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

chapter 12

Knowing what the crows meant, he was more prepared when he saw the Angel of Death land in front of the door. "Close the curtains, please." He was still wary enough around him to have some manners.

"Alright, mate." When he finished the task, Tommy heard the Angel mutter, "There you go," under his breath and huffed out some air like it was a hard task. All things considered, all the things being every year the Angel has been alive, he didn't doubt he was tired doing anything out of old age. Only jokes, of course, but Siren talked about the Angel being old enough to where Tommy believed him even though he himself thought that the Angel was just a normal middle-aged man; in retrospect, that is kind of old compared to him, but definitely not that much older than Siren. He had never seen them without their masks, so he couldn't really judge their age.

"What's your order?" That wasn't the line that he usually said but it wouldn't kill him to try to be more casual with regulars. Unless they didn't want him, too. It wouldn't do him good to have his regulars being annoyed because they were disrespected, and it would be even worse if they stopped being regulars; even worse if they stopped coming altogether.

"Just the Blade and Siren's usuals." The Angel turned his head, looking behind him, he couldn't see anything, but it was something to do with how you would look at something to hear better even though it doesn't help. Somehow the crows knew that he was paying attention to them and immediately started cawing in protest. The Angel sighed, turning his head back to Tommy and shook his head, "Alright then, so what pastries here are safe for birds?"

"Most of them should be fine, there are options without sugary stuff, I can just give you the bread parts of some donuts if you want." Tommy said, listing off the top of his head what pastries they had besides the ones on the menu. If they weren't on the menu, they were on the display case that he didn't really feel like looking through.

The Angel nodded his head, a small smile on his face, "Yeah, I'll have that, too."

When Tommy started boiling the water for Siren's tea, he turned on the coffee machine and went to put some plain donuts in a bag for the crows. After getting used to their orders, it was easier to start a routine where he could do things more efficiently.

While the Angel waited for Tommy to finish, silent, he decided to try to start some conversation to break the silence. It wasn't exactly awkward, but it certainly wasn't comfortable either. "So how have you been?" Maybe Siren was right. Maybe the Angel of Death was actually old, who is this awkward. He talked like an older relative asking how a kid was doing. Tommy wouldn't really know himself since his memory from when he had a family was scarce due to young age, but the Angel seemed to fit the stereotype of the older relative. What was next? Oh Tommy, you've grown so much? He wouldn't doubt it.

He hesitated in answering the question. The first time Tommy met the Angel, it was much less obvious, but he was extremely awkward when he spoke. Tommy was half convinced he wasn't actually trying to be ominous or conceal his identity, he was convinced that the Angel was just too awkward to talk with his persona. That probably wasn't the reason, but it was a very reasonable reason in Tommy's opinion. "I mean, I've been fine, I guess?" He put a cup top on the cups of coffee and tea for the two, "Are you not going to have anything?"

The Angel raised his hand slightly in decline and shook his head, "No, I'm good for now, thanks, mate." He paid for the order and then some. When Tommy saw him leave the shop, he saw The Angel stop outside the door and waited for the door to close.

Then one of the strangest interactions he had ever seen play out. He couldn't really tell what was happening, but when the Angel had his hands on his hips, looking down at the flock of crows he could tell that the Angel was probably scolding the crows. From what Tommy could see though, he was actually upset with the crows and he took the bag of donuts and started throwing donuts at the flock for them to eat. He stood there waiting for them to eat the donuts before he took off, the flock following close after, it was a very strange interaction, but the sight of all the monotonous crows taking off at once was a beautiful one.

"Well," Tommy said to himself, "That was a journey if I've ever seen one." And no, he was not weird for talking to himself. In an empty shop.

When he went home, both of his roommates were still awake.

He entered the apartment expecting for them to be asleep, instead he entered the apartment to a Ranboo avoiding eye contact with Tubbo who was staring Ranboo down. Clearly Ranboo was in trouble. Yeah, Tubbo was easy to get on the nerves of, he could only hold so much emotion in his tiny body afterall. But this was his actually upset look and when Tommy closed the door and they both looked at him, he saw why Tubbo was so upset.

Tommy wasn't exactly sure why he was upset, but he could see what made him upset.

Ranboo had a bruise.

Now, Tommy understood that Ranboo was a hero in training, ironic, Tommy knew it was considering what he was doing, but Ranboo never came home with bruises. That and if the bruise or any injuries he had were made while he was training, the company would heal him. It was part of the deal to keep them as safe as possible during training.

"What the hell happened?" There was no malice in his tone, it was a genuine question, but Ranboo was already feeling bad and probably took it as bad. "You good there, Ranboob?" He wanted to at least make sure Ranboo knew he wasn't upset with him. Ranboo gave him a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good." The scratch on his cheek said otherwise, but Tommy pretended to accept that teacher.

Tubbo continued to stare down Ranboo, staring them down was Tubbo's way of getting them to talk when he thought something was important enough that he needed to know. He never did it otherwise, they tried to respect each other's boundaries to the best of their abilities, but they once promised each other that they would always keep each other safe even if it meant breaking boundaries.

It was clearly important because Ranboo wasn't a liar. He absolutely hated lying to them, always telling the truth. From memory he couldn't remember a single time where he had lied to either of them. He wasn't lying, but he definitely was avoiding answering.

That's what made Tubbo upset. It was why Tommy kind of wanted to be upset, too. The only thing stopping him was the fact that Tubbo was already making Ranboo feel bad enough. The fact that Ranboo would hide anything from them was hurtful. Ranboo, Tubbo and Tommy didn't fight. Or at least that's what they like to say. They pretended that any problems they had with each other were nonexistent, not really wanting to face them. They were teenagers and they wanted to salvage as much peace as they could.

Tommy could see that they were both wearing thin. He couldn't stand to see them like this, he muttered he would go get ready for bed before walking inbetween them to the shower, largening the distance between the two so they wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Why can't you just tell us?" Tubbo asked, Tommy heard him struggling to keep his voice stable.

"It's just better this way."