The light layer of snowfall crunched beneath Tubbo's boots as he walked along the sidewalk toward his workplace. The tools in his backpack shifted and clinked uncomfortably.

Most of the time, he would just have to sit and wait in the IT place(His supervisor was there most days), but today, he would be out! So Tubbo could work! 

Well, not work on anything... work-related, if that made sense. He meant, work on something 'vigilante-related'. If Tommy was going to be a dick and never come back, then he may as well mess with his stuff.

He huffed as the wind blew, sending snowflakes into his face that melted almost instantly. One got up his nose, causing a mildly unpleasant feeling for a few seconds before it melted. Tubbo wiped his nose before the weird liquid could drip down his face.

The wind picked up speed slightly, and Tubbo hurried to the building, unlocking and opening the door. He stepped in, the heat hitting him instantly. He shut the door and immediately took off his bomber jacket, throwing it over the counter, and leaving himself in a tank top. 

There was a small workstation behind the counter, and Tubbo set the backpack down to pull out Tommy's mask as well as his gas mask.

He set them down on the counter before pulling out a welding tool, some screwdrivers, batteries, a random hammer, and a packet of goldfish.

He looked at Tommy's mask, hesitated, and then grabbed it.

"You need a better voice changer..." He muttered, grabbing one of the smaller screwdrivers. Tommy's mask went with his hood(It was the same shade of red) and covered his mouth and nose. The voice changer was inside a mask inside of that mask, to make it more comfortable.

It was quite a hassle, though.

Tubbo opened a drawer and took some scissors, cutting open the second-layer mask to access the voice changer. Tommy often called it his 'funny mic', claiming that 'voice changer' was 'too boring'.

Typical Tommy.

The voice changer lay on the back counter and Tubbo unscrewed the small screw holding it in place, taking the cover off and squinting at the tiny mechanisms.

"Oh, I recognize this..." He muttered, pulling out some bits of dust. "I guess that would explain most of the problems it's been having."

He blew on it, scattering some dust. "How did that even get in there?" He murmured, moving to the back room for a Q-tip.

While he was there, he heard the bell ding and inwardly groaned. Really? Customers? Now?

He moved out of the back and saw a tall, flustered-looking man half-covered in snow.

"Sorry," The guy panted. "Don't mean to intrude. It's getting blizzardy out there."

Tubbo shrugged. "'s fine." He glanced out the window and noticed yes, it definitely was getting blizzardy. Snow was piled up almost a foot now, a stark difference to the half-inch there was on his way there.

"Wow..." He murmured.

"Weather here's just as unpredictable as I remember," The man huffed, shaking a bit of snow off of his jacket. "Sorry about that."

"No trouble," Tubbo muttered. The conversation was very dry.

"Do you mind if I stay for a little while, just until the snow lets up a bit?" The guy asked a bit awkwardly, ruffling his green hair a bit.

"Sure," Tubbo said, turning back to his work. As long as the guy didn't bother him or touch anything or be distracting, then... well, it was fine.

He temporarily gave up on Tommy's voice changer and turned to his own mask, noticing that some of the spikes were a bit loose.

The mask itself would have been boring; just a plain dark gray color that would cover the bottom half of his face. But then there were the spikes. Bright yellow, just like his jacket, and mildly sharp. They were hard plastic and a bit heavy, but style is a heavy weight to carry. So Tubbo sucked it up.

The spikes were kept in by super-glue, hot glue, and Tubbo's hopes and dreams. He had run out of hot glue, so super-glue it was. He rummaged around in the drawers until he found a tube, taking the gas mask and squirting a bit around the bases, just enough to keep them secure but not enough to be noticeable.

"You a vigilante or something?" A voice said behind him. Tubbo jumped, whipping his head around to half-glare at the green-haired guy who looked more intrigued than judgemental.

"Yeah," Tubbo said, just to fuck with him. He turned back to his mask

"Cool." The guy hummed. "Me too."

Cue head whip-around numero dos and Tubbo spilling super-glue on his fingers. That was going to be a bitch to clean off later...

"Really?" Tubbo demanded.

"Yeah. Really." The guy chuckled. "Th'names Daedalus - Nice to meet you." He held out a hand for Tubbo to shake. Tubbo didn't take, though, putting his hands on his hips.

"How'd you know?" He interrogated, leaning forward slightly.

"Lucky guess," Daedalus said with a casual shrug. "You'd be Atomic, right?"

Tubbo froze, feeling both shock and pride go through him. This- this cool-looking vigilante knew who he was. Daedalus knew about him.

He wasn't quite sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

"Maybe..." He mumbled in response.

Daedalus's eyes lit up. "Awesome! I love your new tech, by the way, the wings really gave me an idea of my own - don't worry, if anyone asks, I'll credit you."

Now, Tubbo felt the pride. His creations were his accomplishments, and people praising them genuinely meant a lot. 

"What's your idea?" He asked, trying not to sound too excited.

"You'll see," Daedalus laughed. "Think about my name a bit."

Tubbo wrinkled his nose. "It's Greek mythology, right?" He asked, shifting on his feet slightly.

"Yeah," Daedalus responded. "A pretty common theme in the vigilante world, as far as I know... You know, there's Icarus, of course, and then..." He hesitated for a minute. "There was this guy a few years ago. I don't know if you've heard of him... Poseidon?"

Tubbo shrugged. "I've heard the name. Wasn't there an, I dunno, Apollo or something back then too?"

Daedalus's expression became guarded. "Yeah... I do recall him."

He changed the topic. "Since you're doing a bit of work on your outfit, d'you think I could possibly do the same?"

Tubbo was a little torn. On one hand, Daedalus was an inventor, like him, someone who understood the craft he was so passionate about... But on the other... His resources were pretty limited, and, quite frankly, embarrassing. Excitement won over, however, and he nodded, allowing the taller vigilante to come behind the counter.

Daedalus reached into his bag, pulling out his own gas mask which looked a lot more hi-tech than Tubbo's.

"Did you... make that?" Tubbo asked, eyes widening. 

Daedalus rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ya caught me. I did."

"Wow..." Tubbo muttered. Daedalus looked around and grinned. "What's with the goldfish?"

Tubbo crossed his arms. "Being a genius makes me hungry." 

Daedalus laughed. "You must get hungry a lot then."

Tubbo felt his brain explode just a bit more again as he was complimented by this man who was obviously an incredibly skilled inventor.

He grabbed the goldfish crackers and was about to open them before hesitating and throwing them to the side. "Don't want cheesy dust on my shit. Or yours."

Daedalus nodded. "Understandable. And thank you." Tubbo could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"D'you have a Pozidriv screwdriver I can use?" Daedalus asked, glancing over at Tubbo who nodded and gently shoved the small pile of tools over to him.

"Nice collection you've got there," Daedalus put in with a hum, eyes scanning the tools. "Not in the best condition, but very high-quality."

"I improved them a bit," Tubbo said, fighting to keep down the excitement he felt about being able to rant about his inventions.

"Wow..." Daedalus muttered. "I can tell. I might have to buy some of these from you - if you're willing to make me a set."

Tubbo was taken aback at this. "Wait, really?" He double-checked. "You think my stuff is good enough to- to buy?"

"Oh, yeah," Daedalus said enthusiastically. "If it's no trouble. I know you probably have a lot going on, you know, with vigilante-ism and the like."

"No, no, I have time!" Tubbo gripped the screwdriver in his hand, nearly bouncing up and down. "Er, when do you want them?"

"How about I give you my number and you can text me when they're ready?" Daedalus said with a warm glance in his direction, still fiddling with his own gas mask.

"Yeah! I mean, uh, that's great." Tubbo said, a grin finally slipping through.

The store was silent for a few more minutes until Daedalus put the mask back on. "How does this sound?"

Tubbo jumped. "What- You sound like the guy that sings 'My Ordinary Life'- You know, that Living Tombstone song?"

Daedalus's eyes glowed. "Oh, that's awesome!" He said in excitement. "Pretty much what I was going for." 

He took the mask off again and wrote something on a piece of paper before passing it to Tubbo. "Here- My number." Tubbo took it and pocketed it, his entire body feeling tingly.

"Thanks," He grinned.

"No, thank you," Daedalus said, putting his gas mask back in his bag. "Thanks for the time and the space and the tools and everything... I really needed it."

He turned and exclaimed, "Oh, thank the Primes! It's stopped snowing." He glanced back at Tubbo. "It would be a bit awkward if we did all this 'goodbye' 'thank you' nonsense and then I was trapped in here for another hour."

Tubbo laughed. "Right, right,"

Daedalus moved to the door, but before he was all the way out, he glanced back. "Oh, and Atomic? If I see you out at night, I'll make sure to say hi."

With that, he slipped out the door and Tubbo wondered if it was just a dream. But the paper in his pocket was as real as ever, and so was the elated feeling in his chest.

"See you, Daedalus..." He murmured, watching the door he left out of.

Words: 1,647

Yay! I got this thing out like 3 days early, for Tubbo's birthday!

Anyway, I'm planning to do a Christmas-esque special in a day or two, so, uh, frequent updates pog?

NOTE TO ELIANA: Another clarification on ships and ages and stuff since you thought Crimeboys was a ship(I had to have a very serious talk with her, she's just not in the fandom...); Atomic and Daedalus is 100% NOT a ship. Daedalus is 21. Atomic is 17. I'd just like to point that out before you go asking in the comments. THANK YOU.

Anyway, have a great day/Christmas(if you celebrate)/Hanukkah/New Year/holiday season!

-ITCFWI