Wilbur lazily lounged on the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling. It was too quiet in the house since the others had left (not left the literal house), and he was starting to feel restless. It was the same feeling he had after he ended a stream with his friends. It was lonely. It wasn't uncommon for him to feel that way, and it wasn't a feeling he disliked, just one that showed up sometimes. He had just been talking with Jschlatt and Quackity over Discord, and it had been fun enough. Wilbur still felt something missing, though. It had been a couple of months since he had talked with Phil, Techno, or Tommy.

Phil took a break from the hardcore series after his last death, mostly to build suspense for the next hardcore world and let the word of the new hardcore world spread around a bit. When he came back, he hoped for more people than ever tuning in on his streams. He also hadn't been in many people's videos lately other than Tommy's, and when he was, it was rare. He still called Wilbur and vice versa (not for a couple of months, though), but Phil had a real family with him that he needed to spend time with.

Since Dream's invitation to Tommy to join the Dream Team (which he had accepted), Tommy had partly resigned from Sleepy Boys Inc. and wasn't posting as much. Not that his content was getting worse, because it wasn't; it was actually improving each video since he started editing his own videos and sending them in through Dream. Wilbur could safely assume that Tommy was getting 1/10s every video now (or something like that), and he was proud of him. Wilbur still told him that over DMs, but it wasn't the same as in a call, especially since he didn't know if Tommy even read the messages. He used to call Wilbur all the time, but now he seemed to always be in a call with Dream, George, Sapnap, Bad, and/or Antfrost. Wilbur wished that Tommy would spend more time with the Sleepy Boys. They used to be like family.

Wilbur never really talked to Techno too much without Phil or Tommy, so it came as no surprise that they were barely talking. It was sort of mind-bending that Tommy was asked to join The Dream Team instead of Technoblade. When Dream tweeted, "Thinking of inviting someone to The Dream Team..." Twitter went insane, sure that it was Techno. Technoblade had been streaming the next day with Tommy on call, and Tommy was going on about how he was sure it was Techno being invited. The next thing they knew, Sapnap had joined the call, George, then Dream. Tommy had squealed (or some sort of excited sound), offering to mute while they talked to Techno, but they said that wouldn't be necessary.

"Tommy..." Sapnap said, a smile made clear in his tone.

"How'd you like to join The Dream Team?" George asked smoothly and excitedly. Wilbur remembered the fear that had shot through his body at those words.

"...What..." Tommy was flattered.

Techno was silent, and it was hard to tell how he felt without a facecam. Wilbur guessed that he was disappointed because he no doubt thought he'd be invited.

After a second of silence, Dream told his reasoning. "We're top of YouTube, and you're top of Twitch. We'd make a pretty great team."

Tommy, in all his ecstasy, was still speechless.

"Tommy, you gotta accept!" Techno cheered, shocking the YouTube live-chat (and probably everyone else).

"O-okay."

Dream, George, and Sapnap all yelled a loud, "Let's gooooooo!!!!!" before saying goodbye and leaving.

That was the first time Tommy hadn't called or DMed Wilbur after being on a stream.

Wil chuckled to himself, realizing that Tommy's joining The Dream Team was one of the reasons they all didn't talk too much.

With a heavy sigh, Wilbur pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened up YouTube. In his recommendations was one of Tommy's new videos starring GeorgeNotFound. It was great, as usual. He watched it, tears welling in his eyes as he watched Tommy grow up, though it felt more like his little brother was slipping through his fingers.

A text from Techno pinged on his phone, asking what he was doing the next day.

__________________________________

Wilbur: Nothing.

Techno: Phil and I are meeting up tomorrow. Do you want to come, too?

Wilbur: I didn't know you flew over here. I'd love too!

Techno: *to

See if you can get ahold of Tommy and invite him. Neither Phil nor I could.

We're meeting in the park that's pretty close to where Tommy lives.

Wilbur: I'll see if he can come :)

__________________________________

As soon as his computer booted up, Wilbur went straight to Discord, immediately calling Tommy. It took a moment for Wilbur to realize that it was a little past 3 am. He was about to hang up when Tommy answered.

"Hello," Tommy greeted sleepily but happily.

"Hey, Tommy," Wilbur said, sounding a little too saddened.

"... Are you all right?" Tommy questioned cautiously.

Wilbur smiled, speaking softly. "Yeah, no. I'm fine..."

"Oh, good..."

They sat in a weird silence, not having anything to talk about.

This wouldn't have happened before, Wil thought, struggling to find the right words.

"Um... I'm about to record with Dream in 10 minutes for a manhunt, but I could call you after?"

"Oh, yeah."

"...Okay then..."

"Wait, don't those usually take a few hours to do?"

"I guess so," Tommy laughed.

"Why didn't they do it earlier? Did you sleep earlier- don't you have school tomorrow??"

"Well, it's most convenient for Dream, Sapnap, Antfrost, and Bad to do it then, and they shouldn't have to change the time just because of me," Tommy explained. "And George's sleep schedule is so messed up that he's probably just fine."

"Did you get any extra sleep today?" Wilbur asked, concerned.

"No, I had school stuff that I need to bring in tomorrow..."

"Tommy!" Wilbur gasped. "You need to care for your health over your career!"

"You would know..." Tommy mumbled dully.

Wilbur said nothing, knowing it was true.

"I'm-" Tommy sighed, moving away from the microphone to probably lean back in his chair. "I'm really sorry, Wilbur."

"No, it's fine... I just hope you're taking care of yourself."

"I'm doing fine."

"..."

"Okay, I'm going to go now, Wilbur."

"Bye-" the call ended before he could say it.