbo unleashes his laughter as Tommy jumps at Ranboo, only for Ranboo to teleport onto the couch before Tommy could fully land his blow. Fully.
Slowly (for the effect), Tommy turns to look at Ranboo. Ranboo notices the evil glint in Tommy’s eyes and understands that they weren’t fast enough. Tommy may be shorter than Ranboo by a few inches but he can be fast, especially when close to Ranboo like he was in the kitchen.
“You messed up,” huffs Tommy. He steps forward and is abruptly gone, leaving behind a few gold particles, similar to Ranboo’s purple ones.
Tubbo’s eyes widen in surprise and his laughter softens before fading to watch the upcoming spectacle. Ranboo’s heartbeat grows louder in his ear and they swing his head from side to side, searching for Tommy. But Ranboo’s head can’t turn backward, so there was no way for them to see the menacing blond standing behind him until it was too late.
Tommy again jumps at Ranboo from their blind spot and tackles them off the back of the couch onto the ground with a loud thump. Tommy gets a strong hold on Ranboo’s arms, ensuring that if Ranboo tries to teleport away, Tommy would come with him. Ranboo squirms on the old wood floor but Tommy has a strong grip. After a minute of thrashing, Ranboo stops kicking around and sighs. Defeat hangs in the air. Tommy smirks at this and releases Ranboo’s arms. The gold particles appear as Tommy vanishes and pops out of thin air back into his chair next to Tubbo who startles.
Still grinning, Tommy grabs his muffin and takes a bite, relishing the flavors and texture that he has grown to love. Tommy finishes chewing and swallows the bite before turning to Ranboo who had sat upright but didn’t leave the floor.
“You know,” Tommy says between picking pieces of muffin out of his teeth with his tongue, “I took a big bite before I left to take my suit off.”
Ranboo gasps at what that means and teleports away. Tommy can hear the running water from the small sink in their tiny bathroom. Tubbo doubles over laughing again and Tommy smiles but it’s tired. He picks up his muffin again and resumes taking bites, only pausing when Ranboo returns.
As they grab their muffin, Tubbo asks Tommy, “So, what happened to make you so late tonight?”
Tommy looks up from the chocolate chip he was zoning out at to meet the questioning eyes of his friend. “There was a robbery over at HBomb’s cafe. Managed to stop it before the thief got away but they broke a window so I cleaned that up. Then I did a patrol just to be sure nothing else was happening. Nothing was.” He takes another bite of his muffin, sadly noticing how there was only one or two left.
“Did you get any new abilities, except for Ranboo’s?” Tubbo grins and ignores Ranboo’s glare.
“Of course, they had rocket feet!” exclaims Tommy, spooking Tubbo.
Tommy shoves the rest of the muffin in his mouth, sets the paper that surrounds the muffins on the table, and stands up to demonstrate.
But Tubbo stops him. “Tommy, I believe you. There’s no need to burn down our apartment, especially when we can’t afford another one.”
Embarrassed, Tommy nods. He picks up his previously discarded garbage and throws it away in the trash can under the kitchen sink. Silently, Tommy washes his hands, ridding them of the melted chocolate and sticky muffin residue.
Tommy doesn’t like this type of silence. The silence that unintentionally happens when everyone’s tired and is waiting for someone to say they are going to bed. The silence inadvertently follows when someone (mostly Tommy) realizes their mistake. The silence that accidentally occasionally swallows the world when Ranboo or Tommy comes home to Tubbo hurt and no one has the confidence to clear the tension polluting the air.
But today, Ranboo does have the confidence. “How did you manage to stop someone that can rocket away from you?”
Tommy’s head perks up from drying his hands. “Well, I managed to jump him from behind, like I did to you. You need to work on that Big Man.” Ranboo huffs but there is a slight curve in the corner of his lips. “He didn’t notice me until I had my arms wrapped around his neck. By the time he did, I had already choked him into unconsciousness. Then I tied up to one of the tables that were bolted to the floor with Tubbo’s rope.” Tommy brags, hands on his hips in a triumphant gesture.
“So the rope is working?!” Tubbo excitedly asks. Tommy nods and Tubbo does a little happy squeal.
The “rope” is just the casual name that the trio calls one of Tubbo’s most useful creations. It basically looks like a rope and works like one, but better. Tommy doesn’t know the specifics of it, his technology knowledge specializes in computers and editing, but he does understand that how it works is quite simple. The rope starts as a small coil of what appears to be string, but when it comes into contact with the air for more than about five seconds, it grows into a rope. And once it is tied to something, let’s say the robber of a local cafe, it will tighten. This allows little to no escape. It’s even extremely hard to cut! Tubbo’s trying to figure out how to make it work against or even cancel out people’s powers but isn’t getting very far so Ranboo and Tommy just knock people out before tying them up. The best part though is that after two hours, the rope shrinks again and self-destructs to ensure that no one can trace it back to the roommates. Fingerprints don’t linger on the rope and the almost indestructible fibers ensure that no one can get anything useful from it. Tommy appreciates how Tubbo is a fucking genius.
“Much better than knocking criminals out and tying them up with zip ties like we were before,” Ranboo agrees.
Tubbo smiles and it erases the rest of the tension in the air, allowing Tommy to finally say, “I’m going to go to bed.”
His two roommates nod and say goodnight before turning back to their unfinished muffins. They will probably stay up for another twenty minutes or so, chatting or Tubbo explaining a new invention he started. Tommy heads to the bathroom and brushes his teeth, bristles scraping against his gums. The grimy mirror above the sink shows him the view of an exhausted teen with dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep, small remnants of battles here and there, short but shaggy wavy blonde hair, and golden bronze eyes that are always sparkling even when tired.
Tommy returns his toothbrush to the small cup on the sink and steps out of the bathroom. A perk of his bedroom being the apartment’s repurposed coat closet is that it’s situated right across the hallway from the bathroom. So unless Tommy sleeps through his phone’s alarm, he can get ready before Ranboo is even out of their room.
When the trio first rented the apartment, they knew that there weren’t enough rooms for all of them, so they planned to split the bedroom in half and for someone to sleep on the couch. Maybe even alternate where they sleep. However, Ranboo had the brilliant idea to convert one of the two closets the apartment has (the other one is in the bedroom) into a smaller bedroom. Originally, the closet bedroom was going to belong to Tubbo considering he is the shortest but Tubbo needed room to do his college work. And Ranboo was way too tall for the tiny space. So while Tommy got crammed into a closet like Harry Potter, Ranboo had the half of the bedroom that is closest to the door while Tubbo got the half of the bedroom with the closet (it’s where Tubbo stores all of his inventions).
Surprisingly, Tommy fits pretty well in the closet. He has a mattress in there with a few blankets and a pillow. In the back, he has a box with his few belongings and a spot where he stashes his backpack. There is a small hanging shelf on the wall where he hangs his work clothes from and piles his other outfits. And as a precaution, under the mattress, there is a secret compartment under the floor, which can be accessed by removing a piece of the wooden floor.
Tommy lowers himself onto his messy bed that he never attempts to make and grabs his vigilante suit and puts both parts of it on an empty hanger. He hangs the shirt and pants on the shelf. Then he collects the things that fell out of his backpack when he threw the pack in the closet before dinner. He scoops his compactable bat (another Tubbo creation), name tag for his second job, phone, and fingerless gloves back into his black backpack before zipping it up and putting it next to the cardboard box that contains most of what he owns.
Finally, Tommy lets himself give in to his immense urge to sleep and he crashes down onto his bed. He is snoring before he realizes he’s still sleeping in jeans.