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The snow underneath Techno's boots is cold as he walks through the spruce trees. It's peaceful, he can barely hear a thing that isn't the wind or the sound of twigs snapping underneath his feet. The night sky is a dark blue shade, decorated with stars that seem to twinkle as the man looked at them through amethyst tinted glasses. It's easy to get lost in the constellations that he tries to identify through the thin clouds that fly over him from time to time. Unfortunately, the weather did not seem like it was on his side. And he knew this, looking up to the sky and spotting white flakes of snow falling much more rapidly than they were before he began the journey home.
The taiga forest is a beautiful place, devoid of people. The trees are packed together in such a manner that its hard to navigate it if you don't know the forest like the back of your palm. Luckily for Techno, he does. He doesn't even give it a second thought as he walks through the trees, grabbing the sides of his cloak and wrapping them around his sides. He just needs to get home without freezing to death and he'll be okay.
Techno let out a deep breath, causing a puff of vapor to form from his nostrils and fog up his glasses. He scrunched up his nose as a snowflake fell on it and melted due to the temperature of his skin before he shook his head a bit. Eventually the fog cleared up though, just before he spotted a figure a bit further ahead from him that was laying against the trunk of a tree. He furrowed his brow and reached for his sword, putting his right hand on the handle and pulling it out of its sheath about an inch or two before approaching the figure and pulling the blade out fully, pointing it at the figures chest. They were shaking, but they didn't move. Techno gently pressed the flat edge of his sword against their arm, nudging them a bit but not earning a response. He put his sword back into the sheath, quickly crafting a torch and holding it closer to the figure. He might as well know who's passed out a quarter of a mile from his house.
The flames struggled to stay lit, after all, it was snowing, but he was able to make out a face. Blond hair, floppy sheep ears. Closed eyes and freckled skin- Dream. Techno put out his torch in the nearby snow, discarding the stick to his side. He dropped to his knees, taking Dream's hand in his and examining his fingers. Just as he'd feared, his fingers were not just cold, but were quickly turning a dark shade of blueish purple that was indicating a bad case of frostbite. He knew it had been snowing for a good chunk of time, but God knows how long Dream had been there for. At least a couple hours, by the look of his bright red face and shaking body, curling into the thin green cloak he wore.
Techno's hands went to his own chest, undoing the fancy chains that kept his cloak from falling off his shoulders and placed it over Dream's body before going to his side and sliding his hands under his back and knees so the cloak wrapped fully around him. Immediately, the blonde seemed to press into Techno's chest, his eyes still closed. Techno noticed and rolled his eyes, even if a small smile was tugging at his lips. He slowly lifted the other up, taking a couple seconds to find his balance again. "Damn, I guess you are homeless." The piglin hybrid let out a soft chuckle to himself before looking around and taking slow steps to continue his path.
The walk back was still remarkable quiet, apart from the occasional grunt from Techno as he shifted Dream around in order to keep his grip on him or their own breathing. Thankfully, they didn't run into many mobs, or if they did, it was a zombie that was too far to notice them or too slow to really follow them home. The pink haired man ducked under a tree branch before spotting the torches and lanterns of his house. He walked towards them, quickly finding the cottage and carefully moving up the front stairs. Techno pushed his body against the door and fumbled around for the doorknob before quickly turning it and pushing the door open with his shoulder. He walked into the room. Immediately being hit with warmth. He closed the door behind him with his foot.
"Hey! You're finally home, Techno." A British voice rang out from the back of the small room. Techno turned his head to the source of the voice. Phil had lit the fireplace and currently was sitting near it with his hands held above the fire. The older man rubbed his hands together and over his own shoulders. "It's getting chilly out there, you don't want tea or something?" He stood up slowly and looked up at Techno before placing his hands on either side of his face. "Ooh- you're cold, who's your friend?" Phil really only saw a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from inside Techno's cloak. Techno walked over to the sofa near the fireplace, setting Dream down on it and moving the red fabric from his face and letting Phil see him.
"I found him passed out in the forest, he's definitely frostbite, but I think he'll be okay." Phil's expression turned somber, "Poor guy, who knows how long he was out there for." Techno turned away from him for a second, digging into the chests to the left side of the room. He dug out a bottle of water and a potion along with a golden apple. "I'll take care of him, can you go and get one of my sweaters?" Techno gave Phil a glance while he closed the chest. Phil nodded and disappeared up the stairs. Techno dragged the small coffee table over to Dream's side and placing the three items on it.
Dream looked a little better at least, the snow flakes on his hair had melted and he was already drying up a bit due to how close he was to the fire. Phil soon returned with an knitted turtleneck umper that had a thick cream coloured stripe going across the torso. Techno thanked the other, gently opening the bundle of red that the other was wrapped in. He unbuttoned the green cloak and took it off of the other, revealing a black long sleeves shirt underneath that was pretty much dry, thankfully the green cloak had absorbed the majority of the melted snow. The pinkette gently lifted his arms, slipping the jumper on him and wrapping him back up in his cloak before grabbing the throw blanket on the couch before placing it over Dream for good measure. Phil stretched his arms above his head and the black wings that were on his back did too. He did this until he heard a few small pops from his joints. He brought his arms down and his wings tucked neatly at his back. Phil let out a soft yawn, covering his mouth with a hand. "You did good mate, he probably would've frozen to death out there." He rubbed his knuckles over his eyes. "I think I'm going to bed now, are you sure you can take care of him?" He raised an eyebrow, to which Techno nodded awkwardly and gave him a thumbs up. "I'll wait until he wakes up and give him the gapple with the regen pot, he'll be okay."
Phil sighed, "Alright, g'night Tech." He smiled and went back up the stairs, soon disappearing from Techno's line of sight. "Night." Techno went up the stairs shortly after Phil, unbuckling the belt that held his sword to his side and tossed them on his bed before quickly changing into a light brown jumper and black pants. He eent back down the stairs and walked over to the bookshelves on the wall, picking a book before going over to the dark oak rocking chair directly across from Dream and sitting down with the book on his lap. He let out a heavy sigh and held his hands over the fire next to him for a couple seconds, rubbing his hands together before feeling the top of the book for a bookmark and opening it to the marked page.
Techno's eyes scanned the page before finding the sentence he left at the day prior and continuing to read. The fireplace crackled as embers and wood burned within it, giving heat that soon had the pink haired man almost falling asleep. So what? Its comfortable in his house. That's a good thing, really. What seemed like hours passed before Techno flipped over to the last page he'd be reading and stuck the bookmark between the pages. He closed the book, holding it at his side before he walked back over to where Dream was now stirring and sniffling. He put the book down next to him, grabbing the potion and golden apple from the coffee table and putting the apple in his pocket while waiting for Dream to properly wake up. Green eyes stirred open slowly and fuzzy ears twitched before Dream looked around with his eyes only half open. "Where-?" He spotted Techno staring straight at him and blinked. Techno blinked in response before Dream completely registered what was happening.
"Fuck! I'm sorry- I was going somewhere, and I got lost-" Techno rolled his eyes, "Bruh you can just say you're homeless, alright?" He snorted, smiling a bit. "I am not homeless! What is wrong with you-? I have a house-!" Dream furrowed his brow before he stopped for second, sneezing right after and sniffling. "Shit." He curled into the other's cloak, wincing. "You're sick, just let me do one nice thing and take care of you. You were passed out near my house, so now its my responsibility to make sure you don't die on my property." That last part was mostly a joke. Techno took the cork out of the top of the potion bottle. "Hands." Dream sucked up his pride and held out his hands while Techno poured a good amount of the thick liquid into his hands and rubed it into Dreams palms. "You've got fresh cuts on those, this'll help with that." He continued massaging the liquid into the other's hands, warming them up a bit too until the blonde's skin had fully absorbed the potion. He did the same to any more visible wounds on the other's body before pulling the golden apple from his pocket and handing it over.
"You can just take a couple bites if you can't eat it all right now." Techno clapped his hands infront of his chest and sat down next to Dream. "...Thanks." The blonde mumbled before taking a bite out of the golden fruit and letting out a sigh of relief. "I'll pay you back, I promise." Techno shrugged. "You don't have to, just consider it a...a nice gesture from a friend." He grabbed the corner of the throw blanket he'd placed over Dream and put half of it over his own lap. He'd be here for a bit anyways. "Y'know, you should really invest in some real estate-" He was soon cut off. "Oh my god-" Dream's groan quickly turned into a giggle though. "You can also go back to sleep if you want, I'll make sure you don't die." Dream smiled a bit before nodding and leaning back again. He's so tired, he really could use a nap.
Techno chuckled and leaned over to put the potion back on the coffee table. After a couple minutes, Dream was back to being fast asleep. Techno rolled his eyes, sighing and leaning back into the sofa. He took a couple deep breaths, feeling his bones ache as he relaxed for the first time in days. Before he knew it, he was fast asleep too. His head hit Dream's shoulder, making the green eyed man open his eyes again. He noticed the pink tuft of hair at his side before he smiled, wrapping a chunk of the red cloak that was around him around Techno as well. The blonde's breathing slowed down again, matching up with the pinkette's.
The snow outside kept falling in little flakes, hitting the glass of the windows rhythmically in some strange way.
It's truly beautiful.