Anything to get out of an apartment you can't find yourself to be comfortable with because there's so much tension and stress. Whether it's a job you might not need because you already run around so much or hanging out with new friends from work.

Yeah, work is worse. Sometimes so much worse. Especially with a boss that's losing it more and more. But at other times it hurts to go home and your roommates avoiding each other completely.

What the fuck was he supposed to do? He's still a teenager. Technically. Though, yes, he's 18... That's still a teenager. Eighteen. 

Tubbo sat down on a park bench in the park he had been jogging in. He sat back and watched as the sky went from a beautiful light blue to various shades of yellow, orange, pink, very faint purple, and red.

Tubbo, seeing someone in his peripheral vision walking up to him, wiped his face of the tears that had escaped as he watched the sunset.

A guy with long braided pink hair sat next to him on the park bench and watched for a couple of minutes as the sun finished setting. 

"I take it that it's not the sun you miss." 

Tubbo nodded, now starting at the ground. "Hey Techno." Techno glanced at Tubbo, then back at the night sky. "Family problems?" Techno asked in such a monotone voice that it sounded like referring to Tommy and Ranboo as Tubbo's family hurt.

Tubbo hummed in response. "I'm sure you know how it is," Tubbo responded in a just as dry and monotone voice. "I feel like I was sold out. Left to die. Betrayed, if you will."

"I actually don't know. All I know is I got a call in the middle of the night from a payphone. Tommy asked me if he could spend the night because he didn't want to be at your apartment that night. And of course the various little comments Ranboo has made." Tubbo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Techno fully turned to face Tubbo. "Do you honestly believe they 'sold you out' and don't care?" Tubbo keeps starting at the ground. "Of course I do. Tommy openly confessed he told you everything. He knows what we've done to get where we are right now. He knows why I don't want to go 'home.' He sold me out. Not just me, Ranboo too."

"Tubbo... You don't understand what happened the night of the disaster at the SBI tower. Actually, none of us truly do. Not even Tommy." Tubbo scoffed. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Tubbo asked, turning his head to look at Technoblade. 

"Tubbo, no one carried Tommy into the alleyway I found him in. As far as we all know, he was in the tower one moment, then not the other. Unless Ranboo teleported him out then immediately forgot or Tommy suddenly developed teleportation abilities overnight... Tubbo, Tommy wasn't supposed to be in that alley that night."

Tubbo gave Techno a completely confused expression. Sighing, Technoblade continued, breaking eye contact with Tubbo as he looked forward at the stars. "After finding Tommy and making sure he was safe, I reviewed the video footage. Most of it was hard to see and most cameras were down, there were about two cameras with video footage of what happened."

Tubbo's eyes widened. "What?" Techno looked up at Tubbo reassuringly. "I erased the footage to protect you guys after I saw it. Don't worry." Tubbo let out a sigh of relief and let Techno go on. "The cameras showed the building tilt and begin to fall. Tommy stood up and froze. Then the next thing you know, the building is put back together and the room flashed a bright white light. I assume after that someone or something teleported him to the alley I found him in."

"Tubbo, do you believe in XD?" Tubbo gave Techno a disbelieving look. "Fuck no! Wha-" Tubbo cut himself off and looked Techno up and down. "Are you saying that an 'act of XD', aka a god, is the reason all of this shit happened?" Techno shrugged. "It wasn't Ranboo that saved him. He didn't move in that time Tommy was teleported."

Tubbo was quiet for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Techno, I realize who you are and your importance to Tommy. Your importance to everyone, really. But the thing is Tommy fucked up. Your a hero. A good guy. Perfectly legal. People finding out about that wouldn't get you arrested. Hunted down by fans and the media, sure. But me? Techno, do you realize who I am?"

Techno hummed in a curious way. "A vigilante," Tubbo whispered. "My very existence is against the law. Plus all the property damage due to my work- Techno, I work for the SBI hero agency. The prison sentence for committing crimes as someone who works for heroes is just as bad as it would be for someone in our country's military. Partly because heroes are considered to be a part of the military."

"Technoblade, I was also abused as a child. I went through shit I never should have. I was passed around like a fucking toy in foster care. I've been through more shit than the average person in Logstedshire has as an adult. Even with the horrible shit that happens here." Techno nodded, understanding what Tubbo was referring to.

"I can't go back there. I mean... Duh. By now I've aged out of the system. But still. I can't go back to that old life. Back when I was 'Tubbo Schlatt, son of J. Schlatt, abused orphan whose mother abandoned him.' I can't go back to that, Techno." 

"I understand Tubbo. And I haven't told a soul. I won't tell a soul. Tommy didn't openly tell me. I found him and put the facts together. He told me everything because he knew it was too late and I already knew. I know why you ran off. I know why he did. I'm not going to force you back there. It's just that I still see you all as children. You shouldn't be 18 going on 50."

Tubbo shrugged. "It is what it is I guess." Techno shook his head. "No. Tubbo, it's not. Tubbo, why don't you join the vigilante program with Ranboo?" Tubbo shook his head.

"No. I appreciate you trying to help, but I have no interest in joining the vigilante program. I know it's for Ranboo, but not me. I wouldn't be into this shit if it weren't for those two. In a perfect world, I think I would have gone down a completely different life." Techno smiled. "Okay, but my offer still stands. And I'll be here for you."

"Techno... Am I becoming Schlatt?"

--------

Tommy and Ranboo sat and are dinner in the silence of their apartment. Tubbo had gone out for a jog, so it had just been them. That's usually how it went.

"Do you ever miss back when we were kids? Before we ran away?" Tommy asked, pushing his food around. Ranboo nodded. "Sort of. The piece of it. Being able to be a child. Wasn't much of one then, though. You know, being an orphan passed around in foster care and all." Tommy nodded. "I miss Wilbur. And Techno. And Phil. I miss when me and Tubbo were just kids and I'd invite him over to play video games."

Ranboo stood up and headed to the kitchen to clean his plate, putting on special gloves that helped him do so. "I miss my childhood friends too. The ones I met in the system. I certainly don't miss everyone giving up on me though." Tommy let out an empty laugh. "It's weird to think it used to be like that. You were such a good kid."

Ranboo shrugged. "Maybe. I was bad sometimes too. What do you expect? I was young and confused why I didn't have 'real parents' like all the other kids. Why I was so different. I think some of the people that fostered me didn't truly like kids either. This whole world is crooked, Tom." 

Tommy finished his food and took the cloth Ranboo had used for his plate as Ranboo put his water-resistant gloves where he had found them. Tommy finished cleaning the dish, then sat back down in the living room with Ranboo. 

"I've been feeling really nostalgic recently. Been thinking about the past. I miss my biological family, Ranboo. I miss Tubbo. I miss being able to know them." Ranboo put a comforting hand on Tommy's shoulder. 

"I know. But we both know how this is ending." Ranboo and Tommy returned to the silence they previously sat in. Both fully aware of what each other were talking about without much verbal explanation. 

Both fully aware that they were drifting apart.

-------

Turning to work as an escape from life wasn't ideal. But it still happened. Tubbo had become friends with his new coworker, Eret. Since he hadn't been talking to Tommy and Ranboo recently, Eret had been becoming his only friend.

It's was nice. Having someone he found to be alright to hang out with and listen to him. Eret turned out to be pretty cool as well. He could talk to animals telepathically and shapeshift into animals only. A rather odd combination, but probably a helpful one at that. 

Besides hanging out with Eret and using exercise for escapism, Tubbo had been promoted to Awesamdude's official assistant, thanks to Sam begging Wilbur to prompt him. 

Work, aside from having to deal with a boss whose mental health was in a downwards spiral, was good. The pay raise was nice, the people were alright....

The people were alright.

"Dream, are you sure this is the right thing to do? You know both Wilbur and Bo are going through it right now, right? Isn't this whole thing morally wrong?"

Tubbo froze in his tracks. Eret was talking to rivaling pro hero Dream. The man who founded, owns, and runs the Dreamteam hero agency. The hero that had committed several crimes but got off scot-free because he was rich. The hero whose agency had always been against the SBI hero agency and trying to take the place down.

Eret was siding with the enemy.

"Just press the button and get out of there. The place has served its purpose for long enough. Your little friend has no purpose anymore. Your friend's boss has no purpose. The boss lost his will to do anything! Get to the basement, and finish off the place. Fuck the morality of it, Eret."

Eret was silent for a moment before sighing. "Your right. I should never have gotten attached anyways. All he's done was act all depressed and be a pawn this whole operation. I'll come back with the boss's head, Dream." Eret ended the call and turned the corner to face Tubbo.

As he did, his face turned white briefly before regaining color and making a pissed-off expression. "Bo." 

Tubbo returned the expression and sighed. "I did become fond of you, you know," Eret smirked at Tubbo's words. "Don't worry, as did I, but all good things come to an end, don't they?"

Tubbo shook his head and pointed at the cameras behind him. "The cameras have been rolling this whole time. The security has already been notified about what you're about to do and is disabling the bomb as we speak. Back up is on its way."

Eret's expression fell. "What, you really thought we'd sit back and let you kill everyone? You seem to have forgotten what this place exists for. Eret, you are arrested and have the right to remain silent." Tubbo said, smirking at Eret like he had to him earlier.

Eret didn't reply, completely dumbfounded as Tubbo's backup arrived and arrested him.

Tubbo watched as the almost suicide bomber was dragged away, feeling more alone and betrayed than he had before. 

-----------

Tubbo returned home that night to his apartment and cried as he threw his coat down to the ground and closed the door behind him. Ranboo, hearing him peaked his head out from the kitchen to check on him.

Forgetting everything, Ranboo ran over and hugged him, letting Tubbo's tears to land on his clothes rather than skin so he wouldn't die from the allergic reaction.

Ranboo let him cry on his shoulder for a bit until Tommy walked in the room and directed them to the couch and has them sit down. 

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry for freaking out. I've missed you guys." Tubbo said, calming down and wiping his eyes. Ranboo shook his head. "Tubbo, it's alright. No one here hates you. It was a stupid fight, yeah, but we're both just worried about you right now. What happened?" Ranboo asked Tubbo comfortingly.

"It's all gone to shit. Everything. My work friend turned out to be working for the enemy and got arrested for attempting to become a suicide-bomber. Wilbur is all depressed and crap. I ran into Techno."

Tommy got up and headed to the kitchen to get Tubbo a drink and returned to Tubbo telling him and Ranboo everything. 

Tommy silently listened from afar after handing Tubbo his drink, feeling something die inside him.

'I could've tried harder. I could've been a better friend.' 

"Tubbo, listen... Let's just forget about it. It's in the past now. It was my fault. I'm a fucking idiot, I know that. I'm sorry. Technoblade isn't going to say shit. He genuinely cares. The worst thing he'll do will probably be worrying." Tubbo looked up at Tommy and nodded while laughing weakly.

"Yeah, that's probably just about right."

---------

Tommy didn't sleep that night. Instead, he stayed up doing vigilante work. He couldn't help but resort to a self-destructive night routine after seeing Tubbo so broken. 

Everything that was going on was his fault. And his only to take blame. 

He should've grown up a while ago and just deal with his neglecting family he loved so much. 

But had such a hard time returning that same feeling.