"The Case Of The Fire Inside."

Its gonna look like mud 18

"Hey Wil," Phil said, leaning against his son's doorframe. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Wilbur said, stretching as he sat up, yawning slightly with his guitar on his lap. He had taken the late shift the night before. "What do you want?"

"Just to ask a few questions," Phil said easily, walking inside and gesturing at the small desk. "Can I sit?"

Wilbur shrugged and Phil sat down, the chair creaking slightly. The air around them was tense, Wilbur confused and Phil vibrating with nervous energy.

Techno had taken Tommy out for a few hours, presumably to the garden or the ocean. Phil hadn't been paying enough attention to notice anything other than Techno sending him a sharp glare and shepherding Tommy out. The message was well-received.

He needed to talk to Wilbur about what he was planning. He didn't really want to, he didn't see the point when he was sure Wilbur would be all for getting Tommy out of that house, but Techno made it clear that wasn't an option. Phil had always trusted Techno's judgement.

"Okay, so I wanted to talk to you about what's going on with Tommy," Phil started, Wilbur perking up a bit. Phil resisted the urge to smile. It really was sweet how attached his boys were.

"What about him?" Wilbur asked, tilting his head. "You see the shit I do too right? I'm not the only one really concerned for him?"

"No, we're all concerned," Phil nods, grimacing slightly. It would be hard to ignore the signs after everything they've seen just in the past week. "I think we're all on the page there."

"So what do you need to talk to me about?" Wilbur asked, standing up to grab his guitar and put it away. He seemed more at ease now that the topic had moved to Tommy. For a moment Phil's almost offended by the notion that his son was only comfortable around him when talking about that one topic. He pushes it away.

"I want to adopt Tommy," He blurts out, wringing his hands together as Wilbur stares at him blankly. His son seemed to go through a hundred different emotions at once. Surprise, anger, sadness, acceptance.

"You want to adopt Tommy?" Wilbur asked, settling on a face set in stone.

"Yeah, we need to get him out of that house, and I figured he didn't have anywhere to go," Phil shrugged a bit hesitantly. He thought Wilbur would be a bit more enthusiastic about the idea.

"No I'm more than okay with getting Tommy out of there," Wilbur waved a hand. "Obviously we need to do that, but are you sure that you adopting him is the best idea?"

"Well who else would?" Phil asked, Wilbur bristling slightly.

"I'm of age," He said coolly, raising an eyebrow. "I could adopt him. It would probably be better for him anyways."

"What does that mean?" Phil asked, a spike of indignant anger racing through him. Did Wilbur think he wouldn't take care of Tommy? After everything they've already done for him? Had Phil not shown anything but unconditional care for the young boy?

"He's going to need someone who's willing to be hands-on with him," Wilbur deadpanned, staring him down. "He's got some shit going on, and he needs someone to be with him."

"Are you implying that I wouldn't be there for him?" Phil frowned, a tightness in his chest clawing at him.

"You start work back up when this whole thing is done," Wilbur said slowly, like Phil wasn't understanding something. "Tommy will need stability, reliability."

"So what, you think that I'm going to adopt him than just run off and leave him alone all the time?" Phil asked. Just like Dream is. was left unsaid.

"You're very dedicated to your work Phil," Wilbur said, his voice cold as if the words didn't feel like a bullet to the chest.