The Year We Had (MCYT AU)

39: Performance

"It's going to be really good." Tommy promised, bouncing on the balls of his feet as Wilbur readjusted the microphone to his height. "He showed me one of the songs yesterday, and it was so fucking cool."

The venue was an awkward amount of quiet. Not dead silent, but quiet enough that the creak of the microphone stand could be heard as the teenager on the stage cringed and readjusted it.

There were probably fifteen people who weren't a part of Wilbur's life. They were just regulars who had nothing better to do on this particular Saturday night, and figured that a bit of live music wouldn't be all that bad. Everyone else was excited to come out and support him. His friends, the odd teacher, even his dad.

"Uh, hi." Wilbur said, smiling out at the darkened room. From the glaring lights on the stage, he could barely make out anything beyond the stage. He knew that his friends were out there, though. "I'm going to play some songs for you tonight. I hope you enjoy."

He cleared his throat and readjusted his guitar, doing his best to shake his nerves and ignore the weight of the eyes on him. He heard a shuffling of feet and looked up, only to find Tommy, Techno and Sally now standing much closer to the stage.

Tommy grinned at him and gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up, and when Wilbur met Techno's eye he gave him a nod and a reassuring smile. Sally clasped her hands together in front of her, and smiled so hard that Wilbur was sure her cheeks were hurting.

He smiled back at his biggest supporters, and gently picked out a chord. It rang out beautifully, in perfect tuning. He could do this.

Without giving himself any more time to back down, he took his pick between his fingers and began to strum.

---

The applause was close to deafening. Wilbur grinned out at the darkened room as he took his guitar off his body, holding it by the neck. "Thank you! Have a good one!"

He let out a breath he hadn't realised that he'd been holding in as he stepped off the stage, his eyes adjusting slowly to the new lighting. The thirty five minutes had passed almost too quickly. His set had gone off wonderfully, with the applause growing after each song.

"That was amazing!" Tommy came out of nowhere and jumped on him, tackling his older brother in a hug. Wilbur almost lost his footing, but managed to save himself and let out a laugh as he used his free hand to catch him. When Tommy was back on his own two feet, he was still buzzing with excitement. "Wil, dude, that was actually fucking sick. I can't believe you wrote them all!"

"Thank you Tommy." Wilbur laughed, carefully leaning his guitar against a chair as Techno and Sally arrived.

"Not bad, not bad." Techno said sarcastically. Wilbur scoffed, rolled his eyes, and gave his brother a shove. Techno laughed. "No but seriously, that was incredible. I loved it."

"It was spectacular." Sally told him as she wrapped her arms around his torso. Wilbur smiled and buried his face in her soft orange hair.

"Thank you. I wrote them for you, you know." When the embrace ended, Sally tucked herself against his side, and he gently draped an arm around her. He really hoped that his brothers didn't hear that one.

But of course, they did. "Hey Tommy, what were you saying about Wilbur being a simp?" Techno asked, eyebrows raised with mock surprise.

Wilbur glared at them as Tubbo and Phil made their ways over. "Dad, I"m being bullied."

"Leave him alone." Phil rolled his eyes, reaching up to ruffle his eldest son's hair. "Great performance, mate. Proud of you."

"Thanks Phil." Wilbur said, grinning widely at his father.