Chapter Text
Waking up to a screaming child wasn’t what Phil thought his day would start like. But he was no stranger to night terrors and crying kids. So, rushing to the room where the shout came from, knocking on the door gently and going inside to sit on the end of the bed wasn’t anything he hadn’t done before.
His 3 kids were all different when it came to this. Tommy liked to have his hands held, gently swaying them from side to side. He once told Phil that it helps when someone is humming nearby or would turn the small radio that sits on his nightstand to static. Techno always wanted to be bundled up in blankets. He preferred the ones that his family was constantly using, saying that the smell of home calms him down. His noise cancelling headphones were always in arms reach, no matter in which room they were.
Wilbur was a bit different. He hated touch, noise or anything that indicated that a human being was nearby. However, Phil noticed that he calmed down faster if he was with people he trusted. It didn’t happen often that he had such a bad day that it would show. He preferred to keep his true feelings hidden until they burst forth and tried to destroy everything in its path.
So, Wilbur waking up like this from a nightmare wasn’t usual. Phil went to his room nonetheless. He was sure that Tommy and Techno both woke up from the noise but didn’t care enough to check on them first. His goal was to get to Wilbur as fast as possible.
As he arrived in his room, he could smell sweat. The windows had condensation on them and in a pile of pillows and blankets sat his son. He was shivering and sweating bullets. His eyes held a frantic look in them as he tried to focus on anything around him. His mouth was opening and closing at a slow rate, but he seemed so out of it that he wouldn’t be able to form any words. His hands were gripping tight on his arms, knuckles white and nails digging into skin.
Phil wasn’t sure what to do. But truth be told, he already set his mind to helping. Cracking open the window just so much that a slight breeze is coming in and the air won't get even thicker was his first step. After that he made sure that all the light from outside was blocked off. Only the little lamp on Wilbur’s desk was on and turned away, shining towards the wall instead. Walking downstairs to get make a cup of tea was his next step. Peppermint and camomile were his go-to whenever his kids needed to calm down.
He was almost running up the stairs, being mindful of not spilling the tea, when he stumbled across Tommy sitting opposite of Wilbur's door, head nodding off to the side and hands clutching his stuffed dog. It brought Phil a small smile. Before he entered the room, he shook Tommy and told him to go back to bed.
In the room, Wilbur was still sitting in his bed, haunted look on his face. Only now he was scratching on his already red arms. Phil knew that it was of no use to take his hands away from his arms, as it would send Wilbur further into his panic. Instead, he sat down at the end of the bed, holding onto Wilbur’s favourite mug and starting to hum one of Wilbur’s songs.
It took a while for Wilbur to calm down enough to acknowledge Phil and take the cup of tea in his own shaking hands. He turned himself to have his back against the wall, knees still up and close to his chest. Phil noticed the small shaky breaths he was releasing. Still, it did nothing to calm his own nerves, seeing Wilbur be so distraught.
Slowly, tears started to form in Wilbur’s eyes and with a little sniffle he started to cry. His shoulders shook and he hurried to push the cup towards Phil. Even in this state he worried about getting things dirty. Phil took the cup gently and put it on the desk. When he turned back around, he got closer to Wilbur, offering him a hug. Wilbur took a second to think about it, but nodded to show him that it was ok to touch him.
Phil sat down next to Wilbur, throwing an arm around his shoulders and rubbing circles with his thumb on Wilbur’s arm. The hug didn’t stay like that for long. Tommy came into the room on his tip toes, followed by a sleepy looking Technoblade. Both had their blankets in hand. They made their way over to the bed and sat themselves in front of Wilbur, silently asking to hug him too. This time Wilbur didn’t need so long to decide and accepted their outstretched arms quickly.
Before Phil knew it, all of his boys were fast asleep, huddled together, all leaning on the wall. He let out a quiet breath, picking up the tea, which Wilbur didn’t drink. Going back downstairs, he put it in the sink and made his way to the sofa. Phil wasn’t able to keep is eyes open for long. He was content sleeping on the sofa, as long as it meant that his sons were now feeling better.