Conquering Nightmares of the Past

16. Expectations and Reality Never Coincide

shopping and angst, my fave

IM BACK BABY
updates are now once a weekish as my new school schedule is hell and im on an iPad now, not a laptop so i cant even write in class. but im excited to write again! its been so long!!!

tw// verbal abuse, mentions of neglect, self-harm and withholding food as a punishment

btw happy valentines to everyone whos lonely atm, and to everyone being sickeningly in love rn, kindly fuck off. thank you <3

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"Please, Dad? Please please please? Look at him, he wants to stay!" Wilbur begged as he put on his best puppy dog eyes and held up the cat in an attempt to sway Phil's mind.

"Wilbur, as cute as the both of you are, animals are a lot of work, I just don't know if you'll b able to handle it." Phil reasoned, trying to calm his son's excitement before it got out of hand.

"But I really wanna keep him! Come on, Dad. I can do it. Why aren't you even considering it?" Wilbur's tone was slowly rising, excitement morphing to anger.

"Wilbur, it's a lot of work. I just don't want you to get overwhelmed and sabotage the incredible progress you've made in the past four months."

"I'm not some fragile piece of glass, Dad! I'm not gonna shatter just because I'm doing one extra thing." Wilbur yelled, letting anger overcome him as he let his emotions burst.

Phil looked at his son in slight surprise, he had no idea his son felt that way. Was Phil treating him too gently?

"Wil, I want to talk about this, but we can't do it when your this upset. I need you to take some deep breaths and calm down so we can have a proper conversation. Okay?" Phil tried to keep his voice calm and low as he spoke, trying to prompt Wilbur's brain to relax a little. He would never say it out loud in fear of encouraging yelling, but he was glad Wilbur had to confidence to talk back to him like that. Any doubts in Phil's mind about Wilbur being comfortable around him were subdued and he was pretty happy about that.

Wilbur stared for a second as he processed his outburst before he nodded and took a few deep breaths. Phil took his hand and guided him to the couch, the two sitting down next to each other. Phil turned to face Wilbur.

"Wil, if I've been acting different around you, I apologise. I just want to protect you, but it isn't fair to treat you differently because of it." Wilbur thought about what Phil said for a second, probably not used to conversations like this.

"I'm not really that mad, and I like when you hug me and care for me and stuff, but I guess it does get on my nerves a bit when you underestimate me. I've been in foster care for years, I can handle a lot. I'm sorry for yelling at you." Wilbur explained as he looked down at his lap, slightly embarrassed of what he was saying.

Phil put his arms around Wilbur and hugged him tight.

"I'll try harder on that, I promise, starting now. How about I give you a week with the cat, and if you can take care of him for the week, you can keep him. Sound good?" Phil offered. Wilbur smiled at the offer and leaned into the hug.

The cat leapt up onto the couch, standing on Wilbur and meowing, upset from the lack of attention.

"I'm gonna go give him a bath and some food." Phil smiled as his son walked off with the cat in his arms, proud of him for standing up for himself and being so independent.

Wilbur placed Barnaby on the mat n the bathroom, the cat instantly becoming entertained with the texture, rolling around and purring. Wilbur left Barnaby to go downstairs and grab some food for the cat, finding some chicken in the fridge.