Archive of Our Own

He didn’t know when it all started. When Techno joined this server and met the mysterious man with the weird mask, he didn’t expect their relationship to be anything but for business. 

The reason he joined was simply because he had found out that both of his siblings had resided here for a while now and not late after, Phil joined as well. Behind his stoic facade, he longed to meet the members of their small family but he always found himself in front of the blond idiot that kept bothering him, challenging him to duels, even though he loses more than he wins.

He wasn’t dumb. He had heard of the rumors, rumors that -as he soon found out- weren’t simple rumors, they were truths. He had heard of the stories of this server, of the Dream SMP, the server that carried the name of the person he couldn’t shake off. Dream had hurt his family, had led Wilbur to where he had been -though now he only travels around the world as a ghost with barely any memories-, had manipulated Tommy and turned him to an empty shell of the person he used to be.

And despite everything, Technoblade couldn’t push him away. He couldn’t stab him when Dream trusted him enough to turn his back to him. He couldn’t strangle him when they cuddled together late at night in his cabin. He couldn’t even think of taking one of the blond’s lives without feeling nauseous.

The reason was simple. Despite everything Dream had done to his family, he liked him and dare he say, he loved him. But it’s not the same love you see in romance novels, it was different. Techno was a teen when he realized that he was different from other people. When he read books about people in his age falling in love, he noticed that he never felt the same thing that people described in their stories. The difference was simple, he didn’t feel the typical romantic attraction and apparently Dream felt the same.

Dream had told him. When Fundy asked him out for dates, Dream happily accepted, blinded by the way the hybrid would compliment everything he did and look at him so lovingly. He thought he felt the same but it was only until the wedding that he realized that what he felt for Fundy wasn’t the same feeling that Fundy had harbored for Dream. (Not that the wedding ended well in the first place)

They found each other during all the wars and although it was the worst time to try out new things, they still did, so they settled with their little relationship, a queerplatonic relationship. And it felt nice, it felt right.

Techno could tell that Phil wasn’t too happy about it and he couldn’t blame the man. His partner had destroyed Phil’s entire family, of course he would have some negative feelings swirling in the pit of his stomach. And sometimes Techno would agree with Phil. Sometimes he would wonder if he did the right thing. Sometimes he would realize how terrible of a person Dream really was, standing on the obsidian grit above L’Manburg, laughing like a maniac, as they blew it up, leaving nothing but a hole as a reminder of Wilbur’s unfinished symphony.

But when those thoughts took over his mind, then suddenly all he could see was Dream with a big fluffy blanket thrown over him, his mask off, as he slowly drank a hot cocoa that was way too hot for him. A Dream that was genuinely happy around him and suddenly all the feelings of doubt seemed to disappear into the cold wind of the tundra.

“I have a surprise for you, Techno.” The blond said one day, a big grin on his face that displayed his excitement a bit too well.

“What is it?”

“Close your eyes.”

“No.” He huffed but Dream urged him to do so, so he sighed and let his eyes flutter shut. Hands that were smaller than his wrapped around his bigger ones and then he could feel something drop onto the palm of his hands. He asked for approval to open his eyes and once he got it, he slowly did.

What he was holding was an earring. One emerald and one ruby, with gold that held them together. Green and red. Those were their colors. A little smile made its way onto his features, despite his attempts to suppress it.

“And look! We are matching!” Dream exclaimed before he tugged a strand of dirty blond hair behind his ear, revealing a similar jewelry to the one in his hand, dangling off of the other’s earlobe. Techno stared mindlessly at it and apparently it gave Dream the wrong impression.

“You- You know, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to wear it, you can just, uh, like carry it in one of your pockets or something.” He rambled, worried that his gift didn’t suit Techno’s taste.

“It’s not that. Dream, did you not disinfect your ear after you pierced it?” He asked, masked concern lacing his question.

The boy only tilted his head. “Disinfect?”

“Do...do you not disinfect your wounds after a fight?”

“No, I usually just throw on some bandages, drink a healing potion and wait until they heal.” Dream shrugged as if that was self-explanatory, as if it was obvious.

“You know you are supposed to disinfect your wounds, right? So they wouldn’t... you know, get infected?” Technoblade really hoped that Dream knew the basics of how to treat open wounds but based on his prior answers, he really doubted it. He sighed and leaned forward, his hands traveling to the other’s pierced ear to take off the earring.

“Hey! Get your hands off of mine! You already have your own one, how greedy are you?!” Dream protested lightheartedly but Techno took it off anyway with a small chuckle. “Your ear is literally a second away from getting infected, you dumb idiot, let me get the disinfectant so I can treat it.”

“Fine.” The blond huffed when the pinkette placed both earrings onto a nearby table before he stood up to grab the necessities. “Do you like the gift, though?”

Although Techno really didn’t want to admit it -it just wasn’t like him- he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips. “Yea, I do, thank you, Dream.”

“Will you wear it?”

“...”

“Techno?”

“Shut up and let me work.”

“I take that as a yes.”

“Shut up.”

(That's how I imagine the earrings to look like)

It was not a secret that both of them were quite, well, competitive, although Dream was definitely the person who showed it more, so Techno wasn’t going to just sit there and take a gift without returning one as well and what would fit Dream better than an axe? Exactly. Nothing.

With the netherite he had stored away in his ender chest, he decided to make the perfect weapon with the best enchantments possible, which also meant that he had to get the best enchantment-books possible, which would definitely take a while. It wasn’t that big of a problem, after all, they had all the time of the world and if someone would say that his gift was a thousand times more worth than Dream’s little earring than he would simply deny it. Dream’s was unique, whilst weapons existed basically everywhere on this server.

He worked and he travelled and he would always try to get back as soon as possible, in case Dream decided to visit him out of nowhere, but the blond never did. At first, he thought it was poor timing, thought that whenever he went out to look for books, Dream would come visit and they would miss each other every single time.

He had asked Phil about it, but apparently the man never came. Techno wasn’t too worried. Dream would disappear for days without a word from time to time, it wasn’t something surprising, really. But days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and by that time, he had already finished his axe that he planned to give to Dream but he hadn’t heard from the man a single time during that time period.

That’s when he finally started to worry. And when he finally decided to go look for him, he got a message on his communicator. It wasn’t an explanation for his absence, it was a simple message.

Dream whispered to you: Come to these coordinates. XX XXX XX

As soon as he saw that, he grabbed his sword and his cape and left the house without telling Phil, something he would always do. It could be a trap, someone could have stolen Dream’s communicator, but in that minute, he couldn’t care more.

The coordinates led to a cabin in the woods. With a sword tightly in his grasp, he opened the door, finding the room empty. “Dream?” He asked but an answer never came. He waited and waited and suddenly the door was thrown open and he couldn’t believe his eyes when he spotted who it was. Well, he did believe it, after all that’s who he had expected to see but never in such a state.

“T-Techno-” A broken voice called out to him, hoarse and quiet, before he fell forwards but Techno was there to catch him.

“Dream! What happened?! Where have you been?!” Hearing Techno sounding genuinely worried for someone was a rare thing but right now, he couldn’t care less, after all, it was just Dream but Dream wasn’t just Dream. He was hurt, the hair Techno loved to braid was cut messily and the golden curls had turned to an ugly brown. The weight that was leaning on him was barely there and Dream’s entire body was bloody and battered. Not once in his life had he seen his partner in such a state and it frightened him. He hated it.

“Techno... ‘m sorry.” Dream whispered quietly and Techno’s heart broke.

“Dream-”

“Tech- please... kill me, use the sword you carry with you, anything, please, I can’t do this anymore.” The blond was begging him, begging him for something he would have never imagined it would ever happen. Dream begged for death.

“What- No, I will bring you back to my cabin, I- We will patch you up, everything’s going to be okay, I-”

“NO! J-Just kill me! I’m begging you, Techno! I- Please... kill me,” Dream screamed, “I-I don’t wanna die by their hands, Techno.”

“Whose hands, Dream? I can protect you-”

”You want me to be happy, right? Then kill me, w-when you kill me, I will be happy, I promise! You would do that, right? Right? You would want me to be happy-” Techno’s mind blanked out after that. He knew Dream was trying to manipulate him, manipulating him into killing him and he also knew that Dream hated to do this, which meant that he was desperate, desperate to die and Techno hated how well it worked.

He would destroy planets if it meant that Dream was happy, he would do anything so he could see the blond smile and before he even realized it, his sword was buried deep in Dream’s abdomen. Blood that Dream had caught up, splattered onto his face and he soon held a limp body in his arms. “T-Thank you, Techno... ‘m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Nothing was fine.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He whispered back. “Sleep well, Dream.” And then the room went quiet.

Techno didn’t cry. He never did. He didn’t cry when Wilbur died to his father’s hands, he didn’t cry when Tommy betrayed him, and yet tears were streaming down his face as he held Dream’s lifeless body in his arms. He wasn’t a loud crier. He didn’t sob, he didn’t make any noises. Tears were the only indication that he was finally breaking.

The moment was interrupted, people were storming through the door before they took in the scene in front of them.

“What the fuck, Techno? Why did you kill him? Didn’t you read the messages in chat? You were only supposed to capture-”

He went on a killing spree that day.

He returned, carrying Dream’s body bridal style and Phil was already standing in front of the door, visibly concerned.

“Techno! I saw the death messages in chat and-” A gasp. “Is-Is that Dream?” Techno nodded. “Is he...” Another nod.

“Techno-”

“I’m fine, Phil.”

“Are you-”

“I said I’m fine.” He snapped, he never did, not when it was Philza. He had apologized later that day.

He was prepared for a lot of things. He had expected a lot of things. But not once did he expect to stand in front of his partner’s grave in his mid-twenties. It was ridiculous, really, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to laugh.

The weapon he had planned to gift Dream was now buried with him underground. Not even the weapon, Dream ever got to see. What a shame. Techno had noticed beforehand that the blond wasn’t wearing his earring anymore and he also found out that it must have been either Sam or Quackity who could have possibly taken it.

He took it back either way.

And now he took off his own one as well before he put both of them into a little box, placing it next to the gravestone. No one came for Dream’s funeral, it was only Techno, it had always been him. Phil stood further away to leave him alone. It was a good decision.

Days had become dull and boring after that. There was no idiot who broke into his house and claimed it as his own, there was no blond man that would annoy him to do something until he gave in, there was no Dream that would wake up with him in the mornings.

He would dream about Dream every single night. Ironic, isn’t it? Maybe nightmare was the better word to describe his dreams. They would always start happy and calm and they would always end with him killing Dream with his own hands. Techno would always wake up screaming, eyes wide in horror while tears slid down his cheeks down to his chin, a layer of sweat would cover his skin and Phil would be there to hug and comfort him.

Because of those nightmares, he refused to sleep. The longest he had gone without drifting off was a week until Philza found out about it and forced him to rest.

It took a long time but Techno started to move on, not from Dream -he could never- but from his death. He stopped blaming himself and rather than that, he accepted it. Dream had wanted him to kill him, it was his last wish and Techno had fulfilled it.

The nightmares stopped after that. They were replaced with actual dreams of them, of the past and the imaginary future and although he would still wake up with tears in the morning, they weren’t tears of despair and horror. He once stood in his potato farm and felt a lingering touch on his shoulder, there was no one but he believed that it was Dream, watching him and making sure he was alright.

In addition and for some odd reason, Techno started to get hallucinations. Sometimes he would hear Dream talking, always saying the same thing but he never saw him. It didn’t bother him though, because this way he wouldn’t forget how Dream’s voice rang in his ears whenever he arrived at his cabin. He had learned to accept.

“I’m home, Techno!”

And Techno smiled.

“Welcome home, Dream.”