Chapter Text
Wilbur felt Eret's eyes follow him as he cast the small white die onto the table.
Please don't be a six, please don't be a six. He prayed as he watched the white cube spin across the counter like a tiny white torpedo.
"Four!" Announced Eret, and Wilbur let out a sigh of relief as he moved his monopoly piece to a chance place.
Knowing all the chance cards were hand-made by Tommy after he "lost" the other ones, this could either be very good, or very very bad and absolutely no in-between. His personal least favourite was the, "give TommyInnit all of your properties and you have to call him Big Man for a month" card, and he really hoped he didn't get that one.
He picked up the handwritten card carefully, and everyone looks at him as he carefully read it aloud. "Give the closest player four diamonds." He groaned, and Fundy, who was sitting next to him, let out a whoop of joy.
Reluctantly handing over the diamonds, Wilbur couldn't help but chuckle softly as Fundy cheered happily, "Free money!" As much as he disliked losing money, his son's joy all but made up for it.
He reached over to ruffle the fur behind Fundy's ears a little bit. "You got lucky with that one Champion. Next time you won't be so lucky." He teased.
Standing up from the table, he grinned at his friends. "I'm going to go get another glass of champagne. I'll be right back."
Dream stood as well, holding his empty glass. "Mind if I join you?"
Grinning, Wilbur couldn't help but tease the blonde a little bit, "This whole idea was your endevor, Mr Director."
"Oh piss off Wilbur, this project was just as much your baby as it was mine." Dream remarked, heading into the kitchen.
They walked into the kitchen, where Dream carefully poured Wilbur another glass of champagne. "Wil, I'm glad you could come tonight." He remarked as he poured himself some.
Wilbur looked at his friend for a moment, sensing a change in mood. "I'm glad I could be here too." He replied truthfully. "We haven't gotten the whole cast together... I don't even know how long."
"You'll have to stay until the snow melts enough for ice to form. The horse's feet will get stuck in the snow." Dream stated, looking out in the night air, where a storm was already raging. "This blizzard won't pass over soon."
"Damn," Wilbur remarked, staring out into the white abyss. "Is this going to put us behind schedule for filming?"
Taking a sip from his glass, Dream shook his head. "Naw, the camera crew is on break too. At least for the week."
"Where do you think the kids are?" Wilbur asked, the words spilling out of his mind into the warm kitchen air.
Dream glanced over at Wilbur, shrugging. "Probably off doing their own thing. You know them." He shrugged. "You have no idea how hard it is to get all those twerps to show up for rehearsal." He remarked affectionately. "Except Ranboo. That kid is never not excited to show up and work."
"He started an ARG." Wilbur grinned, his heart tingling with pride. "And he asked me for help."
Tilting his glass towards Wilbur, Dream smiled softly. "To the kids?"
"To the kids." Wilbur confirmed, and their glasses clinked together. Wilbur raised the glass to his lips, about to take a sip of the clear liquid gold, but something stopped him. A commotion at the front door drew his attention.
The sound of knocking.
"There's someone outside," Wilbur announced, worry filling his voice. "Someone's out there."
"Out in the cold? At this time of night?" Dream asked, putting down his glass.
Wilbur was moving towards the door without even thinking about it. The second he had processed the noise, his hand was on the doorknob. And then the door was open, and a wave of cold air and flakes of snow met Wilbur's face, but Wilbur could barely feel the soft tinge of the frost touching his nose.
What caught Wilbur's attention was the slouching, frost-covered blonde-haired boy who stared up at him with ice blue eyes. Those eyes he loved. And he wasn't shivering, but he looked as if his fist was frozen closed in the knocking motion.
The frost coated his eyelashes like a cold, unforgiving makeup line of death. And though he was cold, so ice-cold, he looked like he had been through hell itself. And he murmured out a single name, that stuck Wilbur's heart like an ice-cold dagger. "Wilby?"
And he fell into Wilbur's arms.
And then there he lay, in the warmth of Dream's little cottage, and he felt so small. And Wilbur held him. He held the mumbling boy as they changed him into warm clothes, and he held him close as they examined his fingers and toes for frostbite. And he held Tommy as he cried.
"He's going to be okay." Eret murmured, placing a reassuring hand on Wilbur's shoulder. Tommy mumbled indecipherable words, panicked and strew-together wrong as small tears fell down his face.
"Toms, can you speak slowly for me? We can't understand you when you're talking so fast." Eret murmured, a lock of her brown hair falling over her face, and for a moment Wilbur realized just how beautiful she looked in that dress.
And he smiled thankfully at her, and she smiled softly back.
"Got-a... go," Tommy murmured, gaining Wilbur's attention again. "Tubbo... an' Ranboo..."
"What about Tubbo and Ranboo?" Eret asked, brushing the hair out of Tommy's face. "it's going to be okay, Wilbur is right here."
Tommy's face scrunched up for a moment, and he let out a gasp. "You've got to go... get them. Tubbo and Ranboo... I went to get help. They're still out there... in the storm. You've got to-" He broke off into a cough. "You've got to save them." He whispered.