Chapter Text
“Chat, if you don’t shut up, I won’t go hunting for foxes for you to name,” Technoblade warns as he tries to ignore the growing headache from being back here. The Nether. His home since birth, before Phil, before he was more than just Wilbur’s twin, before Technoblade was more than just a Piglin with unbelievable skill when it came to a sword.
Chat, the voices in his head, grumble but quieten considerably and Techno has to resist the urge to sigh in relief. At least now he can finally focus on navigating the rough terrain of red and ignoring how quickly his body has acclimatised to the heat.
He still remembers when Phil entered the portal to come to the Nether with Techno and Wilbur and had slipped his green coat off, giant, black wings fluttering as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. It had taken a couple of hours before they had to leave, Phil fearing he might end up getting heat stroke.
At the time, while Wilbur was panicked out of his mind, Techno had nearly keeled over laughing. Of course his adoptive father, his avian father, couldn’t handle the heat like Techno and Wilbur could. Techno and Wilbur, Piglin hybrids, creatures born to the flames and the lava and the stifling heat.
He ducks to avoid the watchful gaze of a Ghast - it’s echoing shriek reverberating around the walls of netherrack - and follows the sound of familiar grunts and snorts of his fellow Piglins. They watch his approach and he’s unsurprised to be met with suspicious looks. Even if he was forced to fight, he left them.
To Piglins, family is everything. To leave that community is to be dead in their eyes.
It wasn’t Techno’s fault he and his brother were abandoned to the hands of a master who needed easy winnings. It wasn’t Techno’s fault he learnt quicker, fought harder, refused to be cut up and killed in the name of gold, refused to leave his brother an orphan. It wasn’t Techno’s fault Phil took one look at him and Wilbur and - curse his bleeding heart - immediately took them home.
He pauses in front of them, ready to trade as he reaches into his pocket for the gold when an odd sound fills his ears. It sounds, well, it sounds human.
He straightens, nods to where the sounds - like someone’s shouting or swearing - are coming from and asks in the harsh grunts of Piglin, “what’s that about?”
The Piglin, male by the tusks and larger pointed ears, a warrior considering the scars on his face and the length of his hair, sighs. “A human baby has been left here.”
Techno stills. “A human baby?”
The Piglin nods. “The scavengers found him amongst the Crimson Forest. He was hiding in a tree, starting throwing rocks at them until one of them offered him food.”
At this Techno considers his options. He could easily start trading, ignore the fact a human is currently in this unforgiving area with very limited ways of survival and make his way back home. So long as he doesn’t tell Phil - that bleeding heart - then this can all be forgotten.
But he thinks of himself, scared and so angry, fighting to live and can’t help but think of the possible child, fighting just like him. He thinks of Wilbur, skinnier and more lithe, tall and lanky, genes that made him look more human, that made other Piglins turn their nose up at him.
“His hair is made of gold,” the Piglin comments and Techno knows he means the child is blond but he can’t help but want to see.
Piglins and their love of gold. Phil and his golden hair, laughing as he picked Techno up, his tiny hands gripping the gold like it was something holy. Wilbur snorting beside them, hands curled around Phil’s fingers, covered by gold rings. Even now, years later, the light will catch Phil’s hair and Techno can’t help but stare, sometimes laughing when Wilbur does the exact same thing.
“Show me,” he says and the Piglin shrugs - this isn’t a Piglin child, so Techno’s less likely to get into a fight of possession or paternal protection over a child.
Techno is led through the Nether Wastelands, looking at settlements carved into the rock, other Piglins following him with their eyes. As they walk, the sound of Overworld Common gets louder. He keeps his posture straight and his tusks on display. He’s not willing to fight but he knows that Piglins are more than a little territorial.
There’s a reason Wilbur’s and Techno’s bedrooms have a knock to enter policy for someone who isn’t family.
They end up coming to the edge of the Crimson Forest when Techno spots the human making all of the noise. The boy, not a baby but he supposes when it comes to Piglin culture, anything younger than twenty-five is an infant, is perhaps twelve, maybe thirteen. He’s famished and dehydrated, bones visible through pale skin. Even with the dirt covering his arms and face, blue eyes blink around, white teeth snapping at any Piglin that gets too close and golden hair sits atop his head.
“-will bite you if you try and fucking grab me again, you bastard pig!” The boy yells and Chat are already cooing.
“Hey, kid,” Techno calls in Common and the boy snaps his mouth shut quicker than lightning. He freezes, turns to Techno with wide, terrified eyes.
“You know Common?” He squeaks and Techno huffs an agreement, wonders what he must look like in the boy’s eyes. He has the same pink hair, same pointed ears and tusks of the Piglins but he lacks the overall look of them. His hybridity making him more human.
“Do I look like I’ve been living here, kid?” He replies and then gestures to the state he’s in. “What’re you even doing here?”
“I’m not a fucking child, fucko!” He snaps and Techno raises his eyebrows. “I’m- I’m eighteen.”
“Which makes me a nine year old girl,” Techno drawls and the boy reels back before erupting into a laughing wheeze that makes him sound like he’s choking.
A few of the Piglins surrounding him - mostly females, with shorter hair and tinier tusks, rounded ears - jerk at the sound and Techno has to wave them off. They probably assume he’s injured or hurting.
“He’s laughing,” he says and they consider this, looking between each other.
“He’s scared,” one replies and Techno rolls his eyes.
“So would you be if you were stranded amongst a human community.”
The Piglins all wince and Techno snorts at their obvious discomfort. He understands it well. The Overworld was terrifying when he first entered and while he kept a brave face for Wilbur, they were both still affected by the sudden chill, the strange customs and climates and communities.
“You will look after him?” Another asks, one of the males watching over the women, and he nods, albeit a bit reluctantly. It’s clear they make the boy uncomfortable.
Just like that, they dissipate and the boy’s choking laughter stops. He watches them leave, a cautious, wary look to his face.
“I thought you’d be more comfortable without them staring at you like a wild animal,” Techno says and the boy hastily snaps his gaze to him. His eyes narrow.
“Why’re you helping me and why’d you speak Common?”
“You’re a human child in the Nether,” Techno says, ignoring his squeaks of how he’s most definitely an adult and one hundred percent not lying about that, “which means you’re probably going to be dead in a month tops. Maybe two if you can somehow convince them you’re a baby in need of a parent. As for speaking Common? I live in the Overworld.”
The boy blinks at him. “Where?”
“Antarctic Empire,” Techno replies and the boy’s face lights up. Chat coo in earnest.
“So you can take me there?” He asks, eager and Techno studies him. This child is annoying and loud and Techno can already feel the need to leash the child to his belt to make sure he doesn’t slip and fall into lava.
“Depends. Two questions,” he says. “What’s your name?”
The boy studies him right back. It’s clear he doesn’t trust him, clear he’s considering this to be a trap. It makes something in Techno burn because no child should have that fear, that hesitation.
It makes Techno want to bare his sword and hunt down those who have harmed this boy.
Chat gets louder.
“Tommy,” the boy says after a minute of staring. “What’s the second question?”
“Are you going to bite me?”
Tommy’s face crumbles into anger. “Fuck you! I’m not a fucking- how dare you! Stupid piece of bacon, fucking pig idiot-“
“Yeah, yeah.” Techno waves him off and then throws his arms wide. “Ready to leave?”
Tommy stops his rant and huffs, bright blue eyes narrowed. “If you try and sell me, I’ll fucking kill you.”
Techno raises his eyebrows as Tommy starts to walk forward, giving Techno a wide berth as he follows after him. “Sell you? Why would I sell a human child?”
Tommy grumbles something under his breath and then asks, “what’s your name, bacon?”
“Technoblade.”
“What the fuck kinda name is Technoblade?” Tommy immediately spits and Techno is thoroughly regretting his life choices. He’s sure if he hands the boy back, the Piglins won’t instantly reject him.
Instead of replying, knowing that Tommy is probably going to shout more vitriol, Techno asks, “where are your parents, kid?”
“Don’t have any. Why’d you have a cape?”
Techno resolutely doesn’t think over those implications. How long has this child been alone? Has he been surviving for years, alone and so, so young? His instincts call for him to protect Tommy, to look after the boy as if he were a baby.
Phil can help, take him to Dadza
FEED THE BOY
AdoptionArc? AdoptionArc.
he looks so small
Techno sighs. “Because the Empire is freezing,” and his adoptive father is considered a king but he’s not going to tell Tommy that if he doesn’t know who Techno is, “and it keeps me warm.”
Tommy keeps silent as they pass the Piglins and Techno keeps walking. He could take him to Phil, the man would certainly welcome him but Tommy looks like the type to fight back.
So, as they near the portal, Techno asks, “how did you even get here?”
“Running from dickheads.” Tommy replies and then tilts his head back, gesturing to a thin, pink line of a healing skin on his neck as if a collar sat there, cutting off his airways. “Thought they could take on TommyInnit.”
Techno hums and his vision is starting to tunnel on the boy. Instincts to protect, to nurture fill his veins and he has to take calming breaths to stop giving in. If they had their way, he’d grab Tommy, take him to his nest and feed him up.
He can feel the urge to grunt build up, to pull Tommy closer and check his injuries, to make sure he’s warm and safe and-
Shaking his head, Techno focuses on the purple light from the portal. He thanks the Gods Wilbur wasn’t the one to find the boy or Tommy would already be in the arms of a protective Piglin. Especially because Wilbur rarely gives in to his hindbrain.
“After you,” Techno mumbles and Tommy jumps up the obsidian fading into the purple swirls, Techno close behind.
His vision blurs to purple briefly and his stomach swoops as he steps away from the obsidian and finds Tommy standing in the snow, head thrown back as snowflakes fall on his face. He opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue, catching snowflakes.
Techno’s heart definitely doesn’t beat harder.
In the distance, away from the courtyard where the portal sits, the castle proudly stands. Climbing into the sky, disappearing into the clouds. He sees a few guards making their rounds, nodding once they spot him. No one comments on the boy beside him.
He clears his throat. “You can stay if you want,” he offers when Tommy looks over.
“You- you live in the castle?” Tommy blinks at him and Techno nods. Tommy steps away and rapidly shakes his head, face losing it’s colour. “I’m good, man. Thanks- thanks for the help getting away but I’m good now.”
They both know he’s not but Techno’s not going to trap such a flight risk. He ignores the shouts of Chat and sighs. He lifts a hand to his ear and tugs the emerald earring out. A beautiful bit of golds craftsmanship, attached to a large cut emerald.
The Antarctic Empire do like their friendship emeralds.
“If you need anything,” he says, throwing the earring at Tommy, who catches it with ease, “just find a royal guard, show them that and say you want to see me.”
Tommy’s mouth opens and closes, shocked. So is Techno. He honestly didn’t expect to get so attached. Tommy’s cheeks burn red and he ducks his head, holding the emerald earring like it’s precious.
“Thanks,” Tommy mutters and then spins on his heel and stalks to where the royal gardens are, the gates leading to the populace behind the rows of hedges and trees.
Techno watches him disappear into the snowy fog and then turns back to the portal. He does have things to do, after all.
If later, Phil comments on his lack of earring, Techno will simply mention that he’s looking for a different design. He won’t mention the boy with the golden hair. Wilbur will narrow his eyes but wont push and Phil will laugh and tell him to find Schlatt for a new one.
They will finish their meal and Techno will wonder if Tommy has eaten, if he’s cold from the freshly fallen snow, if he has a place to shield him.
He will sleep restlessly, concerned over a boy he’s shared one conversation with.