-Rehabilitating a Child Soldier-

Preparations

Tommy slowly awoke from his slumber. Upon his arousal, it took a moment before he realized how high above the floor he was. The realization alone nearly sent him toppling off of Bad's shoulder.

He quickly caught himself on a grey bandana that was tied around Bad's neck, regaining his balance after scrabbling for any sort of grip he could find, eventually forcing himself up in a groggy state.

That movement seemed like enough to alert the demon of the child that had been leaning on the side of his neck.

"Oh my goodness, I almost forgot you were there! Good morning Tommy, did you get enough sleep?" Bad chirped.

The two of them were still in the kitchen. Bad was wearing an apron and was apparently cleaning a flowery substance off of the counter. Along with that, there were few piping tubes of icing scattered around, accompanied by bottles of sprinkles, gummies, and candy canes.

Tommy blinked, then yawned, looking around the kitchen before responding.

"...Pretty okay, and you?"

"Oh, I didn't sleep! I was too busy making these."

With that statement, Bad leaned over to the oven, which made Tommy grip onto him tightly, as to not fall onto the cold floor. After all, he was kind of enjoying Bad's warmth. 

It was the same feeling you get when you wake up and don't want to leave the comfort of your bed.

Regardless, Bad pulled the large oven open, delivering a gust of heat to the surrounding area whilst removing a ridiculously giant pan from its clutches. The smell of gingerbread wafted through the air, as Bad set the tray onto the stove top to cool.

Tommy blinked down at the hundreds of gingerbread cookies while Bad returned to his full height. The child marveled at how this demon could have baked so many treats... Niki couldn't even do something like this in such a short amount of time...

He felt like his eyes were sparkling, and that his mouth was watering the longer he stared at them. It distracted him so much that he didn't even feel the movements beneath himself.

Before Tommy had time to react, Bad had slid his large hand under his small body, scooping him off of his shoulder and delivering him to the counter below.

Bad followed the swift action by turning to the nearby sink and pulling his apron off, beginning to clean up the remainder of the baking mess by washing his hands.

It took Tommy a moment to recover from the initial shock, but he quickly shook his head, standing up as to gain a little bit of height before trying to address the massive demon that was standing before him. Specifically about the lack of noise.

"Soo... It's awful quiet in here. Where could Skeppy and Sapnap be? Surely they're awake by now." He asked politely, but not so much as to go out of character.

Bad just smiled to himself and flicked his tail at the window that was letting in the unfiltered December sunlight that was reflected off of the fresh snow.

"They're out there. You could join them if you'd like, unless you'd prefer to stay indoors with myself. You could help me decorate these cookies if you want." 

Bad's answer was soft and mellow, the furtherest you could get from insistent as he cherished the small grin on his face, like he was happy with both ideas, ever word that he had said, or every thought that must be running through this mind.

Tommy secretly cherished it as well, although, less so than Bad himself. As he pulled himself up onto the windowsill, he pondered the thought of how someone could be so happy all of the time, to the point that even with simple thoughts could make a smile bubble onto your face, where it only meant something to you.