The Retired Anarchist - A Dream SMP Story

Built To Sin

CHAPTER TWO

Built To Sin

Eight Years Ago

Techno placed a stack of books onto the dining room table. Betrayed, Tommy stared up at Techno, a scowl etched onto his face.

"Oh, come on Techno! You know I hate reading," he exclaimed. Tommy placed his palms on the table in protest. "I want to do all the cool stuff, like what you do in the barn! I don't want to read." Tommy spat the last word as if it was his worst nemesis.

Techno placed his hands on his hips and surveyed the stack of three books. He had read them all countless times. Sometimes with Dad, sometimes with Wilbur and most of the time by himself. Sometimes he wondered if Tommy was adopted, he was the only one in the family who hated reading. How could someone hate reading?

"Well, you should thank me. Dad told us to read at least five of these books. I only brought three."

Tommy groaned, dragging his hand down his face. "This homeschool thing is supposed to be fun, not boring!"

Techno opened the cover page of the first book on the stack, unbothered by Tommy's complaints.

"You're the one who made it impossible for your teacher to teach you."

"Yeah cause she was a bitch-"

Techno gasped and looked up from the book "Tommy! "

"-You need to settle down, oh you need to stop throwing things! You need to stop tripping your classmates and then laughing at them blah blah blah," Tommy mocked, purposely making his voice higher. "I tripped those dickheads 'cause they were making fun of your pink hair and Wilbur's glasses." He crossed his arms and slumped back in his chair.

Techno's chest filled with pride at the sound of Tommy standing up for his family. He closed the book and smiled to himself. He didn't think Dad would mind at the end of the day if they didn't read all of the required books.

"I'll tell you what," Techno said, a small smile played on his lips. "If you read one of these books out loud to me, I can show you a few things in the barn."

Tommy sat up so fast he was almost a blur. His eyes widened so big his eyes were almost perfect circles. "Really?" He exclaimed in hopefulness.

"Mhm," Techno hummed. "But you can't tell Dad you went into the barn with me, okay?"

Impossibly Tommy's eyes widened bigger. He started vibrating in his seat in excitement and nodded eagerly.

"You got it, Big T," he saluted and reached for one of the books.

Although Tommy spent the morning reading out loud to Techno, the gleam in his eyes never vanished. He still buzzed in his seat in excitement and as the pages thinned he became more and more eager to get out to the barn. Once the book was set down and Tommy described the main theme accurately, the boys headed over to the big brown barn on the corner of their property.

They walked upon the dirt road. Tommy darted back and forth from Techno's side to a few feet ahead, his eager voice told Techno to hurry up. His excitement was contagious and Techno found himself smiling as he unlocked the steel chain around the barn's doors' handles.

As Techno kicked open the barn doors, revealing what lay within, he couldn't help but glance over at Tommy's face for his reaction.

His jaw hung open, and his eyes sparkled with awe.