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In the Minecraft family, they’d always put up a tree.
He hadn’t been there, of course, but he’d heard about Wilbur and technos first christmases enough times that it seemed like he was.
On Wilbur’s, Phil put up the biggest tree he could find. The man had gone out a mile into the forest to find it, and it was twelve feet tall.
They’d apparently spent an entire day decking it out with lights and ordainments, taking the time to grow closer and get to know each other better.
On technos, Wilbur had already been living with Phil for two years. Phil asked what techno wanted to do for Christmas, and techno had said he didn’t want anything big. Something small, just the three of them.
The three of them had gone out and gotten the smallest tree they saw. It was barely a sapling, Tommy had been told.
He hadn’t been there, but he’d heard enough to wish he had been.
Tommy’s first Christmas with the Minecraft family had been disastrous. Tommy had only shown up only a few months beforehand, and was dealing with extreme trust issues. After all, his parents had abandoned their eight year old child in the wilderness.
He’d stayed the entirety of Christmas Day in his room.
It... it could have gone better, to say the least. Tommy had left his room early in the morning after Christmas Day and stared at the tree for a few minutes. It was beautiful, and Tommy couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness that he hadn’t been there to help.
From that Christmas on, he’d vowed to choose and help decorate every tree.
His family didn’t know the reason he had suddenly become obsessed with Christmas, but they also didn’t ask.
For this, Tommy was extremely grateful.
This Christmas, he sat in technos house. He wondered how things in L’Manburg were going.
Tubbo was probably overseeing a lot of it, as Christmas had always been their favorite holiday.
He sighed, and shifted in the kitchen chair. He shouldn’t think about that too much.
The door opened, and in walked Technoblade.
“Hey Tommy.” Tommy hummed. “I want to show you something.” Tommy turned to his older brother.
“Yeah? What is it?” Techno has this secret little smile, which Tommy hasn’t seen before, and therefore he doesn’t trust it. I mean, really? THE Technoblade, smiling? Who on earth would trust that?
“Come on, it’s a secret.”
Tommy, apparently, because he gets up and follows his brother outside.
He takes a moment to think when techno puts a fluffy cape around his shoulders. He picks at the fur lining the neck of it.
“What is this?” He asks. Some little thing in the back of his mind screams at him to throw it off of him, because it’s out of pity, but that voice is silenced when techno responds.
“It’s cold out tonight. It’s also Christmas. Merry Christmas, brat.” Tommy scoffs when techno ruffles his hair, and pushes the pig man’s hand off.
“Shut up.”
They’ve been walking for about fifteen minutes when Tommy’s patience runs thin.
“How much further are we even going?” His feet are cold, his boots aren’t good enough to keep them warm in this much snow. Techno snorts.
“Not far, stop complaining.” Tommy huffs. This is stupid, techno is stupid. What could possibly demand they walk this far?
Maybe he’s taking you to dream.
His mind becomes a battlefield in mere seconds. One half of his brain cheers at the thought, and the other half is terrified. If techno was actually taking him to dream, what did that say about his ability to judge the integrity of people?
That it’s shit, he supposes. If Dream is at the end of this seemingly endless walk, then his trust in techno was completely misguided.
He was getting too lost in his thoughts, because techno placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You okay?”
Tommy nodded, a bit tense. Now that the idea was in his head, he couldn’t get it out.
JESUS CHRIST how long was this walk?
They’d started walking up a mountain now, what the fuck? Tommy is very confused, if techno was taking him to dream, why would they go this far away?
Maybe Dream isn’t there, part of his mind whispers.
Maybe he can believe it, for now.
Techno stopped him at the peak of the mountain. It was so high up, but there were so many trees that he couldn’t see much.
“Why are we up here? What did you even want to show me?” Techno snorted softly, and guided him to a small clearing.
“Look up.”
Tommy did, and saw streaks of color cutting through the night sky. Purple, green, and blue drifted through the sky, stars sprinkling through and around them like jewels.
“Whoa...” techno laughed lightly.
“I know it’s not a christmas tree, but... welcome home, Theseus.” Tommy let out a shaky breath, and launched himself at his older brother, trapping him in a tight hug. Techno stood still for a moment, probably surprised, but eventually leaned down to wrap his arms around Tommy. Tommy could feel the bandages on his face peeling from how hard he was pressing his face into technos shoulder, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. He came to a realization.
Techno cared. He didn’t pity Tommy. If he did, he wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of dragging a whining kid up a mountain just to see some pretty lights.
Techno actually cared.
And Tommy couldn’t stop smiling, even if he didn’t have some extravagant tree. He had his brother, and that was all he needed.