jubilee line . . . wilbur soot

i.

leaving the office, you decided to walk along the beach. the pebbles and sand moved underneath your feet, the sand making it increasingly difficult to walk on. the crashing of the waves thundering onto the sand made you look over, almost blinding yourself from the sun.

"you shouldn't look at the sun," a voice from behind says. "can damage your eyesight."

"thanks for the advice."

turning around, you saw the familiar outline of one of your friends walking towards you. stopping and waiting for him to catch up, you stifle a laugh as he almost trips over a stray rock. as he walks beside you, you both continue walking across the beach.

"how did you know i'd be here?" you ask.

"my eyes are just good. also, i didn't look at the sun."

"i didn't look at it, i looked at the sea and it was in my... peripheral vision."

"definitely."

you and wilbur continue walking along the beach, making jokes and almost falling down a small hill of sand. the two of you would never admit it, but you always enjoyed each other's company. as the sun set, you and wilbur slowly made your way back to the office.

as you shut the door, wilbur sat in the seat, sorting out a camera and his pc.

"are you going live at... almost nine thirty?" you ask.

"yeah, i do most of the time."

"a real benefit for the americans."

"it is," wilbur says as he goes live.

you quickly move out of the way, watching him greet his chat before introducing what they were doing. a bit of rust, a bit of minecraft.

he still plays minecraft? you think to yourself as he gets in a vc with someone called tommy. you can hear his shouting through the headphones wilbur was wearing and you instantly cringed at the loudness.

as he continues the stream, it seems to drag on forever. what was nine o'clock slowly turned to ten, then half ten, then almost eleven. he ended the stream and looked over at you, sitting on a chair at the other side of the desk.

"what are you doing now?" you ask, yawning.

"we are going to play some epic switch games," wilbur says. "how about a bit of mario kart?"

you slowly nod, standing up and taking the blue controller from wilbur.

"wait, it's so crammed here. do we have somewhere else to do it?"

you look out of the window, spotting your apartment. you slowly turn back to face wilbur who already knew what you were thinking. he picks up the switch and the connected red controller as you hold the blue one. you both run across the road and up the stairs. wilbur waited for you to open the door and you both entered the apartment.

"that's a big enough tv. do you have a spare dock with you? it's not classed as an everyday item so i don't have one on me."

"i might have one somewhere... my parents might've brought it when they were dropping stuff off from my old apartment."

you looked around the many boxes, smiling when you see the black dock with the switch logo on the front. you walk towards wilbur and help him plug it in before he inserts the switch, the screen reflecting onto the tv.

wilbur chooses the 'grand prix' races and you choose your characters and cars, before going into the 'special cup'. you had won two races and wilbur had won one, but the final race was rainbow road.

which you were terrible at.

as expected, you lost on rainbow road and came fifth. wilbur took this as a moment to rub it in, saying he was 'the greatest mario kart player ever'.

a soft smile played at your lips as he collapsed back onto the couch. he was your best friend, yet the two of you always acted like you were together. and, like i said before, the two of you always enjoyed each other's company, you would just never admit it.

just like how you would never admit you had feelings for each other.