"One of these days, I'm going to kill you for this, you little shit," The intruder whispered under his breath as he was tackled to the ground by the small child. The little boy laughed instead of taking the threat seriously as he made grabby hands at the intruder's face. The man glared half heartedly as he took the small gremlin into his arms, pushing them both into a standing position. The child squealed happily while the man darted away from the high pitched noise.

"Michael! What happened?" Someone slammed open the door with a lot more force than strictly necessary. The intruder raised an unimpressed eyebrow while Michael in his arms giggled yet again. The newcomer was holding a broom like a weapon, and relaxed when he saw who had broken into his adopted son's room. "Oh, Tempest."

Tempest counted to three before he saw realization bloom on the man's face. In second four, Tempest was being half hugged and half beaten up by a man almost 2/3 his size. "Where have you been?! I was so worried!! I thought you had died!! You can't leave for a week, and show up unannounced like some sort of stupid fuc- I mean- wait-"

The man continued rambling, trying his best to not injury or curse in front of his son. All the commotion caused another person to answer, someone almost 4/3 of Tempest's size. The hybrid shuffled cautiously into the room, far more quiet than any of the other three. He seemed hesitant to do anything, face clearly showing concern but body language showing his fear of his platonic husband whenever he got upset. Tempest didn't blame the guy.

"Tubbo, I think that's enough," The hybrid finally drawled. Tubbo huffed, giving Tempest one more glare before calming down. Tubbo took Michael into his arms, happily cooing at the toddler as he tickled his stomach. The hybrid passed Tubbo and Michael to look Tempest in the eye. "What happened? Why were you gone?"

"Had some shit to take care of. Had a fucking accident, can you believe it? Me- the greatest man of all men- had an accident like someone whose name is Ranboob," Tempest responded with a mischievous smile.

"It's Ranboo, and you know that," The hybrid said with a sigh. The hybrid warbled something in his common tongue, and Tempest responded in the same language. Ranboo sighed in relief before following his roommates deeper into the house.

"Are we training today?" Tubbo asked with bright eyes. Tempest tapped once on the hilt of his sword instead of answering. Tubbo smiled as he scrambled to his feet, jumping over Michael's toys scattered across the living room as he reached for something on a bookshelf. Tempest watched Tubbo struggle to grab the items before laughing and getting them himself. Two wooden bamboo sticks strengthened until they could be used as practice weapons for a fair amount of time until breaking.

"One of these days, I'll cut off your legs so you'll be shorter than me," Tubbo threatened as he took one of the sticks. Tempest gave an awkward chuckle in response. Tubbo looked towards Ranboo, who was sitting on the ground while playing with his son. Tubbo gave them a warm smile, "We'll be back."

Ranboo nodded. Tubbo and Tempest left the apartment, and headed for the elevator. Tubbo rocked on his feet as he pushed the button to take them to the basement. The doors slid open to reveal a boiler room with a washer and dryer. Beside the clothing cleaner machines was a door that Tubbo swung open to reveal a rather large room designed like a ballet studio with the barre and mirror wall. Tubbo danced into the room, his body showing the energy he had been keeping pent-up since Tempest couldn't make it.

"Okay, bee baby, let's see if you've gotten rusty," Tempest smirked at Tubbo even though his mask covered his face. Tempest went to one corner of the room, depositing all his weaponry. His sniper rifle, sword, knives, and twin hand guns all were kept in a deadly pile. Tempest took a deep breath, turning around quickly so his stick slammed against Tubbo's to stop him in his place. "You're sneak attacks have gotten better."

"Thanks," Tubbo murmured as he pushed against Tempest's blade in the hopes of knocking him off balance. Tempest shifted his weight so he rolled right out of range. Tempest came back up, stick arcing downwards to intercept Tubbo's second hit. Tubbo pushed off Tempest's stick, dodging instead of engaging more. Tempest took the opportunity to flank Tubbo from the side. Tempest made his blows soft but fast, the stick shooting from one position to the next. Tubbo stumbled his way through each defensive move in order to not get hit.

Tempest finally relented. The two circled each other. Once. Twice. A strike from Tempest that Tubbo gracefully shot out of the way of. Tubbo brought the blunt end of the stick to hit Tempest's ribs, but the former hero brought his stick up in time for Tubbo's to smack against the cylinder side of his. Tubbo didn't let this stop him as he brought up his leg to hit Tempest's ribcage. Tempest dodged, but this allowed Tubbo to get a hit in.

"Hmm," Tempest hummed as he rubbed the sore spot now on his arm. He didn't tap out, instead took this as a sign of Tubbo wanting to turn their match up a notch. Tempest swung the stick like a bat, and Tubbo ducked out of the way. As Tempest was 180 degrees from his starting position, he jumped upwards with his leg coming up. In one fluid kick, Tempest had his foot slam into Tubbo's back, pushing off to leap over the boy. Tempest came back with a secondary hit using the blunt end of the stick.

Tubbo went crashing down, arms and legs sprawled out as he breathed heavily. Tubbo took a deep breath before rising back up, raising his stick to meet Tempest's. Tempest didn't hesitate to place his stick right next to Tubbo's, tapping it once before the fight continued.

Three minutes later, Tubbo was on the ground again, tapping the mat lightly. Tempest nodded, throwing down his stick before taking a knee beside Tubbo. The later sighed heavily. "I'll never beat you."

"Probably not. I am the biggest man," Tempest responded with a joking tone. He dropped the playful attitude when he saw Tubbo's frustrated expression. The boy had pushed himself to a sitting position, leaning his arms on top his knees and chin nestled in the elbow crevice farthest from Tempest.

"What's the point, then? I couldn't beat you when we started, and a month later, I'm no closer," Tubbo told Tempest with a hopeless face. To anyone else, Tempest would have laughed it off and called them a wimp or pussy. But, as luck would have it, this was Tubbo, and Tempest couldn't bring himself to do that to an old, old friend...

"You're better at sneak attacks, you have near perfect form, and you've begun using defensive measures. You may not be able to defeat me, but a lesser swordsmen won't know who knocked him out," Tempest reasoned as he placed a comforting hand on Tubbo's shoulder. The other looked at him with eyes that seemed to recognize Tempest as Tommy. Tempest didn't like that so he dropped the hand and turned away.

"You're right," Tubbo nodded along. After a few seconds, Tubbo whispered out. "May I tell you something weird?"

"I have a whole pile of weird information in my noggin. What do you have to add?" Tempest said with his light, joking turn returning steadily.

"I feel like you and I know more about each other than we should. Like, we understand each other in a way that others can't," Tubbo said with a serious face. Tempest shuffled away from Tubbo as the words slipped from his mouth. He had said something similar before, a lifetime ago. "Isn't that WeirdChamp?"

"Please don't say emotes out loud," Tempest replied like it pained him to hear the words. Tubbo laughed at him, and Tempest gave a low chuckle.

They dissolved into a comfortable silence, but Tubbo gave a long sigh. "I never got to apologize. You disappeared from the hero scene. No one knows why. But I think it has something to do with that night. And I'm sorry-"

"Don't apologize. It isn't your fault," Tempest snapped harshly. Those words were striking far too close to home to bring Tempest any sort of comfort. He had buried that night and the results deep in his chest. He didn't want to open old wounds, and bleed his feelings out in front of a not-quite stranger.

"But if Ranboo and I hadn't been there..." Tubbo trailed off as he argued.

Again, Tempest snapped out his answer. "It wouldn't have fucking mattered if you were or weren't. It isn't your fault I got exiled. If we're to blame anybody, we could blame me for my foolishness, XD for his arrogance, or Cl- Dream for his momentary lapse in judgment. If you want to take the blame, fine, that's your shit to get through. But there is more people involved than you."

"I guess that's true," Tubbo said in a way that implied he had trouble believing completely. Tempest told himself he didn't care. If Tubbo wanted to beat himself up for something he didn't do, what did it matter to Tempest? Except, it did matter, and Tempest didn't know how to make it stop. Against his will, a memory of Clay came to mind, his words making Tempest want to punch the mirror.

"You care, Tommy. That's what makes you the best sidekick. Because underneath your rough words and snarky attitude, you care more about people than anyone I know. That's both a blessing and a curse."

In order to keep from vomiting, Tempest changed the subject away from Clay and attachments and apologies. "What new shit have you gotten into, anyways? What happened in the week I was out?"

"Oh! I got hired actually! I'll be working in the tech department of the Heroes Association. What better way to throw them off my case than work with them? I feel like Spider-Man!" Tubbo cheered with a huge smile.

"Like that ended well," Tempest muttered beneath his breath as he remembered Uncle Ben, Venom, Gwen Stacy, and other characters in Spider-Man's life that didn't make it a good one. "That's great, Big Man. I'm proud."

Tubbo's face lit up at the praise, and Tempest forgot about every threat Tubbo ever threw his way for being tall or cussing near Michael. Tubbo had a power to rival Tempest's puppy dog eyes when the mask was off.

"Look, it's a puppy, Skeppy! Can we keep him?!"

"Hey! Stop trying to surprise adopt my sidekick!"

Tempest looked away from Tubbo's face. He couldn't handle being there anymore. "Hey, I have to split, y'know, drugs to smoke, women to meet, but at your job, if you meet a man named Major Scott, tell him I'm okay. While you're at it, tell me if a kid named Fundy is doing fine."

"Uhh, will do, big man," Tubbo said hesitantly. Tempest nodded, reclaiming all his stuff. Tempest stared at his reflection in the sword, wondering how long this exile would be. It had been a month already. Tempest sighed.

"I'm gonna go play Grump It in Michael's room!"

"Don't you fucking dare!"

Listen to Grump It, but make sure you have headphones and are away from people. It's hilarious but not parent friendly.