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The burger van was pristine. The steaks and bread loaves were stacked perfectly in the chests. Not a speck of dust was on the counters, and the floor had been recently swept. Despite how rickety the van was, Ranboo was apparently keeping it clean.
It made Wilbur's skin prickle with irritation.
"I'm not scared of you," the hybrid had denied. And yet he kept the van almost disturbingly pristine. And yet he agreed with everything Wilbur said, even when the lie was obvious on his face. And yet he did everything Wilbur asked with barely any protest. Ranboo was a liar.
It pissed Wilbur off. Ranboo, Tommy, Tubbo, even Quackity. All of them looked at him like he was a monster, when they thought he didn't notice. Wilbur was better now. Why couldn't they see that?
It didn't matter. He'd show them all that he had changed, that he was much more stable now. Whether they liked it or not, they would learn that they didn't have to fear him. His plan was foolproof.
Right on time, the door opened. Ranboo walked in, stopping short when he saw Wilbur already there. Wilbur smiled at the teen, gritting his teeth slightly at the agitation he could read on the teen's face.
"Oh, uh, hi Wilbur," the half enderman stammered.
"Hello, Ranboo," he replied. "You're right on time."
Ranboo walked into the van, stopping a few feet away from Wilbur. His head tilted as he saw what Wilbur was doing.
"Uh, whatcha got there?" he asked.
Wilbur glanced down. In front of him sat a freshly made burger. He half expected there to be particles from the cocktail of potions he'd put in it, but there were none.
"It's a new burger recipe I've been working on."
Wilbur picked it up, and held it out to the teen. Ranboo hesitantly accepted, but didn't take a bite. More irritation spiked at the blatant mistrust.
"Go on and try it," Wilbur urged the ridiculous teen. "I'm not sure how good it is, I could use a second opinion."
Ranboo really didn't have much of a spine. With no second thoughts, he bit into the burger. His face scrunched up strangely, although he forced a smile a second later. The potion would work with just one bite, but Wilbur was curious to see how far the teen's conflict avoidance would go.
"What, don't you like it?" He asked, a little confrontationally.
"No no no! It's um, it tastes fine!" Ranboo hurried to assure him. He took yet another bite, as if to prove it. Wilbur scoffed. The enderman hybrid was nice enough, likeable, but he just couldn't take him seriously. Wilbur couldn't respect him.
Ranboo set down the burger, and Wilbur watched curiously. He knew what the potion mix did, obviously. He didn't want to hurt the spineless kid. But he didn't know how intense the effects would be.
"W-Wilbur?" Ranboo said nervously. "I don't feel v-very…" his knees crumpled beneath him. Wilbur watched in fascination as the tall teen began to shrink. It was shockingly quick, and within a minute, the potion had finished.
Ranboo was curled on the floor, trembling slightly. He was barely the size of one of Wilbur's fingers. Wilbur reached out and poked him, jumping a little as the kid flinched back.
Ranboo looked up at him with wide eyes. All of the fear Wilbur suspected he was hiding was there, plain on his face. Now that he was helpless, he couldn't pretend not to be scared of Wilbur anymore.
The resurrected man reached out. Ranboo stumbled backwards with a yelp, but Wilbur was too quick. He scooped up the now tiny hybrid, holding him in a loose fist. He could feel the teen shaking, and he sighed. Worse was Ranboo's face.
If he thought the nervous glances were bad before, now it was excruciating. There was blind terror on the teen's face now, and he hated it. At least it was honest though, not like before. There was no more pretending to be nice, to be open and accepting. There was just the fear that had always been there.
"W-wilb-bur please-" Ranboo stammered.
"Stop that," Wilbur said, annoyed. Ranboo flinched. It only made his irritation worse.
"Stop looking at me like that," he snapped. The teen froze, and Wilbur forced himself to take a breath. Ranboo would learn eventually; anger wasn't the right way to go about this.
"Wilbur, why are you…" the teen whispered.
"You think I couldn't tell?" Wilbur asked him. He let the silence hang in the air for a moment. Ranboo didn't answer. "You think I didn't know you were lying when you said you weren't scared of me? You can't pretend now, can you?"
"I- I don't-"
"It's ok. You'll learn," he cut Ranboo off. "You, Tommy, Tubbo; everyone else on this goddamn server. You all look at me like I'm a monster, even though I've changed. You'll all learn, the hard way if I have to. That there's nothing to be afraid of anymore."
Wilbur laughed, a little hysterically. He could feel the rapid pitter patter of Ranboo's heart beneath his fingers. Despite the obnoxious fear, holding an entire person in a single hand was kind of intoxicating. After so long of being adrift, even before his death, he finally felt back in control. How would it feel when the rest of the server was this tiny?
"Don't do this," Ranboo begged.
He didn't bother responding, simply slipping the shrunken teen into his pocket. He patted the vials of the new potion in his other pocket. It was time to find some of the others; hopefully he could find Tommy soon.
Ranboo was squirming in his pocket, obviously freaked out. Wilbur felt a slight twinge of guilt. But no, this was for the best. Eventually, he wouldn't be scared.
After he was done, nobody would be scared of him.
Even if making progress felt like going backwards.
***