Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Techno first met Wilbur in the second grade when their teacher had enthusiastically introduced them to the new student transferring into their class halfway through the year. She told them that they all needed to be kind and try to make friends with him. And Wilbur made it easy. Well, at least for everyone else, but Techno had always had a hard time making friends so it made sense that it would take longer for him to befriend Wilbur. Techno was determined to be his friend though, because the teacher had told them to.

Except he wasn’t exactly sure how to do that. He didn’t really have much experience in that area. So he decided to watch how his classmates approached the assignment.

They invited Wilbur to play with them at recess. Techno couldn’t do that because he didn’t have anyone else to play with and all the fun games needed more than two people. Still, he tried and asked if he wanted to play knights with him, but someone else asked Wilbur to play tag right after Techno did and he went to play with them. So Techno sat on the bench by himself during recess.

They offered up their best, coolest snacks to trade at snack and lunch time. He couldn’t do that because Mom said all the cool snacks were expensive. Still, he tried and traded Schlatt his whole lunch for one of the snack cakes everybody liked, but, when he offered it to Wilbur, he said he didn’t want it and took somebody else’s chips instead. So Techno was hungry and Mom got upset with him for trading his lunch.

They brought him gifts for his birthday, a little less than a month since he’d started. Techno knew he wouldn’t be able to do that and that Mom would get upset if he even asked. So he tried a different way. He spent all of his freetime working hard on a card for Wilbur and gave it to him after lunch. It wasn’t much, just a piece of light blue construction paper with crayon drawings on it, but it still hurt to see it abandoned in the trash at the end of the day. So Techno stopped trying so hard.

Maybe friendship wasn’t something you could try to force. Maybe it took more time. Their teacher said the most important part of being someone’s friend was to keep being kind to them, so Techno would just keep doing that. 

One day there were envelopes from the school that had to be given to all of the students in the class. Their teacher asked Techno to pass them out. He found one that had a name he didn’t recognize on it but it had the same beginning letters as Wilbur’s name. Still, he wanted to check first. He couldn’t risk the teacher getting mad at him for giving somebody the wrong one. He walked over to Wilbur’s desk.

“Hey, um, is your full name Will-i-am?” Techno asked quietly.

All the kids at the desks around them laughed. Techno frowned in confusion.

“Heh?”

Wilbur glared at him and snatched the envelope out of his hands. 

“That’s not how you say it,” he snapped.

“Oh… I’m sorry. Can you tell me how to say it right?” Techno asked.

“Just go away, Tech-no-blade.”

The others laughed again.

Techno thought it was a little uncalled for since he hadn’t done it on purpose but, if getting even made Wilbur feel better, then Techno could let it go for the sake of becoming Wilbur’s friend.

Unfortunately, it seemed that would not be the case because, after that, Wilbur decided that he hated him. 

Everyone liked Wilbur and Wilbur hated Techno, so nobody liked Techno.

Chapter Text

Techno glanced up from his book as his English teacher, Mr. Maffrey, announced that they would be doing a group project for their final where their partners would be randomly assigned. There were several groans from his classmates complaining about how they weren’t allowed to pick who they’d work with, but Techno just shrugged. It was probably better that way for him anyways. He wouldn’t have to deal with no one picking him and his grades were high enough that whoever it was was usually ok with working with him.

“I’m telling you about it now because it will take some time to complete. It’s not due until the last week of school, but I will be checking in on your progress several times to prevent you chronic procrastinators from waiting until the last minute,” Mr. Maffrey explained. “Your project is going to be a form of parody and analysis of one of the books we’ve read this year. First, you will analyze the work together. Then you will work with your partner to create a new work based on it, it can be any art form. Finally, you will analyze your own work and compare it to the original.”

Ok. That was a little bit more involved then Techno would have liked, but not the worst thing. Techno let himself start thinking about which book would be the best choice while Mr. Maffrey matched the partners until he heard his name.

“Alright, and next we have Technoblade and… Wilbur.”

No.

That- That wasn’t going to work. Wilbur hated him. There was no way they’d be able to work on a almost two-month-long project together. Techno would have to talk to the teacher after class, get him to let him do it by himself.

Apparently Wilbur had the same idea because he hung back after the bell rang as well. Techno quickly packed up his things and went up to Mr. Maffrey’s desk.

“Yes, Technoblade?” he asked.

“Sir, can I do this project by myself? Please ?”

“Technoblade, this is a group project. Part of the assignment is working with your partner and putting your minds together.”

“Can I have a different partner then?” Techno begged.

Mr. Maffrey frowned seriously and glanced up to see Wilbur still waiting in the room.

“Is that the question you were hoping to ask also, Wilbur?” he asked, clearly upset.

“Yes, sir,” Wilbur said quietly.

Mr. Maffrey sat back heavily in his chair.

“I am very disappointed boys. In both of you. I honestly expected better from you both. Here’s how this is going to work. You are going to work together on this project. I am going to check in with you every week. If it appears that you are not working together, your grades will be severely penalized. Am I understood?” 

Mr. Maffrey looked at them expectantly.

“Yes, sir,” Techno choked out before hurrying out of the room.

His head spun and he could feel his pounding heartbeat in every part of his body. Because he wasn’t looking where he was going, Techno bumped shoulders with someone in the hallway. He turned to mumble out an apology and was pushed harshly into the lockers. Oh, it was one of Wilbur’s friends.

“Watch where you’re going, Blade,” he laughed. “Man, I can’t believe Wilbur got stuck with this loser. C’mon, guys, let’s go.”

Techno continued to the bathrooms, fighting the burning behind his eyes. He shoved open the door and turned on one of the sinks. He cupped his hands and scrubbed at his face with the cold water. He needed to pull himself together before he went home. He’d promised himself a long time ago that he wouldn’t let Mom find out that things weren’t good at school. She had enough to worry about.

Chapter Text

The bell rang and Techno bent down to put his books in his bag. A tap on his shoulder made him flinch so hard that he smacked his knee into the underside of the desk. He hissed in pain as he looked up and then immediately tried to scoot further away in his chair. Wilbur was leaning against the desk next to him, crossing his arms.

“Look,” Wilbur said flatly, “I get that neither of us want to be partners, but do you want to meet up tomorrow to work on the project?”

Techno could see Mr. Maffrey watching them out of the corner of his eyes and understood Wilbur’s thinking. If he saw them making plans to meet up, then there would be no reason for him to suspect that they weren’t working together. Tomorrow was Saturday, though. Techno had agreed to help someone higher up at Mom’s work set up her garage sale. She’d promised him some of the money she’d make and first pick of the books she was getting rid of. They could really use that extra money for groceries this week.

“No,” he said quietly.

Before he could think of an alternative to suggest, Wilbur scoffed.

“Listen, you might be able to afford failing a final project, Mr. top-of-the-class, but I can’t, so-”

“No, I just can’t tomorrow,” Techno rushed out, his voice higher than it should’ve been. “I can’t, ok?”

Wilbur huffed.

“Fine. What about now? Like this afternoon and evening?”

“I can do that,” Techno confirmed.

“So, do we want to do your place or mine?” Wilbur asked.

Techno scrambled to think of somewhere else they could go to work instead, panicking at the thought of either having Wilbur in his house or being in Wilbur’s. He’d much rather use a non-partial 3rd party location. He wasn’t fast enough though.

Wilbur clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“We can just go to my place, alright,” he said. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Techno looked around and saw Wilbur’s friends waiting for him by the door. Presumably to walk home together. And Wilbur wanted Techno to come along. That… sounded like the worst possible idea and Techno’s own personal form of hell.

He swallowed thickly, barely registering the shake of his hands.

“I can’t,” Techno whispered.

“Seriously, Technoblade?” Wilbur asked incredulously. 

“I- I have to do something at home first,” Techno half lied. “I can go to your house after though, if you give me your address,” he offered weakly.

Wilbur stared at him for a long moment before sighing.

“Fine.”

He scribbled down his address on a piece of paper he ripped out of his notebook and handed it to him.

“Though, if you’re going to be more than like an hour, don’t bother,” Wilbur added, turning to leave.

Techno slumped down on his desk as they left, resting his forehead on his arms. He took a shaky breath and then pushed himself up and gathered his things. He left the room and walked quickly through the halls. He wanted to make sure he was gone before the hallways got too empty. 

Chapter Text

Techno felt sick to his stomach as he turned onto Wilbur’s street, each step growing harder than the last. It wasn’t too late. He could still turn around and go back home. …but, if he did that, Mr. Maffrey would know that it was his fault that they weren’t working together on the project because he saw Wilbur make the plans with him. Techno couldn’t let the blame fall on himself.

With that in mind, Techno forced himself up the walkway to the house that matched the address Wilbur had written down. It was a very big house. He stood in front of the door and took several deep breaths before raising his hand and pressing the button for the doorbell. He heard the chime ring out through the house and very briefly considered if he could run fast enough to be out of sight by the time someone opened the door. 

The door opened to reveal a younger boy with blonde curls who stared at him in suspicion.

“Who the fuck are you?!” he asked.

“Uh- I- um…” 

Techno stumbled over his words as panic filled him at the idea that maybe he’d gotten the wrong house. Or that Wilbur had given him the wrong address as a joke.

“Are you just going to stand there like a fish, or are you gonna answer the question, bitch?!” the boy asked, impatience clear in the way he crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame.

“Tommy? Who is it?” a blonde man, who Techno might remember seeing at school events when they were younger. “Can I help you, mate?”

“Um- …Wilbur?” Techno finally managed to get out.

He could feel the heat that said his face was turning bright red. 

“Oh! You must be Wilbur’s friend. He mentioned that someone might be coming over,” the man said with a smile.

Techno opened his mouth to argue that he and Wilbur were certainly not friends, but bit his tongue as he thought better of it. It probably wasn’t wise to tell this man that his son actually hated him.

“Here, come on in, mate,” the man said, ushering him into the house. “I’m sorry, Wilbur didn’t tell us your name.”

It took Techno a few moments to realize that it was his way of asking for his name.

“Oh, um, I’m Techno.”

“Nice to meet you, Techno. I’m Wilbur’s dad, Phil, and this is his little brother, Tommy. Tommy, would you run upstairs and tell Wil that his friend is here?”

Tommy groaned but turned to walk up the stairs anyway.

“You can have a seat while you wait for him,” Phil offered, gesturing to the couch. “Can I get you anything? Something to drink? A snack?”

Techno followed the instruction to sit and perched awkwardly on the edge of the cushion.

“I’m fine, thank you,” he said quietly. 

“Alright, well, let me know if you need anything. I’ll just be in the kitchen getting started on dinner,” Phil said as he walked out of the room.

Techno looked around the room, feeling very uncomfortable. The walls were covered with pictures of Wilbur’s family or him and Tommy with their friends. 

He tensed and turned around quickly when he heard footsteps on the stairs behind him. Wilbur stood on the last couple steps, leaning over the railing, and looked at him with a bored expression. 

“Well, you actually showed up,” Wilbur drawled. “Alright, come on. Let’s go up to my room so we can do this stupid project.”

“I’m fine with just working down here,” Techno suggested, foolishly holding onto the hope that Wilbur wouldn’t be mean to him in front of his family.

“No, Tommy will interrupt us every five seconds if we don’t have a door we can close.”

Techno followed Wilbur up the steps, twisting his backpack straps around his fingers so tightly it hurt. Wilbur turned left on the landing and opened the door with a flourish. The room was slightly messy but only enough to let you know that someone lived there. 

“Go ahead and sit wherever,” Wilbur said as he sat down on his bed.

Techno carefully sat down on the desk chair, holding his backpack in his lap. 

“Ok, so, I guess we need to decide which book we’re going to read,” Wilbur said as he grabbed his laptop.

Techno nodded and opened his backpack to pull out the list he’d started making.

Chapter Text

Agreeing on a book was made difficult by Techno’s reluctance to offer up an opinion to any of Wilbur’s suggestions, so Wilbur offered up a compromise.

“Ok, so I was thinking that we’d do a song since that’s pretty simple for me,” Wilbur said, gesturing to the guitar sitting in the corner of his room. “I guess you can get to pick the book we do it on then.”

Techno nodded and fumbled briefly with the notebook in his hands before offering up the first title he had written down. Wilbur agreed to it and the next step was to get the book and read it. Since they didn’t need to do that together, Techno began to gather up his things to leave.

“What are you doing?” Wilbur asked.

Techno froze.

“Um… getting my stuff… so I can go…”

“You can’t leave yet,” Wilbur said with a sigh.

Fear struck him at the thought that Wilbur wouldn’t let him leave. His breath shook slightly.

“Why- Why not?”

“My dad would lose it if I didn’t have you stay for dinner,” Wilbur said firmly. 

Techno’s throat grew tight at that. What would Wilbur’s father do? 

“Ok,” he whispered, his mouth dry.

“Great. It should be ready in a couple of minutes, so you can just do whatever until then,” Wilbur said before flopping back on his bed and playing on his phone.

Techno briefly attempted to work on some of his other homework but his hands were shaking too much to write and his eyes kept snapping over to Wilbur at every shift he made. He couldn’t do this.

“Do you have a bathroom I can use?” he asked.

“Sure,” Wilbur said without looking at him.

Techno waited a long moment before Wilbur spoke again.

“Did you want to know where it is?” Wilbur asked with a mean spirited smirk.

Techno shrunk further into himself.

“Yes,” he bit out.

“The second door down the hall on the opposite side.”

Techno jumped to his feet and hurried out the door. He walked quickly down the hall and closed the bathroom door behind him. He slid down the wall and tucked his knees close to his chest, burying his face in them. His breath came too fast and he needed to calm down before he had to eat dinner with Wilbur’s family. A small whine left his mouth before he could stop it and heat burned behind his eyes.

No, no, no. He couldn’t cry. Not here. Not now.

Techno tugged his sleeves down over his hands and pressed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. He walked himself through some breathing exercises.

He was still sitting like that when Wilbur’s little brother banged on the door, making him jump.

“Hey! Wilbur said to tell you that dinner’s ready!”

Techno took a shaky breath and pulled himself to his feet. After quickly checking his appearance in the mirror, he opened the door and followed Tommy down to the dining room. 

~~~

Techno sat awkwardly between Wilbur and his father, Phil, who had insisted that Techno take a second helping of everything he wanted. It was confusing. Wilbur had implied that his father might be a strict man, but Techno saw no evidence of that. 

“I’m so glad that you were able to join us for dinner, Techno, I was a bit worried that Wil might forget his manners and not invite you,” Phil said as he grabbed Techno’s plate to bring it to the kitchen. 

“That was one time, Dad,” Wilbur groaned next to him.

Phil chuckled.

“Techno, do you want dessert?” Tommy asked, nodding his head exaggeratedly.

“Oh, um… that’s ok. I’m fine,” Techno muttered.

“I’m sure you’ve still got room left for a bit of sweets, mate,” Phil said cheerfully with a wink. “You’re a growing boy after all. I’d hate to send you home hungry.”

Techno didn’t tell him that this was more food than he’d eaten all week. 

~~~

Techno walked home that night with quiet confusion swirling through him.

Chapter Text

Things had gotten much worse at school since he started going to Wilbur’s house after school, even though he didn’t go that often. Wilbur’s dad, Phil, apparently insisted that he be invited over for anything even slightly needed them to work together for the project. But it seemed like Wilbur’s friends didn’t like that very much.

Techno hurried through the halls to Mr. Maffrey’s class. He was thrown off course by a pair of hands shoving him into the lockers.

“Hey Blade.”

Techno blinked back tears.

“Aw, look it. He’s gonna cry.”

Techno grit his teeth and tried to walk past them, but a hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back.

“Hey! I didn’t say you could go.”

The bell rang signaling the start of class and Techno flinched. The boy holding his shoulder grabbed one of his notebooks from his arms and started tearing the pages.

By the time they’d finished and Techno had stopped crying in the bathroom, class was half way over. He hurried over to his seat.

Wilbur came over to him at the end of class.

“Hey, can I have the lyrics so I can get started on the song?” he asked.

Techno froze. The lyrics. They were in his notebook that…

“I- no, they’re- I don’t-”

Wilbur sighed loudly.

“Seriously, Technoblade?! You said you had them ready.”

“Just give me a second. I can write them again,” Techno said desperately as he pulled out a different notebook.

His hands shook horribly as he wrote, extremely grateful that he’d proofread it so many times that he’d accidentally memorized it. 

Wilbur tapped his foot impatiently and Techno tried not to cry. When he finally finished writing it, Techno ripped the page out of the notebook and shoved it at Wilbur.

“Here. I have to go home,” he said before hurrying out of the room. 

~~~

Techno shifted nervously as he waited for Wilbur to finish his club after school. They had finished the reading and made the song so now Techno had to go over again today so Wilbur could play the song so they could analyze it. 

Going to Wilbur’s house was kind of nice sometimes if not still extremely stressful. Wilbur’s dad was really nice to him and Wilbur didn’t do anything mean there either. 

Waiting around after school was not a very good idea for Techno though. He hoped Wilbur was done soon. 

He heard footsteps coming down the hallway and let out a sigh of relief before turning around. Finally they could get going. Except it wasn’t Wilbur coming down the hallway. It was two of his friends, Schlatt and Quackity.

Techno clenched his fingers around his shirt sleeves to try to hide their shaking and hoped that they would just keep walking past him. Unfortunately, luck was never on his side and they walked right over to where he was leaning against the wall.

“Blade, what are you still doing here? Shouldn’t you have run off home by now?” Schlatt asked as he leaned his arm against the wall, blocking Techno in with Quackity on the other side.

“Nah, he’s got to wait around for Wilbur to finish so he can follow him home like a pathetic little puppy,” Quackity jeered.

Techno swallowed harshly and pressed further into the wall. His knees were shaking a little now as his eyes darted back and forth between the boys looming over him. 

Schlatt glanced over his shoulder and grinned.

“There’s nobody else around, so what do you say we have a little fun, Big Q?”

“I think that’s a great idea.”

Techno doubled over with a gasp as a fist landed in his stomach. A knee slammed into his nose before he could straighten up. Another hit sent Techno to the floor, tucking his head between his arms. It was over quickly, the two running off at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.

Techno carefully pushed himself up and sat leaning against the wall. He shoved his sleeve under his nose to catch the blood streaming out of it. His shoulders started shaking and tears slipped down his cheeks. 

How was he going to explain this to his mom? They had never gotten this physical before, usually just pushing him around or tripping him was the worst they got, but this wasn’t going to be something he could hide. She was supposed to think everything was fine. And she was so happy that he was spending time at a friend’s house after school. 

“Technoblade?”

Techno flinched at Wilbur’s voice.

Wilbur stalled over to him and Techno tried to scramble away.

“Woah, hey, it’s just me. What happened to you?”

Techno winced as he bumped his nose.

“What, you upset you didn’t get to join in?” Techno snapped.

“Techno, you’re bleeding. Here let me…” he trailed off as he grabbed a tissue and reached out towards Techno.

“Stay the hell away from me!” Techno gasped, panic flooding his voice. “Haven’t your friends already done enough? Can’t you just give it a rest for the rest of the day at least?”

Wilbur frowned and pulled away. Techno let himself slump back down. 

“Hey, Dad?” Wilbur said into his phone. “I’m not really sure what’s going on, but we need help. Can you come get us from the school? Thank you.”

Techno pushed himself all the way to stand. He was not going to stay and wait around to go back to Wilbur’s place tonight. Project and final grade be damned.

“Wait, Techno, where are you going?” Wilbur asked, grabbing his wrist.

Techno jumped and twisted around to yank his arm free falling to the ground. He looked up at Wilbur standing over him as terror filled him. 

Wilbur took a startled step back before dropping down to sit on the ground.

“You’re scared of me,” he whispered. “You actually think that I’m going to hurt you.”

Techno scoffed.

“What, you've got some kind of firm line that’s all of a sudden ‘too far’ for you? Bullying me almost our whole lives is fine, but throwing a punch is too far? That why you get your friends to do it? So you can pretend you're innocent?! And then you can play like we’re friends so you can get a good grade on a stupid project?!”

Techno’s voice was shaking and raising in volume until he was almost screaming through sobs.

Wilbur stood up slowly and started to walk away.

“At least let my dad help you out. I’ll.. I’ll walk home ok?” he said quietly.

Techno curled in on himself as sobs shook his body. 

A while later there were more footsteps and Techno jerked his head up to see Phil coming over to him.

“Hey, mate, is it alright if I help you get cleaned up a bit?” he asked gently, stopping a few feet away.

Techno nodded slightly. Phil was ok. He was safe.

Phil brought him to the bathroom and carefully used a wet paper towel to wipe the blood off Techno’s face, apologizing when he winced.

“Can I drive you to your house?” Phil asked once he was done.

Techno nodded numbly and followed him out to his car. 

The ride was silent except for Techno telling Phil the address and pointing out the apartment building when they arrived. Phil offered to walk him up to their door but Techno just shook his head. 

Thankfully his mom was still working so he didn’t have to worry about that yet. He went straight to his bed and laid down, pulling the covers over himself.

About an hour later he received two video links and a text that said ‘I’m sorry.’ from Wilbur. 

He’d look at them later.

Chapter Text

Techno startled awake to the sound of the front door closing and keys being put on the table, wincing as he bumped his nose. He carefully rolled onto his back with a groan. He really didn’t want to explain this to his mom. She already worried about too much. He was supposed to be making things easier for her, not giving her more stress.

“Techno, I’m home,” she called as she reached his door, opening it.

She gasped when she saw his face which he was sure was all red and swollen from the hit to his nose and all the crying he’d done. 

“Tech, what happened?” she asked as she rushed over to him and inspected his face.

Techno couldn’t help it, he started crying again.

“It’s- It’s nothing. Just some- some kids from- school. Not a big- big deal,” he gasped out between sobs.

“Honey… It’s not nothing if somebody is hurting you.”

“No, I’m f- fine. Not usually- this bad.”

His mom stiffened.

“Usually?” 

Crap. He hadn’t meant to say that.

“How long has this been happening? Techno, talk to me please. Tell me what’s going on.”

So Techno did. He told her everything, crying as she ran her fingers through his hair soothingly. Until he was exhausted from crying and falling asleep again. She tucked the blanket up around him and smoothed his hair away from his face.

“I’m so sorry, my love,” she whispered.

~~~

Techno stayed home from school the next day. He had wanted to go in anyways, but his mom had insisted. So he was left sitting on his bed after his mom left for work, staring at the video links Wilbur had sent him. He took a shaky breath and opened the first one. It was of Wilbur singing the song for their project. Techno closed it and looked at the other with a frown. The first video had been the full song so what was the other one? Deciding it was better to just get it over with, he opened the video and pressed play. It showed Wilbur sitting on the floor in his room the same way he had been in the song video but his hair was a lot messier and his eyes were slightly red. His breath stuttered a bit before he began talking.

“Hey, um… I just feel a lot better apologizing in person than over text or something, feels more real or whatever. But I, uh… I understand if you never want to be near me again because I- …fuck. So that’s why this whole thing, anyways… I’m sorry, Technoblade. I had no idea that they were doing that stuff and that’s not an excuse and I should’ve realized. I, um, talked with my dad and he helped me realize that the stuff I was doing was-” Wilbur’s voice caught and he ran a hand through his hair. “Damnit, I’m just as bad as them… no, I’m… worse? You were so sure that I was going to hurt you because I have been this whole time. I’m sorry. I know I can never say that enough but, um… you don’t have to forgive me- you probably shouldn’t -but I wanted you to know. …yeah.”

The video ended and Techno sat there numbly staring at the screen. What was he supposed to do with that?

~~~

Something very stupid apparently. Techno shifted nervously on Wilbur’s front step. Why was he doing this again? Because he was stupid and something didn’t sit right with him about the video and he wanted answers. 

The door opened and Phil greeted him with a small smile.

“Hi, uh… could I talk to Wilbur please?” he asked.

“Sure, did you want to come in or stay out here?”

Techno appreciated Phil giving him the choice. He was still scared that something might happen. That he was wrong and this was all some elaborate prank by Wilbur to catch him with his guard down.

“Out here is fine.”

“Ok, I’ll go get him,” Phil said before turning back into the house.

A few moments later, Wilbur stepped through the doorway, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. He was wearing an oversized hoodie and holding his arms around himself in a self hug. Techno took a deep breath as he gathered the strength to speak.

“You’re right, I- I don’t forgive you.”

Wilbur winced but nodded.

“But…” Techno continued, clasping his hands behind his back to hide the way they shook, “I think I deserve to know why. You said you didn’t realize so I want to know, if you weren’t doing it to be cruel, then why?”

Wilbur visibly swallowed.

“Right,” he muttered. “I don’t really know. I know that’s not good enough. My dad said that he thinks it might be that I was lashing out after my mom died because that’s when we moved here. He, uh… wants me to go therapy. Apologized for not realizing I needed it sooner.”

Techno hummed and leaned back on his heels as he thought.

“Ok.”

Wilbur looked up at him for the first time in the conversation, confused.

“Ok?”

“You said you want to get better, right? So, if you keep doing that, then I’ll forgive you,” Techno said with more confidence than he felt.

“Really?” Wilbur asked, seeming shocked.

Techno shrugged.

“I mean, yeah, if you’re not being a jerk anymore.”

Techno wasn’t sure that he was making the right choice. The idea that he could be being completely careless and this was all a terrible mistake made his heart pound and his breathing catch in his chest. But he had actually started to enjoy the time at Wilbur’s house a little. Worst case he was wrong and things didn't get any better and it sucked. But if he could have a selfish want, maybe it was worth the risk. He laughed a little bitterly. Guess he never really stopped being that naive little kid that wanted to be Wilbur’s friend so badly.