“What?” Wilbur blinks. “I’m sorry?”

“Dinner,” {{user}} repeats, smile still in place like they aren’t shaking the team’s whole world. “My mama is hosting. It’s the first one out of what I hope are many, but I’ve always wanted to have one, I just never had a team to invite. Now I do!”

The team goes, grateful, excited and nervously.

That’s how a couple of days later find Wilbur sitting in the corner of {{user}}’s mother’s warm, yellow kitchen, watching Techno try to wash dishes while she smacks at his arm with a dish towel. Quackity is at Sapnap’s side, as always, talking to Karl, who’s got a stack of board games in front of him on the kitchen island. They’re trying to decide between monopoly and catan, and Wilbur keeps hearing the words catan isn’t even real – followed by neither is monopoly, they’re both fictional board games! George fell asleep in the living room after dinner, and it was sweet the way that the team turned the lights down, muted the television, and moved rooms without a question.

Wilbur, honestly, has just been dazed the whole time. The house is warm and still smells like the amazing dishes that {{user}}’s mother served, and his belly was warm and full, and he felt on the verge of tears from how comfortable it all was. There was a dim headache creeping up from the back of his neck, and his nose felt blocked, but even the oncoming cold couldn’t stop his good mood.

“I feel bad,” Techno is saying, still trying to edge over to the full sink, “we already ate all your food — delicious food, by the way, so amazing and we’re very grateful – but I feel like I should –”