Chapter 6: Star flare
Techno slowly wakes up with the slight annoyance of the morning light glaring at him in the eyes through his windows. Techno pulls his arms close to himself with a groan before his memories snap him out of his sleepy haze. Tommy was in his arms when he nodded to sleep last night, and now he is obviously Tommy-less. Sitting up quickly, Techno looks around his room to find no Tommy insight.
Did Tommy go exploring around the house? Was that safe? Techno didn't have time to fully give the kid a tour around the mansion, and he could imagine little Tommy getting lost in one of the many unused rooms or hallways. Or Tommy could have found their armory room and been currently holding a gun to his eye trying to see the bullet or something.
A few alarms went off in Technos head, and he immediately rushed out of his bed and out of his room. A faint smell of pancakes leads Techno to go to the kitchen first to find his starlight. Right as he turns the corner, Techno is slapped in the face with what he imagines is a paper plate full of whipped cream. Immediately Techno hears both Wilbur and Tommy bursting with laughter as the plate slowly slides off his face before he grabs it, keeping it from falling on the floor.
"Really, Wil? Couldn't think of something else?" Techno grumbles while wiping the whipped cream off his face the best he can. This apparent act of war would have Techno wrestling Wilbur to the floor at this point, but Tommy's light and bashful laugh almost make this worth not to.
Wilbur wraps his arm around Tommy as if they are old pals at this point and grins at his brother. "Aw, Techno, you don't like the classics? I guess he isn't impressed, Tommy. We'll have to try harder next time. Maybe get a bird involved." Tommy practically buzzes with excitement at Wilbur's words.
"Yeah! You better watch out, Techno! We're the crime boys!" Tommy yells at a volume that most people would flinch at. Wilbur nodded at Tommy's words, "Get fucked!" Will added with an obnoxious laugh that ticked off Techno just slightly.
"Congrats, I guess?" Techno speaks with an unamused tone. He makes his way to the kitchen with the two idiots following him. Upon entering the kitchen, Techno spots the source of the pancake smell. Phil is stationed at the stovetop with a well-used pan in one hand, and in the other was a spatula that had bits of pancake batter on it. With one look at the three new people in the room, Phil immediately knew what had happened. Not like he totally didn't watch Tommy learn how to use whipped cream a moment ago with Wilbur.
"Looks like you're having a good morning, mate," Phil says as Techno grabs a rag and starts to clean his face. Techno could hear the glee from Phil's voice.
"Traitor," He calls Phil while trying to get the whipped cream out of his hair. "What?! I didn't do anything?!" Phil calls out acting fake hurt by Techno's words.
"Correct. You didn't stop them." Techno points out before trying to throw the dirty rag at Phil's head, only for Phil to easily dodge without looking and let the rag hit the marble backsplash. "Sorry, they were having fun. I didn't want to stop the chaotic little shits."
During Techno's chat with Phil, Tommy and Wilbur have already sat down at the table. they were chatting about something that Techno didn't care to listen to. With a defeated sigh, Techno walked over to the set table and sat next to Tommy. He felt himself get a wave of clarity that in this peaceful moment in time, he would revisit this memory fondly as he watches Phil cook his pancakes. Techno can clearly see Wilbur showing Tommy how to pick a lock at the dining table. He didn't have a care in the world right now, and everything felt just right. Like this is the moment he worked for his whole life.
"Wil, get your knife off the table," Phil lightly scolds Wilbur. Phil placed two plates full of pancakes on the table for everyone to pick off of. Techno could spot a few pancakes with chocolate chips in them, probably for Tommy since no one else was a fan of those. Everyone grabbed a few pancakes for their plates as they fell into a light-hearted conversation about the most complicated locks to get through.
"What about you, Techno?" Techno hears Tommy ask him, drawing him out of his own thoughts. "Heh?"
"He asked if you could get through a Banham M2002 lock" Phil fills Techno in on the part of the convection that he zoned out on.
"Oh. Yeah, it's not too hard. It just takes a bit more time to work through." Techno explains simply. Wilbur rolled his eyes because he's yet to be able to pick it successfully. Even the old man could pick the recently new lock without a problem.
"Can you teach me how?!" Tommy asks with what Techno could guess is Tommy's best attempt at puppy dog eyes. Tommy grabs hold of Techno's sleeve and slightly pulls at it to show just how much he wanted this from Techno.
"Uhhhh, sure. I can show you how later." He gave into the puppy's eyes quickly. Plus, it would be too terrible for Tommy to know some of this stuff anyway. Maybe it could even help the kid if something terrible happens to him.
"Nooooo! Tech, show me nowwww "Tommy whined while he dug his nails slightly into Technos arms, latching onto Techno more.
"I'll show you after breakfast, gremlin," Techno said but was quickly cut off by Wilbur soon after. "Actually, Techno, you and I have an emergency meeting with Quackity right after breakfast. He wanted to sell some info to us about you know who." Wilbur explained while looking at his phone.
"Really? Why me? I thought he hated me since I messed up his eye?" Techno asks, confused.
"Well, about that. While dad and I were bugging a few safe houses, we found some stuff on Quackity there. So Phil sold that info to the man who freaked him out, thinking that the almighty crow had found that info from a few stray crows in the area. So he's terrified of Phil now and is requesting to only sell info to you and I now." Wilbur leans on his hand as he explains a bit better.
"What about the gremlin?" Techno asks automatically without thinking about it. Even Tommy looks a bit surprised that he was Techno's first immediate thought, while Techno could see that Phil had a fond look on his face in the corner of his eye.
"Don't worry, mate, I can watch him today." Phil offers with a soft smile on his face. "We can chill here while you guys are off. I know Quackity likes to make you guys drive off to who knows how far away for a meeting." He adds on.
"Can you tell me stories?! And can we have ice cream?!" Tommy butts into the conversation before Techno can agree yet.
"Later, if you finish your breakfast." Phil uses his classic dad voice on the kid, who nods eagerly and starts to stuff his mouth with pancakes.
"Okay fine. But make sure he takes his meds on time. His doctor set up alarms on Tommy's phone to the hours that he has to take them. More details are on the bottles, and he likes to have jello or yogurt with them to help the pills go down." Techno could feel the mother hen in him raise a bit as he explains.
Wilbur rolls his eyes and finishes off his food quickly before standing up. "Tech, we should leave now if we want to make it home before dinner. I'll get suited up now." Wilbur said as he made his way to their weapon room. Techno groans and downs his cup of water. "Okay, okay. I'm going, kid. Be good with Phil. He'll have a heart attack easily with his age and call me if something happens." Techno hugs Tommy gently as the kid clung to him a bit.
"You better be fast," Tommy whispers in their hug. "Goodbye," he adds at the end.
"I'll see you soon, Starlight," Techno whispers in Tommy's ear before letting go of him and giving the kid a small wave as he leaves the room to follow Wilbur to go change and leave for the meeting.
"Just you and me now. What do you want to do first?" Phil asks the kid before Tommy could spiral anymore like every kid does after being left at daycare without their parents for the first time in their life.
Tommy snaps out of his thoughts and shrugs a bit. All of his excitement kinda leaks out of him when Techno leaves his side. This morning Phil watches Wilbur quickly get the shy kid comfortable with him while they set up the prank Wil had mentioned. Maybe Tommy just needs to do something to bond over with him to get the kid more at ease.
An idea pops into his head, and Phil smiles at Tommy. "I have a perfect idea, mate. Do you get motion sickness easily?" When Tommy shakes his head no, that sets Phil's plan into motion. "Alright, let's finish eating, get dressed and head out to the car" Phil lists out what they need to do beforehand.
An hour later and a short car ride later, Tommy climbs out of Phil's fancy car with his Crow-themed backpack full of drugs (his medicine). Tommy runs up to the ticket booth in front of a giant amusement park. "Do I get to go on rides!? Pretty please? I'll... I'll give you some drugs if we do?" Tommy pleads with Phil while the old man buys the two their entrance tickets.
Phil sighs and nods, "We are only going on the more mild rides and playing the games. That's it. Nothing more. No big rides that cause even healthy people to vomit." Tommy cries in outrage and walks off, pouting. Phil chuckles and follows the child.
Tommy stops and gasps as he sees a giant bee at one of the game booths and points at it. "Can we get that?" Phil pulls out some money and gives it to Tommy, who then runs up to the booth and repeatedly fails at getting the giant bee. Phil steps in before Tommy starts to cry from frustration and receives the required points in one turn. Tommy whips around to look at the older and points.
"YOU CHEATED!" Phil laughs as he gives the giant red and white-colored bee to Tommy, who definitely doesn't hug his new stuffed animal. Tommy huffs and turns around to look for another booth to harass. He sees a food booth that is selling deep-fried Oreos and candy apples. Tommy looks back at Phil and sneaks out a couple handfuls of money out of Phil's wallet.
Phil sees Tommy but chooses to ignore the action, reminding him of when his boys were young and would steal from his wallet all the time. Phil watches the kid sneak over to the food stand and randomly order whatever looks weird with a handful of cash. Tommy comes back with his arms full of food of all kinds, some of which Phil doesn't even know where he found it. Phil grabs as much as Tommy lets him and starts to eat what looks edible. Tommy gasps at the disrespect he is experiencing. "How dare you disrespect me in my own house, old man?"
Phil chokes and turns to Tommy, "What do you mean, disrespect? AND I'M NOT OLD!" Tommy points at the food in Phil's arms.
"Those. Those are mine, and you come in here eating my food right in front of me. How dare."
Phil chuckles, "I know I paid for them. You took money from me, so these are Technically mine." Tommy narrows his eyes and huffs, giving up the argument.
The two spend multiple hours just wandering around the amusement park, looking at the booths people had set up and buying a couple things. Tommy's watch goes off at noon, and he looks at Phil from the corner of his eye. He looks forward and starts to head over to a more secluded area. Phil raises an eyebrow and follows Tommy, who would look back to see if the older is following or not.
Phil questions, "Why did you go this way? There are more booths and food stands to look at the other way." Tommy looks up from his open bag on a table and shrugs.
"I don't like it when people watch me take my medicine. It makes me feel bad and that I shouldn't be here when I need to take them." Tommy tries to put his feelings in the right words as he digs around in his backpack.
Phil nods and stands in front of Tommy, blocking him from any unwanted attention. Tommy smiles gratefully, pulls out his The Blade-themed lunch box, and grabs one of the yoghurt inside. He holds a couple of the required pills and crushes them before mixing them with the yogurt. Phil watches the process, taking mental notes on what kind of yogurt Tommy is eating and what time he has his pill case set.
Tommy inhales the yogurt and sits down to let the medicine kick in. Phil joins him and pulls out his phone. He turns it to Tommy with the alarms app open. "Can you put the other times you have to take them for today so I can keep us somewhere secluded when it is time?"
Tommy thinks about it and grabs the phone, inputting two more alarms. Both are more towards nighttime and where they are likely to be home by then. Phil looks at the times and nods. He gets up and glances at Tommy, seeing if he is ready to stand again and go walking some more.
Tommy stands up wobbly, his blood all rushing to his head. He blinks, waiting for the black spots to go away, and gives Phil a thumbs up when he is good. The two walk away when they hear some people talk about a ride.
"I hear a lot of people have vomited on the Leviathan."
"No yeah, my brother went on it, and he passed out. And almost got hit by someone's bracelet."
"Omg, really? Is he okay?"
"Nah, he left for home immediately, and from what my sister-in-law says, he started to vomit blood and had a bloody nose."
Tommy looks up and notices the large ass ride in the middle of the park and goes over all across the park in parts that he can't fully see. Just as he opens his mouth, he hears the same people gasp and looks over. Seeing them look at him. They lean away from the two and whisper. Others notice and look, and soon basically everyone in the area is whispering about Tommy. Of course, the moment Tommy forgets about his problems, he's reminded of it with whispers and sly glances. The hair that covered his ears and horns had recently been buffeted by the wind.
Tommy looks down and rubs his jaw. "Hey, mate. It's alright. They are just dumb people who don't even know you.." Phil paused to get a good look at Tommy. "Is your jaw okay? It looks a little swollen." Phil pulls Tommy closer to him and into his side, glaring at everyone around him.
Tommy shakes his head and continues to rub his jaw. "My jaw hurts a little. Though it's mainly my teeth. Maybe I'm not brushing as much as I should be?" Phil hums and walks towards the entrance for the leviathan ride. Tommy follows close behind, still rubbing his lower face absentmindedly.
The large ride looms over the two as they watch people come off crying, laughing, and even witness someone run to the designated vomit area. The area is just covered in sawdust and paper towels. The raccoon hybrid turns to the crow hybrid, tugging on his shirt.
"Can we go on this ride? Obviously, only the best and bravest of men can go on. Let's go!" Tommy yelled with sparkles in his eyes as he watched seats get emptied.
Phil fixes his gaze at the rollercoaster, watching the newest set of victims ride it. He looks back at Tommy and sighs at the sight of puppy dog eyes. He pulls out his wallet and walks up to the surprisingly short line with Tommy close behind.
Phil wonders if this should be a red flag or a blessing.
The two get in their respective cars, with Tommy holding onto Phil's hand hard. The jolt when the conveyor belt snags the carts. Tommy shuffles closer to Phil, starting to regret his decision to go on the ride. They start to properly move when they reach the top of a small hill.
One screaming ride later, Tommy steps out of the ride, crying and dry heaving. He starts to cough hard and almost collapses from everything being too much. Phil catches him and moves the two to a bench conveniently next to the ride.
"Hey, is everything alright? Is there anything I can do, mate?" Phil asked in his soft voice that's reserved only for little Tommy to hear. His rough hand gently rubbed the top part of Tommy's back, attempting to give the poor kid some comfort.
Tommy shakes his head and leans on Phil. Him fitting just right into the older's side. "I just wanna go home now." Phil rubs Tommy's arm and calls Techno, informing him of the event and letting the piglin know the two will be home before them and to get take-out for them later.
Phil picks Tommy up like a toddler and walks out of the park. Give anyone who looks at the two wrong a nasty look. He settles Tommy down in the back seat of the car and gets in the front. He starts to drive, looking back at Tommy at any movement or noise. Guilt claws at Phil a little as he guides them home.
Once home, Phil picks Tommy up one more time, noting how light the kid feels, and heads inside. He grabs extra blankets on the way to the movie theater. He sets Tommy down in the nest Phil has in the room consisting of pillows, blankets, and random pieces of clothing from all family members. He leaves the tired child there and grabs some ice cream and water to help settle Tommy's stomach, and gently asks him, "What do you want to watch? We are back at home now." Phil whispers while watching Tommy slowly open his crusty eyes.
Tommy mumbles something incoherent and points up. Phil gets the memo and sets up Up to loop for them. As the movie starts, Phil brings out his fluffy wings and wraps them around the kid while he slots himself at Phil's side. They both fall asleep at the 5th replay of Up.
Techno walks in with some Chinese in his hands only to find the two asleep wrapped in wings. His heart warmed to see his starlight asleep in Phil's arms. The sight slightly reminded Techno of seeing his brother in Phil's arms back when they were kids. Smiling, Techno quickly snapped a picture on his phone before quietly leaving the two hybrids to sleep.
End Chapter Notes
I have no idea what im doing as i have never been to an amusement park -Moo
We have a discord :DDD
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