there was nothing new happening today, apart from the obvious downpour in the middle of june. rain spluttered against wilbur's bedroom window, angry, dark grey clouds surrounded the skies above. yet there they sat, wilbur at his desk, strumming melodies on his guitar and hope sprawled out on his bed sheets, quietly watching a random youtube video on her phone.
tensions were high between the two, both of them suffering with hidden yet confusing feelings towards one another, yet neither of them could admit it. wilbur was heavily distracted by the rain trickling against his window, his eyes following the droplets falling. that was when he began to think about that one time it rained, hope had dragged him out of the comfort of his bedroom to encourage him to love the rain as much as did. at the time it did not work, but every time it had rained since then, he found himself in awe of the soothing sound and splashes. maybe he found himself adoring it because of hope? maybe it was because of what she admitted, about how much she wanted someone to confess their love to her in the rain? whatever it was, he could concentrate on it for hours.
hope's hand was tucked under the pillow beneath her, laid on her side as she peered over her phone, "what happened to the guitar strumming? i was enjoying that." she giggled, but he was still gazing out of the window, "wilbur?"
"huh?" he blinked blankly before swivelling around in his chair, placing down the guitar which rested limply between his fingers.
"you seem distracted." placing her phone down beside her, she rolled over and shuffled up the headboard, resting against it, "what's wrong?"
"nothing." he shook his head quickly, spinning back around to look out of the window, "i just can't believe how much it's raining."
hope slowly pulled her body out of the bed and walked towards where he sat, resting both hands on the back of his chair and placed her chin on his head, also staring out of the window, "i swear it was supposed to be sunny today," she laughed softly, "but it's lovely, isn't it?"
"yeah, i guess it is." he sighed, both gazing at the mere satisfaction from the cloudburst outside. hope pulled back, still concentrating outside, but her fingertips ruffled through his fluffy brown hair.
"are you sure you're okay?" huffing out a small laugh, she leant around and gazed at his impassive facial expression, "just seem a little... off."
"uh - yeah." he swallowed harshly, but he was far from okay. his mind was sidetracked, all because of rain that was not forecasted. it reminded him of hope, feeling as though she had slipped through his fingers when she was stood behind him, fingertips softly stroking his hair which was incredibly relaxing.
"oh, okay." she nodded slowly, pulling away as she fixed his hair back into place, "just checking." muttering under her breath, she span around and seated herself on the edge of his bed, watching his still body.
they sat in silence, only the pattering against the windows from the heavy rain could be heard and their heavy sighs. it felt as though they were sat like that for ages, yet it had barely been 3 minutes, but the silence was eerie.
"hope." wilbur said, spinning around on his chair to stare at her.
"hmm?" she raised a brow, staring up at him, "what is it?"
he stood up in one swift movement, so quickly that hope did not even comprehend it. wilbur seemed in such a rush, as he ran to the other side of his room and picked up hope's coat, "put this on." he chucked it in her direction, "quickly!"
"what? why?" she laughed, following him out of the bedroom as she haphazardly tugged her coat onto her body, "what are you doing?"
"put your shoes on." he pointed to their trainers side by side, him messily sliding his onto his feet, not even bothering to untie the laces. as for hope, she properly pulled hers on, perfectly tying her laces whilst wilbur's body jittered from side to side, extremely impatient.
"what are you doing?" she questioned once again, feeling as though she had not stopped repeating herself, "seriously, where are we going?" hope said as he opened his front door wide, grabbing her hand as he tugged her body out of the door.
wilbur dragged hope all the way to the beach, luckily the breeze was not too bad, but the pouring rain was horrendous and wilbur only stood in front of her in a sweater with the sleeves rolled up.
"wilbur, what the fuck are you doing?" hope yelled, holding her hood in place.
"look hope!" he wailed his arms in the air, as though he was embracing the downpour which drenched his hair, "i've learnt to love the rain. for you." a grin tugged at his lips, whilst he internally hoped that he was doing the right thing.
"but why?" she chuckled.
"i understand why you want your cliché in the rain because i've realised how much i want that too because of you. i know how much you love it and how much it makes me want to curl up in bed until it disappears, but look!" he exclaimed, allowing the rain to freely fall over his body, "i'm doing this for you, for us."
"wilbur i dont -"
"i don't care if you don't feel the same, but hope you are my best friend, maybe even my soulmate and i love you, -"
"i love you too," she beamed, "you know i do." a soft chuckle fell from her lips due to bewilderment.
an elongated sigh fell from his lips as he shook his head, "no, hope. you wanted someone to confess their love in the rain to you and this is me doing so. i love you. and i know that maybe this isn't meant to be, maybe it's our fate to just be platonic soulmates. but i needed to tell you, hope taylor, i love you."
they were soaked, wilbur had to remove his glasses from the rain droplets leaving him with blurred vision and hope's breathing fell shallow. she was speechless, she never thought that wilbur would feel such a way towards her, but she was so glad. over two years of friendship and experiencing an array of mixed feelings, she had finally heard what she had been wishing for all this time.
"wilbur, i - i love you too." she choked out, her legs shaking and knees knocking together as her soaking wet jeans clung to her skin.
wilbur furrowed his eyebrows, "you do?" he muttered in a much quieter tone compared to when he declared his feelings, "because well, i always thought i'd just be waiting for you."
"of course i do. i think i have always somewhat liked you, i just never thought you'd feel the same so i pushed it to the back of my mind." she gulped, "you'd never have to wait for me because i'll always be here."
"well - well, fuck!" he yelled, flustered yet softly smiling, "of course i feel the same hope, i thought you were out of my league, but you're all i think about. everyday, every night, i think about what could be even if it may never be."
"shut up!" she laughed, "wilbur, i love you so much more than a friend. i - i -" she paused, "it will be."
wilbur took a step forwards and threw her hood off her head before cupping her cheeks with his hands, "may i?"
"mhm." she bit her lip and nodded. he towered over her quite a lot, but as he leaned forwards she instantly wrapped both arms around his neck, one hand combing through the back of his hair. pressing a delicate kiss to her lips, wilbur's hands remained on her face whilst hope stood on her tippy-toes, but struggled to keep her balance due to the layer of stones beneath her feet causing both of them to chuckle into the kiss. but it was not long before the two melted into it again and a sea of butterflies fluttered around their stomachs.
"come here." he sighed as he pulled away, pressing her head into his chest. her arms snaked around his body, the scent of wilbur's aftershave was intense through his soaking wet sweatshirt. hope's eyes fluttered shut as they rocked under the ruthless rain and resting his chin on her head, he whispered, "what do we do now?"
hope slowly peeled herself from him and gazed into his eyes, a story of love and a dozen poems of wonder were embedded in his brown eyes. "well, i think we should get you home. you look like you've been swimming in the sea." she laughed.
"agreed." he chuckled before leaning down to press a feather-light kiss to her lips, "maybe the rain isn't as bad as i thought. maybe the rain could be our thing. i would be lying if i said i hadn't dreamt of this moment with you." he hummed, his face still in close proximity to hope's.
"so have i." she gulped, "one of those dream's that wakes you up in the middle of the night, wondering why your brain would create such a scenario."
"it's like our dream's accepted and understood our feelings before we did."
biting her lip, hope slowly nodded her head in agreement. the downpour was intense, but hope finally had her moment with the only person she wanted that moment with. wilbur caught her by her nimble wet fingers, refusing to let them go as they walked towards his house in the heavy shower. they were both soaked, hope's joggers stuck to her legs - of course she had just confessed her love to him in her comfy clothes, mascara trickling down her cheeks from droplets of rain splattering her face. but he did not care, he loved her for her and that was all that mattered.
a/n
this has to be one of the cutest things ive ever written, big W for wilbur and hope :)))