Chapter Text
Tommy loved coming to the arcade. The bright lights and game sounds. The look of the tacky carpet. The smell that couldn't quite be explained or removed...
The sound of the crowd as they surrounded him, watching him beat record after record. Tommy couldn't help but grin at the gasping and cheering that came from the people around him as he breezed through levels. He was sure that he even heard some of them placing bets over when he'd lose.
The arcade was like a second home to Tommy. While his brothers were working or studying, he was here. Enjoying the constant AC blast, spending quarter after quarter to claim any number one spot he could get his hands on.
Eventually, his character was fatally shot. The game ended, and Tommy had to hold in his laughter as he could tell just who lost bets and who had won them. Turning to the crowd, Tommy dramatically bowed and gave a salute, bouncing off to the other side of the arcade to the claw machines.
A lot of the plushies in them were cheap disfigured knockoffs of actual company marketed plushies. Ones that parents would often buy off the internet to save a few bucks.
But just buying them wouldn't be as fun, would it? Besides, Tommy thought they had some charm to them. A very... ugly charm, but still charm!In fact, maybe Ranboo would like a stuffed cat... panda... thing.
Tommy put a quarter into the claw machine. He gave a quick look around to see if anyone was near him. Satisfied, Tommy slipped a hand into his hoodie pocket. Keeping his other hand on the machine's handle, he flexed his fingers, moving the machine's claw.
Tommy may not have been born with fancy abilities like Ranboo, nor was he some kind of insect hybrid like Tubbo. But his ability to lightly manipulate machinery was all he really needed. Especially when it came to something like this.
"Oy, I don't think so!"
Tommy stopped as he felt his ability being overpowered. Sighing as the machine whirred to a stop, Tommy turned around with the biggest forced smile he could come up with.
"Jack Manifold! My friend! My pal! My guy!" He greeted as the blue and red eyed man gave him the most unimpressed look a tired man could give.
"Don't wanna hear it, Tommy."Jack, being the thorn in Tommy's side as he was, used his own powers to force the machine's claw back into it's neutral position.
Jack's power wasn't really that well known, especially to Tommy. All Tommy knew was that it had to do with magnets. He was able to focus on the metal in the machine, pulling it back to where it was supposed to be before being messed with.
"You are such a bitch, Manifold!"Tommy groaned dramatically, tossing his head back so it lightly thumped against the thick plastic of the claw machine.
"Better a bitch than a thief."
"Me?A thief?" Tommy scoffed dramatically. "I would never!I'm offended you would even think so low of me!" He grinned as Jack snorted. "If anything, I'm an arcade Robin Hood! Taking from the rich, and giving to the me! Just taking what I'm owed."
"Owed?" Jack scoffed, obviously trying to fight a grin. "And being horrifically good at arcade games to the point that you could buy anything just using points isn't 'payment'?"
"Jack Manifold!" Tommy gasped. "Was that an actual compliment?" Jack's eyes widened a tad as Tommy walked towards him with his arms open. "That's so unlike you!"
"Don't touch me-"Jack cut himself off with a loud groan as Tommy gave him a tight hug.
"You do love me after all!"
"I hate you so much, actually."Jack tried to wiggle free, pushing Tommy, only making him cling tighter. "You may be Tommy Beloved, but you're anything but!"
To anyone on the outside, it might look like Tommy and Jack genuinely hated each other. But to the people who knew them, they knew just how much the pair cared about each other. People like Niki, who stood behind the nearby prize counter, watching the back and forth with a fond smile on her face.
"Alright, Tommy. Let him go."She called out to the pair, crouching to get something from the counter for a kid. Tommy, always one to listen to whatever Niki said, let Jack go, laughing as Jack dramatically brushed himself off.
"Stop trying to break my shit. If I have to call Sam to come repair something for the fourth time in two months, he's gonna kill me." Jack pointed at Tommy, trying to look serious, but unable to stop the grin that he got every time he and Tommy had a back and forth. "I've got my eyes on you."
"You should have your eyes on the counters, Jack."Niki commented, raising an eyebrow.
"You make it seem like I don't do my job."
"Because you don't."Niki and Tommy taunted in unison. Jack gave an offended look, before the three bursted into laughter. Jack gave Tommy a firm, friendly pat on the shoulder before giving a salute before heading through the Employees Only doors. Tommy gave Niki a thumbs up, Niki giving him a wink in return. He quickly turned back to the machine, once again messing with it until it dropped the plush he was determined to get for Ranboo.
Niki was honestly the best. Tommy turned, holding up the plush for Niki to see, grinning as she smiled and clapped her hands. As Tommy turned to walk away, leaving the mess for Jack to find and inevitably complain about, he let out a noise of shock as he bumped into someone.
"Shit! Sorry about that!" Tommy took a step back.
"No worries, mate." The man smiled at him, looking down at the plush in Tommy's hands. "Uh...What the fuck is that supposed to be?"
"Oh, this?"Tommy looked down at it. "No idea. But my brother likes to collect weird things, and I thought he'd like it."
"Looks like something my sons would collect."The man snorted. Tommy snorted, opening his mouth to respond. But before he could, a scream ran out, catching both of them off guard. They both looked over at the prize counter.
The same prize counter where Niki and Jack stood, their hands in the air as someone pointed a gun at them.
Tommy felt his blood boil.
"Unbelievable..."The man muttered, quickly looking at Tommy as he saw him move from the corner of his eye. "Wait, kid, don't!"
Before the man could blink, Tommy threw out his arm, causing the gears on a nearby machine to seize and screech. Caught off guard and yelling in pain, the person dropped the gun to cover their ears.
A wannabe criminal clearly on their first robbery.
Jack was quick to use his powers to slide the gun away as Tommy ran for the guy, jumping on their back. Ranboo and Tubbo were gonna kill him for this, but he'd rather be chewed out by his brothers than do nothing and let Jack, Niki, and other innocent people get shot.
The person quickly threw their body, sending Tommy off of them and against a game machine. As they turned for Tommy, they were quickly thrown to the ground by the man from earlier.
"Are you insane?!" He looked at Tommy, who was currently leaned against a woman, the woman looking himn over and making sure hge was okay. Tommy could only groan, opening one eye and giving a poor excuse of a grin. The man rolled his eyes, hoisting the wannabe thug up. "Is he okay?" He looked at the woman with Tommy.
"He should be okay. Bruised, but okay." The woman stood as Niki rushed over and took her place next to Tommy. The man nodded, knocking the man out by hitting him hard. Tommy's eyes widened.
"Cool."He mumbled, shutting up immediately as he got several sets of glares. The man, who eventually introduced himself as Phil, waited with the group as cops arrived. The officers gave a confused look at the state of the criminal, but nodded once they saw Phil holding him.
"Don't do that again!" Phil scolded Tommy in a way that reminded Tommy that the man said he had kids. Shaking his head, Phil followed the police as they left, probably giving an account of what happened, the woman from before following behind him. Before Tommy could get up, Niki thwacked him on the arm.
"That was the dumbest thing you've ever done, Tommy Beloved!" She hissed, Jack nodding in agreement. "You could've seriously gotten hurt!"
"Yes, but I didn't."Tommy grinned, screeching as he earned another thwack.
Once things calmed down, and Jack and Niki also talked with the officers, the pair walked Tommy home, claiming they didn't trust him to not do something else dumb.
Tommy and his brothers were more than well off, if Tommy said so himself. It was only the three of them living together in a decent sized house. Sure, their moms were gone. Sure, they were orphaned at a yong age. But they had each other, and that's all that mattered.
Right?
Jack and Niki were two of the only people who knew about the trio living on their own, each of the brothers just recently turning 17. And despite the more than frequent squabbles over the morality of manipulating arcade machines to gain ugly plushies, the pair looked out for the boys.
But 'looking out' didn't stop them from just standing by as Tommy weas yelled at for the third time by Tubbo.
"You jumped on a huy with a gun?!"Tubbo shrieked, shaking Tommy back and forth, wings buzzing with anxiety and anger. "Are you insane?!"
"They were gonna shoot Niki and Jack!"Tommy defended, throwing his hands up in the air.
"That's why you just give them the money, Tommy! So they don't do that! That's what financial insurance is for!"
"First of all, fuck the government."
"That has nothing to do with-"
"Second of all, I'm alive, aren't I?" Tommy screeched in pain as Tubbo punched him as hard as he could in the arm. "Ow! Okay, fine!I'm sorry!"
"You're impossible." Tubbo rubbed at his face. "Don't do it again!"
"You're, like, the second person to say that to me today."
"So listen!" Tubbo and Niki yelled at the same time, Jack focusing more on the game on his phone.
As Tommy and Tubbo squabbled back and forth, the front door opened. Ranboo stepped in, a parade of purple shadow-like creatures scrambling in behind him, carrying bags of fast food.
Boobers, as Ranboo so lovingly called them. They could be sent away with a clap and couldn't do much on their own, but were very helpful to Ranboo when working together.
Ranboo looked around at the scene in front of him. Tommy being throttled by an angry Tubbo, Niki and Jack... in their house for some reaon. Looking down at the Boobers, he looked back up at the group.
"I brought nuggets?"