Forgive me - Villan sbi au

Chapter 4

"Don't tell Wilbur," 

Techno doesn't know what scares him more:

The fact that THOSE are the first words Tommy says to him, after he's spent the last two weeks tearing the city apart looking for him. 

Or the fact that he's more scared of Wilbur that the cuts and bruises covering him. 

By the time Techno finds Tommy, it's after two weeks of nonstop storms. It's no surprise that the kid is feverish and shivering in equal measure. 

It SHOULD be a surprise that he's been hiding away in the rubble of the fallen building, but somehow... it's not. 

Techno can't think. 

"Kid-" 

Admittedly, Techno is staring at the bruises and gashes covering him from head to toe. 

Tommy's fevered gaze flickers wildly around, almost guilty. 

"I ran into some cops," He rasps hastily, "It's fine. I'm fine. You can pretend you never found me now. You can go." 

He says it like it's an inevitability that Techno would just leave him like this: alone and shivering. 

Ultimately that's what keeps Techno locked in place. 

"What is this place?" 

He has a guess. One that's been unfurling in his gut with a blossom of dread. He almost doesn't want Tommy to confirm it. 

But of course-

"I have nowhere else to go," Tommy sniffles, turning his head shamefully, "... Wilbur destroyed it," 

Techno exhales. It's what he didn't want to hear. 

But he'd known. All this week, he'd been avoiding the idea. But Tommy was too clingy for anything else to make sense. 

Before his and Wilbur's stupid fight, Tommy lived like THEY were his home. Techno and Phil, and, yeah, Wilbur. 

The fact that he was nowhere to be seen after Wilbur's petty payback...

"C'mere, kid," 

Techno hugs him.

Tommy stiffens for a second, nearly long enough for Techno to pull back-

And then he's throwing himself into him, arms frantically tangling in the back of Techno's shirt. 

Techno eases his own jacket around Tommy's bare shoulders. 

"My apartment has an extra room. It's yours, if you want it," 

He keeps the words quiet, deliberate - keeping up the illusion that Techno isn't pressuring him. But honestly, Techno doesn't really know what he'd do if this kid said no. He couldn't leave him like this. 

Tommy blinks at him, clouds of fever clearing to reveal a sunrise of hope. Then scrutiny. 

"I don't have any money." 

Techno laughs gruffly, "Yeah, I figured," 

Tommy grins in hazy delight. Then punches him in the shoulder. Techno huffs but Tommy's immediate flinch sobers him. 

"It would have been yours," He tells him, quietly, "All this time, if you had just asked."