Man I'm so happy to manage another update. I know a week's a bit longer than what the previous update schedule has been but my time table's been a little screwy messing with finals regardless. So thank you all for your patience!

Thanks for the feedback to tuckalinas, doubleodonut, secretlystephaniebrown, ashleystlawrence, dremoranightmares, barsenthor, Loktipus, Two_Four_None_Ten, staininspace, godoflaundrybaskets, Alkeni, Yin, HappyFunBallXD, JjThereforeIAm, Beawolfs_Pen, and technicolorhousecat on AO3 and tumblr!

Red vs Blue and related characters © Rooster Teeth
story © RenaRoo

Hero Time
Chapter Ten: Back to Normal

Tying back his hair, Tucker started out into the living room just in time to see Church flick a dry cheerio in Junior's direction who then swatted it out of the air toward Caboose who sleepily didn't see it coming and proceeded to overreact and nearly knock the table over. He gave the group a questioning look that went nowhere as the second that Caboose realized what had hit him, he shoved the cereal into his mouth and nothing more was said on it.

Tucker exaggeratedly rolled his eyes and continued into the kitchen area.

"Dude, Caboose, you have to wake up. I'm not going to waste my whole shift worried that you're going to be asleep and let Junior out the window or something," Tucker ordered as he pulled at his polo. "Ugh, too much starch."

By the time he looked down, he noticed that Caboose was roughly rubbing at his eyes, attempting to wake himself up, while Junior let out a low growl and shoveled a mess of bacon into his mouth, the tell-tale crunch of his teeth denting the fork more than noticeable.

Rubbing his face, Tucker just sighed. His son was still upset to no longer have a superhero under their roof but Tucker wasn't sure exactly what the fuck he was expected to do about it.

Hopefully their afternoon meetup with Washington would solve Junior's mood. Hopefully.

"Say, I have a great solution to this," Church spoke up, leaning back in his chair. "How about I stay and watch with Caboose. I mean, give the guy a break, he's tired as fuck after working at the call center last night-"

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Church," Tucker snapped back, putting his hands on his hips. "You don't give a damn about watching Junior, you're just putting off fixing the stupid cash register. Probably because you can't fix it."

Indignantly, Church raised to his feet. "Hey! Fuck you, I can fix anything. You want me to fix the damn cash register, I can fix the damn cash register-"

"Church, if you could fix it, it'd be fixed, and I wouldn't feel like shit every time I asked Sheila about whether or not it's fixed yet!" Tucker fired back. "She's been doing all the math on her own!"

"So? It's good for her! She's got the brain of a calculator anyway," Church waved off. "She always catches me when I try to cheat a few bucks out of my hourly rate."

"Oh, so you just don't want to get caught being a terrible person, now it all makes sense," Tucker snorted, heading toward his closet where he looked curiously at the coat on the hanger. It seemed right.

After a moment, he looked over his shoulder to see the disgusted look Church was giving him along with the curious glances from Caboose and Junior. He roughly grabbed the jacket and shut the door with a thud.

"Anyway, I'll march you over to the diner if I have to, man. Sheila deserves better than to have to rely on a couple of assholes who don't get their job done."

"Well why are you still working there then," Church snarked as Tucker began putting the jacket on. "You want me to debug that before we go? Or do you like having your every move traced by a guy you don't even know the first name of?"

"It's not bugged, it's his jacket," Tucker snapped. "And for the record? Not everyone's as fucked up and controlling as you and Tex were with each other."

"No, Tucker, everyone on the superhero scene is that way," Church snapped. "We were just honest about it. Don't believe me? Pfft. Have fun putting me saying I told you so on repeat for the next couple of months."

"God, let's just get going," Tucker groaned as he walked over to the table and stooped down to Junior's level.

The gray scaled child let out a chortling growl and turned his head away from Tucker again.

Sighing, Tucker kissed Junior's cheek. "You'll see him again soon enough, kiddo. I promised you this wasn't like the cat, remember?"

Caboose choked on his cereal and began hacking.

Church looked mortified. "Why the fuck would you bring that up again? Oh my god what kind of parent are you?"

"One who uses Caboose as a babysitter," Tucker reminded him, getting to his feet and motioning for Church to follow him out the door. "C'mon, bolts-for-brains, let's get me to work and you to a cash register."

"I expect compensation for all my other work I'm missing today for this," Church sniffed on their way out the door.

"Pfft, whatever. You still don't have a name for your job so I don't believe it's real," Tucker responded as he shut the door behind him and led them down the hall. "Remember when we used to work at the hospital cafeteria together?"

"Uh, I try to forget that, thanks for bringing it up," Church retorted. "It's amazing that you're still working with food-"

"Tucker!"

Immediately, Church's face grew a snarl and he looked off toward the ceiling, refusing to even turn to face the clattering feet headed toward them. A long string of insults were barely muttered from him.

Tucker ignored his own eye roll and took a deep breath in preparation before turning on his heels.

Doc pattered over and, despite his very scrawny physique, wasn't winded whatsoever. Tucker would have mentioned something about it if he wasn't so damn sure that it'd just leave his landlord an opening to talk about the fact that he ran track in high school. Again.

"I bet you guys are in a hurry, given how fast you were heading toward those stairs," Doc began what seemed already to be a needlessly tedious conversation.

"Well. Yeah. Work and all," Tucker said gesturing toward the stairs. "I wouldn't have to be in such a hurry to get to the stairs if we had," his hand swooped toward the broken down elevator shaft, "other means of getting around in the building."

"Huh?" Doc turned toward the elevator more directly and had the indecency to look almost surprised by his own 'Out of Order' sign hanging. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. There's been a lot to take care of this winter-"

"Apparently," Church grouched, still not bothering to turn around.

"Oh. Yeah. Hey, Church," Doc grunted, crossing his arms. "Former tenant Leonard Church, I should say."

Church's mouth opened wide, ready to unleash, leading Tucker to hold up his arms fairly immediately and step between the two. "Okay, no fighting-"

"I wouldn't fight, Tucker. I'm a pacifist, I keep telling you-"

"Doc. No one cares," Tucker interrupted. "Now what do you want? I really need to open this morning and clock out as soon as I can-"

"Oh, alright, I'll skip to the good stuff," Doc signed. "Tucker, your rent's due in a week and I know you're really good about paying it and all, which is why I wanted to give you a head's up-"

"Dude, you say it and I can't promise I won't lose it," Tucker warned.

"But at the next month's rent might be a bit higher since we're coming up on a pretty harsh winter and I expect everyone's going to be using the central heat-"

"Have you been in his closet of an apartment?" Church asked, finally turning enough to jerk a thumb toward Tucker. "He's not using it, that's for damn sure."

"Oh, like you'd know," Tucker snapped.

"Regardless, it's a building-wide expense..."

Tucker rubbed at his face and groaned before looking angrily to his landlord. "How about this? Take the money out that you're not using to heat my apartment, and put it toward fixing the goddamn elevator, Doc. This is bullshit. Why are you bothering me at seven in the morning with this?"

"Well, I just wanted to also take the time to ask about some noise complaints," Doc continued, a certain glint in his eyes. "I have people saying you've got multiple people staying overnight now? Rent free?"

Crossing his arms, Tucker growled, "Complaints from who? Because they don't know what the fuck they're talking about. I've had one guy stay the night and-"

"Ohhhh, so that's how it is. I've got you-"

Church snorted.

"God what is with everyone lately?" Tucker growled. "I don't know what you're thinking, frankly I don't care, I just know that I'm getting really tired of the rent here, Doc. It's not really worth it."

Doc frowned at that, putting his hands together and humming slightly. "Well, I mean. That might be true, Tucker, but I've got to remind you... I'm pretty sure I'm the only landlord around who knows about Junior and is worried enough about his well being to not be rash and report it or anything. After all, there's not that many landlords cool with regular aliens in the city even now..."

Tucker glared at the man before resorting to the one good comeback one always had against Doc regardless of its relevance to a situation.

"Yeah, well, you flunked out of med school," he snapped before heading toward the stairs.

"Oh, that's original," Church snorted, coming after him.

"Alright, Tucker! I'll come by later to talk about the rent change-"

"No you won't!" Tucker growled from the stairwell. "God, that guy, Church."

"I know. That's why Caboose and me left, remember?" Church responded. "And since when did your neighbors care about noises?"

"He's just snooping, who knows why," Tucker countered with a hand wave. He pushed the doors to the outside open and immediately recoiled at the blast of wind. He gritted his teeth. "Yikes! Man, maybe it is a good thing to have a jacket. Shit."

They were only a few steps out the door when Church shifted almost uncomfortably, giving Tucker a lingering glare as he did so. "Yeah, about the jacket..."

Already scowling, Tucker folded his arms and huffed, leering back at Church warningly. "Dude, just say whatever it is. I'm not here to play guessing games with your dumbass looks."

"Look, it's probably nothing. You said it was nothing when you came home yesterday. And your shirt wasn't on backwards so I believed you-"

"I did that one time..."

"It's just that I can't help but raise a few eyebrows at the fact that Mister I-Don't-Need-to-Spend-Money-on-Clothes-if-I-Save-Up-for-a-Car who won't even let me give a few spare clothes I don't need is suddenly all for the fancy leather jackets if they're from Stupitingon's closet," Church said pointedly.

"You don't run into superheroes every day, Church. What can I say? He convinced me," Tucker shrugged. "Charisma. Or something."

"He has the charisma of a wet sock," Church snapped. "And what do you mean 'you don't run into superheroes every day' - it's us. That's a good thing. I would love to go a day without Caboose barging into my room-"

"You sleep in a closet."

"I don't sleep at all, dumbass. I retire this thing," Church knocked on his chest, "in the utility closet because I'm trying to be decent with space."

"Decent with space? Church, your shit takes up over half that apartment, don't even," Tucker snapped back.

"Think of how much I'm saving for Caboose by not collapsing this thing in the living room."

"You're such an ass," Tucker snorted as they arrived at Sheila's and pushed through the door. "Hey, everyone. I'm home."

Looking up from the counter, Sheila blinked a few times in surprise, head rising. "What... Well. Tucker! After yesterday I thought you'd take some time off-" Her eyes fell on Church and a wicked curve grew on her smile. "Well, would you look at that! Our repairman."

"I'm not a repairman anymore," Church grumped out sourly as he and Tucker came further inside. "I just fix things for people I don't hate too much. And when Tucker blackmails me."

Sheila smiled, leaning toward Tucker as he walked by. "Thank you for playing with extortion for me, Tucker."

"Hey, anything for you, Sheila!" Tucker responded happily, clapping his hands on her shoulder before allowing an envelope from his pocket to slide into her lap.

"I like the jacket, by the way, dear," she continued, looking down as she picked up the envelope and opened it. She looked sternly back at Tucker. "Honey, I told you to keep this-"

"I already got reimbursed yesterday," Tucker explained with a wave of his hand. "Seriously, though, thank you, Sheila."

Sheila's face hardened. "Reimbursed from who?"

Before she got another word in, Church was shaking the cash register violently before throwing his elbow into the back of it. There was a sharp CHING before the drawer burst open.

"Church! Be gentle with it, it's old-"

"Fixed."

Sheila scowled. "You said that last time..."

"Hey, the drawer's opened, it's fixed," he said with a shrug.

"Church, I will not pay you again to not even try to figure out what's wrong with it-"

Sensing a way out, Tucker slipped back behind the counter around Sheila and made his way to the kitchen, pulling the jacket off his shoulders as he headed toward the rack of aprons.

On his way, he passed Kai whistling over the deep fryer as she began the morning's first grill. Her eyes followed Tucker the whole time, even as she began inspecting her nails - looked like she got her colors mixed up again halfway through, switching patterns and, on the pinky finger, completely going off the yellow-aqua scheme to have red.

Which meant Grif was probably at poker night rather than at home to stop his sister from fashion disasters and other rough life choices.

And that just made her forlorn gazes all that much more worrisome.

Tucker hung Wash's jacket up and slipped on his apron and hat, scowling a bit at her. "What?"

"You seem happy-"

"I haven't said one word to you yet, Kai. Other than What. Which was not happy," he reminded her, grabbing a scrub bucket. "Did you do the fridge already?"

"Nah," she waved him up. "And yeah, you're totally happy. Because if you weren't, after getting robbed yesterday, you would have totally kicked that bucket over and I would have had to clean everything by myself because you'd be even later."

"You would never clean everything by yourself," he laughed. "Don't even."

"Okay I'd whine until Sheila made you help. My point still stands, fuckface!" she said, whirling around to near him, hand on her chin. "Something made you happy. And it soooo wasn't a booty call."

"You don't know that it wasn't-"

"I'm the first one to get texts, and probably the last one. You sooooooo didn't get a booty call last night," she said, tapping her lips. "What is it... hmmm..."

"Dude, after I started hanging out with your brother, I can't booty call you. You're both under Grif on my phone. That'd be awkward."

"We have first names-"

"That sounds like a lot of effort," Tucker snorted back. "Also, stop psychoanalyzing me. I'm not too happy. I assure you. Hell, Junior's even mad at me."

"Kids do that."

"I had to walk here with Church today," Tucker added.

Kaikaina's face dropped immediately into despair. "Wow, I'm so sorry, dude. That's awful," she responded sincerely. "He's such a whiny bitch."

"I know, right?" Tucker laughed just before there was a slam from the front followed by the off tone ringing of the bell. He and Kai both looked toward the front, though being in the kitchen obscured the view quite a bit.

"What's that all about?" Kai wondered out loud.

"Keep prepping," Tucker responded, walking toward the front. "I'll check it out."

"Pfft. You're not my dad," Kai retorted, hot on his heels.

They barely rounded the corner when they could hear Sheila.

"Lopez, I don't understand- why are you-"

Kai and Tucker looked to each other immediately, eyes blown wide. They simultaneously let out gleeful noises and half-screams. Lopez - Sheila's mysterious boyfriend - had never been seen by the eyes of any employee, and more than that he had never been by work, earning him the immediate distrust of Tucker and Kai. How were they supposed to feel about the boyfriend they couldn't check out for themselves?

They both crowded forward, catching a glimpse of the fast moving man as kneeled beside Sheila, holding her shoulder's fiercely.

Tucker blinked. "Huh. He's taller than I imagined."

"Boo. He's not hot," Kai snapped off immediately.

Church waved in the background angrily at Sheila. "Hey! I'm not done making my point yet!"

Neither Sheila nor the mysterious Lopez seemed to give him a second thought, their eyes were completely locked on each other.

"Yo hago lo que puedo por ti, mi amor," he said sultrily. "Pero ni siquiera yo soy un hacedor de milagros."

"Oh, he's got another language," Kai snorted. "Okay, that's hot. Back five points."

"Confía en mí. Te lo ruego," he pleaded before getting up and heading toward the front door.

Sheila, looking stunned, just watched with her mouth dropped open.

Lopez walked to the front door, opened it, slapped a stack of cash into the handle outside, shut the door again and then proceeded to lock it. He then turned off all the lights to the verbal protests of all employees and Church.

Tucker rubbed at his eyes and strained to watch in the darkness as Lopez backed up to the center of the restaurant, looked to his watch, then stood still as if counting down the time.

Narrowing his eyes, Tucker watched carefully, only being caught off guard by a familiar, blaring tune from the streets.

"Well it is Tuesday now," Tucker muttered to himself as he watched a familiar getaway car pull up to the curb, front wheel popping over the sidewalk.

"Oh wow! This just got neat!" Kai squealed excitedly.

"Oh, fuck," Church groaned, backing up. "Tucker, I hope your jacket tracker is working-"

"It wasn't bugged!" Tucker snapped. He focused on the vehicle outside, eyes widening slightly as he realized that, of the three in the vehicle who got out, none of them were wearing Orange.

"Something's wrong," he muttered to himself, almost gasping as the Maroon stepped out from the driver's seat. "He'd never drive... what is-"

"What're you mumbling about?" Kai asked, hands on her hips.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

Sheila looked worriedly toward Lopez, her face the most fearful that Tucker had ever seen it. "Lopez... what is going on here?" she begged.

He didn't respond, just glaring at the door as the three members of the Red Dead Gang approached, looked warily at the wad of cash, then grabbed it with a shrug. Lightish Red and Red headed back to the car, mission success, but the last, the Maroon remained.

There was an unsettling way he was looking toward the door, even without any facial features from his mask, Tucker felt like there was something aggressive and snarling just beneath the surface.

Finally, he turned and headed back to the car in a stomp.

"That's not like him at all," Tucker mumbled to himself even as the gang drove off and the rest of the restaurant breathed easily. "What is going on?"