Archive of Our Own ^beta

Wilbur had to make sure this went perfectly. He had to. He couldn’t mess it up this time around. This was too important.

This was Tommy’s first birthday with him. Wilbur had adopted the boy only a couple of months ago. He was labeled as a runner and thrown around in the system with little care because of it.

The poor boy was only 7. Well, 8 soon.

He already had gone through more than anyone should, and Wilbur knew it wasn’t much, but he could do something like this. Wilbur was going to make Tommy’s birthday a big deal. The boy’d never had a proper birthday before.

Wilbur was going to change that.

Wilbur called all of Tommy’s friends from school to make sure they were coming. Phil and Techno were supposed to be here too. They were driving in from out of town to show up right in time for the party. They were also bringing Tommy’s cake!

The plan was simple. He was going to take Tommy to school and drop him off, then head home and get all the decorations out that he ordered from Amazon. Specifically decorated paper lanterns. Tommy said he liked those.

Wilbur would then set everything up and order pizza. All the guests would come in and make themselves comfortable. Then Wilbur would bring Tommy home from school and everyone would yell “Surprise!”

Tommy would be surrounded by all the friends and family he made here, and it would be perfect.

Now to enact his brilliant plan.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Wilbur tiptoed to Tommy’s room, avoiding the squeaky spots to the best of his ability. He then lifted his fist, rapping it against the door quietly to signal his presence. After Tommy’s usual greeting of a disgruntled groan, Wilbur opened the door.

Tommy was wrapped in his blanket, eyes squeezed shut in defiance of the day. Wilbur huffed a laugh, walking up to him and shaking him gently.

“Tom. Toms, wake up, bud.”

Tommy turned around, facing away from Wilbur. “Mmmm… five more minutes.”

Wilbur shook his head despite Tommy not being able to see him. “You have to go to school. C’mon, let’s go.” Wilbur grabbed Tommy’s blanket and pulled it off.

Tommy yelped as the blanket pulled him off the bed, falling onto his face. Wilbur giggled, Tommy glaring at him from his place on the floor.

“Fine, fine. I’m up.”

Wilbur left the room, satisfied that Tommy was now up and very much awake.

He quickly prepared Tommy’s lunch and breakfast, popping a few Eggo waffles in the toaster. After a minute, they popped back up. Wilbur set them on a plate, drizzling syrup on them just as Tommy liked before putting it on the table. 

Tommy came rushing out of his room only a moment later, settling down in his usual seat and chowing down. Wilbur cringed at the syrup sticking to the boy’s chin.

Gross.

The 8-year-old jumped out of his seat, grabbing the lunch box and stuffing it in his backpack before rushing to the front door. Wilbur unlocked it, following Tommy out to the car.

The ride to school was rather silent, mostly just Wilbur softly humming to whatever tune was on the radio. 

Tommy bobbed back and forth, a calm falling over them before they reached their destination.

Tommy opened the car door, about to leave before Wilbur grabbed his face.

“Have a good day at school! Remember I’m going to be a little late picking you up, okay?”

Tommy nodded, jumping out of the car and rushing towards his friends.

Wilbur gave the boy one last wave before heading home.

Time to get this thing going!

As soon as Wilbur got home, he ripped the packages open and began to set out the decorations. He had some party favors for the guests and a few bits of confetti sprinkled over the home. He then pulled out the red and white lanterns he bought, standing on the arms of the couch to try and tape the sides to the wall.

He almost fell a few times, but they were up.

Perfect.

Now he just needed to wait for Phil and Techno to arrive.

And just like that, his phone rang. Wilbur picked it up, checking the caller ID and answering.

“Phil? What’s up?”

“Mate, I am so sorry.”

Oh, well that was never good.

“A sudden storm has hit. It’s really bad. The streets flooded in a matter of seconds and some weather reports are even talking about hail.”

Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose. “So, you’re not going to make it?”

“No, mate. We’ve stopped at a hotel already. I’d suggest checking the weather in your area. We’re not too far, it might be moving in your direction.”

Wilbur nodded to himself. “Alright, I will. Thank you for letting me know.”

He ended the call.

Great. Just fantastic.

Now Wilbur wasn’t going to have cake. 

That would be alright, wouldn't it? A birthday party didn’t need a cake…

Who was he kidding, of course, it needed a cake!

Okay. Improvise. He could figure something out.

First things first, checking the weather. And as it appeared, apparently there was a high chance of the storm passing over their area.

Which meant…

Pizza place would be closed.

Wilbur growled, quickly dialing their number to ensure his suspicions were correct. As soon as he heard another person’s voice, it was already telling him they weren’t taking any more orders.

Wilbur hung up the phone immediately. This was fixable. This was doable.

He was going to go to Walmart, pick up a pizza and a cake, and then come back home. Perfect plan.

Wilbur hopped into his car, driving off to Walmart (very much speeding). People around him were scrambling, all trying to grab water, toilet paper, and other essentials in case the storm lasted longer than a day.

Wilbur ran straight to the frozen pizzas. He counted the number of guests in his head (minus Phil and Techno), and bought enough for at least 2 slices per person. Then he dashed to the cake counter, ordering the first birthday cake he saw. They quickly piped a name onto it, placing it in a box. Wilbur balanced it with the pizza boxes, rushing to check out and speeding back to the house.

He didn’t have much time left.

As soon as he got inside, he stuck a few pizzas in the oven. His appliance was a little too small for all the pizzas, so some people would just have to get theirs cold.

Just as he was about to take the first batch of pizzas out, his phone buzzed. 

It was one of Tommy’s friend’s parents.

Oh no.

“Hi! So, we saw the storm was approaching, and I don’t really feel comfortable attending the party. So sorry! I hope he still has a fun time and we can always reschedule if you’re up for it!”

He hung up, only to be met with another call.

And another.

And another.

Until everyone had canceled.

No, no, no!

This was not going the way it should!

Wilbur huffed, rubbing his face. Y’know what? It didn’t matter. Wilbur could fix this.

He’d just— 

…

Was that smoke?

Wilbur looked to the kitchen. The pizzas!

Wilbur threw the oven open, coughing as smoke plumed out of it. Wilbur yanked open the window, trying to let some of it out so it didn’t stink up the house all day.

Wilbur was going to cry. Everything was going horribly wrong.

Wilbur knew he wasn’t the best person out there, but surely he could have at least done this right? Wilbur sighed, rubbing at his eyelids in hopes that would help push back the tears.

It was okay. He had a cake and Tommy’s lanterns.

It was all good!

Wilbur checked the time, sucking in a breath through his teeth. Once more, the man rushed out of the house. He threw his car door open, slamming down on the gas.

When he arrived at the school, Tommy was waiting for him. The boy beamed at him, unknowing of the absolute wreckWilbur had been today.

The man gave him the best smile he could, hoping Tommy wouldn’t notice the hurt behind his eyes.

“How was your day at school?”

And so Tommy rambled on and on about whatever school gossip he heard. Wilbur found himself relaxing to the sound of Tommy’s voice.

Right. Everything was going to turn out okay. Even if it wasn’t perfect, it was still a nice party for just him and Tommy.

Wilbur took a deep breath, smiling as he pulled into the driveway.

It was going to be great.

They hopped out of the car, Wilbur unlocking the door and slowly pushing it open.

“Surprise—“ Wilbur stopped, face falling in horror.

The lanterns were scattered across the floor, crumbled up along with the rest of the decorations.

Wilbur stepped inside, wondering where he could have possibly gone wrong only to find—

The window was still open. The wind broke his decorations.

Wilbur quickly turned back to Tommy, whose eyes and mouth were wide open.

“I’m sorry about the decorations. But in good news I got cake! That’s nice, right?”

Wilbur pulled open the cake box, last bit of hope shattering.

He had put the cake upside down.

Suddenly, everything came crashing down at once. All the emotions he shoved aside, desperate to convince himself it was all going to be okay, fell down on him.

Tears filled his eyes, hands shaking.

Why couldn't he do anything right? He was always messing things up. Constantly finding ways to stumble and trip on the simplest tasks.

Wilbur grabbed at his hair, pulling slightly.

What a massive failure of a man.

“Dad?”

Wilbur whirled around, eyes meeting the concerned blue of Tommy’s. Wilbur sniffled, feeling tears roll down his cheeks as he bent down and pulled Tommy into a hug.

“Toms… I’m so sorry. Things were supposed to be so much better. I was going to throw you a big party and there was going to be cake and friends and… and it all just fell through. I’m so sorry, Toms.”

Tommy pulled back, giving him a small smile. “It’s okay, Dad. I don’t really care about all the stuff.”

Wilbur tilted his head. “But you said you liked those lanterns? I thought you would want all the decorations and steamers.”

Tommy just giggled. “I meant in my room. I liked the way they looked and thought they’d make fancy decorations. I’m okay with just… hanging out with you for my birthday.”

Oh.

Oh.

Wilbur just had an idea. A good idea this time. Something the two of them could do together while also giving Tommy something he wanted. Wilbur stood up, quickly gathering the paper lanterns from the floor and holding them up.

“What do you say we do some painting?”

Tommy grinned, bouncing on his toes excitedly as Wilbur laid the lanterns down on the table. He rushed into another room, grabbing the little art supplies they had.

Then, they got to work. Tommy painted various animals and fields while Wilbur painted forests and mountains. Wilbur even tried to paint the sun from Tangled, but sadly his artistic skills were lacking, and it ended up looking like a big blob.

They toiled until they had no paint left at all, laying their artwork out to dry as they ate the cake directly from the box with their bare hands. Wilbur smushed some cake onto Tommy’s face, the boy squeaking before trying to throw some at Wilbur.

Wilbur managed to dodge a few hits, but he could not last against the onslaught of attacks. 

Once they were finished with that, the lanterns were dry. Wilbur picked them up, carrying them to Tommy’s room along with a step ladder and taping the lanterns to the ceiling.

Tommy would always have his own personal decorated paper lanterns.

It certainly would be a birthday Tommy never forgot.