Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the middle of nowhere, beside a rarely used dirt road, there is a small stone cottage.

It’s been there for years. The history of it isn’t anything particularly interesting, for a while it had actually just sat empty, no one there to live within its walls, dust collecting on it’s wooden floors. A long while ago, there had been people who lived inside the home, but they’ve since then moved on to other places, bigger towns, where they might be able to find company. 

This cottage, while quaint, is a lonely place. 

It’s isolated. 

The nearest town is at least a day’s travel away, and most of the land here is just wilderness. Plain, untouched grassy fields, forests scattered off in the distance, animals residing there peacefully without any sort of human threat nearby. While this spot is surely nice for a home, it lacks the potential for a family. 

The only good reason you’d ever live here is to find an escape from somewhere, something. To live completely alone, undisturbed. Not a single other person in sight. 

Technoblade moves in for precisely that exact reason. 

He arrives on a horse with a bag full of items, scars laced over his skin, telling of battles he wishes to never return to ever again. His hair stays pulled back into a tight ponytail, up out of his face, a gentle bright pink against the summer sun. Light armor sits over his clothes, no longer of any use, at this point, since they won’t be needed. It’ll be put away into the attic soon enough, along with his sword and bow. 

The cottage is a dusty, old thing, but it’s not entirely broken. With the windows opened and the dirt sweeped out, it still gives remnants of what it once was. The tools stored away in the closets and sheds are still plenty of use, and the river nearby is a good source of water for cleaning. 

A bedroom sits on the second floor of the house, each step on the staircase giving a low creak the moment weight is placed on it. Behind a wooden door, Techno finds a soft bed, chests filled with left behind items. There is a wardrobe with faded clothes, and a mirror with dust sticking to it. 

He wipes it clean, and sweeps the floors. He washes the sheets and puts his armor away within the attic, hesitating on his weapons and putting those underneath the bed instead. He opens the window, lets the breeze flow through, and he settles in. 

It’s not the worst place to begin a new life. In fact, he’d argue that it’s pretty good. 

A few months begin to pass, slowly. 

Techno starts a garden. He’s bought a few plants from the town nearby, and he uses them to become self-sustainable, working diligently so he can depend on himself to not starve anytime soon. He grows potatoes and carrots, strawberries, corn. Being out here, there’s not much to do by himself, so he puts all the time he’s got into this garden. 

He plants flowers. He plants them by the stone walkway of his cottage, by the dirt road he travels down whenever he needs something he can’t supply himself. He plants a few in flower pots, and puts them up on shelves in his kitchen, giving the place some color, some life. They’re pleasant to look at, and he tends to stare at them as he eats his dinner, sitting by the small wooden kitchen table. He enjoys them. 

He busies himself with chores, always cleaning and making sure dust never returns back to where it had been when he arrived. He tends to his garden, and sweeps down the stairs, and watches as the wind blows past the grass in the field around him. 

He heads out to town rarely, only ever when he’s running low on certain things. He stockpiles on whatever he can, just to make sure he doesn’t have to leave often. His cabinets stay filled up, and the chests in his room become a little overcrowded. At one point, he takes an entire day to organize it all, and things do run more smoothly after that. 

Techno reads. He carries books that he had managed to get his hands on, and he reads them over and over until the words are burned into his heart. He reads stories of heroes and gods and unimaginable magic. Stories of happy endings and devoted lovers, poems and novels and everything of the sort. He distracts himself, and pretends as if his hands don’t itch to check on the weapons still tucked underneath his bed. 

The seasons go by. Summer drifts over into autumn, and autumn falls quietly into a cold winter. 

Technoblade lights a fire in the fireplace and sits beside it, a cup of hot tea cradled in his palms. Wind whistles through the windows outside, and he huddles underneath a blanket, staring into the fire and trying to not let his thoughts collect. 

He reads, he tends to his cold garden, and he cleans. He stares up at the night sky, and watches the birds pass, and prepares dinner with as much focus as he can muster. He hums under his breath and explores through the house and walks through the grass and tries to forget. To move on. 

His scars ache some days. Some nights he doesn’t sleep, mind too wound up by the thought of any possible threats nearby. 

Winter thaws out into a pleasant spring, and Techno takes his weapons out from underneath his bed. 

He uses his bow once more. Fires arrows off into a tree trunk, into sturdy branches. It’s not a bad pastime. It’s useful. He practices the motions with his sword, and trains out by the grass, even if there isn’t any fight to be won anymore. Old habits die hard. 

He returns to his garden, and continues with his chores, and visits the town when it is absolutely necessary. But for the most part, he just enjoys the silence. The peace. 

 One day, there is rain. Thick, dark clouds covering the sun, water pouring down upon his roof. There’s a few leaks here and there, and Techno places cups and bowls where needed. There’s something soothing about watching raindrops slip through his ceiling, falling into a half-full mug. 

He’ll need to repair the leaks eventually, but for that, he needs to wait for the rain to pass. He checks outside to see if the clouds are still dark, hoping for the small storm to stop soon. 

He finds the sight of a hawk trying to get something beside a tree. Or rather, something underneath the tree. Hidden in its roots. 

Whatever it is, the bird seems determined to get it, and it keeps poking at the wood, digging at the dirt, wings flapping as water continues to fall down. Techno watches it through the window and wonders if the animal is trying to get at a stray bunny or something. 

Techno listens to the sound of water dripping through the leaks in this roof, and tries to imagine a bunny hidden underneath that tree. Trapped inside a small pocket within the dirt, a deadly hawk trying its best to grab it so it may kill it. 

No escape, no way out, especially with the way the rain keeps pouring. Would the water fill up its hiding spot, he wonders. Would the rain eventually force it out? Does the hawk even know that?

Either way, Techno knows it. He watches and strangely grows a little annoyed with the way the hawk is so damned persistent upon murdering whatever is trying to hide away from it. He huffs and taps his fingers onto his kitchen counter, wondering if this particular impulse decision is really going to be worth it. 

Well. It’s only a bit of rain. And he is curious as to what is hiding underneath that tree. 

He steps out from the shelter of his home, not bothering to even take a coat. He instead just walks out into the mud, feeling the rain soak into his shirt and hair, trying to chill him down to the bone. 

He’s used to the cold, though. He’s spent plenty of time in worse conditions, a bit of rain for a moment won’t kill him. 

The hawk gives a screech at Techno as he approaches, but Techno is far bigger than it could ever hope to be, so he doesn’t even need to respond with anything to scare it off. He only waves an arm, kicking a foot out at it when it tries one more time to dig at the dirt, and he watches as he gives in to defeat, retreating and flying off. 

Crouching down beside the tree, Techno huffs as he sees the damage of what the hawk had left behind, scratches made against the tree roots, dirt being displaced to the side. Like he had thought, there is indeed a little pocket hidden underneath the tree, but he can’t quite see if there is anything inside. 

He leans down further. Pokes at the dirt to try and make the hole a bit bigger. Very, very faintly, he sees a gentle, yellow glow, like the fire of a candle. 

Confusion settles over him. Where is light coming from, under here in the dirt?

He tries to look closer, and with a small frown, he decides to just put his hand in there and hope that he’s not about to be bit by some angry, glowing bunny. Something pokes against his palm, but it’s not the fur of an animal. Rather, it feels more like a flutter of wings. 

He closes his hand around it, and feels the fluttering grow quick. Well, now he’s definitely scared it. Is it a butterfly that had been hiding down here the whole time? Why would a hawk put that much effort into trying to catch a single butterfly?

Pulling his hand back out, Techno keeps his fingers curled closed around whatever he’s caught, reaching his other hand up to try and keep the thing from flying away. 

He pauses with the sight of a- person. In his palm. 

A tiny person. 

With wings. 

They’re struggling with all their might in Techno’s grip, and with the shock sinking past his skin, Techno ends up losing grasp. He fumbles as the person just jumps off from his hand, trying to land down in the dirt, wings fluttering desperately to give some sort of escape. For some reason, the wings don’t work, though, and Techno has to catch them before they hit the ground. 

“Woah-” Techno makes sure to keep a hold on them as they struggle again, and he sits back on the ground, ignoring the fact rain is soaking into his clothes. “Okay, okay- stop.” He goes unheard. Or maybe he is heard, but not understood. 

Because this is a faerie. Technoblade assumes so, with the wings and size and everything. Do faeries even speak english? Gods, he wouldn’t know. He thought these things were just in storybooks. 

Apparently not, since there’s one right in his hands. They’re giving their best fight, kicking and punching at Techno’s fingers, but Techno honestly doesn’t really feel it. He can feel the wings, though. The fluttering against his skin, panicked and distressed. 

“Hey.” Techno tries, holding the faerie closer. That only seems to freak them out even more. Techno hears the noise of jingling bells rise up through the air, and he glances up to look around, checking by the dirt road to see if anyone is coming by. There’s nothing but the rain, and after a moment, Techno realizes with a jolt that the noise is coming from the faerie. 

“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you.” Techno speaks again, hearing even more bells in response. So the faerie speaks in bells. Fantastic. A language barrier is exactly what Techno needed at this moment. “Can you even understand me?” He asks tiredly, feeling the faerie pause in its fighting. 

They lift their tiny head up to look at Techno’s face, a small frown set into their expression, and Techno blinks in surprise as he gets a short, unhappy nod. 

“Oh.” Technoblade leans back. The faerie goes back to its struggle. “Okay, well that helps some.” He looks around at the rain still falling from the clouds, and he notes that the small hiding spot underneath the tree had indeed been filling up with water, like he thought. No way he’s putting the faerie back in there. 

“Can you fly?” Techno asks, opening his hand up just a bit, and the faerie gives a noise of furious jingling, taking the chance as soon as they can. They leap out, wings fluttering, and once again, they fall. Techno catches them just before they hit the mud. “So that’s a no.” Angry jingling once again. The faerie is pointing up at him and gesturing wildly, but Techno doesn’t have a clue of what they’re trying to say. 

They might to be telling him to fuck off, maybe, with that particular hand gesture. Techno just snorts. He closes his fingers around them once more, trapping them in and hearing the sound of fearful bells. 

“I’m not goin’ to hurt you.” Techno repeats softly, pushing himself off the ground and standing up. “But I’m also not leaving you out here, so inside we go.” 

There’s a slight pinch on one of Techno’s fingers. He glances down to find the faerie trying to bite him. Delightful. 

He goes inside, with a faerie held in his palms. 

Wilbur might’ve fucked up. A lot. 

Like an unimaginable amount. 

First, it had been the rain. 

Or was it the hawk? Those were both at the same time, really, so he’s not sure which once came first.

 No wait, now he remembers, his first mistake had been the fact he thought it was even remotely a good idea to leave his house today. 

First, it had been the choice to fly far out from home, a little too far out. Second had been not going back the moment he realized there were clouds in the sky, a threat of rain approaching soon. Third had been not flying away fast enough from the stupid fucking hawk who thought he’d be a good snack. 

To be fair, though, he had tried his best to get back. Only he had gotten lost, and with the panic of rain falling down, and a predator flying overhead, it was hard to collect his thoughts properly. It got hard to fly, because then he had gotten hit by a raindrop, and then his wings were soaked, and all he could do was go hiding underneath a tree and hope the hawk would leave him alone. 

At that point, he hadn’t cared about the mistakes he made. He just wanted to live. Wanted to go home, get away, not be killed right here and have Tommy and Phil wonder and worry where he went. 

He had huddled against the wet dirt with his wings fluttering uselessly, staring up at the hawk slowly making its way closer and closer, and then watched as it just- left. Cried out with that terrible, terrifying noise, then flew away, as if mocking the fact Wilbur couldn’t do the same. 

Wilbur had thought that maybe it was just luck. That the bird gave up on him, and he would be fine. 

Then a hand reached into his hiding spot, and grabbed him. It curled around his wings and limbs, leaving no space for escape, and pulled him out to come face to face with the culprit. 

It was a human. Of course, it was a human. Wilbur’s luck is in the negatives, considering his whole day, why not just add an actual human to the mix? 

At the very least, it wasn’t a violent one. Or a scared one. Instead, it just seemed curious, and as Wilbur screamed and kicked and tried to get away, it just kinda- watched. Let go out of surprise, then caught him again when Wilbur inevitably wasn’t able to catch flight. 

They actually tried talking to Wil, voice low as if not trying to spook him any further. Wilbur didn’t want any of it, but when you’re held hostage in a hand much bigger and stronger than you, there’s not much else to do than answer at least one of the questions. 

So Wilbur had done that. He had let the human know that he could understand everything they were saying and then proceeded to try his best to leave. But of course, he can’t fly, and the human caught him once again. 

Wilbur gives his best fight and struggle, but he can’t do anything as the human begins to move, carrying him up and away from the sanctuary of the tree. He screams his frustration and fear and bites at his captor, but he doubts the human even feels his teeth. He’s carried on through the rain, a hand held over his head, as if the human is trying to keep him from getting even more wet. 

Where are they even going? Where would a human even put a faerie, he wonders. In a cage? Like a pretty bird, meant only to be looked at. Wilbur’s seen that before. Humans have the capacity to be cruel, he knows this. 

He wants nothing of the sort. He wants nothing to do with the human, but what can he do? He’s exhausted and soaked, and he can’t fly away, can’t escape. He just kicks and yells and stays trapped, and eventually, he gives up. He goes limp, crying quietly with tears falling down his cheeks. He’s going to be put in a cage, or worse. Maybe he’ll lose his wings. He’s heard of that, too, of humans taking a faeries wings, thinking they can keep it for themselves. 

Fuck, he can’t. He doesn’t want that. 

He cries, calling out for Phil, for Tommy, knowing that they’re not going to come. The rain disappears as he’s taken into a house, and he calls louder, wishing that somehow, rescue will arrive. 

“Shh.” The human says, and Wilbur tries to bite him again. “Ow.” The sound of pain doesn’t seem all that genuine. “Quit that, I’m not hurting you, I already told you.” 

As if. Wilbur tries to bite him harder. He barely leaves a mark on his finger. 

“Where do I even put you?” Techno mutters, looking around the kitchen. Wilbur tenses up with panic. “You can’t fly…okay. You better not go falling off the counter.” 

Wilbur kicks his legs uselessly, heart rising up in his throat, his mind thinking the worst. Then, he’s placed down gently on something soft, and the human is leaning down over him, eyes wide. 

“Gods, you’re small.” Techno mumbles. Wilbur tries to run off, stumbling to his feet, wings trying their damn best to give him some help. “Hey, hey- I literally just said don’t run off the counter.” Wilbur is picked up, then placed back onto the soft material. He tries to run again, heading onto the counter, feeling it be slightly cold against his feet. 

He gets placed back to where he started. He tries again. 

“Yeah, just tire yourself out, why don’t you.” Techno huffs, picking him up again with careful fingers. 

“Put me down!” Wilbur screams, kicking his legs, back on the towel. “Fuck off, you little-” He gets to his feet again, then nearly falls, Techno pushing a finger against him to catch him. 

“Uh-huh. You know, you’re really not getting anywhere with that.” Technoblade says. He hears angry bells in response, and he just goes to pick up the faerie once more, putting it gently back onto the towel he’s spread out on the counter. The poor thing is soaked, and Techno has a hunch that’s the reason why they can’t fly. The towel could help a bit with drying them off, but first the faerie has to actually, well, stay still. “I’m not letting you jump off the counter, seriously.” 

Wilbur pays him no mind. He tries, and runs, and gets caught, and finally, finally, gives up. He collapses with a heaving breath onto the towel, his wings fluttering behind him, still damp. 

Techno rests his chin down on the counter, blowing gently at the faerie. Wilbur gives a scared noise, shrinking away. 

“I’m not hurting you.” Techno repeats. “You sure you can understand me? Because it seems like that sentence just keeps passin’ right over your head.” 

Bells, once again. The faerie says something in response, but Techno doesn’t understand. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak faerie.” He apologizes, honestly sincere. “Stay still for a second.” Techno lifts his hand towards the towel, watching as the faerie looks up at him with fear, crawling away just a bit when he pulls it closer. 

Wilbur screams out with panic. “Stop!” He tries to move, but there’s a finger pushing at his chest, and fabric is getting dragged over his head, across his wings. Gods, he’s going to be suffocated. Squished. He’s going to get wrapped up and killed and then what will he do once he’s dead and gone?

Except, the human doesn’t really crush him. The material moves away for a second, and Wilbur finds that the water in his hair has lessened just a bit. 

“I’m just going to try and not touch the wings, because I feel like you’re going to try and bite me again if I do.” Techno tells Wil, and Wilbur flinches away as the towel comes down again, rubbing at his face. Wilbur pushes it away halfheartedly. It’s not killing him. If anything, the human just seems to be trying to- dry him, or something. 

“The fuck are you doing?” Wilbur asks, and of course, he’s not going to get a proper response. Humans can’t understand their language. At least, not without a bit of the pixie dust back home. 

Wilbur’s not at home right now, though. He’s here, in a human’s house, with a human above him, staring down at him, trying to do- whatever, with fabric-

“I think that’s the best I can do.” Techno stops, moving his hand away and letting go of the towel. Wilbur pushes his hair out of his face, his curls a bit more dry, and he looks up at the human as he stands up straight with a sigh. “You’re just going to have to air-dry, I guess. And I’ll have to as well, because I’m pretty sure if I go and change, you’re going to fling yourself off the counter the second I step away.” 

Wilbur narrows his eyes with a frown. But he doesn’t say anything in response, instead just staring with confusion slipping in. 

Have humans…always had colored hair? 

Surely not. It’s always brown, or blond, or black. Wilbur likes to think he’s well versed in human appearances. 

This human’s hair is pink. 

Bright pink, like the petals of a flower, or like- Niki’s hair. 

Is this person part faerie, somehow? Or- maybe they’ve got magic in their blood. Are they aware of it? 

Wilbur tries to ask it. Of course, Techno only hears bells, only sees Wilbur point a small finger up at him. 

“What?” Techno asks, seeing the faerie point up at him. “I don’t know what you want.” More bells. The faerie gestures for him to come closer. 

Techno sighs. He leans down. 

“Is something wrong?” 

A headshake. The faerie points at him again. Points at-

“My hair?” Techno asks, raising his eyebrows. Wilbur nods his head. Technoblade just blinks. He takes his braid in hand, noting that it’s practically falling apart, by now, and he holds it closer towards the faerie, resting his hair onto the counter. “Yeah, that’s my hair.” 

Wilbur crawls towards it, poking at it carefully with his hands. Techno just watches with something amused. Pink hair is definitely something interesting, he’ll admit. Takes work to keep it like that, but Techno doesn’t mind putting in the work to dye it every month. He likes the color, likes making the choice. Makes him feel like he’s got control, proper power. 

Jingling bells reach Techno’s ears again. Techno hums. 

“When the rain lets up, I’ll put you back out, okay?” He says, Wilbur looking up with shock. “What, did you think I was going to keep you in here?” 

A hesitant nod. Techno huffs, and the air brushes past Wilbur’s face. 

“Why? I don’t need you jingling in my ear all the time.” Techno leans back, and Wilbur reaches his hands out with the sound of bells. Techno leans back down, letting him reach for his hair again. “It’s just hair.” 

Bells. Of course. 

Technoblade stays leaned over the counter, letting the faerie do what he likes. Might as well. Better than having him keep trying to run off the counter. 

Chapter Text

After the eventual passing of panic and thinking he’s going to die, Wil has concluded, after careful examination, that the possibly-part-faerie/not-human is…

okay. 

They’re not trying to kill him, or squish him, or fling him around. There’s no cage for Wilbur to be put in, and there’s no demand for magic to be handed over, either. There isn’t even pestering questions, or poking fingers at his wings. 

Though, Wilbur’s not sure if that’s just because of common decency, or because of his attempts at biting anytime the human even gets near his wings. Either way, it’s like he’s concluded: okay.

That’s not to say he likes the human, however. It’s more of a toleration, a curiosity, at best. Because how can he not be a little curious? Humans are not a common sight. Humans with pink hair are not a common sight. 

It's a common rule to stay out of sight, out of reach, from any humans nearby. It’s partly why Wil’s home is so well hidden amongst the forest trees, tucked behind a portal that no one will stumble across. Humans, while certainly interesting, are dangerous. They’re too big, too violent, too cruel, Wilbur knows that for a fact. The very few who are kind are cherished, very much so, but that doesn’t change the fact that the large majority of humanity are assholes. 

This one seems alright. This one is strange. 

“Were you born with this?” Wilbur asks out loud, tiny hands tugging at Techno’s braid, trying to undo it, maybe get answers for its unusual color. “Or maybe you were cursed.” 

Techno cracks open an eye. He’s resting his chin onto the counter, leaned over with his face half-tucked into his arms. Upon having seen Wilbur occupy himself with his hair, Techno had decided to just close his eyes and stay still, letting the faerie stay content with whatever it was doing. As long as it wasn’t continuing to be terrified and trying to jump off high surfaces, then Techno was fine with standing still for a moment. 

“Were you cursed?” Wilbur asks, and Techno opens his eyes fully, staring down at the faerie. The gaze is a bit daunting, and Wil can’t help but shrink away a bit, his wings fluttering behind him, still damp. 

“I can’t understand you.” Techno tells him quietly, Wilbur giving a pout, his wings drooping. That’s no help at all. Techno notes the upset face, and he huffs a bit. “I thought you would know that. I don’t speak bells.” 

“I don’t speak bells either. Your ears just can’t listen past my magic.” Wilbur responds, pushing himself to his feet to try and seem taller. The human is still so much more bigger than him, though. “Listen better! Were you cursed as a child, or were you just born with that color?!”

Techno raises his eyebrows, but doesn’t say anything in response. If anything, he just seems amused.

For good reason. There’s something a little funny about a tiny faerie earnestly yelling at you in jingling bells. 

Wilbur doesn’t appreciate the look. He lifts his chin with a scowl. “Your hair! Why is it pink?!” He gives an obvious pointing gesture to the braid beside him. 

“That’s my hair, yeah.” Techno responds, and that just opens the floodgates to every bit of frustration Wilbur’s piled up over the course of today. The unfortunate rain, the hawk, the fact this human is being absolutely insufferable, it all bubbles over into anger, and Wilbur has frankly had enough.

“I know it’s your hair, why the fuck is it PINK-?!” And off he goes, giving a stomp onto the counter underneath him and beginning to scream up at Techno with far more bravery than he had about ten minutes ago. Something at the back of his head tells him he shouldn’t be yelling at a big human that could still crush him at any moment, but his wings are uncomfortably wet, and he’s stuck in a human’s house, and everything has very much gone sideways, so he is done with it all. 

Techno gives a slow blink of confusion, hearing non-stop jingling reaching his ears, not a single bit of being understandable at all. He’s got no clue what Wilbur is even trying to say, but what he does know is that the faerie is being loud, and they don’t seem to like his hair all that much anymore. 

At least they’ve moved on from the fear. Although, Techno could do without the faerie lecture. 

“Hey, hey.” Techno lifts his head up, Wilbur still going, pacing around back and forth. 

“-no, because I thought, oh, just a little fly will be fine. Surely, nothing bad is going to happen! Surely, if I just head out real quick, the universe won’t just decide to fuck me over-!”

Techno tilts his head to the side a bit, slightly concerned. “Uh.” 

“-and what happened then?! Lo and behold, sent down from the fucking heavens, a bird trying to tear my wings off, because yeah, let’s just give the lost faerie a near death experience, that’ll get things going-!”

“Okay, look, I have no idea what you’re saying…” Techno leans away, reaching a hand forward to poke at Wilbur so he can take a breath. Wil holds a palm against Techno’s finger, huffing with a red face. “But I have a feeling you’re angry at me. Just a hunch.” 

Wilbur narrows his eyes at him. He then tries to bite at Techno’s hand. 

“Ah- no, no thank you.” Techno steps back, moving away from the counter. Wilbur tries to follow, but there is only a fall straight down to the floor if he wants to keep going forward. He stares down at the ground in consideration. Flutters his wings a bit. 

Techno flicks him back before he can do anything. “New rule. Until the rain lets up and you can leave, no jumping off ledges.” 

Wilbur gives a noise of offense, falling backwards onto the counter as Techno nudges him again. “You can’t just make rules!” Faeries are magical, free creatures, meant to explore and create and be one with the forest. Humans can convince themselves all they want that they have power over them with their size, but the point stands that Wilbur is a faerie, he’s a otherworldly being, he can’t just be given rules as if he’s some misbehaving child-

“And a second rule.” Techno waves his hand up in the air. “Stop biting me.” 

The sound of angry bells ring through the air. Techno cuts him off mid-jingle. 

“No, no, this is reasonable. Consider the choices, do you want to break a tiny bone by hitting the ground because your wings are still wet? No? I mean, I would think not. And also, I feel like you’re going to end up giving me an infection if you keep biting me, so please refrain from trying to sink your teeth into my skin, thank you.” 

Wilbur just glares up at Techno with a frown, and Techno stares back. He then rushes forward to catch Wil as the faerie proceeds to try and fling himself off the countertop. 

“I go out there and save you from a bird, and this is the thanks I get?” Techno mutters, raising the faerie up to his chest, unwilling to put him down for the time being. Wilbur kicks and fights against his fingers, but it’s more out of frustration than any real attempt to get free. After a second, though, the words sink in, and he goes still. Techno panics over the sudden stillness, but Wilbur ignores him in favor of collecting his thoughts. 

The hawk. The terrible, deadly, faerie-eating hawk, the human had chased it off? It hadn’t just- flown away, like how Wilbur had assumed?

Wait. 

This changes things. 

This changes several things, actually. 

He saved Wilbur's life. 

“Oh, gods, did I break you? You’ve gone quiet.” Techno’s grip loosens, and Wilbur blinks as the palm around him opens up, Techno hovering over him. Wilbur tilts his head back to look up at Techno’s eyes, a new perspective put upon his vision. He takes in Techno’s worried expression, his still-strangely pink hair, the faint scars on his face that he hadn’t noticed before. Wilbur presses his lips together, frowning in thought, and he squints up at Techno with something that could almost be called judgmental. 

“Hey, it’s not my fault I don’t know how to hold a faerie.” Techno says, taking the look the wrong way. “I’ve never met one before.” 

They move out of the kitchen, and Wilbur pushes himself up on his knees, holding onto one of Techno’s fingers, trying to look at where they’re going. He flutters his wings, and hopes that the water will dry out soon. He wants to explore. He would also like to stop being carried around. 

“Still sorry, though.” Technoblade apologizes, nervous with the sudden quiet, and Wilbur snaps his head back up with a wide eyed look. Techno doesn’t even notice the reaction, he just heads on over to the living room, to where the fireplace holds a dying flame amongst the burnt wood logs. “Here. If you’re going to wander, I’m asking for you to not go too far, because I’d really rather not have a flightless faerie lost in my house.” Techno places Wilbur down onto the soft rug beside the fireplace, and Wilbur sinks into the material, practically collapsing onto it. 

He enjoys the feeling of the rug for a moment, before sitting up and looking back at Techno with consideration. The human pays him no mind, instead just starting up the fire again so they can both warm up, with the way they’re still wet from the rain outside. 

Wilbur hums under his breath, lifting his knees up to his chest and curling up into a little ball, eyes still squinting at Techno with deep thought. 

It’s not very often faeries meet humans. 

It’s not at all often when they meet nice humans. 

It is a once in a blue moon chance when faeries meet nice humans who can stay around. 

This house is rather close to home, now that Wilbur’s thinking about it. Not so close as to where Techno will be finding the others any time soon, but it’s definitely closer than any of the human towns far off. 

Wilbur looks around the living room for a moment, searching for any signs of a family, of company, but there isn’t much other than a few bookshelves, a single chair, a low table pushed to the side. From what he can see, it looks as if this human lives alone. 

Perfect. 

Wilbur perks up with a grin just as the fire reignites, warmth spreading out through the room and taking away the chill that was starting to set in. Techno leans back and sits onto the rug with a sigh, pulling his braid forward over his shoulder and fiddling with the end of it so he can undo it. It’s gotten a bit disheveled over the course of the day, and he might as well just redo now, with the fire burning and a faerie keeping him company. 

He brushes his fingers through his hair, tugging out any tangles, and stays blissfully unaware of the way Wilbur’s standing to his feet, excitement zipping through him like lightning. The faerie’s wings flutter restlessly, and Wilbur feels as if this day has gotten much, much better. 

He’s found himself a worthy human companion. 

It’s a rare thing, but not so unheard of. Sometimes a faerie will run into a human, and sometimes that human is kind. Usually, at that point, it’ll just be a nice encounter, but if there’s something more…drastic, with it, like maybe a life-favor of a sort with saving said faerie from a hawk out in the rain…

Then that moment can lead into something more. Something like an opportunity. 

Sometimes, a faerie has favorites. With a bit of luck and a bit of love, they can get a good human to stick around. Be a friend. 

And with that, they can have a chance to cherish their human. 

Since Techno saved his life, Wilbur has to pay him back, and if he has to pay him back, then that means they must spend time together. And if Wilbur is spending time with this one, then he’s determined to make that time mean something, because frankly, he likes this one. He likes the untold story in his scars, the strange color of his hair, the careful look in his eyes. 

If all goes well, Wilbur hopes to end up coming back home with someone new to introduce to Phil and Tommy. 

Oh, the entire village would love him. There will be some hesitance at first, of course, there always is, but they’ll warm up to him quick once Wilbur tells of how Techno saved him. After all, kind humans are hard to come by. Everyone will be grappling to keep him close once they realize that he’s a good one. 

And his hair! The others will be just as confused as him, but just as fascinated too, no doubt. Wilbur can’t wait to shove it into Tommy's face that he got him first, so finders-keepers, the human is his. 

Tommy has Tubbo, anyway. Wilbur doesn’t need to share. 

“Are you cold?” Techno asks gently, snapping Wilbur out of his thoughts. Wilbur lifts his head, seeing Techno halfway through rebraiding his hair. It’s much neater this time around, and Wilbur wants nothing more than to fly over there and tug at it again, just for pure curiosity’s sake. Maybe one day he’ll be able to braid it too, once there’s enough trust between them. He won’t be able to make any big braids like how Techno is doing right now, but he can still give something. 

“I think we’re going to be very good friends.” Wilbur smiles, knowing full well Techno won’t understand. The words still hold true, though, and his heart swells with joy. 

“I’m going to take that as a no.” Techno shrugs, returning his attention back to his hair. Wilbur flutters his wings to try and dry them out quicker. 

Chapter Text

Techno will admit he’s a bit out of his depth. 

He doesn’t have any sort information on faeries, and frankly, he didn’t even know they were actually a thing. 

He knows of enchantments, magic woven into steel, just to make it stronger, sharper, better. He knows of potions, bubbling mixtures that could help heal wounds within a single day. 

Those things are magic, that’s a fact. But he never took the time to think that the magic could also reach out to other things. 

Like living beings. 

Tiny living beings. 

It’s a wonder Techno hasn’t accidentally crushed him yet, with how easily he could be curled up inside his palm. Techno’s never been one to hold things gently, it’s not really his thing, but it seems like he hasn’t killed the faerie yet. Which is good, because he really would rather not have that on his conscious. 

Plus, he’s pretty sure he’d end up getting cursed or something by killing a faerie. He can’t for the life of him remember where he’s heard that particular little rumor, but he’s pretty sure that if you kill a faerie, it’s going to make your life very miserable. A sort of way of the universe's karma, no doubt. 

Techno runs his hands over his hair with a short sigh, feeling hesitant. He gives his attention to undoing the braid he just remade, reasoning that it’d most likely air dry better if it was unwoven and hanging loose. Plus, he needs something to do with his hands. If he doesn’t keep himself occupied, he’s going to end up staring at the little faerie the whole time, and that’s going to end in angry bells ringing throughout his living room. 

Technoblade gets it. He wouldn’t like being stared at either. It’s not fun to have eyes on you, judging you as if you are worth less than them. 

The fire burns brightly as Techno slowly works out his braid, draping it over his shoulder and feeling it still damp against his fingers. There’s a slight chill that sticks to his skin, but it’s mostly warded off by the fire, and he resists the urge to stand up and look for dry clothes. It’s not all that great having his clothes still be half-wet, but he doesn’t feel very comfortable in leaving a faerie alone in his living room. Knowing this one and their tendency to fling themselves off countertops,  the faerie would just end up somehow finding a way into the fire. 

Techno does not want a faerie’s death on his hands because he was a bad host. 

So he stays in wet clothes, leaving his hair hanging down, trying to dry it off with the nice warmth of the fire. At least the faerie is in the same predicament as he is. They’re both uncomfortably damp here. 

A quiet noise of bells jingles out into the air, and Techno turns his head to where he had left Wilbur just a moment before. Except, Wilbur isn’t there. Techno blinks, having a split second of panic, before hearing bells once more, and feeling a light pat on his knee. 

He looks down right beside him, and finds that the fae has walked his way over to Techno to grab his attention. 

“Oh.” Technoblade leans closer, just to let the faerie know he’s listening. “Did you need something?” 

Wilbur whacks his hands at Techno’s knee again, jumping up and trying his best to flutter his wings. For a second, it’s giving him a boost, and he’s getting up, but then it gives out, and he falls once more. 

“Go back to sitting over there.” Technoblade suggests, nudging at the faerie and accidentally knocking him backwards onto the rug. He gets a response of furious jingling at that. “Sorry, sorry- I said I’m sorry! Don’t hit me-”

Techno can barely even feel the fists against his leg, but Wilbur is giving his best at injuring him, so Technoblade might as well acknowledge the attempt. 

“What are you doing now.” Techno watches as the fae suddenly stops, instead walking away from Techno and making his way around his leg. Wilbur stomps his way across the rug, around Techno’s knee, and over to his foot. He then tries to climb onto his ankle. Techno quickly picks him up and puts him a little farther away. “Hey- no, no, do not climb on me.”

Jingling. Wilbur walks back and tries again. 

Techno puts him back down. “I’m going to drop you or something-”

More jingling. The faerie goes back right to where he was. 

Techno moves him off again. “-or maybe even squish you, so keep your distance-”

Even more jingling. Wilbur is a determined faerie.

“-you really are persistent with this.” Techno notes, grabbing Wilbur and this time, not putting him down. Wil’s feet hang in the air for a second, and when he realizes he’s not being let down, he starts to yell, kicking his legs angrily in a clear communication that you do not dangle the tiny faerie. 

“I’m putting you down, I’m putting you down.” Techno reassures, and rather than put him on the rug, he places Wilbur right onto his knee. “There. Is that what you wanted?” 

Wilbur stands still with his arms stretched out, as if wary if he’ll lose his balance. He looks up at Techno, then holds an arm out, as if demanding for something to be handed over. 

“What?”

Jingling bells. A nod of a head, and a pat against the faerie’s own curls. 

Techno thinks he knows what the faerie is asking for. However, he has the sudden urge to mess with him, so he just pats the faerie on the head. 

“There.” Techno says, and the string of bells that come after that is brutal. “Ohhh-kay, okay, I know- I know! Chill!!” 

“-You think I’m a fucking dog? A fucking pet!? I’ll bite you like a pet, fuck you and fuck your rules, too-!” Wilbur screams, Techno huffing in exasperation. He patiently waits until Wilbur is done with his rant. “Hair, chop chop. Give it over, I want to see it! Let’s see the cursed hair!” He claps his hands together at Technoblade, and Techno holds back a small smile. 

“My hair is drying.” Techno points out. “You can’t touch it.”

“Yes I can.” Wilbur nods, Techno rolling his eyes at the noise of bells. He thinks he knows exactly what the fae is saying, now. 

“No.” 

“Yes! You touched my hair. Make it fair.” 

“I said no.” 

“But look at it! It’s pink!” Wilbur insists, giving a long suffered groan. “Why must you torture me? I know humans are usually annoying, but now you’re just being mean, pink man. Pink guy. Mr. Niki impressionator.” Now that Wilbur thinks about it, Niki really would love Technoblade. 

Gods, he has to somehow get him to visit the village after this. 

“Look, either you sit there and dry your wings, or I'll put you back on the rug. There’s your choices.” Techno says, Wilbur narrowing his eyes up at him in a tiny glare. He flutters his wings in spite, and notes that they are beginning to be a bit more dry, now. 

He then decides to sit himself down on Techno’s knee, focusing on fluttering his wings to get rid of every last speck of water. Technoblade raises his eyebrows at the sudden acceptance, and he tries to shrug it off, carefully leaning back and trying to not jostle the little being that’s now resting on top of his leg. 

Honestly, what is with this faerie and his hair? The color is nice, he knows that, but has the fae never seen colored hair before? Maybe not, considering how faeries and humans are bound to be separate from each other. He might just be curious. 

Well, even so, Techno’s still got some boundaries. He’s not going to let the faerie poke at his hair the entire time he’s here. It’s going to drive him crazy. 

He turns his attention to the rain outside, glancing out into the kitchen and leaning to the side to try and get a glimpse out of the window. He still sees the raindrops pouring down rather heavily, and he sighs, resting his palms back on the rug and setting his sights onto the flickering fire. It seems like it’ll keep going for the rest of the day, and well past into the night too. 

He’s going to have a faerie sleepover. How wonderful. 

Technoblade turns his head up to the ceiling, stretching his neck with a hum. He won’t complain. The days have been nice, so far, but he can stand to have a little something interesting every now and then. A faerie is perfect for that. 

After this is all done and the faerie has left his house to go back wherever faeries reside, Techno’s going to head to town to buy a few storybooks. Just for his own curiosity and self-indulgence. He oughta put more time into knowing about magic, now that he’s thinking about it. He’s got all this free time to himself, in his new life. He could stand to use it to maybe learn a couple things, rather than practice old habits and carry out dull chores. 

Techno hears bells again, and when he goes to look at his knee, he finds a distinct lack of a certain faerie. 

Oh gods, he’s lost the faerie. 

The bells ring again, this time practically right in his ear. He flinches with the sound, and turns his head, finding the faerie to be there, just hovering beside his head. His wings flutter behind him nonstop, like that of a hummingbird’s wings, and Techno watches with wonder as the faerie moves around his head, as if trying to get him to spin around. 

“You can fly.” Techno says, and of course he can, the faerie had wings. But somehow, it’s still something strange to actually see it happen. 

But also now this just causes more problems. 

“Okay, come here.” Technoblade moves from where he is, scooting up and shifting to rest on his knees. Wilbur stays firmly away from his outstretched hand, and instead flies right up to Techno’s face, jingling right in front of his eyes. “Don’t- I’m going to swat you.” He threatens. 

Bells, bells. Techno’s never going to think of bells as the same after this. All he’s going to think when he hears the sound is the presence of a faerie who doesn’t know personal space. 

Wilbur flies around Techno’s head for a second time, and Techno shifts away again, trying to make some sort of distance from the flying being that keeps circling around him. Wil flies close up to his face again, but rather than just yell at him, he decides to give him the same treatment that he himself was given. 

He pats at Techno’s nose. Technoblade stares at him with a bewildered expression as Wil backs up to see his reaction, and then he snorts, shaking his head. 

Score! Wilbur’s made the human laugh. 

“Well, if you can fly now, I guess I don’t have to worry about you falling off anything, huh?” Techno asks, dragging his knees up to his chest and resting his arms over them. 

Wilbur nods confidently. 

“Yeah…but I’m still gonna say you can’t jump off ledges. Rules still apply.” 

Wilbur fumes at that, and Techno only smiles. 

“Hey, I’m trying to be responsible here. You could be injured.” 

Wilbur appreciates the concern. But he does not appreciate the rules. He doesn’t follow rules very often, and when he does, it’s only Kristin’s. And that’s a rare thing. Wil’s a free spirit, gods help anyone trying to get him to sit still and not cause some sort of problem. 

“You’re lucky I like you.” Wilbur huffs, flying to Techno’s shoulder to try and perch there. Techno moves away. 

“Nope, nope. You’re going to fall off or something-” Techno moves away, only to be followed, so he makes the decision to get up off the ground, Wilbur giving an unhappy sound of bells. 

“Let me on! I’ll braid your hair!” 

“Nope- stop following me-” Techno keeps envading his chase, quickly moving off into the kitchen. He takes the chance to properly look outside, finding the sun to be setting by now. Maybe with luck, he can turn in early and head to sleep, and he’ll get rid of this persistent faerie soon enough. 

Wilbur continues chasing him around, Techno never staying still long enough to let him land. 

“I’m not letting you sit on my shoulder.” Techno says, moving around the counters. He hears bells ring behind him. “You’re going to fall.” 

“I literally have wings!” Wilbur yells. 

Techno moves out of the kitchen. Wilbur flies after him. Techno moves past the fireplace, around a chair. Wilbur moves through the air to follow, forced to fly faster as Techno begins to move faster. They return to the kitchen. Wilbur laughs and makes an attempt at grabbing at Techno’s hair. He unfortunately fails. 

“You know what, I think I’m going to bed.” Technoblade declares, and he breaks out into a run, moving across the kitchen, into the living room, and up the stairs of the house. Wilbur screams in surprise and scrambles to follow, flying as fast as he can. 

Techno’s shoes stomp against the steps as he heads upstairs, and Wilbur’s jingling continues to ring out. Technoblade heads down the small hallway at the top, retreating into his room and slamming the door shut as quickly as possible. 

Thankfully, the jingling stays on the other side. It sounds rather pissed off. 

“You can fly, so you can explore the rest of the house. I’m going to sleep.” Technoblade says, Wilbur slamming his small fists at the door, knowing full well it’s not going to be heard, or do much. “You can probably find food in the kitchen if you try hard enough. Sit by the fire to keep warm, and goodnight.” 

“This is not the behavior of a good host!” Wilbur yells, hitting at the door again. “You’re being awfully rude!” 

He doesn’t get an answer in response, Techno only shuffling around on the other side to kick off his boots and change into actual dry clothes. Wilbur scoffs and slams at the door for a solid minute, taking his anger out on the wood. Once he’s done, he backs up mid-air with a heaving breath, shaking his head and feeling absolutely offended. The nerve, of this human. 

He’ll admit it’s better than the humans who try to kill or capture him on sight, but still! 

Wilbur moves his attention down to the bottom of the door, where there’s a little crack, the door being a bit crooked with its age. 

Can he fit through there?

Meanwhile, Techno pulls his hair back out of the collar of a new shirt, sighing and rubbing at his face. He’s got a faerie in his home now. 

He’s decided that’s not his problem anymore. He’s a bit tired, and honestly kinda cold, and curling up on his bed sounds pretty appealing right now. 

The rain will pass soon enough. When it does in the coming morning, he’ll escort the faerie out, and wave him goodbye as he leaves. Then that’ll be it. This encounter will just be a funny little memory. 

Technoblade climbs into bed with a huff, collapsing onto his blankets and burying himself into them, trying to escape the slight chill in the air that’s come with the pouring rain outside. He closes his eyes for a moment, not to sleep, really just to think over the day, honestly. 

He hears jingling bells after a nice minute of silence. 

Techno opens his eyes to find a faerie standing on the pillow beside him, wings fluttering as if ready to give another grand chase all over again. 

“How did you even get in here?” Techno mutters, getting a happy jingling in response. Techno only sighs. 

After a few seconds, he decides to drape his hair out beside him and let the faerie fiddle with it as he likes. He rests in his bed, wallowing in the fact he’s lost. 

Somehow, the failure isn’t all that bitter. 

Chapter Text

There is a quiet jingling in Techno’s ear. Like a bell. A very soft bell. 

Something gently tugs at his hair. As if someone is grabbing the strands with two careful fingers. Technoblade thinks for a second he’s got his hair stuck onto something, but he’s not moving. It’s just his hair that’s being pulled around. 

The jingling sounds out again, this time much closer, and a little louder. Techno frowns against his pillow. There’s a tugging on his hair again. Strange. Maybe that’s just in his head. This is probably a dream, long lost memories of when he still trusted other hands to braid his hair. 

He shifts his head on his pillow to turn the other way, and the sound of bells echoes out again, a consistent stream of jingling. It reminds Techno a lot of music, like the tune of an instrument. Except this isn’t really a good song. There’s no rhythm.

The bells get closer for a second, then they stop, and the tugging goes away. Technoblade nearly drifts back off into a blissful sleep. 

Then something is touching his ear and there is jingling-

Techno snaps his eyes open. He suddenly rolls over onto his back, the faerie quickly flying away so that he won’t get swept up in his movement. Wilbur hovers over Techno’s head with his hand on his hips, a victorious little grin on his face. 

“Finally!” Wilbur chimes, enjoying Techno’s bleary look pointed up towards him. “I thought you were never going to hear me. I was considering going for your eyes next, so good timing-”

“Oh.” Techno mutters, narrowing his eyes up at Wil. Wilbur pauses. “So you weren’t a dream.” 

Wilbur frowns. He shakes his head, almost like a scolding. 

“Well.” Techno tilts his head back, yawning wide. “Alright, then. At least I didn’t crush you in my sleep.” He thinks for a second. “I probably should’ve put you somewhere else for the night.” 

Jingling bells answer in response. Techno huffs. 

“Mhm. Good morning to you.” He waves a hand for the faerie to move, and sits up with a groan. “I’m guessing you’re all ready to get back home.” 

The faerie nods at him earnestly, chattering loudly about…who knows. Technoblade still doesn’t speak bells, but he can assume that these bells sound happy. That’s something. 

He looks towards his bedroom window, finding the morning sun shining in, all bright and warm. The clouds of the storm before are nowhere to be seen, and all that’s been left behind is a pretty blue sky. Good weather. Techno is sure the fields around him are thriving with the rainwater. 

Oh, now that he remembers, he’s got to patch up those leaks in his roof. There’s probably a few overfilled mugs around his house, which- isn’t ideal, really, but it’s not the worst thing to happen. Water dries. He can do repairs. His attention had been on something much more important last night. 

Bells ring from beside him, like a reminder to not get lost in his thoughts. Techno turns his head, expecting to see the faerie in the air still, but then he feels a small weight on his shoulder, and he immediately shifts his whole body sideways. He does it so quickly that he nearly falls off the bed with it. The faerie screams with an intense jingling, flying off as his seat moves very abruptly.

“No, no, you are not sitting on my shoulder-” Techno says, trying to swat away the faerie’s attempts on getting back onto his spot. “Get away. Away! I swear- I’m going to whack you!” Techno rolls off his bed, landing onto the ground rather gracefully with soft steps. He lunges away to rise to his feet, and the faerie is flying circles around him, clearly just trying to find an opening once he stands still. 

Jingling echoes through his room in a constant stream of noise, and Technoblade turns his head this way and that way, trying to keep his eyes on the tiny flying person. 

“You cannot rest on me.” Techno insists, and he steps away as the faerie gets close again. “Nope! You’re going to fall-”

Angry jingling. Techno can see the faerie pointing at his wings. 

“No, I don’t care that you can fly. You’re going to get hurt. I’m going to end up hurting you.” Techno shakes his head, not budging one bit. “You are small and I’m not, and it’s better if you just- keeeeep a distance.” He makes a large step back, Wilbur following him. 

“I’ve dealt with more dangerous things than a human’s moving shoulder.” Wilbur argues, even his words don’t mean much. “Let me on! We can bond!” He holds his arms out, making a grabby motion. Technoblade points his finger up with a menacing look. 

“No- nope! Stay back.” Techno takes another step backwards. He tries to summon a glare, a dangerous look that once sent powerful men to their knees in the battlefield, but the faerie doesn’t seem deterred at all. In fact, he doesn’t even seem to care. Techno’s slightly offended by that. 

“I already rested on your shoulder in your sleep-- although, I guess you don’t need to know that, but my point stands, let me on-!” Wilbur flies closer, and Techno takes another step back, his back bumping into the wall. 

“Okay, okay! Gods. If you want a rest from flying so badly, you can rest on my hand. But I’m not letting you on my shoulder.” Techno does not trust himself with a tiny faerie on his shoulder. He holds out his palm, which makes Wilbur pause in the air, seeming to consider. He crosses his tiny arms with a slight frown, then flies up to Techno’s hand. 

Technoblade blinks with confusion as the faerie grabs at his hand, trying to push it. He turns his wrist in compliance, letting his palm face the ground instead, and only then does the faerie rest onto his hand. He takes a seat onto the back of Techno’s fingers, his wings fluttering persistently as he swings his dangling feet. 

“Huh.” Is all Techno says, a little frozen in place with a faerie now in his grasp. Or, not really in his grasp. 

Oh. 

Now it makes sense. The faerie probably doesn’t like being grabbed, so he obviously wouldn’t like sitting in Techno’s palm. Too much of a risk for Techno to just- close his fingers around him and trap him in. Smart. 

“Alright, then.” Techno holds Wilbur a little closer, relieved at their compromise. “Come on.” 

He makes his way out of the room, down the stairs and to the living room, where the fire has now burnt out entirely. He scans the floor for a moment, spotting the few cups he’s put around and seeing that only one of them has overflown. There’s a puddle of water getting worryingly close to his rug. 

He should probably take care of that. 

Jingling bells ring up from his hand. He turns towards the kitchen instead. 

“You want breakfast?” Techno offers, holding his hand out to the counter for the faerie to rest there instead. Wilbur only flops over on Techno’s hand and clings to his pointer finger. “Wha- get on the counter.” He shakes his hand a bit. Wilbur holds on tighter. 

Techno lifts his hand up to his face. Wilbur blinks back at his unimpressed look. 

“You are a very clingy faerie.” Techno says. The faerie only lights up like that’s a compliment. Techno sighs, holding his hand close to his chest and looking through his food. “Alright. Breakfast, though, do you want any?” 

Bells. 

Ah. Techno has no clue if that was a yes or no. 

“Alright, I still don’t speak that language, so let’s work out a system here.” He says, looking through his fruit. He picks out an apple, putting it to the side. “Yes is bells, no is silence. Do you want breakfast?” 

A pause, then ringing bells. 

“Alright. We are getting somewhere.” Techno hums, feeling a little proud even if the achievement was not much. He can feel the faerie squeezing his finger. “I’m going to need to put you down.” 

Lots of jingling bells at that. Techno knows that’s a protest, but he lifts his hand above the counter anyway, trying to shake the faerie off. 

“What’s that? A yes? Sure, I’ll put you down.” Techno says, watching as Wilbur stays held onto his finger for dear life, before eventually losing grip and landing onto the counter with a small thump. His wings flutter, then he rises to his feet, giving an angry look at Techno. 

“Here.” Techno looks through his fruit again, and holds out a raspberry in an attempt to appease the woodland creature. “Take it, go on. I’m going to look for bread. Don’t you want some bread?” 

More bells. But the faerie takes the tiny fruit anyhow, and Techno feels a touch of amusement at how much bigger it looks in his hands. He sits down on the counter and begins to eat, his wings never staying still. 

Technoblade moves around the kitchen then, glad to be free of a barely there weight sticking to his fingers. He searches for a cup so he can get a drink of water, then searches for his bread so he can share a bit with the faerie. 

It’s funny. Techno doesn’t think such a small person can really count as company, but he can still feel his presence rather easily, as if there really is someone in the room with him. When he turns his back to Wilbur, he knows there are eyes on him, watching, but there’s no wariness that he can give in return. He’s not threatened, like how he’d usually be with strangers.

Maybe that’s just because of the faerie’s size, though. Techno knows that he could easily fight off such a tiny creature. But even then, company is company, and Techno feels- glad? No, he’s not all that thrilled. He’s just- content. Sorta. 

Also a little annoyed, but he supposes it could be worse. 

Techno takes two slices of bread for himself and Wilbur, and he places Wil’s slice down on the counter beside the faerie, watching as he turns his head towards it with a curious look. 

“I doubt you’re going to eat all that-” Techno shrugs, holding back the slight urge to laugh when he sees raspberry juice on the faerie’s face. “-but have what you want.” 

He gets a response of ringing bells for that, and Techno smiles, drinking from his cup and leaning against the counter. They sit in a somewhat comfortable silence, eating their food and staying in this nice friendly air with the knowledge that this interaction has gone pretty well. 

Techno thinks that he made a good impression. He also thinks that he’s never going to see the faerie again. He is wrong. 

Wilbur is already thinking what exactly to say the second he gets back home. He knows Phil’s going to be pissed, first off. That’s a given, since he was gone for the entire night. Both him and Kristin are probably worried sick. But they’ll be relieved when he comes back! With good news. 

He spares a glance up at Techno, who’s drinking from his cup with a relaxed look. Yeah, he’s got good news. A human with pink hair- it’ll make their day. Maybe. They might still be worried, but after they get past it, then they’ll see. And then Wilbur can grab some pixie dust and come back, and finally, he’ll have a proper conversation with this one. 

Although, he wonders if he’s going to be able to come back alone. Tommy’s going to want to meet the human, obviously. Wilbur might let him, if only he agrees to keep his distance. He doesn’t want to spook the human. He’s already jumpy with letting Wilbur just try and sit on his shoulder. They’ll never make any progress if Tommy keeps flying into his face. 

He finishes his raspberry with a hum, wiping his hands off on the bread beside him, before then ripping off a piece and biting into that too. It’s not…bad. But also not good, in his opinion. Niki makes much better bread than this. Does this human just have a terrible taste in bread? Now that’s sad. Wilbur needs to open his eyes when he gets back. Maybe he can bring a loaf of his own. 

But then again. That…probably wouldn’t be big enough to share with a human. Unless Niki makes it really big. Then maybe…

“The rain is gone.” Techno suddenly says, bringing Wilbur out of his thoughts. “Clear skies.” He turns and reaches towards the window, and opens it up, letting a flow of wind rush in. Wilbur’s wings flutter with excitement, and he shoves one more bite of bread into his mouth before hopping into the air. 

He zips towards the open window, ready to head out to free skies so he can get back home and tell everyone of what he’s found, but-

He stops mid-air. Turns to Techno. 

“I’ll be back.” Wil promises, Technoblade gesturing forward with his cup. 

“Uh. Yeah. Goodbye.” Techno responds, not quite getting it, but Wilbur will accept it. He can explain everything once he has pixie dust. 

With that, he flies out the window, off on his own way. Techno watches him go, then stares at the barely eaten piece of bread with a sad sigh. 

Wait. 

No, he’s not sad. Technoblade turns his back and heads to the living room, shaking his head to himself. Why would he be sad? The faerie was annoying anyway. Good luck to him and his journey that’s outside of Techno’s humble abode. 

He passes by a mirror on the wall and stops in his tracks. He steps backwards, taking a closer look at his reflection. 

Only now does he realize that the faerie left many, many tiny braids in his hair. 

For some reason, it’s endearing. 

Maybe he is a little sad. 

Meanwhile, Wilbur flies like the damn wind, unstoppable and nearly vibrating in excitement. Grass passes underneath him like a blur, and he travels past the open field until he can find something that looks vaguely familiar. 

He didn’t realize that he went so far with that hawk chasing him. It didn’t feel that far, in the moment, but he supposes that the panic of flying for your life can make memories go a bit fuzzy. He follows a dirt path for a long while, before then stopping and hovering in the air, looking all around him to try and see something he knows. 

It takes a moment, but he does spot a big oak tree in the distance, which he knows has a forest not that far behind it. He flies with a wide grin. 

When he hits the treeline, that’s when he truly knows where he is. Each tree and branch and bush- he’s flown through here hundreds of times. This isn’t quite faerie territory, but it’s close enough for wanderers like him. He makes a direct beeline to the village, weaving through branches and quickly finding the portal to home. 

When he flies out on the other side of the hidden doorway to his home, he has about a solid ten seconds of peace before-

“Wil?!” A familiar voice calls, and Wilbur stops in his dash to get to his house, hovering in the air. He turns his head, then screams as a body slams into him, knocking him off balance and forcing his wings to really work to try and get him upright again. “You’re alright, you’re okay-!” Niki cries, twirling him around with a tight grip, nearly suffocating him with the arms around his neck. 

“Hi, hello-” Wil chokes out, kicking his legs. “Do you know where my dad is-?”

“WILBUR!” 

Oh, good. That is not Phil. 

Niki laughs with relief, then pushes Wilbur away, letting him have a single second to regain his senses, before getting tackled again, this time so hard that it actually knocks him out of the air. Both him and Tommy go falling to the ground, landing in the dirt. 

“Where the fuck were you, where did you go, we thought you were dead-!” Tommy yells, Wilbur giving a suffered yell as he tries to pull Tommy off him. They roll a bit across the floor, Tommy yanking at his shirt and stubbornly staying on. 

“I’m not dead!” Wilbur yells, Niki laughing again as she hovers down to their level, watching Wilbur’s wings struggle in trying to get him up off the ground with an added weight keeping him firmly down. “I am alive!” He kicks his leg and pushes Tommy by the face, to no avail. 

“I see that now!” Tommy yells back, and Wilbur groans, giving up and letting his head and hands drop onto the floor. Tommy takes the chance to face plant into his chest, digging his hands into Wil’s shirt. “You are never going out without me again, I swear to fucking god, I thought you went and got lost-”

“I do not get lost!” Wilbur scoffs, offended with the mere suggestion. He looks around him and sees a few other faeries hovering close, all having faces of a relief to know that a fellow friend has returned. He’s pretty sure he can see Eret flying off to go get someone. The someone is probably going to be his dad. Which- is a good thing! Maybe. 

Hmm. Wilbur feels like he misjudged how everyone was going to react to his return. 

“Well, clearly you did this time!” Tommy lifts his head, finally making proper eye contact with Wil as Wilbur turns his gaze to look down at him. “You got stuck out in the rain, didn’t you?” 

Wilbur frowns deeply. 

“You did!” Tommy’s wings flutter behind him as he gives a light laugh. Wilbur tries again to push him off. Tommy quickly shifts his arms to wrap around his middle, making sure he will not be going anywhere. 

“Off, get off me-!” Wilbur whacks his little brother in the head, ignoring the annoyed cries he gets in return. 

“Ow, ow! I was worried, man!” Tommy squeezes tighter, and Wilbur swears he’s losing a little bit of air in his lungs. “I was really worried.” Tommy says again, a touch quieter. Wilbur falters. 

He rests his palm onto Tommy’s hair. “I’m alright.” He reassures, sighing a bit in fond exasperation. “I just got chased by a hawk, and-”

“You WHAT-” 

“A hawk?!” Niki then quickly lands onto the ground with the two of them, her eyes wide in concern. She kneels at Wilbur’s side, hands hovering close. “Are you hurt?! Tommy, Tommy, move.”

Oh, and now Tommy scrambles off without problem. Wilbur huffs, then lightly whacks at Niki’s hands as she frets over him. 

“I’m okay!” He insists. “There was this-” 

“WIL!” 

Okay, Wilbur is just not getting a moment of peace this morning, is he.

He quickly sits up as Phil and Kristin fly over, Eret just behind them with a face of relief. Wilbur is glad everyone’s got concern for him. It’s a treat, really. But having it all piled on him is getting to be a bit much. Now he kinda wishes he spent a little more time with his human. At least that guy is calm. 

“Wilbur, Wil-” Phil drops down in front of Wil, resting on his knees as Kristin hug tackles Wilbur for the third time this morning. Wilbur flails, not willing to get sent laying on his back. He barely manages to stay sitting upright, Kristin mostly holding him still. 

“I’m fine, I’m okay.” Wilbur says, patting his mother on the back and watching her wings flutter with an anxious mood. “Just got stuck out in the rain.” 

“And attacked by a fucking hawk.” Tommy adds on, because he’s horrible and clearly loves making Wil’s situation worse than it needs to be. Wilbur gives a choked squeak as Kristin hugs him even tighter at hearing that. 

“Oh, gods, Wilbur!” Kristin says beside his ear, full of worry. “You got chased by a hawk? In the rain?” She pulls back suddenly, then grabs Wilbur by the shoulders, forcing him to turn sideways. “Let me see your wings!” 

“They’re fine!” Wilbur protests, but he lets her inspect them anyway, just so she can sooth her heart. Phil takes his turn now with Wil and sits close, holding his son’s face in his palms with a relieved smile. 

“Wil.” Phil says, and Wilbur smiles, feeling his mother’s fingers graze over his wings as his father cradles him close. “WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!” He then yells, shaking Wilbur by the face, Wilbur shrieking. 

“Phil.” Kristin says, interrupted in her inspection by Wilbur being shook like a maraca. 

“Is he okay?” Phil stops, Wilbur grabbing at Phil’s wrists to try and pry off his evil fatherly hands. 

“I am okay!” Wilbur insists, for what feels like the hundredth time. He feels like those words do not make any difference. 

“You were chased by a hawk!” Tommy yells, throwing his hands up like Wilbur is not getting the situation at hand. 

“I got away!” Wilbur explains, pulling Phil’s hands away and leaning back towards Kristin. Phil just loosely holds onto Wil’s hands, squeezing his fingers for a second. “And the hawk doesn’t matter, there’s good news.” 

“His wings are alright.” Kristin says, and Phil hums. 

“That is good news.” 

“No!” Wilbur yells. “Well, yes, the matter of my wings being fine is good news, but I mean- I found a human!” 

And with that, Wilbur watches Niki’s eyebrows go up in surprise, her reaction being the first of many.

Chapter Text

The next time Techno goes out to town, he makes a visit to the library and spends a good few hours tracking down whatever books he can find about fairies. 

For the most part, they’re all just stories, warning tales or children’s myths, but Techno thinks there’s bound to be some truth amongst it all, so he takes a pile home and spends the better part of his afternoon reading through old folktales. 

They’re not bad reads, at least. They’re interesting. Most of them shape fairies in a bad light, describing them as mischievous and dangerous, only leading men to misfortune. 

There’s a couple of writings that claim to be first-hand accounts, random angry strangers recounting their experience and telling how they got lost in the forest, misled by a glowing light and the sound of jingling bells while they were searching for the fairies’ home. 

Techno looks upon those people with nothing but amusement. Can’t blame a fairy for wanting humans to keep away from their land. He also seriously doubts anyone’s ever been truly hurt by such little creatures as those. All this fury and bitterness in the words that he reads just reeks of injured pride. 

Amongst all the talk of fairies being wild and unpredictable, there’s also scattered stories of people being “stolen” away by fairies. Passing rumors of strangers making friends with the forest, making friends with the fae, before then going missing entirely. 

That gives Techno a hint of worry within his chest, but he brushes it off easily enough. The fairy he found was just one fairy, and he hardly seemed like he wanted to steal Techno away. He didn’t quite seem capable of it, honestly, tiny as he was. He was just kinda annoying, at most. 

There’s one book compared to all the others that gives Techno a bad taste in his mouth. It seems innocent enough on the cover, claiming to be a simple book of faerie research, but when Techno opens it up, he finds page after page of advice on how to…make use of a fairy. 

Of how to collect their wings, their blood, their magic-- for greater purpose.

The words are written with the implication of experience and honest knowledge, more useful than all the other tales he’s read, but Techno knows that this wasn’t gathered in a kind way. The fairies here are described as nothing more than-- creatures, small animals that hold infinitely more value than the rest of the things within the forest. They’re described as the source for ingredients, for great power, and Techno’s hands shake with an old frustration he thought he’d left behind by now. 

He reads the book several times over, committing it all to memory, then he chucks it within his fire and lets the pages burn up. 

Oops, his hands slipped. Clumsy him, he’s just not as precise as he was when he was a soldier. 

He returns to the other stories to let his heart calm into something content again, and as the day passes into the night, and the moon rises high, he fills his head with stories of magic and remembers the company of a tiny person who speaks in bells. 

He falls asleep like that, curled up in his armchair by the fire, an open book rested on his chest. He dreams of nothing, but gets better rest than he’s gotten in a while. 

When he wakes up, it’s late into the morning. His limbs ache from the weird sleeping spot, and his mouth is dry. He puts his book to the side, standing on his feet, and he moves over to the kitchen with a need for something to drink. 

As he sips at a glass of water, he looks for something to eat, and his attention lingers longer than needed on the raspberries he has. The image of that faerie before, raspberry juice on his smiling face, flickers through his mind, and Techno’s swept with an aching sort of longing. 

He avoids the raspberries. He skips breakfast altogether. He drains the rest of the water in his glass, and returns back to the books he brought from the town, wanting to make the most of them. 

By the time he’s midway through the first page, though, it dawns on him that he’s possibly getting carried away with this whole faerie encounter thing. All these books, all his lingering thoughts, it’s not something to be worried about, but it is a little embarrassing. 

Techno puts down the book on his lap and leans backwards into his chair, tilting his chin up and staring at the ceiling with a frown wanting to sink into his expression. Living out here in the middle of nowhere has its perks, the benefit of peace and such, but he thinks the isolation might’ve gotten to him. He’s spent hours now pouring his attention into the idea of faeries, and he’s quite sure now that this heavy feeling in his chest is him missing the faerie that came by. 

He wants to see it again. Wants to hear the sound of bells, wants to see something flying around his house with as much ease as a hummingbird. 

Technoblade sighs. He wouldn’t say he’s exactly lonely out here, but it’s easy to admit that he has practically no friends. He definitely doesn’t make an effort to socialize back at town. He doesn’t have anyone from before to come visit his home. That faerie was the first guest in a long while, and now Techno’s hoping for it to pass by once again. 

Maybe he’s being too hard on himself here. Yeah, he’s kinda craving basic human interaction, but he did also have an experience with a faerie. A magical being of the forest. Can’t blame a dude for being a little mystified by that. It’s magic, after all. Enchanting. 

With that good excuse, Techno picks up his book again and throws himself back into the stories, enjoying each and every word, his curiosity fueling him throughout it all. He reads into the afternoon, then reads into the later day. And when he’s ran out of books to read, he starts from the beginning, but with a new journal at his side, his hand taking notes upon anything that might be true. 

Faeries can’t fly when their wings are wet. They can possibly do spells, or enchantments of some sort. They’re very good at hiding. They’re very quick. They don’t particularly like humans…but if one is polite enough, they’ll be polite back. They live in the forest. They speak in an indecipherable, unknown language. (Bells.) And they’re tiny. Very tiny. Techno knows that last fact well. 

It kinda bothers him how tiny they are, honestly. How can someone that small live safely? He supposes they have magic to defend themselves, but when he found that faerie, it didn’t have any magic to fend off even one bird. 

Techno’s fingers tap along the edges of his book, and he lifts his chin with a restless energy beginning to hum through him. The day is late, and the sun is setting, but there is still light, and Technoblade doesn’t find danger in the moonlight, anyway. 

He retrieves his sword from the depths of his closet, and goes out into the open field, swinging through the old motions that he used to do so often. He cuts at the grass, swipes through the air, and the weight of the metal in his palm is soothing, familiar. A roaring feeling in his heart demands to make his training mean something, to cut an enemy down and leave the ground bloody, but these lands have no dangers for miles, and Techno is putting that past behind him. 

His past is nothing but the past. 

Lifting his sword up to the sky, Techno finds the sun to have slipped away, the stars blinking out, the moon floating high above his head. He stares into the glint of his blade, the gleam of clean silver, and for a spare second, he swears he sees it stained with red. 

He drops the sword like it burnt him. It lands into the grass with a soft thump, and Techno holds his hand over his heart, trying to settle it down from the way it’s picked up too quickly. There is no danger here. There’s no reason to fight here. 

Slowly, he lowers himself to the ground, his legs feeling as if they’re moments from giving out. He sits and pulls his knees up to his chest, arms hugging around his legs, and he stares at the sword in the grass for a long few minutes, biting at the inside of his cheek with a churning feeling in his stomach. 

Eventually, he climbs to his feet again, and returns back inside. The sword finds its spot in his closet once again, not too far, but not in sight. 

The week from then on passes quietly. Techno spends most of his time reading and writing. He goes back to the town in search of more books of the fae, but everything that he has at home is basically all that’s there, so he’s left disappointed. He busies himself with his chores, carries along with the weight of simple life, but all the while he finds his gaze drifting to the forest off in the distance, wondering. 

If he were a weaker man, he’d march over to those trees and search through them for the sound of bells. 

But he is not a weak man. He has impeccable impulse control. He will definitely not wander off into the wilderness for a creature that is more myth than truth. Because that would just be irresponsible, and stupid.

The next morning, Techno packs a lunch into a satchel and heads off to the forest anyway. He gives the excuse of it being a nice nature walk, but he’s totally lying to himself with that one, and his ears are a little too alert for the purpose of just “enjoying nature.”

It is a wonderful environment, though. The shade is kind, the sun is warm in the spots where it peeks through the leaves, and there’s an enjoyable sort of silence to find amongst all the trees. 

As Techno walks further and further into the woods, a set of eyes land onto his back. He notices it the second they see him, but he doesn’t react. They watch him as he goes past, then there’s a soft rustle of leaves, and a new set of eyes come to join. 

A soft jingle of bells rings out. Another gaze settles onto Techno. Or more accurately, onto his hair. 

His bright, pink hair. 

Technoblade slows his steps down, looking up into the branches as if just enjoying the sight, and faintly, he hears the passing sound of bells again, faint and quiet. More and more attention focuses on him, and he can feel it collecting like rainwater in a bucket. 

There’s people watching him. But there’s no threat to be felt with it, so these are harmless people. 

Tiny people. 

Technoblade stops in his steps, and the slowly growing sound of bells comes to a sudden halt with him, as if waiting to see what he’ll do. 

Carefully, he turns his head over his shoulder, his hand grasping onto the strap of his satchel. 

A dozen little faeries look back at him, all hidden up in the branches, wings fluttering with excitement.  

“Oh.” Techno says, and he feels like failed to prepare for this possible scenario. 

Chapter Text

“...Hello?” Techno tries to say, but the word kinda shrivels up and dies in his throat, and he instead makes a weird sort of squeaking noise that resembles a dying animal. 

Great first impression. 

The faeries don’t seem to mind it all that much. If anything, they’re spurred on now by the fact he’s noticed them, and the forest trees explode with noise. The chorus of bells start up again, jingling away like the equivalent of someone filling a bag full of bells and shaking it like a madman. The faeries are talking to each other, talking to him, and he doesn’t understand a single word, but he assumes they’re excited. Probably. They certainly don’t seem fearful, not like that first day in the rain. 

Then again, Techno supposes there is safety to be found in numbers, and even if these faeries are quite small, Technoblade is very outnumbered. He tries to look across the branches and take count of how many there are, but now they’re moving and flying over his head, and there’s no hope of getting a solid number with that. 

They keep their distance, for a moment, flying to each other and pointing tiny hands at him, exchanging conversation, nodding and clapping as if Techno’s presence is a grand thing. 

Then they fly at him. 

“Oh god-!” Technoblade stumbles back when one gets a little too close, and they all hesitate with the reaction, letting Techno foolishly assume they’ll respect the thing called boundaries. 

But then Techno remembers these are faeries he’s talking about and the last interaction he had with one pretty much confirmed that they have no such thing. He’s doomed.

“Okay, how about we-” Techno tries to talk, but then they fly at him again, swarming around in circles, making Techno turn this way and that way trying to keep an eye on them. It’s impossible with how many there are though, and with how quickly they fly. He raises a hand to swat them away, only to falter with the possibility of hurting them. What if he seriously harms them, smacks them out of the air? They’re tiny things, he doubts they’re particularly durable. And he wouldn’t be able to sleep with that on his conscience. 

His hesitation with his worry is an open door for opportunity, and tiny hands lunge forward and grab at his hair, tugging and exclaiming with wonder over the color. Technoblade tries to move away from them, ducking down to move out of range, but the ones who have already gotten a grip refuse to let go, and their ringing bells echo like laughter as they swing on Techno’s braid. 

The faeries circle in closer as he crouches down to the floor, and Techno decides that in this moment, he’s got two choices. Make a run for it (possibly harming faeries in the process, but gaining freedom) or accept defeat (resigning himself to the fate of faeries in his hair, but no faeries harmed.)

Obviously, this is an easy choice, because frankly, Techno’s lived a fine life, dying at the hands of tiny faeries isn’t the worst way to go. 

Slowly, he crumples down towards the dirt ground, laying against the roots of a tree, and the jingling of bells never falters once. If anything, it gets more insistent, as more faeries land onto his head, unusually interested with his hair, apparently. 

“Okay.” Techno breathes out under his breath, eyes stuck on one particular faerie who’s swinging back and forth on the end of his braid. “This is fine.” If there’s one positive to being swarmed by faeries, it’s that he can’t really feel their weight or the tugging on his hair. It’s a very faint thing, hardly noticeable with how careful they are in their curiosity. 

They’re all very light. Techno offhandedly wonders if he just shook his head, would they all go flying off, like water being shaken off a dog’s head?

The sound of bells rings right into his ear, and Techno jolts with the sound, turning his head to find a faerie who had been poking at his ear. He gives them a meaningful look, a frown tugging at his lips, and they fly away like a child having gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar. 

He shuffles carefully in his spot, resting further against the bottom of the tree and raising his hands to put them over his ears, lest any other faeries get any ideas and try poking their hands into his eardrums. Plus, the constant bells are kinda getting to him now. It’s a bit much. 

As soon as he puts his palms to his ears, the faeries notice the slight furrow in his brow, and they yell out at each other to shut up and stop screaming over his pink hair (as if they themselves weren’t screaming just two seconds before.) The bells lessen considerably then, and the quiet of the forest seeps back in, washing everything down with a sense of calmness. 

The faeries settle down, as much as a faerie can settle down, and they take their spots on the ground, on Techno’s braid, on his legs. A few of them fiddle with the laces of his boots, intrigued by it, and Techno lowers his hands for a moment to scold them off. 

“Hey, hey- stop that.” He waves a hand to shoo them away, and they scatter off his foot, only to return again within the minute. This time, they try to fiddle with his laces a little more subtly. It does not escape Techno’s notice. “Don’t untie my shoes.” He warns, and he swears one of the faeries wave a hand at him as if saying “don’t worry about it.” 

Another few faeries by the ground poke at his hand, tickling at the scars left behind from years prior. Techno turns to them with the sound of their bells, and when he goes to pull his hand up, he finds one trying to cling onto his finger, as if wanting to give him a hug. 

Technoblade huffs, amused with the sight, and entirely unaware of the fretting the faeries are giving over the implication that he was once hurt. All he sees is them poking at his skin and grabbing onto his hands, their voices jingling through the air all the while. 

A shift of movement catches his attention from the corner of his eye, and Techno turns to find the strange sight of floating flowers. Then upon closer inspection, he realizes it’s not floating flowers at all, but rather fairies carrying flowers much bigger than them. He holds out a hand, not sure if he should help or not, but they fly out of his grasp, shaking tiny fingers at him as if insisting to let them do it. 

He’s not even sure what they’re doing, though. It becomes clear in the next minute when those same faeries fly towards the top of his head, putting the flowers into his hair with the help of plenty of other tiny hands. 

“What are you-?” Techno tries to look up, but he gets a ringing chorus of annoyed bells at him moving, so he looks straight ahead and stays looking straight ahead. “Alright.” 

He tries to keep perfectly still to let them work, and as he sits there with flowers being tucked into his hair, he wonders what the implication of such an action is. Is this a gift of some sort? Are they just being polite? Or are they really just that mystified by his pink hair? 

For magical beings of the forest, he really thinks they shouldn’t be this surprised over a hair color. But who is he to judge? 

More flowers get brought over bit by bit, with the faeries trading words, arguing where each one should go. They tug at the roots on his head a couple times, but never harsh enough to hurt, just enough to be kinda bothersome. Techno wrinkles his nose with an urge to protest, but all the faeries have finally calmed down with the one set goal of getting flowers into his hair, so he’s not going to break them out of their focus. 

He sits there for a short while, bells ringing out, a few stray petals fluttering past his face, and he notes that this outcome isn’t so bad. It’s a bit…much, to have so many tiny people on him, messing with his hair and probably getting leaves tangled into his braid, but it’s not horrible. If anything, it’s kinda peaceful. 

There’s something content to be found with all the attention on him. With anyone else he might’ve started looking for an escape route at this point, but the faeries don’t expect conversation from him, with the language barrier and all. They’re just insistent on getting their hands onto the pink color of his hair, and he’s willing to indulge that. Anything to prevent them from swarming him again. That was a lot.

As the faeries on his head begin adding the finishing touches, Techno lets his eyes close for a moment, listening close to the breeze in the forest and the sound of gentle bells. 

Then he opens his eyes to the sound of one very loud bell, jingling furiously with a very clear message; to move.

All the faeries jump up into the air, flying off and dashing away, and Techno’s filled with a deep worry, sitting up straight and trying to see what’s spooked them. He’s nearly seconds away from standing to his feet and looking for the threat, and then he’s distracted by one faerie practically flying right into his face. 

He flinches back and feels a tap on his nose, going cross-eyed in an effort to see which one has flown so close. He holds a hand up, as if to push them away, and the faerie lands right onto the back of his fingers, their feet almost stomping on his knuckles. 

Technoblade blinks. He’s come face to face with the sight of a very angry faerie, the same one from before, the same one he saved from that bird. 

“Oh, it’s you.” Techno says, and Wilbur stomps his foot down again, lifting up a hand and yelling in bells. “Look I don’t-” Bells, bells. “Hey-” Even more bells. “I still don’t understand you-” Bells, once again. “You know, I thought you would’ve been happy to see me.” 

Wilbur stops, crossing his arms over his chest, and he gives a very upset nod, agreeing that he’s glad with Techno’s presence. Technoblade gives a look of confusion then, not sure what his faerie is so bothered by, and he barely resists the urge to roll his eyes when Wil starts yelling in bells again. 

“I don’t speak bells.” Techno reminds, and Wilbur flies up off his hand, reaching for something in a bag he has slung over his shoulder, and throwing it at Techno’s face. Technoblade jerks back, closing his eyes and holding a hand up to shield himself from any more attacks. 

“Did you throw sand at me-?” Techno asks, his skin tingling with whatever hit him, and he pauses in place, squinting through the maybe-sand for a moment. Wilbur watches him with curiosity, the few faeries still hiding nearby look on with excitement, and-

Techno sneezes. 

Wilbur laughs, an abrupt little cackle that seems to surprise even him, and Technoblade means to give him a mean look, maybe tell him to not throw sand at his face, but then he realizes that he heard that laugh. 

He heard the faerie laugh. 

It wasn’t bells. 

“Uh…” Technoblade rubs at his face, unsure if he’s just hearing things, but then the faerie starts to talk again, reaching back into his bag. 

“I’m not actually sure if that was enough-- I mean, technically I’m supposed to sprinkle this on you, but if it hits you, it works either way, I would hope-”

“Uh.” Technoblade leans back into the tree behind him, eyes wide, and Wilbur pauses. “You talk?”

“Oh, it was enough!” Wilbur brightens up, clasping his hands together with joy. 

“You talk!” Technoblade repeats, an edge of panic rising through his voice, and he kicks his feet to scoot away, moving around the tree as Wilbur quickly follows. 

“Wait, wait- yes I talk! I can talk! You can listen-!” Wilbur and Techno circle around the tree for a moment, and then Wilbur flies the other way, getting into Techno’s path and hovering right before his face. “Don’t be scared!”

“I’m not scared!” Techno denies, shrinking away with his eyes flicking up into the branches. “I’m- uh.” 

All the faeries from before haven’t seemed to have gone far, and they all lean out from their spots on the branches, whispering to each other with brimming curiosity. Now, Techno can hear all their words, their constant chatter over him, and now, he feels a little too in the spotlight. 

Wilbur doesn’t appreciate the company, and his lip twists into an annoyed frown as he floats up a bit, waving his arms at the crowd, trying to send the silent message for them to all go away. When they don’t listen, Wilbur shakes his head and decides then that he has to bring out the big guns. 

He turns to a certain direction with his hands cupped around his mouth, and he yells out at the top of his lungs. 

“TOMMYYYY!” 

There’s a second of pause, then all at once, the faeries scatter and scream with overlapping sounds of panic, Techno lifting his chin up to find one certain faerie attacking at all the others, on a mission to get them to leave the area. He’s mildly concerned by the sheer chaos up in the branches, all the tiny screaming of faeries trying to get away, and he swears he sees someone get tackled and pushed off the tree. Luckily, they all have wings, so no fear of falling, but still. 

“Oh my gods-- Tommy, I said to shoo them off, not to fucking murder them-!” Wilbur yells, flying up towards the diminishing crowd, and faintly, Techno hears another voice above all the rest, yelling out like a war cry. 

“Go, go, go! SHOO! Oh, if I see any of you coming back, I’m throwing you into the pond while you sleep!” 

“Tommy!” 

Techno’s gaze trails off to the few last fairies escaping into the forest, giving quick waves of goodbye as they go, and Techno waves back, distracted again at the sound of his faeries voice scolding someone up in the branches. 

“What?! I’m doing my job-- Wilbur, ow, ow, ow, stooop!” Someone whines much like an annoyed child getting their ear pulled, and a faerie falls out from the tree, falling through the air towards Techno. 

Technoblade jumps forward to catch them, but there’s really no need, because the faerie catches their balance mid-air, and they hover over Techno’s palm with a shake of their head, like they’re trying to clear their thoughts. 

“Fucking hell, man.” Tommy huffs, and he looks past his feet to see Techno’s retreating hand, then he twists around with a beaming smile. “Hey!” He greets, and Techno offers a crooked grin in response, only to have the grin fall into something of surprise as Tommy’s tackled with a blur of Wilbur. 

“Ok, you gave your hellos, now go-!”

“No, I want to talk to him!”

“No! Go away!”

The two faeries land onto the forest floor, scuffling with each other and yanking the other down when they try to fly away. They kick their feet and swing their hands, and Techno just sits before them with slight concern, wondering if he should be stepping in or not. 

After a solid minute of them still fighting with each other, Techno reaches out and carefully grabs them both by the shirt, yanking them apart. 

“Maybe don’t kill each other?” He suggests, and the two faeries pause for a second. They look up at him with a slow blink, then they begin yelling. 

“Put me down-!”

“I’m going to bite you-”

Techno misses the bells. 

Chapter Text

After a headache and a half of Techno learning the very valuable lesson of you do not grab faeries mid-argument, his faerie’s original chipper mood (read: his silly mode) comes back into play, full force. 

Wilbur flies up into Techno’s space with a clear excitement, and Technoblade leans back at the action, just a bit, on the off chance that Wil decides to fly into his face again to get his full attention. He’d really rather not have a faerie smack into his face. He’s already learnt how vicious they can be at close range, case in point; Tommy gnawing at his fingertips when he wasn’t put down fast enough. 

“Proper greetings are in order.” Wilbur declares, chin held high, and Tommy gives a loud snort in the background, making Wil’s eye twitch with the cain instinct. “My name is Wilbur. You saved my life, and so I am in your debt.” 

He gives a little bow mid-air, with a flourish of his arm and an extra flutter of his wings, and Technoblade tilts his head in slight wonder, giving a hesitant smile. 

“Cool.” He responds, honestly kinda fascinated by the fact this is first proper interaction with a faerie. It’s very polite, very much like the stories. “Uhm, I’m-”

“And I’m Tommy!” Tommy cuts in, slamming into Wilbur midair, and Wilbur screams as he gets thrown off balance, both him and Tommy flying wildly for a second before regaining their place. “I’M HIS BROTHER!” Tommy adds on, over the sound of Wilbur telling him to stop talking or I swear I’ll fill your entire bed with bugs-!

“Oh.” Technoblade didn’t know faeries could have brothers. He didn’t ever quite think they could have families, either. That’s an unimaginative way of thinking, but in his defense, in all those stories he’s read, all the books he poured hours into, they never quite described faeries as beings of community. They were just kinda-- there. Always on their own, a single glowing light hiding past the trees. A rare sight. 

He supposes that any sort of living creature would need community to survive, though. Humans are the same. And faeries, being as secretive and hidden as they are, probably live in much closer-knit circles, leaning on each other, keeping close together, watching one another’s back. 

That would explain why so many swarmed on Techno so easily-- he probably walked right into their territory or something, where they were all hanging out together. 

Although, he wonders why they didn’t lead him out, or chase him off, or curse him, if they are capable of that. He’s human. Shouldn’t he be considered a danger?

He fiddles with the end of his braid for a moment before remembering that the stranger danger protocol might’ve been entirely overridden by the sheer wonder of dyed pink hair. 

Never has he been so glad to have made that particular impulsive choice. 

Blinking out of his thoughts, Tommy and Wilbur have started up in another argument again, Wilbur losing any grace he might’ve shown towards Techno before and now beginning to look as if he’s considering murder. Techno’s kinda tempted to sit back and see that play out, with the way Tommy is being relentlessly stubborn to let himself be included and Wilbur is very much wanting Tommy to be excluded, but he’s already saved the faerie’s life once, and there’s no sense in letting it go to waste in a intense brotherly bickering to the death. 

“I’m Technoblade.” He calls out, louder than their raised voices, hoping that the reminder of company will bring them out of their squabbling. Both faeries freeze and turn their heads to him at his introduction, and Techno keeps talking, a little flustered by their reaction. “Or, the blade, I guess. Or Techno. Or…” He falters, biting his tongue. 

A beat of silence passes, the faeries blinking up at him. Technoblade sweats in slight panic over whether he might’ve said something impolite by mistake. He’s trying to remember what all those books he’s read said about meeting of faerie, but he just keeps thinking about that one warning that faeries will ‘lead oneself to fate.’ 

That’s not really helpful. 

Suddenly, Tommy yanks away from Wilbur’s arms to fly at Techno, screaming high as if Techno’s told him the greatest news in his life. “The BLADE?!” He repeats, and Techno swears he actually sees sparkles in the kid’s eyes. Like, honest to god, tiny twinkling bits of light, shimming on his face. Maybe that’s just the magic sand, though. “Your name is The Blade?! That’s so fucking cool, holy shit-”

“Technoblade.” Wilbur says, and Techno turns his attention over to him, but it doesn’t seem like he was calling Techno, rather, he was just testing out the name himself, seeing how it would sound in his own voice. He beams up at Techno with something warm. “It’s good to meet you.” He says, and Techno lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug. 

“Not the first time we’ve met, but- yeah.”

“Right, right, that time with the hawk-” Wilbur purses his lips, not looking particularly fond of that memory, and Tommy shakes his head at him in mock disappointment. 

“You almost died.” Tommy informs Wilbur. 

“I didn’t, though.” Wilbur points out. “I got better.”

“But you almost did.” Tommy repeats. Then he turns to Techno with a wide grin. “Our dad was sooo pissed when he found out Wil got lost in the rain. He’s not supposed to leave the village for two weeks now.” 

Technoblade is curious at the mention of a dad, the mention of a village, but he refrains from interrogating the faeries for more info. Instead, he gives an amused little look towards Wil, who lands upon Techno’s knee with an upset frown. 

“I thought I would be back before the rain hit. It was just cloudy!”

“Clouds usually mean a storm.” Techno says. “I wouldn't have risked it if I were you.”

Wilbur flaps a hand unconcernedly. “Well, if I didn’t go out that day, I wouldn’t have met you.” He claps his hands behind his back, standing a little taller. “And that would’ve been unfortunate.” 

Techno pauses. He blinks, not sure how to respond to that, and thankfully Tommy saves him from the ordeal of processing emotions by loudly asking the question that has been plaguing faerie-kind for days. 

“Why is your hair pink?!” Tommy points at him, and Technoblade raises his eyebrows with a light scoff. “It’s cursed, right? You got cursed as a child, I bet. I mean, look at how you sit. Uncursed people don’t sit like that.”

“What’s wrong with how I sit?” Techno frowns, looking down at himself and wondering how exactly the placement of his legs would determine if he pissed off a witch in his younger years. “No, I wasn’t cursed.” 

“You have magic, then!” Wilbur guesses, hopping on Techno’s knee with clear excitement over the prospect. “You’re a wizard!”

Technoblade shakes his head with a smile. “No, I’m just human.” 

“Wizards can be human.” Wilbur points out. “Although…” He lowers his head in thought, tapping a finger at his chin. “Didn’t wizards die out?” He murmurs. 

Technoblade can’t be too sure about that one, with what experience he’s had with carefully crafted potions and shining enchantments on weapons. He’s never met a wizard, but he thinks he’s benefited from their abilities, at some point. He won’t admit to that, though. Those times were in the past, and the past is nothing but the past. Behind him. 

“I dye my hair pink. It’s just colored by my own hands.” Technoblade tells them both, running his fingers over his head and freezing when he feels the flowers woven in at the top. He forgot those were there. He gently nudges at one of the petals sitting above his ear. 

“Nooo!” Tommy cries, slapping his hands to his face and spinning in circles mid-air. “Now I owe Tubbo money!” He lifts his hands up to the sky, as if despairing to the gods above. 

“I told you to not make bets-” Wilbur huffs. 

“You said your human was cursed, though!” 

“I said I wondered if he was cursed, I didn’t say he was.” Wilbur corrects, and Tommy whines again, mourning the loss of whatever amount he had bet on with his friends in the village. Wilbur ignores his crisis and flies off of Techno’s knee, rising up to the flowers in his hair so that he can adjust a few that have gone crooked. “I like this color.” He tells Techno, patting a tiny hand onto the top of his head. “It reminds me of the flowers that grow by the pond.”

“There’s a pond near here?” Techno asks, tilting his head up carefully so as to not jostle Wil, and Wilbur gives a noise of confirmation. 

“Want to go see it?” He asks, looking giddy to be able to lead up towards it, and really, Techno shouldn’t be following faeries deeper into the forest, because by all accounts, that seems like a bad idea. 

But Wilbur is very earnest. And Techno is very curious. 

So what could be the harm?

The pond that they come across after a short walk further into the trees is a beautiful thing, with a plentiful amount of plantlife sprouting up all around it, painting its edges in color. There are flowers of all the colors of the rainbow, along with mushrooms and pretty shaped leaves and tiny stacks of pebbles scattered around. Wilbur warns Techno to not knock them over, and he’s in agreement with that, simply because the presence of such little towers are clear evidence that this is the faerie’s territory, and he wouldn’t dare to be rude and destroy their decoration. 

When Techno steps carefully past the bright green grass to look further into the water of the pond, he swears he sees the blur of movement underneath the surface, perhaps fish, swimming around. A part of him wants to stick his hand in there and feel the coolness of it against his skin, but he resists the urge and instead finds a comfortable spot to sit down and eat his lunch. 

Tommy digs his grubby little hands into Techno’s bread the first chance he gets, with Wilbur telling him to stop acting like a wild animal and Technoblade having to quite literally yank a faerie out from his bread. Tommy’s covered in crumbs when he’s put down, but he looks immensely satisfied with himself, and for that, Techno has to give some sort of approval/amusement. 

A couple of faeries come and go, disappearing into the forest, into the branches of the trees overhead, and Techno looks with careful attention, but he can never quite tell when they leave. It’s like they come, they appreciate the color of Techno’s hair, then they disappear into thin air upon Wilbur’s insistence to leave them be. 

Maybe the presence of Tommy is a good motivator for them to get the hell out of the area, though. For such a tiny faerie, there is far too much energy in his bones. 

As Techno bites into an apple and stares off into the bits of sunlight coming through the trees, there’s a tug of weight on his sleeve, as if someone is trying to grab his attention. When he looks down, though, Wilbur is only hanging off his sleeve, his feet kicking through the air as if he’s playing a game. 

“This is a picnic, isn’t it?” He asks aloud, wings fluttering for a moment to give him more of a swing, and Techno lifts his arm higher to let him hang on easier. “Because we’re sitting on the grass and sharing food.”

“I’m eating food. Tommy ate the inside of my bread like a starving mouse.” Techno responds, ignoring Tommy’s offended squawk at being called a mouse. 

“Yes, right-- I would bring food of our own to share, but I don’t think any of it would be enough for you to even enjoy a single bite.” 

Techno huffs with a smile at his lips. He takes another bite of his apple. “You guys are awfully tiny.”

“We’re faeries.” Wilbur reminds simply. “And my point is- if we’re on a picnic, then we’re friends. I’ve heard people who go on picnics are friends.” 

Techno chews thoughtfully at that, a little touched that a faerie would want to be friends with him. He did save Wilbur’s life and all, but beside that, he would admit their first impression wasn’t…ideal. 

Wilbur seems to like him either way, though. 

“What?!” Tommy speaks up then, lifting his head from where he was playing with the grass blades. “No, that’s not right!”

Techno tenses up at the upset tone in Tommy’s voice, wondering if calling them friends is taking it a bit too far. Faeries are well-hidden creatures, perhaps even a little possessive. Makes sense if Tommy doesn’t want his brother to connect himself to a human so quickly-

“I heard that only families go on picnics!” 

Technoblade freezes mid-bite, and he doesn’t even get a chance to laugh at that sentence before Wilbur is agreeing wholeheartedly along. 

“Well, we are brothers.” Wil points out, waving a finger between him and Tommy. Then he flutters his wings and lands into the crook of Techno’s elbow, sitting comfortably in the fold of fabric there. 

“We are brothers.” Tommy flies up and lands onto Techno’s leg, lifting his arms up as if including them all into that sentence, Techno especially. “Techno’s our big brother.” He grins wide, letting a beat pass. “Get it? Because he’s bigger than us?”

Wilbur gives a scoff, hiding his laugh, and Techno raises a hand and flicks Tommy off his knee, Tommy screaming as he gets sent back into the grass. 

“You should come visit again.” Wilbur tells Techno, ignoring Tommy’s wailing cries of how he’s injured terribly and he sees the light. “And we can have more picnics. And put more flowers into your hair.”

Technoblade taps a finger against the skin of his apple, trying to hold back the knee-jerk urge to instantly agree. Is he being enchanted here? Is this a faerie kidnapping tactic? It could be. He should totally be more cautious about this. His many stories about the fae have warned him about this. 

“I’m not a faerie.” Technoblade says slowly, his only argument, which doesn’t sound very enthusiastic. 

“No, you’re human.” Wilbur scrunches his nose like that’s a horrid thing to be. “But you saved me from that bird a while ago, and you shared bread with Tommy, so you’re not all that bad.” He leans back into Techno’s sleeve, kicking his feet up. “And besides, I still owe you a debt. I have to figure out how to repay you.” 

Technoblade doesn’t protest against having a faerie’s favor. They seem like the kind to be prickly with their debts, so he’ll let Wilbur be with that. 

As long as he’s able to keep having tiny company.

Chapter Text

Techno falls into the habit of having his lunch in the forest from then on. 

He knows he still has his chores around the house and his garden to tend to, basic household stuff, but those things don’t take up the whole day, and they don't compare to the interesting company of faeries. 

With all honesty, every time without fail, whenever he’s done with his errands, he’s always faced with far too much free time and a suffocating sense of boredom. The chance to escape the house for a bit, for an afternoon out in the forest is freeing, and he hardly ever hesitates from going out the door. 

By the end of the week, he’s running out through the grass fields with a childish sort of giddiness, sure of the direction and sure that when he gets in range, Wilbur will try again to fly onto his shoulder and cling for dear life, despite all of Techno’s protests. He’s a stubborn faerie. It’s mildly endearing. 

He doesn't get lost in the forest anymore, not after the first day, where it took a frustrating long hour to figure out where the end of the forest even was. (Wilbur and Tommy had been no help, only complaining loudly into Techno’s ears that he had stuck around for such a short time and he had to stay for just “one more hour.” Luckily, Techno has experience with finding his way and memorizing his surroundings, much to the brothers’ disappointment.) 

Techno spends his mornings packing food into his satchel, wrapping up sandwiches, throwing in a few fruits, then leaving the house in a rush to not be late on some imaginary clock ticking away in his head. He’s always careful to not pack too much, because as tempted as he is to bring extra for his little friends, he knows Tommy couldn't manage to finish an entire sandwich with the size of his stomach. (But oh, does he give his greatest effort to try.)

The other faeries, besides Wil and Tommy, are curious about the food he brings sometimes, but they always refuse an offer of a bite, and instead fly off to wherever they hide in the branches. They still bring flowers to Techno often, but Wilbur’s taken over the ordeal of braiding them in, even if the job is a bit hard for one single faerie. (Tommy is banned from helping.) Still, no one argues with his insistence, and instead flowers are quietly left around Techno, in a neat little circle that is usually wrecked within ten minutes with Tommy determined to somehow “organize” them. 

For the most part, Wil and Tommy are the only faeries who really stick around, with everyone else only ever dropping flowers and then disappearing into the trees. Wilbur explains that all the other faeries are just wary, shy, but with the dramatic roll of Tommy’s eyes behind him, and the way the faeries certainly didn't seem scared on the first day, Techno feels as if he might be fibbing. 

He doesn't call him out on it though. He'd much rather enjoy the company of two faeries rather than a hundred. 

The afternoons by the pond are usually spent with stories, mostly from the faeries’ end rather than Techno’s. They seem to have a certain enjoyment in telling him everything they can about anything they know, filling up the world with their voice, and Techno listens quietly, either nodding or giving a faint hum of agreement here and there. His input isn't really desired, which Techno appreciates, because he's never really been one to carry a conversation. Tommy and Wil are content to carry it for him.

They tell him of their village hidden away, filled with other faeries and their homes, their busy way of life with a constant buzz of work. Wilbur rambles on about the inner workings of an automatic sorter his father made to organize nuts for the village, and Tommy cuts in saying how boring Wilbur being, only for Wilbur to slap his palm against his brother's face and speak even more earnestly about his father’s inventions.

Wil’s father, Phil, from what Techno has been told, is a creative sort of soul, the head of the village's schedules and their systems, allowing things to stay on track and improve with time. He’s always unimaginably busy with the job, so it's not expected for him to leave the village and grace Techno with a visit.

“Not that he doesn’t want to visit you. He does. We talk plenty about you at home, he just has no time to spare for a single human.” Wilbur reassures one warm afternoon, his wings fluttering in short bursts as he climbs up Techno’s sleeve, digging his feet against the fabric. 

He’s been doing that a lot more often. Techno wonders why he doesn't just fly up instead of going through all the effort of scaling his arm. Maybe the effort is part of the fun. Techno supposes if he had wings, he would still stick to occasionally climbing too.

“Mum wants to visit.” Tommy speaks up then, wiping his mouth of crumbs from where he was trying to devour Techno’s sandwich. He’s hardly made a dent in the bread. “But she’s even busier than he is, because she's always got to look over everyone’s wings all day.”

Their mother, Kristin, Wilbur explains then, through panting breaths as he climbs higher towards Techno’s shoulder, is the protector of their magic. She ensures their pixie dust never goes dry, ensures no faerie falls too far, and ensures that their village stays hidden . 

“She made the portal!” Tommy says with pride. Wilbur shushes him, and Techno wisely pretends he didn't hear about any portal. Clearly, he can know all about the village, but he shouldn’t know anything about how to get to it. 

“If your parents are the two leaders of the village,” Techno pauses, chewing at a raspberry for a moment in thought. “-what does that make you two? Shouldn't you also be off taking care of your people?” 

“Technically,” Wilbur grunts, finally pulling himself onto Techno’s shoulder with a grin of victory. Techno cups a hand around him to make sure he won't fall. “- I should be studying our history in the library and make sure all our stories are intact, and Tommy should be with his teacher for lessons on the human world, but I don't want to be in the library and Tommy is Tommy.” Wilbur waves an uncaring hand towards his little brother, who's digging back into Technos sandwich with a fearsome determination. 

Techno raises his eyebrows, carefully pulling Wilbur off his shoulder, having to hold the faerie awkwardly midair when Wil screams and clings onto part of his hair and doesn't let go. 

“Why wouldn't you want to be in the library?” Techno asks, ignoring Wilbur’s swinging feet and frantic attempt to let himself have a spot on Techno’s shoulder. “I’d take that job in a heartbeat- I can't imagine what sort of books you guys have in there.” Techno’s always liked libraries, honestly. They’re quiet, filled with books with plenty of knowledge to pass the time, and usually no one bothers you while you’re inside. 

Usually. Techno hasn’t really had a good track record with libraries so far, with the last librarian he saw giving him a stink eye the entire time he existed within their vicinity, but it’s definitely a wonderful concept.

“It's the library .” Wilbur deadpans, pausing with his struggle to give an incredulous look at Techno. Techno takes the opportunity to quickly yank him away from his hair, Wilbur giving a cry of despair.

“I've always enjoyed reading.” Techno admits, letting Wilbur go and watching him hover before him with crossed arms and a frowning face. “I even have a few books about you.”

Wilbur blinks with surprise. “About me?”

“Or, uh-” Techno fumbles for a moment, rephrasing his words and eating another raspberry. “About faeries. From a human’s point of view, of course, but yes, about you.”

“Oh, you have got to bring that.” Tommy insists, accepting defeat at finishing Technos sandwich and instead focusing his attention to attacking his supply of raspberries instead.

Techno does bring it the next day. He packs a book beside his food in his satchel, and after another faceful of magic sand (“There’s got to be a better way to do that.” “No, this is definitely effective.”) Techno’s able to read a couple pages out to Wil and Tommy, and then listen to their endless complaints, because that’s not how faeries are!

“We can’t curse anybody, magic doesn’t work like that.” Wilbur grumbles from his spot on Techno’s knee, wings opening and closing behind his back. “Gods know it would’ve come in handy by now…” He gives a pointed look at Tommy, who’s sitting precariously on top of Techno’s book, and Tommy gives Wilbur a very rude hand gesture in response. 

“Why would we steal children? What would we even do with them?” Tommy asks, a few minutes later, interrupting Techno mid sentence and nearly hanging upside down from how far he’s leaning. “I mean, if enough of us try, we can carry a baby away, but then what the fuck do we do with it?”

“Eat it.” Techno responds with a blank face, and Tommy and Wilbur give him matching looks of horror.

“Techno!”

“Ew, no!”

They get through most of the book with little problem, most of the faeries’ comments making Techno smile down at the pages with a poorly held back laugh. (“I am very fast at flying, this book has one thing right-” “Bet I’m faster.” “I will race you, right now.”) Over the course of the next few days, Techno brings the other books too, reading them out for a couple of hours while faeries complain over the inaccuracy and steal bits of his lunch. 

At some point, he gets a little too carried away, reads for a little too long, and by the time he looks up, the sun has fallen away, leaving the forest dimmer than usual. 

The pond is still plenty bright, though. 

It’s nearly glowing, all the flowers and leaves and mushrooms around it emitting a faint, soft light. 

“See, I told you need to stick around longer.” Wilbur says, upon seeing Techno’s stare towards the water and all its glittering plants around it. “The pond never gets dark, so you wouldn’t have to be scared.” 

“It’s beautiful.” Technoblade simply responds, genuine with every letter, and Wilbur looks up at him with a strange face before then giving a happy smile. “How does no one find it? Isn’t the light obvious?”

“The forest hides it, obviously.” Tommy says, rolling over and laying down on Techno’s thigh. “All the trees don’t make it easy for it to be seen .” 

“Even if anyone got close, there are usually faeries who keep guard and lead the person away.” Wilbur looks up towards the branches, and Techno looks up with him, finding small spots of glowing light hiding behind the leaves. They remind him faintly of fireflies. “It’s our pond. No one gets this close.”

“...except me.” Techno says. 

“Except The Blade!” Tommy confirms, slapping his hand at Techno’s pants to make him look at him. “You’re cool, you fought off a hawk for Wilbur, so you can see it.”

“I didn’t fight off a hawk.” Techno is pretty sure the bird had just flown off when he got too near. He didn’t even touch the thing. 

Tommy shakes his head, already set with his vision. “No, I’m pretty sure Wilbur said you fought it. With your fists and everything. You went- hah! Hiyah!” He hits his fists through the air, kicking his legs up, mimicking the supposed fight. 

Technoblade turns his attention over to Wilbur with a fond sort of exasperation, and Wilbur shakes his head as if communicating ‘he’s delusional.’ 

Techno stays a little later here and there from that night on. He doesn’t want to stay too long-- he knows he’d probably end up sleeping in the forest if he let himself linger, and the dirt floor certainly wouldn’t be comfortable-- but he does enjoy how pretty the pond gets after sunset, and he’s willing to indulge his faeries with his company for a bit longer on some days. 

One day, though, after a later night than usual with the walk home feeling especially tiring, Techno falls into a fitful sleep, and wakes up feeling like death. A headache pounds through his skull like it’s trying to free his thoughts, his limbs feel sore like he’s gotten carried away with a training exercise, and the air is far too warm. Or cold. Maybe warm. It varies by the minute, honestly. 

It’s not a good way to wake up, and Techno forgoes visiting the forest that day, deciding that when he does get better from whatever illness he’s picked up, he could apologize by taking a piece of cake over, or something. Tommy would enjoy that. 

He makes a cup of so-so tea for breakfast, and snoozes through the afternoon, rolling from side to side in his sleep and having fever dreams that leave him mostly confused. When he opens his eyes, it’s to the sound of ringing bells, and he for some reason thinks he’s left something cooking in the oven. 

He doesn’t even have an oven.

The bells ring over his head again, and Techno blearily blinks his eyes, finding his faerie hovering over him, practically so close to his face that he’s nearly cross-eyed. 

“Oh.” He says, very eloquently. “You.”

He gets a face full of magic sand, then, and Wilbur’s annoyed voice goes in one ear and out the other. 

“Where were you-” He says, a tinge of worry in his words. “-me and Tommy were waiting and waiting-” There’s the tiniest gust of wind as Wil does the faerie equivalent of pacing and begins flying back and forth over Techno’s chest. “-I thought something bad happened to you-!”

“Uhg.” Techno turns over on his side, ignoring Wilbur’s outraged noise. “I just came down with something, that’s all. I was going to apologize when I came back.”

A pause. Techno’s eyes have slipped shut again, and he’s tired enough that he doesn’t say anything against the tiny weight settling onto the top of his arm. 

“...You…came down with something?” Wilbur asks quietly, noting the weariness in Techno’s voice. “Can you come back up? Do you need help to sit up, is that it?” He asks, sounding…awfully genuine. 

Techno cracks open an eye, looking at Wil. He frowns at Wilbur, as if waiting for him to admit he’s joking, but Wil’s just waiting for a response. “Do faeries not get sick?”

“Sick?” Wilbur repeats, confused for a second. “Wait, you’re ill?” He asks, suddenly jumping into the air, wings fluttering quickly. “Oh, you’re-!” He looks around in a sudden panic. “You’re sick! Oh! I’ll be back, I will be right back!”

And off he goes, flying out the way he came in. Technoblade should probably be worried about whatever Wil’s doing. He is sleepy enough that he does not. 

When he wakes up again, it is to the clatter of something in his kitchen, and barely-heard voices shouting from downstairs. Technoblade squints at the ceiling, not really wanting that to be his problem, but then he decides that this is house and that is his faerie, so it is kinda his problem, technically. 

He drags himself out of bed and wraps his blanket around his shoulders, creeping down the stairs and making his way into the kitchen. 

What he is greeted with is the sight of several faeries, Tommy and Wilbur included, all working diligently to make what…seems like soup. Probably is soup. Might not be edible, but that is definitely an attempt at soup. 

“Tommy, are you sure that’s salt?” Niki asks, and Tommy drags a container across the countertop with a nod. 

“Yeah. It’s white and it looks like sand. Salt.” 

“It doesn’t seem like salt.” Eret frowns, landing down beside the tiny container to look closer at what’s inside. 

“It’s fucking salt!” Tommy insists. 

“No, it’s not.” Techno says, and all the faeries freeze. “It’s sugar. Also, what are you all doing in my house?”

“You’re not supposed to be up!” Wilbur cries out, pointing an accusing finger out and flying at Techno to push him backwards. “You’re sick! You’re ill!”

“I’m not dying, Wil.” Technoblade doesn’t even budge at first, but he relents with how earnestly Wilbur is trying to push him out of the kitchen. “Please don’t set my house on fire.” He calls out behind him, and he gets vague promises in return. 

Wilbur ushers him over to the living room, to sit comfortably down on the rug, beside where the fire is somehow burning, despite Techno having not lit it today. The faeries figured out how to make fire in his home. That’s definitely comforting. 

“There are faeries in my kitchen.” Techno notes as he sits down, huddling further into the blanket wrapped around him. “You guys broke into my kitchen.” 

“First off, you left a window open, and second, you are sick. No moving around.” Wilbur orders, giving a scolding sort of look at him.

Techno can’t help but return an amused smile. “You didn’t realize I was sick earlier?”

“I thought you were sleeping! I thought you just decided to sleep the day away and skip out on our visit!”

“Faeries don’t get sick?” Techno raises his eyebrows, a little curious for the answer. 

“It’s been forever since I’ve been sick.” Wilbur murmurs, but then he shakes his head. “No, faeries don’t get sick. We don’t really have illnesses like how humans do. So I thought you were just being lazy.”

“Yeah, no.” Techno shrugs. “I was not.” 

“I know that now!” Wilbur yells. He holds a hand to his chest, looking proud. “Luckily, I had some friends who were willing to come help out and take care of you, so now we are here and you don’t have to worry!” 

Techno’s heart warms with something fond. He smiles tiredly up at Wil with a wandering thought on the back of his head at how he ever got so lucky to be given such swell company. He’s never quite liked the idea of neighbors. Part of the reason why he moved out in the middle of nowhere. But faeries are very easy to love. 

“My saviors.” He drawls, and Wilbur nods, insisting for Techno to stay put while they make dinner. Techno isn’t sure if he should trust the soup or not. 

---

Technoblade gets better after a day or so of rest. He continues with his visits into the forest, into the pond, and he warns in advance when one day he’s due for a visit over to town, for supplies. 

Tommy and Wilbur are plenty dramatic when he tells them he won’t be there in the afternoon, but they get over it quick when he promises he’ll be over at some point later in the day. 

The town isn’t any different from all the other times Techno’s come by. The stalls are selling, the shops are open, people are walking around, deep in conversation and strolling through their streets. It’s so incredibly normal, so usually calm, that Techno almost doesn’t notice the sound of horses coming near. 

He turns and looks over his shoulder, sharing intrigue with the rest of the townspeople, then he freezes. 

Ice strikes through his heart with a knee-jerk panic, and Technoblade moves -- not too fast, he can’t catch attention, but not too slow, because he needs to get out of sight, now . 

He tucks himself away into an alley between two different shops, back to the wall, his breath stuttering through his lungs, and he peeks out into the street to find armored men on horseback trotting through the roads, asking the people for their help in finding a criminal in hiding. 

The men- wearing colors of a kingdom, of an army-- hold up a flyer towards the surrounding crowd. 

Techno’s face is dead center on it, and he is wanted for the crime of deserting his position in the army.

Chapter Text

He runs home.

Techno slips out from the streets, quiet and quick, and it’s sheer luck that doesn’t let him be seen. It’s a short victory to be had. Techno knows people will recognize his face on the poster, and when they do, they’ll point to the direction where he always leaves. Because why would they have any loyalty to a man who hardly even visits their town?

He goes down the dirt road he’s learnt to know so well, and his mind blurs with nothing but a bitter panic and a white-hot frustration. He wants to rush back into those streets, take the flyer from the soldier’s hands, tear it into tiny pieces. He wants to let it fall to the ground and be forgotten, let himself and his name fade away, so he can be left alone.

So he can be left in peace.

But no. That’s too much to hope for. 

He makes a mental list the entire way back, things to pack, actions to take. They’ll catch up to him quickly while on horseback, so he’ll have to travel off road and just be harder to find. 

There was a hope that this spot, this house so tucked away from the world, would be good enough to never be found, but Techno supposes he might’ve been too optimistic there. Too desperate for a final solution. 

The front door slams open as Techno goes inside, and he moves upstairs with each step creaking underneath his angry, heavy weight. He pulls a better outfit from the closet, along with his sword. He dresses for a long trip, attaching pockets and knives on his person. He holds his sword in hand, squeezing around the handle, and then he looks up to the attic and begins to search around for his key, so he can open up that space and gather the armor he thought he could leave to collect dust.

He’s not sure where he left it, is the thing. And he knows he’s on a timer, so his memory mixes up with the fast rising dread, and he looks through his chests, looks under his bed, looks in the closet. He goes to his nightstand, pulls open the drawer-

And he stops.

Technoblade stares for a long moment, having a blissful second of calm as he looks down into the pile of mostly dried out flowers, all tucked away into the space of this drawer. 

He couldn’t ever bring himself to really throw them away, because the faeries always put so much effort into finding them, and Wilbur always spent an hour braiding them in. He had to keep them. It would be such an insult to not. 

The sword in his hand clatters to the ground, loud amongst the silence of the house, and Techno sucks a breath in, feeling as if he’s been struck in the heart. 

The faeries, he thinks. 

Wilbur. 

He takes a slow, near stumbling step back, holding his hand to his face, pushing his hair back. He breathes in, feeling the air get lodged in his throat, and he breathes out, feeling it stutter over his teeth. 

Pressing a hand to the mattress of his bed, he guides himself to slide down to the floor, the full weight of his back leaning against the frame of his bed. Suddenly, the world has gotten so very heavy, and he’s not strong enough to bear it. 

His past has come for him, and he always knew that was a possibility. But he doesn’t think he ever considered having to- lose this. 

He’s going to have to leave this.

“Oh, fuck .” Techno breathes out, dragging his knees up and letting his head rest against them, as if he can hide away from all his problems there. “Fuck.” He repeats, hardly a whisper. A devastating sort of sorrow sinks through his ribs, and it almost physically hurts the more he lets himself realize it all in its entirety. 

He can’t stay here. The army will come for him, because he ran away, and if he goes to the forest in an effort to keep what he’s gained here-- what happens if they follow? Techno knows how cruel men can be, he remembers that book of ‘ingredients’, remembers how willing his superiors were to jump at a chance for using magic as an upper hand. Enchantments, potions, all the like. 

Techno stares over the top over his knees with a dawning horror at where that magic could’ve come from. Has he already hurt the faeries without even knowing it? 

Maybe not. Surely not. He won’t let himself think of it. 

He’s too preoccupied with the grief to really theorize, anyway. 

Pushing himself to stand up straight, Techno tries to look back at his sword, tries to lean back into the rush of getting things together and getting out, but now it’s like every limb in his body has come to a complete halt, and it takes far too much energy to change that. He glances over to his open drawer again, the flowers sitting innocently inside, and another harsh pain cuts over his heart, making his jaw clench in an effort to not tremble. 

He curls back up into his knees. Ignores the fact that the army is no doubt already on their way. He just needs a moment. He just needs a minute. 

Just one minute to cry, and then he will go. 

Just one more minute. One more. 

Just one more.

Techno doesn’t quite keep count of his seconds, but by the time he raises his head again, his face is wet, and he isn’t ready. He doesn’t think he could ever be ready. He doesn’t think he can ever stand again, not if it means he has to leave behind those flowers. 

He can’t do this. He can’t, he won’t, he could never. Finally, he had one good thing, he had a simple good life, and who is he to be able to give that up so quickly? 

As soon as he admits that to himself, he’s become exhausted. A sense of acceptance flows through his head, and he admits that he’s not going anywhere. Whether he manages the courage to try the forest, or he sits here until the soldiers climb up his stairs, it doesn’t matter. He is not leaving.

That eases the pain some. It makes it easier to see, as he wipes his palms over his eyes and crosses his legs before him, leaning forward with a shaky inhale. 

Then, bells ring through the air. Techno lifts his head with wide eyes, and tries to look over the bed towards the door.

“Over here.” He calls out, wondering if Wilbur’s caught the crack in his words. He probably has. For such a tiny person, he’s really quite observant at times. 

More bells ring out closer, somewhere over his head, and Techno tries to catch the movement of a faerie flying around, only to miss it and feel a tiny weight settle over his leg. He turns and looks down, and Wilbur’s staring up with crossed arms and an angry little look. The anger melts away the second he sees Techno’s face.

He speaks to Techno in bells with his hands reached out, hovering up into the air like he wants to take Techno’s face in his palms. Techno gives a light huff. 

“I can’t understand you.” He reminds Wil. Wilbur only looks at him for a moment more, a deep worry flickering over his face, before he then goes searching for pixie dust. 

For once, he doesn’t chuck it into Techno’s face like all the time before. He floats over Techno’s head and sprinkles it down, Techno hardly even feeling it touch his skin. He blinks up at Wil with a frown, and Wilbur looks down at him with his hands fisting at his shirt. 

“What’s happened?” Is the first thing he asks, his voice quiet and very scared. Techno’s heart aches again like with the grief before, but now it’s guilt, for making Wilbur sound like that. 

“Nothing.” He says, and Wilbur shakes his head, just the smallest bit. “I-” Techno looks at his sword, looks at the drawer. “I…” 

“What’s happened ?” Wilbur asks again, and he lowers himself down back onto Techno’s leg, a different type of anger passing over his face. “Did someone hurt you? Are you hurt-?”

“No.” Techno reassures, before Wil goes poking him for injuries. “I…went to town, like I said I would.” 

“You took a long while.” Wilbur says. Techno had assured he’d be over by this time. He wasn’t.

“I ran into trouble. There are people looking for me in the town.” Technoblade goes on. “It’s the army.”

“The army.” Wilbur repeats. “The army?”

“I was a soldier, once.” Techno nods to his sword, and Wilbur turns with wide eyes, staring at the blade for a short while before looking back at Techno. “But a while ago, I didn’t want to be anymore, so I left. They didn’t appreciate that, so they’ve come to take me back.” 

“They can’t…do that.” Wilbur says, with all the naivety of someone who lives blissfully in a hidden-away world of peace. “You left, so they can’t do that.”

“Technically, me leaving without notice was considered breaking the law.” Techno informs. 

“I don’t care for human laws, they can’t just take you! That’s kidnapping!”

Technoblade manages a smile. “Wilbur, I’m considered a criminal.” 

“Not in my eyes.” Wilbur insists. “And frankly, my perspective is the only one that matters.” 

“As much as I value that-” Technoblade holds a finger out to Wilbur, letting him grasp on as a sort of comfort. “-it doesn’t quite change anything. They’ll find their way to this house eventually. And if they find me in it, I’ll be going.”

“They can’t-” Wilbur wraps his arms around Techno’s finger, as if trying to claim him first and not let anyone else get him. “They can’t do that! You’re not leaving!”

“I don’t want to leave.” Technoblade confesses, and his voice has dropped into a hush, raw with fear. “But I don’t want to see what happens if I stay, either.” 

“You can come with me. We’ll hide you in the forest, they’ll never find you there-”

“Wilbur.” Techno knows full well the forest will be the first place they’ll look. Faeries cannot fend off an entire group of trained men trying to track down someone. 

“We can- we-” Wilbur stammers for a moment, and he pushes Techno’s finger back, climbing into his hand. “We can find a spot for you in the village! They will never find you there. You’ll be safe, and you could be with us!”

“A human in a faerie village?” Techno asks, and Wilbur’s expression falters. “Wilbur, I don’t think-”

“You wouldn’t be human.” Wilbur cuts him off, and his wings flutter anxiously behind him as he looks down, avoiding Techno’s eyes. “Not- not anymore.”

Techno lets those words sit in his ears for a moment, then he lifts Wilbur up in his hand, taking him closer. “What?”

“I was human, once.” Wilbur confesses, nervous. “It was so long ago, I can’t remember all the details. But I wanted an out, I wanted to leave- and so someone let me in. And then I wasn’t human anymore.” 

Technoblade stares with disbelief as Wilbur carefully looks back up, and in the tense moment, Techno can’t help but give a sudden abrupt laugh. 

“What?!” Wilbur asks at the sudden laughter. 

“You do steal people.” Techno says, and Wilbur flutters his wings with a huff. 

“We don’t! They come willingly! We only take the lost and mistreated.” Wilbur defends.

“And I’m lost?”

“You’re mistreated.” Wilbur speaks with sincere honestly. “You will come, won’t you? I’m honest about this.”

“I don’t think I can just-” leave humanity behind, Techno means to say. That’s a heavy thing to choose. He’s lived as a human all his life, he’s grown up as one, that is a part of his being. He’s mortal, he’s ultimately vulnerable, he’s a soldier with scars and a man on the run. 

Being able to choose to just throw that behind him with ease feels like a lie. A terrible trick played by a mischievous little faerie. 

But Wilbur is looking at him with far too much care for it to be such a thing. 

“Where else would you go?” He asks Techno, and Technoblade falters at the question. He doesn’t have an answer. He can’t stay, he can’t leave, he’s doomed to indecision, but maybe he doesn’t have to make the call this time. 

Maybe-

“I need to think about this.” Techno chokes out, and Wilbur nods as if he’s won. 

“I’ll go back to the village. I’ll call for my mother, I’ll find her, and she can prepare and we’ll be waiting for you.”

“At the pond?”

“Yes.” Wilbur nods. “Our pond.” 

“Right.” Techno nods, and he looks out the window, at the fast passing sunset outside. “Give me until later tonight. Or maybe earlier-? I-”

“I’ll wait.” Wilbur promises. “Just don’t be taken away.”

“I won’t be. I won’t let them.” Techno is sure of that, the stubborn urge to fight and scream simmering through his blood. 

Wilbur nods, and he flies up from Techno’s hand, backing up as if needing to take in the sight of Techno before going one last time. 

Then, he flies closer, pressing his own head against Techno’s face, his fingertips glittering with dust. Techno holds a hand up as if to hold him there, but ultimately he doesn’t touch Wilbur at all. Wil backs up again, giving one last nod, then he leaves, flying off with a speed Techno doesn’t think he’s ever seen. 

The sun slips away over the horizon outside. 

Technoblade thinks of the flowers in his drawer, and then he picks up his sword and stands to his feet. 

Chapter Text

Protecting the forest from the men that are currently on their way isn’t a debt that Techno has to pay back. He’s already saved Wil once. If anything, the faerie still owes him . 

But for the sake of his own peace of mind, he will do it again. 

He waits until nightfall, until the last bits of the sun have fallen away, and it’s the prime time for someone to be caught off guard. He lets the house go dark, puts out all the lights, letting it appear that he’s retired for the day, and he’s entirely unaware of what’s coming. 

He sits in his bedroom, his sword held tightly in hand. Wilbur’s words repeat in his mind over and over, and Techno keeps trying and failing to come up with any good arguments against it. No longer being human-- that’s an almost terrifying thought to think of, but it’s not as if Techno would be a monster, then. He would just be of the forest, nothing more than a myth or a glowing light that makes people lose their way. His connection to this world, his world, would eventually fade with time, but Techno supposes he never did quite have that strong of a connection regardless. 

Where else would you go? Wil had asked. Techno doesn’t have a good answer. There’s a reason he ran on his own, and there’s a reason he ran altogether. He doesn’t have a family to return to, he doesn’t have a friend to trust, it was only him when he arrived down the dirt road, and now it is only him waiting on the opportunity to leave. 

Techno runs his hand over the metal of his blade again, wondering if he should leave it. A part of him is frustrated about this. A part of him wants to hesitate, wants to give a good reason why he shouldn’t agree to this so willingly. But there’s nothing to offer up, and he is more or less just stalling by this point. 

Staying with Wilbur couldn’t be all that horrible, he supposes. Tommy’s always been a menace, but it’s an endearing sort of chaos he brings. The stories they’ve told about their village make it sound like a paradise at times, which makes Techno again want to falter and think of a reason why he should say no. 

It’s like it’s too good to be true. Too convenient, too easy. 

How long has Techno been running? 

Not all that long. Feels like an eternity, with how stubborn the army seems to be, but he knows it can’t have been more than a year. He’s still got old habits, he still has flickering moments of an old mindset, and it clashes hard with the kinder present. 

The slam of a fist banging against the front door echoes out from downstairs, and Technoblade looks towards the hallway with nothing but a slight annoyance. He stands up from his bed, feeling like he’s now, in the moment, made his choice, but in all honesty, he thinks the final choice was made up the second Wilbur even offered the idea. 

He closes his bedroom door and doesn’t go to answer the knock. Faintly, he hears a stern voice yelling to let them in under the authority of their ranking. 

He doesn’t answer. 

The knocking goes on for a bit of time. When it finally does taper off, the silence doesn’t last, and there’s a louder, more harsh bang on the door, the crash of it being broken in to allow intruders to come inside. 

Thumping footsteps travel across the floor downstairs. They are too loud to be considered careful, but Techno supposes they’re not trying to be careful. What need do they have to hide their presence? Seemingly, they’ve got the upper hand. 

There’s an exchange of words and the ruckus of items being moved around, and one set of footsteps finally begins to climb up the stairs. Each wooden step groans as if it’s upset with the company, the armor on the soldier clinks like a warning bell, and Techno presses further against the wall, his skull laying against it with a trace of a smile on his lips. 

One last fight, then. 

At least this time, he knows for sure who he's fighting for. 

The doorknob squeaks as it turns, and as the soldier takes one single step in, Techno moves and drives his sword into their neck before they even know what’s going on. There’s a sound of gurgling, a near struggle for life, but it's a fight that was lost before it even truly began, and Techno pulls away, letting the body hit the ground. Blood seeps onto his floorboards, and for a second, he’s upset that he’ll have to clean that, then he realizes he’s not really going to live in this house anymore, so it’s no longer his problem. 

Someone yells out with the sound of the body, suspicious of what it means. They come upstairs demanding to know what was the noise, and they falter at the sight of the soldier’s boots poking out through the doorway. 

Technoblade steps out, over the dead soldier, taking the falter for a chance of opportunity, and he raises a leg to kick the next soldier down his stairs. They go tumbling down with a cry, their armor clanging together with each impact, and they sit still at the very bottom, groaning with pain. 

The other soldiers cry out in alarm, rushing over to see what happened, and Techno jumps off from the bottom section of the stairs, slamming into the nearest one. They go down with a scream of surprise, then they go silent with a slice of a sword against their throat. 

Someone hurls curses and swears at his back, and Technoblade looks up and narrowly dodges the firing of an arrow. He rushes forward before they have a chance to reload the next one, and he cuts the crossbow out of their hands, then cuts the life out of their heart. 

The last soldier falls with a heavy thump, and Techno stands still in the middle of his home for a minute, listening closely for any other sign that more soldiers may be around. When all he gets are the last dying noises of the ones at his feet, he’s satisfied, and he walks away towards his kitchen with the intention of stealing one of their horses outside. 

He pauses at the sight of his kitchen, a few plates shattered, his cabinets open, and over the upset feeling of having his kitchen ruined, an impulsive idea comes over him for a second. 

He takes a quick moment to search for a bottle of tea he made the morning prior. He drinks from it like a man dying of thirst, reminiscing of all the other times he’s made food within this kitchen, the times he’s packed lunch to take within his satchel, the time that faeries rummaged around here and made a strong effort at making him soup when he was sick. 

Then he flings the bottle towards where the soldiers lay and ignores the shattering of glass. 

Off to steal that horse, then. 

---

The trip across the fields is considerably shorter with the horse on hand, and Techno leaves it by the treeline so he can walk through without trouble. He walks the path he knows well, and stays looking straight ahead until he can find a glimpse of glowing light peeking out from the trees. 

As soon as he sees it, he breaks out into a run, and the sound of bells start up around him, excited and relieved, faeries following along over his head, going to their usual branches up above the pond. 

“Wilbur!” He calls, pushing a low branch to the side as he makes his way to the pond, then he stops, and actually has to hold up a hand for a moment to cover the light and let his eyes adjust. “What-?”

The pond was a bright thing then, with its glowing flowers scattered all around the border of the water, but now the pond itself has become light, like a little bit of sunlight having poured down into this spot. Techno can’t help but stare with wonder, and he’s only brought out of it when Wilbur comes flying over, ringing and ringing in bells, his hands waving wildly at Techno’s chest. 

“I don’t- Wil, Wil, you’re talking in bells again.” Technoblade says, holding his hands up underneath Wilbur with slight concern over how enthusiastically Wilbur is gesturing his arms around. He looks down to see what the fuss is all about, and he realizes then that the front of his shirt is splattered with blood. 

“Oh.” He frowns. He liked this shirt. Wilbur lands into his palms and grabs at his fingers, still yelling in bells, frantic and worried. “No, no, I’m fine. It’s not mine.” 

Wilbur stops, then. He gives an exaggerated sigh of relief, and Techno snorts at the action. 

“Do you not have any magic sand on you? I can’t understand what you’re saying.” Techno asks, and Wilbur gives him an annoyed look at the term ‘magic sand', then shakes his head in no, pointing towards the glowing pond. 

Techno looks over at the water, now golden with light, and then he looks back at Wilbur, lifting his eyebrows. “I don’t know what that means.” He says, then he looks at the pond a little closer, and a realization clicks into his head. “Wait- Is- is this literally your guys’ portal?”

Wilbur looks sheepish. 

“You actually led me over to the portal on the first day I got here, how did you not get in trouble for that-” 

Wilbur yells back at him with some sort of defense, shaking his fist in the air, but Techno can’t understand it, so therefore, the argument is invalid. 

A chorus of bells call out from the branches above, sudden and frantic, and Techno twists his head towards the shuffle of movement behind him, finding one single wounded-looking soldier holding up a loaded crossbow. The one that he threw down the stairs. He didn’t finish them off. He didn’t kill them. 

He didn’t-

The crossbow fires, and Techno clasps his hands around Wilbur, grabbing him out of the air and lunging to the side, dodging the arrow and finding cover behind a tree. He opens his hands back up, close to his chest, and Wilbur’s practically thrown upside down on his palms, his wings fluttering wildly in an effort to get right side up. 

“Are you okay?” Techno asks, and Wilbur nods quickly, his lips moving with the sound of ringing bells. 

“I have to admit,” The soldier takes a moment to catch their breath. They certainly broke something on the way down those stairs. “-never did I think you’d be the sort of man to go searching after magic.” 

The way they say that, the way it almost implies Techno came here for an advantage, a chance for power-- it pisses him off. He holds Wilbur closer to his chest, and snarls out into the night air. 

“ Leave .” He says, and there is a threat in the word. This soldier knows it, and they know Techno can carry it out, too. 

“I will.” The soldier breathes heavy again, shifting with a pained grunt. “But if you don’t want me to speak a word of this place, then I want compensation in return.” 

Techno narrows his eyes, not sure what he could even give. 

“If you give me just one of these faeries-” The soldier begins to say, and Techno thinks that’s enough. He tucks Wilbur onto his shoulder, Wil holding on, and he moves out from his spot behind the tree, running at the last soldier with nothing but a sure honest feeling that he will never let anyone take a single faerie from this place. 

The soldier tries to fire their newly reloaded crossbow, but Techno’s quick enough that he can push it down and let the arrow land into the dirt, amongst the flowers. He tears the thing out of their hands, then grabs at the edges of their armor and slams their skull into a tree. The two of them grapple for a moment, one soldier fighting for their life, another fighting to protect, and they go down in a tumble of limbs, hitting the ground. 

Techno gains the upper hand near instantly, squeezing his hands around the soldier’s throat with all the faeries screaming out in something like desperate support, wanting for the threat to be over and gone. Hands scratch frantically at Techno’s wrists, trying to get him off, and then they reach to one of the knives tucked on Techno’s person, pulling it out and stabbing it down into his leg in one jerky motion. 

Technoblade grits his teeth with a barely bit back sound of pain, and Wilbur screams, arms held out like he can fix the wound and keep it from hurting Techno. The faeries all swarm down in a panic, wanting to help, wanting to do something, but there’s no need, because Techno spares a hand to yank the knife out from his own thigh, and sinks it into an uncovered spot between the plates of armor. 

The soldier goes limp. Techno pants over the body with a still-lingering anger, and then he blinks up at the way the faeries fly around him, pushing him away, pushing towards the pond. Wilbur is the loudest of them all, right on his shoulder, trying to pull at his hair and clearly telling Techno to go before any more danger shows up. 

Techno gets the message. He staggers up onto his feet with a wince, then he moves over to the pond, hesitating for just a fraction of a second, the ringing of bells spinning all around his head. 

Wilbur flies off from his shoulder and goes right into the water, and with nothing else to keep him back, Techno follows, diving in right after him. 

---

Throughout all the afternoons Techno had spent sitting in the forest, passing the time with two talkative faeries, he at some point had taken a closer look at the pond. He remembers that day well, Tommy telling him to stop staring at his reflection and Wilbur telling him to stop moving, because he was still fixing a flower in his hair. 

At the time, on that day, the pond hadn’t seemed very deep. It was just a little thing of water, with pretty flowers surrounding it whole, and Techno didn’t think much of it, other than it being just a nice spot that the faeries must’ve tended to. 

Now, the pond seems endless. Now, it’s ocean hidden underneath the surface, and the second Techno jumps in, he sinks. He holds his breath and feels his weight pulling him down, and he can’t fight his way back up, not with the still stinging wound on his leg, not with the adrenaline fading out from all the fighting of tonight. 

He opens his eyes wide in an effort to see, but it’s all a blur of color, and he’s not even sure which way is up and which way is down. He doesn’t know where Wilbur went, and he hopes to all the gods that he’s alright. That the portal isn’t faulty in some sort of way and it’s going to harm him while going through. 

Blood floats out into the water from Techno’s wound, and he tries to hold a hand against it, only for the pressure in his lungs to grow too much, and the air he held beginning to be too little. He tries to swim, tries to look for a way up, but he’s fallen too far, and he can’t find air. 

He drifts, in both body and mind. Tired. 

Then, something reaches out and takes hold of his arms. 

Finally, his head breaks through the surface, hands pulling at him and lifting him up, holding him steady. He can feel ground form underneath him, as if the water has now grown shallow. He gasps as soon as he realizes he’s got air. His breath drags through him, shaky and frantic, but he’s alright. He’s alive. 

“There we go. There we are.” Someone murmurs over him, a palm supporting the back of his head. He can still feel the water lapping against his chin, rippling over his shirt, and he gives a worried noise, not wanting to go back under. “Easy. It’s okay. You’re okay now.”

“He’s alright?” Wilbur asks, and Technoblade chokes through his next breath, trying to force his voice through to give an answer. His eyes flutter open and closed, and he gasps again, more frantic. Wilbur. Wil- “Oh, Techno, Technoblade-”

Hands graze over his face for a moment, pushing wet hair away, and Techno cracks open his eyes, gritting his teeth. 

Wilbur looks down at him, eyes wide, and- normal sized. Techno can see him, can make out the details of his face, the pupils of his eyes, and he stares up in silence, entirely forgetting about the fact he was trying to respond. 

“Hey.” Wilbur breathes out, and he looks near tears. He looks to the side for a moment, as if sharing a look of relief with someone, and Techno doesn’t turn to look with him, he just stays looking at Wilbur. If he did look, though, he would find Tommy nearby, kneeling down in the water with them, hiding in Phil’s arms. 

Wilbur holds a hand to Techno’s arm, and Kristin leans forward from Techno’s side with a warning hand. “Don’t let him up yet. Give it a minute.”

“Okay.” Wilbur nods, and he leans down and presses his forehead against Techno’s shoulder, Technoblade feeling the tickle of his hair against his chin. “It’s okay.” He promises. 

Techno feels inclined to believe him.

Chapter Text

Technoblade tries to lift an arm out from the water to hold onto Wil, but his movements have gone sluggish, his limbs slow and heavy, so the best he can manage is to just cling onto the bottom of his sleeve, trying to not let his hand drop back into the water. 

Wil notices the gesture either way. He sits up from where he’s laid at Techno’s shoulder, looking down at where Techno’s holding onto him. He then lifts his eyes up to Techno himself and gives a questioning look. 

Techno can’t get over the way he can so vividly see the confusion on his face now. It feels unreal, the furrow of his eyebrows, the barely-there, downwards tilt of his lips-- it’s not something he would’ve really seen before. Wil’s always been one to exaggerate his reactions to let Techno know them, with his face always being so…tiny. 

Now it’s like Technoblade can see him entirely. 

Twisting his fingers further into the fabric, Techno swallows down the tightness that’s seemed to have closed around his throat, and he tries to voice his pressing concerns still swirling through his head. 

“Is-” His voice gives out, and Wilbur hurries to lean close so he won’t have to struggle to speak loud. “Is everyone alright?” Techno croaks out, and Wilbur’s eyes go soft. “Are you alright-?” He pulls harder at Wil’s sleeve. 

“Everyone’s safe.” Wilbur reassures, and relief sinks through Techno’s heart. “I’m fine, I’m not the one who-” Wil goes to say, but then he freezes, and a new panic flashes over his face. He turns to look over to Techno’s leg, and with the sudden jerk of his head,  the other fairies turn with him, confused with the sudden reaction. They quickly understand when they see the pinkish water growing out around Techno’s thigh, a stab wound still lying fresh. 

“Oh, fuck.” Wilbur squeezes a palm around Techno’s upper arm, then he calls out to somewhere above him, looking over his shoulder. “We- medic! We need the medic!” 

Technoblade is confused for a second as to why he glanced above first, but when he turns his attention to his surroundings, he finds that it is not just him and Wilbur sitting here in the water. 

They’re on the shallow part of what seems like a mimicry of the pond in the forest, now a vast lake with shimming water. There are people- faeries, scattered all around, some standing in the water, others hovering in the air over their heads. Technoblade knows their population is plenty, but every direction he looks, there seems to just be more and more, their worried, curious faces pointed down at him, and it’s all a bit much. It becomes even more when a few begin to hurriedly scatter at Wilbur’s call for help, flying every which way, streaks of something golden being left across the air. 

Techno squeezes his eyes shut. Something in him wants to sink down into the water all over again. 

“What- what’s wrong?” Tommy’s voice calls, and Techno can hear him wading closer, the water rippling at his side. “Wil-?”

“No, no, no- stay there. Dad, keep him there. It’s okay.” Wilbur says, a lie made in panic, but the last part is said more to Techno than Tommy. “Okay, Techno, I’m sorry, sorry-” He presses a palm down against Techno’s wound, Technoblade opening his eyes and wincing with the sharp sting of it. 

“I’ve had worse.” Technoblade tries to say to Wil as a comfort, but judging by the strained expression he gets in response he thinks that wasn’t the best thing to say. “I’ll live.”

Wilbur laughs a little. “You better. There’s so much you have to see , it’s been so long since we’ve had a new faerie, everyone’s scrambled to gather gifts, celebrations aren’t even in order, but I swear the decorations will be beautiful when they’re done, you’ll love it-”

Techno listens to sudden rambling with half an ear, his attention more lingering on the words ‘new faerie.’ For some reason, his mind needs to process that further, but he can’t manage it, because all his focus is going towards the pain in his thigh and the plenty of eyes surrounding him and Wil. 

There’s a shift in the water then, a faint warmth at the corner of Techno’s vision, and he shifts his gaze to look up at another faerie with the kindest smile he’s ever seen. She’s a little bit familiar, in a way that Techno knows well, and he can’t help but give a slight frown, as if not sure why she’s here, why she’s someone he should know. 

He couldn’t know her. Techno would never quite know a lady like her. She smiles back at Techno with such love that Technoblade is vividly reminded of earnest mothers he’s seen, such determined souls, escaping the reach of war, their children within their arms, their eyes burning with a determination to not let the violence come any nearer, to not let it bring harm. He’s only seen a few people like that, in passing. They were never the sort to allow him or his men to come close. 

“Mom?” Wilbur asks as she kneels down closer to Techno’s side, stopping in his rant that Technoblade wasn’t really processing all that much. 

“Hi, Techno.” She greets, her voice just a whisper as if not to scare him off, and honestly, it does work. “It’s nice to finally meet the one person Wilbur can’t stop talking about.” 

“Mom.” Wilbur hisses, somewhat embarrassed, but mostly just wanting her to focus on the injury at hand. Techno supposes that is a good priority to have. 

“Uh.” Technoblade lifts his chin higher up from the water, trying to sit up, but he’s hardly got the energy to do it. He floats back down into the surface, water touching his cheeks. “Hi.” 

“It won’t stop bleeding.” Wilbur grits the words out, a reminder to his mother and a silent plea for her to help. 

“Let me.” She listens, of course. Wilbur pulls his hands away and washes the blood off in the water, and Kristin holds a palm over Techno’s wound. From here, Techno can’t exactly see what she does, but he swears that there’s a gentle glow, a shimmering of something bright that isn’t just water washing over his leg. “It won’t heal entirely, but with what we still have lingering on him, it’ll at least make it improve.” 

“That’s good.” Wilbur mutters, wings fluttering behind him. “You’re good- You’re alright.” He tells Techno, reaching a hand out, Technoblade suddenly finding the energy to grab on. “Should I sit him up?”

“Slowly.” Kristin warns, her hand holding onto his shoulder as a sort of support. Techno gets pulled up with care, Wil keeping his grip tight on Techno’s hand and wrapping his other arm around his middle to lift him upwards. The water sticks to his back as he goes, feeling heavier than it should, and there’s a scrap of panic that swirls in Techno’s chest at the idea of the pond not wanting to let him go, of him somehow slipping back under the surface again. 

“I’ve got you.” Wilbur promises, underneath the sudden hush that’s fallen over them all, a heavy silence that means something. Techno leans his head forward and lets himself fall against Wil with his eyes closed shut. “We’ve got you, Techno.” He says, like it's an apology and an oath. Techno squeezes his eyelids tighter together, unable to swallow the sincerity of it. He’s never been good with words. 

A hand gently grabs at the back of his shirt, pulling it taut in what Techno first thinks is to just adjust it, but there’s then a snip of fabric, a tear down the middle, and Techno’s back buzzes with nerves so fried it’s as if bees have found a home upon his spine. 

He clings to Wilbur with a shaky exhale, Wilbur giving a breathless laugh that’s surely a sign that everything is alright. Murmured voices begin to rise up, speaking all around them in a matching tone of what could be joy. Technoblade glances past Wil’s shoulder, finding the swirling remains of magic in the water sitting around them. 

“Nothing looks wrong.” Kristin’s voice comes through, calm and relieved, and her fingers brush against-

Technoblade freezes up, still as a statue. An older part of him screams to jump into action, to protect the new vulnerability he’s gained, but the majority of his head has to process the fact he’s gained something new. 

There wasn't an obvious sign about it. No added weight, no drag of a new limb, but now Techno can feel them, can sense the touch of hands lifting them up with the buzz of a magic he’s grown to know well, and when he turns his head to look and confirm-

There’s wings.  

There’s wings on Techno’s back. Faerie wings, thin and a bit transparent, glimmering from both the water and something more. They’re just like Wilbur’s, or Tommy’s, or every other faerie that’s ever flown around his head. They’re exactly like theirs, because now he’s a faerie too, but he’s having trouble actually realizing that, even if the proof is right on his skin. 

“Oh my gods .” Technoblade breathes out, and Wilbur giggles in a giddiness that rubs off on him. There’s a smile threatening to pull at his lips, a hope in his chest, and Technoblade looks up at all the others around him, seeing their matching grins, expressions of both excitement and delight. 

The wings at Techno’s back flutter with his emotion, and he stares at the movement with an entrapped focus. He tries to force them to still, to sit calm, but it only works for a few seconds. The fact he can make them do it at all leaves him breathless all the same. 

“Do you want to try standing?” Wilbur asks, and Techno’s first inclined to refuse, but his injury doesn’t quite sting as much as it did before. He doesn’t tear his attention away from behind him, but instead moves a hand to touch where there should be a bleeding wound, only to find a raised scab. 

“Wha-” Techno turns his head at that, baffled by the lack of a cut. “It’s not-?”

“It takes a good bit of magic to get someone over to this side of the pond.” Wilbur explains. “And while most of it has gone to good use, even the smallest bit can still be used up to heal as well.” 

Technoblade soaks in the concept of magic then, or rather, the fact that he is a being of magic now. It’s a positive idea, if not also a bit daunting. He stares at his wings again, only turning away when Wilbur tugs at his arm. 

“Do you want to stand?”

Technoblade hesitates for just a second before nodding. Wilbur helps him to his feet, lifting him from the shallow water and letting him lean on him when his legs find themselves to be a tad bit shaky, from both the ordeal of today and maybe a bit of social pressure coming down on him. There’s a buzz of conversation over his ears, with so many people around him, so many faces looking at him. Despite the number of it, he doesn’t feel all that suffocated. It’s more shock, if anything. It’s been a while since he’s garnered this much attention from this many people, and this attention isn’t anything cruel. 

It’s all very warm. Warm and kind, wide smiles and bright eyes, both so foreign and familiar. 

“Wilbur?” Kristin asks, and both Techno and Wil turn their heads to her, her hand stretched out as if asking for Techno to come towards her instead. Wilbur makes a nod, something twinkling in his eyes, and Techno looks at him with a touch of confusion. Wilbur silently urges him to go on. Techno tries to communicate that he does not want to. They share several facial expressions back and forth within the span of ten seconds, at the end of which Techno finally relents and proceeds to step away from Wilbur in favor of taking Kristin’s outstretched hand. 

He nearly stumbles on the first step. A part of him feels like a child learning to walk again, every muscle in his body feeling unsteady and new, but Kristin takes him by the hand and pulls him along, letting him get the first few steps down. Her wings flutter behind her, a gesture of emotion at first, then she flies up, only hovering over the water. Techno strains to hold onto her, to follow, and she pulls him up until he’s stepping out from the water, too, floating- no, flying just up above the water of the lake, his own wings pulling him up like second nature. 

It takes such ease to go up, Techno finds, but he doesn’t have a clue at how to not let himself drift off. His feet kick through the air in a futile attempt to somehow swim through the air, and he pulls at Kristin to let himself stay close, to let her continue to lead them in a small circle around the lake. Faintly, he can hear Wilbur holding back a laugh, but he knows it’s not to make fun. It’s too fond to be making fun. 

“You got it?” Kristin asks in a whisper, and Techno vehemently shakes his head, still holding onto her hand tightly. She laughs, and offers her other arm out, which Techno takes gratefully, gliding up as she heads higher. 

Twisting his head to look over his shoulder, Techno takes in the sight of the ground below, his stomach twisting from both nervous fear and a giddy kind of excitement. Tommy catches his eye from where he’s still standing in the water, and instantly, he launches himself up, speeding towards Technoblade in a blur of movement and laughter. 

“Tommy!” Wilbur yells as Tommy slams into Techno, sending both of them spinning for a second. Techno manages to put himself upright, and Tommy flies circles around him with a cackle. “He’s barely getting the hang of it, don’t knock him out of the air -!” 

“I’m fine!” Techno reassures, holding a hand up, looking at Wilbur as he makes his way up to the two of them. He shifts his hand to hold it out, to make Wilbur his guide, and Wilbur lets him grab on, glad to steer them along with his years of having wings. “I think. How do you even- Tell me this gets simpler with time.” 

“You’ll get the hang of it.” Wilbur assures.

“We can practice!” Tommy insists, flying up into Techno’s face with a beaming smile. “You should join us on our races, Techno, me and Tubbo do it all the time, we have this track we’ve made around the village, it goes through the tree branches, then around the base of the mountain, and then through the waterfall-”

Technoblade makes a baffled laugh. “I literally just learned how to defy gravity, maybe give me a day or two-?” 

“Oh, but there’s still plenty to show you!” Wilbur joins in on the excitement. “I have so many spots to take you around to visit, there’s a flower field that’s not too far-”

“And there’s the tunnels beside it that me and Tubbo use for sledding, we go down on these sleds through the mud-” 

“Boys.” Kristin cuts in, saving Technoblade from the onslaught of new places and things to experience. “He still needs to settle in first, I think. You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“Going mud-sledding is settling in. That’s like a faerie thing.” Tommy defends. 

“No, that is purely a you thing.” Wilbur deadpans, and with the way Tommy narrows his eyes, Techno instantly braces himself to be nearly tackled out of the air again. “He needs to see the new sights! The best places to fly around, the best views-”

“Maybe he could have a few introductions before he does that?” Phil cuts in this time, flying up next to Kristin, and Wilbur falters with a sheepish look. Tommy snickers at him. 

“Right.” Wilbur clears his throat, waving a hand out. “Techno, Mom, Dad. Mom, Dad, Techno.” A short beat of silence passes. “Alright, well if that’s all done then-” Wilbur turns, as if to fly off with Technoblade in tow. 

“We’re happy to have you, Techno.” Kristin says, before Wilbur can go drag Technoblade off somewhere. “It’s unfortunate that all of this was a bit rushed, but you’re here, and we’re glad for it.” 

“I-” Technoblade hovers a bit higher with his wings fluttering fast behind him. The genuineness in Kristin’s voice makes him falter for words. “I’m- glad to be here.” 

“I do believe celebrations are in order.” Phil notes, tapping a finger to his chin. “That’s not to mention the gifts, and the introductions around the village, and where you’ll be wanting to live-”

“Well, he’s living with us, of course.” Tommy crosses his arms, like that’s a given. 

“We can make you a room!” Wilbur tells Techno, glowing with the joy of it as he tugs him in by the arm. “You’ll finally be home!” 

Technoblade blinks at the statement, then makes a soft smile. “Yeah?” 

“Yes.” Wilbur nods, and he holds a hand over Techno’s fingers, his smile now so easy to see. “Home.”