Chapter Text
Techno groans as he sits back down and readjusts himself against Steve’s oddly warm body. The cabin is relatively quiet other than the crackle of the fire dancing in front of Techno and the huff that Steve lets out at the pinkette leaning his shift against the great creature, soon to be joined by the gentle shink as Techno begins to drag his knife’s blade across the whetstone freshly in his hand.
It’s a quiet night. Peaceful. Almost as if all the noise of the world has been blocked out.
Though that makes sense. The snowiest season of the year has just begun and snowstorms are becoming more prevalent. Tonight isn’t a horribly snowy night but it’s predicted to be quite the snowfall that Techno is sure won’t end for a couple of days. Snowfall has always seemed to leave the world so quiet even if it feels as though Techno can hear the flakes hitting the roof of his small cabin, almost like white noise to Techno.
The animals are taken care of with enough food to last the week and, at this time of night, should be asleep so there are no chitters from the foxes, no wanton barks from the wolves, the bears are quiet and it seems that even the creatures and villagers in Techno’s basement are silent. Phil and Wilbur are out visiting Kristin and Ranboo is somewhere, probably with Tubbo in Snowchester.
Techno sighs and puts his whetstone and knife down on one of the chests next to him as he rests his head back against Steve. The god is more than willing to fall asleep, here and now. What with logs freshly resting in the fireplace that crackles warmth into the small room and the giant polar bear against his back that moves Techno’s body oh so slightly with every breath and slight snore that the bear lets out. The silence and the fact that Techno hasn’t slept in a couple of days now.
Hibernation sounds quite wonderful right now, even if it ends in Techno being extremely sore when his body decides to wake up.
Though, unfortunately for Techno, a knock on his door breaks his peace. It’s three swift raps of knuckle against his door that is entirely unexpected. The previously calm man grabs the knife that he had previously set down on the chest and flung up, rousing Steve awake in the process--though the polar bear doesn’t do much but huff once again.
Techno stands up and silences his steps as he makes his way to the window nearest his front door, the one that looks over his front porch and steps. Who the hell would be knocking on his--Techno of all people--door at this time of night. The people that live here, Phil and Ranboo, wouldn’t bother knocking. They’d either go to their own houses until the morning or just waltz right in for whatever they needed. It couldn’t be Dream either, he tends to appear in Techno’s windows with his mask off and a smirk on his scarred, annoying face.
Taking a peek out the window, Techno forces his eyes to focus considering he’s not wearing his glasses. And there, standing at his door is…
Sapnap? And a random child?
Why is Sapnap of all people here?
Nonetheless, Techno sighs. He knows that Sapnap has done some less than favourable things to him, and vice versa, but…
Sapnap, a netherborn, is outside during a snowstorm in the coldest season of the year. Not to mention there’s a teenager with him.
Now, Techno has a problem with orphans, and children themselves, but he can’t deny that he has a soft spot for teens.
So the pinkette sighs and moves to open the door, placing the knife down on his kitchen counter while he’s in motion. He creaks the door open so as to not let the cold in and looks at the door at his doorstep through the relatively small area of open space.
“What do you want, Sapnap?” Techno mutters through the space, “And who is this?”
Sapnap lets out a breath, albeit shaky, and searches desperately through the crack in the door, “Please Techno, let us in. I’ll explain later but please.” Techno sighs, conflicted. On one hand, he and Sapnap have bad blood and he isn’t being told the reason they’re here up front. On the other hand, Techno isn’t a horrible person--even though people may portray him that way--and he understands that no netherborn should be out in a snowstorm without proper clothing; Techno’s quite jealous, he’s seen Phil and Ranboo walk around without a second layer on (damn Enderians and their ability to thrive in cold temperatures).
After a few more seconds of deliberation, Techno sighs and opens the door more for the two to come in, “Fine, come in. You can sit by the fire. Want something warm to drink?”
Sapnap offers a soft, yet reluctant, smile and slowly walks into the cabin. The teen with him offers a much more confident smile and walks in behind Sapnap. The ravenette toes off his shoes and goes to sit by the fire, “Coffee for me, please. Bill, you want some tea?” The teen nods and follows Sapnap’s actions. The two walk over to the fireplace while Techno moves to his tiny kitchen to put some water in the kettle. Though the pinkette looks over to the two to see them staring reluctantly at the polar bear that’s quite happily asleep in front of the fireplace.
“He doesn’t bite.” Techno informs them, “He’s asleep right now anyways so you won’t get much reaction out of him.” The pinkette moves to grab some blankets from the cabinet he has downstairs, coming back upstairs and offering them to the two now sitting in front of the fireplace, “‘s hibernatin’ season anyways. Yer not gonna get much reaction outta him.”
Sapnap sighs and lays back against the polar bear, “Fuck, is it really?”
Techno nods, heading to check on the water, “Mhm.” Deciding the water is close enough to boil, he grabs some mugs and begins preparing their drinks, making sure to grab one for himself. He fishes out the coffee that they never use and his favourite tea as well as the herbal tea that Phil keeps stocked up even though neither of them drink herbal tea.
“You feelin’ it too?” Sapnap asks, and when Techno looks over at him it seems to be directed toward both him and the kid.
Techno nods, pouring the now-boiled water into each respective mug. He brings the two mugs for Sapnap and the kid to his guests and hands them off before going to put another log on the fire, “Been hittin’ me hard.” After the log is settled, he stands up to grab his own mug of tea then he sits down next to Sapnap and the kid, trying to keep a good distance between them, “Now, tell me who this kid is and why you’re here.”
Sapnap sighs, taking a sip of his coffee, “Well… this is Billzo. I may have uhm… found him in the nether and pulled a Bad.”
Techno raises an eyebrow, “You adopted him without second thought?” Sapnap nods sheepishly and Techno rolls his eyes, “Like father like son, though I can’t blame you…”
“What do you mean?”
“Phil has three children for a reason.” He shrugs, “So why are you two here?”
Sapnap sighs, “Because we were out to gather some materials from the Nether and I was getting exhausted while on the way back and almost passed out near your portal. I figured that Phil would be willing to let me stay for the night… but he wasn’t home so we tried your house.”
“You almost passed out?” Techno asks, ready to check over Sapnap for injury.
“I’m assuming it was hibernation.” He shrugs, “Your portal was just the nearest and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make it home.”
The pinkette sighs, “Fine, you two can stay for as long as you need. Though, don’t expect much of me.”
“Is there a place where we can sleep?” Billzo asks, speaking up for the first time tonight.
Techno sighs again, “I can pull out the couch but it’ll only fit one of ya. One of y’all will hafta sleep on the floor with Steve.”
“That’s fine.” The teen says, “Sapnap, you can sleep on the couch, I’ll sleep with Steve.”
The ravenette looks unsure, “Are you sure Bill?”
Billzo nods, “You’re being more affected than I am right now. Sleep on the couch. Plus, Steve is comfortable.” Techno, not necessarily caring of the decision that the two come to, goes over to his old-ish couch and pulls out the bed that he and Phil built into the couch when he first got it. He moves to grab some pillows, putting his mug in the sink while he’s up. He lays out a couple more blankets on the couch alongside the pillows now sitting on the couch.
“I don’t care who sleeps on the couch.” Techno adds onto their conversation, “Either way, you both have blankets and pillows. If you get cold you can tell me, I’m not a grumpy waker, and if you two end up staying for more than just tonight I can go over to Phil’s to grab another mattress if you don’t mind the couch.”
“Thank you Techno.” Sapnap offers a soft smile. Techno shrugs, grabs the now empty mugs sitting on the floor by the two other Netherborns and takes them to the sink as well.
“No problem,” the pinkette says, “I’m going to be heading to bed soon. Do you two need sleep clothes?”
“Would you have anything that would fit us?” Billzo asks, looking up and down Techno’s body. The pinkette does happen to be quite a bit larger than both of them, as piglins tend to be compared to blazes.
The man shrugs, “I could probably find something. I have some of Ghostbur’s clothes, though they might be a bit big as well. I could maybe grab some of Tommy’s old clothes if I need to. Those will fit you kid, but I don’t know about you Sapnap.” He thinks for a moment before turning to fully address Sapnap, “I can look around Phil’s house to see if he still has some of his old clothes.”
“It’d be nice but you don’t have to.”
“It’s settled then.” Techno nods with a challenging smirk, “Give me a minute kid, I’ll be back with some clothes for you to try.” The pinkette then disappears. He scrounges around the hole under his basement where Tommy and Ghostbur stayed for a while, grabbing a couple shirts and a pair of sweats, bringing them back up and handing them to Billzo, “The bathroom is up the ladder and the door on the left. You can leave your clothes in the basket in there.” The teen nods, takes the clothes, and heads up the ladder and moments later Techno can hear the door shut. The pinkette then looks to Sapnap, “For tonight you can have some of my clothes, I don’t have that many older clothes so they may be big on you. Again, if you two stay longer than I can look through Phil’s house.”
The ravenette nods, “Seriously, thank you Techno.”
“It’s no problem.” The man nods, “Follow me, let’s find you some sleep clothes.” He gestures to the ladder and starts climbing after a few seconds with Sapnap soon behind him. As Techno is reaching for his bedroom door the bathroom door opens and Billzo steps out of the room. Techno stops his action and turns to the kid, “You find something that fit?”
Billzo nods, “Yeah. These ones didn’t fit me,” he gestures to the pile of clothes in his hands, “but the ones I’m wearing fit alright.” Techno nods and takes the pile of clothes that belonged to Ghostbur and takes them into his room to set them on the couch chair he has near his bookshelves. He moves to his overly fancy drawer and grabs a soft t-shirt from one of the drawers, then grabbing a pair of his work pants, he hands them to Sapnap and closes his drawers.
“Who are Tommy and Ghostbur?” Billzo suddenly asks, making Techno look at the teen.
“They’re Phil’s, my neighbor’s, kids.” Techno shrugs as he goes over to fold Ghostbur’s old clothes, “Well, Ghostbur is the ghost version of one of his kids. There was a while there where Tommy and Ghostbur stayed in my basement and so I still have some of their clothes.”
“Why were they staying in your basement?” Sapnap asks, coming into the room and standing in the doorway, now wearing Techno’s clothes that absolutely swallowed him up. Luckily for Techno, most of the voices were sleeping due to the exhaustion they share with him; he knows for a fact that they’d be freaking out and making comments.
“Because Tommy was on the run from Dream or something so he built himself a cave under my house without my knowing and Ghostbur had a tendency to stick around here so Tommy built him a cove to stay in within his hole in my basement.” Techno shrugs and looks at Sapnap, “Those alright for you tonight?”
Sapnap nods, “They should be, thank you again.”
“No problem. You two ready to settle down?” They nod and Techno nods back. The three go back down to the main floor of Techno’s cabin. The two staying over go to settle themselves down while Techno throws a couple more logs on the fire. After a bit more time Sapnap and Billzo are settled and Techno gives them one last reminder to wake him if either of them need anything before disappearing into his room.
~~~~~
Sapnap wakes up the next morning, warm, dreary, and smelling something absolutely delightful. He takes a moment to focus his eyes, lying still in comfort; peaceful at the warmth, good nights rest, and the nice smell of whatever is emitting it. Once his eyes clear of the sleepy fog that was previously there, he realizes that he doesn’t know where he is. He sits up slowly so as to not alarm anyone that may be in the room with him, his eyes scanning the room as fast as possible, his sights eventually ending up on…
Oh.
That’s right.
He and his recently adopted child were staying in Techno’s house for, at least, the night.
And now Techno is standing in the kitchen in front of his stove with a couple of things of unknown nature on the stove. There are a couple things, both empty and being filled, on his counter.
So that’s what smells good. Techno, clearly having heard the man sitting up, looks to Sapnap, “Oh good morning.” His voice is rough, clearly from being unused this morning, and quiet, “I’m making breakfast, I wasn’t sure what you and the kid would like so I’m making something basic. I have some coffee for you.” The man then breaks from the stove and hands the ravenette a mug of pure bliss--at least in Sapnap’s mind.
“We’re not picky.” Sapnap says, “But thank you.”
“You don’t need to keep thanking me,” Techno says, pulling a pancake off of the pan and placing it on a plate with a couple other pancakes already on it and going to put more batter on, “However, I do have a question.”
“What is it?”
Techno shoots him a look before he stirs something around in one of the other pans and moves to turn off that specific burner, “How did you know I’d take you in? You said that you were intending to ask Phil but since he wasn’t home you went with me. Did you just take it as a chance or? I thought you didn’t like me or trust me?”
Sapnap sighs, that was a loaded question, “Because I knew that you wouldn’t let anyone in a bad position stay in that bad place.”
“How do you know what?” Techno asks, looking at him and keeping his eyes on him this time. He furrows his eyebrows, “That’s not something I let on.”
The ravenette sighs once again, “That’s a long story.”
In response, the pinkette glances out the window before moving his gaze back to his cooking, “We’ve got time. The storm hit harder than expected and we’re snowed in.” He then turns off two burners, places the pancake he just finished on the plate, and leans his hip against the counter, “And we’ve now got breakfast. Hopefully enough for all three of us.”
“What’d you make?” Sapnap chooses to ask, pushing himself up from the couch he was sitting on.
Techno moves from the stove and grabs a plate to hand to Sapnap, “Eggs, pancakes, and hashbrowns.”
“No bacon o-” Sapnap starts, though he stops himself at the realization, “Shit, sorry.”
However, instead of getting angry (which is making Sapnap realize that he’s never actually seen Techno angry. Upset? Yes. Vengeful? Of course. Hurt from betrayal? Literally all the time. But never angry), the pinkette chuckles, “You’re good. Piglins and zombie piglins are actually not as closely related to hoglins and pigs as most think, it’s actually common for piglins to attack hoglins for both food and sport. Pigs are cannibals anyways.”
“Oh thank god, I didn’t want to u- wait what?”
The pinkette ignores him and moves to set the couch back up as a couch, “Serve yourself. I made plenty of hashbrowns and set aside some pancakes for the kid. No bacon because I don’t have much access to pigs out here.” Sapnap nods, both trying to process the new information and shove it away for later processing. He grabs himself a serving of food and sits down on the couch, watching as Techno does the same.
The pinkette takes a bite of his hashbrowns and looks at Sapnap expectantly, “You’re story?”
Said man sighs, finishes his bite, and takes a moment to think as to how he’s going to tell this story, “This goes back to when Dream escaped prison.”
“When I broke Dream out of prison?” Techno corrects, both as a question and a statement, “Which is why I’m sure you’d hate me- well, that and the whole betraying the country and destroying and harming everything you’ve ever loved but…”
Sapnap nods, electing to ignore the second statement made by the man, “When you broke Dream out of prison. As you know, I met up with Dream in Snowchester and we got into an argument which turned into a fight, but I think you had left by then. By the way, you working with Tubbo was completely unexpected.”
“It was also with Eret, but there was a common denominator.”
“Either way, we got into quite the fight that lasted about a week which ended in me capturing him. Since then I’ve been forcing him into a rehab type thing with Puffy and I managing it. Puffy recommended that part of the rehab should be me just listening to him. To his plans, to his story, to his time in the prison, the like. Listening to him without getting upset or lashing out on him. Treating him like a friend, like I once did.” Sapnap sighs, taking a moment to take a couple bites and finish off his coffee. Techno, albeit while still eating, is watching him intently; he’s invested in the story and probably trying to figure out the next step in the story. Analyzing him, figuring out how he came to the conclusion that Techno wasn’t as cold as he made himself out to be.
Sapnap finishes off his break and picks up the story again, “And so I did. And he told me a lot about you. How you guys weren’t friends but were more friendly rivals. He told me about the jokes that you guys shared and the way that you talked about people, how you two supported each other more than anyone realized. He told me about you guys’ time in the prison, and god did I want to kill Quackity and Sam for what they did to you and Dream, even if I didn’t like either of you. He told me about the jokes you two shared, how you offered nothing but kindness and a sense of normalcy to him and how you told him stories about your life.”
“Stories like what?” Techno asks, eyes scanning Sapnap for a moment before he finishes off his meal and places his plate on the table near the arm of the couch.
“Like your time at war and your friendship with Phil, the people and the animals that you two have taken in. And your perspective of the wars.” He sighs, “He also told me that you told him plenty of mythology stories and talked a lot about things that you were super interested in but he couldn’t remember a lot about them.”
“So, what does that have to do with you staying with me.”
“It made me realize that you were genuinely a kind person and that you and Dream were just doing what you thought was right.”
Techno smiles, “I’m glad someone else was able to figure that out. So, you’re telling me you figured I’d help you because you trusted Dream?”
“Because he’s making progress.” Sapnap says, setting his now empty plate down as well, “He’s returning back to the Dream I know, though Puffy says he’ll never be the same.”
Techno sighs, “Wilbur's the same way.”
“What do you mean?”
“After he got revived he came and stayed with Phil, he still does every once in a while. He’s still Wilbur, not quite like how Ghostbur was, but in a way… he’s different.” Techno sighs, “I don’t know how to describe it, but it feels like after I watched his descent into insanity, I’ll never look at him the same way. I know he’s getting better but…”
“He’ll always be that way in your mind?” Sapnap says, almost in a question, “Dream’s the same way.”
Techno nods, “That’s the best way to describe it. Who we knew them as before has traumatised us and we’ll always have those pieces of memories of what they once were.” They sit in silence for a moment before Techno shakes his head, probably ridding it of the sad train of thoughts he’s got going on, and stands up. He takes both his and Sapnap’s dishes and takes them over to the sink, “The kid awake yet?”
Sapnap stands up and checks on Billzo, “Not yet.”
“That’s alright, let ‘im sleep.” Techno shrugs, going to fill the sink with some water so he can start the dishes, “I’m not sure yer gonna get outta here anytime soon so might as well let the kid sleep.”
“Tha-” Sapnap starts, but stops himself, “Alright. Is there anything I can do to help out?”
The pinkette shrugs, “Not really. There’s not much that we can do right now. I’ll shovel the porch and path to Phil’s house, maybe Ranboo’s but other than that, there’s nothing.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am.” Techno sends him a glance, “I’ll grab you guys some clothes here in a bit. If you want to do something then you can sharpen some of my weapons. I’ve got an axe that I’ve been meaning to fix up with but I haven’t been quite able to figure out how to sharpen it. You use a labrys yeah?” Sapnap nods, suddenly excited at the idea of getting to see Techno’s weapons. Not for underlying reasons, he has just heard that piglins, especially Techno, are excellent metalsmiths and he wants to see the creations that many fear.
“Yeah I can do that. I can show you how to sharpen an axe?”
Techno nods back, “Sounds good.” And with that, the morning continues. Sapnap lays down on the couch and dozes off once again while Techno finishes off his dishes and goes out to shovel at least the path to Phil’s house from his after ensuring that the kid got his breakfast once he woke up. Both blaze hybrids are awake when the pinkette comes back in and sheds himself of his boots and cloak.
“While I was out I got you some clothes to change into Sapnap. I don’t know how well they’ll fit, but it’ll probably be better than mine.” The piglin informs the shortest of the three, offering him a pile of clothes for the man to try. He then turns to Billzo as Sapnap stands up and goes to change, “I’ll grab you some more clothes.” The teen nods and Techno disappears into the basement to grab some more of Tommy’s old clothes, bringing them up and handing them to the kid.
Eventually both hybrids come back down and Techno makes them a quick lunch and Sapnap perks up, “Can I sharpen your weapons now?”
The pinkette nods, “Yeah, most of what you need is outside in the horse pen. Help me grab the weapons?” Sapnap nods and asks Billzo to help them as well. The three collect what needs to be sharpened and Techno leads them outside where he brings out two chairs for them as well. After they’re settled, Techno heads back in and grabs his laundry basket, his washboard basin filled with water, and joins the two outside. They work in relative silence other than Sapnap watching over Billzo as he sharpens and giving him instructions every once in a while.
“These weapons are fuckin’ impressive, Techno.” Sapnap says as he looks over the sword he was going to sharpen.
“Thank you, it took a long time to make them.”
“What are the engravings on them?” Billzo asks. When Techno looks up, he’s running his hand along the fuller of the sword.
“They’re runes.” Techno informs. He pushes himself away from his work and heads over to the two sitting at the other end of the stable, “Piglins enchant our swords not only with the regular enchantments but also with runes that have meaning to piglins.” He traces his finger over some of the runes, telling them what they mean as he goes, then he flips over the sword, “This side just says ‘Orphan Obliterator’ in piglin.
“That’s an interesting name for your sword.” The teen says.
Techno just offers a meek smile, “It goes with the brand.”
Sapnap just stares for a moment before going, “I can’t believe I get to see your legendary sword up close. My blood has been on this sword.”
Techno chuckles, “So has most people’s blood. I could show you Toothpick as well.”
Sapnap gives him a perplexed look, “Toothpick?”
“The one I put through Quackity’s teeth?” The pinkette raises an eyebrow with a cocky smirk. He then stands, but instead of going inside to receive his pickaxe, he just wanders back over to where he was working on laundry, finishing up with the load that he was doing. He takes the pile that he had folded over the edge of his basket and brings it inside and into the floor of his basement that he uses for drying things. After they’re all set up he heads back up and into the stable that Carl used to be in, taking another chair so he can sit and watch Sapnap and Billzo work.
However, he notices that the two are shivering and feels the need to bring it up, “Are you two cold?” He hadn’t noticed them shivering before, but he also wasn’t paying the most attention to him.
Billzo looks up at him, pausing his previous motion of sharpening one of Techno’s knives, “A bit yeah.” Sapnap nods alongside him, probably focusing on his work.
Techno nods, “I’ll grab you guys some cloaks. It’ll help keep you warm.” Then he’s up and disappearing back into his cabin before either of them can object. He grabs some cloaks, two older cloaks that he hasn’t worn in a long time but are still fur lined since he’s spent a lot of time in colder climates. The piglin then takes them back down, handing them to his guests. Sapnap takes it but startles at the colour of the specific cloak handed to him.
“It’s blue?”
“Yeah?” Techno says, forgetting that not everyone knows about his and Phil’s coup and his once dictatorship--although that may come as a shock to most that know him as an anarchist.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you wearing blue, especially not this light of blue.”
Techno smiles, “That’s from a long time ago.”
“Tell me about it.”
The man snorts at his story, “A long time ago I joined a server with other famous people where we made our own factions. I, as a greedy young man, decided that I wanted it all. I took over an island that had a huge stronghold that I made a home within and began ruling with Phil and another friend by our side.”
“A stronghold?” Billzo asks.
“Oh a mighty thing,” Techno smirks, leaning in and getting close, “A huge cavern within the main mountain of the island that was filled with confusing pathways and minecart rails used for transferring minerals. There were layers upon layers of that mighty cavern and even a portal, though we never found out where the portal went. People from all over the server flocked to see our stronghold but our army three men strong was mighty and slayed them before they even had the chance.
“It was called the Antarctic Empire and we were untouchable, we were feared, we were strong. I had claimed many islands prior to starting the Empire alongside Phil but hadn’t officially claimed it as my own, until one day.” He smiles, leaning back in his chair, “Phil and I had access to airplanes, something that had been created and provided to us while on the server, and we claimed the whole world. Many people were on and they watched as Phil and I flew over all the land of the server, claiming chunk after chunk gladly.”
“What were the consequences?” Sapnap asks, “Or did you just rule the world?”
“Oh no we didn’t. Phil and I did it entirely for fun, we just wanted world domination, even for a moment. Wilbur demanded to see me, Phil, and our friend on trial the day of the domination and tried to prosecute us. We came to an agreement and Phil and I left with our satisfaction and returned back to our Empire.”
“That’s so fuckin’ cool!” The youngest of them all shouts, getting excited at the story, “Do you have any pictures? Any news articles? I’m sure this was a big thing at the time.”
“I might.” Techno hums, trying to recall what he and Phil have in the boxes in their attics, things from their collective past that they’ve thrown up there as they’ve aged, “It’ll take a bit of looking but I’m sure I could find something.”
“But… aren’t you a severe anarchist?” Sapnap asks, confusion lacing his voice, “Y’know, down with L’manburg. Theseus? Killing Tubbo, destroying our homes?”
Techno smiles, “A couple of the people on this server were on that one as well and they were just as confused.” His smile drops slightly and he shrugs, “That was a long time ago, years and years into my younger life. I’ve since spent a lot of time fighting wars and going against governments while working with others. It made me realize how corrupt the system was and I came to despise governmental figures. My world domination was because I thought it was fun and I wanted to be able to say I’ve conquered the world before, my anarchy is because I’ve been given experience.”
“Makes sense, but where does the blue come in?”
“That was our colours. Light blue and white. No red, other than the blood of the people that tried us.” He shrugs again and leans forward, “Now, show me how to sharpen that axe will ya?”