Not a Fan (Wilbur Soot)

Silence

He walked out silently, the door closing behind him before he could even turn to wave goodbye. Maybe they weren't on the same page after all. 

Wilbur looked down at his hand while walking back to his own flat. He had held her hand in his, but something felt unexpected. Her delicacy, her caution, her fragility. 

She wasn't fragile like a flower- she was fragile like a bomb. 

He couldn't explain how he came to this conclusion, it was just a feeling that gnawed away at him. Something was holding her back, but what? 

How could she have been so carefree minutes earlier, suddenly turned to stone in a blink. It couldn't have been about him wanting to see her art, she was the one who grabbed his wrist directly after he admitted to snooping. Was it his offer to drive her to work? Was it that holding hands was something more intimate than she intended to share today? Or was it something he wouldn't be able to figure out on his own? 

Wilbur shrugged off his feelings, not wanting to burden the boys when they were already on borrowed time. He especially didn't want to give Tommy any more reasons to be concerned. Wilbur stepped inside, thankful to see both his friends still asleep on the couch. 

He did his best to enter quietly, hoping he could use this time to continue stroking his bruised ego from Rori's rejection. Well, what felt like a rejection at least. 

"You went out?" Tommy grumbled, rolling over to see Wilbur sliding off his shoes in the doorway. 

"Yeah, didn't mean to wake you." Wilbur apologized, setting down his keys as Toby also came to life. 

Toby rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly, stretching his hands over his head. "Hanging out with your girlfriend?" He asked with a sleepy smile. 

"Got coffee. Drank coffee. Came home to you assholes." Wilbur scoffed, sitting on the couch between them. He held out his hand in Tommy's direction.  "Phone please." 

Tommy obliged, pulling the phone out of his pocket and placing it in Wilbur's outreached hand. Wilbur tried checking his notifications, only to see that his phone was dead. He groaned, lifting himself off the couch and upstairs. He plugged his phone in before heading back down. It probably wasn't the best idea to sit by it, waiting to see if Rori had actually answered him last night. 

"Dibs on the bathroom!" Toby called out. Despite Tommy's rebuttal, Wilbur heard the bathroom door slam shut and saw Tommy still seated on the couch. 

"I'm sorry I've been so preoccupied during your stay. I honestly feel like an ass about it. Today really is going to be about you two, we can head to where ever you choose." Wilbur's tone was genuine, his underlying guilt seeping into his words. He had spent the entirety of his friends' visit chasing the image of someone who only exists in his head. 

"Don't worry about it, Toby and I haven't seen each other in a while either. It's not like we were ever bored or something." Tommy said with a smile. The conversation was interrupted by Toby singing in the shower. Wilbur was flattered to hear Toby singing the songs he had heard them record in the studio yesterday. 

The last few hours of the morning were fleeting. Rotating taking turns showering, scavenging together misfit outfits of the clean clothes that were left, and scrapping together a halfway decent breakfast. 

It wasn't until a bit after twelve that the three were ready, bumping shoulders as they put on their shoes in the narrow doorway. 

"So park, arcade, late lunch, and then coming back to pack and do a final stream together?" Wilbur asked, pulling his car keys out of Toby's hands.