Chapter Text
It was one in the morning, and Techno Beloved was running for his life. Behind him was his father, screaming and cursing and wishing him dead, but Techno was faster despite the extra weight on his abdomen. Three months pregnant and unable to hide it any further, he was bound to be found out eventually. His father had chased him out, calling him a slut and a whore, screaming about how his one and only daughter was a disappointment. That Techno had ruined what little chance he had of proving himself worthy.
And so Techno ran. Ran until he was blocks away and no longer being chased. Ran until his lungs burned. Ran until he couldn’t run anymore, tripping and falling forward. He forced himself to breathe, gasping and sputtering yet refusing to cry. After a moment of staying collapsed on the ground - the grass, he realized; he had made it to the edge of the city - he stood. He was trembling violently and his breathing stuttered, but that was fine. He was fine.
His legs burned, but he continued on. One step in front of the other, a hand placed on his abdomen. Techno didn’t know what to do, where to go, but he continued walking anyway. The grass thickened, underbrush taking over the farther he went. Trees, first sparse, grew more frequent until he was standing deep in the forest. He walked, and kept walking, and kept walking, until the trees thinned out again. He looked up from where his gaze had been firmly planted on the ground, and was met with the sight of a cabin. He planned to continue on, even as his muscles protested and he felt as though he might just faint, but then he caught sight of a single light in the cabin.
He thought about it for a moment before hesitantly walking up to the door. He knocked on it, firm but not loud, and waited. He stood for a few seconds before the door was opened, a shorter, blond man looking up at him. The man looked tired, dark circles under his eyes, stubble on his chin, shoulder-length hair pulled back into a messy low ponytail. But despite Techno’s sudden arrival in the dead of night, the man offered him a smile.
“Uh, hey, mate.”
“Hi.. uh. I’m sorry, you don’t uhm, don’t know me, but I just need a place to stay the night. I’ll leave as soon as the sun comes up, I just- I-”
Techno started to ramble, voice raised an octave in panic. The man cut him off, raising a hand dismissively.
“Come in, I can see you’re struggling right now. I don’t mind you staying the night.”
Techno was gestured inside the cabin and led to a seat by the kitchen table, where he sat, muscles thankful for the rest. Techno twisted his fingers anxiously as the man sat in the seat across from him.
“So.. I’m Phil, what can I call you?”
Not asking specifically for Techno’s name? Techno was confused, but answered honestly. Might as well be honest to the person who helped him.
“My name’s Techno.”
“Techno? That’s an interesting name.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“So.. can I ask why you showed up at my door at almost two in the morning?”
“I mean, you already asked. But uh.. I kinda got kicked out of my house. Just needed to find somewhere where I wouldn’t.. Y’know.. Die.”
“You got kicked out? Mate, that’s-”
The man, Phil, cut himself off, gesturing idly as if gathering his thoughts. Blue eyes met Techno’s brown, and Techno looked away quickly.
“How old are you, Techno?”
“Sixteen.”
“Sixteen.”
Phil looked pained at that, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing deeply. The blond man stood, placing both hands on the table. Techno flinched, and Phil was quick to lean away.
“I’m gonna go get my wife, we can talk about this whole… thing, for a minute. And then I can get you situated and you can go to sleep. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds fine. Thank you.”
Phil nods, offers another smile, and goes upstairs to presumably wake his wife. Techno forced down the guilt, thinking about how he should’ve just kept walking and not disturbed these poor people. He was left with a minute to his thoughts before Phil returned, shadowed by a woman with dark hair and darker eyes. She smiles at him, looking tired, and Techno offers an awkward wave as she sits at the seat next to where her husband had been a few minutes ago. Her hair was braided loosely, the braid hanging over her shoulder. Techno’s hair had been braided similarly, but it was messy from his fleeing.
“Hey there,” Her voice immediately had him caught in some sort of trance.Sweet but firm. Strange. He longed to hear more of it. “My name is Kristin, I’m Phil’s wife. He told me your name is Techno, is that right?”
He nodded, void of words, and she reached out to quickly untangle his fingers which he had twisted into bruising, red and noticeably turning purple. He went to tapping his fingers on the table, and Kristin looked like she wanted to scold him. Like he was a child. Techno looks away, staring pointedly at the wooden floor. She pulled her hands away as quickly as she had done it, and neither of them mentioned it as she continued.
“Well, Techno, may I ask what happened to you? Why you’re here? You can give us the watered down version, or not tell us at all, but we want to know if there’s any way we can help.”
Techno looked back up at her, staring at her chin, moving his hands from tapping on the table to flapping at his sides. He normally wouldn’t trust anyone this easily, years of learning from his parents teaching him that, but she just seemed so… genuinely kind.
“My dad kicked me out. I ran. That’s about it.”
“Is there anything we need to know?”
Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it-
“I’m uh.. Pregnant. Three months.”
“Oh. Oh dear.”
Techno flushed with embarrassment, his gaze directly on the ground again. He hadn’t expected that reaction, or, lack of reaction. He could feel Kristin and Phil’s eyes on him and he hated it. Kristen stood, and he looked up with wide eyes. She walked around the table, hand hovering above his shoulder. He nodded a bit and she placed her hand there, thumb rubbing soothing circles onto his clothed shoulder. She lowered herself a bit to be level with him, head tilted a bit.
“Techno, we… you can stay here for as long as you need. We have two sons here, Wilbur, who’s your age, and Tommy, our youngest. We have a spare room, and you can be here until you’re ready to go.”
Techno stayed silent for a moment, trying to weigh the pros and cons. He could stay here, somewhere that seemed safe enough, and it would be easy enough to leave. Techno knows how to leave, how to get to the city if he needs to. He takes a deep breath and nods.
“If you’ll let me.”
“We will. Phil,” She turned to her husband, who had been standing idly, and Techno heard her laugh gently as he hurried over. “Take them to the spare room, get them situated for tonight. We’ll tell the boys in the morning.”
Phil nods, smiling. “Yep, alright. Come on, mate. It’s the only bedroom downstairs, just over here.”
Techno stands, pushing in his chair and following Phil across the living room to the second door by the staircase. Phil moved to the side to let Techno inside, and he awkwardly shuffled in and looked around. A bed, a dresser, a wall clock, a slightly dusty full-length mirror. Just… a room. More than what Techno had been expecting. Phil fidgets, fingers twisting together for a moment and shifting from foot to foot before turning to leave.
“There’s a bathroom a room over, the other door that we passed,” Phil gestures to the wall clock, “We’ll all be in the kitchen at nine AM, we’ll talk about everything then. Try to get some sleep, mate.”
“Alright. Thank you, sir.”
“Phil. Just call me Phil.”