Chapter Text
It was another beautiful day in the city of Essempei. Or at least it would’ve been if Tommy’s alarm wasn’t screaming at him like he had somewhere to be. Which he did, but he felt that was beside the point. He tiredly debated hitting the snooze button again. But if he did that he’d have to rush to school. And he wanted breakfast.
With an annoyed sigh, he dragged himself out of bed and got dressed for the day. He grabbed his backpack from where he had tossed it by his desk as he made his way out of the room. The upper hall was covered in pictures. What can Tommy say? His dad really liked having memories hanging on the wall. Most of them were from some momentous occasion, like Tommy’s 6th birthday or Wilbur graduating from college. Or that time Techno won a fencing competition by literally being too intimidating. Scattered amongst these family photos were a few odd ones like Techno and Wilbur completing their hero training or a newspaper clipping celebrating the Crow Father. Tommy smiled as he remembered the look on his dad’s face when he noticed his sons had hung it up on the wall. Phil had tried to take it down, but Wilbur had bought a store’s worth of copies and kept putting it back. It had taken a month, and Techno threatening to superglue it to the wall, before Phil finally gave up.
Tommy raced down the stairs leading to the first floor. He only slowed for a moment as he neared the bottom. On the wall, there was a picture of a woman with long brown hair. A large black sun hat obscured half of her face, but a bright smile could be easily seen. She seemed to have been in the middle of laughing at whoever was taking the picture. He wished he could remember more of her face.
He gave the frame two taps as he passed by. “Morning Mum.”
The blond continued to the kitchen and was surprised to see his brothers already up and about. Well, that might not have been right. Wilbur looked half dead with his face smushed against the table in the middle of the kitchen. Techno was on the other side of the table, casually sipping on a cup of coffee and focusing on the newspaper in front of him. Tommy just stared at his tired brother as his brain tried to reboot.
“Hey Techno?” Tommy finally managed to say.
“Yep?” The red eyes didn’t leave the newspaper once.
“Didn’t Wil have a patrol last night?”
“Yep.”
“Like so late that it might as well have been morning patrol last night.”
“Yep.”
Tommy waved an exasperated hand in Wilbur’s direction. “Then why the fuck is he passed out down here?”
Techno paused long enough to turn a page of his newspaper. “Phil got called in on an emergency early this morning and couldn’t give you a ride. Wilbur offered to give you a lift.”
Tommy gave Wilbur’s shoulder a shove. “Wilbur. Wilbur!”
The brunet let out a hum as he opened his eyes blearily.
“Go to bed.”
“You have school.” Wilbur mumbled.
“Yes. And I can walk.” The blond grabbed a bowl and a box of cereal before plopping himself in the seat next to his tired brother.
Wilbur sat up, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. “But dad…”
“Wouldn’t want you driving while you’re half asleep.” Techno interrupted. “Stop fighting it and go to bed.”
Wilbur grumbled slightly as he blindly reached at the space next to him and frowned when he didn’t find whatever it was that he was looking for. He turned his head just enough to glare at the empty space in confusion.
The pink haired brother took this time to take a long loud sip from his mug.
The betrayal on the brunet’s face was almost instantaneous. “You stole my coffee.”
Techno shrugged. “You weren’t using it.”
“Toms.” Wilbur’s gaze remained firmly locked onto Techno.
Tommy looked up his bowl of cereal. “Yeah?”
“I need you to turn away so I can murder your brother.”
The youngest took a moment to look over at Techno. While Wilbur was the tallest member of the family, Techno was clearly the most built. Even in his pink sweatshirt that had a cartoon pig on it, he looked like he had enough muscles to break grown men in half.
“Wilbur, my dearest brother,” Tommy shoved a spoon full of breakfast into his mouth. “I’d like to see you try.”
Techno smirked. “I would also like to see that.”
“Fuck both of you.” Wilbur dramatically let his head thump onto the table. The loud thump would’ve made the other two wince if it wasn’t for the fact that they were long since used to the other’s dramatics.
“Does that mean you’ll go to bed?” Techno asked.
The brunet just silently raised a middle finger in his twin’s direction.
Tommy solemnly shook his head. “It was worth a try.”
The other hand raised up to flip the youngest off.
Techno eyes briefly shot over to the clock on the wall before returning to his paper. “You guys do know that you’re five minutes late, right?”
“What? Fuck.” Wilbur looked up at the clock before bolting from his seat and out of the room. “Let’s go, Tommy.”
“Fucking. Hold on a sec.” Tommy continued shoving as much food into his mouth as fast as he could possibly manage.
Wilbur came back in halfway through putting on his jacket to glare at him. “Today would be nice.”
Tommy crammed the last bit of his breakfast into his mouth. “You’re a bitch.”
“I know.” Wilbur took a moment to grab the coffee next to Techno and began chugging it.
The pink haired man looked up in annoyance. “My coffee.”
“No time.” Wilbur exclaimed, slamming the now empty mug onto the table. “Gonna be late.”
Techno could only sigh as he watched his brothers scramble out of the house.
They arrived at Essempei High with actually a few minutes to spare. Tommy was pretty certain that his brother had broken a few traffic laws to do that. Not that he would’ve minded if he had been a little late. It was only school.
He looked up at the brick building with dread. Place was just too perfect. The lawn was well tended and even had a few flower beds here and there. The building itself had too much extravagant detailing with enough fancy ass columns that the ancient Romans would’ve felt at home. The front courtyard was filled with various students who were using what little time they had left before class started to hang out with friends or catch up on schoolwork. They all just radiated the “I’m a prestigious bitch” aura that came with being going to an expensive school.
It wasn’t that Tommy hated school, but if it was up to him, the building wouldn’t be standing anymore.
Wilbur shot him a sympathetic smile. “Try to have a good day.”
“Sure.” Tommy gave his brother a halfhearted wave before the car drove off.
As he made his way through the crowd, he did catch several of the students with the hero themed merchandise. He was able to recognize the most popular heroes. The Dream Team, Warden, the Captain, Monarch. And of course, he spotted numerous people with the members of SBI; Crow Father, The Blade and Phantom. Or as he liked to call them; Phil, Techno, and Wilbur.
Tommy would be the first to admit that having your entire family be heroes was pretty fucking cool. If you ignored the weird patrol hours, all the injuries that happened, that he wasn’t really supposed to tell people about it. Oh, and the fact that he would never be able to really be one. You see just about everyone in Essempei had some kind of superpower. Most of these were pretty minor things, like the ability to run just slightly faster than normal. There were some people who got something epic, like Wilbur’s ability to pretty much turn into a ghost. And then there were people like Tommy, who were so unlucky that they didn’t get anything.
It led to a lot of awkward situations. Like being beaten up by some kids at school. Who happened to be wearing SBI merch.
Tommy winced as he felt a bruise forming on his cheek. He had barely made it into the front door before the group had dragged him down a secluded hallway.
The blond looked up at the three tiredly. “Can we not do this today? I’ve got places to be.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” the one in the Blade shirt sneered.
“I don’t know, Nick. I could just…” Tommy suddenly threw a punch at the Blade fan’s face.
It might not have been the best idea considering it was currently three against one. Tommy stumbled back as the Crow Father fan punched him in the eye. He pressed a hand to the injury and elbowed the Phantom fan who was trying to sneak up behind him. Nick landed a solid hit to stomach pushing him back into the wall.
The Crow Father fan took that chance to pin him against the wall. “Stupid powerless freaks like you shouldn’t be allowed in this school.”
“That sounds so stupid coming from you, Sid.” Tommy raised an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t your power just being glow in the dark?”
“At least he has one.” The Phantom fan huffed.
Tommy just rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Steve.”
“Mind if I join in?” No one had noticed the short teen that had appeared during the fight. His brown hair curling around his head in a wild carefree manner, almost reaching his eyes.
Tommy could feel himself immediately relaxing. “Hey, Tubbo. Good to see you.”
The shorter teen smiled brightly. “These bitches bothering you?”
“Why don’t you fucking mind your own business?” Nick snarled.
Tubbo thought about if for a second. “Nah.”
“What are you going to do?” Steve laughed, giving the brunet a shove. "Nibble at my ankles?”
“Well, I did just find this in your pocket.” Tubbo held up a phone. “This that new phone they keep advertising on tv, right?”
“Hey! Give that back!” Steve lunged out to grab it, but the shorter boy dodged under it easily.
“You know. You really should be careful with these.” Tubbo waved the phone around in a scolding manner. “They’re really expensive.”
The bully’s eyes narrowed. “I swear if you throw that…”
“Who said anything about throwing it?” Tubbo’s eyes shifted to a neon green as the phone suddenly turned on. The screen flicked for a moment as the internal code was combed through. The brunet’s grin widened a bit. “This looks important. Delete.”
The three bullies watched in horror as the screen immediately began glitching out.
“Dude, your parents are going to kill you.” Sid mumbled.
“I’m going to end you!” Steve exclaimed, raising a fist to hit Tubbo.
Tubbo’s eye widened for a second, raising his hands up to protect his face. “I can fix it!”
The punch stopped inches from hitting him. “What?”
“He said he can fix the fucking thing.” Tommy called out from where he was still pinned against the wall. “Get your fucking ears checked, bitch.”
“Yeah. Just let us go and this will go away.” Tubbo waved the phone a little bit. “Unless you want a busted ass phone.”
Nick sneered at the short boy. “You think we’re going to…”
“Let him go.” Steve exclaimed.
Sid almost immediately got off of Tommy.
“Are you serious?” Nick stared dumbfounded at the other two bullies. “We can take them.”
The Phantom fan just shot the other an annoyed look. “This isn’t worth getting grounded over.”
Tubbo waited until Tommy was next to him before he made the phone stop glitching and tossed it towards its owner. “See all better. Now if you don’t mind, we have places to be.”
The brunet turned and began walking back up the hallway as quickly as possible.
“Later bitches.”
They had gotten most of the way out before Tubbo suddenly turned around again, causing Tommy to stop in confusion.
“Oh, before I forget.” Tubbo’s eyes flashed green. The phone flickered once more and began blasting some kind of electro pop music. “Have fun with that.”
He couldn’t contain his laughter as he heard the frustrated bullies agonize over the new issue. The two friends made quickly turned and ran as fast as they could away. They didn’t stop until they were certain that they were safely tucked in an unused stairwell where they weren’t going to be found again.
“What did you do?” Tommy asked once he had caught his breath.
Tubbo’s eyes practically sparkled with mischief. “I set it to play ‘You Spin Me Round’ on loop.”
“For how long?”
The brunet grinned. “Yes.”
Tommy was quick to return it. “Oh my god. That’s the fucking greatest thing you’ve ever done.”
Tubbo jumped up onto one of the wide windowsills that lined the stairs. “Ah yes. This clearly trumps the getting that teacher to quit.”
The tall teen couldn’t help but laugh as he remembered that. That poor teacher swore that all the electronics were out to get him by the end of it. “I swear you took years off that man’s lifespan.”
Tubbo just shrugged. “Hey, if he wanted those, he shouldn’t have been a dick.”
“True. True.” Tommy settled down on the windowsill next to Tubbo. “So, how are things?”
Tubbo groans, dramatically letting his head lean back until it hit the glass. “My dad’s got this big speech thing happening tomorrow and he’s been all kinds of stressed about it. Probably gonna make me go to the stupid thing.”
Tommy hummed. “Oh yeah. I think my brother’s going.”
The shorter teen immediately grabbed into the other’s shirt and pulled him close. “Please tell me you’re going! I’ll absolutely die without you! It’s so boring.”
Tommy just rolled his eyes. “Alright, you clingy bitch. I’ll talk to Wilbur about it.”