Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy normally works the afternoon shift. Not the closing shifts, because he doesn’t want to run into any heroes, and not the morning shifts because he has school, but the afternoon shift.

It’s perfect for Tommy's schedule; he can still go to school, make ends meet, and not have to live on the street.

It’s a win-win in Tommy's eyes.

Until school ended, then everything changed .

Tommy isn't a massive fan of school. The constant bullying because of his appearances (aka his horns and tail), the copious amount of work and stress, and the fallout with him and his best friend, Matthew.

So, putting it lightly, he is happy to leave school.

He might only be 16, but he is considered being a ‘child prodigy’.

But Tommy always feels as if something is missing, that there is something more to life than just school.

He must have a family of some sorts, right?

Someone who would have praised his work efforts and kept him in his place throughout his early childhood. Right?

The only problem with this is that Tommy remembers nothing about his past. It is all blocked out by a big black void of nothing.

He desperately wants to know more, but every time he tries to remember, he either gets a massive headache or becomes very ill.

So now, he doesn't think about it, he just accepts that nothing happened past… “the error”.

He lives in a crappy one-bedroom apartment that he tries desperately to leave as much as possible.

The living room and the kitchen are connected. The only thing separating the two rooms is a bulky wooden dining table with 6 wooden chairs.

According to Tubbo and Ranboo, there used to be three others that came over and sat in the now three empty chairs.

He tries asking them more about the three people each time they bring it up, but whenever they try to tell him, his ears ring. It's like mother nature doesn't want him to know about his past.

He tells them both that he can’t hear what they are saying, and after multiple failed attempts, they leave it. There is no point anyway.

Then there's the balcony. The door out to the balcony is just beside where he put the TV, in the middle of the room.

The balcony is Tommy's favourite place in all of his apartment. The early sunrises he watches are something magical. The late night stars in the sky that he draws together to make them look like different things with his fingers were something that relaxed him. It made him feel like a child.

The rest of the apartment isn't that interesting, just a little hall that has his bedroom and bathroom in. His bathroom is tiny, only being able to fit his shower, toilet and basin all in one room.

Then there's his bedroom. He doesn't mind it, except for the fact it has asbestos growing out of every nook and cranny available.

Oh! Did he mention that there is all this weird food and god knows what else stains around all of his apartment? No? Oh, well, that too.

Oh, and also his landlord raised the prices again.

Wait, what!

Oh god, that's not good.

>>>>>>>

Tommy is already tight on money; he needs more if he wants to eat, anyway.

So when he finds out that Tina Diner is being offered double the money he makes now, he just can’t resist.

There was only one catch: he had to work the closing shift, which was the only shift that was left, anyway.

He was torn between making money, or being safe. He knew he needed the money, but he didn't want to have another run-in with Dream.

He debated with himself for a good hour before deciding to apply for the position.

School had ended anyway, so it didn’t matter if his sleep schedule was fucked up, right?

Within a matter of seconds, he gets a reply.

It's from a person named Puffy, and the email said:

Dear Mr. Innit

We would like to tell you that you got the job. We would also like to tell you before you start that this is no longer Tina's Diner; Tina disappeared a few years ago, and ever since then I have been running the place. We completely understand if that makes you uneasy or makes you not want to do this anymore. If you are still inserted, however, please drop by this afternoon at 7 p.m. and we can have a discussion.

Yours truly

Captain Puffy

Huh?

What the fuck does she mean, Tina went missing?

Anyway, he can't worry about that; at least he got the job, right?

And suddenly it's 7 p.m. It feels like it's been two seconds, when really it's been two hours.

And he's off to his new job.

[Oh, Prime, if only he realised how much of a nightmare this will be for him.>]

Lower L'Manburg isn’t that hard to get around, especially because Tommy’s been living here his whole life, so he finds his way to the diner pretty quickly, with the help of his old, beaten-up phone that Tubbo gave him.

He looks above the diner and sees in big, bold words, "Tina’s diner."

"Huh, must be in the right place," he thought, pushing the doors open.

The smell of... pastries meets him?? That's unusual for a diner.

"Oh, Tommy," a voice calls. He looks over and sees a woman with curly white and brown hair. He is assuming this must be puffy.

"I'm so sorry, I gotta run; I have to get to a meeting." "The keys and your uniform are in the back; if any villains come in, just ignore them," she says, speed-walking out the door.

Huh.

Weird.

Tommy doesn't think much about it as he goes back and gets changed into his uniform.

It isn't really busy this evening, which he is so grateful for.

He stands behind the counter, taking people's orders, making people's orders, and making sure he does nothing too bad to get himself fired on his first day for what feels like forever.

Then two people decide to come rolling into the cafe... Fighting?

At first, Tommy is confused, until he realises its Ace and Cyclone. A superhero and a supervillain fighting on his first day! Oh, hell no.

"Oi, fuckers!" Tommy yells out, and they both immediately stop fighting and turn to face him.

"What do you want?" Ace asks, pissed off that a child stopped their fight. "Where kinda in the middle of something," Cyclone says, also pissed off at Tommy.

"Well, do it somewhere else; I'm not having anything break on my first shift," he hisses at them.

"Or what?" Cyclone asks in a mocking tone. "I'll drag both of your asses out of here myself," Tommy replies.

"I’d like to see you t-" Ace starts, but before he can finish, Tommy grabs them both by the ear and drags them out of the diner.

"Come back here again, and I'll rip your heads off next time," Tommy says, letting them go.

"Holy shit, the kid's fucking crazy," Ace says, rubbing his ear.

"Fucking hell, these guys have no respect for anyone," Tommy thinks as he walks back inside, not releasing the fact that Cyclone is staring at him.

A couple hours later, he closes up for the night and walks back home.

It doesn't take him long to get home and pass out from exhaustion. But just before he does, he swears to Prime that he sees a figure in his room but just ignores it and goes to sleep.

Chapter Text

“It's time to wake up tommy”

“I'm sorry i promise i'll be good, just please let me stay, i need to make things right”

“You won't even remember in the morning so what's the point?”

“I have to try, i cant lose them, not again”

”The light of freedom will bring you back to them”

”Dream stole my power and my freedom, the light will not help me now”

”Still, you do not have to do this”

”Please, just let me make things right!”

“Ok, so be it, don't say i didn't warn you”

“Thank you, i promise i'll be better, i promise i'll save them”

The glowing person in front of Tommy sighs, and then disappears into the inky blackness of the void.

"Wake up"

Chapter Text

Tommyinnit expects a lot of things.

Tubbo and Ranboo coming over to visit, having to look after Michelle for a day or two, him running into Sapnap or hell even Dream!

But not this.

He would have never expected at 3.am to hear a knock on his apartment door.

And he also wouldn't have expected to see the ‘villain’ Cyclone at his door.

Oh shit, well this won't end well.

Will Tommy get killed? Has the villain come for him after last week's meeting? Geez he hopes not.

And then the staring contest begins, neither of them breaking eye contact.

The tension in the room (well hallway) was noticeable there and it was much larger than Tommy would have liked to admit.

Finally the silence is broken by Tommy, of course. “Um, fancy seeing you here” he says, laughing nervously afterwards.

Silences.

Geez did Tommy hit a nerve already? He was only 5 words in, a new record if that's the case.

“What the fuck” the man finally mangers to say after a while.

Geez he didn't even think he could have hit a nerve by saying ‘um fancy seeing you here’ but apparently the man thought otherwise.
Suddenly Tommy realises that the man is…. Crying? Yep that's right, the famous cyclone, number 3 ‘villain’ was crying. Tears stream down his cheek. Wait. What the fuck, this didnt make sense.

“Tommy” the man asked, his voice and body shaking with… rage? Sadness? Tommy isn't really sure.

“Ummm yep that's me my friend” Tommy says and the man imminently wraps his arms around Tommy.

He freezes for a brief second before lifting his arms up to hug the guy in return.

What!? It feels normal, plus it would be rude not to hug someone back, god, common courtesy

The man puts his head into Tommy’s shoulder and begins balling his eyes out. Geez Tommy really fucked up this time, he didn't even realise it was possible to make a ‘villain’ cry, but here he is.
“Hey listen, why don't we go inside and you can finish your little cry feast in there, wouldn't want anyone to see you in this state," Tommy said, pulling away from the man.

He grabs him by the arm and basically drags him into his old crusty musty apartment.

But apparently the man didn't like his apartment because when he sat him down on the couch, he let out a long and painful sob as he re-wrapped his hands around Tommy and brought him back into this familiar yet unfamiliar hug.

It wasn't just familiar because he had hugged the man two seconds ago, no, because it felt familiar in a way that he couldn't quite reach at.

“I'm so sorry” the man says, snapping Tommy back into reality.

What the hell? How the fuck was he meant to respond to that? The man hadn't even done anything wrong! Had he?

“Why are you sorry?” Tommy asks, his voice much more gentle than he meant it to be, but he couldn't really find it in himself to mind that much.

“I-i i” the man started, the words obviously getting stuck in his throat as he tried to explain to him why he was sorry.

“Shhh, it's ok,” Tommy said. “Take it slow, you have all the time in the world to explain to me how you're feeling,” he told the man.

They fall silent for a moment, it's neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but then the man decides that that's enough crying for one day because he pulls away from Tommy.

“Anyway” the man says, brushing off invisible dirt from his shoulders.

“I have a question to ask you”.

A question?

Oh god.

“Do you still blame yourself?”.

Tommy stiffens at this question.

What does he mean by that??

“What do you mean?” Tommy asks.

“For his death”

Tommy thinks for a moment before responding. “If we are thinking of the same person then yeah, of course i do”.

“But why?” the man asks, dumbfounded by his answer. “He did the same thing to y-”

“No” Tommy screams at the man, he can feel tears building up in his eyes.

“That wasn't his fault, the only person who could of been blamed in the situation was me, he didn't even know until it was too late”

“Sounds like history just repeated itself”

…

“No” Tommy says, getting up off the couch to face the masked figure in front of him.

“It was my fault, both of the times, I got in the way when he was trying to hurt dream, and I paid the price for that”.

“What about whe-”. The man started but before he could finish Tommy cut him off.

“I already told you both times where my fault, i don't understand why you're making this so difficult”

“I'm making this difficult because he forgives you!” the man exclaims and Tommy's eyes widen in surprise.

“What” he whispers, almost too soft for the man to hear.

Almost.

“He forgives you, and you need to learn to forgive yourself” the man says, slowly fading away.

“Wait” Tommy yells but before he can say anymore he's already upright in his bed, his breathing and heart fast.

“Stupid dream” he mutters to himself after a while.

It doesn't take him long to almost fall back asleep, but just before he does he sees the same figure as before come into view.

“Oh no you don't” Tommy started, but he realises that no one is there.

Thinking that he is going just that little bit insane his body decides that it's time to go to bed.

“Sweet dreams Tommy”

Chapter Text

Guilt

"Ghostbur?" Tommy asks, face to face with his b- the ghost of his b- No the ghost of his really good friend.

Guilt

"Hello Tommy" The ghost says in a rather cheery voice.

Guilt

"I'm so sorry" Tommy says, tears begin to fill his eyes

Guilt

"Don't worry Tommy" The ghost says, ruffling his hair, also making sure not to hit his little horns.

Guilt

"How can i not be worried" Tommy says swatting the hand away from his head.

Guilt

"I killed you!"

Guilt

"You didn't kill me, you killed Wilbur and he did the same thing to you! or at least that's what he told me"

Guilt

"Yo- you d-don't know what y-your talking about t-that's different" Tommy yells, the stutters in his voice, clear as day.

Guilt

"I don't understand how that's different" Ghostbur says, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Guilt

"Do you feel guilty" The ghost asks when the blonde teen doesn't respond.

Guilt

"YES" Tommy screams at the ghost, tears streaming down his eyes at this point.

Guilt

"yes" Tommy repeats, in a whisper this time.

Guilt

the ghost walks over to Tommy's bed and give him a hug

Guilt

The teen melts at the touch.

Guilt

"Wilbur felt guilty when he killed you, you know" the ghost says, still hugging the teen.

Guilt

'really?" the teen asks.

Guilt

The ghosts nods.

Guilt

"I thought you where immune to peoples powers" the ghost says, trying to change the topic.

Guilt

"Guess not all" the teen responds, eyes becoming heavy.

Guilt

"Hmm, interesting" the ghost says laying Tommy's head down on his pillow.

Guilt

"How do you know about that" Tommy asks, his words sluggish.

Guilt

"Don't worry about it, just go to sleep"

Guilt

And for once in Tommy's 16 years of living, he does as he says.

Guilt....

Chapter Text

Tommy wasn’t use to having nightmares.

He thought he’d gotten over his past.

A past he couldn’t remember

Oh how wrong he was.

He woke up the next night to sweat dripping off his forehead and into his golden hair, making it stick to his forehead.

He had woken up in a panic and didn't realise the sweat until after he calmed down.

But you wanna know the weirdest thing?

He doesn't remember the dream.

Nope, not at all.

He's had these dreams before, and his friends assume it's about his past (hence why he said he thought he'd gotten over his past).

He hadn't had them in a long time

Of course they were bound to come back and bite him in the ass.

He grabs the phone from his bedside table and checks the time

‘6:30 pm’ it reads.

Shit, he's gonna be late for work.

He quickly gets up and gets changed, not even bothering to have a shower.

Maybe if he's quick enough he can make it there on time, it might have only been a quick walk but traffic is a bitch.

Tommy was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realise that he was running straight into someone until it was too late.

Both of their heads collided, sending them both to the ground.

“Ow watch where you're going you idiot” the person said in an all too familiar voice.

“Geez sorry, maybe you should watch where you're going next time” Tommy says looking up to face the person who he just collided with.

Oh shit, its his fucking landlord.

“Thomas” the man hisses.

“Mr Sam,” Tommy says.

“What are you doing out of your apartment so late?” he asked.

“Was what I gave you not good enough?”

“Dude lets be fucking real, you gave a rundown, one bed apartment that god knows how many people have lived in before me, there fucking asbestos growing out of my closet for fuck sake” Tommy hisses.

“It's not my fault you can't afford anything better”

“You raise the prices every other week!”

“I do what i have to do to keep my family afloat, not like you would understand”

Silences

You see, normally this wouldn’t be an issue, Tommy didn't remember his family so it didn't matter that people would talk smack about him for not remembering. I mean at least it's something other then his appearances, or his fucking horns.

But tonight Tommy wasn't dealing with this bullshit.

So he punches Sam in the face.

Tommy might be 16 but he packs one hell of a punch.

Bloods flies out of Sams face.

The man bends over, holding his nose in a desperate attempt to keep the overflowing blood in.

Then all hell breaks loose.

Him and his fucking 36 year old landlord get into a fucking huge fight.

Blood flies everywhere, all over the walls, carpet and doors of other apartment conplexes.

The guy hits Tommy a couple of times, giving him a spilt lip but he manages to doge the rest of them with ease.

“Woah woah break it up you two” a man says, budging his way between the two.

“What the hell is going on here” Tommy looks up to face the man and realises that it's Ace. Wow just his fucking luck.

“He was talking smack about my family,” Tommy says, pointing an accusing finger at the man.

“You don't even remember your family” the man defended.

“Wow low blow bitch” Tommy growls.

“Ok ok look i'll just take you back to the hero tower” ace says dragging Tommy away from the stupid bitch on the other side of the room.

“Why do i have to go back to the hero tower” Tommy complained on their way to the hell hole that people call the hero tower.

“Your lucky I’m not pressing charges!” Sam screams as Ace drags him away.

“Listen dude we don't have to go to the hero tower if you don't want to, I was just thinking that you would want a break from that dick” Ace replies with a sigh.

“It's fine, I have to go to work anyways” he says.

“Really, what do you work as?” the ‘hero’ asked.

“I just work at a local diner, you might have heard of it, Tina’s diner?”

The man's eyes widened in response. “It's you, you're the one who screamed at me and c-” but before he could finish his sentence, like the devil was listening in on their conversation, Cyclone lands in front of them.

“Fancy meeting you here Ace’’ the ‘villain’ said through seething teeth.

“Cyclone” the man practically growled.

The man scans around Ace and his eyes lay on Tommy.

Oh hes so fucked.

“Huh, i see you picked up a visitor” the man said, an evil smile appearing on his face.

“Fucking touch him and i swear to god, i’ll use my powers on you” the man threatened.

“Oh please, the only powers you have are the power of a fucking bird, a chicken at that one, i don't think slow falling is going to help you in this situation” the man taunted.

“Plus I could tell you to give the boy to me, or worse, I could turn invisible, possess you and make you rip all of your own organs out of your body”.

Silences.

They both knew they where fucked.

Oh well, better than being caught by Dream again.

“Listen dude, sorry to break it to you, but I've gotta go to work, time doesn't wait for people like me” he says with an eye roll.

“And who said you were going anywhere” the man asked, though for some reason he had this soft look in his eyes that Tommy couldn’t understand.

“My landlord and boss?” Tommy responds.

“Well I'm sure they won't mind if I borrow you for a few seconds”.

Ohhh shit, Tommy is 100% fucked.

“Nope, gotta go bye” Tommy says and runs off in the other direction leaving the other two behind.

Tommy swore to himself and the others that he wouldn’t get caught up in this shit again, not with Dream still being around, and he wasn't one to break promises.

There's only one person who can save him from this shit, well hopefully anyways.

And that person is Hannah fucking Rose.

Chapter Text

Hannah is fucking amazing, and that's putting it lightly.

She owns a laundry mat down the street from Tommy’s and she's a fucking girl boss.

Tommy knows this because she saved him from Dream.

Dream stated that he ‘saved Tommy from his demise’, but if anyone has saved him, it's Hannah.

Hannah used to work at the hero tower as Thorn, she was fucking amazing. She was super powerful as well, being able to control plants.

She might have only had one power, but she was still fucking powerful.

She quit when she saved Tommy, saying she didn't want to work with fucked up people and a fucked up system.

She re-introduced him to Tubbo and Ranboo. Who protected him from the "harsh outside world". (Wasn't really anything they could protect him from.)

He was forever grateful for her and the others.

But every once in a while, he wonders what life was like before ‘the error’.

(he liked to call it ‘the error’ because it made the whole thing sound like an error, which it was, what Dream did to him there was fucked up, and it was the reason he had so many panic attacks and didn't leave his apartment for months.)

He wondered if he had a family, other friends, or maybe even enemies.

Maybe he was a ‘hero’, or even a ‘villain’.

Well, he guessed he would never know.

A loud BANG snapped him out of his thoughts.

He was running out of room, and time.

“Wait” Cyclone screamed, but Tommy would do no such thing.

“Tommy, wait,” the man said, making Tommy's heart leap out of his chest. Of fucking course, this man knew his name. He was a top 3 ‘villain’. He must have looked into his file or something.

But then again, that made no sense. Him and Hannah destroyed all of his file as soon as he escaped, not wanting anyone else to know about Tommy, or be able to take advantage of him, ever.

So how did this man know his name?

Then a hand grabs his wrist, pulling him back towards the figure.

Oh shit, Tommy is actually screwed.

With all of his might, Tommy attempts to squeeze his wrist out of the man’s grasp.

But he failed miserably.

“Oh my prime, Tommy, stop squirming,” the man said.

“How do you know my name?” Tommy asked, giving up on trying to squirm his way out of his grasp.

“I- well, i- i- I did my research on you,” the man finally spilled out.

“Impossible” Tommy hissed.

“Oh yeah, and how so?” the man asked.

“We burned everything known to human kind about me, so shit like this wouldn’t happen again,'' Tommy said with a huff.

“We? Who's we? and what do you mean happen again?” the man asked, his voice laced with worry.

Huh, weird for being so worried about something so minor.

“Me and my friend,” Tommy said cryptically.

“Oh, wow, that makes my life so much easier. Who?”

“Why don’t you use your powers on me and figure it out?” Tommy sneered.

“Cause my powers don’t work on you, dumbass,” the man responded.

“And how could you possibly know that?'' Tommy challenged.

The man paused. Thinking about his next words carefully.

“What” he whispered, almost too soft for Tommy to hear.

Almost.

“You heard what I said,” Tommy scoffed.

“You don't remember, do you?” the man says.

“And how would I remember anything about you?” he asks.

“What about Phil?” he suddenly says.

“The fuck, who is Phil?”

“Techno?”

Tommy shakes his head.

“Wilbur?”

Tommy pauses, only for a second.

The name, it sounds so familiar, it's like an apple he can almost reach, but can't at the same time.

“Sounds familiar. Can’t put my finger on it though,” Tommy responds.

The man lets out a sigh of relief.

“Ok, ok, that's good. You can remember something,” the man says to himself.

“Never said I remember him, just that his name seems familiar,” he reminded the guy.

“Right,” he says with a frown.

“Well, sorry to break it to you but I've gotta run,” Tommy says, finally getting out of the man's death grip and booking it to the laundry mat.

“For fuck sake,” the man says with a chuckle.

Tommy dashes into the laundry mat, where he is met with an emerald green eyed woman.

Hannah.

“Hey Tommy,” she greets him with a smile.

“Hannah, no time to chat. I need to hide,” he says, getting straight to the point.

Hannah's smile drops from her face.

“Get behind the counter, now,” she says seriously.

Tommy wastes no time ducking behind the counter.

Just in time as well to hear the chime of the doorbell.

“Excuse me Ma'am, have you seen a boy walk past here, he's about 6’1, has blond hair, blue eyes, has these little horns poking out of his head, a little demon tail, has a bit of a baby face, uh and should be wearing a red and white hoodie with jeans and black joggers.”

Woah, this dude knew what Tommy looked like from just looking at him for a minute or two. Wow, impressive.

“No sorry sir, I have seen no one who fits that description,” Hannah replies with her usually cheery smile, although now it looks more forced. Of course, no one would notice unless they knew Hannah really well.

“Fuck, well thanks anyway,” the guy says, leaving the store.

“Tommy, im fucking driving you home,” she said, a fire in her eyes Tommy has only ever seen once.

“Fine by me,” Tommy replies.

>>>>>>

The drive back to his apartment wasn't a good one, that's for sure.

Hannah was constantly looking back and forth between the car lanes, to make sure no one was following them.

Tommy was just vibing to the music.

“You are genuinely a gremlin,” she mumbled to herself

“Am not!” Tommy yells defensively.

“You obviously are! You got Cyclone, of all people, to chase after you, fucking Cyclone! I have not seen him chase anyone since 2014 and you got him to chase you! You obviously used your gremlin powers on him,” she joked.

“It's not my fault, the guys a bitch!” Tommy exclaimed.

“Yeah yeah whatever,” she said, pulling into the parking lot near his apartment.

“Looks like this is my stop,” he says, getting out.

“Thank you Hannah,” he says.

“Don't mention it. If he bothers you again, please come back to the laundromat,” she says.

“Will do, bye” he says, closing the car door.

Walking up the flight of stairs to his floor was quite the challenge.

He might only live on floor 4, but tonight it felt especially hard to climb the broken stairs.

He tripped at least five times. Hurting his ankle one of those times (99% sure he sprained it, but hey, he can't afford to pay for that, he might live in Lower L’manburg but that doesn't mean medical bills come cheap!)

Then he arrives at his apartment, not bothering to change back into his PJ’S.

Then, as soon as he's about to go to sleep, he releases.

“Oh fuck, I missed work,”

Dashing back out the door, he quickly runs to work.

“Fuck, fuck fuck,” he says to himself.

Stupid ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’, messing up his work schedule.

“Tommy!” Puffy greets him as he walks (basically runs) inside.

“Holy shit Puffy, im so sorry I'm late,” he apologises.

“No, no, you're alright, I got you a new working parent” she says, pointing to the shark looking dude who's serving an old woman a plate of… peas.. oh.

“Foolish,” she calls. “Come over here and meet your working partner,” she says.

“Hey” the guy says as he walks over.

“Foolish, meet Tommy, Tommy, meet Foolish,” she says, introducing them to each other.

“Well, nice to meet you Tommy” Foolish says, extending his hand out for Tommy to shake.

“Nice to meet you as well, Foolish” Tommy says, taking his hand and shaking it.

“Alright, now that you two have properly met, I have to go. Don't burn down the building, my duckling,” she says, and leaves the two men alone.

“Ducklings,” Tommy asks, walking back behind the counter

“Yea, don’t worry about it. She calls everyone she cares about duckling,” he responds, taking a couple of teenagers' orders.

“Awww cute,” Tommy says, taking god knows whose order.

“Do you even know how to work any of this?” Foolish asks”

”Nope, but I winged it yesterday and that’s what I’m going to do today” Tommy replies back, pushing a button on the coffee machine

“No! Don’t press t-“ Foolish starts, but it’s too late, hot water escapes the machine and onto the floor.

“Oops” Tommy says

“oh my days, just let me show you the ropes” Foolish says, helping Tommy locate the paper towel

*Time skip*

“So why is this place called a diner if it’s really a cafe” Tommy asks as he practices making a latte.

“It use to be a diner when Tina was running the place, but once Puffy took over, she remodelled it to be a cafe, she just never changed the name out of respect for Tina” he explains

“Ah, that’s makes sense” Tommy says.

*Time skip*

His shift seems to be going quite fast and already it's 10pm, closing time.

“Why don’t you go ahead and leave? I’ve got this all sorted,” Foolish offers.

“Nah man, one in all in,” Tommy replies, beginning to packing everything away.

“Alright, suit yourself.” Foolish says with a chuckle

It only took them 15 minutes to pack up, and another 20 minutes to get home.

Finally Tommy gets changed, does his night time routine and hops into bed.

Again he swears he sees something, outside his window this time rather than inside his room, but cannot be bothered to look at what it is.

“Sweet dream Toms,”

Chapter Text

Tommy has seen much more than the average 16-year-old probably ever will in their entire lifetime.

A lot of those things have had to do with bathrooms.

So it's safe to say that Tommy now hates bathrooms.

Hell, he can barely go into his own without having a panic attack.

But alas, he must face his fear at some point, right?

And that's how, the next morning, Tommy finds himself standing outside the front of his bathroom in an old grey sweatshirt and old black shorts.

“Come on Tommy, you can do this,” he reassures himself, and heads into the bathroom, head first.

(Tommy opens the bathroom door to find the place covered in blood. It was everywhere, all over the tiles, walls, and even on the roof. Oh god dream would not be happy. The smell of it all was so much worse. It hit him like a ton of bricks, making him want to vomit everywhere. The worst part is, there was a body, lying lifeless in the middle of the room. He remembers the face, from all of the missing posters. Tina.)

OH MY FUCKING GOD.

Tommy quickly stumbles out of the bathroom and falls flat on his ass onto the hallway carpet.

Oh god, he can't breathe.

It hurts, it hurts so badly.

Why was she there!
Why did she have to die there.

She had family, friends, a diner, all waiting for her, but instead she died, died in Tommy's hands, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

There was nothing Tommy could do about it.

He tried sucking in the air like a self-fish pig, but no air entered his lungs. Instead, it was replaced with a sharp pain.

He let her die. Oh god this was all his fault.

(Tommy was frozen in horror. Chunks of her organs were scattered across every surface of the bathroom, lungs, livers, stomach lining. You name it, Tommy saw it. Tina, the mother of the group, the kindest of the group was dead. And there was nothing Tommy could do but hold her empty body, and scream, scream for the mourning of a lost one, who cared about everyone else, but so little cared about her).

Hot tears begin spilling from his eyes.

No, he didn't want to remember these horrible things. It's in the past, there's nothing more he can do.

(“Enter the bathroom” Dream said, taunting him. His glistening white mask reflecting the fear on Tommy’s face. “But, s-someone’s in there,” Tommy said, as Dream pushed him more towards the door. “Don't worry about him, just enter the room,” Dream said and Tommy slowly turned the handle. He peeked through the crack which he created and saw something he knew he could never forget, there facing downwards in a bathtub full of water, lied the lifeless body of Fundy.)

Stop, stop, stop.

Tommy's practically begging at this point.

He is safe; he is safe; he is safe.

(Tommy tried to scream. He really did, but no words came out. “This is what happens when you disobey me Tommy, he didn't do what I asked, so he drowned, not before taking an entire bottle of sleeping pills”, Tommy wanted to ask questions upon questions, but never did, fear is much stronger than curiosity after all. “I did that so it looked like he k-)

Tommy just wants it all to stop.

He covers his ears and brings his knees up to his chest as he hears someone open the door of his apartment.

He didn’t care.

He just wanted it all to stop.

“Tommy?” someone asks, but Tommy is too out of it to think.

“Oh my god, Tommy!” someone screams but Tommy couldn’t give less of a fuck.

They were dead. And a lot more people were probably dead because of him. Because of Dream.

He can feel rage (and bile) build up inside his throat, ready to barge out wherever the fuck it wanted.

Everything bad that has happened in Tommy's life has been because of one person.

Dream.

But what could he do about it? He was horrified of Dream. He could do whatever he wanted, and Tommy could do nothing about it.

“-ommy, Tommy!” Tubbo screamed, putting his hand on Tommy’s shoulder, which snapped him out of his thoughts.

Looking up from his knees, he sees Tubbo and Ranboo. Oh, thank fucking god.

Without thinking, he wraps his arms around Tubbo and practically squeezes him.

Suddenly a memory he never knew about, flashed in his mind.

(Tommy always knew he was afraid of heights. He has been ever since he was little, but standing on the top of the hero tower with his friends? And the Dream team facing them. He finally understood why he was so scared of heights. “You ready, Theseus?” the Blade asks, although it doesn't look like the Blade. His face is all distraught and weird. He knows it’s the Blade because of his voice, he’s watch enough fights on Tv to know there voices. “Always” he responded. Then they all changed at the Dream team, him, Cyclone, the Blade and Midnight all charged at Dream, Blaze and 404. It was magnificent. They were all fighting so gratefully, their moves perfect, flawless. Tommy could only watch in astonishment. Then, Dream gets a lucky hit on Blade and he goes crumpling to the ground. Midnight had Blaze and 404 fighting him, while Dream and Cyclone went at it. So Tommy quickly rushed to Blade's aid. “God Blade, how does this even happen?” he says, chuckling to himself as a steady golden ribbon wraps around Blade’s arm. “He just got lucky,” Blade snarled, as the ribbon wrapped itself into a bow and faded away. “Let's go deal with these pests now, '' Blade said, a fire in eyes. Tommy chuckled to himself as he got up. As he looks up to assess the fight, a sudden sharp pain stings his whole body, and he realises Cyclone, his friend, his family, has stabbed him. In the background, he can hear Dream laughing as Cyclone watches in horror. Seeing his friend fall over, off the edge of the building.)

How is this possible?

Why does he only now remember this?

Then, like magic, another memory clicks into his head.

(“If you ever get lost my little brother” Cyclone says, wrapping him in a bone crushing hug.

“You can find me in Las Nevadas“)

Las Nevadas.

If he wanted answer about these sudden thoughts, memories, whatever they are.

Las Nevadas Is his best bet.

“Tubbo” Tommy says, its muffled by Tubbos shirt, but they still hear it none the less.

He looks around and sees nothing, he doesn’t see Tina’s dead body, he doesn’t see organs or blood scattered across the bathroom.

He sees nothing.

It was in the past, he realise.

A memory.

He’s slowly getting some of memories backs.

He’s slowly getting answers.

“Shh shh it's ok toms,” Tubbo coos.

More memories fill his head as the wall crumples, not fully, but just enough for these memories to slip out.

(Tommy watches the doc as he sees the Dream team enter onto the large, unstable, wooden dock.)

Another memory.

(“we got this Tom,” Midnight says, standing right behind him. “First mission back, are you sure you're still up to it?” Blade asks. “Yes T*****,” Tommy seethes. “Of course I am. We need to take these bitches down.”
“Hello!” Blaze called out to the crisp night air.
“We got a distress signal, anyone here?” asks 404.
“Now,” Midnight said, and they all jumped down onto the unsteady doc.
“What are you doing here?” Dream asked, practically seething at the sight of the three heroes.
“Where here to kill you” Midnight said, and they broke out into a fight. Blade on Dream, Midnight on blaze and Tommy on 404.
As soon as 404 gets close enough, he touches 404’s chest, taking away his hallucination power. “No!” He practically screams, as Tommy says the magic words, “Go to s-” but is cut off by his body being picked up and hurled into the nearest wall. Lucky for him, he stops himself just as he is about to hit the wall, and grabs one of the daggers from his toolbeat. Then he lungs at Dream, who moves away easily, revealing a man standing behind him. Tommy's eyes widen in horror as he plunges the knife straight into the man's heart. “W****” Tommy screams, quickly pulling the knife out of the man's heart and rushing to his aid. Then the rest of the memory is a blur. The last thing Tommy can see that is clear is Dream looming over him, holding a needle filled with something.)

What is going on!?

“What were you going to ask us before?” Ranboo added as Tommy calms down. The memory fading from his mind and making its way into the fitted slot in his mind, just for it, just like the other memory.

“Ranboo” Tubbo hisses, nudging him in the ribs.

“Ow, ok sorry” Ranboo says, rubbing his ribs.

“No, no Ranboo you're alright” Tommy says, his eyes still very puffy and red from crying so much.

“But i think we need to find someone” Tommy says, going back to his room to get changed into a nice oversized red sweater and some black sweatpants.

“Wait what, where are we going?” Tubbo asked, following Tommy out the door.

“We are going to where all the villains go” Tommy says, a smile creeping across his face.

“Nooooo” Ranboo whines.

“Yesss” Tubbo jumps up and down with joy.

“Las Nevadas” the three of them say together.

Chapter Text

Tommy had a little hunch as he entered the facilities of Las Nevadas.

Ever since he's had access to these memories of him working with the SBI. He has a hunch on who each of them are.

He can tell that Cyclone’s name started with a W.

William.

No.

Wallet.

No, that’s just stupid.

Wilbur.

No.

Wiske-

Wait.

Wilbur.

That’s it.

It clicks.

He finally has a crystal clear picture of this person who he’s being trying to find for years.

At first, it kinda threw him off guard how when he met up with Cyclone, that he seemed to have no resemblance to Wilbur.

But after a while of thinking, Tommy could finally see the connections.

They had the same fluffy dark brown hair, had the same humour, same build. It all made sense.

Tommy knew that he was close to Wilbur, almost like brothers.

(maybe they were brothers)

So that means that he must have known.

Then he remembered what Cyclone said in their conversation.

(“I- well, i- i- I did my research on you,” the man finally spilled out.”)

Bullshit

It was a cover up, because he knew that Tommy had forgot about him, so instead of telling him he knows him, he lied (probably so Tommy didn't freak the fuck out, which, fair game).

(”We? Who's we? And what do you mean happens again?” the man asked, his voice laced with worry. ”)

He was worried because he knew Tommy, not current Tommy, because current Tommy only has half the picture. But he did know past Tommy, and obviously cared about him. (“Cause my powers don’t work on you, dumbass,” the man responded.) He knew all of this because Tommy had told him. It makes so much sense when he thinks about it. (”You don't remember, do you?” the man says.) He seemed almost upset that Tommy couldn't remember, and Tommy was confused for a stupidly long time.

But now he understands.

Now he's going to go back and get his memories back, one way or another.

The blade and Midnight were going to be a lot harder to figure out because he didn't know what they looked like.

But again, he had a little hunch.

(“What about Phil?” he suddenly says.
“The fuck, who is Phil?”
“Techno?”
Tommy shakes his head.
“Wilbur?”)

Techno, Phil and Wilbur. His friends, his family.

Tommy chuckles to himself at the thought.

Techno must be Blade, and Phil must be Midnight. Huh, their villain names suit them.

And then Wilbur was Cyclone.

He hoped, fingers crossed, that he would be here.

“You still haven't told us why we are here” Tubbo pointed out, as they walk towards a very legal casino.

“As I said before, we need to see a part-” Tommy starts, but stops as he sees what is on the floor in front of him.

Its an orb.

Fantasied by the whole thing he picks it up.

“Psst” someone says in Tommy's ear, making him shriek and jump up in the air.

“Geez, no need to be so loud” the voice says.

Tommy looks around, but he can't see anyone.

“Who are you? More importantly, where are you?” he asks, earning him an odd look from Tubbo and Ranboo

“Phew, they're with you, you're safe” the person says, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I'm sorry i haven't been able to contact you, I've been trapped in there for some time, I've only been able to come out when your asleep, and unfortunately, you aren't awake when your asleep” the thing says with a light chuckle.

“What does that even mean!? Who are you?” Tommy asks again.

“I'm you, I'm you before Dream took your memory and stored it in this orb, you can also say that i'm a ghost living inside you” the ghost says easily.

“Can you like, get out, or can I like, get out of you, if that makes sense”.

“Well, you're stuck in here until all of the memories come back, then you’ll just be a ghost, and I can only come out in emergencies or when your asleep”.

“That makes no sense but whatever, I don’t have time for this. I'm going to continue walking, sorry if it seems like I'm ignoring you, i promise I'm not, i just don't want to be seen as weird” he explains.

“No no, your all good, just remember to tell Wilbur i love him” the “ghost” says.

“Will do” he says with a chuckle.

“Who were you talking to?” Ranboo asks curiously as they continue exploring the casino, which, by the way, is super busy on a Wednesday evening.

“Just myself” Tommy responds

“Wow ok, we've got a p-” Tubbo begins, but someone cuts him off.

“What are you three doing here?” Purpled, a vigilante who is famous for working with the famous hero, Punz, asks. Wow, what are the odds of that.

“We’re here to see someone” Tommy replies cryptically.

“Oh yeah w-” Purpled began but was interrupted by someone

“Tommy?” they ask, Nichachu, a world famous hero turned villain, what are the odds.

“Um hi?” Tommy offers, but the villain is already on her heals practically sprinting away.

“What the fuck how do you get someone upset by saying hi” Tubbo asks with a groan.

“Listen dude i have no clue, but shes coming back with Cyclone, i would suggest running away” Purpled offers, turning back around to look at them.

“What the fuck” Tommy says, but Tubbo is already dragging them into the crowd.

“What the fuck are we suppose to do?” Ranboo asks, a bunch of shouting coming from behind them.

Then..

crack

Oh shit, the orb is fucking breaking.

(“and this, this is were the tunnels are located” Quackity shows Tommy.

“Eww in a bathroom” Tommy replies.

“Don't worry, second floor go down the hallways and the third door on your right, its the cleanest bathroom anyone could imagine”)

“This way” Tommy says, leading them up the stairs.

“What the Tommy where are you g-” Tubbo says, but before he can finish, someone pulls them into his office.

Quackity. The owner and founder of this establishment.

What fucking “good” luck this is.

“Tommy? What are you doing here?” the man asks.

“Uhhh” Tommy says, a nervous chuckle slipping out.

“I'll be back, wait here” the man instructs, leaving the room.

“OH I'VE GOT IT” other Tommy finally screams.

“Shit, no need to be so loud dude” he says.

“Break the orb” he instructs.

“Ok” Tommy says easily, bring the orb up high.

“What are you doing?” Tubbo asks.

Instead of responding, Tommy drops the orb.

Crack

Chapter Text

He waits for something, anything to happen, but nothing.

How is that possible, it should’ve broke!?

Without even really thinking, he picks the orb back up and puts it in his pocket.

“Quickly, we need to go to second floor, down the hallways and the third door on our right” Tommy instructs, attempting to open the door, but it was locked.

“Fuck” Tommy spits.

“Maybe this is a good thing that we came here” Tubbo says.

“Yeah, I don’t think we should be running away, I think we should stay and just see what they have to say” he says.

Tommy knows that they are right, they shouldn’t be running, hell this is the whole reason as to why he was here in the first place, because he wanted to find the three leader of the SBI, he didn’t mean to find like the whole of the SBI, but none the less.

He understands that he wasn’t in danger, and yet, he was scared.

Not only of these people, who he couldn’t fully grasp, but he was scared of everything.

Too many things were out of his control, he has seen too much, it is all too much.

He slowly sinks down to the floor and brings his knees to his chest.

“I know we aren’t in danger” he begins, not knowing how to tell the only the people who he feels love him, how his brain is.

“But I’m just so scared, I can only remember some things about my past, and it just feels like the control that I use to have when I lived with Dream is slowly seeping out of my grasp” he shutters.

He can’t see the look on there faces, but he knows they are shocked.

Never in Tommy’s life had he been open like this.

He had never admitted he was scared.

“I’m so confused, so angry, so hurt, there are so many emotions bubbling up inside of me that I just… don’t know how to feel” he confesses.

“And I found this o-“ he begins, but before he can finish, the door softly clicks open, revealing Cyclo- Wilbur, Midnight, Blade and Ace.

“What the fuck are you doing on the floor Tommy” Ace asks, offering him a hand.

Tommy takes it and swiftly, with the help of Ace, gets up off the floor.

“Nothing too concerning” Tommy says, dusting himself off.

He does this all the time.

Once he opens up and says something, as soon as other people arrive, he pretends like everything is alright.

It’s some type of mechanism that he can’t seem to turn off.

“Cut the chit chat, what are you doing here” Blade says, cutting right to the point.

“Wow, nothing gets past you, does it” Tommy says sarcastically.

“Tubbo, Ranboo, I thought we told you not to come here, under any circumstance” Midnight huffs, causing both of the boys to look down at the floor.

Huh, Tommy didn’t know that they knew each other.

You learn something new everyday.

“Don’t be too harsh on them Phill” Tommy says, with new found confidence, earning looks from everyone in the room.

“It was me after all who asked them to come with me here, I believe we need to have a chat, all of us” Tommy states.

“How do you know my name” Midnight, or Phil, asks.

“I know all of your names, Wilbur, Techno, Quackity” he says, pointing to each of them.

“How is this possible” Wilbur asks.

“How do you remember there names Tommy, your memories are gone” Tubbo asks.

“Well, little memories have been sneaking into my mind every now and then, but, I also found this orb, which once destroyed, will give me back all of my memories” Tommy explains, pulling the orb out his pocket.

“Hey woah, I did not tell you that. How did you know that” the orb asks.

“It’s pretty simple really, there is a wall in my mind, blocking me from remembering my past, and, I can only assume that after that crack formed, little bits of my memories have been coming back.

Therefore once you’re fully broken, my memories will return.

That’s why you told me to break you” Tommy explains, getting confused looks from everyone in the room.

“What? The orb can sp-“ he tries to explain, but it cut off by loud sirens going off all around them.

Then, Nichachu comes rushing in.

“It’s the Hero’s, Las Nevada’s is under attack, they’re looking for Tommy”.

Chapter Text

No, Dream had found him.

After all this time of hiding, all of the efforts he went to to not be found again were utterly useless.

He didn’t want to go back with Dream.

He didn’t want to spend cold nights alone, sleeping on a couch in the hero tower. A place so unfamiliar, so unwelcoming, so cold.

He didn’t want to spend another second in Dreams “home.”

He didn’t want to spend another second with him.

How could have this happened?

He had been cautious, making sure no one followed him.

He made sure he couldn’t be found.

“Stay here” Wilbur commands softly, most likely sensing the fear deep inside of Tommy’s bones.

“We’ll be dammed if we let you get hurt again mate” Midnight says as they all leave.

No, Tommy refused to stand by and let the man that had tormented him for years take away his only answers, he didn’t want to be left in the dust, not again.

He knew all he needed to do was break the orb, but dropping it didn’t work, so he didn’t know what else to do.

The orb was silent, not even making a peep.

“Com on! Let’s go help!” Tommy says, grabbing Tubbo and Ranboo, dragging them out of Quackitys office and into the lobby.

As soon as they step outside, Dream immediately spots them, without even thinking, Tubbo and Ranboo step in front of Tommy.

“There is no way in hell we are letting you get hurt again” Tubbo hissed as Dream charges towards them.

Then, like magic, Tubbo and Ranboo transform, not really, they just click a button on there hand and it gives them suits, super villain suits.

Ender and Bee.

Holy shit, they were villain.

“Ender, Bee” Dreams says, stopping right in front of them.

“Hand the boy over and no one gets hurt” Dream says.

“No way in hell” Tubbo and Ranboo say at the same time.

As soon as the words leave their mouths, all hell breaks loose, and Dream charges at them.

They exchange blows as the whole room falls into a battle Tommy can’t be apart of.

He wants to help, wants to get revenge, but he’s so scared.

He can’t do it.

But it didn’t matter anyways, because before he could even move, Dream had slipped past Ranboo and Tubbo, and grabbed him by the collar.

“This time, I’ll make sure your memory’s stay hidden, forever, I’ll never let something as powerful as you out of my grasp again” Dream says, holding Tommy up with one hand, and using the other to pull the memory’s out of his head, yet again.

“No!” Tubbo yelled, but 404 charged at him, making him unable to help Tommy.

He could feel his memories slowly leaving his mind one by one, yet again.

“No, not again” the orb sobbed.

He was so close, yet oh so far away.

Dream was going to win yet again and there was nothing he could do about it.

All of his friends, his family, Tubbo, Ranboo and everyone else who he had finally remembered, were all too busy fighting the other hero’s to help him.

Tears spill out of Tommy’s eyes as all he can is watch like a puppet as Dream continues to hover his hand over his forehead, as Dream is removing his memories yet again.

He was so close to getting them all back, and yet now, now it was ove-

wait.

maybe it wasn’t over, not just yet.

Tommy, without even thinking, reaches out his arm and grabs the necklace off of Dreams neck.

“No!” Dream practically screams as he drops Tommy and shoots his hand forward to try and retrieve what Tommy has taken.

Tommy leaps to the side and takes the necklace away from Dreams grasp.

“Give me my powers back you absolute fuck wit” he seethes, reaching for the necklace that is just out of his reach.

“This is the last time you mess with me or anyone I love” Tommy says, kicking Dream in the stomach, sending him hurling into the nearby wall.

He quickly gets up off the floor, where Dream had dropped him, and takes the orb out of his pocket. “This is the last time I’ll let you take my memory” he says coldly, closing his eyes before finally dropping both the orb and the necklace, stepping both, something he should’ve done a long time ago.

*crack*

The orb and the necklace breaks into a million little pieces as the thick wall in Tommy’s head finally crumbles, finally he remembers.

A white light surrounds Tommy as memories of his past resurface.

Memories of playing the guitar with Wilbur.

Gardening with Phil.

Sparing with Techno.

Fighting hero’s with Tubbo and Ranboo.

It all flows back to him.

As soon as he opens his eyes, he sees Dream lung at him again.

Tommy pull his hand up and twists his wrist, sending Dream flying in the other direction.

He felt like a God, with the white light surrounding him and being able to summon his powers.

God he forgot how much he loved his powers.

Dream lunges for Tommy again but this time, before he can reach him, hands grab Dreams collar and pull him away from Tommy.

The Blade grabs Dream by the collar and slices his head clean off his body.

The other hero’s gasp as Dreams lifeless body falls to the ground.

Then, before Tommy can move, Techno grabs him as the rest of the villain make a run for it. They’d already done what needed to be done, there was no reason they needed to be here anymore.

After travelling across the city and into the nearby forest, they finally arrive at home. A place Tommy can finally remember.

As they enter the house Tommy is filled with nostalgia, he remembers everything, and he couldn’t be more happy.

“Welcome back, little brother” Wilbur says, and they all pile into a big hug, Tubbo and Ranboo included. “Thank you” Tommy says, happy to be back with his family.