Chapter Text
Wiley didn’t want to get up. He regretted sleeping in his all denim attire. He regretted sleeping at all. He hadn’t slept in so long that he forgot what it felt like.
Wiley finally opened his eyes to see Pokotho struggling to button his shirt.
“Do you need help?” Wiley asked while rubbing his eyes.
“No, I just need to figure out how these useless human fingers work,” Pokey replied, the irritation evident in his voice.
Wiley rolled his eyes, got out of bed and finished buttoning the shirt.
“I didn’t need your help,” Pokey said, annoyed.
“Well too bad, you got it,” Wiley said walking out of the room. He sat down on the couch and started debating what to do today. Pokey needed to go to work. Did he even know how to work? Wiley pinched the bridge of his nose ‘what have I got myself into?’ He asked himself.
“I’m ready to go,” Pokey announced as he entered the room. He was fully dressed in a black suit with matching black shoes.
“No socks?” Wiley asked, eyeing Pokey’s shoe choice.
“What use are socks anyways, I certainly don’t need them,” Pokey answered confidently.
“Ok” was all Wiley said, he would let Pokey figure that one out for himself. “Do you know where Paul works?”
“Of course, he works in the technical department of CCRP, although he seems to spend a lot of time watching movies. But before work each day he visits Beanies, so that is our first stop.” And with that Pokey walks out the door. Wiley has to hurry to catch up.
Once the pair get into the street they fall into an even walking tempo. The weather's warm out, there were only a couple of joggers out. Wiley took in a deep breath, he loved morning walks he remembers those special days where both he and John could go- no he couldn’t think of John. Not anymore.
After a few moments Wiley notices a quaint coffee shop on the corner with a green sign that reads in bold letters Beanies coffee shop. Wiley got ready to walk in there but Pokey just kept on walking.
“What are you doing?” Wiley asked.
“I’m walking to Beanies” was all Pokey said.
“Idiot” Wiley muttered as he grabbed Pokey's hand and led him into the coffee shop.
The bell rang as they opened the door, it was early enough for there to only be a few other customers.
“Hi Paul” a voice called out from across the coffee shop. Wiley turned to see a brunette barista waving over at Pokey, she didn’t seem to notice Wiley. Her eyes were only for Paul.
“Hi…” Pokey waved back, Wiley wondered for a moment if Pokey could remember her name but that was solved quickly “Emma”
The two guys walked over to the counter to order. Wiley started looking over the menu, it seemed like a basic coffee shop, like the one he went to with-. No, now's not the time for those thoughts. Wiley decides to try something new, something different.
“Who is this?” Emma suddenly asked. She was clearly staring at Pokey’s and Wilbur’s hands which were still clutched together.
Pokey glanced over at Wiley and before he could say anything the words were tumbling out of Wiley’s mouth, “I’m his boyfriend, Wilbur”
Wiley couldn’t believe what he just said, it just came out naturally. The look on Emma’s face shifted between shock, confusion, disappointment, and then just a forced straight face. “That’s amazing I’m happy for you” she said through a forced smile.
“Do you have a problem with it?” Wiley asked, raising an eyebrow. He could accept a lot of ‘bad things’, but he could not stand homophobia.
“No it’s not that’s, it’s…well” Emma struggled for a moment before giving up and asking “what would you like to order?”
Pokey said in a confident voice “one large black coffee”
“I know that, I was wondering about Wilbur's” she said his name with slight aggravation.
“A medium white chocolate mocha please” Wiley decided since he was falling into old habits he might as well embrace it.
“I will get that right out” Emma said swiftly turning away. Wiley led Pokey over to sit while they waited.
“Why did you say you were my boyfriend?” Pokey asked as soon as they sat down.
“Instinct” he responded flatly.
“Mmh, a lover in your past, I see”
“Do you have a problem with that”
“No I think it’s a great cover”
“Cover? So we’re continuing this”
“Yes, it’s not like Paul had that many friends so a boyfriend is plausible enough where people won’t question you”
“Ok so we’re doing this” Wiley pinched the bridge of his nose, this whole thing was shaping up to be more then he anticipated.
“Paul I have your black coffee and white chocolate” a girls voice calls out. Wiley turned around to see a different barista holding the cups. Her name tag read ‘Zoey C.’ and she was giving a dirty look to Wiley.
The two grab their cups trying to avoid looking into Zoeys eyes “I hope your happy” she whispered.
“We are” Pokey said happily.
Zoey opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by a kid in suspenders yelling about hot chocolate. Wiley and Pokey took that as their cue to leave. They could still feel Zoeys glare as they exited.
“Wow that went great” Pokey said as they got outside.
“No it didn’t” Wiley growled.
“How didn’t it, we were there to get coffee, we got coffee” Pokey gestured to the coffee.
“You broke that girls heart”
“No you broke it, I didn’t say a word”
“It was a mistake, you didn’t correct me”
“What’s wrong with a little chaos”
“That’s not what your here for”
“You need to live a little”
“Me live! I’m helping you with…this” Wiley spluttered. He was done with this conversation, Pokey seemed to understand that.
Wiley took a sip of his mocha. It was to hot, but he could still taste the sweetness. It brought him back, to the early morning walks with John, the moments when John would bring him a mocha after a fight, the love John gave him. Wiley wondered what John was doing right now, was he still alive? Was he still working for PEIP? Did he miss Wilbur?
“We are here” Pokey announced break Wiley from his thoughts.
“Where are we?” Wiley asked.
“Paul’s work” Pokey gestured to the building in front of them. It was a tall gray building that looked like it sucked all joy from the world. A sign on it read ‘CCRP INC’.
Wiley gasped slightly, shocked that Pokey didn’t realize what was here.
“What’s wrong” Pokey asked seeing Wiley shocked expression.
“Do you relize what this is?” Wiley whispered.
“The CCRP building”
“What was it before CCRP”
“The newpaper… oh” Pokey finally understood “Tinkys domain”
“Yep and we have to go in there”
“We’re fucked”
“Yes we are”