Dahlia - The Flower Of Betrayal. || SBI Hero AU

-CHAPTER TWENTY ONE-

“He’s just tired, that’s all.”

“This is why I told him he should have stayed home,” Phil says, and Techno tenses up.

“Yeah,” he chokes out—but says nothing else for a period far too long. Phil doesn’t catch on, thank the gods—for now. He just shakes his head and brings his warm cup of tea to his mouth as he takes a long sip.

“I get it, though,” he tries after a while. “I can’t imagine how hard it’s been on you two recently—him especially. He won’t say anything to me anymore. It’s like he’s a kid again.” Techno glances back to the hallway, to his bedroom door, through the walls at where his brother would be. He frowns, but composes himself before his father sees. He wants to apologise, but can’t seem to go back in that room. Slowly, he turns back in his seat and rolls his shoulders back.

“Sure,” Techno says, nothing more, nothing less. He’s quiet, too quiet—Phil has to have seen by now, but he hadn’t pointed it out.

“You never saw that side of him, did you? At least, not much. He was pretty comfortable by the time you showed up.” Techno lets out a huff, and Phil continues. “Well, not comfortable, but he was a lot more talkative than he was when he first came by. You two acted very similarly, you know.”

Techno hummed questioningly, and glanced up. “Really?”

Phil smiled comfortingly. “Yes, actually. You two were very quiet and reserved, and you always made an effort to try and listen. I’m not sure when that changed,” Phil responds with a little chuckle and a shrug. Techno smiles. “You two were always so respectful. Always listened to what I said the moment I asked it like you were scared something would happen if you didn’t.” Techno’s smile fades as fast as it appeared. "I never figured out if normal kids were as sensitive as you two or not.” He grins again, but Techno sinks in his seat.

“Not sure,” he admits. He wants to say a lot more, but refuses. Phil takes notice this time.

“You good?”

Techno moves his head to face the other way and stares at the ground. He clears his throat before he answers. “I’m just tired too, I guess.”

It wasn’t a lie. Just an adjusted truth, that was all. It was a little prevaricative, possibly. A fabrication of the truth—but nothing near a pseudo truth. He was tired, but he was more than that too. A lot more, that he was too cowardly to admit right now. But not a word would be said to Phil. Not yet, at least. Once everything had come together, once everyone was safe and sound, then he could tell him. But to speak his mind meant to speak of his weaknesses, and he would be damned if he would be weak in front of his father, especially before a mission such as this. Especially with his entire personality fumbling at his hands, now that Wilbur knew a little too much. So he’d lean back slightly in his chair, ignoring the jolt of pain it gave when the bones in back pressed harshly against the wood behind him.

Phil knew he wasn’t telling the full truth, though. Call it fatherly instincts, or just having known him for years, but he knew when he told a lie. It was obvious, the way he was avoiding eye contact, the way his leg bounced under the table without him knowing it, or how he was so quiet throughout the entire day. Or maybe, just maybe, the way he bit at his tongue at every mention of his adoptive brother, was a tell-tale sign of the fact that he wasn’t just tired.

“Techno,” he started sternly. Techno shifted in his chair and raised his eyebrows as he hummed in response. “Look at me, Techno. Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

It didn’t sound like Phil, at first. In Techno’s mind, he was right back at home and his father was teaching him about respect again. But he never wanted to think about that again. He never wanted to call that man his father. Phil was his father, and that wouldn’t change.