Wilbur has been the thorn in Quackity's side for a while now and Q finally confronts him. Things get heated fast as they argue with W asserting Q doesn't deserve to be happy but something in the both of them snaps and they end up kissing passionately. This ends up with them spending the night together and most of the morning. Wilbur leaves and Q tries to forget it.

The whole thing brings up a lot of bad memories and for all his posturing as a king of hearts... it gets to him how alone he is as he looks at his four gold rings. He ends up going on a "Birthday" drinking binge which begins as a party at his casino and ends with him drinking alcohol from a glass bottle in a paper bag on the curb late in the night, looking at the rings and the lights, and wishing happy birthday to himself, the joker of hearts. Wilbur sees him looking a wreck and tries to drag Q home by his collar, Q resists so Wilbur throws him over his shoulder and takes him back to his room in the casino. He makes sure he's in bed and then a moment of tenderness falls on him and he brushes Q's desheveled hair aside. Q grabs his arm and asks him to stay. Wilbur asserts that he's drunk and doesn't know what he wants. Q says he knows exactly what he wants. He wants everything! But mostly, he doesn't want to be alone tonight. Wilbur relents and stays with him through the night. When Q wakes up much more sober he asks if they did anything and Wilbur says they didn't because he didn't want to take advantage of a drunk man. "I'm sober now." is all Q has to say to get them back together.

Q is still trying to hide things but Wilbur can't resist teasing him on the street. This teasing ultimately ends when Wilbur jokingly finds an excuse to take Quackity's arm. From then on they simply can't see each other without ending up in bed together. Sometimes in Q's casino, but sometimes in the hamburger truck.

Q wonders if Wilbur has an angle and is playing him but is also seeing his own possible angle to keep Wilbur. Like him, Wilbur is ambitious. Q wants power and sometimes gets it, but Wilbur is a natural leader. Power comes easily to him, whereas Q is better at getting people into places of power and handling the manipulations involved. If they could combine their abilities... but this is Wilbur Soot! The ultimate traitor! He can't be trusted, even as their relationship grows more emotionally intimate. Q teases Wilbur that he was really why Wilbur was hanging around Las Nevadas and Wilbur smiles and shrugs and doesn't even try to deny it, which tempts Q to believe that might have been part of the reason.

And then Wilbur calls him Big Q and he falls like he's never fallen before. He confesses his idea to Wilbur because he doesn't want to pretend this isn't happening anymore. Wilbur is reticent because he doesn't want to become another figurehead for Quackity to manipulate from the shadows. Q asks where he saw this going and Wilbur admits he really didn't have a plan - at first he couldn't help himself and then... he trails off but gives Q a very significant and loving look. They share a tender kiss and Q pulls back and tells him he wants to do this for him, for them. That, if Wilbur trusts him, he can do it so the syndicate doesn't even know it's happening until its too late.

Q works his magic, manipulating, pushing a hidden partner that Sam is suspicious about but Q manages to quell his unease with some half-truths. Q builds Wilbur an empire in Las Nevadas but he does cover his own butt some, keeps a few things just his. Charlie accidentally reveals this to Wilbur about a small account and Wilbur decides to use Ranboo's connection with Tubbo to get more information. This leads to the discovery that Q is still playing some games that show he's not all in and would be able to easily turn the tables on Wilbur and seize control - to Wilbur's interpretation. Meanwhile, Wilbur still wants to know how to visit Dream in prison and finds out from Ranboo that Q's been doing just that, though he doesn't know why or what Q does with Dream. Q is adamantly against that and says that part of his life is over, really of their lives. They should forget about these ghostly debts and just focus on their happiness. He asks Wilbur to trust him that no happiness can come from Dream, something he knows all too well. Visiting Dream can only be destructive. Wilbur drops it for now but clearly doesn't want to. Their fundamental flaws of not being able to trust are on full display.

In reality, while it is about not wholly trusting Wilbur, it's also just about maintaining the appearance of control until the last possible moment. Wilbur asks Q about the account and his burger stand and Q just shrugs off the account and asks why Wilbur would want to keep the stand when they're about to have a hostile takeover of all of Las Nevadas, Paradise is them being together. Q fails Wilbur's test. Wilbur throws himself into the work and Q's never been happier because he feels he has a real partner in both senses of the word. He confides in Sam who has, by this point, guessed something was going on and gotten worried, of his relationship (not with who) and his plans to give his new love a ring. He lets Wilbur remove his bindings and see his wings in a moment of peak vulnerability. Wilbur's distance vanishes and they both confess their feelings - the strength of which they've never felt before. He gives Wilbur a ring. Wilbur gets him one as well, which he puts on his thumb, a place he really can't use to punch people with like the other rings, as a symbol of him giving up his old ways for his dearest friend.

Then Tubbo and Ranboo ruin it all after putting together what's going on. Tubbo's seen some suspicious things and a new ring on Q's finger. Ranboo isn't certain he's seen anything and they check his memory book and it seems he very much has seen something, in the hamburger truck. Ranboo is reticent to do anything because he doesn't want to hurt them if they've finally found happiness but Tubbo reminds him how dangerous the pair are individually and what an unstoppable force they would be together. Ranboo is supposed to casually drop a fake offer Q was supposed to have made for the burger stand and all of Wilbur's distrust comes roaring back.

Q senses a distance in Wilbur and Wilbur says he found out about the deal. Q really knows nothing about it, but gets defensive like he does. Q tells Wilbur he just needs to trust him and Wilbur returns that Q doesn't trust him so why should he trust Q? If Q really trusted him, he'd tell him how to visit Dream. Q goes off and is haunted by his deal with Glatt. He visits Dream and tortures him, not even for the book, just to blow of steam. Dream realizes the change in Q and tries to manipulate him. Q reveals a bit too much as Dream notices a fifth gold ring on Q's thumb. Q becomes even more brutal. Techno tells him to stop. Q asks doesn't his blood god want more blood? Techno seems stifled. Q beats Dream very badly, then sees his own face in a pool of Dream's blood and freaks out at what he's become, running off without realizing his shears are missing. He runs home to Wilbur and tells him he's done something awful. He clings to Wilbur and says he'll tell him how to visit Dream but makes him promise never to visit Dream. Wilbur promises.

Wilbur doesn't even hesitate to visit the prison. At first Techno is at the ready to defend Dream in case Wilbur is mad about Tommy, But Wilbur tells them he's not really upset about that, he just wants to talk. Techno is leery, something seems off about Wilbur and this whole thing. At first things are cordial but Wilbur's questions quickly become more pointed. He demands to know why Dream brought him back. Dream says he really doesn't know, maybe just to stir things up a bit and create more drama. Wilbur says why not bring Schlatt back if that was the case. Dream notices Wilbur's ring and says if he wanted to bring Schlatt back, he'd just give the book to Quackity and, observing Wilbur's surprise asks if Q didn't tell him about that, about his plans to bring back Schlatt to be his political puppet. Or has he found a replacement puppet? Wilbur asks Dream for the book and Dream, sensing this is the best way to make chaos, just gives it to him (it may be a facsimile). In return, Wilbur allows Techno to hold him hostage with the shears affecting a prison break. Sam recognizes Q's ring on Wilbur's finger and lets them go. They leave Sam in the cell instead with none of his belongings so he can't report the prison break.

Q reveals Wilbur as the silent partner to extreme shock of most, but not as shocked as Q when Wilbur reveals his own hostile takeover of the casino and Las Nevadas. He tosses the book down in front of Q. Q is momentarily excited (not from wanting to bring back Schlatt, but just because it's real and he finally has it) this fades quickly as Q realizes Wilbur may have broken his promise and asks where he got it. The momentary look of excitement on his face is enough to confirm everything to Wilbur. Wilbur says he guesses Q probably doesn't need it anymore since he's found a better puppet. Dream and Techno step out from the shadows. Wilbur's eyes are ice cold as Q understands what he's done and how screwed over he is. Q asserts his feelings were real and the only person being played was him. Wilbur gives him to the count of five to leave. Naturally, Q's absolutely wrecked and so he gets absolutely wrecked, again, sitting on the curb with a bottle in front of what used to be his casino, knowing full well Wilbur can see him on the cameras. He swears he'll get it all back, and that he'll get Wilbur back, too. Sings the stanzas from the L'manberg Anthem
"Well the darkness came and then it went, we built a home and watched it sink, and from the rubble there emerged L'manberg... My L'manberg, My L'manberg, My L'manberg..."

"My L'manberg." Wilbur sings as he fingers his ring and turns away. "This is my sunrise," he whispers as he faces the windows that look out onto the city and beyond. "This is my dawn!"