e-Bae

Toby the Thomas-sitter

(A/N This was originally not supposed to be an actual part of the story, but the origin of how this all came into play seemed too perfect to leave out. And, a huge thank you to animatic_ for the comment about Toby being a Thomas-sitter!)

"Wakey, wakey! Get up, you're on my time pretty boy!"

Shooting up from his uncomfortable position in the closet, Thomas rubbed his eyes. The cool air caused him to wrap his arms around his thin frame, and he regretted taking his shirt off. It was also made a thousand times more uncomfortable when he realized this morning, things were looking . . . up.

Toby stood in front of the closet door, banging together two boxes of cereal as if they made an earth-shattering noise to wake him up. If anything, the loud quality of his voice was the thing that woke him. Grabbing the pillow from where he slept, he tried to discreetly place it on his lap, but the amused smile on Toby's face told him that he already noticed. Thankfully, he didn't say anything and continued banging the cereal together.

"I'm up! I'm up!" Thomas yelled, waving his hands in the air as if it would somehow stop the racket coming from someone whose job was being loud.

"Please, stop abusing the Cheerios," he pleaded, grateful when Tobias finally stopped. Rolling his eyes, the human bull-horn dropped the boxes of cereal to the floor and placed his hands on his hips.

"Why not? They don't even have any flavor, any spice. What is their purpose other than being a bland and healthy breakfast when everyone knows they're about to spike their blood sugars with what they add to it?" the blue-eyed boy asked, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.

Shrugging, Thomas waited for him to leave so he could relieve his situation.

"Today, I am child-stalking you, which means you need to be ready in approximately," Toby paused to check his watch. "Ten minutes. So, that cold shower you have to take needs to be snappy."

Eyes widened, Thomas pressed the pillow closer to his lap, a blush coating his cheeks. He was really hoping he wouldn't bring it up. But, Toby being Toby, had to.

"My sister Cate is coming, and she might try to turn you into a Barbie doll, so be careful not to fall for her "innocent looks" .C'mon, if you don't want me to be the Buzz to your Woody, get dressed and meet me downstairs," Toby said, then disappeared from the doorway. Frowning at Toby's carefully chosen words, Thomas stood, and adjusted the pillow to his front, almost tripping on the scattered clothes by the threshold.

Who knew coming out of this closet was so hard?

* * *

Walking down the stairs with a bubblegum pink towel around his neck, Thomas moved to where the general sound of racket came from. It seemed that wherever Toby went, unintelligible noises followed. Entering the kitchen, he saw Toby with a frazzled look on his face, running a hand through his dark hair in frustration. Frowning at the thought of him being annoyed at "child-stalking" him all day, Thomas began drying his hair, wondering if he would have been better off in the book. Moving farther into the kitchen, however, he noticed what was causing the frustration.

A carbon copy of Tobias if he was a girl sat on one of the stools, a large bag sitting on the kitchen island. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and her face was dotted with makeup. Ignoring the fact that her red lipstick went over the line of her lips, and the fact that she was probably twelve, Thomas nodded in appreciation at her handiwork.

"Listen to me, Bozo the Clown. You cannot, and I repeat, cannot go to a senior party. You just completed ninth grade," Toby said incredulously, and Thomas hid his smile behind a deserted cup of coffee on the counter. Toby's sister still hadn't noticed him, but to be honest, he was enjoying the little soap opera scene they were putting on.

It reminded him of how Mae, the woman who was his mother in the story, would always watch Spanish telenovelas while eating Twizzlers when they weren't called upon to do a scene. It was hilarious to see her curse at the screen in Vietnamese while she got immersed in the plot, even though she had no idea what they were saying.

"But-," the girl began, and Toby raised his hand to cut her off.

"The only butt you'll need to be worried about, Ronald McDonald, is your own when I superglue it to a chair if you go. And don't forget, I know everything," he said, and crossed his arms, trying to look tough but ending up looking adorable.

"You tell her, Toby," Thomas chimed in, lifting his hands to give him a thumbs up.

Then, it was as if the world had ended.

"Oh-em-gee!" he heard, and watched as the thing called Cate launched herself at him.

* * *

"So, how long have you and Toby been dating?" Cate asked, pulling at his eyebrows with tweezers. Wincing, Thomas flinched back, pressing a probing finger to his eyebrow. Glancing over to Toby, he saw him roll his eyes before standing up from the couch. After being begged to get a makeover by Cate, to which he discovered he couldn't say no to, they had moved to Ryan's living room, and he still felt uncomfortable being in her house without her there. He was uncomfortable with the whole fact he was out of the computer.

"We aren't," Toby said, coming to inspect Thomas's eyebrows. Meeting his unfocused blue eyes, Thomas tried not to show how affected he was by the nuisance being so close to him. Nodding in approval, he moved back, shooting his sister a smile. Thomas tried not to be a little disappointed, but that disappeared when Tobias plopped right next to him.

"You know, I didn't think it could be done, but without the Jaws of Life, you trimmed those bushes above his eyes. You deserve an award. Hey, stop pinching me!" Toby said, rubbing his arm from where Thomas made sure to leave a mark.

"But, I still have to finish his makeover," Cate said with a mischievous smile on her face as she dug through her bag. Feeling a little bit of apprehension, Thomas looked to Tobias for help, but he was wearing an 'I told you so' look on his face.

"Don't say I didn't, say I didn't warn ya," he sang under his breath, enjoying the look of utter fear in Thomas's eyes as his sister went after him to line them with her black pointy marker thingy.

This continued of for a few minutes in the same cycle, with a weirdly applied and weirdly named product forced onto the "bad boy's" face. Cate even went searching through Ryan's old clothes to find a dress that would partially fit the guy's chest, turning him into the most handsomely ridiculous woman he had ever seen.

But, the sudden sound of a car pulling up into gravel ended the relatively calm atmosphere. Cate was swiping lipstick onto Thomas's mouth when they heard it, and the thought of others seeing him like this immediately sprung him into action. Moving quickly, the Francis' siblings watched in amusement as Thomas ran around with terrible makeup on, trying to free himself from the skin tight dress and ultimately failed. Tripping over the coffee table, they watched as he hit the ground face first, arms splayed around him while painful groans leaked from his red stained mouth. After watching him struggle for a moment, Toby moved to help him up, gesturing for Cate to go into the kitchen, hopefully to use common sense and get some ice packs.

Carefully sitting him on the couch, Toby made sure Thomas was comfortable before whipping out his phone and taking pictures. He was a firm believer in the fact that all embarrassing photos should be printed and hung for decoration, and this would be added to his large collection.

Running into the room, Cate dropped the ice packs and frozen food items in Thomas's lap, which was a bad decision before it even was executed.

"Ugh," he grunted, a painful look painting his features as he gingerly lifted the items from his lap.

"Sor-"

"Nope. Nope. Let us all just be quiet," Thomas muttered, cutting off Cate's insincere apology. Putting an ice pack to his head and the frozen food to his crotch and ankle, he finally relaxed, grabbing Toby's wrist to pull him down with him.

And, finally, the door opened.