Sleepy Bois Turnabout?

As Weird A Day As Any

Technoblade stood waiting outside an old building somewhere at the edge of the city. He thinks it's a community house of some sort but it looked pretty abandoned. Well, abandoned by most civilized people at least. There was plenty of evidence of people using it, he didn't even think the doors were locked but he was not going inside if he didn't have to.

Judging by the types of activities that take place in empty buildings like this and the likely hood of a rat infestation or two he bet the smell inside was not something he'd want to smell. Still, just by glancing through the dirty windows, he could make out plenty of clues.

Litter and graffiti nearly covered the walls and floors (though what appeared to be the floor's original design might look better that way) and if you paid extra close attention you could make out scorch marks in certain areas from what appeared to be fireworks of some kind. Between that, the cigarettes and lighters discarded haphazardly around, and the fact nobody was keeping this building up to code, Technoblade wondered how long it would take for this place to burn to the ground.

Not long, he thought, considering who he was meeting here.

His recently freed client, some pyromaniac named Sapnap, had asked him to retrieve some evidence used in his case. Even though Technoblade was a lawyer and his job was done (a fact he'd pointed out many times in vain) he and his buddies insisted. Why they couldn't be bothered to just do it themselves Technoblade would never know.

Actually, that's not true. He had a pretty good guess why Sapnap had wanted to avoid the police. He was a guilty man walking free. Technoblade had managed to get him a completely innocent verdict by convincing the court that while he was a firebug, he just wasn't the firebug that had been playing with fire on that company's property. The charges were ridiculous really, he'd just been screwing around in a huge empty parking tower, far away from anything flammable and where he wouldn't be dangerous to anyone.

The whole "private property" thing was also stupid because everyone knows everyone screws around in that lot. The company hadn't actually used it in years. Hell, he and Wilbur would fuck around there sometimes, when they were teenagers Wilbur had even set off explosions there. The guy just got unlucky.

It's not that he condoned Sapnap's actions, it's just sometimes people do "bad" things and don't need to be punished for them. Not only that, he'd just rather people be punished for things they actually did/plan to do.

If he'd actually done something wrong, Techno would not have taken his case, or he would've taken it and then lost. It had happened twice where he'd taken a client just to make sure they ended up found guilty. It wasn't a very smart choice career-wise but he didn't regret it for a second. People request him because of the reputation he had for getting guilty people innocent verdicts but that reputation was wrong. He got innocent people innocent verdicts, guilty people guilty verdicts, and he gave people who deserved it a chance. Again, he'd rather see people punished for crimes they actually intended to commit.

He knew he, on some level, had no right to play judge like that but if he didn't, who would? Actual judges weren't all-knowing (many of them were straight-up duds), they relied entirely on lawyers to tell the most convincing story. So, in a way, he was just doing his job.

His hand tightened around the headband he was holding.

There was a reason he'd become a defense attorney.

He closed his eyes as fragments of memory overtook him.

Sitting in a courtroom. Not like when he went along with Phil. Not like when he was preparing to take on a case himself. He wasn't curiously looking around. He wasn't watching in awe as sides shot evidence back and forth. He was staring at his hands. He'd held his head so low for so long his neck cramped and ached but he only shrunk further into himself. He was on trial here. He was on trial for attempted murder. Murder. It was just a fight. He hadn't planned anything. He hadn't intended anything. The guy just wouldn't leave him alone. He wouldn't leave Phil alone. He'd been threatening Technoblade for years. He'd hit back. He'd fought just as hard as Techno had and he wouldn't let go. The only real reason Technoblade was on trial for was winning. Oh god, why was everyone staring at him? The pressure was building. Pressure. Pressure. Pressure. Pressure turns coal into diamonds, but it only crushes people. His ribs felt like they were cracking. His chest couldn't rise properly. He shouldn't be here. He knew what he did, he knew he was guilty, but he shouldn't be here.