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“Thanks a bunch, guys. We hope he won’t be too much trouble.” Tubbo said, patting Tommy’s arm. He grinned. “Of course not, I love the little guy! We won’t be in any trouble.”
Phil, next to him, glared. “I’ll keep them safe, I promise,” he said. Ranboo grinned. “Thanks for this. We’ll pay you back. We just really need to get started on the hotel without Michael worrying us.” he sighed. Phil nodded. “Understandable.”
Tubbo turned to Tommy, handing him a list. “His milk is in the fridge, it’s the store bought kind so I know you know how to heat it and feed him- he gets tummy time before he gets fed and his pacifier is in the drawer closest to the fridge, and don’t forget he can crawl now so be careful, there’s detailed instructions on the fridge, we’ll be home by 5-”
“I know, Tubbs. Go, leave us alone.” He scoffed, shifting the small piglin on his hip and pushing his friend out the door. The couple waved, heading off to work.
“So.”
“So.”
Tommy awkwardly moved away from the avian, scratching his neck. “Look, I know we haven't had the best track record. But we can band together for this, right?” he asked. Phil shook his head, sighing. “Sure, tommy. But I can’t promise you any further.”
Tommy grinned. That was good enough for him.
~~~
“Can you babysit?”
That was a question he thought he’d never hear. Ever.
But it was Ranboo, and he was getting worried- The BnB wasn’t done, and it was getting to the point where he and Tubbo were so stressed that they collapsed every so often-
Of course Phil had agreed. He somewhat understood baby stress. His mate had had it often, when she was carrying their eggs, and after laying them-
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Sure, Ranboo. When?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
~~~
“Come on, he’s your nephew! You have to take something of an interest in him, please!” Tubbo yelled angrily. Tommy crossed his arms, huffing out his reply. “You already heard me. I’m not going to take care of a baby. I’ve done that already!”
“Please, tommy!” Tubbo looked to be on the verge of tears, his eyes big and bright, pleading.
No, not the eyes- not the pleading eyes-
Damn it.
“Fine! I’ll do it.” He threw his hands up, exasperated. Tubbo sniffled. “You mean it?”
“Yes, I mean it.” Tommy sighed through his nose. The air was knocked out of him as Tubbo hugged him, grinning. “Thanks, bestie! You have no idea what this means to me!” He called, running off. “Whatever!” Tommy called after him. He turned back into the Big Innit, rolling his eyes.
Damn it.
~~~
The little guy was so quiet.
Phil toyed with one of his hooves, marvelling at how small he was. He could remember when Techno was this small- maybe just a little bit bigger, but still small. Tommy came in with his playmat, setting it down on the floor. He rubbed the embroidered bees fondly, grinning as he recognized Technoblade’s signature at the bottom of it. “Is that the playmat?” Phil asked.
Tommy nodded silently, taking the sleepy Michael from Phil and placing him on the mat, getting down on his belly with him. “Come on, bud. Can you get on up for Uncle Tommy?” he cooed. Phil laughed.
Tommy turned to him, annoyed. “Oh, come on. He’s a baby, babies like this sort of thing.” he turned back to Michael, who was now up on his knees. “Yeah, buddy! That’s it!” Tommy cheered. Micael gave him a lopsided grin and continued to crawl around the already sectioned- off, baby- proofed living room. “I can’t believe you can actually talk like that seriously.” Phil giggled. “Yeah, well, I had to learn.” Tommy snapped, grinning as Michael sat up, braced by a soft pillow. He handed the baby a rattle, also made a ;one time ago by Technoblade. “Can you make him some breakfast?” Tommy asked. Phil nodded, getting up and going to the kitchen.
“Can you hand me the square? Yes! Go, Michael!” a baby’s giggle.
Phil smiled softly as he looked in the fridge for the milk, frowning when he couldn’t find the usual carton. “Where did he say the milk was?” He yelled to Tommy. “In the fridge! Yes, Mic! That’s the circle!” came the reply.
Phil scratched his head, a crow spokesperson flying in to sit on his shoulder. He sighed as a steady stream of
“Bllindza blindza blind philza phil yes the milk right there blindza dadza loser haha milk milk” came from the crow’s mouth. He stuck a finger out a nearby window, hoping the crows atop tubbo’s roof saw the gesture.
“Phil. it’s right here.” Tommy said, balancing Michael on his hip and holding a carton that DEFINITELY hadn’t been there before. Phil scowled. “I didn’t recognize it.”
“The design on the box changed, Phil.” Tommy sighed, pouring the correct amount into a small pot and heating it on the stove. He hummed a tune, one of Wilbur’s from when they were kids… A lullaby of some sort.
“What song?” Phil asked quietly. Tommy stopped abruptly, stirring. He didn’t say anything, just shifted Michael to the other hip and kept stirring.
“I can take the baby.” phil offered. Tommy nodded, giving him Michael. Phil cradled the piglin, frowning when his face scrunched up and he began to wail. “Hold him right, dad.” Tommy rolled his eyes.
Phil adjusted his arms and Michael stopped. Tommy waved them out of the kitchen, starting to hum again. Phil sat on the couch, Michael in his lap. “You’re a conundrum.” He said quietly to the small piglin. Michael just smiled, clapping his little hooves together. Phil smiled, remembering when he’d held his sons just like this- when he could. Techno would nap, when he wasn’t awake and trying to walk he was asleep. Will was always crying. Tommy… Phil frowned. He’d held Tommy, as a baby. Right?
He couldn’t remember. He chalked it up to old age and shrugged, opening a nearby window for a crow. She hopped onto his shoulder, cawing. “What’s up?” He asked. Michael reached for the crow, cooing. “No- oh, god.” Phil cursed as the crow cawed, butting her head against his little face. It turned to Phil, opening its mouth.
“ Techno technoblade pog Philza dadza caw caw michael pog piglin philza ” it cawed. He rolled his eyes, noting the gold bow tied around the crow’s neck. “Crow, he’s fine. Go with the other birds, you nerd.” Crow flew off, squawking. Michael waved goodbye, laughing as the crow circled overhead twice before leaving. “Was that a crow?” Tommy asked, coming in with the milk.
Phil nodded, shifting Michael. “Here, give him here.” Tommy reached for the baby. Phil gave him up, watching as Tommy fed him calmly.
“How do you know how to do all of this?” Phil asked quietly, knowing already but wanting to hear it from his son.
“I had to learn it. No one else would have taken care of Tubbo.” Tommy said quietly. Phil’s heart broke a little. Michael stopped drinking, hiccuping. “You burp all on your own, huh?” Tommy crooned. Michael babbled, gesturing with his hands to the kitchen. “You wanna go for a run, huh?” Tommy asked cheerfully. Michael grinned. “Okay, let's get you suited up, then!”
They left, and Phil sat back down on the couch, grappling with himself.
He knew Tommy had forgiven him for being away for so long. Still called him Dad.
But he hated himself, for everything that had happened to them as kids. When he wasn’t there.
Really, he’d just come back for a week and boom, Tubbo was walking and talking and Tommy could read and write and Wilbur was playing guitar and Techno was just building his forge… he’d missed so much. But he pretended like it didn’t hurt. Like he always did.
~~~
“Big maaaaan!” Tommy cheered as Michael clapped happily, his winter coat and hat on. “Now just for socks and shoes!” Michael whimpered. Tommy smiled. “Your pa didn’t like them either, but we gotta, okay?”
He grabbed socks and shoes- specially made for hooves, score- and put them on, cheering Michael on when he reached for the second thick sock and tugged it on his foot. He pointed out to the penned play area he could see from his window.
“Yeah, buddy, we’re going.” Tommy muttered, scooping up the toddler and heading downstairs. “Phil, can you take him out? His playpen is in the back- “
“Sure.”
~~~
“Phil? Phil?” Tommy called, worriedly. The avian swooped down, a giggling Michael in one hand and his trident in the other. “Hey.”
“Why were you flying with him?” Tommy screeched, taking the child. “I thought it would be fun.” Phil shrugged. “Piglins and water don’t exactly mix, Phil.” Tommy hissed. Michael, in his arms, giggled at the action. Tommy sighed, looking down at the kid. “You’re actually gonna be trouble, now that you’re awake.” Michael just giggled. “He’s getting energy. Keep him occupied.”
Tommy sighed, going inside. He sat on the couch, Michael in his playpen. He was tired, already. Taking care of a kid was hard work…..
~~~
When he woke up, Phil was shaking his shoulders. “Where’s Michael?” The blond asked. Tommy frowned, rubbing his eyes. “In his….”
The playpen was empty.
“In where?” Phil scoffed. Tommy panicked. “He was in here! Right here, I swear!” He cried, searching the pen. No Michael. Phil sighed, rubbing his temples. “Crap.” He looked around the living room. “MICHAEL!” He called.
No answer.
“Shit.” Tommy cursed. Phil ran his hands through his hair, eyes wide. “What do we do?”
“Look for him! Everywhere!”
~~~
After a frantic search, they collapsed on the couch, exhausted.
“Did you find him?” Tommy asked. Phil shook his head, arms sore from flying around outside. “Neither did I.”
They fell into an exhausted silence, each rubbing their eyes as they stared out the window.
“Tubbo’s gonna kill me.” Tommy said, sitting up.
Phil nodded. “And Ranboo will never forgive me.”
“We’ll never be asked to babysit again.”
“There won’t be a baby to sit-“ Tommy looked out the window, staring. “He’s in the playpen OUTSIDE, PHIL!”
Phil sat straight up, squinting. Indeed, Michael was in the pen. He was playing with a ball, happily throwing it and crawling after it. “Oh my god it’s cold out there-“
Tommy ran outside, huffing.
Michael was gone. “Shit!” Tommy screamed. Phil ran out after him, the crows on the roof growing agitated as they searched.
A trail of little legs in the snow was leading towards the house. Tommy shouted for Phil and ran into the house. He looked around, frantic. Michael was nowhere to be seen. “Michael?” He called. A giggle, to his left. He went that way, heading upstairs to Michael’s room. “Buddy? Come on out for your Uncle Tommy-“
No kid, but the baby monitor was on. Another giggle came from the monitor. “Phil! He’s in Tubbo’s room!” Tommy called.
Phil nodded, half flying, half walking towards Tubbo’s room. The door was open. He peeked in. “Michael?”
Nope.
Phil opened the door more, frowning as he scanned the neat room. “Mich-“
Something zoomed by him. He turned, surprised. The baby was crawling by. Phil scooped him up, sighing. “I’ve got him!” He called. Tommy rushed down, taking the baby from his hands. “Thank god.”
He squashed Michael’s cheek to his. “We almost lost you!” Michael giggled. Tommy took him to the playpen in the living room, the afternoon sun shining brightly on the floor. He placed the piglin in it, deciding to do some tummy time and then lunch. “Can you play with him while I make him lunch?” He called. “Yeah.”
Phil sat down on the floor next to the pen, smiling at Michael, who was playing with a stuffed creeper toy. “Thanks. Don’t take your eyes off of him.” Tommy ordered. Phil waved him away. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it.”
~~~
He didn’t have it. The baby was gone. Again.
He swore, he had blinked and boom, no more baby. “Michael!” Phil called. Tommy, from the kitchen, squawked in surprise. “Well hello!” He crooned. “Have you got him?” Phil asked. “Yeah!”
Michael sat on the floor, happily playing with a potato while Tommy cooked. Phil breathed a sigh of relief. He scooped Michael up, handing him a small gold chain he had on him. “Play with that, okay?”
Michael gurgled happily, bouncing in Phil’s arms. “Yeah.” He chuckled. Tommy smiled softly, poking at a softened carrot before determining it was good enough and heaping some on a plate to feed the baby. “Here, Michael! Yummy!” He cheered.
Michael was not amused.
~~~
Thirty minutes and a whole pot of thrown-against-the-wall carrots later, Michael was finally peacefully asleep, with at least one carrot in him. Tommy and Phil were on the couch, falling asleep. “We have to get up in an hour.” Tommy murmured, fluffing a couch pillow against Phil’s shoulder and falling against it. Phil leaned on it too, already snoring.
Tommy smiled softly.
~~~
The alarm went off, and Phil startled awake. He shook Tommy, who woke up. It was the late dregs of the afternoon, and Tubbo and Ranboo were sure to be home soon. Tommy stood, stretching. “I’ll go check on Michael. Can you-“
“-clean the carrots up? Yeah.” Phil got up too, grabbing wipes from a table.
Tommy headed upstairs, peeking his head in. “Hey, buddy.” He said softly. The baby in the crib stirred, waking up and blinking. “Yeah, we’re up. We’re up.” Tommy grinned, watching as the baby rubbed his eyes. He began to wail. “Ahw, buddy. It’s okay, it’s okay. We’ll get you your snack, don’t worry. And your parents will be home soon.” He shushed.
He climbed down the ladder. Phil had the bottle ready, and he fed Michael, burping him happily. The door rattled.
“Looks like they’re home now, bud!” Tommy grinned. Phil was already at the door, greeting an exhausted- looking Tubbo and Ranboo.
“Pa!” Michael called excitedly. Ranboo walked over, bending down to hug his son. “Hey, Michael!” He chuckled. Tubbo took Michael from him, grinning as he walked over to Phil to say bye.
“Did he behave?” Ranboo asked. Tommy crossed his arms, smiling. “Yeah.”
“You’re good with him.” The enderman observed. Tommy lost some of his smile, looking over th where Tubbo was laughing at something Phil had said.
“I had a lot of practice.”
~~~