Corner Store Coffee Shop (sometimes villains stop by)-made by an orphan_account

chapter 5

The conversation with Niki was very awkward when he thought about it. Actually, he didn't really need to think about it, it was very awkward in the moment, too. Niki was extremely confused when Tommy went up to her and asked if he had permission to hang up curtains.

"You work the night shift though, Tommy. Why would you need curtains?" Tommy looked at her, trying to think of an excuse as to why he needed curtains for his shift, considering he worked the night shift where the sun never appeared.

"Is that a yes or a no? Cause I'm going to take that as a yes--"

Niki gave a confused smile, "I guess I don't see why not?"

He was standing on a ladder because the windows are way too tall and it was not at all an issue caused by his height because he is not short. Tommy should have come to work early to hang up the curtains instead of doing it during his shift where customers would come in. He knew that the only customers that would come realistically would be Siren and apparently the Blade. Who knows, maybe the Angel of Death will come and order something next.

Tommy learned that he should just do actual productive stuff outside his work time when the door opened, startling him, making him almost fall off the ladder. That was expected but also no.

He steadied himself and looked over at whoever entered and glared at them, of course, it was Siren, as usual. Tommy put a hand to his chest and let out a sigh of relief at the fact he didn't fall. Obviously he wouldn't since he would never be startled by anything.

Siren looked up at him and one would think that he was the one who almost fell and hurt himself from how he reacted. Tommy wasn't really sure why he looked so scared.

"Are you okay?" Siren asked, unable to mask the worry in his voice. He put a hand on one of the legs of the ladders and looked up at the new addition to the room. They were thick and light brown, Tommy chose them so that people wouldn't be able to see the silhouettes of any suspicious figures. No use in being subtle, he meant people like the Angel and the Blade who had very identifiable shadows.

Tommy started stepping down from the ladder, Siren offering a hand to help him down that Tommy looked at before accepting cause he didn't doubt that Siren would take it personally. He stretched a bit and let out a small sigh, "Yeah, I'm good, just had to put those curtains up, so I wouldn't be caught accommodating to villains. That would not be a good look." Siren thought about it for a moment before deciding that it didn't sound like something personal and let it go.

"Fair enough."

"Be grateful because I had to ask for permission from my boss to do that and that is not a conversation I want to relive."

Siren gave an airy laugh and mock bowed down to Tommy, "Oh how grateful I am for the amazing and generous Tommy who I would die for." Tommy's cheeks grew warm and he let out a bellow of laughter. He was both very satisfied and very embarrassed with that reaction, and Siren knew that and was just happy to see Tommy happy. "So can I have my Earl Grey tea."

Under his breath Tommy muttered, "Earl Grey tea," in a voice exactly like Siren's and the latter looked at him in shock. Tommy was better at reading his expressions under the mask after seeing Siren so much. Siren was a very expressive person, but that's mostly because he had a flair for the dramatics if Tommy were being honest. Which he was because he is always honest.

Tommy looked back at him like Siren was the weird one before it dawned on him that Wilbur didn't know what Tommy's power was. Tommy, as an avian, had a lot of habits that came from his bird side and one of which was mimicking things without thinking too much about it, but as far as Siren was concerned, Tommy could have been powerless and he wouldn't have known cause he never cared enough to ask.

Generally, it was seen as the polite thing to do to not ask someone what their power was in case they didn't have one or they didn't like theirs. Siren made it a habit to assume that people didn't have powers.

"Your power is voice mimicry?" Siren sounded very excited at the idea of Tommy having the ability to mimic voices. What, does he want to use my power for his evildoing? It wasn't a serious thought but that's the only reason he could think of. In reality he was just excited at the prospect of Tommy having a vocal ability like him.

Tommy started preparing Siren's tea, "Nope," he poured hot water he had already prepared beforehand in a cup, "It's part of it though. I'm a hybrid, I guess."

"I guess?" Which was a good question.

"I'm supposed to be avian, wings and all that, it's in my DNA and stuff, too, but since I'm not in a place and have never been in a place where I can grow wings, a lot of documents mark me off as human." Technically, since he is an avian, he has a special diet that he can't realistically provide for, because veganism is pretty hard. Avians usually are supposed to have documents to say they can get something for cheaper because they need it more than others for their diet, but because he was never healthy enough and safe enough to grow wings people don't believe he's avian and charge him full price. Legally, he could sue them for it but it would be expensive, so they just have to live with the fact he has to force himself to eat things he's not supposed to.

He doesn't say all that but a lot of that could probably be assumed with the whole not having wings thing, it was pretty common knowledge that most hybrids have special accommodations in the law to try to help them fit into society better. Siren especially should know since the Angel himself is obviously an avian.

According to some research Tommy and Tubbo did, there's a chance Tommy would never grow wings even if he did get a proper diet but they wouldn't know.

When he saw a trace of sadness on Siren's face from the knowledge, he immediately changed the subject, "I can mimic any sound I hear, even ones you think aren't humanly possible to make."

Siren sputters at that, "What does that even mean--" then he paused, remembering who he was talking to, "You know what? I don't even want to know." He said quickly.

He took the tea from the counter and drank it. Siren, the idiot he was, forgot to cool down the tea and immediately burnt his tongue. Tommy felt slightly bad for laughing at him. Only a little. Mostly because he did that to himself and everyone burns their tongue every once in a while.

"Wow," Tommy said, watching Siren fan his tongue, "You're extremely prone to injury aren't you?" He said this as if he wasn't even more prone to injury with hollow bones and all, they're supposed to be good for flight but to him the hollow bones were even more of a nuisance than it was for other avians even if there weren't many of them. But no one can blame him really because Siren, top criminal, feared by the general public, had come to the shop with a wound from who knows what- probably a nobody small timer who got lucky or something, or maybe he walked into some glass because he's stupid like that -and then he burns his tongue with hot tea because he forgot that tea was hot.

Siren couldn't reply because he still had his tongue stuck out to cool it down, most people would be fine by then but he isn't most people so he was still waiting, "You were bested by tea." Siren could only glare at him in reply before putting his tongue back in his mouth.

Tommy would love to see the reaction of the public if they found out that the villain he feared so much was a glorified toddler. He even threw tantrums and whined like one even though Tommy knew he was a full grown adult who knew how to handle his emotions so he was convinced that Siren was doing it on purpose to mess with him (he was).

"I was not bested by tea."

"You were."

"I was not."

"I was," Tommy said in a perfect mimic of Siren's voice, which was a totally fair thing for him to do. Siren didn't think so though because he just stared at Tommy like he just committed a crime. Ironic considering who he was, but he doesn't care about hypocrisy unless it benefits him.

Siren's head fell onto the table, making him groan both out of pain and annoyance—he did it to himself in both cases, so Tommy didn't feel bad at all.