KEEP A PLACE FOR ME // Wilbur Soot X Reader

14

You jammed your hat tighter on your ears and clutched your bag tighter to your chest, battling against the wind to get to the door of the office building. You slipped inside, reveling in the immediate warmth. You slipped off your gloves and shoved them in your pocket, letting your fingers thaw. 

"Cold one today, eh?" 

You looked up to see Oscar waiting by the door, a steaming mug of tea in hand. You smiled, rubbing your hands together to hopefully get some of the blood to flow back in. 

"Yeah." You said, pulling your hat off. "I almost fell on some ice on the way in." 

"I probably should have put salt down last night." Oscar said, casting a long glance out the window to where the wind was ripping through the bushes. 

"You'll probably be alright if you just put some down tonight." You said. 

Oscar hummed and sipped at his tea before turning to you again. "It's been a while since we last had a chat. How've you been?"

"Good." You said, even though it was stretching the truth a little. "I, ah, got a new writing gig with a magazine, so that's fun. It's been a bit more work, but the extra pay is worth it, I think."

Oscar hummed. "That's good."

"What about you?" You asked. "How's the wife?"

"Martha's been good." Oscar said. "Marianne just lost a tooth last night; she was so excited about it. Tyler's still toddling around."

You nodded. "I'm happy to hear it."

Oscar smiled. "I'm sure you've got tons of work to get to, but before you do I have something for you."

"Oh?" You asked, shifting your bag on your shoulder. 

Oscar ducked back into his office, where he grabbed an envelope and brought it out, handing it to you. You took it carefully, opening the flap and peering inside. You pulled out three tickets to a show in two weeks, at a small venue downtown. 

"Wilbur left them for you, said he wasn't going to be in today but that he wanted to give you those." Oscar said. 

You took a closer look - three front row seats at a show he was playing. 

"I'll have to say thank you next time I see him..." You said, tucking the tickets safely back into their envelope. So his question about the roommates hadn't just been a slightly creepy aside - he had gotten you enough tickets for all of you to go. And that he had gotten you front row seats... 

Why was he being so nice?

Sure, you had spent some time in his office once, just laughing and having a good time, but other than that you had really just been yelling at him to be quiet. There was no real reason for him to be this nice to you - unless he was apologizing for being loud. But even then, front row tickets was a bit much of an apology-

Oscar just smiled and sipped his tea. "I'll let you go now."

"Right." You said, coming back down to earth. "It was nice talking to you."

He waved you off as he turned to head back into his office, and you turned back to yours, clutching the envelope in your hand as you fumbled with the other for your keys. You unlocked your office and stepped inside, dropping your bags on the desk and your coat in your chair. You switched on your computer to boot it up, but instead of pulling up your emails on your phone, you pulled out the tickets again, running a finger over the stiff paper. 

They were simple, nothing special really, but you were more concerned with the thought behind them - that Wilbur had cared enough to set some aside for you and your roommates, that he had remembered that your roommates had gone to see him live before, that he wanted you there enough to give you a free invite. And for what?

Your computer turned on and you moved your coat from your chair to neatly folded under the desk, sliding the envelope of tickets into your bag so that you would remember to take them home when you left. Jazzy was going to be so excited.

You sat down, spinning around in your chair once before you settled in to your computer, pulling up the document you had last left off on. You needed to do some editing before you could move onto the next part of the project, so you began to scan over the article, re-reading what you had written. 

You were about halfway through when your mind drifted off completely, replacing the words in front of you with Wilbur's soft brown eyes that perfectly matched the cable knit sweater he had been wearing the first time you met him-

No. You needed to focus. You were supposed to be getting work done. 

You started at the beginning again, pushing all thoughts of Wilbur from your mind. No thinking about how tall he was, or how his smile was possibly the greatest thing you had ever seen, or how the curls that stuck out from underneath his beanie looked like the softest things on the planet-

No, you were doing it again. Why was it so hard to just focus on what needed to be done and not think about Wilbur for two goddamn seconds? You had gone months without even casting a second glance in his direction (granted that had been before he had brought you a cup of coffee and made you laugh harder than you had in years), so it shouldn't have been that difficult, really!

It was the tickets, you decided. You were just excited about showing the tickets to Maddy and Jazzy, and you wanted to thank him. That was it. You would just write yourself a note, reminding you to thank him when you next saw him, and call it a day. 

You peeled a sticky note off the stack and scribbled down a quick reminder, sticking it to the wall above your computer in plain sight.

It did absolutely nothing to stop your thoughts from drifting to Wilbur at any given moment.