Bittersweet

Innocence

The next day, Techno woke up long past noon, his throat still burning but his stomach thankfully stilled. He drank his coffee black.

"Here, it's better for you." Wilbur counseled, handing him a tall glass of ice water.

Considering how the coffee still kinda hurt his throat and that Wilbur was significantly more experienced with hangovers, he gladly accepted. It was numbing, but in a good way. "Thanks."

"Want a sandwich? I can make one for you."

"Yeah, that'd be great, you're being a huge help."

"I know." He added, grabbing a knife to cut one of their tomatoes. "Just don't forget my kindness when my birthday comes around."

"Oh yeah, that's in like a week, isn't it."

"The 14th, don't forget." Wilbur started putting the finishing touches on, a few dots of Dijon mustard.

"I wouldn't." Techno sighed, finishing his glass of water and accepting the sandwich. "Wait, you want something, don't you."

"Whatever makes you think that?"

"You cut my sandwich diagonally, you'd never do that from the kindness of your heart."

"Alright, you got me. Phil's flying over and making dinner and I want Dream to join us. Tell him he can even bring his husband so he doesn't get lonely."

"Oh, uh, actually he's not married, that was a misunderstanding."

"Even better!"

"Wilbur, I'm not going to bring Dream to your party as some weird birthday present."

"Of course not, I'm personally inviting him!"

"You're going to steal my phone and text him if I say no, aren't you."

"Yup."

"Fine. Is Tommy coming?"

"Of course Tommy's coming!"

"Ugh." From Techno's point of view, this could only end in disaster.

It was only after a full round of badminton, his usual half hour on the sidelines, and a quick shower that Techno finally worked up the nerve. As they walked through the gym towards the front doors, he needed to blurt out what had been stuck in his throat since he arrived.

"I can't believe she was so forgiving, my last boss was super strict. I guess I shouldn't have overreacted though, at least before I asked."

"Yeah, congrats on not getting fired."

"Heh, thanks!"

The outside world was only a few steps away and work was starting soon. "So by the way, my roommate wants you to come to his birthday party."

"Really? When is it?"

"The 14th around dinner time."

"Oh perfect, that's actually my day off! Why me though?"

"I think he wants you to 'meet the fam' or something, not my idea I promise."

Though many things made Dream grin, Techno definitely didn't expect that to. Maybe it was the air quotes. "Well then, I'm happy to come!"

After a quick goodbye he drove to work as normal. The traffic happened to be kind to him, so Techno wasn't late, and with how productive he was being, he was sure his boss would approve.

At 1:13pm reality struck Techno like a knife. His attractive, single ex-boyfriend was going to have dinner with his pseudo-family in 4 days, 5 hours, and 47 minutes. Bright LED's from the decade old fixtures bore down on him, reflected millions of times over by the starch white walls and glossy poster paper surrounding him in the office. His computer in front of him started making his eyes hurt and the extremely slight breeze tickling his neck made his hair stand on end. 4 days, 5 hours, and 47 minutes.