A/N - this a request from Celinafrosty, thanks for the prompt!
TW: Bullying, mentions of nightmares, swearing
"I wanna go to camp with you," Tommy whined, kicking his legs from his seat on Techno's bed. The older boys just shrugged at him and kept on packing. While folding a shirt, Wilbur tried to explain it to Tommy. "Bud, we're going to big boy camp, which means we're allowed to sleep there. You're still a kid and you have to go to kiddie camp. But someday you'll be able to go to big boy camp, don't worry!"
Tommy just huffed and crossed his arms across his chest before flailing them out to either side. "But by the time I'm in big boy camp, you guys will be in..." his brow furrowed as he struggled to find a bigger word than 'big'. "...MASSIVE boy camp!"
"Strong vocabulary," Techno muttered, and Wilbur just threw a pair of boxers at him, calling him a weirdo. "Bubba, you wouldn't even have fun. It's a bunch of smelly teenagers in a small cabin, I'm sure you'll have much more fun here," Techno tried to reason with his little brother.
"If it's stinky and small, why do you guys want to go?" Tommy asked sassily, raising an eyebrow. "He's got you there," Wilbur remarked and went to sit down next to Tommy. "Why do you even want to go? I know how much you really like your day camp, and you never liked sleepovers. What's going on?" Tommy looked down at his Velcro sneakers, glowering. "Because Benjamin is gonna be at camp," He grumbled.
"Benjamin?"
"Dad's always makin' me hang out with him, but he's so mean!" Tommy complained. "He doesn't play fair and he hits too much!" Wilbur and Techno shared a concerned look, worried about their little brother possibly being bullied.
Suddenly, Phil walked into the room to check on the packing, overhearing Tommy and sighing loudly. "How many times do we have to go over this, Tommy? Benjamin is a sweetheart. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the one being mean to him. His parents are going to watch you today while I'm gone, and he's gonna come over. Try to be nice to him, alright?" With that, Phil ruffled the blond kid's hair and walked out of the room. The anger on Tommy's face was replaced with fear at the mention of seeing Benjamin today. Wilbur went to speak up before Phil got out of earshot, but Techno put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Don't. He already seems kinda pissed, no use making him angrier for the car ride down. Besides, they're kids - what's the worst that could happen?"
-
"Tommy missed you guys this week," Phil commented in the silent car. They were on the last stretch of the long ride home from sleepaway camp, and the twins were tired from the long but exciting week. They didn't say anything for a while.
"What'd you do with him while you were gone today?" Wilbur eventually asked, purely out of boredom. "Benjamin's family came over again to hang out at the house and watch him. I think the two kiddos hit it off finally, I'm hoping they'll be friends."
This time, Wilbur didn't keep quiet about his worries. "What's up with that Ben kid, anyway? If Tommy says he's mean, why do you make them hang out?"
Phil ran a hand exasperatedly down his face, and Wilbur prepared for his father to be annoyed. "I confronted his parents about it after the first time Tommy told me, and they just said that Ben had told them exactly the same thing. You know how Tommy likes to exaggerate and lie, and I've met Ben - he's a really sweet kid."
"Well, you know some kids act a lot different around adults," Techno tentatively spoke up, having growing concerns about the whole thing. At Tommy's age, he had been bullied and didn't want his little brother to go through the same thing. "Yeah, but around their parents? Also, they had never gotten any calls or reports about Ben doing something like that, and you know how violent Tommy gets at school."
"Those are games though," Wilbur pressed. "Exactly. Whatever is going on between Tommy and Ben, it's just games. They're seven, for God's sake." The twins sensed their father's annoyance and knew this was the end of the conversation, but the words stuck in both of their minds since it was a close echo to what had happened to Techno, which was never 'just games'.
-
"Tommy?" Wilbur called into the empty house. He had been eager to get home and make sure his brother was okay, and his concerns were not satisfied when he got no response. "Toms?" He said louder, heading up the stairs. Techno followed.
They peeked into Tommy's room, seeing nothing. They went into the bathroom, then Phil's room, and finally, his favorite hiding spot - the closet.
But he wasn't there either, which is how Techno and Wilbur knew something was wrong. They went to their shared room at the end of the hall, and when they saw the room was empty, turned around to dash downstairs and tell their dad. They almost took off, but they heard a small sniffle from under Techno's bed.
Wilbur walked over and peeked under, and Techno heard him coo sadly at what was under the bed.
Slowly, a bruised and shaken Tommy was coaxed out from underneath, gripping his cow plushie, Henry, tightly with both hands.
"What the hell happened?" They heard a voice from the doorway. "Oh Tommy, are you alright?" Phil rushed over to his son, but the little guy evaded his arms and ran to Wilbur and Techno, who immediately embraced him on their knees. Techno shot an apologetic look over Tommy's head to their dad, who just nodded in understanding. It seems he would have to be of help later.
"Tommy, you wanna tell us what happened?" Wilbur asked the boy softly. He took some tissues from the bedside stand and wiped away the tears and snot.
While Wilbur was trying to get Tommy to talk, Techno did a quick once-over and cringed. Tommy's shirt was ripped at the sleeve, and there were bruises up and down his legs along with small hand marks around his neck.
"Wilby, it was Ben," Tommy finally muttered out between sniffles, and Wilbur just brought the boy's head to his chest. "Bubba, can you tell us what he did?" Techno murmured gently, and their brother nodded.
"H-he wanted my toy train for a minute and I gave it to him, b-but he wouldn't give it back when I asked an' so h-he choked me and then grabbed the baseball bat and started hurting my legs. An- And I promise I wasn't bein' mean or nuffin', please believe me, Techie," Tommy sobbed. Techno felt anger rising in his throat at the Benjamin kid but pushed it down so he could comfort his crying brother. "I believe you bubba, so does Wilby. We're gonna get this figured out."
"W-Wilby? Techie?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
"C-can we cuddle? Like you used to do when I had b-bad dreams?" He asked shakily, and the twins' hearts melted. Their baby brother was quite possibly the cutest kid on the planet.
"Of course bubba," Techno cooed and comically pretended to struggle as he hauled Tommy up to his chest and brought him to Wilbur's bed. The brunet's bed always had more blankets and pillows, so they used to have their cuddle sessions here when Tommy was getting nightmares a while back.
Wilbur sat up against the wall with a pillow, and Techno laid down next to him. They put Tommy in Wil's lap, but he decided he wanted to stretch himself over both of them, which is how their laps ended up being Tommy's mattress, not that they were complaining; they were glad to see their little brother calm and happy.
The best part of napping with baby Tommy was his kitten snores, which Techno and Wilbur summoned their father in to observe.
Phil sat on the floor so that his chin rested on the mattress, and he ran his fingers through Tommy's hair and traced over his bruises, a pained look on his face. Techno gave him a forgiving smile but was soon asleep with his other two brothers.
Phil got up with a sigh and headed to the kitchen with a mission to deliver a strongly-worded phone call to a certain set of parents.
(A/N, skip if you're not interested)
Just to clear it up - Phil handled this situation very badly for a parent, but he was sorry and it wasn't on purpose. He learned from his lesson, so this isn't me trying to villainize him as an abusive dad or anything like that, he just didn't handle it well in the beginning.
Apparently, people liked Hammertime, and want more. I'm only doing more if I have a prompt, so drop some ideas if you have any, please.
Me? Overworking myself? Yes, thank you very much to the kind reader who brought it up. I saw my grandfather alive for the last time today and my coping mechanism is apparently to write until I drop. But at the same time, please don't be surprised if I fall off the grid for a few weeks. It's touch-and-go at this point, but everything will be okay.