#fl&sc

Sighing to yourself, you head down to the kitchen for lunch, already planning a trip to the bookstore afterwards. You had grown increasingly close with Techno’s parents after everything, and typically spent at least a couple of afternoons a week with them, helping out around the bookstore. It was a nice way to still feel close to your beloved, even when he was so far away from you.

Upon walking past the study, you’re surprised to see your parents both seated at the desk, pouring over some papers. Knocking gently at the door, your father waves you in idly, eyes still scanning across the page he was reading.

“What are the two of you working on here?” you ask, trying to peek at the papers scattered across the desk’s surface.

“Nothing you need to worry about, darling,” your mother says, pulling papers towards her and away from the edge of the table. Suddenly suspicious, you quickly snatch up one of the pages from the desk and begin scanning your eyes over it to figure out what’s going on here.

You’re not happy with what you find.

“Are these... betrothal bids?” you say in disbelief. Your mother winces at your tone, but your father’s face is set in steely determination.

“It’s important that we find you an appropriate match, before everyone of our standing has already paired off. I won’t see you married to some lowlife who can’t give you the life that you deserve.”

“I understand that, Father, but you’re forgetting that I’m already betrothed.” You bring your left hand up to your chest, where your ruby ring still sits prominently.

It’s your mother who speaks up this time. “Darling....”

“No!” You cut her off. “You made an agreement with Techno’s family that we were to be married, and you’re already backing out of it? At least give him a chance to come home first, it hasn’t been that long!!”

Your father’s tone is cold. “The boy is gone, child. The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be, for all of us.”

You feel tears begin to well up in your eyes, and internally curse you weepy disposition. Fighting to keep your voice steady, you manage to force out, “He told me he would come back for me.”

Standing up and reaching for you, your mother says, “Oh, my baby...” You shrug her hands off and continue on through your increasingly heavy tears.

“He said he would come back! He promised! You can’t do this, because Techno is going to come back! He has to.” Pausing to take a shuddering breath in, you continue on a little bit more quietly, “What would become of me if he doesn’t?”

The room is silent for a moment, as you stare your father down. He breaks eye contact first, looking back down to the papers on the desk; you can’t find it in you to be happy at the small victory.

“I will be choosing a new partner for you from this pile of applications,” your father says to you, “and there’s nothing you can say that will change that.”

The world stops spinning around you. You feel a sudden wave of calm wash over you—your tears stop, and your voice comes out stronger than before when you speak again.

“I will not marry another. You can accept as many bids as you’d like, but I will marry no one but Technoblade. I’ll walk out of the church before the ceremony if I have to.”

The tears start to well up again as you finally admit aloud the thing you’ve known in your heart all along. “I love him. I always will, and no betrothal bid in the world could change that.”

“Bernard,” your mother is speaking quietly, as though she thinks you will not hear her if she does, “I told you it was too soon, we should have waited--”

“You can wait as long as you like, my answer will remain the same. I will not marry another. Techno will come back to me, and we will get married and live happily for the rest of our days.”

Your father stands abruptly, eyes blazing. “Go to your room.”

“Fine,” you reply, “but if I find out that you’ve accepted any of those bids, you’ll never see me again, and that is a promise.”

His hands slam on the desk, making you jump. “GO TO YOUR ROOM!” He repeats, much more harshly this time. You exit the study without speaking again.

Your mother follows you out into the hallway. Placing a gentle hand on your arm, she speaks quietly to you. “Darling, you know your father means well, and he just wants what’s best for you. Please, just think about it, alright?”

Turning to face her, you reply, “Techno is coming back to me. He promised he would, and so he will. I have to believe it, because the alternative is that he is dead, and I refuse to accept that.”

Removing your arm from your mother’s grip gently, you leave her standing in the hallway speechless, as you continue upstairs to your room.

You just barely manage to close the door behind you before you collapse to the ground, and the tears begin to flow freely once again.

‘What if he isn’t coming back?’ a small, traitorous voice in the back of your head whispers, ‘And you’re alone for the rest of your life?’

You shake your head sharply to dispel this line of thinking.

Techno was coming back to you. He had to be.

With these words on repeat in your head, you take a deep breath and move to continue on with your day, the ever persistent ache in your heart your only steadfast companion.

The castle has been alive with energy these past few days.

There was a ball coming up, you had learned, to celebrate the Empire’s recent military victories, as well as the Emperor’s upcoming birthday.

The Emperor himself was less than pleased about this whole thing, you had also learned.

“This whole thing was Wilbur’s idea,” Techno had explained to you one night when you were getting ready to fall asleep, head pillowed on his chest, with a paperback novel abandoned beside you on the bed, “and I’m fairly certain he did it just to spite me.”

“You still don’t like parties much, huh?” had been your sleepy reply. Techno hummed in agreement to that statement.

“I’ve never been to a ball before,” you had sighed out, “it sounds like it could be fun...”

Just as you were dozing off, you heard Techno gruffly speak into the silence.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad. As long as you’re there.”

Which led you to today, the day of the celebration.

You’d spent the past couple of weeks in various fittings for an outfit befitting of a Royal’s partner, all silk and lace, with a shiny new circlet and other jewellery to match. The clothing wasn’t as uncomfortable as you had feared it might be, and the blue and white of the Empire’s colours suited you well, thankfully.

You were currently waiting in the wings behind the largest platform of the Grand Hall to be introduced alongside your betrothed. Phil was also there, next to a beautiful woman you had never seen before wearing a gorgeous black gown and a veil over her face; Wilbur was standing nearby as well, accompanied by a young lady in a silvery-blue dress. He was nearly bent at the waist in order to be able to whisper something into her ear, which she was giggling at—it was sweet.

Trumpets sounded just outside of the curtains: it was time to enter the celebration. One by one, your names were called out by the steward (“Lord Phillip Craft, accompanied by the Lady Kristin”, “Lord Wilbur Soot, accompanied by the Lady Lyss”), until it was just you and Techno remaining behind the curtains.

He offered you his arm, which you took hold of gratefully, hand shaking slightly with nerves. “You ready?” he asks you gently.

“As I’ll ever be,” you reply, giving him a nervous smile.

“They’ll love you,” he’s quick to reassure, “and if they don’t I’ll have them executed.”

You laugh, but he doesn’t look like he’s joking.

Before you have a chance to try and unpack that any further, your names are being called, and Techno is leading you out into the bright lights of the Grand Hall. People are applauding, but you can barely hear it over the roaring in your ears.

Techno leads you down the stairs to the centre of the dance floor. It seems this must have been some sort of cue, because once the two of you are settled into place, other couples begin swarming the area as well. You end up between Wilbur and his partner (who gives you a little smile and a wave), and an older couple dressed in ostentatious outfits covered in feathers.

The music begins, and you scramble desperately to remember your childhood dance lessons. Techno had been your partner back then, too, you remember suddenly, and a wave of nostalgia washes over you so strongly that you almost stumble. If it weren’t for Techno’s grip on you, you would have.

Techno’s arm around your waist tightens. “You okay there, Starling?”

“Yeah, I’m all good,” you smile up at him, “just remembering when we first learned how to dance.”

He chuckles and replies, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Feels like a lifetime ago at this point.”

“You’re much better at it now than you were back then.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice other than to learn.”

A brief pause falls over the pair of you, before Techno speaks up again, tone a little hesitant and awkward, “You look breathtaking tonight.”

You feel your cheeks blaze into a blush, butterflies erupting in your stomach. “Thank you,” you reply, “It’s a good thing that Empire blue suits my colouring.”

He hums. “I think you’d look even better in red.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

You once again lapse into a comfortable silence. Techno’s hand is warm on your waist as the two of you continue to make your way around the dance floor. His hair is pulled back in an elegant updo, and his many interconnected earrings flash in the flickering light of the ballroom. Your heart flutters, and you feel like a teenager all over again.

As the music begins to draw to a close, his eyes, glowing redder than usual in this lighting, flicker down to your mouth. The flutter in your heart picks up into a consistent pounding, and the butterflies turn into a storm.

Techno’s arm pulls you ever so slightly closer to him as the music fades away, and it feels like you’re the only people in the room.

You’re very abruptly reminded that this is not the case, when the pair of you are absolutely swarmed by well wishers the instant that the last notes of the violin have finished ringing out through the Grand Hall.

Techno does his best to keep a grip on your hand, but despite his best efforts, you’re swept away by the mob. You shoot him a smile and a wave from near the back of the crowd, and begin making your way over to the refreshment tables on the far side of the room. As you’re walking away, you can hear Techno’s voice rise above the noise of the Hall, sounding distinctly uncomfortable, and your heart squeezes that you can’t be with him to help.

After a brief stop to peruse the food and beverages on offer, you grab yourself a flute of champagne and a small chocolate tart, and continue making your way around the perimeter of the room, looking for a less crowded place to stand and eat your treat.

Nobody pays you much mind as you make your way through the crowd. You spot Phil and his mysterious companion on the far side of the ballroom, and wave briefly to Tommy where he stands with the rest of the servants near the main castle doorway. 

You eventually settle in a relatively isolated corner of the room, body mostly hidden in the shadow of a grand tapestry. 

As you take the first bite of your tart, the ensemble begins warming up their instruments for the next dance. You scan the crowd for Techno, and find him still surrounded, looking, at least to your eyes, like he would rather be anywhere else. 

You sigh. Looks like no more dancing for you for the foreseeable future. 

As the music returns full force, you idly watch the passing couples as they twirl passed. Wilbur and his partner glide by you, her pale blue skirt flashing silver where the material catches the light as he spins her around. You can't help but smile at the joy on their faces, even as your chest pangs slightly in jealousy.

Your silent contemplation is suddenly interrupted by a shadow looming over you to the left. You turn, startled, to see an unfamiliar face leering at you.

"May I have this dance?" he holds out a hand, cocky smirk still affixed on his face, as though he can't even fathom the idea that you would say no. 

"No thank you, I'm not interested."

The man scoffs, leaning further into your space, and your shoulders hike up instinctively. "Oh, c'mon honey, don't be like that…." You can smell the alcohol on his breath as it wafts over you.

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm really not interested." Sensing that this won't be enough to make him back down, you tack on, "I don't think that my betrothed would be very happy to hear you pressuring me to dance with you."

The man opens his mouth to reply, but before he can get a word out, a throat clears behind him.

“Is everything alright over here?”

You’ve never been more relieved to see Techno in your life. 

“Nothing you need to be concerned about, Majesty,” the man says with a sneer. Techno eyes him up and down, expression stony.

“Thanks, but I wasn’t actually talking to you,” Techno replies coldly, before his garnet eyes meet your own, expression visibly softening. “Are you okay, Starling?”

He holds a hand out towards you, and you don’t hesitate to take it. You’re quickly tugged away from the other man and tucked tightly into Techno’s side. You push yourself as close to him as you can possibly get, body relaxing instinctively into his warmth.

The other man has the audacity to laugh. Techno’s grip on you tightens. “Oh, honey, really? This is your betrothed?”

He takes a stumbling step forwards, and Techno instinctively shifts so that your body is partially shielded behind his own. Across the Hall, you can see Phil beginning to make his way over to where you’re standing, and Wilbur appears to be making his way over slowly, as well, as the music again fades out.

“Are we going to have a problem?” Techno asks, voice low and dangerous, hand moving to rest on the pommel of his sword. You had thought it was there purely for decoration, but apparently not.

The other man’s eyes stray towards the weapon, and he clearly isn’t drunk enough to think that fighting the Emperor is a good idea, because he takes a step back, hands raised in an ‘I surrender’. “No, Sire,” he says the honorific as though it is a slur, “I was just surprised to hear that someone like you had managed to snag someone so lovely to be your partner.”

Techno goes very still beside you.

Before either of you can add anything to the conversation, the man continues on, his eyes locked onto yours this time. “Tell me honey, do you know about what your betrothed really is? Has he told you about all the people he’s killed? The cities he’s burned in the name of the Blood God?” The man lets out an almost deranged laugh, “Let’s face it Your Majesty, no matter how much you hide behind your military accolades, and your holier-than-thou front, everyone here knows that you’re nothing but a monster.”

Time feels like it freezes for a moment, as the small group of you standing there process the words that were just spoken.

Several things happen in rapid succession, then.

Tommy appears, seemingly out of nowhere, jumping onto the man’s back, screaming “YOU BITCH” at the top of his lungs, as the man flails trying to get him off. More people jump into the fray in an attempt to separate the pair, a few strangers, but also a few familiar faces, Techno among them. 

“Guards!” he yells out, and six members of his Royal Guard, including Captain Dream, come storming into the scene. You very quickly find yourself sidelined, standing near the mysterious Lady that was accompanying Phil this evening– she gives you a small smile from underneath her veil.

The man is very quickly subdued, what with six guards, the Emperor himself, and an irate teenager all attempting to bring him down (although that last one was more a hindrance than a help; Tommy himself needing to be restrained by a put-upon looking Sapnap to stop him from jumping the man all over again).

The man sneers up at Techno from where he’s being held, kneeling, by two guards. Technoblade’s face appears impassive as he looks down at the man. Backlit by one of the hanging lamps that line the walls, he looks like some sort of avenging angel, here to pass judgement on the man kneeling before him.

Techno regards the man for another moment. Silence reigns in the ballroom, the scuffle having drawn the attention of the other guests present, as all in witness wait in anticipation to hear what the Emperor will decide.

“Take him away,” Techno says, face remaining a stony mask. The guards begin moving towards the doorway, hauling the man between them, and Techno turns away from the sight. 

The man makes eye contact with you as he’s being dragged past. “I’d be careful if I was you, honey,” he spits, “getting too close to a monster like that thing can only end poorly for you.” 

You scoff at him, turning away, and he laughs derisively. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” are his parting words, as the guards finally reach the grand doors leading out of the Hall.

The silence continues for another couple of moments once the doors close behind them. Your eyes search for Techno in the crowd, and you find him quickly, still facing away from the crowd, shoulders visibly tensed. 

The crowd unfreezes after a moment, and you quickly find yourself swarmed by a crowd of nobles, all of whom you’ve never met before. 

“That must have been so scary,” a lady practically squeals in your ear, and you step away from her on instinct, only to bump into a gentleman just behind her, who immediately begins grilling you for information about what happened before everyone’s attention had been drawn in by the fight. 

After a minute, you manage to extract yourself from the situation, scanning the crowd wildly for Techno, but you can see no sign of him anywhere in the vicinity. Turning slowly in a circle, your eyes continue searching for your betrothed in the crowd. You spot Tommy, speaking angrily to Sapnap, while he stands there, looking exasperated at this turn of events. Phil is in the corner where you last remember seeing Techno, speaking very seriously to his mysterious companion. So many people, all in colourful party clothes swim past your eyes, but none of them the one you’re searching for. 

A tap on your shoulder jolts you out of your focused search, and you turn around, startled, to see Wilbur’s companion standing there, a sympathetic look in her eyes. 

“He went that way,” she says, pointing to the tapestry on the Northernmost wall of the Grand Hall. At your look of confusion, she clarifies, “There’s a secret passage behind there that leads up to some of the galleries on the next floor up. Not many people know about it, so it’s a pretty easy escape route.”

Expressing your gratitude quickly, you begin making your way towards the tapestry. Lady Lyss calls out “Good luck!” to your back, and you shoot her a final smile over your shoulder, before slipping behind the tapestry and into the secret passage.

It’s surprisingly clean and well lit for something that’s supposed to be a relatively well kept secret, but you quickly shake free of that train of thought, and follow the short hallway down to a spiraling staircase up to the next floor.

Carrie if you’re reading this I love you <3<3<3

Once you reach the top of the staircase, you take stock of your surroundings. You’re in a relatively unfamiliar and little used section of the castle, one that you had only walked through maybe twice before during your initial exploration of the grounds when you had first arrived. The hallway is sparsely lit, with only every third torch on the wall illuminated, and you can see alcoves with openings overlooking the Grand Hall periodically. 

Along the other side of the hallway are darkened rooms, that you remember as being mainly unused guest bedchambers and seldom frequented galleries. Walking slowly down the hallway, you peer into each room as you pass by, scanning the perimeter for a Techno-shaped shadow. 

The third room you look into, you find success.

Moonlight spills through the bay windows, silhouetting your betrothed in silver light where he stands, with his back to you, in front of the window.

You must make some sort of sound, because Techno turns abruptly to face you. The moon now backlighting him, he almost looks like he’s glowing, the light glinting off of his crown making the golden metal appear closer to a silvery halo. His eyes stand out, intense in their scarlet glow against the shadowed silhouette of the rest of his face.

The two of you maintain eye contact for a breathless moment before Techno turns to face the window again, still silent. You slowly begin approaching him, the sound of your footfalls against the stone floor echoing loudly in the otherwise silent room.

You reach Techno’s side a minute later, but he keeps his eyes cast forward out the window. Standing next to him, not touching, but close enough together that you can feel his body heat to your right, you also allow your gaze to wander over the view outside of the window. This section of the palace overlooks the cliffs on the far East of the castle grounds, which you can just make out the shape of in the moonlight. Beyond that, the ocean stretches, dark and cold, into the horizon; the moonlight glinting off of the surface of the water illuminates the occasional ice floe, stark white against the surrounding water. 

Beside you, Techno lets out a sigh. “Why are you here, Starling?” he asks, tone weary.

“I came to make sure you were okay,” you reply evenly, despite the anxiety crawling inside of your chest.

He scoffs. "Of course I'm okay. It's nothing that I haven't heard before."

"That doesn't make it okay though," you counter gently. 

He returns his gaze to the window, and silence reigns supreme over the two of you once again. 

“Aren’t you going to ask about it?” Techno says suddenly, quite abrupt in his delivery.

“Ask about what?”

“What he said back there. About me burning cities and slaughtering masses. Surely you’re curious about how true all of that was.”

“Techno,” you place your hand on his arm, and he finally looks you in the eye, “I won’t ask about it if you don’t want me to. I’ll wait as long as you need me to, until you’re ready to tell me about your past on your own terms.”

The two of you stare at each other for a minute, no words exchanged. Music starts up again in the ballroom and drifts, just barely audible, to your ears.

Techno clearly hears it too; his eyes flick over to the doorway for a moment, then back to you. A conflicted expression briefly passes over his face, before it smooths back out into his typical impassive face.

Before you can even open your mouth to ask him what that was about, he’s moving to the center of the room and thrusting an open hand towards you. You stare at it for a moment, bewildered, before raising your eyeline to meet his.

With a faint blush on his cheeks, Techno abruptly says, “Dance with me.”

You blink. Then, slowly, you approach him and take his hand.

He immediately sweeps you into his arms, beginning a slow swaying to the faint chords of the violin drifting up from downstairs. The two of you fall into rhythm just as easily as you had at the start of the night, but with a few key differences this time around.

You’re standing much closer to him than propriety would typically allow now, and his hand is resting far lower on your back than it was when you started the night. The exposed skin there tingles where his fingers rest, hot like a brand, against your back. 

Tentatively, you bring your head down to rest against Technoblade’s shoulder, relaxing your body against him. His hand briefly tightens against your back, before he relaxes and shifts to accommodate more of your body weight. Your legs are brushing together each time you sway to either side, practically intertwined with how close together you are; you can hear Techno’s heartbeat underneath your ear, steady and strong, albeit a bit fast. 

“I have a scar,” Techno begins haltingly, a minute or so later, “in the center of my chest. I got it during the ritual that the cult did to summon the Blood God. I almost died– I did die, except the Blood God brought me back. He chose me as His champion. His Vassal.”

He pauses for a moment, taking a couple of deep, shuddering breaths. You can do nothing but burrow deeper into his chest, rubbing small, soothing circles on his back as best you can. 

Techno presses on after a minute, though it seems as though it takes him much more effort than usual to maintain his usual expressionless tone. “Time gets a little… weird for me, for the next little bit. It’s a pretty big adjustment, having a God inside your head all the time. I did a lot of stuff at that point, because the cult wanted me to. They were trying to build the Blood God’s strength back up, and to do that, they needed a lot of blood, and since I was his vassal, it had to be me that did it. I… I killed a lot of people.”

“Did you want to?” you can’t help but ask, internally wincing almost as soon as the words have left your mouth. Techno seems to take it in stride though.

Sighing deeply into your hair, he says, raw honesty evident in his voice, “I’m not certain. Our thoughts and desires were all… jumbled up during that time, Him and me. I have a hard time picking apart which were the things He wanted and the things I wanted. They’re really one and the same.”

“It got easier, to tell things apart as the Blood God grew stronger,” Techno continues on, almost as though he’s trying to reassure you, “and it got so that he and I could have actual conversations in my head as two separate entities shortly before Manifestation,” Techno laughs faintly here, but it isn’t a happy sound. “He uh… wasn’t too happy, both with how the cult were treating me, and with what He saw in my memories of how all this came to be. The last thing He did before Manifesting in His own separate, Godly form was commandeer my body to slaughter them all with Divine strength.”

He takes another shuddering breath, and you can’t help but interrupt. “You don’t have to tell me anything, Tech.” 

“No, I want to,” he counters, “You deserve to know.” 

When it becomes clear to him that you aren’t going to say anything more, he continues on, voice a little steadier now, “I wandered for a little while after the Manifestation and subsequent massacre. After Manifesting, the Blood God kinda just… left me to my own devices, although I still bear His mark, and I can channel His power in certain situations, if He deems it worthy. It’s come in handy a few times, although I shudder to think what may have happened if I had ever lost His favour.

“I tried to find my way home after everything, but I never was great with directions, and I wound up getting picked up by some nobel from the Kingdom of Hypixel, who brought me in to be a gladiator in the Capital. That’s actually where I met Phil.”

“What about Wilbur and Tommy?” you ask, and Techno chuckles. “They came along a little later on, after we had already started the Empire.”

“Oh yeah, how did that happen, anyways?”

“Ahaha….” he laughs awkwardly, “Uh, Phil and I…. kinda overthrew a government?”

You move to pull away slightly to look up at his face, eyebrows raised, though his hand tight on your back makes it hard to pull away more than a few inches. He smiles at the look on your face, and is quick to continue with his story, gently pulling your head back to his chest.

“Phil and I met in the Gladiator ring. Our quarters in the fighter’s wing were next to each other, so we became friends almost out of necessity. The fighters… weren’t treated super well, and we got to talking about how unfair it was, and next thing I knew we were recruiting the other gladiators to our cause and starting a rebellion throughout the Capital.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain how you ended up the Emperor of an Empire.”

You try to pull back to look into his eyes again, but his hand holds your head to his chest this time around. Still, he’s quick to elaborate in answer to your claim, so you allow yourself to relax back against him. 

“Turns out, the King and the rest of the upper crust weren’t just unkind to us fighters; they were unkind to pretty much all of the citizens that they viewed as lower class. So, the people were actually pretty happy to have somebody else take over. I became kind of… an icon? For the rebellion? Like, a rallying figure.”

Silence falls for a beat. The string quartet down in the ballroom hits a crescendo, but you and Techno never change the gentle speed of your swaying.

“I didn’t really want to be in charge once the dust settled. I mean, you know me, I hate people, and socializing, and that’s like, half of this job at the end of the day. But Phil talked me into staying, and now here I am.”

You giggle a bit at his tone at the end, asking, “What did he have to say to you to convince you of that?”

Techno chuckles into your hair for a moment, before letting out a sigh. “He convinced me that expanding the Empire and annexing towns with the resources we had would be a more effective way to look for you than me searching on my own.”

Your breath catches in your throat. “What?” you breathe out.

“Did you think there would be another reason? I never forgot the promise I made you. The only reason I ever kept going was the thought of seeing you and my parents again.”

“Did you ever find your parents?” you can’t help but ask. You hadn’t seen them in years at this point, not since your family had moved away about a year and a half after Techno’s disappearance. You hoped that they were well.

Techno’s grip tightens around you. “Yeah, we uh. We found them.” His voice doesn’t sound happy when he says this, and you feel your stomach drop.

“What happened?”

“We got there too late. The whole town was rubble by the time Phil and I arrived on scene. We had allied with another faction for this battle, and their commander had instructed them to burn everything to the ground.” 

There’s a shuddering exhale against your hair, but Techno’s voice is as steady as ever when he continues to speak. “I found my parents’ bodies in the ruins of the bookstore. I was just too late to save them.”

“Oh, Tech–” you begin, but he barrels right on, speaking over you for the first time that night. His grip on you is almost painful, it's so strong.

“I went to your house next, and there was nothing there but ruins. I was so convinced I had lost you–”

“Techno you’re hurting me.”

He lets go of you as though he’s been burned, quickly backing away and keeping his eyes on the floor. The music has stopped in the Grand Hall, leaving only the sound of your breathing in its wake.

You take a hesitant step towards him, and Techno flinches. 

“My family moved away,” you say softly, “a little over a year after I lost you.”

He nods his head, swallowing audibly, and adds, “I know. Alex- the guy my parents hired to help out in the bookstore?- survived, and I ran into him. He let me know that you weren’t living there anymore.”

You take another step forward, and reach out to cup his face in your hand. He keeps his eyes on the floor, breath still uneven. 

You place your other hand on his face, and gently force his head up until he meets your eyes. 

“Look at me,” you command, “I’m right here okay? I’m not going anywhere. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Techno clutches at one of your hands like a lifeline. “Gods, Starling. When I thought I had lost you… I’ve never experienced anything worse in my life. Any and all suffering I had faced with the cult, in the fighting rings, all of it paled in comparison to how it felt to think that I would never see you again.”

He reaches out his other hand to cup your cheek, and you turn your face to press a kiss to the inside of his palm. In response, he hooks his hand on the back of your neck and draws you close once again, but in an inverse of your earlier position, with his head buried in the crook of your shoulder, hands now clutching at your back.  

In response, you pet his hair as best you can with the updo it’s in, murmuring reassurances into his ear. 

After a minute, he pulls back, eyes shiny in the dim moonlight. “I love you,” he says, his gaze boring into you and leaving you breathless. 

“I love you too,” you manage to force out past the lump in your throat. Techno smiles, wider than you’ve seen since you were children, and you can’t help but let out a breathless giggle. 

“Can I kiss you?” he asks, and you can do nothing but nod, butterflies crawling up your throat as he leans down slowly to press his lips against yours.

Throwing away any sense of decorum you may have had remaining, you push yourself up onto your tiptoes and deepen the kiss, tangling your fingers into Techno’s hair with no regard for his updo any longer. 

He pulls away from you after a long moment, both of your chests heaving. 

“Again,” you say, already moving back towards his lips. He breathes the barest hint of a laugh against your lips before indulging you once again.

You lose some time here, pressing kiss after kiss against Techno’s lips, his cheeks, his neck, wherever you can reach. You must have moved at some point, though you don’t remember when, because you find yourself pressed up against the bay window, legs wrapped firmly around Techno’s waist, hands still in his hair, with his arms resting on either side of your head, caging you in. The glass is freezing against your back, but Techno’s body feels like fire every place he’s touching you.

He brings his head down into the crook of your neck, and his breath against the sensitive skin there makes you shiver, legs instinctively tightening around him.

“Gods, Starling,” Techno groans into your neck, before placing a soft kiss to the spot where your neck meets your shoulder. When your hand tightens in his hair at the feeling, he does it again. And again, open-mouthed this time, before sucking some of the skin into his mouth and biting down. 

He’s going to leave a mark, you think somewhat dizzily through the haze of pleasure, and heat pools in the bottom of your stomach at the thought. Your eyes flutter closed around a whine, head tilting unconsciously further to the side to give him more room.

There’s a thud from near the entrance of the gallery.

Almost before you’ve registered what’s happening, Techno has pulled away from you and turned around, your body shielded behind him. He has his sword drawn and held steady in a defensive position, but when no threat immediately makes itself apparent, he relaxes minutely, sword lowering down next to him, though still cautiously on guard.

“Who’s there?” Technoblade calls out, voice echoing slightly, “Show yourself!”

Nothing. 

“As the Emperor of the Antarctic Empire, I demand that you show yourself now. If you have no malicious intentions, I promise that no harm will come to you.”

You hold your breath, but as a few long moments pass by with no ominous figures emerging from the shadows, you relax, draping your arms around Techno’s neck and pressing your body against his back to speak into his ear. “Looks like it was nothing.”

He hums at your words, but doesn’t turn around, eyes still scanning over the darkness of the room.

Pouting slightly at being ignored, you take Techno’s earlobe between your teeth, smirking when you hear his breath hitch.

“Starling…”

“What?” you say, trying to keep your grin out of your voice.

Techno sighs deeply, put upon, but he’s smiling when he rearranges your bodies so that you’re face to face. He still doesn’t turn his back to the door, you note, choosing to move you both so that your sides are to the door. 

He presses a kiss to your cheek. “I have to go check it out. I’ll be right back.”

“Do you have to?” you ask, winding your arms around his neck again, practically hanging off of him. 

He rolls his eyes, jostling you gently until you relent and let him go. “It’s probably nothing,” he replies, pressing a kiss to the back of your hand in a silent apology, “but I still need to make sure. For my peace of mind, if nothing else.”

“Fine,” you sigh dramatically, though your besotted expression betrays your true feelings.

“Stay right here, okay?” Techno tells you, “I’ll be right back.”

You lean your back against the window again, as Techno vanishes into the darkness. 

Thinking back over the past little while, you can’t help the swoop in your stomach as a giddy smile overtakes your face. 

Almost in a daze, you move to press against the mark you’re sure is forming on your neck, suppressing another shiver as the dull ache pulses pleasantly against the pressure.

Maybe you could convince Techno to head back to his bedroom once he got back. As attractive as it was that he could support your whole body weight standing up, you imagined that this would be even more fun laying down….

You’re broken from your reverie by the sound of shattering glass.

An unfamiliar pair of arms wraps around your body from behind. You struggle against them as hard as you can, letting out a single scream before a cloth is covering your mouth and nose. Instinctively, you inhale, smelling something cloyingly sweet.

Your vision begins to turn dark around the edges, head lolling as the stranger adjusts their hold on you into something more secure.

The last thing you see before your vision blacks out entirely is Techno's horror-stricken face in the gallery doorway.

Wind rushes through your hair, almost soothingly, as your assailant falls backwards out the window. You take what little comfort you can from the sensation, as you finally succumb to unconsciousness.