Whipping Cream and Sprinkles

Chapter 3

Tommy couldn't sleep. Not when someone kept walking around. He could hear a bedroom door opening, someone going down the stairs, and just as he began to fall back asleep, the footsteps came back upstairs and went back into the bedroom. How many times did one person have to go downstairs in one night? Tommy knew it was the same person since the footsteps sounded the same. He sighed, getting up. The person who kept going downstairs was in their room, so Tommy should have enough time to run down and grab some food for him and his brother before they came back downstairs.

"I'm just going downstairs really quick Tubs. I'll be right back." He whispered, slipping out of his brother's grasp and placing a pillow in his arms to replace him. Tubbo hugged the pillow and didn't even stir.

Downstairs was dark. There weren't any lights on. Tommy fumbled for the light switch until he found one. He made his way to the kitchen and tried to find something he could bring upstairs for the morning. Tommy and his brother preferred to eat meals alone. That way no one could take their food away from them.

"Wilbur?" A voice that Tommy recognized as Techno's asked from the bottom of the stairs.

Shit.

"Uhh, no. It's Tommy." Tommy squeaked out.

"Oh," Techno said, content to leave the conversation at that.

Tommy nodded, going back to looking for food.

"Wilbur's got a stash of food in his room. You could ask him to borrow some. He'll share. Pretty sure he's awake." Techno explained, grabbing a book off of the shelf and sitting on the couch, putting his headphones back over his ears.

"I don't need his pity food." Tommy spat.

"Your choice. He's got it the same reason you want it though." Techno gave Tommy a knowing look, "He's got all sorts of sugary bullcrap though. Phil doesn't buy many good stashable snacks so Wilbur's your best bet."

"Fine, whatever," Tommy muttered, shoving the cabinet full of oatmeal shut and going up the stairs.

Tommy could hear keyboard clicks and a mouse being tapped aggressively. He knocked on the door.

"What do you want Tech?" Wilbur called.

"It's Tommy."

Wilbur immediately rushed to his door and opened it.

"Hey, Tommy! What's up?" He asked, awkwardly.

"Techno said you had stashable snacks."

"Right, yeah I do. Wait for a second." Wilbur replied, scratching the back of his neck.

Tommy waited in the doorway and looked around Wilbur's room. It was painted yellow. His bed was pushed into the corner and there was a desk across from the bed. The desk had two monitors, a mic, and papers everywhere. There was a guitar in the corner. Wilbur went into his closet and emerged with a handful of snacks.

"Here's some good cereal. It's better than the kinds Phil buys, which are under the sink for some reason by the way. And some chips." Wilbur said, handing Tommy the snacks.

"Thanks." He muttered.

"About tonight-" Wilbur started to say.

"Don't. Just leave it." Tommy cut him off, leaving the room.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I gave Tommy cereal last night. He came to my room, on his own, and asked for snacks!" Wilbur said, excitedly.

"I told him to, dumbass," Techno said, not looking up from his book.

"You all talked last night?" Phil asked, pouring pancake batter onto a pan.

"Yea. He was looking for food so I sent him up to Wilbur," Techno explained.

Phil nodded, going back to his pancakes and humming.

"I'm going out. Too many sounds." Techno said, standing up and putting his shoes on, pulling his headphones back over his ears.

"Okay, don't stay out too long."

Between the house going up 2 people which meant 2 more voices he had to listen to and his hearing, he often got overwhelmed by sounds. Going on a walk in the woods was something he did quite regularly. Phil realized it helped him a lot, and that he'd come back on his own, so he's been doing it for a few years without Phil worrying about him running away.

"Tommy talked to me, Dad! Even after what I said to Tubbo!" Wilbur smiled.

"I'm glad he's at least mostly forgiven you."

"Me too. I really didn't mean it in a bad way. It just came out wrong."

"I know. And it seems Tommy knows it too if he was willing to talk to you."

Wilbur smiled, watching his dad finish making pancakes.

"I'm gonna go see if Tommy and Tubbo want some pancakes, even though you gave them cereal. And I'm gonna see if I can apologize." Phil said, placing down a plate with three pancakes absolutely drenched in syrup in front of Wilbur and then picking up two plates and walking upstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Tommyyyyy," Tubbo whined.

"Let me sleep," Tommy replied.

"I'm hungry. And we need to plan our escape."

Tommy groaned and sat up.

"There's cereal and chips in the closet. I got them from Wilbur when you were asleep last night."

Tubbo hummed in acknowledgement, getting the box of cereal out of the closet.

"I think we should go down and play nice with Phil for a bit before we run," Tubbo said between handfuls of cereal.

"That's smart. That way he won't expect it," Tommy replied, reaching out for the cereal.

The boys sat in comfortable silence, eating the cereal with their hands as Wilbur hadn't given them any bowls and Tommy forgot to bring some up. Then, there was a knock at the door.

"Tubbo? Tommy? I've got pancakes here. I'll leave them outside your door if you don't want me to come in." Phil's voice said softly from the other side of the door.

The boys looked at each other and stayed quiet until they heard the plates get placed on the floor and footsteps going away.

"Want them?" Tommy asked.

Tubbo nodded. He loved pancakes.

Tommy got up and went through the ensuite to get the plates. He didn't feel like pushing the dresser out of the way to go through the main door.

"Tommy? Could I talk to you and Tubbo? I'd like to apologize." Phil asked. He had been just about to go downstairs when Tommy came into the hallway.

Tommy stared at him, shrugged, and went back into the room.

"Phil said he wanted to apologize?" Tommy said, puzzled, handing a plate to the eager Tubbo who was holding out his hands for pancakes.

"It's probably fake."

"That's what I'm thinking. But maybe we should go pretend to forgive him so he won't suspect we'll run. We should make a more detailed plan so we know exactly what we're doing. After pancakes, of course."

Tubbo nodded, shoving his mouth full of pancakes.