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[abrightboy]

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[conning]

"So how is that a waste of a wish?" He's confused, Malcolm.

[abrightboy]

"It would only help me. How is it not a waste of a wish when you can use it to help lots of people? He can grant basically anything. In the entire universe," Malcolm points out.

[conning]

His brows knit a little. “Like a new life? A changed one? A world that’s completely different, good and fair?”

Neal gestures at nothing in particular, no judgment in his tone. “You haven’t asked for any of that. And you don’t seem to think it’s even a good idea every time. And you can get more than one deal with more than one graduate, can’t you? Why not choose something that makes your life better in a way no one else can?”

[abrightboy]

"Maybe if I graduate two or three people first, and use those wishes for something... good that I think of. Then we'll see. I can't just... throw it away on something nobody else will even notice," Malcolm points out.

[conning]

Neal stares in mild confusion. "Why can't you take care of yourself first?"

[abrightboy]

“Because that’s not what I did this for. The doing this… that is the self care,” Malcolm explains.

[conning]

"Yeah, but..." He trails off, still confused. "People come here to ask for things that they can't get any other way. Just because that's not why you came, why can't it be a perk?"

[abrightboy]

"Because it's selfish," Malcolm tells him. And maybe he deserves what he gets, Neal. You haven't considered that, have you? "I haven't earned that yet."

[conning]

"So?" Selfish smelfish. You are a strange creature Malcolm, and it fascinates him. "What do you have to do to earn it?"

[abrightboy]

“More and better,” Malcolm tells him. “You have no idea how many lives have been taken on my watch.”

[conning]

"That's not a quantifiable--" He stops himself. It doesn't matter. Malcolm is like Peter, a little bit. There are certain things he probably can't argue around. "Just because they died it doesn't mean it's your fault."

[abrightboy]

“I didn’t save them,” Malcolm tells him. “If I was smarter or faster or less… gullible, I could have saved them.”

[conning]

"Not saving someone isn't the same as killing them." It's not a complicated equation in his head, one that doesn't recognize its hypocrisy coming from Neal himself.

[abrightboy]

“So? They’re still dead,” Malcolm says.

[conning]

This conversation isn't going to go anywhere. Not right now, and Neal is tired. He rubs his eyes. "Agree to disagree on the point of the wish, then."

Dry as a bone. A pause. "Why don't you wish for them to come back?"

[abrightboy]

“Wouldn’t that just let him off the hook,” Malcolm says.

[conning]

"Giving people their loved ones back?" He's so confused.

Wasn't he leaving? He was leaving. "Just. Think about it. I know you're not here for a wish, but you could still benefit. Or the world could if you want that instead."

[abrightboy]

“I do want that instead. I just. Don’t know what that looks like yet,” Malcolm admits, but he leaves it at that. He’s noticed Neal glance towards the door twice.