Chapter 2: mcdonald’s

Tommy wasn’t sure if he was going to see Siren again after that fateful night. While a part of him wanted to, just so he could get the chance to ask, ‘hey, you’re not going to kill me for the whole saving your life thing, are you?’ he really just hoped the supervillain would leave him alone and pretend like they had never had their strange encounter.

And for a while, it seemed like that was going to be the case. Tommy went back to his normal routine, and waited for something to happen. Days were spent making lattes for stuck up people in Puffy’s cafe. Nights were spent watching Netflix on a crammed couch with his two roommates. And when he walked home after sunset, he would rush past most dark alleys to avoid any more moral crises like before.

It had been about a week since the incident with Siren when that changed though.

Yet again, Tommy was walking home from the closing shift at the cafe. It had rained earlier that day, and the orange glow of the streetlights glittered against the water that had seeped into the sidewalk. His backpack thumped steadily against his back with every step, and Tommy grumbled to himself about an asshole customer he’d dealt with earlier that day.

He thought about all the ways he would’ve loved to cuss the guy out. If Puffy hadn’t been watching him from one of the tables, he probably would have. Although Puffy had told him not to get into arguments with customers before, she never got seriously upset with Tommy over it, because she knew Tommy was usually in the right.

Because Tommy was always right. He was just That Cool.

Unfortunately for Tommy, he was so distracted while thinking about how cool and right he was all the time that he didn’t notice the shadowy figure lurking in the alleyway he was passing by. A hand wrapped around his arm and yanked him into the alley. He opened his mouth to scream, but a second hand slammed over it before he could make a peep.

“Mmph mrph mmm!” Tommy screamed behind the hand, squirming against the iron grip pinning him to the wall.

“Shut up, gremlin child! It’s just me!” A familiar voice hissed from the shadows. Tommy’s eyes widened as his vision adjusted to the gloom, and he was able to make out a familiar blue mask covering the upper half of a man’s face.

A rock dropped into his gut. Siren.

“I’m going to drop my hand now, and you’re not going to scream because I’m not here to hurt you, got it?” Siren asked, and even though he couldn’t see his eyes, Tommy could feel his intense stare.

Tommy nodded as best he could against the wall. Siren loosened the grip on his arm and dropped the hand from his mouth.

“What the FUCK?!” Tommy shouted as soon as his mouth was free. “Who the hell do you think you are just grabbing a guy off the street and pulling him into a fucking alley like a goddamn creep-”

The hand slammed over his mouth again. “I said no screaming,” Siren repeated.

Huffing, Tommy stopped squirming against the hand. He raised an eyebrow at Siren, and after a few beats of silence, Siren dropped the hand once more.

“I wasn’t screaming, dickhead. I was yelling at you for scaring the shit out of me,” Tommy snapped in a much lower voice this time.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Siren said, actually sounding kind of embarrassed. That was… weird. Getting an apology from a supervillain just felt wrong.

But hey, Tommy would take it.

“Then why did you decide to just grab me and shove me in an alley like a goddamn kidnapper?” Tommy hissed.

“I didn’t know how else to get you in a private place to talk! In case you haven’t realized, I can’t exactly just come up to you on the street,” Siren explained, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“So what, were you just waiting in the dark on the off chance I’d walk by this place?” Tommy asked, glancing around the alley and realizing it was the same one he’d found Siren in a week before.

Siren at least had the self-awareness to look embarrassed. “Uh, yeah. Pretty much.”

“And you want me to not think you’re a creep?” Tommy questioned, raising an eyebrow again. “Because that’s pretty fuckin’ weirdchamp.”

“How else was I supposed to find you? I don’t know your name or where you live or anything like that,” Siren explained.

Siren… was looking for him? Tommy’s heart rate began to pick up as his earlier worries came back full force.

“Why were you looking for me?” Tommy asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt. “You-You’re not gonna kill me or anything, right?”

Siren stared at him for a moment, and Tommy’s heart pounded in his ears.

“What the fuck? No, why would I kill you?” Siren sounded offended at the question.

“Because, uh, I dunno, I saw you injured? I dunno man! Why else would a supervillain be looking for me?!”

Sighing, Siren shook his head. “No, I’m not here to kill you. Quite the opposite really. I was so out of it when I woke up after you healed me that it wasn’t until I got home that I realized I never thanked you for saving my life. So, uh, I wanted to say a proper thanks.”

Tommy blinked several times. “You… wanted to thank me?”

“Yeah. I was kind of a dick when I woke up and I’m sorry for that. Like I said, I was pretty out of it from all the blood loss and looking back I should’ve been a lot nicer to the guy that saved me from bleeding out,” Siren explained, pushing his hair back with his hand. “Most people would’ve seen someone… like me and just decided to let me die. Or worse, they would’ve called the police. But you didn’t. I owe you for that.”

“Uh, no, you don’t owe me anything,” Tommy said, shaking his head. The last thing he wanted was for a supervillain to owe him something. That would just get him way more involved with this kind of stuff than he wanted to be. “Trust me, it wasn’t a lot of trouble to fix you up. Just saying thanks is fine.”

“It’s not though. You drained your own energy to heal me, and didn’t even report the sighting to the news afterwards. I owe you for that. You don’t have to call it in, but if you ever need a favor you can let me know,” Siren said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Tommy sighed. “Ah, yes, because I can just call up one of the city’s greatest villains next time I need someone to pick up something from the grocery store for me,” Tommy deadpanned. “I appreciate it, but seriously don’t think anything of it. Maybe if you wanna repay me so badly, just make sure a fucking building doesn’t fall on me if I’m ever caught in the crossfire during one of your big hero villain battles.”

Siren snorted. “Fair enough I guess, but just keep the favor in mind. If you need something we’ll figure out a way you can contact me,” he said, smirking at Tommy.

Tommy rolled his eyes again, ready to tell Siren he was fine and that he really had to get going now, when he was cut off by a loud gurgling noise.

His face flushed red as Siren glanced down to Tommy’s stomach, which was growling in an unreasonably loud manner.

“Are you hungry?” Siren asked, quirking the corners of his lips like he wanted to laugh.

“No I’m not,” Tommy snapped, wincing when his stomach growled again as if to directly contradict him.

“Yes, you clearly are,” Siren laughed. “You want some dinner? I think there’s a McDonald’s near here we can walk to.”

“What, are you just gonna walk in like ‘hello it is me the Siren I will have the happy meal?’” Tommy scoffed, struggling to even imagine the sight.

A few minutes later, Tommy found himself standing in the middle of a McDonalds in this exact situation.

The McDonalds was mostly empty at this time of night. The harsh white lights stabbed into his eyes, reflecting against the dingy tile floor. There were three customers in the fast food place itself: a man in the far back table hunched over a plate of fries like they were going to be stolen any moment, and a young couple practically making out in one of the stained booths against the wall. None of these customers seemed to notice the two new patrons that had walked in.

It was rather comedic to see Siren standing in the middle of a McDonalds. His long, dark trench coat practically brushed the tile floors, and Tommy could just make out a few remnants of blood stains on the fabric in the fluorescent lighting. Tommy also realized that the reason Siren’s mask had glittered in his flashlight beam that one night was because the fabric itself literally fucking sparkled. It was some kind of strange, shimmering blue cloth that completely covered everything above his nose, yet didn’t seem to impede his ability to see whatsoever.

The villain stuck out like a splash of darkness in the bright restaurant. He had his hands shoved into his pockets, and was casually glancing at the menu while they waited for the cashier to reappear from the back.

“Hi sorry for the wait, welcome to McDonalds what can I-” the cashier cut themself off the minute their eyes landed on Siren. They let out a sharp gasp, stumbling over their feet and looking as if they were going to launch themself over the counter to run away.

Instead of doing that though, they ended up freezing in place, breathing rapidly while glancing between Siren and Tommy.

“W-What do you- I mean can I- are you here to rob us?” The person managed to stammer out.

Siren snorted. “No. I’m just here to order some food.”

“Wh-What about him?” The cashier asked, glancing at Tommy. “Did you- did you kidnap him?”

“I mean… yeah, let’s go with that in case this ends up on the news,” Siren shrugged, looking back at Tommy. “I kidnapped you, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Tommy agreed, knowing that if they said he was kidnapped, it would keep people from getting suspicious of why he was seen in public with Siren. “Anyway, can I get the chicken nuggets happy meal, with a coke?”

“You heard him,” Siren said to the cashier. “One chicken nuggets happy meal with a coke. Also just a large fry a la carte.”

“Uh, a chicken nuggets happy-happy meal with a coke, and a large fry. Do you, um, want any sauce with that?” The cashier asked, their hands trembling as they typed in the order.

“You want any sauce?” Siren asked.

“Ranch sounds good,” Tommy nodded.

The cashier nodded, gulping as they typed in the order. They told Siren the price with a terrified expression, and Siren just nodded as he dug the cash out of his pocket and dropped it on the counter.

Once they got their food, they left the McDonald’s and Siren led Tommy to a nearby rooftop, showing him how to climb up the fire escape safely. He said it was better to eat on the rooftop, because they would be less likely to be spotted by police (even though the cashier had probably called the cops as soon as they left the restaurant).

The building wasn’t a very tall one. They sat on the ledge, Tommy kicking his legs as he dug into his chicken nuggets. Siren sat next to him, munching on a french fry as he looked out at the city skyline. While Tommy didn’t want Siren to think he owed Tommy anything, he also wasn’t going to turn down the offer for free food, even if it was coming from a supervillain. Besides, he had been craving McDonalds for the past few days. This was just fate actually being kind to him for once.

“So,” Siren began after Tommy had gotten through about half of his nuggets. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“I’m Tommy,” he answered, taking a bite of a ranch-covered nugget.

“And you’re how old?”

Tommy narrowed his eyes. “What’s it to you, creep?”

Siren scoffed. “I’m just curious. You look like you’re, what, fifteen?”

“Excuse me, bitch!” Tommy protested. “I’m not fifteen, I’m not a fucking baby! I’m seventeen!”

“Oh wow, such a difference,” Siren teased. “Still a child either way.”

“Oh fuck off. What are you, old man? Forty?”

“I’m not forty!” Siren immediately shot back. “I’m-” he cut himself off before he could say his age, and glared at Tommy for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m not telling you my age because I don’t want to compromise my identity, but I’m not forty.”

“Until proven otherwise I’m gonna say you’re forty,” Tommy teased, smirking at Siren.

“You’re such a little shit,” Siren muttered, shaking his head even though Tommy could see he was suppressing a smile. “You’re almost done with school then though? Since you’re seventeen?”

“Already graduated actually,” Tommy shrugged. “Took some extra classes online so I could graduate early. I needed to be able to work full time to afford my rent.”

“You don’t live with your parents?” Siren asked.

“Don’t got any,” Tommy said, taking another bite of nugget. “Got myself out of the foster system as soon as I was able to, same with my roommates. We have our own place now and we take care of ourselves.”

Tommy doesn’t mention how it took nearly everything to get himself out of that horrid system. How he spent years being shuffled from house to house, leaving with bruises painted across his skin more often than not. How finally being placed in a group home where he met Tubbo and Ranboo was his saving grace because he had something to look forward to for the first time in his life—a future he wanted.

No, he didn’t mention any of that. That fucking foster system nearly killed him. Siren didn’t need to know that.

Siren nodded, looking at the streets far beneath their feet. “And you’re not in the hero training program? Or do vigilantism on the side? Healing powers aren’t common. You’d be considered a pretty valuable asset.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Even if I did, you really think I’d tell you?” He shook his head, leaning back on his hands. “Nah, I’m not though. Don’t really feel like getting involved in all that shit. I’ve got enough on my plate just trying to pay my rent. I don’t need to get involved with your whole world on top of it.”

“But you still saved my life,” Siren pointed out, tugging at the edges of his mask absently.

“That’s just because it was the right thing to do,” Tommy grumbled. “Speaking of, how is your healing coming along? If you need, I can do another session and it’ll probably fix it completely.”

“I think it’s okay. I had some healing potions so I’ve pretty much completely healed up,” Siren explained, lifting the edge of his shirt to show a healthy pink scar on his abdomen.

“That’s good. I didn’t exactly feel like getting a headache trying to fix you up even more,” Tommy snorted.

“Wow, you have wonderful bedside manner,” Siren drawled sarcastically, flicking a french fry at Tommy’s forehead.

“Oi! You’re lucky I offered at all!” Tommy argued.

In the back of his mind, Tommy knew how strange this entire situation was. Here he was, sharing McDonald’s with one of the most terrifying villains this city knew, joking around and teasing him. On the news, Siren always seemed so… cruel. He would whisper his commands with a blank face, ordering police officers to walk off the edges of rooftops without the slightest bit of hesitation. If Blade or Zephyrus were injured (which was a very rare occurrence in itself), Siren’s face would contort with rage, and he would bark out his orders with the unbending force.

But now, Siren was just laughing and eating french fries while bickering with some random teenager. It was like the villain on the TV and the villain in front of him were two entirely different people. While Tommy knew he should be afraid of Siren still, it was hard to treat him as a serious threat when he was flicking french fries at his head.

He debated voicing this to the supervillain, but decided not to. For all he knew this could offend him, and even if Tommy wasn’t afraid of Siren right now, it was better not to push his luck.

Suddenly, there was a beeping sound coming from Siren’s wrist, and he paused to look at whatever alert he’d just gotten. Pursing his lips, he sighed.

“This has been nice, but I think it’s time for me to go,” Siren declared, swallowing the last french fry he had as he pushed to his feet. “I got some stuff I need to take care of. You know how it is.”

Tommy snorted. “Ah, evil villain stuff. Good luck with that.”

Siren smirked at him. “Thanks. Can you get home from here by yourself?”

“Of course I can! I’m not a child!” Tommy argued, frowning at the man.

“Alright alright, just making sure I’m not stranding a child on a roof,” Siren teased, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

“Oh fuck you bitch I’m not a child-”

“I’ll see you later, Tommy,” Siren said, cutting him off as he walked to the door that led inside the building from the top of the roof. Although the door was supposed to be locked, Siren swung it open easily and waved at Tommy from the doorway, before letting it slam shut behind him.

Now left alone on a windy roof in the dead of night, Tommy stared at the McDonald’s in his lap. This had to be one of the weirdest nights of his life, and all he had to show for it was a half-eaten happy meal.

But hey, at least he got free food out of it.

---

Once again, Tommy didn’t tell Tubbo and Ranboo about his encounter with Siren when he got home. Instead he made up some excuse about Puffy offering to take him out for dinner, pointedly not mentioning that he got McDonald’s when he noticed that Siren’s little McDonald’s trip had made it onto the news.

Thankfully, there were no pictures of Tommy from the McDonald’s. Instead, they just had grainy security footage showing Siren and a blond boy whose face was obscured leaving the fast food joint, and a physical description of him provided by the cashier. It was reported as an attempted robbery which was ridiculous since Siren had paid for their food, but he figured they couldn’t make a news story out of Siren just going to get some french fries.

“Why would Siren want to rob a McDonald’s of all places?” Tubbo asked while they were all sitting on the couch, watching the news story flash on the TV.

“I’m not sure. With someone as powerful as him, you’d think he could take on, like, a bank or something,” Ranboo replied as he leafed through the pages of his journal. “Not to mention, they only said it was a robbery attempt. Not that it succeeded. How would Siren fail to rob a McDonald’s? All he needs to do is tell them to give him all the money in the register.”

“Maybe he wasn’t robbing it at all,” Tommy muttered.

Both Tubbo and Ranboo’s heads snapped to him.

“Huh?”

“I mean, sure the news says he was robbing it, but that security footage doesn’t seem like he is. Maybe he just wanted food,” Tommy shrugged, trying to keep his expression neutral as he messed with a fidget cube Ranboo had bought him a while back.

“Well… I guess that would explain why he had a kid with him,” Ranboo said, tapping his chin. “If he was getting the kid food then he might not have been robbing the place at all, like you said, Tommy.”

“I feel like they kinda just brushed over the fact that he kidnapped someone,” Tubbo chimed in, frowning at the TV. “Like, is he okay?”

“According to the cashier they said he seemed calm, but that was probably the influence of Siren’s powers,” Ranboo explained.

Fuck. It was really hard to keep quiet during this conversation. Tommy was struggling to look as uninterested as possible even though his two friends were literally talking about him, and watching security footage of him play on repeat over and over again. While he doubted his friends would put two and two together, he really didn’t feel like explaining why he was in a McDonald’s with Siren to them right now.

Thankfully, right when Tommy was considering going to bed just to escape this conversation, the news moved onto the next story of the night. Apparently those two vigilantes, Nuke and Ender, had been spotted engaging in a fight with the villain Jester earlier that night. Tommy had gotten an alert on his phone that Jester had been spotted, and later saw that the hero Flame had been sent to go take care of him. He hadn’t heard that Nuke and Ender had been involved though.

The footage on the TV showed the two vigilantes dodging Jester’s playing cards that he wielded like shuriken, with Nuke jumping from side to side, while Ender just teleported out of the way each time one of the razor sharp cards came close to him.

“If Nuke can blow shit up, why isn’t he doing it?” Tommy wondered aloud as he watched the two vigilantes struggle to avoid Jester’s deadly aim.

“Maybe he’s trying to wait for a good opportunity,” Tubbo replied, reaching for the bowl of popcorn that sat on their coffee table and dropping a few pieces in his mouth.

As if on cue, right when Tubbo said that, a strange orange light began to emanate from Nuke’s hands on the screen. Tommy watched as a small explosion forced Jester to jump back, and it took Tommy a moment to realize Nuke was throwing glowing spheres that exploded on impact.

“Holy shit that’s sick!” Tommy exclaimed, eyes widening as he watched the fight continue on. The two vigilantes seemed to have a system worked out where Nuke would attack Jester with his explosions, and Ender would teleport Nuke out of the way if a card came close to hitting him.

“Do you think they’re cool?” Tubbo asked, raising his eyebrows at Tommy.

“I mean, I think they’re cooler than that last vigilante guy that got arrested,” Tommy shrugged, thinking back to the vigilante Slimecicle and his very publicized arrest. “Plus, they seem to actually be doing pretty well against Jester.”

As the two vigilantes on the TV continued to dodge, there was a bright flash in the sky as a literal fireball came crashing down on the roof where the fight was happening. The two vigilantes jumped backwards as Flame appeared in all his ‘hero glory’. Flames flickered off the top of his dark hair and on his hands as he turned to face Jester. In response, Jester took a step back as golden wings sprouted from his back. Apparently Nuke and Ender didn’t provide enough of a threat to make Jester activate his shapeshifting abilities, but Flame did. With the distraction though, Nuke and Ender took the opportunity to escape with Ender grabbing Nuke and teleporting away.

The footage cut there, apparently the fight between Flame and Jester too boring to gain its own news story. The reporter mentioned that Jester eventually escaped, and once again repeated the message about reporting Nuke and Ender to the vigilante hotline if they were spotted.

“I gotta admit, I wonder what their goal is,” Tommy muttered, twisting the little spinning disc on the top of his fidget cube. “Usually they just stop robberies and shit, but now they go one on one with Jester? Seems a little bold for two newer vigilantes like them.”

“I mean, maybe they just saw Jester was in the area and didn’t want to risk him hurting someone,” Ranboo pointed out, staring down at his journal.

Tommy snorted. “Jester’s not an idiot. He wouldn’t just randomly attack civilians unless he was actually pulling a job, like that casino heist he pulled a while back. If anything, he was probably just going to meet with some people before Nuke and Ender interrupted him.”

Still staring down at his book, Ranboo wrung his hands together. “You, uh, you really think he wasn’t going to do anything?”

“I can’t know for sure. I’m not a supervillain mind reader after all. But judging by the way Jester has acted in the past, even if he pretends he just likes chaos for the hell of it, he’s a lot more calculating than that.”

Both Tubbo and Ranboo were quiet for a moment, Ranboo looking strangely embarrassed, while Tubbo was still stuffing his face with popcorn.

“Tommy-”

“I think we should go to sleep now!” Tubbo suddenly announced, cutting Ranboo off and giving him a pointed look. Tommy blinked at the strange interaction, watching as Tubbo and Ranboo had some sort of silent conversation and trying to shove down the prickle of jealousy that resulted from that.

“You didn’t seem that tired a few minutes ago, Tubbo,” Tommy pointed out, narrowing his eyes at his friend.

“Oh no, trust me, I’m exhausted,” Tubbo said, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. “Ranboo is too. Right Ranboo?”

“Oh, um-” Ranboo yawned as well, although his attempt was painfully fake compared to Tubbo’s. “Yeah, I sure am exhausted. Real tired.”

There was obviously still something going on between the two of them, something they didn’t want to tell Tommy about. He had a feeling it was related to the same strangeness he’d noticed between the two of them the other night, when he’d healed Siren.

It stoked embers in his chest that were hard to reconcile, something angry but low burning. He didn’t like the idea of his two best friends keeping secrets from him, but he also had known the two of them long enough that he knew they wouldn’t keep stuff from him without good reason.

Plus, Tommy was actually very tired. He’d had quite the night, and was going to suggest turning in right before Tubbo had brought it up.

So he decided to let the strange behavior between Tubbo and Ranboo go once again. At the moment, he had bigger things to worry about. Namely the fact that Siren felt he owed Tommy a favour, which was something Tommy vehemently did not want.

“Alright, what’s the bed schedule for tonight, lads?” Tommy asked, putting his fidget cube down.

“You and me are taking the bed again, Tommy,” Tubbo said.

Tommy frowned. “I’m pretty sure me and Ranboo were supposed to take the bed-”

“Nope! You and me. Plus, Ranboo wants the couch tonight, right Ranboo?” Another pointed look was thrown Ranboo’s way.

“Uh, yeah. My back is a bit sore anyway so the couch would be better for tonight,” Ranboo agreed, although he was shooting a half-hearted glare at Tubbo.

“Ooookayyyy,” Tommy said, drawing out the ‘o’ and the ‘k’ sounds as he glanced between the two of them. Pushing to his feet, Tommy headed out of the living room and to the bedroom, trying to ignore the way Tubbo immediately darted down to whisper something in Ranboo’s ear the second Tommy was out of earshot.

Crawling into the bed, Tommy curled up on his favorite side, tugging the blankets securely over him because he knew how much of a blanket hog Tubbo could be once he fell asleep. Only a few moments later, Tubbo followed him into the room and hopped in the bed beside him, grunting a bit as he struggled to get comfortable.

There was silence between them, and it wasn’t the usual silence that came with going to sleep. It was something heavier. Something tense. In the other room, he could hear Ranboo shuffling around to make his bed on the couch. Although Tommy had told himself he was going to let it go, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep if he didn’t at least try to ask.

“Tubbo?” Tommy whispered, his voice booming in the quiet.

“Yeah?” Tubbo whispered back, rolling over so he was facing Tommy.

“Are you… are you guys hiding something from me?” He asked, wincing when his voice squeaked. “Because I feel like there’s something going on between you and Ranboo that you’re not telling me.”

There was a beat of silence as Tubbo considered his response. In the gloom of the room, Tommy could just barely make out the place on Tubbo’s head where his overgrown brown roots met his bright bleached hair.

“We wouldn’t keep anything from you if you needed to know it,” Tubbo said after a moment.

Tommy frowned. “Do you not trust me?” Shit. That sounded whinier than he meant it to.

A warm hand wrapped around his, and Tubbo gave him a comforting squeeze. “Of course we trust you. And if you trust us, trust me when I tell you you don’t need to know what’s going on.”

“Will you tell me eventually?” Tommy pushed, gripping tightly onto Tubbo’s hand.

“We will, bossman. When it’s a bit easier,” Tubbo reassured. “It’s not something that’s a big deal anyway, so don’t worry too much about it.”

Tommy snorted. “The fact that you’re telling me not to worry doesn’t help matters.”

“Nah, it’s nothing bad, I promise,” Tubbo said again. With one last squeeze, Tubbo slipped his fingers out of Tommy’s and rolled back onto his other side, telling Tommy that the conversation was over.

While Tommy didn’t want the conversation to be over just yet, he knew how Tubbo could get, and he knew he wasn’t going to get anything else out of his best friend tonight. It was a miracle he’d gotten even this much out of Tubbo, seeming how secretive he was being about whatever this thing was.

“Goodnight Tubbo,” Tommy muttered as he rolled onto his other side so his back was facing Tubbo’s.

“Night Tommy,” Tubbo replied, readjusting once before falling quiet.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Tommy to fall asleep.