Things That Need To Pass (passerine!Technoblade x OC) {COMPLETED}

"Let's Dance."

(Eryn POV)

Tommy began to laugh, that sort of laugh that ended in wheezing and hiccups. Techno watched him with a faint smile, and the two of them basked in the simplicity of it: just two boys on the floor on a hot summer day, laughter bouncing off their skin like sunlight.

"We'll be okay, Techno," Tommy assured him once he settled down. "I mean, it's you and Wilbur. You'll figure it out like you always do." "Yeah right." I muttered.

Techno stared at Tommy for a moment before quickly looking away. "That's enough saccharine garbage for one day, I think. Get up so I can beat you to the ground again."

"What does saccharine mean?"

"It means you need to brush up on your vocabulary, Tommy." Techno got to his feet and offered Tommy a hand. Tommy grinned as Techno pulled him up, and though his palm was scarred, it was warm.

"Eryn! You can come out now." Tech called. I poked my head out sheepishly. "When the heck did you know I was eavesdropping?" I asked, jumping from my hiding place. "Since...the time you came. I'm not that dumb." Techno rolled his eyes. 

Tommy was giving me that look that Wil did again. Jeez, what was wrong? 

Then, Toms broke the silence. Tommy rolled his shoulders back until he heard the satisfying pop of his bones righting themselves. He and Techno then sparred until the sun went down, at which point a messenger had arrived to inform Techno that King Wilbur had said uncle and was crying for help (not in those words, but close enough in interpretation).

"Go," Tommy had encouraged when Techno had hesitated on the steps leading down from the training pavilion. "At least one of us is welcomed back in His Majesty's good graces."

"He should be looking for a way back into yours," Techno had replied, and was gone. I followed.

Tommy had spent the rest of the evening stabbing at a training dummy with his spear, until another servant arrived to call him to dinner which—unsurprisingly—he ate alone in an empty dining room. I entered though. To grab a late dinner.

After dinner, I spied he'd made up his mind to swallow his pride and found his way back to Wilbur's offices. The guard standing post outside was gone, which meant that Techno was still inside; after all, who needed guards with Techno there?

As Tommy drew nearer, voices had begun to filter in through the door, muffled but getting clearer as he approached.

"—quiet today," someone was saying. "But that hardly means anything. I think they know something I don't, Techno."

Tommy held his breath as he pressed his ear against the door. I looked on, hidden in the shadows.

"Did you do the breathing exercises I taught you?" Techno's soft drawl.

"Did I—of course I did. I did everything you said, I always do." Wilbur's fraught murmur.

"Then why won't you let me do this for you?"

Do what? Tommy had leaned in as close as he dared. I appeared beside him. He jumped, but I put my finger to my lips. He tried not to yell.

"Because it won't help," Wilbur had said. It sounded as if this was an argument they'd had a million times before. "We don't know why they're gathering at the border yet."

"You've studied history. You know nothing good ever comes from that sort of maneuver, Wilbur. Meanwhile, the longer we wait, the less prepared we'll be when they—"

"If they do," Wilbur interrupted, "we're not entirely unprepared. I've sent the conscription notices."

(Tommy POV)

There was a loaded pause. "You did?" I didn't know if Techno sounded more impressed or indignant. "When?"

"This afternoon, after my little brother looked me in the eyes and I realized just how much I have to lose."

At that point, I had backed hastily from the door as if it burned me. I turned on my heels and ran, my head spinning and my heart hammering, unsure whether to laugh or to cry. Something bad was really happening, something that made Wilbur think he was going to lose everything.

 I didn't really pay much attention to my history tutors (they were never as amazing as Technoblade was), but he did know that my family had maintained peace in the kingdom for decades, and that talks about borders were never joyful affairs.

Now, in the silence of his bedroom, I paced, working out the kinks in my body and trying hard to ignore the gnawing feeling that I was on the brink of something too large to comprehend. 

But there was one thing I knew for certain. None of this would be happening if their father had stayed. Techno and Eryn did, even when they'd only known them for a few months. What had stopped me from doing the same?

And then there was the guilt of knowing exactly what could have made me stay, what could have been done. Secrets. What terrible, heavy things. I was still wearing a path through my rug when the knock came, startling me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?" I called, suddenly getting the urge to reach for one of the decorative swords hanging from my wall. "Let's dance, shall we?" Eryn said, opening the door, for both Wil and her.

She left after a few minutes.

a/n

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