Archive of Our Own ^beta

The kids are bored.

Which, of course, they’ve decided to make Phil’s problem.

Look, it’s not his fault that Manberg is experiencing record snowfalls during the first blizzard since the late nineties. Nor is it his fault that all the boys are home, Wilbur and Techno from winter break at their respective colleges. But apparently, somehow it’s become his fault.

“Dad. Dadza. Crowfather.” Tommy has been following him around for at least thirty minutes, talking almost non-stop the whole time. “Did you know there’s a huge fuckin’ snowdrift outside. I will go throw myself into it and stay there if I don’t get something to do within the next five minutes.”

“Cringe,” Techno says from the couch, where Phil is pretty sure he’s been trying to read- failing, because of the aforementioned incessant jabbering. “You should lay in the road and wait for a snowplow to run you over.”

“Nah, he’d freeze before experiencing agonizing death by snowplow tires.” Wilbur yawns, draping himself over the back of the couch. “He’s right though, we should find something better to do.”

Phil- desperate to have just five minutes of peace and quiet- blurts out the first thing that pops into his head. “Movie night?”

All three go silent, staring at him with narrowed eyes.

Phil mentally curses himself out. Movie nights are generally a very, very bad idea. They can’t agree on anything and end up arguing about it, until there’s no time left to actually watch the damn movie.

And then, he has another flash of inspiration.

“Weather Channel says the blizzard’s gonna last at least another day,” he says, “we can each pick one movie, and-”

“Fuck yeah!” Tommy grins, diving into the living room to start rifling through the basket on the TV stand. Apparently unaware that Techno already has the remote. “We’re watching Deadpool and Wolverine first-”

“Isn’t that movie rated R?” Techno remarks dryly. “Too violent and gory for kids like you?”

Tommy bristles. “I’m not a kid!” he yells. “Tell him, Phil, tell him I’m a big man-”

“You’re seventeen, last I checked.” Phil starts searching cabinets- he’s pretty sure he’s got some microwave popcorn somewhere. “So, technically…”

“Oh fuck you, I’m the biggest fucking man on the planet, I can watch an R-rated movie if I fucking want to-”

Over Tommy’s tirade of cursing, Phil glances over his shoulder. “What’s your pick, Wil?”

Wilbur climbs over the couch, sticking his feet on Techno’s legs, ignoring his brother’s disgruntled hey! “Inside Out 2.”

“What the fuck- that’s emotional shit for pussies!” Tommy yells. “We’re not watching-”

“One movie each!” Phil calls, sticking his head in the deep cabinet he’s constantly losing things in. “Don’t make me ban adult ratings, Toms!”

Tommy subsides into grumbling cursing, and a second later Wilbur yelps like he’s been kicked. Phil glances over his shoulder- ah, yep, they are fully just fighting each other on the living room floor.

Techno climbs over the back of the couch, avoiding them and coming into the kitchen. He opens the cupboard above the refrigerator and pulls down the box of microwave popcorn.

“Ah, thanks.” Phil straightens, wincing as his back creaks.

Techno smirks. Phil glares.

“Not a word, you little shit.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Techno raises his hands in surrender.

“Uh-huh.” Phil glances at Wilbur and Tommy, half wondering if he should get out a spray bottle. “What do you want to watch?”

“Uhh…” Techno looks away. “That’s a surprise.”

Phil narrows his eyes. “Studio Ghibli is still temporarily banned in this house,” he says.

They’d watched A Silent Voice one time, and Wilbur still hasn’t emotionally recovered from it. At least, not to the point he’s stopped bursting into tears every time he thinks about it.

“It’s not a Studio Ghibli movie, though I still hold that that rule is biased against all the fantastic movies they’ve made that are not about people with depression.”

“Aren’t they all, though?” Phil murmurs, putting in the first bag of popcorn and starting the microwave.

“Now Phil.” Techno shakes his head. “You know that just isn’t true. They’re about the human existence as a whole, exploring deep concepts through the lens of fantasy and whimsy- but no, it’s a different movie which Tommy will probably want me dead for choosing.”

Phil gives him a look, but doesn’t comment.

“What about you?” Techno asks after a second. “What is the great Dadza choosing to inflict upon us all? Nature documentary? Old war movie? Sixteen episodes of The Andy Griffith Show?”

“No, but it would serve you right.” Phil flicks him in the middle of the forehead. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

Techno raises his eyebrows. “Wow, I thought you swore off horror.”

“It’s not horror!” Phil protests. “It’s a comedy.”

“It’s disgustingly gory and gross, but okay.”

“You’ve seen it?” Phil gives him another look. “I thought you didn’t care for ‘horror’.”

“I don’t.” Techno shrugs. “Got bored.”

“PHIL!” Tommy bellows, skidding to a stop in the kitchen, golden curls wildly messy. “Phil, can we build a pillow fort in the living room? Can we, can we?”

“What are you, ten?” Techno wrinkles his nose.

“No fuck you pillow forts are Big Man shit, not that you’d understand- can we, Dadza?”

Phil sighs. “Yes, Tommy, if you want to build a pillow fort you can.” Not like I could stop you, he doesn’t add.

“YES!” Tommy screeches, hurtling down the hall. Phil sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“God I wish I had a fraction of that energy.”

“Don’t we all.” Techno takes the first bag of popcorn out, putting a second one in and starting it. “You want a big bowl for this, or is it not worth the risk of Tommy murdering someone?”

Phil hums, staring at it for a second. “Nah, we’ll do individual bags. I don’t particularly feel like having to vacuum the entire living room after Tommy tries to strangle Wil over it.”

Movie night, Phil is realizing, was a great idea.

Tommy actually quieted down for a couple minutes after they started Deadpool & Wolverine, only to start mouthing half the quips and cackling at every even mildly funny joke. Phil mostly tunes out the gory parts, instead trying to keep Wilbur from stealing popcorn out of Tommy’s bag.

Inside Out 2 chills all of them the fuck out, thankfully. Tommy curls up to Wilbur’s side, their previous disagreements forgotten. Phil can see why Wilbur chose this movie- can imagine why he likes it so much. It’s also nice to see that all that brotherly mock-hatred is just that- fake.

These two have come so far together. Phil considers it almost a miracle that Wilbur managed to leave Tommy to go to college- though, knowing that Tommy is safe and happy with Phil probably helped.

Techno crawls out of the pillow fort somewhere around the halfway mark, leaning against the couch in front of Phil and silently handing him a brush and hair elastic. Phil obliges, quickly relaxing into the familiar routine of doing his oldest son’s hair. He and Techno bonded over that pretty early on, and now it’s become a tradition that when Techno wants to spend some quiet time with Phil, he silently asks to have his hair braided.

Maybe the movie is making Phil all sappy, because he spends a few minutes just gently running a brush through Techno’s long hair, thinking about a shy, scared thirteen-year-old who wanted so so horribly to be loved.

It’s staggering sometimes, how far Techno has come- how far they all have.

Techno is twenty-five, finishing his degree; Wilbur’s twenty-four, planning to start his own band after graduation. Tommy is seventeen and so wildly full of life and energy and dreams for the future.

With a sudden rush of warmth, Phil realizes that somehow, despite all the struggles, he did right by his boys.

They fall asleep after the movie ends, Wilbur and Tommy tangled together in their pillow fort and Phil rambling down the hall to his own bed, where Techno joins him after a few minutes with a soft whisper of I love you, Dad, and Phil’s heart is so full that all he can do is hold his son close and fight back tears of joy.

“Fuck yeah.”

Phil gives Tommy a flat look. “You’re making me reconsider all my life choices,” he says.

Tommy grins, snagging a piece of bacon off the platter. “I did not take you for a gore fan, Philza Minecraft,” he says, mouth full. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? This movie fucks.”

Wilbur makes a face as he crawls out of the pillow fort. “Eurgh, never say that about anything ever again,” he grumbles. “Phil, is there coffee?”

Phil sighs, waving towards the appropriate cupboard. “Always.”

“Thank god.”

“I’ll say it a third time,” Tommy says as Wilbur’s hand approaches his head. “Don’t think I won’t.”

Wilbur rolls his eyes, but notably, he does not ruffle Tommy’s hair.

Techno stumbles down the hall just as Phil’s starting to think about going to rouse him. He mumbles out something that might be a good morning before faceplanting into the couch and not moving again.

“Techno,” Wilbur calls. “Technoblade, get up, there’s coffee.”

Another unintelligible grumble, but Techno does drag himself upright and into the kitchen, taking the mug of coffee Wilbur hands him and downing it in two gulps. “More,” he demands, shoving it back in his brother’s direction.

“Get your own coffee, loser.”

Phil decides to take pity on his poor half-asleep son and takes the mug, refilling it and handing it back. Techno has never been a morning person, and he’d admitted to Phil a few days ago that he’s running on a bit of a sleep deficit (my deadlines, Phil, my grades-) so Phil supposes it’s unfair to expect Techno to be fully functional yet.

Phil’s not sure how, but Techno manages to sleep straight through Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Wilbur complains, but clearly doesn’t have the heart to kick him awake like he’d threatened. Tommy is too preoccupied laughing at the movie to care.

Since Techno is still asleep when the movie ends, head pillowed on Phil’s legs, Phil allows Wilbur to take the remote and put on the latest episode of some animated show he and Tommy are weirdly invested in. To Phil it just seems like a fever dream, but Tommy insists that it’s “true cinema, Philza, you wouldn’t understand” so he tries to at least follow the plot.

“Ugh, why are you watching The Amazing Digital Circus again?” Techno grumbles after a bit, shoving his face into Phil’s hoodie.

“Okay, fuck you-” Wilbur begins.

Techno turns his head slowly to glare at him. “I will collapse your pillow fort,” he threatens.

Tommy gasps dramatically. “You wouldn’t!”

“I’ve identified at least six structural weaknesses. Don’t tempt me.” Techno holds out his hand. “Remote. Give. Now.”

After much grumbling, Wilbur hands it over. Techno sits up- still staying leaned into Phil’s personal space, which he doesn’t love, no not at all- and navigates to-

“K-Pop Demon Hunters?!” Tommy screeches at the top of his lungs. “What the fuck, Technoblade?”

“After the gore fest you made me watch yesterday, you don’t get to complain,” Techno says, pressing play.

“But this is- this movie- it’s fucking- AGH!” Tommy flops backwards, making the pillow fort wobble dangerously. “Ranboob will not shut the fuck up about it, he keeps saying it’s the movie of all time, I’m never gonna fucking hear the end of this-”

“Ranboo has good taste,” Techno says. “Sit up, Thomas. We are unironically watching K-Pop Demon Hunters, and you can’t say a word about it after what you picked.”

“You’re such a weeb,” Tommy whines.

Wilbur makes a face. “I don’t think that means what you think it does.”

“Yeah, that’s people who are obsessed with, like, anime,” Techno says. “Which I am not. And this isn’t anime. Or Japanese. Also shh.”

A miracle- Tommy shuts up.

For all of five seconds, before he’s cheering quietly and going “Fuck yeah, demons!”

“Wh- no. No. We do not like the demons,” Techno says flatly. “Demons are bad.”

“Suuuure.” Tommy rolls onto his stomach, propping his chin up on his hands. “The designs are so fucking cool though.”

“Tommy,” Techno says, waiting until Tommy turns to look at him. “Shut up.”

Tommy does.

Somehow, they all end up on the couch by the end of the movie, piled together on top of Phil. He’s pretty sure Techno teared up during the final song- which, fair, Phil almost did too.

“Put on something else,” Wilbur murmurs, shifting to rest his head on Phil’s shoulder.

“Please?” Tommy pipes up, turning his best puppy-dog eyes on Phil.

He is not immune to his sons’ pleading- especially when it means getting more time with them in his arms. He puts on another animated movie, hardly caring what it is or what it’s about, just wanting to keep his boys right here, right with him.

Call him a sap, Phil doesn’t care.

He’s given so much to them, fought so hard for them, and like this- like this, he feels fully how worth it all of that has been. It’s always been worth it, even in the hard times. Supporting Wilbur through suicidal thoughts and depressive episodes, driving Tommy to countless therapy appointments, talking Techno down from dissociation and panic attacks and nightmares. Watching all of them overcome their struggles, growing and thriving.

“I’m so fucking proud of you,” Phil breathes, suddenly overwhelmed by it. “All of you.”

“Aww, Dad,” Tommy says, sounding like he’s grinning.

Wilbur presses his face into Phil’s shoulder with a pleased hum. Techno sighs, squeezing Phil’s hand.

Like this, with them, Phil can only feel perfectly at peace.