wipe the blood off your face (it may stain)

You Go, Go On Pretending

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Tommy came back to the Tower at around 6:00am. When he left the tower beforehand, he dropped off all of his gear and his suit at his apartment. He didn't think he would need it again, but even if he did, it was better to leave it there rather than one of the SBI members finding it in his closet.

Since the Hero Tower resided in district one, it took a while to get back to it. He hoped that maybe there was a slim chance that he could've managed to sneak back in without anyone noticing. Obviously, that wasn't the case.

Tommy winced. "Hey guys," He drew the words out.

Phil was pacing around the room. "We were worried sick! Do you even know what happened? Probably not! All because you were being reckless. You could've gotten hurt. He could've kidnapped you. He could've-" He cut off his rambling and stopping his pacing. Phil shot him a look of worry with underlying anger. He'd never even seen the avian get angry, but even with only witnessing a hint of it, he knew it was nothing he wanted to see in its full form. "Where were you?" He demanded.

Fuck. Okay.

Tommy concocted a lie on the subway here, hoping it'd be believable enough rather than coming up with something on the spot and blurting something utterly ridiculous.

"My roommate messaged me," He lied. "you know how my roommate was having nightmares? It got really bad last night, and he needed someone around to reassure him it was okay. Tubbo – my other roommate – wasn't there at the time. So, I went over." Tommy's eyebrows pinched together, feigning worry. "He's been struggling a lot because of Crimson threatening me. He was worried that Crimson was going to come in and kill him, which didn't help his nightmares."

"That doesn't really give you the excuse to leave the tower when, as you said, a villain is threatening you." Techno pointed out. "Your safety is at risk whenever you leave the building. Although it seems you don't care much about that."

Tommy glared at him. "Excuse me for wanting to comfort my friend." He snapped. "What even is up with this whole ordeal? I'm the only person protected but my roommates and Crimson most likely knows where we are living, but they aren't?" Tommy said that to get them off his back, but that made the three pause.

"We just don't want them to hurt you." Wilbur answered, confirming Tommy's previous suspicions to why they weren't invited in the first place. "It'd be best to have some space from them."

"But I've told you guys that they're not up to anything! They're in no gangs, they're not drinking, they're not abusing me," He spat. "and yet you three are risking their safety." He didn't know why he's arguing over this. They were safe. They were never not going to be safe because Tommy was Crimson. Yet he couldn't help but feel defensive over them, even if it was for something that didn't matter. "You're risking their safety, something which I'm pretty sure is illegal, over a theory. A theory I've confirmed is wrong."

"That's not the point." Phil said. "You don't even know what happened here two hours ago! What time did you leave the building to see your friend?"

"2:00am." Tommy lied.

"That was two hours before we got the notification Crimson was here." Phil told him. "Crimson was here before then, for how long, we don't know. But he was here."

"Wait what? Crimson was here?" Tommy asked.

They all nodded. "He tied up some employees and destroyed the workshop." Techno responded. "We suspect he stole a thing or two, but we have no way of knowing, considering so many things were wrecked."

"Oh, that's horrible, and I'm sorry to worry you." Tommy said. "...You never answered my question though. Why are you refusing to let my roommates into safety, knowing it's illegal?" At no reply, he threw his hands up in the air. "Exactly. You don't have any reasons."