and i'd give up forever to touch you || Wilbur x Reader

cirice

wilbur is alone. and it's not a bad thing, this time. he's doing much better since... well, he's just doing better than he ever has been.

he got a haircut, that wasn't as scary as he thought it would be. made his own heart seize when he saw his reflection, his hair trimmed and styled the best the woman beaming behind him could. left a good tip, and felt a little guilty when he slid a beanie on his head only a few blocks down from the shop.

and when he was walking home, he'd seen a particular group of people.

he'd seen jared.

rosie.

god, it's been almost two years and his chest still feels tight after everything has settled.

his feet falter, pausing as he watches them laugh and look at each other and their group, obviously having a journey in mind, a destination ahead of them. plans made in haste with rosie, no doubt. and her head, rosie's own hair, grew out on the dyed side and the other, shaved. it matches her beautifully. and jared pretty much has a shaggier hair style, all loose and flying in the wind, laughing it off when it showed his forehead a little more.

dressed like movie stars, acting like kids, it does something to him. and he knows. he knows what it is. it's the journey of getting there, seeing rosie contemplate it for five seconds before heading to the store for clippers, it's being there when jared had thrown his clothes out and laid out proper boundaries, became his own person. he knows he's missed it, his chance at having friends. real friends.

not just family friends or friends from work but... people he met and wanted to stay close to.

and though you're not there, he misses you the most.

he knows he needs to get a move on, start walking again so they don't see him, because really, they must be on holiday if they're here, in his hometown.

so his feet take one step after the other, slowly moving after the break, heart clenching every inch he's putting between them. the two people who could've been his friend.

a hand pulls at his shirt, turning his head from the crowd ahead of him and it's jared who's tugged at him, rosie close beside him with a little smile of her own and they're both saying his name like old friends.

weren't they? weren't they friends, albeit a long time ago?

wilbur feels sick when they wrap him up in their arms, squeezing him and it's a blessing they invite him somewhere to sit, he doesn't know how much longer he could stand up with his guts churning.

the air is crackling around them as they take a seat in the popular smoothie shop, sipping on their own as rosie and jared get to talking. nothing hadn't really changed then, they both shoved each other's shoulders and talked over one another. rosie didn't stop nearly throwing punches and jared hardly held himself back from placing an entire hand over her face to shove away, to stop talking shit.

"so, what're you up to?" jared finally asks, a smile stretching across his face comfortably, and for once, rosie quietens, agreeing with the question enough to stay silent as they wait for his answer.

"well," he begins, his mouth drying instantly.

a sip from his drink, he clears his throat, "well, i just finished helping my little brother move in for college, so there's that." three weeks ago, tommy couldn't stop clinging to him, saying that if he never let go, wilbur would be forced to stay and he could sleep under his mattress and that he'd slip him the crumbs from his meal. and although it was a very tempting offer, will had to make do and hug him for five minutes before he was allowed into phil's car and driven away as tommy waved them goodbye. never had he thought he'd cried that much that day, but nonetheless, it'd been a good day, a good day for change.