Chapter Text
“Uh, hey, Techno,” called Ranboo from across the yard. The snow had stopped falling and was now a white, powdery carpet across the ground. Next to Ranboo, Michael plodded along happily. Every so often, he’d trip and Ranboo would help him to his feet. “How’s it going?”
Tossing a shovelful of snow over the railing of the porch, Techno gave a wave in their direction. The porch was almost done anyway and so he leaned the shovel against the wall.
“Hullo! What are you doin’ out here with a baby?” he asked, trying to keep the concern out of his voice. “You’re gonna lose him in the snow.”
“Nah, he’s fine, right, big man?” Michael grabbed onto Ranboo’s arm and Ranboo swung him a little bit off the ground and tossed him lightly into a snow drift by Phil’s cabin. A loud squeal escaped from Michael as he scrambled back to his feet.
Techno gave a snort.
“I forgot babies like to be tossed around,” he said. “Phil used to do that with Wilbur all the time.”
“Yeah, it’s weird. Babies are weird.”
Michael got back up and signed to his dad.
“I’m not baby!” Both Techno and Ranboo nodded and looked at each other with a shrug. “Again?”
“Why don’t you ask Techno? I bet he could swing you real far.”
Techno’s cheeks were bright red from the cold and his mittens had gotten damp from playing with Michael in the snow. Only half of the porch had been cleaned off but there were at least three different snow figures in the yard. It would have been too generous to call them anything else because none of them seemed to resemble people much at all. The cabin was warm and dry which was welcomed to both him and Ranboo, the latter who was growing ever more uncomfortable as the snow made their clothing wet.
Michael wasn’t bothered. He would have been happy to stay outside all day but Techno had promised him some hot chocolate which seemed to have done the trick.
It hadn’t occurred to him until after he had let the baby into his home and the baby had seen the rabbit scurry to hide under the bookshelf that the whole thing might have been a bad idea.
“Oh, uh, that bunny isn’t exactly kid friendly so you might wanna keep him away from it, Ranboo,” said Techno, stomping his hooves off on the rug. “Wouldn’t want him losin’ a finger or somethin’.”
Ranboo’s tail twitched rapidly back and forth.
“Like, are you being serious or…?”
There was silence from the kitchen as Techno looked for the cocoa beans.
“Listen, Ranboo, I don’t think Gary there would actually bite a kid’s finger off but, not gonna lie, that’s one high strung bunny,” he called.
“Duly noted.” A beat and then, “Uh oh, no, Michael, let’s leave the grumpy bunny alone, alright? That’s a good boy. Come here.”
Ranboo scooped his son up and went to sit down on one of the chairs by the fireplace, hoping that it would help dry his pants off sooner. The snow had melted and was now water and made him very uncomfortable, his legs burning slightly. He bounced Michael on his knee.
“So, what’s up with the rabbit in the first place?” asked Ranboo when Techno came back into the room, holding three mugs, two in one hand. He give Michael the first mug and the handed one to Ranboo.
“It’s a long story, alright, Ranboo,” he said with a grimace as he sat down. “I think it’s been chewed up a few times.”
“Ah, yeah, that’d make anything a bit jumpy.”
“Exactly.”
It took Michael about the length of time to drink his hot chocolate, spilling some on his sweater, and look around the room twice to grow bored. There was no Chicken here and lots and lots of things that he knew if he tried to touch, he would be told no and made to sit still on his daddy’s lap again. He kicked his legs and looked up at the ceiling.
The bunny he wasn’t supposed to touch was under the bookshelf and his daddy and Techno were talking about boring things and Michael decided that just looking at the bunny was probably fine. He slipped off his dad’s lap and waited a few seconds. When he wasn’t told to stop, Michael trotted over to the bookshelf and laid down in front of it.
He could see the bunny, pressed against the ground, staring at him. Michael made a noise and waved at the bunny. The bunny awkwardly thumped its foot against the wall.
“Oh, uh, Michael, don’t do that,” said Ranboo, resignation thick in their voice.
Techno frowned.
“I mean, I guess it’s fine if the bunny isn’t doin’ anything.”
“Are you sure?”
Shrugging, Techno made a noncommittal noise. It was a fine line to walk between keeping the rabbit safe and treating it like a rabbit and being overly protective and suspicious. There were times that Techno thought Phil had figured the whole thing out. He had to be more careful.
When no one came to stop him, Michael waved at the bunny again, scooting as close as he possibly could to the bottom of the bookshelf. The rabbit’s ears were pointed towards him and it sniffed at the air. He gave a squeal of delight and held out his hand. After a moment, the rabbit moved forward a little and pressed its nose against his hand.
Michael made a string of quiet oinks and snorts as he pet the rabbit. Its nose was very soft and seemed to vibrate in a funny way and Michael decided that he liked this rabbit. Not as much as he liked Chicken, of course, but he liked the silly way the rabbit’s whiskers moved. Sticking one arm under the bookshelf, Michael looped it behind the rabbit and began attempting to push it out.
“That might not be a good idea, though,” said Techno about thirty seconds too late.
Once the rabbit had realized what was happening, it had tried to scramble backwards but it lacked purchase and had given up almost immediately. Michael was able to push it out from under the bookshelf. It sat completely still, hoping that if it didn’t move, the kid would lose interest.
“Look at bunny,” Michael signed. He was still lying on the ground, arms out awkwardly to the side as he signed to his dad. He touched one of the rabbit’s ears. “Big ears! Bunny has ear like me.”
He pat the rabbit on the head and then pat his own head, on the side with the cloudy eye and torn ear.
“Oh, hm, would you look at that! It sure does have an ear like yours,” said Ranboo with a nervous chuckle, looking over towards Techno.
Techno looked as confused as he did.
“I don’t have a dang clue, man,” he said. If he had been a betting man, he would have put money on the rabbit biting the baby as soon as he had touched it. The rabbit had bit him for a lot less, after all.
Michael scooted closer on the floor, practically pressing his face against the rabbit’s face. The rabbit butted its head against him and then jumped, all four feet off the ground, as if it had startled itself. With a squeal of laughter, Michael sat up and shuffled along the floor to pat the rabbit again.
“Silly,” he signed. “It silly. Bunny hurt?”
The question made Techno wince a little.
“It was hurt but he’s doin’ fine now. Just gotta fatten him up a little, make sure he’s eatin’.”
“Bunny have cake?”
“Oo, can rabbits have cake?” asked Ranboo. “I’m not up to date on, like, rabbit care.”
Techno leaned back in his chair. Dogs couldn’t eat chocolate, he knew that much, and those sorts of things probably applied to other animals like foxes and rabbits. But then again this rabbit wasn’t exactly a normal rabbit and Techno had a feeling that cake wouldn’t haven’ an adverse effects.
“Eh, I’m thinkin’ that some cake probably would be fine,” he said finally. “Not that I have any cake just lyin’ around, sorry to disappoint there, kiddo.”
The expression on Michael’s face turned thoughtful.
“I bring cake.”
The rabbit thumped its hind legs in what Techno now understood to be annoyance. He gave a chuckle.
“Sure, kid, sure. Next time you can bring cake for the bunny,” said Techno.
The rabbit had a feeling that it didn’t like kids.
It was a fleeting thought, from long ago, that kids were loud and destructive and would stick their hands into the warrens and ruin everything. Or it was a thought from when it wasn’t a rabbit, it couldn’t remember anymore.
This kid isn’t Tommy, a voice reminded it.
Who is Tommy, the rabbit thought.
(But Dream knew that much was true; this kid was quiet and small and he wasn’t Tommy and so he didn’t feel the need to bite.)
There was no answer.
Besides, if it had bit the kid, the pigman would have been upset and the rabbit didn’t want to make him upset, didn’t want to be anything other than a good rabbit that would be safe here. Something deserving of being protected.
Because it was hurt, the pigman was right, and it could be hurt again as easily as that baby had pulled it out from under the bookshelf.
It had to be good and well behaved.
(Dream remembered the way Sam had told him to behave, remembered the way Quackity would hurt him if he didn’t do what he wanted. Those wants had been arbitrary, of course, things that Dream couldn’t do or things that would change on a whim and no amount of ‘yes sir’s had been able to fix that. He had never been good enough not to deserve punishment, so why did he think it would work this time?
Techno isn’t Quackity. Techno isn’t Sam, the voice reminded him.
But he could give me back to them, he thought, if I don’t do what he wants, if I’m not good.
So don’t bite the fucking baby, god, the voice snapped. You know he’s not like that.
Dream wasn’t sure he did know.)
The rabbit didn’t bite the kid.