𝐦𝐜𝐲𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 !

fool's gold | wilbur x schlatt

"it's been a while, huh." he said, after a pause. "you okay?"

wilbur almost laughed. if only he knew.

"i'm doing alright. how about you, jonathan schlatt?"

"good. i'm actually good. isn't that surprising?"

"no. i'm happy for you." he said, gritting his teeth to ground himself. he blatantly refused to lose it in front of schlatt. "not to be rude but... why did you call?"

"oh yeah, that. would you, wilbur soot, like to play some minecraft? for old times sake?"

whatever wilbur was expecting, it wasn't that. schlatt's usually confident tone was shadowed with pleading and wilbur didn't posses the willpower to refuse him. maybe that was how he kept getting hurt.

"um... sure?"

"that, wilbur soot, is exactly what I needed to hear."

wilbur sat down at his computer, holding the phone like a lifeline, and opened minecraft. bittersweet soft music accompanied the fresh wave of nostalgia that he received every time he played the game.

he clicked onto his friend list to see that schlatt was already on a server and joined automatically, head suffocating in doubt. wilbur didn't know he was a masochist, but apparently he enjoyed the feeling of a knife twisting in his heart whenever he heard the american speak.

as the world gradually loaded into view, wilbur gasped at where they were, eliciting a chuckle from schlatt.

smp live. the server that had built their careers, their lives. the server where wilbur fell in love for the last time in his life.

it was somehow eery, but in a comforting way; the view of empty creations slumbering under the stars where love and joy once bloomed in wild abandon. they were alone in a place where the dreams of the original members lived on, and that gave wilbur an odd feeling of solace. like their friends were watching over them in a way, like forgotten gods.

schlatt's character was next to him, crisp business suit and all and wilbur felt as though he could almost kid himself that things were the way they used to be, just him and schlatt verses the world. he turns expectantly towards schlatt, gesturing vaguely to the sanctuary they had once created but was surprised to see schlatt simply walking away in the opposite direction, blissfully ignorant to the flood of emotions wilbur was experiencing. a common theme.

swallowing his hurt, wilbur followed him, through forest and up, reaching towards the night sky. the silence was only broken by the occasional "are we there yet?" from him and some smart-ass rebuttal from schlatt.

eventually, they made it to the top of a small, secluded mountaintop; miles away from the place they had called home for so many weeks. small flowers dotted the grass and the expanse was littered with acacia, framing the pixelated moon.

they stood there in companiable silence, watching the world morph slowly around them. two lonely travellers, watching the stars together across continents. It was the closest wilbur had been to anyone in almost half a year and it terrified him to no end. but still, his character stood in stoic silence and betrayed no similarities to the scared little boy on the other side of the screen who's hands were shaking too much to use the mouse.

"hey wilbur, why don't ya talk to me anymore?"  schlatt said, out of the blue.

and just like that, the bubble wilbur had crafted to protect himself from reality abruptly shattered.

the truth was that wilbur was a coward. always had been, always would be. that was where this all began and where it all ended really, in his own cowardice.

he fell in love with schlatt slowly, then all at once.

it's slow, the tar-like sensation of falling in love with someone you can't see. the little things hooking you on like a drug, gradually addicting you til you can't live without them. love was wilbur's morphine, and as much as it helped his body gradually decay, he craved it all the same. masochism at it's very finest.

because schlatt didn't know. would never know. wilbur was stuck, perpetually fantasizing over a relationship that was nonexistent in the others mind, yet he refused to tell schlatt. he didn't even know if schlatt liked boys at all. but he still could have tried.

life was never that simple though.

because as wilbur was inching closer to building up the confidence to confess to schlatt, someone beat him to it.

wilbur wanted to hate her, long lilac hair, brash sense of humour and a sickeningly pretty face; but he simply couldn't. they were perfect for eachother, and schlatt was the happiest he had been in a long time. who was wilbur to deprive him of that? selfish, selfish boy who wanted schlatt all to himself but couldn't pluck up the courage to even try to win him. it was his own fault for his suffering, and that only made it worse.

so he stopped talking to schlatt. stopped it all, because it hurt too damn much and he was too scared to admit to himself that he just might be the bad guy in this situation. he had hoped that schlatt would forget, would move on but of course the universe could never be that forgiving.

"i don't really know dude. i guess we just grew apart. happens, y'know?" he finally replied, lying through the skin of his teeth and faithfully ignoring the sharp pain in his abdomen.

"i guess. i miss you, though."

wilbur's heart stopped.

"you do?"

"yeah. you're unfathomable, you know that wilbur soot?"

"is that so?"

"it is indeed."

there was some background noise that filtered through schlatt's mic and wilbur could hear minx talking to him softly. it took everything he had not to rake his nails down his face.

"duty calls i'm afraid wil. make sure you get some sleep bud."

"okay mum, anything else?" he replied, a stiff mimicry of their old banter. maybe he wasn't as good of an actor as he thought.

"stay sane, wilbur."

a pause as wilbur tried to dissect what that meant.

"i'll certainly keep it in mind. farewell, jonathan schlatt."

"see ya round, wilbur soot."

it felt too final, too abrubt and in a sudden burst of insanity, wilbur knew what he had to do.

"schlatt i think i-"

a beep.

"love you."

schlatt was gone.

come to think of it, so was wilbur.