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Phil had left Techno to babysit Tommy for the afternoon while he brought Wilbur to his dental appointment. The older brother often wondered how the blonde’s tiny physique was able to store the amount of energy needed to fuel the lively, spontaneous rascal that he was, however, after many trial and errors, and advice from his father, he had come up with a foolproof plan to maintain sanity between the two.
Tommy generally had two safe foods: chicken nuggets and mac’n’cheese (PB&Js used to be one, until Tommy hated the way the peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth). Rain or shine, if either of these was presented to Tommy with its signature red plate, the young lad would devour it as if it were a high class delicacy. Thus, when it came to providing lunch, Techno tied his long pink hair into a bun (pulling two strands out in front because he learnt it from Niki), whipped out a box of Kraft and frozen dino nuggets, and followed the instructions given.
Not long after, he plated the two items and served them with a side of ketchup before presenting them to Tommy, who muttered a quick ‘thank you’ and started stuffing his face. That was another thing Techno learnt, despite the countless reminders, Tommy never waits for his meal to cool down. Hence, Techno had deliberately left the food aside on the counter earlier for five minutes to prevent Tommy from spitting it back out.
"Hey Techno, look!"
Techno turned his head away from the dishes he was washing and cracked a grin when he saw Tommy bite the tail off the ketchup coated dino nugget and cry out an amusing scream.
Next, after lunch, was the easier part: sit Tommy down on the couch and turn the TV on to whatever kid friendly channels there were, afterwards removing the remote from the kid’s line of sight so he wouldn’t change the channel to anything that Phil wouldn’t approve of. Wilbur argued that it would be wrong to restrict and censor Tommy’s imagination and creativity, which just meant that it would be useless to try and purify Tommy’s mind with Sesame Street after the kid’s first word was "fuck" (Wilbur pretended that he wasn’t the one to blame).
Usually Techno would accompany Tommy and occupy himself with a book or finish up whatever school work he had left; however, currently the household was in the process of moving out, and Techno still had several belongings to pack before the movers came to pick up their stuff in the following week.
"Don't do anything stupid, ok?" Techno asked (Phil should be alright with the use of the word stupid, right?). Even though Tommy was too engrossed with the show in front of him, Techno took that as a yes and made his way to his room, keeping the door open so he could check on him every now and then.
The chatter of the TV echoed throughout the house as Techno packed away the clutter of books on his shelf that spilled into uneven stacks on the floor. He would’ve liked to have more shelves if it weren’t for Wilbur, because the twins shared the room. Which was why Techno was so thankful for the new house they were moving into, which provided an extra bedroom and bathroom, meaning everyone would have their own rooms.
Techno wouldn’t wake up randomly at midnight to Wilbur’s sleep talking, and Wilbur couldn’t complain about Techno leaving the table lamp on so he could read a little more. Hopefully, this also meant that the wait for the bathroom would also be obsolete, and Techno would no longer have to wait for Wilbur to finish his ten step hair care routine in the morning.
In the midst of delicately placing his cloth bound version of Frankenstein into the box, Techno paused, detecting the sound of boxes shuffling. He turned his head to the doorway, and his heartbeat quickened when he realised Tommy was no longer on the couch.
Abandoning the book, Techno shuffled his feet quietly into the living room, trying to take a peek at whatever his brother was doing and perhaps scaring him out of whatever chaos he was trying to create.
Thankfully, no vase was broken and no fire was started; instead, there was a sea of boxes in front of him, which was nonetheless confusing.
"Tommy, what are you doing?" Techno asked while Tommy was struggling to stack one of the spare empty boxes on top of two other boxes.
"Castle."
"Heh?"
"Castle!" Tommy repeated it with a huff of frustration.
Usually Techno hated when people repeated their answer louder as if it would make him understand, but in this case, it didn’t take long for him to realise what Tommy meant.
He took the box away from Tommy’s hands and placed it on top of the second box, and the young child applauded with such delight as if Techno had created rainbows and starlight.
"You want to make a castle?"
Tommy nodded vigorously.
"Alright then."
Thankfully, there seemed to be more than enough spare boxes lying around for this mini project of theirs.
Techno took the boxes that were already folded and created a sufficient-sized base, and Tommy helped stack the second layer of boxes.
The child had abandoned the project for a couple minutes, eyes glued to the TV, where it seemed that Elmo was arguing with his friends over some rock. During this time, Techno found some packing tape and used just a bit here and there to secure the walls of the castle.
"Do you want to place the last box?" Techno pointed to one of the boxes he had folded and then to the empty space on top of the castle.
Again, Tommy nodded.
Passing the box to his younger brother, he then kneeled down so he could lift him just high enough so Tommy could place the last box before he secured it in place with tape.
The end product was nothing fantastic, a mere three box tall cuboid shape with an extra box stacked in each of the four corners and two boxes removed for an entryway. Packing tape was used at random, and there was a stool inside as a makeshift throne.
It was nothing fantastic, but it was enough to make Tommy happy, and if Tommy was happy, then Techno was elated.
He presented his hand in front of Tommy for a high five.
"Good job, you did great." Techno ruffled his hand through Tommy’s blonde hair, each strand of hair radiated like sun rays that tangled between his fingers, hugging them with its warmth.
Tommy giggled, then dashed off to his room and came back running with a red cape tied around his neck, a paper crown placed on his head haphazardly, and an armful of stuffed animals.
"Ah, the king has arrived." Techno noted, cleaning up the materials around them before leaving, he supposed that the stuffed toys were there to keep Tommy company while Techno continued packing in his room.
However, that plan was put on hold when Tommy started tugging on the hem of his shirt furiously.
"You. Knight!"
Techno looked down at Tommy’s pleading expression for him to join his fantastical world. Unlike Wilbur, Techno had trained himself not to fall for the sad puppy-dog eyes Tommy always gives his family members when he wants something. Plus, Techno had been procrastinating on packing for a long time, and if he didn’t do it now, he wondered if he would ever finish.
Techno really tried to convey this message to Tommy.
Really tried.
"Listen Tommy I, um, I ca-" He stopped talking when Tommy’s attention was turned away from him and instead to the teddy bear that fell lopsidedly from its original sitting position in the castle.
The blonde quickly ducked under the entryway of the castle and playfully scolded the teddy bear for not staying still before giggling and placing him back upright.
Techno prided himself on being immune to Tommy’s puppy dog eyes, but immune to the way his blue eyes shone as if blue was always meant to represent happiness?
The kid came back out and looked at Techno hopefully.
He sighed.
"I can’t be a knight…" He trailed off and looked down at Tommy, whose eyebrows knitted together, "If I don’t have the right armour."
Tommy radiated back to life again, and the pair started trying to brainstorm ideas as to what materials could be used as protection for Techno.
"Oh, I got it. Wait here." Techno said, making his way to his kitchen and opening the cupboard to find a roll of tinfoil greeting him with the answer.
He grabbed it and made his way back to the living room.
"There’s not much left, but it will do."
Tommy rejoiced and took it upon himself to wrap the tinfoil around parts of his brother’s body.
"Now if you’re the king, and I’m the knight, what are Wilbur and Phil? Personally, I think Wil would be a bard."
"Bard?" Tommy asked, grabbing Techno’s right arm and wrapping foil around it.
"Oh, bards are kinda like poets, and they also do performances like singing, dancing, or acting."
"Ohhh," Tommy mused. "Wilby can sing…and act… but he cannot dance."
Techno chuckled at the unintentional insult Tommy had given, but he wasn’t wrong either. (Whenever he played Just Dance with him, Wilbur would put blood, sweat and tears into his dance movements, only to lose miserably to Techno whose energy was lacklustre)
"Phil is dadza!"
"Well, he’s already dadza in real life, shouldn’t he be something else here?"
Tommy shook his head.
It didn’t take much longer before the tin foil was used up and Techno’s arms and knees were secured with tinfoil.
Tommy clapped his hands together once again and made his way into the castle, climbing up the stool so he could oversee his kingdom.
Techno got down on one knee and bowed.
"Your majesty, what can I do for you?"
"There’s a big, scary dragon!" Tommy declared. "Kill it!"
Techno raised an eyebrow, and muttered to himself.
"I don’t see any dra-OH!"
Techno’s face was suddenly struck with something, and when he peered down, he found a ten-inch red stuffed dragon with a polite smile stitched onto it.
"Look out!"
Techno wished Tommy had warned him before throwing the toy at him, but nonetheless, he quickly looked around for anything that could be used as a makeshift sword and found the empty tin foil roll and used it as a means of attack.
Techno and the dragon fought each other awkwardly as he tried to make the fight seem tougher by deliberately throwing his sword aside as if the dragon had done that itself. He then fell down and raised the stuffed toy with both arms above him as if it had pounced on him.
"AH! Your sword! Be careful!" Tommy called out from the safety of his castle.
Techno groaned; his eyes stared back at the lifeless circles of black fabric with enormous fury. With sudden great vitality, he used both hands to grab the dragon’s neck and chokeslammed it onto the floor.
"I’m going to rip your arm off, you foul beast! How dare you attack my br- the king! You shall pay!" Techno declared and glanced at Tommy for a signal.
"YEAH RIP HIS ARM OFF!"
And like Beowulf, who, without weaponry, ripped off Grendel’s arm, Techno tore the right arm of the stuffed beast, letting its white fluff spill out, but unlike Beowulf, Techno did not let the dragon be the death of him.
"Your majesty." Techno walked back in front of the castle, where Tommy stood, and kneeled before him as he presented the arm of the dragon to him with both hands. "I believe the dragon is dead."
"We’re saved! Techno saved us!" Tommy rejoiced, and his face lit up with glee.
"That’s not all." Techno grinned. "I found the dragon’s secret cave, and it was piled with mounds of treasure and gold. I couldn’t take everything with me, but I decided to bring you this."
Techno instructed Tommy to close his eyes, and after that, he tiptoed to his room and grabbed the item that was desired off one of the hooks on his door.
"Open your eyes."
Tommy opened his eyes, which instantly widened, and he gasped at the gold coloured crown that Techno presented before him. It was decorated with bright jewels and shimmered under the living room light. Techno removed the paper crown from Tommy’s head and replaced it with the new crown, which fell on Tommy’s eyes.
"Look Techno! I’m just like you!" Tommy jumped up and down, and Techno couldn’t help but smile.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
"Hey, thanks so much for babysitting Tommy earlier today." Phil said when the two were alone in the living room.
"Eh, it was no problem, really."
"Heard a bunch of exciting stories from Tommy, sounds like the two of you had fun."
Techno turned to the castle, which had been pushed to the side so the TV was visible.
"We can settle that later, there are still a bunch of boxes we could use anyway." Phil reassured, sipping his cup of tea, "Anyway, I’m surprised that you were willing to give your crown away to Tommy. I remember you being around his age and begging me to buy it for you."
Techno would’ve been equally surprised too, but he remembered adjusting the crown on Tommy’s head so he could actually see, and when he met his eyes, full of exuberance and admiration, he couldn’t bear the thought of having him be any less bright and earnest than he was at that moment.
The moon was up, and the sun was at rest, and Techno merely told Phil that he was surprised that he hadn’t done so earlier.