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Tommy was the first one to notice, his careful childlike curiosity getting the best of him as he hesitantly pointed out the blistering rash on Techno’s palms. The young blond easily took the excuse that Techno accidentally grabbed some poison ivy when he was harvesting flowers. Techno knew Wilbur wouldn’t believe that excuse, Phil would immediately catch on to what was happening.
Poison ivy, a common irritant, was useless against Techno’s skin. Growing up bounding through fields and meadows riddled with it proved that. A fae’s flesh is uniquely built against poison ivy and poison oak among a variety of other plants.
But frankly, Techno was struggling to come up with any other excuse. Instead, Techno carefully avoided everyone’s gazes. He adopted a pair of gloves to hide the blisters and rash and further protect his skin. When the clothing choice was brought up Techno carefully blamed the upcoming fall, the chill in the air getting to him.
Ignoring the fact that techno could go out into subzero temperatures naked and be completely fine. Techno’s inability to lie caused a few awkward situations Techno had to rely heavily on his silver tongue and riddles. A skill he had not leaned so heavily into since Techno met the Watson family.
Back when Techno was content living in his lonely little fae ring. He had been stranded, outcast by his parents, left to live his life alone. The human realm was admittedly more entertaining than sitting around alone in the fae realm. Even if he saw another faefolk they knew to shun him, ignore Techno’s existence.
That's where Wilbur met Techno, standing in his ring of black dahlias. The ring used to be beautiful Iris’, shifting to the darker flower sometime shortly before he was cast out. It was no secret what the flowers meant, any fool would know to steer clear.
Techno’s father's ring was beautiful astrantia, the meaning tied so closely to his personality and soul it was almost comedic. Protection, courage, and strength are all attributes to describe father, the ruling King of the Seelie court. The rightful ruler by blood, born to the Summer court. Hot-headed and with a proclivity for fire magic.
Mother’s was echinacea. Another flower that is so closely tied to strength, as Queen she constantly displayed it. Yet, unlike Father, her’s was also tied closely to healing and resilience. Born as a lesser fae, married into power, she was always aware of the cruelty power often caused. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Her birth into the spring court left her level-headed and calmer than Father, and her attraction to life magick and ability to heal influenced her greatly.
For centuries, millennia even, Techno’s family ruled the Seelie court justly. Every heir and child born in the family continuously landed on the most powerful days of spring our summer. Strong leaders for the Seelie court, without fail. Many of Techno’s ancestors ruled their associated spring or summer courts. Others become high-level teachers for the young fae, teaching them of life and magic, of the human realm, and of how you are to treat the weaker entity. The Seelie court had implemented strong laws regarding humans several generations ago, allowing conversation and education. No harm was to come to a human purposely under a Seelie fae.
Even Techno’s siblings were strong fae. His elder sister was born to take Father’s spot as ruler. Many people commented on how she would lead the Seelie court into prosperity and peace. Techno’s eldest brothers, twins, are ready to lead as strong warriors to serve under their sister.
All 8 of Techno’s siblings are destined for a predetermined role. Each time Father and Mother split their energy, combining it into one pure fae child, they did it with purpose. With intent to produce meaningful offspring, children that would lead the Seelie court, and by extension their seasonal courts, into wealth and stability.
Then there was Techno.
The youngest.
The Seelie court's biggest secret.
Among all Techno’s tanned-toned siblings, he was the black sheep.
A fae born to the Seelie court in the dead of winter, a rightful member of the Unseelie court by birth, and the Seelie court by blood. For most of Techno’s life, he was forbidden from leaving the castle walls, his cold pale skin and overall “cold” personality giving away his true court.
The unknown 9th child of the King and Queen, unannounced and unknown.
While Techno’s entire family was warm and bubbly, short-tempered and extroverted, Techno was the complete opposite. Cold to the outside world, often seen walking around with a resting frown. Always avoiding “meaningless” conversation. The people he wanted to converse with so far outside his reach, even when they were in the castle walls, Techno was locked away. A boy blessed with a ring of iris’ that signified his strength that rarely was able to see his flowers.
Diplomatic meetings, negotiations of peace treaties, and any form of outsider even getting near the castle left guards ushering Techno to his hidden bedroom in the basement.
It didn’t take a genius to get books about the warring court. With the copious amounts of downtime spent in the darkest and deepest dungeons that were neighbors to his bedroom, it left a lot of time for Techno’s mind to wander. To read, and reread the books about his people. Just like all of his siblings, Techno was born strong, a natural leader, and a warrior.
But Techno’s life was not that of fame and fortune. He would rot in the walls he was born in, it was only fair in the hope of keeping his family’s reputation untarnished. His brothers and sisters were sent to private tutors and the most prestigious of schools, while Techno learned from smuggled books. It burned something fierce that Techno was not taught his natural gift of magic by his parents. He wasn’t wrapped up in blankets and congratulated on his first simple spell. Instead, he sat on the stone floors of the dungeon, taught basic magic and the beliefs of his people by an imprisoned fae, one of the Unseelie court, birthed into autumn.
Techno’s family tree was grown by the hands that lay within it, fae of life, and growth. Strong and resilient to outsiders.
Yet, they never seemed to question the insiders.
All it takes to kill a tree is for one singular bug to get past the hardy bark. Much easier if you were born in the center rings, shipped off to the roots to grow and spread the disease. It was Techno who wrought chaos on the Seelie court. With a natural inclination to magic surrounding rot and death.
Techno tried to get them to see reason, he begged them to just learn about the Unseelie court, their traditions, and rituals. They were not evil. Life can not exist without death, they were not wicked fae. As King Techno’s father was not swayed, thousands of years of battle between the two wedged a crack so deep it festered with infection.
Techno was the first and last child his father would slap.
Not even seconds after the sound dispersed Techno realized there was an audience, all of the pinkette’s siblings and mother witnessing such an act of violence against their own. His cheek stinging as he watched not even a single one of his ‘family’ step forward. “Coward.”
“Do not speak to me that way.”
“You are a coward, father. You will not be able to hide behind a mighty crown and a heavy hand forever.”
“You do not know your place.”
Techno can admit he might have lost his temper. “My place? My place is the deepest dungeons you stuck me in, no one in this room was subtle about their hopes that I would rot.” He was always the perfect son, polite and graceful. He would follow orders without a second of hesitation, sinking back into his hell if it made anyone in his family happy. His place? His place was sitting at the right hand of the Unseelie throne.
“I should have killed you when you were just a babe.”
The black tendrils of Techno’s magic immediately reacted to the rage bubbling in his chest. Every window in the room shattering as the world tried to emulate the storm brewing in Techno’s chest. If his father wanted death, Techno could give him death.
It didn’t even take 5 seconds for the king to fall, his heart rotting as Techno carefully controlled each one of its beats. His father was a cruel man in life, but Techno was crueler in death. Any wisp of energy or magic that seeped from the man-crumpled form was caught and destroyed.
The sound of his mother weeping sounded more like a victory cry to Techno’s ears.
It was no wonder Techno was tossed from the court. Left with rotting iris’ and sprouting black dahlias. The spirits and magick always knew what was right. Even if Techno’s ring brought him more pain than joy, the sorrowful blossoms were correct in the most visceral way.
Betrayal.
“Hey, you alright Tech?” The sound of Phil’s voice cut through Techno’s thoughts like a hot knife. The world around him swiftly came into focus, the feeling of the sun warming his naturally cool skin. “Tech?”
Techno couldn’t quite seem to remember the words, accepting that nodding would have to be enough. Phil didn’t seem all that pleased though, ever the worrier. “You don’t seem alright, Let go sit in the shade for a minute mate, see if that helps.”
Like a good… son… friend that Techno was he followed Phil to the shade, both of them relaxing against the tree that sat at the edge of the field. At some point Techno had allowed his hands to relax, the iron hoe falling to the ground as pain finally registered in Techno’s brain.
How long was he holding that for?
Despite Techno’s best attempts at keeping his burnt and bloody hands out of Phil’s view, luck was not on his side. “Oh my god, why didn’t you say you were hurt?”
“I'm fine Phil.”
“The fuck you are!” It took an embarrassingly short amount of investigative work for Phil to figure out what caused it, the glare he shot at the hoe would have probably killed it if it wasn’t an inanimate object. “The hoe is iron, isn’t it?” Techno couldn’t help as he looked down at his hands that rested on Phil’s leg. “What else is iron that you aren’t telling us, youve been using that hoe for months without comment.”
“It’s fine Phil, I just zoned out and forgot I was holding it.”
“That's not an answer Techno.” Energy could be felt zipping around the blond. He may be human but the man was a magnet for magick. “I don’t want to use it, but I will use your name if I have to. You know I value safety.”
“Please don’t Phil. I’m fine, I promise. The burns will heal eventually, and won't even scar. Perks of being a fae.”
“I don’t care if they don't scar Tech, I care if you got hurt to begin with.” Little sprouts of black dahlias sprouted around them, the high amount of emotions making Techno’s magick volatile in a way that frankly terrified him. Even with the flowers wrapping around Phil’s ankles and knees as he kneeled in front of Techno, the blond’s gaze didn’t falter. “I’m not going to hurt you, you don’t need to be scared.”
Oh.
Oh.
That was a realization that Techno frankly could live without. The boiling emotion in his chest was fear. He couldn’t address that thought at the moment. There were more pressing matters as Phil leaned forward, gently cupping the side of Techno’s face. “I’m sorry, but this is your last chance, what else has been hurting you?”
Techno wanted to open his mouth and say that nothing else was hurting him, that he was perfectly fine. But his damn fae tongue stopped him. No riddle or rhyme could get Techno out of this one. His mind tried desperately to come up with some way to twist the sentence into something mostly true yet believable.
“Technoblade, what else is causing you harm?”
The power surrounding them snapped as it collided with itself. The pure strength of it left Techno to gasp for a single breath. He was a damn fool. He should have never given his name up in exchange for following three pitiful humans home. “Tools, utensils, and some of the horse’s items.” The words came out smooth and monotone, not Techno’s own yet they came from his mouth, his brain.
The surge of exhaustion that followed was manageable;e but annoying. Phil looked apologetic as he stopped Techno from falling forward in the initial burst of exhaustion.
“I'm sorry mate, but you’re allergic to iron. I can’t have you hurting yourself for no reason and then hiding it from us, from me.”
The betrayal of Phil using his name was dulled and diluted, the man did mean well. And if Techno had just been honest to begin with he wouldn’t have ended up in the situation.
“I'm sorry, I just didn’t want to cause any issues.”
“You can cause as many issues as you want. As long as you are safe at the end of the day issues will mean nothing to be tech.” Phil helped pull Techno to his feet, guiding him towards the distant farmhouse. “I don’t know how the fae does it but you are every bit my son, just like Wil or Tommy.”
The two fell in silence as they walked.
— — — —
The clatter of metal on metal woke Techno from his nap he had fallen into on the couch. Phil could be seen standing in the kitchen, bucket in hand as he tossed every fork, knife, and spoon into it.
Maybe this is what a real family feels like.