Phil's POV:
After both having a bath, Tubbo and Tommy were early to bed. I checked in on them at 10 only to see Tubbo wide awake and looking at things on his phone. Tommy was fast asleep. I whispered, "not too late mate."
"Yea, just playing a game."
"That's okay. You don't have to go to bed when he does, you know?"
"He's used to it, I don't really want to change anything else for him."
"You're such a good big brother mate."
"Thanks Phil."
"Night, get some good sleep."
"Night Phil." I shut the door and returned to my own bedroom where Kristen was sat in bed reading the autobiography of a celebrity I'd hardly heard of.
"Are they both asleep?"
"Tommy is," I said, sighing as I got into bed, "Tubbo is just playing some games on his phone."
"Ah well, he can stay up a little later."
"That's what I told him. Anyway, Techno and Will gone to bed?"
"Mr music is listening to a little music but said he get an earlyish night considering it is a school night. Brain box just grumbled. I think he's connected with Tommy too much."
"Yea."
"He let Tommy hug him."
"He did what?!" I asked, genuinely through my surprise.
"When we went to pick up the car, oh Phil you should have seen it, it was so sweet, I could have cried. I think I did. Tubbo definitely did."
"What happened?"
"Tommy took off his ear defenders and stuff and was about to get in the car when he turned round to Techno. Well, you know how when the alarm went off in the supermarket, Tech put his hands over his ears?"
"Yea?"
"Tommy put both his hands over Techno's ears and said safe. Techno just replied, yea safe. You should have seen it Phil."
"We have to protect them."
"Of course."
"No I mean it Kristen." My wife looked at me with a serious smile on her face. "Techno took 2 years to let me hug him, 3 years for you. If he has hugged Tommy in less than 24 hours, that kid is something special. And Tommy is going nowhere without Tubbo the both of them need each other."
"But they leave tomorrow Phil."
"They leave our house. They do not leave our hearts or our minds. Or the hearts and minds of our kids. And that means they can't leave the subject of emails either."
"Oh I love you Phil."
"Why?"
"You just care so much."
"Maybe too much."
"Come on now, don't be like that."
"I know. I love you too."
"Let's get some sleep." I hummed and turned off the light, turning in the bed to cuddle with my wife. My mind was swimming with thoughts, and unlike the light, they just didn't turn off.
Time skip:
I woke up early the next morning, around 6:15. That was normal for a school morning, as Techno and Will would be up at 6:30 and I always made sure to be up before they were.
Kristen was up the same time, she had to leave for work early to make sure she could get in on time. The school was a 40 minute drive away and she arrives there at 8:00 to help set up for the day. For convenience we both just wake up at the same time.
Once I was up and dressed, I checked that both Wilbur and Techno were up. Wilbur was, and slowly getting ready for school. Techno however wasn't. Lucky for him, his first lesson of the day wasn't until 11:30, so whilst he was supposed to be in from 8:40, I would email the school and let them know he was going to be in late.
Techno did struggle a lot with the constant stream of foster kids and whilst I had told him that if he said no, we would stop, he just never said no. I suppose that Tommy had a hold on Techno that no other foster kids ever had done before. I left him sleeping and would wake him up when Wilbur had left, giving him enough time to get himself readjusted before going to school.
I briefly stuck my head round Tommy's door, and found them both asleep. Which was good, because it was far too early anyway, and they both needed the sleep. I couldn't quite believe they were leaving today. I'd make sure that they were up so that Wilbur could say goodbye before he left the house.
Whilst writing the email to Techno's head of sixth form, I put 4 slices of toast in the toaster and stood waiting. Wilbur waltzed down the stairs, headphones on and listening to music. "What do you want on your toast Will?" I asked, getting the spreads out the cupboard.
"It's fine, I'll do it."
"Okay mate. Did you want to say goodbye to the boys before you leave? They'll be gone by the time you get home from school."
"I don't know." He shrugged as he spread copious amounts of peanut butter off his toast.
"I'll go up quickly and see if their awake." I started walking to the stairs but turned on my heel and faced my son again. "Oh and mum is taking you to the bus stop like she normally does, Techno isn't going with you though. That okay?"
"It's fine." He said, a sad smile on his face.
"And I've emailed school by the way, so they know that you might have a bit of a bad brain day." Bad brain days: my term for when things don't go too well. It was something I picked up from my mum, she used to used it when my younger brother wasn't having the best of days. Sort of stuck with me after that.
"Thanks," he mumbled, half a piece of toast coming out his mouth.
"Right, please make sure you've got your inhaler on you today and your pe kit, and your school books, pencil case, water bottle..." I rambled.
"I've got it all Dad, I'm fine. Go check on the others."
I gave him a slow nod and a smile, "have a good day at school Wilbur." I then returned to Tommy and Tubbo's bedroom. By this time it was 7:15, Kristen rushed past me going down the stairs and I said goodbye to her as I went in the other direction.
I creeped down the hall and could hear sounds for my youngest son's bedroom. I knocked first. "We are just getting changed Phil, we'll be out in a minute."
"Okay, just come down when you're ready then mate," I said, finishing our conversation through the door and moving back down to Techno's room. I knocked on that door too.
A groan came through the wood so I opened it slightly. "Morning mate."
"Morning Dad," he mumbled, yawning and stretching in his bed. Suddenly he jumped up, "wait, what time is it?"
"Don't worry, I've emailed school to let them know you'll be in later, it's fine."
"Does that mean I get to stay with Tubbo and Tommy for a bit?" He asked hopefully, his normal monotone voice going up just a few frequencies.
"Yes mate it does. But I want you dressed before you come downstairs, okay? You have all your school clothes laid out right?"
He looked at me with a guilty look before protesting, "I tried but my brain was too worried last night and I just couldn't do it, and then it stressed me out and," he took a small breath but I managed to cut in.
"Hey Tech, it's okay mate. I'll help you sort it now. You aren't in trouble and you are allowed to struggle with things." I ran through the normal things I said to help him calm down and watched him pick at his finger nails. "Try not to pick at your fingers mate, I know it's hard but it will be harder when we have to deal with them being infected."
"Sorry Dad."
"Don't be sorry. What suit do you want to wear?"
"Black one, pink tie, white shirt, pink socks and shoes."
"Nice to see you at least have it planned in your head. You go brush your teeth and sort out your hair, I'll get the clothes out and put them on your bed." He thanked me, leaving the room to go to his and Wilbur's bathroom. Normally I didn't do this for Techno, he was 18 now and definitely didn't need my help all the time. But some days, when things for him were tough, and maybe he's having a bad brain day, I do my best to help out. Getting things sorted and laid out how they should be helps to ground him when his head is flying about. And it can't change the fact he's still hyper and then has no energy or that his brain doesn't stop thinking or talking to itself, but it's the least I can do for him.
As I exited Techno's room, leaving his clothes on his bed for him and carrying some empty (and not so empty) plates downstairs, I bumped into Tubbo and Tommy. Tommy was carrying his iPad in one hand with Zog tucked under the other.
"Morning you two."
"Morning Phil."
"Good morning." Tommy's iPad said.
"Good morning Tubbo. And good morning to you too Tommy, it's lovely to hear you talking to me." I said with a smile which Tommy immediately reciprocated.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Wilbur stood waiting anxiously by the front door. "Sorry, Tubbo did you want to say goodbye to Wilbur before he goes to school, Tommy you too?" Tubbo gave a small nod and I walked over with the both of them.
"Bye Tubbo, I hope your aunt is nice and that we can meet up again, you're really cool."
"Maybe we could do video calls and you could still teach me that ukulele, you know when my arms fixed and all?"
"Sounds good."
"Yea." I quickly ran just next door to the kids room and hunted through one pots to find something, I could still hear them talking.
"Bye Wilbur."
"Bye Tubbo." The two boys hugged, as I heard both their voices wobble slightly with tears in the backs of their throats.
They stopped hugging and Tommy stepped forward, still holding his iPad and pressing several buttons on it. "Goodbye. Thank you. Happy." I forget for a second how singular the buttons were and how difficult it was to connect them in sentences when the app wasn't set up specifically for it, I hoped his aunt would fix that and stood smiling as Tommy talked.
"Bye Tommy. Thank you too. And I'm happy to have met you. I'm sorry for being mean, but you're pretty cool. I wish I had had more time to understand you." Tommy stared at the floor humming lightly.
"He knows Wilbur," Tubbo added, causing Wilbur to smile.
"Did you still want Wilbur to sign your cast Tubbo?"
"Yes please!" He said energetically and for a moment I was taken aback by it. He'd been so quiet and timid, even during game night. Anyway, I handed the pen over to Wilbur who signed his signed with a messy drawing of a guitar next to it.
"There you go Tubbo."
"Thanks Wilbur."
"Bye then." He mumbled.
"Bye Wilbur." Tubbo said sadly, Wilbur gave a nod before walking towards Kristen's car. She made sure Wilbur could get into it and then came to the front door herself.
"I'm sorry I won't be here to say goodbye later, so I'll say it now."
"Bye Kristen, thanks for being so kind to us. You were like a proper mum even for just a little bit."
"You're so welcome Tubbo. Do you want me to sign your cast?"
"Yes please." He said, handing her the pen. She signed it happily with a little star next to her name before giving the pen back.
"And you Tommy, must never forget how awesome you are, Huh?" Tommy beamed and pressed buttons.
"Thank you. I love you. Goodbye."
"Thank you to you too Tommy. I love you loads too. Bye Tommy. Bye Tubbo. Keep in touch, I can't wait to see what you two get up to next." They both waved sadly as she got in the car and drove away. I shut the door quietly and we all walked to the breakfast bar.
"Goodbyes are harder than I remember." Tubbo said breaking the slightly awkward silence that had formed.
"They always are aren't they?"
"Yea." He looked at me and we shared a moment of eye contact before giving each other sad smiles. I was unsure of whether or not I wanted to tell Tubbo and Duncan, but I didn't want to do any more damaged if I wasn't going to be around to help build him back afterwards. In the end I left it. I just offered to make them breakfast and made small talk whilst putting some bread in the toaster.
A/n Hey. Thank you so much for reading. Tell me your favourite part of this story so far, and what you want to see come up in the story in the future. I'm interested to know!