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"Get up." Tommy demands, shaking Wilbur. He grabs Tommy's wrist, groaning. "Get up." Tommy repeats, shaking him with more vigour despite the loss of one of his hands. He presses his elbow against Wilbur's arm, shaking him that way. Wilbur shoves Tommy away, gently, and sits up sighing.
"What do you want, baby?" Wilbur yawns, holding a hand out as he scrubs at his eye with the other. Tommy takes it, trying to pull him to his feet.
Unfortunately, Tommy isn't strong enough.
Wilbur snorts, standing of his own accord and dragging Tommy into his chest, trapping him there and burrying his face in the boy's hair. "Daaaaad." Tommy whines, trying to pry Wilbur's arms from around him. "Shhh, too early." Wilbur grumbles, squeezing Tommy and pressing a kiss to the teen's scalp. "It's almost ten!" Tommy cries, trying to pull back. Wilbur doesn't let him, frowning at the attempt.
"Just accept your fate, hon." Wilbur huffs, tightening his hold more every time Tommy wriggles.
"Fuck you." Tommy spits, trying to free himself until the hold is too tight for him to move at all. "Dad!" Tommy yells, headbutting him in the shoulder. Wilbur sighs as loudly as he can, releasing his hold.
"You're so evil, Toms." Wilbur complains, allowing Tommy to snag his wrist and drag him over to his closet. "Get dressed, we're going to Phil's." Tommy tells him, opening the door. "Weren't you just at Phil's yesterday?" Wilbur asks, narrowing his eyes at his son. Tommy falters, then shakes his head. "Doesn't matter, just get dressed." With that, Tommy slinks out of the room before he can be questioned any further.
Wilbur stares at the door for a moment before sighing and resigning himself to whatever Tommy has planned.
⁕*⁕*⁕
Almost the moment they pull into Phil's driveway Tommy is rocketing out of the car, ignoring Wilbur's startled yelp. He races into the house, leaving Wilbur in the car, incredibly confused. Wilbur sighs again, turning the car off and undoing his seatbelt.
Tommy is never going to get any less confusing.
Wilbur follows, running a hand through his hair. He opens the door, and is surprised to find a few people crowded into the living room.
"Happy birthday!" They all say, but Wilbur is frozen, still processing. Then he turns his gaze to Tommy, who shrinks slightly. "You could've just told me, y'know. You didn't have to drag me out of bed." He huffs, grabbing Tommy's sleeve and pulling him over.
"But that's not fuuunn!" Tommy whines, crashing into his side and pouting up at him. Wilbur raises an eyebrow.
"Ok. Fine. Maybe I just wanted to annoy you." Tommy grumbles, ducking his head and burrying his face in the man's shoulder. Wilbur rolls his eyes, kissing the top of Tommy's head. "Christ, darling, you really are my son." He sighs, dragging Tommy to his chest.
"Awe! Look at how adorable they are!" Kristen coos, holding up her phone.
Wilbur sighs even louder. If it were anyone else, he'd flip them off, but Kristen is simply the best, and doesn't deserve that.
Tommy moves to burry his face in Wilbur's chest, hiding. Wilbur laughs, tightening his hold on the teen and pressing another kiss to his scalp. "She's right, sweetheart, you're adorable." He teases, letting go to look at Tommy, whose face is red and who is scowling.
"I am not!" Tommy protests, glaring at Niki when she laughs.
Wilbur just smiles, fond.
⁕*⁕*⁕
"Can we do cake now?" Tommy asks, looking up at Wilbur from where his head is resting on the man's thigh. "You just want to eat cake." Wilbur assumes, deviating from the monotonous movement of brushing the boy's bangs out of his face to poke him on the nose. "Maybe." Tommy shrugs, grinning up at him. "Fine," Wilbur sighs, going back to fiddling with Tommy's hair. "Whatever the child wants." Tommy sticks his tongue out at him.
Niki and Tommy share a glance, grinning, then she gets up.
Wilbur raises an eyebrow down at Tommy, who giggles. Wilbur's shoulders slump, the creature in his chest jumping with joy at the sound. "Wow, you are so soft." Techno snorts, reaching over Tommy, who is laying between them with his legs in Techno's lap, and shoving Wilbur's shoulder.
"Like you aren't." He scoffs, batting Techno's arm away. Techno merely rolls his eyes in response.
"Yes, yes, you all love me. Shut up." Tommy sighs, fairly dramatically, glaring at the ceiling with a dusting of pink over his cheeks. Wilbur chuckles, poking his cheek. "We do." He agrees, and Tommy's glare turns to him.
Niki enters the room, holding a box. Tommy springs up, startling Wilbur, and hurries over. He peers inside the box and starts cackling.
"Close your eyes." Tommy demands, spinning on his heel and grinning at his father. Wilbur raises an eyebrow, but complies. He hears shuffling and more of Tommy's giggling, which continues to absolutely melt his heart.
"Open your eyes." Niki says, giggling a bit herself.
Kristen is holding her phone up, clearly recording, Phil is doing the same with one of their vlogging cameras, Techno also has his phone out, Tubbo is just watching him intently, Ranboo is holding a box of matches he didn't have a second ago, and Niki is standing beside Tommy in front of the coffee table, grinning, both on either side of a cake. The cake looks.. interesting.
"Tommy..." Wilbur starts slowly. "Why is there a tile pattern of anteaters on the side of the cake?" Tommy just breaks into laughter.
Kristen grins, swiping at her screen and moving her phone around. Zooming in, probably. Ranboo snorts, holding a hand to his masked face. Phil looks like a proud grandfather, Techno is shaking with silent laughter and Tubbo has taken to staring at the cake with an expression that reveals just how hard he's trying not to laugh hard enough to send him to the floor.
"Read what it says." Tommy tells him instead of replying, bouncing on the spot.
Wilbur stares at Tommy for a moment before reluctantly getting up, stepping closer. The top of the cake is white, bordered by navy blue icing, just like the bottom of the print that wraps around the side, and there are three words piped onto the cake in light blue icing.
Congratulations, You're Old.
Wilbur stares at it for a moment then slowly turns his gaze to Tommy, who has already taken a step back.
Smart.
"You have-" Tommy is running before he can finish the sentence, he's learning! Wilbur is after him without a moment's hesitation, ignoring the laughter from everyone in the room. "Get back here you rat!" Wilbur yells, stiffling giggles as Tommy shrieks.
Unfortunately for him, Tommy seems to have spent at least some of his time at Phil's the day prior learning easy paths with which to avoid him.
He can still clearly hear laughter, so he assumes the cameras are following them. Tommy turns a corner, and Wilbur, only a few seconds behind, enters the hallway, only to find it empty. He takes a moment to catch his breath, then turns around.
"Which room?" Wilbur asks, directed to all of them.
Ranboo and Tubbo glance at each other, then shrug. Kristen bites her lip, interupting her laughter, shaking her head. She won't tell him, then. Techno is laughing at him, flipping him off over the phone. Wilbur returns that one. Phil is grinning, zooming in on him. Wilbur is sure to flip him off, too. Niki has pulled out her own phone, though she seems to just be taking pictures, as the device is currently pointed towards the floor.
Wilbur sighs, spinning on his heel and looking closer. One of the doors is slightly open.
He steps forward, looking closer at the other doors. The open one is just a distraction, one which Tommy has used too many times for it to work.
Right when he's about to consider that the ajar door might actually be where Tommy is, and he was just trying to make him think it was a useless distraction, Wilbur hears shuffling.
'Bingo.'
Wilbur wrenches open the door to the room where Tommy is, a spare bedroom, and lunges at him. Tommy shrieks, trying to dodge. He doesn't succeed, and Wilbur sends them both crashing to the ground, arms wrapped tightly around the blonde.
"No!" Tommy whines, going limp. He knows he's not going anywhere.
A few people pour into the room, holding their recording devices up and capturing the scene. "Help me!" Tommy whines again, picking up his struggling for the sake of the cameras. Wilbur grins, squeezing Tommy.
---
"Was it worth it, sunshine?" Wilbur asks, arms wrapped loosely around the boy's waist. Tommy nods, shovelling another spoonful of cake into his mouth. Rolling his eyes, Wilbur tightens his hold and leans back into the couch cushions, pulling Tommy with him. Tommy is sitting in his lap, after Wilbur had refused to let go of him, and flops back against the brunette's chest with unnecessary force.
"Brat." Wilbur huffs, pretending it isn't incredibly fond. The looks he gets from everyone tells him that they notice.
He flips them all off.
Except for Kristen, Kristen is wonderful and can do no wrong. Like Niki, who he also didn't flip off.
"You love me." Tommy says confidently, tilting his head back and grinning up at Wilbur. Somehow, he's gotten icing on his nose. Wilbur softens, kissing Tommy on the temple. "I do," He sighs, smiling fondly at the teen. "I do, sweetheart, I really do."
Tommy's grin widens, and he tilts his head back down and takes another bite of cake.
Wilbur shifts, leaning down and resting his forehead on Tommy's shoulder, closing his eyes.
"Oh my god! Take a picture, take a picture!" Kristen gasps, excited. Phil laughs, but he hears a camera shutter after a moment, so assumes a picture has been taken.
They stay exactly like that for a while, Tommy eventually leaning back against his chest and forcing Wilbur to accommodate. Wilbur burries his face in Tommy's hair, pressing a kiss to his scalp, ignoring the chatter around them.
"I think we should do presents now." Tubbo says, clasping his hands together loudly. Wilbur has a feeling he knows what Tommy is going to get him, but he doesn't really care. Even if Tommy got him a live anteater, Wilbur would still be happy because one, it's from Tommy, and two, Tommy would probably laugh himself half to death, which would be adorable.
"Wil?" Phil calls, checking if he agrees. Wilbur just grumbles, tightening his hold on Tommy.
"I'm taking that as a yes!" Tubbo chirps, shortly followed by a yelp as Ranboo is presumably pulled to his feet. Wilbur lifts his head, blinking a few times to clear his vision. Sure enough, Tubbo has a hand around Ranboo's wrist. They're both rummaging through the small pile of presents, which are stationed behind the cake, looking unreasonably excited.
Niki walks over, picking up two boxes and coming to sit beside him. Tommy tries to get up, but Wilbur pulls him right back down.
"Wait, where's Techno?" He asks, finally noticing the missing pinkette. "He said his gift was still in the car, so he went to go get it." Phil explains, picking up his own four gifts, two of which are from Kristen, and putting them on the arm of the couch before returning to his position beside his wife. "Wouldn't his car still be in America?" Wilbur questions, raising an eyebrow. "It's in our car." Kristen explains, grinning at Tubbo when he yells out in victory, holding up a small box shoddily wrapped with Christmas wrapping paper.
Ranboo just shakes his head, searching for something else.
Techno comes back inside, holding a giant rectangle of a box. It isn't even wrapped. Wilbur raises an eyebrow, and Tommy gasps. "Open this one first or I'm stealing your child." Techno threatens, somehow more deadpan and monotone than normal. Tubbo shouts in protest, but is ignored.
It's a joke, it's clearly a joke, but Wilbur pulls Tommy closer and narrows his eyes regardless. Techno snorts, handing over the box, which ends up mostly across Tommy's lap. Techno then hands Wilbur a pair of scissors, making it easier to open the box.
The process takes a bit, but the box is eventually pulled away, discarded onto the floor, revealing a guitar case.
Wilbur pauses for a moment, running his hand over the smooth surface. "Open the case." Techno huffs, and a glance over at him reveals crossed arms. Wilbur rolls his eyes, but reaches for the zipper. Tommy leans further into his chest, tapping at the side of the case with his nails. Wilbur is unfazed by the action, gasping when he opens the case.
In it is, of course, a guitar. One he's had his eye on for a while.
The guitar is electric, coloured a sunset sort of orange. The fretboard is a nice, dark wood, and the frets have pearl bars instead of just dots at 3,5,7,9 and so on, which Wilbur runs his fingers over.
"Open this one!" Tubbo thrusts the poorly wrapped box in his face, almost jumping with how much he's rocking on his heels. Wilbur takes the box, keeping the guitar steady with his other hand. Thank you, he mouths over to Techno, who nods.
⁕*⁕*⁕
"You tired, baby?" Wilbur asks, quiet enough that only Tommy hears.
All of the presents have been opened now, only two of which made him cry. One was a book from Kristen, housing a bunch of baby photos of Tommy. Sure, he already had them, but something about them being made into a book had hit him with a wave of emotion. The other was from the gremlin child himself, a picture, in a frame made of mini wooden hearts, of them from a few years prior. It was them hugging after Tommy's primary school gradution.
Tommy had always struggled a lot during primary school, and Wilbur is still just as proud of him now as he was then.
"No." Tommy denies, the word slurring slightly. Yeah, Tommy isn't going to be awake for much longer.
"I think you're lying to me." Wilbur hums, squeezing Tommy. "Fuck you." Tommy spits, twisting around to curl up in Wilbur's lap, wrapping his arms around his father's shoulders and burrying his face in the crook of his neck.
"Just go to sleep, sweetheart, it's alright." Wilbur murmurs, rubbing Tommy's back. Tommy grumbles, cursing Wilbur out for being 'magic' and 'a bitch', which he pays no mind to. Tommy will fall asleep soon enough, so Wilbur just hums, swaying slightly to the song only he and Tommy are hearing.
"Evil." Tommy slurs out before promptly falling asleep, going limp in his arms.
It isn't surprising, especially since Tommy ran around a few times throughout the day, and it is now well and truly dark outside. Wilbur is also a bit tired, and is, in all honesty, considering following his son's example.
Wilbur tightens his hold on the teen, resting his chin on Tommy's head. 'This,' Wilbur thinks, closing his eyes. 'Is the best birthday I've had in a very long time.'