Tommy's Ultra-Important Keychain

Chapter 35: Reliving Ruination

Phil didn't get a lot of days off. Those he did manage to stumble into were quickly filled with other activities that kept his mind occupied. He was a man with too many ideas to have a quiet head. God forbid he be allowed to form a single independent thought that didn't become horrifically graphic. Even at night, he kept the fountain in his room set to an imposing surge.

He was a man that had come to deserve this lifestyle. Villainy didn't leave your hands as supremely clean as one might like. His powers contributed to his years of violence by being of the rather peaceful variety. The ability to grant immunity to someone wouldn't help him rob a bank, or prevent his child from making enemies. He had to deal with those problems alone, and if he was the type of villain that got his hands dirty, then so be it.

Unfortunately, that meant he felt nothing but guilt as he padded into his living room that morning, fluffy slippers and a soft bathrobe adorning him, his wings fully stretched out. His boys were filling in for him at the office and the bar respectively, and Tommy had to work for a bit longer.

The apartment was far too quiet. He was in luck that the first memories to surface were from the earlier days of living in the penthouse. He greatly preferred them to any of the screaming terrors that clung to his back. Techno and Wilbur were small in these memories, barely fourteen. They wanted their space while they adjusted to their new lives. Those times were hard on all of them, Phil included.

Wil mistrusted any adult, and Techno hadn't formed a sense of self since leaving his home. Phil didn't understand how to deal with them, but swore he'd mend their wounds and give them the best life he could. At first, he treated them like his little brothers, though he quickly realized they needed a father figure instead. It was weird to have such old children at his age, but he loved them.

Phil sighed as he recalled these moments, attempting to ignore how they were followed by flashes of his bloodied knuckles and his victims' broken limbs. He settled himself on the couch and turned to the TV. His telenovela had ended on a cliffhanger the night prior, and the next episode wouldn't be out for a week. He decided to use his break to develop an interest in a show he could understand without his human translator.

He was five minutes into some strangely sexual medical drama when his phone buzzed. He picked it up and his eyes widened, nearly causing him to drop the coffee in his hands.

It was Kristin.

Phil's face heated from the contents of the message.

Hey Phil! I found myself spontaneously free of my duties this afternoon and was wondering if you would be willing to meet me somewhere soon?

She wanted to go on a date. There was no other way to read it, and he was not complaining. Spending time with her was his first breath of fresh air since he was a kid. She had this look in her eye that made him lightheaded.

Kristin took him to an Italian place the last time he'd seen her, and he hadn't even tasted the food – too busy studying the way her eyes crinkled when she was happy and the way her widest smile took up half her face. There was no time for silence with her. If it wasn't infectious laughter filling the space, it was the static she sent to his brain. Phil knew from the second they stood to go that he wanted to spend every second of every day with her.

Their schedules so rarely overlapped, though. The hero agency had long hours, and Phil had a fuck ton of paperwork from his legal team as of late. Occasionally, he'd find a crow waiting for him outside his window, and it would brighten his entire week.

He responded to her message quickly and practically leapt off the couch to prepare. She was going to wait for him at After Hours, where he assumed they would then go on to a second location. Phil offered to pick her up, but she claimed to already be on her way.