Chapter Text
Wilbur thinks that he may have always been in love with Sarah. From the first time he saw her in the 10th grade history, he knew she would be the only girl for him. 16 and madly in love with her from across the room. That feeling never really went away. Even now as he prepared to enter into his first day of work at the company where Sarah spent her days, those feelings of love and admiration came rushing back.
He remembers vividly the first time he ever talked to her. It was at a school dance and he was too nervous to ask her to dance, so instead he just sat down next to her and started chatting. Trying desperately to find something, some conversation point so that he could talk to her just a little bit longer. They talked the whole night and he fell head over heels. From then on, he was always looking for opportunities to talk to her and be around her.
Now, years later, he was going to be working with her on a daily basis. He wasn't really sure if he could handle it, pining away across the room once again, but he had to try. It would be torture to be so close to her and not be able to tell her how he feels. Maybe, just maybe, this proximity would finally give him the courage to tell her the truth. Or maybe not.
You see, Wilbur was what you would call a "good friend". He had been a good friend to Sarah for years, watching as she dated dirtbag guys and cried over the loss of her first dog. He bought her her first mic, his personal favourite brand, for her birthday the year after they met so she could start her journey as a streamer. He had been her first subscriber, her Discord mod, her late night vc partner. A good friend, she had called him.
And he wanted to be more.
Could you blame him? Sarah was perfect and she always had been. In his eyes, there was nobody more beautiful, more kind, more perfect than Sarah. And finally after ten years of hard work, finally, other people were starting to notice. But he never said anything because he didn't want to ruin their friendship. It was better to have Sarah as a friend than to not have Sarah at all.
But now, as he walked to the office on his first day, he couldn't help but wonder if this was finally his chance. He took a deep breath, one last deep drag on his vape, and tried to focus on the task at hand. It was going to be a long day.
Wilbur had never pictured himself in an office job, working 9 to 5 for a company he could probably run himself if he put his mind to it. His father was wealthy enough that he didn't need to work after graduating uni but if an office was where Sarah was, then an office is where he would be. It wouldn't be long, he was sure of that at least. Soon Sarah's career as the streamer "Pandora" would take off for real and she would be able to ditch the cubicle and long hours in favour of her pretty pink room with the anime figures along the top of her PC and late nights spent talking to a screen. And he would be right there with her.
The job he had acquired reflected this. It wasn't a place to remain for long, no ladder to climb or deadlines to keep. Just something to do, while he hides his time near her.
"You're the new janitor right?"
Wilbur jumped, shook out of his thoughts by a man's voice as soon as he came through the door. He nodded dumbly, still not used to the sound of his own voice after years of only communicating online. The man held out his hand and Wilbur shook it, trying to remember the name on his nametag.
"I'm Jared, I work in IT. I work late a lot so you'll be seeing a lot of me." Jared was tall enough that he had to look up a bit in order to meet his eyes, a rarity for Wilbur due to his own height, with bright eyes and a strong build. He shot him a dazzling smile that immediately set his teeth on edge and Wilbur struggled to put something akin to a friendly smile on his face.
"Wilbur." His smile faltered, voice coming out wrong; too quiet, not confident enough. He'd have to work on that.
Jared nodded, not really seeming to care. "If you need anything, my office is just down the hall. I'm sure you'll figure it all out." He clapped him on the shoulder with perhaps a bit more strength than necessary and Wilbur tried not to flinch away before he turned and walked down the hall, already forgetting whatever his name was and all together what he even looked like.
The first day was long and tedious. He met a lot of people whose names he would never remember and he was pretty sure he missed half of what they said. All he could focus on was the fact that Sarah's office was only a few doors down from his and he could probably reach out and touch it if he tried. But he didn't. He couldn't. So instead he just kept his head down and went about his business, mopping floors and taking out the trash. It wasn't glamorous but it was a job and it paid the bills he couldn't take care of with his inheritance, most of it going to Sarah, Pandora, anyways. Maybe one day he would be able to afford a place nice enough for him and Sarah to live with a great big office for the both of them to share but for now he was happy to live in his third rate flat, keep his Top Dono rank, and save up the rest of his money for their future.
The one bright spot in his day was his lunch break. He had gotten there early, as he always did, and claimed a seat in the staff room. It wasn't long before Sarah came in, a vision in pink as always, and sat down next to him. They chatted idly about this and that, nothing too important, but it was enough for Wilbur. Just being near her was enough.
Eventually, lunch break came to an end and they both had to return to their respective jobs. Sarah to her office and Wilbur to his own, a glorified closet that smelled a bit too harshly of cleaning chemicals. He spilled a bottle of citrus smelling blue liquid when a knock made him jump and quickly went about snatching the nearest rag to sop up the mess.
"Come in!" he called.
"Ah William, just the man I was looking for."
Wilbur's brow twitched slightly as Jared stepped through his door. He had done his best to avoid the IT worker and largely succeed, but sometimes he wasn't so lucky. It wasn't that Jared had done anything wrong necessarily, but Wilbur rather enjoyed avoiding the way that the other man's presence caused his stomach to twist up into knots. He hadn't been able to figure out why that particular anomaly occurred, but if it meant spending more time with the man then he'd rather leave the mystery to the ages.
Slowly, he turned.
"It's Wilbur," he corrected shortly.
"Right, Wilby sorry. I've been meaning to talk to you about something." Jared leaned against the door, crossing his arms as Wilbur struggled to keep a flush from rising to his cheeks at the childish nickname. Maybe he was falling ill? "I was wondering if you wanted to go grab a drink after work sometime."
It took Wilbur a moment to process what was happening as his heart spun itself in circles in between the attempts it seemed to be taking to burst from his chest as his head spun circles around itself.
"I'm sorry, I can't." He shook his head again, still trying to wrap his mind around the situation as butterflies took up residence beneath his diaphragm. "I have plans."
"Oh." Jared's face fell a little bit but he quickly recovered, something in his eyes changing slightly, hardened, liquid chocolate turned to stone. "That's fine, I'll let Sarah know. Maybe another time then?"
Wilbur's heart paused a moment before changing direction, launching into the bottom of his throat, choking him from the inside. "Sarah?"
"Well yah, of course. It was her idea of course."
His brain slowed. He had missed something. Somehow, somewhere, Wilbur had missed something that was important.
Jared continued on. "Well, it was my idea. I noticed you don't really eat a lot when the two of you have your little lunch dates, but it was her idea to grab a drink."
"You and Sarah talked about me?" he asked, more of a musing to himself than an actual question even as his stomach began twisting itself into knots again at the thought of the two of them discussing him, his eating habits, outside of work.
Jared laughed and in his mind, Wilbur thought it might have sounded a little cruel. Mocking. "Well what kind of a boyfriend would I be if I didn't learn more about my girlfriend's friends? You guys are friends right?"
"Boyfriend…"
"But of course, who am I to keep you if you've got other plans? I'll tell her you had something more important to attend to." Jared hadn't seemed to have heard him. "Anyways, I'll see you around, William."
He turned and walked away, leaving Wilbur standing in his office, feeling like he had been punched in the gut. All the air had been knocked out of him and he struggled to breathe as he tried to make sense of what was happening.
Sarah was dating Jared.
Sarah was dating Jared.
Sarah was dating Jared.
The words echoed in his head, a never ending loop that he couldn't seem to escape from. It felt like his heart had been ripped out and stomped on, over and over and over again. He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter, that he didn't care, but he couldn't seem to make the words stick.
He cared. He cared a lot.
And he was going to have to do something about it.