Sometimes, He's Gentle

Chapter 1

Sometimes, Techno is gentle. No one expects him to be. He's a Piglin hybrid. Of all hybrids and all people, no one would expect it of him. No one would ever require it. Techno was not soft, or cuddly, or gentle. It was not in his personality or his nature. Unless you were an exception. Unless he chose you.

Sometimes, when Wilbur would fall as a child, and Philza wasn't around, he would calm the boy. Wilbur would fall, or get in a fight with a mob bigger than him. One time, he twists his ankle. And Techno is not gentle. But he bends down, picks up the wailing child, and carries him home.

He didn't speak a word as he wraps a long leather bandage around his ankle to set it, slips him a fruity tasting liquid, and puts a hand on his head. Wilbur looks up at him, he grunts, and then leaves the room. Later, when Philza asks how his day went while he was out, Wilbur looks at the hybrid. His pink hair swishes around his neck as he turns to look at Wilbur similarly.

"Quiet for once." He says cooly. Phil doesn't pry, and Wilbur doesn't snitch on Techno for stealing what he knows was one of his fathers potions.

Techno isn't gentle. He doesn't flinch easily, or ever. He's immune to surprise attacks and jump scares, because he's always prepared. He always has been. Even when Tommy pushes Tubbo down a hill, and bees swarm out of a hive near the ground, chasing the two young children. He's sliding down it in a second, grabbing one child under each arm, and darting back up.

He grunts as he strains to put them down carefully, and rip his red cape from his shoulders, wrapping them both in it. "Get inside" is all he says before he swats at a larger bee, and runs in the other direction. They only hesitate as long as they can still see him.

Once he's out of site, they do as he said. And once Philza gets home in the evening, he laughs as he covers the stings in honey and salve, occasionally handing Techno a new piece of ice to hold on the worst bits as the old one melts. His body shivers with pain, and when Phil asks how he managed to be so careless as to just kick over a massive beehive, Techno shoots the boys a death glare. They don't speak, and Techno shrugs.

"Must have appeared out of thin air. Only conclusion I have." He says confidently. Philza smiles again, regretfully this time.

And Techno isn't gentle. He's a man of quiet confidence. He doesn't get worried, or upset. He doesn't show any signs of being without a plan. Until he is. He's become close the ender child, Ranboo. So when he finds out he's missing, he becomes agitated, more than normal. Philza watches him braid his now long hair into a tighter hold, grab his best axe, and head out. He doesn't return, and Phil doesn't expect him to.

For three days he wanders, checking every hiding place, holding cell, caves that could've had a collapse, he even checks on the end portal. And in a last ditch effort, after searching the entirety of the different bridges and doors through the nether, he sets off in a random direction. He follows small signs. He's a Piglin. He can recognize where mushrooms have been broken, or where vines have been cut by something less efficient than lava.

He finds the boy after four hours, hunched over hugging his knees. He looks weak, and he's sitting atop a cyan tree. He startled, and Techno isn't gentle, but his touch is careful as he hands the shivering child an apple and a bottle of damage potion, the thing that heals him. He doesn't say a word as Ranboo shakes his head, still shivering, saying he enderwalked and got lost, how hungry he's been. Techno isn't gentle, but he doesn't let Ranboo leave the house for the next week. Just to make sure he's healed, he says. It has nothing to do with sympathy for a fellow hybrid.

Techno doesn't care. He doesn't care what people do around him, he's laid back in the way that other peoples matters don't get to him. He's not gentle. He's not kind. But when Tubbo starts to grow his horns, he confronts him. He asks if Tubbo knows how to take care of his tiny hooves, now that they're going to get tougher and stronger. He doesn't.

And Techno isn't isn't gentle, growling out something about Schlatt under his breath. But his hands are careful, and his voice is quiet, Phil may say 'soft' even from where he stood by the door, as Techno walks him through proper trimming with the sheers, tells him as he starts that it won't hurt, and holds his smaller hands to the blade to show him the movement. He isn't gentle, but he's just as 'soft' as he asks about his horns. He recommends him to Puffy for that.

Techno is not gentle. He is not soft. His nature is not caring, and his views are not kind. He does not do things that don't benefit him. Until he does. Until Phil's wings are sore and full of mud from a freak storm that got stuck in trying to fly home. His lifelong friend, something more than that? He knows Techno does not bend for just anyone. Until he pushes Philza gently down into the snow.

He uses the fresh powder to rub into the feathers, only brushing down so as not to bend them the wrong way. His marred hands are careful, getting most of the mud wiped out, before leading him inside to the shower. He doesn't speak as he slips Philzas clothes off, and slips his own off as well. He doesn't hesitate as he flips the lever to splash water down onto them, rinsing the feather with such care that Phil can't really describe it.

And he's not soft, but his voice is quiet and frustrated when he says Phil needs to be more careful. And he knows that translates to something very different in Piglin. Something like "I need you to come home safe. I've always had you. Please don't fly through a storm again."

Techno's may not be gentle, but his hands are as they grab a bucket and pour fire-heated water from the cauldron onto his hair and wings, starting to pluck the broken and bent feathers out with careful brushes, never once hurting him, letting the steam help dry them. Phil knows he would never be seen doing this. He knows he has pride. But Phil doesn't think he's so guarded sometimes, when after it's all over Techno leans forward, pressing a delicate kiss to his shoulder and muttering about him being reckless.

Techno is not gentle. He is not kind, caring, soft. He doesn't care, and he certainly doesn't want to help you unless it benefits him. That's what he tells people. That's what people believe. But those closest know the truth. They know him as family. They know sometimes, he's gentle.