Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy wasn't really sure why he was doing this.

His heart hammered in his chest as his little paws ran across the snow laden area. He didn't even know where he was going. He'd just picked a direction and ran, looking for any place other than his blown up exile of Logstedshire. It had sent him north, apparently, into a snowy canvas of trees and ice where millions of stars lit his way alongside the occasional green lights flashing above him. They were pretty, but he didn't have time to look at them.

He guessed he knew why he was doing this, but that didn't mean that it didn't terrify him to his core. Running away wasn't something he'd tried before, and he was certain that if Dream found out that he left like this, he'd be in for the beating of his life. That is if Dream didn't just kill him. That was a very likely option at this point. He can't believe that he'd thought that Dream was his friend. How could he be so naive?

Running across the snow in his shifted form was honestly the best idea he'd had in a while. He blended in with the snow, and he was lighter so that no one would see him anyway. Not that anyone even knew he was a shifter as he didn't do it often enough for people to know. He didn't really trust anyone enough to shift around them.

Well, he had, but Wilbur was dead and didn't remember that fact about him anymore.

Besides, he'd likely just be running on top of the snow until he got to a thicker forest or somewhere safer. Tommy knew how to find food, but it was winter. Polar night did exist, but since he'd run at night, he didn't know if this area had it. Subsequently, he didn't see a lot and didn't really see the cabin until he was almost upon it.

The lights weren't on, so no one was home most likely, and Tommy could go inside and scavenge. Be more like his shifted form, and indulge in his instincts for just a few moments. Maybe it would be warmer inside.

He did have to unshift to push the snow away from the door and drag it open. It was a lot heavier than he thought it would be. Almost immediately, lights lit themselves, clearly enchanted to turn on whenever someone came into the room. He was greeted by a small coat room, with a space for one to take shoes off and knock the snow into a bucket rather than leaving it to melt into the wooden floors. There wasn't anything hanging up. Another sign no one was home.

The room was cold but much warmer than outside, and he assumed that there was some magic in place to keep it a little warm. He moved further into the house, finding that the living room was attached to the coat room. There was a whole assortment of books piled into both bookshelves and on the floor. Alongside various other things. What looks like a half-finished quilt, a collection of homemade multicolored candles, and an almost finished painting of a polar bear hung on the wall. None of it really helped Tommy tell who's house this was, but there weren't really a lot of options as to who.

Most people lived in L'manburg, and the few who didn't wouldn't live all the way out here unless they were in retirement and didn't want to be messed with.

Tommy had stumbled upon Technoblades' house, and the last time he saw him, he tried to kill him with Withers. This was going to be wonderful. He'd just steal some shit and then leave. Simple enough, it's a wonderful plan, really. It was much warmer in here, though, and that was muddling his judgment.

Tommy left the living room and found that the next room was the kitchen. His prime target.

He opened up the cabinets, finding most of them filled with nothing until he got to a bag of apples and not just any apples. Golden apples that had healing properties beyond what he'd ever seen, and there was a shitton of them. Techno surely wouldn't mind a few missing. This would be his first meal in a couple of days at this point. He took one with a shaky hand and bit into it without a second thought.

It tasted heavenly.

Tommy didn't normally like apples, but he could taste the magic infused in this one. It tasted almost like a watermelon, and he knew that was from the magical properties it had.

He practically inhaled the apple, hunched over it in Technos kitchen like a little demon that was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. He supposed Raccoons were considered vermin, but he didn't really care right now. Techno wasn't home, so as far as he was aware, this was now his home. He could start thinking about why Techno wasn't home, but that wasn't any of his business, really. He was here to steal and scavenge like the little dumpster rat he was.

Tommy finished that apple and ate another one at around the same speed. He was pretty hungry, and the magic was helping him slowly heal the injuries he'd sustained during his frantic run over here and when he'd fallen from the tower. It also helped stop the fact that he'd been trembling since he got here. It didn't help heal everything, though. He could still feel almost all the bruises he had.

Tommy scrounged up some other food after that and managed to steal one of Technos shovels to dig a hole under his basement. It was a nice place to stay in his opinion, he liked to stay underground. Or maybe it was just the idea of burrowing and making a den that appeased his instincts. Either way, Tommy made his way back to living underground. He'd be fine whenever Techno came back as he'd just steal his stuff whenever he was asleep. Not that Tommy would be able to tell when it was night as the only thing even telling him that it was his urge not to sleep.

He ignored the fact that he'd originally decided to quickly leave, but to be fair, it was warmer in this house. Tommy was used to this type of cold. Not the one he'd been running in.

Maybe Techno was here but was just asleep and hibernating. That was a valid option. He's pretty sure Techno would've mentioned it at some point during Pogtopia if he did, though. Or maybe Tommy was just being stupid and didn't remember.

By the end of Tommy's little operation, he'd grown tired and stolen enough food to keep him fed for a few days down there. Alongside a number of blankets as he didn't have his own bed. The Tommy den was complete, and he was safe.

He'd even added a torch so that nothing could spawn in there and bother him. It was actually pretty perfect.

Tommy was ready to curl up and have a good sleep, hopefully not riddled with nightmares. That would be the only thing that might alert Techno of his presence whenever he got home, and that absolutely couldn't happen. He could always just move on from this cabin, but Techno had a shitton of food, stuff, and warmth. He wasn't going to just notice that it was all gone. It was honestly the perfect place for him to be and survive easily. That was really his only goal right now.

He shifted back down to his raccoon form and crawled into the pile of blankets he'd stolen. They were warm. They made him warmer than Tommy had been in days. Besides, Dream would never think to look for him at Technos cabin, let alone in the ground, so he was doubly safe down here.

Everything was going to be just fine.

Techno knew that something was wrong the moment he stepped foot back into his house. He'd just gotten back from nearly dying and was looking forward to cleaning the blood off of himself and getting it out of his clothes before they got stained permanently. Then, hopefully, he'd have a nice nap, preferably a couple days long since he didn't have the complete hibernation instincts. Yet, there in his cabinets were definitely less golden apples than when he'd left, and some of his golden carrots were gone as well. A bunch of his food was missing now that he looked at everything.

Wonderful, he'd been gone for a max of a week, and someone had broken into his house and eaten his food. This was absolutely ridiculous. It couldn't have been the Butcher Army because they would've just taken it all with them.

He huffed and grabbed a golden apple, intending to go take a shower to get the blood off of him before he started dealing with the injuries the health pots he'd downed couldn't heal. Those were the ones he could afford to take a shower with because the health pots always healed the biggest injuries first.

He got through his shower, glad that he had the sense to stay in his more humanized form so he wouldn't have to be washing blood out of his fur. That would've been a whole other mess. As coarse as it was, things stuck to it like no other thing he'd seen. Being a boar was a mess sometimes. His clothes were absolutely ruined, though. There was no way to get the blood out. He'd have to throw them out at some point.

He'd been sparsely eating the golden apple when he walked into his living room, intending to fix up his wounds and take a nap with a lit fireplace. Instead, he saw half his blankets gone, and Steve had a staredown with a blonde raccoon. The raccoon shifted its eyes towards Techno, and he watched its eyes grow wide.

This wasn't a normal raccoon then. Most Raccoons didn't have human-like reactions, nor did they have blonde fur. A white raccoon he could understand, that would be an Albino raccoon, but this raccoon was definitely blonde. It was glaringly obvious.

Did… Tommy break into his house and eat all his apples?

That was nonsense. Tommy couldn't shift. They'd all know if Tommy could shift. The little shit would use it to annoy the hell out of everyone all the time. The voices in his head seemed dumbfounded and were near silent. He has to say that over the hundreds of years he's been alive, that was a first. He swore the only other time he heard that happen was when Phil walked into his house holding a swaddle of clothes that had turned out to be baby Wilbur.

The raccoon jumped off his couch and went running away, scampering underneath his legs towards his basement. Techno almost dropped his apple but at least had the sense to put it on top of one of his bookshelves before running after the little menace. This little shit ate all his apples.

He wondered if Tommy's tactic here was to simply just try to get Techno to think that he was a normal raccoon that broke into his house. No raccoon knew to steal golden apples, let alone would've been able to get to them. This kid was infuriatingly stupid sometimes.

He nearly caught up to the raccoon before it slipped into a hole in the ground of his basement. This little shit had made a hole in his basement. Why would he do that? Wasn't he supposed to be exiled right now? Why was he here? How the fuck did he get here? How long had he been here?

Tommy had made another mistake of adding a trap door and a ladder down to his residence. Another thing that Raccoons definitely wasn't able to do. He climbed down and found a reasonably well lit living hole. It was still a little cold down here, as was the whole house, considering Techno hadn't been here to light a fire for the last week, and the magic Phil put up only kept it so warm.

There were two piles where the raccoon boy would have disappeared. A pile of food in a shoddily built chest, very clearly stolen from his house. Or in the pile of blankets that Tommy had likely been using to keep himself warm. He had a very good feeling it was that one.

He had to give the kid some credit. He wasn't dumb enough to light a fire and tell him that he'd been here. Nor was he stupid enough to try and light a fire down here and then give himself smoke inhalation. At the same time, Techno was a little worried because as much as he hated Tommy at times, he hated that he'd been dragged into war at too young an age. Actions still had consequences, though despite age. He had conflicting feelings about whether or not he should hate Tommy. Right now, he was definitely at least annoyed with the kid.

He reached into the pile of blankets and pulled out the furry little demon by the scruff of his neck. The raccoon, Tommy, blinked at him before attempting to gnaw on his wrist only to be met with the golden wrist guards he usually wore. Tommy knew that, so he wasn't sure why even tried that. Maybe he thought that was normal raccoon behavior.

"What are you doing here?" Techno asked the raccoon.

He was sure that Tommy would call him stupid for talking to a raccoon, but he had two options right now. Pretend he didn't know that this blonde raccoon was obviously Tommy, or tell him that he knew it was him. Both options were equally frustrating. One meant that he just had a raccoon hanging around, and the other meant that he got an explanation of why the boy had even come here.

Techno settled on revealing he knew it was Tommy after he got all his shit out of the hole in the ground, and he'd taken a nap. That was a good option. Starting with Tommy.

He wasn't going to send the boy out because that would just be an asshole move, so instead, he put Tommy in the guest room. He wouldn't be able to get out without shifting, and they both knew that if he did that, Techno would be suspicious. So he knew Tommy wouldn't try to break out while he got all of his blankets out of there.

Instead of putting his blankets back where they were supposed to be, he put them in a pile on the guest bed. He wasn't sure why he did that but it just felt like the right thing to do. Tommy seemed curious by this and almost immediately burrowed into them, going to warm himself up. He left the door open this time, although only a little, so hopefully, Tommy wouldn't immediately scamper out, and he could get his food out of the ground before the kid went back down there.

Once he got his food back to where it was supposed to go. He went to remove the entrance of the hole in his basement, but something stopped him. It was probably something to do with instincts. He could get rid of the thing when Tommy left.

He did pull the basement door shut, so Tommy wouldn't be able to hide more shit down there. He didn't like his stuff being stolen. He'd even found a few shiny pieces of jewelry down there. Not stuff he usually wore, but they were still his.

Tommy could've at least asked before taking them, like a normal person, and he would have let him take it. Then again, Tommy was anything but normal.

Techno finally got to sit down, and finish eating his apple. Which was wonderful. Then he started up the fire and began to fix his wounds.

Tommy was doing a pretty good job, he'd say. Not only had Techno seen him and not known it was him, but He just accepted the raccoon as part of his life now. It was wonderful. Albeit he had been placed in the guest room and just left there. So, Techno clearly didn't want him wandering around his house, but then he brought up the pile of blankets from his den, and Tommy knew that Techno didn't know. He just thought he was a random raccoon. This was wonderful.

This time, the door was left open now, but he was comfortable where he was, all bundled up in his blankets. At least until he felt the warmth of something begin creeping into the room and he went to investigate.

Normally, he would never investigate something. Especially not after the weeks of torment and loneliness in his exile. Right now, he wasn't Tommy, though, at least to Techno. He was just a random raccoon that broke into Technos house. He was safe to explore and be curious for now.

So he padded down the stairs that Techno had brought him up to the guest room. He followed his way to the warmth and found Techno passed out on the couch. A golden apple core on the table next to him and bandages on his upper arm and one on his calf. Wherever he'd come from, he'd gotten injured. He smelled the blood before Techno got all of it cleaned off, but he'd thought it had been someone else's.

Techno was definitely asleep, so Tommy went up to the fire that was roaring in the fireplace and curled up next to it. It was pretty warm, and he felt better than he had in days. It warmed him to the bone and soothed some of his aches. Aches that he didn't really notice that he'd gotten until they began to go away. Maybe it was because he'd gotten so used to being in near constant pain that now that it was beginning to lessen, he was starting to recognize that he had been in pain. The aches and pain might have honestly been from both Dream and the cold. Sometimes he couldn't tell the difference.

Tommy fell asleep in front of the fire once more.

Although it was a fitful sleep. He knew that he was at least partially awake, taking in some of his surroundings at all times. He was not going to get caught like this. If Techno showed any signs of waking up he'd bolt back to his pile of blankets.

He refused to leave this haven of comfort, and if he accidentally shifted in his sleep, he would have to. He laid like that for a long time, and at some point, the fire began to die down, and he felt Techno getting up. That was probably for the fire, so he woke himself up and moved out of the way of the fire, crawling behind one of the chairs and looking at Technos boots and the fire instead. He didn't have to go all the way back to his blankets when there was a chair Techno couldn't reach him from to hide behind. The logs that got added Tommy would've begged for on the cold night in exile, but he never had anything.

Each day was a fresh start, and that included suffering through the night in the cold without a fire.

Tommy was starting to see how Dream hadn't been his friend, but he knew somehow that if he saw him again, things wouldn't go well. The man had terrified him the last time he saw him because he found his secret chest with pictures of L'manburg and other supplies. Mainly food.

He blinked, and the fire was still in front of him rather than the growing illusion of Logstedshire. He really needed not to think about that place. It was going to make him do something, and he didn't like that he didn't know what that was. He just needed to ignore it and move on. That was the only way to survive sometimes. Ignore things and push forward.

He escaped the exile that had seemed like it was never going to end, and put a stop to the repetitive loop that he couldn't push himself out of to go on and survive. He wasn't there anymore.

This was his life now.

"Alright, where did you go?" Techno murmured to himself, seemingly looking around for him. Techno was going to have to learn that raccoons didn't take instruction well.

Tommy skittered further behind the chair. Or, Was this it? Did Techno only want him around because he was too tired to deal with him at that moment? Was this always going to be mere hours of coexisting? He didn't want to go back into the snow. He didn't like the snow all that much, at least not really. That and his own clothes were still in tatters. If he wasn't careful, then he could freeze to death out there. Not that Techno knew that.

Tommy moved out from behind the chair, intending to dart over to under the couch and hide there since Techno had already looked there.

Techno saw him and curse his damned reflexes because for the second time that day, Tommy was being picked up and held in the air. No amount of hissing this time around was getting Techno to put him down either. Techno just held him in the air by his midsection and two hands and stared at him unimpressed. Almost as if he was about to ask him if he was done with his little tantrum. As if he was a toddler. He supposed raccoons were mostly like toddlers.

"You done?" Techno asked when Tommy finally stopped hissing and instead started to try and squirm out of Technos grip. "Tommy, this isn't funny."

Tommy froze in Technos grasp. Did… did Techno just call him Tommy? There was no way. How the fuck did Techno know it was him? Well he couldn't play it off now because he'd definitely reacted to it. Shit, was Techno planning to send him back to exile? Would Techno do that? He might not if Tommy explained everything.

He knew Techno had the ability to have a soft spot for him sometimes due to being a child soldier like he'd started as. Would Techno look over that for the sake of his exile? Then again, It was government instituted and Techno didn't really care about that. But, Techno didn't like him the last time they saw each other.

"If you shift back, we can talk this out. I'm not gonna throw you out because it's winter and you'd get way too lost in this darkness." Techno said.

Tommy stared at Techno debating if he should just start biting at his arms because they were definitely in reach right now. He could get to them with ease right now. Just one little bite and he was home free. Except, Techno was offering for him to stay. At least for winter from the sound of it.

Didn't piglins hibernate? Was that why Techno wanted him around? To make sure he didn't die and was basically a human shield before they ever got to him? How was he awake then? Where had he been?

No, Techno wasn't a piglin. He just looked like one. He was some sort of boar or a pig.

Tommy made sure to stare Techno in the eye when he finally shifted back, almost immediately being dropped to the floor because of the sudden weight change. Techno was strong, but not when it caught him by surprise like that.

He landed more on his back, his tail pinned underneath him, radiating pain. He groaned and rolled over slightly, pushing himself up before Techno could do whatever he was planning to do to him. He was a little upset about falling on the floor, but it was nothing he couldn't manage.

"What the hell happened to you?" Techno asked, narrowing his eyes at Tommy and looking him over.

"Damn, fuck you too." Tommy muttered, brushing off some of the dirt on his jeans. It didn't really do anything, but he felt better about it.

He knew he looked like shit. He literally didn't have one of his shoes, and his clothes were in tatters as he only had one set and couldn't really wash it, not that there would be a point to. He was covered in dirt, and he was pretty sure his shirt had a bunch of old blood stains on it. Which definitely didn't help his case.

"Alright, nope, you're takin' a shower before we talk." Techno said, pointing upstairs.

"I'm literally fine-" Tommy argued. He really doesn't like water nowadays. Not after waking up to drowning several times.

"No, take a shower. You have like three layers of dirt and grime on you, and those clothes look like they are about to fall apart. How the hell did you get here in a t-shirt?" Techno seemed to be asking that more to himself, but Tommy was going to answer it anyways.

"In my raccoon form, obviously dumbass." Tommy scoffed. He didn't like being visible like this because he was sure that Techno was looking at the bruises and scars he sported.

Even despite all the goddamn golden apples he'd eaten, the worst ones had yet to disappear, and the wounds on his arms had healed, but most had scarred over. It was annoying, especially when he saw Techno continue to glance at him. He swore he could see a hint of concern in the dude's eyes, but he was probably imagining it.

"I'm perfectly fine as is." Tommy said, huffing. He knew he wasn't, but he could pretend he was.

Techno grabbed his wrist, probably to go take him up to the bathroom and make sure he took a shower and got all the grime off of him, but Tommy let out an inhuman screech and tore his wrist out of Technos grip. The look on Technos face was one he hadn't really seen on the guy's face since early Pogtopia. Worry, the same worry the dude always felt before realizing this was everyone's normal now.

"Don't fucking touch me." He hissed.

Techno nodded slowly, "Alright, I won't, but you do need to at least get some of this stuff off your skin. It's gonna give you an infection if you let it stay with open wounds." Technos voice was strangely calm.

It was weird, but he kept a wary glance on Techno before darting up the stairs and running into the bathroom. He'd found it the second day he was here, so yesterday he thinks. Tommy doesn't actually know what day it is, but Techno does have a clock so he knows how much time has passed. That's the only reason he can guess how much time has passed.

He locked the door behind him. Maybe if he just sat here, he can pretend that he took a shower. That wouldn't work though, because he'd been able to hear the pipes when Techno was taking a shower earlier. Techno would know if he was or wasn't. He also didn't know how the shower worked, so that was also something he'd need to figure out. He was pretty sure the water would be freezing though. That was unless Techno had done more fancy magic shit. He didn't know that Techno knew magic to be honest.

Soon enough, a knock came to the door, accompanied by Technos voice, "Tommy, do you even know how to turn on the shower?"

"I can figure out how to turn a goddamn handle." Although when he looked at it, he saw that Techno had the weird fancy knobs for hot and cold water rather than the handles that normal people had.

"Alright, but can you open the door so I can give you a clean towel?" Techno asked.

Tommy technically hadn't gotten out of his clothes yet, so He unlocked the door and let Techno give him a towel and apparently a set of clean clothes that he'd scrounged. It wasn't really anything that Techno wore, so he closed the door with a little apprehension.

As far as he was aware Techno had no long sleeves that were red and white like his regular shirt, or jeans. Techno never wore jeans. He wore some poet style pants that looked pretentious.

"Thank you." Tommy whispered quietly, unsure if Techno had heard him. He didn't know why the guy just had clothes that he normally wore, but he wasn't going to question it.

"There's clean rags under the sink, and you can use my conditioner. I need to get some more anyway." Techno said before walking away from the bathroom door.

It had been a long time since he'd actually cleaned his hair. He's pretty sure the last time he had washed it was before Pogtopia as they hadn't had the resources to wash hair, and that was always at the bottom of their priorities. It had been collecting grease and dirt since then. It looked almost dirty blonde now.

Tommy stared at the clothes for a few more minutes before he turned on the hot water of the shower. The running water was a little intimidating, but the water surrounding his exile island was cold. This water wasn't. He wasn't in exile. Not anymore. He got himself out of that. The water wasn't going to hurt him.

Tommy managed to take a shower in less than an hour. It took a lot of scrubbing to get the layers of grime and dirt off of him. Most of it had been from exile, but he might not have gotten all the stuff from Pogtopia off. It felt good to be clean. His hair was a whole other mess than he decided to just get over with. It was pretty long at this point. He hadn't cut it ages, and Dream liked to exploit that.

Nope. Nope. No thinking about Dream.

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself. Dream liked to hold him still using his hair or the back of his neck when he had to blow up his stuff.

Nope. Nope. He wasn't doing this.

Tommy turned off the water, acknowledging that he couldn't really breathe. He forced himself to, barely able to dry himself off and put on the new clothes.

Shit, he really couldn't breathe now.

He found himself on the floor, clutching his chest and clinging to the cold sink above him. Tommy could feel himself shaking, and it didn't help how lost and panicked he felt.

Fuck, what was he doing?

He should be in exile right now. He knew what Dream would do when he found him. He'd be so fucked. He'd do a lot worse than just blowing up Logstedshire. That was just for hiding a chest of things, but straight up leaving? He would be lucky to escape with his life.

Tommy managed a half-ragged breath.

Dream was probably going to find him, but he wouldn't think to look here. Tommy was safe for now. He could recognize the manipulation and the toxic ass friendship they supposedly had now, but that wouldn't help the fact that he was absolutely terrified of the guy. Just thinking about what he'd done had been enough to send him on the ground into a panic attack.

Or at least an anxiety attack.

Something with his thoughts was affecting his physical issues.

Tommy managed to open the door and then shifted on instinct. Stumbling in his raccoon form until he could get to the guest room as that's where all his den stuff was now. He climbed into the pile of blankets, hiding between all of them and feeling the weight of them all on top of him. It was very therapeutic, and Tommy didn't know why.

He wasn't going to question something that worked. He was pretty sure he'd managed to scratch at his arms before he got in here, but he was wearing long sleeves so he wouldn't have to see the red marks from his scratching. Techno also wouldn't see, and that was the most important part.

Techno knew who he was now and knew his secret of being able to shift. That's all he ever needed to know about him. Maybe he could tell Techno that Dream was hunting him down and pleaded for him not to sell him out. No, then that would just tell Techno that he'd done something he wasn't supposed to do, although he'd pretty sure that was already obvious enough.

Tommy stayed under the blankets until he stopped trembling, and his thoughts were elsewhere. Techno hadn't come to check up on him, which was nice. Hopefully, he hadn't come to check, and Tommy just hadn't noticed. That would be a whole other mess.

He wiped at the tear stains on his fur. He knew if he didn't make them go away that Techno would see them. Not that the dude would ask. He was good at not asking about things, but at the same time. Tommy was someone he did ask questions to. He did ask questions about his mental state and how he was doing. Somehow, someway, Techno had cared about him during Pogtopia, and yet when they reinstated L'manburg, Techno seemed to lose that care.

He crawled out of the pile of blankets and shifted back to human. He'd prefer to stay as a raccoon, but it seemed like Techno didn't want that, so he'd stay human for now. His ears twitched, and he tried to force them to stay upwards so as to not reveal his mood, but he knew Techno could read him like a book, so it wasn't worth it. He could read any Pogtopia members like a book, aside from maybe Tubbo.

Tommy went back downstairs, his hair already mostly dry, and his tail still puffed up from being wet and then dried. The black and gray rings looked almost like they were supposed to. The gray was actually gray, which was a miracle. The gray was almost never visible.

Techno wasn't in the living room, and for a moment, he thought he was safe only to look in the kitchen and see that Techno had started making dinner. For two people. Techno was just making dinner for him. What the actual hell? Tommy was expecting to get thrown out the moment Techno realized he stole a shitton of his stuff. Yet, he had decided to just keep him here for now. It was weird.

"Sit down, will you?" Techno asked, stirring the pot on the stove before putting the lid on and getting ready to sit down. "We need to talk."

Never mind there it was. He was fucked. Yeah, there was probably going to be some sort of ultimatum that he couldn't meet and he'd be off in the Arctic alone. That phrase never heralded good results. Especially from Techno. The guy who was a master at just not talking to people ever.

Techno sat down at the table where Tommy still hadn't sat. Techno gestured for him to sit down. Tommy sat across from him, awaiting the verdict. He just wanted to know when he'd be getting booted. Even if Techno said he wasn't going to do that, he didn't believe it.

"Alright." Techno started. "When did you get here?"

"A few days ago."

"And you stole my gapples?"

"Yeah."

"And dug a hole under my basement?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Couldn't let you know I was here." Tommy shrugged.

"You were literally in my livin' room when I came home." Techno deadpanned.

"You surprised me." Tommy huffed, slipping back into his defiance of authority. He could freak out about it later. This wasn't Dream. This was Techno, who could definitely kill him if given the chance, but he literally saw Tommy when he was basically at his most vulnerable and told him to go take a goddamn shower. Techno still seemed to care for him, and it confused the shit out of him.

"Whatever. You stole my shit and invaded my house." Here it was. "But, I can't send you back out there. So, you're stayin'. At least until you get whatever shit landed you here gets cleared up. Alright?"

What the fuck?

"I'm staying?" Tommy asked incredulously.

"Yeah? Why wouldn't you?" Techno asked, arching an eyebrow. Yeah, Techno seemed to care about him but at the same time the last time he saw the dude he tried to kill him. Another thing was the last authority figure he trusted was Dream and that ended horribly. Shit, He really needed to stop thinking about that dude before he started having nightmares again.

He already had nightmares of the dude shooting him in the heart and stabbing a sword into his gut at the ripe old age of fourteen, he didn't need more.

"I mean considering the last time I saw you, you tried to kill me. I'm a little surprised." Tommy scoffed. Techno also never visited him in Exile, maybe not something he'd wanted but it would've been nice to see anyone other than Dream to be honest. Quackity had visited once some time in October but that was it.

"The Withers? Okay, those were for everyone. Did I explicitly call you out? Yes, you were tauntin' me, but I wasn't actually trying to murder you, Tommy. They didn't kill you though, and you're here, perfectly fine." Techno said, furrowing his eyebrow when he said that last part as if he didn't really believe that Tommy was perfectly fine.

"I still nearly died."

"Don't you have three lives?" Techno asked. "Most of you do, don't you?"

"Yeah, well, people lose those. I had one at the time, and I still do."

"You lost two? Seriously? How?"

"How the fuck do you think?" Tommy scoffed, and he could see Technos expression change again to something more painful. It was weird seeing the dude express emotions, or maybe he'd always been like this, and Tommy had simply become hyper-vigilant of people's emotions as a result of exile.

"Wars." Techno said, and Tommy nodded to confirm. He looked almost saddened by this.

"I don't know what you want me to say. I found this place, figured out it was yours pretty fast, and thought I could just hide and take your food. I don't know how you figured out that it was me." Tommy huffed again. He was a little annoyed with Techno.

"Tommy, no normal raccoon reacts to a human like that. Nor do they know how to use a trapdoor and ladders. It was really obvious you were a shifter, and you're the only raccoon hybrid I know." Techno said simply, glancing back at whatever was on the stove before getting up and going to tend to it.

Tommy tried to get up, but Techno looked back with an expression that said stay there. It was a nice enough expression because it also told him that Techno wasn't going to stop him if he did leave the table. Techno was weird like that.

Techno was getting out bowls and spoons, so Tommy elected to stay. Just for now.