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Techno's hair is so messy.
As much as Technoblade loved his long pink hair, he did not know how to take care of it. It was always clean and it generally smelled good if it wasn't redolent with blood. But he never managed to put it up in the right way, and Phil didn't know how to deal with such a long hair.
Good thing his brother, who had picked up other hyper fixation recently, was interested in hairdressing.
Wilbur couldn't stop reading books about different hairstyles, with tutorials and everything. The only sad part was that he didn't have anyone to try them on. Right?
"Hey, Techno, Techno!"
Techno, sitting comfortably on an armchair, looked up from his "Art of War" exemplar.
"What?"
Wilbur looked excited, which made Techno a little scared. Well, at least Wilbur's ideas couldn't be worse than Tommy's.
"So...I've been reading some books recently and...could I...uh..."
"Spit it out, Wilbur."
"Could I try some hairstyles on you?"
Techno stared at him. The only sound in the room was the fire in the fireplace, slowly burning the wood. The two fifteen years old boys started at each other until Techno simply said:
"No."
"But Techno..."
"Will, that's not happening."
Wilbur arrogantly raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, so you prefer to keep trying to put it up and falling miserably every time? Come on, you have to wash it everyday you fight because it gets stained with blood! Sometimes it even falls on your face when you're fighting!"
For Techno, testing hairstyles meant that Wilbur would make his hair look like those fancy hairstyles that rich ladies used to wear in court. Nothing wrong with those, but it wasn't particularly Techno's interest.
However, Wilbur did make a good point. His hair indeed fell in front of his eyes while he fought. It was an inconvenience, but he wouldn't cut it.
He couldn't.
"Come ooooon" Wilbur started again. "I will do it the same way mom used to, I promise. Just a braid with some details. Pleaseeee."
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰.
Techno could vaguely remember the last time he had his hair properly put up. Their mom used to braid it everyday, making the most beautiful and tight braid she could. At the time, Techno didn't have a really long hair, but their mom started braiding it when it started to touch his shoulders. 𝘛𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳.
It stopped when she died. Techno didn't cut his hair since.
"...Fine." Their mother wouldn't want his hair to be tangled and messy. She would want it to be beautiful everyday, so Techno could brag about it to his friends. "But just this once."
Wilbur smiled as he clapped, happier than ever.
"You're my favourite brother, Techno, you know that, right?" He said, making his way to the armchair Techno was sitting on. Wilbur took a chair on his way there, putting it behind Techno and sitting on it. "I actually don't think I can make your hair from here." He said, looking down. "You would have to sit on a stool or somewhere without a back thingy." Wilbur tapped the back of the sofa.
Techno simply stood up and sat on the carpet.
"Uhh, Techno...-"
"Mom used to do it sitting on the floor. Or the bed, but I'm not going upstairs for this."
"Oh, okay."
Wilbur sat behind Techno, and started parting and braiding the hair.
Techno took a deep breath and relaxed, going back to his book.
•
"Annnnd done!" Wilbur spoke, taking Techno out of his concentration in the book.
"My head fells a little lighter." Techno commented while raising his head.
"Yep, that's what I was going for." Wilbur handed him a mirror. "And it looks ravishing."
Techno took the mirror and starred at it.
It looked amazing. He didn't know how the braid looked from the back, but just facing it was already beautiful.
Wilbur left two hair locks falling on his face. It wasn't on his eyes, and it was going to be kept in place by the gold beads that would shimmer beautifully in the sun when he moved.
His brother got up whilst Techno admired his hair, and found another mirror, positioning it behind him.
"Look at the braid."
Techno positioned the mirror so he could see the reflex behind him, and oh ender.
He couldn't remember the last time his hair looked that beautiful.
The braid was tight and well done, with not a single stripe of hair out. It had little beads of gold, and a single gold thread also made it's way through the lovely pink.
It was simply stunning.
"Do you like it?"
Techno's jaw had dropped without him noticing.
"Wilbur...this looks perfect."
Since that day, Techno changed his mind about Wilbur only doing it once.
Every morning, Wilbur was willing to do braid his hair. And slowly, Techno learned how to do it as well.
Even when Techno knew how to braid his hair, Wilbur would still do it sometimes, especially if one of them was anxious about something.
Techno could never do it as good as Wilbur did.
Time went by, and even when Wilbur left home with Tommy to try to "find himself", Techno still couldn't figure out how to put on all of the beads the same way his brother did.
When Wilbur sent him a letter begging for help, Techno didn't think twice before going. He tried to make his braid look as good as he could to impress Wilbur.
Wilbur didn't pay attention at it. Comprehensible, considering the situation they were in. Wilbur and Tommy just lost their country, after all.
Some time went by, and on November 15th, Techno heard a knock on his bedroom door.
"Who is it?" Techno spoke from the bed.
"Me."
"Come in, Will."
The door knob moved, and Wilbur was in. He looked unsettled, closing the door behind him.
"What happened?"
Wilbur stared at Techno and took a deep breath.
"Can I braid your hair?"
Techno smiled with old memories flooding to him.
"Of course, Will. Come here." He put his book down, turning around so Wilbur could touch his hair.
"No, no. We can..we can sit on the floor, right?" He asked, not moving.
Techno turned around again and got out of bed.
"Of course."
Wilbur began parting his hair, both in silence. Until he suddenly stopped.
"Hey, Techno."
"Hm?"
"Do you have the gold beads with you?"
Techno pointed to a little box in the top of a chest.
"There."
Wilbur got up and took the box, sitting again and continuing his work.
When he finished, Techno smiled, touching the two locks on his face. Techno never had patience to make them, so he just put them up with the rest of the hair.
"Do you have a mirror?"
"Yes, but just one. I usually don't look when I do it myself."
"Where?"
Techno pointed to the same chest the beads were.
"Inside."
Wilbur got up again and took it, giving it to Techno.
"The lighting here is not that great, but I think it looks good."
Techno smiled.
"It looks ravishing, Will."
•
Techno stood in front of Wilbur's grave.
"Son, friend, leader and brother."
He couldn't believe it.
Techno couldn't believe that Wilbur died, that Phil killed him. That his twin was gone forever. That when he found out Wilbur died, he also lost Tommy in another way.
Wilbur didn't have a funeral with the L'Manburg people, but Techno and Phil buried him and made his tomb on the top of a mountain, close to Techno's new cottage. They invited Tommy, but he didn't want to go.
They got a L'Manburg flag to put on the top of the coffin before burying it, letting Wilbur go together with his unfinished symphony.
Techno could see how Phil blamed himself. He saw the pain in his father's eyes, he saw how Phil burned in lava the sword he used to kill Will. He saw how damaged Phil's wings were from when everything blew up and he protected Wilbur with his life, for, in the end, be the one to kill him.
Techno didn't blame him. He knew his father didn't want to do it, he knew that even if Phil wasn't the one to do it, Wilbur would throw himself in a pit of lava or ask Dream to kill him. And even if Techno wanted to blame Philza, he wouldn't need to. Philza already blamed himself enough.
And Techno did as well. Techno should have seen the signs that Wilbur was up to something. Techno was living with him in Pogtopia for almost three months, he should have noticed that Wilbur was losing himself. He should have protected his brother. He should have helped him get better, should have called their father earlier, should have done something.
Now, it was too late.
And as Techno stared at Wilbur's grave, at the name he never wanted to see printed on a tomb, Techno cried.
Techno cried and cried and cried. For his brother, his friend, his family.
He cried, because he would never see Wilbur smiling again.
He cried, because he would never be able to talk to him about greek mythology for hours and hours on end.
He cried, because they would never spear again, as they used to do since they were little kids.
He cried, because his hair was so, so messy.