Chapter Text
“You know, most people aren’t this reckless.” Techno grits out blocking another hit with his sword.
“When have I ever been most people Techno?” Wilbur grins as he dodges a blow aimed towards where his throat had been mere seconds ago.
Techno huffs in frustration, finally striking down his attacker and turning to help Wilbur with his.
He turns in time to see Wilbur’s legs get swept from under him. Techno quickly runs over, takes out the attacker, and helps Wilbur up.
Wilbur clings to Techno’s arm and seems to be favoring his right foot over his left. Techno does a quick look around, holding Wilbur close in case another person jumps out from the darkness of the forest.
When he’s satisfied no one is waiting to attack them he sheathes his sword and turns his attention to Wilbur, who is still clinging to Techno and has his left leg slightly above the dirt.
“What hurts?” Techno asks, wanting to make sure nothing is broken.
“My ankle, it's probably just bruised.” Wilbur tries to dismiss Techno’s not very well concealed concern.
“Can you walk on it?” Techno questions trying to inspect it through the darkness.
“I can try,” Wilbur bites his lip and places his foot on the ground.
As he puts weight on it he hisses in pain and quickly lifts it back off the ground.
“So that’s a no,” Wilbur states with a nervous smile.
Techno’s eyebrows furrow as he thinks of what to do. He could always try to carry Wilbur but he has to be prepared in case they get ambushed again.
“Do you think you can hold onto my arm and limp?” Techno asks, it’s the only option they have if they want to make it home before dawn.
“Yeah unless you want me to hop all the way home.” Wilbur jokes, adjusting his grip on Techno’s forearm and turning towards the direction their house is.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time Wil.” Techno teases as he starts slowly walking, making sure Wilbur could comfortably limp.
“Yeah yeah.” Techno sees Wilbur roll his eyes and can’t help the smile that forms on his face.
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“Alright, you know what to tell Dad right?” Wilburs asks for the fourth time since they had started their trek home.
“Yes, Wilbur,” Techno says, clear annoyance in his voice.
“I think we should go over it again.” Techno sees Wilbur biting his lip nervously in his peripheral and his shoulders slump.
“If Phil asks where we’ve been I’ll tell him we went out to get firewood.” Techno recites lifting the small pile of logs they had collected earlier to make their story believable.
“And when he asks why both of us were out here?” They had spent pretty much the entire time walking home coming up with a probable story. To make sure it was fool-proof they thought of multiple questions that could be asked and possible answers to those questions.
“I’ll say I couldn’t sleep and you say you saw me leaving and decided to follow me.”
Wilbur nods his approval and his face shows concentration as he most likely thinks of other questions that could be shot their way.
“When he asks about your foot?” Techno directs the questions at Wilbur.
“I’ll say I tripped over a fallen tree.” Wilbur easily responds.
“If he asks why you were up.” Techno continues.
“I’ll say I needed a glass of water.”
“If he asks why.”
“I’ll say I don’t want to talk about it then you take me to the bathroom to check out my foot and we leave him to stew in the silence that follows afterward.” Wilbur turns his head towards Techno and Techno sees a broad smile on his face.
“Let’s just make sure not to worry him too much.” Techno reminds him, knowing full well Wilbur likes to go extreme with his tales even if the tale was lying to their father about their whereabouts.
“He’ll be fine.” Wilbur waves the hand not clutching Techno in the air in a dismissive manner.
“Yes but let’s try not to give the old man a heart attack.”
Wilbur giggles at the poke at their Dad’s age and Techno cracks a soft smile.
While these weren’t the best circumstances to bond with his brother it was better than nothing. They don’t get to hang out a lot seeing as Techno is always busy training and Wilbur is busy practicing his newest songs or he’s up to some crazy scheme with Tommy.
Techno never noticed before how much he missed hanging out with his twin.
“We should do this more.” He says without thinking.
“What get mugged and then think of how to pretend we didn’t?” Wilbur jokes looking at Techno.
“No,” Techno lets out an airy laugh,” We should...you know, hang out more.”
“Oh,” Wilbur’s expression softens,” We should. Tommy and I miss you Tech.”
Techno sighs, “I miss you guys too.”
They pause their walking and Wilbur adjusts his grip on Techno’s arm to stand face to face with him.
“How about if we get out of this alive we go to the square with Tommy and have a day for the three of us.” Wilbur proposes.
“Just like the old days?” Techno asks.
“Just like the old days.” Wilbur nods solemnly like this is the most important thing in the world.
“That would be nice.” Techno thinks it is.
“Great! Now, all we have to do is survive Phil’s wrath.” Wilbur chuckles nervously.
“Then we should hurry, the sun’s almost over the horizon.” Techno slowly turns and Wilbur readjusts his grip as they begin their slow-walking again.
By now their cabin, which has two stories, is in view.
As they get closer they both tense.
The lights are on.
“We’re in so much trouble.” Techno sharply inhales through his nose.
“Mhm.” Wilbur squeaks.
“Ok, remember your training.” They both straighten and make their faces completely neutral.
“If we don’t make it out of this, I want you to know I love you,” Wilbur says sincerely.
“I know.” They walk to the front door and Techno pushes it open.
The house has a wall in between the living room and the front door. Where you can’t see who walks in but there’s an arch where you can see who’s on the stairs.
“You think you can climb up the stairs and make it?” Techno whispers.
“I’ll never make it,” Wilbur whispers hurriedly back, holding Techno’s arm in a death grip.
“Let’s just try.” Techno whispers, silently setting his sword by the door and hoisting Wilbur into a bridal style carry. He sets the wood on top of Wilbur.
Wilbur looks at him with wide eyes but doesn’t say anything. Any sound could expose them.
Techno makes a break for the stairs making sure to be as quiet as possible. He makes it to the third step before they’re stopped.
“Where have you two been?” They both turn their heads and see Phil sitting on his plush reading chair with his glasses on, a cup of tea in his left hand, and a book splayed out on his lap. His hair is disheveled and he’s still wearing his sleeping robe.
“He-hey, Dad! Funny seeing you here!” Wilbur breaks the silence with a laugh that if you didn’t know him would sound normal, but both of the other men in the room could hear the nerves underneath.
“I live here, Wilbur.” Phil stares unimpressed as he puts his tea on the stand next to his chair. “Now both of you better have an excellent excuse as to why you were out.”
Techno slowly descends back down the stairs and goes into the living room. He stands in front of Phil, still holding Wilbur.
“You see we went out to get firewood!” Wilbur smiles holding out the wood for Phil to see.
“Before dawn?” Phil raises an unimpressed eyebrow.
“Yes indeed, dear father! We couldn’t let you wake up to a cold home!” Wilbur puts on his theater voice that he saves for storytelling only and that’s when Techno realizes they’re screwed.
“Wilbur.” Phil takes a deep breath and Techno can tell from his expression it’s taking every ounce of patience he possesses to not blow up at the two of them. “I’m going to give you one more chance to tell me the truth.”
Wilbur stiffens in Techno’s grip and Techno tightens his hold slightly.
Phil sounds mad.
Not casual Wilbur and Tommy pulled a prank on him mad, he sounded ‘I’m going to put both of you on the street if you don’t tell me what happened this second’ mad.
“Phil look-” Techno starts, but he quickly shuts his mouth as Phil gives him a death glare.
“I will be talking to you in a second.” Techno feels sweat starting to form on the back of his neck.
“Now,” Phil turns his attention back to Wilbur, who is still being held bridal style in Techno’s arms, “Techno please put Wilbur down and go change.”
Techno opens his mouth to object but is stopped by Wilbur squeezing his arm. He looks down and Wilbur gives him a reassuring smile that’s a little shaky.
Wilbur mouths, I’ll be okay .
Techno reluctantly sets him down on the couch next to the reading chair. It’s made to sit four people so Wilbur lifts his leg onto the plush cushions, making sure no pressure is put on his bad foot.
Techno then bolts up the stairs and into his room.
As he changes he hears Phil’s muffled yells through the walls and feels terrible about leaving Wilbur down there by himself.
He quickly finishes putting on his shirt and walks down the hallway of the upstairs, heading for the staircase to try to save his twin.
He’s stopped by Tommy, who’s peeking his head out of his door, clutching his moth plushie in a death grip, and looks to be shaking.
Techno pauses. Tommy’s looking towards the stairs, no doubt listening to the scolding going on, so he hasn’t seen Techno yet. Techno looks desperately at the stairwell before taking a deep breath and walking to Tommy’s door.
He leans against the door frame for a few moments before Tommy turns and sees him. Techno quickly stops him from screaming by grabbing him and shoving both of them into his room.
“You trying to get yelled at too?” Techno lets Tommy go as soon as he’s confident the child won’t make any loud noises.
“Wha-what happened?” Tommy asks quietly. Techno feels a little guilty when he sees the unshed tears in Tommy’s eyes.
“Nothing just Wil and I were being dumb.” Techno rubs his eyes with a huff.
“But…” Tommy bites his lip and his face looks scrunched in focus. “Dad doesn’t yell.”
“Not usually no.”
“So why’s he yelling now?” Tommy looks up at Techno with a questioning stare, though Techno still sees concern floating in his ocean blue eyes.
“We...scared him.” Techno decides to give the easiest-to-digest answer, seeing as Tommy can’t really understand complex things.
“Like when me and Wilby jumped in front of him?” Tommy’s eyes light up as he looks at Techno with a bright smile.
“Uh-no we scared him a little bit more than that.” Techno doesn’t really want to explain to Tommy what actually happened, seeing as he doesn’t want to upset his brother lest he get into even more trouble.
“But how?” Tommy tilts his head to the side in confusion.
“We-,” Techno contemplates on what to say, how the hell did Wilbur and Phil deal with these kinds of things?
“You know when you lost your stuffie?” Usually, analogies make things easier for people to understand so maybe it’ll work on a seven-year-old?
“Yeah…” Techno sees Tommy tighten his hold on said stuffie in his arms at the reminder.
“You know how upset you were when you couldn’t find it?”
“Yeah…” Tommy looks a little bit like he understands but Techno can’t be sure.
“So you and Wilby made Dad think you were gone?” Techno looks at Tommy in surprise. He picked that up surprisingly easily.
“We did.”
“And now he’s upset.”
“Yep.” Techno slides down Tommy’s door and sits there.
“Oh.” Tommy walks over and sits next to him.
They sit in silence for a while as Techno listens to the slightly less muffled argument going on downstairs. He’s pretty sure he heard Wilbur say Phil is a bad parent in at least two different ways.
Techno jolts a little at the feeling of something being pressed onto his chest.
He looks down and sees Tommy pushing his plushie at him.
He raises an eyebrow, “What’s this for?”
“Well...Clem helps me when I’m upset so I thought she might help you.” Tommy says, pushing the plush harder on Techno’s chest.
Techno looks at him in surprise before lifting a hand and gently grabbing hold of the plush.
Once it’s in his grip Tommy drops his head on Techno’s shoulder and closes his eyes.
Techno sits in stunned silence listening to Tommy’s soft breathing before he curls the plush to his chest and rests his head on Tommy’s.
They sit like this until Techno hears soft snores come from Tommy.
He lets out a content sigh and presses a light kiss to the top of his head. Deciding to rest his eyelids for just a moment.
He’s yanked out of the cozy atmosphere by the sound of glass shattering and his brother shouting in pain.
He moves to get up but hears a grumble from his side. He turns and sees Tommy cuddling into his side with scrunched eyebrows. He very carefully sets the moth plushie, who Tommy named Clemintine, on the ground on the other side of him where Tommy isn’t. He then lifts his brother into his arms, careful to not jostle him too much, and sets him gently onto his bed.
Techno pulls the blanket over him then goes over to the door and grabs Clemintine and places her next to Tommy before quietly opening the door and stepping into the hallway.
Once he shuts the door he instantly rushes down the stairs to see what happened.
When he gets to the living room he sees Phil helping a bleeding Wilbur to the part of the couch closest to his reading chair. Techno looks at the ground near the couch and sees the vase that was on the side table near the large couch they have, in pieces on the floor.
“Are you guys alright?” Techno asks, sounding a little crazed because of how worried he is.
“I’m good, just a few scratches is all.” Wilbur tries to play it off even though Techno can see him clutching his bleeding hand tightly and the way he’s grinding his teeth like he’s trying to hold back his pain.
“A few scratches my ass!” Phil yells, sounding exasperated. “Why didn’t you tell me your foot was hurt?”
“Oh maybe because you were a little busy yelling at me.” Wilbur snaps back.
“Wilbur! That is enough young man!” Phil turns away from where he had been on the ground picking up the larger pieces to look at Wilbur, and subsequently Techno who moved near his twin to see if he was alright.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you but it needs to stop this instant! First, you two sneak off before the crack of dawn to god knows where, you come back injured, and then you try to start fights!” Phil takes a deep, angry breath and continues, “I expected better from both of you.” He gives a pointed look to both of them before he goes back to picking up the large shards of the vase.
They all stay silent as Phil gets up and walks into the kitchen, where he throws the pieces in the trash can.
He walks back into the living room silently with a first aid kit and inspects Wilbur.
The main bleeding is coming from Wilbur’s hand so Phil starts there.
They all sit in complete silence, aside from the occasional hiss or whimper of pain from Wilbur, as Phil patches Wilbur’s hand and a little bit of his wrist that got nicked by the shards.
When the bleeding has stopped Phil moves down to his foot and wraps it carefully. He then gets up and walks back into the kitchen where he puts the first aid kit back in its place. He then walks back into the living room and sits down on his reading chair with a loud sigh.
Techno and Wilbur can only watch as Phil seems to put himself together.
“You two go to bed we’ll talk in the morning.” Is all Phil says, not looking at either of them in favor of putting his head in his hands.
Techno sees Wilbur open his mouth to say something but grabs him before he can. Techno, again, picks Wilbur up bridal style and walks to the stairs. At the end of the stairwell, before Techno puts a foot on the stairs, Wilbur lightly hits his face.
Techno looks down in confusion and sees his brother twisting his neck to look at their Dad with a guilty expression.
Techno sighs quietly and shakes his head beginning to climb the stairs.
When they get to Wilbur’s door, which is next to Techno’s but is before Techno’s in the hallway, Techno opens Wilbur’s door and gently lays him down on his bed.
As Technos about to leave, he hears Wilbur quietly whisper,
“Do you think he hates me now?”
Techno freezes.
“He could never hate you Wil. He’s just upset right now.”
All he gets in response is a small sniffle.
“You know he loves you right?” Techno asks.
“Y-yeah I’m sure it’ll be fine in the morning.” Techno doesn’t mention it when he hears the confidence in Wilbur’s voice falter. He just hums an affirmative and leaves the room.
Techno lays in his bed not being able to fall asleep as he thinks of what a shit show his night (and technically early morning) was. First, he had a nightmare so he snuck out to get some fresh air, he then found Wilbur following him and before he could question him they were ambushed by bandits trying to rob them, then he had to deal with the stress of helping his injured brother back home, he had to listen while his brother took all of the blame for him, and now he’s pretty sure his family is falling apart.
Even though he doesn’t say it a lot Techno really loves his family and the thought of his family breaking apart gives him extreme anxiety and makes him want to go back in time and fix everything.
But he can’t do that. So he’s laying on his bed squeezing an extra pillow he had on his bed to his chest as he tries not to cry.
Is this what Phil feels like when he has to deal with all of their shenanigans?
Maybe Wilbur had the right idea. Phil would be better without him. All he did was cause problems and hurt those he cares about.
If he hadn’t gone out Wilbur wouldn’t be injured and thinking his Dad doesn’t love him, Phil wouldn’t be downstairs trying to keep it together, and Tommy wouldn’t be in his room frightened.
Maybe Techno doesn’t deserve the love he receives. Maybe his whole family would be better without him.
With these thoughts Techno turns and snuggles his pillow, his tears finally falling.
He should’ve just stayed home.