Flowers from 1970 // reupload

2.4

George hesitated a bit, a little weary of leaving the phone in the event of Dream calling, but Wilbur and his family had been so kind and hard to say no to. "I'd love to."

"That's lovely!" Niki smiled before the couple were gestured inside, "I adore your house, it has such a vintage feel."

George looked around, if only she knew, "It is sort of vintage. Nothing's changed in this place since the 60s or 70s I assume."

Wilbur nodded, "It seems so." He was looking around before spotting a painting, "The Birth of Venus," he said, "I didn't know you were a fan of art."

"That isn't something I bought," George corrected, "it came with the house actually, but it's quite cool that you know the name of it."

Wilbur turned toward him, "We used to have one in our old family house. My parents admire the artist."

They had sat down on the couch, and George had played a movie for them to watch. "So who's taking care of little Tommy?" George asked.

"My father and Techno initially, but Techno wanted to come with us here." Wilbur explained.

"He's welcome here, if he'd like." George suggested, "You can give him a call and invite him, the more the merrier."

George felt like he was getting carried away, but he had liked the idea of having friends. 

Even enough that his worries about the lack of a phone call from Dream for the night had subsided.

Niki opened the cider and pulled coasters and glasses out her purse she had brought herself, "Are you sure? I do hope we didn't interrupt you in anything."

George shook his head, "No worries." He assured her, "My plans got cancelled for the night so this is actually a good substitute."

Wilbur tilted his head, "What were your plans initially?" He questioned, accepting a glass of cider from Niki and taking a sip, being sure to put the coaster under his chin so he didn't spill anything in George's house.

George scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "I was going to talk to an old friend, but he turned out to have last minute plans." He tried his best to be truthful but not entirely.

Wilbur nodded slowly. He took another sip of cider and started clicking his pen frantically, patting his jackets for something.

"Dear," Niki touched his shoulder, "I saw you put it in your jeans pocket."

Wilbur checked his jean pocket and pulled out his notebook, "Whew, thought I had lost it."

George finally had the courage to ask, "What's in that notebook? You don't have to tell me, I just see you with it all the time."

Wilbur seemed to think about his answer for a second, "It's a planner. I think that's the best way to describe it."

George understood, "That makes sense. Sorry if it was an intrusive question."

"No no," Wilbur waved his hands, "I'd be curious as well. I never let it out of my sight."

Wilbur had seemed like a simple man. A father with a stable family and a seemingly good job, but deeper inside was a mysterious man that he felt hid something deeper. Everyone had that, of course, but Wilbur seemed to harness that energy the most out of everyone George knew. Then again he didn't know many people.

There was a knock on the door, "That must be Techno." Wilbur assumed, and George made his way to the door to open it. Techno stood there, with a trench coast and his usual boots and rings. He really was an intimidating person, and if he were Tommy he'd be scared of him as well.

He walked in, "Wil, Tommy's asleep. He fell asleep to dad telling him a story of his adventures, remember those?"

Wilbur looked reminiscently, "Yeah. We'd beg him for more stories and he'd tell us he wouldn't continue if we didn't sleep, then the next night he'd have the next part."

"Alright but some of them obviously weren't true." Techno said as he sat down, "Hello by the way, George."

"What's up Techno." George greeted, watching as Techno waved to Niki.

Wilbur scoffed, "Of course they were all true. He's not a very good actor or liar, and with the way he told those stories, I knew he lived through them."

Techno rolled his eyes, "Wilbur you believe those stories and you're an adult man." He shook his head, visibly disappointed, "I knew those were fiction when I was 6."

Wilbur looked to George, "He's just a big non-believer, you know." He whispered.

"I heard that, Harry Potter." He scolded Wilbur, and Niki and the rest of them laughed while Wilbur gave him a death stare and pushed his glasses up his face.

"What kind of stories were they?" George asked, not specifically to one of the two brothers, but to whoever would answer.

Techno held his hand up, counting his fingers, "There was one jumping a fence at the city zoo and petting the leopard, the one of him wrestling a gator he found in the sewers, and Wilbur you couldn't possibly believe the one about him c-"

Wilbur stopped him suddenly, "Alright," he laughed awkwardly, "Techno, we get it."

"I'm serious." Techno put his hands up, "Just saying it's absurd how you can be 36 and believe that story is true. Even Tommy could go to dad's face and tell him it's a fake, and he's 6."

George didn't want to ask too many questions, so he didn't ask about what the story was.

Instead, he tried to break the tension between the two brothers, "So Tommy is getting pretty close to him now, isn't he."

Wilbur nodded while giving a thumbs up, "Tommy loves him." He answered then he suddenly remembered something, "Oh Techno, imagine if he met dad's best friend, they would have all gotten along so well."

Techno looked down, an unfamiliar look of sadness on his face as he turned to George, "That friend our Dad used to teach us to fight with, he passed away a couple months ago. Dad called us absolutely devastated, they were really close. Tommy would have loved to bicker with him."

George took everything in. 

They seemed to have grown up so happily, around friends and family that made life fun enough to have stories to share around. George's fear was that they'd ask about his childhood, and he'd have nothing to respond with.

They had finished the movie, sharing a few more stories before Wilbur thought it would be a good idea for them all to go home. 

"It was a good night, George. Thank you for having us over when we basically came to your house uninvited."

"Oh no please don't start with that," George smiled, "it's nice to have some company after a while."

"Anytime." Wilbur grinned, before writing on a piece of his notebook and ripping it out, "Here's our phone number, if you ever want to all hang out again, just give us a call and we'll be here."

Techno walked toward George, his boots heavy against the hard floor, "Stay safe and cool, brother." He patted him on the shoulder before walking out.

Niki had kindly taken to cleaning up all the glasses and coasters (which didn't even make much of a mess, thanks to her), and bid George goodbye.

When George shut the door, he ran upstairs and checked the phone, but the small toy sitting atop the phone was still perfectly balanced atop it. It had been nearly midnight and thought it best to go to sleep and hope Dream would call the next day.

The absence of a distraction in the form of Wilbur and his family opened his mind to his endless thoughts he had been thinking earlier. 

He had once again played Flightless Bird, American Mouth on his headphones and fell asleep, occupied only with "what ifs" and "imagines" in his full head.