KEEP A PLACE FOR ME // Wilbur Soot X Reader

22

You didn't see Wilbur the next day either. 

You had been expecting to at least hear something from the other side of the wall, but the entire time you were in, he was silent - or not there at all. You were able to actually do your work for once, and it was terrible.

Dealing with Wilbur had been a way of forcing yourself to take a break - step away from your computer for a moment, unwind, have a laugh. Without that regular occurrence, you sat at your computer all day, and almost forgot to eat lunch. 

You were worried, both for yourself and for Wilbur. But mostly for Wilbur.

You had only known him to disappear for single days - being absent from the office for more than one day was uncalled for from him. Unless he had installed some sort of soundproofing between the two of you, he hadn't been in his office since last week. In the back of your mind, you were waiting to hear him banging his fist on the table, or shouting, or at least the door opening, but no, nothing.

It was eerie in a way. It felt like something crucial was missing - like those games in the newspaper where you had to find the differences between the pictures. At first glance, nothing seemed amiss, but taking a deeper look would reveal that the second picture was slightly off. You were living in that second picture box - almost correct, but not quite.

You had grown so used to the background noise that it was stranger when it wasn't there.

Your mind wouldn't leave it alone, and it was starting to really bother you. Every time your fingers hovered over the keys of your keyboard for more than a few seconds without typing, your mind would drift into the room next to you, waiting for something - anything - to come drifting through the wall. 

Nothing ever did.

You sighed, and tried to refocus on the article in front of you. You were going to get this done today - the deadline was coming up soon, and you were running a little behind (but when weren't you running a little behind). You took a sip of water and turned back to the screen, reading over what you had written.

Only, the words didn't stick, and you read the same sentence about five times before you actually comprehended what it was saying. 

This was getting ridiculous.

You glanced down at the clock in the corner of your screen, to see that it was about lunch time. Maybe that was why you couldn't focus. You were hungry. Saving your progress, you minimized the window and pulled up an empty tab instead before reaching into your bag and fetching the leftovers you had brought for lunch.

It was more of that Bolognese pasta that Maddy had made last night - delicious, and a reminder of that conversation; you needed to take a break. Or, at least, tell yourself that you were going to take one at some point. Same thing right?

You popped open the Tupperware the took out the fork you had left in there, before opening up the mini microwave you kept in your office and setting the timer for a minute, just to warm it up a bit. 

As you waited, your mind drifted to Wilbur again. You had tossed around the idea of asking him to lunch at some point... and it would give you a chance to ask him what was going on with the noise (or lack thereof). 

You hopped out of your seat and made your way over to the door, stepping out into the hallway and traveling the few feet to Wilbur's door. Nothing about the dark stained wood had changed since you had last been here and you rapped your knuckles on the door quickly before drawing your hand back and waiting.

You would ask him to join you at the little sandwich shop down the road. You passed it on your way in every day, and it looked really nice. You had been meaning to try it for a while, and who better to try it with?

You rocked back on your heels as you waited for him to come to the door. It was taking him a while - maybe he was streaming. 

You pulled out your phone and opened his Twitch profile. Old streams popped up immediately - you saw yourself in one - but he wasn't live right now. 

For good measure, you knocked at the door once more, even though there was no way he couldn't have heard you the first time if he was in there. 

You waited a few more minutes, even though you knew that he wasn't going to come to the door. 

Disappointed, you headed back to your own office and sat back down, taking your now warmed pasta from the mini microwave and picking your fork up as well. You hoped nothing had happened to him... maybe he was just out of town. You'd have liked to think that he would have let you know somehow though, if he was going to be out for a long period of time.

You took a piece of pasta and let it cool off for a second before popping it into your mouth, chewing thoughtfully. He was probably just out of town for some internet thing. Meeting up with some of his work friends, probably. Or maybe a cold - it was that season.

You really shouldn't be so upset that he wasn't there. He was just a work friend. 

A work friend that you happened to fancy.

You set your Tupperware down and pulled out your phone, finding Wilbur's Twitch profile again. You clicked on the the You Laugh You Lose you had done a bit ago and propped your phone up against your computer, picking your Tupperware back up. You leaned back in your chair as the stream began to play.

If Wilbur wasn't here, you could at least pretend he was.