Toby slept in the next morning, again. The events of last night had worn him out. He took a moment to remember what had all happened last night. His friend probably- no, definitely- had some kind of secret power he was hiding, like Toby, he had an encounter with his brother, It was kind of a lot to process. But the smell of breakfast and the sound of people talking gave him a distraction from his swirling thoughts, which he was thankful for. He poked his head into the kitchen to see Tommy pestering a tired looking Techno at the table as Wilbur, Phil, and Kristin were getting food. The scent of scrambled eggs filled Toby's nose and made his stomach growl. To his credit, Techno looked more awake than he usually did.

"Morning Toby-" Wil waved, sitting down by Techno, who was talking to Tommy to get the kid to stop bothering him.

"He said his name was Tubbo-" He heard, freezing for a second before doing his best to compose himself, hoping no one noticed. They all seemed to be busy with their food or talking in Techno and Tommy's cases.

"What?" He asked, getting himself dome food and sitting down across from Techno.

Techno opened his mouth to answer, but Tommy cut him off, "He met that new hero last night!"

"Woah, really?" Toby asked, "What was that like?" He wanted to know what Techno thought.

The older boy shot Tommy an annoyed look but turned to Toby. "It was interesting. He's a lot younger than I thought he was. He was lowering his voice, but I'd put him around yours and Tommy's ages..."

"Woah, no way!" Tommy cried, and Toby's eyes widened. Well shit- He forgot how perceptive Techno was.

"And you said his name was...Tubbo?" Wil turned to his twin, raising an eyebrow. "Bit of a strange name isn't it?"

"I think Tubbo is a cool ass name-" Tommy crossed his arms, "It's no worse than fucking Technoblade-"

Toby snorted, since he'd said something similar the night before, but he tried to cover it with a cough, before digging into his breakfast.

"Language Tommy-" Kristin warned

"Sorry, sorry-" he said, raising his hands in surrender.

Breakfast continued normally as they talked and laughed. The rest of the day was spent playing games (Phil and Wilbur dominated the board games they did teams with) and just taking it easy. Toby decided to take another break that night, despite the curiosity that was still nagging at him from the previous night. He'd figure it out later. He wanted to do better about going to bed on school nights. And that he did.

The next morning, He and Tommy walked to school, as usual. They chatted and laughed as they made their way to the cafeteria, where their friends, including Ranboo, were sitting. The taller boy had come out of his shell quite a bit in the short time since Toby had met him. He joked and laughed just as much as the others, and he'd bonded with the other boys in addition to Toby and Tommy.

"Hello boys-" Tommy grinned, plopping down across from Quackity.

"Hullo-" Toby greeted them as well, sitting by Ranboo

"Ayyy, there they are!" Quackity grinned, sitting between Karl and Purpled.

"How was your weekend guys?" Karl asked, resting his chin on his hands.

"Mm, it was normal" Toby shrugged, glancing at Ranboo, "how about you guys?"

"Uneventful, mostly..." the tall boy shrugged, and Toby couldn't help but glance at him, before quickly turning his attention to the others as they talked about the weekend.

The day continued as normal, and uneventful, until after school when they all went to the park to goof off and hang out, and even that started out normal.

"Toby in the park, what's he doin'-" Purpled joked

Toby chuckled. He was laying in the grass, looking up at the sky, "looking at clouds" he replied.

Tommy grinned, plopping down next to him and looking up as well, "Hmm, interesting-"

"See anything?" Toby glanced over at his brother, who looked like he was deep in conversation

"Hmm, yes.." Tommy nodded after a minute, pointing, "see that cluster of clouds there?"

Toby nodded

"That is a beautiful woman, the lady of my dreams- hot sexy ass hot lady!"

"Oh my god Tommy-" Toby snorted

They heard the other three sit by them, snickering themselves

"You guys don't see her?" Tommy asked, glancing at them

"Not really, but hey, imagination amirite?" Quackity grinned his impish grin.

"What do you lot see?" Toby asked, pushing himself into a sitting position and glancing behind him at the others with a grin, when he paused.

Not far behind them was a familiar girl, who hadn't noticed them yet but she would soon no doubt. Niki. As if she could feel him looking, she suddenly turned in his direction, and he whirled back around. Thankfully, his friends seemed distracted looking at the clouds and describing what they saw. He dared a glanced back, hoping she hadn't seen him, but his luck wasn't that good. She was looking at him. Dammit-

"Uh, I'll be right back guys, gotta go find the toilet-" he said, getting up and starting to walk away from them. He supposed he couldn't hide from her forever. Maybe she didn't even recognize him...maybe he was just being paranoid...maybe-

"Hey!" He stopped, thankfully out of his friends' range. When he glanced back, Niki was jogging towards him. When she caught up with him she stopped, looking up and down, before meeting his eyes.

"You are him, aren't you..?" She asked quietly. There wasn't anyone around at the moment but he appreciated the subtlety.

"I, uh, you mean...?"

"Tubbo...right? you saved me from Schlatt in that alley..."

He hesitantly nodded, it wasn't like he could do much else. Other than lie, and something told me Niki would be able to tell "Uh, yeah, you found me- you're Niki right?"

"Yup!"

He wasn't entirely sure what to do next- lucky for him, Niki did. She began talking and asking more questions.

"You're younger than I thought you were-" she said, "how old are you?"

"Uh, 17-" he answered awkwardly. He wanted to answer her questions, part of him worried she'd tell someone if he didn't or something. Of course she didn't seem like the kind of person, but he couldn't help but worry.

"So you are younger than me-" she nodded, "how come you aren't registered? You have powers, and you can get in trouble if you don't, right? have you had these powers for a while? Why haven't you done hero stuff until now?"

Toby sat on a nearby park bench, fiddling with his hands, leg bouncing nervously. "I, uh-"

"Oh! I'm sorry..." she paused, "Here I am, a stranger, asking you all this...sorry- You don't have to worry about me telling anyone, I'm not a snitch, plus there's no reason to expose your identity when you obviously want to stay hidden."

Toby paused, letting out a relived sigh, "oh thank god-"

Niki chuckled, "yeah, sorry... I get ahead of myself when I'm excited- you don't have to answer anything you don't want to-"

"Can I ask a question?"

"Sure thing Tubbo-"

"Toby, call me Toby"

"Cool-" She grinned, "Anyhow, ask away-"

"How did you recognize me..?" He asked, "Before, and now..you recognized me right?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I wasn't entirely sure to be honest, but your eyes kind of gave you away, to me at least..."

His eyes widened, "my eyes?" He made a mental note to add goggles to his costume.

"Mhm.." she said, sitting on the other side of the bench.

"Huh-"

There was an awkward pause. It was weird, having someone else know his identity. But Niki definitely seemed nice. Toby trusted her.

"To answer your question earlier...I developed my powers when I was little, around the time you normally hear about kids getting theirs...but I never told anyone, not even my family...that's why I'm not in the registry."

Niki's eyes widened a bit, "Not even your family..? Why?"

"Because it's the kind of power a villain has...it's a power that would scare people, does scare people..." he said, looking down. He hadn't dared look up his hero name for fear of what people were saying about him. "I don't want people to fear me...I don't want to lose their trust because of what I can do...as Tubbo, I at least have a mask to hide behind."

There was another moment of awkward silence. Then Niki spoke, "I never thought of it that way...I'm sorry Toby."

"It's not your fault...it's no ones really..."

"You know...I'm really glad you decided to be a hero, despite the obstacles you'll face..." she said, glancing at him, "Without you, I would have been really hurt, or worse. Which might be biased, but I have no doubt you can save many other lives with your powers. You might already have and not realized it."

Toby thought about that. "I hadn't thought about that..."

She opened her mouth to say something, when they heard someone calling his name from a little ways away.

"Shit, my friends-" he said, starting to get up, "sorry.."

"Wait, Toby-" he glanced back at her, "can I see your phone really quick?"

He nodded, a bit confused, handing it to her. She typed something then handed it back. "Let me know if you ever need help while you're out helping people, ok? An alibi, or information if I can get it. Your secret is safe with me-"

He paused, processing that, before smiling weakly, "Thank you Niki-"

He heard Tommy call his name again, and with one last wave he ran back to his friends.