vagabond

chapter3

"Get up."

No response.

"I will- God, help me, I will kick you out of this tent."

Wilbur is having an awful morning.

There is a child next to him.

Nothing is good about this.

Tommy- for some reason- decided in the middle of the night to crawl outside of the sleeping bag and place himself next to Wilbur, burying himself inside the older man's coat, curled up at his side.

(It wasn't even a comfortable coat, mind you- it was old and the fabric was torn and frayed. Wilbur would choose the sleeping bag any day.)

"Tommy- Get up, god. I said you could stay with me, not that you could claim everything as your own. This is my coat. It's- It's not made for two people."

Tommy mumbles into Wilbur's coat.

"I know you can hear me- Get up. It's morning. We have stuff to do, come on."

Tommy continues to mumble into Wilbur's coat.

" Come on, Tommy."

"Cold." - Is the only thing Wilbur was able to hear. Every time Wilbur even spoke, Tommy just pushed himself into his coat even further.

"Tommy, we need to get there while it's still day, mobs arrive at night and-"

"5 m're minu'es, Wilby..."

...

Wilbur lets him have 5 more minutes.

(Begrudgingly. I mean, really. The kid wouldn't move otherwise. There was no other choice. What else could Wilbur have done? Absolutely nothing of course. There was nothing he could have done other than let the child sleep for 5 more minutes. Understand that, under other circumstances, Wilbur would not let the child sleep for longer, much less on him.)

(Annoying child.)

(Honestly, he's beginning to hate the kid. Really. It's true.)

------

5 minutes turned into 10, 10 turned into 30, 30 turned into an hour, but eventually, finally, Tommy actually woke up. Wilbur can't even be mad, to be fair. Wilbur enjoys traveling but- there's always the little bit of dread where you just don't feel like waking up at all before a big day of moving.

Regardless; they do need to set off. Not only is that... Wilbur's...you know, it's his whole thing, the two need supplies. Wilbur sort of needs to get enough things for two, now.

( It feels so weird, to him. He's been alone for so long...Suddenly having this kid bound to his hip isn't something he's used to.)

"L'manberg is the nearest city so we c'n get shit from there right?" Tommy asks, occupying himself by trying to balance on the abandoned fallen logs placed around the forest as they walk. His arms spread out, to help his balance.

"No. We're not going there." Wilbur responds, attempting to sound flat and unbothered.

"Why not?" Tommy pries.

Wilbur swallows.

"I've just- I've visited there before. Shit place. Not worth anyone's time."

"It's- It's like the biggest city on the SMP? It's like- luxury or some shit."

"False advertising," Wilbur huffs, "Not worth your time."

"Uh, fuck, man. All right. I- it looked so nice in all the pictures and shit. I've always wanted to meet Philza, you know- he seemed so fucking cool. Haven't heard about him in forever though."