#everyone knows the blue cylinder of croissant dough

[neonponders]

Part 26 for @wrecked-fuse ‘s pocketverse 🥐

Part 25

( pt. 7′s art 🎩 ) ( pt. 9′s art 👀 ) ( pt. 14′s art 💨 ) ( pt. 19′s art 🦇 ) ( pt. 20′s art 🍳)

~ on ao3 ~

• • •

Eddie didn’t bother with the front door. He came around the side yard, waving a hand, while the large black butterfly that was small Eddie tried to keep up with his strides. Like an instinctive warning had chimed, large Eddie pauseed to catch him, and set a huffing and puffing little guy on the table.

“Good morrow, all.”

Small Billy said outright, “I thought you could fwy?”

“Short distances! I’m not a dwagon,” little Eddie defended.

“He’s trying,” the bigger Eddie consoled and gently extracted Chrissy from a gingham shirt pocket that did not look like his. From the hard grease smear alongside the buttons, they could guess it belonged to Eddie’s uncle, who alternated shifts at the local chemical plant and automotive factory.

Little Steve greeted, “Mornin’, Chwissy. Want some fwuit?”

She started to answer, but little Eddie’s pathetic collapse made her attend to him first. Little Steve and Billy helped her get him up as he whined, “Don’ step on my wings.”

Large Billy nodded backwards toward the kitchen. “There’s coffee in the pot.”

“Sweet,” Eddie said, glad for an escape out of socially obligated nonsense.

Billy’s eyes drifted over the littles, before settling on his own, who munched on a morsel of peach. Billy nudged the little’s back for his attention. “Is it good?”

“It’s zippy. Wike, it’s not all sweet. I wike that.”

“Me too,” he crooned in his morning baritone. A small smile curved Billy’s face as his little walked between his fingers to sit on the back of his palm, examining his silver banded ring by knocking a tiny fist against it.

Meanwhile, big Steve asked, “Chrissy, what do you guys like to eat?”

She threw her hands up with a jubilant, “Croissants!”

Steve’s brows flew up, disappearing under his hair. “Oh.”

Eddie emerged from the house with a mug of coffee. “The Pillsbury kind. Do you know what that is, Harrington.”

Steve sighed as he pushed himself up. “Yeah, the can is green, right?”

He smirked at Eddie, who stood by, unamused before he decided he might be allowed to sink into a seat. Billy heard the beep of the oven turning on and considered mini croissant sandwiches to be a good start to the day. “Where’s your girlfriend?”

“She’s not, and she’s got like church or whatever.”

Billy snorted, but any inclination for a reply went silent as he watched Steve sneak behind Eddie with a familiar blue cylinder, mostly brown now since he’d torn off the outer layer of paper. He thwacked it against Eddie’s chair, causing the dough inside to burst and the cylinder popped.

Eddie went rigid like an electric current had passed through him. Steve snickered and bent over to lean on the table, showing the littles. Small Billy and Steve exclaimed at the stickiness while Chrissy poked it once, preferring to sniff and say, “It smells nice.”

“Croissants coming right up,” Steve announced, only to have small Billy flagging him down.

“Take me with you!”

He set his hand down for little Billy to get settled on his palm and offered to little Eddie, “Let’s get you some water, huh?”

The poor guy looked drunk off of a cube of peach, but he climbed on and little Billy held his hand to make sure he stayed on for the ride to the kitchen.

It was Eddie’s turn to ask, “Do you like to cook?”

“Sometimes,” Billy responded.

“Your little guy sure seems to enjoy it.”

“I like people who cook even more,” he said before going in for a sip of his tea.

Eddie joined him with his coffee. “Subtle.”

They listened to little Steve and Chrissy chitchat until little Billy’s voice piqued their interest and they took the littles to the breakfast bar. Little Billy took great pride in helping Steve roll up the dough, especially licking off jam when it leaked out of the croissants with jam filling.

As soon as little Steve was standing on the counter, he exclaimed, “Biwwy! Why’rwe you slimy?”

Instead of getting an answer, Billy poked his cheek and licked the jam off little Steve’s face. “Because it’s yummy.”

Big Steve put the tray in the oven and promptly started filling the Barbie pool with warm water. A morning in the pool doubled as a bath.

Eddie watched his little pick up an escaped blueberry and offer it to Chrissy. “Wanna share?”

As they passed the jammy fruit back and forth, Eddie remarked, “I didn’t expect mine to be the prudent ones. If you’re not careful, they’ll eat each other.”

Large Billy countered, “They’re only in danger of me eating them.”

Small Steve shook his head as he stepped onto the towel laying like concrete around the pool. “Siwwy Biwwy. If you nom nom us, then you’ll be wonely.”

Billy loomed close to the counter, face sneaking up behind little Steve. “Or you’ll always be where I can find you.” He snapped his teeth, causing the little guy to jump.

“EE! Hey!”

He grinned like a wolf and made kissy noises. Steve stomped over, cheeks aflame until his momentum made him fully run into Billy’s lips, hugging his face. “Meanie.”

A strange burst of pain hit Billy’s jaw, making him lean back and realize small Billy stood next to Steve, glaring fiercely. Large Billy realized, “Did you just kick me?”

The little guy inhaled so deeply, his chest lifted like a cartoon character. “DON’T SCARWE STEVIE!”

To large Billy’s credit, he kept his voice mellow. “The little guy’s been bossing me around all morning.”

“IT’S GOOD IF IT’S STEVIE!”

On quiet, careful feet, Chrissy approached little Billy and rubbed a hand on his back. Like wind almost blowing a candle out, his anger collapsed before he recovered. Between deciding not to fight anymore, and simply being too tired, little Billy grabbed Steve in one arm and held Chrissy’s hand as he stomped over to where little Eddie stood on tiptoes to slurp down a bottle cap’s worth of water.

Big Billy stood up, only to face Steve with one hand on the counter and another on his hip. "He’s sensitive in the mornings.”

“He’s always sensitive,” Billy snapped, then diffused once he realized what he said.

“That’s why we jazzercize,” Steve finished and then exhaled, “but there’s no jazzercise on Sundays.”

As the uncomfortable quiet of waiting for the oven to finish filled the room, Eddie knocked his rings against the counter before eventually admitting, “Should I go, or...?”

However neither Steve nor Billy answered at first. Billy turned the oven light on to see inside the window, while Steve’s head sagged to the side. Eddie rolled his eyes. He’d thought bringing his littles over would be a nice break but these two were a piece of work -

The front door burst open, and Eddie heard Robin yell, “Kitchen?”

“Yeah,” Steve droned with a look at Eddie as if to say, That’s why you might as well stay.

Robin strolled in, smiling at the smell, only to freeze with her hands up as if to catch something. “Why is the energy weird in here?”

“Billy needs to apologize to Billy.”

“Again?”

Eddie snorted, earning glares from everyone involved. He shrugged happily. “I’m feeling so great about myself. Ignore me and continue.”

To everyone’s surprise, Max strolled in. Her stepbrother frowned. “Where’d you come from?”

“A lake,” she sassed.

Robin elaborated, “I cut through your street and she was skateboarding. I gave her a lift on my bike.”

“I was cleaning off my wheels,” Max finished as she took a seat next to Eddie.

Steve chimed, “Thanks,” before he watched little Billy tote little Steve over to Max and demand entry to her hoodie pocket.

With them cradled in the pocket on her lap, she lifted wide eyes at her brother. “What happened?”

Blue eyes lolled in their sockets. “Little guy can’t take a joke.”

“So...like you?”

Billy’s lips pursed, a sure sign he was about to spit fire, but Max beat him to it with, “Our parents leave for the week.”

That relaxed Billy’s mouth. “Right. Sunday...”

Max confirmed, “They’ll want to see you before they go.”

“Yeah,” Billy played off indifferently, but he stood up off the counter beside the oven and said, “I need to change clothes.”

“After they’re gone, you can make it up to B with a sleepover.”

Both Billy and Steve froze. Robin tried and failed to hide a smile. Max did far better in keeping her humor to herself. “I mean, Steve doesn’t have to do all the work. I’m sure knocking over all your hairsprays and colognes will make B feel better.”

The muscles in Billy’s jaw clenched -

The oven timer beeped, and Chrissy jumped excitedly. “They’re ready! Yay!”