Work Text:
Wilbur eyed the clock that ticked along the far wall. The noise of the room went in one ear and out the other as he dried glasses at the bar, filling a few more drinks for the solo patrons along the counter.
Due to the late hour, the building was emptying out. Wilbur was the only person left on duty, having long since sent his other employees home. There was no use in staying past midnight for most of them unless it was New Years anyway.
He was just about to announce the ten-minute mark to the rest of the wandering patrons when the door to the bar opened, and the cold air swept inside along with a pair of dark cloaks. Wilbur sighed with a small chuckle as the two sat themselves down at the counter, not bothering to take their hoods off.
“Your usual?” Wilbur walked up to them, still eyeing the clock.
“What else would we get?” The second visitor gruffed. His partner nudged him with a sharp eye, finally taking notice of his low hood.
“Please, mate,” the first nodded to him with a tightlipped smile. Wilbur didn’t question it before he went to his fridge, taking out their pre-prepared concoction and rattling it around in a shaker. They took their ruby red glasses with a polite thank you, turning to each other to make conversation.
“Five minutes,” he announced in a loud voice to the rest of the bar. Everyone else who was hanging around just to avoid going home finally pushed themselves off of their seats, some of them stumbling as they walked out the doors and into the night.
Wilbur spied a man still sitting in the corner, his head hanging down on his chest as he slept. Looking around, he didn’t spy any other stragglers besides the two men at the bar, and he left the man for later.
“How’s the business?” The second of the men asked him as Wilbur wiped down the counter. “Still going strong?”
“As long as you two keep coming around,” Wilbur nodded to the both of them. The first chuckled. “How about you?”
“We’re doing decently,” the rough voice answered him, still sipping on his drink.
“Only decently?” His partner raised an eyebrow. “Come on, Techno, you can tell him the news.”
“Phil,” Techno messaged his forehead, “I’m not making conversation at this hour.”
“It’s not that early,” Phil sighed, still holding a smile as he looked back at Wilbur. “We think we’re getting an addition to the family soon.”
“Oh?” Wilbur shook something for himself before he had to put away his glasses. “Is Techno finally getting married?”
“Oh god no,” Techno looked at him with poorly feigned hatred, “Don’t ever bring that up again.”
Wilbur held his hands up in mock surrender, pouring himself something simple.
“Just guessing,” Wilbur winked at him, and Techno practically choked.
“It’s not me,” Techno glared, though Wilbur could always tell when he was even slightly amused. “Phil’s picked up a new stray.”
“I’d hardly call Techno new,” Wilbur leaned against the counter, and Phil let out a hearty laugh.
“Phil,” Techno put his head in his hands. “Why do you let this man bully me?”
Phil rolled his eyes, flicking Wilbur’s keys across the counter so they landed next to Techno’s hands. “Go lock up for Wilbur, Tech.”
Techno huffed, but he snatched the keys and went over to lock the door from the inside.
“His name is Tommy,” Phil decided to stay on topic. “He’s been on his own for a while. We’ve been trying to hint at wanting him in the house, but he’s still a little nervous about his whole situation.”
Wilbur nodded, feeling the buzz of alcohol under his skin. “Do you think he’ll come around?”
“Certain of it.” Wilbur caught his keys as they were tossed to him. He flicked his eyes to the man still snoring in the corner.
“If we brought him around would you be willing to serve him too?” Phil leaned a little forward and dropped his voice like they weren’t in an almost completely empty bar.
“Of course,” Wilbur nodded. “Same rate applies and all, but I wouldn’t mind making an extra batch.”
“Great,” Techno leaned back a little bit. “He’s been a little sensitive about it. We think that maybe letting it have a little extra kick to it might help him.”
Wilbur leaned his head to the side. “How new is this Tommy guy?”
“Technically four months,” Phil flicked his eyes over to Techno. “But he’s only been active for one.”
“And you want to bring him to a bar?” Wilbur narrowed his eyes. “I don’t want to be the enemy here.”
“You’re not, mate,” Phil assured. “He’s social, and we want to help him, but he’s just so skittish about all of the new stuff.”
Wilbur hummed a confirmation, just resorting to downing the rest of his glass so he could put the rest of his stuff away. He rinsed out the glass, setting it upside down on the rack so he didn’t have to get out another rag. He topped off Techno’s drink while he was at it so he could add his shaker to the mix.
“How much do you want the extra batch to be?” Wilbur just threw the question out there, turning a few of the lights off inside.
“Oh, not too much, he’s still pretty young.”
Wilbur glanced over. “How young exactly?”
Techno rolled his eyes, “Does it matter, Wilbur, being who we are?”
“I’m not serving minors,” he pushed himself out from behind the counter. “I have standards.”
Phil scoffed, “We’re not stupid, Wil, he’s not a minor. Eighteen.”
“That’s pretty young for your standards,” Wilbur glanced warily over at them both. The two exchanged glances. “What happened to this guy?”
Phil kept his expression tight-lipped, so Wilbur turned his attention to Techno.
“It’s not for us to say now, is it, Wilbur?” Techno crossed his arms, turning his empty glass over. “I’m sure you don’t want to end up like the others that knew what happened.”
Wilbur knew a threat when he heard one. He steeled his expression back to neutral. As much as they were regulars, and he knew them well, they weren’t exactly the most moral of people. Wilbur knew that people who weren’t super close to them weren’t safe. He liked to think they would have some decency towards him with everything he risked, but he never pushed when he knew where the edge of the cliff was.
“I’m sorry I asked,” Wilbur breathed, finally setting his gaze on the slumbering man in the corner booth. Wilbur had served him way too many drinks, and if he hadn’t known what he was doing, he would have capped him before he got this blackout drunk.
Wilbur walked over and flipped the credit card out of the man’s pocket, taking care of his tab. Thankfully there was nothing that blocked him from doing so.
Techno had eyes on him, Wilbur could feel them on the back of his neck. He wondered, if it ever came to it, would he be another one of their pawns? Another victim in the name of survival of the fittest?
He pushed down the feeling, pocketing the cash in the man’s wallet, and flipping open the switch knife he kept on him.
It was a quick draw across the neck, and the guy would never wake again.
Methodically, he pulled out the couple of containers he kept on his apron, making a hole in the skin large enough for the blood to trickle in. His hands were steady and his mind was clear with how many times, how many years he had done this. He could still smell the alcohol on the man’s still breath, and it would certainly be high in his blood. A kick , the two of them called it.
Wilbur sealed the wound and placed lids on the glasses, making sure to chill them before he disposed of the remains.
Making an extra batch was no extra work, just extra space in his fridge, but he made sure it would cost a normal person an arm and a leg. It was running his business, and though very illegal, he would keep it up for as long as possible.
Techno always liked to watch him wash the blood off his hands.
“We’ll stop by with Tommy tomorrow if that’s alright with you, Wilbur,” Phil subtly asked. Wilbur glanced over the calendar, and it was just any other day.
“All good,” Wilbur nodded a confirmation. “Ten before closing worked well, you can do that again.”
“Got it, mate,” Phil flashed his fangs. “And if you need us-”
“'You’re always in the shadows,’ I know, Phil.”
The man only chuckled, turning his glass over so it matched Techno’s before paying in cash. There was a hefty tip today, Wilbur let the corners of his mouth twitch up.
The door clicked as they exited, and Wilbur breathed in deeply before letting it out. Just another day at work.
He added another tick to the back of his notebook, another kill on the records.
---
“Hey, Phil,” Techno glanced over as the two of them walked around in the dead of night.
“Yes, Techno?” He sounded almost exasperated, like he knew exactly what he was going to ask.
“If you like him so much,” Techno shot his eyes back behind them, gesturing to the place and person they had just left. “Why don’t you turn him?”
Phil shook his head, “Too young.”
“He’s older than when I was turned.”
“You were dying, Techno,” Phil chided. “Maybe one day, alright? I know you’re eager to get yourself another brother, but let’s focus on Tommy right now.”
Techno scoffed. “Don’t use me to cover up your favor, old man.”
Phil rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything to contradict it, and the conversation ended there.
---
They were right on time, as always.
Ten minutes to closing, the two figures in dark cloaks entered through the frosted doors, but Phil was gripping a smaller figure to his right, one that seemed to be protesting harshly about being in the cloak at all.
“I don’t want to be here, Phil,” the newest of their group complained loudly. The remaining patrons gave him side-eye looks, picking up their things a little quicker. Wilbur excused himself from behind the bar to take care of their tabs.
“Stop acting like a child,” Techno gruffed. “We told you, it will only be for a little while.”
“I can’t even have alcohol,” Tommy, as Wilbur was sure this was the person the two of them referred to last night, complained. “What’s the point of being here if I can’t drink?”
“Say that a little louder and maybe I won’t serve you,” Wilbur smirked at the kid as he pushed his way behind the bar again. “Usuals?”
“And one for Tommy,” Phil nodded.
Wilbur swept over to the fridge, getting out the three drinks instead of two. He decided it might be time to impress the newcomer, shaking two of the drinks in bouncing patterns and tossing them high into the air before sliding the glasses across the counter to Phil and Techno.
He poured a little bit of the last batch into a shot glass and flicked it in Tommy’s direction.
“Bitch, what is this?” The blonde turned his nose up at the miniature cup.
Techno raised an eyebrow at Wilbur, who only leaned over the counter and pushed the shot glass closer to the newcomer. “Try it, I want to make sure you can handle it before I serve you the whole round.”
“How old do you think I am?” The kid scowled, but Wilbur just smirked.
“Mm, twelve maybe. Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
Phil snickered, and Tommy spluttered out offense. “I’m eighteen, dickhead. I can handle a- whatever this is. A Bloody Mary?”
Techno scoffed. “Sure, why don’t you try it?”
Tommy scowled, picking up the glass and absolutely downing it, using his other hand to flip Wilbur off.
It didn’t last very long, his eyes widened significantly and he blinked down at the empty glass.
“That’s not tomato juice.”
Phil chuckled softly. “No, mate. It’s not.” He waved Wilbur on to fill up a real glass for Tommy, and Wilbur complied.
“I mean- I knew you guys were crazy for drinking something that wasn’t, you know, the thing, but I didn’t think you could come here and- get something like it.” Tommy was obviously trying to find the right words without spilling everything about himself and his companions to the singular man that was chugging another beer by the far wall. Wilbur eyed the clock, seeing only a few minutes to closing. “What- what the fuck is in this?”
“Just the usual, mate,” Phil pushed Tommy’s glass toward him. “It tastes better when Wil makes it, though.”
Wilbur scoffed, drying out a glass. “It’s not a secret, Phil. It’s alcohol concentrate. About point 1-5 or point 2 percent.”
“I can get drunk ?”
“If you have the money for enough drinks,” Wilbur shrugged. “Those aren’t cheap.”
“How’d you get it?” Tommy leaned forward. “Do you get drunk on a daily basis and get your blood drawn or something?”
Wilbur rolled his eyes, tossing Techno his keys. Techno nodded and got up from the stool as Wilbur pushed out from behind the counter again, walking over to the last man in the room.
“We’re closed, you know,” Wilbur handed the device over to him so he could pay his tab. The man blinked slowly but managed to complete the transaction. “Do you have a ride home?”
“Nah,” the man spit. “Jus’ walk.”
“Mm, not necessary,” Wilbur shrugged, glancing back over to Tommy, who stared at him in a confused manner. Wilbur whipped out his knife in record time, and the man was out without knowing what even happened.
He filled three glasses, just in case Tommy came around again tomorrow, and got busy disposing of the body.
Tommy was grinning when Wilbur got back behind the counter. “Ok, I take back what I said about you being a bitch, you’re a badass.”
Wilbur just shrugged, “It runs the business.”
“Are you not- you’re not part of a coven or anything, right?” Tommy seemed to be bouncing slightly like he was overly excited about it. “Why do you do this?”
Wilbur just pointed at the two figures sitting on either side of him. “They come every night, why shouldn’t I help them out?”
“I mean…” Tommy looked to either side of him. “You don’t think killing is, you know, bad?”
Wilbur sighed, “I guess it still is, but what’s the difference between you guys doing it and me doing it? They would have died anyway. And this way, I get paid.”
“Loyalty has earned Wilbur quite a lot,” Techno added, “And not just in money.”
“Speaking of loyalty,” Phil leaned back in his stool, facing Tommy. “How would you feel about joining our coven, Tommy?”
Tommy’s face went pale. Or, paler than it had been before. Instead of jumping up and down or really making any kind of positive expression at all, he slowly lowered himself off the chair, pressing his feet to the floor like he was about to run.
“I… um, you guys are great and all-”
“Tommy,” Techno’s word had Tommy’s attention snap over to him. “You’d be safe, and with a family finally. What’s wrong with that?”
He narrowed his eyes, accepting the challenge. “I’ve heard horror stories about being the youngest in a coven. I’m not doing that.”
“You think we would treat you badly because you’re new?”
“It happened in every other home!” Tommy’s arms went wide. “Ranboo got abused, Tubbo was forgotten and left on the side of the road, Fundy got locked inside his room for three years-”
“Fundy…?” Wilbur didn’t mean to step into the conversation, especially one this dire, but…
Fundy had disappeared five years ago, just gone without a trace.
“You know Fundy?” Phil questioned, not mad about Wilbur interrupting, strangely.
“He- yeah, I took him in for a while. He was practically my son, but he just…”
“Disappeared?” Tommy crossed his arms. “Yeah, that’s because vampires turn people now without any fucking thought put into it. You think I wanted to do all this? You think my friends wanted all this?”
Fundy was a vampire. His son was out there somewhere.
He would have been so young.
“I don’t want to be part of a coven,” Tommy crossed his arms. “Especially not the newest, and especially not alone.”
Phil and Techno exchanged glances.
“If you weren’t the newest, and you weren’t alone, would you reconsider?”
Tommy’s argument clearly had not considered that train of thought. “Um, I- maybe? It depends?”
Wilbur could feel his heartbeat speeding up.
“We’ve been meaning to add another member for a while now,” Phil had his eyes only on Tommy, but Techno was looking directly at Wilbur. “You would be younger than him physically , but you’ve already turned, and he hasn’t.”
“H- hold on,” Wilbur backed up a bit. “You aren’t talking about…?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t see it coming,” Techno gruffed. “You know we’re possessive.”
He and Tommy locked gazes, stuck in their own little moral dilemmas.
Wilbur shook his head quickly, but Tommy hesitated.
“...we’d be safe?”
“Wait- Tommy-” Wilbur started, but never got to finish.
“And taken care of,” Phil smiled. “We’d give you a home, food, everything you could ever want. You wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. And when you’re mature, you can move, if you wish.”
“How long is that?”
“Twenty,” Techno stated, his eyes didn’t leave Wilbur.
“Twenty years?”
“That is nothing to our kind, Tommy,” Phil assured. “It would pass by in moments.”
“Tommy, please-”
“Wilbur,” Techno cut him off. “You’re lucky you got through this long.”
“You can’t force me to turn!” Wilbur was looking through drawers for a knife. He didn’t use a lot of them, so he didn’t have any upfront. He found a corkscrew instead. “I’m happy like this!”
“No person turns willingly,” Phil sighed. “You’ll change your mind once you’re in it.”
“That’s not how this works!”
“Tommy,” Techno pushed, “Make your choice.”
Wilbur and Tommy were frozen in the middle of a cyclone, and one of them would have to move as the eye of the storm got smaller around them.
“I- If Wilbur comes with me I’ll join your coven.”
Phil smiled. Wilbur panicked.
Techno had him pinned to the bar in moments, the corkscrew was thrown across the room.
“Please, please, no, no, no-”
“Oh, poor thing,” Phil was hugging Tommy gently, cradling Wilbur’s cheek as he did so. “Tommy can tell you, it will be just fine.”
Tommy was crying, mouthing just I’m sorry.
“We should get him home before the turn,” Techno’s voice was so much deeper up close. “Just to make it easier.”
“You can do the honors then, Techno,” Phil said softly, turning Tommy around so he could kiss his forehead. “I’m glad you’re joining us, Tommy.”
“As long as I’m safe,” Tommy shivered.
Techno still had Wilbur pinned to the bar but had his eyes raised to meet his own.
“The easier you let this happen, the easier it will get,” Techno’s eyes were swirling with some dark, possessive emotion. “That’s it, keep your eyes on me, and-”
A weight heavier than Wilbur had ever felt crashed onto him, and then, he felt like he was floating. His breath had left him all at once, but he felt like he was ok without it.
Things were spinning a bit, he couldn’t tell if he was touching the ground. His muscles turned to mush, and he melted into whatever form Techno shaped him in.
“He took the thrall well,” Techno’s voice rumbled through like a train. “Grab the keys, Phil.”
“I’ve got them,” Phil returned. “Let’s go home, Tommy.”
Tommy hummed something small, still pressing into Phil’s hold. “Promise you won’t hurt us?”
“I would never hurt you two,” Phil whispered. “I care about you all too much.”
“Ok,” he sounded too small, “He’ll be ok?”
“Wilbur will be just fine, it’s just a turn,” Wilbur could feel his panic crawl up, but he couldn’t tell why. “You’ll see him when he wakes up in a few months, ok?”
“Alright,” Tommy hummed.
“Let’s go,” Techno said, and Wilbur’s vision spun again. He had to press his eyes shut, clawing at something for stability, he was pretty sure he wasn’t standing anymore.
He couldn’t even think about his approaching death and revival, it was just a forever spiral of mush and fog, and a pit of approaching doom forming in his stomach.
Somehow, the look Tommy gave him was enough to hold on. He’d be ok.
At least he had a reason for all those murders now.
At least now he’d catch a break.