"Sooo- is that child abuse?"

Both you and Phil are standing next to each other, eyes fixated on what was happening outside the window.

"Uh... well..." Phil trails off, still looking through the window.

Outside in the snow, Technoblade and Tommy reside.

The older of the pair is dragging Tommy off through the snow by his leg, one hand on one ankle, and the other swinging by his side as he walked off.

Tommy was angrily shouting, but through the window you couldn't hear anything except a sling of muffled and frantic noises.

.

Huh.

.

It all started this morning, Techno had mumbled to you about going to L'manberg for something.

Then he talked to Tommy, who was still holed up in the basement, and then next thing you know, Techno is dragging the boy out of the house by his legs kicking and screaming.

You and Phil are bystanders.

Witnesses.

Questioning if you should even help.

You come to a swift conclusion.

"They're due for some more bonding time." You mutter, almost more to yourself then to Phil, but the old man seems to agree.

He sagely nods, squinting at the duo as the yelling gets quieter with distance.

Letting out a laugh, you stare at the two fading figures in the horizon.

They'll have fun.

Though, Tommy was gonna throw such a fit when he got home. Probably complain to you about Techno and threaten to choke him out. Or something.

If he doesn't just slink into the basement again. That boy still hasn't grilled you about anything since he got your book, and you're suspicious at the lack of questions.

Maybe he's just a slow reader.

You lean farther into the window when you see more movement, catching sight of a certain ghost and snapping your finger in front of Phil's face to get his attention, "Phil- look."

With a hum, Phil leans into the window as well, angling his head to see what you were looking at.

"MY BUILD SITE!" Is his quick squawk of surprise.

You're laughing before you can stop, looking at Phil's distraught expression and finding no way to hold back the noise.

Phil's hand are in the air, gesturing angrily outwards at the glass, accidently knocking his hands right into the see-through pane, "Jesus! I..." He's quick to pause the rant before it began.

Phil slides a hand down his face, "Ah- whatever- I technically didn't dibs it."

Phil immediately resigns.

"You could always help him build? Combine ideas?" You watch as Ghostbur hauls wood over to where the beginnings of a wall is.

"Eh- he'll get bored of building, and I'll jump in after he's forgotten about it."

"Evil." You say.

"Practical." Phil mutters.

"I'm gonna go keep him company." You state.

"Do what you'd like," Phil is waving you off, squinting at Ghostbur from his spying spot, "I'll watch bitterly through the window."

You huff in amusement and scurry over to the doorway. Picking a few cloaks up you sling them over your shoulder.

Warm, soft.

It smelled like Techno- probably something he used to wear.

You grab your boots next, jamming your foot in and stringing the laces taut.

You're out the door a second after, yelling a 'later' to Phil before rushing down the steps.

Icy steps, that you immediately slip and tumble down, landing at the bottom of the steps in a pile of disappointment and regret.

You were disappointed in yourself.

Your dumbass energy proceeds you.

Faintly Phil's loud cackling is heard through the window, and you frown.

Bitter old man-

Frantic footsteps rush over to you before you can gain your bearings.

"Oh my gods are you okay??" Ghostbur is crouching next to you, a hand grabbing at the scruff of your cloaks and tugging you into a sitting position.

"Yeah, I'm fine Ghostbur-" With a huff you're dusting snow off your clothes, "You'd think the fact that I've fallen down those steps before would've taught me a lesson."

"You've fallen down them before??" Ghostbur is staring worridely at you, still crouched and still scanning your deapanning face.

The air is crisp in your lungs, chilly and fresh, sending a shiver down your spine as you finally shake your head and make an effort to stand.

You make the good descion to ignore the question, and Ghostbur takes it in stride.

He's at your side, grabbing a hand and helping you out without a word.

"No pain?" He tilts his head, before slipping some blue into your hand, "Have some blue-"

A laugh escapes you and you push the blue away, "Thanks Bur. I'm good." You brush yourself off one more time before looking at what Ghostbur had been building, "What are you planning out here?"

You start trotting in the direction of his build before he can fuss any farther, and he's forced to follow.

"I'm building a house for me and Tommy!" He says, running in front of you to reach the build first, "I've got a really good picture I want to hang up-"

"I bet you do," you stare at the half built wall, "Need some help?"

Ghostbur smiles and shakes his head, "I'll be good, I'm improvising as I go."

"I'll watch then."

He was making good ground for improvising everything. Efficient in the fact that he seems very good at estimating.

He has the whole site marked up with vague imprints, and is in the process of leveling ground and snow before he truly starts putting walls up.

"You take after your dad-" You say, trotting along with him as he digs around in the cold hard dirt.

"You think?"

"Yeah. Got that builder in you."

He laughs, "I don't know about that- I'm but a ghost who makes ghost abodes."

"Mm, humble ghost homes for him and his humble living friends."

He grins, and stands up from all the leveling he was doing. With a few steps back he stares at his work before going to another section of the area and starting the digging process again.

It was easy to watch him work, every once and awhile helping him hold something, even though the sky looked murky and made you feel sleepy.

The clouds that were rolling in seemed to forewarn some snow.

And what do you know, half an hour in, and halfway through putting up a peice of the ceiling it started snowing.

It started gentle, and the two of you kept working, but eventually the snow started to pick up, and Ghostbur couldn't deal with the sensation of snow melting on him.

You didn't feel like going in, he didn't feel like going in, and the both of you ended up under the sliver of ceiling that had been put up.

A chill had creeped up your spine, but you ignored it in favor of leaning your head against the wood beam.

The both of you were sitting on the dirt, and out of curiousity you glanced at Ghostbur.

He sat there with crossed legs, hands resting on his ankles, random burn marks littered his skin from the snow, and if they bothered him, he didn't comment.

The wound through the center of his chest was blue.

It was always blue.

Constantly a gaping reminder of what happened.

Your own chest hurt when you looked at him. It hurt with the small tingling feeling of an arrow parting into the flesh of your lunges.

"Hey Bur?"

He hums an inquisitive noise, tilting his head to look at you.

"Does your-" you glance at the gaping hole in his chest, "Wound bother you?"

Ghostbur shrugs, "It- doesn't hurt as long as I don't remember it's there... but when I do remember--"

Ghostbur is clenching some blue between his hands, which oozes out between his fingers when he ends up squeezing it too hard in his pale grey fists.

Ghostbur shakes his head.

"Sorry- what was your question?" He looks apologetically at you.

Despite seeming genuine in the response, his eyes seem to plead you not repeat what was last asked.

It was then you were struck by how, damaged he was.

He was so... hurt.

So broken.

A shattered soul of what he once was that fell apart everytime he was pressured.

Somewhere inside of yourself you felt a kinship with him.

You're broken too.

The only difference between you both, is that an outsider wouldn't be able to look at you and see that you weren't whole. You'd look normal.

Just a regular, unassuming person.

Ghostbur's full attention is on you. He was waiting for your response in a patience you're sure only he could possess.

"Ah- I was just, " You stare out into the distance, deciding that you'd rather not push the spirit, "Just thinking about when I nearly died."

Ghostbur softly gasps, "Noooo- that's terrible... here, have some blue, have some blue- " He's grabbing one of your hands and trying to drop some blue into it, which you accept, but don't do anything with.

"Thanks Bur." You smile, to which he happily hums before the both of you fall into comfortable silence.

You can feel the throbbing of where the arrow pierced your chest.

It was still sore sometimes.

Not enough to hinder you, but the raised skin was freshly a scar and still liked to tingle with the memory of how much it hurt.

You contemplated continuing the conversation with Ghostbur, but figured talking about it would stress the poor dude out, and he really didn't need more stress.

You'll just keep the thoughts to yourself.

Not that it bothered you.

You just enjoyed that you had company.

Two conscious individuals, sitting together, with no added pressure and no harmful intentions.

The snow was gently ticking around you, feathering down from the sky in a mist of cold, laying powder.

You and the ghost next to you.

He had pulled his legs close to his chest, staring out at nothing the same as you.

An absent smile was on his face.

Facing the woods was nice. The both of you watching the spruce trees sway as wind blew, carrying a dust of snow with it.

Tugging the cloak further around your shoulder, you ignored how chilly you were, rubbing your cold hands together to try and generate some warmth.

It must have been awhile you sat there with each other.

A good long while.

You barely shifted for how long you were sitting, and Ghostbur hadn't moved an inch.

The sky got darker, all the while the spirit sitting next to you was dead as the night and staring into the woods just as you.

You would have sat there longer, maybe even until morning, but you started to hear noises.

You heard a voice first- quiet with distance and growing louder the closer it got.

The faint crunching of snow came next, but you didn't bother checking to see who it was.

By the time the sounds had reached a more audible distance, you had already identified it as Tommy and Techno, the over-exaggerated yelling the biggest marker.

The voices got closer, and soon the rhythm in which their talking was happening paused, and two sets of footsteps idle up behind both you and the spirit.

Ghostbur reanimates himself as they get close, shaking around like he didnt know where to look before twisting his head back to see everyone.

"Hello freinds!!" He was all grins and smiles as Techno and Tommy look at the two of you sitting under the only part of the roof that was standing.

"HEllo." Tommy barks, "Why do you two look like widdle sad bitches." Tommy pauses, tacking on a softer and more mocking, "Wee widdle tiny bitches."

"Well it started to snow! And we decided to just sit here instead." Ghostbur spreads his hands out like he revealed a magic trick.

"That's nice Ghostbur." Techno mumbles.

He tilts his head to you, who was looking inquisitively up at both him and Tommy.

"You frozen?" Tech quietly asks you.

As a response you nod, squinting up at Techno before wiggling your cold fingers at him for proof.

Techno snatches your hands out of the air, and you could barely feel the rough fabric of his gloves.

He scoffs in disappointment, "Achilles, you have zero self preservation skills."

Red eyes glance at Ghostbur before back at you. He makes a sour face at something before tugging your hands in a motion to pull you into a stand, "Come on- let's get you some hot chocolate."

You groan, refusing to get up, but a second after you process what was just said you tilt your head up to stare at Techno upside down, "We don't have any hot chocolate."

You pause.

Techno's lips quirk upward.

"TECHNO YOU DIDN'T-"

Technos response is a little self fulfilled smirk and a proud squint of his eyes, which has you wiggling around on the ground to try to get up.

"IM IN LOVE- MARRY ME RIGHT NOW-"

Techno immediately starts choking- a sputtering noise of surprise shooting out of him as he stares down at you.

"Heh??" He collects himself, slamming a hand down on your head and completely covering your view of him, "You can marry me after I get the same treatment."

You make a sour face, trying to shove his hand out of your face, "Because I treat you so horribly-"

"He treats me horribly." Tommy scoffs.

"Tommy- bruh- I literally just gave dream a favor for your safety-" Techno releases his grip on you and attempts to whack Tommy upside the head, which has the chicken scrambling up the steps to get away.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME??"

"Bro, Tommy-"

"Rewind rewind- A favor for Dream??" You finally shoot up off the ground, following after Techno, who was chasing Tommy inside the house.

You can hear Ghostbur following after you, and you're mindful as you walk up the slippery steps.

Upon entering the doorway, Tommy is wriggling around and completely trapped by Techno's arm in a chokehold.

Techno is outright laughing- evil laughter, fully enjoying the play that was happening, "Am I treating you nicely now??"

"KSJ- YEILD- AAHHHH-IKJYEILD-" Tommy didn't seem to be enjoying it as much- too busy choking.

Techno pauses, releasing some of the pressure he was holding Tommy with, which Tommy takes as a moment to double his escape efforts.

Alas, Techno refuses to let the chicken out of his headlock.

You shut the door behind you and Ghostbur, shaking the snow off and un-clasping your borrowed cloaks.

You idly watch as Tommy chokes some more, focusing on kicking your boots off.

When you finally look back at the two roughhousers, Techno's red eyes are already on you, evil little grin petering out before softening back into his more neutral face.

"What in the world happened while you were out?" You question.

"I started an army." Techno deapans.

"Techno fought off Dream!!" Tommy yelled, literal stars in his eyes as he tried his best to excitedly throw his arms in the air, "Dream caught us at the nether portal- AND TECHNO GAVE HIM THE WHAT FOR!"

Techno scoffed, "You're making me regret my descion."

"You fought off Dream?" You ask.

"No, Tommy's talking all bluff right now. I bargained with Dream."

You grimace, "Eee- I don't like the words 'Dream' and 'bargain' being in the same sentence."

"I don't like the word bargain at all." Phil chimes in near the fire.

"I find the word bargain rather enchanting." Ghostbur nods, standing next to Phil.

"I don't like the fact that I owe him a favor now. So now we all have something we don't like about it." Techno grumbles.

"Not me." Tommy is cheekily smiling, "The, Technoblade, has my back-"

"Alright orphan- you're letting this go to your head-" Techno is squinting down at Tommy, dropping the headlock he had on him and wiping his hands on his clothes like they were dirty.

Tommy completely ignores him, springing forward at you, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you with every word he said, "Oh. my. god. oh my god- CAN YOU BELEIVE THAT BIG PISS BOY HAD TO ACTIULLY LISTEN TO SOMEONE FOR ONCE??" Tommy laughs maniacally, spining around with a dramatic flair, "TECHNOBLADE HIT HIM WITH THE '...hes with me...' AND DREAM HAD TO COMPRIMISE-"

Tommy's face drops into distraught, and he slaps both of his hand over his eyes before dropping straight to the floor with a pitiful groan, "Ohhhh myyyy godddd-.... Dream's gonna kill meeee-....."

Techno sighs with exacerbation, strolling past both Tommy and you to hang up his cloak, "Tommy, he's not gonna kill you."

"He iiiissssss-" Tommy whines, rolling into a ball.

Techno kicks his boots off, and very pointedly looks at you before throwing his arms out as if to say, 'Do you see what I'm seeing??'

"I'm sure Dream won't kill you! We're all friends here!" Ghostbur is grinning down at Tommy, and the boy only groans again as response.

Phil is watching everything intently.

A moment passes and Tommy is shooting up off the floor, scittering around the room like a dog that just got its leash taken off. His giddy laughter made you feel very concerned, "The blade and me- Allies-"

"Tommy, is it too late to kick you out..." Techno says, lumbering passed you and up to the furnace.

"Yes." Tommy doesn't miss a beat, before snapping his head over to you, "(Y/N)! Tell that big brute that he's giving me mixed messages."

You laugh, looking at Tommy's angry pout before looking over at Techno's fed-up frown, "Techno, you're giving Tommy mixed messages."

Techno scoffs, very obviously rolling his eyes as he starts the furnace up.

Tommy gives another excited giggle, before groaning again and throwing himself dramatically at Ghostbur, who is quick to catch him.

"....I'm deaaaadd......"

"You're not dead yet." Phil says matter of factly.

Finally you shake your head, deciding you should do damage control, "Come on Tommy- you're all good. Dream will have to be dancing on my grave wayyyy before he could even consider dancing on yours."

Tommy frowns, crossing his arms as Ghostbur awkwardly sets the lanky boy on his feet again, "Quite frankly, I don't like the imagery you've just beamed into my brain. What are you, some kind of beamer?? People don't beam things into the brain of a developing baby boy like that- it's unnatural."

You squint at Tommy with a deapan, "I'm gonna beam you into the afterlife myself if you don't take my advice seriously."

Tommy stares at you. Then looks up.

At Ghostbur.

Who's face looks very very disturbed and sad.

Which sets off Tommy who immediately trys to remedy things, "wait wait wait- Ghostbur?? Ghosty man??? Don't make that cry face at me!!"

Techno is chuffling in amusement.

Phil has his cackle face on, fully ready to start laughing away at the situation on hand.

Ghostbur's face gets a little sadder looking, and Tommy is frantically patting all around the spirit's face, trying to get him to stop making that look.

As soon as Phil starts cackling, you make an amused noise before wandering over to Techno, who had a pot set on the active furnace.

"Sooo-" you say, wincing at a particularly loud yell coming from Tommy in the background.

"So." Techno says, side eyeing you as you settle in to stand next to him.

"What actually happened?"

"Honestly? Exactly what was said so far." Techno grunts, peeling his eyes off you and back down to the pot, "I started an army, scavenged some hot chocolate for you, Dream showed up-" Techno slowed down, "And now I owe him a favor."

You wince.

Techno follows through with his word. He has a moral code in there that he has to follow at all times, and you know that.

With a sigh, you bump your hip into his before bonking your head into his bicep.

"Don't worry buddy, whatever it is we'll get through it."

A soft noise comes out of Techno, a snuffling grunt kind of noise before he lifts the bicep you bonked your head into and is dropping his hand onto your head and harshly ruffling all your hair.

"Yeah, I know." He says.

You smile, shoving his hand away and leaning your head into him again, only this time with his arm raised, your head is bonking into his ribcage.

The warmth of him encapsulates you, even more so when his arm hesitantly comes down to rest against your shoulder.

You can hear his heart beating. Feel the drawl of his breath.

You found immense comfort out of this.

Phil hugs can take a seat. Techno time was infinitely better.

"Phil is that what sex is??" Tommy's obnoxiously loud voice interrupts your thoughts, whatever antics that had been happening appeared to be over, and a Ghostbur completed burritoed in a large pelt was the end result.

"Tommy, mate, no. No that's not what sex is." Phil is cringing, but his grin picks up as soon as he notices you're listening in.

"Philza Minecraft- have you had sex before??" Tommy turns to look directly into Phil's eyes.

"TOMMY- Jesus- no more sex questions." Phil is cringing so much harder then before, waving his hand at Tommy like he was shooing a fly, "Be gone child- take you're weird ass questions with you."

Tommy snaps his head over to you, question already forming on his tongue, before Techno saves you with a, "OKAY- Hot chocolate time- I'm trying not to get demonitized."

Techno winces at something, rubbing a hand against his head and mumbling to himself, but as soon as he's done he nudges you and voices a small, "Grab cups?"

You're quick to fulfill the request, and in a solid two minutes, everyone is gathered around the fire, hot chocolate in hand and gently blowing on the scalding liquid.

You've already taken a few gulps, and feel so warm and fuzzy, both physically and mentally.

Ghostbur didn't get any, said he couldn't, which made sense, but he didn't seem to mind, seated in between Tommy and Phil and happily chatting as they blew on their respective cups.

Tommy already burnt his tongue. Several times. Impatiently trying to get sips.

Techno didn't even bother, just setting his drink down and sitting idly on the floor next to you.

This was pretty nice.

It felt pretty nice to just have everyone together.

Again, you're weird like that. Something inside of you preens at having friends and family all close and cozy.

It feels right.

It felt right to watch as Ghostbur started preening Phil's wings.

It felt right to have Tommy cursing every time he decided he'd try another sip.

It felt- satisfying- to know that you were all a unified force of comfort. And maybe that thought came from some weird baser part of yourself, but it didnt make it feel any less unifying.

Unified.

A wholeness you haven't known for a long time.

Techno's hand is next to yours, one pinky hooked around your own on the floor.

Heat was picked up on your cheeks at the gesture, for some reason or another.

And it felt...

So warm.

Having someome as close to your soul as Techno seemed to be.

.

.

.

.

.

.