like real people do | dreamnotfound

23

23 - hopefully you'll stay awake this time and the time after that

~

when the other two exited george's hospital room, niki couldn't help the large smile crawling onto her face, she looked at wilbur, and the latter gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "that goes to show how i, indeed am a decent sister."

"niki, you're more than a decent sister." wilbur laughed, before continuing. "you're the best, or, in tommy's words; 'the biggest woman there is'."

niki and wilbur walked down the road to the bakery nearby, planning to go get clay and george something to eat (as well as something to eat for themselves, more on something to drink for wilbur - but niki appreciates the pastries from other bakers, for she herself bakes and treat it as an art form, which, it really is.). "do you think they'll be alright?" niki asked the curly haired beside him, they were waiting at a nearby table for their orders - the baker was waiting for it to finish baking, it was pretty early when they arrived and they were willing to wait, to give the two boys the privacy they needed. plus, niki has been bugging wilbur to go check out the new bakery with her.

wilbur hummed, looking up from the tissue paper he has been drawing on to, the image of a train station etched onto the flimsy piece of paper. "i think so, yeah." he answered, doubt lingered within his voice, but after a few minutes of pondering - he stopped, he himself needed some reassurance. "you know what? yes. they will be fine." wilbur answered again, with finality this time.

"what did you do to convince him?" niki asked, curious. "he was so nervous, well, that's valid - i too would've been very very nervous if someone told me that a person i've fallen for, who - i thought was from a game for fuck's sake, was real." she continued, making wilbur laugh lightly. fiddling with the hems of his jacket and picking at the skin around his fingernails, niki stopped the curly haired boy from peeling even more skin, wilbur muttered a thank you, and niki just smiled. niki was there for wilbur whenever he had panic attacks or merely needed someone to be there for him, and wilbur did the same - he was there for niki whenever she broke down about george. the blonde girl knows wilbur's nervous ticks like the back of her hand, as well as george's and techno's.

"told him 'bout sally," wilbur nonchalantly said, "seize the opportunity, i guess." he hummed, niki smiled warmly at the boy, placing a hand over his. "'t'was one of my biggest regrets, really. whatever happens, i just want clay to be there for george and i wanted george to get an opportunity to meet clay." wilbur added, the thought of the red-headed girl never failed to make him a little teary-eyed, god - wilbur misses sally so much. he and sally would play the piano and sing songs of their own for hours, and as much as tommy complained - tommy actually liked listening to the two, he and tubbo often sat outside wilbur's door to listen to them play. tommy and tubbo thought wilbur didn't know, while wilbur and sally pretended not to know.

sally has been sick for a while, and wilbur was there for her, always. but the one time he wasn't there for her, he lost her. wilbur broke down in front of niki that night.

"thank you," she muttered, the smile reaching her eyes - genuine and true. "i now owe you a favour, you can ask me for it anytime." niki half-jokingly said.

"no problem, niki." wilbur smiled back, "clay's happy - well, in a way - and i can see that george is happy, so, it's a win for the both of us." he continued, humming a small tune underneath his breath, "also, does that favour apply if i somehow eat sand in front of phil again?" wilbur asked. wilbur and techno's family were very close, and phil treated wil, tommy and tubbo as if they were his own, and puffy did the same for clay and tech. clay fell from a tree once when techno egged him on, and not once has puffy bleated that loud in her life. (clay did break his arm, and techno - feeling a bit guilty, was there for him.)

"wil, cut phil some slack, you'll give phil a heart attack one of these days." niki laughed, "but yes, possibly, it can apply to that." she said, smiling warmly at the curly haired before him.

wilbur looked up and got their baked goods from the cashier, niki waving at both the cashier and the baker at the back. niki paid for the pastries, leaving a generous tip. as the two walked back into the hospital, they saw doctors and nurses rushing through the halls, totally normal.

what wasn't normal, however, was a tall sobbing, blond boy standing in the hallway. niki and wilbur rushed over to clay, catching him as their form crumpled on the chair to join the green eyed boy. clay sobbed on wilbur's shoulder, and niki traced circles on clay's shoulder blade, exaggerating her breathing so clay could follow. "clay, what's wrong? what happened?" niki gently asked.

clay's chest heaved, tears continuously streamed down his face as he tried to imitate niki's breathing. "george, he-he was falling in and out of consciousness again-" he stuttered, "-and he started coughing and i don't even know what happened," clay rambled, hands trembling and sweaty. he couldn't hear much, the panic blurring down the line of what was real and anxiety induced. he just got george, he didn't want to lose him.

"wait what the fuck?" wilbur mumbled underneath his breath, pulling the boy shorter than him by a few inches closer to him, "he'll be fine, clay. we're here for him and we're here for you."

"yeah, georgie's a strong guy - he'll stay awake this time." niki smiled, trying her best to reassure clay as well as herself. hopefully, george will stay awake this time.

surely, he will.

-

04/09/21