Antiheroes

Chapter 38: Can't sleep

Philza POV.

A tired sigh fell from my I sat in the living room, staring at the blank TV screen with a hot cup of tea in my hands. It was really late in the evening, or possibly really early in the morning. And I just had been struggling to fall asleep, so I was hoping that the tea would help me pass the time, and help me relax at the least.

After sitting for a while though the cup had been emptied. I drank it all and was now just sitting, staring at my reflection in the blank TV screen. I decided to try and sleep, at least for a couple of hours, since there was no point in me sitting awake in the living room all night.

Since the majority of the base was quiet I couldn’t help but hear the sound of Tommy whispering to Tubbo and Ranboo. It was a little hard to hear them, but as I got closer their words were easier to understand. “I can’t believe it,” Tommy practically hissed under his breath.
“You’ve said that several times already,” I heard Ranboo mutter.

Part of me knew that I shouldn’t listen to them. The three were all teenagers, so their conversation could be about things that do not involve me, and that I do not want to be involved in, and I should respect their privacy. But it wasn’t my fault that Tommy was overly loud, at one in the morning.

“I know that I have said that several times. Doesn’t make it any less fucking shocking!” Tommy continued, just as loudly as before.
“Can you be quiet?” Tubbo questioned. “You might wake everyone up.”

That was when I was about to leave again, however Tommy (as he always does) continued, telling me even more. “Sorry, it’s just hard to sleep when you know a criminal is in the other room.” He stated, and that immediately made me turn towards the door of the teens bedroom and open the door.

The blond had been sitting on his bed cross-legged, looking down at Ranboo and Tubbo who were both laying on the mattresses they slept on every time they were here. All of their eyes widened when they saw me step in, since they obviously didn’t think I was awake, Tommy especially. “Uh-hey Phil,” he greeted cautiously. “Were you listening to what I just said?”

“I was,” I responded, immediately turning my attention to my son who seemed to regret what he was talking about. “Now, what are you talking about a criminal being here?” I questioned, trying not to worry too much about his words, and silently hoping that he would tell me he was just lying, or making stuff up. But he didn’t.

“Tommy? What are you talking about with a criminal being here?” I questioned after a couple minutes of silence with the blond staring blankly at me.
“Well-er.. So you see.” He began muttering out a bunch of words that didn’t make any sense, and so I stopped him.

“Make it quick Tommy or you are grounded.” I stated firmly. I honestly was feeling tired from this point, and he hadn’t answered me yet.
“Karl kind of invited Sapnap to stay in his room,” the blond immediately admitted. “He told me not to tell you though, so don’t tell him that you know.”

He seemed awkward after I had said that, all the while I just stared at him, making sense of what he said. Well, obviously I didn’t need to make more sense of it, it was quite clear what the teenager had said.

Sapnap, one of the most dangerous criminals in the city who we have been trying to take down for years, was in the other room, with Karl. I had heard that the two of them had some sort of relationship, based on the fact that one night Karl had snuck out on a date with him, but the fact that the teleporter was sleeping in our headquarters with him surprised me.

“Go to bed, it’s late.” I decided to tell the three teenagers, although it was mainly directed at my own son. Tommy opened his mouth and started objecting as I turned and left the room. He was mainly saying things along the lines of how he would get yelled at by Karl if I confronted him. I ignored the blond though, turning the light switch off as I walked out of the room.

After taking a moment to listen to Tommy quieten down after pleading for his life, I walked down the hall to Karl’s room, pausing at the door for a moment before knocking. Sure enough, there was a crash coming from inside, and without waiting for someone to say to come in I pushed open the door.

Just as Tommy said, the arsonist was now sitting on the floor, having gotten tangled in the bedsheets which were now wrapped loosely around his waist and torso, which was not covered with a shirt or anything by the way. Karl on the other hand was sitting up, his gaze shifting between the ravenette on the floor, and me in the doorway.

At this point in time I didn’t know what to say. And it was honestly surprising that after all this time, and everything that has happened in the past few months I was over it. “Karl, why the hell is there a known criminal sitting on the floor of your bedroom?” My voice was scarily calm as I asked the question, and it was clear that both of them thought that too.

“It’s a long story,” Karl began, teleporting to stand right in front of the doorway and holding the door as though ready to close it at any second. “But the warehouses and most of the dock where Sapnap was living were destroyed, and so I offered to let him stay here, for the time being. And if Tommy told you about this I am going to skin him alive…”

“You can trust me Mr-uhhh Philza sir,” Sapnap stated, taking the bedsheets and putting them on the bed before walking over to me.”I want to turn over a new leaf, I decided that I am going to help you stop Wilbur!” He was clearly happy when he said that, and it honestly seemed like he was wanting me to have the same reaction, but I didn’t.

So he made his face more neutral as he wrapped his arms around Karl’s torso in a hug from behind. However I listened to what Karl was saying, believing what he did say about how the docks were destroyed (cause why would Karl have suddenly turned up again if it hadn’t), but there was no way in hell I trusted Sapnap.

And I verbalised that, looking the ravenette in the eyes and saying, “there is no way in hell that I trust you.”
“But I swear that I do want to help,” the arsonist tried to convince me, and I was still obviously not buying it.

“Pretty sure that you said that once before,” I recounted. “And that ended up with you lying, and Karl ending up in hospital.” At the moment I didn’t honestly care if the teleporter thought Sapnap was innocent or not. He still was dangerous, and I was more worried about the safety of the three teenagers in the other room, and George, and myself, than Karl’s love life.

My eyes narrowed even further as I watched Sapnap lean down to whisper something in Karl’s ear, something that made his face turn bright red. Once he had whispered to Karl he turned his attention back to me, the playful smirk on his face being replaced with a serious one.

“Sir, I promise that I will not do anything to betray you… if you want I’ll even be willing to take a lie detector test, or you could put a tracker on me or whatever.” He watched as I rubbed my forehead, my brain was starting to hurt after having to deal with all of this, and against my better judgement I decided to trust him.

“Fine,” I sighed. “You can stay Sapnap, however I want you to do some superhero training and if you betray us then Karl will be taking responsibility for all of that.” I couldn’t help but notice how Sapnap tensed up in his hug with the brunette as I said that.

Without a word to either of them I walked out, quickly heading to my room and collapsing on my bed. At this point my headache was killing me, and I was over this whole night, but that’s when I heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway.
_________________________________________
1468 words