Chapter Text
The human has not stopped squirming. Technoblade had hoped it would tire itself out but it proves itself again and again apparently to defy their expectations.
It snarls a bit, grumpy and twisting its face into different meaningless expressions.
It’s light and easy to hold. Techno shakes it a little and the human barks harshly at him. Techno, unfazed by the aggressive defense, flicks an ear in it’s direction, and begins to walk back to Wilbur with his lost pet project.
As far as he knew Wilbur had already been on this entire side of the ship, he wasn’t sure how he had missed the entire creature stuck in their drawer.
It had been locked in, banging against the door and sometimes calling out in small croons like a mixture of Phil’s rare distress calls and a stout’s warning growl.
It had been a complete accident for Techno to walk by Wilbur, half crazed with worry.
“I’ve lost the human,” he had said, “I’m a professional creature smuggler with a perfect reputation and I have lost a creature,” Wilbur had said, “I am the dumbest species in the galaxy,” he had said.
At least that’s what Techno heard.
So he went looking, pretty easy to hear such an obvious creature, calling out for help from its predicament. He had opened the door and got his first good look at the alive and well human specimen.
It was wide eyed, and smaller, tucked away into the dark cabinet, all folded into itself. Immediately it started shrieking, high pitched and ear piercingly loud. When Techno had leaned down to lock eyes with it the human had just started scrabbling away and kicking defensively.
Techno huffed, unamused, and grabbed its limb when it tried to hit him. It went silent for a moment, unnaturally so, then when he attempted to pull it out from its hiding spot it started up again, this time a thousand percent worse.
Spitting and shrieking and obviously cursing at him, all the while trying to run away or attack him. In response, Techno just held him further away from his body, watching him squirm mid air like a disrespectful stout that had just been caught in the act.
Techno flicked an ear and waited for the human to settle into its new position. Sometimes, their creatures had holds that would calm them, some instinct in all species that either came from their body response or from a childhood accessory. The human wasn’t able to be held easily and it’s wrists and ankles were frighteningly thin and fragile. He could feel the bone underneath its thin skin, turning and twisting.
Technoblade shivered a little, imagining the bare bone rubbing against his hands. No species he interacted with had such thin skin, especially all over its body.
The human scowled and hunched in its arm, falling mostly silent, except for some loud barks, questions or commands maybe, as it glared up at him.
Techno snuffed a little at it, and watched it flinch. He rolled his eyes, closed the cabinet door behind him, and walked back to the human’s cell.
Along the way, it made its displeasure known, lowly howling and causing echoes to ripple down the hall, definitely leading both Wilbur and Philza to their location. The human stopped hunching its arm at one point and attempted to twist its body to try and clasp onto the floor with its clawed fingertips.
It scrabbled at the floor, no dent or mark left behind, and with smooth metal flooring, no handholds to easily grab onto. Techno scoffed, “Trying to do something there?” He asked.
The human narrowed its eyes, garbling back something unintelligible.
Technoblade just lifted it further from the floor where it wouldn’t be able to reach. His arm was getting tired.
Around the corner of the next hallway, about halfway to the human’s room, Wilbur found them.
His arms collapsed with relief, “Oh Technoblade you found him!”
He hurried over, tilting his head fully upside down to come face to face with the human, “Troublemaker, can’t give me a break can you?”
The human tried to bite him, swinging from his grip and reaching forward towards WIlbur and snarling. He jumped back, “Still aggressive then?”
“It was in the sitting room,” Techno said.
Wilbur eyes flickered, “Really? I checked there?”
“Locked itself in the cabinet.”
The grey alien had to cover a disbelieving laugh with his still healing palms, “Really?”
“Wasn’t stealthy or anything, very loud in fact, I don't know how you missed it,” Techno deadpanned.
“He’s tall, I didn’t expect him to know how to open our cabinet, excuse me for thinking the worst.”
“This wasn't thinking the worst it was just dumb of you,” Techno said, looking over to him.
Wilbur half heartedly clicked in offense, putting his arms to the side, “Whatever, back in the room he goes.”
They travelled a bit farther, the human twisting intermittently to try its luck and failing at every attempt. Techno couldn’t tell if it was turning more agitated from being in such a prone vulnerable position or if it just changed colours like that naturally.
When they got to their designated room and Wilbur tapped on the keypad to open the door the human came to life, spitting and snarling, a new life to it.
Technoblade struggled for a second with its sudden vibrancy, bracing himself a little more. He hefted the human up a bit further, making it yowl.
Wilbur who shuffled back warily at the sight of the displeased human, “Don’t wave him around like that.”
Techno snuffled, and Wilbur immediately started to shake his head, “Techno don’t-”
“Like this?” Techno put his second hand lower on the appendage on the next solid junction, a knee probably. The human looked up at him, baring its front teeth. He swung the human a little, rocking its body.
Wilbur harshly scolded him for the action but Techno brushed him off, “It can’t do anything calm down, no dislocating its feet to come bite you,”
“That’s not why I’m worried!”
Techno teased him for being scared, stepping forward and lighting swinging the human again to Wilbur’s chagrin, who immediately took another couple steps backwards. The human snarled, lowly bellowing a tone.
Technoblade swung the human again in Wilbur’s general direction to scare him but the human had caught onto the motion, on the next upwards swing it curled its knee and heaved itself on open air onto Technoblade’s shoulder.
It landed with a thud and a loud exhale near his ear. The human hissed, arms now in reach of solid material, and started ripping at Techno’s back and hair with their dull claws, getting a solid grip on his clothing. Techno grunted in surprise.
The human took a fist full of his pink locks and yanked violently, making Techno roar reflectively and Wilbur to start laughing as he watched Technoblade's head tilt backwards with the movement.
Techno, in a split second mistake, released the lower body and tried to grab at the human’s face or arms, but with his sturdy but inflexible arms he was barely able to touch the human’s back.
He twirled a little on his heels, trying to reach the human who had started screaming again, right next to his sensitive ears and was attempted to climb fully over Technoblade’s shoulder, catching it’s feet on the big alien’s belt and pushing itself over while pulling at the bottom of Techno’s shirt.
Techno lightly slapped the human, struggling to remove it.
“Get it off me, get it off, get it off,” Wilbur hunched over on himself, covering his jaw and laughing hysterically.
“Wilbur, get your human off of me!” Techno shouted, high pitched and panicked, making Wilbur wheeze loudly.
Techno attempted to fall on his back to remove the creature making him unbalanced but the human merely swung around and hooked the back of it’s leg around Techno’s arm, pulling it uncomfortably tight in a locked upwards swing and then when he collapsed to his knees the human tightened it’s hold. Not attempting to run away and choosing instead to latch on further and start to render the larger alien incapable of fighting back.
It was loud, so loud that none of the species in the hallway registered the new audience until Philza squawked and immediately tried to untangle the human’s spindly limbs from constricting Techno’s body completely.
“Oh my galaxy, Techno what-”
“Phil!” Techno called, “The human has latched on, Phil!”
Wilbur was laughing so hard that he fell to the floor on his own, no need for a constrictive creature on his back to lock him down.
“Oh boy,” The bird alien muttered, tucking in his wings and cocking his head to one side.
“It’s biting me Phil!”
Philza lightly cooed, walking around Technoblade to his back to meet the eye of the human who stopped trying to find purchase with its teeth through Technoblade’s thick clothing. The human, a terror before, stopped dead in its tracks and stared up at Philza with wide blue eyes.
“There we go, hi mate,” He greeted. Blinking a little at the sudden attention.
He trilled to the human, lightly poking their arms and fingers and curling under them to lightly encourage the human’s grip to lighten, surprisingly it did, and Phil watched the human’s face flash through a variety of settings.
“We just want to, let go there bud, yep just like that. Techno don't move a muscle,” Phil murmured. He cawed softly as he took a solid but gentle grip on the human’s hand, feeling the human’s racing heart through their fingers. Phil took their grip and raised it above both of their heads to remove the latched appendage around Techno’s shoulder.
The human trembled under his gaze, utterly captivated, and easily let go of the massive alien. Techno quickly scrambled away, going to Wilbur’s side and far from the human just in case it tried to strike again.
They half-heartedly snarled when Phil tried to continue holding their hand and he obediently let the human take a bit of space back, now standing on their own terms.
To Phil, the human was a completely different creature. It didn’t make any noise, its hands remained limp, if not a little tucked in close to their chest, and their feet spread to keep balance.
Phil cawed softly as the human’s ever moving eyes went even wider as they took in the expanse of feathers on Phil’s back.
The human leaned back from Phil’s next imploring touch. Blinking thickly at the mid-sized alien and shuffling back on their braced feet when Phil fluffed up his wings, making them softer and cozier to the sight.
Phil cocked his head to the other side. Catching a glimpse of Wilbur and Techno behind the human, both recovering.
“There, are we all good now?”
The human lowered itself, opened its mouth and growled, Phil lowered his own head as if submitting and tried to look cute. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn’t, this time it did, and the human slowed to a stop and narrowed its eyes.
“Yes we are good, good human and all that right? Just a little unexpected trip,” Phil warbled. Glancing at a guilty Wilbur.
He winced and tilted his head away to avoid Phil’s accusing gaze.
Philza shuffled closer to the human who stepped back to avoid his hands, just like Phil was expected him to.
To Wilbur and Techno he said, “Better get away from the door, I’ll bring him in,”
The two immediately stepped away, unfortunately, also catching themselves in the corner of the human’s vision, whose face whipped to center on them and then the open door.
They tried to run but Philza, in expectation, had extended his massive wingspan to almost completely box the human into the narrow door.
The human didn’t scream this time, instead breathing heavily, pushing itself up and down physically as its upper half inflated with air. It snarled, saying something to Phil and making an attempt at running at him, but Philza unflinchingly stared him down, extending his hands and then, when the human had made a feint towards him, the human had accidentally got one of its hands locked in Philza’s grip.
It, upon capture, tried to scramble away and lost their footing on the metal floor, hitting the floor with a small bang. The human reacted with valour, kicking and pushing at Philza with all his might but in the end, Phil was able to half push, half drag, half maneuver the human into the room.
The human was released finally, and laid limp on the floor in comical defeat. Everyone sighed with relief.
Wilbur waited at the door for Philza to return but the bird-like alien waved a dismissal to him, “Phil?” Wilbur called.
“I’m going to stay with him, bring me some food, for me and him, and some extra water as well, might as well take some notes while I can avoid being mauled,”
Wilbur hesitantly left, locking the door behind him. Philza could imagine the immediate conversation that would happen behind that closed door while Wilbur caught his breath and Techno recovered from the human’s hands and Wilbur’s mocking, his ego was certainly more bruised than his body.
Phil settled himself by the empty basin, tucking his wings around his folded legs, and settled in to wait for the human to recover alone.
The room was eerily quiet, just like how Phil hated it.
It was lessened slightly by the sound of two beings breathing heavily in the unmoving air. When Phil was in pleasant company, or even alone, he would often whistle. He hated silence and the urge strikes him now to give a tune to cut through the tension.
He clamps down on the urge, keeping calm and unchanged for the human’s sake.