Wishing on a Dying Star

Stargazing

Techno jolts awake as he hears the front doors open with a familiar click. He looks around, feeling disoriented for a moment. There's a light pressure on his right side that brings him to turn slightly and see Tommy curled around his arm, fast asleep while lightly snoring. With the haze of sleep suddenly clearing, Techno spots a thin, dried-up line of spit on the kids' chin before he distinctively hears the thumps of Wilbur's feet getting closer to the room. 

Techno freezes when he hears the door next to the movie room open. Wilbur must have heard Techno movements from when he was startled just a bit ago. Quickly, Techno wrapped his arms around the child haphazardly and made a mad dash to the storage closet in the corner of the room. Suddenly freeing one hand, Techno begrudgingly swung the closet door open and settled the waking child in the middle before closing the door firmly.     

Techno didn't have time to fully reflect on his actions before he distinctly heard another door close by. At a controlled speed, Techno speed-walks over to the only other door in the room. Just as he is about to reach for the doorknob, the door opens to a tired-looking Wilbur. Both brothers stare at each other, fully taking in how the other looked. Wilburs clothes look wrinkled to shit even with how dark it was in the room at the moment. 

Techno takes a small step to his right, slightly covering where the supply closet door is. "Thought you guys would be another day?"

Turning on the light, Phil comes from behind Wilbur and shakes his head, "We went to all the safe houses and bugged them. It went faster than we anticipated." Wilbur looks around and stops at Tommy's bag that Techno completely forgot about.

"Who's bag is this?" Wilbur asked as he tilted his head in the direction of the bag. All eyes turned and landed on the bag for a moment.

Techno shrugs, "It's mine. I went shopping a little." Wilbur raises an eyebrow as he walks past Techno, over to the bag on the couch. With trained grace, Wil lightly kicks the bag onto the floor, causing its contents to fall out. With a few pieces of clothing, Henry and Shroud fall out. Tommy's stuffed animals that Techno had gotten him. Wilbur grabs them and shakes them at Techno.

"Ooo, does baby Techno need his stuffies to sweep at night, Owo?" Techno cringes and rolls his eyes at Wilbur's antics. The thought and hope to keep Tommy to himself were getting thinner by the minute. 

Techno snatched the stuffed animals out of his face. "I found them.." he tried to lie, but it was clear on both Phil's and Wilbur's faces that they didn't believe him at all. Techno tosses the cow and spider on one of the couches near him. Before Techno could try to lie again, a very quiet wretched sob rang through the whole room that gave Techno shivers down his spine.

Techno bolts over to the door and rips it open to find Tommy crying in a fetal position. "ImsorryImsorryImsorry." Tommy chants rapidly in his panicked haze. Techno gets on his knees in front of the child and gently places a hand on Tommy's shoulder. Automatically moving on pure instinct, Tommy flinched violently at the touch like Techno's hand was made of fire and ice. 

"Shhhhh, it's okay, Tommy. Look, it's just me." Techno tried to coax Tommy to open his eyes, but the kid wasn't having any of it. "Tommy? Toms... Kid. Gremlin." Techno listed off nicknames he had for Tommy. It seemed nothing could break Tommy out of his panic.