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Wilbur’s life felt like it was worsening by the second, first, his girlfriend broke up with him, second, a good portion of his friends dropped him, and third, he was getting cancelled online. He was almost sure it could never get worse, he thought making an apology would help, and maybe everything would go back to normal for him.
He was severely mistaken.
Once the apology was made, everyone started clowning him, even his own friend Dream made fun of the whole thing. Wilbur almost couldn’t take it anymore, he’s already been cutting himself and staying inside the whole time, but all this finally put him on the edge. As a last resort to cope, he searched around his messy room for his beloved shark plushie he’s had since he was young. He curled into a ball on the floor next to his bed, and hugged the shark plush as tightly as he could. Wilbur began to suck on his thumb, acting like a baby. He mumbled random things quietly, he wasn’t even sure himself what he was saying. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door, and he got startled. Quickly, he got up and put his shark plushie back in the closet, and tried to rearrange the room so it at least looked like he tried to clean it. He rushed downstairs to answer the door, and saw a blond brit standing there.
“AYYYY, WILBUUURRRR!”
Tommy shouted, wrapping his arms around him. Wilbur was startled by his shout, and flinched a little, but nothing Tommy would realize. He hugged Tom back.
“Hey, Tommy.”
The blondie pulled back, looking him in the eyes with excitement. He hadn’t heard about the recent news, as he was travelling back from the US from his recent tour, and decided to see Wilbur as a surprise. Tom pulled back, his hands still on Wil’s arms.
“How’ve ya been?”
Hearing such a question made him nervous, as he’s not been well at all. He decided just to casually lie, as most people do.
“I’ve been well, how was your tour?”
And with that, Tommy started forming up a yap sesh. Bringing up his tours always is the equivalent to his personal yap session, and it’s a good way to just not talk much. Wilbur felt tired from everything that’s happened recently, so this was a great thing to do. They went up to his room, where Tom kept talking about all the crazy and dumb stuff that happened during his tour, Wil occasionally chimed in to ask a question related to it, but overall sat and listened. Bored, Tommy got up and looked around for any kind of card or board game to play.
“Ay Wil, do you have any games here?”
“I don’t believe so.”
Hoping to find at least something, Tommy searched in his closet and found.. His beloved shark plushie.
“Wilbur.. what the fuck is this?”
He held up the shark plushie from across the room, looking at Wil with a confused expression. He panicked looking for a response, because there’s almost no reason why someone should keep a plushie they’ve had since they were young.
“I uh.. it’s.. a gift from my ex..”
Wilbur said hesitantly. He thought that instead of just speaking the truth, he’d simply lie, just to not get made fun of.
“Why’d she get you a SHARK of all animals?”
“It’s um.. one of my favorite animals.. and hers too.”
“And you’ve never got rid of it yet?”
“I honestly forgot I even had it, even if I remembered I probably would’ve kept it just for the memories.”
He hates that he’s lying so much, especially to one of his best friends. He wishes he could just come out and say it’s a plushie he’s had since he was young, but he's terrified Tommy would make fun of him. Tom began shuffling stuff around, almost as if he’d found something else. In which he did. He held out what looked like a blue pacifier.
“And what’s this?”
Shit, shit, shit.
Wilbur knew he was in deep fucking shit. How would he explain himself? How would he casually just explain to his best friend that he age regresses? Does Tommy even know what the hell age regressing is? So many questions were in his head, he was overwhelmed by them all. Wil panicked, trying to spit some kind of explanation out, but all that came out were random mumbles that made zero sense. Panicked, overwhelmed, and about to burst into tears, he curled into a ball, and began to..
..age regress..
“W-Wilbur? Wilbur, you alright? Wilbur?!”
Worried for his best friend, Tommy rushed over to Wil, and kneeled down on the bed next to him. He heard him sniffling and crying. Wilbur mumbled out something, hardly understandable, but it sounded like “shark.” Tom figured he was on about the shark plushie that “Wilbur’s ex got him.” He rushed over to his closet, grabbing the plush, and rushing back over and attempting to get his attention holding it in front of him.
“Wilbur.. I.. I got your shark plush.. You want it?”
Wil looked up, tears in his eyes. He reached out, somewhat hesitantly, gently taking the plush out of Tommy’s hands and curling back up into a ball. Tommy didn’t know what to do, he’s never seen anyone do something like this before. He was extremely worried for his friend, and was afraid he might’ve pushed him a bit too far. He was thinking what’d he do, until Wilbur lightly spoke again.
“B-binky.. please..”
What the fuck? Is he seriously acting like a damn baby?
Tommy was so confused by this act, but still, went to go get Wilbur’s “binky.” He did the same thing he did with the plush, and held it up in front of him, once again trying to get his attention.
“Wil, I got your binky..”
His head slightly rose from his arms, and he slightly opened his mouth, signaling he wanted Tom to put it in for him, and he did so. Wilbur still was crying, but was comforted a little by all this baby stuff. He sat with his head slightly risen and shark plush in his arms, sucking on the pacifier. Tommy was beyond shocked by all of this, why the fuck is he acting like a baby?
..
A few minutes of silence pass by, Wilbur’s still acting like a baby, and Tom’s trying to figure all of this out. Randomly, shark plushie in his lap, Wil reaches his arms out towards Tommy, shark plushie in his lap, obviously showing that he wanted something, but Tommy had no idea what.
“W-what, what do you want? Do you want a hug? Do you want me to hold you? W-what do you need?”
Wil nodded his head gently, his arms still reaching out for him. Hesitantly, Tom comes closer and wraps his arms around him, and Wil does the same. It felt kind of embarrassing for the both of them, but eventually they got used to it. It was honestly comforting for the both of them, being so close to their best friends. Tom occasionally rubbed Wilbur’s back, as an adult might rub their child’s back, and he can tell that he liked it.
“Wilbur.. I’m sorry for messing with your shit and questioning you about it.. I shouldn’t have pressured you like that. Though, I hope you’re feeling better now from all this.. stuff..”
“It’s.. it's fine..”
Tommy backs away, feeling slightly uncomfortable after being held close for so long. Wilbur still has the pacifier in his mouth, and the shark plush in his lap.
“So.. do you mind telling me what all that was about..? I mean, you don’t have to, but I’d-”
“I.. age regress whenever I get overwhelmed.. or stressed.”
“.. What the fuck is AGE REGRESSING?”
“It’s.. a coping mechanism I use.. it’s where someone acts like a baby to cope. I know, it’s weird. Oh, and about this plush-”
“You lied to me, I know, I could tell.”
“Ah..”
i kind of gave up after this bit 😔😔 hope u enjoyed chat