Chapter Text
Technoblade 3rd Person POV
Technoblade shoved his travel bags up into the cargo area above his seat. He fashioned a red hoodie and jeans with his combat boots, of course. He had been forced to take off his chains and metal accessories to get on the plane, which was flat out stupid in his opinion. He climbed over into his seat, on the edge, thank god. He sat next to two random people, who seemingly knew each other as they talked loudly and laughed. Technoblade pressed his headphones onto his ears, blaring music to drown out the sound of his seat buddies' loud chatter.
The plane ride was long. After all, he was moving across and entire country, from California to Florida. The difference would be vast as hell, and Technoblade knew he would miss his old home near his family in San Francisco, but Florida was a new arena for his excitement. And it was one step closer to traveling the world.
About half way through his just-over-5-hour flight, he heard a familiar song that sent his heart racing. Not in a fluttery way, of course. Technoblade hadn't felt his heart beat like that since... He snapped his thoughts away. His buddy, Wilbur's, newest song from a while back played into his ears, "Your New Boyfriend". Technoblade was surprised it so randomly played on the public playlist he had chosen, but he didn't mind.
It reminded him of his friends, and this giant secret he was keeping from them. He wasn't anywhere near Dream he hoped, and surely he wouldn't be. In that case, there was no point in telling everyone anyways. There was no importance to it.
The clock's hands on his watch didn't seem to spin fast as the plane ride stretched on. He listened through an entire playlist that lasted for over four hours before finally just scrolling through social media, putting his unlimited data plan to good use.
The plane began descending shortly after, and Technoblade could see the giant MIA (Miami International Airport) Logo on the front of the building. He smiled to himself as he stared out of the small window that was only a couple of seats away from him. His thoughts are slapped from his mind and view muddled as the person with the window snaps the cover over the sight. They were landing fortunately, so there wasn't much sight to be missed.
He quickly found himself waiting next to the rotating machine where suitcases were gathered. He was holding his carry-on bag with him. He zoned out everything around him, staring at the luggage passing by, waiting to find his multitude of bags waiting for him. He stood there for a good two minutes before he realized, "I'm having the luggage sent to the house I'm moving into... Fuck."
Technoblade shuffled away from the people also waiting awkwardly, empty handed besides his own carry-on bag. He felt a sense of loneliness kick in. He was basically restarting his life, new house, renting a car, and he knew no one. He was moving to the big city of Miami, and that's enough to be excited about, even if he came from a big city himself. Miami was a new playing field, and one that excited him. Not that he expressed his emotions much.
He's been broken enough by revealing how he truly felt and letting people use that to manipulate him to know to hide what he truly felt. Technoblade liked to solitary feeling of knowing no one here could look at him and remember the time he had let himself be so broken.
He shook his head slightly, clearing the piffling thoughts in his mind. Fresh start. Might as well make the most of it.
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It was nearly noon when Technoblade had landed down at the airport, and by three'o'clock, he was nearly fully settled in to his home an equidistance away from the beach and a huge city area.
The house was pretty awesome, with three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. The living room and kitchen were open to each other. The side entrance (connecting the two car garage and house), and the one you would use daily, led into the laundry room, which led into the kitchen. The house also had an office connected to the master bedroom, and every bedroom and most bathrooms had their own storage closets. There were two bonus rooms in the upstairs area, the half bathroom also there. Technoblade had no idea what he'd be using all of the extra space for, but he'd surely find a use for them eventually. Maybe he'd even make some friends, though Youtube did occupy the majority of his life.
And it paid off, sure as hell. It was late November of 2020, and he had 5.67 million subscribers. He had risen over some of his fellow Minecraft Youtubers, like Skeppy at 5.03, BadBoyHalo at 2.08, Sapnap at 3.14, TommyInnit at 4.93 and etc. All in the millions of course, which is still exceedingly successful. However, there were always those more successful than he, with two big names like GeorgeNotFound at 5.87 and Dream at 15.54. Those were the other day when he had last checked. He had a pretty good relationship with the majority of these content creators.
Especially Dream. They had gotten a lot closer, instead of the old bantering and friendly competition, they had become allies a lot more during Dream SMP wars, and more supportive of each other's channels. At one point, the two even considered bringing both their groups together to create one big one, but shot down the idea after a while. They had recorded plenty of videos. Plus Technoblade's most popular video yet being the one where the two of them PVPed against 200 random players. The two had full iron, plus OP swords and weapons. The rest of the Dream Team plus Tommy and Tubbo had helped put people in the arena and equip them a bit. It was somewhat like the video Dream had once recorded with Mr Beast, just notched up a few levels. The two had won, to many people's surprise. But what can you expect from the two best players.
So much had happened in the entire community that was for sure, but their friendship had definitely caused quite the uproar, some claiming they were better as rivals. The two favored the friendship though, and that was all that really mattered.
Technoblade had done dozens of collaborations, and a fair amount of interview type recordings for other channels. He was definitely growing in the Youtube Gaming Community, and all of his friends were going up with him. His financial stance was perfectly steady, one of the biggest reasons he had decided to move.
He planned on settled in Miami for a few years actually, and if he liked it enough, even longer. Technoblade fancied a mix of relaxation of cities, and Miami was the perfect offer.
Not having taken too much with him, but also having it all set up within a good four hours, he decided it wasn't to late to take a look around. He took his temporarily rented car out to drive around the busy city. Seven in the evening definitely was more crowded than even he thought it might be. He used his phone's GPS to the nearest mall, just wanting to take a look around and maybe get a few new accessories since he had to discard a lot of his own when he chose to move across the country.
In the mall, he was only there for a good half an hour before he started to get tired. It was just eight, but he new the jet lag and time change really made his head feel like shit. Technoblade refused to give into the weak impulses of getting sleep though, and kept wandering around the vast mall.
It wasn't long after Technoblade refused to leave that he heard a soft tune drift into his ears. It was soft and simple, yet melodically soothing, and it made him feel even more tired. He yearned to find the music, it reminding him of his lost connection to the violin when he played at his younger ages. It was a piano though, and the keys were being played gracefully, and the dulcet tune was beyond mellifluous to his ears. Technoblade slightly smiled to himself as he wandered through the wide hallway of a seemingly endless number of doors.
His legs moved to find the music, and he felt drawn to it by instinct. So he let his ears pull him to it. He walked in to a certain point where the tune was fairly loud. He pushed open a door into an instrument store, shocker shocker. There was only one other person in the store.
It was a man with messy, dirty-blonde hair. He had on a pale green and cropped polo sweatshirt, a white undershirt, black jeans, high top sneakers, and two gold and a silver twisted chains both around his midriff, the tail of each falling down left his side. He seemed fairly tall, but he was sitting, also his back to Technoblade. He was sitting at a nice looking piano, playing the melody Technoblade had been following.
Before he recognized his own movements, he found himself next to the piano, watching the man's fingers dance across the keys. He jumps up, startled and a bit flustered looking, "Hey.. Sorry, I didn't realize anyone would be coming in."
Technoblade, being the socially awkward person he is, cursed himself, realizing what situation he'd gotten himself in. "Do you give lessons?" he asked abruptly, surprising himself just as much.
The man looked perplexed, as if no one had asked that in forever. "Yes, yes I do. Not here of course, but not far from here, there's a music studio where you can get lessons by tutors."
Technoblade stood there staring for a second, making the air feel kind of awkward before remembering to speak, "Oh, ah, okay?"
He smacked himself internally. The man stared at him in silence for at least a minute before he said, "So, I've never seen you around here. Did you... just move here?"
Technoblade mentally sighed of relief, "Yeah. I moved here earlier today actually."
"Well then, welcome to Miami. I'd say we all know each other, but it's a pretty big city. I'm Clay, what's your name?"
Technoblade stared at him in shock for a moment, Clay was the same name as the only other person he already knew lived in Florida. Coincidence? Probably. "Dave, I'm Dave, nice to be introduced."
Clay smiled, "Glad to need you, Dave. Here's the contact information for the music place."
Clay handed him a small, flat card that had a name, number, and address for the music studio he had been referring to.
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Dream 3rd Person POV
Dream had just gotten off Team Speak with George and Sapnap for George's Twitch Stream, and decided to go out. He didn't have any music lessons to teach today, so he wasn't needed at the studio. He headed off to the mall instead, where he occasionally helped out. He wasn't payed, but he loved being surrounded by the warmth of many instruments and music filling his ears.
It wasn't long until the store was deserted, and the lone employee there was the only one remaining. He glanced at the piano sitting in the corner, the worker was just about to leave. He could wait.
"Bye Clay, feel free to stay however long you want, you know the door is always open for you." the employee reminded him as he left.
"Thanks, see ya," Dream responded in kind.
The moments the store worker left, Dream worked his magic on the piano, letting his fingers play the tune. He played a sad song, reminding him of memories swirling in the sea of his mind. It set him in peace, letting him play mindlessly while lost in thought. He had just gotten to the final bridge when he saw something in the corner of his eye. He stopped playing, slapped from his trance.
He looked up to see a man in a red hoodie with jeans and black combat boots. The guy had fairly short, brown hair that was just a bit lighter than his eyes, and seemed relatively the same height as Dream. He only held two bags from two separate stores, and was staring where his hands rest on the piano keys. When the newcomer didn't say anything, Dream conversed, "Hey... Sorry. I didn't realize anyone would be coming in."
It took a moment for the man to apparently find Dream was talking to him, but then surprised him, "Do you give lessons?"
Dream paused before hastily, "Yes, yes I do. Not here of course, but not far from here, there's a music studio where you can get lessons by tutors."
The guy just stood there looking at Dream for a moment before responding, "Oh, ah, okay?"
Dream questioned who this guy was. No one new ever visited the store, or asked for the music studio. Everyone knew about the music studio. They had an awkward minute of silence, before Dream finally inquired, "So, I've never seen you around here. Did you... just move here?"
The man seemed to relax some before saying, "Yeah. I moved here earlier today actually."
"Well then, welcome to Miami. I'd say we all know each other, but it's a pretty big city. I'm Clay, what's your name?"
"Dave, I'm Dave, nice to be introduced."
Dream's heart stopped. His name was Dave, he looked a lot like a certain Youtuber, sounded fairly similar... but no. He lived in California, and no way he'd keep a secret he was moving across the country to the exact state Dream was in without telling all of them. Or at least Dream to meet up or something.
Instead, he smiled, "Glad to need you, Dave. Here's the contact information for the music place."
He handed Dave the card with all of the information he would need. Dave took the card, shoving it into his pocket. Dream scooted to the other side of the bench, standing up. He was definitely not much taller, if any taller at all, than Dave. He smiled again before grabbing his bag.
Dave was still through all of this, just watching his movements. "I'll be heading out now. Hope to see you around."
Dream walked out, glancing back as he turned to head to the exit. It was still fairly crowded, but there weren't that many people surprisingly. As he made it to his car, reality hit.
"No chance that was actually Techno... His voice wasn't as monotoned, and he didn't look the exact same," Dream let himself believe that rather than dwell on it. "He was sort of cute though, right?"
It had been five years since he learned he was bisexual, liking either female or male. His family was accepting luckily, they thought it was great in fact. People who didn't accept someone liking same-sex people was just wrong in Dream's opinion. It's the personality you're falling in love with, not the gender.
Dream heaved a sigh, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. He stopped at a red light, and turned on some music at the pause. He drowned out the sound though, focusing on the road as he made his way home.
A moment of random exhaustion passed through him. A wave of panic attacking his thoughts, and his mind began racing. He didn't even know what he was stressed about, but his mind continued to spin. His thoughts whirled, and he took a wrong turn. Dream's heart was racing, but he continued down the wrong path. If he was already on this road, he might as well head to the only place that would allow him time to think and breathe.
He hated to leave Patches alone at home for such a long time, but he really needed the breather. He took a sharp left, and road for over fifteen minutes before slowing to a halt. He only took his phone, keys, and jacket with him when he exited the car. Dream walked into an open field, flowers swaying in the wind, the same direction in which his own hair was pushing onto his face and in front of his eyes.
Dream made his way many yards from where he'd parked his car, standing in the open, allowing the wind to push his hair and chains this way and that. All he could hear was the whistling and faint rings where his two metal links clanked against each other. The wind danced across his cheeks. The only place he could feel it aside from the holes in his jeans and hands.
In just a few motions, his chains fell off with a shudder, his cropped, green sweatshirt and white undershirt soon followed, leaving him bear-chested. It was the coldest winter Miami had seen in a long time, but still not that cold. However, Dream put his sweatshirt on anyways, only permitting the cold wind to bite at his midriff.
He mussed his hair, letting it slap his hand. He took a deep breathe, the fresh air cleansing his sense of smell. He laid down on the damp grass with a content sigh, enjoying the peace and quiet the field allowed him to experience.
He lay there in silence, only the soft patterns of his breathing and rustling of surrounding flowers and weeds were audible. With that, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep, the first one in a while that allowed him to escape his nightmares...