Tommy jumped up and down with excitement, his wings nearly flapping in his excitement, as Technoblade flipped through the cookbook that he usually had placed on top of the fridge. There were five other cookbooks up there that he never really touched, but this one was even more special in Tommy's opinion. It was the only one to have sweet treats or desserts.
"Calm down, Theseus," Techno chuckled quietly, and Tommy pouted as his wings flared suddenly. He'd nearly fallen from a sudden unbalance he had. He was still getting used to walking around with his wings partially extended.
"I'm excited Uncle Techie!" Tommy exclaimed. He brightened when Techno motioned for the chair that was placed next to the counter. Tommy rushed forward and climbed onto the chair, kneeling on it and looking at the page that Techno was on. It looked like it was a kind of cake or brownie, or maybe a cookie? Tommy wasn't sure, he wasn't the best at calling out what a treat was.
"What do you think about making something with Lemon?" Techno asked, moving the cookbook and showing the two different recipes that the book was open to. Tommy hummed, leaning against Techno as he stared at the two recipes. One was a Lemon Pie, and the other was Lemon Meringue Cookies.
"Can we do both?" Tommy asked, looking up at Techno as the idea sprouted in his mind. Techno chuckled quietly as he looked at the two recipes.
"Yeah, we can do that." Tommy was confused on why his voice sounded a little sad while also amused, he glanced up at his Uncle right as Techno had wiped a tear from his eye.
"Uncle Techno? Are you okay?" Tommy asked, moving to sit on the chair, facing him. Techno smiled slightly, nodding as he moved to set the recipe book on the little stand that held the book up for viewing. And to keep it clean and safe from harm.
"I'm okay Theseus," Tommy made a face at him, getting another quiet laugh from his Uncle. Tommy hated being called Theseus, he much preferred his nickname 'Tommy', but his Uncle loved the name, so they compromised… sorta.
Tommy could get whoever he wanted to call him Tommy, but he would allow Techno to call him Theseus, and Techno was the only person allowed to call him that.
"We'll make the pie first." Techno told him, and Tommy brightened, nodding as he slid from the chair, though he stumbled slightly when his wings tried to catch the air. "Careful now," Techno had set a hand on Tommy's shoulder to help him balance. Tommy smiled up at him as his wings pulled against his back.
"I'm careful! I'm careful!" Tommy made a playful expression before smiling brightly again. Techno huffed a breath of laughter as Tommy grabbed the seat of the chair and pulled it across the kitchen and put it back at the table.
Tommy knew that Techno would end up moving it back later, when Tommy was helping at the counter or something. He watched Techno look at the cookbook once more before moving towards the cupboards.
"What do we need to make the pie?" Tommy asked, moving quickly to stand next to the stove, staring up at Techno. "How do we get started?"
"There's three different parts of this recipe; the crust, the filling, and the topping." Techno seemed… almost nostalgic as he explained this to Tommy. "For the crust we need graham crackers, sugar, and butter. For the pie filling, we need-" Techno paused, checking the recipe book even as he rummaged through the cupboard for the graham crackers and sugar. Tommy moved to the fridge for the butter.
"Lemon juice, condensed milk, and eggs. And the topping is whipped cream." Tommy excitedly put the butter on the counter as Techno found the sugar and graham crackers.
"Do we need the pie filling immediately?" Tommy asked, watching and waiting as patiently as he could as Techno checked the recipe book.
"No, we can wait on the filling for the moment." Techno decided after a few minutes of reading the recipe. Tommy nodded with a smile. "Now, you are going…" Tommy chirped in confusion as Techno turned and picked him up, turning and setting Tommy on the counter. "You will sit here and help, okay?"
"Okay!" Techno never allowed Tommy on the counters, at least, not typically, so Tommy was excited. Tommy made sure that he was comfortable as Techno went into the cabinet underneath the counter to grab mixing bowls.
"We preheat the oven," Techno made sure that there was nothing in the oven before setting the temperature that they needed. "And then we have to make graham cracker crumbs, so we take a zip lock bag and we crush graham crackers inside of it."
"With what? Our hands?" Tommy asked, tilting his head.
"Or a rolling pin." Techno answered. Tommy hummed as Techno had him lift his feet so that he could grab a larger zip lock bag. Tommy set his feet back down when Techno shut the drawer. Tommy had never been able to sit with Techno when he baked, as typically Techno baked after nightmares and Tommy was asleep during that time.
"Can I do that?" Tommy asked, watching as Techno opened the box of graham crackers and grabbed a package.
"Which part?" Techno asked, a tilt of his head. Tommy made a face at him and Techno laughed slightly. "Yeah, you can crush the graham crackers." Tommy cheered lightly, smiling brightly once again. "Just let me set everything up, okay Theseus?" Tommy nodded quickly.
He watched as Techno put the graham crackers inside the ziplock bag and made sure there were no pockets of air in the ziplock. He explained it was so that could actually crumble-ize the graham crackers. Tommy hummed happily as Techno searched around for the rolling pin.
"Okay, now, what you're going to do is take this rolling pin, and you're going to roll it over the graham crackers until they are crumbs, okay?" Techno asked, and Tommy nodded quickly.
"Yes! Yup! Got it!" Tommy accepted the rolling pin from a hesitant Techno. He carefully set the rolling pin on top of the pile of crackers and his hands on the handles. It was almost startling at the crunching sounds of the graham crackers, though he didn't let himself falter too much as he got into rolling the pin over the crackers.
"Good," Techno praised as he moved to continue putting together everything they needed.
Techno watched over Tommy carefully as he measured out the sugar.
There was a pain in his heart as he watched over Tommy. The young Avian will never know his dad, Techno's best friend. Sometimes, it was hard to be near Tommy, with gold hair and sky blue eyes that were exact replicas of his old friend. And the curls that only belonged to his mother, another close friend of his.
But Tommy was his own person, and Techno had put himself through too much therapy so that he could raise Tommy. His friend would have wanted that, at the very least. Techno offered a small smile as Tommy checked the graham crackers, the move so similar yet entirely foreign as a site.
Tommy had decided that the graham crackers weren't done yet, and went back to carefully running over the graham crackers. Techno himself had measured out the butter in the meantime, and had it placed in the microwave to melt it. He was just waiting on the graham crackers from Tommy so that he could mix them in with the sugar. Afterwards, they could set to make the filling and then finish the crust.
"Okay! Done!" Tommy chirped.
"Thank you Theseus," Techno took the rolling pin away so that he could put it away as Tommy picked up the bag of graham crackers. He was inspecting them again, a curious tilt of his head. Techno made a motion for them, and Tommy was quick to pass them over.
"Okay, and now we mix the graham crackers with the sugar." The microwave went off right after Techno finished speaking, spooking Tommy lightly who trilled in confusion. The reaction was instinctual, Techno knew, but there was a sadness as, for just the moment, Techno saw Philza the first time he'd made this with him. It had startled him too, though Philza had been watching the microwave countdown.
Techno was showing Tommy how to mix the sugar and the graham crackers, not using his hands though he had the memory of Philza trying. He was using a baking spatula, the kind that you'd use to layer frosting.
"When the butter's a bit cooled off, we'll mix it with the rest of the pie crust."
"That doesn't look like a crust." Tommy made a face as he looked at the mix of crumbs and sugar.
"Not yet it doesn't, that's why we need the butter." Techno explained, and Tommy hummed in thought. Techno moved the mix off to the side as he pulled another pull forward. Tommy was swinging his feet slightly, his eyes watching all of Techno's movements. Tommy probably wasn't even sure just how focused he was on Techno's movements, much like his mother.
Techno quickly moved to the fridge, which was beside Tommy, and grabbed the lemon juice, condensed milk, and the five eggs they would need. It wasn't even that they needed the full eggs, they just needed the egg yolks.
Tommy was humming lightly as he watched Techno carefully, bobbing his head slightly as Techno worked. Techno took a deep breath as he checked the recipe again. 1 cup of lemon juice, and 2 cans of the sweetened condensed milk.
"Grab another can of condensed milk from the fridge?" Techno asked, and Tommy chirped in acknowledgement as he turned towards the fridge. Techno knew that Tommy was just savoring the fact that he was sitting on the counter and not getting in trouble. He smiled as Tommy successfully managed to grab the other can of condensed milk without either falling or having to get down.
"There!" Tommy smiled, and Techno took the can gratefully.
"Thank you, good job." Tommy trilled happily. Techno was sure that Tommy didn't even realize that he was making bird-like noises in his excitement. Philza often didn't notice either. Techno smiled at Tommy even as his heart constricted painfully in his chest.
Techno added the lemon juice and the condensed milk to one bowl as he turned to work on getting the egg yolks from the eggs.
"Why are you doing that?" Tommy asked as Techno cracked an egg and careful passed the yolk from half of the shell to the other repeatedly.
"We only need the yolk, so I'm carefully getting the yolk." Techno explained, and when he decided that he'd separated the yolk from the whites enough, he put the yolk in the Lemon juice and condensed milk bowl and threw away the egg. Techno repeated this two more times as Tommy watched with attentive eyes.
"Why do we need to separate them?" Tommy asked curiously.
"Because that's what the recipe calls for." Techno answered.
"Why?"
"Because the two components react with ingredients in different ways." Techno explained. Tommy made a noise of confusion and Techno chuckled as he reached over and ruffled Tommy's hair.
"Uncle Techno!" Tommy whined, his hands shooting up to cover his hair. Techno chuffed lightly with a smile that got a laugh out of Tommy. Techno went back to getting the yolks from the last two eggs as Tommy settled back down.
Egg yolks done, Techno slid that bowl back and reached for the pie crust mixture and then grabbed the butter from the microwave. He could feel Tommy's eyes on him as he added the butter to the pie crust mixture. He was careful as he continued to use the frosting spatula to mix up the mixture, and subtly teaching Tommy how to do it too.
"Why do we have to cook the pie crust?" Tommy asked after Techno grabbed the pie pan.
"So that it becomes a crust instead of a crumble." Techno answered, setting aside the extra graham cracker crumbs. They'd sprinkle them on top afterwards, Techno decided. He was sure that Tommy would like that, at the very least.
"Oh, okay!" Tommy nodded as he watched Techno. "How long does it have to cook?" Techno put the crust in the pie pan and began to even it out along the bottom and along the sides of the pie pan.
"8 to 10 minutes," Techno answered as he worked. "And don't worry, we're nearly done." Techno glanced at Tommy, taking note of the yawns that Tommy was fighting. It was getting late, the two of them having started this after dinner.
"Okay." Tommy nodded slightly, though there was as much energy behind it this time. Techno smiled fondly as he put the pie crust filled pan in the oven. He set a nine minute timer and set that off to the side as Tommy yawned more obviously.
"Now," Techno grabbed the whisk that he'd pulled out earlier, and started to stir and whisk together the lemon juice, condensed milk, and the eggs. Tommy watched him with eyes that were starting to droop in his exhaustion, and Techno tried to remember if there were times where Philza had been like that.
There were some times like that, that Techno would tease that Philza was getting old over. But that was more in the fall and winter, but never in the spring or summer. It was nearing the end of summer, so Tommy shouldn't have been this sleepy at night yet. Maybe he was simply getting sick. Techno would have to watch that.
"Go lay on the couch, Theseus," Techno murmured, and while Tommy whined in disagreement, he did let Techno pick him up and set him on the ground to go do just that. Techno returned to whisking as Tommy curled up on the couch with a throw blanket thrown over top of him.
Techno had no problem finishing the pie on his own, anyways.