Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Now if you asked just about anyone who they consider to be the top villain, most would easily say The Blade. And they would be right. Techno may not be the oldest or the strongest out of all the miserable villains on this gods forsaken Earth, but he's the most ruthless and merciless villain active in the past six years. He never backs down. No one dare to try to test for his throne made of corpses and gold now. Those pitiful fools who tried only serve as stepping stones for his seat now. And from his seat at the top, The Blade only accepts two individuals to stand and fight alongside him.

So for the past handful of years, Techno has been working with Phil and Wilbur doing the usual crime. But today was a bit different if he thought about it. Now, Techno understands that he is the brute of the team, that much was obvious. There is no question about Techno being the main muscle but if you asked him to categorize the two others, Techno would say that Philza was the brains and Wilbur was the drama king. That all being said, when their plans determine Philza to infiltrate The Heroes’ National Archives, while Techno and Wilbur kept the attention, Techno agreed. But what he didn't agree to was the last-second change to happen because Philza realized that the building was more cramped than previously assumed. Wilbur immediately took Philzas' mere mention of his discomfort about cramped places to heart and rushed into the building without a single thought. Seriously, Techno didn't think Wilbur had a single brain cell.

"Mate, are you really that worried?" Philza asks Techno as if he could read Techno's mind. Techno didn't doubt that the man who raised him could also see straight through into his soul.

"No. I trust that Shout can handle himself. But it's just- The man can barely work his own computer without burning it, and now he's supposed to hack into the Heroes’ National Archive? Yup, foolproof. Nothing can go wrong there." Techno explained as they wait for the heroes to make their way over to them.

Philza chuckles lightly "Oh I forgot about that! He burnt his computer because he left the plastic on and it burned and melted all over the components? The house stank for a month!" Phil laughs some more. "Don't worry, Shouts' got this okay? If he fucks up, we can try again later." Philza, if ever the optimistic of the group.

Techno grunts in response. He still is a tad bit nervous but there isn't much he can do. He has a job to do and that job is running at him with a green gas mask, a large A logo on his chest, and hard armor, reminiscent of a knight. Awesomedude. If memory serves him right, Awesomedude is one of the top heroes? Probably one that sat near the middle, with his ability being able to create machines out of thin air. A tricky power to deal with but not impossible, to say the least. The secret only a few villains knew, if you separate the maker from the machine, you kill the machine. Only difficulty was, said machine can crush a car with its limbs.

Techno spares a glance at the hero next to Awesomedude, and immediately knew who it was the second he spotted the mask with the weird splotchy patterns on it. Lemonbomb, top ten heroes that's sitting at number 9. Or was it 10? Doesn't matter much. Techno is confident that Philza can handle Lemonbomb and the guy's weird-looking bombs.

Turning back to Awesomedude, Techno studies the man's body language before the two launch into a full-blown fight.

Wilbur hums as he walks the halls, looking at the signs for records and data personnel room. If he thought about it, it's been a long while since he's had a solo stealth mission like this. Maybe it's because the last time he was assigned to one, he blew his cover and caused a full day-long battle to break out when the heroes were alerted… that wasn't a fun day. Wilbur can still vividly remember Philzas' panicked yells during the fight when both him and Techno were outnumbered. Yeah. Stealth missions aren't his forte.

Glancing around some more, Wilbur finds a door with the sign "records and data" above it. Smirking, he opens the door and waltzes over to the desk, turning on the computer. "Okay, I just have to find the files about all the safehouses and protective custody personnel…..u-uh '' Wilbur stutters when the monitor is turned on and sees that as he doesn't even know how to get past the user and password. Wilbur forgot that most sane people actually have passwords on their computers…

"Shit-fuck-bitch" Wilbur starts to randomly type out passwords for the previous logged-on user. After some failed attempts he was limited to only four more tries before he was locked out of the whole computer. Looking around the room he tries to see any personal hints that might give away the password to him. Quickly Wilbur frantically searches all the drawers of the desk and only finds useless ordinary office items. There was absolutely no hint that a person had occupied this space before him from the lack of personality. This only proves Wilbur's belief that anybody who works in an office is just a drone and a wanker.

Sighing, Wilbur leans back in the cheap chair. If he was a soulless government servant that worked a 9:00 to 5:00, even on holidays, what would he make the password… He types in 'government' and gets a dong sound of disapproval from the computer. Okay, 4 more attempts left. He tries 'password' and is welcomed with yet another dong from the computer. Man, these drones don't have a sense of humor. Putting more thought into it, Wilbur tests 'lotion'. Dong. Fuck.

Rubbing his eyes behind his mask, Wilbur looks at the chair for a moment. Seems normal enough to most people. But Wilbur just barely caught sight of fur. "Animal lover I see….." he picks up what little fur there was and stared at it. Wasn't dog hair, it felt too clean and soft. Probably a cat then. Looked to be maybe Orange? Brown? Did this matter?! "Fucking hell" he groaned loudly as he went back to the keyboard.

'Catlover' he hits enter and is slapped with another dong sound. One more try. Man. Maybe they should have let Phil do this instead. Wilbur isn’t good with tech really. He's pretty sure Techno would have already found the files by now. He remembers Philza tried to teach him about computers before when he was young but Wilbur can't remember much now. Maybe he's been doing it wrong? All of his passwords at home have one number in them, even Techno and Philzas passwords all have a number in theirs. So he has to try a number as well... Now Wilbur finds himself at a crossroads, he could do cat1over or catlover69. Neither sounds good so he tries the second one.

Dong.

Wilbur is going to blow a fuse. The computer had locked him out of trying again. He feels defeated by a clunky government-issued computer. Annoyed, Wilbur starts to kick the desk that he was previously at.

"Stupid" Kick. "Fucking" Kick. "Computer!" Kick. Click.

Wilbur jumped at the sound. "What th-?" He cuts himself off when he sees a lip form where a lid to a secret compartment in the desk opens. Was that always there? Since when did people still have secret compartments in desks? Slowly Wilbur crouches down so that he is on the same level as the compartment. With steady hands, he pulled open the little door and saw a few files stacked on top of each other. Bingo.

Wilbur pulls out the files and one by one starts to scan through the information. Trying to find anything that he actually needed, Wilbur's eyes quickly raced from one page to another.

Techno sighs dramatically as he flips out of the way from an oncoming punch. "I'm starting to think that you're just going easy on me for my clout," Techno said to the hero that was panting slightly. They've been at this for almost an hour now and neither Blade nor Corvus has broken a sweat yet while both Lemonbomb and Awesamdude are starting to hit their limits. Things aren't looking good for the heroes. They pant and struggle to stand as they watch the villains. Techno suspects the only reason these two got to the scene very quickly was because they were in the area. Meaning that either the hero headquarters only signaled them to this crime or backup was coming but it was going to be for a while considering the long distance between the closest hero headquarters and the Heroes National Archives.

Didn't matter to the villains though. All Techno and Phil have to do is keep everyone out of the building. Neither of the two heroes could even get within a 100-foot radius of the building before getting slashed or slammed by the villains. Awesomedude ignores Techno’s clear quips and tries to lunge again at Techno like the last 20 attempts weren't enough.

"Jesus," Wilbur mutters when the building shakes again. Techno must be fighting nearby then. The dude could only be light on his feet when he wanted to be stealthy, Wilbur figures. Focusing back on the task at hand Wilbur adjusted his in suit flashlight as he kept looking over the files. He feels like he is close considering the last few files were about the city and headquarters going back and forth on wanting certain properties but nothing set in stone.

"Ah! Found it!" Wilbur exclaims the second he saw the word safehouse. Quickly, he takes out a small thin device from a pocket on his thigh and starts to slide the device over the words on each paper one by one. He feels a bit of pride in himself for bringing this device with him today as a precaution. As Wilbur has the device copy and store the info on the papers, he could feel the building shake again from the fight outside. Once he is done scanning all the files, Wilbur puts the stack of papers back where he found them and covers any trace that he was in here. All of this would be for nothing if the heroes found out that this is the information they stole since they could easily change locations of the safe houses and move the people in protection.

Now for the final piece, Wilbur runs out of the office and starts to place small timed bombs in random places as he makes his way to their planned exit. Once outside, Wilbur taps his earpiece, turning it on. "All done. Set to go in 3 minutes. See you at location P12" Wilbur tells the others as he races off, trying to get away from the building while his presence has yet to be known.

Techno's ear twitched slightly when Wilbur's voice finally came out in his earpiece, along with Philza saying "P12 understood".

"P12 confirmed," he said lightly as he watched his rival try to crawl towards the destroyed and disintegrating machine. They both knew that Techno had won the fight, it was clear with Techno having yet to receive a bad injury, while Awesomedude couldn't even stand up.

Now it was a question of whether or not Techno kills this hero or drags him away from the building so he doesn't blow up. Techno didn't really have anything against Awesomedude. The hero is just doing his job and didn't really annoy Techno during their fight. With a deep sigh, he punches the lights out of the hero before he drags the man's unconscious body away from the building. Once they were a good distance away, Techno drops the hero and starts to make his way towards their safehouse. He smirks when he hears a loud explosion, sending bits of the building, goes off behind him and keeps walking away.

They meet up and hop into their old beat-up car, heading back to their home. Techno sighs as they walk into the elevator, ready to wind down from this stressful day. The elevator dings once they reach the top. Techno speedwalks into the penthouse, dropping his blue and white cape at the front with his boar mask. He opens the fridge, grabbing some chocolate milk, and flops onto the couch with a remote in his hand. Phil chuckles as he takes off his matching cape. Phil stretches his wings and settles down in front of Techno on the floor.

Wilbur bumps Techno over and sits down with a couple of rags in hand. He sets down the rags beneath Phil’s wings and starts to preen them gently, clearing them of all the dust and rust they collected during the fight. Techno asks, “So what did you find? Did you find what we came for?”

Wilbur nods and pulls the little do-dad out and puts it in Techno’s hand. Techno raises it up to his eye, turning it back and forth, “So this has all the information of every single safe house and person in protection right? Because our client will not be happy and possibly not pay full if we don’t.” Wilbur nods, focusing on Phil.

Phil makes grabby hands for the tech and grabs the laptop from underneath the couch. Techno leans over his shoulder as Phil uploads the data onto the laptop. Phil pages through and hands it back to Techno nodding, “It seems to be everything on here. We’ll be good to go.”

Techno looks at the information and notes that they are scanned copies of paper. He raises an eyebrow at Wilbur, “I thought all the information was on the computer. Please tell me you at least got into the damn computer.” Wilbur chuckles nervously and rubs the back of his neck. Phil laughs hard, causing his wings to dislodge a fuck ton of dust into the air.

Phil and Wilbur fall into coughing fits, leaving Techno to watch with slight amusement. Techno raises an eyebrow. Wilbur sputters out, “Well there was like no personal items in the office so I-, you know, got locked out and kicked the desk. A secret compartment thing opened after that and in it were all the documents for the safehouses and personal information.” Phil laughs again and wipes his eyes.

"Leave it to Wil to get that stupid and lucky at the same time," he says as he gets up and heads to the kitchen, leaving the clean-up to an annoyed Wilbur.

Phil starts to make dinner while Techno sets up the information for their client. Wilbur slouches in with a dust handprint on his shirt and points at the older man, “You. You caused this you old fucker. You're so old that you’re disintegrating onto me.” Phil narrowed his eyes and yelled the usual "I'm not old!" line from the kitchen. He plates out some eggs for the two and some pancakes for himself. He’s not that evil to be a cannibal.

Techno takes the laptop into the office and comes back to eat dinner. He eyes Phil’s plate and sneaks his fork over just to get smacked by Phil’s fork. “Don’t you even think about tainting my egg-free pancakes.” Wilbur chokes on his eggs and tumbles out of his seat struggling to laugh and breathe. Techno huffs and eats his eggs while listening to Wilbur and Phil chat. After he finishes and puts his dishes away, Techno says his goodnights before going to bed, tired after all the fighting.

The next day, Techno wakes up early with a groan. He always forgets to close his blinds at night, causing him an ungodly amount of sunlight to wash over in his room every morning. With a sore and slow-paced body, Techno gets dressed and leaves a note in the kitchen saying that he went to the office for the day. He knew the others didn't care for working in their office, but Techno enjoyed the change in scenery. Even the drive to their tower felt refreshing to his otherwise hectic lifestyle. Techno rolled his shoulder back slightly as he stood up out of his car. Upon walking to the entrances of the tall building, he spots his assistant nervously standing by the elevator waiting for him. Which wasn't really a strange sight, but Techno could tell immediately something was wrong with his assistance. As Techno reaches the elevator, his assistant holds out a coffee for him.

"G-good morning sir." The guy stutters out as Techno gives him a nod and takes the hot coffee while they enter the elevator. "W-well um. Your client called, asking for you to send the information t-tomorrow instead." Ah, that must be why the assistant is so nervous, Techno thought. The client moved up the deadline on them. Not a big problem really since Techno just had to organize the information and make a copy for themselves before sending it off.

"Is that all?" Techno asks the man as they step off the elevator and start walking towards Techno's office. The guy coughs nervously. "U-um w-well… a week ago you got a call from Make-A-Wish, asking for you to meet up with a f-fan… a-and I thought it was a joke so I hung up and ignored their call." The assistant explained.

Pausing for a moment, Techno glances over at his assistant to see if this was a joke, but the guy seriously looked scared. "Go on." Techno prompts since his assistant looks like he was going to piss himself with the silence.

"U-uh apparently now there's a w-woman here waiting to see you. From the Make-A-Wish foundation.." he finishes as if saying the words fast meant that Techno wouldn't understand them. But Techno has lived with Wilbur his whole life and has had to sit and listen to Wilbur's quick rants about random things.

Now Techno wasn't sure who had the balls to try to either joke with Techno or try to scam him, but he isn’t having any of it. "Send her away. I'm busy today." Techno tells the man before he enters his glass office room at the top of the office building and sits down on his comfortable red chair. Finally alone, Techno sips his coffee and starts to work on organizing information on his flash drive.

About an hour into working, Techno hears a commotion happen near the elevator. Very quickly he saw what was happening as it was approaching. A short, angry, hot pink-haired woman stomping her way over to Techno's office. Right on her heels are two security guards trying to hold her back. But it was clear on their faces that they were struggling to stop her. Which was strange considering the bodyguards were two very buff men and this woman looked like she could break with a flick of Techno's wrist.

As she pulls her arms out of the loose grasp of the security guards, the lady pushes her way into Techno's office and glares straight at him, not a hint of fear in her eyes. "Mister Blade. I understand that you are a busy man, but I will not make my kid wait any longer. He might not have much longer so you will clear your schedule for tomorrow and come to L'Hospital at 1 pm sharp to meet Tommy Soot, your make-a-wish kid. Do I make myself clear?" She spoke with so much poison in her words that it made Techno want to move back slightly if he didn't have nerves of steel. He feels his throat close up slightly when he thinks of saying no. Like his body refuses to deny this woman what she demanded of him. So against his free will, Techno nods, agreeing with her as if only to feel comfortable in his own body again. The deadly atmosphere in the room suddenly dissipates as she smiles a little. "Thank you for agreeing. I'll be waiting for you tomorrow by the visitor lounge, located in the East Wing of the hospital. Please wear a suit that doesn't have blood on it and don't bring any visible weapons. Also, Tommy likes stuffed animals" She lectures him before leaving his office with the two security guards following her in a daze, Techno also feeling slightly dazed himself after that encounter. Frowning, Techno thought of just not showing up but again, just like when he planned on saying no, his body started to ache painfully.

Well, it looks like Techno is going to have to push his deadline with their client till the following day tomorrow.

Chapter Text

"Change of plans everybody," Techno says to the other two occupants in the living room. Both men look up from what they are doing, Phil looks up from his laptop while Wilbur looks up from his takeout menu and phone. They give Techno a surprised look, not expecting Techno to just randomly say that. Out of the three of them, Techno rarely made plans outside of the family.

"I've got somewhere to be tomorrow. So our client is going to have to wait on the flash drive." Techno adds before he starts to walk towards the kitchen. Wilbur drops the menu from how surprised he is by Techno's words. While Phil had tilted his head, confused. He was the only one who handles the clients so if he didn't finish the flash drive with all the information in it, it wasn't going to get done.

"Wait wait wait what? Techno you have plans tomorrow? What are you doing?" Wilbur tries to get more out of his quiet twin. Wilbur was easily the clingiest out of the group and Techno is pretty sure Wilbur would combust if he thought someone in the family was doing something dangerous alone.

Techno makes a noise in the back of his throat that sounds like a grunt. "It's…" he pauses, trying to think of the right term. "Personal matters that I can't avoid." He settles with being vague about his plans. Techno doesn’t want his family to butt in on his problems and he didn't think it was a big deal. Plus he wouldn't hear the end of it from Phil who loves to coo whenever one of the twins did something soft-hearted. Techno wasn't soft-hearted. He was being forced to. That woman's ability trapped him into being a decent person for a few hours.

"Mate, is everything okay? You usually don't keep things from us?" Phil speaks up this time and Techno could feel the uncertainty in Phil's voice. Even the way Phil's tone thinned and strained lightly when he said the word mate, makes Techno's heart squeeze. Okay, maybe Techno was a bit soft for his family. They could easily bring out emotions in Techno that even he didn't know he could feel.

"Yeah. I just gotta go do something for an hour or so. I'll be back before you know it." Techno keeps his voice light and even in hopes that it calms his family's worries. "It's nothing violent anyways, stop worrying old man. You'll get more gray hairs." He teases Phil as he comes out of the kitchen with a raw potato in hand.

Phil rolls his eyes and mutters "oh you little shit" while Wilbur laughs and giggles from it all. "Old man Phil worried over his little fletchling son" Wilbur laughs more at his own joke since no one else is going to. Techno could tell that Wilbur is picturing Techno with hawk wings or something stupid instead of his tusks and pointy ears of a piglin hybrid.

Techno's ear flicks a little with fake annoyance. He doesn’t want to give Wilbur anymore of an ego if he were to smile at the joke. Phil places both hands on Wilbur and starts to shake him roughly, as punishment for teasing him. "Ahhhh! Stop! My hair!" Wilbur whines as he laughs.

"I'm not old!" Phil yells, only fueling Wilbur's laughs more.

Techno rolls his eyes, "I'm going to my room" he informs them both as he leaves them to their roughhousing. As he closed his door, he could hear Phil laughing his ass off while Wilbur yells this time.

When morning comes Techno wakes up with a jolt, remembering what is meant to happen today. He gets up and gets dressed in his villain attire that's fully clean and patch up. He walks past Phil and an asleep Wilbur in the kitchen sitting at the counter with his head down. Phil mouths the word 'Twitter' and he immediately understands what Wilbur has been doing since he last saw him. He rolls his eyes and grabs an apple and leaves the penthouse with a mutter of goodbye to Phil. He climbs into his unsuspecting average car and heads out to the hospital.

Techno passes a Goodwill and remembers that the Make-A-Wish woman had mentioned that her kid liked stuffed animals. He turns into the Goodwill quickly and investigates the stuffed animals' section. He passes over an old pig with a royal getup but decides to go with a cow that has a red and white shirt on. He buys another smaller plushy of a spider and asks the nervous cashier if they have any boxes or bags for presents. The cashier quickly nods and pulls out a box from behind the register with trembling hands.

Techno grabs it and puts the plushies inside and closes it. He leaves the building and continues to head to the hospital.

Techno pulls up to the building and checks everything off in his mind. A gift, check, villain getup, check, sanity, not check. He heads in. Techno goes to the part of the hospital that he was instructed to go to, and waits. He looks to the left and sees the short pink-haired woman from before and moves over to her. He coughs getting her attention. She narrows her eyes at him and starts to list off things that Techno can’t do. “You can not ask Tommy about his illness, his family, his usual residence. You can not threaten the staff or curse in front of Tommy, even though he curses.” She huffs at the last comment.

Techno nods, committing the simple rules to memory. She relaxes when it's clear that Techno isn't going to do anything. "Sorry, I'm just protective of Tommy. He's just a great kid." She says before noticing that Techno is holding a box at his side. "Oh! Is that for him?" She asks lightly.

"Uh, yup. Stuffed animals." He says. Techno looks over the lady as she looks at the box and sees a name tag with Niki written on it. He notices small webbing on her hands and faint scales along her neck and eyes. Her ears seem to be longer and thinner at the end, almost like fins.

"That's good. I'm sure Tommy will like it" She warms up to him a bit. "Alright, time to meet the star of today," She says as she starts walking down the halls. He follows close behind Niki as she shows him where Tommy is situated.

Niki slowly pushed the hospital door open and smiled warmly. "Tommy, look who I found?" She turned towards Techno in the hallway and motioned for him to walk in.

With a mute sigh, Techno walks into the room and gets whiplash by a few things. First is the numerous machines surrounding a large hospital bed, Techno isn’t sure what most of these machines did but he decides to ignore his curiosity. Secondly, he notices that every machine is in some way, wired or hooked up to the occupant of the red bed. Lastly, he finally lays eyes on the pale child with sky blue eyes and golden hair. Techno felt a wave of goosebumps rush over his body when he saw the enormously bright smile the kid held for him. Now don't get Techno wrong he's not soft or anything but the smile that this child held for him made Techno feel like he is the most important person that's ever stepped foot on this world. Like with a simple turn of his head Techno could have the world at his feet and this child knows it. This child waits for such a moment and believes in such a moment so strongly that Techno doesn't think he'll ever see anybody smile just as brightly as this kid does for him. Techno can feel his piglin instincts go haywire with the rush that this child is already giving him.

"Have you ever been stabbed by your own sword?!" Tommy shouts out his question before even introducing himself to Techno.

"Uhh no, not yet" Techno answers as he sits down in the chair next to the bed. He notices that Niki sits down in a chair across the room and opens a book as if she isn't listening in on the conversation. Techno figures she doesn't fully trust him with the child, but he doesn't mind.

"How long of a drop can you survive?!" Tommy shouts off another sudden question.

"Probably most reasonable heights since I can't die." Techno answers. His ability allows him to heal himself quickly enough that he can never die, so height wasn't a problem usually.

"What does that even mean?! I saw you fall from the huge Las Nevada building and went back to fighting but then I saw that you were kicked off a dumb like five-story high building and then had a limp?! Are you lying?!" Tommy was reciting fights that happened over a year ago and Techno frowned as he tried to fully remember such old fights.

"No no no my fight on the Slimeball Banking building, a six stories high building mind you, was against 404 and Awesomedude. Two heroes, one, took a lot of my energy before I was kicked off, and two kicked me off a building with a 537-pound machine with enough horsepower to knock down an entire building. All this while my fight on Las Nevada's was against Sapnap, who just covered the roof with lava so I had to jump down" Techno explains, forgetting that he's talking to a what? 14-year-old child. Now that Techno took a second to fully take in Tommy's appearance, he definitely notices more. The kid has what looks to be raccoon ears tucked away by his hair, along with two small red horns that just barely peaks above his hair. And when the kid talks, Techno could easily see sharp pointed teeth in his mouth. With the cherry on top, Techno sees his nails were a smoky black color and were filed down to a sharp point almost like claws. What a weird kid. Techno couldn't even begin to question what he was. But his thoughts and questions slip out of him when the kid starts talking again.

"Who the fuck uses pounds?! What are you?! A dirty American? Duh, hu look at me I'm a stupid American who uses fake measurements just to feel special duhhu God" Tommy yells just a bit too loud.

Tommy tries to go into another rant but before he starts, Techno reveals the box that was tucked at his side. He holds it out for Tommy to take.

"Here. I didn't know if you liked cows or spiders more so I got you both" Techno explains his weird thought process of gift buying when Tommy opens the box.

"And there isn't a bomb in here?" Tommy asks as he giggles a little. He takes out both stuffiness and sits them on his lap with such care.

"Heh?! Who do you take me for? Shout?" Techno acts as if he was offended by the implications but Tommy laughs more as if he couldn’t care if Techno, a supervillain, is upset with him. Like this tiny fragile-looking child hasn't clocked that Techno is a threat to visibly everybody near him.

Tommy places a hand on the cow's head and smiles at Techno. "No, you're not a wrongen like Shout. At least you actually have a cool fighting suit. Shout just looks like an edgy teen that just went to Hot Topic!" Tommy yelled as he laughed at his own words. Even Techno chuckled light at their teasing of Techno's twin.

Techno easily slips into a light-hearted banter with this kid that he barely even notices when Niki leaves them alone in the room to enjoy themselves. Their topics range to and from the most random things that Techno can feel his head spinning in circles trying to keep up with this kid. At one point, Techno had to stop himself groaning when the kid tried to get Techno to say the word bitch by asking if there was another name for a dog. But man it was worth it when Techno had said puppy instead and causes the kid to eruptively laugh so hard that he struggles to breathe a few times. Techno could feel himself swell with pride at that moment. From then on, Techno took any chance he got to make the child laugh more.

"Blade, you should take me to a strip club when I get out of here!" Tommy shouts excitedly as if it is Christmas or something. His eyes beam with such joy that Techno can feel himself wanting to cover his own eyes from how bright it is.

"I will not. Your friend, Niki, would kick my butt if I even think about it." Techno answers with a thick monotone voice. He expects Tommy to retaliate or get angry with him but the kid just bursts out laughing again.

Somehow the hours passed so fast for them both that they only just noticed how long they were talking when Tommy yawns exhausted. Techno looks at his watch and sees that six whole hours have slipped out of his hands, taken by this kid. Tommy rubs his eyes in a futile attempt to combat his tiredness for a little while longer. This action tugs at Techno, reminding him of when Wilbur was little and would fight tooth and nail to stay up late with Techno.

"Tommy, go to sleep. You're yawning more than you're talking at this point." Techno explains as he gets up and grabs Tommy's red blanket from the foot of the bed and drapes it over the thin child's body. Tommy grumbles about how he isn't tired but he rubs his eyes and leans down on the bed fully. The stuffed animals in his arms loosely as Tommy drifts off to sleep, unbothered by the constant beeping and hum of machines around him.

"Goodnight" Techno mutters when Tommy's breathing evens out to a steady pace. And with that, Techno quietly leaves the hospital room and turns off the lights on his way out.

Chapter Text

Niki is seen sitting just outside the door to the room, reading a thick book. Out steps Techno. Niki looks up at the taller man and smiles tiredly. "Did Tommy have fun?"

"Uh yeah. I don't think I've heard someone ask so many questions in such little time. He can spin a great story, though." Techno responds, making Niki's smile widen.

"That's good. I know Tommy gets bored easily during his resting periods here at the hospital. I'm sure every employee has already heard of the great story of that one time Tommy got a fidget toy stuck in his nose for a few hours."

Techno's eyebrows furrow at the mention of resting periods. "What do you mean by rest periods? Isn't he here all the time?"

"He's only here till he's stable to rest at home. He has another week and a half or so of rest before he's released. As you can tell, the thing he does to entertain himself is to annoy anyone within shouting distance till he's free from here." Niki explains as she moves back to the front foyer. Techno hums and looks behind the two back at Tommy's door.

Niki watches him from the corner of her eye and giggles, "You can visit whenever you want, but please call ahead. Don't want to give our secretary a heart attack as one of the top villains just walks in." Techno huffs at the remark and gives the hospital a good look.

There are only hybrids here. Techno looks down another hallway and sees only hybrids. "Where are all the humans? Aren't you a normal hospital?"

"Well, we are a hospital, but we don't get much funding, and humans usually want to stick with the more funded hospitals with less "filth." We do a lot of fundraisers to help get medicine and proper treatment for the sick here, but that's a gamble on how much we raise, and we sometimes have to cut people short." Niki explains as she shows Techno a room through a window of a sick patient looking at their almost empty iv with a sad look.

Techno's eyebrows pinch and look away. He turns back to the main hallway and continues to the foyer. He walks up to the secretary and pulls out his checkbook, writing an expensive check for the hospital. The lady looks at the check and back at him, ensuring he's alright with the amount. He turns to the doors, sighing, and leaves. Phil’s gonna question where the money went later.

Techno walks into the mansion and speeds over to his room, not giving Wilbur or Phil the time to ask why he's back so late. He changes out of his villain wardrobe and flops onto the massive bed, contemplating what had happened earlier. He falls asleep thinking about the blinding smile that Tommy owns.

Techno goes about the next day with a molasses-like mood. Both Phil and Wilbur notice but decide to wait for Techno to open up to them instead of asking him. Which Techno appreciates greatly. He couldn't fully understand why he feels so empty, and when he tries to think about it, his mind wanders to Tommy. Techno bets Tommy is talking his head off to some poor nurse or is taking a nap right now since it's close to noon. Maybe Tommy is eating jello. Hospitals always serve jello. Techno wonders if he could bring Tommy food. The kid would probably kill for a burger or something. Or what if he gets Tommy a spare cape he has. Tommy would absolutely love it, and it could help keep the small kid warm since he seems to run chilly.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Techno finishes the flash drive for the client and is getting ready to go with Phil and Wilbur to the meeting place. Techno didn't care for this part of the mission. It was more of Wilbur's or Phil's area of expertise. Techno just came to give them back up, mainly since he couldn't care for the chatting and negotiating. He notes all of his weapons before following his family out of the mansion and to the car.

The ride to the meetup place was located at an abandoned warehouse that had nothing special going for it. Techno finds himself mindlessly following Phil to the lone table in the middle of the dark building. The clients were already waiting for them at the table. Phil starts the conversation, and Techno immediately zones out. His mind wanders as he watches Phil hand the flash drive to the two clients, Carl and Oreli. Some of their goons eye Techno as he stood utterly still behind Phil, doing his only job, intimidation.

At some point, Techno notices that the conversation was starting to get hostile. Techno could see that Wilbur was slightly tenser next to him, and his voice was a pitch lower than usual. Techno checks Phil to see that the old man is still covering his emotions with a smile, like always. Techno's cold eyes scan over the client's goons. He spots a few simple weapons and guns on them, but nothing he feels worried about.

Once Phil speaks a bit more, everyone calms down, and Techno slips back into thinking about Tommy. Techno couldn't figure out what he is. The child had so many traits of other hybrids that he could be a quadruple hybrid. But that statistically is nearly impossible since double hybrids are already extremely rare in the hybrid community. With the raccoon ears, horns, sharp teeth, and claw-like nails, Tommy was an amalgamation of too many things all at once. To Techno's knowledge, most double hybrids were similar, like a double hybrid fox dog or a double hybrid of dove hawk. The two parts of the hybrid were identical or at least in the same animal family. But none of Tommy's hybrid physical traits were related, it seems. No raccoon hybrids that Techno knew of had sharp teeth or claws like nails. So those were different traits and likely also not associated with one another. Techno wonders if Tommy had more hybrid features that Techno might've missed or didn't see during his visit.

As Techno fully spaces out, suddenly, a goon pulls out a revolver and aims at Techno's head. Quickly Wilbur lunges at the guy, and a loud bang rang through the warehouse. All hell broke loose. The bullet had hit Techno in his side thanks to Wilbur's action of lowering the gun before it went off. The two clients rushed out of the fight as Philza released his wings and turned his once soft feathers into steel-like blades. Quickly Philza flicked his wing, causing a few blades to fly out of his feathers and hit the other two goons. Wilbur tackles his goon to the floor and takes the gun and points it at the guy's head.

"Blade?!" Wilbur yells, asking if Techno was okay while he keeps his eyes and attention on the man responsible for the hole in his twin.

Techno touches his side and feels his hand immediately gets covered in what he assumed was blood. "Fine!" Techno yells as he grabs a few daggers and throws them as Philza’s two goons. Immediately killing one and leaving the other to Philza’s enjoyment.

Wilbur shoots his goon in the side just like he did to Techno before discarding the weapon. The goon screams out in pain from the shot, and Techno could see that Wilbur wasn't finished. He watches as his twin steps on the man's neck and slowly suffocates him to death. The goon struggles under Wilbur's shoe for a few moments before his face starts to turn pale with a slight hint of blue on his lips. Techno was pretty sure he could hear Wilbur giggle slightly when the man's limbs went limp.

Techno turns to see Phil slicing the head off the other two goons with an almost sick wet slicing sound that would make most men weak in the stomach. Techno just sees it as Phil being dramatic. "Do you want some stick or something Saint Oswald?" Techno teases Phil lightly as he pulls out his phone to check if a hero or police were called because of the shooting. Thankfully no one has called it in yet, so they still have time to leave without another fight or car chase.

"You okay, mate?" Phil's words snaps Techno's attention away from his phone, and he looks up to see Phil in front of him, hesitant to reach out to his wound. Techno nods slightly and puts his phone away.

"We should go then. The quicker we're home, the faster I can patch Mr distracted here." Wilbur teases as he starts walking to their car.

Techno rolls his eyes and ignores Wilbur's words as he follows with Philza close behind.

After they arrive home, Wilbur sits Techno down in their small one-bed infirmary room and demands that he stay like a dog. "I'm not a dog Wil, you can't just point at me and say 'stay,'" Techno calls out as he gently pulls off his villain attire. He lets out an involuntary grunt of pain when he moves his side slightly.

"I'll stop treating you like a dog when you stop acting like a bitch" Wilbur calls out from the other room as he gathers supplies. Wilbur's pun makes Techno roll his eyes. Soon Wilbur walks in with a basket of random medical stuff. Don't ask Techno what all that is because he doesn’t have a clue.

"What even happened out there?" Phil's voice snaps both Wilbur's and Techno's attention towards the door where Phil is leaning against. Wilbur turns back to Techno's wound and starts to clean up the slowly healing wound, ignoring the beginning of a battle that everyone knew Phil would win.

Techno shrugs slightly, trying not to move much. "I was….. uh spacing out for a while," Techno tells the two as he pointedly ignores Phil's concerned eyes and Wilbur’s intrigued eyes. They don’t need to know about Tommy. Tommy was… well, Tommy wasn't theirs, so they didn't need to know about the kid.

Wilbur chuckles softly. "Techno, you're hiding something~ What is it? Certainly, it's important if you're thinking about it while on a mission." Wilbur says as he's applying a goo to Techno's wound.

"It's nothing. Really. The conversation was boring, so I spaced out. I'm the brute, not the conversationalist," Techno jokes as he takes off his boar-like mask that covers his nose and eyes. "What happened? Why did it suddenly turn sour?" Techno asks Phil, attempting to steer the conversation away from himself.

It seems to work because Phil sighs and frowns a little. "Essentially, what happened was Carl tried to give us less than what was initially agreed upon. The money hog tried saying the movment of deadlines caused the decrease of payment. I called bullshit since this date was already our original plan, and they were upset that we couldn't do it a day earlier than they wanted! They just wanted an excuse to pay us less. Wilbur, at some point, called Oreli, a stupid blind mole, and Oreli cussed him out. After that, one of their men glared at you, and he must have thought you were planning something with the default frown you always have on." Phil explains while Wilbur finishes patching up Techno's injury.

"Pretty much fuck Carl and Oreli" Wilbur gave the shortest explanation since Techno seems to buffer at Phil's long story.

"Okay. Cross them off our BFF list and put them on our loser list," Techno said as he stood up and put on an extra shirt they kept on the nightstand. He already felt better to move after that short rest. Thankfully, Techno's power caused him to heal quicker than most humans and hybrids to the point that Techno was immortal to an extent.

"Will do, Tech." Wilbur jokes with Techno as he cleans up the medical mess. "Put them on our shit list," Wil smirks, having to make Techno joke viler. "Right between the Dream Team and the governor," Wilbur said, naming their two biggest enemies.

"I don't think they're as bad as the Dream team. At least they didn't try to break off my wings," Phil said honestly as he checks his phone for a moment before remembering something. "Oh! Techno, I'm pulling you out of our next mission since you're hurt and clearly distracted." Phil used his dad's voice on the last part, making Techno want to quickly agree just to please Phil.

"Heh?! What?! No! That mission was my plan!" Techno argues back, trying to hold his ground against Phil. Wilbur decided he isn’t a part of the conversation anymore and left them to chat. He probably went to his guitar, Baby Blue.

"Techno, you could barely engage in the fight today or even bring yourself to listen to our negotiation. You're not in the right headspace, and I won't let you risk your well-being or ours because of your secrets. You're staying home and resting. That's final." Phil completely shuts Techno’s hopes of rejoining the mission after that lecture.

With a dramatic sigh, Techno rubs his eyes in defeat. "Fine old man. I'll sort out my business while you guys are away. Just don't have too much fun without me," Techno says as he walks out of the infirmary room and starts to head towards his room.

Phil yells, "I'm not old!" at him, making Techno smirk some when he hears Wilbur yell from his room, "Your bones have dust on them, I bet."

"Oh, you motherfuckers, Wil! Shut!" Phil yells as he storms his way to Wilbur's room, probably to smother him with a pillow for a minute or two if Techno had to guess.

Techno makes it to his room and lays down on his bed, tired from the day's events. His mind quickly slips back to thinking about Tommy. Is it that obvious that he is distracted? Did that kid really make that much of a mess of him? Now that Techno thinks about it, he feels an empty space in his life that wasn't there before.

Chapter Text

Phil had stayed true to his word and refused to let Techno rejoin the mission even after Techno pleaded his case the next day. Techno knew Phil could be a mother hen with them, but he didn't think Phil would fully commit to this decision the second he thought Techno would be too distracted for their mission.

The mission itself wasn't that big of a deal. They had planned to travel to all the unknown safehouses that the heroes weren't using at the moment and bug them with listening devices. There was nothing even dangerous, but the safehouses were thick in numbers and in the distance between them and the city. So they estimated the time it would take to fully cover every unused safehouse would be an entire week. That's the whole week Techno has to himself with nothing to do. Sure he could do some solo crimes, but with the recent activities of the hero group Dream team, Techno doesn't want to chance it with no back up now. Dream has always had it out for Techno in the past.

Techno could understand that Dream had the power to steal other people's abilities and use them as his own, seeing him as the top hero. And who wouldn't want the power of being practically immortal? Unlike most powers, Techno's abilities didn't necessarily have a limit or hold him back in the middle of a fight. Sure he couldn't fly and have wings of blades, nor could Techno produce such disastrous sound waves from his mouth. He also didn't have to deal with sore wings or a sore throat all the time like some people he knows. He simply had strong healing abilities that made it just about impossible for him to die. His body just refused to give up to the point that Techno was sure that the only way to kill him was to rip out his heart completely. But that was a secret that only members of the SBI knew of. Just how they all knew Phil's right-wing was weaker than the left due to an accident in the past. Or like how Wilbur's power didn't affect people whose hearing was impaired. It was just the secrets of the family, really.

The next day, as expected, Techno wakes up in an empty house. Both Wilbur and Phil have already departed for their mission, leaving Techno with a small note on the kitchen table. 'Don't burn the mansion down' is written in messy handwriting at the top, Phil's sloppy work. Just below it, in semi neat writing, Wilbur has added 'Loser' to the note. Wilbur was always the eloquent one of the family.

Rolling his eyes, Techno sat down at the table and pulled out his phone. A whole week huh? Maybe he can sort out his inner troubles with Tommy today and then sleep the rest of the week… Sounds like an excellent plan to him. Tommy is probably bored out of his mind right now, so it was a win-win. Techno can release whatever attachment he was forming with a child by getting his questions answered, while the kid gets to tease and bully him for a bit. Getting up, Techno called the hospital's receptionist on one of his burner phones. He informed her that The Blade would be arriving soon to visit Tommy Soot in room 420. With that out of the way, Techno puts on some regular citizen clothes and grabs his mask. His typical suit was getting patched up at the moment by their housekeeper Edward, a selected mute who the family trusts greatly. Plus, he just doesn't feel up to wearing it for long if all he would do was sit in a chair for an hour and chat with a child. Techno refuses to believe that he would let the kid charm him into staying for six hours again. No way. Not happening.

A moment later.

"THE BLADE!!" Tommy screams as he tries to get untangled from his wires and tubing to get closer to Techno. Techno's heart swoops at the sight of the kid's desperate attempts to get closer to him. Tommy pulls at a few machines to give him more length to move closer to the villain. The bed looks just as big as the last time Techno saw Tommy in it. Only this time, Techno spots two stuffed animals sitting next to Tommy's squirming legs.

"You're going to break something at this point. Calm down, Tommy" Techno smirks as he watches Tommy now try to get all the knots out of a few wires that he tangled up while moving around. Tommy frowns, realizing that he can't get closer than he already is to Techno.

"Oh! The blade you missed me firing thousands of paper planes at Betty! That old nurse that smells like old people! She screamed and called me a gremlin! PFFFT BHAHAHAHAH," Tommy yells as he laughs his butt off about his recent scheme. Techno smiles a little as he sits down in his chair next to the bed.

"Aren't you worried she'll poison your IV drop?" Techno asks with sarcasm on his lips as he leans back in his chair. Tommy grins like a child high on 75 sugarcubes.

"The great Tommy Soot could never be poisoned! I'd like to see someone try! I'm invincible!" Tommy brings up an arm and attempts to flex any muscles he had on his string bean of an arm. He acts as if he is sporting the same muscle mass as Techno. "See?! No one would dare fuck with me! Plus, I have the Blade on my side!" Tommy beams brightly.

Techno, for a second, felt words get caught in his throat. This child is too precious. He feels like he can't get enough of this small kid. Tommy is like a drug at this point. The more they chat, the more Techno feels a gravitational pull towards the kid, and soon, one hour turns into five so quickly for them both. Neither of them noticed the passing of time till a nurse came in with a tray of food for Tommy.

"Jello time!" Tommy shouts when the tray is placed on his side table. Quickly as if knowing what jello time meant, the nurse rushes out of the room. Tommy grabs the small cup of red jello and the plastic spoon that came with it. Removing the top, Tommy got a good amount on his spoon and started to aim the spoon at Techno.

"Don't even try it, Tommy. I could drop kick you so fast." Techno threatens with absolutely no heat behind his words. Even Tommy cracks a small giggle at the threat.

"Fine, but that means you have to help me then!" Tommy put the spoon back in the jello cup and held it out for Techno to take.

Without hesitation, Techno took the cup and raised an eyebrow, not understanding what Tommy wanted him to do.

"Go to that window there, open it, and then shoot jello at people!" Tommy laughs at his greatest plan ever and starts to bounce one of his legs because he is just so excited.

Techno watches Tommy and feels that he can't say no. With a sigh, Techno did just what the child asked of him. With the window cracked open, he watches as people pass by from a few stories down. With half the jello locked and loaded on the spoon, Techno aims at a middle-aged man in a suit. When the man is close enough, Techno shoots the jello. It immediately backs away from the window, so it doesn't look obvious. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Tommy and Techno heard from outside. It took all three seconds before Tommy busts out laughing so hard that he clings to his stomach in pain. Even Techno laughs from how infectious Tommy's loud laugh is.

Once Tommy calms down from that prank, Techno and he continue their conversation about Tommy's other fun antics while Tommy has lunch. Techno's idea to question Tommy and get all of his answers was quickly forgotten that day. Techno had stayed until the sun began to set.

With a yawn, Techno stands up and stretches his arms and sides real quick. Tommy frowns, already knowing what's going to happen. "Will you come back?" Tommy couldn't stop himself from asking.

Techno looks over at Tommy with a smirk. "What? Don't tell me you already have separation anxiety?" He teases Tommy as he ruffles the child's blond hair lightly.

Tommy pouts and tries to push Techno's hands away from his fluff. "Stop ittttt!" Tommy had to use both hands to grab Techno's wrist and hold it above his head so that Techno wasn't messing with his hair anymore. "Seriously though… Will you?" He asks sincerely, looking at Techno with the softest pout Techno has ever seen.

"Perhaps." Techno didn't want to fully set plans into stone, but he also didn't want to fully say no either.

Tommy takes this as a yes, and his leg starts to bounce again. "YES!! Blade, you have to give me your phone number so I can send you funny videos and memes!"

"Heh? You think this country's top supervillain is going to give you his number just so that you send memes and videos?" Techno couldn't believe this kid entirely forgot that he is a highly dangerous person. He can't tell if this kid just straight up forgot or didn't care. Either way, Tommy's extremely bold, that's for sure.

"Well yeah. That's the point of exchanging numbers. Plus, this way, we can still talk while you're gone," Tommy explained as he looked around for something. Spotting his cracked iPhone, Tommy snatched it up and opened the phone. It didn't even have a lock on it. From where Techno was standing, he could easily see Tommy's screensaver was a picture of a galaxy with a sloppy attempt at photoshop of the two stuffed animals floating around. Tommy quickly goes to contacts and presses the plus on the side. Pleased with himself, Tommy shoves the phone in Techno's hands and stares up at him, waiting.

Techno stares back at Tommy for a moment. "Fine. But I'm giving you the number of my burner instead. Don't tell anyone that you have it, or I'll just throw the phone away," Techno said as he typed his number into Tommy's phone. When he was done, he handed it back to Tommy and watched Tommy excitedly put Techno's name as '💥BLADE🐖.'

"Yeah yeah, don't worry. I'd actually have to know people to leak your info. But lucky for you, I've decided to make you my first friend. You're welcome." Tommy laughs at himself as he holds his phone close to his chest.

Again Techno felt his heart squeeze at the child's words. "Uh-huh. Sure gremlin. See you later" Techno uses the nurse's nickname for Tommy as he says his goodbye. Tommy's smile falters for a moment, and Techno, just for a second, could easily see the loneliness and hurt in those blue eyes. But as quickly as Tommy can, he easily slaps on a bright smile and starts to wave goodbye.

"Bye, stinky," Tommy threw in an insult as Techno started to walk out of the room. Techno yells a 'BE GOOD' at Tommy's door before he makes his way out of the building, careful to avoid most cameras.

Throughout the next four days, Techno and Tommy have been in constant communication. Tommy stuck to his threat of sending funny videos and memes, but Techno found that he didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. He enjoys the videos of the top ten most humorous clips of superheroes failing or videos with funny bits. Tommy knew exactly what would get a laugh out of Techno.

As well as text messages, Techno had also visited Tommy every day since they exchanged phone numbers. Techno is hooked onto Tommy, and he didn't think he could handle not seeing the kid. Tommy has fully wormed his way into Techno's heart. The sick child had walked through the castle walls of Technos heart and stood before the throne with a bright smile on his face. All this and Techno is utterly positive that Tommy didn't even have to try. This child has no ill intention and only wants to be close to him. Tommy looks at a villain and only sees his friend.

As they hung out, Techno learned a few things about his new friend. Tommy is 15 years old and is currently living in a teen group home. The city had decided to keep him there instead of the foster family considering stress was deeply tied to Tommy's well-being. From what Techno has gathered, Tommy's illness was unknown to his doctors. They only recently found out that his energy was a direct link to his health. If Tommy was stressed and tired, he would immediately get sick with a cold. That would probably spiral into an almost hospitalizing fever with pneumonia set in if not treated within a day. But if he was well-rested and calm, Tommy fares well. He could walk easily but get tired after a while. Tommy also mentioned that he still wasn't used to his claws, but Techno doesn't understand that comment. He doesn't press Tommy about it since he wants to make the child feel like he is under interrogation. So he lets it slide and just chalks it up to maybe a hybrid thing. They have a silent unspoken agreement that they were not to ask each other about personal things. Techno is sure Tommy is silently happy about this, given that just about everyone has probably already asked him enough to last a lifetime.

Techno wakes up at the buttcrack of dawn to his burner ringing. He lightly groans and leans over to answer it. "Hullo?"

"Hey, it's Tommy. I know it's really early, but my group caretaker won't answer her phone, and I need a ride home. I-I don't have anyone else to ask this, and I trust you to take me home and not somewhere weird." Tommy spits out. Techno hums and looks at the time.

"Yeah, I can take you home. It might be a little for me to get ready and get there, so just be ready to head out right away." Techno informs the younger, debating if he should wear his attire or just be a civilian. He picks out some regular clothes and just slaps his boar mask on before heading out the door. He can get food later.

Techno opens his door to his car and sets some Beethoven songs to fill in the silence. He passes a Mcducks and decides to grab the gremlin some breakfast that's not hospital food. The car moves up to the speaker, and Techno orders 2 pancake meals and a butt load of hashbrowns, like 15 of them with chocolate shakes for the drinks. Techno pays and ignores the employees' faces when they recognize the mask and grab his food from the frozen manager. He pulls out of the McDucks and speeds through the many stoplights to get to the hospital.

Techno walks up to the front desk, looking around the front foyer for Tommy. He sees the blond clearly looking at his phone and looking up to the door. Tommy brightens up when he sees Techno and hobbles over to the much larger man.

Techno holds out the bag of food to Tommy, "Here, I figured you would like to eat something that is not from the hospital. You can have some of the hashbrowns, but not all of them. I have a chocolate shake in the car cause I don't know what you would like."

Tommy looks into the bag and gasps at the pancakes. He looks up at Techno and looks at the lady at the desk. Tommy pulls out some paperwork and hands it to Techno. "These have to be filled out before we can head out."

Techno nods and moves over to a table, and pulls out a pen he left in his pants. Tommy digs into the pancakes, sad that there is never enough syrup for them but inhales them anyways. He leaves the second set for Techno and grabs like 3 of the hashbrowns. No one can say no to McDuck's hashbrowns.

Techno speeds through the questions and stands up, grabbing the trash the younger made. Techno tosses it and goes to the desk, and hands the paperwork to the lady. She inputs all the info and gives Techno the right away to head out with Tommy. He nods and goes to the door, looking back to make sure Tommy is following.

The two climb into the car, and Tommy puts his address into the navigation system. He leans back and downs his chocolate shake. Techno listens to the directions and heads down to the group home.

Techno knocks on the front door of the home and waits with Tommy. A lady that just reeks with cigarette smoke opens the door. She raises her eyebrow but groans at the sight of Tommy, who sheepishly hides behind Techno. The lady moves out of the way and gets a good look at Techno. She freezes and then darts off to a large room with lots of noise spilling out. The noise stops, and the door shuts and locks.

Tommy sighs and moves over to a hallway with lots of doors. He looks back at Techno, who is still standing at the door, looking at the other room. Techno turns and points a thumb at the room, asking, "Is this normal? Or is that just because of me?"

Tommy winces and nods, "This happens every time I get back from the hospital. Even if someone is with me, she will lock the door to the lunchroom."

Techno scrunches his nose at the information and follows the goblin to his supposed room. Tommy opens the door to a tiny room, basically a closet with a small cot in it. Tommy flops onto his plushy-filled bed and adds the two new ones to the piles. "Oo, I can tell you how I got each of these stuffed animals!" Tommy exclaims out in excitement. Techno huffs and gets comfortable on the floor.

Tommy chats about each plushy and its name, with the reason why he got them, who brought them, and their "personality." Techno notices a pattern that most of the plushies are from Bad, Tommy's social worker and that most of them follow after a bad foster home. It takes Tommy 4 hours to go through all of his plushies and their stories.

Techno stretches and gets up, looking at his watch. "It's almost lunchtime. Do you eat with the other kids or by yourself? Where is your kitchen?"

Tommy curls into himself and shakes his head, "Most of the time, the warden forgets I'm still there and forgets to feed me. I usually can get to the kitchen and make myself food, though sometimes, I am just too exhausted to make food." Tommy spits out. Techno clenches his hands at the mistreatment that Tommy has endured. Even in a government-funded home, Tommy, an ill kid, is still mistreated and discriminated against.

Techno walks out of the room and stands in front of the lunchroom with a frown on his face. He moves past the room and into the kitchen. The open door wafers fresh food through the air. Techno looks through the cabinets and finds some mac n noodles. He looks at Tommy and shows the box. Tommy lights up and nods, moving over to another cabinet to grab some pots.

The two have fun making jokes as they wait for the food to finish and eat lunch. They finish and clean up. Techno looks up when he hears a door open, and out walks the warden, the caretaker. He moves in front of Tommy, watching the neglectful woman.

Tommy pushes past Techno and moves back to his room. Stopping shortly at the doorway to the living room. Looking at the pile of teens in front of a tv. He sighs and continues down the hallway. Techno looks into the room to see what caught Tommy's attention and turns back, not seeing anything wrong. He catches up with Tommy and pulls the thinner and shorter male into his side.

Tommy flinches at first but quickly leans more into the larger man as if it's the last time he'll get gentle physical contact. He looks up and mentions, "Did you know that the warden would tell me the tv is broken and shoos me off to my room every time I ask to watch a movie?" Techno turns to Tommy, remembers the pile of teens chilling in front of a TV, and narrows his eyes in disdain.

"That's it. I'm taking you home, and you are watching as many movies as you want." Techno says resolutely. He wasn't going to let Tommy go through this anymore. Tommy gasps in excitement.

"You mean I get to SEE THE GREAT BLADE'S HOME!?!?!?! And watch movies WITH THE BLADE??"

Techno laughs and grabs the two plushies he bought for Tommy. "Grab what you want. You will be staying for a bit. I don't feel comfortable leaving you here with that woman."

Tommy speeds over to the suitcase he had just emptied and grabs everything he would need for the next handful of days. He doesn't even bother to fold any clothes and just stuffs everything on top of each other, along with a few stuffed animals.

Techno grabs Tommy's bags from him and walks out the front door. With Tommy following like a lost puppy. The two hop back into the car for the second time and settle in for a long drive. Tommy pulls out his cracked phone and an aux cord to play some music.

Techno watches from the corner of his eye but lets the child do what he wants. He looks back at the road and drives out of the city and far into the countryside.

The older man mentions that he has a room dedicated to only his weapons which causes Tommy to gasp and beg Techno to see the space. Techno rolls his eyes and laughs, saying, "No, I don't trust you around sharp things or even heavy blunt things. I might take you to see, only see, my weapons room, but you have to promise me you will not touch anything. OK?"

Tommy nods furiously, "I promise. I promise."

Tommy continues to ask questions about Techno's weapons and what Crow and Shout use for fighting. Techno explains that Crow's feathers turn into blades that the villain can send out and use as either a sword or a swarm of knives.

Tommy's eyes sparkle at the information, and he looks out the window watching the birds fly in the air. "I wonder what it is like to fly."

Techno glances and absentmindedly mentions, "Crow might possibly be up to take you on some flights. Not anytime soon, though."

Tommy gasps and leans over the center console, "YOU MEAN I GET TO MEET CROW?!" Techno snorts and shakes his head. He didn't have to look over to know that the kids' eyes were sparkling with joy.

"I did say, 'Not anytime soon, so don't get your hopes up."

Tommy groans and turns away from Techno to pout. Techno laughs at the younger and asks Tommy, "What would your favorite knife be?"

Tommy looks over his shoulder at the older man, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know. Probably something badass or coolly shaped." Techno hums and thinks.

He stops humming when he puts the car into park, finally arriving at his home. "We are here, you goblin."

Tommy pouts and clambers out of the car, grabbing his things from the back seat. Techno follows him to the front door and opens the double doors. He looks back at Tommy only to stop as Tommy is standing next to the car, looking at the mansion with awe.

Tommy snaps out of his gaping and runs up to Techno. Asking if Techno could show him every room inside. Techno laughs hard and shakes his head. "Listen, kid, We barely even use half of the rooms here. I can show you the rooms we do use, but the rest are all empty or are for storage."

Tommy grumbles curses under his breath but stops once he gets a good look at the front foyer. The grand entrance is full of details and expensive-looking things, like a crystal chandelier. The marbled floors look so clean that Tommy is sure he could eat off them. The tall walls and high doorways made Tommy feel even smaller than he already was like he'd just shrunk a few feet. The elite style of the entrance seems to spread from the front foyer to the two hallways. Tommy could see down one of the hallways and noticed the walls were decorated with pictures and paintings.

Techno coughs, get Tommy's attention and turns down a hallway to the right of the entrance. Tommy follows quickly and gasps at the room the two end up in. Weapons of all kinds cover the walls. Knives, swords, whips, guns even. Tommy gravitates to a short sword. The blade is primarily red with a black center, and there are ridges towards the bottom of the edge. The skull-like patterns on the handle really bring the whole knife together, and its black case sits right behind it in the display case where the short sword sits.

Techno watches Tommy eye up one of his short swords and decides to give it to him. It's not like he has a shortage of them. Tommy could use some form of self-defense too. He walks up to the case and opens it, pulling the blade out and sheathing it. Giving it to Tommy, who holds it like the Blood God themself gave it to him. Tommy looks back up at Techno to make sure Techno is truly giving it to him and places the blade carefully in his bag.

"I think I've peaked! I own one of Blades's knives!" Tommy gleamed as he held his bag more carefully now.

Techno smiled softly and took off his mask that he's been wearing up till now. "My name is Techno. You can call me that when it's just us, kid." Techno decided to reveal his identity to Tommy since he could feel deep down that this kid would become something of a permanent person in his life.

Tommy started to bounce with excitement. "Holy shit! Really?! Oh my god, this is so fucking pog!" Tommy was practicing buzzing at this point, and Techno couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Yeah. Come on, let's watch something" Techno ruffles Tommy's hair fondly as he walks out with Tommy right next to him. The two walk down the hallway to a large room with multiple rows of chairs and couches. A giant bookcase full of DVDs and other forms of movies sits right next to the door, where another leads to the projector room. Techno motions to the bookcase and grabs Tommy's bag to settle down on one of the couches. Tommy paces through all the moves and eyes the 'Up' and the 'How to Train Your Dragon' movies.

Tommy picks 'Up' first and looks over to Techno, silently telling the older man he doesn't know how to put in a DVD. The older cuffs and stands up. He grabs the DVD from the younger and inserts it into the DVD player attached to the projector. He takes the remote and gently pushes Tommy to the couch he has picked out for the time being.

Sitting next to Tommy, Techno relaxed as the movie slowly started up. Tommy's attention was immediately drawn towards the starting scenes with a couple going through life. Halfway through the film, Techno notices that Tommy is leaning against him and looks almost half asleep.

Once the movie ends, Techno finds that he is locked in place by Tommy having grabbed his arm in his sleep. Techno smiles and lets the kid cling to him for now. He holds the remote and puts on a different movie with low volume to pass the time. Techno isn't sure how he will approach the topic of Tommy with the rest of the family, but he does have two days to figure it out, so there was no rush yet.

As he slowly closes his tired eyes, Techno feels something deep down finally settle now that he has his kid safe.

Chapter Text

Techno jolts awake as he hears the front doors open with a familiar click. He looks around, feeling disoriented for a moment. There's a light pressure on his right side that brings him to turn slightly and see Tommy curled around his arm, fast asleep while lightly snoring. With the haze of sleep suddenly clearing, Techno spots a thin, dried-up line of spit on the kids' chin before he distinctively hears the thumps of Wilbur's feet getting closer to the room.

Techno freezes when he hears the door next to the movie room open. Wilbur must have heard Techno movements from when he was startled just a bit ago. Quickly, Techno wrapped his arms around the child haphazardly and made a mad dash to the storage closet in the corner of the room. Suddenly freeing one hand, Techno begrudgingly swung the closet door open and settled the waking child in the middle before closing the door firmly.

Techno didn't have time to fully reflect on his actions before he distinctly heard another door close by. At a controlled speed, Techno speed-walks over to the only other door in the room. Just as he is about to reach for the doorknob, the door opens to a tired-looking Wilbur. Both brothers stare at each other, fully taking in how the other looked. Wilburs clothes look wrinkled to shit even with how dark it was in the room at the moment.

Techno takes a small step to his right, slightly covering where the supply closet door is. "Thought you guys would be another day?"

Turning on the light, Phil comes from behind Wilbur and shakes his head, "We went to all the safe houses and bugged them. It went faster than we anticipated." Wilbur looks around and stops at Tommy's bag that Techno completely forgot about.

"Who's bag is this?" Wilbur asked as he tilted his head in the direction of the bag. All eyes turned and landed on the bag for a moment.

Techno shrugs, "It's mine. I went shopping a little." Wilbur raises an eyebrow as he walks past Techno, over to the bag on the couch. With trained grace, Wil lightly kicks the bag onto the floor, causing its contents to fall out. With a few pieces of clothing, Henry and Shroud fall out. Tommy's stuffed animals that Techno had gotten him. Wilbur grabs them and shakes them at Techno.

"Ooo, does baby Techno need his stuffies to sweep at night, Owo?" Techno cringes and rolls his eyes at Wilbur's antics. The thought and hope to keep Tommy to himself were getting thinner by the minute.

Techno snatched the stuffed animals out of his face. "I found them.." he tried to lie, but it was clear on both Phil's and Wilbur's faces that they didn't believe him at all. Techno tosses the cow and spider on one of the couches near him. Before Techno could try to lie again, a very quiet wretched sob rang through the whole room that gave Techno shivers down his spine.

Techno bolts over to the door and rips it open to find Tommy crying in a fetal position. "ImsorryImsorryImsorry." Tommy chants rapidly in his panicked haze. Techno gets on his knees in front of the child and gently places a hand on Tommy's shoulder. Automatically moving on pure instinct, Tommy flinched violently at the touch like Techno's hand was made of fire and ice.

"Shhhhh, it's okay, Tommy. Look, it's just me." Techno tried to coax Tommy to open his eyes, but the kid wasn't having any of it. "Tommy? Toms... Kid. Gremlin." Techno listed off nicknames he had for Tommy. It seemed nothing could break Tommy out of his panic.

"Starlight," Techno called out softly, and Tommy's head snapped up at the name. Techno could see Tommy's pale wet face and bloodshot eyes that accentuated Tommy's stormy blue eyes. Tommy's face held so much confusion and pain that it made Techno flinch slightly. Techno slowly opened his arms for the kid to come to when he was ready. Tommy watches Techno's every move before realizing that Techno is offering a hug. Tommy throws himself into Techno's arms with tears still streaming down his face and a trembling body.

With gentleness, he didn't know he had. Techno wraps his arms around Tommy and holds his Starlight as close as possible. Tommy did the same and clung to Techno with a desperate grip. Still, with a slight tremble in the kid's body, Techno whispered in Tommy's hair that he was okay. That they are safe and not alone.

Tommy takes some time, but after a few more soothing words and light humming from Techno, Tommy relaxes more and more. He slowly settles out of his panic attack and cuddles further into Techno. "You're not mad at me, right? I didn't do anything wrong, right?" Tommy asks, needing to hear that he's okay again.

Techno shakes his head and curls around Tommy. "No Starlight. You did nothing bad. I did. I shouldn't have put you in a small space in the dark. I'm sorry I scared you. I swear I won't do it again." Techno rubbed circles on Tommy's back as he could practically feel eyes burning holes in his back at the moment. "Would you like to meet some idiots?" Techno asked as he turned slightly so that Tommy could see the two people standing behind Techno.

Tommy peeled himself a little off Techno's chest to peer over Techno's shoulder. There, right behind Techno, stood Crow and Shout staring at him. Or, well, what looked to be Crow and Shout but without a mask on.

First thing Tommy noticed of the Crow in front of him was slightly different from the Crow on tv. For starters, this Crow looked older, like a bag of dusty bones kind of older. Like that one old man that would walk around the neighborhood to find kids to cut his lawn, sort of ancient man. Crow is old.

"Hiya mate," Crow said with a light, airy tone. Crow smiles at the kid in Technos arms, who stares up at him like he just gave him the world.

"Holy fucking shit! The Crow! Oh my god, oh my god. I'm dreaming- I!" The kid explodes with so much bright personality that Philza couldn't help but join the kid in his fit of laughter at the moment. "HAHA, Y-you're so cool! And! And! So brave!" Tommy gushes as he struggles to try and get out of Techno's arms that are still wrapped around him protectively. Reluctantly, Techno let go of the kid only for his Starlight to crash into Phil immediately.

Phil laughs at the young child's clumsily antics and helps the kid stand upright again. "There you go. I take it you're Techno's friend?" Phil asks the kid, who smiles brightly as he nods his head.

"I'm his best friend, of course!" Tommy exclaims while Techno stands up behind him and takes in his family's reaction. Phil looks to have already warmed up to the kid. Next to him, Wilbur looks more into his own thoughts than the random kid in their house. Techno suspects Wil is worrying about something or questioning everything at the moment.

"Tommy, this is Phil and Wilbur. Guys, this is Tommy. He's staying for a while." Techno said, being the bluntest he can be while at… Techno looked over at the clock…while at four am.

"So this is why you were off your game recently? You grew a heart while we were gone?" Wilbur jokes with Techno before he turns his attention to Tommy. "Punch Techno once if he's holding you here against your will. Or punch him twice if he's been good to you." Wilbur jokes with Tommy and Tommy being Tommy immediately turns and punches Techno in the gut twice.

"Ah! I've been fatally wounded!" Techno acts as if Tommy's weak punches did him in, and he pretends to fall on the floor, taking the giggling child down with him. "Nooo! Let me go! Just die already! Ahh! W-wait! That t-tickles! BFFFT HAHA NO-" Tommy screams as Techno tickles him while playing dead.

Phil smiled at the scene happening in front of them. "Already a great influence, I see," Phil says to Wil, who looks ready to join in on the tickle fight with a playful grin on his face.

All attention abruptly turns to Tommy as they all clearly hear his laughing turning into rough violent coughs. Techno immediately sits Tommy up and rubs his back while Tommy fights off his painful-sounding coughs. Both Wil and Phil give Techno concern looks while he ignores them in favor of helping Tommy calm down fully.

Once Tommy has stopped coughing up a lung at this point, Techno can clearly see exhaustion pulling at the kid as he tries to keep his eyes fully open. "Alright, time to sleep. Can you walk?" Techno asked Tommy softly while he already had an arm wrapped around the kid's back for support.

Tommy doesn't answer but turns slightly, facing Techno as he hooks his arms around Techno's neck. The kid looks ready to pass out any second now. Techno understands Tommy and picks him up carefully. "We'll speak later," He tells his family as he passes them and starts making his way to his own bedroom. Sure they have a handful of clean guest rooms to give, but the thought of Tommy not next to him made Techno feel… unwell.

With a slight nudge from his foot, Techno opens his bedroom door and walks over to his bed in the corner of the room. Gently, Techno lays Tommy down next to the wall and covers the child in blankets till he's satisfied. Techno takes off his jacket before getting on the other side of the bed. He contemplates making a wall of pillows just so he doesn't risk suffocating Tommy if he rolls over. Or is that only for infants? Techno wasn't sure. But as time ticks away, while Techno tries to fall asleep, he notices Tommy has slowly moved closer and closer to him. It doesn't take long till Tommy is fully clinging onto Techno, trying to steal all of his warmth since the kid probably ran cold most of the time.

Content with his Starlight next to him, Techno slowly falls asleep to a certain someone's light snoring.

Chapter Text

Techno slowly wakes up with the slight annoyance of the morning light glaring at him in the eyes through his windows. Techno pulls his arms close to himself with a groan before his memories snap him out of his sleepy haze. Tommy was in his arms when he nodded to sleep last night, and now he is obviously Tommy-less. Sitting up quickly, Techno looks around his room to find no Tommy insight.

Did Tommy go exploring around the house? Was that safe? Techno didn't have time to fully give the kid a tour around the mansion, and he could imagine little Tommy getting lost in one of the many unused rooms or hallways. Or Tommy could have found their armory room and been currently holding a gun to his eye trying to see the bullet or something.

A few alarms went off in Techno’s head, and he immediately rushed out of his bed and out of his room. A faint smell of pancakes leads Techno to go to the kitchen first to find his starlight. Right as he turns the corner, Techno is slapped in the face with what he imagines is a paper plate full of whipped cream. Immediately Techno hears both Wilbur and Tommy bursting with laughter as the plate slowly slides off his face before he grabs it, keeping it from falling on the floor.

"Really, Wil? Couldn't think of something else?" Techno grumbles while wiping the whipped cream off his face the best he can. This apparent act of war would have Techno wrestling Wilbur to the floor at this point, but Tommy's light and bashful laugh almost make this worth not to.

Wilbur wraps his arm around Tommy as if they are old pals at this point and grins at his brother. "Aw, Techno, you don't like the classics? I guess he isn't impressed, Tommy. We'll have to try harder next time. Maybe get a bird involved." Tommy practically buzzes with excitement at Wilbur's words.

"Yeah! You better watch out, Techno! We're the crime boys!" Tommy yells at a volume that most people would flinch at. Wilbur nodded at Tommy's words, "Get fucked!" Will added with an obnoxious laugh that ticked off Techno just slightly.

"Congrats, I guess?" Techno speaks with an unamused tone. He makes his way to the kitchen with the two idiots following him. Upon entering the kitchen, Techno spots the source of the pancake smell. Phil is stationed at the stovetop with a well-used pan in one hand, and in the other was a spatula that had bits of pancake batter on it. With one look at the three new people in the room, Phil immediately knew what had happened. Not like he totally didn't watch Tommy learn how to use whipped cream a moment ago with Wilbur.

"Looks like you're having a good morning, mate," Phil says as Techno grabs a rag and starts to clean his face. Techno could hear the glee from Phil's voice.

"Traitor," He calls Phil while trying to get the whipped cream out of his hair. "What?! I didn't do anything?!" Phil calls out acting fake hurt by Techno's words.

"Correct. You didn't stop them." Techno points out before trying to throw the dirty rag at Phil's head, only for Phil to easily dodge without looking and let the rag hit the marble backsplash. "Sorry, they were having fun. I didn't want to stop the chaotic little shits."

During Techno's chat with Phil, Tommy and Wilbur have already sat down at the table. they were chatting about something that Techno didn't care to listen to. With a defeated sigh, Techno walked over to the set table and sat next to Tommy. He felt himself get a wave of clarity that in this peaceful moment in time, he would revisit this memory fondly as he watches Phil cook his pancakes. Techno can clearly see Wilbur showing Tommy how to pick a lock at the dining table. He didn't have a care in the world right now, and everything felt just right. Like this is the moment he worked for his whole life.

"Wil, get your knife off the table," Phil lightly scolds Wilbur. Phil placed two plates full of pancakes on the table for everyone to pick off of. Techno could spot a few pancakes with chocolate chips in them, probably for Tommy since no one else was a fan of those. Everyone grabbed a few pancakes for their plates as they fell into a light-hearted conversation about the most complicated locks to get through.

"What about you, Techno?" Techno hears Tommy ask him, drawing him out of his own thoughts. "Heh?"

"He asked if you could get through a Banham M2002 lock" Phil fills Techno in on the part of the convection that he zoned out on.

"Oh. Yeah, it's not too hard. It just takes a bit more time to work through." Techno explains simply. Wilbur rolled his eyes because he's yet to be able to pick it successfully. Even the old man could pick the recently new lock without a problem.

"Can you teach me how?!" Tommy asks with what Techno could guess is Tommy's best attempt at puppy dog eyes. Tommy grabs hold of Techno's sleeve and slightly pulls at it to show just how much he wanted this from Techno.

"Uhhhh, sure. I can show you how later." He gave into the puppy's eyes quickly. Plus, it would be too terrible for Tommy to know some of this stuff anyway. Maybe it could even help the kid if something terrible happens to him.

"Nooooo! Tech, show me nowwww "Tommy whined while he dug his nails slightly into Technos arms, latching onto Techno more.

"I'll show you after breakfast, gremlin," Techno said but was quickly cut off by Wilbur soon after. "Actually, Techno, you and I have an emergency meeting with Quackity right after breakfast. He wanted to sell some info to us about you know who." Wilbur explained while looking at his phone.

"Really? Why me? I thought he hated me since I messed up his eye?" Techno asks, confused.

"Well, about that. While dad and I were bugging a few safe houses, we found some stuff on Quackity there. So Phil sold that info to the man who freaked him out, thinking that the almighty crow had found that info from a few stray crows in the area. So he's terrified of Phil now and is requesting to only sell info to you and I now." Wilbur leans on his hand as he explains a bit better.

"What about the gremlin?" Techno asks automatically without thinking about it. Even Tommy looks a bit surprised that he was Techno’s first immediate thought, while Techno could see that Phil had a fond look on his face in the corner of his eye.

"Don't worry, mate, I can watch him today." Phil offers with a soft smile on his face. "We can chill here while you guys are off. I know Quackity likes to make you guys drive off to who knows how far away for a meeting." He adds on.

"Can you tell me stories?! And can we have ice cream?!" Tommy butts into the conversation before Techno can agree yet.

"Later, if you finish your breakfast." Phil uses his classic dad voice on the kid, who nods eagerly and starts to stuff his mouth with pancakes.

"Okay fine. But make sure he takes his meds on time. His doctor set up alarms on Tommy's phone to the hours that he has to take them. More details are on the bottles, and he likes to have jello or yogurt with them to help the pills go down." Techno could feel the mother hen in him raise a bit as he explains.

Wilbur rolls his eyes and finishes off his food quickly before standing up. "Tech, we should leave now if we want to make it home before dinner. I'll get suited up now." Wilbur said as he made his way to their weapon room. Techno groans and downs his cup of water. "Okay, okay. I'm going, kid. Be good with Phil. He'll have a heart attack easily with his age and call me if something happens." Techno hugs Tommy gently as the kid clung to him a bit.

"You better be fast," Tommy whispers in their hug. "Goodbye," he adds at the end.

"I'll see you soon, Starlight," Techno whispers in Tommy's ear before letting go of him and giving the kid a small wave as he leaves the room to follow Wilbur to go change and leave for the meeting.

"Just you and me now. What do you want to do first?" Phil asks the kid before Tommy could spiral anymore like every kid does after being left at daycare without their parents for the first time in their life.

Tommy snaps out of his thoughts and shrugs a bit. All of his excitement kinda leaks out of him when Techno leaves his side. This morning Phil watches Wilbur quickly get the shy kid comfortable with him while they set up the prank Wil had mentioned. Maybe Tommy just needs to do something to bond over with him to get the kid more at ease.

An idea pops into his head, and Phil smiles at Tommy. "I have a perfect idea, mate. Do you get motion sickness easily?" When Tommy shakes his head no, that sets Phil's plan into motion. "Alright, let's finish eating, get dressed and head out to the car" Phil lists out what they need to do beforehand.

An hour later and a short car ride later, Tommy climbs out of Phil's fancy car with his Crow-themed backpack full of drugs (his medicine). Tommy runs up to the ticket booth in front of a giant amusement park. "Do I get to go on rides!!??? Pretty please? I'll... I'll give you some drugs if we do?" Tommy pleads with Phil while the old man buys the two their entrance tickets.

Phil sighs and nods, "We are only going on the more mild rides and playing the games. That's it. Nothing more. No big rides that cause even healthy people to vomit." Tommy cries in outrage and walks off, pouting. Phil chuckles and follows the child.

Tommy stops and gasps as he sees a giant bee at one of the game booths and points at it. "Can we get that?" Phil pulls out some money and gives it to Tommy, who then runs up to the booth and repeatedly fails at getting the giant bee. Phil steps in before Tommy starts to cry from frustration and receives the required points in one turn. Tommy whips around to look at the older and points.

"YOU CHEATED!" Phil laughs as he gives the giant red and white-colored bee to Tommy, who definitely doesn't hug his new stuffed animal. Tommy huffs and turns around to look for another booth to harass. He sees a food booth that is selling deep-fried Oreos and candy apples. Tommy looks back at Phil and sneaks out a couple handfuls of money out of Phil's wallet.

Phil sees Tommy but chooses to ignore the action, reminding him of when his boys were young and would steal from his wallet all the time. Phil watches the kid sneak over to the food stand and randomly order whatever looks weird with a handful of cash. Tommy comes back with his arms full of food of all kinds, some of which Phil doesn't even know where he found it. Phil grabs as much as Tommy lets him and starts to eat what looks edible. Tommy gasps at the disrespect he is experiencing. "How dare you disrespect me in my own house, old man?"

Phil chokes and turns to Tommy, "What do you mean, disrespect? AND I'M NOT OLD!" Tommy points at the food in Phil's arms.

"Those. Those are mine, and you come in here eating my food right in front of me. How dare."

Phil chuckles, "I know I paid for them. You took money from me, so these are Technically mine." Tommy narrows his eyes and huffs, giving up the argument.

The two spend multiple hours just wandering around the amusement park, looking at the booths people had set up and buying a couple things. Tommy's watch goes off at noon, and he looks at Phil from the corner of his eye. He looks forward and starts to head over to a more secluded area. Phil raises an eyebrow and follows Tommy, who would look back to see if the older is following or not.

Phil questions, "Why did you go this way? There are more booths and food stands to look at the other way." Tommy looks up from his open bag on a table and shrugs.

"I don't like it when people watch me take my medicine. It makes me feel bad and that I shouldn't be here when I need to take them." Tommy tries to put his feelings in the right words as he digs around in his backpack.

Phil nods and stands in front of Tommy, blocking him from any unwanted attention. Tommy smiles gratefully, pulls out his The Blade-themed lunch box, and grabs one of the yoghurt inside. He holds a couple of the required pills and crushes them before mixing them with the yogurt. Phil watches the process, taking mental notes on what kind of yogurt Tommy is eating and what time he has his pill case set.

Tommy inhales the yogurt and sits down to let the medicine kick in. Phil joins him and pulls out his phone. He turns it to Tommy with the alarms app open. "Can you put the other times you have to take them for today so I can keep us somewhere secluded when it is time?"

Tommy thinks about it and grabs the phone, inputting two more alarms. Both are more towards nighttime and where they are likely to be home by then. Phil looks at the times and nods. He gets up and glances at Tommy, seeing if he is ready to stand again and go walking some more.

Tommy stands up wobbly, his blood all rushing to his head. He blinks, waiting for the black spots to go away, and gives Phil a thumbs up when he is good. The two walk away when they hear some people talk about a ride.

"I hear a lot of people have vomited on the Leviathan."

"No yeah, my brother went on it, and he passed out. And almost got hit by someone's bracelet."

"Omg, really? Is he okay?"

"Nah, he left for home immediately, and from what my sister-in-law says, he started to vomit blood and had a bloody nose."

Tommy looks up and notices the large ass ride in the middle of the park and goes over all across the park in parts that he can't fully see. Just as he opens his mouth, he hears the same people gasp and looks over. Seeing them look at him. They lean away from the two and whisper. Others notice and look, and soon basically everyone in the area is whispering about Tommy. Of course, the moment Tommy forgets about his problems, he's reminded of it with whispers and sly glances. The hair that covered his ears and horns had recently been buffeted by the wind.

Tommy looks down and rubs his jaw. "Hey, mate. It's alright. They are just dumb people who don't even know you.." Phil paused to get a good look at Tommy. "Is your jaw okay? It looks a little swollen." Phil pulls Tommy closer to him and into his side, glaring at everyone around him.

Tommy shakes his head and continues to rub his jaw. "My jaw hurts a little. Though it's mainly my teeth. Maybe I'm not brushing as much as I should be?" Phil hums and walks towards the entrance for the leviathan ride. Tommy follows close behind, still rubbing his lower face absentmindedly.

The large ride looms over the two as they watch people come off crying, laughing, and even witness someone run to the designated vomit area. The area is just covered in sawdust and paper towels. The raccoon hybrid turns to the crow hybrid, tugging on his shirt.

"Can we go on this ride? Obviously, only the best and bravest of men can go on. Let's go!" Tommy yelled with sparkles in his eyes as he watched seats get emptied.

Phil fixes his gaze at the rollercoaster, watching the newest set of victims ride it. He looks back at Tommy and sighs at the sight of puppy dog eyes. He pulls out his wallet and walks up to the surprisingly short line with Tommy close behind.

Phil wonders if this should be a red flag or a blessing.

The two get in their respective cars, with Tommy holding onto Phil's hand hard. The jolt when the conveyor belt snags the carts. Tommy shuffles closer to Phil, starting to regret his decision to go on the ride. They start to properly move when they reach the top of a small hill.

One screaming ride later, Tommy steps out of the ride, crying and dry heaving. He starts to cough hard and almost collapses from everything being too much. Phil catches him and moves the two to a bench conveniently next to the ride.

"Hey, is everything alright? Is there anything I can do, mate?" Phil asked in his soft voice that's reserved only for little Tommy to hear. His rough hand gently rubbed the top part of Tommy's back, attempting to give the poor kid some comfort.

Tommy shakes his head and leans on Phil. Him fitting just right into the older's side. "I just wanna go home now." Phil rubs Tommy's arm and calls Techno, informing him of the event and letting the piglin know the two will be home before them and to get take-out for them later.

Phil picks Tommy up like a toddler and walks out of the park. Give anyone who looks at the two wrong a nasty look. He settles Tommy down in the back seat of the car and gets in the front. He starts to drive, looking back at Tommy at any movement or noise. Guilt claws at Phil a little as he guides them home.

Once home, Phil picks Tommy up one more time, noting how light the kid feels, and heads inside. He grabs extra blankets on the way to the movie theater. He sets Tommy down in the nest Phil has in the room consisting of pillows, blankets, and random pieces of clothing from all family members. He leaves the tired child there and grabs some ice cream and water to help settle Tommy's stomach, and gently asks him, "What do you want to watch? We are back at home now." Phil whispers while watching Tommy slowly open his crusty eyes.

Tommy mumbles something incoherent and points up. Phil gets the memo and sets up Up to loop for them. As the movie starts, Phil brings out his fluffy wings and wraps them around the kid while he slots himself at Phil's side. They both fall asleep at the 5th replay of Up.

Techno walks in with some Chinese in his hands only to find the two asleep wrapped in wings. His heart warmed to see his starlight asleep in Phil's arms. The sight slightly reminded Techno of seeing his brother in Phil's arms back when they were kids. Smiling, Techno quickly snapped a picture on his phone before quietly leaving the two hybrids to sleep.

Chapter Text

To say that life calmed down for Tommy is a flat-out lie. For the past week, Tommy had done just about nothing besides living a life of pure luxury. His day-to-day schedule fluctuated between who was with him usually, but he doesn't mind this fact as much as he thought. Since none of the three villains wanted to leave Tommy alone, especially after Techno had probably blabbed about his past to the others, Tommy was always with someone.

Tommy would have breakfast with Techno and sometimes Phil most of the time. It was easy to always have these two during breakfast since Phil always cooks the meals in this house. The two allow Tommy to eat in his bed, with Tommy graciously sharing his big man bed with Techno (out of the kindness of his heart).

Tommy finds out that Wilbur always oversleeps in the morning unless he had an all-nighter that prevented him from sleeping the night prior. Maybe that was a good thing that the others didn't have to have breakfast with a grumbly and tired Wilbur. Tommy saw that once and will never see that again. What did the anteaters ever do to Wilbur?

Tommy asks if they have any super-cool villain plans soon, but the response he gets is Phil chuckling, and Techno rolls his eyes. As he's told, they are currently just laying low while they collect info from some bugs?

Tommy doesn't understand why insects were involved, but he decided to pretend like he knew what they were talking about. Nodding along while they chat about houses and bugs. Sounds like they need an exterminator.

Though Tommy is sure that it won't take long for society to notice the small break since they have never really taken many days off like this before. Soon it'll be all over the news and net with the usual fuck-ton of rumors and speculations. Tommy wondered if his identity would be exposed or if cops were going to put out a search for him. They could easily tie Tommy to Techno's persona, Blade, since they were seen a lot before Techno brought him home.

Maybe they would think that Tommy is a hostage or a sidekick! That would be so awesome! Not the hostage part but the sidekick part. Tommy immediately decided the design plan for if he were to have a costume. His immediate thought was a bright red suit with white splashes on him. No cape, though. Techno can pull it off, sure, but that's it.

Tommy wonders if he'd ever get the chance to rob a bank or a mall. He would get to see Techno up close doing incredible shit. Just watching from the news was boring, and the news people would say horrible things about The Antarctic Kings.

If there's one thing Tommy has noticed during the past week was that The Antarctic Kings isn't as bad as the news shows make them. Or maybe Tommy just thought that because he's only been at their house and has only ever seen them chill and do stuff with him.

Just yesterday, Wilbur played some songs on his guitar while Tommy and Phil chilled next to him. And the other day, Techno had shown him some cool ways to tie and untie hard knots. Sure they scared a lot of people and were mean to humans. But Tommy didn't see anything wrong with that. As a hybrid himself, he wasn't a super fan of humans either.

But! That's a dark thought for a different day, Tommy decided. He just wants to stay leaning against Wilbur while they work their way through one of Wilbur's playlists. This one was different from the rest of the bands that Wilbur loved. Instead of the sad and sweet melodies of the band Sleeping at Last, this band was Hamilton? Or..maybe that's the singer since the album picture was of someone standing on a star. "I don't get it? What kind of music is this Will?" Tommy asked when the first song came up.

Wilbur gave Tommy a weird are-you-kidding-me look "it's Hamilton? You know, that musical?" Wilbur talked as if he was trying to jog Tommy's memory, but Tommy still didn't recognize it.

"No?? Is it popular? I haven't heard of it?" Tommy asked but was quickly interrupted with a dramatic gasp from Wil.

"What?!? Tommy! You've never seen Hamilton?!" Wilbur just about screeched when Tommy shook his head no. Wil suddenly stood up and started to vigorously type on his phone. Everything seems to spiral for Tommy, and he's yet to determine if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

As luck would have it, the show was playing in a city near them. Tommy knew his fate was sealed when he saw Wilbur looking at what he imagined was the running times. "Ahhh, and my favorite box is open too. Oh, Tommy, this is gonna be a great kid." Wilbur told him as he looked over at Tommy for a moment and ruffled up his hair.

Annoyed with the kid comment, Tommy batted Wilbur's hands away in a playful tone and gave a smirk. "You have a favorite theater box? What? How many times have you gone to this theater?" Tommy saw Wilbur as a nerd now that he looked at the picture. Cool music taste, but also a nerd? There goes the family's honor and name.

"I think I've seen Hamilton like five? Five or six times now. Phil and Techno have seen it two times now. But apparently, that's their limit because now they just refuse the second I mention the show or theater." Wilbur laughed, slightly embarrassed to actually say that out loud.

Tommy scrunches up his face in disbelief before laughing at Wilbur "wow, you really are a nerd, Wil." He managed to get out while still laughing.

"I'm not a nerd! Just you wait, Tommy! You'll love this show so much that you'll want to see it again!" Wilbur proclaimed as he bought the tickets on his phone for a show soon. "Okay, here's the plan, we'll get some food to kill time and then go to the 8pm showing. Wait, do you have a bedtime?" Wilbur teased as he got up to fetch his keys.

"Oi! I'm not a kid! I don't have a bedtime! Big men don't need bedtime!" Tommy said the last part as if he was a caveman, which got a good laugh out of Wilbur.

"Yeah yeah, okay, whatever you say, big man. Hurry up and put on your light-up sneakers. We have to make an hour's drive to the city."

One drive and burger joint later, Tommy finds himself following closely behind Wilbur while holding onto the sleeve of Wilbur's jumper. Just so Wilbur doesn't get lost without him in this ridiculously fancy and colossal theater. Apparently, Wilbur finds the box and opens a door for Tommy to go through.

Inside, Tommy sees a lovely lounge that contains a couch and a few seats around a table. There is a mini-fridge in the far-off corner and a counter space next. Who eats in a theater? Then on the opposite side of the room is an opening to a few seats on a balcony-like booth.

"Home home," Wilbur says as they walk in, and Wil goes to the seats on the balcony. "Literally the best spots, Tommy." He adds as if Tommy isn't already pretty excited to see the show.

It was very rare that Tommy got to leave his group home for anything other than the hospital. So to be able to go to a theater or an amusement park made Tommy very excited, to say the least. He could practically feel his body buzzing with energy now.

"Sure, Wilbur. What did you have to do for this box? Threaten the main man in charge? Or use blackmail? Or like sneak into their system and hack the box to us?" Tommy tried to guess how Wilbur got the beat seats.

"... credit card, you child," Wilbur smirked at Tommy's growingly heated face. Embarrassed, Tommy ignored Wilbur's chuckles and sat down next to him in their seats. Man Wil wasn't lying when he said he got the best seats. From where Tommy sat, he could see the whole stage from the top of the curtain to the slightly filled-out seats in the orchestra pit below the stage. Unbeknownst to Tommy, Wilbur happily watched as Tommy slowly took in the beautiful view of the theater.

As the play starts, Tommy gets a tiny pinprick feeling that he's being watched but passes it off since he's literally in a packed theater. This might be one of the most crowded places he's ever been in, but maybe not since he's in a private box, away from the crowd.

He quickly forgets the feeling as he's thrown into the show and thoroughly enjoys the music. When they started to sing about Alexander flirting with a woman, Tommy figured this was an excellent spot to take a quick bathroom break.

Tommy pokes Wilbur hard in the ribs, asking where the bathroom would be. He gets up and follows Wilbur's direction, and takes a fat shit the second he gets to the bathroom. Tommy steps out of the stall to see a short bitch fidgeting by the sinks, waiting for someone. It's just them in the bathroom. He looks at the kid up and down and decides that this person was why he had that feeling of being watched.

"So. Why were you watching me throughout the play?" At Tommy's sudden words, the kid jumps and whips around, looking at Tommy like he's grown three heads, and the heads are covered in ears. Dirty ones.

He stammers out some half-assed excuses and just sighs. "Y-you're that kid that Blade was last seen with," The kid blurts out like a fan of Blade.

Tommy laughs and smacks the kid on his back, "That's the only reason why you were watching me? I thought you were watching 'cause I'm the most handsome and coolest guy here." Tommy puffs out his chest in an attempt to prove his words right.

The brunet snorts and gives Tommy a look. "No, no, dude. Your picture has been floating around the internet."

"You wanker. No one took any pictures. How do you know that I'm not Blade? Huh? Ever seen Blade and I together? No. Because there aren't any pictures of us anywhere. I don't even like Blade, okay." Tommy glared at the kid, who didn't seem entirely fazed by Tommy's rant.

Instead of arguing back with Tommy, the kid pulled out his yellow and black phone and showed him a picture of Blade and Tommy walking out of the hospital. The image didn't even look like it came from a security camera. Someone actually took this picture.

"Okay, so you've seen a picture of Blade and me together! Big whoop! What, are you a Blade fan or something?" Tommy asked with a raised eyebrow. Was this kid a nerd too? God, he knows too many nerds now.

The kid nodded his head, and a bright blush spread. What a nerd. "Listen. Imma keeps a close eye on you. And you know the best way?" Tommy smirked, just thinking about all the mischief they could get into.

"No?"

Tommy smirked more. Oh, he was gonna get this kid into so much trouble with him. "I force you to be my friend. My name is Big Man Tommy, best friends with The Blade. What about you?"

"My name is Tubbo, and umm. I like bees?" Tubbo stutters out. He was confused as hell, but he had a glint in his eyes that Tommy could tell meant that he was also excited.

"Welp, making friends after a huge shit can be crossed off my bucket list. Let's leave before my shit crawls out of the pipes and attacks us. Just follow me. I'll even get you some pretzel bites."

Tubbo perks up at the promise of pretzel bites and grabs the back of Tommy's coat, trying not to get lost. Tommy walks up to the food stand and slaps some money down. "I need some big man pretzel bites for my short amigo here. And be snappy about it."

The worker looks at Tommy and looks behind him. The worker gets slightly pale with a slight shake but nods towards Tommy. Grabbing some premade pretzel bites for the two. They turn back, not fazed at all with the sudden change of behavior since they got food. Once back at his private box, Tommy lets Tubbo in and waves at Wilbur, who turns around at the sound of the door.

"I grabbed a Tubbo on the way back." That was all Tommy said as he dragged his friend over to the balcony and made him sit down next to him.

"What's a Tubbo?" Wilbur asked with profound confusion. Man if only Tommy had a good camera right now.

"I'm Tubbo, Tommy's new friend. It's nice to meet you" Tubbo smiled warmly at Wilbur while Tommy rolled his eyes. Where were these manners when Tommy was talking with him!

Wilbur seemed to stare at Tubbo for a moment too long before a calm smile made its way on Wilbur's face. "Hello, my name is Wilbur. Did Tommy kidnap you or something? Is there gonna be an angry parental figure looking for you?" Wilbur asked.

"Oh! No, don't worry. I actually snuck into the theater's back door and was listening to the songs in the bathroom" Tubbo smiled as if that entire sentence didn't just solidify the nerd label on his forehead.

"Shush guys, they're rapping about guns right now" Tommy interrupted their pleasant conversation because guns were much cooler. Wilbur chuckled at Tommy but turned his attention back to the show along with Tubbo. As the musical went on, the boys started whispering jokes back and forth between them, and it wasn't long before they became a fitting young duo. Quickly reading each other and slipping into fun banter as things happen in the show.

After the musical was finished, Wilbur and Tubbo yawned while Tommy rubbed his jaw. "Tubbo, do you live around here? I can give you a drive home if you want?" Wilbur asked as he stood up to stretch out finally.

"That's a fine big man. I'm going to go see a friend while he's at work. It's close, so don't worry about it." Tubbo said happily.

"Oh! Tubso, give me your number so we can text later!" Tommy shouted as he pulled out his phone, ready to put in a number. This was the first time he would have a friend's number instead of a doctor's or a caretaker's number. A quick thought passed Tommy's mind, and he wondered if friends text a lot.

Tubbo jumped and immediately pulled out his phone as well. After a quick phone number exchange and a promise to text later, the duo split ways, and Tommy was now in Wilbur's car as they made their way back home. Wilbur was humming to the tune of one a Hamilton song while Tommy was half asleep, watching the quick passing of streetlights as they moved. He could feel a warm tingle in his chest as he thought about this whole week. Every moment felt genuinely amazing. Tommy couldn't believe how polar opposite this week would have been if he was still staying at the group home. The isolation was his preferred treatment back at the group home, but now? Tommy doesn't think he'd ever be okay with being alone again. Sure he was okay with moments alone and could still function properly. But emotionally never again.

Still, in his thoughts and half awake, Tommy noticed that he was being carried to the house. Gentle arms carried him to a destination that he knew all too well now. Tommy was soon laid down on a fluffy bed with a creak of an old door. Immediately identifying the bed as Wilbur's since Tommy's and Techno's bed had fur blankets and Phil's bed had silk sheets with feathers everywhere. A dip in the space next to Tommy pulled him out of his bed thoughts. Wilbur wraps his arms around Tommy and holds him close as if it's just a mandatory routine now for him. Maybe it is now. Tommy gave out a long yawn before he entirely gave himself to sleep. And maybe, just maybe, when Tommy yawned, Wilbur spotted the telltale signs of baby tusks growing in Tommy's mouth.

Somewhere else in the night, Tubbo unlocks the front door to the house. He steps to his room, freezing, when the lights turn on suddenly. A tall silhouette stands in the doorway to the basement. The hero Mask. He stands there with his arms crossed as Tubbo sweats. Even though Tubbo has worked with Mask for 5 long years, he still couldn't get used to Mask's dense and heavy pressure that lingers around the dark green hero. Tubbo felt a shiver run down his back.

"Report. Now."

Tubbo sputters a little before taking a deep breath and word-vomiting everything he had noticed. "The kid seems to be close to all the villains. Speaking highly of The Blade. He seems to be an amalgamation of hybrid traits. With having raccoon, merfolk, even a little bit of demon hybrid traits, ashen complexion.. uh.. walks with a slow pace and leans slightly to his left.. Um. He seems pretty nice but has a kind of thorn bush personality? All prickly at first but nice past all the thorns."

Mask stood completely still before speaking again. "Well, I don't care about his personality. I only care about his connection with the Antarctic Kings. Get close to him, and don't let yourself get caught. You know the repercussions if you do."

Tubbo shies back and ducks his head nodding with a quiet "Yes, sir." He turns to a door that leads to the basement and gets ready for sleep.

Chapter Text

Alright so, sorry about the delay for the next chapter, i suck with writing about things i've never done before or much of so ive been delaying writing my part, (i did finish my part of the chapter) and we are waiting for Guppy to write.

Guppy has also sprained/broke their wrist so typing is really hard for them right now, contributing to the delay. I don't know when we will be finished but after this filler chapter, things will ramp up in speed. if you have any feedback on our book you can use this author's note as a collective place to put it all and ill read through each one of the comments.

Again, Im extreamly sorry about the delay. originaly we were hoping to have it out during the chrismas break but as you can see that fell through.

- Moo

Chapter Text

Techno rubs his tired eyes as he loosely listens to the rant Tommy is currently working on. This one is about how Tommy didn't know the word gumption, but he's been using that word for a few days now. Which maybe was strange since no one here has ever used that word before. So Tommy had randomly picked it up, and now Wilbur is struggling to explain the word fully to the kid. They haven't even started off the morning together, having just been given a light breakfast.

Techno feels maybe it was time for a fun break. Now don't get him wrong, these recent days have felt very fulfilling to Techno. But they need a small break from the usual routine that they seem to have fallen into.

Pulling out his phone, Techno texts his assistant to clear his schedule for a few days and give a heads up to their private plane and pilot. Maybe Techno should get Tommy a private doctor that can follow them to places for situations like this. Then again, Techno remembers seeing how Tommy interacted with his doctor back at the hospital. Dr. Beck. They are pretty friendly, probably having a long history. Then maybe Techno could try and get Dr. Beck to quit the hospital and be on their payroll instead.

"Tech! Hello! Techno! Tell Will that I'm right!" Tommy's voice snaps Techno out of his thought process on buying a doctor. Looking up from his phone, Techno sees Tommy leaning over his side of the table to get more in Techno's face. Behind his Starlight's head is Wilbur, sitting across from him with a smirk on his face.

"Tommy is right," Techno says without any hesitation in his words or tone. Agreeing with Tommy is always dangerous, but it kept the kid happy and less kicky in the mornings.

Wilbur frowns as if he didn't already know that Techno would betray Wilbur for a bag of expired chips. "Techno! I thought we were brothers!" Wilbur sounds fake hurt as he clinches the front of his shirt like he's just barely holding on. What a drama king.

Techno cringes at the silly familial title that Wilbur would always use as a joke. "Don't start." He rolls his eyes at his brother and tones out of the conversation. Techno wants a moment to figure out what he wants. The right word was just on the tip of his tongue.

"Oh yeah? I'd love a vacation away from this argument." Wilbur told Tommy while still in the argument.

"Not a bad idea, Wil," Techno says as he gets to work on figuring which vacation spot they should visit on his phone. Techno knows of a few sites that Phil likes to visit randomly.

"Hey! Techno! I thought you were on my side!" Tommy yells with the same fake hurt tone that Wilbur must've taught him. Techno heart swoops at the thought of them getting along so well.

"Not that. I just thought we should take a short vacation. What do you think? Sounds fun?" Techno asks, trying to gauge how Tommy feels about this. Maybe the kid wouldn't be up for it emotionally or physically. Now that Techno thinks about it, Tommy has been having some discomfort with his jaw and back.

Tommy's eyes sparkle again like he just found out that he can have his cake and eat it. "What? Like going on a picnic?" Tommy asked, not fully grasping that they could do more than just a picnic.

Techno shakes his head. "Eh, more like we go visit an old house of ours for a few days. We would pack clothes and take them on a plane with us. Would you like to do that?" Techno tries his best to explain it in simpler terms.

Tommy takes a moment to consider all of Techno's words before nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah! Let's go!" Tommy shouts. He is already buzzing with excitement. "Let's pack now!"

"Hold up. Finish your fruit first. Then we can go start packing after I chat with Phil about what's the plan." Techno explains as he starts to list everything he needs to do beforehand in his head. He even slightly notices that Wilbur is already clearing his schedule on his phone while shoving food down his mouth. Similar to Tommy, shoving fruit in his mouth.

With a brief breakdown with everyone to understand what they need to do before they leave, Techno helps Tommy pack his clothes and medicine for the trip. No Tommy don't bring your stack of jackets. It'll be warm there instead. No, Tommy, the AC won't be on, probably? They have blankets. Techno secretly knows that he liked this change of pace already.

Once everyone is packed and double-checked, they sit in the car on the way to their plane, with Phil at the driver's seat and Wilbur to his left, messing with the music. Behind them sits Techno behind Phil while watching Tommy stare at the significant and cool-looking buildings. Randomly Tommy would ask Techno about the different places in this area. To which, Techno gives vague descriptions or his best guess.

The car pulls up to what seems to be an abandoned warehouse. Still, the door of the warehouse opens to a fully functional warehouse. It almost looks like a mini airport with all people walking around checking the many private jets and airplanes the Kings have. Phil pulls up, parks and gets out to open the trunk for the people to take their luggage into one of the many parked planes.

Tommy bounces out of his seat and over to the first airplane he can find, gazing up at it in amazement. He winces when he shifts his shoulders just a bit too far, making his back throb. He ignores it, not wanting Techno to cancel the vacation and be stuck on bed rest again. Tommy moves on to the next airplane. One of the people checking on the plane looks over to Tommy and opens the door for him to investigate the insides.

Techno watches Tommy explore the warehouse as he stands next to Phil, who talks to their pilot and co-pilot on where they plan on going. Wilbur is on his phone getting the hotel booked and ready for them, along with a car that they'll need after the flight. Techno walks over to the open airplane and calls up to Tommy, "Hey Tommy. You wanna see something cool? Come out, and I'll show you our ride to New Zealand."

Tommy pops out of the airplane, gasping at the information on where they are going. They told him it was a surprise and they didn't want to be more than bartered with questions. He jumps out of the doorway, regretting it when he lands as he almost bites his tongue. He follows Techno to this smaller but more sleek-looking jet with multiple people checking every part of the plane.

"What are they doing to the airplane?" Tommy questions as he walks up the stairs inside.

"They are double-checking everything to make sure nothing bad happens on the flight over. I want to show you this. Come sit down in one of these chairs." Techno motions to the plush chairs. Tommy flops down to the chair closest to the window and looks over to the tall piglin hybrid. Techno pulls out a remote and presses a button. The empty walls shift and pull back to reveal large screens that turn on, showing what is happening around the jet and starting to play a movie.

Tommy gawks at the high tech he never gets the chance to see and settles down, curling up into a ball as he gets absorbed into the movie. Techno chuckles at how predictable Tommy is. While leaving, the co-pliot gives Techno an update as the piglin steps out of the plane. He meets up with Phil and Wilbur just outside the jet. "Tommy is distracted by a movie put up. Are you guys ready to head out? The co-pilot says they are almost done getting ready and double-checking everything."

Phil nods, turning to Wilbur, who walks up the stairs. Techno huffs at Wilbur as he passes and turns to the closest repairman. "When we get back, make sure this one is ready or mostly ready. This will be our main jet from now on." The warehouse manager nods and writes it down on their clipboard and hollers at the others, causing them to scatter away from the jet.

Techno settles down in the chair next to Tommy with Phil and Wilbur in front of them. They buckle up with Techno doing Tommy's seatbelt for him. Tommy grabs onto Techno's arm when the jet starts to move. The tiny car pulled them out of the hangar and onto the runway.

The pilot gives them a thumbs-up as the engines turn on and they start to move. Not long before they are in the air. Tommy whines from the air pressure change and as his ears pop. This was his first time flying, and Tommy didn't think it would bother him as much as now. Techno rubs the top of Tommy's head and removes the seatbelt from Tommy once they get the go-ahead from the pilots.

Tommy winces as the movement and change of pressure causes his jaw and back to worsen in pain but continues to ignore it. He yawns and curls more into Techno, wanting Techno to take all the pain away, even if Techno doesn't know about the pain. Wilbur glances at Tommy and frowns slightly like he wants to say something but decides against it at the last second. Maybe if Tommy felt better, he would call Wilbur out on staring at him.

Tommy feels like his head will explode and shoves his head into Techno's side, wanting the heat pulsing off the man to help the headache. Techno rumbles soothingly and pets the top of Tommy's head. Soon Tommy is lulled into sleep by Techno's efforts and is slumped against Techno's arm, holding onto it. In the back of Techno's head, he made a note to pick a shorter flight next time since it would take them 18 hours to fly to their spot.

Techno sees that Phil had his headphones in and probably listened to music. Next to him, Wilbur is glued to his phone. If Techno has to guess, Wilbur makes sure all their plans are set in stone. Maybe Techno should've brought a book or two. Seeing as it's almost noon and Techno was locked into his seat by his kid and bored already. This might be a long flight.

Tommy wakes to the jet landing. He looks around and notices that it's dark outside. He finds a clock and sees that it's 2 am. Tommy shifts and wakes Techno up. The two stand up and stretch, waking up the other two adults to get ready to go to the hotel. The four-step out and watch as some of the handymen move their luggage into the rental car.

Wilbur walks up to the car and gets in the driver's seat, knowing exactly where to go. The others follow suit, and they wait for everything to be loaded. Tommy gets comfy next to Techno in the back. Wilbur speeds down the empty roads, scaring Phil and Techno with his driving. The group pulls up to one of those 5-star hotels and gives the valet the car's rental key. Techno gets out with Tommy on his hip like the child he is and follows Phil inside the building. Wilbur stays back to make sure nothing is forgotten as they move their luggage back to their rooms.

Phil signs the group in and leads Techno and Tommy to their suite. After getting out of the elevator, the three found themselves in a hallway with just a few spaced outdoors. Phil looked down at the card he held for the door. "Room number 444…. Ah, right here, guys." Phil points out the door at the end of the hallway.

Techno carries the tired kid in his arms while Phil gets to the door and opens it for Techno to walk in first. Techno walks over to the couch and lays Tommy down gently right off the bat. The kid seems deep in sleep still from the flight. Techno hoped his Starlight could oversleep their jetlag. Knowing Phil and Wilbur, they will probably struggle to fix their sleep schedule. Looking around now, Techno noticed that the living room was in a very modern style. The furniture was simple and flat in color, while the art accents were bright in colors, easily popping out to the eye.

Walking to where Techno heard Phil last, he found the kitchen. Taking the same modern style as the living room, the kitchen had bright white countertops adorned with appliances. Phil was holding the stainless-steel refrigerator open with a look of thought on his face. Probably thinking about getting groceries later or some more food that's kid friendly. "Tommy is still out cold. The flight must have been too much for him." Techno said as he grabbed an apple from a fruit bowl.

"Do you think we should call his doctor? Just in case?" Phil asks Techno, but he already knows that Techno is already thinking of doing it in the morning when the kid is awake.

Techno nodded. "Yeah. I'm thinking tomorrow we have a picnic and just chill so that Tommy can recover more from the flight. Maybe try to find a lazy river." He shrugged at his own idea. Just then, the front door opened with a sound, and in came Wilbur with a cart behind him, holding all of their luggage. Wilbur looked slightly disheveled, with his hair now very fluffy and crazy-like.

"Did you lose a fight with the bellhop kid?" Techno teased Wilbur with a grin on his face. Wilbur glared at Techno with no real fire behind his eyes.

"No! This stupid cart thing is hard to move. That's all." Wilbur explained in a tone of voice that always gave away to Techno that Wil was lying.

"You tried to ride the cart down the hall, didn't you?" Techno called out what probably actually happened. Once his words came out, Phil cracked up and started laughing, even giving a happy clap with his hands. Wilbur's face went bright red at the accusation that was clearly the truth.

"What?! No! Shut up, Techno. Your face is simply stupid." Wilbur struggled to fully get his word out and heard over the old man's laughter. Techno couldn't even stop himself from chuckling as well. Phil's laugh was always contagious to those around him. "Phil! You're supposed to be on my side!" Wilbur frowned at Phil while the man struggled to breathe now.

"HAHA- oh my goD. Mate I-Pfffft hahah your face! HA." Phil starts to lose it when Wilbur's face goes redder. The dangerous loop of Phil laughing at Wilbur's red face and Wilbur going redder from Phil's laughing just causes Phil to laugh more, and Wilbur gets redder.

Techno watched while trying not to fall into this dangerous laughing loop. He prefers to just watch the two idiots' struggle.

Not long after, Techno saw a sleepy Tommy walk into the kitchen from the living room. The laughing and yelling must have woken him up. "Hey Kid," Techno walked over to Tommy and tucked some of his hair out of the kid's face. Bedhead. Couch head? Messy hair. Tommy leaned into the touch without much thought, it seemed. Must still be tired. "Let's go to bed. Are you still sleepy?" Techno asked as he ran his fingers through the golden curls.

Tommy nodded and grabbed a handful of Techno's shirts. "Alright. Goodnight, guys. Tommy and I are gonna go to sleep now." Techno called out as he grabbed their bags and led Tommy to their bedroom. On the way, Techno could hear a soft goodnight from Wilbur and a pained night mate from Phil.

The room Techno had picked for them was a spacious room that had a king-size bed in the middle of the room. Techno placed their bag on a dresser and opened it up. Tommy's bag was filled with random unfolded clothes that Tommy wanted to bring. Techno had Tommy changed into those while he also changed out of his day clothes, pulling out a shirt and gym shorts.

Once everyone was changed, Techno sat a sleepy Tommy down on the bed and grabbed Tommy's medicine backpack. They were so far on schedule with his bed, but now, the meds were scheduled for odd times of the day due to the time changes. For now, Techno gave Tommy his nighttime meds and a juice box from the bag. With a kiss on the head, Techno leaves Tommy to do his thing while Techno finishes getting ready for bed.

Techno slips into bed next to Tommy, who is already half asleep again, with everything coming to wind down for the night. "Goodnight, Starlight"

Techno wakes to his phone buzzing on the nightstand. He turns off the alarm and gets out of bed, trying to not wake the sleeping and drooling koala. Tommy whines at the heat loss but settles back down when Techno pulls the covers closer to the kid. Techno walks out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, checking out the food the hotel has in stock for them. With a few moments of searching, Techno figured out they had a lot of stuff that would be good for a picnic. Some sandwiches and fruit seemed reasonable enough or at least that's what Techno thinks is the norm for picnics. He can't remember the last time he's had a picnic.

Not long after, Wilbur stumbles into the kitchen and makes a direct beeline over to the redbull that he left out yesterday. The two chat while waiting for Phil and Tommy to wake up to finish getting ready for a picnic at the beach.

"Tommy, make sure to put on some sunscreen, or I will." Techno pointedly looks at the smaller hybrid. Tommy cringes and gives the piglin an exasperated look.

Wilbur laughs and waggles his finger, "You heard him short stack. Don't forget your sunscreen." Tommy flips off Wilbur and stomps back to his room, muttering, 'how big men don't fear the sun'. Nonetheless, Techno could hear Tommy putting all his beach related things into a bag for easier carrying. Techno follows suit and the two wait at the door for the old man and tall drama queen.

The two slower hybrids trail behind Techno and Tommy to the elevator. Techno brings up the google page about the beach they are going to, Karekare Beach. He shows it to their personal driver they find waiting at the front door. The driver opened the door for everyone and nodded when everyone was in. Once the car started moving, everyone listened to Wilbur's recent rant about how two five energy shots should theoretically give you ten hours of energy. Tommy worked the 'no bitch you're just two times more energetic for five hours' while Phil tried to explain that just taking one isn't intelligent, to begin with. Techno knows for a fact that he's seen the old man take some of those energy shots back when they used to train daily in the morning.

Once the beach finally came into their view from the car, Tommy began to bounce in his seat like a puppy would when spotting the dog park. Techno puts his hand on Tommy's head to settle the kid down.

Wilbur bursts out of the car the moment the tires stop moving. He runs to a stop and stands with his arms out, claiming the perfect spot for their Toms. Tommy chases after the unreasonably tall man, trying to tackle him at their spot. It sits right in front of an island-like mass not far from the beach as it stretches across the side of North Island.

Wilbur dodges the younger and puts down a large ass blanket, like one of those blankets you put on those Alaska king-sized bed that fits 7 adults. Tommy joins Wilbur on the blanket, wanting to eat before messing with the sand and water. Techno drops the basket in the center of the blanket and sets up the picnic. Tommy snags a bunch of the grapes and pulls out his sandcastle supplies, running off to be closer to the water for better castles. Phil follows the younger hybrid, probably wanting to spend time with the kid.

Techno munches on some of the potatoes he packed and gives one to Wilbur. Who huffs at the choice of food but eats it anyway. The two watch Phil and a feral child fight on which way is the best way to make a castle before Phil whispers something in Tommy's ear. Even with Techno's heightened sense of hearing, he couldn't hear a word. Figuring it was nothing, Techno grabbed his phone and checked his emails. Of course, he'd still have to do some work while everyone is on vacation, evil waits for no man.

While working on his fourth email, he heard Wilbur and Phil leave, saying they wanted to collect shells. Lame. Techno looks up to see Tommy hip-deep in water with a bucket with those two far away. Probably just getting wet sand for his castle. Looking back down at his phone, Techno tried to finish this one off in a rush so that he could go help Tommy with the sandcastle.

He didn't finish the email because a sudden scream from Tommy made Techno jump to his feet. At first glance, he couldn't see Tommy, but then, a wild splash from the water reveals a small hand trying to grasp thin air. Techno bolts for the water and dives in without thinking of anything other than his Starlight.

"TOMMY" Techno yells before swimming down and grabbing the sinking kid. Quickly he pulls them both to the surface and closer to the shore where he can stand in the water.

Tommy was unresponsive, chilly, and limp in Techno's arms. The worst of the worst came to Techno's mind as he started to race back to land. Suddenly Tommy bounced to life and screamed "surprise!" in Techno's face before laughing his lungs out.

Techno stares in utter disbelief. Is he going crazy? He thought Tommy drowned. The memory of Phil whispering in Tommy's ear came to Techno's mind, and he frowns.

"Did Phil put you up to this?" He tried to ask the laughing child in his arms. They had stopped moving in the water now and were in still deep water that only Techno could reach the sea ground at the moment.

"PFFFT HAHAHA, YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACE TECH! IVE NEVER SEEN YOU SO SCARED HAHAHA," The kid reveals in his victory as he nods yes to Techno's question.

"Yeah yeah, kid, live it up" Techno rolls his eyes and let go of Tommy but quickly enough, Tommy clings to Techno's arm, and his laughter dies out.

"Hey! Don't let go! I'm tired," Tommy explains. Techno looks over Tommy and can see that a lot of energy has left the bubbly kid.

"Fine, fine. But you better believe it that I'm going to make you help me prank Phil back later for this." Techno explains as he slowly flips over, giving Tommy a chance to move to his back, and starts to swim back to shore. Tommy looks over the beach, taking note of everyone there. His eyes stop at this tall, kind of ugly, blond man who stands pretty far from the rest of civilization and watches them. He narrows his eyes but chooses to ignore the man and decides to pester Techno the closer to the beach they are, given that they are a pretty weird group.

Techno keeps tipping over, almost knocking Tommy over into the water to try and get him to stop pulling on his ears and trying to tickle the older man. Phil and Wilbur are on the blanket with a handful of shells in front of them with some string.

The two walk out of the water and sit on the blanket, getting it wet. Wilbur pulls out two towels he brought, throws one at Techno, and makes the other towel fall over Tommy's damp head.

"Hey! I can dry off, myself!" Tommy pushes Wilbur away and clumsily rubs the towel over himself. Techno simply wraps the towel around himself and grabs a sandwich to eat.

"You better watch your back, Phil," Techno warns before Tommy excitedly adds a 'yeah! Old man!' to his light-hearted threat. Phil laughs and slaps his own leg in a fit of laughter. "Oh, mate! Did he really scare you that bad? Hahaha!"

Techno rolls his eyes and watches as Wilbur tries to fight with Tommy about how he was drying his hair off all wrong. "You're going to get split ends if you keep doing it like that!"

The vacation went smoothly after that. They go on small hikes, with Techno carrying Tommy or Phil flying him around. They spend every day together doing something different and exciting with Tommy. Techno relishes the peaceful nights he gets with Tommy fast asleep next to him.

On their last day on vacation, Tommy is in an off mood. Or at least, that's what Techno thought. Maybe he just saw things, like a slight look of pain when he rubs his jaw or stretches his back. Techno warns the other two to be careful around Tommy just to be safe. On the car ride back to their warehouse, Tommy watches the lively plants fly past them with a slight frown on his face. "Do we really have to go back so soon?" Tommy whined as he gave Techno his puppy eyes.

"Yes. We can't really take many days off in our uh, line of work. People would notice our absence if it was longer than a few days." Techno says as he runs his fingers through Tommy's curls.

Tommy sighs and leans slightly into Techno's hand. "Fine, but you have to sit next to me for the whole flight back," Tommy says as if that was a punishment. Maybe to Wilbur, it would be, but Techno doesn't mind it.

Once everyone is set on the plane, they all decide to play some board games to pass the time. Wilbur kept losing to Tommy in the game Risk. The game Monopoly went as so; Tommy constantly went in jail and refused to leave till he was forced to. Wilbur spent all of his money on the top tier dark blue property. Phil took total control of one corner of the board while Techno took the other half. Those red hotels were the only warning someone would get before they landed on it and was told of the outrageous rent price. To say that cards and money went flying around was an understatement. Wilbur somehow went into debt, and Tommy still hasn't rolled doubles in the past two hours now. Tommy was still energetic as always until his body started to feel heavy towards the end of the flight. Maybe it was the long flight or the excitement finally getting to him, but no matter what, Tommy finds it hard to make his body move. The seemingly never-ending pain radiating from his jaw and back starts to get to him. While everyone walks towards the awaiting car, Tommy stops.

Everything felt too extreme for Tommy. It was as if gravity had been turned up a notch or two. Techno turns around to see why Tommy stopped walking.

Tommy's eyes look up to catch the red eyes on him, worry shining in them. "Techie-" Tommy whimpers before his body gives out on him and leaves Techno scrambling to catch his body.

"Tommy?! Hey! Kid!-"

Chapter Text

Hey it's Moo. As yall can tell with all the recent news, I'll be postponing the next chapter. It is roughly 2/3rds finished but both guppy and I need to step back for a bit. And Guppy might not come back.

DONT WORRY!! The story will continue but updates will take longer. Though don't expect the next chapter any time soon.

Also donate to this link for cancer

Chapter Text

Everything rushes by Techno in a blur. The world feels like it had been tipped over by a few degrees, and only Techno could feel the difference. He clings to Tommy, barely saving his boy from hitting his head on the ground.

Words are being said around him, but all he can hear is the high pitch static roaring in his head. Nothing feels real, yet it all seems too real, like every second is a new circle of hell. Phil must have been barking orders around because when Techno finally snaps back into reality, Tommy is gently being pulled out of Techno's stiff arms.

An unnatural growl slips out of Techno as he clutches Tommy, refusing to let anyone take him. A gentle hand is placed on Techno's shoulder. Techno would've taken a bite out of the hand if he weren't so focused on Tommy.

"Easy, easy. Techno, let them take Tommy. You can go with them. But you have to let them help him first, mate." Phil says as he kneels next to Techno on the ground.

Techno peels his eyes away from Tommy's unconscious body to look at Phil. For a moment there, Techno had wholly forgotten that there were other people there with him. Phil's eyebrows were set as a slight frown, and his eyes looked like they were begging Techno to return to his senses.

Techno whips his eyes back to Tommy as he lets the boy be pulled out of his arms by the paramedics. 'Oh, when did they get there?' Techno hums as he stands up and follows them to the parked ambulance.

The driver waves for Techno to follow him to the front of the ambulance and opens the door to the front passenger side. Techno slips in and sees that between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat is a small walkway to the back, where Tommy is lying on a stretcher. The other paramedic is closing the back doors, and for a moment, Techno can see Phil and Wilbur rushing to get into their car with their luggage.

Techno snaps out of his haze when the engine comes to life around him. "Go to L'Hospital. His Doctor is there," Techno explains to the driver, who frowns. The man turns to the female paramedic checking over Tommy, "L'Hospital? Or SMP Hospital?" The man asks his partner. The woman looks up and glances at Techno before saying, "L'Hospital would be better for him. He's a hybrid, and SMP would've just transferred him somewhere else."

There is a moment of silence between the three. They all knew SMP Hospital is the more funded hospital, but it is also a hospital that only cares for humans and turns away hybrids, despite the equality for all, bullshit laws.

"L'Hospital it is. I'll send them a heads-up," the driver says as they tap on the GPS.

Techno's mind hazes over the trip, and not long after, he notices that his body is automatically moving to open the door and get out. The two paramedics carried Tommy's stretcher out of the ambulance. With what Techno assumes as practiced ease, they transfer Tommy's unconscious body into an awaiting hospital bed. Techno looks away from Tommy when he hears the automatic Hospital doors screech open with Dr. Beck speed walking over to them.

The female paramedic, who is holding a clipboard, hands it out for Dr. Beck to take. "Name is Tommy Soot, age 15, collapsed after flying in a plane. High heart rate of…." Techno's mind fizzles out as more medical terms are thrown around. The loud roaring of static comes back to him at full force. He feels like everything is being ripped away again. As if he were a planet that suddenly lost his star. The very being that held gravity to his life. Without it, he is doomed to drift away into the void.

While in his trance, Techno follows Tommy's bed as it is wheeled into the tall building. Techno walks behind the bed, where the kid's head lays. His face is cluttered with tubs that are either around his nose or in his mouth. To Tommy's right is Dr. Beck, who is talking fast with the female paramedic on Tommy's left. They pass a clipboard between each other as they make their way through the hallway.

If Techno weren't moving automatically, he would have noticed the words on the walls screaming at him that this was a restricted area. It takes a nurse to physically stop Techno from following Tommy's bed. The nurse calmly tells Techno he can't follow, but he could take Techno to Tommy's standard room while they borrow the kid for tests.

Techno couldn't do anything but mutely nod and let the male nurse lead him to the same room in which he first met the kid. The only thing missing was the huge bed and Tommy himself.

After a lifetime of waiting, the door opens, and Tommy is pushed in with Dr. Beck walking behind. Dr. Beck nods at Techno and helps the nurses set everything up before he tells the grave news to the caretaker.

"While taking tests on Tommy's blood, Nikki contacted me to let me know that you are Tommy's new caretaker and that you are allowed to hear his medical information. Now to be brief with you. Tommy doesn't have much time without all this excitement you have brought."

Techno snarls at the Doctor, "YOU THINK I'M THE REASON HE'S HERE RIGHT NOW?! No, I am not. I am just trying to make my kid happy and safe. Something you seem not to be able to do." the Doctor huffs at the hybrid.

"Now, now, calm down. I'm saying that easing him into things instead of springing it onto the poor kid, like a road trip instead of an airplane, would give the kid some time to relax slowly."

Techno narrows his eyes at him and ponders on the new information. It makes sense to do things in that way. It also helps him think of stuff to do in future vacations. He looks away from the Doctor and hrumps.

"Since we stabilized him, I want to know what caused his heart attack?"

Techno sighs and explains how they returned from a trip to New Zealand when it hit just as Tommy stepped out of the jet. The Doctor nods along with the story. "This matches up with what the paramedics stated."

"Tommy is only on borrowed time, so be careful with these kinds of things as we have no cure nor idea what causes Tommy's illness. It takes energy away from him to "heal" an invisible wound and causes him to have malnutrition and a much smaller size than kids his age. While trying to heal the wound, it is taking essential nutrition and DNA away from his organs to try and rebuild this "wound.""

Techno takes a deep breath in as he digests the news. He only has so much time with his kid before he has to start to plan a funeral. He does not like this thought.

The Doctor clears his throat, "We also have found what seems like wings growing on Tommy's back. Here I can show you." The doctor motions for Techno. Who gets up and walks over.

The Doctor lifts Tommy and exposes the winglets on his back. Techno takes a look at the wings and sees an extra alula. He gently lifts the winglets from Tommy's back to look at them stretched out. They seem to have just finished forming and are starting to grow pin feathers. Phil is going to have a field day when he finds out.

"There are also tusks that have grown in fully throughout the tests. They seem very similar to piglin tusks. If you were so kind as to confirm that they are piglin tusks, it would help us figure out Tommy's abilities. He may think he doesn't have one, but we on the medical board think otherwise just from the fact that he has multiple traits of other hybrids as is." The Doctor explains as he gently lays Tommy back down on the bed.

Techno leans on the bed to look at the kid's teeth and peers back up at the Doctor, nodding. The Doctor quickly writes the fact down on his clipboard, thanks the piglin, and leaves. "There is nothing else I can do now except wait. Please take care."

Techno sits in a chair, leaning against the wall by the foot of the bed. He leans forward at the random spikes of irregular heartbeat Tommy's illness causes, hoping nothing wrong happens during the medically induced coma. He slumps back as the heartbeat goes back to normal.

It has been five days since Tommy was put into a coma.

The door opens to Phil walking in with a duffle bag. He stands before the useless man and drops the bag on the other's lap.

Techno looks at it and opens it to find many clothes and hygienic products. He looks up at his father figure with an eyebrow raised.

"This is so you can still care for yourself while you are here. I know I can not convince you to leave or go home to take a break, so I packed a travel bag for you." Phil explains as he turns to the young child lying catatonic on the hospital bed. "He might not live very long."

Techno snarls at Phil, "He WILL live. He has to. I know he will make it through this." Phil narrows his eyes at the noise but sighs. He pulls out a stack of papers and smacks them onto Techno's head.

Techno grabs the papers and reads through them, paging faster as he realizes what paperwork these are. Phil nods, "I got Nikki to give me the paperwork for Tommy's adoption to give to you. But I will NOT give it to her until you take care of yourself for at least two days. Tommy needs someone not falling apart when he finally wakes up."

Techno winces as he looks over at Tommy. "Who would watch him while I'm gone?"

"Wilbur will watch him as you go through the paperwork and have that long-time needed break. Now let's go. He's waiting outside to switch." Phil tells him as he grabs Techno's arm. Wilbur stands at the doorway and nods at his brother, sitting in the uncomfortably warm chair.

Phil follows the Doctor into Tommy's room, taking notice of the worn-down man in the chair. Phil huffs, fluffing his wings as he uses the feathered limbs to smack the younger man awake. He turns back to the Doctor to listen.

"With my calculations, Tommy should wake up in a couple of weeks. He needs to continue to take his medicine and nutrients."

Phil hums and thanks the Doctor as the Doctor leaves the room. He looks down at Techno, on the verge of falling asleep again. "You didn't hear what the doctor said, did you?" Phil sighs.

"No. What did he say? Was it important?" Techno judges the Doctor.

Phil presses his lips at Techno's tone. "Tommy should wake up in a couple of weeks. Maybe you would have heard him say that if you cared for yourself. Now get up and go home for a couple of days. He isn't waking up tomorrow or anytime this week."

It has been 17 days since the accident. Techno doesn't know how much longer he can handle.

The window to the room opens slowly as Wilbur crawls quietly through it. He drops the duffle bag next to him and prepares for possible backlash. Wilbur winds up, tackles Techno out of the chair, and sits in it before Techno can adequately react. His senses are becoming dull with the lack of sleep, and the out-of-focus Techno has been for the past 24 days.

"You have to eat something, brother. You don't want Tommy to see you like this, do you? There are energy bars and a good change of clothes inside the duffle. I'll keep watch as you change and eat." Wilbur hums out to his brother. Techno snarls at the intruder but stops when the heart monitor makes a beep. Tommy lets out a whine.

Techno shushes Tommy and glares at his twin, ultimately giving up and getting the duffle bag. He leaves the room.

Wilbur turns to Tommy, "You know, you cause a lot of trouble. I'm not complaining 'cause I love trouble, but please wake up for Techno's sake."

Techno wakes up to alarms going off around him and a large group of nurses storming into the room, shoving him back and out of the way.

He paces the hallway as the Doctor settles Tommy down from his most recent episode. Techno looks at the Doctor and waits for the go-ahead to cuddle the kid. The Doctor looks over but ignores him as he finishes settling Tommy down. "You can come back in now. I would say your last words with him, and I don't know when or If he will wake up or go back to normal."

Techno squeezes his eyes and nods, stepping back into the room and gently getting into the bed. He waits till he can't hear anyone nearby before breaking down crying.

Techno holds Tommy's chilly body close to his chest. If Techno has him close, he can give Tommy some of his warmth. Tommy always hated being cold. He cradles Tommy's head against his own as he opens his mouth.

"A-and the universe said I love y-you. And the universe said everything you need is within you."

Techno's voice breaks at the end, and he takes a moment to hold back his sobs. He wasn't done. Tommy needs to hear these words. He needs to know.

"And the universe said you are stronger than you know. And the universe said you are the daylight. And the universe said you are the night…... A-and the universe said the darkness you fight is within you… And the universe said the light you seek is within y-you. A-and the universe said you are not alone."

A sob tore through Techno as he struggled to finish.

"And the universe s-said I love you because y-......you are love, Tommy."

"Please wake up."

Chapter Text

Techno paces next to Tommy’s bed while the doctor gives the medicine to wake the child up. He hrumps at the doctor for taking so long but settles down at the glare said doctor gave him. Phil walks in just as Tommy’s eyes open after 34 days.

“Hello, Tommy. It’s your doctor, Beck. You have been in a coma for 34 days. Here’s some water.” Dr. Beck calms the younger while giving him a cup with a straw. Techno churrs quietly while sitting back down on a chair next to Tommy.

Tommy looks around while taking small sips of water, taking stock of who stayed by his side. Techno scooches closer while Phil ruffles his feathers and moves closer to Wilbur. Tommy looks over to Dr. Beck, “When can I go home?”

Dr. Beck sighs but looks at his clipboard, “You should be able to leave in a couple of hours after we make sure nothing is out of sorts from the medically induced coma. Then you can go home with your… Family.” Dr. Beck side-eyes Techno. Tommy nods and smiles brightly at Techno, excited to go home.

Tommy looks around at the dusty, almost filthy apartment that has become their home. Techno rubs his neck after looking around, noticing all the dust and trash he ignored while staying at the hospital. He starts to grab the garbage and toss it in the waste bin, forgetting about the papers he left on the coffee table in the living room.

He looks up to a loud squeal coming from the living room. Techno speed walks in and sees Tommy sitting on the couch, sobbing at the papers in his hands. “Oh yeah, forgot about those. Phil got Nikki to hand those over. All that’s needed to finalize the paperwork is your signature at the bottom.”

Tommy looks up at the piglin with giant tears, “Are you sure you want me? Even after this past accident?” Techno’s eyes softened at the shaky, weak voice from his kid.

“Yes, I do want you, especially after this past accident. I will have the best of the best try and find a cure for you and help you live your life as full as possible. If you want me to.” The older piglin hums while pulling the younger into his lap for some hugs. Tommy bursts into more tears and nods, grasping Techno’s side while looking at the papers with a new light in his eyes.

The young hybrid whines as he shifts from his restless sleep, tugging on the chains on his limbs and horns. He looks around his desolate chamber with no windows, hoping HE’s not here. His “room” has no lighting except what spills in from outside his room through the iron bars, where he can hear multiple other people whimper and whine in pain farther down the long hallway. The dull grey walls fail to hide the large splatters of blood, both human and hybrid.

A dull hush rolls across the cells as a door is slammed open at the end of the hallway. The others stifle their pained noises, hoping HE won’t take his anger out on them. Footsteps get closer and closer to the teen, causing him to pull back to the farthest corner of the door.

The man, or what others like to think of as a monster, stops right in front of the teen’s cell. “Oh Raaanbooo, I got a lovely gift to give you.”

The mentioned teen whines and curls up more, trying not to look directly at the man. The man growls and opens the cell, kicking the hybrid in the ankle and making a loud snapping noise. Ranboo whines and nervously looks up at the man. “There are those disgusting eyes I hate. Do you want to see my gift now or after the lesson?”

“N-n-now please?” the hybrid stutters while holding his broken ankle. The man chuckles and pulls out a collar. The collar is studded with sharp spikes that face inwards towards the wearer. It has a large and heavy chain that leads to the front of the cell. Ranboo didn’t even notice the human attaching the chain to the bars.

The human attaches the collar to the hybrid, happy with how it causes the teen to stretch out his limbs to keep pressure off his neck, where the collar is already digging in. He frowns at the extra limb that whips around and the hard bones sticking out of the hybrid’s head.

Ranboo winces. Keeping the mantra that if he disobeys, Bee will get hurt. He keeps his eyes on the other’s hands as he pulls out what seems like a bone saw from this pocket dimension the other has. Ranboo tugs on his chains, squirming away from the older being. He laughs chaotically and grabs the teen’s tail, bringing down the saw at the base, and hacking away at the muscles, bones, and nerve endings.

Ranboo wails and screams at the excruciating pain that radiates from his tail. The other prisoners cry in rage at the damage the human is bringing to a child. Ranboo falls limp, ignoring the injuries he’s giving himself from the collar. A wet plop lands next to his head, bringing his eyes to his dismembered tail, bone and sinew exposed and bleeding rapidly.

The human snickers at the tears that burn down the face of the hybrid and uses one of his powers to stop the kid from passing out and bleeding to make it more fun for the next thing on his agenda. He walks around the limp, lanky being and stands at his head, grabbing his horns and yanking the other’s head up.

Ranboo whimpers at the movement at looks up at the human, only to widen his eyes at the saw coming closer to his head. He wiggles and squirms, pulling at his chains, trying to escape. The human shakes his captive’s head and gets started sawing away the abnormalities.

Ranboo is finally released from the collar after the “session” the human had. He backs away from the towering figure and curls up in a ball with his back to the other.

“Now, don’t forget that the only one who can help you is me. And only me.” is the last thing Ranboo hears before succumbing to his wounds and passing out.

Chapter Text

Haha uh hey guys.. As the human who started and mainlined the storyboard I wanted to end this off on a good note.

We did write a base for most, if not all of the chapters for this story. We also got ahead of ourselves and even wrote up a script for the next story. Lol I did love the story and the plot had a good slap in the face that we made. The sleepless night don't feel worth it if you guys didn't at least see what we had planned up. So very soon I'll look over the documents and post our storyline. Sorry if this was the new chapter update you were hoping for but since it's been so long, I'd like to put this dead story to rest at least being fully seen..

Chapter Text

Hey, ya'll, I'm excited to inform ya'll that I'm alive and kickin' and back to working on this series. I had some... irl stuff happen so I had lost motivation to work on this series and some.... disagreements with the previous co-writer. So I plan to re-write the entire book and expand on a lot of things :DD hopefully I'm able to double what's currently out with more details and a lot of expansion of the world itself and the interactions the characters are gonna have with the world. I plan to even start a side book about Tommy's backstory of his childhood and what he experienced with the foster system. I will keep this work up but I will more than likely publish a new work with the new chapters and everything separately. I'll probably not post that until I have everything that is currently out right now updated and reworked so that might take a while but I plan to set aside specific days and hours to dedicate specifically to work on this book and series. I was super excited to work on this with the previous co-writer and I just couldn't stop talking about it when I was working on it but when Techno died and then other things just kept coming I had to step away from writing and stuff to make sure my irl life isn't all messed up. I had worked a little bit here and there on the next chapter but then decided to scrap that chapter as I had not liked where it was going and my current friend group has given me confidence and motivation to rewrite this series. So expect a lot of things to change but I will still keep some things the same. Hopefully, I'm able to keep the space-themed chapter names in but forgive me if I can't find a good enough analogy with the chapter for a space-themed name.

sincerely
Moo :DD

oh also I might revamp the discord server to make it more... me? or new people friendly