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When Phil wakes up it's to a finger poking him in the face. As a caretaker for an orphanage full of superpowered kids it's not the weirdest way he’s woken up but it may just be the most annoying. He swats the hand away, peeling his eyes open to see Tubbo and Ranboo looking up at him. Well, Tubbo looking up at him; despite only being seven Ranboo is excessively tall for his age, already up to Phil’s elbow. Tubbo is the one with his hand raised which makes sense in hindsight, the finger had been poking him rather harshly and as young as he was Tubbo still hadn’t gotten proper control over his super strength yet. “What's going on?”
“Tommy’s sick,” Ranboo mumbled (never raising his voice, that one. Phil really needed to work with him on it).
Tubbo nodded, “Wilbur said to come get you. He’s throwing up all over the place.”
Throwing back his blanket, Phil was quick to sit up. Sickness in the orphanage never ended well; not when they all had powers most of them didn’t know how to control. Tommy’s super speed probably wouldn’t cause too many problems but another kid getting sick could equal disaster (Ranboo had gotten sick almost immediately after getting his power and every time the kid had sneezed he had ended up teleporting to some other country. They hadn’t been able to get him to use his power voluntarily after that for months).
Phil followed the two kids into the main bedroom and over into the far corner where Tommy usually slept. The other children were all gone (likely in the cafeteria for lunch), but Tommy lay curled up in his bed while Wilbur and Techno sat on the bed beside him next to one another. Ranboo and Tubbo were quick to climb onto the bed with the twin’s; Ranboo fighting to sit in Techno’s lap and Tubbo wrapping his arms around Wilbur’s neck from behind (which considering how short Tubbo was and how tall Wilbur was it was definitely a funny sight).
A bucket lay next to Tommy’s bed and Phil’s nose curled as he caught a glimpse inside it. When he looked over to the boy laying in the bed, Tommy met his gaze with dulled blue eyes. “Phil” Tommy whined, “my stomach fucking hurts.”
Letting the curse slide, Phil nodded solemnly and pressed a hand to the six year old’s forehead. Unsurprisingly, it was burning to the touch. “I know, mate, I’m sorry.”
“We don’t have any medicine,” Wilbur said, “I checked.”
“Shit-”
“We could go to the market, it should be open today.” Techno pointed out, adjusting the paper crown sitting on his head. “If we use Ranboo’s power we could get in and out of there fast, too.”
Phil’s eyes narrowed, “are you sure you aren’t just using this as an excuse to go steal shit?”
“What? Me, stealing?”
…
“Fine, no stealing. You’re no fun.”
“Thank you, Techno,” Phil said with a smile, glancing back over to Wilbur, “I need a healing potion, ginger ale, and crackers. You’ll find some money in the top drawer of my nightstand. Take Ranboo and Tubbo but don’t lose them and don’t steal anything.”
The teen rolled his eyes, pressing a hand up against his brown hair in a mock salute, “Yes, Dadza.”
Phil sighed, “all right you little shits, get going.”
He was going to regret this.
-
They arrived at the market mere minutes after Phil sent them away, Ranboo’s teleportation coming in handy. The fast travel left them all feeling vaguely nauseous and cold but it was better than having to walk all the way through the forest surrounding the orphanage and into the middle of the town. Wilbur ticked off the things they needed in his head before glancing over at Techno; when his twin’s red eyes met his own he tipped his head to Ranboo in silent question. Techno nodded, holding up a one on his hand. Wilbur grabbed Tubbo’s hand in agreement, and flicked his eyes towards the ground. Techno grabbed Ranboo’s hand, nodded curtly, and began dragging the teleporter behind him into the crowd.
“It's so weird when you two do that.”
Wilbur glanced down at Tubbo, brows furrowing. “Do what?”
“The- the talking-without-talking thing!” Tubbo said, nose curling up. “Tommy says it's twin telepathy.”
“Twin telepathy isn’t real,” Wilbur said with a laugh, “me and Techno just know each other really well. You do the same thing with Tommy and Ranboo sometimes.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, boss man.”
Prime, at this rate they weren’t going to get back to the orphanage until nightfall. Grabbing Tubbo’s hand again, he began tugging the younger through the hoard of people. The town gave them a wide berth, none of them wanting to be particularly close to the ‘disgusting orphans’ or whatever they called them. Usually the action bothered Wilbur but now it only served in his favor as Tubbo and him weaved through the crowd with ease.
When they reached the ale shop they were met with a long line, the kind that coiled around like a snake. A man with glasses that had red and blue lenses manned the place alone, making quick work of making drinks or selling off bottles as he made ample small talk with the customers.
“Are we going to wait in that line?” Tubbo asked, looking over the coil of people with wide eyes. “It's huge!”
“We don’t have to,” Wilbur said, mouth already quirking up into a smirk. It had been a long time since he’d used his powers (people didn’t exactly appreciate him using mind control regularly) and he was excited to finally put them to the test again. “I can get us a place at the front of the line as long as you don’t tell Phil.”
Tubbo’s expression morphed into something that could only be considered feral, blue eyes bright with excitement. “Okay, I promise I won’t!”
They walked up to the front of the line where a guy that was a literal fox stood talking eagerly to the bartender. He cut off when Wilbur and Tubbo came up, frowning a bit as he looked down at them “Hey… kids, what are you-”
“Let us cut in front of you,” Wilbur said simply, letting his words coat themselves with sickening honey and magic. The fox guy’s eyes dulled over as he stepped back without a word, gesturing for them to go ahead. The rest of the line complained loudly but Wilbur simply grinned as Tubbo and him stepped up to the counter.
“Not bad, kid,” the weird glasses man said, leaning onto the counter. “What can I get for you?”
“Ginger ale, please,” Wilbur said, eyes going a bit wide as the bartender seemed to completely ignore (even complimented) his abuse of power. Usually the shopkeepers got really upset when he used his ability (actually most seemed to hate it other than kids and Phil).
“What's your name, kid?” The bartender asked as he reached down to grab the bottle.
“Wilbur… and this is Tubbo.”
“Wilbur, huh?” The guy said, setting the bottle down on the counter and scooping up the money Wilbur had held out for him. “I’ll remember you. When you get a bit older come back down here and ask for Jack Manifold, I’ll see if I can get you a job.”
Grabbing the bottle, Wilbur walked away from the little shop with wide eyes. He could hardly believe it, a job? Sure, the guy had said he’d have to wait until he was older but still. A job was a job and it was certainly better than his original plan to just busk for money with his guitar (with maybe just a little bit of mind control in the mix).
“That Jack Manifold guy was pretty cool,” Tubbo said off-handedly, following Wilbur in the direction of the next shop they needed to go to.
“Yeah, he was.”
-
Well, they had managed to get the healing potion at least.
They had also managed to get a hoard of guards chasing after them but as Techno always said, let bygones be bygones. As it were, Techno and Ranboo were currently hiding in a small alleyway where Ranboo had teleported them. They were breathing hard; the healing potion clutched tightly in Techno’s hand still just as it had been when he’d manipulated the shop keeps blood and forced her to hand the bottle over for free.
Hey, he knew Phil had said no stealing but in his defense it wasn’t really stealing if the girl had just handed it to him. Plus, Wilbur had forgotten to give him some of the money so he really had no other option (unless you counted murder which as appealing as it sounded he knew Phil wouldn’t forgive him for, at least not as quickly as he would for the stealing).
“That was dumb,” Ranboo mumbled, “Phil’s going to be mad. We should give it back, we should-”
“Chill,” Techno shot back, as he often did when Ranboo got particularly rambly. “You won’t get into any trouble only I will, and Phil’s a softie he won’t stay mad long. Besides, Tommy needs the medicine to get better, remember?”
The younger frowned deeply, brows furrowing as he thought it over intensely. Just as always though he gave in easily enough, shoulders sagging in defeat. “Alright.”
“Come on,” Techno said, grabbing Ranboo’s arm and sneaking back out into the crowd. “Let’s go find Wilbur and Tubbo.”
-
When the four got back Tommy was throwing up.
He didn’t actually see them come back, too busy ducking his head into a bucket, but he did hear them. They were talking loudly about some guy called Jack Manifold (what kind of name was Jack Manifold?), and bloodbending guards. Tommy could already tell he had missed out on something great and immediately his mood worsened (which, considering he was currently throwing up in a bucket, said quite a bit).
When his stomach finally finished trying to eject itself, Tommy leaned back and allowed Phil to gently take the bucket out of his hands. The bucket was replaced with the smooth glass of a potion bottle, a glowing hot pink liquid shimmering inside of it. Tommy recognized the healing potion instantly, hot dread spiking through him. Sure, it would make him feel better, but the potion burned going down and would leave him possibly more nauseous then he already was.
“Do I have to?” He whined, looking up at Phil. He already knew the answer but it never hurt to ask. When the older nodded he groaned, throwing his head back against the pillows the caretaker had propped up for him.
“You can do it, boss man,” Tubbo encouraged from where he sat pressed into Wilbur’s side on the bed over.
“Just get it over with, mate,” Phil softly said, pulling the cork out of the bottle for him and leading it up to his mouth. “I had the boy’s get ginger ale and crackers which should help the nausea after, and we can- Ranboo go get him water for his throat.”
Not being given much other choice, Tommy leaned back and swallowed down the potion. It burned his throat and he resisted the urge to cough, instead letting out a small whine as for a second his entire esophagus felt like it was on fire. When it seemed to subside he handed the glass bottle back to Phil, having it be replaced with a cool glass of water. Tommy chugged it down greedily, thankful for the relief.
“Why don’t you lay back and try to get some rest?” Phil suggested gently, taking the glass and pouring the ginger ale into it before placing it down on the very small nightstand resting between the beds. “You can eat once you wake up and your stomach settles a bit.”
Tommy nods, already drowsy as he leans back harshly into his pillows. He makes grabby hands at the other bed and Tubbo and Ranboo both are quick to climb into the bed beside him. When he wakes up he will no doubt be dealing with horrible nausea from the potion but for now he’s simply tired and with his frie- no his family all around him he feels safe enough to drift off to sleep.