How Many Posters (Grocers) Does One County Need? ||| GenLoss AU

no cause for concern

I'm so so sorry this took so long to get finished and posted

Concern
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• a cause for anxiety or worry

...

Wilbur was about to answer the other five on the screen before the television suddenly cut out.

He grabbed the sides of the TV again, having let go just before he spoke, and began to shake the TV. "No, no, no- Shit!" He smacked the side of the TV - like that would do any good.

He sat back on his knees again, contemplating the conversation he just shared with five dead people.

It took him a few moments before he heard sniffling next to him. Wilbur looked over, only now realizing that Tommy was crying. Will himself felt tears well in his eyes, but he couldn't cry - at least just not right now.

"Hey, hey Tommy... it's..." Wilbur wrapped his arms around Tommy, who was covering his face with his hands, crying into them. He didn't quite know what to say next, he didn't know if it was going to be okay.

Tommy said something, but mixed with the muffle of his hands and his cries it was hard to tell what he said. Wilbur gently rubbed his hand on Tommy's shoulder, trying to console him as the shorter of the two sobbed into his hands. "...Are you alright?" Wilbur asked after a moment, to which Tommy took his hands away from his face, wiping his tears with his fingers and sleeves, "No, Will, I'm not alright!"

Tommy pulled away from the hug but Wilbur kept his hands on his shoulders. Wilbur tried to stay composed so he could try and calm down Tommy, so even though he knew what he said next would probably anger him, he continued anyway, "Why aren't you okay?" He just wanted to allay Tom's sadness, at least for the time being.

"Because- because it's-" he was constantly taking sharp inhales, sniffling, wiping tears etc. between almost every word, "Take your time," Wilbur tried to keep his tone warm and comforting, keeping his hands on Tommy's shoulders to ground him.

After he saw that Tommy's emotions had no signs of calming naturally any time soon, he then decided to take a different approach. "Here, take a breath with me." Wilbur lifted a hand off Tommy's shoulder and brought it infront of his stomach.

He loudly inhaled, moving his hand up slowly as he did. He let his hand lower slowly as he exhaled, and continued the loop. After the second breath, Tommy finally joined in. His slouched posture straightened with the breaths, and after around a minute, Tommy wasn't crying as much as he was before.

"Good, now tell me, Tommy," Wilbur put his other hand back on Tommy's shoulder, leaning in and giving his full attention to Tommy. "It's... it's the first time we've seen them in... in months and..." He took another deep inhale and continued, "We barely got to talk to them... and they didn't even remember us. I mean, Hell, Sneeg didn't even know what Minecraft was!"

Tommy's sadness became a bit more agitated, but took a deep inhale, "Sorry. I'm just..." he sniffled and wiped away a tear with his rolled up sleeve, "I just miss them so much, and... I just don't know if we'll ever see them again... what if- what if this is the last time we'll ever see them-"

"No. Don't say that Tommy, we'll see them again."

His grip on Tommy's shoulders tightened, "We'll see them again soon, one day. We'll see them soon. We will find them."

Tommy didn't say anything for a moment, but after a while he slowly nodded. Wilbur pulled Tommy in for another hug and they stayed like that for a while - that is, until Wilbur got a ping from his phone.

Thinking it was the band, he decided to check in and tell them that he'd be a bit late to the rehearsal before the concert. "One moment, Tommy."

He stood up and pulled his phone from his pocket as Tommy got up too, still wiping his tears with his sleeves.
"I'm going to go order something to eat, want anything?"