Work Text:
"Craft, shut up!" Techno tells and crabs phil by his collar. He drags Phil to the ground, forcing him the kneel at the mans feet.
Phil opens his mouth to respond and disobey the order, but techno snaps at phil again.
"Craft," he laughs bitterly "don't talk to me, you are mine and only mine. Obey my orders and disobey someone else's," Techno says, phil already knows how this speech is going to go, this isn't the first time he got it and he knows it will not be the last time.
Phil looks at Techno, only hatred to be seen in his glare, but he keeps his mouth shut, not so stupid to disobey an angry Techno.
"Good pet," he says teasingly, phil wants to curse at him but knows he will only get more in trouble if he does, so he keeps his mouth shut, head bowed, waiting for another order.
"Techno..."
"Craft, don't."
"Techno," he says, he sees the mans mouth open to tell him to shut up but he need to ask it. "Techno, why do you call me Craft? I get that you don't want to call me dad, Phil or Philza, but why Craft? I am called Philza Watson, not-"
"Craft, formally, please shut your mouth."
"Yes, master," Phil says and notices that Techno looks scarily at ease with that title.
"Stand up," Techno says, Phil tries to obey but it is hard to stand with his wrist and ankles tied together. "You really can't do anything," he huffs "do I need to help you." He says in a mocking tone, bent over with his hands on his knees, like he is talking to a six year old.
Phil only glares at him, Techno takes that as enough and hoist Phil to his feet.
"Can you walk by yourself or do I need to carry you?"
Phil looks at his still tied together ankles and answers "If you won't untie my ankles, yes, I think you need to carry me, mate. I can't walk with that," he says and nods at his ankles.
"If I cut is loose, are you goin' to run?"
"I will neither confirm nor deny that."
"So, carrying then," he says while grabbing Phil form the ground with easy, it looks like, when how Techno is carrying him, that he is just as light as a feather.
Phil tries to resist, but after that Phil fell 3 times on the ground, Techno holds him so tight that he can't move anymore. So he goes to biting, trying to bite the guys nose. He fails every time, and after a while, Techno just let's Phil stand and tells him 'if you don't want to be carried, just hop in front of me.' Phil is definitely not going to hop around, so he, carefully, 'falls' to the ground, sitting on his knees, and waiting for Techno to again carry him. That moment never comes, even after what feels like that half an hour had passed, Techno is still waiting for Phil to stand up and walk, he has all the time of the world, so why not wait?
-
When Techno looks at his watch, he sees that it is already 1 hour in Phil's protest and decides to go sit on the ground, still waiting for Phil to go.
After 1 and a half hour, they are still sitting on the ground, Techno bored and Phil looking almost angry. Techno can wait, he doesn't get hungry fast, Techno knows that from himself, but he doesn't know if Phil has that the same as him or that he eventually will obey because he is hungry.
After 2 hours, Techno tells Phil "Craft, I have all the time in the world. I will not carry you, that is definite. I don't know what you want out of this, but I do not get hungry, so I can sit here the whole week. But I know for a fact, that you need water after 3 days, I don't, so hop or die. Your choice, decide."
Phil doesn't listen to Techno, he knows he will ones need to give up, but not yet.
After 3 hours, Techno tells Phil "Craft, if you come with me now, I will leave the cage empty for the next week, otherwise..."
Phil still doesn't listen, he knows he is in trouble when he eventually stands up, but that is still not now.
After five hours, Techno is too bored and tells a guard to keep an eye on Phil and goes to get food in the kitchen.
When he comes back, the guard and Phil are still in the same place, you can see that the guard moved and that Phil totally didn't.
"Did he move? Even a head tilt or a finger twitch," he asks.
"No, sir. He didn't. I could have missed somethings, but not in my knowledge."
"That's... weird. Thank you, Mark, I appreciate it." He really needs to appreciate the guards time, because he stood there about a hour.
After hour 7, Techno doesn't know if the guy is still alive. Phil is just staring at the floor, not moving at all. He one time he spotted that the guys ear twitched at a sudden 'bang' in the kitchen, but nothing more.
"Craft?" He is met with silence "Philza?" At that Phil moves his head a bit to the side, but nothing more than that, "Phil..." the guy squinces his eyes at that, but nothing more to acknowledge that there is someone trying to get his attention, "Father?" With that, Phil looks at Techno, he now sees that the blue eyes of Phil became ice white, "Dad..." that words feels so wrong on his tongue, the word doesn't describe the man in front of him, maybe for his brothers, but not for him. "Dad..." He says, Phil now stares at him, staring right in the blood red eyes of Techno.
He hums, letting Techno know he has his attention.
"Why are you doing this?" He asks, he gets no answer in return, only a slight dissappointed shake of the other man's head.
"Okay, we can work with that," Techno says, hoping that Phil will answer his questions with a nod or shake with his head.
"Are Wilbur and Tommy doin' alright?" The other nods. "Do you want to walk?" Phil does nothing he only looks Techno straight in the eyes.
Techno grabs his pocket knife, at the sight of the blade, Phil tenses back.
"Wait, no... I-I was just goin' to cut the rope. I won't harm you."
Phil scoots closer, bringing his ankles from under him to in front of Techno.
Techno carefully cuts the rope lose, immidiatly grabbing the others arm to prevent him from running.
"Thanks, mate." Techno stops in his movements, Phil hasn't spoken the past 8 hours and suddenly he thanks Techno?
"Walk." Techno orders, he can't not do his job even if his father- prisoner is being over dramaticly like how he was in the past.
When they enter the dining room, Phil sees that his chair next to Techno's throne is replaced with a cussion on the ground.
"Techno, mate... you can't be serious right?"
"Craft, I told you there would be punishments when you don't obey. And, because I just saw that you like to sit on the ground, just sit there."
"Tech-"
"Don't call me that," he says and sighs "just, sit down. Look, I also don't like this. I really wanted to just lock you up for a week, but they said that that was too harsh," Techno says and Phil sighs in relieve, "So they came with a compromise, giving you food and locking you up," Techno tells him, with a bigger smile on his face than Phil ever saw.
"What?" It almost feels like he is punched in the gut. He believed that his son was better then locking his father up, but, against everything Phil has ever hoped for, he isn't.
Bur, Phil knows he can't look weak against his son, so he laughs, "you really think that they will think that you can handle me? And I don't mean that you can't," he adds when Techno's eyes shine a brighter red "This isn't a punishment, Techno. This is just to humiliate me, to tell the people that I belong at your feet and nowhere more."
"I..." it looks like it that the man genuinely thinks about what Phil just said. "Craft, sit down and don't let me look weak."
Phil obeys and after they ate, Techno takes Phil to a room, it looks like a small library, only this has a large desk standing in the centre of it.
Techno directs him to a corner, only now he sees that there is a cage standing there. It's made of a black sort of metal- netherite.
"In." He orders, Phil, this time, doesn't obey directly.
"Why?"
"Just do it."
"No."
"Craft, listen. You," he says, with extra pressure on the you "need to listen to me, you need to obey my orders with no explanation needed."
Phil doesn't listen to that, Techno can fuck off. Phil isn't going to listen to that bastard.
After a while of Phil just standing there, Techno begins again "Craft, please just go in there. It won't be for long, just to learn you a lesson."
Phil obeys, knowing that he will need to obey one time, forced or not.
"Craft... Phil, why are you so, how to say that, so... why don't you ever listen?"
Phil laughs bitterly "Techo, you really don't know?" He asks, trying not to shrink in under the himuliation of being locked in a birdcage.
"Nahh."
"You imprisoned me against my will. What do you think I would do then, listen to my capturer and obey everything they say? I don't think so."
"And why don't you listen to me when I call you 'Craft' and you do when I call you just 'Phil'?"
"Techno, your my son, even if you don't want to be. I do not want to be called by a surname you chose for me. Like I said, I get that you don't want to call me 'dad', but calling me Craft instead of just Philza."
"But every second time I call you Craft you do listen.."
"Yeah, because I know that, when you do that the second time, I do not have a choice."
"Cr- Phil... you, in the moring, told me that your surname isn't Minecraft anymore.. why?"
"You know why, Techno."
"I don't."
"The news destroyed that name, I couldn't be king with that name. I needed to choose another name, because of that... because of you, Techno!" He yells, hands clamping around the bars.
"Dad... you know I didn't have a choice."
"Ohh, so now- now when I am yelling at you- you call me dad instead of Craft?!"
"Dad, I- I... Fucking, CRAFT! Shut your mouth, be silent."
Phil snaps his jaw shut.
"Please, just be silent. I just can't do this, Craft. Tell me... tell me that you know I didn't have a choice."
Phil doesn't speak, knowing he makes a mistake with it.
"Craft, tell me that you know I didn't have a choice."
"Techno..."
"Tell me."
"You had a choice, you always had a choice. You could have decided to stay, you always could."
"Craft, you don't know?" Techno asks startled, he always tought that Phil would know the truth.
"What do you mean?"
"Craft, I never had a choice. I was forced to leave. They threatened me, threatened your life, threathened Wilburs and Tommy's life. I needed to leave to let you live and stay save."
"Techno..."
"I needed to become a slave for them to let you all live. I worked my way up to emperor but still I do not have a choice in leaving."
"Tech..."
"They're still watching me, still not letting me be me. You see all the servants here? They aren't under me, but under them. They are always watching me, watching if I do anything wrong so I can be inslaved again by my masters."
"Why did you never tell me?"
"I thought you knew." He admits.
The words hang in the air, 'I thought you knew, I thought you knew, I thought you knew, I thought you knew.'
Only when there come no other words, Phil notices that he is alone in the room, Techno nowhere in sight.