Hyacinths

You Take my Breath Away

  Alex sighed as he poured the tall man standing at the counter's coffee.

  He pressed on a lid over the cup, plastered a smile onto his face, and walked over and handed it to the man, "There you are! That'll be $2.50," he said in that sickeningly sweet customer service voice the raven-haired knew all too well.

  Alex handed the man his change for the five-dollar bill he had given Alex and wished him a nice day. Dropping his smile he leaned on the counter and looked up at the clock. 'Ten more minutes' he thought to himself 'Ten more minutes and I'm a free man.'

   He sighed and turned around, picking up his phone that sat on the countertop beside jars full of coffee grinds.

  He turned it on, opened his messages, and clicked on Wilbur's contact (which had been proudly changed from "Guitar bitch" to "Loverboy" by Schlatt)

hey I'm off my shift in 10 minu-

  Alex was stopped by the chime of the bell attached to the door before he had the chance to type out the full message. He sighed as he placed his phone back on the countertop, and turned around.

  "How can I help y-"

  Alex let out an exasperated breath and let his smile drop to a smirk. Speak of the devil- none other than Wilbur Minecraft stood at the counter, beaming with joy to see Alex.

  "What are you doing here?" Alex questioned in a friendly tone.

  "Thought I'd pay you a visit! Plus I figured we could get coffee after your shift is over!" Wilbur chirped out.

Alex smiled. "I get off in a few minutes, if you don't mind waiting I could get you a coffee or something,"

  "I'll wait for you to get anything, " Wilbur smiled back.

~

  Alex pulled off his apron, fluffed up his hair, and strutted over to Wilbur with a smile.

  Wilbur perked up once he noticed the raven-haired and energetically waved at him. He walked over to the table Wilbur sat at and pulled out a chair. "Sorry that took so long," Alex apologized with a small chuckle.

  "No problem! I like to watch you work, you look cute," Wilbur said with a grin. "Stalker," Alex laughed.

  The two laughed and talked for a short time as the conversation it faded into silence. Only the sound of others in the café chatting filled the air.

  "So," Alex tried to break the silence, "You never told me about your family. I believe I have met your brothers," he chuckled, thinking of the small child Wilbur had brought with him that day and Technoblade, "But I haven't heard anything about the rest of your family."

  "Oh, sorry I guess it never got brought up," Wilbur laughed and put a hand behind his head.  "Well, there's me, my little brother, Tommy, and his twin brother Techno, then there's my father, Phil. My, um," Wilbur shifted in his seat and looked down, "My mother passed away when Tommy was little."

  "Oh... I'm so sorry... I- I didn't know, " Alex started.

  "Oh, no, it's totally fine! We have good memories of her, she was a great mom." He looked up at Alex and smiled.

  Alex genuinely didn't know how to respond. Part of him just wanted to stand up and hug Wilbur, while the other part was frozen.

  "I honestly am really sorry, I didn't realize that could backfire, " Alex mumbled.

  "Oh! No, you're fine, I just kinda spaced out there! Let's just move on," Wilbur chuckled nervously.

  "Okay!" Alex said, pondering another question, "So... Am I the first person you've dated?" He tilted his head. Instantly, he watched Wilbur's face contort into a nervous look, looking as if he were about to pass out.

  "Y-yeah, you're my first time," Wilbur mumbled.

  Alex couldn't take his eyes off the brunette as the man was trembling, his chest rose and fell with some difficulty.

  "Hey. Hey, Wilbur, are you okay?" Alex extended his hand to place it on the others but Wilbur pulled away and stood up abruptly before he got the chance. "I'm..." Wilbur gasped for breath, "I am so sorry... I think I'm having an asthma attack," he choked out.

  "I'll... I'll be right back," Wilbir said as he stumbled over to the bathroom and disappeared around the corner, still coughing between words.

    Alex stared for a moment before exhaling heavily and cupping his head in his hands.

  "Fuck!" he whispered under his breath.
 
~

  Wilbur leaned over the sink. He had gotten his breathing relatively normal with the help of his inhaler.

  Wilbur's hands still shook.

  He realized he had never told Alex he had asthma, so Alex was probably relatively scared when Wilbur started trembling and gasping for air as if he were dying.

  'How can I be this stupid,' Wilbur insulted himself in his own mind.

  After their first date, Alex had known every stupid little fact about Wilbur. Every song he wrote. Every stupid thing he had done as a child. Every insignificant little thing.

  And yet Wilbur neglected to tell him any of the important stuff.

  Like how his mother died when he was fifteen, and how his father was never the same.

  Or how Wilbur's own lungs seemed to hate his guts.

  Or maybe how Wilbur had a whole family he'd never tell Alex about.

  Wilbur shook off the thought, 'what Alex doesn't know can't hurt him.'

  Wilbur repeated that phrase in his mind, hoping if he thought it enough times it'd come true.

  He exhaled, gathered himself, and fixed the collar of his shirt.

  He slashed some water onto his face and looked up at himself.

  "What Alex doesn't know can't hurt him."
__________

Word count-989

I'm so sorry if Wilbur's asthma attack was inaccurate and/or poorly written! Neither of the writers has asthma nor do we know much about it, so this was a little hard :(