Work Text:
“Happy Birthday dear Tommy! Happy Birthday to you!”
Tommy smiled as his friends and family ended the song. He took a deep breath and blew out the seven candles on his cake. Everyone cheered and clapped their hands. “Present time!” Wilbur announced, picking Tommy up from the stool he was standing on before carrying him to the living room couch.
“Oh! Oh! Tommy! Open my gift first!” Tubbo practically shoved his present into the boy’s hands.
“Hey! That’s also my gift!” Ranboo protested, and it was in fact both of their gifts as the card said: ‘Happy Birthday Big Man! -Tubbo & Ranboo.’ Definitely Puffy’s handwriting though.
Tommy laughed, “Okay!” He immediately went to destroy the wrapper, which made Phil sigh and go to the kitchen to grab a trash bag.
Tommy let out a gasp, “This is so cool!” He exclaimed, pulling out a stuffed moth.
“Tubbo and I put together our money to get it!” Ranboo said, proudly.
Tommy grinned and nudged them affectionately, “Thanks!”
The present opening continued and in the end Tommy had the stuffed moth, a train set from Techno, a little toy gun from Wilbur, and money from the adults. Phil’s gift was the only one left unwrapped.
Tommy grabbed it and opened it up to see a toy cell phone with a dorky smile on the screen. The boy lets out a gasp, “This was the one on the tv the other day!”
Phil chuckled, “Yup. Do you like it mate?”
“Uhuh,” Tommy said, pressing a random button, activating the toy.
“Hi! I’m chatbox!”
“I’m Tommy!”
“Tommy!” the phone repeated, the word displaying on the screen.
“You really needed to one up our gifts, huh?” Wilbur whispered to Phil.
Techno rolled his eyes, “Please, he’ll get tired of that thing in a week, tops.”
***
A week passed and Techno swore he could burn that phone to the ground. Arson allegations be damned!
“Pog! Pog! Pog!” Techno watched the phone from his seat from the couch as it repeated Tommy’s words over and over again, making the boy giggle.
“Tommyyy,” Wilbur whined from beside him. “Can we play now?”
“Wait! Wait! Me and chat are still talking,” Tommy frowned.
Techno could feel his eye twitching. He got up and went to the kitchen to see Phil, “I need you to get rid of that thing,” he demanded.
Phil looked up from his laptop, chuckling, “Get rid of what, mate?”
“Don’t act innocent Philza Mine-Craft,” Techno said, “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Phil!!” Wilbur came into the kitchen, looking like he was about to burst into tears, “Tommy hates me!”
Phil sighs, “He doesn’t hate you.”
“Yes he does and it’s all because of you and that stupid toy!” Wilbur exclaimed.
“Yeah! Kinda cringe to give him a toy to fit in with the trend!” Techno accused.
Phil smirked, “I’m detecting a lot of jealousy here,” he said, effectively making the two kids quiet down.
“I’m not jealous of a stupid toy!”
“I’m not jealous, you’re jealous!”
“Wilbur, that doesn’t make any sense!”
Phil just laughed as the two bickered, attracting their attention. “We’re not jealous,” Techno declared, as he grabbed onto Wilbur’s wrist, pulling him along, “We’ll prove it!”
***
“How do you even prove that you’re not jealous?” Techno asked, as he laid on his bed, bouncing a ball on the wall.
“I dunno,” Wilbur shrugged, going back to plucking his guitar “you were the one who said we’ll prove it.”
Techno hummed, thinking back to his brilliant idea earlier, “We don’t have to prove anything if the toy isn’t here any more,” he pointed out.
Wilbur looked up at him, “We’re not gonna destroy it, are we?”
Dang it. Techno though, “Finee, we won’t destroy it. Maybe…hide it for a bit? Once Tommy sees that it’s missing, he’ll forget about it.”
Wilbur hummed, “I don’t think we should do that,” he said. “Tommy loves chat, he’ll be really sad if you hide it.”
Techno rolled his eyes, “Whatever,” he said, completely set on doing it anyway.
***
Techno found the perfect opportunity after dinner. Tommy was sitting on the couch, tired because of the heavy dinner Phil served them, along with the fact that he didn’t take his afternoon nap.
“Chat, say I’m awesome and cool,” Tommy said, clicking on the phone.
“I’m awesome and cool!”
“No,” Tommy scolded, “I’m awesome, not you.”
“I’m awesome, not you!”
Tommy pouted, when he spotted Techno standing by the living room entrance. The kid smiled at him, “Techno! Chat’s being mean!”
Techno hummed as he approached the boy, “Why’s it being mean?”
“It’s not calling me cool an’-and awesome, when I am!” Tommy complained.
Techno couldn’t help but chuckle, “Maybe it’s ‘cause you stink.”
Tommy frowned at him, “I don’t stink.”
“You literally have mud on your shorts,” Techno pointed out.
“Mud is the sign of manliness!”
“Uhuh, and so is the smell of kids’ shampoo,” Techno said, “C’mon, bath time.”
Tommy groaned, “Chat, should I take a bath? Say no,” he said, clicking a button.
“Yes!”
Tommy squawked, and scrambled to click the other button, “No!”
“See!”
Techno hummed, “I dunno Tommy, pretty sure I heard a yes.”
“You need to get your ears checked, big man.”
“C’mon,” Techno said, crouching to lift the boy off of the couch.
“This is kidnapping! Phil! Help!” Tommy struggled againsts Techno’s hold, but by the time they arrived at the bathroom, he had calmed down and instead was pouting while his arms crossed his chest, the toy phone still clutched tightly in his hand.
Techno gently put Tommy down, “Put away chat for a bit yeah,” Techno said as he filled the tub, “Wouldn’t want it getting wet.”
Tommy hummed before putting chat in the space on the sink before hopping into the bath. Techno helped him wash his hair, massaging his scalp with the strawberry scented shampoo. He let out a chuckle as Tommy’s head bobbed forward, nearly slamming into the water.
“Don’t fall asleep now, Theseus,” Techno said as he began rinsing Tommy off. He got the boy wrapped in a towel and let him run off to his room to get changed.
Techno eyed the toy that was left on the sink. He pocketed it before following into Tommy’s room. The kid was all dressed up for bed, blankets already wrapped around himself. Techno took a seat on the edge of the boy’s bed and grabbed the book that had fallen off. “What do you want me to read you tonight?” He asked.
“Anything,” Tommy said.
Techno hummed, and settled with, “This is the story of Theseus…”
Whatever Phil put in those mashed potatoes, they were a menace. The kid was knocked out, not even a page later. Techno bumped his forehead gently onto Tommy’s, wishing him a goodnight before turning the lights off and leaving the room.
He walked the halls, fishing the toy phone from his pocket and hiding it in a loose floorboard under the desk that held an ugly vase. Completely inconspicuous, and he was sure that he was the only one who knew about this hiding spot.
This was the best plan he’s come up with.
***
This was a horrible plan.
Tommy was screaming, Wilbur was trying to calm him, and Phil was pacing around the whole house trying to find the stupid toy. “C’mon Tommy, are you sure you didn’t leave it somewhere?” Phil crouched down in front of the boy.
“I-I don’t remember…” Tommy sniffled. Phil sighed and gathered Tommy in his arms, most likely to bring him to his room to calm down.
Techno shuffled nervously from where he stood in the kitchen ‘looking’ for the toy. He watched as Wilbur’s eyes shifted to look at him. He immediately broke eye contact and proceeded to open a random drawer.
Footsteps approached and Techno was mentaly trying to come up with a plausible excuse. “I told you it was a bad idea,” Wilbur said, arms crossed, face twisted into a disappointed frown.
“Heh? I didn’t do anything,” Techno protested.
Wilbur scoffed, “Please, I can’t believe you’re actually denying it. You literally told me your plan yesterday!”
Techno groaned, “I didn’t think he’d cry about it!”
“He’s seven, of course he’s gonna cry about it!” Wilbur hissed.
Techno stayed quiet, not wanting to admit his mistake. It wasn’t his fault Tommy was ignoring him. He just acted…now that he thinks about it, childish.
“You really messed up,” WIlbur said, before retreating to the garden, joining Phil who had just come downstairs.
I know. Techno thought. He let out a frustrated groan. Techno glanced back at the living room where Tommy once stood, crying his eyes out.
He really did mess up.
As much as it pained him that he was being replaced by a toy. The sight of his little brother crying pained him more. Techno went upstairs and retrieved the phone from its hiding spot.
The darned phone was looking at him with it’s little colon capital d face.
It was taunting him.
Techno sighed as he stood up. He walked up to Tommy’s room and knocked. “Come in,” he hears a small voice say.
Technoblade opened the door and was met with Tommy in his bed, surrounded by all his stuffed toys, bundled up in his blanket, still sniffling. “Hi Tech,” the kid greeted him.
“Hey, I uhh,” he didn’t really know what to say. ‘Hey I found this toy I hid, want it back?’No, That's horrible. Instead, he held out his hand that was holding the toy.
Tommy let out a loud gasp, stumbling out of his little nest, grabbing the phone from Techno. “You found it!” He exclaimed, teary eyes quickly changed to a beaming smile. Tommy threw himself at Techno and hugged his waist tightly. “Thank you! You’re the bestest!”
Techno suppressed a flinch. Those weren’t the right words to describe him. He led Tommy to the bed, and sat the kid down. Tommy separated himself from the older, and looked up at him with an innocent smile.
“I umm, yeah, you didn’t lose the toy. I sorta…hid it,” Techno stuttered out.
Tommy’s smile dropped, replaced with a look of confusion as he processed what Techno had said, before shifting to a look of betrayal. “W—what? Why?” The boy asked.
“It’s just…ever since you got the toy, you’d ignore Wil or mine’s attempts to hang out and it’s frustrating,” Techno started, “I don’t get what’s so fun about that toy that you’d rather spend time with it than us! So, I thought, maybe if I hid it…you;d forget about it and come hang out with us again,” he sighed. “That probably wasn’t the best idea. I’m sorry.”
Tommy looked down at the floor, “Oh…okay. I’m sorry too, that I didn’t hanged out with you.”
Techno perked up, “Tommy, no, you don’t have to apologize,” he said.
“But I ignored you,” Tommy said, his voice cracking like he was about to cry again.
Techno sighed, pulling the kid closer, hugging him. “Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration.” Ignore was a strong word. The most Tommy did was not want to run around outside with him. It wasn’t like they didn’t have their nightly readings anymore or anything. “You having fun shouldn’t be something you worry about,” he said. “I was just,” he sighs, “...jealous.”
“Jealous?” Tommy repeated, trying to remember what the word meant. He looked up at Techno with a shit eating grin. “Aww, Techie! You don’t have to be jealous! You’re still the biggest, strongest, bestest in the whole whole world!”
Techno smiled at the boy, nuzzling his head in the crook of Tommy’s neck, making the boy giggle as Techno’s hair lightly pricked his skin. Techno was sure he didn’t deserve the praise. Not now at least. But he’ll be better, and maybe then he’ll be the ‘biggest, strongest, bestest in the whole whole world.’
***
When Wilbur peeked into the small opening of Tommy’s bedroom door, he saw his brothers fast asleep. Techno holding Tommy to his chest, and Tommy grasping the older’s shirt. In between them was the hated and loved phone. Wilbur chuckled to himself, silently closing the door shut.
He’ll leave them to have their moment.