chapter 4

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Tommy was actually considering buying curtains to cover the windows at night during his shift because villains were coming by too casually for them to not be seen one day. He just prayed that a normal customer, normal meaning not a criminal or villain, didn't walk into the shop while a villain was there, too. Unlikely, but he seemed to have the worst luck ever considering standing in front of him was the freaking Blade, the most feared member of the SBI.

He considered dying on the spot right there and then but decided not to when he remembered he still needed to contribute in paying the bills and Tubbo and Ranboo would simply suffer without him. The whole world would suffer, really, the biggest man dying would cause a huge commotion after all. He decided to live for the greater good. But it was a tough choice.

"What would you like to drink today?" It was the same line he always asked every customer, but for some reason it felt much more awkward when he asked it that time. Maybe it was because he was talking to the most feared supervillain, but who knows. It's not like he was scared of the Blade. Definitely not.

The Blade cleared his throat, "Black coffee. Or is that still a stupid choice, is 1AM early enough." If he weren't so shocked hearing his voice for the first time, he would have facepalmed because of course Siren actually told the Blade that Tommy said that it was stupid. But from that reference Tommy assumed, not sure if it was a smart assumption but he went along with it, that the Blade would be fine with jokes. If not, then guess life is cut short! Which isn't preferable if he were being honest.

Well, he's mostly assured that he won't die because Siren had told him that the SBI try to avoid murdering without reason so he only had to hope that a joke that crossed a line wouldn't cross a line that would warrant his death.

"1AM is still pretty late, big man," Tommy finally said, starting on the black coffee. While making the coffee, he remembered that he probably didn't need to ask, considering Siren never ordered anything but black coffee when he ordered for the Blade, who he usually referred to as his brother and not 'the Blade'. The coffee dripped into the cup and for some reason, it felt so much slower today than usual. It was most definitely because of the Blade awkwardly staring at him as he made the coffee. "Do you not get any sleep or something?" he laughed, "Siren always orders coffee for you really late."

"A lot of work to do," the Blade responded, "You know, all the villainy and overthrowing the government to do." The fact he responded at all made Tommy smile.

"Of course, I totally know all the stuff you're talking about!" Tommy turns off the machine when the cup is full, and if he made it just a bit fuller to try to get on the good side of the Blade, no he didn't. "Any reason why Siren isn't here today? No offense, you've never come to get your coffee yourself."

The Blade's mouth quirked in something that resembled a smile, " Siren is being dramatic over his small injury, I was sent here by him to get coffee for the both of us. Will I get his coffee? No. He drinks coffee cold, like an absolute madman." Tommy burst out laughing at that.

"Exactly! I don't trust people who drink coffee or tea cold. Clearly, you're the more trustworthy one between the two. " They both laughed a little knowing that if Siren were here he'd make this a big deal about how he was always there and hanging out with Tommy and Tommy had the gall to say he trusted the Blade more. After Tommy wrote down 'Blade" on the cup, he handed the cup over to the Blade.

Unlike Siren who always stuck around until closing hours, the Blade left softly after that, muttering a 'bye' under his breath.

-

Clearly, Siren could not deal with the fact that Tommy had an interaction with the Blade without him because he came in 30 minutes after his shift started to maximize the amount of time he would get to spend with Tommy to make up for the fact he wasn't there last time. He said as such to Tommy who again thinks, I'm not paid enough for this .

"Tommy," Tommy hummed in acknowledgement as he continued to scroll through his phone, "Why would you let the Blade leave without my coffee?" Siren sounded like a whiney, spoiled child. That was probably true, but Tommy wouldn't know.

"He made a good point, you do drink iced coffee." Tommy said, looking back up at Siren, "What, do you drink tea cold, too."

That hit a soft spot or something because he saw Siren full on cringe in disgust at the sound of cold tea, "I may be a villain, but I am not a monster." It is not that deep. It's just a drink, who cares about how cold or hot someone drinks a drink. Tommy would judge Siren if he did drink tea cold like he drank coffee cold though. But nonetheless, Siren cares too much in Tommy's humble opinion.

"Are you going to order or not?" It seemed that Siren missing one day of visits made him forget he still needs to be a paying customer for the shop to stay running. Siren froze before what Tommy assumed to be a look of realization dawned on his face.

He actually forgot to order coffee at a coffee shop.

"Are you going to try something new or are you still going to drink iced coffee? Not sure if you noticed but we also have, like, three different teas on our menu as well." Tommy pointed to the small menu that stood by the cashier. Honestly, he forgot it existed half the time, so he wouldn't be surprised if Siren didn't notice it either.

Siren definitely hadn't noticed the menu before, because he leaned forward on the back of the chair, tipping it onto the edge of the leg of the chair- he lived life on the edge, clearly -and he stared at the menu. Tommy wouldn't doubt it if Siren had horrible eyesight and was squinting under that stupid mask of his as he struggled to read. There wasn't really anything about the mask that was stupid, he just wanted to call something stupid. "I'd like an Earl Grey, then."

"Would you like that cold, too?" Tommy asked, obviously messing with Siren, but Siren didn't take it as a joke because he audibly gasped at the question and fell back in his seat dramatically.

"Never." Siren said, "You monster." Siren left Tommy flabbergasted often times, considering he's been active as a villain since Tommy was younger, Tommy knew Siren was older and yet sometimes he questioned whether he was actually younger than Siren or not. He hoped that maybe the lack of a proper education is the problem. Maybe if he knew how to do math better there would be something that could say that Siren was younger than him. But those chances are low because age is just adding and subtracting and he knew how to do that just fine so there wasn't a high chance that Siren was younger.

He sat the tea down in front of Siren, placing a teaspoon next to it. "You are so dramatic."

"And you are a child."

"You don't even know how old I am?" Which should have been true, Tommy never revealed how old he was to Siren, but as Siren was a villain, he could probably find out how old Tommy was without much problem but he would hope that Siren would respect his privacy.

Tommy believed that he did respect his privacy, too, because without hesitation Siren rebutted with his oh so mature response of, "I don't need to know how old you are to know you are a child."

That day felt so much longer than usual and it was probably because of the presence of a man child the whole slow shift. 

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