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Tommy sprints through the night. The orange, fuzzy, glow of the street lights shining down on his golden, illuminated hair, before he returns to darkness, as the shadows cast over him as he passes it. The buildings pass by in a blur, motion blur coating, and infesting Tommy’s vision. He can hear the pitter patter of footsteps from Aquamarine behind him (which let him say, is a stupid fuckin’ name. Wilbur told him he chose it because his powers are water-based, and his favourite colour is teal). Tommy’s been trying to lose the hero for the last 7 minutes, but he’s still trailing behind him. And Tommy finds that the adrenaline pumping through him is rapidly fading.
“Allium, help-” Tommy calls out in-between breaths into his comms. There’s a few seconds of nothing happening, but all of a sudden he can feel a grip on his arm and the world around him spins, and swirls. If Tommy had to guess this is what being on drugs would be like.
His vision twirls and warps until it stops as he looks around to see his apartment. As quickly as he can he sprints to the bathroom, stumbling slightly as he does so. Then Tommy leans over the sink in the bathroom and hurls all of his food from the last hours into the basin.
“You okay?” Ranboo asks as they lean against the doorframe, solicitude placed delicately in his voice.
“Yeah, just- teleporting never gets easier man.” Tommy responds, hands pale from gripping onto the edges of the sink so firmly.
“You sure?” Ranboo asks again, tone disbelieving.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry boob boy.” Tommy brushes them off, as he turns the faucet on to run the vomit down the drain, no longer gripping onto the sink and glancing at Ranboo to send them a quick smile.
Tommy splashes his face with water and fills his mouth with water, and washes his mouth out with it to remove any excess vomit.
Tommy’s adrenaline crashes, and a massive wave of exhaustion consumes Tommy whole.
Tommy turns the faucet off, before whirling around and sluggishly walking to his room.
“I’m gonna get changed and go to bed, i’m exhausted.” Tommy tells Ranboo, pointing to the bedroom behind him.
“Okay, sleep well Tom.” Ranboo responds, face soft.
Tommy shuts the door, gets changed, then face plants onto his bed, and instantly falls into a deep slumber.
Tommy’s eyes shoot open. He turns his head to see Ranboo in his separate bed right next to his, then turns his head to the left to see his alarm clock red neon lights shining 5:37 AM at him.
Tommy turns his head back towards the ceiling, and closes his eyes.
Tommy can feel each second tick by. He has to get to sleep soon right?
Tommy finds that he suddenly feels too sweaty under the covers, so he pulls them off. Now he’s itchy, he scratches the spot to get rid of it, albeit it only makes it worse. Now Tommy’s too cold, so he puts the covers back on. Tommy’s throat feels dry and he’s thirsty, the covers are uncomfortable. Fuck, he’s sweating again.
Fall asleep. Fall asleep. Fall asleep. Fall asleep.
Tommy in fact does not fall asleep, instead he forces himself to get up. He sneaks quietly into the kitchen, as to not wake Ranboo. Being the only one awake this early feels… weird, kinda hits different y'know? Feels surreal innit.
Tommy pours himself a glass of room temperature tap water (he lives in luxury, he knows).
Tommy sips the water until it soothes his dry throat, then spills the rest down the drain (he doesn’t have time for being properly hydrated, that’s for nerds).
Then Tommy goes back to his room, and decides to try again.
Tommy tries for an hour and 16 minutes.
No sleep was found.
Tommy huffs a sigh in frustration, and heaves himself off his bed. Tommy decides to quietly watch TV. The lounge is right next to the kitchen, it’s an open space. Most days Ranboo and Tommy eat dinner on the sofa together, and watch some random TV show whether it be the news, or some random show they think is shit, and make fun of it the whole time. Tommy watches TV for hours because he has nothing else to do, and Ranboo would kill him if he went for a patrol without telling them. He watches it on the lowest volume possible, until he hears a door open.
Tommy turns his head to see a sleepy Ranboo in the hallway staring at him with bleary eyes.
“You’re up early.” Ranboo comments, as he slopes to the kitchen to make themselves breakfast.
“Can you make me something too?” Tommy asks. “Sure, what’d you like?” Ranboo agrees with ease.
“Whatever you’re having” Tommy responds, shrugging, and Ranboo nods their head in acknowledgement.
They settle next to each other on the sofa, eating their jam toast in silence as they watch trash TV. Ranboo checks his phone “You have work in 40.” Ranboo informs Tommy, blankly staring at him.
“Oh shit.” Tommy replies, dread coating his voice as he scoffs down his toast.
He rushes into his bedroom, and clumsily pulls on his clothes.
“Bye Ranboo! I’m off to work.” Tommy calls out and waits until he hears an ‘Okay!’ called back, then slams the door, locks it and runs down the apartment complex's stairs.
He sprints through the lobby, and opens the double front doors to the building, then rushes to the train station.
Eventually, he has to walk because of how long the distance is to the station. Listen Tommy may be an agility based vigilante, but this is too much even for him, okay?
He approaches the station, and gets a ticket then goes into the crowded train, and takes a seat.
Everybody ignores Tommy because he’s just another passenger, and blends, and blurs with everybody else.
‘Next stop, London’ The female robotic voice calls out. That’s his stop.
The train slowly comes to a stop, and the doors open. Tommy gets up out of his seat, then exits the train.
Tommy walks to the hero tower. It’s in London because, of course it is. The capital of England.
Tommy enters through the posh, double glass doors.
“Hi!” Niki cheerfully greets, beaming brightly at Tommy from behind the front desk.
“Hello Niki Nihachu” Tommy greets back in his heavy British accent.
That’s all that needs to be said, as Tommy enters the elevator to the left of Niki.
Tommy pushes the button that says 36, the SBI floor.
Tommy waits patiently as the elevator travels up, to entertain him there’s the news being broadcasted on a small screen in the elevator.
Tommy hears a ding, that’s his stop. Tommy enters the SBI floor. Wilbur’s settled on the sofa, paperwork in lap, and looking incredibly bored. Nobody else is present at the moment.
Wilbur’s seemingly stuck gaze breaks away from the paperwork, and stares at Tommy instead.
“Tommy!” Wilbur cheers, with a grin widely stretched on his face.
“Wilbur!” Tommy exclaims back, waving at the man, and is about to go to his office until Wilbur calls out “Come here” as he pats the spot next to him on the sofa.
Tommy approaches the sofa, and settles next to Wilbur.
Wilbur slings his arm over Tommy’s shoulder, and Tommy tenses at first, however swiftly goes lax in Wilbur’s hold.
“How are you man?” Wilbur asks, still grinning brightly.
“I’m great, amazing, like I always am.” Tommy responds.
“That’s good!” Wilbur replies.
A lengthy moment of silence falls between them.
“You’re supposed to ask how I am back, Tommy.” Wilbur breaks the silence.
“Don’t care plus ratio.” Tommy instantly responds, even though his tone sounds serious Wilbur knows he’s joking.
“Shut up, man” Wilbur says, pushing Tommy’s shoulder playfully.
Silence befalls them again until Tommy speaks up, tone mocking, and his arms crossed
“Fine, how are you Wilbur?”
“Oh! I’d never thought you’d ask. I’m doing great, Tommy! Thank you for asking” Wilbur mockingly responds.
“Shut up, Wil”
“Nah”
“Ugh You are so bloody annoying, you pussyhole”
Wilbur only says ‘uh huh’
Tommy glares at him.
“I can, and will clart you” Tommy threatens
“Do it, I dare you.” Wilbur responds
Tommy stares at Wilbur, as the man eggs him on
“Go on, you scared?”
As soon as Wilbur lets the words float in the air, a painful impact is hit against his cheek.
Tommy laughs at Wilbur’s offended expression as he holds his cheek.
“Why do you look so offended, man? You literally told me to do it.” Tommy questions still grinning ear to ear.
“I didn’t think you’d actually do it!” Wilbur squeaks, a mixture of shock and offence in his voice.
“You ask to get clarted, you’ll get clarted Wilbur. I know you’re a wrong’un and all that, but christ'' Tommy states.
“Shut up Gremlin.” Wilbur groans, whilst throwing his head back in annoyance.
“I don’t think I will actually.” Tommy says as he stands up, ready to go to his office.
“Ugh, I don’t wanna have to do work” Wilbur complains, dragging his words out.
“Too bad” Tommy replies, giving the man a middle finger, as he leaves the room, and goes to his office.
Tommy looks at the top of the door to see the golden label ‘Tommyinnit’. Tommy will never get used to that. He opens the door, and walks to his desk then takes a seat in his spinny office chair.
He opens his laptop and turns it on and starts click clacking on the keyboard as he replies to emails. Time passes rather swiftly, he didn’t even realise it was lunch until Wilbur slammed open his office door to tell him to join him on his lunch break, to which Tommy immediately agreed.
So that’s how the pair ended up sitting on a bench in the park eating a Mcdonalds.
“I thought a high class tory like you wouldn’t succumb to the lower class food of choice, Mcdonalds.” Tommy remarks, smiling as he bites into his burger.
“Shut up, man. I’m not a fuckin’ tory!” Wilbur exasperatedly denies.
“You are too”
“Am not”
“You are”
“No”
“Yes”
“No”
“Yes”
Wilbur realising he will never win just instead opts to sigh and mutter ‘child’ under his breath.
“Oi! What’d you say prick?” Tommy exclaims, whilst pushing Wilbur’s shoulder lightly.
“Nothing” Wilbur lies, tone faux sweet.
“Okay” Tommy easily gives up, when usually he would push further. Tommy feels his energy running low from the lack of sleep, so he doesn’t even have enough energy to push.
“Thanks Wil” Tommy thanks more sincerely than usual whilst in his sleepy state.
“No problem, anytime.” Wilbur replies, with a soft smile gently resting on his lips.
The duo finish their Maccas, then head off to the tower.
7 of the heroes are away at the moment on a business trip, so Tommy and Wilbur are having to manage the SBI floor by themselves. Without Phil, the most responsible out of all of them, SBI’s floor is a shit pit since the man has been gone, and they’re only 3 days in and they’ve already broken the toaster, and the whole floor is covered in grime, and coke cans.
They walk back in comfortable silence, and enter the tower together.
The pair go in the elevator and wait a lengthy moment for them to arrive at the 36th floor (but, hey, it could be worse, at least they’re not on the 150th floor, right?).
The elevator dings, signalling that they’re here.
Tommy begins to walk to his office before Wilbur gets a grasp on his arm.
Tommy whirls his head around and asks “What?”
“Wanna watch a movie?” Wilbur offers, grinning, already knowing the answer.
Now, Tommy knows that this is just Wilbur trying to get out of work, and he shouldn’t support it, and be responsible. But here's the thing, Tommy doesn’t care + ratio.
“Okay” Tommy quickly replies, and joins Wilbur (once again) on the sofa.
They both decide on up (more like Tommy forced Wilbur to, what a shock there).
Tommy and Wilbur are 46 minutes into the movie, and suddenly Wilbur feels a weight on his left shoulder. Wilbur looks over to see Tommy, who has fallen asleep, sleeping on his shoulder.
Wilbur mentally awhs, before wrapping an arm gently around Tommy, and putting the blanket that was swung on the arm of the sofa on them to make sure Tommy’s comfortable.
Wilbur smiles and turns off the movie to make sure it doesn't wake him up. Wilbur closes his eyes, but doesn’t fall asleep, however instead falls between a blissful state between conscious and sleep. Feels like you’re in an infinite, dark pool that is your mind, simply just swimming through it, and you struggle to tell if you’re asleep or not.
An hour or two passes before Tommy blearily opens his eyes.
Tommy’s eyes open and close a couple times, threatening to fall back into the world of slumber, before for the final time he opens them and his eyes dart around the room as he takes in his surroundings. Wilbur is there with a loose arm swung around him, and his eyes closed. Tommy is aware that his head is on his shoulder, but it looks like the man is sleeping so he can't really be all that bothered to take his head off.
Tommy feels guilty for not telling Wilbur the truth to be honest. Tommy wants to, of course he does, but it’s just that he is so scared. He’s scared of how Wilbur will react, will he arrest him? Will he leave him? Hurt him? Tommy just doesn’t know, and that’s the scariest thing about it is the unknown. The guilt has built up over time as the two got closer, and now it’s threatening to overflow. He can’t tell the man though, he can’t risk the life he’s made for himself, and Ranboo.
“I’m sorry” Tommy whispers, emotion heavy in his voice. But he doesn’t know that Wilbur is awake, and listening to every word that falls from his mouth.
And upon Wilbur hearing that, his eyebrows furrow and he feels a tide of perplexity, and concern wash over him. Why is Tommy apologising? He doesn’t even have a reason to.
Wilbur realises that Tommy probably believes he’s sleeping, so he shouldn’t respond to him as not to startle him, or make him uncomfortable. Wilbur instead waits a couple minutes, before feigning waking up, and being sleepy from just waking up (even though he’s wide awake and energised).
“Good uh..” Tommy looks over to the posh clock hung on the wall “afternoon? I guess.” he greets before yawning.
Tommy realises he’s still laying his head against Wilbur’s shoulder. “Oh- sorry.” Tommy mutters under his breath, whilst pulling away. “No, no it’s okay” Wilbur softly reassures, his expression gentle. “Thank you” Tommy quietly thanks.
“Anytime” Wilbur says once again.
Tommy awkwardly leaves the room, and goes to continue working in his office, leaving Wilbur worried and confused.
The afternoon turns to evening, and it’s home time before he knows it.
Tommy sighs, and turns his laptop off, then stacks his papers into a neat pile.
He exits his office, and makes his way to the elevator.
Tommy presses the button on the elevator, and waits for it to arrive.
The familiar ding rings out throughout the room as the doors open. Tommy enters the elevator, and presses the ground floor button.
As the doors are about to close Wilbur runs around the corner, and throws his hand out in between the closing doors. The motion senses make the doors re-open, and Wilbur joins Tommy in the elevator.
They ride down to the ground floor in what is a somewhat awkward silence.
The doors open, and both of them exit.
Rain begins to pour and drizzle from the skies above, Tommy stares out to it and sighs as he prepares himself to become soaked from head to toe.
“Do you want me to drive you home?” Wilbur blurts out, staring at the shorter.
“Eh, I’ll be fine. My apartment is, like, ages away, Wil” Tommy responds, and starts walking, before a hand grabs his shoulder, and he turns around.
“Tommy it’s pissing it down, please let me at least drive you to the train station” Wilbur begs, still maintaining eye contact with the boy.
Tommy stares at the desperation in Wilbur’s eyes, then looks out to the rain, and back.
“Fine, just this once though” Tommy reluctantly agrees, and Wilbur nods his head happily in response.
They walk out to Wilbur’s car, as rain pours down onto them.
Wilbur walks up to the car and it automatically unlocks, and he swings open the driver’s door, and hops into the seat.
“I call shotgun!” Tommy explains as he clambers into the front passenger seat.
“Tommy, nobody is here to take shotgun other than you” Wilbur deadpans, as he buckles up
“La, la, la, I can’t hear Wilbur being a bitch” Tommy childishly sings, as he puts his fingers in his ears.
Wilbur sighs “Just put your seatbelt on” Wilbur tells Tommy, with tired eyes.
“Nah, I don’t think I will, seatbelts are for pussies” Tommy replies, as he puts his hands behind his head casually.
“Tommy, it’s incase we crash, it’s a safety precaution” Wilbur says, as he pinches his nose bridge with his hands
“Don’t care, plus didn’t ask” Tommy replies, before laughing at the end
“Stupid gremlin child” Wilbur murmurs under his breath, as he reaches over and puts Tommy’s seatbelt on himself.
Wilbur starts up the car, and begins to drive.
They sit in relative silence, chatting here and there. Even though it was mostly silence, both of them found it rather comfortable. Just two brothers in a car chilling. Tommy decides to be a main character, and rests his head on the car door as he stares out the window watching the raindrops hit the window, and drip down. Eventually, they pull up outside the train station, and Wilbur gets out and opens the door for Tommy. Tommy unbuckles, and pulls himself out of the car.
“Thanks Wil” Tommy thanks, an unusual sort of genuineness in his voice that the boy usually doesn’t possess. “No problem, Toms. Anytime” Wilbur responds, smiling fondly down at the boy.
Wilbur reaches his hand out and ruffles Tommy’s hair, before Tommy leaves and enters the train station.
Wilbur softly, and lovingly sighs, as he stares out at Tommy’s tiny figure in the distance to make sure he gets in safe. Once Tommy becomes a tiny spot he can’t even make out, Wilbur walks back around the car, and gets into the driver's seat, then drives to his house.
Tommy swings open the front door of his apartment, hair soaked and clothes drenched with rain. He walks down the hallway to see Ranboo scrolling on their phone on the sofa.
“Hey, how was work?” Ranboo asks, turning around with his arm on the sofa's edge.
Tommy walks around the sofa and collides into it next to Ranboo.
“It was alright” Tommy curtly replies, closing his eyes. Ranboo picks up on the fact that the boy’s tired, and doesn’t feel like talking. Ranboo only nods in response, and they both bathe in the comfortable silence that’s fallen between the pair.
They sit there for about 10 minutes until Ranboo speaks up, clapping their hands together “So, what should we have for dinner?”
Tommy blankly bores his eyes into the ceiling, contemplating. After a few seconds he speaks up “Dunno”
“Very helpful” Ranboo snarks, before turning around, and back. “Uh… we have spaghetti?” Ranboo suggests. “God, please no more spaghetti” Tommy flatly begs, still burning holes into the ceiling. “Aw, man. Maybe we could order dominos?” the taller suggests, leaning their head back.
“Yeah, sure” Tommy agrees.
And like that it’s decided as a special treat for… who fucking knows really, dominos is fuckin’ expensive man.
“Oh! The pizza guys outside” Ranboo exclaims after a good 46 minutes of waiting “Thank God” Tommy flatly says.
Ranboo comes back a minute later through the door with a pizza box in hand. They settle on the sofa once again to Tommy’s right. Tommy opens the pizza box, and they have half and half each.
They both finish the grandiose, healthiest meal on earth (note the sarcasm). And afterwards Tommy stalks into his bedroom, and when Tommy appears again he’s in his vigilante get up, and he’s out the window.
Tommy hops from building to building, until he hears the sound of shouting, and fighting below. Tommy holds onto the pipe going off the side of the building, and hoists him down onto the rough ground below. It’s a gloomy, and dimly lit alleyway. It’s torn apart with shitty graffiti spread across the wall. The depressing look of it all causes Tommy to feel a wave of dismal wash over him, he quickly dries though ,and springs into action.
There’s two masked people, one is a guy and the other one is a girl. The pair are robbing a woman who seems to be in her 20’s, and looking rather defenceless. But there’s a spark, a flare even of determination and anger in her eyes. As much as Tommy would love to let her thrive in her determined and spiteful attitude, he didn’t want her to be robbed or beaten the shit out of.
Tommy sprints up to the guy, and punches him in the back of his head. The guy stumbles back for a short moment, before he swiftly regains his previous looming, and confident stance. The woman whirls around at the sound and instantly comes rushing forward. Tommy pushes her, then kicks her down to the floor, and she tumbles with a small ‘oomph’ sound
A striking maroon glows from Tommy’s palms. The light in his hands flickers before rapidly growing until Tommy finds he can’t control it anymore. The glow shoots from his hands towards the two masked robbers.
They float in the air as Tommy pulls his pushed out hands higher into the air, then he jerks his hands to the right, and the duo slam into the wall with a thud.
The pair fall to the floor, and groan in pain.
Tommy sees an opportunity to strike in their weakness, and he fuckin’ takes it.
Tommy sees a baseball bat in his peripheral vision. Bingo. Tommy runs over to it, grabs it, and knocks them both right out. He grabs two pairs of handcuffs, and ties the pair to the wall. L.
The woman they were robbing thanks him, and runs off. Tommy smirks, and thinks another job well done.
He clambers up the pipe he dropped off, and then begins to run once again.
Tommy sprints through the city, the lamp posts illuminating the dark infested streets.
He goes about his normal business after that, y'know stops another robbery, helps an old guy catch his dog, and many more good deeds.
All was going swell, until fucking mister aquamarine showed up.
They fought back and forth for a while, it was like a dance almost.
A swing would fly through the air, targeting Tommy with it, and in response Tommy would duck, and then Tommy would go to attack back, the cycle continues.
That was until Wi- Aquamarine grabs Tommy, and he’s tired, and out of breath, so he doesn’t react fast enough to dodge his grasp.
Aquamarine reaches for his mask- wait- no- please.
Tommy attempts to fight, and wriggle out of the man’s grasp, yet he finds his attempts to be futile as his mask is ripped from his face.
The fresh wind of the night hits his face in a refreshing way. The night wind carries something dangerous.
The reaction is instant, Wilbur’s mouth drops, his eyebrows raise, his eyes widen, and he loosens his grip.
Tommy sees an opportunity, and fucking takes it. He instantly pushes himself out of Wilbur’s grip fully, and runs away as fast as his legs can take him.
Tommy eventually gets to his apartment, and climbs up the building, and enters through his bedroom window.
Tommy collapses on the floor from the adrenaline crashing.
“Tommy?” Ranboo calls out worriedly, and confused from the other room.
Another ‘Tommy’ is shouted out, but this time the confused tone is replaced with an extremely panicked one.
“What happened?” Ranboo stresses, eyebrows furrowed and a hand on Tommy’s back.
“I-” Tommy gets cut off by a sob escaping his lips.
“Take your time” Ranboo reassures softly, whilst rubbing Tommy’s back to attempt to give the boy some sort of solace.
“R-Ranboo, I-” Tommy sucks in a deep breath before sobbing even harder, but in-between sobs he manages “Wil- Wilbur took- took my mask off on-” Tommy sobs even harder before finishing “On patrol” Tommy wails as he cries in distress.
“Oh God” Ranboo mutters, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed with shoulders high with tension. “Okay, we should have enough money to take the train to somewhere else in England, but we can’t afford a p-”
“I don’t wanna go” Tommy cuts Ranboo’s off, tone stern.
“Tommy! We might get arrested, we don't have a choice!” Ranboo stresses, running a hand through their hair.
“But I’ve lived here my whole life! I have a job, and a family. I’m the face of vigilantes in this city, they need me!” Tommy argues, eyes red and puffy.
Ranboo puts his hand on Tommy’s shoulder, then lets out a deep sigh.
“Tommy” Ranboo sternly begins “There isn’t a choice here, everything you just listed is gonna most likely be taken away. And what would you prefer? Sitting in a jail cell for the rest of your life, or starting fresh and being free from bars somewhere else? We don’t have that choice” Ranboo finishes, leaving in no room for argument, clearly set on their choice.
“I- I don’t know” Tommy whispers, tears blurring his vision once again. Ranboo sighs. “There’s no choice here Tommy, we have to leave, it’s not worth the risk”
“We’ve never had a choice!” Tommy snaps, and Ranboo pinches his nose bridge. “Tommy.” Ranboo firmly begins “We’ve gone over this, you literally agreed to flee the city if your identity gets out, and said you understood the dangers that came with being a vigilante” Ranboo reminds the sobbing boy, and Tommy looks away, not replying.
Ranboo sighs, and pulls themselves up from his crouching position on the floor next to Tommy. “I’m gonna pack, and leave you to it” Ranboo announces.
Tommy nods his head slightly through tears.
When Wilbur went out for patrol to catch a vigilante that the hero organisation assigned him to, he didn’t expect his younger brother to be the vigilante.
Wilbur feels a flurry of emotions, betrayal, fear, anger, hurt, and confusion. He doesn’t know what to do. Any other hero would simply just arrest him, but that’s his younger brother he can’t, even if he’s angry and hurt, he just can’t find it in himself to do it.
Tommy wasn’t supposed to be under that mask. It was supposed to be some random adult stranger that he doesn’t know, not someone from his family.
He- he needs Phil. Whenever Wilbur doesn’t know what to do, what the correct decision to make is, he goes to Phil about it. But the thing is, Wilbur can’t. What if Phil arrests Tommy? What if Phil releases his identity to other people? Even more importantly, what if Tommy doesn’t want Phil to know, Wilbur highly doubts the teen does, and Wilbur doesn’t want to betray him the way Tommy betrayed him. Sure, Wilbur’s angry and upset but he’s not gonna make rash decisions straight away, Phil taught him better than that.
Wilbur jumps from building to building in the night, with tears sporadically dripping down his face. Tension is tight in his muscles as he makes his way back.
Tommy hasn’t left his bed for the last two days, simply drowning in a deep, dark ocean of paranoia and dread. Tommy has been waiting for somebody to knock at the door, or the sound of the police about to bash his front door in. Nothing comes of course, the only sound to be heard is Tommy’s occasional cries, and Ranboo doing things in the house. Speak of the devil, Ranboo opens the door, and leans against the doorway, expression filled with solicitude.
“Tom… you’ve been in bed for the last two days” Ranboo softly comments, eyebrows deeply furrowed. “I know” Tommy flatly replies, moving onto his side, and staring at the bland wall.
Ranboo sighs, and glances at the floor, and then back to the boy in front of them “Tom, you can’t go on like this. C’mon, hang out with me please” Ranboo tells Tommy, taking a step forward.
Tommy groans in annoyance, shoving his head into the pillow and grasping it tightly. “I really don’t wanna, Ranboo” Tommy responds, turning back over to make eye contact with them. Usually Tommy would always be up to hang out with Ranboo, in fact he usually would be the one asking so the fact that Tommy doesn’t want to, makes it clear that it has gotten really bad.
Ranboo searches Tommy’s eyes for an answer, anything. Obviously he knows why Tommy’s so upset, they just don’t know how to fix it. In Ranboo’s personal opinion, fleeing the city seems like the ideal idea and the best one, Tommy clearly disagrees though.
Ranboo walks over, and settles on the edge of Tommy’s bed. “Tommy, I can’t stand seeing you like this, and we need to figure this out! Our whole lives could be on the line, Tommy!” Ranboo exclaims, throwing his hands around wildly to attempt to get through to the boy. Tommy doesn’t say anything though, and all that happens is Tommy grows a smidge more tense, and a silence falls between them. “
You just don’t get” Tommy mutters, tone heartbroken and filled with despair. Tommy stares at the faded white, crumpled sheets that are covering him. Part of the sheets are stained with old, blood. It’s original deep, crimson hue has now faded into a depressing brown shade. It got there because one night Tommy had really bad injuries during patrol, and he was so exhausted when he got back from using so much energy and adrenaline, plus the blood loss that he crashed into bed still in his vigilante costume, it gave Ranboo a heart attack.
Even though it wasn’t truly visible, Tommy smiled the utmost small smile at the memory. “I don’t get it? You’re the one who doesn’t get it, Tommy! You know what, actually, you’re right, I don’t get it! Because I just can’t understand why you possibly thing some dumb heroes, who, let me remind you, are out to get you! Are worth risking both of our whole lives!” Ranboo shouts, clearly frustrated. Tommy only turns his head away in response, and scowls at the floor.
Ranboo huffs a sigh in utter annoyance. They just don’t understand why Tommy isn’t listening! Does he want them to suffer or something? Whatever, Ranboo clearly isn’t gonna get through to him anytime soon, so he meres well finish getting both of them ready to leave tomorrow. They don’t care what it takes, they’re not letting his best friend get arrested for the rest of his life for being stupid. Ranboo gets up, turns around, and heads out the door then firmly shuts it.
Wilbur’s back to his spot where he’s been for the last few days since… what happened. He’s back to pacing in the living room of the SBI floor. Wilbur has secretly been hoping that the elevator door will ding, and his favourite person little brother will appear. He still doesn’t know what to do. What was previously rage, lividness and anger, has now faded into something that is hurt, betrayal and most importantly concerned. Wilbur’s concerned for his little brother, and what he’s doing. It’s stupid, he should be angry at Tommy, but instead he’s worried. Wilbur doesn’t know how Tommy is reacting, and that’s one of the scariest part of all of this. Wilbur knows that Tommy tends to be influenced by his emotions, and is impulsive and rash, and that mixing with this? Cannot end well, ever.
Wilbur’s been contemplating reaching out, or visiting his apartment. At first Wilbur told himself not to, and to give the boy and himself space to think and figure it out, but now? It’s been too much time, even though it’s only been three days, that feels like an eternity for him. On weekends Wilbur would always visit Tommy at least once, he couldn’t stand being away from the boy for more than one day, so this is just pure torture for Wilbur even with the newfound information. Wilbur sighs.
Fuck it. Wilbur whips out his phone, and enters his password into it. His lock screen is a picture of Tommy, Wilbur and Phil at an arcade. They decided to visit there during a time the Hero tower was on lockdown for a week, and they couldn’t see each other at work so the trio went to an arcade together. It was one of the best days of Wilbur’s life, easily.
Wilbur opens his phone, then opens him and Tommy’s messages. The last message sent was “Hey, you wanna get McDonalds with me on Saturday?” That message was from him, then Tommy replied with “sure king” that was last week. They didn’t set a time or date or anything, Wilbur just drove to Tommy’s apartment for it, they rarely arrange things properly.
Wilbur takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves. Come on Wilbur, it’s your little brother. Wilbur types out the text “hey, we should probably talk sometime soon. you okay?” Is that a little too threatening? Oh well, too late anyways, Wilbur’s sent the message.
Tommy (once again) is laying in his bed. It’s 9:38 AM, he didn’t sleep last night so for the last three hours he’s just been blankly staring at the ceiling thinking about anything and everything. He broke his gaze from the ceiling though when he hears his phone ding throughout the room. Why is his Phone dinging? Oh well, probably just some stupid email or something. Tommy picks up his phone and opens it, and checks his notifications.
“hey, we should probably talk sometime soon. you okay?” From Wilbur 9:38 AM
Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck.
Tommy has gone completely rigid, frozen in fear. He doesn’t know what to do, so he does what he does best when he has a problem. He ignores it.
And he definitely doesn’t think about it for the next three hours straight.
When Ranboo brings him food, and he eats it he doesn’t think about it. When Ranboo and him have another argument he doesn’t think about it. And when he’s scrolling on twitter he’s not thinking about it. Never, nope.
Fuck. Tommy can’t stop thinking about it. Should he reply? Or should he just continue to ignore it? Any sane person in his position would probably ignore it, or block Wilbur and flee the country. But Tommy’s not sane, so he picks his phone up and begins to type out a response until there’s a knock at his door. Tommy stops typing and it’s exactly who he thought it was, Ranboo, once again standing in the door frame.
“If you’re here just to argue, leave” Tommy says, eyes returning to his phone. “I’m not here for that” Ranboo responds, walking up to the laying boy. Tommy puts his phone down and turns around to face his roommate.
Okay, Wilbur knows Tommy read it. It literally says read 2:15 pm! Wilbur doesn’t know what to do. And his brother instincts are yelling at him to find him. There’s something in his gut telling him that somethings wrong. That Tommy’s not okay, and something is happening. And Wilbur cannot stand this fucking suspense. He should be mad, he really should. Wilbur should never wanna see Tommy ever again. Wilbur should wish the worst for him, but the thing is that he doesn’t. Wilbur just cannot find it in himself to feel that way, so that’s how he finds himself driving to Tommy’s apartment in the pouring rain to check if he’s okay, then leave. Wait, this is probably a terrible idea, right? Tommy clearly doesn’t want to talk to him, he should turn the car around. At that thought Wilbur’s instincts scream so loudly at that. Okay, okay, he gets it, bad idea. Hopefully Wilbur can just talk to his roommate and get back into he car drive. What’s their name again? Runboom or something? Actually, that sounds wrong. Whatever their name is, hopefully he’s the one that answers the door as not to disturb the youngest. Wilbur gets hit by the realisation that Ranboo probably knows Tommy’s secret, and might act aggressively towards Wilbur because 1 He’s a hero 2 They probably know that Wilbur knows. Shit this might go bad, he should really turn around- And there goes his brother instincts again.
Wait, that’s Tommy’s apartment building in the distance. Wilbur presses down the accelerator pedal, and speeds towards it. He pulls up, and parks his car right outside. Wilbur opens the car door, slams it and runs up to the building. He opens the front door, and rushes toward the stairs.
Wilbur manages to make it up the staircase and up to Tommy’s front door. Wilbur takes a deep breath, should he be doing this? This seems a lil… extreme. Okay, Wilbur deep breaths and just do it you pussy. Wilbur takes in a couple deep breaths, and before he can stop himself he’s knocking on the front door. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, he shouldn’t of done that. Wilbur hisses, and waits. He could run off and pretend to be a ding dong ditcher.
Nope, instincts don’t like that. They’re definitely not a fan.
Wilbur waits a couple more minutes. But no one came, he was left waiting in the dingy hallway, his shoes pressed firmly against the blue, weirdly patterned carpet. It would be weird for any of the other residents else to see, Wilbur Soot, one of the top heroes standing outside a teenagers apartment, cities away.
Shit, are both of them not home? Or are they purposefully not answering the door? Fuck if he knows, but as much as Wilbur takes risks and chances, this is not one he’s willing to take. So he waits another ten minutes, seeing if he can hear any noise, or Tommy’s voice that he misses all too much, and then he can safely leave with some sort of peace to his mind. But nothing ever came, and this whole thing did quite the opposite to what he hoped it did do for him. Wilbur’s panicking even more now. What the fuck is he supposed to do?
Wilbur eventually decides to check the train station, and then see if he can check if Tommy’s taken any transport recently. Okay, okay, Wilbur knows it sounds a bit obsessive. But his brotherly instincts don’t ever shut the fuck up! And the last time he didn’t trust his instincts… it did not end well. Wilbur can not stand the thought of losing Tommy, he just needs to know that the boy hasn’t done anything rash, or impulsive, then he can finally rest and get some sleep finally. Wilbur has had some serious insomnia the last few nights to say the least.
Wilbur leaves the building, and gets back on the road, gripping the steering wheel even more tightly than before. He misses feeling Tommy’s presence next to him in the car, as he listens to him ramble about anything and everything.
Wilbur parks outside the train station, and takes the few steps that are outside the station. He enters it and sees a blond haired person Wait- They turn around, and… that is not Tommy, fuck. “Sir, you need a ticket to enter” The worker nexts to him says, Wilbur glances at them and back. “I’m… waiting for someone” Wilbur tells them, and the worker leaves him alone.
A golden headed person is walking towards the opening train doors, they’re rather tall, around Tommy’s height. Is that him? Next to them is a brunette, even taller. Wilbur wonders if they’re taller than him. He thinks that’s them. “Hey!” he yells out, but with all the people bustling about, and talking, he highly doubt they heard him. That’s until he sees Tommy whirl around and they make eye contact. Ranboo continues to walk onto the train, not thinking to check if the blonde stayed with him. Tommy’s gone completely rigid, was people walk around him.
Wilbur turns to the worker, and asks for one of the tickets, pretending the next train is his. The worker doesn’t question the sudden change of heart, and Wilbur pays for the ticket than passes through. Tommy’s fully frozen still, just staring off into the distance, eyes burning holes into the ground Wilbur once stood. Wilbur runs towards Tommy, and incases him in a tight hug. This seems to bring him out of the trance he found himself stuck in, because he gasps and begins to sob. They stand there like that for a couple minutes, neither speaking a word. “I’m sorry” Tommy whispers, voice high-pitched and tone heartbroken. Wilbur feels tears fills his eyes, and droplets drip from his eyes silently. Both of their eyelashes are heavily soaked with tears.
“Sh, It’s okay” Wilbur comforts, albeit it wasn’t truly okay yet. He just wanted his little brother to stop sounding so broken. Wilbur strokes Tommy’s head comfortingly as they both cry together.
“I-It’s not though! I lied, and- and betrayed you. And just, God, I’ don’t deserve to be your brother” Tommy cries, grasping Wilbur’s tear-soaked clothes. Wilbur freezes, before sobbing even harder “No! Tommy- I- Don’t ever say that. You’ll always be my little brother, no matter what.” Wilbur promises. And he knows he should be mad, and not be comforting somebody who betrayed him. But Tommy’s his little brother, and who is Wilbur if not his big brother? Tommy’s the sun to his moon, Tommy’s the light to his dark, Tommy’s the chaos to his peace, and the saint to his sun. They go together perfectly, and Tommy’s the puzzle piece to him he never knew he needed, and now that he has him, Wilbur doesn’t know who he would be without him. His other half, forever.
Tommy weeps harder, and Wilbur’s heart shatters into fragmented pieces. “I’m sorry” Tommy repeats, voice hoarse. Wilbur’s grip tightens slightly in response. Only God knows how long they sit there, hugging each other, sobbing as strangers pass by them after giving them pitiful looks, or weird ones. Time moves slow just for them. Time was never theirs, but in this moment it is, just for now.
“What about Ranboo?” Tommy whispers, eyes sore and puffy from crying so much. “I’m sure they’ll come back” Wilbur reassures, and Tommy nods.
“We should probably talk, let’s talk about it privately in the car, yeah?” Wilbur softly suggests, and Tommy stiffens slightly. But, Tommy does agree, albeit it is immensely reluctant.
Wilbur pulls away, even though he really doesn’t want to. Instead he grabs Tommy’s hand and leads him out, and all the way to his car. Wilbur and Tommy get in the car, and they sit in silence for a while, as Wilbur drives, until Wilbur speaks up
“So, how long have you been a vigilante for?”
Tommy sucks in a breath “A tiny bit before I joined the hero tower”
“You joined the moment you turned 18, Tom… that means you’ve been a vigilante since you were 17” Wilbur softly says, voice filled with solicitude, and his tone sweet and honey-like.
“16 actually” Tommy casually corrects, and Wilbur’s grip on the steering wheel tightens. “Tommy! That’s so dangerous! You-” Wilbur chokes on a sob “You were a child Tommy! Screw that, you’re still are” Wilbur exclaims, voice filled with pain, and desperation.
“I’m an adult, Wilbur” Tommy deadpans. And Wilbur worriedly glances over at Tommy
“Still… you’re barely an adult, and you started when you were 16, Tommy” Wilbur stresses, and Tommy doesn’t know if he’s ever seen Wilbur’s face so creased with concern. Tommy doesn’t quite understand why Wilbur is so worried, when he’s supposed to be angry, but instead all he is is concerned for him. It’s… confusing. Tommy wonders if it’s a facade, albeit Tommy can tell when his brother is faking or not. And he knows that Wilbur’s solicitude is real, and raw.
Tommy sighs, and mutters “I know”, and turns his head away to the car door’s window.
“I- I just want you to be safe, Tom”
Tommy can feel warmth blossom and spread inside his heart at Wilbur’s caring words, and repeats the ‘I know’.
Wilbur sighs, eyes slightly unfocused as he thinks. “Did…” Wilbur glances at Tommy then back towards the road “Did you wanna tell me?” Wilbur finishes
“Of course I did, Wil. I wanted to more than anything, but I couldn’t risk it. And when I asked Ranboo if I could he told me not to” Tommy responds, sounding surprised it was even a question. And Wilbur’s tension loosens ever-so slightly, and if Tommy wasn’t paying so much attention to even the most minuscule details, then he’d probably would of missed it.
“Okay” Wilbur sighs, and once again, they’re left in the deafening silence. Although it’s a mix of comfortable and uncomfortable.
“Is that it?” Tommy asks, and Wilbur smiles.
“Yeah” Wilbur affirms, much to Tommy’s surprise. Tommy expected more, and it helps ease some of the tension he holds.
“Is…” Tommy trails off, unsure if he’s allowed to ask “Does this… make it… okay?” He finishes, nervously fidgeting. “No, not at the moment” Wilbur responds, and Tommy looks like he’s ready to flee at any given moment.
“Will it ever be okay?” Tommy asks
Wilbur smiles softly “I think so”