Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     Tubbo Underscore was staring at him.

     He was only a little older than Techno and here he was: sitting in an unbreakable box on the platform he had decorated himself, staring down the barrel of a rocket launcher.

     Maybe it was the eyes, or the hesitation written in bold strokes and shaded in with fear that was splashed across his face, but Techno wasn’t sure he could fire.

     “Kill him Techno. Do what I called you up here for.” Schlatt interrupted the piglin’s thought process coldly.

     He swallowed and looked around for Tommy and Wilbur, waiting for a cue that they had a plan, an idea, anything that meant he didn’t have to do this. “Are you, uh, you sure? Cause he seems kinda, kinda stuck anyways.”

     The president glared coldly, “Do what you’re good for Blade.”

     Chat was getting louder the longer the standoff lasted and Techno fought back a wince as he looked at Tubbo once more.

     Do it!!

     Blood for the blood god

     Not Tubbo!

     Are they coming to help you?

     EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

     The voices lost comprehension in their excitement and Technoblade looked towards the boy hesitantly.

     “Uh, I’m sorry Tubbo. I’m sorry, I’ll make it quick, yeah?” He watched as Tubbo let out a watery smile and nodded bravely. 

          Tubbo went off with a bang.

          Jschlatt went off with a bang.

          Quackity went off with a bang.

     Chat roared at the violence and Technoblade released a noise that started out wet and devolved into barely sane laughter as he turned his fireworks on the crowd.

     “Techno what the fuck!? Tubbo you okay?” Tommy shouted as he and Wilbur suddenly rushed in from the trees. 

     Technoblade barely heard a word, head echoing with the death messages and Chats’ calls for more bloodshed.

     The Red Festival ended about as bloody as the name would have suggested and the four of them, plus Niki, fled towards Pogtopia. Techno’s head continued to ring.

     The boy slipped back into awareness in the ravine with Tommy screaming up at him.

     “What the fuck was that? Why did you kill Tubbo?” the blond fumed.

     Techno blinked, “I-uhm, I was peer pressured Tommy.” he answered dazedly.

     Wilbur laughed from the level above the three of them. “You hear that Tommy! The great Technoblade was peer pressured into killing your good friend Tubbo Underscore.” The man laughed some more, “Ho- how do you feel Tubbo, hmm? He killed you, murdered you, just cause?”

     Tubbo shrunk back behind Tommy even further, “I mean I would’ve prolly done the, uh, the same thing? I mean it was scary.”

     Tommy snorted bitterly, “Tubbo of course it was scary, there was a rocket launcher pointed at your face. And for one, no you wouldn’t. You literally wouldn’t fucking kill someone for such a stupid reason. And two, Technoblade is the great bloody warrior, a pvp master, a fucking adult! So obviously you’d be scared, Tubs, but uh, Techno here doesn’t have the same excuse as you.”

     Technoblade was desperately glad for his mask at that moment, it covered his entire face leaving only the faintest impression of eyes. Too bad he couldn’t help the anxious twitching of his ears, still he tried staring as blankly as possible.

     Techno eventually began to float aimlessly among the loud bickering until he snapped back under the sharp clarity of the pit. Tommy had punched him. 

     The voices jeered at his confusion before either taking pity on the boy or their craving for blood outgrew vague spite.

     Trial

     Combat

     Pit fight

     He angy lol

     He took a half step back and swung up on instinct, easily making contact, before dancing around the angry combatant on light feet. Tommy stumbled back into the wall of the pit before baring his bloodied teeth and charging once more.

     Chat laughed delightedly at the blood smeared across Techno’s knuckles and the loose stance of his enemy.

     The piglin sidestepped once more before swinging around and kicking Tommy’s legs out from under him.

     There was a distant cheering from the entrance to the pit as well as a loud gasp, Techno heard none of it. Nothing but the rush of blood in his ears, Chat’s calls for more, and the huffing of the boy in front of him.

     Said boy growled and kicked out at Technoblades’ feet from his spot on the ground, but missed by a wide margin. Techno took a few more steps back and caught his breath, watching warily.

     Tommy pulled himself up and spit on the ground, “Fucking hit me Techno, why not yeah?”

     Techno winced from behind his mask at the ache in the other's voice. He simply stood and waited a moment longer.

     The boy laughed bitterly and dove forward once more, swinging wildly for the piglin hybrids’ face.

     Techno ducked under the other’s arms, and bounced up immediately, knocking the top of his skull into Tommy’s jaw. Tommy cried out but Techno didn’t hesitate again.

     He took a short step back before swinging on the other hard, hitting him squarely on the side of his jaw once more. He kicked the boy’s feet out from under him again and landed a foot on his chest.

     Tommy scrambled blindly for a way out but Techno held the boy and his stance, panting over the other, knuckles dripping with blood that mixed into the dirt of the pit.

     Finally Techno looked down and with a scratchy, dull voice asked, “Satisfaction?”

     Tommy looked off to the side and nodded harshly so Techno took his foot off the boys’ chest and turned towards the entrance of the pit.

     Tubbo, Nikachu, and Wilbur were staring at him. Wilbur looked delighted, eyes sparkling as they danced from one splash of blood to another. Niki seemed horrified and baffled, pointedly looking away from Tommy’s busted lips and Techno’s bloody fist. Tubbo gawked silently except for the occasional cough that rattled his chest, the only thing recognizable on his face was the shock.

     Techno rubbed his fist across the underside of his jaw beneath his mask and gazed tiredly at the boy, “D’ya want t’ go Underscore?” 

     Wilbur laughed brightly and Niki stared at the piglin in mild horror, Tommy swore sharply from behind him, but Tubbo just tilted his head in question. Techno hadn’t had a single ounce of sarcasm in his voice, not a touch of humor or his signature mocking drawl, just simple exhaustion and expectation that he’d have to fight his allies again.

     Tubbo went to answer but bit his own tongue, glancing past the hybrid to Tommy’s hardened face and the stone clenched in one fist.

     Tommy Innit shot up in a rage and dove for Techno, aiming to crush a rock against the masked boys’ skull.

     Techno didn’t really understand the danger, even as Chat screamed from within his head. But Tommy howled as he shot forward, allowing Techno to spin around and simply sidestep the clumsy assault, sticking a leg out to trip the boy a final time, leaving him eating dirt.

     Tommy spluttered on the taste of his own blood mixed to become mud, he rolled over to stare up at the piglin in sharp fear for the inevitable retaliation.

     Technoblade seethed under his mask, shaking in rage with his back to everyone but his invisible audience, a soldier without honor had never received mercy.

     There was heavy pause as even Wilbur held his breath, despite his hollering earlier. Tubbo moved to help Tommy, but Wilbur held both him and Niki back, watching in muted fascination.

     Technoblade, unarmed in soft leathers and mask of hoglin bone, slowly turned around until he was facing Tommy and the rest of the room. He took a few measured steps forward, stopping and tilting his head at Tommy’s violent flinch. The piglin crouched a foot away from the boy and leaned forward until they were mere inches apart.

     Tommy stared silently with his mouth hanging open and hands clenched behind him.

     After a long moment of tension thick in the air, Techno asked so quietly that only the boy could hear, “Are you done Tommy Innit? Or do you want to do this again?” he smiled cruelly beneath the mask and licked some of Tommy’s blood from his own knuckles, continuing louder than he had begun, “Usually when someone yields, they’re done Innit. Do you know what happens to little boys who surrender in a fair fight and then attack once the victor has turned?”

     Chat laughed mockingly,

     Are you not a little boy?

     Shut up! This is plot.

     Hiding behind his mask, do your eyes give you away little runt?

     Blood for dishonor

     The boy looked up cautiously and slowly shook his head.

     He stared for another heavy moment before he laughed bitterly and leaned backwards. “Of course you don’t know, why would you?” Techno stood from his crouch and seemed to slide out from under the gravitas that had dripped from his tone just moments prior, before finally looking towards the rest of the room and huffing petulantly, “Are we even?”

     For once Wilbur withheld his mocking laughter, face pale with soft horror as the warrior's words finally sunk in through his blood hungry haze. Niki bit back a sob as the tensions finally receded slightly. Tubbo glanced quickly between the two fighters before looking Techno square in the eyes.

     “We’re even, all’s forgiven Blade. No hard feelings, really.”

     The anarchist nodded sharply and climbed out of the pit, ignoring the hesitantly offered hand and walking through the split in the corporeal audience. He paused in his exit as the defeated finally scrambled up and began to holler angrily after him.

     Wilbur shot out a hand to stop the boy with a panicked whisper of; “No! Shut up!”

     Technoblade turned around with a bitter smirk “Tommy?”

     The boy in question stopped his dissent immediately as he glanced between the tilted head of the previously retreating figure and Wilbur’s sudden concerned attempt to shut him up. “What?”

     “Tommy, the thing is, you’re using words. But this world, Tommy? In this world the only universal language is violence. And we’ve had that conversation. We’ve spoken that language; in the pit. It’s over Tommy. Onto a new day. A new plot; to destroy Manburg.” The boy smiled cruelly, saluted the rebels, and left the ravine.

Chapter Text

     Wilbur let out a passionate “Fuck! Tommy, do you know what you just did? Damnit!” as soon as he was sure that Technoblade was out of earshot.

     Tubbo furrowed his brow and glanced between the three others, grappling for understanding. 

      Niki piped up a hesitant, “Got his ass kicked?” as she began to treat the boy’s cuts. They were shallow, far more shallow than a prodigy of the Blood God typically warranted.

     Tommy protested but hushed under the combined weight of Niki’s chastising glare and Wilbur’s manic laughter. “What Wil?” he snapped only a touch bitterly.

     He pinched his nose and rubbed his face, groaning loudly as he paced violently. “You fucking challenged Technoblade of all people to a traditional trial by combat to settle your feelings, that's what you did! And those things have rules that matter to people, especially those like the Blade, who fought back armies and toppled empires.”

     Nikachu’s face whitened at the realization of what had actually happened. “Oh no.”

     Tubbo and Tommy made eye contact and glanced quickly between the two elders, “What do you mean, ‘oh no’? Niki?” Tubbo asked anxiously.

     “You fucking told me to Wil! Practically begging for me to get my ass kicked.” the blond snapped petulantly.

     Wilbur laughed again. “The laws of a trial by combat state quite plainly Tommy, that once satisfaction is reached, which you fucking agreed to once he pinned you by the way, that the fight is over! Done! No further aggression or hard feelings.'' The man swung his hands wide and continued, ignoring Tommy’s complaint entirely, “Meaning that when you agreed you were done and he turned his back on you, that was him acknowledging the satisfaction. Implying trust, that you were cool now, to prove that he wasn’t worried about a godsdamn knife in the back or rock to the skull.”

     Tubbo’s eyes widened and he swore under his breath.

     “Fine! So what? I broke his stupid fucking fight, he beat me again! Boo hoo! What’s the big deal?” Tommy huffed and bit his lip anxiously.

     Wilbur blinked slowly and counted on his exhale, “It wasn’t his fight rule Tommy, it was the established etiquette of a piglin disagreement, which would matter to him more than most piglins or hybrids because of his history in war, where this is also adopted as the standard. Lots of piglins would’ve let it slide assuming you didn’t know anything, so they would’ve disregarded the challenge entirely! But he knows you’re in a fucking war so he assumed you’d know, because he’s been in battles! What do you even think the standard consequence for this is Tommy? Of fucking losing the brawl, agreeing you lost, and then using his sign of respect to attack him like a coward? Hmm? Not a fucking high five for sure!”

     Tommy glared, “It wasn’t like, a coward thing Wil! He antagonized Tubbo and pissed me the fuck off! Don’t act like the big man didn’t deserve the godsdamn rock to the noggin.”

     Tubbo shook his head, “He wasn’t making a shitty joke about fighting me though, at least I don’t think so? It makes more sense in context, he was just asking if I wanted to settle things with him separately.”

     Niki nodded, “Yeah, with the understanding that it’s a ritual that must’ve been a sign of respect too. ‘Cause Tommy insisted they fight but Tommy wasn’t really the one who was wronged, so he was offering to settle debts with you rather than assuming Tommy spoke for you.”

     “Yeah, Technoblade behaved perfectly after being challenged, followed all the ceremony, and then even fucking offered Tubbo a chance to do the same.” Wilbur sighed exhaustedly, “Went above and beyond to pay his dues, and then fucking Tommy betrays the formula.”

     Tubbo gulped, “So, uhm, what was the punishment? For what Tommy did? Was it just losing again but dishonorably?”

     Wilbur shook his head, “No, because of what Tommy did by breaking the tradition after he had acknowledged the settling,” he scrubbed his face and leaned against the wall so that he could sit on the floor with the rest of them, “Technoblade was perfectly within right to slaughter Tommy where he stood, or rather sprawled.”

     Tommy gaped, “Wh- well, how was I supposed to know the rules!”

     “Tommy you should know better than to fight dirty, plus he thought that you officially challenged him, so of course he assumed you’d know-” Niki glared before softening with a huff.

     Wilbur cut her off, “And so when he asked you if you knew what you’d done-”

     “Oh gods, he didn’t have to ask, did he?” Tubbo murmured.

     “No he really didn’t,” Wilbur laughed, “I thought he was going to fucking kill you dead once I realized what was going on. Notice how he wasn’t even properly pissed until you broke tradition? I thought he was gonna gut you.”

     The young blond opened and closed his mouth a few times before whispering, “So uh, why didn’t he? Was it ‘nother rule or something?”

     Niki looked to Wil who sighed hesitantly, “Nope, he just fucking decided to show mercy. He asked you if you knew how massively you’d fucked up, and when you said you didn’t he just let you go! Which he didn’t even have to do, even if someone doesn’t know all the rules, once you instigate the combat it’s too late to take it back until it’s done!”

     Tubbo tilted his head frustratedly, “Well, why didn’t he kill him then, it isn’t like he needs Tommy?”

     “Hey!” Tommy interjected but was ignored.

     Nikachu shook her head, “I don’t know, he certainly could have, it isn’t like he feels bad killing kids, clearly.” she finished, hesitantly nodding towards Tubbo, who bit back a flinch at the reminder.

     Wilbur shrugged and got up, “I don’t know, but Tommy you better tread fucking lightly, cause even though he released you of the debt by leaving I can’t imagine he wouldn’t hold a grudge about that level of disrespect, even if you were a fucking baby.”

--------------

     Technoblade walked back to his personal base slowly, kicking rocks as they appeared.

     Chat was angry at him; 

     He should be dead!

     Too kind

     L

     Little piggy needs a spine.

     You never would’ve got away with that Tech.

     Why’d you let him go?

     “Chat! Shut up! I wasn’t being kind, he didn’t know alright! I wasn’t being spineless either.” he snarled around the end of the phrase, stumbling back into piglin without noticing.

     Chat snickered nastily,

     Little pig,

     No spine.

     E

     He’s lonely isn’t he? How sad.

     Technosad.

     Techno cringed away from the voices like it would help, his ears twitching in agitation, “Whatever! It wasn’t like that, okay? He didn’t know better, and he was angry, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

     It mattered when it was you who didn’t know.

     Technoblade sighed, “I just, it was just that, he-”

     You didn’t want to hurt another child, nevermind that you’re smaller than them, little runt.

     “No! That isn’t it! I just, I just, it isn’t like that.” he leaned against a nearby tree and sat down.

     Poor little runt, playing at something other than he is.

     You just wanted to be kind this once hmm?

     Technolost

     EEEEEE

     He thinks he can keep them this time

     “I know better than that Chat. I never get to keep them, I’ve figured that out by now okay? Only took me fourteen years to get there. But I’m not smaller than they are Chat, I’m so much bigger. They don’t even notice, huh?” Technoblade closed his eyes and sighed, “They should get to be soft and make stupid mistakes without nearly dying for it.”

     Chat replied much quieter than before:

     You didn’t get that.

     So little, so sad

     Not fair!

     Blood

     EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

     Techno sat in silence for a moment before standing and replying, “They don’t know that. They think I’m bigger than I am, that I have way more years than them. I’m not sad, Chat.”

     Chat mumbled back a quiet disagreement before hushing at the young piglins’ glazed eyes and soft voice, just barely humming him little comforts as he kept slipping into his native language, the exhaustion resting heavy on his mumbled syllables.

     “If I’m soft Chat, what does that make you hmm? Always fawn’ing o’er me.” he barely whispered, trying for a cheeky smirk but missing the mark by a sleepy mile as he stumbled into his base.

     Chat laughed quietly;

     Makes us yours, makes you ours.

     Sleepypig!

     Night night little runt!

     Technoblade placed his mask on the crafting table and barely managed to kick off his boots as he stumbled into the bedroom. “M’not runt.” he huffed into the pillow.

     Chat tittered and continued to lull the young boy to sleep.

Chapter Text

     Technoblade woke silently and quickly, glancing around with a panicked awareness.

     Chat rose with him;

     Up

     Technolate

     Danger! 

     Guests!

     Techno shook the sleep from his head and masked his movements under the general noise that comes with living beings. His bedroom was second furthest from the base entrance and exit, with only his storage room behind him. His crafting table and main chests were in the entrance hallway. His mask was in there too.

     Nobody had entered the bedroom but Techno didn’t untense as the voices continued to mutter, hesitant from sleep to call for blood quite yet.

     Something heavy fell in the other room and a whispered swear followed. It was Wilbur.

     “Hey Tech? You there?” the man in question called out nervously.

     Technoblade chuffed under his breath, “Yeah!” He cut off at the unexpected higher tones of piglin and rubbed at his face before forcing his way into overworld, adding on the gravel and low notes, “I- yes. What’re you doin’ here?”

     Chat mocked him;

     Little pig forgot how small he was!

     He’s so squeaky!!

     Wilbur’s gonna know

     Technolate

     “I was just uh, can we talk?” Wilbur called in from the main room, steps getting closer to the bedroom.

     The piglin boy panicked and dove behind his bed, “Stop!” he called frantically, word cracking down the middle. “D- don’t come in! Stay out there!” the child smacked his head repeatedly and whispered to himself, “Godsdamnit, damnit, damnit, gods-fucking-damnit!”

     The steps stopped their approach.

     Techno huffed in air loudly and anxiously with his head resting against the bed frame as he continued to swear at himself in piglin.

     “Uhm, you, you good in there Techno?” Wilbur called through the door.

     Chat rumbled in agitation, they were apparently awake enough for blood at this point.

     Not safe

     Run!

     No! Attack him!

     He knows.

     Get your mask runt!

     Techno fidgeted in place for a moment, “M’fine. Whaddya need?”

     Wilbur glanced around the base and hummed distractedly, “I’ll, uh, I’ll be honest with ya Blade, you’re being kinda weird right now. So are you uh, sure that you’re good?”

     He won’t let up till you explain.

     Make him leave

     None of his business

     Tell him!

     The boy sighed heavily, “I, um, I’m fine it’s just you uh, I wasn’t expecting you? I was pretty sure you didn’t uh, know where this was so that’s uh cool. I just-” he cut himself off with another sigh and deliberated for a heavy moment, “My mask is in the other room Wilbur.”

     Wilbur looked around with more focus, sure enough the hoglin skull was resting on the crafting table by the door. “Oh! Right, of course you wouldn’t wear it at home or whatever.”

     Techno hummed in agreement, “Yuh, so I kinda need it? Can’t exactly help you without it.”

     Wilbur tilted his head, “I uh, kinda figured you wore that for the intimidation to be honest, but I guess we’ve never really seen your face before. You shy Tech?” he forced out a laugh.

     The boy hid his uncomfortably red face in his hands before carefully replying, “Something like that. So can you uh, back up and let me grab it or..?”

     “Oh yeah, of course! I’ll go stand by the entrance, back turned and all.” Wilbur headed towards the door and turned his back to the rest of the room, “You’re not gonna stab me or anything right?” he laughed again, “Cause that’d be kinda awkward.”

     He waited until Wil’s voice was heard from the other side of the small base and inched the door open, “Why would I do that?” Technoblade replied absentmindedly as he just barely glanced around the door, “S’not like you’re gonna look right?”

     Wilbur nodded quickly and kept his eyes on the entrance.

     Techno grabbed the mask and slipped it over his head with a little too much force, nearly slamming it into his tusks, “M’good. What did you need?”

     The man turned slowly and cautiously glanced at the hybrid, sighing once he saw the mask securely on. “Right, I didn’t really need anything. I mostly wanted to talk to you for a minute. Do you have the time?”

     Techno tilted his head and gave Wilbur a quick once over.

     The man wasn’t visibly injured and he was dressed in his usual attire, all the way up to the beanie. He was twitching with his hands and avoiding eye contact. He looked a little more centered in the eyes than he had yesterday in the pit, but there was still that mild touch of mania that followed him like a spirit.

     “Depends on how long it’ll take, but I’ve always got a minute for my uh, fearless allies.” the boy cringed over the last words as he responded.

     “Right, it shouldn’t take long just uh,” the man trailed off and seemed to square his shoulders, “are you gonna hold yesterday against Tommy?”

     He bit down a scowl, “What do you care? You clean up all his messes?”

     Wilbur glanced sharply at the bitterness in his tone, “No,” he began slowly, “it’s just that he’s a kid, y’know? I need to know if it’s gonna be a problem.”

     Chat roared from within the boys’ skull;

     How dare he!

     Blood!

     He should be making sure Tommy will mind himself!

     Blood for the insult!

     Blood for the blood god!

     Technoblade winced at the screaming in his skull, “I am not the one who broke etiquette Wilbur. I followed the rules.” his reply came out more petulant and whiny than venomous.

     The man stared at the piglin hybrid for a long moment, puzzling over the reaction. “I know Technoblade, he broke the rules and you gave him mercy. I’m just wondering if that mercy has an expiration date, that’s all.”

     Techno bristled, “It wasn’t mercy. There isn’t any mercy!” the boy choked down a snarl, “If I was going to kill a runt with no thought then I would’ve done that. I released him, what else is wanted?” he stumbled over the language in his anger.

     Wilbur had shrunk back at the yelling, and finally answered, “I- okay. I don’t want anything from you Techno, I was just checking, ‘cause he really didn’t know.”

     “Ignorance has never earned anyone sympathy Wilbur, you of all people should know that.” Technoblade shook his head and calmed himself before muttering out a bitter, “Don’t try to lie to me.”

     “I didn’t! What would I even lie about, he really didn’t know.” Wilbur snapped.

     And the voices laughed,

     You messed up~

     Silly little runt, letting his insecurities blind him!

     Poor little thing, moaning about honesty from behind a mask of bone.

     Blood for dishonesty, even from yourself

     Techno chewed his lip agitatedly until he split it enough to bleed slowly and rambled at the Chat in piglin under his breath before replying in overworld once more, “Nevermind. Yes I won’t do anything to him, he has been released. He is a dishonorable child but that will be his only consequence.”

     Wilbur raised an eyebrow, “No. Tell me what I lied about.”

     Chat laughed again at the piglin’s misery, satiated by the blood for now.

     The boy flicked his ears and turned away, “It doesn’t matter Wilbur, you’ve overstayed your welcome.”

     “No, tell me! I need to know if it’s gonna be an issue Blade, and if it’s nothing then I can just explain it. I’ll leave once you tell me.”

     He barely flinched, “Nothing is going to be an issue Wilbur Soot, though I would caution pushing my patience much further.” the pig replied tersely.

     Wilbur smirked, “C’mon, I’m a lot of things but not usually a liar Tech! What did I lie about? Why wouldn’t you want me to know hmm?” the man began to pace the length of the room. “Let’s see; I checked about the conditions of Tommy’s release and you reassured there were none except the inherent consequence of lost trust, I restated that he didn’t know and that I wasn’t asking for anything,” the man watched closely for a reaction even though the mask hid most of it. It didn’t hide his ears though. “Ah ha!” he crowed victoriously, “You didn’t call me a liar until after I said that I didn’t want anything from you!”

     Chat laughed raucously at the easy betrayal of his intentions and emotions.

     Techno went red under his mask and hissed at the Chat in piglin once more, “Shut up! S’not important!” before snapping at Wilbur, “Get out.”

     Wilbur slowed down his excitement, “Why would that be a lie though?”

     The boy tensed where he stood and glared, “Get out.”

     “Why is that a lie Blade? Why would you hide it?”

     He flinched at the name and his shoulders rose up towards his ears and he grit his teeth, “I am not one of your little projects for you to puzzle at Wilbur Soot. You got what you wanted so get out of my house before I make you.”

     Wilbur cocked his head, “You could’ve made me leave anytime now Tech. Tell me.”

     Technoblade ground his teeth together and barely muttered, out a terse  “Of course you wan’ something from me Soot. I’m not an idiot.”

     “But I d-” Wilbur hesitated, “I guess I do want something from you huh,”

     Tech released a resigned sigh and forced out, “We have satisfaction?”

     Wilbur cocked his head again, “Uh, I guess? This isn’t a fight Technoblade, there isn’t any grievance or anything.”

     Techno bared his teeth at his inability to communicate, “Are you done wanting my answers? Are you done?”

     The man grimaced as he realized that he had pushed so hard that the pig was having trouble translating, “My bad, uh sorry Blade. I only meant, I don't want ya to do anything with Tommy, the other stuff is implied.”

     He still didn’t manage to hide as he flinched away from the name. 

     Wilbur still didn’t manage to understand it.

Chapter Text

     After Wilbur finally left, Technoblade let out an anxious whine.

     Chat mostly stopped their mocking at the noise;

     Why do you cry runt?

     Little pig?

     All good fun

     EEE

     He knows.

     “You’re right, Chat! He knows, there's no way he doesn’t. My voice was all wrong, and I kept speaking piglin instead of overworld! He walked in while I wasn’t wearing my mask!” The piglin hybrid paced anxiously as he ranted.

     “He didn’t say anything about that, but I just, why can’t I keep my mouth shut!”

     The voices quieted themselves in an attempt to soothe the panicking boy.

     You just wanted to be known

     S’not so bad little pig

     He didn’t see your face

     He can’t mind himself, if he had figured you out he would’ve gloated

     He would’ve told

     Techno chuffed and tugged his mask off to pull at his loose hair, “He was so cruel, why wouldn’t he stop? I wanted him to go.” the boy cried to his invisible choir.

     He didn’t mean it

     Wil said sorry little runt

     Just got ahead of himself, he’s too curious for his own good.

     Or for yours.

     “I hate hiding.You know I hate hiding! Why do you make fun if you know I don’t wanna?” the young boy slid against the wall and began to braid his hair absentmindedly.

     Chat snarked,

     They don’t know you hate it

     All they see is a mask of bone demand honesty

     Just reminding not teasing

     Not over this

     Techno tied off his braid, “I know you’re not Chat. M’just anxious right now. Hate waking up like that. Hate it when people call me that.” he mumbled dejectedly.

     You aren’t a weapon little runt

     Just brave

     They only call you that out of fear

     Someone needs to be the villain

     There are worse things you’ve been called.

     He laughed slightly, “I guess you’re right, people have called me worse names. I just, the Blade feels like a title and not a person. I’m only the Blade when I wear the mask. Cause the Blade is what they want to fight with, not Techno. It’s never gonna be Techno, huh Chat?”

     You’re always Techno

     The Blade is just something to hide behind, a safety measure.

     You don’t have to be The Blade or Techno

     You’re runt, not Blade

     “Whatever! I dunno why you guys call me that anyways, I’m not a runt. I’ve got fourteen entire years, Chat! Fourteen of them! I was all by myself, except for you all, for all but three of them! Can’t call me runt if I take care of myself. I fought in a war, even owned the whole world for a day!” the boy groaned and pulled himself up to dress in his armor and leathers.

     Chat laughed at his denial but didn’t reply feasibly.

     Techno slipped into piglin as he gathered his things, “You guys suck, only ever quiet when you’re making fun of me. How did Wil even know where I live anyways?”

     Followed you?

     “But when? Maybe last night, I was pretty tired after Tommy and stuff.” He rolled his shoulders out and placed the mask on once more, “Okay, whatever, today we’re gonna get materials. Are you guys ready for a trip to the Nether? Gotta practice piglin with people that aren’t the voices in my head anyways.”

     Chat cheered and booed in equal measure.

     “Taking that as a yes then. Let’s go boys!”
----------------------

     Techno loved visiting the Nether. 

     There were a lot of reasons, really. Maybe it was the heat, or how familiar it felt no matter how long it had been since he had last visited, it could’ve even been because there were hardly any players around. Whatever the reason, Technoblade was thrilled to be back once more.

     The main SMP portal opened onto a man-made platform over lava with bridges arching off in various directions. The occasional ghast flew by and the calls of a piglin sounder echoed in the distance.

     “Okay Chat, we got to get some Netherite. We gotta dig pretty far down and bed mine so any trading will be before that, that way I can practice with the locals and see what’s up nearby.” He nodded decisively to the Chat and headed down towards the main ground by the portal.

     The sounder he had heard earlier was setting up their stands near the lava lake by the portal. He kept his distance for a little while, looking to see if there were any players nearby. 

     He didn’t see anyone around and it didn’t look like anyone coming through the portal would be able to see the makeshift market area immediately so he should have some warning in case someone came through while he was trading.

     The boy sighed and unclasped his mask, placing it in his inventory carefully. He picked at the skin around his adolescent tusks absentmindedly. He had quite a bit of gold from Overworld mining and a lot of emeralds in case they accepted that as well. He stepped from the shadows and headed towards the sounder.

     They weren’t a particularly large sounder but big enough to have two brutes. There were at least four piglets and three merchants behind a large table with items spread out from top to bottom. Besides the two brutes watching the entire sounder there was one piglin keeping the runts far from the edge but within the brutes view. There was also a sounder mother speaking with the traders.

     The various sounders he came across during his younger years wandering the Nether had always been kind to him, with a few rare exceptions. They tended to treat him better than players since he looked mostly like a strange piglin. Any difference was typically discarded in favor of being welcoming to strangers. Many had offered him a permanent place but he had refused to accept no matter how kind the invitation. Food was hard to come by on most servers and the Nether was never a kind place to its inhabitants. Even at a young age Techno had known better than to put others at risk for his own safety, so he wandered and occasionally stayed along a sounder for a time, but he never did join.

     Of course he had only wandered the Nether by himself for three of his years, seeing as the first three were spent within his own sounder and then all his years after his sixth he lived in the Overworld.

     So Techno knew to approach without weapons and to ignore the runts entirely. He waited patiently on the outside of the space marked by the brutes, making sure to ignore Chat and keep his desire to fidget with his tusks to a minimum.

     Eventually the sounder mother approached him with a brief wave, he bent his head forward politely and avoided eye contact. “Mother of Sounder, how fare the fire tides?” 

     She snuffed, “Stranger Runt by Blood, they warm us still. Have you come for business or aid?”

     His ear flicked in agitation at the continued addressal of Runt but nodded nonetheless, seeing as she could’ve called him Piglet as well, “Merely for business Mother, I have no danger to flee.”

     She chuffed, “We welcome you Stranger Runt.” She stepped to the side and went to speak with the piglets, leaving him to barter on his own.

     Chat applauded him;

     Good!

     Mom is nice.

     Ha, she knows you’re runt still

     EEEEE

     He acknowledged his audience internally but continued towards the merchants silently, except for the occasional chuff or snuffle.

     The merchants were fair with their deals and honest about their excitement to speak with another piglin, rather than more players with no manners. He was sure they were giving him better trades than they usually would give a newcomer, but he couldn’t be sure if it was because he was the first non-player in awhile, because they thought him a runt, or because he was mindful of his manners.

     Regardless he got the bulk of his supplies easily, getting a hefty amount of golden apples, iron ore, nether gold, and even an enchanted diamond sword that he couldn’t wait to check out.

     Techno left the traders with a genuine, “Wishing you a kind tide!” as he scurried off towards the sounder mother for a farewell.

     “Mother Sounder, your kindness comforts.” he entreated as he approached.

     “Runt Stranger, we hope your winds are safe.” she replied with a smile and waved him out of the area.

----------

     The piglin hybrid left the area with an excitement that he always gained with the arrival of new things to hoard and an interaction with some fellow piglin.

     “Alright Chat, how’d I do then?” he asked amusedly.

     Good

     GG

     Sounder!

     Friends?

     Shinies!

     Mother is kind and soft.

     Technoblade laughed, “Thanks, I guess. No they aren’t our sounder, they can probably be friends but it’d probably be awkward if they mentioned me to the others. We did get some more shiny stuff, for sure. She was kind, but how would we even know if she was soft?”

     Chat grumbled,

     Seemed soft to me

     Yup sounds right!

     EEEEEEEE

     Techno shook his head and pulled his mask on before looking for a good place to dig for ancient debris. “You all always think the Sounder Mother is soft, I think you’re soft.” He grinned at their disbelief and let the noise of his head wash over him as he mined.

Chapter Text

     Wilbur had really only stumbled upon Techno’s base by pure luck, and it was awfully convenient to find it while the piglin hybrid was home. He had told Tommy to watch himself, but it wouldn’t hurt to double check just how many strings were tied to this act of forgiveness.

     It had definitely hurt, that much was clear.

     The man stumbled out of the base and walked away as fast as possible, nearly running from what absolutely could not be the Blade crying. He eventually reached a clearing a good distance away, most sounds hidden by the trees.

     “Fuck, okay that was fucking stupid, damnnit.” the man collapsed against a nearby tree and muttered to himself.

     “Why the fuck did I bother him that much, do I have a gods damn death wish? Well obviously but not like that. Damn okay, okay, okay. Let’s review, and then I need to talk to the others.” Wilbur closed his eyes and breathed in and out for a few moments. “Alright, there are no strings with Tommy, that’s good! Don’t think I could manage anything else to focus on right now.” 

     He leaned his head against the tree trunk, “He was angry that I asked, not in the ‘fuck you for bringing this up’ way but more like ‘why do you think so little of me’, and that is, uh, interesting for sure seeing as he did kill Tubbo like yesterday. And I mean that’s whatever, maybe he was angry that I was checking if he would be honorable or something? But he seemed so anxious.” Wilbur thought back to the beginning of the conversation. “He was on edge the whole time, because I nearly walked in on him without his mask. And y’know that’s fair or whatever but I didn’t even know that was like a secret kinda thing. But uhm, that freaked him out really badly. He was straight up panicking before he got the mask on, like hyperventilating. Which is pretty weird cause why does it matter what he looks like? I guess Dream is weird about his mask but like, that’s an identity thing and a drama thing, gods know he could handle it any other way, but Techno is widely known, he isn’t an Admin or anything like Dream is? So the mask isn't important for that.”

     Wil traced the strings of the conversation, “After he got the mask he was still awkward and he kept slipping into piglin, and he doesn’t usually do that, though he was awkward like he was scared. Why would Technoblade be scared of me? I guess he didn’t think anyone knew where he lived and he had clearly woken up just then, but it feels like something else.” he sighed in agitation, “His voice definitely changed the longer we spoke, and y’know it would make sense if it was lower in the morning right? But it was definitely higher and then he made it lower in like one sentence, has he been putting on a voice this whole time?” The man laughed, “Damn, definitely can’t tell Tommy about that.”

     “He was also embarrassed? When he got at me about lying he was super reluctant to actually explain himself, almost like he hadn’t meant to say it.” Wilbur scratched his neck absentmindedly, “But why would he be? Why would he say it if he didn’t want to explain it? He was almost acting like Tommy, snapping something and then backtracking when it invited more questions than answers on my end. But Tommy only does that cause he’s scared of honesty or whatever, and I mean, even Tubbo does it sometimes. It’s kinda like a kid thing to do? Why would Technoblade be like that though?”

     Wilbur tugged his beanie down his neck and continued, “Okay, so Tech was anxious and off kilter the whole time, weirdly insistent on the mask but didn’t properly explain why, he was snappish and whiny, like he wasn’t even sure that he was allowed to be, plus he was definitely flinching every time I called him Blade, which is just odd.”

     “Maybe he just doesn’t like that moniker? But why wouldn’t he just tell us to stop? I mean we’d probably ask questions so if he didn’t want to answer them I guess that explains why he would just suffer through.” Wil huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “C’mon I’m close to something, what is it?”

     As Wilbur muttered to himself Tommy and Niki approached slowly, “Wil? Whatcha doin’ out here?” Nikachu called out.

     “Yeah, just weirdly talking to yourself in the middle of the woods or..?” Tommy chimed in hesitantly.

     The man laughed quietly and shook his head, “Uh, no not like that, not this time. I’m tryna figure something out.”

     Niki sat down across from him and pulled Tommy down next to her, “Can we help?”

     Wilbur nodded and chewed his lip, “Yeah, uh where’s Tubbo?”

     “Think he’s still sleeping in Pogtopia, why?”

     “Just don’t want to repeat myself later, plus he’d probably be able to help too, y’know?” Wilbur pulled out his communicator and typed out a message to the boy in question before sending coordinates. “He should be here soon then, but ‘till that what have you been up to?”

     Tommy rambled on for a few minutes with the occasional interjection from Niki. Wilbur nodded distractedly and hummed when needed.

     “Having a meeting without me then?” Tubbo called teasingly as he entered the clearing.

     Tommy laughed and shook his head, “Course not big man, just waiting for you to finally get up.”

     Wilbur rolled his eyes and settled into his seat, waiting for the others to calm down.

     Tubbo sat between Niki and Tommy directly across from Wilbur. The boy tilted his head and hummed out a questioning note.

     “Alright, nobody interrupt m’kay? I’ve gotta get to the end of the new information and it is gonna be a tad uh, shocking.” Wilbur straightened against his tree as the others nodded and prepared to listen.

     “I visited Technoblade this morning-” Wilbur began hesitantly. 

     “What!”

     “By yourself?”

     “How did you even find his house?”

     Wilbur glared and waited for silence once more. “Anyway, as I was saying, I visited him today just to see if there were any conditions on Tommy’s-" he waved his hand vaguely, "-forgiveness or anything like that. When I got inside his little base he wasn’t in the main room so I called out to see if he was even home.” the man gestured widely, “And y’know he was, so I walked towards where he had yelled from and started to ask if he had a minute, like ya do, when he freaked out about me almost seeing him without his mask. He was kinda reluctant to actually explain why he was basically having a panic attack from the other room but once I got it out of him I just let him grab the mask so we could talk.”

     Niki nodded slightly, “Yeah I don’t think anyone’s seen him without his skull mask thing.”

     Tommy laughed, “He was really that freaked out? Not even Dream is all that worried about it and he has a secret Admin identity thing.”

     “Does he have, like, a reason for hiding it? Did he tell you?” Tubbo asked.

     The man let out a halfhearted glare at the comments but answered nonetheless, “Yeah he didn’t really explain, I asked sort of joking cause I was a little concerned he’d just murder me for almost seeing his face, but he didn’t give a real answer.” Wil sighed again, “So he gets his mask on and he’s still super nervous right? I figure, hey maybe he’s still freaked out about the close call, but it was different than that. Techno kept slipping into piglin to answer before changing it back like he hadn’t noticed, and he was all high pitched and crackly in the voice. Sounded kinda like Tommy to be honest.”

     Tubbo and Niki laughed, but Tommy went bright red. “Hey! I don’t go crackly!”

     Tubbo raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy for a long moment.

     Niki bit back her snorts, “But, uh, why would Technoblade sound like that?”

     Wilbur shrugged and continued, “Yeah, don’t know about that one. He kept being all sketchy the whole time but I eventually asked if he was gonna hold a grudge about the extraordinary Innit over here, and then he got super defensive.” He blew his hair out of his face. “Like all angry and shit, thought he was about to go on a rant about honor and all. Instead he snapped at me about mother henning you, and I just explained I had to keep you alive somehow. He insisted that if he wanted to kill a baby he would’ve, that you’d already been released and what else could we want from him.”

     Tommy interjected, “Not a godsdamn baby. There’s no way he said that.”

     “Probably did, to be honest.” Niki answered.

     He rolled his eyes, “Well what he said verbatim was that: ‘If I was going to kill a runt with no thought then I would’ve done that.’, but I figured I could translate the culture shock and language issues out.”

     Tubbo furrowed his brow; “Why would Tommy be a runt? Like he is smaller than Technoblade but he isn’t tiny?”

     Niki shook her head, “With piglins all children are runts, he was just reaffirming how young Tommy is, not calling him weak.”

     “I’m not a baby or a runt or a child.” Tommy glared, “I’m a big man. And I think all the time!”

     Nikachu scrubbed her face, “Damn guys, Overworld is Techno’s second language, obviously. He must’ve been raised piglin which is why he leans on it when he’s stressed or tired, and they use different grammar and sentence structure. He was basically trying to say that it would’ve been easy to kill a child that didn’t know anything, so he would’ve done it before now if he was going to at all.” she huffed again, “I can’t imagine having to translate into a language with an entirely different style and adjust culture discrepancies.”

     Wilbur cringed, “Yeah, he probably has a hard time with it huh?”

     Tubbo rubbed his horns in sympathy, “Man it would get annoying being a nether-born hybrid, I bet the cold is a bitch.”

     Tommy shook his head insistently, “Nah, he’s a big fucking dude, if anything pissed him off he’d just kill ‘em.”

     Wil bit back a scowl and settled for rolling his eyes instead. “Tommy you know he’s a fucking excellent strategist right? Like he isn’t just strong? Sure he could snap you in two but he could also probably win a debate on the necessity of supplies in war or some shit too. Except when he gets all whiny, he’d probably lose then.”

     “When he gets whiny? What’re you talking about? Piglin is a lot more nasally, s’that what you mean?” Niki asked.

     Wilbur shook his head, “Well when I asked if he was gonna fight with Tommy over this he got all petulant about how he followed the rules and Tommy was the one who broke them. It was honestly kinda weird? Cause it isn’t like I was gonna chastise him like a fucking ten year old.”

     Niki nodded thoughtfully and waved for the man to continue his recount.

     “Well anyways, he insisted that he’d leave Tommy alone and the only thing to happen to the brat was that he’d have to deal with being untrustworthy or whatever. After he had asked what else we could want from him I had insisted that I didn’t want anything from him, to which he called me a liar a few minutes later into the conversation.” Wil sighed and rested his head against his knees, “I didn’t know what he was talking about, or when I had even lied, so I asked him. He got all embarrassed and awkward, like he hadn’t meant for it to come out at all. He did that thing that Tubs and Tommy do when they’re accidentally vulnerable? Where they walk back everything they said and get all defensive and nasty. I eventually got him to tell me what he thought I’d lied about, but it was like pulling teeth and he tried to kick me out a few times.”

     Wilbur looked up at the other three once more, “After I figured out that he meant that we wanted something from him I clarified that I didn’t want anything new from him. It was weird he seemed all hurt and devastated and got all; ‘Of course you want something from me. I’m not stupid.’, it was honestly a little sad.”

     Tommy cocked his head to the side, “What does that even mean, everyone wants something from everyone, he isn’t fucking special.”

     The man shrugged, “Dunno, but it got stranger after that. He asked me if we had reached satisfaction, like this was another brawl or something. I told him there was no grievance, that we weren’t fighting, and he got all angry and embarrassed again, his ears were flicking around so much you guys.”

     Tubbo laughed hesitantly, “His ears flick around when he’s embarrassed? That’s actually kind of cute.”

     Tommy glared again, “It isn’t cute Tubbo, he’s a wrong’un.”

     “Well whether he’s a wrong’un or not, he probably just didn’t know how to ask if you’d finished or not Wil. I don’t usually catch him struggling to translate but that early in the morning and being caught off guard it’d probably be harder than usual.” Niki chimed in.

     Wilbur stared at the others with passive agitation then finished, “Anyways he got all huffy about my prying so I apologized and left him alone pretty quickly after that.”

     Nikachu shook her head dazedly, “That is super wild, I’ll be honest Wilbur.”

     Tommy laughed cruelly, “What? That the big pig gets all shy and anxious sometimes?”

     Tubbo shoved him. “Don’t be an asshole Innit, of course he gets anxious and stuff, he’s just a dude.”

     “A dude who killed you.” Tommy grumbled. 

     Niki cringed, but it was Wilbur that interrupted them, “Boys knock it off. I didn’t tell you all of this just so you could bicker some more, something isn’t adding up.”

     “Yeah, there’s something off about this whole thing,” the boy nodded and continued, “I mean, he definitely killed me, but he did apologize beforehand. And afterward he was super polite and managed Tommy’s fuckup way better than he had to, what’s the thing we’re missing?”

     Niki looked between the others, “Just, something about his whole behavior doesn’t read right, y’know? It’s inconsistent but not impulsive, I can’t put my finger on it.”

     “I mean why does it even matter, maybe he’s just nuts, y’know?” Tommy added unhelpfully.

     “I don’t think so.” Wilbur shook his head, “Whatever it is I wanna know though.”

Chapter Text

     Technoblade had finished bed mining and headed home long after the sun had set in the overworld. Getting enough ancient debris had taken much longer than the boy had expected and Chat was agitated at how boring the day had been.

     Technolame

     C’mon do something! Oh, go fight Tommy!

     No! Leave the raccoon boy alone

     Want blood ):

     Techno c’mon~

     The hybrid huffed and shook his head, “Chat I’m tired don’t be like this. We didn’t have a bad time, we talked to a sounder, remember! Then we got a ton of debris! Even argued with Wilbur!”

     The voices muttered bitterly but didn’t answer.

     Techno hummed a sympathetic note and continued walking through the woods between the portal and his base, “C’mon don’t pout you guys, it doesn’t have to be all blood and plot all the time y’know?”

     The Chat didn’t answer so the boy shrugged and ignored their agitation. He was still a long way away from his base, but he was near Pogtopia.

     “It would be nice to just go to sleep, and I am allowed in the ravine still so I could just go home tomorrow?” Chat ignored him but he continued talking aloud, “It’d be awkward though, especially if Tubbo or Tommy are there. We could make it home before it’s too late right? What’s a few skeletons anyways?”

     With his mind made up and the angry silence from Chat the boy continued walking past the entrance to Pogtopia. 

     Most nights, the piglin hybrid could walk home in the dark with no problem. The monsters weren’t a big deal when he had thousands of voices warning him and mocking him in equal measure. It wasn’t like he was going to reasonably get lost either, seeing as he had near-perfect direction. Even without Chat, he was usually pretty aware of his surroundings.

     Tonight was not like most nights.

     Chat was frustrated with him, and although they protect him they also demand acknowledgment and ritual. He was their runt, and they cheered him on in battle and warned him of dangers that he couldn’t see. But he was also their prodigy, and though the voices were not cruel they weren’t kind either. No gift from the blood god was kind. They were petty creatures as most trapped things tended to be.

     Tonight was not like most nights.

     There was a skeleton about fifteen feet behind him. There was also a horde of zombies ransacking a village about fifteen feet in the opposite direction.

     Chat neglected to inform him, they would get their blood one way or another.

     Techno barely dodged the first arrow, but because he did the arrow flew into one of the nearby zombies, gathering the entire horde's attention.

     “Damnit Chat!” he called, diving behind a tree to take cover.

     There was no way he could get rid of the zombies and take out the skeleton, not without taking a lot of damage. Not even he was that good at fighting on his best days, let alone one of the more exhausting days he’d had in a while.

     The boy grunted and dove forward at the encroaching zombies, slashing and hacking. For every zombie he downed, another popped into his immediate circle. With the skeleton taking potshots every few minutes just made things worse.

     Techno finally took out most of the mobs, but he was dangerously low on health and had an unfortunate amount of arrows in him. He dove behind a tree after taking out the final zombie and caught his breath, hissing at Chat.

     “Are you happy? There's your godsdamned blood .”

     L

     You’re bleeding lol

     Runt don’t pout

     Blood for the blood god

     Hiding doesn’t suit you.

     Technoblade sighed angrily, “Blood for the Blood God, wah wah, we’re the voices in your head and we wanna make fun of you all the time, whatever.”

     Tech had distracted himself from the fight with his mimicking and missed the skeleton changing position and firing.

     The arrow aimed true and knocked him down to a half heart, leaving him gasping for breath. “Shit okay, sorry Chat! Sorry, sorry, sorry! Get me out of here, please?” he bit back whines as he moved for more cover.

     Chat tittered anxiously,

     Oh, lots of blood.

     Okay, too many holes in the boy

     Duck behind this tree!

     Head back to Pogtopia runt.

     The boy nodded and stumbled in and out of the treeline, heading towards the ravine.

     By the time he made it to the entrance, he had begun to sway on his feet and whine with every step. He pushed into the entrance and listed awkwardly against the wall, catching his breath. 

     The piglin hybrid managed to get down the stairs towards the main room, “S’anybody home?” he mumbled out.

     Chat began to shout in his skull,

     Need Wilbur

     Or Niki?

     Even Tommy at this point

     This sucks guys

     EEEEEEEEEEEEEE

     Not the time for spam you guys

     “Shut up Ch’t, too loud.” whined the boy, before collapsing in the main sitting room.

     Up!

     Technolate

     Not sleepy time runt

     SOS

     Techno faded into a vague haze of dizzy pain and hoped that someone would come by soon.

--------------------

     Wilbur had been having a good day. Tommy had stayed out of trouble, his recent defeat resting colorfully in his mind, Tubbo had gotten less anxious the further they had moved from the festival even though it had only been two days, and Niki was relaxing much more often than she had that first day.

     All in all the day had been good barring his little disaster with Technoblade that morning. That is how Wilbur had known with a sinking certainty that something was wrong.

     Pogtopia had been far too quiet when the three rebels had returned later that night. The door had already been opened when they got there.

     “Tommy shut up.” the man whispered, gesturing towards the door and looking around anxiously.

     Tommy glared but silenced himself, glancing between Niki and Tubbo quickly. 

     Nikachu muttered anxiously, “Did ya leave the door open when you left this morning Tubs?”

     Tubbo shook his head and the two adults shifted in front of the boys before drawing their swords silently.

     “Stay put.” Wilbur stared ahead cautiously and had Niki follow him in.

     The two cleared the entrance room and gestured the boys inside before heading down the stairs.

     “I’ll check the bedrooms, can you get the main room Wil?” Niki whispered.

     Wilbur nodded and the two split up.

     Nikachu hadn’t found anything in the bedrooms except for Tommy’s unfortunate amount of random rocks and Tubbo’s massive collection of sweaters. She messaged Wilbur and asked if he had found anything.

     There was no reply.

     Niki waited five minutes before marching towards the main room, at that moment Wilbur called into the passageway, “Hey Niki? Need a hand, do we have a med kit?”

     She swore and ran in before finding a strange sight.

     Wilbur was crouched in the middle of the floor with his sword tossed to the side, all the torches except for one were unlit and the flaming one was resting on its side next to Technoblade.

     The piglin in question was laying on his back with an unfortunate amount of arrows sticking out of gaping wounds. He was covered in mud and blood, so much so that it was dripping off his mask, and the gashes on his side were a sickly yellow color. He was barely awake and mumbling in piglin something about a side character's death.

     “What the fuck?” Niki asked, dropping her sword and taking a step back.

     “I don’t know Niki, do we have a fucking medkit or not?” Wilbur snapped, running his hands through his hair.

     “Oh yeah, yeah I’ll get it.” She spun on her heel and raced towards the entrance room. “Medkit, sure, definitely.”

     Tubbo and Tommy crowded her as soon as she appeared, “What’s wrong Niki? What’s happening? Are we under attack? Where’s Wilbur?”

     Nikachu shoved between them and dove for the chest, “Not attacked, Technoblade is bleeding out on our floor, Wilbur’s with him. Need a medkit.”

     “Technoblade is what?” Tommy screeched.

     “Technoblade?” Tubbo asked quietly.

     “Yes, I know guys, I don’t have the time though so c’mon or don’t.” Niki snarked anxiously, dashing towards the doorway into the deeper ravine.

     The three of them ran silently and quickly into the living area. Technoblade did not look much better but he definitely seemed more aware.

     “What the fuck dude.” Tommy gawked.

     Wilbur glanced up sharply before looking back to glare at Techno again.

     “F’ck off Wil, go fuck a fish or something,” Technoblade mumbled before trying to push himself up.

     Tubbo coughed out a laugh, “You doin’ okay Technoblade?”

     “Mmm, not ‘mportant ram boy. Lemme go.”

     Niki shook her head, “Techno you’re delirious, please let us help, what even happened to you?” She slowly stepped closer to the piglin in question, stopping when he flinched.

     “No! G’ way!” The boy cried as he scrambled backward.

     Wilbur sighed, “Tech you need to listen to us.”

     The hybrid glanced up cautiously.

     “You’re hurt pretty bad dude, you need our help. We aren’t gonna hurt you okay? Just uh calm down.” Wilbur spoke slowly and quietly, taking care not to move too much.

     The boy stared balefully, “No.”

     Tommy glared and marched over. “C’mon big man, if you bleed everywhere we have to clean it up. Don’t be an asshole.”

     Techno shifted back quickly as the boy moved, “No! Stay away! Don’ want your ‘elp an’ I don’ need an’thing!”

     “Why not!” Niki twitched from her seat on the floor.

     Wilbur glared at the rest of the rebels, silencing them. “Tech, tell me what’s the matter with you okay? Fine, you don’t want help, but at least tell me what’s wrong please?”

     Technoblade looked down at the blood pooling in his lap. “Not gonna help?” he asked hesitantly.

     Tubbo went to answer but Wilbur cut him off, “If you want. Just tell me what’s wrong, alright?”

     The boy nodded hesitantly, “Hurts.”

     “What does?” Niki asked anxiously.

     Techno shrunk back and glanced around the room quickly. He shook his head and stared at his feet again.

     Wilbur looked around at the rest of them. “D’ya want them to leave Tech? Can you just tell one of us? Me or Niki or someone?”

     Tommy glanced around sharply but held his tongue.

     Tech nodded slowly and gestured towards Wilbur hesitantly.

     “That’s okay, you don’t have to tell all of us, they can leave.” Wilbur glanced back at the others before turning his attention back to the hybrid on the floor.

     Tubbo pulled Niki and Tommy out and left the medkit on the floor where the woman had sat previously.

     “S’at better Technoblade?” The man watched the boy anxiously, the pump of adrenaline leaving him fidgeting in place.

     He nodded before muttering, “It hurts Wil.”

     Wilbur nodded sympathetically, “Yeah I bet, what’s uh, what hurts specifically?”

     Techno chewed on his lip till it bled slightly. “Back s’all cut up by arrows I think, there’s some slashes on my side? Think I hit my head?”

     “Okay, what happened? Do you know?”

     The piglin muttered to himself in his native language before squinting and glancing up at the man sitting a few feet from him. “Zombies an’ a skeleton? I’ve only one-half heart.
     Wilbur breathed in slowly and counted on the exhale, “That’s no good dude. Would you mind if I looked at your injuries? I don’t have to do anything.”

     Technoblade glared for a minute, “You tryna trick me Soot?”

     Wilbur laughed, “No, I just want to help you s’all.”

     The child pulled a sour face. “You can‘elp me though.”

     Wilbur tilted his head, “Why not? I’ve got the stuff.”

     “Don’t wan’ owe you ‘nymore though. You already wan’ some’ing from me.” the boy muttered anxiously.

     Wilbur shook his head, barely biting back the exasperation, he glanced around the room and let his mind wander for a moment. “But, but uh, I want to help you! So really you’d be doing me a favor Tech.”

     “You sure?”

     “Yup, just do me a favor and let me fix you up yeah?” Wilbur asked as he leaned back to grab the kit.

     “Kay, if you w’nt.” the pig nodded carefully.

     “Can the others come in to help me? Niki and Tubbo are much better at healing than I am, and I’m pretty sure Tommy wouldn’t let them go in without him.” Wilbur asked hesitantly.

     Technoblade shrugged his shoulders and muttered some more in piglin.

Chapter Text

     Technoblade was a little hazy at the moment, he could admit that.

     It wasn’t really his fault that he hit his head and he was pretty sure he was freaking Wilbur and the others out, but he was so tired and scared.

     Chat was sure that he had done something stupid, and he definitely wanted to argue with them but he didn’t know enough to refute it.

     You’re being baby

     Little runt is scared

     Don’t be mean he’s hurt

     Wilbur will save us

     Embarrassing

     Techno muttered at Chat in piglin between answers, “Shuttup, he’s being so nice right now! You’re gonna make him mean.”

     He can’t hear us genius

     Pretty sure that the runt has a concussion tbh

     Techno focused on Wilbur a moment later, he had asked a question. The hybrid wasn’t sure what he asked, but he was being so much more gentle than anyone ever was with him so the boy just shrugged.

     Wilbur nodded hesitantly, “M’kay I’ll be right back, don’t go to sleep right?” Then he walked towards the hallway where the others had gone.

     Techno whined under his breath but let the man leave.

     Guys, he is seriously out of it lol

     Poor piglet needs a hug

     He’s baby right now

     Bruh Wilbur needs to fix this man asap

     Tech glared at his hooves, “M’ot broken Chat! M’ot piglet either.”

     Chat mumbled and snarked to keep the pig conscious.

------------

     Wilbur stepped into the hallway and glanced back through the door before waving the others over to talk.

     “What’s up with the big man?” Tommy whispered.

     “He’s uh, really fucking out of it, honestly. But uh, he’s also super injured and I’ve got him to agree to let us help so Niki, Tubbo, if I keep him calm will you fix him up? Tommy you might need to help me keep him calm and awake, cause I’m pretty sure he is concussed out of his mind.”

     Niki, Tubbo, and Tommy nodded; before following Wilbur into the living room area.

     “Hey Tech, you still, uh, doing okay?” Wilbur asked, sitting in the same spot next to the hybrid.

     “Hurts still.” the boy muttered as he tugged on his hair underneath his mask and glanced at the other rebels. “Whatsit doin’ here?” 

     Niki sat down a few feet from the two and tugged Tommy and Tubbo with her, “You told Wilbur we could help you with your injuries, 'member?”

     Techno shook his head, “No, can‘elp me,” he crawled back behind Wilbur as best he could.

     “Of course not! No, we aren’t gonna help you dude, just uh, you’re helping us.” Wilbur chimed in before glaring at Tubbo for support.

     “Yeah, uh, you’re doing us a favor?” Tubbo added hesitantly.

     The piglin watched warily and asked once more, “How ‘m I helpin’ ya?” 

     Tommy shook out his hands and dove into the conversation, “Well you’re letting us practice for when we get hurt! You know how it is big man. Tubbo injures himself all the time, so we gotta get good at patchin’ him up.”

     Technoblade nodded suspiciously, “M’kay then if you want my ‘elp then.”

     Wilbur bit back a sigh of relief, “Thanks so much Blade, it means a lot.”

     The boy flinched back from the looks, that suddenly felt much heavier, and stared pitifully up at Wilbur. He punched out a whine and scrambled back from everyone. Techno muttered to himself, slipping into piglin, “Bad! Mean, not me, not Blade!”

     Niki darted a look between the two parallel to her, before answering in rusty piglin, “No Blade, just Techno! Not bad, all good.” She glared at Wilbur and mouthed in overworld “Wrong name!”

     Wilbur cringed, “Sorry, sorry Tech! Didn’t mean to hurt you, forgot you didn’t like it. Can you please let Niki check on you though?”

     Tommy glanced at Tubbo with confusion before turning to look at Techno again, “Yeah, Wil’s kinda a jerk, ya know?” he began slowly, “But you’ve got a concussion my dude so it’d prolly be better to let Tubs help you out.”

     “Didn’t mean to?” the boy sniffled hesitantly.

     “Yup, he says dumb stuff by accident all the time Technoblade, that’s why we don’t listen to him.” Tubbo chimed in.

     The piglin nodded and approached Tubbo and Niki slowly, sitting patiently while they bandaged his scrapes and cuts, only twitching away occasionally.

     Tubbo glanced over at Wilbur from where his hands were busy on the pig's arm, gesturing at the boy’s head discreetly with a glare.

     “Hey, Technoblade?” Wilbur asked hesitantly.

     “Hmm?” the boy hummed sleepily, his ears flicking towards the sound.

     “Y’know how you’ve got a concussion?”

     Niki tensed from where she was sitting next to the hybrid, glancing between him and the others.

     “Yup, hit my head ‘arli’r right? When fall’ng?” 

     Wilbur nodded, “Yeah so you hit your head, and uh, well we need to make sure it isn’t like super bad, y’know? Gotta check for inflammation and all that good shit?” the man chewed his lip and asked, “Do you think you can take your mask off so we can make sure you’ll be okay? After that, we can give you a potion, and then you can go to sleep?”

     Technoblade looked at Wilbur and then the rest cautiously, his ears pinned to his head in nerves. “We friends? We aren’t fr’nds’re we?”

     Tubbo chucked anxiously, “Well, we’re working together, aren’t we? We’re all even and shit, so we aren’t not friends.”

     Tommy shook his head, “We’re allies Techno, just working together really.”

     Niki nodded in mild agreement.

     “We don’t want to hurt you, if that’s what you mean, Techno. We aren’t really friends, but we help each other.” Wilbur added.

     The boy sighed and mumbled, occasionally slipping into piglin. “You won’ like me a’ter this. We won’t er’e be friends. Chat doesn’ think I should y’know?” Technoblade laughed bitterly, “They’re screamin’ here, you know how ‘tis. But they don’ think I should show you guys.” he shook his head as if to clear it, “Bet ‘is’ll be funny when ‘m awake huh?”

     Niki cleared her throat and answered in her own hesitant accent, “What’d you mean Tech? Who’s loud?”

     Tommy glanced between the two conversing in choppy piglin and then whispered to Tubbo, “What are they saying? What’s happening?”

     Then all four of the rebels watched in confusion as Technoblade removed his mask without another word.

Chapter Text

     If Technoblade had known that taking his mask off would’ve made everyone start screaming then he definitely wouldn't have done that.

     In between Chat’s contribution to the screaming they reminded him quite bitterly,

     We told you

     Shit

     Um, maybe this’ll be good?

     The runt is gonna flip out in a minute you guys

     This is bad.

     Without his mask his age was obvious. He had short, blunt tusks surrounded by soft cheeks and wide eyes. Rather than the sharp jawline and high cheekbones his mask implied, he had a round face with any bone hidden by baby fat that clung to him stubbornly. His mouth was slightly open due to the tusks that he wasn’t quite used to accommodating and his snout was soft, rather than the tough cartilage of an older piglin. At the moment his red eyes were wide and glassy.

     Tommy had shot up from his seat on the ground as soon as the hybrid’s face was fully revealed. He began pacing while he muttered anxiously, “What the fuck, what the fuck, fuck man?”

     Nikachu had cursed loudly and began to rub the bridge of her nose, fighting the urge to hug the boy.

     Wilbur just started shouting and laughing with an increasingly manic edge, he spun around and punched a nearby wall as soon as the information fully sunk in.

     Tubbo murmured a soft “Huh,” and simply blinked as he looked at the boy with such uncontainable bafflement. He cocked his head amidst all the panicking.

     Techno had begun to whine and crawl backward from the noise. The others weren’t getting quieter and Chat was just getting more wound up. “S’too loud, stop!” he muttered as he hid behind his hands.

     “Guys shut up! You’re freaking him out!” Tubbo snapped into action, “He still has a concussion, geniuses!”

     The other Pogtopians sheepishly quieted down and sat on the floor once more.

     “Doin’ okay dude?” Tubbo asked with a whisper. “Sorry we got loud, we were just uh, shocked.”

     The hybrid slowly pulled his hands off his face and looked at the blonde nervously, still tensing as if the shouting hadn’t stopped. “Loud.” he finally bit out.

     Niki leaned forward, “Yeah, sorry about that Tech, we uh, shouldn’t have done that.”

     “Yeah we won’t do that again big man, or not I guess, uhm what still hurts?” Tommy added hesitantly, biting back an anxious peal of laughter midway through his assurance.

     Technoblade shook his head quickly as he clenched his fists, “Stop, just, not right now!” 

     Chat hadn’t quieted yet:

     Shouldn’t have done that

     You’re scaring the runt

     Shut up!

     We’re too loud 

     His headache!

     EEEEEEEE

     Blood would help

     Silence.

     The boy squeezed his head between his knees for a moment and breathed harshly before releasing a sigh and allowing the tension to drain out of his posture as he slumped against the wall, “They were too loud, s’better now. Got ‘xcited. What’d ya need ‘gain?”

     Wilbur tilted his head before actively choosing to ignore most of that and picking up where the others had left off, “What still hurts?”

     “Head? Uh, think ‘at’s all?”

     Niki nodded, “Can I look at it to make sure it isn’t still bleeding or anything like that?”

     The boy nodded and stayed where he had ended up with his back to the wall and stared ahead at the woman with half-lidded eyes.

     Niki hesitated at his lack of movement before glancing between Tubbo and Wilbur. They shrugged in response and so she crawled in the boys’ direction, making sure to keep her body low. “Okay, let’s see hmm?”

     She sat down much closer to the boy and raised her hands slowly, before angling his head down to look at the back of it. Techno leaned firmly into the palm of her hand and closed his eyes.

     Tommy gawked but remained silent under the heavy glare from Wilbur.

     Niki smiled but didn’t comment, she tilted his head this way and that and then leaned his head backward to look at his pupils, before reluctantly removing her hands after finishing her makeshift exam. “Looks like you’re all good, Techno. There’s definitely a bump and based on your eyes and behavior I’d say you’ve a concussion, but no bleeding so a potion should be fine now!”

     Technoblade blinked dazedly at the unexpected lack of contact, muttering “Sleep? M’ tired.”

     Wilbur laughed, “Yeah kid, uh, just take the potion, and then you can sleep it off in my room or something?”

     Tubbo and Tommy dashed off to retrieve the potion, whispering as soon as they reached the doorway. Wilbur stood and offered the pig a hand, “Who’s room d’ya want? Tommy probably wouldn’t share but uh Tubbo might? I guess you can have mine if you want, plus I’m sure Niki wouldn’t mind either.” He carefully pulled his hand from the younger boy's grasp and scrubbed up and down the back of his own neck.

     Niki nodded at the hesitant glance from the boy and began to clean up the supplies from the medkit to allow him a modicum of privacy as he considered the options.

     “C’n I stay ‘n your’s Wil?” he asked quietly.

     Wilbur nodded and led him down the hallway, grabbing the potion from the others on their way. Techno followed silently, keeping his hands fisted in his shirt, though he glanced at the man's hand occasionally.

     Chat laughed and cooed from within the boy’s head.

     Aww, he wants to hold it ):

     He’s so sleepy 

     Gonna be embarrassed tomorrow lol

     Wilbur ~ Hold his hand!!!

     The boy grit his teeth and glared at the floor for the rest of the walk.

     The door was open and Wilbur shuffled the younger ahead. He waved Techno onto the bed and handed him the potion. “M’kay, just drink this and then you can have a nap, yeah?”

     Techno pushed himself up against the head of the bed and uncorked the bottle hesitantly before swallowing it all at once. He bit back a gag and stared at the bottle balefully. “S’bad Wil.”

     The man nodded with a slightly strained smile. “Uh huh, but it helps. S’ gonna make you tired so sleeping shouldn’t be too hard, and when you wake up you’ll be good as new.” Wil ruffled the boys’ hair and moved to leave, “We’ll be in the main room, where we were before if you need anything alright?”

     “Wait,” the boy darted out a hand and snatched at his sleeve, tugging hesitantly.

     Wilbur crooked a brow and waited.

     “Are you gonna, uh-” he bit back a large yawn unsuccessfully, “I mean, you gonna be uhm,” he muttered to himself in piglin like he was trying to remember a word. “Angry? When I get up?”

     Wilbur smiled awkwardly, “Uh no Tech, we’re just gonna make sure you’re okay when you get up. Y’know to make sure the potion worked all the way? We won’t be mad though.” he yanked a blanket over Techno and quickly shuffled out of the room.

------------

     By the time Wilbur had entered the living area the other three were already huddled by the wall discussing everything with a whispered confusion.

     “How is he so young? He has to be younger than you Tubbo, maybe even younger than Tommy!” Niki asked.

     “There’s no way he’s younger than me! I mean if he is he’s gotta be at least sixteen right? Why would he be here if he was younger than that?” Tommy tugged on his sleeves anxiously.

     Tubbo shook his head, “I don’t know why he’s here but you never act like that Tommy, so he has to be much younger than you.”

     Wilbur sat down on the ground next to the others, “He’s in my room sleeping, but Tommy does act like that when he is injured or exhausted. I imagine a concussion leaves anyone at less than their best.”

     Tubbo collapsed in a huff, landing half on top of Wilbur. “That’s true, he was injured and worn out looking. But just? How old is he then? He’s fought in fucking wars before, that’s why he was invited, he wiped the floor with Tommy and didn’t even bleed.”

     “I just, he has his adolescent tusks at least partially, so he is at least eleven? But I wouldn’t place him older than seventeen in any circumstance.” Niki tugged Tommy down with her and sat with a hesitant sigh.

     “He is fucking built for an eleven-year-old,” Tommy snapped. “What’s he even doing here?”

     Wilbur rubbed his face, “I mean it makes sense right? He was whiny and petulant with me and super defensive with all of us.” he bit his lip, “I mean, the nerves and emphasis on a mask makes way more sense if he was hiding his age?”

     Niki sighed and leaned against Tubbo, “I mean piglins are s’possed to grow faster physically, but they are considered runts by their sounder till they’re like nineteen-ish. The concept of years doesn’t translate super well, but their word for babies, piglets? That is like up to age ten, from then on they are just runts until they’re twenty or so.” she closed her eyes in thought, “He could be at minimum eleven like I said, but that isn’t super likely. He is taller than you Tubbo, but you’re kinda short, what are you then? Five-foot three? Five-foot two?”

     Tommy laughed, “He is five foot two!”

     Tubbo turned red, “You’re only like five foot four Tommy!”

     Niki rolled her eyes and continued, “So if I had to guess a height I’d say five foot five to six? With that in mind, as well as his tusks, I’d say maybe fifteen? Sixteen?”

     “Well that’s not so bad, right? I mean I’m fucking seventeen and I do all this shit.” Tommy asked quietly.

     Wilbur shook his head, “For one, you aren’t by yourself okay? Even when I’m doing a shitty job Niki is at least helping out. Secondly, we don’t let you do everything? You aren’t allowed to go out at night by yourself, you don’t mine by yourself or do missions or whatever by yourself. Tubbo is at least always with you!”

     Tubbo nodded, “Yeah, you guys don’t even let me do half as much as I try to, so like…” he chewed his lip, “The fact that he is usually by himself; he has his own base, mines his own materials, I mean he even went into L’manburg by himself! It’s definitely pretty bad even if he is sixteen.”

     “Fuck! Godsdamn Manburg!” Niki smacked herself in the face, “He was all by himself on that fucking podium! Fucking of course he freaked out.”

     Tommy whitened, “W- why didn’t he just tell someone? You guys never would’ve let him if you knew, and I wouldn’t have fucking fought him immediately after if he’d fucking said something like, ‘Hey I’m a child by the way!’, Damn it!”

     Wil dug his nails into his palms. “That’s probably why he didn’t say anything then. If he’s been keeping this secret for, however, fucking long he has, then why would he just tell us? I doubt the official war he was in for the Antarctic Empire were cool with child soldiers, and I fucking know Philza isn’t.”

     “What I want to know, “ Niki began, “is why he’s by himself at all? Piglins are very family-oriented, and it might seem violent living in the Nether but all of the runts and piglets are protected and trained very carefully. Sounder is super fucking important to their whole culture, even religion, so why would he be on his own? Even if he lost his sounder another would’ve taken in any survivors as soon as they were discovered.”

     Wilbur shook his head, “I don’t fucking know, but when I was taking him to my room? He was so scared and bloody hesitant. He asked if we’d be pissed at him when he woke up.”

     “Why would we be!” Tubbo cried, “It isn’t his fault!”

     Tommy pulled the boy under his arm, “Well he does have a concussion, and he doesn’t know us very well. Plus we all kinda started screaming as soon as he took his mask off.”

     Niki began to braid her hair absentmindedly, “I don’t know, I don’t know. But we need to do something, talk to him, just fucking anything.”

     Wil nodded, “When he’s up again, and better from his concussion, we’ll talk to him then.”

Chapter Text

     Technoblade woke to the raucous laughter of Chat and a throbbing pain behind his eyes.

     Technolate

     Oh this’ll be good

     Content!

     You’re in trouble runt

     He held back the urge to shoot up in bed. This was definitely not his room or his base. “Care to clue me in then?” 

     No spoilers!

     Don’t snitch Chat

     EEEEEEEE

     “Alright then, fine, don't be helpful.” He slowly opened his eyes. Techno was in the ravine base for Pogtopia. “This is bad Chat. What am I-'' he stopped suddenly.

    Chat began to giggle.

     Do you think he remembers now?

     Ten bucks he panics

     Don’t be mean guys!!

     I mean he made this bed y’know? Or rather he didn’t lol

     He shot out of bed and glanced around the room for his mask, ignoring the delighted crowing of too late that echoed around his head. There were no lights on and the room was small. There was a bed, crafting table, chest, and a coat that hung on the back of the door. Said door was cracked open and leaking torchlight into what was apparently Wilbur Soots’ bedroom.

     “This is fine! I mean, we can definitely fix this, yeah?” he scrubbed up and down his face in nerves as he began to dart around the room looking for his things, “Maybe we convince them they were hallucinating? Or that it was a trick? Maybe they’ll believe that this is how adult piglin hybrids look?”

     They absolutely will not.

     Wilbur knew piglin traditions and Niki spoke piglin

     You aren’t that good at lying.

     Poor runt

     Technoblade whined low in the back of his throat and tugged on his tusks absentmindedly, “Okay, okay. Wh-what should I do? What should I do!”

     There was a knock on the door, and Wilbur poked his head around the frame, “You up?”

     The boy startled and tripped over a pile of clothes onto the bed. 

     “Shit! Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, you alright?”

     “Not scared!” he snapped out before cringing at the cracking. “Y-yes, I’m up.”

    Wilbur nodded and pretended not to notice the steadily rising flush on piglins face. “Right, uh, I guess can you come out so Niki or Tubbo can check on your injuries?”

     “No. Um, I’m just gonna leave,” he answered as he scrambled off the bed quickly.

     The man grimaced, “Tech c’mon. Don’t make this harder, please? Just let us make sure you’re fine, okay?”

     Technoblade bristled at the name and bit out, “You didn’t care to make sure after the festival.”

     “Well that was different! We didn’t-” he trailed off with a wince, “Listen, we should’ve okay? But you stumbled in here in the middle of the night and tried to die so we need to make sure you’re all better now, alright?”

     Chat laughed even louder within the boys’ skull;

     Time to face the music little runt

     No hiding now

     Just kill him and leave.

    The boy whispered to himself in piglin, “Don’t have any weapons, you guys.” Before clearing his throat and staring at the man for a long moment. “Fine, you can check my injuries, I guess. But I’m fine! I would’ve just gone home last night if I’d known it’d be like this.” he grumbled anxiously.

     Wilbur shook his head and clapped, “Cool, let’s go to the main area then.”

     Techno trailed behind the man hesitantly, constantly reaching up to adjust his hair. He eventually settled for pulling his bangs over his face and looking at the ground ahead of him. Now and then Wilbur would glance back furtively and then right himself as soon as the other noticed his staring.

     The room they entered was the same as the last time, big and open with the only light being the occasional torch. Technoblade didn’t look up for the ground but felt the eyes of the pogtopians on him as soon as they entered.

     Wilbur traded glances with the others over the hybrid's head as he prayed, rather foolishly, that Tommy would keep his mouth shut.

     “Hey Techno! How’d you sleep?” Niki asked politely as she set up the medkit.

     Techno’s ears twitched in acknowledgment but he didn’t look up, “Fine.”

     Tubbo laughed high and nervous. “That’s good! I’m glad you’re feeling better then, are you ready to get checked?”

     The young boy nodded and glared off to the side.

     Wilbur let out a puff of air and counted to ten internally.

     “Didn’t know you were a baby, though that does explain a lot about you.” Tommy laughed through his nerves, “What’s, uhm, what's up yer' ass this morning?”

     Nikachu whipped her head around and glared at the blond but Technoblade beat her to chastising him.

     “Shut up Tommy Innit, you don’t know a single thing. If I’m a runt I’d hate to know what that says about you.” he snapped as he glared at the boy, ignoring the rising blush and twitching ears.

     Tommy spluttered, mouth opening and shutting for a few minutes before laughing again, “Bold words from the one who’s bushing tip to tail, do your ears always twitch like that Techie, or are you just happy to see me?”

     The hybrid grit his teeth and stared into the floor, “I’d shut up if I were you Innit, last I checked I still beat your ass without taking a single hit.”

     Tubbo blinked a moment before stepping between the two with hopes to mitigate the damage. “Tommy shut up!” he hissed at the blond and then turned to look at Techno, “Sorry, sorry Tech, can we just check if you’re healing properly?”

     Tommy huffed but held his tongue. 

     The piglin sighed and nodded before sitting down in a huff and staring at his lap from behind his curtain of pink hair. “Sure, whatever.”

     Wilbur glanced between the two before whispering to Tommy, “Can you try not to antagonize him for fifteen seconds, I barely got him to agree to come out here at all.”

     The boy muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “Bitch.” before collapsing where he stood with no further complaint.

     Niki sighed and walked towards Techno, settling down next to him and waving Tubbo over. “Alright, so we just need to make sure the potion did its job and double-check if the concussion is fully healed. Can you look up at me?”

     Techno bit his tongue and clenched his fists but looked up without complaint.

     Tubbo bit back a sigh of relief and handed scissors and new bandages to Niki, “Does anything still hurt? Are you dizzy, nauseous?”

     “No I’m not dizzy or nauseous, my head hurts mildly but that’s nothing new,” he muttered.

     Niki shared a look of concern with Wilbur, “Okay, it’s good that you aren’t nauseous or anything like that. What type of headache would you say, where does it hurt specifically? How often do you have one?”

     Chat answered sarcastically,

     How often are we around then?

     Techno whispered harshly in rushed piglin, “Shut it Chat, not helpful.” before answering in overworld with a bored tone. “Just a tension headache, behind my eyes? I don’t know how often I have one Nikachu, it’s just kinda always there.”

     Niki startled slightly before nodding and asking in piglin, “What’s a chat?” as she continued to check and re-bandage the wounds.

     The boy flinched back like he’d been struck and Chat laughed even louder, “No one! Nothing, s’not important!” he stuttered out in piglin.

     Tommy called out in bitter protest, “No fair! Don’t speak in languages we don’t all know!”

     Technoblade bit back a flinch and muttered in overworld, “Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off so bad.”

     Tubbo didn't manage to hold back bright laugh, “You heard him Innit!”

     Wilbur glared at the three boys, “Hush, let Niki work.”

     “Didn’t stop her,” he whined before turning bright red at the slip-up and clapped a hand over his mouth.

     “Ha! You should see your face, big man!” Tommy crowed delightedly at the reaction.

     Niki snapped at the boy, “Shut up Tommy, he’s obviously embarrassed so leave him alone and don’t pick on him.”

     Technoblade went even redder if at all possible as his ears flicked around in agitation against his hair. “No! No, I’m not. Shut up!”

     Wilbur bit back a laugh, “Sure mate, but uh, your ears are kinda giving you away on that one.” he gestured at his own head in demonstration.

     The boy slapped his hands over his ears and glared bitterly, “I don’t have to be here, shut up Soot! You don’t know anything.”

     Tubbo sighed slowly, “C’mon guys, you aren't making this any easier. You know better Wilbur.”

     Wilbur rolled his eyes but looked at the younger hybrid slowly. The boy was tense all over and was still holding his ears down. His skin was flushed a bright red and he was looking anywhere but the others. Wilbur sighed anxiously, “Sorry Technoblade, we’ll leave you alone.”

     Tommy shook his head, “I won’t, fuck off Wil! It’s funny! And he can handle a little teasing anyways.”

     Tubbo glared silently at the other but that didn’t manage to convince Techno, who stood up suddenly.

     “I’m leaving,” he muttered.

     Chat cooed nearly incoherently,

     Blushyblade

     Aww, he’s nervous!

     C’mon guys let up, this is clearly hard

     Ha, hard lol.

     E

     Niki scrambled and grabbed the boys’ wrist in a panic, “Wait!”

     Techno full-body flinched and yanked his arm out of her hand so hard that he stumbled back, before turning to glare at the woman with a snarl. “Don’t touch me!”

     Niki fell backward and Wilbur shot up from his place on the floor. They all stared at each other silently for a moment.

     Tubbo stood slowly and spoke calmly, “It’s fine everyone, we’re all okay. No need to panic or anything like that.”

     Niki nodded hesitantly, “Yup, m’sorry Tech, I shouldn’t have grabbed you that was stupid.”

     Techno loosened his stance slowly, “S’fine, whatever. Doesn’t matter.”

     Wilbur shook his head, “No it does matter, we shouldn’t have teased you or grabbed at you without asking first. You’re already in an uncomfortable situation, we know better.”

     The boy growled low in his throat, “It’s fine. Nothing is wrong, there isn’t any situation.”

     “I’m sorry Technoblade,” Tommy piped up hesitantly, “I’ll leave you alone about it or whatever.”

     Tubbo sighed, “See, all good. So let’s all just sit down and finish this up, yeah?”

     Technoblade tilted his head in confusion and shook his head slowly, “Oo-kay then. I guess.” he moved back to where he had been sitting and slowly lowered himself to the ground.

     Wilbur let out a relieved sigh and they all moved to sit as they had previously.

     “Okay, your wounds seem to be repairing on time, I don’t think the headache is remnants of a concussion, but we should probably check just to be sure.” Niki began hesitantly.

     Tubbo nodded and grabbed the medkit once more, handing things over as needed.

     The piglin hummed vaguely and waited for her to do something as he stared into his lap.

     They all sat for a few awkward moments as nothing happened before Tommy chimed in, “Uh big man, she needs you to look at her and stuff. Y’know to check for the concussion?”

     “Right, right. I uh, I definitely knew that.” muttered the hybrid as his tail curled around his waist and his ears folded in on themselves.

     Everyone dutifully ignored the reactions and Niki smiled once the boy looked up.

     “Can you move your hair back Techno? I’m gonna have to flash a light in your eyes and check your reaction times.” Niki asked patiently.

     Chat muttered, once more discontent with being ignored.

     They’re being so soft

     Aww they think you’ll break

     Blood for the blood god

     EEeE

     Rip to Techno, doin’ medical eye contact.

     Technoblade ignored the voices very pointedly as he pulled his long hair into a low ponytail. “S’that work Niki?”

     She nodded and took the light source from Tubbo. “Yup that works, this might be uncomfortable but it shouldn’t hurt.”

     They continued the examination in vaguely tense silence. That of course was never going to last for long.

     Surprisingly it was Tubbo who broke the silence, “Can, I uh, Can I ask you a question Techno?”

     The boy in question stared suspiciously while Niki put everything away. “Dunno Underscore, perhaps,” he answered eventually.

Chapter Text

     Tubbo nearly wilted under the weight of the combined glare from Wilbur and Niki, and the palpable bafflement from Tommy nearly had him swallowing his words. But he looked over at Technoblade as he felt his hair puff up around his horns. “Why did you uhm, well, how old are you?”

     Technoblades expression fell from wary curiosity to unreadable. “Why do you want to know Tubbo?” The boys’ ears held themselves tightly against his skull.

     “Well, uh-” the ram hybrid stuttered for a moment as he glanced at Wilbur for help, the man shrugged. “I want to know because it changes things.”

     Niki butted in quickly, “Just, Techno, do you uh, get why it could matter to us? Why it might be important to know?”

     “Well, it didn’t matter how old I was when you were sure I was an adult. And uh, I don’t exactly care about how old you all are.” He drawled out slowly, ignoring the Chat’s shouted disagreements.

     Tommy rolled his eyes, “Well nobody would’ve let you do half the shit you did if they knew you were a fucking baby.”

     Wilbur shot Tommy a glare, “What he means is that it does matter how old you are Tech.”

     Techno scowled and mumbled a number.

     “Could you, uh, say that again?” Niki asked quietly.

     “Fourteen years. I have fourteen years I guess.” the boy snapped reluctantly as he stared at his hooves.

     “Fuck!” Wilbur swore sharply before storming out of the room.

     Tommy gawked, “Four- fourteen years old? What the, damn it.” He scrubbed his face up and down.

     “What?” the hybrid bit out, “You’ve only got like eighteen years Underscore, and Innit over here has like seventeen. S’not a big deal.”

     Niki shook her head, “No it is a big deal Technoblade. I’m sorry but there is a big difference between a seventeen-year-old and a fourteen-year-old. Just, damnit!”

     Techno chuffed self-soothingly and pulled his legs tighter to his body.

     Tubbo looked over to the other hybrid. “Why’d you hide it? Last night you said that we wouldn’t want to be your friends once we knew, was that why?”

     The boy scowled, “I had a godsdamn concussion Tubbo. Oddly enough I don’t base all my decisions on whether or not people will like me.”

     Tommy laughed sarcastically, “Then why? What’s the reason, big man?”

     “Because of this! You’re all fucking flipping out! I still beat your ass with barely a step Innit, still fucking exploded him!” the boy gestured violently at Tubbo and ignored any emotions stirring from it, “I owned a fucking server once! I was still young when I did all these things. I don’t need a bunch of suddenly sympathetic adults to decide what’s best for me when they couldn’t care less a minute before.” Technoblade growled low in his throat. “I could still take every single one of you with less than a scratch so I don’t want to hear shit about how I’m too young.”

     Wilbur had walked back into the room at the start of Techno’s shouting. “Did Phil know?”

     Techno whirled around, caught off guard, and suddenly a lot less confident. 

     “Did Philza know that you were fucking fourteen?” Wil demanded.

     The boy stammered, any argument fleeing his mind. He didn’t answer.

     The man took a few quick steps toward the boy, causing him to dart backward with wide eyes. “Did he know how young you were when he let you take over a fucking server with him? When he let you stand trial for fucking war crimes?”

     Technoblade stumbled backward and fell over at the man’s sudden anger. He frantically pulled his sword out of his inventory and scrambled back towards a wall. “B-back up. Back up!”

     Niki darted between the two and pushed Wilbur away. “Okay, okay! Everyone calm down, this isn’t gonna fucking help anything.”

     Wilbur tried to push around her but she grabbed his wrists, “This isn’t helping Soot, you’re scaring him! I know that you’re angry, I know you’re scared, but you’re the adult here.”

     He blinked and stared at her for a moment before sighing, “Fuck, fuck, yes, you’re right, of course, you’re right.” He sagged forwards a little and panted heavily.

     Tubbo and Tommy took a few meager steps toward the boy, “Tech you okay?” asked the elder.

     “S’alright big man, no one is mad at you. C’mon, you’ve gotta put the sword away.” Tommy added.

     Chat roared within the young piglins’ skull.

     Blood

     Blood

     EEEEEEEE

     Not Safe

     Run

     He is angry at you

     Fight!

     Blood for the blood god!

     Technoblade whimpered and dropped his sword to clutch at his aching head, muttering in piglin, “Shut up, shut up, shut up, fuck! S’fine, I’m fine, nothin’s wrong. Shut up Chat, not helping!”

     Niki quickly turned from Wilbur at the hybrid's sudden cries. She sat on the ground across from the panicking child. “S’alright, safe, safe.” She hushed him in piglin. “You’re fine runt, nobody’s gonna hurt you. C’mon Tech. It’s okay, you’re alright, safe.”

     Techno looked up blindly, whimpering out a pitiful, “Safe?” amidst his panic

     Nikachu nodded quickly, “Safe! All good, nothing’s the matter okay? Good, calm, safe, yeah?”

     The boy shot forwards, collapsing into Niki’s arms, “Safe? Sounder?”

     Her heart broke, “Yes, yes. All safe.”

     The child’s tears began to slow, replaced by a hesitant purr. He burrowed into her arms even further, relying on her mumblings to quiet the voices’ rage.

     She hummed in response, holding him tightly to her chest. Niki looked over at Wilbur and the others.

     Wilbur was staring in shock at the normally reserved piglins’ burst of affection. Tubbo barely bit back the urge to coo at the young child, instead grabbing Tommy and tugging him under his arm. Tommy simply stared in confusion, gaping at the recently sobbing hybrid.

     Technoblade eventually calmed down enough, and the voices began to hush themselves apologetically. As soon as he recognized what was happening the purring cut off harshly.

     At his sudden tensing Niki loosened her hold on him but didn’t push the boy out of her lap. She leaned him back slightly to look him in the eyes. “Better?” she mumbled in piglin.

     His ears raised from their previous drooping position to flick embarrassedly. He ignored his flush and glanced down into his lap. “Mmhmm.” he quickly scrambled backward out of her lap and crashed onto the floor, face as red as ever and his tail lashing and curling around his leg.

     Nikachu smiled in sympathetic understanding before rubbing a hand over his hair and behind one of his ears absentmindedly, “D’ya think you can talk with everyone now?”

     He choked down his purr but didn’t manage to stop himself from leaning into her hand desperately. “Yup, b-but I can-” his voice broke, interrupted by a low purr, “I can’t f-focus, not while you uh, uh, y’know?” he colored even further under the admittance even if it was in piglin. He forced his head more securely under her grip and attempted to burrow into it, refusing to acknowledge his pink ears.

     She smiled wickedly and scratched along behind his ears, “Are you sure?”

     His purr kicked up again and he smacked a hand over his mouth not managing to muffle it much, still leaning into her touch. Techno glared at the woman until she removed her hands. He still whined at the loss but she politely didn’t mention it.

     While Technoblade breathed heavily and tried to melt into the floor, the others made eye contact before Tommy, with admirable self-control, asked quite politely; “You good? Or you still, uhm, goopy?”

     The boy closed his eyes against the bright heat he felt rise up his neck once more. “Mmhm. Yup, uh, uhm, yeah.”

     Tubbo did not manage to hold back his coo at that.

     His ears tried to droop once more but Techno shook his head and ignored his instincts.

     Niki muffled her laughter, “Can uh, can you explain some things?”

     He tensed, ears suddenly pressing flat against his skull and tail wrapping around his leg anxiously. “Yeah, uh, I guess what do you want to know?” he didn’t look up from the floor.

     “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Tommy asked first.

     Technoblade pinched the bridge of his nose and began hesitantly. “People usually want me for something, and they usually want me much less when they find out I’m a kid. It never stops jerks from trying to take advantage but it always stops uh, kinder people from actually helping me.”

     Tubbo tilted his head, “How would it stop people from helping you?”

     The boy laughed bitterly and glanced up at the ram, “Living is expensive and people didn’t exactly want to hire a ten-year-old Underscore, they felt much better leaving me to starve or trying to send me somewhere.”

     He winced but nodded.

     Wilbur glanced around at the room with much calmer eyes than he had a few minutes ago. Techno was leaning against the wall with Niki a foot in front of him, Tommy and Tubbo were on top of each other a few feet to the left of the piglin. Wilbur himself was sitting a foot or two behind Niki, facing the others. “Did uh, did Phil know?”

     Technoblade sighed and rested his head against the wall, “Short answer? No.”

     Tommy rolled his eyes, “And the long answer?”

     He shifted uncomfortably, “I uh, I met Philza right after I’d started my eleventh year. I was already wearing the skull then, and uhm, I didn’t have any reason to tell him to begin with. I was fighting in Hypixel and actually making a name for myself finally. I was just doing well. Nobody knew and if they found out then there was a solid chance that I’d have been kicked from the fighting games, which was one of the only things I was good at.” he chuffed and twirled his tail around his wrist, “I had a little island and everything but I didn’t want to risk losing income, so it was more risk than reward, so when I met him I didn’t even consider telling him at first. I had beaten him in a match so he invited me out to eat and hang out afterward, I wasn’t gonna turn down free food after all.”

     He laughed a little, “I guess he thought I was funny or something, so every time we had a match together or in the same area we’d go out to eat. I think he figured I was lonely y’know?” the piglin sighed again, “Anyways we were friends for a while and after I figured that he wouldn’t turn me in or something it was too late to be like, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m barely a runt, anyways.’ so I just didn’t. Then he asked me to join a new server with him and the rest is history. So no, as far as I’ve been made aware Phil doesn’t know. So long as I have a say in it, he won’t either.”

     Wilbur bit back his sigh of relief and rubbed his face. “Fuck kid.”

     Techno glared but didn’t say anything.

     Tubbo laughed a little, “So Phil doesn’t know because it would’ve been too awkward?”

     The kid glared harder, ignoring his fresh blush and significantly more active ears, “You tell me how to start that conversation hmm? What’s a cool casual way to do that?” he snapped belligerently.

     Tubbo raised his palms in acquiescence. “Fair enough, fair enough.”

     The boy rolled his eyes but left it be.

     “When did you uh,” Niki hesitated for a delicate way to ask, “when did you uh, leave the Nether?” she eventually settled on.

     The hybrid raised an eyebrow but answered, “I dunno, must have had five or six years by then. Why?”

     She opened and closed her mouth before looking at Tommy and Tubbo helplessly.

     The former cackled, “Oh gods, she wants- that’s funny Niki!”

     Niki blushed and glared, “It so isn’t! I don’t know how to ask! You just say whatever you want, it should be easy for you!”

     “Heh? What’re you two going on about? Just ask?” the boy interrupted.

     Tommy let loose a wicked grin, “Niki wants to ask why you’re by yourself, especially considering how young you are Tech.”

     Tubbo snorted, “Yeah no, you’re right Niki, that is a rude question!”

     Technoblade tilted his head, “I mean, no more rude than all the other invasive questions you’ve been asking. If you wanted my tragic back story you shoulda just said so though.” he chuffed to himself.

     Wilbur shook his head, “Okay then, why are you by yourself Techno?”

     “Let’s see, this is a long one then.” the piglin closed his eyes to think. “I was with my sounder for my first few years, I had like three by the time that I was alone. I don’t really know why I ended up alone. I was so little I don’t really ‘member, but it was probably something to do with me being a hybrid or my sounder dying or something like that.”

     Niki cocked her head and interrupted, “But why would you have to leave your family so young for that? If they died wouldn’t you remember?”

     He shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno, you tell me what you remember from the age of three. There aren’t a lot of things that can kill a whole sounder so I imagine I was prolly kicked out-”

     “Why would they kick you out at three? Isn’t family s’possed to be a big deal?” Tommy cut in.

     “Lot’s of piglin are weird about hybrids since they’re closer to players and they really don’t like players. Some sounders think they’re bad luck. I mostly just look like a piglin but something probably displayed my hybrid traits when I was younger so they made me leave. I don’t know what to tell you guys, I was like three at the time.” Techno finished casually.

     Tubbo nodded, “Yeah, lots of times both players and mobs are weird about hybrids so that makes as much sense as anything else. But I thought you said you were six when you left the Nether?”

     “Wow you guys interrupt a lot; yeah I left the Nether with six years but I left my sounder with three or so years.” 

     “What did you do between then? Why’d ya fucking leave anyways?” Tommy asked.

     Technoblade rolled his eyes while his ears flicked anxiously, “Well I sorta just lived in the Nether for the three years between, wandered around and uhm, just didn’t die, hung out in bastions sometimes, it was… fine.”

     Wilbur furrowed his brow, “How did you survive the Nether alone for three years starting at the age of three?”

     He glanced to the side and hushed Chat internally as they called out in delight at the reference to them, “I mean I had help, I hung out with other sounders and bastions. I just didn’t join any. There were some other things that helped but that isn’t any of your business.” he snapped suddenly.

     Wilbur cocked his head to the side but continued unperturbed. “M’kay whatever. Why’d you leave the Nether then? Especially at six.”

     He chuffed nervously, “I uhm, I just kinda felt like it?”

     Niki watched as the boy wound himself even tighter and began to fidget with his tail. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that's fine Tech.”

     “I, it isn’t, well- I don’t want to talk about any of this! It isn’t anything special or anything.” he snarled suddenly, his ears tensed out and tail gripping his ankle in agitation.

     “Kinda seems like a big thing. Your ears are all pointy and your tail is knotted around your hooves, you seem kinda anxious dude.” Tommy observed.

     The boy flushed, “I don’t have to talk about any of this okay Innit! Why am I even talking to you guys?” he moved to get up and leave.

     “Wait!” Wilbur called out, “C’mon Tech, s’alright! You don’t need to be mad or embarrassed or anything, we’re just asking s’all.”

     Techno chuffed in agitation and tried to move around them, “Whatever, it’s none of your business! I’m not embarrassed or anything either!” 

     As he passed Niki she held his hand for a cautious moment, she then spoke in piglin, “Techno, c’mon we’re just worried is all. If you don’t want to talk about something you just have to tell us, we won’t make fun or tease, okay?”

     He tried to fight his instincts but his ears lowered and he ducked his chin, only barely managing to bite down the purr at the contact. “Tommy will,” he muttered back in kind.

     She hummed sympathetically, “We won’t let him okay runt? Wilbur will yell at him sweetheart, you don’t need to worry.” she pulled him down until he was leaning against her on the floor. “Do you need a hug sweetheart, s’okay if you do, today’s been hard.”

     The piglin leaned full body against her despite his best efforts, “No, don’t need anything. You’re cheating.”

     She hummed some more, “No I’m not, you just have the uh,” she paused as she searched for the word in piglin. She interrupted herself with overworld, “Tech what’s the word for touch starved in piglin?”

     Tubbo stared at the two for a moment, confused at the sudden change in topic between the language shifts.

     The boy hid his face in her chest, “Niki, stop it.”

     She pulled him into her lap to let him hide some more. “I’m not trying to embarrass you, runt, I just can’t remember the word.”

     Tommy sat up from where he had been leaning on Tubbo, “Is Technoblade fucking touch starved? Is that why you were talking in piglin again? Is that why he’s all melted in your lap again?”

     Wilbur tried to hush the blond but it was too late.

     The piglin hybrid turned even redder as his ears started to twitch again despite their inherent droop from being held. “Shut the fuck up Innit. None of your business you little raccoon.”

     Tubbo laughed but Wilbur frowned at the boy, “I get that you’re embarrassed mate but you don’t need to be mean to Tommy.”

     Techno whined and hid his face some more, “Niki! They’re making fun again and you said they wouldn’t!”

     She laughed slightly, “Well for one, Wilbur isn’t. He’s just getting after you for being mean. And Tommy isn’t trying to, he just doesn’t know how to ask something nicely.”

     Tubbo laughed again, “Do you two know you’ve been speaking in overworld for like the past few minutes?”

     “Yeah! I’m not being an asshole here! I was just gonna ask if you wanted a hug but then you called me a fucking raccoon so never mind.” Tommy added.

     Technoblade couldn’t help the purr despite his overwhelming embarrassment. He burrowed into Nikachu’s chest and didn’t respond.

     Tubbo cooed again, “Aww, c’mon Toms, you’re embarrassing him again!”

     Wilbur cocked his head, “Isn’t the purring a happy noise though?”

     “Shut up, shut up, s’not anything! Stop thinking about it or I’ll stab you!” the boy shouted from his hiding place in Niki’s lap.

     Niki laughed good-naturedly, “C’mon, you have to explain now, or do you want me to do it?”

     The boy muttered slowly, “If I’m gonna have to explain you can’t be all touchy while I do it, m’kay?”

     Niki nodded indulgently and let the boy crawl out of her lap and back to his previous spot. Techno very intentionally didn’t look at anyone as he sat.

     “So what are you explaining Tech?” Tubbo asked once he’d settled.

     He blushed but powered through. “W-well, uh, usually when a piglin or hybrid of one purrs it’s a happy thing right?”

     Tommy could not help himself from interrupting, “Which is why you do it whenever Niki hugs you? Cause you like it?”

     The boy glared through his twitching ears and flushing face, “Yes. When piglins purr it’s because they like something, chuffing can mean different things based on context, and my ears and stuff move because they like to display my emotions,” he muttered much quieter, “and I can’t control them very well.”

     “Why’s that embarrassing though?” Wilbur asked.

     Niki shook her head, “It isn’t, not really. What Tech isn’t explaining specifically is that his ears droop when he is being soothed, it's an instinct thing that he can’t really help. So is the purring and his ears and his tail. He is embarrassed because when he panicked earlier and I helped him calm down he did it for the first time in a while, he just doesn’t like how involuntary it is for him.” she sighed, “He’s touch starved because he’s been taking care of himself for so long. So any sort of contact sorta melts him.”

     Tubbo smiled, “It’s fine Techno, it’s cute!” the boy moved forward and leaned against the piglin, “It’s sweet, y’know, having a way to just show you appreciate something!”

     Technoblade tried to tense at the contact, he tried very hard. Instead, he simply turned bright red and leaned into the ram hybrid, somehow ending up curled in his lap. His ears stopped twitching and his tail wrapped around the older boy’s arm.

     Tubbo grinned at the younger boy before glancing up at Niki and Wilbur. “Lookit! He’s so cute!”

     “M’not! You’re cheating Underscore. I can’t help it.” he grumbled and tried to hide his face.

     Tommy laughed, “No, you are definitely cute Tech! I mean look at ya!” The boy leaned forward and ran a hand over the youngers’ ears like Niki had earlier.

     Technoblade couldn’t stop his ears from drooping immediately and he started purring loudly. “Kn-knock it off Innit!” the boy flushed brightly despite his obvious leaning into the their hands.

     Tommy shook his head and continued to scratch behind the other's ears, “Doesn’t seem like you want me to stop, big man. Kinda seems like you don’t.”

     Niki cooed before glancing at Wilbur, who seemed in a similar predicament to herself. 

     “C’mon Techie, it’s okay if you like it, it’s nice!” Tubbo beamed as he tugged the boy tighter into his arms so that he could feel the rumbling in his own chest.

     Technoblade curled up tighter as his ears tilted downward to allow plenty of space for petting, he pushed his head insistently into the blonds’ hand and purred into the other's chest. Whenever Tubbo spoke it felt like he was purring back and the only thing that Techno could think was a repeat of “Sounder, safe, held, home.” over and over again.

     Tommy leaned into the two boys and scritched along behind Techno’s ears and his scalp. “If you want us to stop, all you have to do is move away,” he teased. “Otherwise how are we s’possed to know, huh big man?”

     Wilbur walked towards the boys and pulled Techno out of their reach, “If you two are gonna tease you can’t do it. He can’t help it, it’s an instinct thing. He’s already embarrassed about it so don’t be mean.”

-------------     

     Technoblade wasn’t super certain what was happening at this exact moment. He had been very warm and held, it was very nice. He felt the vague foggy feeling of shame but it was so far away so he ignored it delightedly in favor of focusing on the soft touch. Then someone had tugged along on his hair and ears just right and so he couldn’t help melting, very much despite Chat’s teasing. Then someone had pulled him away, so all he did was whine high and long.

Chapter Text

     Wilbur startled at the high sound the hybrid had let out as soon as he was pulled from Tubbos’ lap. 

     Instead of coming back to himself and getting immediately embarrassed, as he had before, the boy just continued to whine before grabbing onto Wilbur’s neck and clinging.

     The man stood there in shock as Technoblade buried his face in his neck and began to purr, the noise only interrupted by the occasional muttering in piglin.

     Wilbur glanced at Niki, “Translation? Uhm, what’s going on? Did they break him?”

     Nikachu laughed, “Uh no, we didn’t break him. Since he was in fight or flight so often in the last few days when the boys convinced his instinct brain that he was safe all the pent up, uh, clinginess and comfort needs kinda spilled out?”

     Tommy giggled, “So he’s just like that now? What happened to his big man behavior?”

     Tubbo shook his head, “No, not forever, he’s apparently been ignoring his instincts for a while. And since he’s a kid still he had a lot of instincts that basically boil down to uh, just being held. Something like this happens to most hybrids if they ignore their urges too much. It happens a lot when we’re younger so it makes sense that it’s all hitting him now that he is even vaguely safe.” The ram sighed, “We have to take care of him until it blows over basically. Usually, this happens less the older we get, but since he was having to spend all his time playing at an adult there was no time for him to relax like this at all. It sorta just piled up I guess? If I were to place a bet, after this one time he'd probably behave mostly like he had beforehand, maybe a tad more affectionate, but generally the same. Like he's still gonna be himself, obviously."

     Wilbur sat down carefully, allowing the boy to curl further into his lap, “That's good, good. But uh, what’s he saying? I still don’t understand piglin Niki, you’re gonna have to translate.”

     “I can, obviously, but when he’s uh, more aware you all really shouldn't tease him about it, okay? He really can’t help it right now, and he’s been kind of fighting it the entire time we've been talking today.” Niki answered hesitantly.

     Techno began to shuffle in place and let out little whines, so Wilbur began to rub his head and scratch behind his ears like the others had. He settled quickly and started purring much louder.

     Niki eventually continued, “He is mostly mumbling about sounder and home, there's quite a bit of soft thrown in there too.” she smiled as the boy chuffed quietly. “He had been doing it earlier but he kept stopping himself whenever he noticed, I imagine he’s been very lonely. He is basically just talking about how nice this is, how excited he is to be around us. It's pretty cute honestly.”

     Tommy cooed delightedly, watching as the boy reacted to the noise with a louder purr and a tighter grip on Wilbur’s chest. “He’s so small like this, Niki!”

     Tubbo shook his head fondly, “C’mon we’ve got to get him somewhere warmer, and with more blankets, it’s getting late again.”

     The others nodded and headed towards Niki’s room, as it was the largest, without argument. They hadn’t expected any sort of sleepover with Technoblade but it was clear he needed it, and not even Wilbur could come up with a good argument against the sleepy mutterings, and reaching that Techno seemed predisposed to weaponize in this state.

     Chat cooed and awwed quietly but did not mock the boy, he had been holding himself in a tense state of readiness for far too long and deserved to be cared for as long as he’d allow it to happen.