Chapter Text
Tommy no longer worked as a hero.
That's right. He fucking quit. He should've quit a long time ago, but better late than never.
When Ranboo called him to help with the hardware store for opening day though, he seriously considered going back.
Okay maybe not that seriously.
It was an absolute whirlwind after the casino. Tommy's resignation didn't go very smoothly, except for Glarion, who basically pushed him out of the door and threatened to freeze and snap off his fingers one by one if he ever came back. Tommy was about sixty percent sure it was a joke. He kept his hands in his pockets just in case.
Tubbo and Ranboo both chose to stay in their respective fields, although both of them took some time off as a ‘mental health leave’.
They definitely needed it.
However, that wouldn't be their only source of income anymore, because after weeks of planning and a couple of legally questionable actions, they were all here. On a calm Saturday in the newly refurbished store, which was entirely funded by Phil.
“Should be the last one!” Tubbo called when he entered through the front door with a box in his hands.
“It fucking better be! We've just been hauling shit around the entire morning!” Tommy yelled back.
“It's not even that much, Tommy. We did the majority of the heavy lifting last week with Techno,” Ranboo piped up from where he was setting up the cash register. Right as they said that, the front door opened again. “Speak of the devil.”
Techno gave a wave, leaning against his cane and examining the store.
“Looks like you guys are almost done,” he commented.
“Yeah! It's actually kind of exciting,” Ranboo said.
“Well let me put your shop owner skills to the test, because this thing has been malfunctioning on me.” Techno put his cane up on the counter. Ranboo examined it immediately.
“What's wrong with it?”
“It won't shift. Been stuck like this for the past week,” Techno explained.
“Have you checked the springs?” Tubbo called from across the room where he and Tommy were dusting off shelves. Well, Tubbo was dusting, Tommy was standing off to the side and watching Techno.
“I have no idea how to do that.”
“It doesn't matter, I didn't use springs anyway. Too flimsy.” Ranboo picked up the cane, trying to dig at one of the bolts with his nail.
“What did you use then?” Tubbo asked, moving across the room to get a look at the cane.
“A mix of things. Hydraulics, pull systems, that sorta thing. Just kinda jammed it together until it worked.”
“I'll leave you guys to it then,” Techno said, pushing up from where he was leaning on the counter. He stumbled slightly, but just adjusted his glasses and moved on. Tommy tuned out whatever nerdy shit the other two were talking about.
As it turned out, Techno wasn't the only guest who had come to check on them on opening day.
“Sam!” Tubbo greeted from the counter.
“Nook!” Tommy added after seeing who was standing behind the ex-hero.
Nook was certainly… a complicated situation. Well he wasn't the situation, but he created a complicated situation. Right after the casino, Tommy snuck him out and handed him to Sam to keep wherever the villain hideout was. He wasn't really sure if he'd done the right thing at the time, but anything was better than Nook staying with the heroes. And well, Nook just sort of stayed around. It would seem counterintuitive to bring him outside, but what could the heroes really do? If they wanted him back, they would have to admit what they did.
“Hello!” Nook waved to all the other occupants of the room.
It was a weird mish-mash of people in here. Two ex-heroes, one of which was a villain now, another villain, two vigilantes and a weird robot slash human hybrid all stacked in the close quarters of a definitely-legally-acquired store.
Tommy sighed. If it was a sigh of content or annoyance, nobody would ever know for sure, but from the smile on his face, they could guess.