Sorry for the lack of uploads. Been very sick lately and am still /

This chapter is long and was going to be a solo post anyway so it didn't cut me off too badly here. The next chapter is looking to be the same thing.

I'm going to try to keep at least this story set going every other Friday but the rest of my works will be very sporadic until I've recovered. Sorry for the inconvenience and I hope you enjoy.

XXX-XXX

It was barely passing into the third week of September and Techno had already really started to hate Tuesdays. The school year was hardly started and he was dreading the rest of it in regards to this day in particular.

Tuesdays were guitar lesson days.

Now, not to be taken wrong, Techno loved that his older brother was learning the guitar. Wilbur had been looking forward to it for Iages/I after all. The instrument had been a gift for Wil's tenth birthday and their father had even set up lessons for Wil after school. Official lessons and not just videos online like he used to learn the Ukulele.

However…that meant Techno had to take the bus home alone on those days.

Techno hated taking the bus home alone.

He'd begged and pleaded with his dad to let him stay after with Wilbur. He'd just, sit in the room and listen and be quiet. He promised he wouldn't cause any trouble or distract Wilbur in the slightest. He just… wanted to sit there.

Sadly his father could only promise to ask if the instructor would mind that arrangement. Until then Techno just had to bare the solitary ride back home, all while trying not to fall off his seat.

Even at the age of eight Techno was smaller than his peers. Granted, it wasn't by as much as it used to be, but it was still enough to be inconvenient. His legs were now at least long enough to be able to brace against the seat ahead of him on the bigger bumps.

It didn't feel as secure if Wilbur wasn't sitting beside him doing the same.

Techno hugged his bag to his chest and rested his face into it. His stop was coming up but it still felt so far away. He'd only have Tommy to play with at home for a while until Wilbur's lesson was done, and Tommy was usually having his nap about now.

Techno hated Tuesdays.

X-x

When Techno was picked up at the bus stop by his father he barely offered the man a greeting with the halfhearted hug he gave. His father sighed and ruffled a hand in his hair and tried to tell him it was okay. Techno nodded but he didn't believe it.

Today was terrible, horrible, and it was lasting far too long for his liking.

It felt wrong getting off the bus without Wilbur and it felt wrong to be walking back to the house with just him and his father. His brother wasn't at his side and it was a bad, bad day. A 'dragging your feet' kind of day.

"You know, Tech, if you keep frowning like that your face is going to stick." His father teased but Techno only scowled deeper.

His father gave a short laugh as he squeezed Techno's hand, which was securely being held as they walked.

"He'll be home soon, Tech." The man assured, before his smile grew with his next words, "There is a surprise at the house today that might just cheer you up."

Techno finally looked up at his father, his sour mood giving way to his curiosity. The man was looking down at him with an almost giddy expression. Whatever was at home he was excited for Techno to see it.

"What is it?" Techno asked, his feet no longer dragging the ground as much.

"I can't tell you. It wouldn't be a surprise if I did." His father replied, the grin on his face showing a lighter sort of mischief than the one Wilbur usually made.

Techno stopped his walking as he stared up at his father, thinking hard. His father stopped as well and allowed him his time, the smile never faltering as the two just…looked at one other. After a moment or so Techno lifted up his arms towards his father expectantly.

"Up." Techno demanded, not unlike how Tommy did when he wanted off the floor.

"Up?" His father questioned slightly bewildered.

"Up." Techno echoed, moving so that he could climb up his father as his demand wasn't being followed fast enough, "We're going to run home."

"Are we?" His father laughed as he leaned over to lift his son into his arms before he became a jungle-gym.

"Well, you are because you're allowed to run and I'm not." Techno explained matter-of-factly.

"Ah. So, in that case 'up' then?" His father nodded, smiling wider than before even.

Techno nodded at him as honestly it made perfect sense. If he couldn't run but his father could then he'd just have to run for the both of them.

"And I'm to run all the way home with you?" The man asked, walking once more as he settled Techno securely on his hip.

Techno nodded as he kicked his feet eagerly.

"I want to see the surprise."

"You can see the surprise just as well if you walked."

"I want to see it sooner" Techno whined, kicking his feet once more as he tugged on his father's shirt.

"Well, that's just mighty impatient of you." The man chuckled, "You're starting to sound like Wilbur."

Techno let out whine and wiggled in his father's arms, staring up at him with his best attempt at 'puppy eyes'. He hadn't needed to use that look in a while so he wasn't sure it was as good anymore.

He didn't get a chance to really use it though as his eyes widened with a surprised yelp. His father had quickly shifted him so he was being hugged to his chest and was now racing forwards. He could hear his father laughing as they went, letting out a few short alarmed sounds himself every so often when he tripped over something or other.

The bus stop wasn't particularly far from the house, just a few blocks, but his father was panting all the same by the time they stopped just before the walkway. At this point Techno was laughing too, letting out a particularly thrilled giggle when he was placed on the ground and his father had to lean against the shoddy front fence to catch his breath.

"Do you have bricks in your bag or something, Tech?" His father panted out, the smile on his face was tired but still very much amused.

Techno shrugged at the question which earned a raised eyebrow from his father.

"Just one." Techno answered aloud.

"Wait, what?" The man looked properly confused as he tilted his head, "Why would you have a brick in your bag? Where did you get a brick?"

Techno stared as his father as he debated his answer. It didn't look like the other was going to leave it be so, might as well?

"Wilbur knocked it off of a wall as school and wanted to keep it. But, his bag was full, so I'm bringing it home for him."

The answer didn't seem to give his father closure as instead a more worried look came over his face.

"How did he knock a brick off the school?" He asked with a measure of dread in his tone.

Techno just stared at him again, this time shrugging instead of speaking anything more. He honestly didn't know. He hadn't asked.

His father let out a deep breath and held out a hand.

"Give me the brick, Techno."

"It's Wilbur's."

"It's the schools. We can't just-" His father cut himself off with a sigh, brow furrowing as if considering something, "You know what? Fine. But I don't want to see it. We don't talk about it."

"Not even to mom?"

"...You can to your mum. She'd probably find it funny."

".…Do you think its funny?"

His father paused and thought a moment, a small smirk pulling at his lips.

"Its sort of funny. But we don't want to make a habit of stealing bits of the school to bring home, okay?"

Techno paused here as his eye went wide.

"Stealing?" He asked, his voice smaller than before, "But, he said it fell off the building!"

"Just because it isn't attached anymore doesn't mean it isn't stealing, Tech. It isn't ours to take. I don't know how he managed to get one loose, but just because it came off doesn't just…make it free." His father explained as he let out a deeper breath than before and wiped a hand down his face, "I'm going to have to have a talk with your brother when he gets home."

Techno chewed on the inside of his lower lip nervously, but his father just shook his head and put on a fresh smile.

"I'll worry about that later. You wanted to see the surprise, yea?"

And like that Techno was looking between the house door and his father, eagerness rising once more in his chest. A surprise. One that he would get to see first before Wilbur.

He didn't wait for his father to nudge him and instead darted up the walkway towards the door. His father laughed after him but didn't call out to 'wait' or 'slow down' or anything like that. He just watched as Techno fumbled with the door handle, shoving the door wide open and practically tripping into the house.

Nothing seemed to stand out immediately once he was inside. There wasn't a smell of anything being cooked so it wasn't a food treat. That was something they could always tell at the door.

"Shoes , Tech." His father reminded with a slight chuckle in his voice.

Dropping his bag on the floor, with a heavier 'thump' than usual, Techno moved to the small bench near where the shoes were kept and quickly began trying to slide the things off. He struggled for a moment or so as his rushing had him shoving them off with less care than usual, his father needing to kneel down to help remove the things. Usually Wilbur would do it if they got stuck, but Techno wasn't thinking of that at the moment.

Once the shoes were removed he was back on his feet and abandoning the footwear to be put away by his father. The man was laughing a bit behind him but he didn't try to call Techno back or anything. Rushing around the corner of the entrance and forwards a few steps Techno peered into the kitchen first. His mother wasn't in the room and, as first guessed at the door, there was no visible treat waiting for him there.

"Hi."

Techno whirled around as a voice spoke from behind him. A familiar voice that left him more confused than anything when he laid eyes on its owner.

In the living room and staring at him from over the back of the couch was a boy roughly his age with sandy blond hair and the ever present smiley face sticker on one cheek. He was offering a slightly awkward smile of his own as he waved at Techno. It was out of instinct that Techno waved back slowly, his mouth shut and his voice locked away.

"Dream's mother had something come up so he's going to be staying with us today until dinner." His father informed as he came into the room, "Should give you boys plenty of time to play and get to know each other."

Techno just stared at Dream like a deer in headlights and Dream, for his part, just awkwardly stared back. Usually Wilbur handled talking and stuff with other kids, Techno had no idea what to do without him here. The few times he himself talked to Dream it was over the fence and usually in response to something teasing the other had said about Wilbur.

Having the kid in his house, without his brother and…and all the way until dinner? Techno had entirely no idea what he was supposed to do.

"I'll go start getting your snacks ready. Don't worry about homework today, we'll handle it after dinner this time. Just focus on having some fun."

"Thank you, Mr. Watson." Dream called after the man as he turned towards the kitchen.

"Just call me 'Phil'." The blond stated as he turned briefly back at them with a smile.

Techno wanted to let out a whine as his father left him standing alone, but he couldn't even get that sound out. He wasn't panicking but…he wasn't comfortable at all.

The two of them remained in place like that for almost a minute, each fidgeting and awkwardly looking at one other. It was Dream who finally broke the silence.

"So….what do you like to do?" Dream asked, his voice lilting in a way to say he was just as unsure as Techno was.

Techno remained quiet as he shrugged in response instead. He liked to do a lot of things but…for some reason he couldn't think of a single thing. Though, even if he could he doubted he'd be able to say them aloud. He could feel the tightness in his throat that usually meant he wouldn't be able to talk for a while.

He wished Wilbur was here. Wilbur always seemed to know what to say and he never had any trouble talking to people.

Dream shifted on the couch a moment before dipping out of view. There was a padding sound of feet hitting the floor and then the other was rounding the couch, enough so that they were fully visible.

"Do you…want to play something outside? You guys always seem to have something to play out there." Dream commented, but Techno shook his head.

Wilbur made up most of the games. Even if Techno knew most of them by heart he didn't want to have to try to explain any rules.

"...Then, do you have anything in here you want to play?" Dream asked again.

He was shifting more on his feet and Techno could tell he was getting uncomfortable. Techno didn't want to make Dream feel that way but…he just…didn't know what to do. He tried to open his mouth, but no sounds came out. Nothing more than a short and mildly frustrated huff.

If there was something they could play where he didn't have to speak…

"Do you want to just…watch something?" Dream tried again, this time far more anxious sounding than before.

Techno was biting his lip before shaking his head this time. Instead of just standing and fidgeting though Techno motioned for Dream to follow him. Turning to walk down the hall leading to his and Wilbur's room Techno paused only long enough to make sure the other was actually behind him. Though looking unsure, Dream was, in fact, trailing after him.

Pushing the door open to the room Techno swiftly made his way to the shelving unit that held the books and such for the two boys. The bottom shelf specifically holding a few board games, a box of old cards, some flashcards and a few hand toys. Things that, mostly, didn't need talking in order to play.

Dream was soon right beside him and looking over the options that Techno glanced over. The next few minutes consisted of Techno pulling something partly out and looking at Dream. Dream would either shake his head or shrug at it. Any item shrugged at was put into a pile that the two, without speaking, understood to be the actual 'choice pile'.

It was as Techno was sorting through those selected items for them both to choose from that Dream spoke up once more.

"You have a lot of books in here. Do you guys read that much?" Dream asked as he ran a over the spine of one of Techno's favorite myth books.

He turned his head to look at Techno for a response, curious but not demanding. Techno shook his head before placing a hand on his chest and patting himself once.

"You? Are, are all of theses yours then?" Dream questioned with a touch of surprise to his tone.

Techno nodded before he stood up and walked from the pile. He stopped at the shelve and looked it over, tapping a few books and then pointing over to Wilbur's bed. After that he allowed himself a smile before touching the shelf and then patting his chest again.

"So, then do you know all the stories in them?" Dream asked further as he picked up one book in particular.

Not the myth book he'd been touching before, but one of the more recently purchased books his mother had given him. It was a gardening book for beginners that he had only started to read. It had a lot of words in it that he didn't know and therefore had only been reading it when his mother could read it with him.

Techno shook his head with a small frown as he reached out and took the book from Dream's hands. Dream, unlike Wilbur, didn't complain at the action, but watched as Techno put it back and pulled out another…or three.

One of them was, of course, his myth book, the second was a well loved copy of 'The Wild Things', and the last was a book about various animals. He knelt down on the floor, Dream copying him, and placed the books out between them.

Without thinking Techno, while looking at the books with a small smile on his face, patted his chest once and then tapped his middle finger to his chin before miming the opening of a book with both hands. He was reaching down towards the three when Dream spoke up again.

"You know sign language?" Dream asked with the same sort of genuine surprise as he had when asking about the books in general.

Techno paused, his face flushing a bit red as he nodded slowly.

"That's really cool. My mom's been wanting to teach me since she says it's a good thing to learn." Dream stated with a smile that had Techno feel less embarrassed than a second ago, "Is it hard to learn? Does your whole family know it?"

Techno's face scrunched up at the questions. One, because there was more than one to answer, and two, because hew wasn't fluent and didn't know how to answer those ones. He didn't want to not answer though and decided other hand gestures would be good enough. Like when he talked with Wilbur.

Making a slight grimaced face Techno wavered his hand in the '50/50' manner in response to the first question, making sure to hold up a single finger to note that. Then, after hold up two fingers Techno shook his head while spelling out the word 'no'. He paused here before patting his chest and then pinching his fingers together, a way of saying he only knew a little.

"That's still cool. Maybe you could teach me what you know sometime. We could learn it together that way." Dream offered, a more excited look on his face.

Techno hesitated but couldn't help the smile that grew on his face as he nodded in turn.

x-x

By the time his father called the boys out for snack Techno and Dream were talking deeply about the old style myths compared to what Techno called the 'baby milk version' that they were read in school. With his words having returned to him some time ago Techno was making use of them all as he explained to Dream why it would be better if they learned the real ones from the start. Aside from the stories just 'being better' that is. Like how the lessons of them got all messed up when watered down and the heroes weren't even heroes anymore.

Dream didn't seem to see the problem, but he did agree that the older tales were, in fact, better than the school versions. The two talked through their entire snacking about it, ending with Techno dragging Dream back to the room to point out why he was wrong about something using his books. Despite the apparent long going argument both boys seemed to be having a good time.

It was in this state that Wilbur walked into his room not long after, guitar case and backpack slung on his back.

He stared at Dream with confusion as Techno glanced up at the opening of the door. Techno had been pointing at something in his book when Wil came in and now all three boys were staring at one other in silence.

"...What are you doing in our room?" Wil asked, clearly not having been warned by their parents about the visit.

"Being wrong about mythology." Techno answered before Dream had a chance to reply himself.

Dream let out a small snorted before laughing, giving Techno a light shove on the arm. Wilbur laughed too as he dropped his things on the floor by his bed and moved to sit down beside the pair on Techno's side.

"Wrong about what part?" He asked, wide grin, "Is it a Hercules thing?"

Techno let out an audible groan as he frowned at Wilbur.

"Its Heracles, not Hercules." Techno corrected in a tone that sounded entirely 'done' with his brother.

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure its Hercules. There's a song and everything." Wilbur insisted, his amused grin only growing.

"A bad song from a bad movie. You're just wrong Wilbur and you have wrong taste." Techno stated bluntly.

"I thought the movie was okay." Dream stated with a shrug.

"Then you're both wrong." Techno replied as he sat up more and crossed his arms.

Wilbur and Dream looked at each other before Wilbur reached out a fist towards him.

"Wrong Boys." Wil announce with a wider and more cheeky grin than before.

Dream matched the look before completing the fist bump.