wipe the blood off your face (it may stain)

And A Little Identity Never Hurt Nobody

Techno definitely told Wilbur and Phil.

Not that Tommy was really surprised, they basically had a little club going on that theorized what his injuries were about. It's like he was under a microscope with them sometimes, as they analyze every move he made. Not good when you were secretly a Villain.

They all kept glancing at him after the whole sprained ankle and bruised ribs thing. It'd range from worry to frustration to pity to annoyance. He understood why they would be a little upset with them, if people Tommy knew kept feeding him obvious lies, he'd be pissed off too.

But it wasn't like you could blame him by keeping this a secret. If they were anything but Heroes, Tommy would tell them. He'd love to tell them. He'd love to explain his reasoning, his concerns, and just be so utterly himself again, because he was fed up by the lies. And even if they didn't accept who he was, at least there would be no real repercussions, besides them hating him. Which, yeah, would hurt a lot, but at least it would free him from the web of lies he found himself stuck in.

But they were Heroes. There was no way they wouldn't feel obligated to run their mouths off to the Hero Tower because of it. They wouldn't even hear Tommy out.

It didn't matter. Not right now at least. He had to prepare himself for the meeting. He didn't have to wear anything fancy, unlike the big announcement a few days ago, but he still had to get some papers so he could write down the notes for the Heroes.

"Are you almost ready?" Phil asked as Tommy rummaged around for a few pens in the avian's office. He felt the need to be prepared for his first big meeting. "We're going to be late."

"Yeah, 'late'," Wilbur scoffed playfully, "your definition of late is anything that isn't ten minutes earlier."

"As they always say, if you arrive fifteen minutes early, you're on time. If you arrive on time, you're late." Phil advised.

"You know," Tommy called from the corner of the room, searching for a notebook. "You missed a perfect opportunity for saying 'early bird gets the worm', but no. You had to stick with the dumb fifteen-minute saying." Tommy grinned as he found a blue notebook in one of the cupboards and grabbed it.

"It's a good saying though!" Phil squawked. "And it's one we need to use right now. Are you done yet?"

Tommy waved the notebook and pens in his hands. "Yep. Let's go."

Wilbur chuckled. "Look at you, all prepared. Are you ready for this big meeting? It's like taking your first steps." The brunette made a fanning motion near his eyes, feigning that he was tearing up. "I could cry."

"Fuck off," Tommy replied, lightly shoving the Hero and following Phil and Techno.

"You know you love it," Wilbur said smugly, trailing alongside Tommy.

"Sure," Tommy drawled.

In truth, Tommy was a little worried about this meeting. He hoped that his poker face he gained from Quackity would pay off, because it would certainly count when they were most likely going to be talking shit about him.

This was going to painful to watch.

It felt far too quick when they arrived at the floor that was holding the meeting. If Tommy remembered correctly, this was the floor he found Royal along with a few other Heroes talking shit about the SBI.

It was a little ironic, wasn't it?

A hand was suddenly put on his shoulder. He glanced behind him to see it was Techno. "You okay?"

Tommy nodded. "Yeah...?"

"Okay. You just kind of zoned out there. And you stopped walking." Techno replied.