Black and White(A TommyInnit Vigilante Story)

Chapter Twenty Three: Remember Me?

Tommy had brought a friend home. Someone with powers. This was dangerous territory. Depending on the power, the boy could find out about their real identities. And that would not be a fun mess to clean up. The boy Tommy had brought didn't even introduce himself, instead avoiding them altogether and opting to stay close to Tommy's side. Techno briefly wondered if the boy somehow already knew who they were, but he brushed it off immediately. Surely the boy couldn't know their whole life story just by looking at them, right? Tommy and the boy ran off to play outside, and Techno was surprised to find himself watching from the window. Usually he didn't care who Tommy brought to play with, but something told him Tommy was even closer with this boy than the others. Suddenly, he noticed two sticks dancing in the air, appearing to fight one another, attempting to hit the boys. Suddenly, Tommy turned to his friend, panicked. He explained something quickly, and the boy turned and looked directly at the window. Right at Techno. His deep purple eyes bore holes into Techno, and Techno could only think one thought. He knows. The mysterious boy with purple eyes knows who he is. He blinked once, and the sticks were gone. He must have imagined it, right? But no, those purple eyes... That night, he banned Tommy from playing with the kid, forced Tommy to stay at home, and cut off all communication with the purple-eyed boy. But now, this boy in front of him... No, it couldn't be... Could it?

"Remember me?" The purple eyed boy said. "You're that boy with the sticks, aren't you?" Techno asked. "Yup, the one and only." "How did you know who I really was?" Tommy laughed from the corner of the room, and Techno only then realised that Tommy had been there the whole time. "What did you think happened? I told him who you were, asshole." Tommy said from the corner. Techno narrowed his eyes. "How did you know who we were?" He asked Tommy. "Oh, I knew since I was three-ish. Mom kind of gave it away to be honest." Techno gasped, clearly shocked. "So all those precautions were for nothing?" Tommy nodded. "Why did you think I kept it a secret, prick? Maybe because I knew that would happen. And if Wilbur hadn't been a fucking dickhead and had actually knocked on my door like he was supposed to, you never would have found out that I knew or that I had powers." Techno sat in silence for a few seconds, the realisation of the truth slowly sinking in. "So that's why you left. Because we didn't trust you." Tommy nodded. "Nice to see you finally figuring it out, ten years later." Techno looked away, waves of guilt overtaking him. "We have a lot to talk about Techno." The purple-eyed boy said. Tommy looked up at the boy's words. "Techno, I'd like you to properly meet my friend Purpled."

Purpled. So that was the name of the mysterious boy. How fitting. Neither boy seemed to find this as ironic as Techno and they continued to stare at him, as if expecting something from him. "Nice to meet you?" He said it as if it was a question. This seemed to somewhat satisfy them, although they still seemed annoyed at him. "Listen man, I just want you to know what Tommy's been through since he left. Then maybe you can get your fellow heroes to leave him alone, because he's been through more shit than even I can tell you. Tommy doesn't like to talk about it, but he knows it's necessary, and he always wants to be in the room when we talk about it. So I would suggest that you listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once." Techno nodded, and Purpled looked over at Tommy, as if asking permission to begin. Tommy nodded, and Purpled began.

"So I know Tommy told you some of this, but let's start with why he ran away. First of all, he was hurt that you all were keeping secrets from him. He was even more hurt when you started banning him from making friends and keeping him isolated in order to 'protect' him." He made air quotes around the word protect. "When you guys found out about his power, he was overwhelmed. He wanted you to see that he could take care of himself. So he jumped out his window and climbed a pine tree that overlooked the front door. Then he could see when you guys would go out to search for him, or if you even went out to search." He glanced over at Tommy, making sure he had gotten all this correct so far. With a nod of his head, Purpled continued the story.