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It's not even five minutes into the next Syndicate meeting that Techno realizes something is wrong. Ranboo has been sneezing and not-so-subtely sniffling and coughing the entire time; dark circles (darker than normal anyway) hanging heavy beneath his eyes. He wasn’t even aware endermen could get sick; maybe it was the kid’s mysterious second half. Either way, it's clear the guy is sick and Techno isn’t the only one who’s noticed.
“Ranboo, mate,” Phil said gently (‘dadza!’ Chat screamed, as they always did around Phil; much to Techno’s annoyance), “you alright?”
The enderman-hybrid jumped, shoulders hunching as he glanced up to look just to the side of Phil’s gaze. It was closer to eye contact than what he used to give them at least. “What? I’m- yeah I’m fine, why do you-”
“Kid, you’re clearly sick” Techno cut in, rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance. This was reminding him eerily of when Tommy got a fever but refused to admit it. Admittedly this involves more stuttering and anxiety then aggression and yelling but either way it's guaranteed to give him a major headache. It certainly doesn’t help that Chat are yelling ‘sickboo’ and ‘dadza’ alongside demanding ‘brotherblade.’
Ranboo went to argue but cut off as Nikki placed a hand on his shoulder, a strained but kind smile across her face. “Techno’s right, you look practically dead on your feet. Why don’t we cut this meeting short so you can get home and rest?”
“Oh I- I don’t want the meeting to be cut short I-” Ranboo ducked his head even further, gold and lavender flower crown slipping further down his hair. “Sorry.”
Phil patted him gently on the back, Ranboo still startling greatly against it (the kid was far too jumpy for Techno’s liking). “It's alright, mate. I’m sure Tech would prefer to cut it short anyway so he can get back to his hibernation.”
“It's true,” Techno rumbled.
“You can stay here too if you want, mate, the couch should be long enough for you and I don’t think walking through all that snow is a smart idea when you’re sick.”
“Wait-” Techno went to complain, only to cut off when Phil sent a death glare his way. Let it be known one doesn’t mess with a worried dadza, not unless they want to lose a limb or two.
“I don’t want to be a bother…”
“You literally stay here half the time anyway,” Techno cut in flatly, too tired to deal with Ranboo’s typical nonsensical rambles. “You coming or not? Because if you don’t make up your mind Phil or I will make it for you; Chat’s getting antsy.”
“Tech!”
Then Ranboo sneezed again, the force wracking his scrawny body so harshly even Techno winced. His shoulders slumped in defeat, “yeah, alright.”
“Cool, come on then I’m tired.”
As Ranboo slowly trailed after Techno into the main house, they could hear Phil quickly saying goodbye to Nikki. Chat seemed sad to see her go but Techno was just glad his house would only be holding one random (‘not random’ Chat reminded him, ‘brotherboo’) kid.
Pointing at the couch, Techno waited for Ranboo to sit down before going to the small closet they had nearby. Blankets were gathered at the bottom and he was quick to pull out a familiar golden one, the almost fur-like fabric unbelievably soft between his fingers. It was the blanket he had used as a kid and the last time he had used it had been... when Tommy was sick the last time he was here.
Techno put the blanket back.
Instead he grabbed a similar style red blanket, maybe a backup Phil had gotten when they were kids in case Techno lost his old one (he wouldn’t sleep without it back then). “Yes, yes, Chat, ‘childblade’ I know” he muttered when the voices in his head got particularly loud at the sight of the blankets. Determined to distract them he looked up, surprised to see books lined up on the top shelf, familiar titles looking back at him. Pulling down a particularly worn book, Techno found a small grin coming across his face. How long had it been since he’d read this one?
Walking back over to the couch, Techno found Ranboo sitting in the same ramrod straight position he had been in when he left. Right, the kid slept sitting up; or maybe he wasn’t sleeping? Techno cleared his throat and red and green eyes jumped over to him. Right, not asleep then. “I got you a blanket.”
“Oh,” Ranboo looked vaguely surprised, gently taking the red fabric out of Techno’s hands. “Thank you.”
“And uh-” He hesitated, was this a good idea? Techno hadn’t done this before, not even with Tommy. Simply talking about the myths had been good enough for him (though Tommy had never really listened to what he was saying). There was something… different about this though, something in him that wanted someone else to know exactly what he was talking about when he spoke of old Greek stories; something that wanted Ranboo to know (and he was pretty sure it wasn’t chat as much as he wanted to blame them). “Have you uh- read the myths before? The Greek ones?”
Ranboo’s eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t… think so?”
Techno held the book out in front of him, looking away and clearing his throat again. “Well this is my old copy if you wanted to…”
Spindly black fingers grasped the book’s spine, taking it and handling it with gentle care as they slowly began flipping the yellowing pages. Ranboo looked over the beginning pages for a moment, eyes dancing across the words before he turned to look back up at Techno. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” He muttered back, already hurrying over to the ladder that led upstairs. Techno had definitely had his share of social interaction for the month; now all that was left to do was go back to sleep. As he climbed up he caught the sight of Ranboo flipping through the book of myths out of the corner of his eye, Phil finally coming in through the front door as Techno slipped upstairs.
‘Brotherblade!’
“Shut up, Chat.”