Work Text:
Technoblade, Ranboo had discovered, was like an egg.
“An egg?” Techno repeated blankly when Ranboo told him this. The two were sitting across from each other at the Syndicate club room table, textbooks and notepaper covering every inch of the surface. The Syndicate was supposed to be congregating for another book club meeting but Phil and Niki had both been dragged into a Wilbur Soot antics episode. Instead of cancelling the meeting entirely, Ranboo and Techno decided to use the time to study.
Ranboo was glad that Techno had wanted to hang out with him. Ever since he realised that the senior student was not in fact a cult leader, he’d become very intrigued by him. You would never guess it from his punk fashion choices, but he was a massive fan of corny romance novels. He never stepped on children’s chalk drawings on the sidewalk. He stopped to pet stray cats. Underneath those golden piercings and steely smirk, he was a softie.
So, he was like an egg. Hard shell, soft interior.
Techno seemed offended by this comparison. He sputtered, “But an egg of all things? C’mon, Ranboo. At least be a little bit more creative.”
“I’m no good with words.” He defended himself, “That’s why I need to study for this English test.” Ranboo looked down at his open notebook. Despite spending several days preparing, he did not feel ready for tomorrow’s test. He planned to study throughout the night, fly through the test during first period, and spend the rest of the school day napping at the back of his remaining classes.
It was a solid plan, but there was one problem: studying was extremely boring. He had no idea how he was going to sit down and study for so many hours without becoming distracted. His bedroom was filled with so many intriguing books just begging to be read. It would take a lot of willpower to stay glued to the textbooks; Ranboo wasn’t sure if he possessed that willpower.
“I mean, an egg?” Techno groaned, “You could’ve gone for a—a walnut. Or, like, a geode or something. An egg? Eggs are notoriously fragile, Ranboo. Ever heard of the expression walking on eggshells?”
With a chuckle, Ranboo nodded and corrected himself, “Okay, okay, you’re like a… a good loaf of bread. Rough, crusty crust on the outside and soft fluffiness inside.”
“Did you just describe crust as crusty?”
Ranboo let out an exasperated groan and dug his hands into his two-toned hair. “You’re right, I’m terrible at metaphors. Or similes. Or whatever that was. I’m never gonna pass this test.”
The thought of failing a test was incredibly daunting. By no means was Ranboo the perfect student but he was used to doing well in school. If he didn’t understand a topic he would go home and study it until it sunk in. He’d done this with his current English work but, no matter how hard he tried, it wasn’t sinking in. He pulled at his hair harshly. It was starting to seem like he would never understand it.
“Hey, Ranboo. C’mon, dude, don’t get worked up about this.” Ranboo looked up at his friend. With a focused look on his face, Techno was tying his long pink hair back into a dishevelled bun. Over the past few weeks of their friendship, he’d come to recognise that this signified that Techno meant business. “What’s up? I survived AP English, I can take it.”
“I—just—everything.” Ranboo spilled. He turned his notebook to Techno and pointed his mechanical pencil at the long list of concepts he had to teach himself. He didn’t miss the way his pink eyes widened as they raked the page.
“Alright.” Techno said after a long moment of contemplation, “I can teach you this.”
“You can?”
“Mhm. When’s the test?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Yikes. Okay, Ranboo. I will help you with your English as long as we do it my way.”
Ranboo knew that, no matter how high the price was, he’d do anything for Techno’s guidance. The language Techno used in conversation was inspiringly intricate and incredibly beautiful. He read ancient military strategies and tactfully employed them to stay supreme at DSMP High. Rumour even had it that he’d been banned from the creative writing club because his fiction stories were so beautiful they made the club cry. Technoblade was a genius and Ranboo would take any opportunity to learn from him. Even if it meant submitting to a potentially weird style of learning.
Ranboo nodded firmly.
An hour later, they were no longer sitting in the Syndicate club room—they were at Technoblade’s house. Ranboo’s eyes anxiously darted around the kitchen, trying to take in the place, before finally landing on Techno.
Ranboo had expected he would’ve lived in a cave full of bats or a graveyard or something. Not a two-story, detached suburban home. When they first entered the house, Techno must’ve caught the shocked expression because he explained: “My parents work in the gold industry. Mom’s a jeweller, Dad’s a miner. They work overseas but it pays well.”
Inside, Techno had taken off his chunky black boots and exchanged them for a pair of pink slippers. It shaved around two inches of height off of him. He handed Ranboo a spare pair and took his blazer to hang up.
“My sister should be home from school now.” He said, “She’ll be joining us.”
“You have a sister?” This was news to Ranboo. He thought that Techno’s sister might be close to them in age. She could’ve even been another student at DSMP High who Ranboo hadn’t met yet.
Now, he looked over to the sink. Techno towered above the kitchen counters, but his sister needed a stepping stool to reach the sink. Together they were washing freshly-chopped fruits.
Pinkieblade had pink hair that was tied up into curly twin tails that swished back and forth every time she moved. She wore a pink gingham dress that fell to her knees and a pair of slippers designed to look like rabbits. Ranboo thought she couldn’t be more than seven years old.
It was strange seeing Techno—big, strong, scary Technoblade—interact with such a tiny girl. He guided her through the steps of washing the fruit and when they were done, he lifted her down from the stepping stool.
“Go sit with Ranboo, Princess.” He instructed.
Pinkie looked at Ranboo with a frown. “Rainbow’s doin’ homework too?”
Ranboo blinked. “I—Rainbow?”
The little girl sat at the seat across from him. She had her work laid out in front of her: it seemed like an elementary school mathematics workbook. She rummaged around in her sparkly pencil case and pulled out several pencils and erases shaped like little animals. While Techno busied himself with snack preparation, Ranboo tried to make conversation.
“Do you think Techno is a good teacher?”
“Mhm.” She answered, head bobbing up and down in agreement, “But he can be a meanie.”
“A-A meanie?”
“Yeah. ‘Cos sometimes I just wanna play with my ponies and he says I haveta do math instead.”
At least that meant Techno was stern. That was exactly what Ranboo needed.
Techno came back to the table with a bowl of chopped fruit, a jug of water, two glasses and a plastic cup decorated with cartoon horses on the outside. He took his seat at the head of the table and acknowledged his sister first.
“Pinkie.” He said. She blinked at him with big, sparkling eyes, “Yesterday we made it to page nine, you can start where we left off and keep going until you finish the chapter. If you need me, just butt in, okay?”
She nodded firmly and picked up a pencil. Ranboo resisted the urge to smile at how the fluffy pompom on top of the pencil wiggled back and forth as she scribbled.
“Ranboo.” Techno began sternly.
“Y-Yes!”
“Bring out your topics list and we’ll work through each topic one by one. I’ll talk and you can interrupt any time you have a question. At the end of each topic, we’ll go through practice questions. Then, once we’ve completed the topic overview, I’ll run you through a practice paper—maybe two if you’re still wobblin’—before letting you try a couple yourself.”
Ranboo blinked. Techno was taking this very seriously. It was exactly what he needed. But there was one problem that stuck out like a sore thumb. “Going through all the topics will take us hours.”
“Call your parents, tell them you’re spending the night with a friend,” Techno replied as if the solution was obvious. He then added, “I’m sure they’ll be glad that you’re finally doin’ some socialising.”
“Hey! I do plenty of socialising!”
Techno rolled his eyes and nodded. “How does the plan sound? You’re alright to pull an all-nighter here?”
Across the table, Pinkie looked up from her workbook and jutted out her bottom lip. She tugged on Techno’s sleeve and whined, “No, you’re not allowed to stay up late. Please, Techno.”
Instantly, Techno’s hard outside melted away, revealing the inner softie. He held his sister’s chubby hand in his own much larger, scarred hand and squeezed it gently. With a soft voice—softer than Ranboo had ever heard it—he said, “I won’t stay up late, I promise, Pinkie. It’ll be Ranboo staying up. He needs to study. We’ll be fine, though. Tucked into bed same time as usual.”
Techno waited until Pinkie looked confident before letting her return to her mathematics. He handed Ranboo a mechanical pencil and said, “Ready?”
Ranboo nodded firmly. “Let’s do this.”
Very quickly into the study session, he realised he’d vastly underestimated Techno’s austerity. Pinkie was right: he was a meanie. Sticking to the plan, they worked through each topic one by one. Hearing someone other than his English teacher explain the topics was incredibly helpful to Ranboo and many of the concepts suddenly clicked in his mind. But there were other areas where he still wasn’t certain.
“So an allegory,” Ranboo paused as he thought, “is like dumbing concepts down your story so you can tell it in a more understandable way?”
“Sure. If that’s the explanation that helps you understand it, put it down in your notes.”
The quiet house made for a fantastic study environment. There was no background hubbub to distract Ranboo from his work. There weren’t even any books and his phone had been confiscated and imprisoned in the kitchen. The only thing to do was work. There was only one thing that could break Ranboo’s burning focus. Or rather, only one person.
After some time had passed, he noticed that Pinkie had put down her sparkly, pompom-topped pencil and had abandoned her work in favour of admiring her brother. She sat with her chin propped up on her hands, pink eyes trained on the senior student. Ranboo noticed that she even mirrored his actions, nodding when he did, mouthing along to his words, and mimicking the way he twiddled with his piercings when he was thinking. When she mimed messing with an imaginary nose piercing, Ranboo couldn’t help it and erupted into a fit of giggles.
“What is—Pinkie!” Techno picked up her workbook and his eyes scanned the page, “You should’ve told me if you were finished. You could’ve been playin’ right now instead of distractin’ Ranboo.”
The little girl’s face lit up. “I can go play now?”
“Mhm. I’ll call for you when dinner is ready.”
The two boys watched her climb down from her chair and totter off. Tossing a sliced strawberry into his mouth, Techno rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.
“She’s a good kid,” Ranboo said. Techno’s eyes flickered over to him. As he chewed, his lips curled up into a small smile.
“Are you good to start workin’ through questions while I make dinner?”
Ranboo nodded enthusiastically. The mention of dinner was immensely relieving to him— his hand was starting to cramp from all the writing he’d been doing, he was certainly in need of a break. Techno slid over a sheet of practice questions he’d prepared and said, “You’re doing well, Ranboo. This is all gonna pay off.”
Techno trailed off into the kitchen. Ranboo watched him roll his shoulders back and stretch his arms with a tight whine. In the three hours, they’d spend at the table, Techno hadn’t stopped to take a break once. He was always either explaining a concept to Ranboo, writing out practice questions for him or correcting Pinkie’s calculations. He hadn’t even stopped to pour himself a glass of water.
Ranboo returned to his studying. It felt good to know that Techno had faith in him. Why else would he go out of his way to help him? As a senior student, he probably had lots of his own schoolwork to do. Ranboo flipped to a new sheet of paper, having completely filled up the last, and smiled. The best way to repay Techno for his time would be to ace the test!
Filled with a new sense of determination, Ranboo picked up his writing pace. He could do this! With Techno’s guidance still fresh in his mind, he flew through the questions with a surprising amount of ease. By the time dinner was ready, he could hand over the answers to Techno with a fantastic feeling of accomplishment.
Techno’s eyes raked the paper. He nodded and said, “Lookin’ good, lookin’ good. I’ll mark it properly after dinner. You wanna clear the table for me?”
Ranboo grinned and nodded. He was happy to help in any way that he could. He collected his supplies into a bundle and moved them onto an empty kitchen counter. Pinkie’s mathematics workbook and stationery were still spread out on the surface. He placed the sparkly pencils and colourful erasers into her pencil case, zipping it tightly shut.
There was a denim backpack hanging over the back of Pinkie’s chair. It was covered in boyish badges and patches that didn’t seem very Pinkie-esque to him. But, looking inside, there were other elementary-level books. He was putting her things inside when it dawned on him that this bag probably belonged to Techno when he was younger. Smiling fondly, Ranboo zipped it shut.
Pinkie came tottering back into the room carrying a plastic horse toy and crawled onto the same chair as before. Absentmindedly, she clip-clopped the horse along the table until it bumped into Ranboo’s arms.
“Does your horse have a name?” He asked.
“Carl.” Pinkie replied. Carl jumped over his arms like they were obstacles on a course.
“If Carl wants to join us for dinner, he needs to sit in his stable.” Techno approached the table and slid down two trays of food. They both had bowls of steamed white rice, miso soup, salad and beef and potato stew. Ranboo licked his lips and prepared to dig in, but stopped when he saw Techno take a seat without bringing in his own meal. He sat with only a cup of barley tea.
“Techno, are you…”
His friend cut him off with a shake of his head.
“Later.” He explained. He took a sip of his tea before smiling and asking, “Pinkie, how was your day at school?”
Pinkie was very happy to talk about her day at elementary school. In the playground, she’d played jump rope and all the girls she was the best at it! During story-time, she was the only child who knew what the word “increase” meant. In art class, she made a finger-painting of a pony and the teacher thought it was so good she’d given it a gold star.
“You really like horses, don’t you?” Ranboo chuckled.
Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “Mommy says that if I’m good for Techno, she’ll take me to see the ponies when she and Daddy comes home. We were gonna go last time but she was tired so she said next time. I’ve never seen a pony in real life before. I can’t wait.” She giggled and took a slurping sip of her soup.
Although Pinkie was grinning from ear to ear, her brother had visibly stiffened. Ranboo tried to catch his eye, wanting to confirm if he was alright, but Techno wouldn’t tear his gaze from his golden-coloured tea. Not knowing whether to indulge the girl and ask more or to respect his friend’s obvious unease, Ranboo had another mouthful of rice.
“This is delicious.” He said to fill the silence.
Techno snapped out of his silent trance with a jolt. He smiled proudly, “Thanks, Ranboo.”
Dinner went smoothly and, by the end of it, Ranboo felt stuffed. He had no idea that Techno was such a good chef— it certainly was a pleasant surprise! He insisted upon helping to wash dishes with Techno. The two of them made calm chatter about books and school until they became aware of Pinkie’s whining.
“I wanna go to bed.” She rubbed her eyes tiredly and tugged at Techno’s shirt. He placed the final bowl back where it belonged and took her hand.
“It’s getting late, you’re right. How about you go get ready for bed? I just need to finish something with Ranboo first, then I’ll be up.”
Pinkie nodded sleepily and trailed off out of the room, murmuring, “Night night, Rainbow…”
“Goodnight!” He called out after her. He watched her go down the hallway and up the stairs before turning back to Techno. He was leaning against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest, pensively watching the same scene. His eyes drifted back to Ranboo and widened slightly like he suddenly remembered he was here.
“Right. Yes. Okay.” He said, “ I gotta stay with Pinkie til she falls asleep but first I’m gonna grab you somethin’ more comfortable and you can get changed in the bathroom. I won’t be long, maybe twenty minutes or so. You can go back over your notes or watch some TV or have a rummage around in the refrigerator— I think there should some soda cans in there.”
Ranboo nodded. “Sounds good, sounds good.”
He followed Techno upstairs, their collective weight causing the stairs to creak. Ranboo chose to wait in the hallway while his friend retrieved some clothes from his room. The door to Techno’s room was white and blank, but the door to Pinkie’s room had a stuffed love heart dangling from the doorknob. Ranboo smiled.
The white walls were empty apart from one family portrait that was framed with gold. It depicted a family of four: a broad and brooding man standing a suspicious distance away from everyone else, a spindly woman with a taut mouth, a lanky young boy with dead eyes and a toddler, who was the only one smiling in the scene. Ranboo’s heart twinged. Their parents seemed… cold.
“Ranboo.”
Techno’s voice made him jump. He hadn’t even heard him leave his room. Ranboo accepted the bundle of clothes he held out to him and pointed to the bathroom and its open door. “I’ll be right back.”
In the bathroom, Ranboo got out of his school shirt, tie and trousers, folding them and resting them on the closed toilet seat. Techno had given him a pair of baggy flannel trousers and a t-shirt branded with a fencing club logo. The clothes were comfortable, much more comfortable than his school uniform, and breathable. Looking in the mirror, he combed back his hair with his fingers and went through a little motivational speech: “Alright, Ranboo, you can do this. You’re going to ace this test and you’re going to make Technoblade proud. Let’s do this.”
Ranboo left the bathroom, his folded uniform bundled in his arms, and stood in the hallway for a moment. The door to Pinkie’s bedroom was open. Soft light flooded out. Ranboo didn’t look in, he had no wish to disturb the brother and sister, but he did spend a moment listening to Techno and Pinkie talk.
“Will Mommy and Daddy come home this weekend?”
“I don’t think so. It might be another week or so. Then we can finally go see the ponies. I know you’ve been waitin’ ages to see them, Pinkie.”
“Techno?”
“Mhm?”
“I don’t really mind about seein’ the ponies. I just wanna be a family again.”
There was a beat of silence, then Techno whispered, “Sweet dreams, Princess.”
Ranboo silently crept down the stairs and to the kitchen, where he took a deep breath. He had no right to pry into Techno’s personal life but that hurt. Poor Pinkie. Poor Techno.
Techno came back down the stairs shortly after. Ranboo was taken aback by his change in appearance: he looked very different when he was out of his punk getup. He’d taken out all of his piercing, removed his eyeliner and let his pink hair down. In his baggy sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, he no longer resembled the standoffish menace Ranboo had once intensely feared.
“Hey,” Ranboo said softly.
Techno tiredly nodded at him and shuffled towards the refrigerator. He suggested, “How about you head into the living room? We might as well get comfortable.”
Like the rest of the house, the living room was pretty bare. There were two white sofas positioned to face a widescreen TV, with a low coffee table made of dark wood. There were few sentimental objects— one of the only things that stood out to Ranboo was a thin laptop on the coffee table.
Techno flopped down onto the sofa with a tired grunt. He grabbed the laptop and settled it onto his lap before his eyes flickered up to Ranboo. “You okay if I do some writin’?”
Ranboo blinked and nodded enthusiastically. Techno was a fantastic writer and, if he was being honest, he found it incredibly exciting to sit in the same room as him as he worked his craft. He took a seat on the opposite side of the sofa and flipped through his work. When Techno came back downstairs, he’d brought some old English homework assignments down with him. Ranboo would now work through them without referring to his notes. It would be the ultimate test!
Using his knees as a surface, Ranboo began to scribble out his answers. He expected to become stressed but somehow the anxiety never came. Perhaps it was Techno’s presence. It was comforting having someone else enjoying the same environment as him, even if they weren’t interacting. With Technoblade there was never any pressure to talk while they hung out. Both boys understood that having another person’s presence was sometimes enough.
As Ranboo wrote, he kept an ear out for Techno’s gentle typing. He wrote for long periods before taking a few moments to scratch his chin or click onto a different browser. When Ranboo took sneak glances up from his paper, he saw that electric blue light from the laptop screen was illuminating his friend’s face, emphasising his sharp cheekbones.
In total, they spent six hours writing: Ranboo completing questions and Techno fabricating prose. As evening turned into night and darkness spread into the house, Techno lit a few candles. The gentle lighting was enough to keep Ranboo awake but created an environment dim enough for him to relax. The longer they spent working, the further they relaxed into the sofa. Ranboo’s long legs spread out on the cushions while Techno slowly started to slip down until his head was no longer above the back of the chair. Despite the awkward position, Techno’s typing never faltered. He kept his eyes on that screen with the same level of focus Ranboo dedicated to his practice questions.
Eventually, Ranboo yawned and placed the finished answers down on the coffee table. “That’s the second paper finished.” Techno had marked the first set of questions he’d completed and awarded him with a B grade. Bs weren’t good enough. He was a student of Technoblade—he would achieve an A and nothing else!
He watched Techno’s eyes rake over the page and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He’d never spent so long studying before but he could tell that it was paying off. If he’d attempted these questions yesterday, he would’ve been a nervous wreck. But now, thanks to Techno’s guidance, he felt confident. And also very, very tired.
Ranboo curled up against the sofa and shut his eyes. Just for a moment, he told himself, then you must get back to studying. It was so cosy, especially with his toes brushing against Techno’s thigh. His presence was so nice.
“Hey, Ranboo—oh.”
Ranboo pried his eyes open and looked at his friend through a sleepy haze. “Is it an A?”
Techno smiled and put the paper and his laptop onto the coffee table. “Yeah, yeah. 100%, in fact.”
A warm, golden feeling of satisfaction spread through Ranboo. He let out a relieved sigh and shut his eyes again. “Oh, man. You have no idea how relieving that feels.”
He heard rustling and then his legs were shifting, being lifted off of the sofa cushions and across Techno’s lap. Through his quivering eyelashes, Ranboo could see that Techno was resting his head against his bent knees and gazing at him softly. He gave his friend a gentle pat on the head.
“Egg.”
“You spent over ten hours studying English and that’s still the best you can come up with? Egg?”
Ranboo thought that the egg comparison made perfect sense. Techno had previously criticised him for it because, despite having the shell as an outward defence, eggshells could be easily cracked. Well, Ranboo thought that was also true of Technoblade. It didn’t take much to reveal his inner softie, as demonstrated by Pinkie earlier on.
“You’re a really good big brother, you know that, right?” He murmured sleepily. The words tumbled out of his mouth clumsily and without thought, “Pinkie thinks the world of you, I can see it in the way she looks at you. She looks at you with complete adoration. Things are rough and you’re doin’ all you can for her. She loves you so much.”
There was a pause and, if Ranboo were fully conscious, he would be profusely apologising for commenting on such a personal topic.
When Techno replied, he sounded slightly choked up. “I… thank you, Ranboo. No one’s really said that to me before. I…” Ranboo felt Techno lean against him, “I’m going to write her out of here. I’m going to write until I have enough money to buy her a pony and a princess castle and it won’t ever be enough to fill the hole my parents left in her heart but, hey, she’s my sister. I’d do anything for her.”
A beat of silence.
“Night, Ranboo. You… you’re like a… you’re a great kid. Sleep well.”
When Ranboo woke up the next morning, he was still on the sofa but a light blanket had been tossed over him. He rubbed his eyes and sleepily wondered where Techno was.
The morning was peaceful. Following Techno’s advice, Ranboo chose not to cram before the test. It would be wiser to relax. He helped Techno make a lunch for Pinkie, walked her to school and then the two boys made their way to DSMP High.
“Remember everything that I taught you Ranboo,” Techno said dramatically as he walked the sophomore to his first period English class. Wherever Techno went, scared students cleared a path for him to walk through. They were totally terrified of him. Ranboo felt like he was in possession of a very important secret. He was so privileged to know the softer side of Technoblade.
“And remember,” Techno said before he entered the classroom, “You’re welcome at my place anytime. For studyin’ and for fun too. Havin’ you around was nice and I know Pinkie likes you too.”
Ranboo grinned from ear to ear and nodded. He was so grateful to have a friend like Techno.
When he sat down in his seat and the test paper was placed in front of him, he did not panic. He took a deep breath and recalled everything Techno had taught him.
And he aced it.