I'm a Healer, But...

6

Wilbur is so disappointed.With just one or two sentences, he's ruined Tommy's admiration for him. He's still not sure which part of what he said made him so scared, but every time Tommy speaks, he can feel that wariness. The borderline distress when Wilbur gets too friendly.He desperately needs to know more about him, so he can start patching this up. In a way that doesn't require his powers.Tommy knows Quackity, apparently, so he could go to him for information. But Quackity always demands such a high price- at least when Wilbur is the one asking. That will be his last resort, then.There's a simpler solution, he thinks, so when Tommy slips into the shower after dinner and Wilbur's family has filtered out of the main living areas, Wilbur doesn't hesitate to grab Tommy's bag- his only bag, all his known belongings in it. If he's lucky he'll find a wallet, an ID, something he can use to research Tommy as thoroughly as Tommy has researched him.....why is it full of flowers?As soon as he unzips it, it almost overflows. There's a few types of flowers mixed into it, but it's mostly wilting or partially crushed sunflowers. Wilbur starts pulling them out, startled at the sheer amount and size of them- almost half the bag is full of them, but they're so small, like their growth was stifled. How did he get so many of these?Is Tommy just a really bad gardener?Underneath the flowers are just a bunch of dirty clothes, a bunch of jeans and copies of the same red and white shirt. They'll need to get him some more clothes while he's here, Wilbur considers as he sets them aside.Clothes. Flowers. And at the bottom-"What the fuck are you doing?" Fear-anxiety-betrayal-"What is this?" Wilbur counters, holding up the cow plushie, the last item in the bag."Wh- give him back!" Embarrassment-anger-fear- Tommy reaches out, trying to grab it, and Wilbur hands it right over. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He clings to the toy, his words reeking of relief."Techno said you went through my stuff.""Wh- that's not-" Disbelief-embarrassment. "I was just looking around! I didn't like, open your drawers or what the fuck ever!""Yeah, well, I was just looking around, too. What's with the flowers?""I like flowers, bitch," Tommy snaps immediately. FEAR-FEAR-FEAR. He immediately starts bundling the flowers together, though he refuses to put down the cow, and he eyes Wilbur like he's going to try to take any of it from him."...is this all you own?"Tommy ignores him for a moment, which he hates. Then, after a too-long silence- "What, looking for shit to take? There's just this." Anger-fear-hurt-longing. "If you really want to rob a homeless kid, you can have some of the sunflowers. Just fuck off. ""You're not homeless when you're staying with us," Wilbur comments, picking out one of the least-crumpled sunflowers and examining it. "Do you like plants?""No," he answers quickly. Caution-neutral. It's true, then, but there's still something so strange to it. Why is he hoarding them like this?"But then-""It's not any of your fucking business , is it? I said fuck off!""But Tommy- ""Quit harassin' the kid, Wilbur." He whips his head around, spotting Techno in the doorway to the living room. The sentence tastes of annoyance, but underneath, there's the smallest hint of concern. He wasn't expecting that, of all emotions. "I need your help with somethin' anyway."Wilbur huffs, but steps away, still holding the sunflower he picked out."Thanks, king," Tommy tells Techno, and Wilbur squawks, insulted."I thought you called me king!""Yeah, until you went through my shit," he grumbles. Anger-fear-caution- how badly has Wilbur messed this up? Ugh, if he could just push a little relaxation, get him to calm down-Techno can tell what he's thinking, and grips him by the arm, pulling him back towards the bedrooms. "You know," Techno starts when they're out of Tommy's hearing distance. "I thought I'd just have to stop Phil from adoptin' him.""Why stop us? He's- angry, but we can fix that, and then it'd be-""He's temporary, Wil. You know how you do with temporary things." The concern is more present now.That quiets him. Techno isn't... wrong, per se. He doesn't like when the people he's fond of pass away, but that doesn't stop him from getting attached in the first place. It's his fatal flaw. "....I still want him to be happier," he grumbles. "The best I've seen is amusement that was still tainted with wariness.""Of course he's wary. He's stayin' with a bunch of immortal supervillains.""But he's working for us, basically! He's staying in our house! How did he just- walk in here without hesitation when he's so scared? "Techno eyes him for a moment, and then sighs. "Probably he was leavin' something worse."Oh."...yeah, I thought that'd make you even clingier. Look, I'm sure Phil'll leave him better than we found him. Or he's worked with Quackity, maybe he'll give him a place to stay, then you can see him.... Whenever you aren't blacklisted from Las Nevadas."Wilbur whines- that wasn't his fault! Why is Quackity so sensitive about his fiancés? "But if he was here-""You didn't like Ranboo or Tubbo this much. What's special about Tommy?"Wilbur pauses, giving that some actual thought. What makes Tommy so different from the kids Phil has unofficially taken in? "Well... Ranboo felt so hollow at first. His emotions were there, but they were... lacking, because he didn't have memories to relate them to, I guess. And Tubbo was basically dead inside until he settled in. Tommy.... Tommy feels so much .""You sure you're not just lettin' that empathy of yours affect you too much?""No," he insists quickly. "It's about Tommy. He's so angry, but there's always so much fear underneath it. Something's wrong. I want to fix it-"Techno lets out a low growl of frustration . "You said you'd stop tryin' to fix people."Oh. He did, didn't he? "I said I'd stop using my powers to fix people. I can do this legitimately!""No, you can't.""....why, Techno, is that a bet ?""No. No. Not even slightly. Do not take that as a challenge-"Wilbur claps his hands together, pleased. "Why, Technoblade, my dearest baby brother-""I'm literally thousands of years older than you.""Yeah but you stopped aging at twenty one, so you're my littlest brother-" for now. "Anyway! I'm so happy you've put out this challenge for me so I can prove you wrong. If Tommy leaves us, he's leaving better than he is now."Techno looks like he's going to protest further, but lets out a low sigh instead. "Whatever. Start by apologizin' to him, at least.""For what?" Wilbur asks genuinely. Techno looks a moment from slapping him. "....oh, the bag thing?"" Yes , the bag thing. Just because he's human doesn't mean you shouldn't treat his things like they're important to him.""Yeah... yeah. Fine. I'll apologize to him." Maybe that will lower Tommy's guard a little.Wilbur slips away from Techno, quietly making his way back to the living room. He hears something as he approaches, a low voice- the TV, he assumes at first, but when he gets close enough to make it out-That's Dream's voice. Dream, the hero that Tommy is avoiding , Dream.He immediately ducks into the room, unreasonably worried for just a moment that Dream somehow found their hideout, despite how he's been looking for years and has never found it... but it's just the TV, of course.Tommy is watching Dream on TV. He whips his head around to look at Wilbur when his steps are too loud."-sixteen years old, with blond hair and blue eyes. He often wears sunglasses-""I thought you were helping Blade!" Tommy says, raising his voice to try to cover up the TV as he scrambled for the remote. Behind his voice is fear-longing-longing- what? What does that mean?"-and was last seen wearing a white shirt with red sleeves. He-"Tommy swears and manages to shut it off. The room goes silent as the two of them stare at each other."...sooo," Wilbur starts unsurely. "I wanted to say sorry for going through your things.""You... what?" Tommy's confusion is evident even without Wilbur's powers."I'm sorry for going through your bag," he repeats, a little slower.Tommy hunches his shoulders up. "You didn't have to- I heard you, I just don't know why you're saying that."Wilbur blinks. He was expecting either a 'Wilbur of course I forgive you have some more sunflowers and I'll move in' or a 'fuck off and die'. Not... whatever this is. "Because... I'm sorry?" he says. Maybe that's not enough? "I'm used to hybrids whose belongings are precious, and humans who just treat them like things. I didn't realize you'd care so much."Tommy tilts his head slightly. "You- what? Okay. Sure, what the fuck- alright." Confusion-resignation. "You're forgiven, I guess. Don't fucking do it again.""...can I still keep the sunflower?""Well obviously you can keep the sunflower." Tommy pulls his bag closer to him. "But never ask me for anything again."That gets a snicker out of him. "No promises. I'm heading to bed, g'night."Tommy ignores him. Wilbur casually walks out of the room, and then sprints for Techno's room. "Phil's office," he hisses into it before rushing over to Phil's bedroom to drag him out of it. Phil yelps in surprise, but lets himself be pulled along. As soon as they're both in, Wilbur shuts and locks the door behind him. The room is soundproof, of course, so no risk of Tommy overhearing them. "We need to watch something.""What?" Techno huffs. "If this is your way of sayin' you want a movie night-""No. Dream was on TV, talking about Tommy. He shut it off before I could hear much, but it's got to be online somewhere already."Phil pauses. "...he was talking about Tommy?""Unless he's looking for a different blond teenager wearing sunglasses and a red and white shirt." Wilbur sits in front of Phil's computer, pulling up the latest Dream news.It's easy to find- #1 Hero Dream Begs The Public For Help Finding-"A witness?" Wilbur reads out loud. Phil and Techno crowd behind him, and he opens up the video attached to the article.Dream stands at the Hero Organization's official press release stage, in full costume. "There is not a lot that I'm able to disclose about the following situation," Dream says, sounding like he's reading off notecards. "Approximately a month and a half ago, a citizen went missing after involvement in a villain attack. He illegally used his powers in the process, then panicked and ran away. As we were subduing the villains, we did not pursue the citizen, but we've since learned that he needs to be in protection for something he witnessed.""We've been attempting to track him down, but have few leads. We're hoping that, by asking the public, someone will have seen him recently so we can find him. He is six feet tall, sixteen years old, with blond hair and blue eyes. He often wears sunglasses, and was last seen wearing a white shirt with red sleeves. He goes by Theodore or Theo, though he may be using an alias."Dream sighs, his voice getting soft- softer than Wilbur has ever heard from him before. "And Theo, if you see this- you're not in any trouble. We just want to help you. Please, come to the Hero's Organization, and we'll protect you."The interview ends there. The comments are full of people theorizing as to what Theo must know, or trying to give tips about where they may have seen someone who looked somewhat like that... or people thirsting over Dream."...'Theodore'," Phil murmurs. "It doesn't suit him at all.""It doesn't," Wilbur agrees idly, though he's distracted by... well, all of that."Month and a half ago," Techno says, clearly thinking. "Anythin' big happen back then?"Phil hums. "I got into a fight with Pandas and 404, but I certainly wasn't 'subdued'. Besides that... Ace was hunting down his ex-husband's stolen things, the Warden cut off a hero's arm...""Dream was recovering from Techno almost killing him," Wilbur points out. "How was he out 'subduing villains' when Techno broke all his ribs?""The Hero Organization probably has a few healers on rotation," Phil sighs." Or it's a lie," he says, bouncing a little in his seat. "If he wants to look good while calling for Tommy's head, this is the way to do it. Get the people to rat him out, thinking they're doing something good, and then he's got his hands on Tommy- and probably his healer, too- without lifting a finger.""You might be givin' him too much credit," Techno huffs, his words reeking of caution. "We've known him for a week. You've known him for a few hours. For all we know, he is usin' us as a weird Witness Protection Program.""I doubt it," Phil says- oh, cool, he's feeling bird emotions again. Wilbur can never quite piece those together the way he can with human feelings, even if he's part bird himself, but it's definitely some kind of protectiveness. Techno is so outvoted. "We're the opposite of that, after all. And Tommy has no reason to trust the Syndicate over the Hero Organization, especially if he's hiding from other villains.""Unless Theo is pullin' a fast one on us," Techno says, defensive-wary-protective. "We don't know anythin' about the healer-""Ace has confirmed their existence," Phil counters. "And he knows better than to lie to us. Or to give out our address if he hadn't personally confirmed it was the truth. I think..." he sighs. "I think we do need to find out more about why Tommy is here. Or... we just need to push up handling Dream.""Either way," Wilbur says with a smile. "We should talk to Tommy."