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Wilbur had brought Phil, Kristin, and someone else to the bookstore with him.
Now, part of it was because they were doing a meetup anyways, and they were walking around when Wilbur spotted the bookstore and allowed his friend to drag them inside. Phil didn’t exactly recognize said friend of Wilbur’s. Well…friend wasn’t exactly the right tense of the word. The way that Wilbur and this other person, who Wilbur introduced as his online friend Lover, just looked at each other…plus the nicknames…it reminded Phil of the way he looked at Kristin all the time. The soft glances. The way they both blushed when they brushed fingers and knuckles and then moved both away and closer. The sideways looks when the other person wasn’t looking.
He could see why Wilbur would find Lover so attractive. Lover was handsome, with freckles across his cheeks and nose. Jade hazel eyes flashed with something every time he looked to Wilbur, which was almost always matched. Golden-brown curls hung down in front of his eyes, too. Lover had a great smile, was a little shorter than Wilbur but taller than Phil was. And, apparently, he and Wilbur were…
Lover and Wilbur were roommates, apparently.
From the very clear United States accent that keyed in when Lover spoke, Phil knew that he was from the US. Like Kristin, but from a different place. Which made sense. The US was huge. When Wilbur and Kristin wandered off, Phil walked over to Lover. The two were the introverts of the group. Which, of course, meant when their people left, they needed to try and figure out what social interaction was.
Stopping by Lover, Phil glanced at the book he had in his hands. “Ooh, what made you interested in that?” He asked, tipping his head to the side. Glancing down, Lover smiled part of the way. Put the book back.
“I uh…I like young adult fiction. It’s a good series.” Lover explained, shrugging. “Not as good as Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but definitely better than Harry Potter. Not that it’s hard to be better than Harry Potter. Just harder to be, uh…more popular.” Reaching up, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked over to Phil. Smiled softly. Then, his eyes flicked over to something behind Phil. Gasping, he hurried off. Phil watched him go.
Wilbur and Kristin returned with some snacks and cups with them from the bookstore’s café. Immediately, Wilbur glanced around. His face had dropped a little bit. “Where’s D-“ He paused. Swallowed. “Lover.”
“D-Lover?” Phil asked, raising his eyebrows teasingly. Immediately, Wilbur flushed. Swallowed. As Phil continued to smile at him in that way, Wilbur looked away. “Is there something you want to say about Lover, Sooty?”
Swallowing again, Wilbur mumbled, “His first name starts with D, okay?” He replied. Looking at him, Phil hummed softly. Looked at him for a little bit. Kristin glanced between them and then laughed softly. She turned as someone hurried right back up. It was none other than Lover. He was holding a decent-sized Yoda plush in his hands. So he hurried over to Wilbur and the others and held it out.
Holding up the Yoda in front of his face, Lover said, “Look, look!” There was a pause. Grinning, he said, “Run over bitch in my 2003 Toyoda Prius, I must.”
Biting his lip, Wilbur looked at him with absolute, genuine joy. Then, Lover let out a wheeze. A genuine, very recognizable wheeze, too. Phil looked at Lover, then looked to Wilbur and smiled softly. Raised his eyebrows again. Biting his lip again, Wilbur cleared his throat.
“Alright,” clapping his hands, he grabbed onto Lover’s arm. “I’m afraid we need to leave. Bye Phil, bye Kristin, we need to go!” He pulled Lover away to the register, maybe to pay for the Yoda or maybe to leave it alone. Otherwise, though, they simply disappeared.
Glancing over to Kristin, Phil laughed softly and shook his head.