"Oh, I see what this is. You're being clingy again, aren't you?"

"Fuck you, man, I am not clingy."

"Suuuuuuure, Tommy. Just because you can't go two days without me and you're like Toby's taller shadow--"

"Just get to the point, Wil, I'm being serious."

"You want me to be serious? Fine. I thought I'd ask if you still wanted to do homework help, y'know, exchange mana, stuff like that. Now that I'm not welcome anymore at the study group."

"You're still welcome, Wil. We all miss you, I just said--"

"No. If we're being serious, you can't keep giving me this, talking about how much they miss me, how much they care, because it's a fucking lie. None of them, none of them give a shit about me. Schlatt told me to fuck off and what did you all do, you all just fucking sat there. You can keep talking about how they're going ooooh we miss Wilbur we love Wilbur but you're not going to fucking trick me with that, I know it's bullshit, and I'm tired of it, okay? Stop fucking pretending."

"...I'm not pretending."

"Prove it."

Sure. This is fine. Tommy's got this.

Backpack is getting dumped on the bed, showing the sewing project, the progress he's made on the mana crystal.

"It's still not much, but I kept working, see, the past two days, even though you were gone, even though-- I kept working on it for you. Just a couple more months and it'll be full."

Sigh. "Fine. So you'll help?"

"'Course I will. You know me. Tommy Trusty, they call me."

"You are the only person who calls yourself that."

"What's that supposed to mean, eh? I'm not a person to you anymore, I don't count? I will have you know that I am right all the time and this, my friend, this is no exception."

That earns a smile. "Sure, Tommy."

"...You could always start a new group, you know. You did it before, right? Niki'd join, I know she would, and I could bring Toby and Jack around, we could maybe find some new people. Start fresh. Schlatt's actually attending meetings, it's awful, you'll do loads better and everyone'll jump ship as soon as they see you."

Wilbur knows, he knows Tommy means well. "No. I'm not-- it isn't going to work."

"Why not? I could help! Come on, Wil, it'd be fun."

"I said no, Tommy."

"...Fine. You'll come here more often, at least? To my room? You fuckin' scared me, disappearing like you did."

"Fine. I'll-- I'll come by more often. That all?"

"I mean, hey, you tell me, I'm not the one who had a plan for this conversation, I didn't even know it was happening until it had already happened. You know, happened's a weird word. Can something hap, Wilbur? Tell me, have you ever happed? --Don't answer that, actually. Wait, no, maybe it's a plural! Like fuckin, oxen. Happen. Except you can't be oxened. I dunno, I guess I shouldn't erase people, maybe there's all sorts of people there who have been oxened."

...Yeah, okay, he had missed Tommy too.