Let me level with you man, as someone guilty of the game

16. Haha Angst

The worst day of Tommy’s life started with the news broadcast.

Tommy had taken the day off from working the register and was brewing coffee, humming a song he had heard on the radio under his breath as he worked. Niki was in the back baking and Ranboo was at the register, obsessively organizing and reorganizing everything.

It had been a slow day, the normal morning and afternoon rush being deterred by the heavy rain that was falling outside, soaking the sidewalks and making everything smell like wet rubber. Tubbo was the only customer in the cafe, absently sipping a hot chocolate while he tinkered with something that looked suspiciously like a bomb.

The door to the cafe swung open suddenly, the ringing of the bell followed by loud footsteps. Tommy glanced up absently, making a face at Wilbur, who was now leaning against the counter, wet hair dripping onto the wood.

“You look like shit.”

“Good to see you too, Toms,” Wilbur sighed, running a hand through his damp curls to pull them out of his eyes. Ranboo rolled his eyes, starting to ask Wilbur for his order, but the TV in the corner cut him off, pulling all of their attention to the sudden news story on the screen.

“Breaking News, Number One hero Dream has just sent us a video to share, in regards to recent events.” The news anchor vanished from the screen, replaced by a video of Dream. Tommy couldn’t hold back a shiver at the sight of the white mask, the slightly lopsided smile seeming to bore into his soul.

“As many of you know,” Dream was saying, “one of our hero apprentices, Icarus, was injured during a rescue mission gone wrong the other week. We were hopeful for his quick recovery, but it is with great sorrow that I let you know that Icarus passed away last night due to excessive damage from this incident. He will be deeply missed by many, and I can only hope that he can be remembered as a true hero.”

The video ended and the news story jumped back to the news anchor, who was talking quickly about the video. Tommy couldn’t hear a word he was saying. His head was spinning, his vision tunneling, and all he could do was stare in shock at the TV screen.

“Holy shit,” Wilbur whispered, almost too quiet for Tommy to hear. “Holy shit.”

The backdoor of the cafe burst open, Niki all but running into the main room, breathing hard. Her phone was in her hand, and it was clearly opened to the same news story they had just seen.

“This is such bullshit!”

Tommy snapped out of his stupor, turning to stare at Niki. He had never heard her sound so… angry. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she exchanged a glance with Wilbur, who simply shook his head, a pleading look in his eyes. Niki ignored him, barreling on anyway.

“I healed him! He was almost completely fine when he left me and Siren after that building collapsed. This is such bullshit, Dream is a lying bastard. I bet they just wanted to get rid of the kid since he was getting too close to the ‘bad guys.’”

Tommy almost laughed at just how right she was, but he was cut off from doing so by Tubbo jumping to his feet, spinning to stare at Niki.

“You’re Nymph??!?”

Niki scoffed, throwing her hands up. “Oh, like you’re any better! I know all about you and Ranboo here, Tubbo, don’t even try to lie to me.”

“Wha- what?” Ranboo squeaked, his eyes going wide. Tommy watched in horror as, seemingly unbeknownst to the boy, Ranboo’s horns began to sprout from his head, his hair slowly changing to its dual colored style.

Niki just sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It really wasn’t hard to figure out, you know. Once I knew who Theseus was, it was pretty easy to connect the dots.”