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Finding Tommy had been a journey.
It had started with a foray to the Winter Solstice festival, Technoblade and Phil bundling up in their thick capes lined with fur, crowns donning their head. They weren’t necessary, obviously, but Phil insisted on wearing them for the sake of “keeping up their image.”
In Techno’s personal opinion, they were a huge annoyance. Nonetheless, he braided Phil’s hair and let the blonde do the same to him, weaving hair through the crown to stabilize them. It was really the only way Phil could convince Techno to wear the thing out.
The first hour or so was spent doing business in the castle, assuring the townspeople’s concerns of the kingdom were heard. Sometimes, Techno preferred this to anything else: people giving you problems that can easily be solved, making sure they’re protected, and preventing civil unrest in the meantime. After the first hour, Techno tried to sneak away, but was smacked by Phil’s wing when he left his arm range, forcing Techno to stick around.
They descended on the town past dark, though hung-lights lit the roads enough to rival sunlight of the brightest winter day. Still, it was nice, and Techno couldn’t stop himself from marvelling despite visiting this festival every year.
Phil dragged him around, making them try food from every stall, look at the craftsmanship at the crafting stalls, talking to the business-people…
And that’s how Technoblade, Emperor of the Antarctic Empire, who had once led his Army in several wars to much success, best friend of the Angel of Death, the fearsome piglin hybrid warrior…
…found himself hiding in an alleyway.
He had been rubbing his head, trying to stave off a migraine, when he heard shuffling to the left of him. And he looked, because of course he had, and saw two reflective eyes of some sort of nocturnal animal.
Techno blinked at the animal, which was far enough to still be hidden in shadow, and the animal blinked back.
“Are you confused? I know you’re used to it being a lot darker by now,” Techno asked, not expecting an answer.
“...Yeah,” came a weak voice, causing Techno to jolt hard enough that he hit his head against the wall he was sitting against.
Techno grimaced, rubbing the back of his head as the reflecting eyes crept closer, revealing a bird hybrid (owl??). Techno narrowed his eyes, taking in the dirt covering the child (still with baby fat on his cheeks), the several mottled bruises scattered throughout, and even blood in his hair. And the state of his wings would give Phil, also winged, an aneurism.
This was too much for him.
“Do you want some food? I still have a meat pie, steak and mushrooms,” he said, digging through his side-pouch of things Phil had shoved in his hands.
“Yes please,” the boy responds, creeping even closer. Techno holds the pie out for the boy, who snatches it away, then backing up out of reach before digging in.
Techno watched silently, pondering about the boy. Someone had clearly been hurting him, fairly recently too by the looks of the bruises. Cloudy yellow in color, showing they were a few days old, but luckily there was nothing more fresh than that. It was the blood in his hair that worried Techno.
“Techno?” A familiar voice called out, “can’t hide forever, mate.”
Techno sighed, relieved and exasperated by Phil’s presence. “In here,” he called, not taking his eyes off the little bird-boy.
“What are you doing in here?” The blonde said, his eyes finding Techno, before darting over to Tommy and blinking in surprise. “Oh, hello little one,” he said, crouching down, wings briefly flaring out to keep his balance.
The bird-boy halted his eating, staring at Phil for a moment, crumbs surrounding his mouth in a way that was not cute (a lie). “You’re like me.”
Phil tilted his head, “yes, I have wings. What are you doing here, bud?”
The bird-boy pursed his lips, looking between Techno and Phil before answering. “Tryna find food.”
Phil hummed, making the briefest eye-contact with Techno before turning back to the kid. “We have a lot more food, just as yummy as that pie. And,” he continues, holding up a finger as the kid opens his mouth, “we also have warm beds, lots of blankets, and baths. Doesn’t a bath sound nice?”
Damnit Phil, Techno thought, glaring at the other Emperor. Still, he wasn’t too bad about it; this kid clearly needed help, and although Phil definitely offered to help because he was broody, Techno’s own instincts called for him to protect the owlet.
The kid stuffs the rest of the pie into his mouth, frowning at the empty paper that came with the pie. “...I can get more food? And a bath?”
“All that you could ever want,” Techno answers, “we promise.”
The owlet, Tommy, turned out to be gold. Not literally, but underneath all the dust and grime (and blood, which was grating on Techno everyday), his hair was the second brightest thing Techno had laid eyes on, rivaling Phil’s straw-colored hair, worn with time.
The brightest thing, of course, was Tommy himself.
It didn’t take him long to lose his shyness around the palace, racing through hallways and asking after everything. Techno and Phil always answered, no matter how tired they were, nor if they had somewhere to be.
After his bath and a good preening, it was easy enough to say that Tommy was a Snowy Owl, his wings white and mottled with black spots. They had also estimated him to be somewhere around 7-8 years old, bringing up questions of his education. It had yet to be sorted, but they had a good option with a former naval officer turned tutor, who had a kid Tommy’s age. If all went well, they would become friends, and Tommy would get his energy out by learning.
That being said, Tommy really needed to settle down: Phil was in a vital meeting establishing trade routes with a neighboring empire. With Ian at his side, Techno trusted the work to get done without him, so he took Tommy to watch a movie. The owlet had liked the look of the soot sprites when Techno was showing him options, so Spirited Away it was.
The two watched the movie, Techno having wrapped an arm around Tommy as the boy watched the movie, enraptured all the while.
Not very far into the movie, little Tommy whined and hid himself in Techno. The piglin quickly scrambled for the remote, pausing the movie and turning his attention to the boy.
“What’s wrong, little owl?” Techno asked, shifting his arm to rub the boy’s back.
Tommy sniffled, digging his head deeper into Techno’s side. “She’s all alone, her parents are gone!”
“It’s just a movie, Toms, I promise she gets them back.” To hell with spoiling the movie.
Tommy’s voice comes out meeker this time, “yeah, but being alone is scary. It’s not fair.”
That gives Techno pause, holding the owlet closer. “You were alone when we found you, were you scared?”
Tommy nods, still hiding his face. Techno coos at the boy, leaning over to kiss his hairline.
“You don’t have to be alone anymore. You have me, and Phil, and soon the whole kingdom will love you.”
“You mean it?” Tommy asks, looking up. And oh, the sight of tears in the younger’s eyes may be his biggest weakness of all.
“I mean it, owlet,” he promises, kissing Tommy’s hairline once more. “With Phil and I, you never have to be alone. With us, you shall never want. You will be fed, and warm, and so very loved.”