Chapter Text
Phil didn’t know what Techno had been through, but it seemed to have been awful, considering the way he acted all the time.
Phil gently nudged the boy’s plate closer towards him, urging him to eat. “C’mon, mate. You need to eat, you’re so thin…” He muttered.
Techno eyed the food cautiously before picking up a potato wedge and biting into it. Phil watched as the boy’s eyes lit up and he looked down at the food in shock before digging into the rest of it.
The blond smiled, watching the young piglin eat. “ Good,” He thought, “ He needs this, ”
Techno ate all of his food in record time before sitting back in his chair, eyeing Phil cautiously again. The man chuckled and carefully took the empty plate, “Do you want some more?” He asked, to which Techno nodded.
Phil scooped out some more potatoes and food before handing the plate back to him. The boy ate slower this time, but finished the food nonetheless.
“Well Techno, I’d like you to know that my name is Philza, but you can call me Phil,” He introduced himself with a smile.
Techno nodded, still not saying anything. He hadn’t spoken a word since the last night when he’d told Phil his name.
Phil had watched him sleep, afraid he’d run off if he woke up. He didn’t, but he did scream and cry throughout the night, waking up screaming in the morning and freaking out after realizing he was in a stranger’s home.
Phil stood up, wincing at the way Techno flinched when he did so. He grabbed the dirty dishes and placed them in the sink before putting the leftovers in the icebox.
He turned back to Techno, noticing the boy was still sitting in his seat. “You can get up if you’d like, Techno,” He said softly. Almost instantly the young piglin hopped out of his chair and hurried into the living room.
The blond sighed, walking after him. After entering the living room, he found Techno hiding behind the couch. “You okay back there, mate?” He asked gently. Techno squeaked and nodded, covering his head with his hands. “Okay then…” Phil muttered, pulling away from the couch.
The man sighed again, sitting down on his chair. “Maybe I'll just take a little nap…” He mumbled to himself, keeping an eye on the couch as he drifted off. He was definitely tired from staying up all night to watch Techno.
_____________________________
Phil jolted awake to the sound of glass shattering. He sat up, quickly glancing around. It sounded like it came from down the hall. He quickly got up, following the source of the noise until he found Techno standing beside what used to be a vase his wife had made for him.
The boy was trembling, and he backed away from Phil in fear, his eyes wide. “I- I didn’t mean to- I’m sorry, I just bumped into it-” He stammered, tears filling his eyes.
Phil crouched down, looking the boy in the eyes. “Shh, it’s okay, mate. I know you didn’t mean to, it was an accident,” He soothed. “Hey, don’t cry, it’s alright,” He reached out to wipe Techno’s tears away but the boy flinched away from the touch.
Phil sighed and stood up, carefully picking his way through the shards of vase. “Can I at least move you away from the glass?” He asked, to which Techno nodded hesitantly.
The blond scooped the young piglin up under the armpits, carefully moving him around and setting him down away from the broken vase. “Go on now, I’m going to clean this up,” He said as he motioned for the boy to go back into the living room.
Techno slowly backed away before turning and running off, leaving Phil with the broken vase. He sighed, “Kris made me that…” He mumbled to himself.
_____________________________
Phil’s eyes snapped open.
He was laying in his bed, and the house was quiet. But something felt wrong . For years he’d been able to sense when things weren’t right. When someone was watching him, dangerous changes in weather and the earth around him, illnesses, and much more. It was a gift his wife had given him.
The winged man quickly got up from his bed, grabbing the sword he always kept hidden beneath it before he exited the bedroom.
His front door was open.
The blond’s feathers fluffed up in anxiousness as he crept out of the house. Not far from the house was a group of unknown men, struggling to keep a young piglin from escaping their hold. Phil tensed. Techno . The man hurried across the clearing, startling the men into drawing their weapons.
“Let him go!” He demanded, holding out his own sword and staring at the men with a chilling glare.
One man in particular, withering effect eating away at his body, stepped forward. “
Fuck
no. This little freak has poisoned me, I’m going to die simply because it
touched
me. It’s killed one of my men, poisoned multiple others with its cursed touch, and ran away on top of that.”
“
He
is a person!” Phil snapped, swinging his blade out in a wide arch. “Let him go,
now
,”
The man scoffed and made a gesture with his hand, and afterwards the men dropped Techno. The young piglin squealed in surprise, quickly scrambling to get up by crying out in pain when the withering man planted his boot between his shoulders. “This little pig is going to die for what he’s done, and it’s going to hurt . There’s nothing you can do to st-”
The man fell to the ground in a bloody heap, his head detached from his body. The others gasped, backing away from the winged man in fear.
“Don’t let me catch you near my home ever again,” The blond whispered threateningly, blood glistening on his blade in the moonlight. “You’re deaths would be much less quick,”
The men scrambled over each other in their rush to leave before disappearing into the trees, hopefully never to be seen again.
Phil sighed and turned back to Techno, cowering on the ground. “Oh mate, c’mere…” He muttered, walking over and picking up the boy.
He yelped and flailed around for a moment until Phil cooed, rubbing his and down his back. “There there, it’s alright. No one’s gonna hurt you anymore,” He whispered and walked back up to the house, pulling the doors shut behind him.
The blond walked into the bedroom, discarding his sword before crawling into the bed with the boy. “You’re safe now,” He ran his hand through the trembling piglin’s hair. “
I promise.
”