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

chapter 26

When he saw the SBI walk through the door, he was in a weird way relieved to see them. It was a hard feeling to describe, but he knew that there was definitely a correlation between what he was feeling and what he found out the day prior. He watched Wilbur close the curtains, and the other two greeted him quietly. They didn't order anything, so it was safe to assume that they wanted their usual.

Wilbur sat down where the other two were, "How have you been, Tommy?" And with that he was so tempted to tell them what he found out. Dump all his feelings on them, tattle on the heroes like he was a toddler that was being bullied on. He wasn't sure what they would do, he knew that they said that they tried to avoid killing as much as they could. He knew that they would do something , they were motivated by political reasons, so it would have made sense. He didn't know if they would do something big or small, or if any of it would be motivated by their connection to him. Though he wasn't so sure that they would care about his roommate's pay being cut off unless he told them explicitly that all of them needed any money they could get.

Tommy had been silent too long, and he only realized when Wilbur called his name again for attention, "Tommy?" He blinked and looked at him, he was previously looking at the counter. He nodded, though his actual response was delayed.

"Yeah," he said, "Yeah, I'm good, big man." Tommy scolded himself for letting himself get so off track. Wilbur furrowed his eyebrows.

"You sure?" Concern was laced in his voice.

Tommy hummed unconvincingly and started on their drinks. Not without noticing the glance that Wilbur gave to the other two when he thought Tommy wasn't paying attention to them anymore though. He felt their stares on him, he forced himself to not look at them. They knew he was lying, they wouldn't do anything though. Couldn't, possibly.

He placed their drinks down, and they knew something was up, he didn't misspell the Blade on the cup, he shortened it to just 'Blade'. Even when the Blade wasn't there, he would write down some joke or horrible misspelling of 'the Blade' when Siren ordered a black coffee. Well, sometimes it would be the Angel who came and ordered drinks.

The Blade wasn't one to really show that he cared for someone so explicitly. Tommy wasn't one of the people he actually considered to be someone he cared about, but it wasn't fun to sit in a room with an atmosphere as awkward as it was. The Blade cleared his throat, making Tommy freeze, waiting for the Blade to say something. Ask something of him. Instead he only got, "Thanks." The Blade and Tommy looked at each other, and the Angel and Wilbur glanced at them both.

Tommy nodded his head, "Yeah. Of course, paying customers, yeah?" And, of course, Wilbur knew that Tommy was bad at expressing himself sometimes. Even WIlbur couldn't say that he was all that good at expressing himself. Usually when Tommy said something that could be taken badly, Wilbur was usually able to brush it off, laugh even. It wasn't unusual for Tommy to say something about them paying, or joking that he only tolerated them for the money, but he sounded genuine to some point with his voice as somber as it was. It hurt. Just a little. Or maybe a lot.

Wilbur looked away and the Angel immediately took notice. "Yeah," the Blade said, "paying customers." Wilbur and the Angel both took notice of him actually responding. A response meant that he was caring. Or that he was at least starting to care. Neither of them expected for him to respond. It immediately ticked a mark off in the 'there's something wrong' list in Wilbur's head; the fact that even the Blade knew that something was going wrong. Something much deeper. The Blade . The same one who came the least. The one that was least happy about their endeavours of becoming friends with a civilian. The one who was so adamant about only coming to make sure that Tommy wouldn't rat them out.

Tommy went behind the counter after the interaction and he sat there silently, unmoving, it was like he was completely gone in all ways but physical. He was horrible at hiding his feelings.

"Tommy," Wilbur called out, " Are you sure, you're okay ." He had a habit of using his powers when he was feeling a lot of emotions. It was never on purpose. Wilbur would never take control over one of the people he cared about without their permission on purpose unless it was for something small or as a joke. He paid no attention to it though, the fact there was some power laced in his voice wouldn't do anything unless he commanded Tommy to answer the question honestly, and he wouldn't force Tommy to answer a question if he didn't want to. Though it did hurt just a bit that Tommy didn't trust him enough to tell him, Wilbur understood why though. Didn't make it hurt any less.

Tommy wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Even if it took him a bit to snap back, he was able to answer just as Wilbur opened his mouth to call for him again. He let out a sigh. "Yep, never better, big man." All things considered, he sounded annoyed. With his sigh, the lack of response, not fully being there, it was easy to see all of it as him being annoyed. He wasn't annoyed. He was tired. He was so tired.

"Do you want us to leave?" Wilbur asked, "Would that help you feel better?" It was a genuine question. He genuinely wanted to do whatever he could for Tommy to not be upset. Tommy took it as him being annoyed that Tommy was 'annoyed'.

"If you want to."

"Alright." He said, nodding, "Alright. Then I'll stay."

And they did.