(n.) naïve innocence
Honestly, Tommy doesn't know what he was expecting. He had been needing a new job, seeing as he was technically fired from his last one due to the building burning down and all. So, when he read the 'Hiring Now!' flyer in the newspaper that was weekly delivered to the house, he couldn't help but be intrigued.
I mean, who wouldn't want to be a janitor at a top hero agency? Besides, Tommy had experience working--if you could call it that--with authority.
He didn't exactly want to be working near heroes, but at this point this was the only chance that he had to be able to pay bills. All other places that he had tried so far had took a glance at his wings and declined him instantly. To be fair, winged fellows around these parts didn't have a very good rep.
Besides, he'd only be working near heroes, not with them. He wouldn't necessarily have to be seeing them every single day, he'd only have to be near the interns on the lower floors. He's sure that someone else on the janitorial team could work on the higher floors.
No one was going to be suspicious of the cleaning crew anyway.
When Tommy walked into the large 72 floor building he was impressed by the design. While no architect, he could tell that this place had a lot of work put into it, especially for just the first floor. He was not going to lie, he might be sweating a little bit underneath his burgundy collared button up. There were two slits cut into the back of the shirt, done by a good friend, that his wings slipped through so that they weren't horribly uncomfortable under his shirt.
The hero corporation shouldn't care about what kind of gift you have anyway, with most of their top heroes having some kind of physical one.
He approached the front desk, behind which sat two receptionists. The lady on the left looked up to greet him and smiled slightly. She had long wavy brown hair in a half up half down style and hazel green eyes. She was covered in roses, the plants looking as if they were growing out of her own skin, and Tommy couldn't help but wonder if they hurt her.
"Hello, how can I help you?" She asked, and Tommy glanced down to her badge that read 'Hannah - She/Her' on it. Not that he was going to call her Hannah, it's basically common sense that you don't called people who work in customer service by their names. He just wanted to make sure that he got her pronouns right if he was going to refer to her.
"I'm here for the job interview? I saw an add in the newspaper about an opening." He explained, subconsciously reaching up a hand to scratch at his neck. Ranboo had told him that it wasn't a good thing to keep scratching right after having to bandage his neck for the third time.
"Oh, of course! I'm just gonna need you to fill out these papers--It's mandatory for everyone who comes in for the first time." Hannah said and handed over a pen and a few papers that were stapled together. "You can go sit down over there," She pointed to the seats that were against a wall "And come hand them back to me when you're done. You might want to hurry though, they're closing interviews pretty soon." She advised.
Tommy nodded thankfully and walked over to the seats. It was your general interview survey. His face paled slightly and his eye brows furrowed in confusion as he read the text at the top of the page.
'All employees at The Hero Corporation must be over the age of 18 to be hired.'
Well shit, that was a problem, wasn't it? He definitely looked older than he was, and he was sure that he could get his housemate to change his records, but it'd definitely look a bit suspicious. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out his phone and shot a quick text to one of his only friends.
PURPLE GUY
i need a favour
what do you need??
i need you to change myt government records so that im ninteen or smth
k, why??
theres an age lrequirement at the corp and its my last chance at a job
alr, but you owe me one
thanks big man :D
Tommy sighed and got to work on the paper, finishing filling it out quickly. He brought it back over to Hannah, who took it from him.
"The interviews are on floor 24, good luck." She said encouragingly and smiled one last time before turning back to her computer to do whatever it is that receptionists do. Tommy thanked her and speed walked over to the elevator that was to the left of them. Once inside, he pressed the button and was headed off.
Ignoring the slight panic that he felt in his chest from how small the space was, he hummed along to the generic elevator music. The elevator dinged and the sliding doors opened to reveal a large-ish room full of people sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs or leaning against the wall.
The feathers on his wings bristled in response to a bunch of people looking at him. He noticed a few scowling at him--probably pretentious fucks who thought that they were better janitors than him. What dick heads.
Seeing as the chairs were uncomfortable and were all taken (and wouldn't fit his wings), Tommy chose to side lean on a wall, not being able to lean normally because of the feathered appendages on his back. Speaking of which, they had taken a slight protective position by wrapping themselves around his crossed arms.
5 minutes into waiting he pulled out his phone and decided to either play flappy chicken or go on Twitter.
It was 10 minutes into waiting that his name was called out. Tommy turned off his phone and put it in his pocket before walking towards the person that called out his name. He ignored the scowls of a few people who had been waiting longer than him to go in and greeted the person who called him forwards.
"I'm assuming that you're Thomas Danger Kraken Careful Innit Beloved-Underscore?" The girl asked as the winged boy walked up, taking a deep breath before she spoke the name. He couldn't help but notice that her voice was high in pitch, maybe she was just built different. "Just Tommy is fine." He said, nodding in affirmation. The girl--who was a short calico cat hybrid--smiled.
"Nice to meet you Tommy! My name's Crumb, and I work as an intern here. Please follow me, I'm going to be taking you to your interview." She spoke and started walking, looking back and motioning the taller boy to follow.
The walk down the hallway was silent, but it wasn't awkward. One of Tommy's house mates likes to say 'Tommy isn't socially awkward, he's awkwardly social' which may be true to some extent.
Crumb stops in front of a large wooden door with a golden handle. "This is where the interview is being held. I'll be waiting outside to escort you back to the waiting room." Crumb smiled politely and stood to the side of the entrance. Tommy nodded at the girl and knocked on the door before opening it slightly.
There, sitting at a large desk in front of a large window overlooking the city street below, was the number two hero, Void.
What the fuck?
