Tommys clinic for supervillains

Chapter 15

Although Tommy knew he should probably be worried about someone spying on him when he left the cafe, he had to admit, everyone being overprotective of him was starting to get annoying.

First it started with Wilbur, with his whole insistence that Tommy call him if he ever sensed anyone watching him again like that night they went to the diner. Then of course Wilbur told Techno, who gave Tommy a bottle of pepper spray and a pocket knife, making him promise that if anyone tried shit, he wouldn't hesitate to use either of those things. Then Phil took the pocket knife away much to Tommy's disappointment, but he let him keep the pepper spray, and doubled down on Wilbur's whole 'call one of us if you notice anything suspicious at all.'

Then, of course Tommy knew he should probably mention it to the Syndicate, which made Siren want to set up a guard rotation for the cafe, and Tommy had to argue with the man for nearly ten minutes over discord dms to get it through his head why that would be a terrible idea. It didn't help that Jester came up with the same idea, and Tommy had to spend another fifteen minutes explaining everything to him all over again about how he wouldn't exactly be able to explain to his boss why he had a bodyguard.

He appreciated how worried everyone was for him. But he was fine. Nothing even happened. He thought someone might be watching him, but that was it. There was no use in panicking over something so small.

But yeah, now everyone in Tommy's life was acting ridiculously overprotective of him. Wilbur texted him every time he got off work, it wasn't uncommon for someone from the Syndicate—usually Daedalus, Jester, Siren, or Nemesis—to show up at the cafe just to watch over him while he went through the closing shift, and Techno kept talking about wanting to train him in self-defense. The only reason he hadn't yet was because they just hadn't found the time.

In complete contrast, Tommy had barely heard from Tubbo and Ranboo in weeks. Ever since he told them that he needed time before he could come home, the two had been keeping their distance. Sometimes he would get a text from Ranboo, asking where he put the soy sauce in the cabinet, or Tubbo would text him just to check that he was alive, but otherwise they didn't bother him.

Tommy was frustrated by how conflicted he was over this. On the one hand, they were doing what he asked them to. They were giving him space, and he was grateful for that. But on the other hand, he missed his best friends. He hated whenever he saw a funny meme and went to send it to Tubbo, but had to stop himself at the last second. He hated it when he saw a cool recipe he knew Ranboo would love to try and make, but had to stop himself from saving the video.

This was what he wanted. He still didn't feel ready to go talk things out, but there was still a hole in his chest that used to be filled by his two best friends. It ached, and he knew that he was going to have to confront things eventually.

Eventually, but not yet.

At least he had the Soot family. Whenever he got too sad thinking about Tubbo and Ranboo, Wilbur would usually be there to drag him to his room to ask for advice on songwriting, or Techno would offer to watch whatever nature documentary on Netflix Tommy wanted to put on.

One day, when Wilbur and Techno were both out, but Tommy found the ache of missing his best friends throbbing painfully in his chest, he finally worked up the courage to knock on Phil's office door like he had offered to Tommy when he first started staying there. Although they had spoken plenty of times now considering Tommy had been living there for over a month, he still had yet to ever find himself in Phil's office. Until now.

"Tommy? Is that you?" Phil called out after Tommy had knocked on the door.

"Um, yeah, it's me," Tommy called back, already wanting to run back and hide in his room.