Tommys clinic for supervillains

Chapter 11

Tommy supposed you could get used to anything after enough time, and strangely enough, it didn't take long for him to get used to his new job in the Syndicate.

The next few weeks passed by in a blur. Tommy spent as little time at home as possible, which wasn't exactly hard when he was always either at the cafe or spending time with Wilbur.

The first Syndicate member to need Tommy after their official negotiations was Rosethorn. Tommy had closed the cafe already and was going through the standard motions of cleaning, when he'd received a text from the villain saying she was already outside the back door. When he let her in, he'd grimaced at the long slash she had across her back, but it wasn't too deep and therefore wasn't that hard to heal. Before Rosethorn left, she used her powers to grow a daisy in her hand and tucked it behind his ear with a grateful smile, and Tommy pressed the flower between the pages of an old book when he got home.

His payment had been deposited in his account the next day. Thankfully, Tommy didn't share a bank account with Tubbo and Ranboo, otherwise they would've gone ballistic at the huge deposit Tommy had inexplicably received. Even though he didn't want the two of them to know about the money, he still took the opportunity to use the cash to pay the next two month's worth of their rent to their landlord. Then, using the little that was leftover, Tommy tried to make a subtle grocery trip and restocked their fridge in a way that Tubbo and Ranboo wouldn't notice.

Somehow, neither of his roommates seemed to question why the milk that had definitely been close to empty the day before was suddenly full. In fact, Tubbo and Ranboo didn't seem to question much of anything in those following weeks.

The two were always distracted. It wasn't the same purposeful silence as before, although Tubbo was still taking care to ignore Tommy when he could. But most of the time, the two just seemed... out of it. Ranboo had always been a bit spacey, but he was even more out of it than normal, and when Tommy poked his arm when he didn't respond to one of Tommy's questions, the boy had flinched back as though he had been burnt.

Tubbo was similar. He would stare blankly at his computer monitor, fingers still on the keyboard as he got lost in his own thoughts. Other times he would turn on the news without a word, watching whatever the latest report on heroes and villains was with a strange twist to his lips.

Another thing Tommy noticed: Tubbo's hands shook now. He wasn't sure when that started, but he knew the constant trembling in his fingers wasn't something that had always been there.

There was something wrong with both of them, and despite how much Tommy wanted to help, he couldn't do that if they wouldn't talk to him. And they had made it clear long ago that they didn't want to talk to him about their problems.

The next Syndicate member Tommy healed after Rosethorn was Daedalus, who had to take off part of his armor to reveal the hole in his shoulder. Despite Daedalus' reputation as a ruthless killer who had scorned his fellow heroes, Tommy found that the man wasn't all that intimidating when you actually spoke to him. The entire time Tommy was working on his shoulder, Daedalus rambled about his dog and how he was trying to teach her how to roll over, but she seemed to just be trying to trick him into giving her treats.

The healing gigs were tiring, but Tommy could manage well enough. Sure, he was burning himself on the espresso machine more often than ever because he kept letting his focus slip, and sure the bags under his eyes were starting to worry Puffy, but it was fine. The healing wasn't causing his lack of sleep. More than anything, it was just hard to fall asleep when the tension in his apartment was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

At the very least, Tommy got a reprieve from all the stress when he hung out with Wilbur. Despite how busy the man seemed to be with work, he still made time for Tommy whenever possible. The two would go out to get food at least twice a week, and Tommy had gone over to Wilbur's house several more times since that first day. Sometimes, Techno and Phil would join them, and sometimes they wouldn't, but Tommy didn't mind either way. He loved hanging out with Wilbur, but he also really found himself enjoying his time with Techno and Phil too. They were all just so easy to joke around with and be around. It was such a drastic difference to the eggshells he was walking on back home.