shiver | wilbur soot

1

hope and wilbur were the definition of best friends, it was obvious. the care, the admiration, the support that they had for one another was insane. he taught her how to play games, that maybe did not interest her as much as he hoped, whereas she would teach him the ins and out's of her degree, even if it did not phase him. but they both shared a growing love for music.

they were inseparable ever since they met at a random bar in london two years ago. the pair often brought up how wilbur slid over to hope in the most embarrassing way possible, trying to behave like a kind gentleman, but the effect of the alcohol did not do him many favours and he left hope uncontrollably giggling. to any stranger sat around them, they looked as though they were hitting on one another, when in reality they could not stop chattering about their favourite things in life.

flashback

"why are you by yourself?" wilbur leaned down and caught hope's attention. stood beside her was a very tall boy, brown - slightly wavy - hair, wearing a button up shirt, but the top button was undone.

"well," she smirked, "my friends have gone to the bathroom, but probably caught up chatting to guys or getting drinks."

"oh, i'll leave you be then." wilbur awkwardly chuckled, "just making sure you were okay."

"no, no." she quickly grabbed his wrist gently before he could get away, "tell me your name."

"my name is will, but i guess a lot of people know me as wilbur," he stood awkwardly, pointing to the empty seat opposite, "can i?"

she nodded eagerly and grinned, "please, sit. so, is wilbur your real name or?"

"no," he laughed, "i guess it's my online persona or whatever people like to call it."

"oh," her brows raised and she appeared interested as she cocked her head, "online persona? what do you mean by that?"

"streaming, youtube, i like to create a bit of music too." he smiled, taking a sip of his drink, "it's just what people online know me by."

"music?" a smile immediately tugged at her lips and wilbur noticed a twinkle in her eye, "i play guitar and i like to sing a bit." she placed a hand on her heart, sharing a hobby she was so passionate about.

"me too, well i taught myself with the guitar, still not as great as i want to be." he sighed, stirring his drink around with his straw.

"me too," she expressed as she leaned over and placed her hand softly on his wrist, "guitars have always interested me so i thought i would give it a go, but i love it, could definitely do with being better."

a small smile formed on his lips, "really? well, what else interests you? girl who's name i am yet to know." he chuckled softly.

"oh god," she threw her head into her hands out of embarrassment, "i'm sorry, my name is hope."

"hope," he raised a brow, "that's a lovely name." his voice was like music to her ears, the tone, the way he echoed her name, there was something about it.

blushing, she slurped the rest of her drink before speaking again, "well, as i said, i love music, i love reading and writing too - in my second year studying english literature at university."

"really? i'm in university too, doing editing and production, stuff like that. i'm in third year though."

"you sound like a busy guy." she chuckled, stirring around the sad pieces of ice melting in the bottom of her glass with the straw.

"yeah," he huffed out a laugh and ran his fingers through his brown hair, "i guess you could say that."

hope's friends were no where to be seen, but she did not mind. although she was in the company of a stranger, he was an interesting character and definitely someone she yearned to know more about, especially with how many interests and hobbies he had, including what he did for work.

wilbur was never expecting himself to fall into a conversation with this girl, but he was enjoying it nevertheless. she was fascinating, bubbly and chatty. for someone who was quite introverted, wilbur was happy with himself for approaching her.

after a few jokes shared between the two, blabbering nonsense to one another about their interests, lives and even university. alcohol did not even continue to flow between them as they were so engrossed in conversation with each other. but it was not long before hope's friends found her again and wilbur's phone was vibrating against the sticky table with his friends wondering where he had disappeared to for so long.

"right."

"right." an elongated sigh fell from her lips as a tipsy wilbur lifted his body up from the seat opposite her, "it was nice speaking to you, wilbur." she smiled softly.

"you too, hope." he glanced down at his phone, "can i, uh -" he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "can i get your number? would just be nice to talk again, you know? as friends."

"of course." she took his phone from his fingertips, "hopefully i'll see you again." she said as she typed her phone number into his contacts.

"yeah, see you later." he grinned as he took his phone from her fingertips and hope watched as he strolled off to god-knows where, unable to avert her gaze until her friends caught her attention.

hope's friends slid themselves back into the table, eyebrows raised and grins plastered across their lips, "sorry hope. we got caught up at the bar with some random people chatting to us, we were gonna come back, but noticed you chatting to that mystery guy." one wiggled her brows.

"shut up!" hope exclaimed, cheeks turning a shade of crimson, "he was lovely, i think i made a new friend tonight."

present day

from that one random saturday night, the two could never be parted. even though hope was not in the public eye like wilbur, the fans were aware of their friendship. only recently had she appeared in some of his streams, playing geoguessr or having a little sing-song out of boredom. when they were able to push aside the hate from the toxic fans, people loved them together and wanted to see more of the two.

hope only had a simple, remote job as a digital copywriter. when wilbur moved to brighton, hope also saw that as her opportunity to find her own place close by to him, but also for something different and new scenery. neither of them thought it could be possible for their bond to become tighter, but it did.