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A thick and heavy fog engulfed the land, windows trembling in fear at the massive winds charging forwards. The snowstorm ceased to slow, growing bigger and bigger, a fire being fed. The grass was coated in a fluffy featherbed, a colorless shroud as the snow tumbled down and piled thicker and thicker.
Phil thought it would be a charming and quiet evening to sit back and read a book by the fire, and in retrospect it was a fair assumption, the only sounds were the susurrations of the storm and the mumbling of the fireplace.
The windows trembled like prey being hunted by a beast, the animals lurking by the edge of the forest skittered away into secure dens, and even the bird Phil kept in the warmth of the two-story home had drifted to silence. The wind chimes hung under the overhang by the door shook and rattled, letting out an urgent scream for help that could be interpreted as a beautiful melody.
Then, the door rattled.
Massive raps on the door, knocks that made the door quake and sob.
Rattle, rattle, rattle.
Phil whipped his head up from his book, a mix of emotions clouding his eyes. Distress, panic, doubt. Each and every feeling twirled together, melted together until he couldn’t separate each. He lowered the book down gently on the armrest, pushing himself up and creeping to the door. As his hand reached out for the door, he saw how his fingers shook, felt how his mind roared at him to stay silent and still.
Whoever was knocking on the door knew he was home though, the flickering lights from indoors leaking through the cracks of the walls told that much. If it was really who he thought it was, he would know regardless.
He threw open the door, a figure glaring back at him. Shadows enveloped him, each breath producing frosty mist. The shimmer of his eyes, a ruby red, a red like blood- everything was so familiar.
“Philza!” Technoblade said, voice laced with venom. “May I come inside, old friend?”
“Yes… Of course, uh… Make yourself at home!” Phil responded meekly, a smile tugging at his lips as he stepped back. “It’s not extravagant like the palace, but it’s home either way!”
Phil closed the door behind Technoblade, watching from the corner of his eye as he stripped his signature vermillion cape off and pulled out the ribbon keeping his pink hair in place. The cape he thought he’d never see again and only hear of from whispers in towns during travels, the pink hair he tried so desperately to forget about.
The world came crashing down on Phil as he realised the situation he was in.
Technoblade had found him.
Silence grew between the two, a heavy silence that took joy in wrapping its hands around Phil’s throat and refusing to let him speak up. To question why Technoblade was here now.
“Can I sit?” Technoblade asked, tone much gentler than when he first walked through the door. Phil nodded, pulling out a chair at the dining table before taking a seat himself.
Techno wringed his fingers together, staring down at the planks of the floor. He let out a heavy sigh, glancing back up.
“I just want to understand why Phil…” Technoblade began, stress painted on his face for the whole world to see. “For years, I’ve been wanting to know. Why did you give it up?”
“You intrude in my house, you search for me… Just to ask me why?” Phil questioned, desperately trying to ignore the way the stairs creaked ever so slightly. That was a whole other separate issue he had to deal with.
Or is it? A part of him whispered.
“You left all of us behind! You left a note, and you didn’t even spell half of it correctly! I expect you to be traveling, and then I find out you settled down!?” Technoblade rubbed his temples, resting his elbows against the table. “One of the greatest adventurers and conquerors the world has ever known of retiring!? It’s ridiculous!”
“I’m old, Techno. I’m not like the others in our group, you need to realise this was inevitable. Now, if that’s all you want to know, get out!” Phil demanded, growing ever so slightly louder before drawing himself back. Not like this, he couldn’t snap like this.
Another creak from the stairs reminded him of that.
“Phil-”
“Get out. I’m sorry I put you through that pain, but I never asked you to look for me.” Phil said, pointing towards the door. “In fact, I explicitly said in the note to leave me be. You didn’t!”
He saw the pain that painted Technoblade’s expression, the horror, the sadness. He watched the man grab his cape and drape it around his shoulders, looking back in sorrow like a dejected puppy… He watched Techno walk out the door.
A part of him wondered why Technoblade said nothing about the stairs, but another told him that in weather like this the stairs would of course be creaking. You wouldn’t know anything else was there, hidden, unless you were actively looking.
You wouldn’t know…
“Dad?” Wilbur whispered, poking his head out before stepping onto the bottom floor. “Who… Was that?
“Nobody.” Phil answered. “Nobody at all…”
“Are you sure?”
“Take care of your brother. You know he has a hard time sleeping during storms.” .
Phil didn’t know what he was expecting when he walked through the door.
Even a dead body would be better than this.
Curled up on with his brother on the floor was a blonde, an all so familiar blonde, feathers growing near his ears and small green wings sprouting out his back.
But his brother wasn’t the only thing the blonde was embracing. Another arm was wrapped around his son, another man asleep on the floor.
Technoblade.
“What is this?” Phil clenched his teeth, his knuckles turning white. The piglin immediately shot up, a light sleeper like always, Phil noted.
Techno stared up at Phil with wide eyes, before pointing toward his sons. “I could ask the same thing, Phil. Imagine my surprise when I walk in and find two boys, both with green feathers. Are you babysitting for another avian… I heard they’re not that common… Or perhaps?”
“Fuck off.”
Phil didn’t know where this confidence suddenly came from, maybe it was the fact that his old friend dared bother his family.
“I’m sorry Phil… It’s just… Surprising.”
Phil’s eyes drifted to Technoblade’s hair, twisted and braided together. He never imagined Techno, the warrior people fainted at the sight at, to be sporting a braid.
“What’s up with your hair?” Phil raised an eyebrow.
He watched as Technoblade’s face flushed pink, a red tinting his ears. He looked back at Tommy, before letting out a small grin. “Uh, this kid…”
“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, BITCH!?”
“Oh my XD… Tommy, please. Just because dad is out doesn’t mean you can swear like a sailor.”
“THERE IS AN INTRUDER IN OUR HOUSE!”
“Dad knows him.”
“Oh. Okay… Wait a second, Wilby!”
“What…”
“Look at his hair! Look how fucking long it is!”
“You are not- you have Phil, isn’t his hair long enough to braid?”
“THIS IS A NEW MANLY LEVEL OF STRONG THOUGH! COME HERE!”
“That… Sounds like Tommy.” Phil motioned toward the door. “Get out.”
“Okay… Uh, Phil.”
“Yes?”
“I miss you.” Technoblade mumbled.
“I know.”
A part of Phil also missed Technoblade too, but he’d never say that out loud.
Out of all the things he wanted to happen, this was the worst.
Technoblade was coming over more often.
His children were also attached to Technoblade, big time.
“Dad! When's the cool hair dude coming over again?”
“Dad, when is your friend coming over?”
With his children finally asleep, Phil gripped onto his mug of hot chocolate, taking a sip before turning to Techoblade.
“It’s been a long while since we traveled together.” Phil said, placing the mug down on the counter.
“Yes, it has been…”
“My children, they already crave adventure. I can see it in their eyes. Technoblade, I can’t give them that adventure they yearn for.” Phil ran a hand through his hair, looking out the window at the snowstorm. “I know I’m being greedy… But when the time comes, please take them with you.”
“What do I get in return?” Technoblade questioned.
“My deepest gratitude.”
…
“That’s enough for me.”