KEEP A PLACE FOR ME // Wilbur Soot X Reader

13

Your car locked with a click, and you hefted your bag over your shoulder, stuffing your keys in your pocket. Your fingers were starting to get that tingly cold feeling - autumn was fully here now, bringing miserable weather and even more miserable temperatures. You would have to bring your space heater into the office soon if you didn't want your toes to freeze off. 

You bustled into the office, waving to Oscar as you normally did before you made your way down the hall, stopping in front of your office door and digging through your pocket for the key. You frowned when you didn't find it. 

"Don't tell me I left it at home..." You grumbled, digging through your other pockets as well. Left had side of your jacket, inside pockets, jeans (front and back) - all turned up nothing. You sighed, running a hand through your hair. "I know I picked it up this morning-"

"Looking for this?" 

You looked up to see Wilbur, dangling your key above you. 

"Oh, my key." You said, opening your hand so that he could drop it into your palm. "Where'd you find it?"

"It slipped out of your pocket on the way in." He said. "You're lucky I was here so early to see it."

You slid the key into the lock but didn't turn it, instead just leaning against your door, letting your bag slide down your arm a bit. "Why are you here so early? You usually don't get here until later in the day."

"I have an event sort of thing." He said. 

You raised an eyebrow. "And what would this 'event' happen to be?"

"Um." Wilbur said, puffing out a little laugh. "Minecraft politics?"

"So the usual screaming match." You said dismissively. "Good to know that I won't even have the morning's peace today."

"Yeah..." Wilbur scratched at the back of his neck. "I wanted to give you a heads up... and say sorry. I know how much you hate it, and I'll try to keep things down, promise."

You pressed your lips into a thin smile. At least he was trying. 

"Actually, I have something for you." He said, reaching into the bag that was slung over his shoulder and pulling out a to-go cup of coffee. He handed it to you, and you cradled one hand around the cup - it was still warm. "I didn't know what you took in your coffee, so I just put some cream and sugar."

"Oh." You said. "How thoughtful of you..."

"I just thought, that since, you know," He said. "I'm going to be making a ton of noise today, that I should probably do something, right? And you always have a coffee cup when you leave, so I figured that you probably drink a lot of coffee, and coffee's easy, so I thought I would get you a cup to make up for how loud I am, and how early it's going to be today, and..." He trailed off. "Yeah."

You smiled down at the coffee, and then at Wilbur. "Well, it was very nice of you to think of me. Thank you."

A small smile played at the corner of Wilbur's mouth. "I really am sorry that I bother you so much."

You waved off the comment. "It's fine, I'll just... put my headphones on or something. Listen to some white noise."

Wilbur just smiled, adjusting his glasses. Looking at him, you had never noticed how much they suited his face before. He had almost sad eyes - but with the glasses they didn't look so deepset. Of course, you were so absorbed in the color that everything else took a backseat. How could someone have such soulful eyes? They drew you in like a magnet, with such depth and raw emotion, but were somehow also grounding, magnificently real in all their splendor-

"Um. I should probably get going." Wilbur said, breaking your trance. 

"Oh. Right." You said, standing back upright. "Thank you again for the coffee."

"Anytime." He said with a smile, turning to open his office door. "Oh, by the way, how many roomates do you have?"

You frowned. "Bit of a creepy question, innit?"

"That came out wrong." He said. "I meant it as in-"

"Three." You cut him off. "It's me, Jazzy who you met, and Maddy who you didn't."

"Right." He smiled. "Thanks."

And with that he was gone, disappeared into his office, letting the door swing shut behind him. As soon as you heard it clicked close, you pressed your forehead to the wood of the door in front of you, still holding the coffee he had given you. The echo of his smile played on the edges of your mind - he was really too attractive. 

"You can't just stare at people like that." You whispered to yourself. You were sure you would be poring over that for hours later that night - how embarrassing, and after he had done something really nice. He probably thought you were a major creep for just spacing out looking at his face like that, but then again, he had asked how many roommates you had... for some reason. 

Perhaps you were even then. 

You turned the key in the lock and opened up your door, walking into your office and setting everything down. You draped your bag over the back of the chair, taking out your water bottle and your own coffee, setting them down on the desk beside what Wilbur had brought you. It wasn't how you normally drank your coffee, but you didn't think it would be too bad. And it was the thought that mattered really. 

You plopped down in your office chair and began to boot up your computer, going through emails on your phone as you waited. It always took longer for your computer to get running in the winter - old machine as it was. It had just turned on fully when you heard  a shout come through the wall, followed by a bout of raucous laughter. 

You bit back a smile. Maybe it wasn't too bad... you had worked in worse conditions after all...