Chapter Text
It was late, almost 3 AM, when it happened for the first time.
-
As the Certified Older Brother Figure of Tommyinnit, Wilbur probably should make him go to sleep, but it was a Friday, and he doesn’t really have the energy to. Tommy rambles on about Skywars and 1.8 and combos while Wilbur listens tiredly, making comments here and there to let the blond know that he was listening.
Honestly, he should go to sleep, considering he has to wake up in the morning, but once again, he can’t really bring himself to leave. Both of their sleep schedules were vastly different, considering Tommy was almost constantly traveling for vlogs and Wilbur just tended to sleep later and wake up later, so sleep calls never really happened for them. Tommy staying awake until 3 AM was a once in a bluemoon type of thing, so Wilbur wasn’t about to leave now.
“And then, we were gonna go to Tesco’s because--” Tommy cuts himself off as someone enderpearled behind him, continuing after pushing them off the ledge. “--because it was hot out, and I forgot my wallet so Eryn had to buy for me.”
“Hmm?”
“I know, I used to do it a lot in the beginning but this was the first time in a while.”
“Hmm.”
Tommy continued. “And then we were leaving, and I think there’s a secondary school near there, I’m not sure. I went to a different one and we got swarmed by a bunch of year six’s.”
“Mhm?”
Tommy nods. “ I know. It was crazy, I think it’s the most people that have ever recognized me. Well, probably like 6 people out of 50 actually knew who I was, but--”
The number made Wilbur pause, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. “Wait, fifty? ”
Tommy looks surprised with the actual words coming out of his mouth, considering that for the past hour he had just been making various noises of agreement. “Yeah, fifty. It’s a lot, innit?”
Tommy continues on with his story, but Wilbur frowns to himself. His camera’s off, so Tommy doesn’t question his silence as he breaks his gaze from the screenshare to look at his ceiling.
Tommy’s probably the biggest name in gaming right now, right after Dream. But Dream hasn’t done a face reveal, and although Wilbur knows more creators with more subscribers than Tommy, none of them have his reach, or get swarmed on the street . He doesn’t know the protocol for this, and he reminds himself to make a few calls in the morning. Fifty people is a lot, and Wilbur can’t stop thinking about that homophobe who kicked him in his last video. Tommy had joked about it, but with the amount of hate he gets, his safety is becoming a bit more of a concern.
But that’s an issue for the morning, when it’s not 3 AM and Wilbur is more awake.
“Wilbur?” Tommy asks, and he notes that he’s in the lobby now, joining a new game. “You there, big man? You didn’t fall asleep on me, did you?” Before he can answer, Tommy rambles on. “I mean, it’s not that big of a deal, 50 people is a lot less than you’d expect--”
Wilbur interrupts him before he keeps going, saying, “I’m here, I’m here.” His voice sounds fond, and he sighs, pushing the last of the thoughts out of his head. “Just promise me you’ll be safe, alright Sunshine?”
Tommy goes still, so much so that Wilbur would have thought his camera froze if it wasn’t for his fringe moving with the air conditioning. His face reddens in the dim lighting of his office, and he blinks rapidly. On the screenshare, someone crits him into the void, and GAME OVER flashes across the screen.
Wilbur is hit with the terrible feeling that he’s overstepped, and his heart beats rapidly in his chest. It hurts, too, because sunshine describes Tommy so well. He’s loud, happy, and funny, and more importantly can make Wilbur’s day with nothing but a smile. And oh, when he smiles it exudes warmth and happiness, and Wilbur always gets hit with a sense of private joy whenever he’s the one that made Tommy smile, because he gets to see Tommy light up because of him. He had never been able to fit the feeling into words, not up until that moment, at least, but sunshine encapsulates him perfectly, and right now, his sunshine is staring at the screen blankly.
“Is...Is that okay?” He finally asks, noting that his voice is shaky.
Tommy blinks again, eyes darting from wherever they were locked onto and his character returns to the lobby. “Yeah, yeah. It’s okay.”
And Wilbur grins to himself, a stupid smile that only Tommy brings out. “Alright.”
“Alright.”
Wilbur calls him that more often, only in private calls and only when they’re alone, but Tommy reacts the same way each time, grinning and going red. Wilbur cherishes it every time.
———
“GeoPeter’s out! He’s out, chat!” Wilbur yells, grinning maniacally. “How embarrassing for him. I’d be so embarrassed.”
He doesn’t bother checking the chat, focusing on the screen in front of him. He lands in a grey looking area, not a single person in sight. Wilbur scrolls around a bit, finding exactly zero signs and zero buildings. “Alright,” he thinks aloud. “It seems really cold here, and there are mountains in the distance. Mongolia, maybe?”
The timer flashes red, and Wilbur makes up his mind. “Okay, we’re going with Mongolia. We have to win this one, I’m not losing to a Ranboo profile picture.”
Mongolia is wrong, and Wilbur quickly clicks on Russia. Wrong.
Before he makes his final guess, time runs out and Wilbur sighs. “I just lost. To a Ranboo stan. Kazakhstan. Why didn’t I think of that?” He groans, looking at chat which is scrolling a mile a minute. “One last game? It’s getting pretty late here.”
It’s not that late, and Wilbur knows he’ll be awake for the next few hours anyways, but he’s also been streaming for a while, and he’s tired. He clicks the new game button, and distinctly french architecture shows up on screen, before the game has even started. “France. It’s gotta be France.”
The game begins, and Wilbur immediately navigates to Europe on the map. Before he can click the country, his phone flashes on the table.
It’s a call. From Tommy.
And not on discord, to his phone . Like his actual number. Tommy never calls his number.
It could be important , and little voice whispers. If you ignore it, you could be the reason Tommy—
Chat’s already probably confused on his pause, so Wilbur makes up his mind. “One second chat, I’ll be back in a sec. He hits his mute stream hotkey, picking up his phone and moving out of the frame.
“Hey, Sunshine.” Wilbur tugs at his hair nervously, leaning on the opposite wall. “Is everything alright?”
Thankfully, Tommy’s voice is as boisterous as ever. “Hey Wilbur! Yeah, everything’s fine. My wifi’s being shit, so I was trying to see if anyone was getting my calls. D’you think you could send me a picture on Discord? I don't think any images are loading.”
Wilbur sighs in relief, and immediately chides himself for getting worried. “I mean, sure, but maybe when I end stream.”
“ You're live?! ” Tommy yells. “Why are you answering my call then?” Aggressive typing sounds down the line, and he can tell that Tommy’s frantically opening up his stream. “I got an ad, what the fuck?”
Wilbur laughs. “I’ll talk to you after stream.”
He ends the call quickly, returning to frame. He goes to click the button, before realizing that he’s not muted.
Oh god , he’s not muted. Fuck.
“Oh, shoot, I wasn’t muted. Oops.” He clicks on a new game, and begins verbally analyzing the terrain while mentally going over everything he had said in the conversation. It wasn’t bad, he thinks. He mentioned he was live and and said he would talk to Tommy after the stream. Not to mention that he was on the complete opposite side of the room, it would be a wonder if his microphone even picked it up. “Okay, this one has to be Mongolia.”