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When Eret received Technoblade’s message that Tubbo was not okay, Eret was on their feet in an instant and rushed towards the portal.
Ever since they betrayed L’Manberg they had been alone. For over a year now they had been completely alone, aside from loose positive affiliations with Foolish or other people. But yesterday they finally got a chance to apologize and start to make it up to Tubbo.
Tubbo had been the person they were closest to in L’Manberg, they often spent hours together doing whatever had to be done around the country. When Eret betrayed them, Tubbo wasn’t angry at them, he was sad. Now that sadness had morphed into a mixture of fleeting anger and apprehension to trust again, something Eret could work with.
Eret ran through the nether, hoping they remembered the path correctly while checking their communicator every few seconds. Technoblade had simply said, “Something is wrong with Tubbo and idk what to do, could need some help”. Eret wasn’t sure why Technoblade had turned to them, as far as they knew he was a lot closer with people like Philza, but they appreciated it nonetheless.
They reached the portal and stepped through, instantly getting dizzy from the temperature difference that came with coming from the nether into a snow biome. It was luckily a mild night, no strong winds or storms made their life harder and within fifteen minutes of being alerted, Eret knocked anxiously at Technoblade’s door.
The door opened almost instantly and a very stressed-out Technoblade appeared. “Eret, that was fast.” Eret shrugged wordlessly and glanced behind Technoblade.
Tubbo was sitting on the ground next to a fire. He was leaned against a chest and hugged his knees, his head resting on top of them. He was shivering.
Eret stepped in so Technoblade could close the door. “Any idea what’s wrong?” Eret asked and Technoblade shook his head.
“No,” he admitted while stepping back to a wall and leaning against it, “I found him like this outside. He hasn’t talked a word. I looked to see if Ra- Ghostboo was home, but he wasn’t.”
Eret kneeled down in front of the boy. “Tubbo, can you give me some sign that you hear me?” they asked gently. Tubbo was still for a few seconds until he nodded his head a bit. Eret smiled, even if Tubbo couldn’t see it.
“Good, that’s good. Do you want to tell us what happened?” Tubbo shook his head. “Did you have a nightmare?” Tubbo nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?” Tubbo shook his head again. “Alright,” Eret glanced back at Techno who looked just as helpless as he felt, “well, can we help you in any way right now?” Tubbo remained still for a moment before shrugging.
Eret paused for a moment. What could possibly help the boy right now? What would help him at a moment like this? A realization struck him. “Do you want us to distract you?”
Tubbo slowly lifted his head, revealed a very tired face that had been crying for at least 30 minutes. He looked between Eret and Techno, who straightened up at the suggestion. Then, very slowly, Tubbo nodded.
Eret gave him another encouraging smile and sat down, gesturing for Techno to do so as well. “Okay, what do you want us to talk about?”
Tubbo shrugged, not overly happy to have all of the attention on him.
After a few silent moments, Techno suddenly asked, "Do you want to hear about the time I accidentally took drugs and ended up winning a talent show and overthrowing a dictatorship?"
Eret and Tubbo stared at Techno for a few seconds until Tubbo nodded with wide eyes. The piglin hybrid didn't share much about himself, especially his past, so this? Yeah, they wanted to hear this.
Techno sighed and began talking, "So a few years ago I was in this city in an area where I had never been before. I didn't know much about the local plants, so when I was offered something non-alcoholic to drink I thought it couldn't do any harm." He chuckled at the memory. "Within 20 minutes I was completely gone. I don't remember anything from that night, but when I woke up I was told I had apparently taken part in a talent show and won."
"Do you know what you did to win? Did you do some fancy fighting tricks?" Eret asked, completely invested in the story.
Techno grinned. "Well, yes and no. The city was ruled by a strict dictator and I apparently went on stage and started roasting the shit out of him. They told me I talked for 30 minutes when guards came to arrest me, I beat the shit out of them and accidentally started a revolution. By the time I woke up the dictator was already overthrown."
Eret laughed and even Tubbo grinned at the story. Eret noticed this and thought for a moment if he had some ridiculous story to tell.
"Did you know I accidentally summoned a demon once?" he asked and grinned when both of the other people in the room stared at him in disbelief.
"I'm sorry, you summoned a what?" Techno asked and Eret nodded while laughing. "Explain," the piglin demanded and Eret did.
Tubbo smiled in silence as the two exchanged stories. By the time Techno told his 3rd story, about how he once pretended to be an actual piglin to escape his enemies, Tubbo stopped hugging his knees and instead settled down into a more comfortable position, making a face at the movement of his stiff joints.
By the time Eret told his 7th story, about the time he pretended to be a king in order to get access to a ballroom just so he could eat at the buffet, Tubbo was completely relaxed and laughing with them, though he still didn't offer any words.
They both lost count of how many stories they had told when Techno suddenly noticed how quiet Tubbo had become and looked at him. Tubbo's eyes were closed and he was breathing evenly and calmly. Eret, who had been the one talking, noticed Techno's distraction and looked over as well.
They both looked at the boy in silence for a few seconds, both thinking the same thing: he was incredibly young. With the long hair, the horns, the big clothes, and the scars Tubbo looked pretty mature and old for his age, but with his face relaxed and in the soft light of the fire he looked so... young. And vulnerable.
Eret broke the silence, "Do you have a bed we can move him to?"
Techno shook his head. "I do, but I don't think it'd be a good idea." Eret looked at him questioningly. "Well, I'm pretty sure he has PTSD and I don't think moving him while he sleeps would be a good idea if we don't want him to wake up and attack us."
Eret nodded in realization and slowly started getting up. They looked out of the window and saw that the horizon was already getting lighter. They must've been here for several hours.
"I should head back to the castle," they quietly said and Techno nodded.
Eret thew the cloak they took off sometime during the night back over their shoulders and opened the door. They looked back at Tubbo and smiled sadly. "Take care of him, yeah?"
Techno nodded seriously. "I will." Eret stepped out into the cold and suppressed a shiver. "Thank you for coming today. I'm not good with feelings and I don't think I could've helped him the way he needed it today."
Eret smiled. "You did help him, though. Give yourself some credit." He paused for a second before saying his goodbyes, "If you need help with anything, don't hesitate to contact me."
Techno nodded. "Goodbye, Eret."
Eret pulled the cloak tighter around his tall form and disappeared into the snow.
Techno looked back at Tubbo and sighed. He was unsure what to do but decided it was probably not worth sitting here and staring at the boy. So instead he climbed up the ladder and fell into bed. He was tired.
When Techno climbed back down a few hours later the house was empty and Tubbo was gone. Techno was partially relieved, he wasn't sure what he would've said to the boy if he was still here.
He walked over to his chest and opened one to clean up the empty water bottles on the floor when he caught a dark spot in the snow from the corner of his eye. He straightened up and looked out, to see Tubbo lying in the snow completely motionless.
Techno moved before he even fully comprehended the image. He burst through the door and called out, "Tubbo?"
To his relief, Tubbo twisted his head to look at him and smiled. Techno hurried over and stopped next to him. "Are you alright?"
Tubbo nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just looking at the snow. We never really had snow like this in Snowchester."
Techno frowned. "What do mean? Snow is snow."
"No, well yes, but no," Tubbo shook his head, "we were directly at the coast in Snowchester. Whenever it smiled the snow was mostly falling sideways and just slapped you in the face like a bug." He tilted his head. "Here the snow is slow and soft."
Techno huffed. "If you say so." He still didn't really understand why Tubbo was just laying here, sure the snow was different or whatever, but still. Surely it had to get boring after like 10 minutes.
He looked at Tubbo as a sudden realization struck him. Tubbo was bored. He had absolutely nothing to do. Phil and Ghostboo were mostly taking care of Micheal and there was nothing else to do here. In Snowchester Tubbo had a lab, and an entire village to run, but here he was just... doing nothing.
Techno sighed. He didn't sign up for this. He wanted to just help Tubbo avenge Ranboo's death and go back to being a hermit. He didn't want to babysit another kid, he was still recovering from Tommy.
But as he looked down on Tubbo there was a sense of responsibility. Tubbo trusted him to have his back, he trusted him on several instances even though Techno shot him in the chest with fireworks. It was stupid and reckless and Techno wanted to protect him.
He sighed as he came to a decision. "Do you maybe want to come with me? I was going to train a bit."
Tubbo sat up. "Sure? I don't think I'll be able to keep up with you and really help you train."
"Well," Techno said, "then we'll have to train you so that you can help me train."
Tubbo's eyes widened. "I- Yes. Sure, I'd love to train with you." He jumped to his feet, wincing at his stiff joints but looking at Techno with expecting eyes.
Techno huffed in amusement. "Come on, Phil built a training room. It's not done but good enough."
Tubbo grinned and nodded. As they headed towards the room Tubbo began rambling about something to do with space that Techno honestly didn't even try to understand. As he looked at Tubbo he could hardly even tell that this was the same boy as the one he found in the snow yesterday.
Techno wasn't planning on being anything more than maybe allies with Tubbo, but as he really looked at him he realized it was already too late for that. He already saw Tubbo as... a close ally? A friend? He had no idea what he saw Tubbo as, but what he did know was that he would not let anyone fuck with him, even if he didn't fully understand why yet.