Chapter Text
Tommy had been called a great many things in his life.
A fool, a coward, a dramatic immature person who couldn’t see what was in front of him.
(A hero, a martyr, a decisive active leader who only wanted what was best.)
Never once had he been called a pushover.
And he wasn’t going to start because some fucking Karen couldn’t seem to let the expired coffee coupon go so she could spend the measly two dollars on some extra over-the-top nail polish.
“Miss, this coupon is still expired. I can’t accept an expired coupon,” he repeated, barely keeping on the plastic smile so the lady, now mentally dubbed Karen, couldn’t rage more. In the background, some news report of another hero vs villain fight droned on as the various machines all clattered and gurgled in the comforting symphony of a coffee shop. Well, comforting until Karen walked in and started making a fuss but you know.
Out of the corner of his eye, the detail of somebody recording this debacle registered. Good, he could claim disruption of peace if his manager disliked his way of dealing with Karen. “So you won’t honor your company’s coupons?” she said, her voice shrill and grating as she gave him a disappointed and ‘mightier than thou’ look. Painted nails clicked against the cardboard of the coupon card, over-extenuating the gaudy feature that did nothing to help her horrific attempt at being neat and professional.
Yes, Tommy was mentally insulting the Karen. No, he would not take criticism for mentally insulting the woman who had been sitting at his register for five minutes between choosing her drink and now debating over a coupon, in the process holding up the line. “I would usually do so, ma’am, but the coupon you have is unfortunately expired, as I’ve said before,” he said, internally screaming behind his perfect poker face that held a plastic customer service smile.
Sharpening her look, Karen gave him existential dread as she found another thing to pick at. “Are you talking down to me?” she asked, her free hand reaching for her phone.
Barely even glancing at it, too dead inside to care about any potential ‘blackmail’ she was plotting, Tommy simply kept up the ‘polite barista’ act. “No, miss. I’m just saying that it has been made clear that the coupon is expired and I would like to continue on with both of our days,” he said, his voice even despite his rapidly dwindling patience.
“You are!” she accused, raising her voice to gain nothing but the physical discomfort of some of Tommy’s other customers. That marked her on the wrong side of his books instantaneously, his look sharpening slightly as she continued with no regard to her surroundings. “Listen, young man, I have walked this earth for 48 years and I do not take kindly to this disrespect!”
Dramatic, over the top, not quite what the role was looking for. “Listen, ma’am, I have walked this earth for 19 years and I do not believe that changes the dates on the coupon for either of us,” he said, turning her words back on her and almost grinning when he heard snickers from the other customers. “Once again, I cannot change what the coupon’s expiration date is and cannot accept it because it is expired. I don’t believe that one expired coupon will be much more than a minor inconvenience and I apologize if it’s more than that. Either way, I cannot change the pricing or the circumstance.”
Once again, that all flew over Karen’s head as she pulled out her phone. “Do you wish to repeat that on video? Do you?” she shrilled, shoving the device in his face.
Doing nothing more than leaning back, he couldn’t help the bite in his next words. “No because I am not your personal entertainment to get your power trip off of,” he said, pushing down his grin to nothing more than a twitch of his lips as the college students in the background ‘ooh’ed at his insult. Meanwhile, she scoffed and had the audacity to look offended as if she wasn’t practically objectifying him. “Ma’am, I’ll be blunt. You have thirty seconds to let this coupon go, pay the full price, and continue on with your day or I kick you out.”
Expectantly, she did not take that well. “Excuse me! I am the one who pays your paycheck and you are paid to make me happy!” Karen shouted, stomping her foot like a child in a tantrum. Then again, that would be an insult to children. (Sue him, Tommy was five seconds away from using his powers on her to make her get the fuck out , he can make jokes in her expense.)
“First off, I am paid to make your coffee when the full payment is given, nothing more nothing less. Second off, there are more customers in this establishment who are more than willing to pay. And, you are making them uncomfortable. Another reason why I am making the decision to ask you to get out,” he said, raising himself to his full height and leering down at the woman. While high heels did help (maybe he should wear some too, what a power move), it didn’t help that he was a lanky teenager that spent all his character points on height and not bulk. “Fifteen seconds.”
“You, You!” she started, seething and practically frothing at the mouth. “You absolute brute!”
If he had worse reaction time, her backhand would’ve connected with his face and left all sorts of scratches between her gaudy rings and sharp nails. Instead, it connected with the floating semi-transparent disk that he had summoned with the flick of the wrist. It connected rather spectacularly, sounding out a sharp crack as flesh met unyielding material.
And, acting as expected, Karen drew her hand close to herself and wailed like her hand had been cut off. “H-How dare you use your powers on me! That’s illegal! Someone call the police, he’s a criminal!” she wailed, gaining no sympathy as she wildly looked around. Some snickers even met her, horribly muffled behind hands and pursed lips that hid grins.
Sighing, he vaulted over the counter with ease and landed beside the woman who looked at him in terror and disgust. He kept her attention as he started to speak, redirecting it from the second disk. “As an act of self-defense, power use is not illegal. Considering that you almost physically assaulted an employee of an establishment, said employee reserves the right to remove you from the premises under the assumption you are hostile.
“Aka, get the fuck out of my coffee shop,” spitting the last part, he had no qualms of jump scaring the woman. One of his discs held the door open, the one previously used as a shield finding a place under her feet. Growing at a whim, that disc whisked her out towards the door as she yelped. Rather gently booted off of her new transport, he had no problems gatekeeping the door and lightly nudging her out.
“Have a nice day! Never come fucking back here!” he shouted as the door slammed shut, carrying his last words to her. Shaking his head, Tommy summoned back his discs as easily as breathing, shrunk them down to size and into his wrists, and vaulted back over the counter.
Wiping down the counter with a spare towel and disinfectant kept close to the register for various reasons, he barely registered the stunned silence. “Sorry for the wait, what would you like today?” he said to the next person in line who had yet to move, still cleaning the counter.
Then came the applause. Tommy paused, stunned into silence as the coffee shop clapped and cheered for him. Chuckling, he was quick to wave it off and ask people to return to their original business.
Distantly, his ears picked up the roaring of the crowd and his blood rushed to follow. Aching, throbbing, pounding, burning, and everything in between, points on his wrists, ankles, and phantom limbs made themselves known. Random stinging, singing in panic from bullets long since shot and whips long since cracked, picked its way across his body as he hid a grimace.
As the hype died down and his phantom pains faded, he shook himself off and returned to his usual customer mode self. “What would you like today?” he asked, smiling his plastic smile at the next person in line.
Dressed in a yellow sweater with a beanie, the man certainly fit the coffee shop aesthetic. Adjusting his backpack, he seemed almost mischievous with his curly brown hair curtaining his glinting brown eyes. “What? I don’t get any sass?” he teased, an easy-going smile on his face.
Now, you couldn’t blame Tommy’s immediate response, his ‘polite barista’ mask had a cool down. “Only if you ask for it,” the barista said, looking the other dead in the eye with a smirk. “Now, c’mon man, let’s not hold up the line anymore. What can I get you?”
Sputtering a laugh, the other did eventually order under the name of ‘Wilbur’. Feeling bold, Tommy went as far as to misspell it as ‘Wimblur’. That got another laugh from the man, much to Tommy’s relief. He couldn’t deal with more arguments and yelling right now, his hands were shaking as it was.
Luckily, nothing else that odd went on during his shift. Well, if you discounted the fact that the college students asked if they could upload the video. (He said yes, sue him, he wants the clout.) It wasn’t until closing that Tommy had to step out of the routine again.
Somehow, Wilbur had managed to fall asleep in a coffee shop despite drinking two straight black coffees. Deciding that the man needed sleep, Tommy delayed cleaning his table for last. When he did come around to the table, he sighed at Wilbur’s slumbering form.
Gently placing a hand on his shoulder, Tommy shook the guy. “Wilbur? Hey, Wilbur?” the teen called, snapping his hand back when the other started to stir. “C’mon, big man, it’s closing time.”
That startled him away, the man sitting up like a shot despite blurry eyes. “Shit, did I fall asleep? Sorry, Tommy, I’ll clean up,” he said, hurrying to help out. Clumsy as he was from just waking up, he managed to knock over his laptop.
Before the device could go tumbling to the ground, a disc supported it and righted it again. “It’s chill, man. I’m not the one who fucked up his sleep schedule,” Tommy joked, helping put the device away. In the meantime, his disc rounded up the empty cups and skillfully dumped them in the trash. “Besides, it’s not like my pay’ll get docked for closing two minutes late.”
“Yeah, yeah, right,” Wilbur said, his voice distant as he watched the disc fly back to the teen. “What all can you do with those discs? Besides telekinetically controlling them and their size?”
“I don’t really know. It’s not like I can practice with all of the rules around powers,” Tommy deflected. The man didn’t need to know all of the things he could do with the discs. Especially not one of those things that could screw up everything. “I mean, they can cut through concrete if I’m mad enough.”
Snorting, Wilbur picked up his backpack and took a step back. “Jesus man. At least you didn’t get mad enough to slice up that Karen,” he joked, raising his hands in mock surrender.
“I mean, I was getting close. But also that would be such a pain in the ass. The amount of paperwork that would give me? Not worth it, big man, not worth it at all,” he said, grinning when his joke got a laugh. Nodding to himself, he stepped behind the counter for a moment to put away the cleaning supplies. “Speaking of the Karen, Imma have to ask you to leave too. Closing time, after all.”
“Could I by chance get a ride?” Wilbur asked, his tone joking and not the slightest bit serious. That’s why Tommy took personal joy in putting discs under both of their feet and gave them a ride side by side. Yelping, Wilbur took a second before he was laughing and looking at Tommy in awe.
Laughing along and pretending that it didn’t make his skin crawl, Tommy got them out the door with the help of a third disc to open said door. Once they were outside, the discs quickly returned to their owner, out of sight. Locking the door, he turned to Wilbur with a grin.
“I’ll see you around, alright, Big Dubs?” Tommy said, his grin growing a bit wider at the surprise on the other’s face. “Don’t fuck up your sleep schedule too much, ay?”
Wilbur chuckled, shrugging as he thought about it. “I dunno, I’ll try. See ya ‘round, Toms,” he said, waving as he walked away.
Carefully waiting until Wilbur was out of sight, Tommy didn’t move towards home until then. From the location of the cafe, it was blatantly obvious where he was going. Pogtopia had a big reputation, after all.
And, around the corner, Wilbur gasped quietly at the revelation.