"Get up."

No response.

"I will- God, help me, I will kick you out of this tent."

Wilbur is having an awful morning.

There is a child next to him.

Nothing is good about this.

Tommy- for some reason- decided in the middle of the night to crawl outside of the sleeping bag and place himself next to Wilbur, burying himself inside the older man's coat, curled up at his side.

(It wasn't even a comfortable coat, mind you- it was old and the fabric was torn and frayed. Wilbur would choose the sleeping bag any day.)

"Tommy- Get up, god. I said you could stay with me, not that you could claim everything as your own. This is my coat. It's- It's not made for two people."

Tommy mumbles into Wilbur's coat.

"I know you can hear me- Get up. It's morning. We have stuff to do, come on."

Tommy continues to mumble into Wilbur's coat.

" Come on, Tommy."

"Cold." - Is the only thing Wilbur was able to hear. Every time Wilbur even spoke, Tommy just pushed himself into his coat even further.

"Tommy, we need to get there while it's still day, mobs arrive at night and-"

"5 m're minu'es, Wilby..."

...

Wilbur lets him have 5 more minutes.

(Begrudgingly. I mean, really. The kid wouldn't move otherwise. There was no other choice. What else could Wilbur have done? Absolutely nothing of course. There was nothing he could have done other than let the child sleep for 5 more minutes. Understand that, under other circumstances, Wilbur would not let the child sleep for longer, much less on him.)

(Annoying child.)

(Honestly, he's beginning to hate the kid. Really. It's true.)

------

5 minutes turned into 10, 10 turned into 30, 30 turned into an hour, but eventually, finally, Tommy actually woke up. Wilbur can't even be mad, to be fair. Wilbur enjoys traveling but- there's always the little bit of dread where you just don't feel like waking up at all before a big day of moving.

Regardless; they do need to set off. Not only is that... Wilbur's...you know, it's his whole thing, the two need supplies. Wilbur sort of needs to get enough things for two, now.

( It feels so weird, to him. He's been alone for so long...Suddenly having this kid bound to his hip isn't something he's used to.)

"L'manberg is the nearest city so we c'n get shit from there right?" Tommy asks, occupying himself by trying to balance on the abandoned fallen logs placed around the forest as they walk. His arms spread out, to help his balance.

"No. We're not going there." Wilbur responds, attempting to sound flat and unbothered.

"Why not?" Tommy pries.

Wilbur swallows.

"I've just- I've visited there before. Shit place. Not worth anyone's time."

"It's- It's like the biggest city on the SMP? It's like- luxury or some shit."

"False advertising," Wilbur huffs, "Not worth your time."

"Uh, fuck, man. All right. I- it looked so nice in all the pictures and shit. I've always wanted to meet Philza, you know- he seemed so fucking cool. Haven't heard about him in forever though."

Wilbur bites back thousands of words.

"Yeah, there's- there's just, like, a lot of nicer places. We might have to walk a bit more but it's worth it."

"...Okay."

And so, they head off. For a while they simply travel with no goal or destination in mind; simply the two just walking and exploring as they please. Tommy chose to chase after whatever animal catches his eye, a specific cow being the one to take him on an adventure lasting a whole hour.

"Wilbur we- We gotta go after it! Where's he going now?"

"It's a cow. I don't think it even knows where it's going."

"He does. He's smart, I can tell. Smart cow."

Tommy's eyes are wide and shining as he finds himself being completely and utterly entranced by the day to day life of this cow. Wilbur simply follows, amused by Tommy's excitement.

"Wilbur! Wilbur! What's Henry doing?" Tommy continues to ask questions, quite literally bouncing up and down out of enthusiasm.

"Nothing. And- Why did you name it that?"

"Henry. He's doing something. We're just not smart to understand."

"It's walking around and sniffing the floor."

"He's investigating. Smart boy."

"Sure."

"Wilbur, I think you should learn to appreciate the little things," Tommy begins, "Like- Like cows. This cow. He is so small. And so smart and brave. Henry is so small and smart and brave and cool and important and yet you ignore him. Learn to appreciate small things. Learn to appreciate Henry."

"You say this because you're a little thing." Wilbur mumbles, sarcastically, not expecting the child to hear.

The child did hear.

And in retaliation, the child threw a stick at Wilbur, hitting him right in the head.

"I am- I'm the tallest man alive. Taller than Jesus Christ. And you. I'm just," Tommy coughs, " Compressed."

Wilbur wants to question the boy's twisted and confusing logic but decides against it, reminding himself that making sense is just not very... Tommy.

"Wilbur! He's running away!" Tommy yelps, interrupting Wilbur's train of thought- and, my god , it actually sounds like he's going to cry, he was that invested in a random cow.

"It's wild, Tommy. It can do what it wants." Wilbur's response was candid- until he saw the boy's face. He looked mortified.

He was crying.

He was crying over a cow he knew for one hour.

"Tommy- Hey, don't worry, I'm sure, uh, I'm sure Henry is going off to do what he wants. Smart cow, and all that, yeah? Smart cow. I'm sure he's off doing smart cow things, yeah?"

Tommy simply mumbles in response. It faintly sounded like a "yeah", though, Wilbur couldn't exactly tell.

"C'mon Tommy, we should start heading off soon, yeah? I'm thinkin' Snowchester. It's got plenty of nice stores and places to stay while we're there."

Tommy nods, smiling a little more now. He looks a little bit ridiculous, and childish , smiling past the redness in his face and runny nose.

"...Will you buy me things?" Tommy questions.

Wilbur stares at him. "Supplies. You know, we need enough stuff fo-"

"No, I mean, things. "

Wilbur sees what's going on, now.

(Wow. Is this how adoption always is? 2 days in and the child is already trying to get you broke?)

"...I will buy you a thing. Singular."

"Deal."

------

" We're going on a bear hunt, we're gonna find a big one." Tommy hums to himself, strolling along the path ahead of Wilbur, stick in hand. He continues to sing as he runs, making up lyrics.

Wilbur finds it funny: In a matter of days Tommy went from this quiet kid, surviving on the minimum, to this loud, exuberant kid. It's nice to see.

(Even if, right now, he's giving Wilbur a headache. He's just letting it slide for now. The kid is annoying as fuck, though, and he hates him. It's true.)

Tommy interrupts his singing, "Wilbur. Wilboy. Wilbah. Wil-bazinga. Wilbonk. Wil Buh. Wilbathy."

"What- What, Tommy?

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"..."

"..."

"How about n-"

" No."

Tommy continues to ask "Are we there yet?" For the next 20 minutes.

Wilbur regrets everything.

(If Wilbur is enjoying the presence, even if it's silly, he won't mention it.)

------

The two had begun to notice the cold weather gradually settling in as they continued to walk, and soon after, the snow began to settle in. Wilbur had even handed Tommy his coat, saving him from the cold and possibility of the flu, to Tommy's protests.

( Wilbur has had enough life experience to be numb to the cold. Infact, he's almost constantly too warm.)

In due time, the two finally arrived, staring at the "Welcome to Snowchester" sign. The town was welcoming and warm, full of small buildings decorated with mellow colors. It was such a pleasing sight, you could almost forget about the nipping cold pressing against your skin. There was a large, towering mansion nearing the end of the town, belonging to the founders. All in all, it was a very inviting area.

Wilbur turned to Tommy, curious as to what the boy's reaction to the town was. And, it only took a glance to see that the kid was mesmerized.

His eyes told it all. They were lustrous, glistening, bright blue's and yellow's decorating his entire iris as his mouth is left agape, speechless. It's so vastly different to the place and the people he's grown accustomed to, he's equally bewildered and overjoyed, taking in all these sights. More than anything, the boy is absolutely giddy over the snow.

"Wilbur! Wilbur! You've gotta look! Look at it. Look. It's so amazing. Wilbur. Look!" Tommy babbled, running around to all the little spaces that fascinated him or peaked his interest.

The citizens, all out going by their regular routines, notice Tommy and find him equally as endearing as Wilbur does. Most of the citizens just watch and enjoy the boy's antics, tripping over his own lanky limbs as he runs around and admires every small thing he sees.

What a handful, Wilbur thinks.

(He doesn't mean it.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------