The air was warm with the sky just full enough of clouds to keep the sun from being overbearing. The breeze was nice and carried the smells of nearby flowers and some kind of hot food from the food trucks that lined the street a few blocks down. It was the final week of June and Philza had decided to take the boys on park outing.

Truthfully it was mostly for Techno though. Due to what had been called a 'project crippling error' he had been called in to work on the boys birthday, being threatened with a loss of job when he tried to refuse. It was a long standing rule Phil had made when he was hired that his family time was nonnegotiable. However, the new owners of the company seemed to really be testing that. Unfortunately for the time being Phil could do nothing more than grit his teeth and try his best to keep balance himself.

He'd only missed a few hours of the small family gathering before he managed to rush back home, but he still felt bad. Especially when he heard he missed the video calls from both Kristin and his parents to the boys. Techno hadn't seemed upset, but that didn't mean Phil wasn't.

Kristin was the one to suggest taking the boys to the park for a day out, giving Techno a chance to try out one of the toys her parents had sent him. It had been some time since they'd been to the park and the weather had been due to be nice.

Phil was glad she'd thought of it…if only she could be here for it.

With a mild sigh Phil leaned down over Tommy's stroller, checking on him as he hadn't made a sound since getting out of the car earlier.

Ah.

In his hands was his red topped sippy cup, though Phil didn't recall handing it to him. Shifting his eyes to his other boys he could see clearly Techno hugging the gifted motored car to his chest, eager to find a place to start playing with it. Meanwhile, his eldest son was walking a bit ahead of them with the small packed snack bag slung on one arm while-

"Wil, those are for later. You just had a sandwich less then an hour ago." Phil stated with a soft warning in his voice.

Wil barely slowed his walking, his hand slipping back out of the bag before he turned to look at his father. His face was a bit red at being caught.

"I was just, grabbing something for Tommy." Wil tried as he was now zipping the bag slowly.

"Well, Tommy's fine. He's got his drink, which I appreciate you giving him, but he also just ate recently. Don't want to risk not having something for later." Phil countered with, not at all believing his son but not seeing a reason to call him out on it.

With a disappointed sigh Wilbur nodded his head and closed the bag the rest of the way. He slowed down enough to hand it off to his father, who then tucked it under Tommy's seat where it was supposed to be.

"Come on, Wil! We need to find the best spot for my car!" Techno called out with excitement.

Phil couldn't help the grin that came over his face as Wil ran back towards his brother. Recently Techno had become comfortable enough to talk more in public, even in school. It was a great improvement and Phil had no doubt that a lot of it was due to Wilbur. For all the chaos he seemed to have contained in him he also seemed to have it balanced with the love and care he had for his brothers. Both of them.

"Once we reach the gates you boys can run off to play. Just keep inside the park area. Don't leave it under any circumstance unless I'm with you, got it?"

"Yes, dad!" Both boys answered readily.

The two older boys barely waited until Phil reached the gate himself before taking off, leaving Tommy to squirm in his seat and reach after them with a whine.

"Its okay, Tommy. We're going to have a bit of fun ourselves for a bit, let the boys have theirs." Phil chuckled as he pushed the stroller to the area built for smaller children.

Tommy didn't seem to really like the idea as he had thrown his sippy cup to the ground moments later.

"Aaand, here we go." Phil breathed out with a mutter to himself as Tommy already was shouting for his brothers to return.

Phil waved them off when Wilbur had paused and turned to look back at them, assuring his son that he'd handle Tommy. Moving to pick up the cup Phil made sure he was crouched entirely in Tommy's line of sight.

"Hey, bud. Bit early for crying and causing a scene." He chuckled as he attempted to hand the cup back.

"Wanna play with Wilby and Techy!" Tommy shouted, not caring how close his father was to him, "Let me out!"

Tommy tugged at the straps keeping him in place with one hand while he smacked at the offered cup. Phil let out a short breath as he reached out to take Tommy's hand ins his free one.

"Toms, look at me a second, mate."

Tommy refused for a moment as he tugged back at his hand, looking up with a huffy pout when he failed to get free.

"Hey, I know you want to play with them, but lets give them a bit to themselves. Me and you can go play on the jungle gym without them-"

"I don't wanna play without them!" Tommy insisted as he writhed in his seat.

"Not even if it gave you the chance to find the best hiding spots?" Phil questioned with an animatedly raised brow, "Would make hide-and-seek better for you."

Tommy paused but still clearly doubted his fathers words.

"If you conquer the jungle gym first they would have to ask you to play on it." Phil added, eyeing the sizable structure that currently only had a few kids on it despite the fine weather.

"Mine." Tommy stated with a brightened smile as he kicked his feet happily.

"Yours." Phil nodded as he now managed to get his youngest to accept the sippy cup once more as well, "For now."

X-x

It hadn't taken long for his sons, all three of them, to come up with a game based on the motor car and the structure Tommy had claimed as his own. Phil barely had had twenty minutes of play time with Tommy before it had started.

Techno had steered his motor car around under the jungle gym and dodged it around the few kids there. Wilbur himself chasing after it and inciting the other smaller kids to do so. Tommy, however, had taken his castle and refused to leave it. Instead, he had collected a small fist full or pebbles from the ground and was rushing around the upper walkway, tossing them down at the car whenever it came close.

And then it was on.

Techno drove the car about, getting it stuck a few times where Wilbur had to rescue it before the trampling hoard got to it from ground level. Above, Tommy rained down an assault of small stones that either he or Wilbur would have to replenish to keep the game going.

Phil watched from the sidelines, laughing as Wilbur played both attacker and support in turn. It was always a good day when his boys worked or played well together. This time Philza even had a small handheld camera to film them with.

Techno was maneuvering his car through the underside of the jungle gym with the rope netting ladder when the car hit one of the previously thrown stones. It jumped the tires up so that the car was wedged between said net and the wooden frame, trapping it. Wilbur, as usual, dove for the car ahead of the swarm of kids he had somehow gathered to his side for the chase.

It was as Wilbur was rushing to the cars rescue that Tommy called out from above that he was out of stones. He called out a second time when Wil failed to rush his way, not liking the fact that he was now waiting on ammo. However, Tommy was not one to be so easily defeated by lack of resource. Rushing down the wooden plank bridge he leaned out and grabbed onto the metal fireman's pole.

Before Phil could call out a warning Tommy had given a little jump forwards…and entirely dead weight dropped to the ground onto his stomach.

"oh shit- Tommy!" Phil scrambled out of his seat, almost dropping the camera, and rushed forwards towards his downed child.

His fatherly instincts were tossing up the red flags a bit late and all he could do was hope that Tommy wasn't hurt. It wasn't the highest drop, but Tommy had proven to be a bit more fragile than either of his brothers a few times.

This wasn't such a time.

Phil hadn't even entirely reached Tommy before he heard an almost startled laugh from the blond. Seconds later he was pushing himself up off the ground without even a hint of injury. It surprised Phil just enough that he stopped in his tracks to look at his youngest with confusion.

Before he could react again Wilbur was rushing past him, apparently having heard the shout, and dropped to Tommy's side. Tommy though was all beaming smiles, laughing when Wil tried asking if he was okay.

"Did you see that Wilby? Did you see? I was up an'then-whooshed, all th' way to th'ground. I was faster th'n a fireman! Did you see? I was-" Tommy started to ramble, looking between both Wilbur and Phil both with excitement.

"Are you hurt though? Does anywhere hurt?" Wilbur kept trying to ask until Phil placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He's fine, Wil. Look at him." Phil stated with a short laugh, his own worries melting away now as Tommy seemed perfectly well, "We saw you, Tommy. Scared the daylights out of us too."

Tommy only smiled wider with a louder laugh than before.

"Really?" He asked, tugging on Wil's arm for secondary confirmation.

Wilbur nodded, his face still showing his concern.

"A lot, yea."

Seeing the lingering look on his brother's face Tommy's own smile paused.

"How about we play on something else for a while Tommy? Give the jungle gym a break for a bit." Phil suggested.

Tommy looked back at him with a pout and looking every bit like he was about to protest. However, Wilbur spoke up before he could start.

"The swings are free." Wilbur suggested.

Tommy's head snapped over to the mentioned area and saw they were, in fact, free.

"We can teach you how to use the big kid swing instead of the baby one." Wilbur offered.

"I can do that, Wilbur. You don't need to stop your playing with Techno." Phil tried to assure, but his eldest seemed firm in the idea.

"I want to do it. Besides, I'm tired of running." Wilbur informed him without missing a beat.

Looking up Phil could see Techno still leading a pack of kids around the playground with his little car. He was keeping it away from the jungle gym now though and on the open play foam grounds. He seemed well aware that if the car turned over now Wilbur wouldn't be there to save it.

"I wanna swing." Tommy said with a determined smile at his brother.

x-x

It was hardly any time at all before the dynamics of the playground changed once Wilbur started to focus his attention to Tommy and Techno was left to his own devices with the motor car. Honestly, Phil found it fascinating, like a wildlife documentary.

Even with careful driving Techno soon found his car was cornered by the hoard of kids that had taken to hunting it. Even Phil himself was anxious seeing them circle around it, fearing one of them might take things too far in the heat of the moment.

And then Techno revved the engine.

The tiny feet all jumped back and the group had tensed. Phil can only assume Techno sensed the fear in the air. Within a snap second the car was charging the nearest set of feet and just like that a new chase was on. The small gathering of bodies scattered and it was every kid for themselves. The car whizzed about and Techno cackled as he became the roving terror.

Meanwhile, much calmer off to the side Wilbur worked to show Tommy how to get into and balance in the big kids swing and the importance of holding on the rubber covered parts of the chains that held it up. Tommy still mainly relied on Wilbur to hold him in place, even while 'swinging', though it was more just swaying as Wil, as mentioned, was his back support.

Phil was surprised at Wilbur's patience but kept back and mostly filming the kids at play. Kristin would love seeing all of this later. It wasn't long before Tommy was insisting he could swing by himself…and then instantly demanding to be pushed once his legs failed to give him proper momentum.

Wilbur happily obliged, though not without a bit of teasing. Phil was chuckling along at them before he heard the ever dreaded sound of distress and the crunch of plastic.

Turning rapidly Phil's eyes zeroed in quickly on the problem. One of the kids Techno had been chasing with his car had fallen mid step, landing on the car in the process. Techno was already rushing to the scene as the kid who fell was trying to hastily get back to his feet.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I-it was an accident!" The kid was panicking while Techno scooped up his car to inspect it.

Even as Phil closed in he could see the body of it had a nasty jagged crack along the side. He only hoped it was a cosmetic damage. He had no idea how much the toy cost in the first place, but he doubted it was cheap.

"Y-you broke it!" Techno huffed out as he stared at dismay at the crack, eyes already watering.

"I'm sorry. I-"

"Hold on now, Techno. We don't know if its really broken." Phil tried to sooth before things escalated further.

Techno looked up at him with both dismay and hope, hands shaking as he hugged his toy. Phil crouched and held out his own hands to take the item, waiting patently for it to be handed over. The other boy just watched, looking nervously between Techno and Phil.

"It'll be okay. It was an accident after all." Phil assured the boy to ease his fidgeting.

The boy looked to be about Techno's age, perhaps slightly younger. His dark hair tussled but mainly held down by a white tied bandanna with some kind of hero insignia on it Phil only slightly recognized from one of Techno's favorite cartoons.

"W-what if- if it is broken? Techno asked, still keeping it close to his chest.

Phil offered the best smile he could for the boys, trying to assure them both with his next words.

"Well, if it's broken, then we take it somewhere to get fixed. With just a small fall I doubt its un-fixable. Just means you play something else for the day." Phil stated as he once more held out a hand to Techno, "It'll be fine, Tech. One way or another."

It was another few seconds before Techno relented and handed over the toy for proper inspection. Now, Phil had no idea what he was looking into really, so he did what seemed logical. He flipped it over a few times, ran his fingers over the crack and wiggled the wheels a few times.

"Is it okay?" A woman's voice asked from nearby and almost startling him.

Looking up Phil saw a dark haired woman watching him from nearby the other boy and looking fairly concerned. Phil stood, wincing at the creaking in his knees as he gave her a friendly smile.

"Its looks fine from what I can see, but, I'm not sure." He admitted and before he could say another word the woman extended a hand.

"May I? I work with electronics."

She seemed genuinely concerned and interested and so, with a glance to his own son, Phil handed over the toy. Techno and the boy were both fidgeting anxiously as they watched on, especially when the woman furrowed her brow at the underside. Phil can't say his own breath wasn't at least slightly held as well.

The look over only took about minute before the woman looked up and smiled, handing the toy back to Phil.

"Its just the casing. It looks like the inner foam padding did its job in protecting the rest." She informed before extending her hand to Phil, "My name is Barbrah. I'm Sapnap's mother. Nice to meet you."

"Philza, but just Phil is fine." Phil shared as well as he took both her hand and the toy, "Thanks for looking it over."

"Oh, of course. I know how it can-"

She didn't get further than that before a new shout gained Phil's attention. Looking back towards Wilbur and Tommy at the swings Phil could see quickly once more what the problem was. Or at least the result.

Wilbur had rushed around to the front of the swings to where Tommy lay face first on the ground. Phil could easily figure what happened, but he was still quick in making his way over. Tommy wasn't crying yet, but that didn't mean a meltdown wasn't imminent.

"What happened here?" Phil asked once he was close enough to kneel, helping to brush Tommy off as Wilbur helped him up.

"I-I was just pushing him like he asked and-and he slide off the seat-" Wilbur stammered out but was cut off before he could get any further worked up.

"I didn't f-fall." Tommy stated as he wiped at his own face, fighting tears, "I was-was jumpin'. Like the b-big kids do."

"Jumping? Off the swing?" Phil questioned with a fair bit of confusion.

Tommy nodded and Phil could only continued to frown.

"You shouldn't do that, mate. It's very dangerous. Where did you get that idea from?"

"F-from 'Casey's Cases'." Tommy answered quietly.

"Your cartoons?" Phil's brow wrinkled as he looked to Wilbur for some kind of clarification.

Wilbur, however, was looking at Tommy with a frown as the smaller blond nodded in confirmation.

"From the episode yesterday? Tommy, that was what the bad kids were doing. Remember? They ended up pushing Holly over and breaking the swing." Wilbur pointed out which had Tommy looking at his feet, "Why would you want to be like the 'bad kids'? I thought you wanted to be like Casey?"

"I do want to be like Casey!" Tommy protested, lip still quivering as he looked up at his brother, "B-but, I want to be cool too. I can be both and it wont be bad cus I wont push anyone or break anything! So then I can be a cooler 'Casey Cases' and do better things and not be a bad kid! I'm not-"

"Mate, breath. No one is calling you a 'bad kid'. But, Tommy, jumping off of swings is a bad idea." Phil stated trying to calm Tommy down, "You almost got hurt already."

Tommy was huffing and puffing from both being riled up and still startled from the fall. Thankfully though he still didn't seem harmed. Dirtier than before, but perfectly fine otherwise.

"How about we take a snack break for a while? Catch our breaths?" Phil offered, looking between his sons.

Tommy's expression perked up a bit at the sound of the word 'snack', as did Wilbur's. This only further solidifying that his youngest really was fine. He leaned closer in order to pick Tommy up, settling him on his hip before looking to Wilbur.

"Go get, Techno. Tell him its snack time. I'll start pulling things out."

"Can I have the gold fish?" Wilbur asked before either even took a step.

"We can divide them all up when we pull them out, Wil. Go on." Phil chuckled as he waved his eldest off to fetch the missing sibling.

Phil didn't doubt that Wil would have convinced Techno to let him have the gold fish to himself by the time the two reached him.

x-x

Given the tension from before Phil was surprised when Techno arrived leading the dark haired boy, Sapnap, over with him. The boys mother was not far behind of course. Apparently after Phil had rushed to Tommy and Wilbur earlier Techno and Sapnap had chatted a bit. Techno extending an invite to snack time when Wil had come for him.

According to Barbrah once Techno had recognized the logo on Sapnap's bandanna the two had quickly fallen into conversation about the show, all but forgetting about the incident with the car. Phil, of course, was quick believe this as he saw it himself as the two exchanged and shared snacks while talking about which hero in the show should be the captain of something or other. Even Wilbur pipped in with his own opinion at one point.

Well, if 'giving his opinion' one meant purposefully upsetting the new boy until a chase broke out. Wilbur was on the run as Sapnap followed close behind, throwing small stones and yelling out attacks names as they went. Techno was content to watch and finish his snacks in the meantime while Tommy cheered Wilbur on from beside him.

By the time Techno had finished eating the game between Wilbur and Sapnap had evolved to include monkey bars and the climbing net. Two things Techno wasn't particularly fond of. As such he had decided to stick beside Tommy and Phil for now. Which was helpful as Phil was trying to get Tommy acquainted with the teeter-totter.

The smaller kids had mostly all left the park by now and Phil himself was obviously too big to partner on it. Thankfully, the teeter-totter was something Techno enjoyed and seemed genuinely happy to be able to play with Tommy. What's more, Techno was considerably more careful than normal while playing with Tommy here. Which put Phil at ease enough to turn his attention to cleaning up the snack mess while still half watching the two, technically four kids at play.

"Your sons are very well behaved." Barbrah commented as she helped Phil with clean-up.

"I'm shocked personally." Phil replied and getting them both a fair laugh.

"Are they usually worse?" She asked in jest, but Phil ran with it since his next statement wasn't exactly wrong.

"Oh, absolutely. They are usually little shits for me. They save the 'good behavior' for their mother."

This had Barbrah laughing once more before she was nodding towards Wilbur and her son. Currently Wilbur had plucked the boy off the monkey bars and was now running with him awkwardly under arm shouting about 'to victory' or something.

"He's good with younger kids."

"Wilbur troubleshoots with his siblings at home." Phil teased at first before a soft smile settled on his face, "He's always been good with smaller kids though, ever since Techno came along. Gets it from his mother I think. Being caring."

Before they could say anything further Wilbur, with Sapnap still under arm, had rushed over to the totter Tommy and Techno were using. With a haphazard looking jump he climbed onto the thing and proceeded to balance in the middle of it. This had both Tommy and Techno laughing at the sight while Wilbur 'surfed' between them. Even Sapnap was laughing as he wiggled about for freedom.

"And the chaos. Totally got that from her too." Phil chuckled as he had Barbrah watched on.

"If that's so then what did he get from you?" She asked with a snicker.

Phil looked back at her with a cheeky grin.

"His good looks of course. Between us our kids didn't have a choice but to be smart and beautiful."

Once more the conversation was cut short, as if the universe didn't want Phil to develop any sort of social life. Flinching at the sound of a cry Phil and Barbrah both turned back to the kids. Techno glued to his seat while Wilbur was trying to rapidly climb off the totter without dropping Sapnap. Of course, on the ground, was Tommy.

By the look of it Tommy had flipped up over the handles of the totter and had dropped straight to the ground after. Wilbur was calling out apologies but Tommy wasn't hearing them. He was laying on his stomach with his head lifted up and bawling his little eyes out already.

Third time was the charm as ever, only this time in a bad way. Apparently luck only cared to be tested so much before deciding that Tommy well deserved a proper bump to the noggin. It wasn't bad enough to force the family to leave the park, but it had taken a few plasters to cover the scrapes to Tommy's hands and face. If it weren't for Tommy himself refusing to leave the park early Phil probably would have actually called the day over.

Regardless, this had sealed Tommy's fate as far as Phil was concerned.

It was sandbox time.

This time all four of them were joined together in the box. Techno and Sapnap were busy trying to build some kind of pyramid together while Wilbur focused his own attention on Tommy. He'd barely left his baby brother's side since being patched up from his latest fall. Apparently, in his own words, Wil had tilted the totter with his feet and had sent Tommy head over hands.

Tommy didn't seem to care now that he'd been done up in plasters and given his refilled sippy cup. That didn't stop Wilbur from trying to build a castle around him, moat included. Phil was filming the kids again, glad he'd missed the last two tumbles at least. One fall was bad enough, he didn't need to give his wife more ammo about the kids truly putting their safety in the hands of god when Phil was left in charge.

It was bad enough his wife had taught Wilbur the phrase 'yolo', their eldest taking to it like it was a religion some days.

It was going to give Phil gray hairs sooner rather than later he was sure.

X-X

Much to Phil's full and absolute relief, the rest of the park visit had gone smoothly. Techno seemed to come out of his shell, making potentially his second friend for the year. Wilbur, with luck, had burned out a fair bit of energy with all his running about. Tommy, despite the tumbles, seemed to enjoy his time at the park and meeting new kids.

All in all, a good visit and one he couldn't wait to rewatch with his wife later.

For now, though, he needed to get the kids washed and changed out of their outside clothing. Dinner was a precooked meal from Kristin that Phil only needed to start reheating so at least that would be easy.

"Okay, time to get cleaned up now." Phil started to corral before Wilbur cut him off and picked Tommy up.

"I got it, dad." His son assured as he simultaneously nudged Techno forwards.

Phil paused with confusion.

"You sure? I can take care of your brother's, Wil." Phil stated as he moved to retake Tommy, only for Wil to step a bit faster ahead.

"No, I've got him. You just go cook dinner." Wilbur insisted.

It almost warmed Phil's heart at the gesture…if it weren't for that tone in Wil's voice that showed off his unease. The tone that indicated trickery was afoot.

"...Wilbur, give me your brother." Phil directed as he held his hands out expectantly.

Wil hesitated, fidgeting in place. Techno was glancing back at Wil and looked…oddly guilty.

"Wilbur" Phil repeated his sons name with a bit more sternness than before.

With a sigh Wilbur turned slowly and handed Tommy over to him. Phil settled the younger on his hip before looking him over briefly. He….he looked fine. So…what was Wilbur playing at?

He almost considered he was being too paranoid until Tommy gave it away. Phil had only barely started patting the kid down when Tommy dipped his hand into the large front pocket of his overalls and pulled out a fistful of gritty and spilling sand. Which he then released and dropped all over Phil's chest with a laugh.

"...Wilbur-"

"-I can explain."