As It Was - Jschlatt x Reader

chapter one.

Life was terribly bleak.

Every day, it was wake up, go through a morning routine, catch the metro, arrive at the Pentagon, and do work, then clock out.

Every agonizing day.

You were thankful for the job, as it paid very very well, yet you were left yearning for more. Was it the lack of social connections? Inability to be creative? Forced conformation? You didn't know. 

All you knew was terrible boredom.

Leaning back in your office chair, you reminisced about when life was full of color and full of joy. You never thought you'd think it, but you missed being in school. You missed your old friends. Wilbur had gone on to do creative things, as have Calico, Schlatt, Ted, and Charlie... Why couldn't you of followed them?

Not even you could answer the question.

You rose a brow as you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket, and you were more than happy to exit the cubicle filled workspace for a break. You fished it out of your pocket, seeing a missed call from Calico first, then Wilbur. You figured you'd call Wilbur back first, since Calico tended to be unintentionally draining sometimes.

"Hello-"

"Why did you and Cal both call me?" You sighed, talking quietly so you wouldn't get in trouble, "I'm at work."

"Hello to you too," he rose a brow, "we were going to invite you to a get-together since we were going to be in the area this weekend, but if you're too busy, then don't worry."

You immediately felt bad for snapping. Seeing both of them call at once had you thinking someone died or something. You were a carrier of chronic anxiety, you could never calm down. 

"Sorry for snapping," you sighed, "I saw both of you call me and I thought someone died."

"Well, the only one who's a walking corpse working in a dead end office job is you," he answered dryly, "have you even considered a break?"

"No. No I have not."

"There's your issue. You're coming to the get-together this weekend."

"Wil, I literally have work-"

"We both know you're constantly at use it or lose it status. Take time off."

You rolled your eyes, knowing he was right. If you didn't say yes, you'd get chewed out by Calico.  Sure, you'd talked to your old friends now and again, but everyone was busy with their own endeavors that you didn't bother reaching out half the time anymore.

You sure could be a crummy friend sometimes.

"Know what? Fine. I'll come, where are we meeting?"

"Knew you'd say that," you could hear your friend smile, "haven't decided on a meeting place yet. I'll have Calico send you the info."

"Right, like she'd remember," you rose a brow coolly, "remember when she forgot where Wegmans was in college? Despite literally working there?"

"Yes, Y/N, I still remind her about it-"

"Or when she-"

"Y/N, just stop. She isn't sending you directions, just the name of the place."

"Right, then. I'll see you all later."

You hung up before he could say another word, intent on getting back to work. 

"Y/N," your boss said as you entered the office, "what was the purpose of your call?"

"Oh," you froze, "uh... Friend called to say she was pregnant."

"And that qualifies as an emergency?"

You paused, feeling a ripple of disdain go down your spine. Even if it was a lie, you would consider that an emergency. Your gaze darkened as you held eye-contact, and you went back to your seat, silently incensed. Maybe you should quit. Nobody here appreciated you.

"C'mon, Y/N, we'll be late for the dumb speech from the university president!"

The memories of college flooded back to you as you gazed to your screen, and you heaved a sigh, plugging your headphones in and going onto Twitch. It'd been a long time since you'd watched a stream of anyone's, and the knowledge that they all took off and could just have fun made you bitter.

"Alright, Chat," you heard Wilbur say, "must we go over the rules again? You're all VERY bad at this."

Ah. A don't laugh challenge. How very... 2016.

"Rule number one: No Boomers. Rule number two: No Zoomers."

You were quick to tune the rules out.

"Wil, don't be mean to them, they'll just spam Cheeto again-"

The sound of Calico's voice had you tune right back in, you were curious to see what she looked like now. She didn't stream as often as she used to, preferring to be more behind the scenes regarding art and music. That was how she and Wilbur got on so well. To your surprise, she looked almost the exact same, right down to the weird duck-feather cowlick she could never get rid of. In a weird way, it made you more nostalgic.

"If they spam Cheeto, I turn off Streamlabs, it's so easy-"

"Still, Mister Soot, don't be mean."

"Chat's calling you a Chat-Simp."

"They're right, I do simp for them. As long as you're over eighteen, I simp for you!"

Yeah. Nevermind, she hadn't changed much at all. She definitely got more colorful than she was in college, having changed out the deeper colors for more pinks and blues. They suited her personality more, and you were happy to see she gained the confidence to do so.

A new media share popped up, and you watched as Calico and Wilbur went silent, anticipating the next video. 

"I'm gay!"

You were quick to pause the stream, gazing to the face in the little window. You hadn't seen it in so long, you'd entirely forgotten what he looked like. Considering the video that was shown was so old, you were almost entirely sure that he looked different now. You missed him quite dearly, and regretted how you separated from the group.

Heaven knew you'd hoped for forgiveness.

Sighing, you took your phone out, reluctantly pressing Calico's contact in your messaging app.

Hey, Cal, stupid question and I see you're on stream, do you still talk to Schlatt?

You turned the stream back on, skipping to catch up. You smiled, seeing her sitting on the bed in the background, paying half attention with her head buried in a notebook. Probably writing something for Wilbur's band again.

Your phone dinged, and you glanced up, seeing her typing now. Ah, stream delay.

Yeah, no dumb questions here. We talk sometimes, but not that often. Wil and I might see him at TwitchCon though, we'd have to fly from Brighton again. We just have an AirBnB here, he's on a laptop.

Gotcha, thank you. 

Why, still have a thing for him after so long?

You huffed, pushing your bangs from your eyes. She was a pain in the ass when it came to stating the obvious.

I never stopped liking him, even after graduation.