"Wilby! Come play with me!" Tommy insisted as he tugged on Wilbur's shirt.

"Not now, Tommy. I'm busy." Wil replied with a slightly annoyed huff as he shifted further up onto the couch so that his brother would lose grip on him.

Tommy pouted up at him as he crossed his arms as best he could around his new cow plush. It had been a gift sent to him by their grandparents and Tommy had yet to put it down. Wil had found it cute at first, until the demands for playtime started to settle in.

For the past few days Tommy had insisted his brothers both play with him using their own plushies since now they 'all matched', despite it being a whale, a pig and a cow…Okay so the pig and cow kind of matched, but that was beside the point. As much as Wilbur loved Jubilee, he didn't want to play with her all the time.

"But, you're just making noises on it. You're not even playing anything." Tommy protested as he frowned at the instrument in Wil's hands.

"It's called 'practicing', Tommy. Its how you get better at things." Wilbur replied as he rolled his eyes, "Go bother dad or something."

Tommy let out a frustrated grunt before stomping his foot and glaring up at Wilbur. He kept still and waited for his brother to look up and make eye contact.

He didn't.

"I'm not going to play with you, Toms. Either go to dad or play by yourself."

With another disapproving noise Tommy turned and stomped as loud as he could away from the couch. Tommy was just about to the hallway when Wil called out to him.

"And leave Techno alone. He's not feeling good."

In response Tommy only turned and stuck his tongue out at Wilbur before heading down the hall. Wil rolled his eyes and returned to his practicing.

x-x

Tommy didn't need Wilbur to tell him what to do. He could do what he wanted and talk to who he wanted. He could certainly play with who he wanted to too.

Pushing the door to Wil and Techno's room open slowly Tommy peeked inside. There was the usual mild mess of toys and books on the floor, but Techno wasn't among them. Instead Techno was tucked into his bed nice and cozy as he sniffled quietly. Tucked in his arms was a familiar pink piggy plush.

Not to be deterred Tommy inched his way into the room and slowly approached his other brother. Techno didn't notice him at all, what with his eyes being closed and such. Tommy waited until he was at Techno's bedside to speak.

"Techy." Tommy 'whispered', causing the other to jump slightly.

Hugging the pig tighter Techno turned over enough to look towards Tommy. He was a bit paler than normal and his eyes were a bit…reddish, but other then that Tommy thought he looked just fine. Perfectly enough to play.

"Tommy?" Techno asked, voice surprisingly raspy, "What'r you doin' in 'ere?"

"I-I wanted-" Tommy stammered before seeming to find his words once more, "Wilby wouldn't play with me, so I was going to ask you."

"I can't, Toms. I'm sick." Techno replied with a wheezy sort of breath, "You shouldn' be in 'ere."

"But, Henry is bored." Tommy started to whine, holding up his plush as if that would help his case.

"Tommy!"

Wilbur's shout from the door behind him had him jumping almost out of his skin.

"I told you to leave Techno alone! You could make him worse keeping him awake!" Wil scolded as he stomped into the room and took Tommy by the arm.

Techno let out a whine himself as he covered his ears and rolled so he was once more facing away from the door. Wilbur glanced over at the noise and instantly his anger softened, at least out loud. He was still holding onto Tommy tight enough that he couldn't wiggle free.

"Sorry, Tech." Wil apologized quietly as he pulled Tommy further towards the door, "I'll make sure he doesn't come in again."

Techno only nodded before disappearing under his blanket.

Wilbur tugged Tommy all the way out of the room and closed the door softly behind them. As soon as it was done Wil turned on Tommy with an angry frown, hand still firmly on his brother's arm.

"I told you not to go in there." He started with despite Tommy's struggles against his grip.

"I don't have to listen to you! You aren't the boss of me!" Tommy yelled, only to be instantly shushed by Wil.

"Stop yelling. What part of 'Techno isn't feeling good' don't you understand, you brat?" Wil snapped giving Tommy's arm a pointed tug.

"You're hurting me! I'm going to tell dad!" Tommy continued to shout, thrashing about and debating dropping to the floor.

"I'm not hurting you, you're just being a pest!" Wilbur scolded further, voice rising, "Go and tell dad then! I'll just tell him you were bothering Techno!"

"I wasn't bothering him! I was just asking-"

"You were bothering him! And you were bothering me too. Just, go play somewhere else, Tommy! No one wants to play with your stupid cow right now but you!"

Tommy hugged Henry close to his chest, further words not coming to mind nor falling from his mouth. His arm hurt, his chest hurt and he could feel his eyes watering. All he could do was stare at his elder brother with wide eyes.

He didn't want to look at him anymore.

With a sharp tug of his arm Tommy pushed passed Wilbur and darted for his own room. He heard Wilbur call his name but he was already slamming the door shut to his own room, sitting against it so it couldn't be opened. He dropped his head onto his cow's and tried his best not to cry.

…

He hoped Henry didn't mind his head getting wet.

There were knocks at his door along with Wil's muffled voice, but Tommy wasn't paying attention. A second voice interrupted another knock and before long there were footsteps leading away down the hall.

x-

Tommy lay on his stomach on the floor with his head rested on his hands. He was facing Henry and had just had a 'very long' talk with him about how Wilbur was being a meany butthead. Henry, of course, fully agreed with him. How could he not when Wilbur had insulted him?

However, now that both he and Henry had finished venting to each other they just sat and stared into each others faces. There was a reason Tommy hadn't wanted to go and play alone in his room earlier. There was nothing to do in there, not with Henry. At least, not that Tommy cared to do today.

It was at this point that Tommy both heard and felt the rumbling in his stomach.

His father had yet to call him to lunch… but he knew there was pudding in the fridge.

Pushing himself up on his hands Tommy picked up Henry and proceeded to make his way out of his room and towards the kitchen. He hummed to himself as he petted Henry's head as they traveled. Henry liked being pet, especially on top of his head.

Tommy smiled to himself as he turned into the kitchen, barely noting that his father was standing at the counter. His dad didn't seem to take note of Tommy's entrance either until the fridge was opened, or attempted to opened. It was still a bit hard for Tommy to do on his own.

"Hey, mate. What you looking for?" His dad asked as he stepped closer, helping his son and peering inside it himself.

"I'm hungry." Tommy stated plainly, eyes already landing on the pudding resting on the snack shelf.

"Well, have a juice for now. I'm making lunch as we speak." The man said as he reached for a half filled sippy from earlier in the day.

"But, I'm hungry now." Tommy whined with a pout.

"I know, but it'll be done in a few minutes. Even if it wasn't, you aren't having pudding for lunch." His dad stated firmly as he now shooed Tommy away from the fridge and closed the door, "Puddings are snack only. Go play for a bit longer, okay? I promise food will be ready soon."

Tommy held onto the cup he'd been given as he stared up at his dad, lower lip quivering. However, he could tell his father wasn't going to break so easily. Not on this at least. Not this time. Even mid pout Tommy slowly lifted the sippy to his mouth. Just because he was angry didn't mean he wasn't also thirsty.

Oh, this was the berry juice. Berry juice was sweeter than apple. Tommy hummed his approval and turned for the door and headed into the living room.

Wilbur was still on the couch and strumming at his instrument. It wasn't a song or anything so Tommy didn't bother to linger and listen. Instead, he noted that the back door was open to let in the fresh warm summer air.

Without hesitating Tommy walked to the door and stepped outside. He didn't notice the pause in the music behind him as he moved to sit in the grass. It had grown pretty tall lately and it tickled at his legs making him giggle a little.

Plopping down on his butt Tommy sipped at his drink as he placed Henry ahead of him once more. As he stared at his plushy Tommy couldn't help but think…Henry also looked really hungry. Lucky for him cows ate grass, and there was a lot of it.

With a smile Tommy placed a hand on Henry's back and started to help him eat, nudging his face into the green stalks. Because he was so nice he was going to let Henry eat as much as he wanted and not tell him 'no' just because other food was going to be ready soon. Henry wanted the grass and Tommy didn't see any reason he couldn't have it. In fact, Henry was going to eat all the grass and when his parents came out looking they would-

"What are you doing?" A voice asked from nearby making Tommy's head snap up.

He didn't know the voice and it sounded really close. Looking around Tommy's face scrunched in confusion at seeing another boy on the other side of the fence. Tommy could only see his face, but he had a yellow smiley face sticker on his cheek.

"I'm feeding Henry." Tommy answered as he placed his sippy cup on the ground.

"Feeding him?" The boy echoed with a laugh.

Tommy nodded, petting Henry with his other hand before going back to 'feeding' him.

"He was hungry so I'm feeding him. He'll probably need a walk after cus of all the grass-"

"You don't take cows for walks." The boy cut him off and making Tommy frown.

"Yes you do. Cus they get full."

"No. When a cow gets full they just get turned into burgers." The boy explained, a wide grin spreading over his ace as he laughed again.

Tommy's eyes widened at that as he quickly pulled Henry to his chest in a tight hug. The boy only laughed louder for a moment before being cut off, his eyes snapping to the house door.

"Hey! Screw off before I turn you into a burger!" Wilbur shouted, already a step out of the door and glaring at the other boy.

The kid took off down the alley, his laughter echoing off the walls for a second before it went silent again. At least, from the outside of the house. From inside Tommy could hear his dad shouting something to Wilbur about his mouth, but his brother didn't seem to care. Instead Wil kept his gaze down the alley with a frown on his face.