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"Tommy! Uncle Techno!" The little girl shouted as he squirmed herself free from her father's grasp, running at them.
The man easily caught the toddler, lifting her up in the air, and then carrying her on his hip.
"Tallulah! How's my favorite niece?"
She giggled.
"I'm your only niece!"
"True, it'll be kinda weird if you weren't my favorite." he chuckled as she hugged his neck.
"Lullah! Let's play! Come on! Come on!" Tommy jumped up and down, gripping his father's pants.
She tried again to squirm herself free but her uncle kept a good hold on her.
"Now, now kids. Just wait a second."
Both of them pouted, already wanting to run free and play to their heart's content. Wilbur caught up to her daughter finally, holding a pout of his own.
"Not going to say hello to me? Your own brother?"
"Nah."
"Wow, I see. The favoritism." he sighed dramatically as the little girl giggled.
"Is because you're not as cool as Lullah!" the boy shouted.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"I am cooler than you though."
The toddler gasped, offended.
"That's not true!! I am cooler than you! I'm the biggest man ever!"
"Hmm I dunno, you look pretty tiny to me." he snorted.
"That's not true!! Daaaad!" he whined.
"Wilbur stop taunting Tommy" he sighed.
The toddler stuck his tongue out, stomping his foot.
"Fine, fine, I'll leave the little gremling alone."
"I'm not little!"
Wilbur laughed.
"So, where's your stuff Petal?"
"Papa has it!"
"Wil?"
The man sighed, dropping his shoulders, the pout coming back.
"Yeah, I have it ... it's all on her backpack." he took the bag off his shoulders, holding it in his chest.
"Alright, you can give it to me." he said as he raised a hand to take the girl's stuff.
Wilbur held the backpack tighter.
"And here he goes..." Techno sighed, a small smile forming on his face as he dropped his hand back down to pat his son's hair.
"Does she really have to stay?"
Techno snickered.
"You literally asked me if I could take care of her, so I think she does."
"B-but I don't want to be away from her." he whined.
"Sucks to be you then." he chuckled.
"You're so mean."
"Thanks."
Wilbur huffed.
"Fine." he relented, giving his brother her daughter's bag "Her headphones are there, she puts them on when her ears are being a little sensitive; Oh! And there's also her favorite blanket and her favorite plushie, it's a small monkey, she can't sleep without it."
"Okay-"
"She likes to hear a small song before bed, it helps her sleep better, if you can put music on the background it would also be great-"
"Wil-"
"Oh! And I packed her favorite skirt, and her crow pijamas, she can't sleep if she doesn't have them on- but remember to make her brush her teeth first! Her brush is also on the backpack, but she often forgets-"
"Wilbur-"
"I told Phil you'll be taking care of her, but he said you can give Kristin a call and she'll come help. I'll text you a list of all the things she's alergic to, she's-"
"Wilbur!" The kids giggled, seeing Wilbur flinch back "Wil- relax, she's going to be fine. It's only for a few days, remember?"
"But- What if something goes wrong? What if she gets hurt?! What if you don't know how to help her-?!"
"You say that like I don't have my own child.
"She's going to be fine Wil, kids are sturdy like that ... Plus, if I can take care of this little hurricane gremlin-" he ruffled his son's hair, making him squeak "I can surely take care of this sweetheart."
His brother sighed, defeated.
"You're... probably right."
"I always am."
He huffed, a small frown on his face.
"Moron." he snickered.
"Alright, I think he's ready. Do you want to say goodbye to your dad, Tulip?"
The girl nodded fiercely, kicking her legs to be let down, Wilbur kneeled on the ground, letting her collapse into an embrace, he held her tightly for a second before pulling away.
"Mi amor, you're going to be a good girl right?"
"Mhm!"
"You're going to be nice with Tommy and uncle Techno?"
"I will papa!"
"Good, good ... I'm going to miss you so much mi niña." he cupped her face.
"I'll miss you too!"
"Aw~ ... I don't want to say goodbye."
"You have to go to work!"
"I do ... but I'll be back mi hermosa amapola, just wait for me." he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
He finally pulled away completely, kissing her hand and making her giggle before standing.
"You'll take care of her, right?"
"That's what you asked me to do." he chuckled "So yes, don't stress too much about it."
Tallulah took his uncle's hand, standing next to him as her father walked away, watching him turn around when he was just outside his car.
"Say goodbye, kids."
"Bye-bye papa!"
"Bye uncle Wil!"
Both children waved their hands eagerly.
Wilbur waved back before going on his car, driving away.
When the car was no longer visible, Techno let their hands go.
"Now you can play."
The children didn't waste a single second in sprinting inside the house, already running to Tommy's room, where all the toys were.
...
The little menaces had too much energy. One alone was bad enough, together they were just an unstoppable force of nature, running up and down the house, dragging toys and blankets everywhere, leaving a very dangerous path wherever they went.
He found rather quickly that they just didn't run out of energy, no matter how many games he played with them, they just continued to jump around, but it was soon going to be nap time, and he wanted the toddlers to actually sleep.
He sighed, watching as the both of them hid under a poor made blanketfort.
"Do you want to do something kids?"
Tommy was the one to peek his head out the covers.
"Something? Like what?"
"I dunno, there's multiple things we could do ... hmm, we can draw a bit, or watch tv ... or maybe we can bake something."
Tallulah peeked her head this time.
"Bake? Can we bake cookies? Like aunt Niki?"
"Yeah ... Niki taught me how to bake some cookies, we could bake those."
Both of the toddlers' face lighted up, almost pushing each other as they struggled to get out of the blankets.
"We want to bake cookies!"
"Yes! We want cookies!"
They jumped up and down, gripping his pants.
"Alright, alright. We can make some cookies."
The toddlers cheered, running straight to the kitchen as he trailed behind them.
"What kind of cookies do you want to make?" he asked as he searched the pantry, looking for most of the general ingredients.
"What kind-?"
"Oh! Oh! Dad likes thumbprints!"
"Thumbprints?"
"Yeah! They're cookies with jelly on the middle!"
Tommy gasped, not having imagined that cookies could have jelly on them.
"I like crinkle cookies!" Tommy said instead "They're all chocolate!"
"I like chocolate!"
The toddlers kept bickering back and forth for a while, trying to remember all the cookies their parents had gave them to try, trying to decide which one was the best.
Turns out, classic was the best.
"Chocolate chips!"
"Yeah! We want chocolate chip cookies!"
They both demanded, ready to use puppy eyes if Techno was to refuse. He only chuckled.
"Chocolate chip cookies it is then."
"Yay!" They both shouted.
He let them stand on top of two of the kitchen's chairs so they could work on the isle. Hearing the excited patting of tiny hands on the marble as he searched for a bowl.
Taking the flour and putting it on a measuring cup.
"Here, who wants to put it on the bowl?"
"Me! Me!"
"No! Me!"
Both of the toddlers struggled with each other, wanting to take the cup out of his hands.
"Careful, careful. I don't want you to fall off the chairs."
"I want to put it!"
"No! Me! I want to put it!"
"Listen, we have to put two cups. You can each put one, alright?"
"Me first!"
"No! Uncle Techno me first! Pleaseeee!!"
"Treasure, let's let Lu go first, okay?"
The boy whined.
"Whyyy?"
"Because she's our guest."
Tommy pouted, huffing.
"Finee"
He ruffled his hair.
"Don't sulk." He chuckled "You can put the other one in."
He let the toddlers put the flour, while he put in the salt and sugar, adding the vainilla and melted butter after that.
"Now, let's put in the eggs."
He grabbed a different cup, letting the kids break the shells and taking the little fragments out before letting them drop them in the mix.
"It doesn't look like cookies." the boy pouted, leaning in with his cousin to look into the bowl.
"Well, we're not done yet." He said as he put in a bit of cornstarch and baking soda "Now we have to mix it."
He quickly mixed the ingredients until he could give the toddlers something to do, diving the dough into two, spreading some flour on the marble and giving a part into the awaiting tiny hands.
"Now, I want you to mix it until there's no lumps, and then I'll give you the chocolate chips."
"Okay!" They both said as they started kneading the dough.
The kids mixed with messy hands, lifting flour and bits of yolks out of their work space.
"Ready for the chips?"
"Yeah!
He chuckled, taking out a bag with chocolate chips and poring some of them into the dough.
"More! Dad! I need more!"
"Me too! Me too!"
"Just a few more, otherwise they're going to be chocolate cookies instead of chocolate chips ones."
After that he took out a tray, covering it with a bit of butter, and putting them in front of the toddlers.
"You want to make small balls, because they're going to flatten and get bigger in the oven, and the ones you've done you can put them on the tray and I'll bake them.
"Can I make a flower?"
"I want to make a star!"
"If you guys can make them so they're small, then I don't see why not."
The children cheered, going back to making as many small figures as they could, not succeeding completely... Not that Techno was going to tell them that.
In the meanwhile he preheated the oven, making sure to keep an eye on the excited toddlers, swating their hands away when they tried to eat a small piece of dough.
Once the tray was filled he put it inside the oven, setting a timer on his phone.
Not a minute went by when they asked-
"Are they done yet?"
"No, not yet."
"And now?"
"No."
"And now?"
He snorted.
"You kids are going to have to wait a bit more than that."
They pouted.
"In the meanwhile, why don't you help me put the stuff away?"
"Okay!"
Both toddlers' first thought was to put away the bag of flour, tiny matching pouts immediately appearing on their faces.
"I'll put it away!"
"No! I will!"
"No! I'm going to do it!"
They both pulled the paper bag, trying to take it for themselves.
"Kids, why don't we-"
He didn't have the chance to speak before the bag slipped from their hands, sending flour flying everywhere, covering them in a thick powder layer.
The toddlers took one look at each other before breaking out laughing. He sighed.
"Alright, alright. I'll clean here later, off you go, let's go give you kids a bath."
He took both giggling children in his arms, going to give them a bath.
By the time they were all clean and changed into their pajamas the cookies were ready.
He took the tray off, leaving it on top of the counter so the cookies could cool down a bit, but there was already a tiny pair of hurricanes that wanted to munch on the cookies.
"Ah ah, they're still too hot, you'll burn yourselves."
"But we want to eat them now!"
"Yeah!"
"Well, how about I make you both hot chocolate while you wait? For being well behaved."
They both nodded, jumping up and down, then he put them up in their highchairs, putting a pot on the fire and mixing milk, with a bit of honey and cocoa powder.
When the hot chocolate was already done, the cookies had cooled down enough for the toddlers to eat.
He gave them both a plate with cookies and a sippy cup with the hot cocoa, taking his own mug and plate with cookies, eating with the kids.
He watched them eat their cookies happily, trying to drink all of the milk.
They weren't even half done with the cookies when Tallulah yawned, followed by Tommy.
"You're sleepy?" He asked, eyes softening as he watched both toddlers yawn again, rubbing their eyes and shaking their heads.
"Nu-huh..."
"We're going to play-" the boy yawned "all night..!"
"Really?"
"Mhm"
"How about a bedtime song instead?"
"You'll sing to us?" The girl drawled.
"Believe it or not, you and Wilbur are not the only one with musical abilites" he chuckled, standing up to carry both children in his arms.
He took them upstairs, placing them both on Tommy's bed, tucking them under the covers.
"Let's see..." He cleared his troath "Look inside of me and see that I am not afraid~"
His niece yawned, curling closer to Tommy.
"To walk inside the void like a kid inside a cave~"
...
"Discovering the patterns of my soul and where it's been~"
...
"Transcends to walking in the light. And slowly I'm recovering. The beauty of discovery."
When he had finished the song both toddlers were fast asleep, painting a smile on his face. He leaned in to kiss their foreheads.
"Goodnight," he whispered "sweet dreams."