Chapter Text
Tommy loved his job as a hero, it was his dream job when he was younger. And getting mentored by Dream? The top hero? Was probably the best thing that has ever happened to him. Getting to help the civilians of L’manburg -the place where he grew up- was a pleasure.
Tommy was just out patrolling the lower district -even though he got instructed to patrol the higher districts- because he knew Porphyion always patrols the lower districts. He loved talking to him just about anything.
But ‘lucky’ for him, the top 3 villains just had to patrol the lower districts when he was there. He hated talking to the three villains not just because they are the world’s city’s most wanted but because of their powers .
Ares literally couldn’t die so what was the point of even trying to kill him? Hypnos could control the person he’s looking at. Adelram was the most dangerous though because of his talons, he could touch someone and they would have weakness that would last for at least 2 days.
They seemed to want to capture Tommy than any other hero, not even Drista who is probably more valuable than him.
It was just his luck that he didn’t look where he was going and bumped into them.
He doesn’t even know why or how the fight broke out. Perhaps it was one of Tommy’s snarky comebacks? Or it was something more simple, that they just hated his mentor. He settled on the latter, his comebacks could never make anyone so angry that they wanted to fight him. That would be ridiculous!
The fight itself was intense. He could barely fight them when he was with Dream, how could he fight them by himself? It was a three against one, he was bound to lose.
Tommy was busy trying to avoid Hypnos who surprisingly good at hand in hand combat -he’s never been one to fight, always trying to dance around them- when Adelram joined in the dance. Now he had to be extra careful, a touch of Adelram’s talons can send someone to the grave.
Though Adelram had no intention of trying to kill Tommy, but he still had to be careful.
He was so busy trying to avoid the two villains he didn’t notice Ares sneaking up on him. He grabbed Tommy by his throat (bit much in his opinion), Tommy was thrashing and kicking but Ares’ grip didn’t fumble.
Then he slammed his head into the wall behind him surely leaving an indent, he let out a string of curses, tears silently falling down his face. Black dots were starting to dance across his vision, he didn’t kick and thrash as much now, all power seeming to leave his body.
His body yearned for rest, bruises surely painted his body black and blue, both from Dream and this fight. He wanted nothing more than to curl up against Tubbo and Ranboo but he knew it would never happen.
Tommy didn’t see the look that Adelram gave to Ares so when he finally loosened his grip, he sucked in air like a drowning man but it never seemed like enough air was going into his lungs. He dropped to his knees, legs collapsing as soon as Ares dropped him.
He immediately pressed his back against the far corner, knees bringing up to his chest, trying to steady his breathing.
Someone broke the silence by saying “No one here to save you now Theseus,” that was Adelram’s smug voice, anyone who doesn’t recognise that voice would be living under a rock (literally).
He’s standing tall and proud for finally having caught the hero in training so he could bribe the hero’s. He spoke at a normal volume but it felt like he was yelling.
His jet black wings being proudly displayed behind his back making him look more scary than he should be. He was only 5’7 but compared to Deimos and Hypnos -who were some tall motherfuckers- he looked tiny next to them.
He curled impossibly further into the far corner of the alleyway (were they always in an alleyway?) Tom pleaded“W-wait ple- I-I’ll explain! I promise! I-I’m just a kid! p-p-please,” wait he wasn’t supposed to say that, shit, hands flying up to his mouth. Eyes going wide with fear. He just wanted to disappear and forget this ever happened.
His eyes started to water making everything blurry, he couldn’t see the expression of the three villains faces anymore. Tommy trembled at the thought of Dream, that obnoxious smiley face, his breathing was jagged and it was like he was underwater, drowning.
There were too many things going through his head, he couldn’t even hear Adelram when he was trying to talk to him. This is it, I’m going to lose my hero’s license and my job and everything I’ve ever worked for.
He didn’t even care about the tears now, hands over his ears trying to make everything quieter. It wasn’t working. It was still too loud, loud, LOUD. Why was everything so goddamn loud all the time?
Why couldn’t the world just stop spinning for once? Why, why, WHY?! So many questions but never any answers.
“THESEUS!” A shout cutting through his thoughts.
Tommy’s head shot up at his name thinking it was Dream calling his name. But no, it was only Ares looking quite frantic and nervous.
“Theseus I need you to breathe with me, okay? In for four, hold for four and out for eight ‘kay? Copy me in, hold and out,” Ares exaggerated the breaths for Tommy to copy but he couldn’t. He tried so hard but he just couldn’t do it.
“I…I c-can’t,” Tommy muttered through stuttered breaths, tears still streaming down his cheeks.
“Yes you can Theseus, c’mon in, hold and out ‘kay?” Ares was gentle with his words. His usual demeaning manner now replaced with someone so different.
Ares kept exaggerating his breaths for Tommy to copy until his breathes were better.
Tommy’s breaths were still jagged but it was starting to get better with the help of Ares. When his breath finally evened out and his tears stopped, Ares stepped back to give him a bit of space.
“You good now?” Ares asked. Adelram and Hypnos were speaking quietly behind Ares.
“Yeah…yeah thanks,”
“No problem kid, if you need anything just ask ‘kay?”
His eyes weren’t wet now so he finally looked up to see the villains in front of him. He was surprised to see Adelram’s stance wasn’t so proud anymore, “w-wha y-you’re only a…kid? Wh- we’ve been trying to capture a child?” Adelram’s voice cracked at the last sentence. Shock flickered on Hypnos’ face for a brief second which he didn’t often do.
“So Ketaphos has been sending a literal child to do all his dirty work?” venom dripping from Ares’ words. He was undeniably a scary man with his threatening boar mask and blood red cape. He’s not someone you would want to mess with. You can’t even kill him so what was the point?
Hypnos was just standing there, not knowing what to say or do. The stupid blindfold -how can he even see out of that thing?- covering his eyes (probably for the best). His power was mind control when staring at his eyes. Tommy’s been under his mind control once and it was something you don’t want to experience in your lifetime.
They call themselves the Sleepy Bois Inc which is a stupid name for such threatening villains. They are the world’s most wanted villains. The hero committee has been trying to arrest them for years now.
“Uh can we treat the kids head before we start talking? I think anyone’s head who’s been slammed into the wall by me would be fine,” which Ares did have a point, his head was still throbbing with pain.
“I mean where can we go to treat his head? It’s not like you have a med kit in your pocket,” protested Adelram. That was true, imagine how big of a pocket you would need to have a fucking med kit in it.
“We could just go to one of my friends place? He’s out of town right now so he wouldn’t mind. It’s in district 40 so we could just uh take the train, plus it’s not far from here,” mumbled Tommy, almost wanting them not to hear him and just be done for, forget this day and move on.
Tubbo shouldn’t be back for another day or so because of his ‘wedding’ with Ranboo (seriously, what does he see in that bitch boy?).
There was a short walk to the train station and they thought he couldn’t see the glances they kept sending him even with his back turned.
Tommy was practically dragging himself to the train station. He thought about asking one of them to carry them but decided against it. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
The villains tried to make small talk but it just ended up in awkward silence. Adelram seemed like the only one that cared about him. But then again Hypnos and Ares had masks that covered their eyes which usually indicated their feelings.
Thankfully they only had to wait a couple of minutes for the train to come.
But the train ride to their place was to say the least awkward. No, more than awkward, the most awkward of awkwardest. No one see to know what to say, not even Tommy who usually has a million things to say.
The tension was so thick that it could’ve been cut with a knife. His head was still throbbing with pain but it was a lil bit better than in the alleyway. The bright lights weren’t helping with the pain.
Three villains and a hero in training on a train is a strange thing to see but thankfully though it was too early for any reasonable human to get the train so no weird looks came their way. Or maybe they just didn’t notice any of the weird looks.
The train ride was unpleasantly long, just 15 minutes too long in his opinion. The train ride was either 15 minutes or an hour, Tommy had no grasp of time. He just knew it was long. It felt longer than Ketaphos training him and that was hell .
The walk to the apartment complex was only 5 minutes so the tension wasn’t as bad as it was on the train. When they arrived though, Hypnos had something to say.
“This is the shithole you live in?” judged Hypnos. I mean what did he expect in district 40? It’s not like there’s going to be any fucking mansions here unlike somewhere like district 4 which is when the hero’s probably lived.
“This isn’t even my place so don’t even begin to judge, it’s not like we have high salaries of up to six figures so don’t even ,”snapped Tommy. Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo all worked hard at Cloudy’s cafe but it’s never enough. Heck they shouldn’t even be working . They should be in school for Notch’s sake!
Hypnos shrunk back at the comment and thankfully didn’t judge anything else until they were in the apartment. The hallways were still dirty as ever. No one seemed to bother cleaning them.
Unlocking the door, the place was still a mess with clothes on the floor and Tubbo’s newest invention (hopefully not a nuke) scattered across most surfaces.
He couldn’t bring himself to care though. It just made it more homely. The place was so different from Dream’s place, everything lifeless, neat and “perfect”.
Tommy went to the bathroom to find the med kit which had the bandages. He didn’t want to heal himself today because it would just make him more tired than he already is. He felt like he could sleep for a week and still be tired.
After he put the bandages on -albeit badly- and took some painkillers, he went back into the living room and plopped himself on the couch making him as comfortable as he can ‘cus it was going to be a long night.
After what felt like an eternity, Adelram finally questioned “So are you going to explain or what?” voice a hint of accusation.
“Oh yeah um sorry big man I’ll explain yeah,” stuttered Tommy wringing his hands together, looking and feeling nervous because he’s not told the story to a lot of people. Not that he had anyone to tell the story to.
Tommy was 8. Or was it 9? When he was found by Ketaphos on the streets. Tommy lived on the streets at the time. He’s been avoiding CPS for at least a year or two now.
All of the foster homes he’s been through always got worse and worse. Parents were never an issue for anything really ‘cus he never met ‘em. He lived with his uncle for a bit before he disappeared.
Tommy at the time looked up to the hero and him asking Tommy if he wanted to be mentored by him? It was a no brainer for him. To be mentored by his favourite hero was a dream come true. Plus, he would have the love and affection he never had! It was just perfect!
Until it wasn’t.
He couldn’t pin point when exactly he didn’t receive the affection anymore. It just started gradually getting less and less. He wasn’t receiving hugs anymore or warm smiles in the morning. Only cold stares and harsh orders.
It started getting to the point where he was actually hitting Tommy. Ketaphos promised to never hit him due to his past foster homes. But he always said sorry and he didn’t mean it and it was an accident the next day so it was fine! Right?
He was getting more and more bruises and Ketaphos always said it was for his own good. That he deserved the bruises so he never questioned why.
He knew what was best for him after all.
Ketaphos grew to be more and more violent and Tommy became more and more scared. He barely remembers the days that passed, they just seemed to merge into one.
The only good hero was Captain. She actually tried to save people and arrest villains.
Until she joined the vigilantes. She joined because she to help everyone not just the hero’s. The hero’s were restricting her to help the villains, plus the vigilantes treats her better than how the hero’s treated her. She deserves it.
The rare times that Ketaphos let him go out on patrol himself, he didn’t really go out on patrol. Instead he went to Tubbo -his best friends- to get help and advice.
Although he works with him at Cloudy’s Cafe, it was more for the presence of the smaller person than the advice. His advice would probably to nuke the government or something worse.
Tubbo has tired many times to convince Tommy that he should quit being a hero and instead be a vigilante, he always refused because the pay is good and at least he can try and help people. Hero’s are always the good guys!
Plus he is the hero committee’s personal medic, he doesn’t want to see the hero’s die even if they’re not particularly good. They’re still people after all.
Porphyion would occasionally talk to him while out on patrol near the lower districts. He was pretty chill and found out they actually have pretty similar personalities and interests. It was nice to talk to someone about something’s that wasn’t serious.
But when Ketaphos found out he was always found that he was just playing around and not properly patrolling, he would get punishments such as food being taken away and the worst thing was, they would always get worse.
His freedom was slowly being taken away from him. The only time he would go out was to work.
But even then he still has to go with him for his ‘safety’.
His bosses are always fussing about him not eating enough and other simple things he should be able to do himself.
Always scared that he was taking too much space, the little things made him scared.
Things as simple as a raised voice, always flinching and trying to make himself be as small as possible but he was getting better.
He didn’t even notice he was crying until Adelram gently wiped them away. That gesture alone just wants to make him cry even more, he hasn’t received lots of love and attention from anyone really. Not even his parents. Was he that unlovable?
“Wow, that’s…so fucked up on so many levels. This just adds to the list of reasons as to why he is the most vile and disgusting monster he is,” Hypnos practically spat those words out. Talking like the name Ketaphos was a curse.
“At least you don’t live with him,” Tommy chuckled humourlessly. Not really knowing what to say anymore. He’s said everything he needed to say.
The door unlocked with a click to reveal Tubbo and Ranboo both stopping in their tracks to take in the site in front of them. Adelram kneeling down to look at Tommy’s eyes and rubbing circles in his back. Silent tears flowed down Tommys cheeks, knees curled up into his chest.
Hypnos and Ares sitting on the floor sharing looks of remorse for the kid.
Tommy didn’t notice them in the doorframe so jumped when someone screamed “TO- THESUS FUCKING SIMONS WHAT WERE YOU THINKING DRAGGING THREE VILLAINS INTO MY FUCKING APARTMENT?! YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD FUCKING EXPLANATION,” yep that was no doubt Tubbo.
Tommy looked up to see a furious looking Tubbo and a shocked looking Ranboo standing in the door frame. Not a pleasant sight. Especially a furious looking Tubbo, steam was practically coming out of his ears.
“Ah Big T! Tubster! Tubs! Tubbo! Good to see you back! How are you my dear friend?” scrambling to avoid the question. He really didn’t need him to make his headache worse.
“You better explain tomorrow or I swear to god you will be fucked. I will personally kill you by tearing your insides out, c’mon Boo let’s go sleep,” tugging a scared looking Ranboo by their sleeve.
Tubbo for his height is a very threatening person. You wouldn’t expect someone so short to have so much anger inside of him. Tubbo also has mood swings every so often so it’s extremely common for him to be yelling at him and then telling Ranboo to come sleep. He was weird no doubt.
There was a small cough behind him, he turned around to see the three of them looking awkwardly not really knowing what to do or say after that delightful outburst from Tubbo which was totally unexpected.
“So…I guess we’ll go now I guess?” asked Ares in his monotonous voice. I swear that man doesn’t show any emotion whatsoever even in the most horrid situations.
“Yeah I uh have to go anyways so um yeah,” Dream would be looking for him anyways.
And he was out the front door.