Warm hoodies on cold nights (and all the stars in your eyes)

Chapter 3

"Wilbur," someone is saying insistently, shaking him. "C'mon. Wake up."

He opens his eyes, fighting the few seconds where he's desperate to go back to sleep, his eyes almost sliding closed by themselves, but he grabs Schlatt's wrist and pulls himself up, and once he's standing, it's a little easier for him to get his bearings.

"What's going on," he yawns.

"Water rising," Schlatt says, looking pale and tired. Oddly pale and tired.

"Wh... What's up?" Wilbur asks him suspiciously.

"I think the server kept running overnight, at least in the local area. Explains the rising levels. Means that sleep isn't as effective. So... Tired."

Wordlessly, Wilbur hands him some fish, and eats a little himself, so they can gain some energy. "I don't feel more tired than usual," he says after a while, breaking the bed and the furnace.

"Yeah, but you always look like you haven't slept, these days," Schlatt tells him with an odd glance. "How much d'you even sleep?"

"Uh," Wilbur says, thinking. "On a really bad night, like two hours max. Or like, none. Usually about five or six. It's fine, really." He opens the door hurriedly, not wanting to dwell on his less than healthy habits. Especially since there were more bad nights than good nights, recently, and then all-weekend crashes that left him hating the feeling of being unable to wake up even more, which just made actually sleeping even harder and... It was a bit of a vicious cycle, really.

The water is several blocks beneath them, but as Wilbur watches, it surges up a level, and Wilbur yelps. It's gone straight through their wooden walls – making a little box wouldn't help them now. There's a zombie trapped with them on the hill, but it'll die soon in the morning light, so Wilbur leaves it be.

"That just – just went through the fucking walls, Schlat, let's – let's build up," he nods quickly, placing several logs and jumping onto the roof.

"Good idea," Schlatt mumbles sourly. "Almost as if I had the same one."

"I was agreeing with you," Wilbur sighs with a roll of his eyes, building up slowly, side by side with Schlatt.

"We're gonna run out of logs at some point," Schlatt says after a while, when it's daylight. "And we still have like, two server nights before going home."

"Mhm," Wilbur says, not really paying attention, focusing on building. "D'we have enough food?"

"I have enough to last me," Schlatt replies after a brief check. "You?"

"Yeah, probably. Lots of fish."

"Good."

They carry on in silence, and Wilbur's mind is drawn into thought, as his log tower reaches a little higher than Schlatt's, and he can safely look down at him, hair just long enough to start to tangle. He hadn't noticed how long it was getting, but it's nice, Wilbur muses.

"How's it going," Schlatt asks, straightening up, jerking Wilbur from his thoughts.

"Eh? Pretty good," he says. "I have..." He checks his inventory. "I have a stack and a bit of wood."

"Well, I have a bit of a stack," Schlatt replies, looking up at him.

Wilbur sighs, and swipes at his inventory screen until the half-stack he has is transferred to Schlatt. "There," he says softly. "When you use that we can build a platform or something."

"Thanks," Schlatt grins up at him, and Wilbur melts a little bit, but keeps on building, until finally Schlatt raises a hand.

"Stop," he breathes. "I'm so hungry, Wilbur, damnit, didn't think you were ever gonna stop."