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While Phil was setting up Tommy’s room for the playdate, he had set Wilbur, who had finally been given a proper conversation about what littlespace was, in charge of the little ones. Really, he was sure that he was never going to be a permanent caregiver for anyone but he didn’t mind looking after his little brothers if they needed it.
Right now, things definitely weren’t as chaotic as he had expected them to be, there was no yelling, no ‘blood for the blood God’, no whining, nothing that he had expected at all really from the loudest person he knew and the most violent person he knew.
“Are we feeling a bit shy?” Wilbur finally sighed, having been fed up with all the silence, they should have expected this really, neither boy was good at sharing their feelings so obviously a playdate was going to be a little scary at first, Phil seemed to think it would help them to be ‘little friends’ as he had called it.
Tommy nodded, Techno still frozen, arms wrapped around one of Wilbur’s for some comfort, seeing this, Tommy seemed to have newfound confidence. Really, Wil had always found it impressive how the boy was always willing to be the one to put himself out there if someone else also seemed uncomfortable too.
“You wanna be friends?” the boy piped up, craning his head to look at Techno, who nodded shyly
“Dad said he’s setting it up, i think it’s gonna be fun” Tommy hummed as he practically crawled over Wilbur to get to Techno, sitting beside him happily. Wil thought it was nice to see Techno slowly come out of his shell.
“Dad’s good” The piglin mumbled out, ears flopped down, causing Tommy to nod enthusiastically, it felt good having a proper system in place for when he felt small now; finding out Phil not only knew of but also supported regression had been such a breath air but finding out his (sorta) brother regressed made that seem tiny. Techno, who was probably the most stoic person he knew, was going to be his first little friend.
Everything was good.
“So guys” Wilbur chuckled, he loved the little ones but he struggled to know what to say, Fundy had been the only kid he was ever around and even then he hadn’t really been there for most of his childhood, what with the war and such.
“Big news on uhhhhhh shapes lately huh?”
Letting out a giggle, Techno finally propped himself up, sitting on his knees as he turned to Wilbur and poked the musicians cheek
“Silly”
The small action prompted Tommy to do the same, clambering over the pair to sit on his lap before poking him too, letting out loud laughs, Wilbur needing to hold onto him so he didn’t fall backwards off the couch. Admittedly, this hadn’t been the intended effect of his question but he was glad nonetheless.
At least they were laughing, not crying. Crying children was always a bad thing.
“Boys?”
Phil called as he made his way downstairs, a gentle smile making its way to his face as he heard his makeshift family all laughing together. This was good, this was working out well, everyone was happy. Seeing how they were both climbed on top of Wilbur, laughing their heads off at the fact they were able to poke him, he had to hold back a little chuckle, taking a moment to snap a photo to set as his back screen later before carefully lifting both boys off their older brother.
“You two ready for your playdate? I’ve got you some nice new things, Tommy, since you didn’t have a lot of stuff already”
Blonde hair flopping back and forth, Tommy hopped from foot to foot, clearly excited about what Phil had set up, next to him Techno wore a little grin, hands playing with his sleeves, anxious to be able to go get his favourite pig stuffie from his room.
“Da-”
“Piggy’s already in Tommy’s room, Tech’, don't you worry about that”
And so, the boys were led upstairs, Tommy jumping up each individual step, restless energy bustling through him. It really did feel like an eternity before they got to the room.
But it was so worth it.
Tangled was playing on the TV, it was Techno’s favourite film for when he felt small and while they were in Tommy’s room, last time they had slipped they’d watched Up for Tommy, so it only seemed fair. In front of the TV, Tommy’s bean bags were situated with Techno’s piggy on one and Tommy’s teddy on the other, the two both having rushed forward to grab their friends. All of Tommy’s projects had been cleared from the desk, replaced with colouring sheets, crayons, and a big plate full of things for them to snack on while they played (all healthy snacks of course, Phil didn’t want them to get poorly,) and next to the plate, there were two pacifiers and two sippy cups.
Briefly, after Tommy had whined about being a ‘big boy’ and how he ‘didn’t need the baby things’, Phil explained that they only had their juice in the cups because if they were playing they were less likely to spill anything and that the pacifiers were only really there if they got sleepy and wanted one. Since Tommy had still only regressed in front of them once, and that was when he was sick so even then it wasn’t the most accurate, Phil had wanted to get an array of items for different age ranges, not really knowing yet what age Tommy liked slipping to most.
The two seemed content with that and continued to explore the room, on the bed there were two outfits, one for Techno and one for Tommy; Techno being given a fluffy footie onesie (technically he never really regressed below 5 or 6 and didn’t really need them but Phil found they always made him happy) and an equally fluffy pyjama set for Tommy, still not really knowing what kind of age the boy leaned to.
Also on the bed was a big box ready for the boys to tear open, filled with lots of games and toys for Tommy specifically since he only really had a bear when they found out he regressed but Phil was sure the two would have fun playing together.
“I’m going to be downstairs doing some work with the bees, you two be good okay? Anything happens you can get me or Will and we’ll fix it right back up”
After a lot of hugs and a forehead kiss each, Phil had left the room and the two were free to play.
“Wanna open it?” Tommy smiled as he hopped only the bed, groaning when Techno shook his head and pulled him back.
“Gotta get changed first. Dad says it’s not good to be little in big clothes, ‘case they get messy”
Techno went to the clothes on the bed, passing Tommy the pyjama set while he picked up his onesie. Giving out a little whine, Tommy lifted up the fluffy pyjama shirt, it had little dinosaurs on it and all over looked just like a bigger version of some kiddie clothes which made him smile.
With Techno leaving to get changed in the bathroom and Tommy getting changed in the bedroom, they both got into their respective outfits.
“You’re silly” Techno giggled as he walked back into the room, the hood to the onesie being flipped up, his pig ears poking out little slits that Phil had put there
“Tops backwards!”
Craning his neck around, Tommy tried to see if Techno was right, whining a little when he felt the label rub against his chest. Being the older of the two, Techno was quick to try and help out, carefully pulling his little brother's arms inside the shirt before twisting it around and putting his arms back in.
“All done!” Techno smiled when he saw Tommy grin, in his eyes little Tommy was still new to their dynamic and he wanted to make it as easy as possible for him to transition from being little alone to with a family, it meant a lot to him that Tommy was able to be happy.
“All done!!” Tommy echoed, finally clambering up onto the bed to check out all their new toys.
As expected there was a wide wide range of different toys, some obviously meant for younger kids while some were meant for kids as old as 10 or 11, some that were very gender neutral (such as stuffies and play doh,) some that were obviously aimed at little boys (such as race cars and action figures,) and even some that were aimed at little girls (like dolls and pretend jewelry.)
Overall, Phil had wanted to make sure that wherever Tommy fell on the age range he’d have something to do, as well as wanting to let him know that he was allowed to play with any kind of toy he liked and it didn’t matter if it wasn’t ‘manly’ enough for him since after all it didn’t really matter as long as he was happy.
The first thing Tommy pulled out of the box was a foam sword, bapping Techno with it a few times, purposefully not putting much effort into it since he didn’t want to hurt him for real, causing the piglin to giggle and swat the sword away. It wasn’t long before he got bored of that though, pulling out a variety of cuddly toys, some bigger than others. Very quickly, the boy seemed to fall in love with a big unicorn stuffie, the toy in question being so big he couldn’t fully get his arms around it.
“You look silly” Techno smiled, holding Piggy to his chest as he watched his little brother flop backwards with the unicorn.
“Silly Tommy” he hummed sweetly.
Eventually the boys had both settled on playing with some play doh, Techno being the one to insist that they needed to pull out the plastic mat first since they didn’t want it in Tommy’s carpet. While initially Tommy had whined about having to set up even more things before they could play, he complied when Techno said something about Phil getting mad if they were to ruin the floor.
To Tommy, it definitely seemed like Techno had experience with getting play doh stuck in carpet.
“Making you Techie!” Tommy had chirped as he mushed some pink playdoh in his hands, trying to mimic the shape of a pig with his limited creative abilities.
“I’m gonna make you too!” Techno giggled, reaching for the red tub and trying not to mix it too much with the white, he seemed to be a lot more careful about that than Tommy, who had already mushed together multiple colours.
Neither of the boys were sure when exactly the plate of snacks had been moved from the desk onto to floor with them but it had.
While the two played together, Tommy progressively getting more sleepy and leaning against his big brother, crumbs of animal crackers, smears of peanut butter and puddles of juice from sippy cups left tipped over surrounded them, painting them easily as the cause for the mess.
After a while Tommy had given in completely to his headspace and accepted the fact that he needed a nap, falling asleep still curled up against Techno, hands still caked in playdoh.
Needless to say, while Techno did find the sight of his younger brother sweet, he hardly wanted to get playdoh on his onesie so he very gently moved Tommy to be leaning against one of the bean bags, replacing the hug that had once enveloped Techno with his teddy bear. Getting up, the piglin suddenly seemed to notice just how mucky he and Tommy already were, it definitely seemed like something he’d need grown up help for cleaning up so he was quick to toddle downstairs and wiggle his way onto the couch with Wilbur.
“Wilby? You know where Dad is?”
Wilbur seemed incredibly honoured that the little had trusted him enough to come to him, the nickname just being icing on the cake at this point.
“I do but he’s a bit busy right now, you think I could help with anything?”
Techno seemed to think for a moment before nodding and grabbing onto Wilbur’s hand, mumbling something about a ‘mess’.
Entering the room, it was clear that leaving two little boys unsupervised during a playdate had been a terrible idea, it truly did look like a couple of children had just been let loose, there was toys everywhere, food everywhere, Will was just glad they had had the foresight to lay down the mat for the playdoh.
“Okay..” Will chuckled, running a hand through his hair “I’m gonna deal with this, you think you’re big enough to go wash your hands for me? I’ll get Tommy all tidy too”
Techno nodded enthusiastically, excited to be given a job even if it was to just go wash his hands, he was happy he was able to do what Wilbur wanted.
After washing his hands, Will had given him a couple more easy tasks, like putting away toys or making sure the stuffies were all happy. Helping out really did give him a great sense of accomplishment, even if he wasn’t doing much. While Techno asked each stuffie if they had a ‘boo boo’, Will had gently wiped down Tommy’s mucky hands and carefully carried the boy into bed, deciding that hoovering up all the crumbs could be done after naptime.
“Tech’? I think you should be getting some rest too, huh?” Wilbur raised an eyebrow as he sat across from Techno, who had been in his own world playing with the stuffies.
“Nu uh! ‘M bigger than Tommy is! He’s super little” Sticking out his tongue, the piglin crossed his arms over his chest.
“Hmm? But you’re still little aren’t you? And anyway I dont think being a big boy means you can’t take naps, I take naps all the time!”
The reminder that taking a nap didn’t mean he was suddenly a baby seemed to give him a little comfort as he hugged Piggy to his chest as slowly got up, holding Wilbur’s hand with his free one. There was still an indignant little pout on his lips but he was a lot more docile as Will helped him into Tommy’s bed, tucking both boys in.
Before Will could leave the two, Techno gave off a little whine, always finding it hard to vocalise when he wanted things, no matter how old his headspace was at the time. Instead of struggling with words he just tugged on Wil’s sleeve and pointed to Tommy’s desk, the only items left untouched being the pacifiers.
“You want a binky? Is yours the pink one?” Will smiled, grabbing the pacifier for him as soon as he was given confirmation that he wanted the pink one.
Grinning, Techno immediately popped it into his mouth and began suckling once the comfort item had been handed to him.
Once again Will tried to leave, only to be stopped by Techno whining, this time however he spoke up.
“Dad norm’lly reads a story” He had muttered, words slurring because of his headspace and becoming muffled from the pacifier.
“I can read a story! I’ll go get one from your room since I don’t think Tommy has any”
Techno eyed him for a minute, presumably trying to decide if he was just trying to leave or if he’d really return with a story, eventually he decided that Wilbur was trustworthy and let him go.
Thankfully, Wilbur did return with a storybook and it was one of Techno’s favourites, he’d probably asked Phil about what one he should grab. Pulling up a stool to the side of Tommy’s bed, Will made a point to make sure both boys were snuggled up well enough before he opened the first page and started reading, the book in question being the Gruffalo.
Wilbur had given each character a distinct voice and while it was different to how Phil usually read it, Techno was still very much relaxed from the story, reaching out to hold Wilbur’s hand halfway through (Which Will had thought was adorable and had to stop himself cooing at)
By the last page, Techno was asleep, curled into Tommy, surrounded by stuffed toys. Both boys looked genuinely at peace and happy and just for a moment Will was reminded that even through all of their trauma happiness would always find a way.