Chapter Text
My school left on their yearly trip to a big city. It’s nice so far, I get to stay with my friends and explore a new place I’ve never been to. We get ready for bed when we hear a knock at the door. My friend opens it and is met with one of the chaperones and Wilbur.
“Will has to stay here with you, his other room had something wrong with it and they all had to split into different ones.” the chaperone says.
All my friends share weird looks but I feel indifferent.
“You can have the bed over there,” I look up at him. He looks a bit uncomfortable when he sees the looks he’s being given.
Wilbur doesn’t say anything and just goes to the bed and sets his stuff down. He sits on the edge of the bed and looks at all of us..but I feel his gaze on me for a bit longer.
“Need anything? We were just getting ready to sleep.” I speak up trying to break the awkward tension.
“No, I don’t think so, thanks though.” He goes back to putting his clothes away.
“Okay,” I respond.
I look back at my friends who are all giving him dirty looks, thankfully he didn’t notice them but I still don’t want them to be rude, he was forced to be here after all.
“Oi, stop giving him weird looks he didn’t choose to be here so don’t be assholes.” I whisper yell to them to show how I feel but so Wilbur doesn’t hear.
Wilbur just lays on his bed, probably tired from the plane here. I take after him and lay down too. I feel that oddly familiar feeling of someone staring at me. I knew I best get used to it now that he’s here. I look over at him and he’s looking at me, No big surprise but then I make eye contact with him. I quickly look forward again at the tv. It’s playing Impractical Jokers, the first channel that showed up that we all liked.
Wilbur asks over the low noise of the tv, “You don’t look like you want to sleep yet.”
“No, I’m not really tired,” I reply, still not completely over the eye contact but trying to not make it obvious.
He sits up, putting his feet on the floor but still sitting, “I didn’t catch your name, I don’t think.”
“It’s Ivory, though, most people just call me Ivy,” I smile.
He whispers it to himself, seemingly resting it out.
“I’ll call you Ivy, too,” he murmured.
He smiles when he says that. The first time he smiled on this trip was for me.
“So, what should I call you? Will, Wilbur?” I pause, debating in my head if I should make a joke or not, I decide to go for it. “or Burr, sir?”
I snicker a bit at my own joke.
He doesn’t respond for a second. I thought he didn’t understand it. I was a bit nervous until he started to grin a bit and chuckled back.
“You did not just make a Hamilton reference!” he says in between a laugh.
I seemed to have finally broken his cold demeanor and he’s warming up to me.
“Wilbur is fine,” he says this within a yawn.
“Getting tired?” I ask, “It is getting pretty late.”
He just shrugs, he seems tired but doesn’t want to admit it. Maybe because he wants to keep talking to me? man I’m delusional..
"A bit, I guess. But I'm not really in the mood to sleep." He looks away for a split second before looking back at me like he’s wondering if he should do something or not.
He pushes off his bed and stands up next to the bed i’m on. He looks so tall from this angle, he towers over me.
“You want to go somewhere for a bit? I’m a bit bored.” there’s no way of stopping him, he’ll just do it anyway if I don’t say yes and I want to spend more time with him.
“Yeah sure, any idea on where you want to go?” I stand up and put on my sweatshirt, it’s Los Campesinos! merch. He seems to smile when he reads it but doesn’t comment on it.
“Wherever, we can go on a walk around, I just don’t want to be here anymore,” he follow me with his eyes as I walk around the hotel room quietly trying to get ready to walk out.
I look back at him and he nods. He heads for the door and I follow behind. We quietly slip through the door. I look around the hallways making sure no one is around. It’s midnight, lights out was 2 hours ago so everywhere is empty. It’s a bit eerie but having Wilbur here helps calm my nerves.
“Just a midnight walk? help tire us out some?”Wilbur looks down at me walking beside him.
“Yep,” I look up at him his hair mostly covering his dark brown eyes but I just pretend I can see them.
Wilbur nods then goes back to looking ahead, making sure no one catches us. He glances back down at me and sees me looking at him.
“See something you like?” he grins.
“What?” I blush a bit from being called out even though I did nothing. “I was looking at you because I was talking to you- sorry though..” I know I didn’t do anything but I still felt the need to apologize for some reason.
He smiles before leaning down closer to my level and saying wuietly in a teasing tone, “You’re blushinggg.”
I get caught off guard by the sudden closeness and continue to blush.
“Fuck offff!” I jokingly push him and rub my cheeks with the palm of my hand trying to get the blood to disperse.
He stands straight and we make it to the exits of the hotel. Like the hallways, outside was also vacant, not a soul to be seen besides us. He sees a bench just around the corner of the hotel, over looking a beautiful part of the city. He pats the open place next to him and I sit.
“Woah!” I exclaim.
I smile, I smile a lot but it’s hard not to when I’m with him. He glances at me and follows my gaze to the view.
“It’s pretty nice out here at night.” he looks back at me, watching me smile while taking in the view and weather.
He can’t help but smile too, my smiles contagious I guess.
“I’ve never been in a big city before, just our small town, this is amazing,” my voice is filled with awe as I look at the dazzling lights from afar.
“Really? This is your first time near a big city?” he raised an eyebrow, not believing me.
“I mean.. I’ve been to an airport in New York but I never stepped foot outside and I couldn’t see much.” I respond.
“I never realized how many people have never been to big cities before,” he adds.
He remains quiet for a moment, lost in thought, before he turns his attention back to me. He eyes me for a few seconds, before he speaks up again, his tone a bit lighter now.
"Hey, tell me something about yourself."
“What do you want to know?” I query, trying to get something to base my response off.
“Anything, I don’t mind. Your hobbies, something you like, stuff you’re good at, whatever,” he shrugs.
*Great, I don’t mind telling people about myself, especially him, but just trying to figure out something to say? my mind goes blank. If this was some cheesy rom com i’d say “I like you” but I’m not that typa person. I guess I’ll just go with my hobbies.*
“Uhm, I like to draw and play video games.. I know that’s a bit basic but I got no ideas,” I conjure up some things I like to do in my free time even though they’re very common.
Wilbur shakes his head a bit and grins.
“That’s not basic at all, that sounds cool.” He leans forward, closer to me.
"Video games, huh? What kind of games are you into?" he looks very intrigued with my life.
“I play a lot, but I’m currently playing Assassin’s Creed Syndicate,” I thought I’d be more nervous right now but his presence is so comforting I’m not.
Wilbur’s face lights up like we have something in common.
“I loved that one!” he chirps, Who’s your favorite character?”
“I like them both but Jacob is pretty cool,” I explain.
“Me too!” Wilbur raises an eyebrow, “so you’re into chaotic guys huh?”
“A bit, yes,” I chuckle softly, “Anyways want to head back? i’m getting a bit tired.”
He stands up and stretches before looking back at me. He reaches his hand out to “help” me up and I take it. We take our time walking back just enjoying walking next to each other. We slip back through the door just as we came in and everyone is still asleep, we both sigh in relief.
“We should be quiet,” he whispers.
He walks to his bed and motions for me to sit next to him, “Come here.”
I look to my bed and my friends are all spread out, really taking the extra space of me not being there for granted. I realize there’s no other option and sit next to him.
“Can I ask you something?” a small smirk spreads across his face.
“mhm,” I nod.
“do you.. find me attractive?” he tilts his head down a bit.
“uhh..” I mutter out *why is he asking me this?? I can hear my heart beating so loud* “yeah..”
*I can see a blush start to form in his face. I guess he wasn’t expecting this? or was expecting me to be more nervous? who knows.*
“Really?” it almost looks like he flinches in surprise.
“mmmhm,” I don’t really know what to say so that’s all I can muster.
“And what do you find most attractive?” he says this in an almost teasing tone, but not in a mean way more like a “i’m-trying-to-make-you-nervous-as-much-as-I-can-because-it’s-cute” way, I like it.
*I see him start to move closer to me. I know he likes me now and I like him too but I’d rather not have sex with him.. or make out really. I like just cuddling and saying cute stuff to each other not any of that weird stuff. I’m not sure how to break that news to him, though. He is a teenage boy after all and I think it’d ruin the mood.*
“Your eyes, I think they’re cute.” I look into them.
“Is that all? my eyes?” he asks jokingly disappointed.
“Well I haven’t seen much of you, but your personality is pretty good too,” I reassure him.
“My….personality?” he seems visibly surprised by that answer.
“What? was that not a good answer?” I ask a bit worried I said something wrong.
“Nono it was good, just most people say my looks, not my personality first,” he looks away a bit shyly.
“Oh, I’m sorry mate,” I try to sympathize with him.
He quickly looks back to me, his eyes meeting mine and he shakes his head. He seems almost panicked.
"Don't apologize! It's okay, it’s better than hearing about my looks, honestly." He pauses for a moment, seeming almost vulnerable. He's not scared or anything, just genuinely shocked that someone cared about his personality over his looks for once.
He lets out a shaky sigh. He's not used to this, used to people actually being interested in who he is as a person, not just his looks. He avoids eye contact with me for now, still a bit awkward from the sudden change in the situation. Then he takes a deep breath and looks back at me again, that same grin playing on his face as if he never was vulnerable for a moment, to hide it.
“You okay?” I notice his sudden change in mood.
He nods, "Yeah, I'm okay. Why are you asking?"
He knows I noticed how vulnerable he was, but he tries to avoid mentioning it and hide it with his usual cocky attitude. I notice what he’s trying to do and just go along with it so he’s comfortable again.
“Oh, alright,” I’m not exactly sure how to go along with it but I try.
I look over to the bed I shared with my friends and I know I couldn’t fit. I look back over to Wilbur.
“I know this is going to sound weird but can i sleep in your bed tonight?” I murmur hoping he accepts.
He smiles at me. He tries to act somewhat casual even though he’s studying me.
“Sure, I don’t mind, I’ll still be up for a while though,” he accepts.
“No, go to sleep too, I know you’re tired,” I say.
He lets out a small huff in response to my comment, amused by the fact that I can tell he's tired as well.
"And what makes you think that I'm tired?" He gives me that all familiar smirk, and a knowing glance.
“I can see it in your eyes, mate, you’re tired,” I remark.
He's quiet for a moment after my response. He's surprised that I actually noticed that, not expecting that I’d pay that much attention to his features.
He nods, slightly dropping the cocky facade as he replies.
“Damn, you're observant then." he scoffs slightly.
I lay down fully now. I turn so I face him and close my eyes. I can hear and feel him also laying down and sense that he’s facing me.
“You have no idea how cute you are..” his voice trails off.
I keep my eyes closed but smile, silently telling him I heard him and liked what he said. We both drift off.