Falling in love was strange.
There are books and movies that go on and on about what it's supposed to feel like. It's this magical feeling that can't be described. It's exciting and fun and new.
Alice felt like she skipped that step. She was falling in love, sure, but she was already mid air when she realized it. It wasn't exciting or fun or new, it was familiar. Almost like déjà vu.
Only it wasn't déjà vu. Déjà vu felt cloudy and fogged, but Alice felt like everything was finally clear. That fog was finally gone. There wasn't some invisible barrier keeping her locked tight.
She was just free.
Being in love was truly strange. It wasn't exciting or new. It was gentle and sweet and comforting. It didn't feel fast or persistent, just calm.
It was like Alice was on a little raft in the middle of her ocean. When fog surrounded her, kept her trapped, there was no where to go. Her raft was still and she couldn't see anything.
Now, the fog was gone and Alice could see the water stretch out around her. Her raft was moving in a nice rhythm, somewhere she didn't care to know. She was just happy to be moving along.
Even if that moving got her into ridiculous situations, at least she was moving.
Thursday, February 11th
Alice normally woke up before Wilbur and Techno, today being no different. It gave her the chance to eat and get ready in the bathroom without being disrupted by the boys.
Although this morning was different, because Wilbur didn't sleep on the couch. He slept next to her. In her bed. It wasn't the worst thing, to wake up next to him with an arm of his tucked around her waist and the other above his head.
It almost made her want to wait and stay. Almost.
She eventually escaped his hold and went to eat breakfast, passing him once she went to go back to her bathroom. After brushing her teeth and such, she expected him to still be sleeping. Imagine her surprise when the sheets were void of any Wilbur Soots.
The absence of said man peaked her curiosity enough to search. It was barely 11am as she made her way downstairs.
She could hear bickering coming from her two friends, so she followed the voices into the kitchen. Technoblade and Wilbur were arguing about something over the stove.
"That is not how you make eggs," Wilbur was telling him.
"You can't even taste eggs!" Techno shot back.
"I can taste them enough to know that's not how you make them!"
"There's like, 25 different ways to make eggs!"
"And there's only one correct one!" Wilbur exclaimed.
Techno spotted Alice watching the two and gave her a look that said "get him out of here before I sock him."
"Good morning you two, fighting already?," She spoke. He turned to give her a smile.
"Alice, tell me you don't make eggs like this," He pointed to Techno.
"Will, could I borrow you for a second," She made a gesture to the stairs.
"I guess," He rolled his eyes before grinning. He followed her back to her room where she pulled him into a kiss, slinking her arms wound his neck. He didn't hesitate to kiss her back, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"That's a nice way to start the morning," He said quietly once she pulled back.
"Shut up about the eggs," She whispered, making him laugh.
"It's not my fault he does it wrong," He scoffed.
"It will be once you're on the sidewalk," She unlinked her arms and stepped away. "Are you streaming the new mod today?"
"We are," He confirmed. He'd brought his mic and a laptop just in case he had to stream. He'd be without a face cam but his viewers could deal.
They'd decided that he would stream from Alice's set up since it had the storage he needed. She would play from Techno's computer by logging into her account.
Wilbur had informed her that Tommy was in on the whole secret and she'd told him about Karl. It was easy to say that Alice was terrified of Tommy making a slip up. It was times like these she wished she had the memory eraser from Men In Black.
•
Alice smiled as Wilbur sang along to his intro song. She could hear him a beat ahead through the wall, which was interesting to say the least. She waited as he explained why his facecam couldn't be on, his excuse being 'he looked like absolute shit.
He did not look like absolute shit, in her opinion.
Eventually, she turned his stream off as he got into the game and chose her strange mutation. She knew Phil would pick the elytra and Ranboo would pick the enderman. Out of them all, the phantom mutation peaked her interest. She immediately thought of how much fun she could have messing with people.
Ranboo requested a vc as soon as she started moving.
"Hello Ranboo," She greeted as she joined.
"Hi! You're transparent!" He exclaimed.
"I know dude!" She chuckled. "How much do you want to bet that Will's going to pick the same as me."
"Do you think he will?"
"Ranboo, we have linked minds at this point," She told him.
"Ah, I see," He nodded. "Well, I'm an enderman."
"As expected," She replied. "You've just got infinite pearls?"
"Basically," He laughed. He pearled for a few different places to demonstrate.
"This is going to be great," She grinned. "Where's the others?"
"Uhhh, Tubbo is building and Tommy is..somewhere. Oh, Jack is stuck in the nether!" He told her.
"A blaze?" She asked.
"Yup, poor guy," He snickered.
"His fault for picking it," She shrugged. "I'm going to wait for Will, I'll talk to you later."
"Goddamn it," She muttered to herself as Wilbur spawned in. Like her, he was a phantom.
"Wilbur Soot," She said as she joined his call.
"Alice," He replied.
"I know you like me, but I expect you to take a little dignity in your actions," She was in the phantom mode as she stood in front of him.
"What?" He asked. She went un-phantom in front of him, thankfully it was night so the sun didn't burn her, and he let out a shout. "What the fuck?!"
"A little originality, Will, I mean come on," She teased.
"Well I didn't know you'd pick this too!"
"Oh you definitely did," She scoffed.
"...alright maybe I had a hunch," He confessed and she sighed.
"Think of it, hear me out! We double team on pranks!"
"We are awful," She chuckled.
"I think we're amazing," He decided. "We can even build a little phantom house for the both of us."
"I guarantee that the 'we' is going to be an 'I,'" She muttered, knowing Wilbur was definitely not going to build himself a house.
"I can't wait to live with you," He hummed happily.
His words gave her an idea and she dmed him immediately. She posed the plan of messing with everyone, joking that they were physically together. Considering Tommy was the only one who knew, the others would get pissed off fairly quickly. He agreed with the idea and she prepared herself for mayhem. It wasn't long after that when Tommy begged for them to join the vc.
"Tommy, we're a ghost couple!" Wilbur explained, then cleared his throat. "We're a couple of ghosts! Just some ghosts hanging out!"
Tommy let out a small, disappointed sigh.
"Wilbur, where are you?"
"We're at spawn, Tommy," Alice answered. "Where've you gone?"
"Down, I've just dug straight down but I can't find any iron," The boy sounded annoyed.
"Come up to the surface," Wilbur told him. A load of clicking followed with no reply from Tommy.
"Tommy," Alice whispered.
"Tommy," Wilbur copied her. "Tommy Innit."
"Okay, let me kill me," Tommy stated, making the two laugh.
"No, you don't have to die," Wilbur chuckled.
"I seek death."
"Let the boy seek death, it teaches a life lesson," Alice said. "Also, sun Will." She punched up at the sky.
"Oh, thank you," They went into the phantom mode. "This is why its good that we're both phantoms. I'd die without you."
"You guys are so cute," Tommy deadpanned.
•
"Of course you two are the same fucking thing," Phil laughed once he had caught up to them.
"They're a team Phil, in sync as one would say," Tommy enunciated.
"True, you guys are a team," Ranboo agreed. "Wilbur is the social one and Alice is the brains, brawn, and supplier."
"Fuck you," Wilbur punched him. "Fuckin scared of pumpkins, pussy, whose the useless one now?!"
"Will, don't call him that," She scolded.
"He's right, I weigh down the team, I'm useless," He cried.
"No you're melodramatic, now man up and get in the caves," She ordered.
"I think we know who wears the pants in this relationship," Tommy snickered.
"She wears the whole outfit," Ranboo corrected.
"What the fuck you guys?!" Wilbur shouted.
"He can't handle the truth," Alice whispered to Phil, who burst out laughing.
"ALICE."
"Don't you raise your voice at me," She said calmly.
"What if I am, what're you gonna do?"
"I'll come in there and bitch slap you," She grinned as she said it.
"What?!" Phil whipped around.
"Hold on a minute.." Ranboo trailed off.
"What, you guys didn't know we're in the same house?" Will asked sweetly.
"Alright, little shits," Phil sighed as he started mining down.
"What is it with men not being able to handle the truth?" Alice asked herself, forcing the other three to erupt with laughter.
•
While Will went to speak with Tubbo, Alice joined Tommy, Jack, and Niki in a vc.
"We're gonna smell weed," Tommy was saying as she joined. "Oh, hey Alice.." He dissolved into a laugh.
"Alice!" Niki exclaimed.
"Hello Niki!" She greeted. "Where are you? What've you picked?"
"Oh yeah, I'm here too y'know," Jack grumbled.
"Well, Jack Manifold you're in the nether, so you're aren't really here," Alice joked.
"I know! It was a bad choice, I get it!" He shouted.
"I am a fish," Niki told her.
"Like a mermaid?" Alice asked.
"Yes!" She gasped. "I am building a house under the water and it will be so cute!"
"That sounds great," She chuckled. "Wilbur has proceeded to decide that I'll be living with him."
"That's Wilbur for ya," Jack said.
"She knows, she probably knows better than you do," Tommy grumbled.
"That is true," Niki giggled.
"Hey guys," Wilbur joined the call.
"Will, I'm in the nether," Jack said angrily.
"Why're you in the..oh! Are you a blaze?"
"Yeah, but I'm stuck in the fucking nether," He complained.
"With all that complaining, you'd think he might be stuck in the nether," Alice teased.
"Wilbur, Alice is very rude to me," Jack said, as if he was telling on her.
"What'd you want me to do about it, she does whatever she wants," Wilbur scoffed.
"Kill her, I don't know."
"I'm a bad bitch, you can't kill me," Alice cut in, making Niki and Will laugh.
"No, you're just a bitch," Jack shot back. It was obvious banter, but she didn't answer. It added to the drama.
"Don't call her a bitch," Will told him.
"What, she can't stand up for herself? Can't take the insult?" Jack taunted.
"In order to insult me, I must first value your opinion," She responded. Niki let out an 'ohhhhh' and Will started laughing.
"Oh yeah..well.."
"Sit down Jack, for your sake..just sit down," Tommy sighed.
•
Wilbur and Alice decided to build right near Niki and Tubbo. Wilbur was dedicated on having a haunted house so that's what they decided to make. He had quickly gone back to talk to Phil and Ranboo, but Alice decided to stay with Niki.
"Niki, I will get you iron since you can't mine," She told her friend.
"Oh could you! I need a lot of stone to build the uh..you know, my house," Niki giggled.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Alice nodded. "I already know I'm going to end up building the house for Will and I, so I'll need all sorts of materials."
"I'm sure if you ask, he will help you," She offered.
"Probably, but he's streaming. I guess it'd be easier if I built the house so he can keep getting content."
"Ohh, that's very sweet of you," Niki complimented.
"Just helping him out," Alice chuckled.
They made small talk about how her birthday went and plans for Valentine's day. Alice already knew Wilbur would be home before then, neither of them really cared for the day. They both agreed that they didn't need a day dedicated to love, they'd rather every day be like that. It was also the fact that they weren't official.
Will joined them again a bit later and they spoke about house plans.
"We'll make sure to have a Niki room in our house," Wilbur promised her.
"Oh! If you build there," Niki punched to a bit of land next to her soon to be home. "We can make a small tunnel to connect us!"
"Oh my gosh," Alice whispered to herself.
"What?" Wilbur immediately asked.
"I know for a fact that neither of you have watched Young Justice, but there has to be someone in your chats who knows what I mean when I say, Mount Justice. The water entrance for the Atlanteans. I will build it," She decided.
"What is that show about?" Niki wondered.
"It's a DC universe series, the first and second seasons are the only good ones though, no one can change my mind about that," Alice had finally returned with resources for Niki.
"She's a nerd Niki," Wilbur whispered as he teased her. "She's a superhero nerd and a greek nerd and a math nerd."
"I think it is cute," Niki stated.
"Don't get me wrong, I find it adorable. She's a little nerd," Wilbur crouched at Alice.
"I'm right here," She deadpanned.
"Of course you are! Where else would you be?" He laughed.
•
"Aliccceeee," Wilbur whined. "We need dark oak for the house."
"You're gonna help build?" She questioned.
"I feel like a should be more a team player, I feel like I don't bring much to this team," He told them.
"You bring the social skills, we already established that," She chuckled.
"And the musical talent!" Niki added.
"Very true, thank you Niki," Alice nodded.
"Yes, but I can't let you do all the carrying," He continued. "A fair lady such as yourself shouldn't have to do the carrying."
"Are you saying a lady can't carry a team?" Alice smirked as she trapped him in his phrasing.
"No, of course not. You can carry it just fine, I'm just saying you should be the one who gets to relax. Have some time to yourself, enjoy one's time as some may say," He defended.
"I think he means you deserve to sit back because you are too lovely," Niki assisted him. Alice had a feeling Niki was figuring it out, the relationship between them.
"Exactly, you're lovely," Wilbur agreed.
"I feel like I should go talk to Tommy so he can insult me multiple times, just to combat against all the compliments," Alice chuckled.
"He barely tries to insult you anymore, he hates your comebacks," Wilbur told her.
"He needs better responses," She sighed.
"You've completely changed the subject by the way, we still need dark oak," He chuckled.
"The chocolate wood," Alice hummed.
"Yes, the chocolate."
"We have chocolate downstairs," Alice held back a grin.
"That's bad chocolate," He scoffed.
"It's literally bars of hershey."
"Bad."
"...wait," Niki said after a moment.
•
Alice had left Wilbur to build the beginning of their house and she went to steal from Ranboo. It was quite easy to find them in the caves and take from his chests. Being invisible just made it easier.
"I got you shit," Alice said as she ran up to Will. She threw him a bunch of resources and he started laughing.
"I know this isn't yours," He said. "Where'd you get it?"
"Stole shit."
"Allllice," Ranboo sighed as he and Phil joined the call.
"Hello enderboy. Does thy seek my audience?"
"You stole my stuff."
"Proof?"
"...crap," He muttered. "Phil, we don't have evidence."
"Thine shalln't attack me with empty words," She scoffed.
"Phillll, she's doing the fancy talk," Ranboo whined.
"I can't help you with that, mate," The man laughed.
"I can get you evidence, Ranboo," Wilbur told him. "I can get you screenshots, pictures."
"Yeah, just walk across the hall," Alice grinned.
"I HATE THIS BIT," Phil yelled.
"So do we," Ranboo sighed and Niki nodded.
•
"Hey guys," Wilbur said as he rejoined the vc.
"Will! Come look, come look at the house!" Alice said happily.
"Of course, of course. I was just bullying children," He told her.
"I'm so proud of you," She chuckled.
"Thank you, I would appreciate a head pat," He replied.
"Sure, give me a minute to walk over," She snickered.
"HOLY SHIT, YOU FUCKERS," Phil yelled.
"What's wrong Phil?" Will asked innocently.
"You're torturing the man, he's already been through so much," Ranboo sighed.
"Being wise comes with emotional baggage," Alice said. "This will only make him wiser."
"Does that mean you have a lot of emotional baggage?" Niki asked.
"...no more questions please," Alice stated.
"She said cut the cameras," Ranboo laughed.
"No more I say, these questions I will not answer," Phil joined.
"How are Tommy and Jack coming along?" Alice asked, trying to change the subject of bullying her.
"They're talking like northerns," He told her. "Like Phil, like Phil from up north. Up north Phil, Phil's up north."
"You fucker.." Phil groaned.
"It's okay Phil, he's been making fun of me too," Niki giggled.
"He hasn't made fun of me," Alice mumbled.
"We know," Ranboo monotoned. "He never makes fun of you and when he does, he compliments you straight after."
"S'cause I'm just that complimentary," She shrugged.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is," Phil chuckled.
•
Wilbur ended the stream a bit afterwards, but staying in the vc. Alice was done at that point and logged off. She slumped back to her room and crashed on her bed.
She listened to Will talk for a while before falling asleep. Wilbur had noticed almost immediately and made sure to keep his voice down. Once he was done on the server, he made sure to shut down all of the equipment.
He looked back at Alice, who was still sleeping, and smiled a bit. He went to lay down next to her and stared at the ceiling for a while. Eventually, he turned to look at her.
It's a funny thing, getting used to seeing someone the same way everyday and then seeing them differently. He'd never seen her sleeping, of course he'd been around her or on the phone but never in good enough lighting.
Her expression was completely calm, it made Wilbur realize that this was her natural face. He had thought the face he saw everyday, the eyes he loved, the tight jaw, was beautiful.
He was wrong.
She was so gorgeous in this moment, he thought maybe he was already asleep, dreaming. Her shoulders were relaxed, her jaw was more slack, her lips weren't held tightly shut.
He traced the ghosts of the creases on her forehead, left from worry and anxiety. Part of him knew he should've expected this, a different face while she slept. He had started to recognize the traits that were not her own, but something else.
The anxious lines etched into her forehead like unforgiving scars. The way her eyes would dash around like she was reading the script of every conversation, searching for a double meaning that was being used against her. How she chewed the insides of her cheeks until they must've been painfully raw.
He knew it was stress of some sort. He knew it was something that she'd dealt with longer than he could imagine. He knew she tried to hide how it affected her. He knew. Sometimes he wished he did not.
He wanted to be able to force her guard down, be the one who took those forehead creases away. He wondered if that's how it was when he got her to laugh incessantly through a discord call. He'd never seen her face when she laughed that hard, he wanted to so badly. He wanted to save her from this, if she would even let him.
Something told him that she had no idea it even existed. She'd dealt with it for so long that it was ingrained in her mind, it was natural. He wanted to curse out whatever hurt her to be like this.
But he couldn't...so he lightly kissed her forehead instead, silently hoping it would keep those lines away forever. He repeated that action a few times before moving to her nose. It wasn't a greedy or a hungry or an irritating action, it was just gentle, needed.
"What're you doing," She mumbled as he kissed the tip of her nose again.
"You're a light sleeper," He whispered back.
"Sometimes," She replied. Neither spoke after that. After a minute or so, Wilbur moved and pushed her to her back. He snuggled closer and laid his head on the front of her shoulder with an arm around her stomach.
She reached around with arm he was lying on and moved her fingers through his hair, the other hand rubbing the arm wrapped over her. He didn't want to leave.
"Somniare de me," She said quietly. "It's a latin saying."
"What's it mean?"
"Dream of me or keep me in your dreams," She answered. "My grandmother would said it whenever she left. Somniare de me, I won't be gone long."
"How do you always know what I'm thinking about?" He chuckled. She was telling him it was okay to leave, they'd see each other again.
"Because I'm thinking the same thing," She sighed.
"If you say so, I'll cancel that flight," He told her.
"I know you would, but you can't."
"I could."
"You have to go," She flicked his forehead lightly. "It'll make the day we stay more important."
"When will that be?" He asked.
"You'd have to make me your girlfriend first," She teased.
"How come you get to be the girlfriend?" He sat up and crossed his arms. "What if I want to be the girlfriend?"
"You'd make a pretty girlfriend," She tried to keep a straight face as she sat up next to him. They stared at each other for a moment before both of them cracked and started laughing.
It'd be alright, they knew. They were together for now and it'd be alright.
--------------------------
i just couldn't end the story. so yeah, here we are:)
i made sure to include a bunch of • (this is my friend Métis as an example) so you guys can name them<3