A bit of shorter, tamer chapter because we deserve it after yesterday's suffering. Thank you for the comments!

By the time they went back to their cell, the pain had faded into a shadow of what it was before.

Technoblade had always considered himself to have a decent threshold for pain, certainly higher than that of the average person. You didn't gather as many years of battle experience as he had without the occasional mishap. But stab wounds remained one of his most despised types of injury to deal with, for good reason too.

They had a tendency to be worse than they appeared on the surface. Even a knife with a smaller blade that would leave behind an unassuming cut in the skin at first glance had the potential of ripping apart vital organs and blood vessels laid beneath. Especially when wielded by skilled hands.

They had slapped a bandage on him and called it a day, Mel had done all of the heavy lifting in keeping Techno's collapsed lung from stealing his air. The rest would have to heal the old-fashioned way. Though as soon as the door had closed behind them Ranboo was on his knees, struggling to reach for the chest underneath his bed. Techno raised an eyebrow, unaware the enderman even had anything to stash in it. Unless Ranboo had been able to sneak something past the handlers upon their arrival.

"Okay, I only have two of these so we should ration them. Tubbo taught me how to dilute them with milk but I think water also works?" he straightened his back, revealing a small glass bottle of familiar pink-red liquid.

"How'd you get that?" Techno asked.

Without hesitation – maybe as if Techno was a little foolish for asking – Ranboo answered him. "I stole them."

"Nice," Techno said. Because, well, he was all for taking from the corrupt authorities. He'd probably be more disappointed if Ranboo had managed to get his hands on the healing potion through legal means. But then the implication took hold and he shook his head. "Don't do it again though."

And Ranboo deflated as if Techno had physically punched him. "Why?"

"Because- I mean, don't get me wrong, it's good to have them. I ain't complaining about that, but you know... It's not smart. We don't want them catching you. We can't take risks like that for no good reason." He tried to explain, though Techno couldn't help but feel as if his intentions weren't coming through in the way he wanted them to. That seemed to be a bit of a constant for him, ironically.

There was a big difference between saying things and being understood by others and he often found himself stuck somewhere in that no man's land in between.

"You're a good reason! That's why I've been doing all of these things to ke-" Ranboo blurted before interrupting himself by snapping his jaw shut mid-word, sudden enough Techno was pretty sure he just bit his tongue in half. His tail was doing the thing again, cutting through the air in jerky swaying motions. When he gestured with both hands Techno could see several small wounds where the enderman had picked at his own skin.

Technoblade had noticed that the other day and decided not to comment on it. There wasn't anything he could do to help, so why bother making Ranboo more self-conscious about it. With this new information however, suddenly the easily ignorable had become incredibly hard to dismiss.

Like how thin Ranboo had gotten, how gaunt his face was compared to before - all sharp angles and deep-set eyes. How he never finished his meals and always gave Techno his leftovers without the piglin needing to ask. How he was always up in the morning before the lights had even come on or could be heard shuffling around, tossing and turning before sleep.

Sure, Techno had ascribed it all to stress – they were in a very stressful situation. But now he felt an idiot for not connecting the dots sooner.

"What? What have you been doing, Ranboo?" Somewhere in the back of his head a voice that sounded suspiciously similar to Phil made fun of him for sounding like a parent scolding their child. Technoblade elected to ignore it.

"I suppose there isn't any chance you'd just forget I said that, huh?"

Techno sighed, rubbed his forehead. "Try again."

He shifted his weight on his feet a few times, cursing internally not for the first time at how small their cell was. Techno hated not being able to move around, especially when having conversations. Especially when having fraught, important and emotional conversations. It made him feel as if his entire body was itchy, shaking and clawing. All that energy and nowhere for it to go. His own tail was doing a similar routine to Ranboo's at this point just to compensate, twitching from side to side.

"I'm helping," Ranboo said then, maybe a tad too miserable. A tad too pinched, voice smothered in a helplessness Techno supposed he placed upon it. "There's not much else I can do. You're doing all the hard stuff or the, the-" One half of his mouth pulled down in a worried frown. "All the life-risking, dangerous important stuff! I had to do something."

"Yes," Technoblade said. "I'm doing the dangerous stuff because I didn't want you to have to do it."

"What about what I want?!"

"You want to put yourself in danger?" Techno remarked, disbelieving.

"I want for you not to have to! Or not have to alone, I guess. Or for me to be useful in some way-" Ranboo scratched at his arms. "I want for you not to die, actually."

And there was a light hiss coming from him that Techno needed a moment to realize were the tears burning at the underside of Ranboo's eyes, threatening to spill over.

Really, truly, he must be a moron for not noticing sooner. Techno knew it was his own fault.

"Hey," he said, ever inept at this part. With Phil it was easy, with Phil Technoblade knew exactly what to say and do to make him feel better. With Ranboo not so much. "I told you there's nothing to worry about, okay?"

Ranboo's chest hitched, wiping at his eyes. The hissing got a little louder when the water touched his skin and was rubbed away, leaving slight discoloration against Ranboo's hands. Techno sighed and then sat down, pulling the other down to sit next to him.

"Listen, I suppose I uh- I guess it was my bad for not getting your opinion on this whole deal thing beforehand. I was a little pressed for time, you see?" He tugged his hair to loosen the bun he'd put it in for the fight, letting the strands fall over his shoulder. "But I didn't ask you what you wanted to do about it and I should have."

He didn't have a choice. He would do it again. Ranboo's distress over the situation was nothing in the face of keeping him alive.

All thoughts that flitted around Techno's mind but didn't need to be spoken out loud, even if they were the truth. Ranboo was upset. And on a basic level, Technoblade could fully understand and acknowledge why.

Except the enderman sighed, shifted a little before looking at him. "I know it was probably a good idea, objectively. Like, the best idea we had given the circumstances. But a good idea objectively doesn't mean much when you're scared out of your mind."

"You don't say. Really had me fooled with the whole rambling about nothing thing, couldn't tell you were nervous at all," Techno responded completely deadpan. But secretly he was relieved Ranboo understood.

"Oh, I know." Ranboo laughed. "The image of calm tranquility I was, while you were casually dying."

With a chuckle, Techno pushed him away. "Nothing casual about it, actually."

"Sure, sure." Ranboo pushed him back, then didn't pull away again and kind of lingered there, hands cupped against Techno's shoulders, sitting so close their sides were almost completely touching. Techno didn't mention it. He didn't mind either.

He cleared his throat. "I'm serious, no more stealing though. At least not things that are going to draw negative attention."

"Yeah, about that-"

"Oh no, what else is in that chest?"

Ranboo's ear flicked once, smirk finally real again. "Don't worry about it."

"That's a very worrying statement." Techno laughed also, then winced when it sent a stab of pain through his ribcage. It really did feel like somebody had picked up a giant needle and stuck it in his chest uncaring of any additional damage it would cause. Then again, that was exactly what had happened. "But we agree. You can help if you want, just... Not by putting yourself at risk. I still need you to figure out that escape plan."

Ranboo didn't answer – the barest moment of genuine hesitation. His shoulders tensed before going slack again. "Fine. Drink this at least?" He was holding out the same potion that had started this entire conversation in the first place.

Techno took it. "Gladly."

He swallowed about half a mouthful, though he knew that from the way he tipped it back Ranboo would have thought he had more. The discoloration of the glass would make it hard to see at a glance, so the enderman wouldn't be able to tell how little he actually drank. It was barely enough to have him feel the effects, a vague numbing that reduced his pain from its crisp clarity to an omnipresent throb.

But Ranboo smiled, self-satisfied. Techno decided it would have to do.