Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy couldn't believe this.

From the beginning, which is right now I guess?

Tommy knew he was in a story, well fanfic, and he knew about all the bullshit other versions of him had to go through, and he wanted no part of that. But it seems the universe? Author? Whatever, wasn't gonna let him do that. You see like most versions of him, especially the ones in superhero fanfics, he was flat broke and despite desperately searching every corner of the Internet for a job, "somehow" the only place hiring was… The Sleepy Bois Cafe. Hooray…

Exactly what Tommy didn't want. He didn't want to go anywhere near these guys. He knew the second he walked through the door everything would quickly go uphill and then toppling down. He didn't want them to get attached to him, and then he dies and then somehow comes back to life or vice versa, he didn't want to be kidnapped by the "Green Teletubby" and tortured or abused or manipulated, or any of that shit! He just wanted to live a peaceful background character life, but I guess he had no choice.

Tommy slowly stood up from where he had been sitting on the sidewalk in front of the Café and walked up to the door. As he had expected the store was empty, even though it was early in the morning on a Monday. He knew why, he was gonna sit down in a booth with Phil for an interview, have a little "heart-to-heart", blurt something about his "past" or mention he didn't have parents, and Phil would give him a pitying smile, and hire him. He stood there staring at the door for a while, he wondered if he could stand out there for hours and not a single person would go in or out. Tommy chuckled at the thought before the door suddenly came open with an all too familiar pink-haired man standing in the doorway.

"Uh hey…" The guy said.

"Ayup." Tommy replied causally.

"So you've been staring at our door for a good half an hour, and it's kinda freaking me out." The pink-haired guy rubbed the back of his neck.

If I have to be Tommy, might as well act like him.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry boss man." Tommy smiled awkwardly. "I'm actually here for your help wanted ad. I was just getting cold feet ya know."

"Oh, no problem come on in." The pink-haired guy- okay we all know he's Techno. Tommy followed Techno into the store.

"Wait here while I get my boss." Tommy watched Techno go into the backroom.

'You mean Phil' Tommy thought, already feeling annoyed. It only took a minute before he was following Phil out.

"Heya mate, it's nice to meet you." Phil smiled kindly in a way that made Tommy both wanna hug him and gag.

"Nice to meet you too man." Tommy shook Phil's hand and Phil motioned for them to sit down in, you guessed it, a booth in the corner.

"So for what reason do you want this job and do you have any prior experience." Phil asked with a big smile.

Tommy thought for a moment and a smirk grew on his face 'Alright "universe" you wanna play let's play.'

"Eh you know I'm a teenager. I need some extra money and my dad said I should get a job again since I'm gonna be heading to college soon." Tommy lied through his teeth.

"Yeah I get it, so what was your last job?" Phil said with a smile.

Tommy's smile sharpened, but Phil didn't act as though he noticed. "I worked at this nice place called The Cloudy Café."

"Ah so you've worked in a café before, good. Well, it seems like you'll be a perfect fit." Phil took out a piece of paper and handed it to Tommy. "Just put your name, age, and all that."

'Yeah cause that's how an interview works.' Tommy ignored the pain that felt as if someone hit him in the back of the head. He looked over the paper and filled it out.

"Alright then… Thomas, you're sixteen? You're quite tall for sixteen." Phil looked it over curiously.

"Maybe you're just short." Tommy said, shrugging with a smirk on his face. Despite not meaning it that way Phil took it as a joke rather than an insult.

"Hehehe maybe, alright Thomas you can start tomorrow, and we'll see how you do from there." Phil said standing and grabbing the piece of paper.

"Thanks, Philza, see ya tomorrow." Tommy waved as he walked out the door and noticed how Techno's face faltered for a second before he put a hand on Phil's shoulder and whispered something to him.

Tommy didn't stick around, he was probably concerned about how he knew Phil's name. Tommy chuckled to himself as he walked down the street. There'd be no adoptions today, I mean- eh you get it. Tommy's laugh faded as he knew what was gonna happen after his first day. Supervillains were bound to show up.

"Fuck."

Chapter Text

Tommy rode the train to the Cafe, making sure to avoid shady characters and dark alleyways. He had the closing shift because of course he did, he would work for a few hours, a few heroes or villains in civilian clothes would probably show up, and then he would close up and get attacked by a mugger or supervillain. It's all too predictable

He walked in and was met with an all too familiar face.

“Finally!” Wilbur said, taking off his apron and hanging it up.

Tommy grabbed his apron, the shiny name tag reading “Thomas” Tommy looked over at Wilbur, who was putting on his coat.

“Do you have any questions before I go?” Wilbur asked.

Tommy shook his head “Alright, see ya.” Tommy waved and Wilbur left the store. 'Probably going to patrol as his little villain persona.' Tommy thought, and prepared for the place to be robbed or something.

The first people to walk in were some kids he'd been purposely avoiding. One of them was short, with fluffy bleach-blonde hair. The other was tall as hell and wearing a mask and sunglasses.

‘Tubbo and Ranboo’

Tommy took a deep breath and put on a fake smile. “Welcome to The Sleepy Boi’s Cafe. How can I help you?”

“Uh, I'll have a coffee with five shots of espresso, please." Tubbo said and Ranboo sighed.

“You're gonna give yourself a heart attack.” Ranboo groaned and Tubbo rolled his eyes.

“It's fine, you!” He said turning back to Tommy. “Tell him five shots of espresso won’t kill me.”

Tommy just shrugged. ‘Please just order and leave.’ He pleaded in his head.

“Anyway, I'll have hot chocolate please.” Ranboo said.

Tommy nodded and put their orders in. He tried not to make it obvious that he was rushing to make their drinks but it was pretty obvious.

“Hey, do we know you? You look kinda familiar.” Tubbo said, squinting at Tommy as he tried to keep facing away from him.

Tommy shook his head and leaned away from him. “Nah, do you go to L’manberg High?”

Finally, Tommy spoke. “Uh, no I go to school in SMP.” Tommy put on his best American accent and put their drinks on the counter.

“Oh. okay, I must be thinking of someone else.” Tubbo shrugged and grabbed his coffee. Ranboo took a sip of their hot chocolate as they walked towards the door. “See ya.” Tubbo and Ranboo waved and left.

Tommy sighed and slumped over the counter. “Thank god.”

Not much else happened, Niki came in and ordered something Tommy couldn't bother to remember and a few other characters. Tommy made as little conversation as possible, he quickly made the drinks and sent them on their way. As the last customer left it was five minutes from closing and Tommy immediately flipped the sign around. He knew the kinda shit that happened right before closing. So he just quickly took off his apron and left, he walked for a while before he was met with a street-closed sign. The entire street leading to the subway was closed, including the sidewalk, and the only other way was an alleyway.

“You fucker.” He mumbled under his breath.

He made his way through the alley carefully but surprisingly, it wasn't a supervillain he found. Next to a dumpster he heard the littlest hiss and looked down to see a big fluffy tarantula with a hurt leg. It was bent weirdly, probably by a cat or bird trying to eat it. At first, Tommy was confused, this was the perfect setting to introduce a villain but instead.

“Shroud.” Tommy said aloud and the little spider made a happy screeching noise like he was saying he liked the name and Tommy chuckled.

Tommy knew… “I know what this is, this is a little peace offering huh? I know what you're trying to do. I know what Shroud means to a Tommy.” Tommy laughed.

He stepped closer to the spider. He raised his foot over the creature and it started trying to crawl away, panicked.

“But I’m not Tommy.” His smile fell immediately.

He slammed his foot down.

"I'm Thomas."

Crunch.