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Techno was having a bad day. A very bad day. He was overwhelmed, and angry, all he wanted to do was go to his room and decompress for a few minutes, maybe an hour. So, that was his current plan.
Techno smiled to himself as he walked up the stairs to the porch, he was proud of himself for taking care of himself, because for so long he struggled with it. Self-care was something Techno didn’t know for many years, it was not a luxury a child in foster care had or a skill that was taught. Not until he met Phil that was true.
Phil taught him so much, from how to cook, to how to give himself a break when he needed it most. He taught him how to identify his emotions, and let go of his anger in a less violent way (the punching bags in his basement were well used because it was better than a wall), and that it’s okay to let someone help.
Techno would forever be grateful that Phil took him in, gave him a loving home, and even adopted him.
Something he was told he’d never get.
However, his smile faltered when he stepped into what he thought would be an empty house.
“Techno! You’re home!” a young voice called from the kitchen.
Techno sighed softly, taking a moment for himself at the door as he slipped off his shoes, hung up his bag, and set his keys in an old Halloween candy bowl. He rolled his shoulders and took a few deep breaths, as he walked closer to the kitchen, his smile returning as he got closer. Although he really needed some time to himself, Tommy would always be more important, and he was pretty sure Phil would agree.
“Yeah, I’m home. Thought you were taking the bus today?” He hummed softly as he walked through the door, unbuttoning and rolling up his sleeves, showing off the tattoos that he hated to cover.
“Nope!” Tommy popped the ‘p’ and it nearly made Techno flinch.
He hummed softly, glancing up at the child, his smile more genuine than before. “Tubbo’s dad give you a ride then?” He glanced around the kitchen, seeing a mess of flour and bowls. He took a moment to remind himself that Tommy was 10, he was 10 and was just probably trying to make some food because he was hungry and there was no reason for Techno to get mad at the mess. It could be easily cleaned up. It was fine.
“Yeah, Ranboo and Purpled too!” Tommy giggled, and Techno felt the tension leaving his shoulders.
“Good, did you say thank you?” techno questioned carefully as he sat down on a stand in front of the counter, watching as Tommy struggled to get the sugar out of the cabinet, but made no move to help. He read in some parenting books that it was better for younger kids to figure things out without help unless they asked.
So Techno stayed in his spot, internally cringing as the bag was dropped on the floor and hearing a good amount of it falling onto the floor as it was picked up and placed on the counter. Sugar wasn’t that much money, it wasn’t a big deal. He took a deep breath and smiled again to the child in front of him again.
“What are you making?”
“Cookies! For Santa!” Tommy cheered, and Techno chuckled.
“Are you following a recipe?”
Techno watched as Tommy froze, glancing around at all the ingredients that were all over the counter, and his question was answered. He gave Tommy a few moments however to answer but wasn’t surprised when the kid stayed quiet, tears forming in his eyes.
“No, it's okay, we can find one okay? It’s alright, I understand that you were probably just excited right?” Techno said calmly, standing up and going over to the blonde. He kneeled down even though the tile hurt his knees, Tommy was worth the pain. He’d always be worth the pain.
“But, I made a mess, and-” he mumbled as big fat tears started to rush down his face, and Techno felt his heartbreak. He hated to see Tommy sad. “I’m sorry Techno, I'll clean it up I promise I’m sorry! Please don’t send me back, please I’ll be good.”
Techno shook his head quickly as he carefully brought Tommy into his arms, rocking them both back and forth in an effort to calm Tommy down. “Shh, it’s okay, I’m not sending you back Theseus, I promise. You’re safe with me, I’m not mad okay? It’s not that big of a mess, just breathe okay?”
Techno took a few exaggerated breaths to try and guide Tommy, and within a few minutes, the crying had stopped.
“There you go, you’re okay.” He whispered softly, slowly shifting his position so he was leaning against the counter, rather than kneeling, with Tommy curled up in his lap. “You are so brave, Tommy. I promise I want you here, and I’m not sending you back okay?”
All he got was a few sniffles and a slight nod, but that was okay. They just sat there for a bit, it becoming clear that Tommy was falling asleep. It didn’t surprise him as the school usually wore him out and Techno assumed the excitement of making cookies had long worn off by now and he was crashing.
“Techno?” Tommy mumbled, the tiredness clear in his voice. It was hard for Techno not to laugh.
“Yes, Tommy?
“This is my favorite house I’ve been to.”
Techno went quiet, holding the kid closer to his chest, feeling like the air had been taken from his lungs. How was he supposed to respond to that? Should he respond to that? Should he ignore it and pretend he didn’t hear it? Techno felt as if he shouldn’t have heard this confession, that it was one of those things you say to yourself as you fall asleep and don’t mean for anyone else to hear.
That had to be what this was. Even if it was, he couldn’t stop the smile on his face or the redness on his cheeks, and if anyone asked, he had allergies because no he was not crying.
But Techno couldn’t ignore how happy those few words made him. This was one of the biggest reasons he wanted to become a foster parent because he knew how much it hurt being moved from house to house, each one a reminder of how unwanted he was. He understood how much it hurt being a burden to every house he was in, how he always thought it would be easier to sleep on the streets rather than in those homes. Techno didn’t know a house could be so warm at night until he met Phil.
Techno never wanted Tommy to even think of sleeping on the streets.
~~~
Tommy didn’t know how much time had passed, but he traveled from the kitchen to the living room couch, now with a soft blanket over him and his favorite stuffed animal, Henry the cow. HE giggled quietly before curling up more under the blanket, not wanting to lose the warmth of it just yet.
Eventually, Tommy sat up, briefly yawning and stretching before he pulled the blanket over his shoulders, rubbing his eyes. He tried to ignore the growling in his stomach, he didn’t want to bother Techno more than he already had.
Speaking of which, he needed to clean up the mess he left in the kitchen.
Quietly he made his way to the kitchen, making sure the blanket was secure over his shoulders, smiling down at Henry. He giggled a bit again before looking up in the kitchen, not expecting to see Techno standing there staring at him.
It made him feel like a statue like he couldn’t move as the older man stared at him.
Then he just stopped and smiled. Tommy didn’t understand why Tommy just standing there made him smile, surely he was in the way, or maybe he should’ve just stayed on the couch until he was given permission to get up. Or maybe-
“Hey, sleepyhead. I was just about to come to wake you up.” Techno said gently, turning away from the kid to grab plates from the cabinet.
“Oh, sorry,” Tommy mumbled, looking down at the tile. He held Henry closer, not liking how his hands were shaking under the blanket.
“Why are you sorry, Tommy? It’s okay that you were tired, I know school makes you sleepy, so I’m not upset. I was just going to wake you up to see what you wanted for dinner, are you hungry?”
Tommy looked up to Techno again, his eyes glancing to where the mess was, or should have been. He rubbed his eyes again because it was right there! He made the mess, he should’ve been the one to clean it up, where’d it go?
“Theseus?” Techno had that weird thing in his voice (it sounded similar to the gentleness that his mother had in her voice, the voice he missed so much, he wanted her back), Tommy wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. “I can made spaghetti with the red sauce you like, is that okay?”
Tommy quickly shook his head, backing out of the kitchen. He had so many emotions going on in his head and his thoughts were moving so fast. He didn’t like it. He just wanted his mom back. It wasn’t fair that the mean doctor took her away from him.
“Hey, it’s alright. I can make something else if you’d like.” Techno said softly, stepping around to the counter to get closer to him. “We can have chicken nuggets if you’d like? Or we can just order some food if you’d rather.”
There was that weird thing in his voice again! Tommy kept moving away from Techno, his vision getting blurry with tears as he shook his head. “Want my mom!”
Techno finally stopped getting closer, his face looking all sad. Tommy didn’t want to make him sad, he just wanted his mom back, he wanted to eat her cookies and feel safe in her arms again. He wanted to go home.
“I know, I know you do. I’m sorry,” Tommy didn’t like what Techno was saying, he was supposed to take him to his mom! “What can I do to help?”
“Take me home, want my mom! Fuck you!”
This was Tommy’s first Christmas without his mom. He hated it. He knew that there wasn’t a home to go to, he overheard his social worker telling his last foster home that it had been sold. He knew that his mom was dead, two foster homes ago he went to her funeral, in a tight stupid suit.
He remembered going to that house and getting yelled at for crying, told that he needed to get over it and no one wanted him. He remembered at the next house being told he couldn’t visit her grave, that he was just taking up space in their home.
Quickly Tommy wiped his eyes and stood up straight like a soldier.
“Stand up straight, boy! That’s it, since you want to cry and shit, go stand in the corner!”
Tommy didn’t realize how close Techno was, he couldn’t hear what he was saying. When did he get so close?
“Tommy, it's okay. Just take deep breaths I’m right here. You’re okay.”
“Tech-” Tommy slowly stepped closer before quickly hugging the older man, hiding his face in his neck.
“Shh, I’ve got you, kid. I know you miss her, the first Christmas without her, right?” Tommy nodded slowly, feeling a soft hand rubbing his back. “How about this, let's eat dinner, then we can do something that you used to do with her for Christmas okay?”
Tommy smiled a bit and nodded, hugging Techno tighter. His heart still hurt, and he still missed his mom, but it was easier to get through all the scary emotions with a gentle hand.
“Okay, can we have pizza?”
Techno laughed softly and nodded, pulling away from him slowly. Tommy missed the hug but didn’t say anything, techno was already doing so much for him, he didn’t want to be greedy.
“Of course. Would you just like cheese pizza or pepperoni?”
“Mm, pep!”
“Alright, kiddo,” Techno said with a smile, softly ruffling his fair before he stood up and pulled away, grabbing his phone from the counter to order pizza.
~~~
It didn’t take long for Techno to order the pizza, but he still had another call he wanted to make.
“Hey, Tommy? I need to call Mr. Phil really quick, can you start setting the table?” Techno called from the living room, messing around with one of Tommy’s fidgets in his free hand as he started to dial Phil’s number. “Yeah! Can you tell Philza Minecraft I said hi?”
“Can do, Tommy.” Techno smiled as he held the phone to his ear, stepping into the hallway so hopefully, not all of his conversations would be heard. Techno didn’t like hiding things from Tommy, from experience he knew that foster parents keeping things in the dark would only make the child’s anxieties worse.
However, this was not bad information he was hiding from Tommy.
This was the magic of Christmas he was hiding from him.
“Hello mate,” Phil answered in his typical cheery voice, though he could hear some pans crashing in the background. Techno assumed it was Wilbur attempting to make dinner for their father and failing miserably. This was confirmed when he heard an exhausted sigh come from the other line.
“Wilbur trying to make dinner again?” Techno teased, peaking into the kitchen to make sure everything was going alright in there. He watched for a moment as Tommy placed the plates across from each other carefully, making sure that the pictures on them would face them when they sat. Before he became a foster parent he wouldn’t have found it so cute, but it was downright adorable whenever Tommy did it.
“Oh shut, Techno. What do you need, you never call anymore.”
“Been busy with Tommy, Phil. He has so much energy all the time, I don’t understand how his little body can take it,” Techno said before huffing out a laugh. “No, but I was calling to get moms thumbprint recipe. Tommy’s been down about the holiday with his mom, I want to try and cheer him up.”
“Yeah of course. I can send it right over. Do you think it’ll help? Is there anything we can do? I can tell Wilbur to check in on him at school tomorrow?” Phil questioned, the worry clear in his voice. Techno just shook his head with a genuine smile, of course, he would go into this rabbit hole of worry to make sure Tommy was happy. The old man loved Tommy just as much as he did.
“No, no Phil, I think Wilbur asking about it would make it worse. he misses his mom, this is his first Christmas without her. When I came home today he was trying to make cookies by himself and said it was something they used to do together around the holidays.”
“I see, well, then I trust you, you know what you're doing, Techno. You are exactly what Tommy needs in his life, don’t forget that. You know where to find us to drop off some cookies too,” Phil teased with a hearty laugh.
“Thanks, dad, I’m sure Tommy would be happy to share the cookies with you guys. I’ll talk to you later.”
As soon as he hung up with Phil, he ordered a pizza and wings (you can never go wrong with wings in Techno’s opinion), and then went out to the table to play UNO with Tommy while they waited. Unsurprisingly, Tommy made up new rules every game to ensure that he won, but who was Techno to tell him, no, the laugh coming out of that kid was worth losing 4 rounds of UNO.
However, he noticed after dinner when they were cleaning up that Tommy was feeling down again. So once he slipped off to the living room to play with his Legos, Techno started pulling out the ingredients for the thumbprints they would be making, along with a mixer.
“Hey, Tommy! Raspberry or blueberry?” he called to the other room, looking at the two jars of the jam he had. Typically they would use raspberry for thumbprints, but he figured Tommy should have the ultimate choice tonight.
“Blueberry!” Techno nodded before setting the jar on the counter, putting the raspberry away as he double-checked he had all of the ingredients out.
Once everything was set, Techno went out to the boy and gently tapped his shoulder. “Can you come to help me in the kitchen real quick, Tommy?”
Tommy looked up to Techno with his bright blue eyes with a sad smile before he nodded, setting down the Lego pieces he was playing with before racing Techno to the kitchen. However, he stopped in his tracks once he saw all the ingredients, looking over to Techno.
“What’s this for?” he asked quietly, slowly walking to the counter before seeing the sheet of paper with instructions listed for thumbprints. “Are we..?”
“If you would like to. This is my mom's recipe for thumbprints. Phil, Wilbur, my mom, and I would make these for Christmas. I don’t know what you and your mom made together, but I thought this would be nice. And they are really good cookies if you ask me.”
Tommy suddenly had tears in his eyes again, and Techno worried he stepped too far, maybe they should’ve just stuck with chocolate chip rather than cookies that had sentimental meaning for the holidays. But just as a tear rolled down his cheek, a smile appeared as well.
“We made thumbprints too,” he whispered, stepping up on the stool that Techno kept close. “Can we make them?”
Techno was immediately relieved and nodded, stepping next to him, “of course, we can. Let's get started. Here’s the sugar.”
Two hours and a few flour fights later, there were two dozen thumbprints cooling on the counter, and a very sleepy Tommy helping put all the cookies into tins.
“Would you like to try one before you go off to bed, Theseus?” Techno said gently, picking up one from the last tin.
Tommy smiled as he took the cookie from Techno, biting into it gently. “It’s perfect.”
~~~
The next day comes with ease for the two of them.
Tommy went off to school in the morning to sit in his favorite class, music, with Mr. Soot. Though the two share a smile near the end of class because of some inside joke they shared.
Techno went off to work once Tommy was dropped off, with a large smile on his face as he walked into the office. Phil noticed the bright smile on his face pretty early, even while struggling with paperwork, which was unusual. Techno never struggled with his paperwork, it was always a breeze for him.
However, this wasn’t his normal paperwork Phil quickly realized. It was another bit of Christmas magic that Techno had been working on- officially adopting Tommy.
The day went normally from there out. It was a Friday, so the four got together at Phil’s house for dinner as they typically did. Christmas was now just two days away, and breaks from school and work had begun, so to celebrate they ordered Chinese food, however, this time Tommy brought a tin of thumbprints for them all to share, rather than the ice cream they would typically have for dessert.
Once dinner was over though, the four piled into a car. Together they started a hour-long drive to a graveyard, with Tommy clutching a second tin of cookies in his arms, his head leaning against Techno’s shoulder. In the front seat, Phil and Wilbur sang Christmas carols, Techno and Tommy occasionally joining in.
Once they reached the cemetery, the car became silent and only Tommy spoke, quietly, directing Phil to where he knew his mother's grave was.
The four trudged over to the headstone, Tommy still holding the tin as a few tears fell to the cold ground. Techno stood close to the blonde, a gentle hand on his shoulder as Tommy told his mom all about how they made the cookies and told her about school.
Once Tommy was done, the four said goodbye, and the tin was left in the grass.
How can you have Christmas without any cookies after all?