I'm a Healer, But...

11

When Wilbur wakes, something is wrong. He can feel Phil behind him, the way he always is, and that's comfortable, makes him feel safe- but someone is in front of him, too. That isn't right. Techno is always on Phil's other side, not Wilbur's, so-He forces his eyes open despite his sleepiness, and finds Tommy asleep in his arms. Oh. That's fine, actually.Tommy. Tommy, their healer. Wilbur tightens his grip a little, pulling him even closer, and Tommy hums in his sleep. He has to stifle a chirp- fuck Technoblade, they won. Tommy gets to move in and stay with them- this gives Wilbur all the more time to make Tommy like him again!And it won't be too hard. He can use the fact that he was hurt, that Tommy had to heal him, play on those healer instincts and make Tommy want to stay around and make sure he's at a hundred percent.Wilbur promised he wouldn't use his powers, but he didn't promise he wouldn't be manipulative. If Tommy was a hybrid, Wilbur wouldn't hesitate to poke and prod at him until he imprinted, whatever it would take to make sure Tommy stays, forever. Unfortunately, humans aren't as easy as that.Still, it can't be that hard. Tommy has been hurt, horribly. Wilbur and his family just have to fix that, give him safety, stability, love. The respect as a healer he didn't get from the heroes, the affection and care any child needs. Wilbur will give him whatever he wants, and then his healer will be so sweet, won't he? He'll feel Tommy's bright happiness that's been so stifled by fear and stress.Wilbur runs a hand through Tommy's hair. Even in his sleep, he leans into the touch. How starved has he been of affection? He'll never lack for it here. He'll never have to want or fear or-"Dream," Tommy murmurs, barely audible, and Wilbur freezes. It's so soft, the fondness-love-longing too sweet compared to anything else he's felt from Tommy so far. It tastes artificial- of course it is, he's asleep, just dreaming- and he hates how it feels."Tommy," Wilbur says, keeping his voice low to avoid disturbing the others but still trying to wake him. "It's time to get up, sunflower." Tommy makes a noise- cloudy confusion, still mostly covered by the haze of sleep- and Wilbur lets go of him, not wanting to startle him too much when he wakes up-But Tommy whines, the longing less artificial this time, and immediately leans forward, into him. How could Wilbur resist when he just promised to give his healer whatever he could possibly want? He pulls him right back into his arms."Sunflower," he says again, sending amusement-fondness-happiness to him- yes, he's not supposed to use his powers, but that's to manipulate him. This is all genuine. "We can stay here if you want, but you need to be awake, okay?" He's not letting Tommy think that Dream is the one treating him so nicely, not even in his actual dreams."Hhhhuh?" Tommy finally starts to stir, blinking up at him. His bleary eyes are glowing- Wilbur almost thought he had hallucinated it last night, when he was dying, but no, that's what he's been hiding behind those sunglasses. As soon as Tommy's eyes sharpen with recognition, he's pulling himself back, out of Wilbur's arms. "What- the fuck?" He's too tired to really be angry, the words tasting of confusion-longing-longing. "Good morning," Wilbur says quietly. "Keep your voice down, unless you want to wake Phil and Techno."Tommy shifts up slightly, peering over at the two before glaring back down at Wilbur. "You're all freaks." Longing-discomfort. "Is it-? Blade said, uh, Phil would freak and kidnap me if I dip too soon, can I fucking go now?"Wilbur turns around, eyeing Phil. It's definitely fine, Phil would be a little disappointed Tommy left before he could wake and fix his hair, but it wouldn't lead to Tommy getting dragged back to the nest. If it would, he would tell Tommy to go, just to have a few more hours with him later. But now? "I think it's fine," he decides, though he wants to keep him. Still, if he wants to get on Tommy's good side, he has to indulge him, even when he wants things Wilbur doesn't want to give. "Come on, let's get breakfast."Tommy scrambles to get up out of the nest, and Wilbur does the same, albeit far more smoothly. He glances down at the nest, watching Phil and Techno doze curled up, and feels a pang of regret for leaving- but it's okay. Wilbur's left his beanie there, a little piece of him to remind them when they're awake-And Tommy left flowers, whether he realizes it or not. Small sunflowers are scattered where he had been sleeping. Wilbur snags one as Tommy leaves, tucking it behind his ear before following him.Wilbur wants to ask how he slept, if it was nice to rest in their nest instead of on the couch, but even without Tommy speaking he can tell how tense he is. Instead, he just heads to the kitchen. "So, I could make us... something." Wilbur is not an expert cook. "Or, I can call Quackity and bully him into sending us delivery. I think we've earned it after last night.""You mean I earned it. You just got yourself fucking magicked and almost died.""Almost dying means I earned it!""Whatever," Tommy scoffs, amusement-discomfort. "Big Q owes me. I want fries. Just the greasiest, saltiest ones he can find.""Anything else? Burger, chicken tenders?""Do I look fucking five years old? No. Just fries. Besides, I don't like eating meat."Aw, that's probably that healer empathy. "Alright, alright. Way too many fries it is." They do have a fryer somewhere around here- back when Techno's potato farm first grew to its unruly size, and they were still trying to eat them all before they gave up and started giving them away- but Wilbur doesn't know how to use that thing, and he does want to bug Quackity, so."Quackityyyy," he coos as soon as Quackity picks up."No." He misses the days Quackity would call back with a 'Wilbah', cooing just as excitedly. Eh, one day he'll probably get that back. As long as he's not too busy fixing up Tommy first."Why are you even picking up your phone when you're on vacation, hm? Did you miss me?""I thought it was Blade calling. Do you know you're on his phone?"Well, Quackity wouldn't have picked up if he used his own phone. "Nope! Anyway, Toms wants delivery and he says you owe him.""Oh," Quackity says. Wilbur wishes he could make out his feelings over the phone, but, well, unfortunately he hasn't figured out how to use his powers over phone lines yet. Eventually. "Sure. What does he wan-" Another voice joins Quackity, one he can't quite make out, and Quackity's voice gets more muffled as he pulls the phone away. "Hey, babe, no, I know, sorry, it's- yeah, it's real quick. No, they just want me to send out another delivery guy, it's not really work- I know. I know. Karlos, baby, I know he needs us. I'll be back in like two minutes, okay? Okay. I love you."When he hears Quackity get closer to the phone again, Wilbur answers him. "He wants fries. 'Greasiest, saltiest you can find', he says.""Got it. Anything else?""Well, I want-""That's it, got it. I'll send Charlie over." Quackity hangs up without another word. Wilbur pouts- his fiancés take up so much of his time nowadays.He turns back to Tommy with a sigh. "You'll get your fries.""Fuck yeah," he says, zero concern for Wilbur's suffering. Looks like Wilbur's going to have to wait for Techno to cook for him. Tommy just watches him for a few moments before speaking up again. "You're not, like, in charge here. Right?""Mmmm, yes and no. The Syndicate doesn't really have a hierarchy. I mean, Phil is our dad, so he's kind of the most in charge? But generally we just decide things together.""...right. So I should talk to, what, everyone to find out how this is going to work?"Wilbur puzzles over that for a moment before tilting his head. "I don't really know what you're asking. How what is going to work?"Tommy huffs. "Me being the Syndicate's healer, dipshit. Like, am I getting paid? Do I actually have to live here? When you guys go out and do shit, do I wait here or are you dragging me along? Do I get to heal myself? That kind of shit."Oh. Those are all pretty good- "Hold on, what do you mean 'do you get to heal yourself'?"Tommy pauses for a second at that response. "Uh, like... I mean, I've been healing myself constantly since I got here." He brings his hands up so they're visible, already holding a new sunflower. "I don't know if you guys are dicks about that kind of thing, but Dream was a total bitch. Didn't want me to 'waste my powers' or-" Fear-pain. "Whatever. I can't even waste my powers. I can unbreak like, a dozen bones in a row, I don't think healing a papercut on myself is gonna stop me from saving someone's life."He wants to hurt Dream so badly. If he hadn't let Dream catch him last night, if he'd been the one to rip his head off his body, if- "No, that's fine," Wilbur says, forcing his voice to be even. "You can heal yourself if you're ever hurt. Ever. Why are- what are the... sunflowers- are you hurt right now? What-?"Tommy drops it on the counter and leans back, further from Wilbur. "It's fine, king. I'm just getting rid of hunger pangs or whatever.""Wh- have an apple or something, why are you letting yourself-?" Wilbur rushes to the fridge, opening it up and looking for something he can snack on.He huffs. "I need to use my powers a lot. I was using them all the time at the Hero Organization, so..."So he has to deal with the itch. Wilbur deals with it worse than the rest of his family- his powers are so omnipresent, if he tries to turn it off it drives him mad in a matter of hours. He can completely understand hurting himself to stave that off.That doesn't mean he's going to allow it. "So you need to heal a lot." He opens one of the drawers, pulling out a sharp knife."Wh- what the fuck are you-?" Fear-fear-FEAR-Wilbur doesn't hesitate to run it across his own upper arm. It's not deep- even if Tommy can heal Withering, he doesn't know how good he is at reconnecting nerves, and he's not about to risk playing his guitar even to help Tommy- but it should be more satisfying than barely staving off hunger.Tommy is still looking at him like he's crazy, but he's not scared anymore, just weirded out. Wilbur drops the bloody knife in the sink, stepping closer, and Tommy doesn't hesitate to reach out and rest a hand on his arm. The glow in his eyes gets brighter as Wilbur's skin quickly patches itself together, before dulling almost completely when he's done. "Any better?" Wilbur asks."You're fucking insane." Confused-nervous takes up most of his emotion, but there's an odd sort of wonder underneath it. Tommy's warming up to him, Wilbur's sure."Yes, well, it comes with the territory," Wilbur says with a smile. Tommy lets his hand drop from Wilbur's arm, now clutching a red poppy. "Oh, can I have-?""No. You already have some of my sunflowers, bitch.""Wh- but that came from my blood!""Yeah, well, it came from my healing, too, so fuck off." Tommy holds it a little tighter. Wilbur may be bickering, but it's delightful to know that Tommy wants to keep a little part of him, the same way his brother and father do.This will be so easy, won't it? It takes so little to get Tommy's attention and interest, and now that they've taken out the biggest threat and promised not to hurt him... well, Wilbur will have his healer agreeing to eternity in no time.