We All Fall Down

Chapter 26

"Tommy, Awesamdude has requested your presence." Tommy was lucky he was caught up on his work, because that would have been a great inconvenience if he wasn't. Tommy stood from his desk and made his way to Awesamdude's floor. He decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator, because for some reason he was feeling claustrophobic.

"Hey Tommy! Look!" Awesamdude held up a pair of black combat boots while grinning. Tommy walked over, confused.

"Cool... boots. I guess." Tommy stood in front of Awesamdude and looked down at the boots. The embroidery looked fancy, with little patterns in it kind of looking like feathers.

"They're for you!" Tommy stared at Awesamdude in confusion and shock. "For me?" "Mhm. Try them on." Awesamdude held the boots out to Tommy and he took them, holding them delicately. Tommy sat down on Awesamdude's office chair and slipped his shoes off, replacing them with the combat boots. They fit well, and they felt comfortable.

"Wanna know the best part?" Tommy looked at Awesamdude and saw how giddy he was. Tommy nodded and Awesamdude clasped his hands together. "They boost your jumps! Just stomp your foot and it'll boost you into the air. Wanna go try it?" Tommy was concerned about several things. Why would Awesamdude assume a normal civilian would need jump boosting boots, why were there feathers embroidered into them, why would Awesamdude make him boots in the first place?

"Yeah, sure man." Awesamdude grinned and grabbed Tommy's hand, yanking him off the chair and dragging him to the elevator. Walking in the boots he could really feel the difference. Awesamdude dragged him out of the tower, practically bouncing the whole way to a park in South.

"Try it." Tommy took a deep breath and lifted his foot. "Oh wait! You'll want to float back down, it's a rough fall." Tommy stared at Awesamdude and Awesamdude stared right back. "So you'll need your wings out?" Awesamdude spoke like he was confused that Tommy was confused, and elaborating didn't make sense to him. Tommy continued staring, and Awesamdude made a subtle face of understanding. "Yes, I know. Doesn't really matter to me so, go on." Tommy took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and unhid his wings. Awesamdude looked amazed and smiled widely, making Tommy nervous.

"How did you know?" Awesamdude moved forward to get a closer look at Tommy's wings.

"Don't say anything, but there's a secret group of heroes I'm in. We call ourselves the gossips because we just gossip about people at the tower. Everyone in there are amazing at keeping secrets and we all signed an oath to keep anything said to the group in the group. Nobody in there cares about vigilante beef so when we were told you might be one we got so excited. We had several theories about you. Did you really show up at your own crime scene in costume?" Awesamdude looked at Tommy with intrigue and Tommy nodded, blushing slightly out of embarrassment. "I knew it. That whole thing was staged wasn't it?" Tommy nodded again and Awesamdude squealed, clapping his hands together. "I was so right. Is it because someone was close to finding out your identity?" Tommy shook his head and Awesamdude groaned. "So close. Ok ok, try the boots now for real." Awesamdude stepped back and Tommy hesitated, a million thoughts running through his head. Regardless, Tommy stomped his foot down and the bottom of the boot extended, launching him high into the air. Tommy panicked and flapped his wings, managing to slow his decent considerably. Tommy looked back at his wings, then down at Awesamdude. He wasn't flying, and he couldn't keep himself at one height, but he was very slowly drifting down and that felt like progress. Tommy's feet touched the ground again, the bottom of the boot clicking back into place, and Tommy had the biggest smile on his face.

"Pretty awesome, right?" Tommy pursed his lips, trying to conceal his excitement, and nodded quickly.

"Pretty very fucking awesome." Awesamdude laughed and they spent an hour practicing with them. Awesamdude informed Tommy of everyone in the group, which included Halo, Ember, Warper, Nihachu, and Captain Puffy. Not a big group, but it was 6 out of 17 heroes in it. The two got back to the tower an hour later, with Tommy's wings hidden again and both feeling light on their feet.