Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

King Phil Craft,  a name known through every kingdom and every realm. The man who slayed the ender dragon, and the wither, and gained the grace of the goddess of death herself all while running a̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶g̶d̶o̶m̶ an empire. 

He was successful in most things he did, if not all and he was a kind benevolent ruler who loved all his people. 

But even kings get lonely. He had nobody to share the empty hallways of the castle with. He had nobody to wake up with, nobody to share meals with, just himself. He didn’t find much interest in finding a wife, he thought of all the people in the kingdom as his children, even if they were older than him.

It wouldn’t feel right to marry one of them and to marry someone from another kingdom would be a little chaotic. He’d always wanted a child or two but without a wife that dream seemed impossible. 

Then again he needed an heir eventually because whenever he died, he didn’t need the nobles fighting over who should take the position. (It would be his right hand man Callahan, of course. If he was still alive by then.) 

That dream seemed impossible until by some stroke of luck, it wasn’t. 

The king liked to take time out of his week to walk through the kingdom. Sometimes he went in his royal get up, sometimes he would use magic to hide his wings and wear a nice jacket and a bucket hat and just roam as if he was a normal citizen of the empire.

Today was one of the rare days he went in his royal get up. His head knight, Sam, was forcing guards to go with him since he was going to one of the rougher parts of the empire. It was a 2 day travel from the capital to this part of the empire but Phil liked to visit all parts to make sure they were prospering.

The town he was visiting was called Eco. Eco was 5 towns away from the border on the east side so they got a lot of newcomers. It wasn’t by any means a poor town, none of the towns in the empire were poor. They all got pretty much equal amounts of funding.

However, since a lot of newcomers came to the town, they liked to break laws which made it a bit more dangerous. The king couldn’t spare many guards to keep all the towns in check so they had a small police force in each of the cities that were more than 2 hours from the capital. 

Thats how he found the kids. One was fighting off some officers while the other ran with a bag of what he assumed to be food from the market. Once the first kid had slowed the officers down enough, both kids ran giggling and not looking where they were going which caused them to bump into Phil.

“Hey!” One that looked like a piglin said. “How dare you be where we were running! Don’t you have man- oh.” The other kid looked up at the king who looked very amused by this situation. “Y-your majesty!” 

Before Phil could say anything the officers caught up to them. “Sorry your majesty. We’ve been trying to catch these two for weeks. They keep stealing from the local shops.” One of the officers explained while the others reprimanded the two. “How much?” 

Everyone looked at the king confused. “For what they stole. I’ll pay.” Phil offered. “Are you sure your highness?” One of the guards muttered. “Positive. So how much?” The officers told them a price and phil paid them extra for their troubles before sending them off and making the guards go stand somewhere else so he could talk to the kids.

“Hey mate. My name is Phil. Whats your names?” Both kids looked confused as to why the king of the biggest empire in the world was talking to them but decided it would be rude to stay quiet. “I-I’m Wilbur, that’s my brother Techno.” 

“Where are your parents Wilbur?” Both boys gave each other a weary glance. “We’re orphans.” Techno spoke up. Phil felt bad for the boys. His dad was hardly ever around when he was still young even if the empire was just a small kingdom back then, he had to work to make it an empire so he never had time for phil. 

“How old are you both?” “We’re both 7. Twins.” Phil was surprised. A couple of 7 year olds were able to evade the police and hold them off. There was no way he could let them stay on the streets. Adorable and talented and they seemed nice? No way in hell phil was going to leave them here.

“How would you like to come home with me?” Both boys jaws dropped in usion. “As in...you adopting us?” Wilbur asked for clarification because there was no way the king just asked that. “I don’t see why not. I need heirs and I’ve always wanted sons.” Phils kind and genuine smile was making it very hard for them to say no (as if they actually would say no).

“B-but we’re hybrids.” Techno blurted without thinking. “You are?” Phil could tell that Techno was a piglin hybrid, he had slight tusks and sharp ears. He didn’t understand why he thought that would matter. More than 50% of the empires population was either a hybrid or had some kind of magical abilities (that you needed to be registered to use). 

“Phantom and a piglin.” Wilbur explained. “Well...I’m an avian.” Phil smiled moving his cloak aside and showing off his black wings. “Woah.” Both boys said in usion. “Yeah. Plus tons of people are hybrids. Why would you think we wouldn’t want you both because of something you can’t control.”

“Eco doesn’t have a lot of hybrids so the orphanage lady was mean to us. Its why we ran away and started living on the streets. She said nobody would ever want a couple hybrids and that if we did get adopted we’d get separated because wilbur looked somewhat normal and I don’t.”

Phils eyes darkened. He would clearly need to have some conversations with some people. Conversations they very much wont like. “Well I can assure you, she’s wrong. I have tons of extra rooms in the castle and we’ll be able to have you clothes made by the morning.” Phil promised.

“We’ll come with you but only if we can share a room.” Wilbur negotiated. “Of course mate. I always thought the rooms were a little too big to be alone in anyway.” Phil reached both his hands out. Wilbur smiled and took the left one and Phil looked at techno who was a bit more hesitant.

“Promise you wont leave us?” Phils heart broke for the boy. He’s only 7 and already has abandonment issues. “I pinky promise mate. And if you come, you can have all the gold you want.” Techno smiled and grabbed his hand. Phil was glad he did his research on hybrids years ago. He remembered something about piglin hybrids liking gold and treasure.

And that day the kingdom gained their beloved princes but that year they also went to war. One of the neighboring kingdoms, El Rapids, was apparently planning to assassinate Phil and somehow get the kings son Quackity in as the new king while all the Nobles fought but since Phil adopted kids and officially had an heir the place would be held by his advisor Callahan until the kids were old enough to rule.

They decided to go to war in attempts to kill 3 birds with 1 stone. They clearly underestimated the strength of the empire though. The only semi important result of them going to war was the kingdom not catching any glimpses of the princes.

The boys stayed within the castle walls for their safety and Phils sanity. The war lasted for 5 long years before Phil managed to get in contact with Karl, who was apparently the princes best friend, and they made a plan to overthrow the king and get quackity the throne.

Since quackity was always against what his father was trying to do and the people liked quackity way more, a coup d’etat was easy. Both kingdoms rejoiced as the previous king was banished from both lands and peace reigned once again.  

Along with peace came new agreements that needed to be come too. Phil had to stay in El Rapids for 6 months at most in order to to build trust, come up with a proper peace treaty, and oversee the construction of the Artic Embassy.

“Do you have to go dad?” Wilbur asked as Phil was loading up the limo that would be taking him. “I’m sorry wil but I do. Callahan will run the kingdom while I’m gone and you guys are no longer confined to the castles so you can leave, with the guards of course.” 

“I don’t understand why we can’t come with you.” Techno spoke up. “I don’t want anything to happen to either of you. They still haven’t found everyone whos still loyal to the old king and I couldn’t live with myself if someone tried to harm either of you.”

They both sighed and gave him a hug. “Be back before our birthday?” Their birthday wasn’t for a few months but they still wanted the reassurance. “Of course.” Phil smiled. He let them go and boarded his ride. “Bye dad!” Techno shouted. “Be safe! Love you!” 

“I love you too.” Was the response they received before the limo was gone from sight. They turned to each other after they went back in the castle. “No dad for at least 4 months. What do we do now?”

Chapter Text

Its been about a week since phil left and both boys were bored out of their mind. Of course they could train and do their lessons like they were supposed to but they were still bored. Usually their dad would take them flying or help them practice their abilities or have a random movie/ game night with them but since he was gone they had absolutely nothing to do.

Wilbur was currently hanging out in Technos room. Techno was reading some book on greek mythology l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶r̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ while Wil played around with his guitar to find a good tune for a song he wrote. 

“Try it in C sharp.” Techno suggested barely looking up from his book. Wilbur listened and it sounded good so he wrote it down and moved to the next note.

Both boys stopped sharing rooms a few years ago but they still had giant beds so sometimes they would have mini sleepovers or just hang out in the others room. Wilbur had a bookshelf full of books for both him and techno and techno had an extra piano, guitar, and empty music sheets for Wilbur.

They hadn’t really done anything since their dad left but neither boys wanted to bring it up. Wilbur had an idea and figured now was as good a time as any to say something. “So what do you say about going to the towns?” 

Techno didn’t even look up before responding. “Why would we do that? All the guards would be following us everywhere and everyone would recognize us as the princes with our royal get up on. We wouldn’t meet any genuine people who wanted to talk to us for anything other than our title.” 

“I know which is why I say we go in normal clothes and without the guards following us.” Techno raised his eyebrow as to say ‘elaborate’ . “We could get the seamstress to make us clothes normal citizens would wear and tell sam that the guards can watch us from afar so that way they’re watching us but not hovering.”

Techno looked deep in thought. “And you want us to stay in the capital district?” Wilbur shook his head. “We could go to Tiyra. You know the town three cities out the capital district?” “The one with the really good bakery?” Wilbur nodded. “I suppose that could work.” Wilbur knew there was a but.

“But how do you know sam will agree to this?” Techno and Wilbur had immediately hit it off with Sam when they got there but there was a reason the man was nicknamed The Warden when he was on duty. Everyone's safety was always his number 1 priority. 

Which was fine in the sense that the crime rate has been as low as he could make it but it was kinda suffocating to the princes. They had to come up with some reasons why sam would let them go out on their own and have a basic area they were staying in already planned out in order for the warden to even consider it.

Wilbur voiced this to techno and they got planning. Once they had a solid-ish plan they went to visit the head knight who was out on the training field evaluating the trainees to see what they needed to work on. “Sam!” Wilbur called getting the mans attention.

“Your highnesses. To what do I owe the honor of a visit.” Sam bowed. “Could we have a quick discussion? It wont take long and we could always come back if your busy.” Sam chuckled at the princes nervousness. Sometimes he wondered if they forgot they had way more power than him.

“Of course we could talk. I’m sure the trainees would like a break.” They all nodded tiredly to prove his point. He dismissed them and walked the princes over to his office. “What can I do for you?” He asked sitting down at his desk.

“Well me and Techno,” “Techno and I,” Wilbur rolled his eyes at his twin. “Whatever. Techno and I were wondering if we could go in the village-” Sam accidentally cut him off. “Of course you can. Do you need me to send guards with you or announce your comings?” Sam was already getting the paperwork.

“Uh not exactly.” Sam stopped what he was doing with a confused look on his face and asked for Wilbur to explain his thinking. “We actually were hoping we could go and act like normal citizens since they wont remember what we look like and we were hoping to make some friends who weren’t just going to be with us because we’re princes. 

We already have everything planned out. The seamstress made us outfits and we are planning to stay where the guards can see us.” “We memorized the posts in Tiyra and we we’ll stay within 10 miles of the town square.” 

Sam looked impressed with the young royals. He wouldn’t have said no in the first place but they did a lot of the work for them. He decided to voice his thoughts. “Of course you can go. I wouldn’t have said no anyway. Since you already worked everything out I’ll even let you choose what guards are on duty tomorrow.” 

The boys both cheered and thanked him profusely before leaving with the promise of getting their dad to give him a raise. Sam tried to tell them they didn’t have too knowing they would do it (they’ve done it way too many times before. Sam doesn’t need this much money) but they ignored him and kept going. 

Sam shook his head fondly. What were they going to do with those two?

The next day both boys were ready bright and early to go to Tiyra. They got to leave out of the secret entrance in the garden so that nobody would see them. It was a couple hours to walk to the town but they got to see a lot of the markets and kids playing.

Techno may not have been that fond of small children (they were messy and almost always sick. Any time he touched a child they would somehow get something sticky on his nice silk cape and he always washed it because he knew how hard it was for the washers to get that stuff out. Or they tried to eat his gold.) but he did enjoy seeing them run around the kingdom.

Wilbur liked that they would always listen to his songs. When he was 7, a little before they found phil, he would play a guitar that he ̶s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶  had and they would always sit down from where they were bothering Techno or some other older kid and listen to his songs before getting called away by their parents.

Now that the war was over and they could roam freely they decided to take time to help the elders and play with the younger kids. They even helped out at the orphanage for a little bit. They didn’t actually make it to Tiyra, getting distracted by literally everything on the way. They even got some souvenirs.

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“Look Techno they have a sword shop!” Wilbur pointed out excitedly. “I think its called a blacksmith shop actually.” Techno corrected. “Whatever. Go play with the kids or something, I;ll be right back.”

Wilbur ran into the shop without another word from techno. Usually he would follow him but if Wilbur wanted him to stay put it meant he wanted to keep it a secret which meant it was extra important because the twins didn’t keep secrets.

He didn’t listen to wilbur, per say. He was not facing those little demons alone. Instead he went a little further in to the market and found a nice jacket he thought Wilbur would like. He went to buy it but the merchant stopped him as he tried to hand in the emeralds.

“Here. You can have it for free.” The sheep hybrid smiled. “No I wanna pay for it.” “I insist. Take it. We’ve been doing well today, we’ll spare a jacket.” Techno realized he wouldn't win the argument and thanked her before setting off.

When he saw Wilbur again he had something in a case and handed it to techno. “For you.” Techno opened it and saw a beautiful netherite axe named [Axe of Peace] and it had some pretty good enchantments on it too. 

“Wow. You’re making my gift feel inadequate.” Techno scoffed. Closest thing to a thankyou Wilbur would get, he realized as techno shoved the jacket in his arms. “Inadequate? I love it Techno!” He took off the jacket he already had on and put the one techno got him in its place.

And with that they set off to f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶g̶i̶f̶t̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶a̶c̶h̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶o̶p̶e̶f̶u̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶P̶h̶i̶l̶ look around more.

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam thankfully expected this and notified the guards in the area to keep an eye on the boys. They got back to the castle before the end of sunset and they were already planning what to do tomorrow.

It took them a couple days to see everything in the capital and get to Tiyra. The plan was to head straight for Sweets n Treats but they wanted to see the town square. They had one of the oldest statues of their dad and they wanted to a̶d̶m̶i̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ make fun of it.

It was admittedly a glorious artifact. It had their dad standing tall with his wings open in a way that caught the sunlight just right. He was holding up his sword [Repent] and had on his battle face. 

He would hate it when Wil and Techno called it that. He says he didn’t even notice he was making the face. He usually doesn’t notice if he’s making any face other than a smile. 

The face the twins like the most is his determined face. He looks a mix of angry and focused and whenever he gets that face you know he means business. 

Both boys picked up on his focused face and Techno got his battle face (he can deny it all he wants, Wilbur has photo evidence) and Wilbur got his calming face (Techno also had phot evidence a̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶v̶e̶n̶g̶e̶ ̶ to prove it to him.) and both boys had to learn the face he put up for the nobles. They were very very annoying to deal with, a facade was best to keep them from asking questions or trying to play on emotions to get something extra for their town. 

“Wanna go to the bakery now?” Wilbur asked after they thoroughly a̶d̶m̶i̶r̶e̶d̶ made fun of the statue. “Uh sure.” The boys set off in the direction they thought the bakery was when someone crashed into Wilbur who crashed into Techno and they all fell. The person hit their head but Wilbur and Techno were relatively fine.

“D-dad?” So it was a kid. “Uh no. Are you ok?” Wilbur said helping him up. The kid shook his head aggressively to focus his vision before looking at the two kids who couldn;t be that much older than him. “O-oh sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” 

“Its fine I guess. Just be careful next time. You may crash into someone who wont be as nice.” Techno advised. “You’re probably right.” The kid chuckled. It was then that they noticed the kid was a hybrid. A fox hybrid to be exact.

“I supposed I should introduce myself. My names Fundy.” 

Chapter Text

“D-dad?” So it was a kid. “Uh no. Are you ok?” Wilbur said helping him up. The kid shook his head aggressively to focus his vision before looking at the two kids who couldn;t be that much older than him. “O-oh sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” 

“Its fine I guess. Just be careful next time. You may crash into someone who wont be as nice.” Techno advised. “You’re probably right.” The kid chuckled. It was then that they noticed the kid was a hybrid. A fox hybrid to be exact.

“I supposed I should introduce myself. My names Fundy.” 

“Nice to meet you Fundy, I’m Wilbur and this is my brother Techno.” The fox hybrid waved at the two boys. “Sorry again for bumping into you...and calling you dad. You looked kinda like him when my vision was all blurry.” 

“Its fine. Nothing compared to how I met my dad.” Fundy looked confused. “We’re adopted.” Techno clarified. Fundy made an ‘oh’ face and gestured for them to continue. “I ran into him while we were stealing and trying to run from some officers.” 

“You got away? In Tiyra?” Fundys surprise was valid. The closer to the capital you were, the better the police force. Nobody wanted to deal with The Wardens wrath, if you were closer you were more likely to face it. “No we grew up in Eco so the police officers were pretty bad.” Techno chuckled.

“We bumped into our now dad and the officers caught up to us because we fell. We were almost taken back to the holding cells before our dad stepped in and paid for what we stole before offering to take us in.” 

“Your dad sounds like a really cool guy.” Fundy admitted. “The coolest.” Wilbur smiled. “I didn’t actually know my dad for the first 4 years of my life. My mom hid my existence from him but when she got really sick she had to tell my dad about me and he took me in. So I guess I’m kinda adopted too.” Fundy smiled.

They stood in a comfortable silence for a while before Fundy asked another question. “Do you...remember your real parents? Cause I’m 10 now and I hardly remember my mom.” The twins both thought about it.

Since becoming the orphans they never really thought about their real parents. They were too busy trying to survive at first and when they were adopted they never saw the need. They had Phil so who cared about their real parents or the old orphanage owners? 

“Mom was a piglin hybrid and dad was a phantom Hybrid. Two different dimension mobs...nobody really knew how they met.” Techno spoke up. “All I know is that they had me and Wil and when we turned 4 they told us we were going to play hide and seek and that we were the seekers and to count to 100. 

We were four so we were there for a while trying to figure out how to get to 100. When we looked up they were gone and we would’ve looked for them but our stuff was left with us and the car was nowhere to be seen.” Wilbur finally seemed to remember as well and chimed in.

“Oh yeah. They left us at the orphanage so the headmistress saw us outside and just let us in and sent us to some random rooms as if it were normal for kids to be left there. She tried to have us separated but we had to get a DNA test to prove we were twins before they let us stay together. We ran away a few years later, met our dad, and here we are.” 

Fundy looked like he was processing the information. “Your twins?” Was all he managed to get out. The twins were relieved that he didn’t press about anything related to their parents. Those were memories they liked to keep buried for good reason.

“Yep. Most people don’t know it ‘cause he’s a piglin and I’m a Phantom but dad says when we conceal our other features we look a lot more similar.” Fundy nodded understanding. “I don’t remember much about my mom except that she was probably a fox which is where I inherited it from.

My dads a normal person which is surprisingly rare to see in a town so close to the capital.” Fundy explained. “Ah crap speaking of my dad, I better go find him before he has a heart attack. See you around?” The boys nodded as the fox hybrid walked away.

“Well we better go find that bakery before we have to wait yet another day.” Wilbur suggested. Techno nodded in agreement and they walked in the direction they thought the bakery to be in. 

They’d been walking and talking and half paying attention and soon enough they were lost. Not just lost as in they didn’t know where they were but also lost as in they couldn’t find any guards to give directions or reassure sam, and they tried backtracking which just got them even more lost.

“Thanks a lot wilbur. Now we’re lost. Sam’s never gonna let us hear the end of this.” Techno sighed. “Me?” Wilbur scoffed, “You’re the one who told us we turned left when we clearly came from the right.” 

“At least I know my left from my right.” “You know damn well that I know my left from my right! Don’t change the subject.” “Well you’re the one who told us to come in this direction. I bet the bakery is miles away at this point.” “And we’re travelling through alleys. Of all things. We’re going to get kidnapped and used for ransom and its all your fault.” 

“My fault? You are equally at fault. Master Navigator my ass. The only thing your good at is fighting.” “If you don’t take that back you’ll see just how good at fighting I can be bitch.” “Oh-ho so you’re gonna hit me?” “I’m very tempted.” “If you hit me I’ll tell dad.” “Dad won’t do jack shit cause he’s not here.”

“Dad would craft a belt cause your cussing.” “Bruh. You’re literally doing it too.” “Be a leader Tech. Isn’t that what your always saying?” “You know I only say that to get Ms.Greene off my tail.” “Maybe you should pay more attention in our classes and we wouldn’t be lost now.” “Oh my goodness this again?” 

They were too busy arguing they didn’t notice the group in front of them and nearly knocked them over when they collided. “I’m Sorry. My brother wasn’t watching where he was going.” Wilbur apologised. “Oh that’s it-”

“It’s alright.” One of the boys spoke up successfully stopping them from going back into their argument. The boy, they’d observed, had brown hair, sunglasses, and a dress. It was a very stylish dress and if either of the boys cross dressed, they’d be jealous. 

“Are you new around here?” The girl asked. She had pink hair with dark roots, grey eyes, and was wearing a black shirt, camo pants,a green jacket, and black boots. “Why do you ask?” Techno asked skeptically. 

“Well we’ve never seen you around and we could hear your argument about you both being lost.” Another kid spoke up. He was wearing a green hoodie, black jeans, and a smiley face mask. “Oh...were we that loud?” The three nodded.

“Sorry again about that. I’m Wilbur and this is Techno.” They all shook hands. “I’m Niki, thats Dream, and Eret and the kid over there is Sapnap.” Sapnap was sitting against the wall with a grey and black long sleeved shirt with a flame on it. They could see his brown hair but not really his eye color since he was either sleep or chilling. 

Once they were all properly introduced Dream started a conversation. “What are you doing here anyway?” Wil and Techno looked at each other as if each wanting the other to explain. Since Wilbur had done most of the explaining before he decided Tech should do it now.

“We were looking for the bakery near town square. We’ve heard a lot about it and wanted to try it for ourselves and this idiot got us lost.” Wilbur looked offended. “You are equally at fault.” Techno just rolled his eyes. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.” 

The three laughed at their banter and both boys flushed with embarrassment. “If you need help getting to the bakery we could always point you in the right direction.” Eret offered. “Yeah. We know Tiyra like the back of our hands.” Dream smiled.

“Sure. But before you do that, could we just….talk for a bit.” Wilbur asked awkwardly. The 3 looked confused before someone spoke up. “Uh sure. I don’t see why not. I’m Sapnap by the way.” The boy they thought was sleep finally got up and made his way over.

“Wilbur.” “Techno.” They shook hands. Man this was really awkward. Wilbur thought he should probably explain a bit. “I didn’t mean for that to sound as weird as it probably did but since we haven’t been out of the ca-” Techno knew his brother was about to screw up and quickly took over.

“Capital. Since we haven’t been out of the capital since the war started, we don’t really know many people. And we just moved here meaning we left all our friends behind.” Techno always was a way better liar than his brother. The only person they couldn’t lie to was each other, some how the other always found out.

Phil called it their twintuition but they both thought that sounded really cringey so they just decided to never lie to each other so that they wouldn’t have to name it. They know Phil put it down as one of their abilities but they couldn't bring themselves to ask him to change it. It was cute.

“Oh. We’re always open for new friends.” Eret assured. “I just wish for once I could have another girl around.” Niki joked. “Nope. Boys are superior.” Niki raised her eyebrow at dream. She was basically the leader and the only reason they hadn’t been arrested yet o̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶a̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶s̶c̶a̶p̶e̶ ̶c̶u̶s̶t̶o̶d̶y̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶w̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶j̶a̶i̶l̶. 

It was basically an unspoken rule, if you have an idea run it by Niki. If Niki isn’t available, run it by eret. Dream and Sapnap just weren’t allowed to make decisions. The last time they did, Sapnap had been wanted for arson and Dream had to change his masks emote. 

He used to have a :D face…….

“Yeah ok whatever.” Dream scoffed. “Don’t be mad cause she’s right.” Eret smirked. “She didn’t even say anything!” Sapnap defended. “She’s right anyway.”  The two pouted as everyone else laughed at them.

“You even got the new guys to laugh. The new guys!” Dream cried exasperatedly. “Aw there there. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Wilbur cooed mockingly. “Yeah, I talked to your doctor the other day. He said you’d need a reality check to help cure that big ego of yours.” Techno added. Dream looked like he wanted to be buried. 

“We can all agree Wilbur and Techno stay, right?” Niki got out through laughter. Eret and Sapnap agreed. “I deny this. I don’t like them anymore.” Dream mumbled. Techno shrugged at the boy. “We’ll ask for your opinion when you wear nice clothes.” 

“Go east for 5 minutes, turn left when you see a hotel. Go through the square and to your right. You’ll see a shop called ‘Sweets n’ Treats.’ and thats the bakery you’re looking for. Leave me and my friends alone. Hope to see you never.” Dream tried to drag his friends away but Sapnap stayed behind.

“Whenever you’re out again, just meet us at the bakery before noon. You can hang with us if you don’t mind getting into a bit of trouble.” Sapnap then promptly ran off to catch up with dream before he got left again.

Techno and Wilbur got excited at the prospect of trouble. Now of course they were princes and they should be following the rules and setting examples and all that jazz. But before they were princes they spent years on the streets causing mischief.

The adrenaline they got from running from and fighting off police and occasionally guards, was one they couldn’t get by running from the castle baker after they’d stolen cookies in the middle of the night. The worst trouble they could get in was getting in trouble by Phil.

But everyone in the castle adored the princes, no doubt happy about having two kids around, so they only snitched like once a week. As princes they could just exist and get out of any jail time (as if they could actually get any jail time). That was also a problem. Being royalty meant they had to keep up a good image.

Phil encouraged them to be kids and make mistakes and act their age but both boys knew they were held to a slightly higher standard which meant, no minor vandalism. But as normal kids they would be able to run around and cause as much trouble as they wanted and get a genuine chase from the guards or the cops (as long as they hid their faces good enough from the guards depending on who was on duty) and not have to worry about a scolding from phil, or an annoyingly long lecture from sam or the nobles, or extra manner classes (courtesy of Callahan who wasn’t trying to be mean but really hated to see the boys in trouble.).

They would just be normal boys getting in regular trouble. (Of course they’d probably end up paying for whatever their friends stole/destroyed because they would still feel very bad and not want to get an ear full from sam if one of the guards recognized them.)

They finally arrived at the bakery a few minutes later. For the best bakery in the kingdom, it was surprisingly empty. There was a lady behind the counter and it looked like she was closing up but she turned when she heard the bell above the door go off.

“Hey. Welcome to Sweets n Treats what can i get you?” She smiled tiredly. “Are you closing?” Wilbur asked. “‘Cause we can always come back tomorrow.” The lady waved that off. “Nonsense. If I didn’t want people to come in I’da locked the door. What can i get you?” 

Both boys...didn’t actually know what they wanted. Sure they’d had every type of sweet and pastry under the sun (Phil spoiled them a lot, especially when they first got there) but they hadn’t had one that wasn’t made by the baker at the castle so they had no clue what to try first/

Sensing their dilema, the lady decided to help out. “Most people like the Chocolate Swirl Tiramisu. And since your new here, I’ll give it to you for free so you can try it out.” She ignored their protests of not paying and have them the sweet anyway.

“How did you know we’re new?” Techno asked while she went to get it out of the fridge area. “I own this place and everyone who comes in always ends up talking for a little while or they come back.” 

That sounded nice. It kinda reminded the boys how the castle had at least 200 workers and guards yet phil knew their names, their kids names, and their parents names (from talking to them of course. He wasn’t a complete stalker). He always wanted to get to know everyone.

The twins remembered one day they asked him why.

“Hey dad?” Techno asked. Phil looked up from where they were helping to replant the flowers in the garden and turned to his youngest. “Yeah mate?” Techno looked like he was thinking about how to word his question before he finally figured something out. “How come you always take time to talk to the workers and guards and learn their names and about their families?”

Phil smiled kindly at both his boys who both wanted to know the same thing (he could tell cause they had the same look on their faces. If he told them that, they’d deny it but it was true. He should get a picture one day). 

“The castle is our home, yeah?” The boys nodded. “Well I look at it as inviting people to stay in my home. You always get to know your guests and want to make them feel welcome. Its always nice to do and you always wanna be a good host.” 

They were brought out of their thoughts when the lady handed them the lady finger looking treats. “Thank you Ms…” “June. My name is June.” The boys smiled at her. “Thank you Ms.June.” They smiled back and went back to cleaning while the boys tried it.

They ate a small bit each and immediately fell in love. The treats were gone in seconds. “Oh my goodness that tastes soooo good.” Wilbur said. “Best I’ve ever had.” Techno nodded along. “Thanks boys. Glad you like it.” June smiled.

“Why don’t you work at the castle or in the capital?” Techno wondered. He’s 100% sure his dad would’ve given her a job on the spot for however much she wanted if he ever tried these treats. 

“Despite living this close to the capital district, I’ve never actually met the king,” June explained finishing up the cleaning, “He’s a busy busy man. He runs an empire for goodness sake. I couldn’t imagine being in charge of almost 5 million miles of territory. Over 150 million citizens, and, what 250 towns?” She guessed.

“246 actually.” Wilbur said without thinking. He and Techno had to learn all this stuff, especially him since he was next in line for the throne. June nodded thoughtfully. “The king visits the towns a lot but not many people get a chance to meet him. If he ever offered though, I would have to ask my kids but I wouldn’t be opposed.” 

They talked for a while before Wilbur and Techno realized the time and had to leave. They both had the same things on their minds. They’d definitely be back tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

“Come on Techno. I’ll leave without you if you don’t hurry up.” Wilbur threatened standing in the door way of Technos bedroom. “Bruh. I’m puttin my shoes on.” He groaned in his usually monotone voice. “Well put them on faster.” Wilbur huffed. 

Techno rolled his eyes but did as he was asked. Wilbur all but dragged him out to the back exit and through the town. “Why are you in such a rush?” Techno asked. “I wanna hurry and get to the bakery. They have muffins before noon and I don’t wanna miss the guys we met yesterday.” 

Techno looked at the watch on his wrist. “Then we better hurry. Its 11:38.” Wilbur ran faster using his phantom abilities to make them intangible so that they could go through buildings and wouldn’t bump into people. They got there way father than they should have traveling from the castle. 

When they got inside they saw Dream and Eret sitting at one of the tables and talking. Eret noticed them come in and waved them over. “Hey guys!” He greeted. “Hullo.” Techno waved. Dream reluctantly handed over 5 gold nuggets to Eret. 

“What’s that for?” Wilbur wondered aloud. “Dream bet that you guys wouldn’t actually show up. I bet you would. Easiest gold pieces I’ve ever made.” Eret chuckled. “What made you think we weren’t going to come?” 

Dream muttered something they couldn’t really hear. “What was that?” Dream sighed and spoke up. “I thought I was a little too mean yesterday and that you guys wouldn’t actually come.” He admitted. “Nah. We have tough skin,” “And no other friends.” Wilbur added. “Yes that too. So we’ll be around for a while.” 

Dream sighed feigning disappointment. “Why do you do this to me.” He groaned. Everyone laughed at his dramatics. Sapnap noticed the laughter and came over from where he was working. “Oh hey! I didn’t know you guys were here.” 

“You work here?” Wilbur asked. “Not exactly.” Sapnap chuckled. Then Niki, another boy their age, June, and another man they didn’t notice came over. “Mom, these are the other boys I was telling you about.” Niki said gesturing to Wilbur and Techno.

“Oh I did meet them. Nice to see you back here.” June said. “I didn’t know Niki was your daughter.” Wilbur commented. “You never asked.” Niki shrugged. “Wilbur, Techno, this is my dad,” “You can call me Bad.” The man chimed in, “and this is george. He’s usually with us but he slept in yesterday. Dad, George this is Wilbur and Techno. We met them yesterday.” 

Once everyone got their introductions in, Sapnap and Niki finished helping their parents then came over. “Are we ready to go?” George asked. “We have to wait a little bit.” Dream said checking his watch. They all just chilled at the table.

“Why were you guys working?” Techno questioned. “My dad owns a muffin shop and him and Ms.June always work together in the mornings to give out breakfast treats while my dads best friend, Uncle Skeppy, runs his shop.” Sapnap started. 

“Me and Sapnap have been helping since we could work the ovens properly. Its how we met actually.” Niki recalled. “Is your dad a Hybrid?” Wilbur had noticed the mans red particles and small horns coming out of his head. “Yep. Most of us are hybrids.” Sapnap said.

Wilbur raised his eyebrows and motioned for him to explain. “My dads a demon hybrid, I’m a blaze hybrid.” Sapnap started. “Me and My brother are endermen hybrids, like my dad, but my moms a Witch Hybrid.” Niki continued. “My Moms a sheep hybrid, My brothers a totem hybrid, and me and my oldest brother are admin hybrids. We think my baby sister is an admin hybrid too but we’re not sure yet cause shes still a baby.” Dream said.

“My dad and brother are goat Hybrids, and I’m a Herobrine descendant like my mom.” Eret took off his glasses to show his pure white eyes before putting them back on. “And I’m a Koala Hybrid, hence why I sleep a lot.” George yawned and showed off his furry ears.

“How come you don’t have any traits?” Techno pointed out. “Everyone knows the concealing spell but not many people use it. We do cause if the guards or police saw our traits we’d be easier to catch.” George explained. 

“Well I’m a phantom, Techs a piglin, and our dad is an avian.” They all looked shocked. “An Avian? The chances of being an avian is a 1 in a billion.” Dream pointed out. “Yeah,” Eret joined in, “The only avian I’ve ever heard of is the king.” Wilbur laughed nervously while Techno quickly thought up a lie.

“Is that why our dads always concealing his wings? He never told us why he did that.” Well...it wasn’t a complete lie. Whenever Phil went out as a normal person he always concealed his wings and never told the boys the truth. The more you know I guess.

“Whos concealing wings?” Another two boys walked over. “Fundy?” Wilbur recognized. “Wilbur? Techno? Nice to see you again.” Fundy smiled. “Did you ever find your dad?” Techno asked. “Yeah he was in the shops.” 

Dream looked back and forth between the twins and the fox hybrid. “You guys know each other?” They stopped their conversation and shrugged. “We met yesterday before we met you.” Wilbur explained. “Well I guess no need to introduce him then.” Sapnap chuckled.

“I’m Foolish. Dreams little brother, and Fundys best friend.” The totem hybrid introduced. “Now can we go?” George asked impatiently. “Yes george. Now we can go.” Niki said walking to the door. “Bye kids! Don’t get in any trouble.” June called from the back. “Bye Mom. Bye Mr.Bad!” “Bye Dad, Bye Ms.June.” Sapnap and Niki called. 

“Bye kids.” Bad yelled back. Once they were out they walked in silence in a random direction. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you were planning to do?” Techno asked after a while. “We were gonna steal from the jeweler's shop then the blacksmith and the toy shop.” Eret admitted.

“Why not just buy it? Not reprimanding you or anything I’m just curious.” Wilbur tried to word that in a way that wasn’t condescending. “Despite having the best treats in Tiyra, my mom doesn’t make much. The money she does make goes into buying supplies and paying bills and she doesn’t have a lot left over after all that. We’re not really poor but we can’t exactly go off and buy expensive jewelry whenever we want.” Niki explained.

“Same with my dad and his muffin shop.” Sapnap said. “And all of our parents, ‘xcept Fundys, have more than 1 kid. My mom has 4, well 3 since my oldest brother moved out, Eret and Nikis have 2, and Bad has Sapnap and adopted George. Buying things for themselves, especially when a lot of them have toddlers or a baby to entertain, is almost impossible. Little kids are expensive.” The others nodded in agreement.

“So sometimes we steal things for them. They don’t know that we steal it, and if the find out they make us return it, but we usually steal toys for the kids or nice things for our moms or something for our dads.” Eret finished. 

Wilbur and Techno felt really bad. They had known what it was like to not have anything but they never experienced having money but just barely enough to get by. If they even mentioned something that they wanted in an off hand conversation, Phil would get it even when they insisted he didn’t have too.

They hated being spoiled yet Phil spoiled them anyway. They would definitely offer to help them out but they didn’t want it to seem like pity or give away their identities as princes. The only things this proves is that despite what people think, no town is really richer than the others. 

People think the towns closer to the capital have more money but all they have is lower crime rates. Poverty is something every district struggles with, despite phil's best efforts. People don’t make a lot of money, then they steal from others and they lose their income, which makes them have to lay off jobs and people go broke and then they steal and the cycle continues.

Phil tries his best to make as many jobs as he can everywhere but he can’t keep up with all the people coming into the empire. They have the nobles for that but the nobles do a shit job at it, only really being nobles because its what they were born into. They don’t have as much responsibility as the princes or king but they have more expectations than the common folk.

So they’re in a weird gray area where they have more power than most people but not enough to be seen as proper royalty, hell they’re hardly seen as proper authority at this point. Part of the reason why Phil is trying to have new nobles elected into position, people who would actually work hard as chosen by the people, and their kids would get better training than the current nobles were given when they were children to prevent this from happening again.

Wilbur and Techno had seen first hand how destructive stealing from others can be which is why they’re gonna be paying back whatever their friends steal (of course they’ll never tell their new friends that cause they don’t want it to be taken advantage of) because their friends have good, genuine reasons for stealing. 

But their actions could effect others more than they know. They think they’re doing the robin hood act but there aren’t really any rich in the working class. Well, sure about 10% of the population would be considered rich but 6.7% are well off, 12.36% are comfortably living, 68.83% are just barely getting by or living well enough but with little money to spare, and 12.11% are poor. 

(Yes they knew the exact statistics. One of them, if not both of them were going to rule one day (Wilbur wants techno to be his advisor if/when he takes the throne) so they had to learn everything about their kingdom. They could name every town, the most common birthday, where the best restaurants were, where the least and most crime rate was, and a lot of other facts, both useful and useless.)

Yes, they could again just buy it for them in the first place but they didn’t want it to seem like pity and they missed that adrenaline they got from it. “So whats the plan?” Wilbur asked after a moment. They smirked and filled them in on what usually happened and by the time they got to the jeweler's shop they were ready for a test run.

“You guys know the plan?” George checked one more time. They nodded. “And your sure your ok with this?” Foolish made sure. “Before we were adopted, this was all we did.” Techno said and that was all the answer they needed.

The 8 of them made their way into the shop and split up. They all had some types of pockets with different types of rocks. The jewelers had gotten attempted robberies so much that they made it so that any extra or taken weight on the display would sound an alarm and alert the guards near by.

They were careful in swiping the few necklaces they did take with bags of rocks that weighed the same. They always had 3 seconds before the alarm went off and they got it on and off in that time.

Fundy, Foolish, and Dream were talking to the people working acting as if they were going to buy something in order to keep them distracted. “Do you think my mom will like this necklace?” Niki asked Techno pointing to a beautiful sapphire necklace. “I think she’ll immediately know you stole it. Look at the price of that thing.” 

25 netherite, 50 diamonds, 100 gold, or 150 emeralds. That was a lot for their friends (it was dirt cheap to the twins) and Nikis mom would know from one look that she stole it and make her return it.

“You’re probably right.” Niki sighed. “How about this one? Its half the price of that, looks the same, but uses lapis instead of sapphire.” Niki looked over the necklace and nodded in approval before quickly replacing it with a bag of rocks.

Techno and Wilbur didn’t actually steal anything but they brought their own rings from the castle to make it look like they had so that the others wouldn't assume they were chickening out on them or something. 

Once they were done Niki walked by dream and let out a low whistle. “You know what, I don’t think we can actually afford anything in here.” Dream pretended to sigh sadly. “Yeah, my brothers right. Our mother told us we wouldn’t be able too but we wanted to see for ourselves.” Foolish said feigning sadness.

“Well if you ever get the money, the rings you wanted will be right here waiting for yo…” The person working trailed off as he noticed the bags of rocks in place of a lot of the jewelry and the kids running out. “Thanks for your cooperation!” Fundy teased as the door closed behind him.

The jeweler immediately sounded the alarm and guards came running in. “The kids that just ran out robbed me.” He said gesturing to the rock bags and the guards immediately ran out. “Stop them.” One yelled pointing the direction of the running kids. 

“Split!” Wilbur grabbed the closest two too him and made a sharp turn in an alleyway. The others did something similar only grabbing one. Two guards chased them. Wilbur looked to see who he was with and saw George and Fundy. 

“Left here.” Fundy said. He’s glad they knew how to navigate the streets or he’d been long caught. They ran for a few minutes before they decided to look back. “I think we lost them!” George said cheering. Fundy sighed in relief as they kept running. 

Had wilbur been a normal kid, he would’ve believed it along with them but he’d trained with the guards and he’d seen many training sessions with officers and guards alike. It didn’t seem like them to give up this easy.

He turned out to be right when one jumped out in front of them. They went to turn back but the other was behind them. They were cornered. “Fuck fuck fuck. I cannot go to jail.” Fundy stressed. Wilbur looked around for possible outs trying to think ‘what would techno do’.

He looked up exasperatedly and noticed a fire escape. If they could get to it they could go through it either to one of the rooms or on top of the building and slide down one of the other surrounding ones. 

He threw a rock at the ladder hitting it spot on (thank goodness for archery classes) letting it fall down to where he could reach it. “You guys go. I have a plan.” George and Fundy looked weary but with the guards getting closer they didn’t have a choice.

When they were gone, wilbur put the ladder back up and leaned against the wall. He’s glad the guards stopped for back up meaning they didn’t get a proper count on the kids or see their faces. 

“Hey!” One called to Wilbur. “What do you want Lazar?” Wilbur groaned. Lazars eyes widened and he bowed slightly, recognizing the prince. “S-sorry your majesty, I thought you were…” He trailed off. “I was….” Wilbur said basically telling him to continue.

“We were chasing thieves and we thought they went this way.” Lazar admitted. “I didn’t see anyone. I was actually looking for techno. I told him I’d drag him back to the castle as a joke and he took off running.” Wilbur was thankful for techno teaching him how to lie.

Had he not, Wilbur would’ve definitely gotten caught. “Sorry again your majesty. We’ll keep looking.” Lazars partner, a person Wilbur did not recognize, said apologetically. They walked off and Wilbur sighed in relief and climbed up the roof. He saw little hints of orange fur going in a certain direction and knew it was fundys way of telling him where they went.

He followed it and ended up on a roof top above where they were supposed to meet. “-ere’s Wilbur?” He could hear techno ask. “T-the guards cornered us and Wilbur let us slip away.” Fundy explained. “He got caught?!” Techno knew that getting caught meant no good for either of them.

“W-we don’t know! We left a trail for him to follow if he gets away but…” George trailed off. “Guess we’ll have to break one of the newbies out of prison.” Niki sighed. Wilbur decided now would be a good a time as any to float down. 

“Break who out of jail? I thought we were robbing the toy shop next.” They all were startled by his presence. “Wilbur!” Fundy gave him a hug which he immediately returned. “How did you not get caught?” Niki asked impressed. 

“I have a bit of a silver tongue.” He smirked. “Now we know who to call if we ever need to sweet talk local authorities.” Foolish joked. “We may have too if we don’t get a move on.” Dream looked at his watch. “If we don’t hurry word of us being thieves will spread before we even get to the toy store.” 

They all booked it in the direction of the toy store. Thankfully they were much more careful this time, in the sense that instead of just distracting the store owners they also bribed a random kid to pretend they were missing their parents to keep the guards busy.

They ended up getting a decent amount of toys. Niki got an enderman plush and Eret got a bee for their little brothers, Sapnap got george a sloth plush and george got sapnap a blaze plus and they both got bad a demon plush, dream got foolish a shark plushy and a dolphin plush for his little sister, and since they were gonna pay the people back anyway Wilbur got Techno a toy Bow and Arrow (so that he’d stop threatening to shoot wilbur with a real one).

They actually managed to out run the guards, seeing as they had a 30 second head start thanks to the kid they hired, and they waited a bit before returning home. 

“We’re back.” Niki said entering the shop. They noticed June and Bad were there along with a sheep and diamond hybrid they didn’t recognize. “Hello my little ducklings. I see you have some new friends. I’m Captain Puffy but you can just call me Puffy. I’m dream and Foolish’s mom.” She introduced herself to the boys.

Wilbur and Techno knew who Puffy was. Their dad told them tales of all the adventures he’d sent puffy on and how even though she was temporarily retired since she had kids, she was still very helpful. “I’m Techno, thats Wilbur.” 

“I’m Skeppy. George and Sapnaps Uncle.” The diamond hybrid introduced. “And I’m Jay Schlatt. Erets dad. You can call me Schlatt.” A goat hybrid smiled kindly coming out of the back. “What did you guys get up too?” Puffy asked hugging dream and foolish.

“We got gifts!” Foolish showed puffy the necklace he’d convinced eret to steal for him while he distracted the shop owners and Dream held out the plushie they git for their baby sister. Everyone else showed their parents the gifts they’d gotten for them and those who’s parents weren’t here, was sitting off to the side. 

“Where’d you get these?” June said. The kids looked confused. “What do you mean mom?” Niki asked skeptically. “We didn’t send you out with any money and last we checked, your allowance wouldn’t have allowed you to buy anything except a few of the toys.” Skeppy said.

The kids paled. Thats why all their parents were here (except Fundys. His dad couldn’t get away from work to help scold them) they had known. “Did...did you steal again?” Bad asked, his voice barely above a whisper but easy to understand in the silence of the restaurant.

The kids lack of an answer was actually all the answer they needed. “You guys. We’ve told you multiple times not to steal. You guys could get in serious trouble one day and we may not be able to afford to get you out.” Schlatt scolded.

“You’re going to return the items and...and take whatever punishment is given to you by the guards. Even if its jail time. You need to learn your lesson. Fundy your dad is equally disappointed in you and you’re coming with us then facing your dad. Wilbur, Techno we can’t force you to do anything so whether your stole something or not I suggest you go home.” 

Wilbur and Techno had 2 choices now. They could leave and get off scotch free and let their new friends get in trouble and most likely face jail time only to never be let out of their parents sight again, or they could cover for them. The answer was obvious.

They turned and walked out. 

Just kidding, just kidding. Wilbur spoke up. “Actually, they didn’t steal anything.” The parents gave them a disbelieving look. “My brothers telling the truth. They were considering stealing but we didn’t want them to get in trouble so we paid for everything.” Techno stepped in.

All the kids looked baffled knowing their parents wouldn’t believe them. It was worth a shot though. “And where did you guys get that kind of money? The total would have come to over 700 emeralds.” The kids winced at the price. Yeah they would definitely get jail time.

“We’re a pretty well off family. Our dad works for the warden, one of his most well paid assistants.” Techno lied easily. The adults didn’t look convinced. “We can prove it!” Wilbur dug in his pockets and the adults and kids all looked between each other skeptically.

Wilbur had gotten Sams original warden ring after they had a newer one made for him. He kept it in his pocket for some reason but he was glad he had it today. He showed the ring to the adults and they gasped. “I...I guess that would make you pretty well off.” Schlatt muttered. 

“Sorry kids, we had no clue.” Puffy said feeling really bad that she thought her kids and their friends would do that again after they promised not too I̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶. “It’s alright mom. We should’ve answered when you asked.” Dream assured.

“Yeah! I- we were trying to cover for Tech and Wil and we panicked.” Sapnap added. “We’ll go make you guys ice cream to make up for it.” Bad smiled. The kids cheered and the adults went to the kitchen (Schlatt may have had to be forcefully dragged) to make good on their promise. 

Once the adults were out of earshot they turned to the twins. “How the hell did you get the Wardens ring?” George asked impressed. “Swiped it off some random guy ages ago.” That wasn’t a complete lie...Why do you think wilbur had to get a new ring?

“You guys are awesome. Extra ice cream for you.” Niki declared. All the others agreed. Wilbur and Techno chuckled at their friends before looking outside to see it was already getting dark and they still had to pay back the shops and make the nearly 2 hour walk back to the castle. They wanted to try and leave before it started getting dark because it was supposed to be very cold tonight.

“Actually we have to get home. We live pretty far and we have to make some stops so that we don’t get caught in the cold snap thats coming later.” Techno explained. The kids pouted but bid their friends farewell after a promise of seeing them again tomorrow.

After paying the shop owners back and giving them extra for the trouble (Bad was not exaggerating when he said the total was over 700 emeralds. Had their dad not been the king, they definitely would have gone broke) they set off on the long journey home.

It was already dark outside and the temperature was declining rapidly. Techno was glad they agreed to test out Sam Nooks jackets that had heaters built in, else they would be icicles. The boys were having a casual conversation admiring how empty the usually busy streets were and the nice quiet of the air.

“This reminds me of when dad would sit with us in the garden and we’d look for constellations and he’d show us his magic.” Wilbur reminisced. “Remember the time you’d found out the spell to bring things to you and you tried to steal a star.” Techno chuckled.

Wilbur frowned at the memory. Instead of a star all he got was a magic ban for a month, and a scolding. “Yeah. Dad was impressed and mad at the same time.” He mumbled. “At least he took you flying after that.” 

Phil had felt bad the next day and took Wilbur flying so that he could get closer to the stars. Wilbur remembered feeling like he could reach out and touch them. It was awesome. Phil took Techno the next night and though the boy never said it aloud, he knew his twin thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“Yeah. I wonder if he’d take us again when he got back.” They hadn’t been flying with Phil since they were like 10. “Maybe as a birthday gift.” Techno voiced his thoughts. “He always tries to get something-” He was cut off by a scream.

Chapter Text

“Yeah. I wonder if he’d take us again when he got back.” They hadn’t been flying with Phil since they were like 10. “Maybe as a birthday gift.” Techno voiced his thoughts. “He always trys to get something-” He was cut off by a scream.

Normally they would’ve gotten a guard and not got involved. But this was different. The streets were empty so it couldn’t have been a mugging and the scream sounded like it came from someone way younger than them.

They followed the cries down the empty streets into an alleyway. There was a think blanket of snow from last nights snow storm but there were no footprints leading to this area which just concerned the princes more.

They walked further into the alleyway, Techno holding out the axe of peace and wilbur holding a diamond dagger. “Who’s there?” Techno called. The screams stopped. Wilbur and Techno made eye contact. ‘Cover me?’ He asked without saying anything. Techno nodded and grabbed his daggers from his pocket.

Wilbur went forward into the alleyway and saw a basket sitting by a dumpster covered in a blanket. Wilbur moved the blanket and gasped. Techno ran up to his twin making sure he wasn’t hurt and upon seeing no attacker or injuries he followed his line of sight to the basket.

He let out a gasp as well. Inside the basket was a little boy with beautiful golden hair and the deepest blue eyes. He was shivering and littered in bruises and had tears streaming down his face. “N-no hurt.” The boy shivered.

“We’re not gonna hurt you.” Wilbur assured putting the dagger away. Techno followed suit and put his axe and daggers back in their seaths. “Whats your name?”  He asked. “T-Tommy.” “How old are you Tommy?” Wilbur wondered. The child couldn’t be more than 5.

“This many.” He held up 3 fingers. “Three?” Techno clarified. The boy nodded. “Where are your parents?” “And how long have you been out here?” Tommy had to think about it. “Ms.Smith left me here on t-the full moon.” Both boys looked panicked. The full moon was about 2 weeks ago.

“How are you still alive?” Techno asked before he could stop himself. “I ate the snow…” Tommy admitted. Wilbur and Techno were confused. He should have long gotten hypothermia from that. They wouldn’t press on the matter though. 

“Do you wanna come home with us?” Wilbur asked. Techno looked at his brother shocked. Yeah he was thinking the same thing but they had absolutely no plan for this. “R-really?” Tommy asked, eyes lighting up with hope.

“Really. And you can stay with us forever if you’d like.” Wilbur offered. “Yeah. Our dad missed out on our toddler years. I’m sure Phil would spoil you rotten.” Techno could see it now. If Phil knew about this adorable raccoon hybrid living on the streets alone, he’d adopt him on the spot and proceed to give him anything he asked for.

Tommy nodded and Wilbur picked him up and Techno grabbed the basket. Wilbur raised his eye at his brother wondering why he would bring the basket. “We may need it later, you never know.” Wilbur shrugged at his logic and they set off into town.

At some point in the journey Wilbur had zipped tommy into his coat with him to keep him warm and the child had fallen asleep. “Where do you think his parents are?” Wil whispered. “I don’t think I want to know. If I see them, I’ll kill them.” Techno growled.

“How do you think he’s still alive? Raccoons don’t have any magic, theres no way he would’ve been able to keep himself warm with the thin blanket even in his raccoon form.” Wilbur pondered. Techno shrugged. “Maybe he’s a double hybrid?” He suggested.

Double Hybrids were rare, not because hybrids didn’t get together, but because not all hybrid traits were compatible and usually only 1 trait remained dominant. Sure if you have a ghast mother and witch father and you take most of the gast traits from your mother, you may still have magic. But it would be weak. 

24.3% of the population are hybrids and 26.7% of the population has magic but of those only about 5.37% are double hybrids and 0.63% were double hybrids with complete benefits from both sides. It was extremely rare.

“Maybe. I doubt it though.” Tommy started to stir from his nap so both boys went quiet again until he went completely back to sleep. “The lady who threw him out, he didn’t call her mom. He called her Ms.Smith. So either his mother made him call her that so that he would be detached or…”

“Or he was an orphan.” Wilbur finished his brothers train of thought. “I thought dad made it very clear when he adopted us that hybrid discrimination was not okay. Especially in orphanages.” Techno shrugged not knowing what to say.

“When dad comes back, after we introduce him to Tommy, we’ll need to get him to have some more talks with some more people and maybe have a few ourselves.” Wilbur nodded in agreeance. 

Both boys looked back at the sleeping toddler. “He’s only 3 Tech.” Wilbur sighed as it finally sunk in. “Someone abandoned a 3 year old.” 

“We weren’t much older.” Techno reminds him. “That doesn’t make it right.” Wilbur huffed. “No…” Techno once again glanced at the sleeping malnourished child. “No it doesn’t.” 

As they got closer to the capital district they realized they were going to have to plan how to get the child in. Sam would no doubt be waiting for their return and would probably take Tommy back to the orphanage if he saw him so they needed to hide him until they could convince Phil to keep him.

They would worry about how they were going to hide him after they snuck him into the castle. “We can’t just waltz in. Anyone seeing him is a risk.” Techno said. “I never said we’d walk in . I’m just saying we have to get him in somehow. Sam is 100% going to be waiting for us when we get to the castle. We could hide him in my coat fully?” 

Techno shook his head in disapproval. “They take our coats as soon as we step in.” Wilbur huffed. This was going to be harder than they thought. “We could get him past the maids by hiding him in the basket and saying its cookies from the bakery.” Techno suggested. 

“They’ll tell us to go to the kitchen and tell the Chefs we’re on our way.” Wilbur shot down. “Yeah I know. From there we could have Tommy follow the secret hallway behind the painting up to the room areas while we tell the chefs that we ate the pastries already.” Wilbur nodded in thought.

“From there we meet him at the end of the tunnel and get him out. But there are bound to be guards everywhere.” The boys both thought. There were always at least 5 guards in the living quarters. That was a rule both Phil and Sam were strict on. 

“We’ll still have the basket. We could tell the kitchen staff we want to keep it and hide Tommy back in it and the guards wont question it cause a basket is hardly the weirdest thing they’ve seen us bring back to our rooms.” Techno suggested. 

“And once we get him to your room we can put him in your closet cause Callahan will definitely come and check on us like he always does.” Wilbur said. “How do we know the kid will stay quiet?” Techno asked. Wilbur shrugged. “We’ll just have to tell him to stay quiet and hope he listens.” 

Once they had their plan solid enough they hurried to get to the castle before it became too late in the night and snuck in through the garden tunnel like they always did. “Tommy.” Wilbur shook the boy. He looked up. “Hmm?” 

“We’re going to bring you to our house but you have to stay very very quiet and listen to everything we say. Ok?” Tommy nodded. “Need vocal confirmation.” Techno chuckled. The boy looked confused. “He needs to hear you say it.” Wilbur clarified. “Okay.” Tommy whispered. 

They put the boy in the basket and told him to stay quiet and went inside. Of course, there were maids (or helpers as Phil liked to call them) waiting at the back entrance.

They bowed to the boys before taking their jackets and things. “You guys are a bit late.” Ava, one of the boys favorites, said. “Yeah we took a couple of detours.” Wilbur lied easily. “Do you want us to take the basket as well?” Coco, another helper, asked. 

“Nah, we’ll keep it. Has some extra treats from the bakery.” Techno held the basket closer. “Oh make sure you take it to the kitchen. Ponk will have a heart attack if he finds crumbs in the rooms.” Ponk was the castle stewart. He made sure everything was clean and neat and tidy.

He was also Sams husband. Nobody outside the castle knew that of course. And only the people who’d been there for a long time knew. Sam was extra paranoid that someone would try and use Ponk to get to him, or Ponk’s little brother Purpled. 

Purpled didn’t live in the castle with Ponk, he lived in one of the towns in the middle district with his mom. Purpled was a little younger than Fundy and his mom wanted him to have a normal ish life so he did still visit the castle sometimes but he stayed in the towns.

“Of course he will. He never lets us eat in our rooms.” Wilbur pouted. “I don’t know why your pouting. Our pajamas are silk. You know how hard it is to get stains out of silk? I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.” Techno said. 

“Your a nerd. I wanna be able to wake up and eat pancakes without getting out of bed on days except my birthday.” “Our birthday.” Techno corrected with a huff. “Yeah yeah. Whatever.” Wilbur slipped up sometimes when mentioning their birthday and Techno would always correct him. He acted like he hated it but he loved knowing his brother cared.

“You guys go. Sam will meet you in the kitchen.” They waved the helpers off and went off down the hallway. Once they were out of eye and earshot of everyone they went to the secret room behind the painting they built when they were 8 after a redstone lesson with Sam Nook. 

Techno helped Tommy out of the basket and behind the painting. “Tommy I need you to follow the tunnel all the way to the end then turn right and keep straight. You’ll see an exit and I need you to wait there until me and Wilbur come to get you.” He instructed. 

“If you see anyone besides us then yell...uh….Die. Yell die and run.” Wilbur said. “Die? Really?” Techno whispered. “If you saw a golden haired adorable baby and they yelled die at you, you’re telling me you wouldn’t be startled for at least 5 seconds?” Techno went to deny it but quickly shut up. “Ok you have a point.” 

Tommy looked down the dark hallway then back at the two. He never liked small spaces but he didn’t want to go back in the cold. “Scared.” He admitted. Instead of getting screamed at like he usually did, he was pulled into a hug. “You got this Tommy. We’ll see you in a few minutes.” Wilbur said trying to calm him down.

“Promise?” The twins nodded. “Promise.” They said in usion before shooting each other quick glares. Phil may have thought them speaking at the same time was adorable but they both found it annoying. 

Tommy looked down the dark hallway and decided he’d try and be brave. He walked down the hallway and Wilbur and Techno closed it up. He jumped at the noise of the redstone resetting and booked it down the first hallway.

When he reached the crossroad he remembered Techno telling him to go right. He didn’t know his right from his left….

He decided to do a quick game of enie menie miney moe and went on the way he landed. He went left.

Wilbur and Techno thought the plan was going great. A little too great. They got to the kitchen and the chefs were there with Sam. After a quick scolding from Sam about coming home so late on a path where there were hardly any guards and promising not to do it again, they explained to the chefs they ate all the cookies and wanted to keep the basket.

After a quick inspection from the kitchen staff to make sure they weren't trying to sneak cookies to their room, they were allowed to go free. The boys practically raced to the painting to get Tommy and get him to Technos room.

When they opened the painting they were met with the sight of nothing but a bit of dust. “Where did he go?” Wilbur whispered. “You think I know?!” Techno defended. “He couldn’t have gotten out. He wouldn’t know how.” Wilbur said. Techno sighed and thought about it before groaning.

“What?” Wilbur asked desperate to know where the possibly traumatized toddler was. “Riddle me this. What 3 year old knows their left from their right?” Wilburs eyes widened in realization. “He went the wrong way.” 

Techno nodded. “Ok I’ll go get him, you cover for me.” Wilbur said. “Why do I have to cover!” Techno scoffed offended. “‘Cause you're the better liar.” Wilbur deadpanned. “Can’t argue with that. You have 30 minutes or we’ll have to come clean cause the tunnels aren’t heated properly, we have traps, and we don’t want him to get out and freak out the guards and possibly get hurt.” Techno didn’t give him a chance to protest before he ran off.

Wilbur nodded determinedly and went into the tunnels. He hadn’t been in there in forever. Towards the ending years of the war, Phil had hardly let the boys out of his sight. They had tons of secret passageways within the castle that had been left untouched. 

Wilbur knew his way through the tunnels but he also knew there were far too many hiding places in the tunnels for Tommy to get himself in. They had made it so that in case the castle was ever infiltrated during the war, they could show Phil the tunnels to either hide with him or hide in themselves so that Phil would be able to fight without worrying for them.

Its also what the traps were for. If they were hiding in the tunnels and said tunnels were found and infiltrated, they had traps of all kinds (deadly, non deadly, disabling, distracting, etc) littered in random places. They were working on making them so certain people could bypass the traps but they hadn’t gotten that far in their lessons.

Wilbur was crawling through the tunnels checking the time. 10 minutes in and he had yet to find the boy. ‘How lost is he?’ He wondered. Crawling through the dusty but large space was making his clothes dirty. He’d need to hurry if he wanted to change before Callahan went to check on the two.

He was running low on time and dreading the very real possibility of him having to  come clean about Tommy when he heard a faint sniffle. “Tommy?” Wilbur called cautiously. “Y-yes.” The small voice called. “Keep talking Tommy, I’m coming to you.” Wilbur said relieved that he’d found the boy.

“‘Bout what?” The three year old asked. “Anything.” Wilbur smiled. Tommy was quiet for a second thinking. “Did ya know roses are one of da oldes’ flow’r?” He said after a moment. “No.” Wilbur hummed trying to follow the sound. 

“Mr.Jones said they were used in music a-and l-l-litter….liteture f-for c-cent...centuries.” Wilbur could hear Tommy cheering up. “Really?” Wilbur asked trying to get him to keep going. He was almost there. “Mhm. A-and you can eat dem. Mr.Jones said they wont taste berry good b-but they’re good s-source of vi...vi…” Tommy huffed in annoyance at not being able to pronounce the word.

“Vitamins?” Wilbur said. He had reached one more crossroad that could lead him either right to or further away from Tommy. He needed to boy to say just one more thing. “Yeah!” Got it. He turned right and found Tommy sitting by one of many exits. “You went the wrong way silly.” Wilbur said picking up the boy and putting him on his back.

“Don’ know my right from my left. Went a random way. Sowwy.” The boy tiredly apologised. “Its ok Toms. Lets get to techno before he has a heart attack.” Wilbur climbed his way through the tunnels and came out of the tunnel in technos room instead of in the hallways. 

Techno didn’t expect this and pulled a sword out before calming down once he realized it was just his brother. “Please tell me you found him.” His voice may have been monotone but Wilbur could hear the underlying panic. “I did. He got lost like you said.” Wilbur showed the kid and Techno sighed in relief.

“You ok?” Wilbur knew his brother never got attached to anything or anyone that easily. It had taken him months to care enough about Phil to show even tiny emotions. But here he was openly worrying for Tommy after only knowing him for a few hours.

“My instincts are making me worry about him.” Techno admitted. “Why?” Technos instincts were usually dormant except that one time Phil let them see the nether, and when he was around gold or- “Treasure. His golden hair and Blue eyes and chubby cheeks. My instincts have classified him as treasure.” 

It was rare Techno ever thought of anything or anyone as treasure. The only treasure Wilbur remembered him having was a gold medallion given to them by their parents but he’d thrown it out after they were abandoned.

“That...actually makes sense. Imagine how much more golden his hair will be once he’s clean.” Wilbur ran his hands through the dirty knotted hair. “How are we going to give him a bath?” Techno asked. “And get clothes?”

“We could get some from the village while we’re there. Until then...I think we may have some extra clothes left over from the clothes drive dad helped with before he left.” Wilbur suggested. “We’ll have to change him and give him a bath tomorrow. He’s out cold and Callahan should be here in a few minutes.” Techno said.

“...Where’s he gonna sleep?” Wilbur asked after a moment. Both boys looked around for possible places to put the toddler. A guest room would get them caught instantly and so would the bed. They wouldn’t put the boy under the bed, it was cluttered with toys they both hid. 

“...The closets are unnaturally big.” Techno suggested. Their closets were the size of a small room so it would work temporarily. They tucked Tommy into the basket and hid him behind some of Technos clothes and then changed into their pajamas. They could shower in the morning.

They wouldn’t be able to go to the village until they had some sort of good dynamic to keep Tommy out of sight while they were gone. They could sleep on the floor tonight anyways. Sleeping on the sheets without showering was nasty. They didn’t much care about it when they first moved in but Ponk and the cleaners had it engraved into their brains at this point.

Callahan came in to see both boys half passed out on the floor. He didn’t say anything, just putting blankets over them both and wishing a good night before leaving. 

“One day down. Over 2 months left to go.” Wilbur muttered. Techno didn’t say anything and fell asleep already planning for the days ahead.

Chapter Text

The boys awoke the next day around noon to someone knocking on the door. “One more minute.” Wilbur groaned. “Your highnesses you’ve missed all your day time classes…” Ponk said from outside the door.

“What time is it?” Techno asked sitting up. “Around 12:30. You’ve also missed breakfast. You can’t sleep all day.” The boys both groaned. Ponk opened the door a bit. “Come on guys. You need to eat and shower. Even if you skip your afternoon lessons, your sleep schedules will be messed up if you sleep any later.” Ponk was a bit of a mother hen but they all loved him. “Fine.” Wilbur huffed.

“We’ll be down soon.” Ponk nodded in approval and closed the door before walking away. The boys turned to each other. “Did last night actually happen?” Techno asked. “I’m scared to check.” Wilbur admitted. 

Both boys peaked in the closet and there was the golden haired toddler wide awake and playing with technos old training sword. “Hello Tommy.” Techno said grabbing the sword away from him and picking him up.

“Hello.” Tommy smiled. They couldn’t get enough of it. There was no way a single child should be allowed to be this cute. It should be illegal. “I just remembered we never properly introduced ourselves. I’m Wilbur and thats Techno. We’re gonna be your brothers...hopefully.” He muttered the last bit under his breath.

“Wilby. Techie.” Tommy repeated and the boys knew this was it. This was how they would die. From a cuteness overload. “Yup. I’m Wilby, that’s me.” Techno rolled his eyes at his brother before turning to Tommy. “We need to get you food and clothes and a shower...er bath I suppose.” 

Tommy looked confused. “What’s wrong bubba?” Wilbur asked. Techno decided he’d tease him about the nickname later also wanting to know whats wrong with the kid. “Ms.Smith said I don’ get food. Says im bad. Hybrids are bad.” 

Both boys eyes darkened considerably. “Well she’s wrong.” Techno said. Tommy didn’t look convinced, only more sad. “Look. Me and Wilby are hybrids and you wanna know a secret?” Tommy looked at him and nodded slowly. “We’re the princes of the empire.” 

Tommys jaw dropped. “Woah.” His blue eyes were wide with the wonder only a child could have. “Mhm its true. That’s why we’re in the castle. And you’re our brother now which means you’re a prince too.” Wilbur assured. 

“Woah.” The boy said again. “Yeah woah, But until Dad, King Philza, gets home you’re going to have to hide from everyone. You’re a secret.” Techno explained. “I’m a secret?” Tommy asked excitedly. “Yeah! And so when we’re not here you have to stay in the closet and stay quiet ok? And if you see anyone thats not us, hide. And then when we introduce you to Phil you wont have to hide anymore.”

Tommy nodded only somewhat understanding. “We’re going to go find you some clothes and give you some food. And then give you a bath. Until we come back, you can play with the toys in my closet.” Tommy smiled excitedly and went back in the closet with the toys.

Once they were sure he wouldn’t run out, they set off to take quick showers and went down to the kitchen. They were having sandwiches with fruit salad and sweat potato fries for lunch which was good because they could sneak some back for tommy to eat.

They sat an extra plate aside and ate in the dining room like they always did. Then they took the tunnels back to Techno’s room so that they wouldn’t risk getting spotted in the hallway with the plate. Sure they could always just pull the power card but that wouldn’t be fair to the others.

It was their jobs to make sure the castle and kingdom was organized and to keep everyone safe and happy and enforce the rules. Pulling the power card would both be unfair and get them in trouble with their father. 

They tried it once...and learned their lesson. Very few had permission to deny the princes since that day (they wouldn’t do it but that doesn’t change the fact that they have permission) and they had both never ever even thought about trying it again.

They got back to the room and saw the room empty as they’d left it and the closet door still closed. What concerned them was the sniffles coming from it. “Toms?” Wilbur opened the door and the kid flinched away before running up to him. “W-ilby.” He hiccuped through tears.

Wilbur put the plate down. “What happened bubs?” He asked softly. “Thought I was back there.” He muttered. “Back where?” Techno wondered. “Foster home.” The boys eyes darkened. The foster system was great but there were still some people who had biased against certain kids because of their socioeconomic class or because they were hybrids.

Abuse, neglect, manipulation, all were far from uncommon. They cracked down on it but there was no way to get rid of all of them. People would lie about who they were housing, hide any signs of abuse, or just hide the kids or throw them out and claim they ran away.

“What...what happened?” Wilbur asked softly. The boy whimpered and shoved his face further into the crook of wilburs neck. His ears flattened on his head and his tail tucked in further. They realized he didn’t want to talk about it and tried to take his mind off it.

“We brought you a sandwich and fruit salad.” Wilbur held up the plate. Tommy looked at it then looked away. “Aren’t you hungry?” Techno worried. The boy hadn’t eaten in weeks. That wasn’t at all healthy. “Foods for good boys. I haven’t been good.” He mumbled.

“Food is for everyone. You don’t have to act a certain way to eat. And besides, you’ve been the best.” Techno assured struggling to hide the way his instincts flared up when the boy was hurt. Had he not been the prince, somebody would’ve died by now.

Tommy looked up with watery eyes. “Really?” He muttered. “Really.” Wilbur smiled softly. “And afterwards we can give you a bath and change you into some clothes and then Techno,” “Techie.” Tommy cut him off to correct him. Wilbur smiled amusedly. “ Techie, ” Tommy nodded in approval, “will read you a story.” 

Tommy looked to Techno for confirmation and he nodded. “‘Kay. If you say so.” Tommy wiggled out of Wilburs arms and went up to the plate that sat on the desk. He climbed up the ridiculously tall chair and had to stand on it to see over the table.

He hesitantly took a piece of the sandwich (Wilbur and Techno cut it into squares for him) and ate it. He decided this was the best sandwich he’d ever had and finished the rest of it so fast you would’ve thought the flash ate it.

He went through the fruits just as fast. “Wow you were hungry.” Wilbur was shocked that he could eat that without choking. Tommy nodded sheepishly. “Bath time.” Techno declared. Tommy squealed excitedly as he was carried to the bathtub in technos room.

The boys ran him a bath with a lot of bubbles in it and helped him in. They were not prepared. For starters the child kept splashing despite them pleading with him not to. Then he kept giving them heart attacks.

Wilbur and Techno turned around for a second to find the soap and when they turned back all they saw was a seemingly empty tub. “Tommy?” Wilbur called. “Where did he go?” Techno panicked. “I don’t know! It's not like he could’ve gotten out. We would’ve seen him.” 

Realization flashed on Technos face as he reached into the water, not caring about his shirt getting drenched and he pulled out a toddler. “Tommy! You can’t do that bubs, you’ll drown.” Wilbur sighed exasperatedly.

“It’s fun!” Tommy smiled. “It’s dangerous.” Techno scolded. “Sorry.” Tommy apologized with a slight frown. Both boys sighed simultaneously. “It’s fine bubs. Just don’t do it again.” He did it again. And again. And again.

It got to the point where they had to hold him above water. They quickly got him clean and away from the water. “Just so we’re clear, baths are going to be in the sink from now on right?” Techno nodded, helping his brother dry him off. 

Tommy just smiled as if he hadn’t given the boys 12 heart attacks. They looked at the clock, it was only 2pm. Wilbur wanted to go out and see everyone but he knew he should help his brother take care of Tommy.

“How does one entertain a 3 year old?” He wondered. “With the art of war.” Techno smirked, grabbing Tommy and booking it to the library before Wilbur could disagree. By the time Wilbur caught up, Tommy was comfortable on Technos lap as he opened up the book.

“The seventh volume of Mémoires concernant l’histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mœurs, les usages, etc., des Chinois1 is devoted to the Art of War, and contains, amongst other treatises, Les Treize Articles de Sun-tzu, translated from the Chinese by a Jesuit Father, Joseph Amiot.” Wilbur sighed. This was gonna be a long day.

Tommy had unsurprisingly fallen asleep about an hour later. “I’m surprised he lasted an hour.” Wilbur said, tucking him into his basket. “I hoped he would last longer.” Techno huffed. “He’s 3.” Wilbur deadpanned. Techno threw his arms up exasperatedly. “It’s a book about war!”

“Exactly.” Techno rolled his eyes. He didn’t see the problem in educating the child. It was a story of the simple art of war. It had the word war in it, the kid was sure to be interested. “Fine. Next time I’ll use a Greek gods story.” Wilbur didn’t have the energy to argue that that was way worse. 

“What do we do in the meantime?” Techno asked. “You can beat up the trainees while I watch and cheer you on.” Wilbur suggested. “Ah, yes. Our favorite pastime. Taunting the newbs who think the princes can’t fight.” 

Techno laughed and dragged Wilbur to the training yard. They ended up staying there for hours causing chaos. Sam never minded having the two beat some sense into the trainees. Techno usually did the fighting but sometimes Wilbur would join. Sure it was more Techno teaching and covering for Wilbur but it was fun nonetheless.

They ended up going inside to clean up for geography lessons ‘cause it had started raining outside when they heard a crash and a cry from Technos room. “Tommy!” Wilbur panicked. They both ran to the room and saw nothing in the normal room out of place. They went into the closet to see clothes and toys knocked over and Tommy clutching his blanket sobbing silently.

“Tommy what happened?” Wilbur went to pick him up but he flinched so violently that he backed away in fear of hurting him or Tommy hurting himself. Neither boys knew what to do but they couldn’t get anyone or the jig was up. They’d have to figure it out.

“What are we supposed to do when a 3 year old has a panic attack?” Wilbur whispered to his brother. Techno remembered what Phil would do with him when he used to have bad panic attacks from living on the streets for so long.

“Tommy.”  Nothing. “Toms, I need you to look up.” He kept crying. Techno walked over and carefully placed Tommys hand on his chest. “Try and follow my breathing. In and out, like this see.” Techno took a deep breath. “Now you try.”

Tommy took a very shaky deep breath. “Good job. Now keep doing it until you feel a little better.” Eventually he stopped crying but he was still shaking. “What are 5 things you can see?” Techno asked.

“C-clothes, you, w-wilby, the door, a t-toy car.” Tommy listed. “What are 4 things you can feel?” Wilbur cut in remembering this technique. Phil used it whenever either of them had anxiety attacks or if they were stressed out. 

“B-blanket, Techies hand, uh water from my eyes, m-my tail on my basket.” He was slowly stopping his shaking and Techno lifted him into his lap. “Three things you can hear?” Techno asked as Wilbur started humming and running his hands through Tommy's hair.

“Wilby humming, rain on the windows, someone shouting outside.” His breathing was finally evening out. “Two things you can smell.” Wil hummed. “Techies hair soap, outside.” “One thing you can taste.” Tommy smacked his lips trying to see what he could taste. “Ash.” 

They decided they would question that later and brought him to sit on the bed. “What happened Toms?” Wilbur asked after a moment of silence. “Don’t answer if you think your going to freak out again.” He added as an afterthought. 

“Woke up and you weren’t there. Thought you brought me back.” He vaguely described. “Back where? The foster home again?” Tommy nodded. They were both getting really concerned about what went on there.

“Thought Ms.Smith locked me in the hot room. She’d leave me there forever and then hit me if I asked for food and and…” “Breathe toms. Deep breaths like I taught you.” Techno cut him off noticing his panic rising again. Tommy took a couple deep breaths and continued.

“She says it's cause I’m 2 hybrids. Said I belonged in the hot room cause I was a useless version of a hot hybrid.” Tommy muttered. Techno and Wilbur were going to find this Ms.Smith character. Not only did she abuse him but she neglected him, called him useless, and probably caused him more trauma than any normal person should have, let alone a 3 year old.

“You aren’t useless Tommy. It doesn't matter what your other hybrid is, nobody is useless.” Wilbur assured. “But I don’t have all my instincts and features and powers.” Tommy cried. “Neither do I. Neither does wilbur. Neither does Phil, or the Warden, Sam, or the stewart, Ponk. Lots of people don’t inherit all their hybrid powers and features. But your 1 in over 36 million being a single hybrid alone.  

There are only 8 million double hybrids and only 540,000 of them have access to even a little bit of both their hybrid abilities.” Tommy was wide eyed. “That’s a whole lot of people.” He muttered. “Considering the empire has more than 150 million citizens and 246-” “268. We got new territory from Las Nevadas and the badlands gave us a whole town as an embassy. And the business bay has an alliance forming and we got a town with new established territory.” Wilbur cut in.

Leave it to Wilbur to know about their public relations. “268 towns. That's actually a very small number of people. It's like having 100 cupcakes but only being able to eat 2.” Tommys eyes got bigger if that was even possible. 

“Woah!” That seemed to be his favorite word. “Yeah. See you are special and don’t ever let anyone tell you your not.” Wilbur said. Tommy nodded with a smile. “Now we have classes but you can stay here and play with our old toys until we come back. Don’t leave the room, if you hear anyone coming hide and stay out of sight, if you need us take the tunnels. We had sam nook teach us to make maps and there's one in there that’ll tell you how to navigate.”

Tommy nodded and the boys went to leave. Tommy noticed that Techno had left his ring on the floor and grabbed it and went to give it to them. You can imagine the twins' surprise when Tommy appeared in front of them out of nowhere. 

“You forgot your ring.” He smiled innocently. Both boys were shell shocked. “You can teleport!” Tommy nodded, not seeing anything wrong with it. “Yeah! I wasn’t really ‘lowed to at the foster home cause I don’ know how to control it. I didn’t mean too, honest! Techie just...just forgot his ring.” 

Techno realized he was making the boy nervous so he smiled and thanked him and sent him back to the room. “He has powers.”  Wilbur said, still coming out of his shock. “Uh huh.” 

“We’re going to have to find out all the powers he has?”

“Uh huh.”

“We’re going to have to teach him to use his powers?”

“Uh huh.”

“We’re going to have to figure out how to hide injuries and property damage.”  That wasn’t even a question.

“Yep.” Techno sighed. “This is gonna be a long few months.” Wilbur was slowly regretting most of his life choices. Techno did nothing but long. Well they were already attached to the kid and promised him a family so there was no turning back now. All they could do was hope whatever his hybrid was that allowed him to teleport, didn’t also allow some type of very destructive power.

This was either gonna go really well or really bad.

Chapter Text

“Let me tell you a story Tommy, about a man named Theseus.” Techno was tasked with putting the gremlin to nap. Which would have been fine if Wilbur hadn’t given Tommy all his ice cream no less than an hour ago.

They’d had him for almost a week and Wilbur was already trying to make his life hell. Wilbur was covering for him with Callahan and he just had to get Tommy to sleep. When he finally managed to get Tommy to lay down but the kid kept wiggling and tossing and turning and was all around wide awake.

Nothing a little greek mythology couldn’t fix. “ In legend, Theseus' father was considered either the son of the god Poseidon or King Aegeus of Athens. His mother was Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, the king of Troezen, whom Aegeus seduced. Theseus spent his childhood at Troezen in the northeast of the Peloponnese as Aegeus had warned Aethra not to tell her son who his real father was until he came of age, perhaps explaining why Theseus was considered the son of Poseidon in his youth.” 

Tommy snuggled in the u̶n̶n̶a̶t̶u̶r̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶f̶y̶ air mattress they’d gotten for him and listened in closer. “When a young adult, the hero gathered up gifts of sandals and a sword from his father which had been buried under a heavy rock for when he was old enough to lift it. With these tokens Theseus set off for Athens to claim, as Aegeus' only son, his inheritance, the kingdom of Athens. Before he could reach the city, though, he first had to battle various villains and monsters.”

“Monsters? Like the ones that hide under your bed and eat your halloween candy and steal your socks?” Tommy wondered. Techno chuckled at him. “Not quite. These monsters were big and scary.” Techno clarified. Tommy nodded and let him continue.

“The first villain to be dispatched was Periphetes, who smashed the heads of anyone he came across with a huge iron club. Theseus killed him without ceremony and took his club as a handy weapon for his future adventures. A similar villain was Sinis who hung around the Corinth countryside and bent pine trees so that they might strike and kill people who passed through the Isthmus. The hero killed Sinis using a bent pine tree.”

Techno saw Tommy yawn and took that as a ‘keep going’ sign. “Next came Skiron who blocked the narrow sea passage through the rocks of Megara . He took delight in forcing people to wash his feet,” Tommy scrunched up his face. “Ew.” 

“I know, disgusting right? Anyways, when they bent down to do so he would kick them over the cliff and into the sea. Whether the travellers survived the fall or not was irrelevant as they were then eaten by a giant turtle that haunted those parts.” Techno was once again cut off.

“A giant turtle?” Techno nodded. “B-but turtles are so cute!” Techno smiled at the kid. He decided his favorite expression of Tommys was when he was surprised or amazed by something. He always had this twinkle in his eyes when they were so wide and curious and it was the pinnacle of childhood innocence. Techno couldn’t get enough of it.

“All the cutest things are the scariest. Like you. Your adorable and yet we’re still discovering what you can do.” Tommy smiled, happy to be called scary and let Techno continue the story. 

“Where was I? Oh yeah. All this frightful behavior was put to an end by Theseus who kicked Skiron into the sea to be eaten by his own accomplice or, in a different story, to be turned into a rock. Next in line came Kerkyon, the champion wrestler who crushed to death anyone who passed his way, but Theseus beat him at his own sport. 

The last scoundrel was Prokroustes (also Procrustes or Damastes) who waylaid travellers and forced them onto a bed; if they were too tall for the bed he would chop off the excess, if they were too short he would stretch them using weights or hammer their limbs to increase their length. Theseus swiftly dealt with him too by putting him on his own device.” 

Tommys eyelids were starting to close and he was obviously losing his fight to stay awake. “Go to sleep Toms. We can finish the story when you wake up from your nap. If you decide you wouldn’t rather hang out in the garden or play guitar with Wilbur, that is.” Tommy nodded sleepily and finally let sleep win.

Techno closed the closet door and went out to meet Wilbur in the hallway. “Did callahan buy it?” Wil nodded. “Is Tommy sleep?” Techno nodded. “Good. I was doing some research on the Hybrid traits Tommys shown so far, and he can be one of 3 things.” Wilbur brought out a book he had on him.

“He could be a blaze hybrid which would explain the speed and the fire and the strength, but not the teleportation; an enderman hybrid which would explain the teleportation, speed, and why he knows galactic but not the others.” Wilbur listed. “Last option?” Techno asked.

“Phoenix hybrid.” Techno looked surprised. It would account for the things his foster mom was saying to him (didn’t make it right but made it make sense). She must not have known about his powers then. 

Phoenix Hybrids can bring other back to life, teleport, control fire, have super speed and strength, can shapeshift, burn others, and bring them back to life. The lot of them are invulnerable meaning they cant die from anything except old age, and they are the rarest hybrid.

No wonder Tommy doesn’t have phoenix wings. Hybrids found a way to get rid of them centuries ago to keep their existence secret. Their feathers were being stolen because they were basically totems of undying but you could get hundreds in a year just from capturing a hybrid.

Their powers were still to be feared. They could either be your greatest ally or your worst nightmare. If Tommy really was a phoenix hybrid, they needed to get his powers under control as soon as possible.

“I know they’re super rare but hear me out-” “It makes sense.” Wilbur was shocked his brother believed it that quick. “Think about it. The foster parents locking him in the cellar, how he hadn’t frozen to death when we found him, his powers match up perfectly, and its why his raccoon instincts are the only ones that show. Phoenixs learned to hide theirs.” Techno reasoned.

“How will we help with the powers?” Wilbur wondered. “We’re going to have to use concealing magic to keep them at bay until we can find someone who can help.” They both knew concealing someones hybrid powers for too long could cause lasting damage.

“How long are we looking at here?” Wilbur was worried specifically. His parents had suppressed his magic when they were with him and he lost a lot of his magic potential because of it. “A few weeks? Maybe months? If we can’t find someone to help him we’ll have to wait til dad gets home.” 

Wilbur winced at the time. “How would that affect him? His powers?” Techno knew it could go terribly wrong but they couldn’t risk tommy hurting himself or others with his powers. Or even worse, get found out. 

There was hybrid trafficking all over the world. Most prominent in an abandoned old country, called 2b2t. Because it was abandoned people could easily hide rings in it and it had basically no laws. The surrounding countries and kingdoms, like the Esempi, Snowchester, and Rutabegaville, had been cracking down on the territory trying to make the abandoned country no more but the traffickers were spread out and hiding in other countries.

There were few countries that were considered safe, the empire was one of them, but the rings still went on. In foster homes, in the inner and outer cities, some people so desperate for money they sell hybrid kids and teens. 

Tommy would be targeted regardless of him being a future prince. They’d tried to kidnap Wil when it was revealed that he was a Phantom hybrid. Jumped them in the middle of visiting a town. They almost got away with it but they didn’t account for Techno being as good at fighting as he was.

Especially since Phoenixs were 2000 born every 10 years and only 500 of them having access to all their powers throughout the entire world. Techno made a mental note to tell Phil never to reveal the Phoenix side of Tommys powers to the general public. 

“I don’t know.” Techno finally answered his brother. Wilbur was exasperated. “Look Wil, maybe we can figure out a way to undo the concealing spell every week or so for an entire day and let him practice so that way it wont affect him in the long term.” 

Wilbur looked like he wanted to argue but he thought about it. “That...that may work. But we have to find someone to help him as soon as possible.” He compromised. Techno agreed. “I know the spell. Come on. We’ll cast it now and tell him when he wakes.”

And they did. Tommy didn’t really understand but if his new brothers thought that was best then he wouldn’t argue. He even convinced them to hang out in the library while Techno read the art of war to him and Wilbur played some of his songs.

“Asked if an army can be made to imitate the shuai-jan, I should answer, Yes. For the men of Wu and the men of Yüeh are enemies; yet if they are crossing a river in the same boat and are caught by a storm, they will come to each other’s assistance just as the left hand helps the right. These two paragraphs are extremely valuable as evidence of the date of composition. They assign the work to the period of the struggle between Wu and Yüeh.” Techno read.

“Toms how do you like this stuff? Its so...boring.” Wilbur cut in. “It’s not boring. ‘Sides nobody ever read or singed to me at Ms.Smith's house. They’d jus tell me to go away.” Tommy frowned at the memories. 

“We’ll read to you whenever you want Toms.” Techno promised. “And sing.” Wilbur reminded. Tommy smiled. He liked it here way better.

“If makes Wilby feel better, can read the book he likes on Louse Strong.” Tommy offered. “Its Louise Armstrong.” Wilbur corrected with a laugh. “And we don’t have to change it if you don’t want to.” Tommy wanted to protest but Wilbur gave him a pointed look and he went back to being read too, sitting comfortably in Technos lap while Wil went back to playing.

Yeah they could get used to this.

Chapter Text

Since getting Tommy a month ago, Wilbur and Techno hardly went out the village as much as they did in the first month when their dad was gone. They were too busy hanging out with Tommy.

Tommy had trauma and needed a lot of attention. He wasn’t high maintenance like a normal toddler was and that was why they always wanted to spend time with him. He shouldn’t be hesitant to ask them for help on things he clearly didn’t know how to do.

So they worried. They also loved spending time with him. Tommy was obsessed with learning everything he could about the flowers and trees and liked going out in the garden. He also loved the stars. 

If anything could get Tommy to calm down it was the stars. He also liked playing games, listening to wilbur sing, letting techno teach him how to fight, he loved learning things about the kingdom, and he always wanted to try new things.

So if they only went to see their friends in the village once or twice a week, that was nobody's business. Except they should probably do something about it.

The next time they went to visit was about 5 days after they had last been there. Since becoming friends with them, they had introduced them to one of their other friends, Jack Manifold, who was from one of the outer districts and had visited a lot but had recently been able to permanently move here after being moved to a new foster home.

They had grown closer but their friends still knew nothing of their actual lives. When they had gotten to Junes bakery everyone was there waiting for them with unimpressed looks on their faces.

“Oh hey guys. What’s up?” Wilbur greeted choosing to ignore their obviously ticked off expressions. “What’s up? You guys are up.” Fundy huffed. “What do you mean?” Techno was pretending to be oblivious just for his own amusement. They were funny when they were trying to look mad.

“You come everyday for a month and become friends with us, get us out of trouble, and we think everythings going just fine. And then for some reason you guys stop coming as much, you’re hardly here for more than 3 hours, and you’ve got our parents thinking we’ve driven you away.” Niki explained.

“We’re sorry, really. We’ve just...had some things going on at home recently is all. With our dad out of town its been a little hard to deal with by ourselves.” The kids faces softened. “Its fine I guess. Just let us know next time.” Eret said.

“Yeah. If I hear them stress about accidentally pushing you guys away one more time-” Someone slapped their hand over jacks mouth. “Snitches wind up in ditches Manifold.” Sapnap threatened. “I’ll tell Bad that you threatened me.” Weak retort if Bad wasn’t such a mother hen.

If bad heard Sapnap threatened Jack, jokingly or not, Sapnap would be on cleaning duty for a week. “I stand by my previous statement.” Everyone laughed. “What are we getting up to today?” Foolish asked moving over so Wilbur could sit next to Fundy.

Wilbur and Fundy had a joke going on that they were father and son since Fundy ran into Wilbur and called him dad when they first met. They were the cringiest Father-Son duo to walk the planet. 

“We’re not causing trouble unfortunately.” Dream sighed. “We’re going to run some errands to deliver pastries for June and Bad and then we’re stopping by the orphanage to give them the left overs.” Fundy explained.

“When were we supposed to leave?” Techno wondered. “About 20 minutes ago, but we were waiting to see if you guys would show.” George shrugged. “Lets go then. And if you get in trouble for leaving late, we’re not taking the blame for you again.” 

Everyone laughed again before leaving to make their deliveries. They actually ended up finishing early and went to attempt to fish. The only 3 that actually knew how to fish were Wilbur, Jack, and Techno. So after s̶t̶e̶a̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ acquiring a lot of fishing supplies and renting a canoe, they were sitting on the lake arguing over who was better at fishing.

“You caught 1 fish dream, one. And thats from when you fell in and it got caught in your hoodie.” Sapnap argued. “Well you haven’t caught any.” Dream retorted. “I’ve caught five!” Sapnap showed him the bucket that did in fact have 5 fish.

“You caught 2. Jack helped you catch the first 3.” Foolish reminded. Sapnap scoffed. “Shut up Mister Can’t-get-the-bait-on-the-hook-by-himself.” Foolish looked offended. “I’m 9. What do you want me to do? Cut my finger trying to get this small ass worm on the hook!” 

“I think its sadder that George, the oldest of us all, the only actual teenager here, did manage cut his hand on the hook and drop the first few fish he caught.” Niki giggled. George let out a sound of frustration. He couldn’t insult Niki. She’d caught 8 fish by herself. 

“Ok Niki. At least I’m not pretending not to be able to fish to get Wilbur to spend time with me.” Niki scoffed. “That’s my best friend you twat.” Eret decided to step in. “I thought I was your best friend!” 

“Not anymore.” Eret tried to argue but was cut off. “You know what you did. Think about that next time you try and steal my cookies.” Eret just pouted on his side of the boat. “You know what.” Wilbur said loudly to get everyone to shut up.

“I think its time we go back to shore, yes? You fuckers have caught enough fish. Cook ‘em or sell ‘em. Don’t care what you do. Its getting late and I’m getting tired of you guys fighting.” They all sighed but started cleaning up and rowing to shore. “We won by the way.” Jack gestured to him and the twins.

“We caught the most fish.” Everyone whined about how that was unfair when they saw their 2 very full buckets. They could try and argue, but their attempts would prove useless when they got shoved out of the boat. Now they were wet and mad and they could stay mad about it because the twins bought them ice cream later before going home.

When Techno and Wilbur got back to the castle they gave Tommy dinner and some cookies and a bath before getting him ready for bed with a story. “What do you wanna hear today Theseus?” Techno had gotten into the habit of calling Tommy by the name of his favorite greek hero.

Tommy insisted it and the boys found it cute so they complied. “Chronos!” He already had the book turned to the page which was surprising since he couldn’t read. “Settle in then child.” Wilbur had tucked Tommy in and then laid on his left while techno took the right side.

“In Greek mythology Cronus was the son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), being the youngest of the 12 Titans. On the advice of his mother he castrated his father with a harpē, thus separating Heaven from Earth. He now became the king of the Titans, and took for his consort his sister Rhea …” 

They got 1/3rd of a way through the story before Tommy had fallen asleep. They waited a little bit before getting up and gently closing the closet door. 

“Do you think we should tell them?” Wilbur asked out of nowhere. “Tell who, what?”  Wilbur thought for a second before answering. “I’ve been thinking. Should we tell Niki and Dream and them about us being the princes. Like invite them to the castle or something.”

Techno shrugged. “Sure. I mean we’d need Sam and Callahans permission. But on one condition.” “Name it.” Techno smirked deviously. “We’re not just gonna go and tell them straight up. We should send their parents letters saying we need to see them in a weeks time and even have the knights deliver it to freak them out.” 

Wilbur laughed. “I love the way your mind works. I already got permission from Callahan and Sam. Let’s tell them the idea though.” Of course he already got permission, techno thought. Leave it to Wilbur to work out every detail so you have no choice but to say yes.

Sam and Callahan were on board with the idea and agreed to send out the letters while they were with them tomorrow. Wednesdays all of their parents (besides Fundy’s dad who is conveniently always working) always sat and talked in the bakery (bads muffin shop was either ran by skeppy, or closed for the day) while the kids ran it for the day. 

It would be the perfect time to strike. 

The next day Techno was woken up early by Wilbur, which was unusual because Techno was usually up eons before him. “What Wilbur?’ He muttered turning over. Techno didn’t think it could be later then 3 am.

“You slept in. Its almost 10 am, we have to be at the bakery by noon and its an hour and a half to walk.” Wilbur yanked off his covers to make sure he wouldn’t go back to sleep and techno groaned and sat up.

‘Slept in?” Techno wondered to himself. He felt something move beside him and looked and saw Tommy. 

Ah, yes. Tommy had a nightmare in the middle of the night and Techno got up and let him sleep in his bed. They’d stayed up a couple hours telling a story they were making up as they went. “You get Tommy ready and find something to keep him occupied. I’ll get dressed and get him some snacks.” 

Wilbur nodded and grabbed Tommy out of the bed, waking him up and going through the tunnels to get him to his room. Whenever they left him for the day they made sure he had a communicator to contact them in case something was wrong, many different forms of entertainment so he wouldn’t get bored, and snacks and a lunch so he wouldn’t get hungry.

They hadn’t been found out yet so they were doing something right. 

Once Techno was dressed and Tommy was settled in, they made their way to Tiyra and got to the bakery with 10 minutes to spare. “Here two days in a row and on time for once?” Eret called seeing them enter a shop. “Is it a holiday or something?” Sapnap joked.

“You know we’d never miss helping out.” Wilbur smiled. It was true. The only day they never missed was Wednesday. “Well come on then. Wash your hands, get an apron and a hair net, and go help Dream and Fundy make cake, cookie, fudge, and brownie batches.” Niki tossed them hair caps and they did mock salutes at her.

She rolled her eyes and they came behind the counter. Wednesdays were always busy between noon and 4 which is why they were always there on time. The kids handled it really well (for a bunch of 9-13 year olds). 

They always got paid 45% of what they made that day and split it amongst themselves. Wil and Techno never took any of the cut but their friends would always collectively buy them something with whatever was supposed to be theirs.

They didn’t feel right having their friends spend money on them but they couldn’t stop them no matter how much they tried. 

When 4 pm came, all the kids were tired out. Business was usually very slow after that and they only got about 50 more customers from then, until they closed. Some days, like today, they closed early just so they could hang out.

“You guys did a really good job today.” Schlatt congratulated. “Since we’re closed up early, you guys want to come with us to get the little ones from daycare or do you want to stay here and we’ll bring them back?” 

Whenever the kids came it was adorable chaos. They didn’t come often because they always tried to gobble up all the left over treats and then had a sugar high which led them to destroy anything their tiny hands could reach.

“Uh, we’ll stay here and hide anything with sugar.” George half joked. “Good idea. I don’t think drista should be eating that much sugar anyway.” Puffy smiled. Jack went to say something but there was a knock on the door. 

“We’re closed!” June called. The person knocked again. She frowned and had Bad open the door. “Hey! Sorry we’re....can I help you?” The way bads voice shifted from kind to nervous got everyone worried and the other adults went to see what was wrong making the kids stay where they were.

They hid and tried to eavesdrop anyway. “I’m looking for June Nihachu, Bad Halo, Skeppy, Puffy WasTaken, Mr.Damen and Jay Schlatt.” Someone said. “That’s us but Mr.Damen isn’t here.” June said. 

“Are your kids and Jack Manifold here? We need to speak with you and them.” All the kids looked at each other nervously. “Fundy, Foolish, Dream, Eret, Niki, Sapnap, George, Jack, come here.” Schlatt shouted for them.

Despite not being called, Wilbur and Techno came as well already knowing who it was and what they wanted. “The kings guard! What did we do?” Foolish muttered the last part for only the kids to hear. Everyone shrugged.

“We’re here on behalf of the princes.” Fundy, Bad, Puffy, and George looked ready to faint. “W-what about the princes?” Skeppy was failing at hiding the nervous tremors in his voice but was surprisingly composed. 

“They would like Fundy Damen, Foolish WasTaken, Dream WasTaken, Niki Nihachu, Eret Schlatt, Sapnap Halo, George NotFound-Halo, and Jack Manifold to join them for dinner in a weeks time.” One said handing them a very fancy looking paper.

“Is this negotiable and can we come?” Puffy asked. “No.” The kids all started panicking quietly. “We’ll be here to gather them at 5pm next Wednesday. Dress how you please, don’t bring anything except yourselves.” They left them all in a daze.

It had to have been 10 minutes before someone spoke up. “What. Did. You. Eight. Do.” June asked, her tone equally calm and angry. “Nothing!” They said at the same time. “How come they didn’t want Techno and Wil?” Eret pointed out.

They shrugged. “If you did something to the princes we cant help you until the king comes back. Actually, we cant help you at all. The king is insanely overprotective.” 

Techno and Wilbur left a few minutes later as the kids talked about ways to spend their potential last week of freedom. Did they feel bad for freaking them out? Yes. Were they gonna tell them? And ruin the surprise??? Hell no!

When day came for the kids to have to go to the castle, Wilbur and Techno had stayed home. The kids thought it was because they didn’t want to also get in trouble. Their parents had gotten them vigorously ready for the meeting.

“What do you do when you see the princes?” Puffy asked. “Bow.” Niki answered. “If they talk?” Bad quizzed. “Don’t speak unless spoken too.” Fundy said. “If or When you get accused of something?” Skeppy was fixing dreams outfit and looked at the kids who had to think about it.

“Uh...apologize and ask how we can make up for it without either jail time or it going on our records?” George guessed. “Correct!” Schlatt praised. “Remember don’t touch anything, don’t say anything rude, don’t provoke them, don’t ask any intruding questions, and please don’t get imprisoned.”

The kid nodded and the adults had just finished getting the ready as the kings guard announced their arrival. After a quick round of hugs, goodlucks, and see you laters (they always believed goodbye was too permanent), the kids were off to the castle.

“What do you think they’re like?” Jack whispered a few minute into the ride. “Spoiled.” Foolish scoffed. “Stuck up.” “Rude.” “Egotistical.” “Bratty.” “So a stereotype prince.” It wasn’t a question. They were all basically shitting on the princes. The kids nodded.

“Well we’ll just have to hope they're nice and we won a raffle to meet them or something.” It was optimistic but highly unlikely. The closer they got to the castle, the more worried they got. When they arrived the guards let them out and The Warden himself was waiting for them at the entrance.

“Welcome guys.” He smiled. They all nervously waved. “I am The Warden, as people like to call me, but I prefer Sam. Whatever your comfortable with. I’ll get your names later but we have some rules to go over and not a lot of time. The princes are waiting for you in the throne room.” 

Sam led them in and they rushed behind him saying their silent goodbyes to freedom.

“You are not required to bow, the princes hate it but everyone does it anyway. Please do not attempt to steal anything, we will know. Do not make any sudden moves to the princes when you first get in there, the guards are very protective.

When you go to eat, please wash up and be there on time if not Ponk will personally have your heads. Do not go anywhere without the princes, Callahan, my or ponks permission. You can ask the other workers but they don’t have as much jurisdiction as the 5 I just named and there are no promises you wont get in trouble.

I think no wandering off goes with that last rule. Make sure you are respectful to everyone regardless of their job. The princes are big on respect. And lastly, do not challenge the youngest Prince. He can fight off all the guards and will 100% beat you and our workers will laugh at you for 10 minutes before fixing your injuries.”

The kids all nodded along showing they understood and Sam smiled in approval and stopped by a door. “The princes are in here. Any questions before you go in?” They all shook their heads but Jack thought of something at the last second and spoke up.

“Are...will we be coming back out?” Sam looked confused. “For dinner, yes. Ponk would murder us all if we allowed you to eat anywhere outside of the dining room, kitchen, or patio.” 

“I mean like...after all this dinner stuff…” Jack didn’t know if he wanted the answer but he figured it was better to mentally prepare himself now. Sam outright laughed at his question. For a whole minute too! Once he caught his breath he patted jack on the shoulder. “That, my friend, is for me to know and you to find out later. Now go on in.”

Sam basically shoved them in the doors and closed it behind them. “No going back now.” Dream muttered.

Chapter Text

They walked forward slowly to the 3 thrones that sat on an elevated platform near the back wall. They all bowed and waited to be addressed by the princes.

“You can stop bowing.” One of them said. They all stood up but couldn’t quite see the princes faces due to the way the lighting was angled on their faces. “Speak. We know you have questions.” The other huffed.

“What have we done to be er...graced? to be allowed in your presence.” George worded that awkwardly but he didn’t know any nicer way to ask ‘Why the hell are we here?’. “We know what you’ve been doing. Stealing and running from the guards. Causing trouble and costing businesses more money than your worth. Very illegal stuff.” 

They all paled considerably. “Your defense?” One of the guards spoke up. “Y-your majesties we-we’re so sorry. We wont do it again just please don’t put us in jail.” Niki pleaded. Much to all the kids surprise, the princes bursted out laughing.

None of them knew what to say. “Oh my goodness you should’ve seen your faces.” One wheezed out. “Priceless.” The other sighed. “I- excuse me what?” They calmed down their laughing and looked up at them.

“Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am prince Wilbur.” “And I’m Prince techno.” “And you’ve just been pranked.” They chorused the last part. It got so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“What the fuck you guys!” Foolish screeched. “So thats how you always got us out of trouble.” Fundy realized. “And why you had the wardens old ring.” Sapnap added. The twins nodded. “Holy shit, we’re friends with the princes.” Eret muttered to himself as if still trying to believe it.

“Yep. You lot managed to befriend the royals of the biggest empire in the world. Pretty cool if you ask me.” Everyone rolled their eyes at Wilbur's ego. “Why didn’t you just tell us??? You have our parents worrying that we’re going to get fucking executed or something!” Dream now wishes he’d brought his communicator so he could tell his mom she wasn’t going to lose her two middle children today.

“Well we didn’t want your parents to know just yet and we wanted to prank you. Revenge for the time you all figured out how to make the batter explode when it was taken out the oven and ruined my favorite shoes.” Techno shrugged. 

“Wha- YOU’RE A PRINCE! YOU COULD LITERALLY BUY EVERY TYPE OF THAT SHOE AND YOU LITERALLY HAD A NEW PAIR THE NEXT DAY!” Fundy shouted. Techno just shrugged again with a smirk.

“Now that that’s out of the way, we have a couple hours til dinner and I think we have permission to show you around-” “Wait- you need permission?” George cut them off a bit confused. Wilbur and Techno gave him a look that said ‘Elaborate’. “Like- you’re the fucking princes. You have the ultimate power card yet you have to ask for permission? In your own castle nonetheless.” 

“Oh yeah we need permission. It wouldn’t be fair to the people who work here if we just told them no to everything they told us to do. Sure, we could do it and sure most of the time they’d let us get away with it but our dad would be very mad at us for starters.” Techno picked up where Wilbur left off.  

“It would also be hella unfair if we did that. We’ll never have to work as hard as these people did to get where they were. All we did was get adopted and now we’re inheriting a whole empire. Sure, being princes isn’t as easy as most people think it is but we’ll never have to work as hard as Sam and Ponk and Velvet and Sam Nook did in order to get a meeting with and win the favor of the king.

They worked hard to get where they are. Sam and Ponk tell us stories of when they were first starting out here from time to time. It would seem wrong to just veto their hard work because we can.” 

The kids nodded in understanding. “Well we have permission to show you around and that alone should take an hour and a half and then we’ll chill in my room. Techs is off limits for now.” Wilbur added as an after thought. 

They proceeded to show their friends around the castle which actually ended up taking all the time they had before dinner and after cleaning up, they met in the dining room. They had Mushroom Asiago Chicken with harvest salad. 

Somehow they got caught up in a food fight and had to stay in the dining room to help clean up before actually eating food. When they looked at the time it was half past 10 pm.

“I guess we should get going.” Niki sighed picking some stray lettuce out of her hair. “No way its much too late for you guys to leave. You wouldn’t get there til around midnight and the knights escorting you wouldn’t make it back til 2 am.” Techno immediately shot down the idea.

“Ponk, Sam, Callahn!” Wilbur called out to the 3 who were somehow in ear shot. “What is it Wilbur?” Sam asked looking around for any threat or injuries any of the kids may have sustained. “Its too late for us to send them home. Can they sleep over?” 

The adults all looked at each other having a silent conversation before Ponk smiled. “I don’t see why not. I can have some of the maids and stewards get the guest rooms nearest to your room ready for them.” 

Wilbur shook his head. “They can stay in our rooms.” Techno nodded in agreement. “Dad did always say he thought the rooms were too big to be in alone.” Ponk nodded and went typing away on his tablet before pulling out his communicator and sending a message on there.

“The servants-” “workers.” The twins corrected. “Sorry. The workers will have….two, three, four...8 air mattresses sent to...Technos room?” Wilbur shook his head. “Mine.” Ponk nodded in approval. 

“We have some extra sleep clothes somewhere. The princes already have an abundance of towels. Leave your dirty clothes in a pile by the door and we’ll have them clean by the morning. Have a good night boys.” Ponk gave them both quick hugs before rushing off.

“Night Ponk. Night Sam. Night Callahan.” The other two gave their own quick hugs before going off to do their jobs. Wilbur and Techno glanced at eachother once the adults were gone, having a silent argument. It appeared Wilbur won when Techno let out a huff and motioned for their friends to follow.

“I’ll lead you to Wilburs room and show you the bathroom. Feel free to fucking go wild. Scavenge his closet and take any pajamas you’d like.” Everyone laughed. “Wil, are you okay with us stealing your shit? I mean we’re going to do it anyway but I’d rather get your permission so I don’t get smited by the- Wilbur?” Foolish cut himself off mid ramble when he noticed Wilbur wasn’t with their little group.

“He had to...do something. He’ll join us shortly.” The kids nodded skeptically but decided it was probably some prince thing they wouldn’t know shit about and didn’t press on the matter.

Wilbur had actually went to sneak Tommy dinner and give him a quick bath while he rambled about his day. “And I snuck out to the farm and saw the moo moos!” Wilbur chuckled and raised his eyebrow. “Moo moos?” He questioned. “...you mean cows.”

Tommy pouted deeply at the use of the word cows. “Moo moos.” He said in a tone that left no room to argue. Wilbur lifted his hands in defeat. “Alright alright. Moo moos it is.” Tommy nodded in approval before continuing the story about his new c̶o̶w̶  moo moo friend.

Once Wilbur got him clean and changed, he tucked him in and went to sing him a song but Tommy started whining. “Techie.” He demanded with his arms crossed. “Techs not here to read you a story. I gotta sing you a song.” WIlbur sighed.

“I wan’ Techie to read about Athena.” Wilbur rolled his eyes. Bossy ass children. “Or else what?” He challenged. “I’ll cry.” Wilbur slowly started regretting his life choices. Tommy always looked so sad when he cried and it broke the boys heart. Crying was not something they wanted him to do.

“Fine. I’ll go get Techno.” Tommy beamed at him and shooed him off. Wilbur took the tunnels to his room hallway and got out there and opened his door to see most of his friends showered and changed and sitting on the air mattresses telling scary stories.

Wilbur cleared his throat to announce his presence and Niki paused whatever she was saying. “Hey Wil! Come join story time.” She beckoned him over but he shook his head. “I needa talk to Techno first.” His face told Techno it was urgent and he rushed out the door as gracefully as he could.

“What is it?” He muttered once they were out of eaves dropping range. “Tommy refuses to go to sleep unless you read him a story about Athena. The little shit even threatened to cry.” Techno sighed fondly. “He’s gonna want me to sleep with him then.” 

They’d learned that if Tommy demanded your presence before he went to sleep, he wanted you to stay through the whole night. And usually they couldn’t say no. He was like a little warm teddy bear of course they wouldn’t say no.

“I can’t disappear the whole night.” Techno sighed. “We...should we come clean?” Wilbur wondered. “I mean...we can. But we have to freak them out first. Its tradition at this point.” Wilbur smirked evilly at his brother. 

“And I know just the way to do it.” Techno cackled manically before running after his brother. The worried looks they got from the passing guards was so worth it.

Once they got Tommy in on the plan, they got him in position and went back to Wilburs room where their friends had all fallen asleep. Perfect.

Wilbur rushed and turned out the lights before knocking on the painting twice giving tommy the go ahead and laying down with them. Almost 10 minutes later they heard a loud bang and all their friends shot up. 

“What was that?” George asked groggily. Everyone shrugged. “What do you mean you don’t know? You live here don’t you?” Sapnap snapped. “I’m sorry we don’t usually hear loud bangs at midnight.” Techno huffed. Sapnap muttered a half hearted apology.

“Where are the guards? Isn’t the warden usually on top of stuff like this?” Foolish asked. The twins just shrugged. They knew where the guards were. They’d convinced Sam to make them ignore any loud sounds and screams that came from the boys room until 1 am. 

May not be ideal if they got kidnapped but the chances of someone getting in the castle or even getting to the living quarters if they did get in, was equivalent to the probability of all the molecules in your hand missing the molecules on the table and making you fall to the ground. Not impossible but very unlikely to happen.

“Who wants to check it out?” George asked. “Me and Techno will be staying put. If someones coming to kill us, us going would just be un smart.” Wilbur opted out. “Not it.” All the others rushed to say while putting their fingers on their noses. “Damn it.” Foolish sighed.

He was always the last one. “You try having gold skin,” he always argued. They told him to suck it up and made him go anyway. They heard knocking and everyone turned to where it was. “Is...is that coming from behind the painting?” Jack whimpered in a very manly tone.

Everyone nodded slowly. Foolish slowly went to move the painting and see what was behind it but screamed when he saw a golden haired child appear behind him. 

All the others, save the twins, screamed just as loud. The kid kept disappearing and reappearing until the kids had gotten themselves back to back in a circle using their pillows as weapons.

“Come out. You’re out numbered.” Niki threatened whatever was attacking them. Maybe if they’d been paying more attention they would’ve heard Techno and Wilbur struggling to hold back their laughter.

““The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Everyone looked even more concerned. “DID IT JUST QUOTE THE ART OF WAR?!” Poor Dream looked ready to faint. Techno and Wilbur decided they should stop before one of them attempt to smother their little brother with a pillow.

They turned on the lights and burst out laughing. “What the fuck.” Fundy deadpanned. “Oh my gosh you should’ve seen you guys’ faces.” Wilbur managed through laughter. The kids looked very confused. “Explain.” Sapnap demanded.

“Come on out bubs.” Tommy appeared behind them and they all screamed. “Don’t attack him!” Techno rushed to stop Erets incoming pillow. “This is Tommy. Tommy this is Fundy, Dream, Niki, George, Sapnap, Eret, and Foolish.” Everyone awkwardly waved.

“Who...why...huh?” The twins half chuckled, half sighed at their confusion. “Tommy is an orphan. We found him out in the cold a month or so ago and decided to take him in. We’re currently hiding him from everyone in the castle until our dad gets back and we can convince him to adopt the gremlin.” Wilbur explained.

“So...why introduce him to us? And what type of hybrid is he that he can teleport and is that fast? I mean...he looks like a raccoon but raccoons cant teleport.” Foolish wondered. “Well Tommy wanted to sleep with us and we couldn’t disappear the whole night without you getting suspicious so we figured we’d tell you about him so that way we wouldn’t have to hide him. Plus we trust you not to tell.”

They nodded thoughtfully and felt a little bit of pride of gaining the princes trust. “As for the hybrid thing...if we tell you, you absolutely cannot tell anyone else.” They all promised. “If I find out any of you tell anyone without our permission, friends or not I will personally have you imprisoned for life or executed if anything happens to tommy because of it.” Techno threatened, his eyes glowing a faint red.

“We promise we wont. You have my word. I’ll even fucking pinky promise.” Niki stuck out her pinky, the others following suit. It may seem childish but pinky promises were not used often, making them 1000 times more meaningful when they were used.

The twins nodded at each other and did a 10 way pinky promise. They chuckled a bit when Tommy tried to wiggle his finger in as well. “Toms. Tell them what type of hybrids you are. Do you remember?” Tommy thought about it for a second before nodding enthusiastically.

“I’m a raccoon and a Pa..poe….Phoenick?” He attempted to pronounce. Their friends all looked shocked. “He’s a Phoenix???” They all exclaimed at the same time. The raccoon thing was obvious to everyone. “Yep! But Wilby and Techie say its a secret just like me until Mr.King.Phil gets home.” 

Niki looked over at twins. “Does he have control on his powers?” They looked guiltily at the ground. “What did you do?” Dream asked narrowing his eyes at them. Wilbur mumbled it but they couldn’t hear. “Speak up please.” Fundy asked in a fake polite tone.

“We used a spell to suppress his powers.” Techno blurted out. “You what?!” Their anger was showing clearly. “We know it can cause lasting damage, it happened with my powers so we unsuppress them for a day every week and let him go at it until we can find someone to help him train.” Wilbur rushed to calm them down before they murdered them.

“You have people to train them.” Jack sighed exasperatedly. The twins looked confused. “Sapnap has pyromancy since he’s a blaze hybrid. I have teleportation since I’m an enderman. Totems have invulnerability. Admins can shapeshift, not to the extent of phoenixs but they can. Herobrine descendants have super strength and speed, half the hybrids here have super strength and speed actually. We could have been helping you.” 

Techno and Wilbur gave them a blank look. They were complete idiots. “And we’re teaching our siblings to control their powers too. We could make it a fun activity for them. Tommy how old are you?” Tommy held up 3 fingers.

“My brother is 3 and so is Nikis brother. They could come over with us. Tommy could make friends and it would give you a better excuse to have kids clothes and toys laying around and since Ranboos really shy it may give you an easier way to sneak food to Tommy. Saying Boo is too nervous to eat with everyone else. And Tommy would make friends his own age.” 

Techno and Wilbur nodded. “How long do you think you can stay before your parents get worried? And whats the best excuse you can come up with?” Techno asked out of the blue. “A week” Sapnap estimated. 

“The princes are investigating random kids from each city getting to know how they can help improve them and the guards mentioned seeing us together a few times and they got interested and chose us for Tiyra. Its top secret shi- stuff though so we weren’t even supposed to tell you. You can’t tell anyone else.” Foolish said. “Thats….a scary good lie.” Dream commended.

“I mean I’ve been covering for you, Gogy, Sapnap, and XD for years. It comes with the job honestly.” Foolish shrugged. Being the youngest before drista came along and his brothers and his brothers best friends sneaking out to do troublesome stuff 24/7, he was their prime get out of jail free card. 

“Can you guys stay...just for a week? Teach Tommy a little bit about his powers so that he can control them enough where we don’t have to suppress them.” Wilbur asked nervously. They all agreed instantly. “Living in the castle for a week. Hell yeah!” George cheered.

“Its not as fun as you think.” Wilbur muttered. “You guys have a basketball court, a Piste, 2 gardens, a courtyard, a library bigger than the one in the town square, a whole part of the kitchen devoted to baking, a game room, an indoor and outdoor pool, 2 movie rooms, 5 sitting/living rooms, a-” “Okay, We get it Fundy.” Wilbur cut him off with a laugh.

“Y’all still wont be able to go anywhere without our permission. Everyone is insanely cautious with visitors and very very overprotective of us.” Techno said. “Yes. A mad King Philza is a Philza you don’t want to cross paths with.” 

“So then we’ll just annoy you guys for a week.” Jack shrugged. “Yeah. You guys get to make up for all the lost time by spending every minute of every day with us for a whole week.” Dream mocked. 

“Or you could stay in the room like Tommy does. If he shows you how he gets out and around when we’re not here, thats up to him. If not have fun being locked in our rooms with guards while not being able to touch things all day.” 

Dreams smirk fell. “Lets not do that.” He chuckled nervously. Everyone laughed at him. “Wilby, Techie. Bed now?” Tommy asked gripping at Technos pants leg and yawning. “Yes Theseus. We can go to bed now.” 

Wilbur and Techno tucked him in and pushed an extra air mattress next to his to give them more space to lay. “What story do you want to hear today?” Techno asked going over to his books. There were 10 volumes, all as thick as a football. Whichever one he took with him depended on which god, hero, creature, or goddess Tommy would choose.

“Apollo and Daphne.” 6th volume it was then. “Song?” Wilbur asked getting his guitar. “Soft boy.” Wilbur started tuning. Their friends looked in awe at the dynamic they had going on. “You guys wanna listen?” Techno offered motioning for them to bring their mattresses, pillows, and blankets to the space around them.

They all huddled together, save Wil who was in his old rocking chair, and listened in. “ I'm living the dream . It's just one of those dreams where you're losing all your teeth. And if you think that it gets better darling, take a look at me. I'm in too deep .” Wilbur softly sang. 

“ Apollo was the God of Light, and it was his job to pull the sun across the sky in his 4-horse chariot every day. He has also been referred to as the God of music, poetry, art, medicine, knowledge, plague and archery. Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto. He had a twin sister, Artemis, who was the Goddess of Hunting.” Techno started reading.

They kept on like this, Wilbur occasionally stopping to think of a new song to play, everyone just enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. “D aphne turned to the river god, Peneus, and pleaded for him to free her from Apollo. In response, Peneus used metamorphosis to turn Daphne into a laurel tree. Apollo used his powers of eternal youth and immortality to make Daphne’s laurel leaves...oh. They’re all asleep.” Techno whispered to his brother who was half sleep himself.

Wilbur didn’t need to talk to know what to do. He grabbed Technos book putting it back while he put back his guitar before turning off the lights and then snuggling on the other side of Tommy, giving the kid a kiss on the forehead before laying down completely. “G’night Tech.” He muttered. “Night Wil.” 

Techno also gave Tommy a kiss on the head before deciding to pull the boy closer and use him as a teddy bear. He had Tommys head under his chin. Every time he breathed in, he could smell Tommys raspberry shampoo. 

Thats how he lulled himself to sleep. Wilburs songs playing in his head, the soft snores of his friends and brothers, a tiny warmth cuddling into his chest, and the faint smell of raspberry shampoo tickling his nose.

Chapter Text

“Tommy wait!” Sapnap cried dodging yet another fireball. Fundy screeched and dove out of the way before it could set his fur on fire...again. “Sowwy.” Tommy giggle signifying he wasn’t really that sorry.

“Tommy you can’t teleport and throw fireballs at the same time. Not yet anyway.” Niki sighed for the umpteenth time. “But-” “Yes we know your getting better at controlling your powers but we still haven’t finished the basics. Remember yesterday when you teleported into Sams office? If he hadn’t been training the trainees, we all would’ve been screwed.” Dream reprimanded.

“Sorry dream, honest! I wont do it again.” Tommy promised. “Pinky promise.” All the kids said holding out their pinkys. Tommy frowned before getting a determined look on his face. “Pinky promise.” They wrapped their pinkies around his since his was still tiny.

“Now that your not trying to set us on fire, we have to go soon. Before we get left or dragged out.” Foolish said. Tommy pouted. “Do you have to go?” They all nodded. “We’ll be back in a couple days. And Eret and Niki will bring their brothers so you can make some new friends.” 

“Promise?” Tommy asked holding out his pinky. Look he knew pinky promises were sacred but he had trust issues and he was 3. “Pinky promise.” All the kids locked pinkies. “Tommy you know the drill. Don’t leave unless you need to and don’t get caught when you do.” Wilbur said before giving the kid a hug. Techno gave him a fist bump (he had an̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶r̶u̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ reputation to uphold). 

“How are you going to explain being with us?” George wondered as they walked down to the carriage. “You could say you saw us walking on the way and decided to pick us up and the guards allowed it.” Techno shrugged helping Wilbur straighten out his hat.

“I still can’t believe you guys have 2 separate closets of normal clothes and clothes that could pay bills for a whole year.” Niki randomly brought up. “Perks of being a prince I guess.” Wilbur chuckled nervously. He hated flaunting his wealth unless he was giving someone else something to flaunt.

“And you guys all have the nice outfits your currently wearing to flaunt with.” Techno pointed out. They had all gotten some nice clothes in the time that they stayed because they couldn’t keep wearing the clothes they came in and Techno and Wilbur wanted to semi spoil them.

As far as their friends knew, all the village clothes they had were purchased from the village and the royal seamstress only made royal clothes.

The carriage ride had a much lighter atmosphere than the one on the way there was. Everyone was excited to see their parents after being away for a week and even more excited for their siblings to meet Tommy. 

Once they arrived at the bakery they rushed out and inside despite it having a closed sign. “We’re closed.” June shouted. “Mom!” Niki ran into her mother. “Niki! GUYS THE KIDS ARE BACK.” As she shouted that Bad, Schlatt, Puffy, and Skeppy came running out and immediately gave the kids hugs.

“Oh my goodness we thought you guys had been imprisoned or something, Why were you gone so long?” Puffy asked. “The princes are investigating random kids from each city getting to know how they can help improve them and the guards mentioned seeing us together a few times and they got interested and chose us for Tiyra. Its top secret shi- stuff though so we weren’t even supposed to tell you. You can’t tell anyone else.” Foolish recited the lie he’d burned into his skull.

“When’d Wil and Tech join you?” Bad wondered just now remembering that the boys hadn’t left with them. “We saw them on the way and the guards let them join us. Being the Wardens assistants sons and all, they trusted them.”Jack spoke up.

They went to ask more questions before the soft padding of feet was heard and the door to the back bursting open. “Eret!” “Niki!” Two little voices cried before colliding into their siblings legs.

“Hey Tubs.” “Hey Boo.” They both picked up their puffy eyed siblings. “Have you been crying?” Niki asked worriedly. “You were gone for uh week. Very long time.” Tubbo muttered into his brother shoulder. “Didn wanna forget you.” Nikis heart broke for her brother. He had memory problems and could sometimes forget things.

He had his family to help him but he was always scared he’d forget his family. “You could never forget me Ran. I wont let you.” Ranboo smiled at his sisters reassurance. “Play.” Tubbo demanded. “What do you want to do?” Dream hummed grabbing the boy from his brother.

“Build bombs.” “No.” Tubbo pouted at everyone shooting down his epic idea. “Flower crowns?” Ranboo spoke up. “Now theres a fun and peaceful suggestion.” Wilbur smiled. “Fun and peaceful in same sen’nce, boring.” Tubbo pouted further.

“Safe.” Eret corrected with a smile. “Boring,” Tubbo declared wiggling out of dreams arms. “Boring is safe.” Sapnap shrugged. “Boring is Boring.” Tubbo argued. “Is it okay if we take them to the greenhouse? We can have a movie night when we come back.” 

Their parents agreed and they left out. “Tubs, Boo, do you guys remember Wilbur, Jack, and Techno?” Dream asked. Jack was still relatively new and had only seen the kids a couple of times. They nodded. “Wil nd Tech have cool gifts.” Ranboo muttered.

“Yep. We also have another really cool gift.” Techno said picking up Tubbo. “What is it?” He clapped excitedly. “A new friend.” Wilbur smiled. “How would you guys like to meet our brother in a couple of days?” 

“Is he cool?” Tubbo wondered. “I-is he nice?” Ranboo whispered. “The coolest and the nicest.” Techno assured. “Then why can’t we meet him now?” Tubbo pouted. Man tubbo pouts a lot. 

“Well because we live kinda far away and we need to make sure you guys can keep secrets.” Wilbur explained vaguely. “I can keep a secret! And so can Ranboo! Right Boo?” The small enderman hybrid nodded. “See! So you can tell us and we can go now!”

Everyone chuckled at the ram hybrids excitement. “Well first we have to go the the greenhouse and then home for ice cream and then maybe we’ll go tomorrow but I doubt it because you guys have school tomorrow. But Wednesday your off for the rest of the week for the festival on the outskirts and you might be able to sleep over if you stay wednesday.” George reasoned.

“Fine.” Tubbo pouted. “Wanna race to the greenhouse?” Ranboo suggested after a moment, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Sure. Everyone line up.” Fundy said. Everyone lined up near a building edge. 

“You know the rules. Shortcuts allowed, no using powers to cause anyone a disadvantage, if you use your powers and it backfires thats on you, if you get in trouble find a hideout, don’t get lost, and the last one there buys everyone lunch. Unless its anyone under 10. You guys have to either give us your desert or cover for us the next time we ask you to.” Eret said going over the rules to make sure nobody cheated.

“We know.” They chorused. “Just making sure.” Eret giggled. “Ready. 321go.” Jack took off, calling go before they could comprehend it. “Cheater!” Techno called running after him. Jack simply laughed.

Tubbo went to run off but Ranboo held him back. “Boooo we’re gonna lose. I want my ice cream.” Every time they lost, Sapnap Dream and Eret would take tubbos ice cream and split it amongst themselves. Ranboo always put weird toppings on his so nobody ever wanted it.

“I’ve been working on my teleport. I can get us a few feet away and we can beat them there.” Ranboo said excitedly. “Why didn’t you start with that! Les go.” Tubbo smiled grabbing his friends hand.

Ranboo teleported them about a block away from the greenhouse, eons ahead of their siblings and siblings friends. The walk there from the bakery was 20 minutes, could be cut down to 10 or 7 if you ran (depending on how fast you were). 

They walked up to the greenhouse and knocked on the clear doors. The nice brown haired woman they were familiar with poked her head out with a smile. “Tubbo! Ranboo!” She opened her arms for a hug. “Ms.Hannah!” They both ran into her arms and let her pick them up.

“What are you guys doing here by yourselves?” She asked taking them inside. “They wanted to race. Boo teleported us. They coming.” Tubbo half explained, too distracted by her rose flower crown to give a full hearted answer.

“Do you guys want to check out the garden in the mean time? I’ve got purple opium poppies for you Boo and daisies for you Tubs. And before you ask, yes you can make flower crowns out of them.” The kids cheered and let themselves be led to the garden she has out back.

They were just starting their crowns when Wilbur and Dream burst in the door. “Hannah! Please tell me we’re the first ones here.” Dream called for the woman. Hannah came in with a smile on her face. “Hello Dream, Wilbur. Good to see you again. Racing I assume?” They nodded.

“Well your not the first but not the last. Tubbo and Ranboo are in the garden making their crowns. I’ve got Alyssums for you Wil, and orange lillies for you dream.” Hannah grabbed their hands.

“Wha- how did the toddlers beat us here?” Wilbur asked exasperatedly. “Never said Boo couldn’t teleport.” Tubbo giggled. “Fair. I used my powers to get here faster too.” Wilbur shrugged.

“Yeah, I shapeshifted and flew.” Dream admitted. “Explains why it took you both 2 minutes instead of 10.” Hannah said handing them the flowers. “Tubs your braiding the stem wrong. Let me help you.” Dream took the flowers and sat next to the kid to help him out. Wilbur decided to start his own and help Ranboo.

It was peaceful for a few minutes, the kids just sitting out in the sun enjoying the garden while braiding their crowns and having small talk with Hannah, until they heard someone come in the greenhouse.

“Ms.Rose!” Fundys voice called. “You little shit.” Came a monotone voice a few seconds later. “You tripped me.” Techno deadpanned at the fox. “It was an accident!” Fundy defended. “Whatever.” 

Hannah came out with a smile. “You aren’t the first but aren’t the last. Red Poppy for you Tech and Black-Eyed Susan for you Fund?” The boys nodded. “Go join the others in the garden. Your flowers are already sitting out. They’re discussing what they want for lunch.” They both smiled and rushed out.

Hannah decided she’d just wait by the door knowing they’d all start arriving soon. She was right to wait when she saw familiar purple particles in the middle of her shop. “Hey Hannah! Jack and I got halfway here before realizing I could teleport.” Niki smiled. “Please tell me I’m not the last one here!” Foolish cried also entering.

“None of you are the last. Eret, Sapnap, and George still aren’t here ye-” She was interrupted by a kid with a bandana flying in. “Eret and George aren’t here yet. Sapnaps right here.” Sapnap corrected. 

“Delphiniums for Niki, Gladiolus for Foolish, Black Rose for Jack, and Circus Rose for Sapnap?” All the kids nodded. “Come on out back. I assume George and Eret either got lost or got in trouble so they’ll be a while.” 

When they got out they saw the others braiding their crowns, Tubbo and Ranboo were on their second ones. “Fundy what happened to the Black-Eyed susans?” Hannah wondered. “I didn’t see them. Wilbur gave me Yellow Chrysanthemums.” Fundy showed the puffy yellow flowers.

Hannah shrugged not really caring if they took more flowers and joined them with her own roses. Eret came through a few minutes later with George. “I lost. George tripped me and got here first.” Eret mumbled. “We want lunch from that restaurant off 6th street.” Niki hummed.

“Got Red Dahlia’s for you eret and White poppies for you george.” Hannah said handing them the bundles and patting them a space on the blanket everyone was sitting on. “Can I get marigolds?” Eret asked. “What are you mourning?” Hannah chuckled. “My bank account.” He whined.

“No. Red Dahlias fit you. All your flowers fit all of you.” Hannah smirked. “What do they all mean?” Techno wondered. “You’ll find out some day.” Hannah shrugged. 

They stayed for a few hours before deciding to get lunch tomorrow and go back home for ice cream. They raced back so that Eret could redeem himself, but as a joke everyone sabotaged him. He had to buy 2 lunches now.

When wednesday came, they were up bright and early and ready to go. “Where are you all going?” Skeppy asked. “Wil and Techs house. Is it alright if we possibly sleep over?” Sapnap asked giving a pleading face his dad and uncle couldnt resist.

“Fine. Why are you taking Tubbo and Ranboo though?” Bad asked. All the kids froze not having a lie. “We don’ hang out with Tech and Wil and they said we could come and they have toys!” Ranboo cut in.

“Alright. Be safe, stay out of trouble, and if you need us call.” June said giving Niki and Ranboo kisses on their foreheads and the rest of the kids hugs. They bid their parents goodbye and started on their way. “Who knew you could lie? Nice job Ran.” Dream praised giving the kid a hi-5.

Ranboo smiled proudly. “How far do you live?” Tubbo asked already wanting to be picked up. “Don’t worry Tubbo, you wont have to walk. We’re actually meeting our ride sometime around....” A nice car with tinted windows pulled up beside them. “Now.” Jack chuckled.

They helped the kids into the car seats Techno had someone put in, and everyone else got in, george getting in the front seat. They played i spy the whole way there, getting into arguments about whether a random kid you saw run by with a yellow jacket on counted as an item. 

They finally arrived back at the castle. They got out the car and turned to Tubbo and Ranboo before they let them out of their car seats. “Now what you learn here today, you can’t tell anyone until we say so okay?” Wilbur asked. The toddlers nodded.

“Pinky promise.” Tubbo held out his pinky and locked it with Wilbur, Ranboo doing the same with Techno. They helped them out of the car and the kids looked around in awe. “Woah! We’re at the castle. Look Boo!” Tubbo shook his best friend excitedly.

“Cool.” Ranboo smiled. “Come on. We get to see the princes.” Niki said grabbing their hands. Both boys jaws dropped. “The princes!” Tubbo basically screamed. “Calm down Tubs.” Eret chuckled. “‘ts not everyday you meet the princes.” Ranboo was practically bouncing up and down.

They laughed at their excitement and went inside where Sam was once again waiting for them. “Hey kiddos! Back for another visit and with some new guests I see.” They nodded and sam knelt down to Tubbo and Ranboos eye level. “You’re the Warden.” Ranboo said in awe.

“Yes I am, but I prefer sam. What are your names?” The kids were too shell shocked to answer. “Thats Tubbo and Ranboo.” Sapnap pointed to the respective child as he said their names. “Well Tubbo and Ranboo, I’ll let your siblings and friends explain the rules. The princes will be...ready soon. I trust Niki to keep you all in line, you can go to the room.” 

Everyone except Niki looked offended. “What about the rest of us?! You don’t trust us to keep ourselves in line?” George asked. “Well George you could potentially fall asleep at any time. Sapnap last time I left you in charge you set something on fire. Fundy and Foolish you’re mischievous. 

Eret you always cave to puppy dog eyes. Dream, No. Jack, No. You two...you know why I said Niki.” Everyone frowned knowing he was right and went off to the rooms. They settled down in Wilburs room and Tubbo and Ranboo couldn’t sit still.

“When do we get to meet the princes?” Ranboo asked. “And Wil and Techs little brother!” Tubbo added impatiently. “Well you’ve already met the princes.” Niki said casually. Both toddlers looked surprised and shocked. “What?”

Techno and Wilbur put on their crowns. “I’m Prince Technoblade and that’s Prince Wilbur.” Their jaws were basically on the floor. “You know princes and you didn’t tell us!” Tubbo gasped to his brother. “It was a secret.” Eret shrugged.

Tubbo just pouted. “Now come on, you can meet our brother.” Techno said grabbing both of their hands out of Nikis. He led them over to the painting and knocked on it twice. “Why’d you do that?” Ranboo wondered.

“I’m here!” Ranboo and Tubbo screamed and Tommy flinched. “Where did you come from!” Tubbo shouted. “Uh….thin air?” Well….he technically wasn’t wrong. “Tubbo, Ranboo this is our little brother Tommy, Tommy this is Nikis brother Ranboo and Erets brother Tubbo.” Wilbur introduced.

“Tubso, Ranboob.” Tommy repeated. Tubbo frowned at him mispronouncing their names and turned to look at his sibling. “I don’t like him.” He turned to Tommy and pointed. “I don’t like you.”

Tommy frowned and raised his eyebrow at Ranboo wondering if he also didn’t like Tommy. Ranboo got the question and just shrugged. “Oh.” Was all he said. “Tubbo thats not nice.” Eret reprimanded. “I don’t care, I don’t like him. Names Tubbo not tubso.”

Tommy frowned even deeper and got an idea. “I can shoot fire out of my hands.” Tubbos whole face lit up. “Nevermind. We’re best friends forever now.” Everyone looked confused and Tommy smiled.

“Yay! Wilby, Techie I have a best friend.” He excitedly announced to his brothers who were there when it happened. “What..what just happened?” Dream asked trying to wrap his head around how they went from enemies to best friends so fast.

“I thought I was your best friend.” Ranboo gasped offendedly. “Can you shoot fire?” Ranboo shook his head sadly. “I can. You never said we were best friends.” Sapnap pointed out. “You’re old. And you don’t let me build nukes.” 

Tommy’s face lit up even more than they thought was even possible. “You can build nukes?” Tubbo nodded. “When Phil comes, I can get you on the...tes...testling floor.” “Testing grounds.” Techno corrected. “And no you will not.” 

Tubbo and Tommy looked at each other knowingly and the pre teens started to regret all of their life choices. “I don’t have a best friend anymore.” Ranboo whined. “We can be friends. But Nukes are more impoant. Sorry boo.” Ranboo just sighed in acceptance.

“You’re an end man hybrid?” Tommy asked Ranboo. “Enderman, yes.” He corrected and confirmed. Tommy smirked mischievously and grabbed both of them before teleporting them all away. “...Where did they go…” George asked after a moment.

They heard a scream down the hallway. “Oh shit.”

Chapter Text

“Tubbo, Tommy, Ranboo get back here right now!” Fundy whisper shouted. “We’re so dead.”  Foolish groaned.

A couple weeks after they met, everyone was regretting their choices with letting the kids meet. Not only could both Tommy and Ranboo teleport but Tubbo was stupidly smart, Tommy was oddly strategic, and Ranboo was awfully good at getting them out of trouble.

They were a trio to be trifled with. 

Fundy and Foolish were tasked with watching the 3 while the others tried to convince sam to let them to take them to the village (cause they were tired of stopping them from destroying the castle). They had them calm at first, they were just watching Phineas and ferb.

Until Tubbo decided perry sneaking away and having guns was cool, whispered something to Tommy and Ranboo, and then all of them teleported away. Now foolish and Fundy had to find the little menaces while the castle was basically flooded with guards.

The leaders of L’Manburg were visiting to talk with Callahan about new trade routes, territories, and asking for aide in a war against L’Sandburg, their desert counterpart. With the king, HBomb, being over and tensions being high with Manburg and Sandburg, Sam is adamant to make sure L’Sandburg doesn’t try anything. 

The Empire may not be involved with the war but that wont stop L’Sandburg from trying to include them by assassinating any of the royals. Especially since Punz, L’Sandburgs go-to mercenary, has been spotted in the capital district.

Which is also why the kids are still here and not already in the village. Sam is taking no chances so until Punz is gone or caught, nobody in, nobody out. They know they wont be able to talk the man out of it so Ponk is preparing to offer him more money than whatever the king of L’Sandburg is promising.

Theres also been talk of L’Sandburg trying to recruit Some of the southern countries. The amigops (what the 4 united countries like to call themselves) have some unresolved beef with L’Manburg but they also are trying to form an alliance with The Empire.

The empire has the best magic items and knowledge, and potatoes (they went to war for this title. Dont test them) so it would be wise to not go against them if you don’t want your magic citizens causing your downfall, whether on purpose or accident.

Enough politics. Fundy and Foolish really need to find the self dubbed Bench Trio before someone else finds them and they all get in a world of trouble. 

“Wait! I know how to find them.” Foolish said after a while. “How?” Fundy asked desperate for literally anything. “The compasses Tubbo had Sam Nook make that Techno and Wilbur enchanted to always point to the boys. Tommy left his in Wilburs room last night after the bath catastrophe.” They both shuddered at the memory.

Long story short, never try to give 2 kids who can teleport, one in which can shapeshift and shoot fire, and a kid who knows how to build deadly weapons out of his toys, a bath when they’re clearly sleepy. 

“I’ll grab it and meet you in the foyer.” Foolish said. Fundy nodded and they both split up. Did they mention they still weren’t technically supposed to be in the hallways without Wilbur or Techno? 

If anyone saw them, they would need to make sure their wills were in place. Foolish basically ran through the castle halls, dodging anyone he saw, and made it into Wilburs room. The compass was sitting on the dresser.

He grabbed it and went to leave when Sam poked his head in. “Prince Techno, Prince Wil- oh. Hey Foolish. Wheres everyone else?” Foolish hid the compass behind his back and gave the most convincing confused face he could muster.

“Uh, I’m not sure honestly. They all went with Wilbur and Techno to find Ranboo and Tubbo. They teleported away not wanting to stay inside and they told me to stay here in case they came back.” 

He silently thanked dream for the years of practice he had for lying to his mother about dreams whereabouts. “Alright, when you see Prince Wilbur and Prince Techno, tell them to come find me or Ponk. Alone.” Foolish nodded and Sam left without a word.

Foolish sighed in relief and waited a few minutes to make sure sam was actually gone before he snuck back out the room again. He wasn’t looking where he was going and crashed into someone. “Shit.” He muttered to himself quickly getting up.

“I am so so sorry, I really was just trying to find so- oh good its you.” Standing in front of him was Techno. “Yeah. What are you doing here though? Shouldn’t you be in the theatre room with the toddlers and Fundy?” Techno raised his eyebrows.

“The fuckers teleported away.” He sighed honestly. “We went to get Tubbos ‘Your Tommy’ compass to find them but with you guys god knows where and the guards fucking swarming, we’re trying to find them and hope they don’t get caught or hurt while also trying to not get caught.” 

Techno frowned. “I...I may have a solution but you can’t tell anybody or I’ll punt you.” Foolish nodded and held up his pinky. Techno locked them wordlessly and led him back into the room and too the painting.

“What is this painting gonna make Tommy teleport behind me?” He joked since every time the twins knocked on the painting, Tommy appeared. Techno didn’t say anything and moved the painting. Foolish could hear a redstone mechanism and looked in awe as Techno opened the painting revealing a tunnel.

“Maps on the wall. Nobody but me, you, Tommy, and Wilbur knows these exist. They’re armed with traps but the traps should be disabled. They were meant to be used in case the castle ever got attacked and me and Wil and now Tommy I guess, needed to hide so that dad wouldn’t have to worry.

We use them to get around after hours though. You can’t tell anyone about these under any circumstances. Got it?” Foolish nodded and crawled in. “Thanks Techno. Also Sam said for you and Wil to meet him in his office alone.” Techno nodded and closed the painting behind foolish.

Foolish watched the wall basically rebuild itself behind the painting and looked in awe for a second before getting out his communicators flashlight. Halfway through he realized he forgot to tell Techno to find Fundy.  

Fundy could hold his own in hiding but he didn’t want to leave him behind. But even if he did find his way to the foyer there was no way of knowing who was on the outside and he didn’t know how to get out of the tunnels.

He sighed and decided his best way out was to find the bench trio so he followed the compass as best he could through the tunnels. He was led to a spot in the tunnels where the compass was pointing no matter where he went.

If he went forward it pointed back, if he went back it pointed forward. He figured out where it was pointing and stood there. It was just a normal corridor in the tunnels. “Tommy! Tubbo! Ranboo!” He called quietly.

He called them a few more times before sighing. “Guys come on this isn’t the time. We’re going to get in serious trouble if you don’t come out.” It was quiet for a second and then he heard the familiar sound of an enderman teleporting behind him.

He turned around and saw them all standing there giggling. “Don’t run off like that again, especially with a mercenary on the loose. Tubbo take your compass.” Foolish scolded, handing Tubbo the small metal item. Tubbo smiled at it before putting it around his neck and hiding it in his shirt.

“Whats a m..mercy?” Tommy attempted to pronounce. “Mercenary. And its a person that kills people for money. We don’t know who Punz was sent to kill and for your safety, your siblings safety, and the rest of ours, we need to know where you are at all times and stick together.” 

“Sorry foolish.” They chorused. “Its ok. But we need to get to Fundy before he gets caught and I don’t know how to get out of the tunnels.” Tommy perked up at that. “Where is he?” He said dragging them to the nearest map. “Foyer.” Foolish told him pointing to a spot on the map.

“We can teleport.” Ranboo suggested. “Guards.” Tubbo reminded. “I know the way. C’mon.” Tommy led them through the tunnels and up to a wall. “Toms...thats a wall.” Ranboo pointed out. Tommy ignored him and let his tail brush over a spot on the wall and he let out a chitter of concentration (something he did often and everyone found adorable). 

He, being a racoon hybrid, could pick any lock or figure out any mechanism as long as he viewed it as a puzzle, which meant he never really needed the boys to tell him how to get out the tunnel. He just figured it out.

He touched the stones in a certain order before a button appeared and he clicked it. “Cool.” Tubbo smiled as the bricks started disappearing and the back of a painting was what they saw.

They peeked out of the painting and saw no guards were in eye sight so they carefully snuck out and down the foyer. “Fundy!” Foolish whisper shouted. “What?” A voice from behind them said. They screamed and turned around seeing that fundy was standing behind him.

“Where’d you come from?!” Foolish heaved trying to slow down his heart rate. “Why’d you leave me here?” Fundy retorted. “I ran into techno and he told me about a way to find the kids faster without getting caught. I forgot to tell him to find you so that you wouldn’t get in trouble and when I remembered he was already gone.” Foolish explained with a sigh.

Fundy nodded in understanding. “Next time you little fuckers better not run off like that and you can just use the comms.” Foolish facepalmed realizing he could have in fact, used comms. “Whatever. Let’s just clean up, find the others, and get back to the room before we get caught and we all get screwed over.” 

“Caught doing what?” They jumped hearing Ponk behind them. Tommy quickly teleported away. “Ponk!” Foolish greeted. “Why are you guys in the hallways by yourselves?” The kids paled slightly and prayed they could lie well enough to get out of this.

“Ranboo and Tubbo ran off and we split up to find them. Now that we’ve got them we’re going straight to Techno and Wilburs rooms to scold them and make them take naps.” Fundy said grabbing the toddlers in a way that hopefully communicated shut up.

“What about Tom-” “I already told you. Tomorrow we’re hopefully going home. If not home, Techno and Wilbur already said they’d take everyone to the pool.” Foolish sent a glare their way and they got the hint. “Oh sorry, I forgot.” Tubbo chuckled sheepishly.

“Well alright. I’m trust you guys to walk by yourselves. No funny business, got it?” They all nodded and Ponk let them walk off. Foolish and Fundy sighed in relief. 

“Ranboo, Tubbo, you can’t tell anyone about Tommy.” Fundy clarified. “Why?” Tubbo asked. “Yeah, isn’t he a prince like Wilb and Tech?” Ranboo wondered. “Well yes but no.” Both toddlers looked confused. “King Philza hasn’t officially adopted Tommy yet therefore he’s a secret to everyone except anyone you’ve seen him interact with.” 

They made ‘oh’ faces though they clearly didn’t 100% understand.  “Now since you’ve given us a heart attack and nearly got us in trouble, you actually are going to take a nap. Tommy if you don’t either meet us here or make your way to Wilburs room by the time we get back, you will be staying in the closet with toys by yourself the whole day.” Foolish slightly raised his voice so that Tommy could hear him in the tunnels.

Tommy didn’t appear in front of them but when they got to Wilburs room he was already laying on the air mattress half sleep. 

Foolish and Fundy finally got a break when they went down. One thing they knew for certain, they were never going to be stuck babysitting these little menaces ever again.

Chapter Text

“Go over the rules one more time.” Techno said to Tommy as Wilbur ran around his room trying to make sure everything was ready. “But tech-” “Please. To calm our nerves.” Tommy glanced at his obviously nervous brothers and decided it was the least he could do.

“No teleporting away unless someone older than ‘Boob is with me, stay wit you guys at all times, no running off, no trying to get into things unless I have per...per-mis-sion, if I am asked about my hybrid I’m only a racon,” “Raccoon.” Techno corrected with a soft chuckle. 

“Sorry. Uh….don’t mention being a prince, don’t use my ponix,” “Phoenix,” Wilbur briefly corrected running by, “powers, Don’t be mean to our fwends parents, don’t call ‘Boob Ranboob around adults, and stay safe.” Tommy recited. 

“Good job. Remember how to get in and out? Like we practiced?” Tommy nodded. “Meet us by the-” “the law from on 52nd street. I know.” Tommy cut off his worrying brother. “Firm.” Wilbur corrected with a shaky chuckle. 

“Don’t worry Wilby! I got this. I’m...I’m...I-I-I’m a big man!” Tommy exclaimed. The twins laughed, their anxiety slowly easing. “Alright go. We’ll meet you there.” Wilbur said. Tommy nodded and disappeared with a small explosion of ashes. Since he was a phoenix he had ashes instead of purple particles like enderman hybrids.

The kids were finally let off lockdown about a week ago. A few guards in one of the middle southern districts (there weren’t usually guards there but with an assassin on the loose, they’d had to split the troops to get guards everywhere they could) had caught Punz and he had been paid to tell that L’Sandburg had in fact paid him to try and assassinate Callahan and frame it on HBomb to start a war.

After HBomb had left and they got everything sorted, guards were relieved back to their normal (albeit a bit tweaked) schedules and everyone went back home.  They’d been stuck in the castle together with no communication to the outside world for almost 3 weeks. Techno and Wilbur had experienced it for 5 years so they weren’t really mad about it and they had their friends now so they saw it as a win.

The only real thing they had to worry about was coming up with an excuse to tell the worried parents. Luckily, they’d come up with something believable that told the truth but not the whole truth.

“Where have you guys been!” Puffy shouted as soon as they stepped in the door. “An assassin on the loose and you guys don’t tell us where you are for 3 and a half weeks!” Schlatt and June immediately picked up Tubbo and Ranboo and checked to make sure they were okay.

They were happy to see that besides them both being very tired, they were both perfectly fine. “Sorry mom.” Dream said giving her a hug and letting her check him over. “When we went to stay over Tech and Wils they had gone on lockdown and with nobody knowing who the assassin was after and their dad being Sams assistant they had us stay at their house with guards swarming.” Foolish explained.

“So many guards.” Tubbo muttered sleepily. “Couldn’t get a gogurt without getting caught.” Schlatt chuckled at his youngest. “We can have gogurt tomorrow.” He promised. “For breakfast?” Tubbo asked hopeful. He had such an innocently excited look on his face that schlatt couldn’t bring himself to make him wait for lunch.

“Fine. For breakfast.” Tubbo cheered tiredly before laying his head back down on his dads shoulder. “We’ll think of something in the morning. For now I think we’ll head to bads house for a sleepover since your all tired.” Puffy suggested noticing all the kids repetitive yawning.

“Sounds good to me.” Sapnap tiredly smiled. “Come on muffin heads.” Bad led them out and they ended up attempting to have a movie evening/night but everyone was knocked out halfway into Inception.

Now, they wanted to properly show Tommy around town. They don’t know how much good experiences Tommy may have had and they wanted to show him some places. Plus he wanted to try the cookies he’d heard so much about from the bakery.

They couldn’t exactly walk him out the side door like they did usually. Sam always saw them off before they used the secret exit. They couldn’t have him teleport outside, not knowing who could possibly spot him. So they came up with a plan while the others were over to get him out.

And since he wasn’t officially adopted as a prince and Techno and Wilbur were still trying to keep their secret of being princes, he couldn’t wear his usual royal get up. So Eret had bought some of Tubbos clothes for Tommy to wear out and in turn, Tubbo was given the tiniest most harmless pop explosive they could find.

It was a timed confetti popper and he’d been given 3. Did they regret it? Yes. But it was too late to get them back.

They left out as they normally did and walked to the law firm to wait for Tommy. They reckoned he’d get distracted like they did after their first time out. They would be more worried if they didn’t have Tubbos “Your Tommy” compass (after fighting with a toddler and said toddler throwing a tantrum only to be calmed down with promises of the compass being returned and a weeks worth of ice cream) to use in case he got lost.

They were waiting for about 30 minutes before they saw Tommy run up holding someones hand and a lollipop. They couldn’t hear what was being said but they saw Tommy point to them and had a pretty good idea. “Hey! Sorry to bother you. I saw this little one running around he needed help finding the law firm.” A woman said.

“Thanks for finding him. We just figured he was exploring.” Wilbur said honestly, picking up tommy and putting him on his hip. “No problem. See you later Tommy.” The woman waved to the boy before turning away. “Bye Ms.Poki!” 

“‘Fore you get mad, I ‘membered where we were supposed to meet jus didn’ know how to get there.” Tommy shrugged. “Its alright Toms. Next time, we’ll give you a map or something.” Techno assured. And with everyone accounted for, they set off.

They stopped a great many times for Tommy to check out shops and games and things he’d never seen before they finally got to the shop a little after 1 pm. ‘“We have arrived!” Wilbur announced throwing the doors open dramatically. 

A few of the customers in the bakery looked at him weirdly but went back to what they were doing. “Hey Wilbur! Come on to the back.” June called. They went to the back where their friends were all sitting around the counter throwing cookie dough at each other.

“That seems very chaotic.” Techno pointed out, his monotone tone startling everyone. “Oh...its just you guys. Hey Tommy. Other two.” Dream greeted half heartedly. Techno and Wilbur looked slightly offended when everyone said similar greetings. 

“Tommy’s here!” They heard a set of little footsteps and a door opening before they saw Tubbo and Ranboo run in excitedly. “Big T!” “Bee!” They ran and gave each other hugs. Ranboo frowned. “C’mere boo.” Ranboo smiled and joined the hug.

“Mom says she’s teaching us to make cakes and cookies since your here.” Ranboo informed. “Oh my goodness the children are going to have sugar.” Techno sighed. “Yeah. It was Georges idea.” Jack snitched.

“George, Tommy will be sleeping over your house tonight.” Wilbur decided. “Take Ranboo and Tubbo too. Eret and I have decided not to deal with them on sugar highs simply because you didn’t want to come up with actual activities for them.” Niki smiled.

“Wha- George lives with me! I don’t want to deal with hyper smart toddlers.” Sapnap protested. “You can stay at our house.” Wilbur offered. “Yes! Pool!” He cheered. “What about the rest of us?” Eret frowned. “You all have homes to seek solace in from the tiny menaces that are our brothers.” Techno said.

“Not fair.”  Foolish pouted. “Life's not fair.” Sapnap laughed. “The next time you need me to cover for you, remember those words.” Foolish threatened. “I have three adorable menaces to cover for me now. Fuck you.” Sapnap scoffed.

“Ladies, ladies, lets calm down.” Niki said ending their squabble. “Yeah the sooner you stop arguing the sooner we can make treats. And if your serious about sleeping over, make sure you ask your dad. I think he wanted to show you and george something today.” Sapnap nodded making a mental note to ask before the day ended.

“Now, I’ll go over the rules then we can start baking. If you do good, I’ll let people buy them and give you 50% of whatever your treats make.” June promised. “Ooh I’m always open to money possibilities.” Dream smirked. Foolish smacked him upside the head and everyone laughed.

“Rules.” Fundy reminded. “Yes, Rules. Follow all my instructions carefully. Do not use the ovens without my permission. Do not attempt to take anything out the oven without my permission or if you are under the age of 10, don’t try at all.” Foolish pouted. “Do not start a food fight or you will be cleaning my whole kitchen, do not try to go ahead no matter how many times you have or haven’t done this, and have fun.”

“So have food fights in easy to clean places, got it.” Fundy joked. He got smacked in the back of his head by Jack. “What!” He asked rubbing the back of his head. “I’m not cleaning your shit for you. If you start it, you clean it.” Fundy rolled his eyes.

“Oh! Tommy, Fundy your ears and tails.” Tommy chittered and tilted his head trying to figure out what she was on about. “Tuck your tails in your jeans and find a beanie to cover your ears. Baking ingredients are not comfortable in fur.” June said tossing them hats.

Fundy helped Tommy put his on before putting one on himself. “Alright we’re ready.” Fundy confirmed. “Okay, everyone stand somewhere and lets get this show on the road.” 

To say that everything went to shit is an understatement. They didn’t last 30 minutes before Tubbo threw cookie dough at Techno and blamed it on Fundy. Techno threw it back but Fundys agility let him duck out of the way in time but it hit Sapnap instead.

A couple of missed aims later and everyone was in a free for all. The toddlers sat on the counter with June out of the way of the chaos rolling their cookie dough into little balls to put in the oven, occasionally sneaking a little bit to eat.

“Can we turn the ovens on?” Tommy asked ducking away from a stray chocolate chip flying at his head. “Sure, I don’t see why not. Press the bake button and then press start.” She instructed lifting him high enough so he could reach it.

He pressed the button and it beeped. “Now what?” Ranboo asked. “Now I put it in the oven, you guys go outside and play while you wait, and I yell at your siblings.” June lifted them all off the counter and let them go. 

She turned to the others with a loud sigh. “Halt your throwing.” The kids all stopped and turned to her. She went to say something else but a stray dough flew across the room. “Who threw it?” Everyone pointed at each other. “No matter. You’re all in trouble anyways. What did I say before we started?” 

They all stayed quiet. “I swear if one of you don’t answer me, all of you will be cleaning mine and Bads shop for the rest of the month. And I’ll make you clean Schlatt and Mr.Damens offices where they work.” June threatened. 

“You said not to start a food fight.” George spoke up. “And what did you lot go and do?” “Start a food fight.” They chorused. “Yes. And you’ve made a big mess of my kitchen. So, grab a mop, a bucket, a broom, some sponges, the soap, gloves if you need them, and start cleaning.” And with that June left to make sure the toddlers were doing what they were told.

“Fundy, Foolish, Jack, Eret, you guys get the Broom, Mop, Dustpan, and Bucket. The rest of us will get the sponges, soap, gloves, and cloths.” Niki instructed. They split up to go get the stuff. “This a first for you guys?” George jokingly asked the twins.

“You’d think it was. But food fights in the dining room are punishable by chores.” Wilbur chuckled at the memory. “Dad was so pissed. They started to clean it for us but he made us clean every last bit of it.” Techno reminisced. 

“Good to know even kings don’t tolerate bullshit.” Sapnap smiled. “Come on. Grab your stuff before mom makes us do community service again.” Niki said tossing the box of gloves. “...again?” Wilbur wondered. “Don’t ask.” They all said.

Wilbur and Techno laughed. “Entertain us. If you don’t tell us we could always ask the guards.” Techno teased. “I don’t like you guys anymore.” Dream deadpanned. “Sucks. Now spill.” Sapnap sighed and reluctantly recalled the story. “It all started after a heist went wrong…”

They gathered the supplies they were tasked with getting and made their way back to the kitchen where the others were waiting. “And after trying to argue our way out of it, we got an extra 2 weeks and fertilizer duty.” Techno and Wilbur were wheezing by the end of the story.

“Oh lord you told them about community service.” Eret sighed. “Community service?” Jack and Fundy questioned. It happened years before Foolish and Fundy started tagging along with them on their mischievous journeys and Foolish only remembered because he got his and dreams shared room to himself since dream came home smelling like literal shit and Puffy didn’t want to punish foolish too.

“Don’t ask.” They snapped. Techno and Wilbur laughed harder. Eret through a bucket at him. “You’re punks, the both of you.” He mumbled grabbing some gloves and a sponge. “All 10 of you are punks. Now clean.” June called from the front. They groaned but got scrubbing.

Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo came back a few minutes into them cleaning to gloat. “Having fun?” Tommy taunted, faux innocence all over his face. “No.” Fundy sighed from his position on the counter scrubbing at the partially hardened dough on the ceiling.

“Well its too bad we hit Techno. We were aiming for Jack.” They all turned to glare at the toddlers. “What?” Techno asked. “I hit you with cookie dough and framed Fundy.” Tubbo shrugged casually. “You little shits.” Sapnap lunged for them but Ranboo teleported them away from the attack.

“You can try and tell Aunt June but she wont believe you.” Tubbo cackled letting Ranboo teleport him out of the kitchen and to the bathroom where they told June they were going. “I don’t know if I’m mad that he so easily framed me or that he’s right.” Fundy muttered.

“Don’t choose just one. Be equally angry about both.” George advised. Wilbur turned to tommy opting to question the one kid thats left instead of wiping seemingly endless amounts of dough off the counters. “Why are you still here gremlin? What do want?” 

Tommy smiled thoughtfully. “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.” And with that he teleported away as well. “Techno stop reading him the art of war.”  Foolish said. Techno pretended to think about it before shaking his head no. “....Nah. I’m more proud than mad at this point.” 

They all sighed. “When he either starts a war or murders your strategically in your sleep, don’t say we didn’t warn you.” Jack shrugged. “If I die I’ll haunt you all and teach Tommy more so he can murder you in your sleep too.” Techno retorted. “I’ll simply refuse.” Niki hummed wiping off the ovens.

“You can’t escape the wrath of an angry prince.” Foolish chuckled. “I can try.” Everyone laughed and went back to cleaning. A few minutes later June and the toddlers came in to ice their cookies and after a mini frosting fight amongst them, they had decent looking elmo and cookie monster sugar cookies.

“How come they can fight with food and not have to clean it all up?!” Jack asked, a little salty. “They’re toddlers and they didn’t get it on my ceiling. Now shut it and scrub.” Jack sighed but finished up scrubbing not wanting to deal with the wrath of June.

Apparently the customers ate up the fact that 3 adorable kids made adorable cookies and brought them all out. Tommy and Ranboo did the talking while Tubbo smiled from the sidelines. The old folk thought Tommys enthusiasm was great and the younger adults thought Ranboos shyness was adorable.

They made nearly 1,000 emeralds with the deductions June took (nearly 400 gold, 200 diamonds, or 100 netherite which wasn’t the most but it was a lot for a free 3 year olds) and Tommy let Tubbo and Ranboo split it between themselves.

After the teens/tweens were finally done cleaning their mess, they decided to take the little ones to the market to make their pockets hurt. After the buying of many unnecessary items and clothes, they went to eat and then went back to the bakery because its getting dark.

“Can Tommy sleep over?” Tubbo begged his dad and Tommys brothers. “I’m fine with it.” Schlatt shrugged. “Not today Tubs. We’ve gotta hurry home.” Wilbur said. “Awwww.” Tubbo frowned. “You have me!” Ranboo perked up. “I guess you’ll do.” 

Ranboo looked offended but let Tubbo drag him away anyway. “Come on Toms. You can finish your ice cream on the way home.” Techno picked him up and hauled him on his back. “Don’t get ice cram in my hair or you’ll walk home.” 

Tommy giggled at the threat knowing Techno would just deal with it but decided not to get ice cream in his hair anyway. Once they got near the gates Techno put Tommy down and they went over the plan one more time.

“We’ll go through first to get anyone whos waiting for us away from the entrance so you can sneak in. Stay out of sight and meet us at the usual tunnel entrance. You’ll go in and get to the one in my room and once we tap on the painting twice, you’re all clear to come in and get ready for bed.” Wilbur explained.

“Got it.” Tommy smiled. “Summarize.” Techno clapped kneeling to his level. “Wait for you guys to get ev’ryone away then go in. Hide and go to the tunnel and wait for you guys. Go through the tunnel and wait for taps then song and story!” 

Techno and Wilbur smiled proudly and gave him a hi-5 before leading him to the entrance. They went in and greeted the helpers and Ponk who was waiting instead of Sam. Sam apparently had some important last minute thing to do so he couldn’t meet them there. 

They went inside and Wilbur gave a whistle as they were walking away letting Tommy know the coast was clear. Tommy went through and into the castle and started hiding behind tapestries and small shelves along the halls to get through unseen.

He got to the entrance to the tunnel and crouched behind the tapestry of the king that hung near it. Wilbur and Techno came running down the hallway a few minutes late and once Tommy was sure they were alone, he came out to greet them.

“Toms change of plans. Go to techos room, hide in the closet.” Wilbur said quickly opening up the tunnel and helping Tommy inside. “Wh- why? Whats going on?” Tommy asked nervously. Techno and Wilbur tried to hurry him along but he refused to move until he got an answer.

“Dad is home, okay. We’re….he can’t meet you yet. So go to Technos room and hide. We’ll be there in the morning.” Wilbur said closing up the tunnels before Tommy could get another word in. Just as they went back to the main hallway they heard footsteps and turned to see their dad looking exhausted but excited.

“Boys!” He smiled. “Dad!” They both ran to him and gave him hugs. “We missed you.” Wilbur said into his shoulder. “I missed you too mate. How about we raid the kitchen, and have a movie night in the theatre room. And tomorrow you can tell me all about what you did while I was gone.” Phil said letting go of the hug.

“Won’t Ponk be mad if we eat ice cream in the theatre room?” Techno asked warily. “Ponk?” Phil turned to Ponk who was trying to put together a welcome back festival for the king and half listening to the conversation. “Uh...I don’t see why no-”“COME ON BEFORE HE CHANGES HIS MIND.” Wilbur grabbed Techno and dipped.

Phil and Ponk laughed at their enthusiasm. “I’ll meet with you tomorrow to help with preparations.” Ponk shook his head. “Nonsense your majesty.” 

“I insist.” Phil smiled. “Then what do you pay me for? Besides, the boys missed you I’m sure. I have Callahan, Sam, and Vik to help me. Take a few days off your Majesty. Don’t be King Philza, just be Phil.” Ponk advised.

“Words from the wise.” Phil chuckled. “I try.” Ponk joked. “Now go before the princes eat all the ice cream we have.” Ponk shooed him off before he could protest and Phil found the twins piling toppings on their ice cream.

“Woah guys, slow down. We’re not gonna restock the kitchen til the end of next week.” Phil chuckled. “Then we’ll just go to the village for toppings.” Techno shrugged. “You’ve been to the village?” Phil was shocked. He didn’t think they’d go without him.

“Yep! Disguised as normal citizens.” Wilbur bragged. “How’d you manage that?” Phil wondered. He was pretty sure they’d be recognized. “We’ll tell you later. But we need to hurry and get this ice cream before it melts.” Wilbur shoved the carton and a bowl in his hands before running off to the movie room with Techno.

“Are we gonna tell him?” Wilbur asked once they were far enough away. “Not yet.” Techno shook his head. “Then when?” They both knew they couldn’t hide Tommy forever. Especially not with Phil around. “Later. Lets just watch the movie and worry about it later.” 

“But what about-” “We can take turns going to the bathroom and checking on Tommy or we can go to bed early. He hasn’t been having nightmares so he should be fine.” Techno assured. Wilbur looked wary but agreed knowing his brother was probably right. 

“Now lets go fake sleep on the couches.” Wilbur cackled and ran after his brother. They’d deal with everything else tomorrow. For now, they’ll argue over a movie.

Chapter Text

“Techno wake up.” Wilbur shook his brother relentlessly. “What do you want Wil?” Techno groaned turning over on the couch. “We have to go see Tommy before dad wakes up. Come on.” Techno rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and followed behind to get to his room.

They greeted the guards and helpers they saw as they passed and went into Technos room shutting the door behind them. The room was empty which was usually a good sign. Wilbur peeked in the closet while Techno checked to see if Tommy took the books again in attempt to read to himself.

“Wilby!” Tommy smiled jumping at his unofficial brother. “Hey Toms! Did you sleep alright?” Tommy nodded. “I didn’t even cry! I’m a big man!” Wilbur and Techno chuckled, both of them silently envying the energy he had this early in the day.

“Yes Tommy. You’re the biggest man.” Wilbur mused. “Are we gonna play today?” Tommy wondered wiggling out of Wilburs hold. “Yes Tommy, we can play tod-” Techno was cut off by a knock on the door.

“Boys? Are you in here? Wilburs not in his room so I assume your both here.” Phil called from the hallway. “Shit.” They both whispered. “Who’s that?” Tommy had never heard that voice before so naturally he was curious. “That’s Phil. Go hide in the closet like we practiced and don’t say anything.” Techno instructed.

Tommy rushed off to his hiding spot and Wilbur closed the closet door behind him. Wilbut gave techno the thumbs up and Techno nodded and opened the door. “Come in Dad.” Phil walked in and sat on the bed and motioned for them to join him.

“I got you guys out of taking classes today so we’re free to do whatever you want. We can go to the village or the garden or train or play with the animals. Whatever you want.” Phil offered. They both looked wearily at each other. 

“Well..we actually have to tell you something before we do anything.” Wilbur nervously said. “Alright. What is it?” Phil looked between the two skeptically. They were both glancing at each other, not wanting to be the one who tells.

“Well...we uh….” Techno looked at Wilbur expectantly. “We...we uh….” “Go on.” Phil encouraged. “Techno!” Wilbur clapped. “You tell it better so...go ahead.” Techno sent his brother a death glare but wilbur just smirked back.

“Oh uh well...While you were gone...we...uh…” Phil motioned for him to continue. “I beat all the trainees and guards! Yeah! Lazar and Vik and Sam were all humiliated.” Wilbur glared at his brother. Sure he wasn’t lying but thats not what he was meant to tell him.

“Oh thats great Mate! We can spar if you want? Maybe you can finally beat me.” Phil offered. Techno nodded excitedly. “Lets go after breakfast! Me and Wil will get dressed and meet you there.” Techno pushed Phil out of the room and Phil laughed thinking it was just excitement and he closed the door and went off to the kitchen.

“You were supposed to tell him about Tommy!” Wilbur sighed exasperatedly. “Well so were you. You can’t put that on me, the child with anxiety, and expect me to actually tell him.” Techno retorted. Wilbur just rolled his eyes cause his brother had a point.

“Look we can always tell him Tomorrow. For now, we have to find a way to sneak Tommy food.” Techno reasoned. Wilbur dropped the topic realizing he was right. It was easy to sneak food through the tunnels when they were the only ones eating. One person distract the guards and the other sneak it into the tunnels. 

If they couldn’t distract the guards they would wait for guard shifts. With Phil here he would definitely notice if one of them went missing during meals. He always insisted family meals were important so there was no way they could eat by themselves.

The only time they ever didn’t eat was a family was if he was really busy or if someone was sick and being isolated in their rooms. They could ask to go to the bathrooms but Phil didn’t know about the tunnels so they would have to go through the doors and someone would definitely notice them bringing food out the front door.

The only time bringing food out the dining room was allowed was if the king was really busy and had to eat in his office, if someone was sick, when the food was being brought to anyone n the medical area, or if Ranboo was over and they were ‘bringing him a plate.’

They usually bought enough for both Ranboo and Tommy to eat saying that Ranboo being a hybrid made him want more food. The only way for them to get food out is if they either take some from the cart being brought to the medical wing or if they somehow distract Phil long enough to get the food into the tunnels where Tommy can bring it back to the room and eat.

They’d have to go with the second option. “Toms, your going to have to hide in the tunnels and we’re gonna hand you food and you can sneak back to the room.” Wilbur said. “When do I get to eat with Pa-Phil? And you guys?” He whined. “Soon Tom tom. Real soon.” 

Tommy sighed and went in the tunnels. “Aw come on. With the silk pajamas?” Techno groaned. “What?” Tommy didn’t know why his brother was throwing a hissy fit. “The tunnels and dirty and silk is hard to clean.” Techno explained taking him out of the tunnel and handing him some of the town clothes. 

“Okay. I’ll change.” Tommy changed into the village clothes and folded his pajamas and put them on the bed before crawling his way back into the tunnels. Wilbur and Techno quickly got dressed and ran to the dining room.

They got there a little bit before Phil somehow and Techno made Tommy a plate while Wilbur kept watch. “Dads coming. Hurry up!” Wilbur said. Techno finished putting eggs on the plate and grabbed one of the many syrup things, having to trust Tommy wouldn’t spill it since they didn’t have time to put it in a smaller container, and a small milk carton and rushed it to the tunnel entrance.

He quickly opened it and shoved in the food. Tommy looked startled at how quickly his brother was moving. “Try not to spill please and be as quiet as possible. We’ll get to you as soon as we can.” Techno closed up the entrance before Tommy could react.

The toddler frowned wondering why they didn’t just introduce him to his new dad already but decided he would trust his brothers and grabbed the food and went back. He sat in the room playing with his toys for a little while before Wilbur and Techno came in.

“Hey Tom tom.” Wilbur greeted. “Wilby!” Tommy dropped the toy car he was playing with and ran into his brother. “Story n’ song.” He said with puppy dog eyes. “You read my mind.” Wilbur smiled grabbing his guitar and tossing Tommy on the bed.

Techno grabbed a book and jumped in next to him. Tommy got comfortable on technos lap and Techno wrapped him in the blanket and put the book over so that he could see. “You wanna read a book on the history of hybrids?” Techno asked just looking at the book for the first time since grabbing it.

Tommy nodded excitedly and snuggled in. “Okayyyy.” Techno hummed. “Once long long ago, there lived a world of only humans. Before there were really any established civilizations and it was just villages and people who wandered. 

Everyone lived peacefully. One day the first hybrid popped up. A man cursed by a witch in his youth to have phantom genes, making him strict on sleep and unable to to go out in the day, but allowing him to communicate with phantoms, got married and bore a child.

Originally, nothing was thought of this. When they first got married they figured the curse would not effect him until the child was born with piercing light green eyes that were unnatural at the time, and he kept making himself invisible.

He grew and had children who grew and had children and there was a small population of phantom hybrids arising. People were weary of them at first but since their powers were harmless, they allowed them to live amongst the normal humans and even found jobs that would put their powers to good use.

Then came along herobrine. A child cast out by the gods for bearing too much power and taken in by perhaps the devil himself. Everyone feared him for his cold white eyes and hated him because he was different. 

They shunned and mocked him until he finally snapped. He found out about the phantom hybrids and decided to set his ‘children’ free to curse those who had hurt them with different mob genes of their own that their children would suffer to bear.

Things from mooblooms, to salmons, to zombies, to piglins, to endermen. Any mob you can think of, even the ender dragon herself, had a hybrid gene coursing through someones DNA. They didn’t know it at the time and it allowed the hybrid population to skyrocket seemingly overnight.

There were kids with powers and features nobody had seen before. They were different and everyone was scared and when people are scared, their fear turns to hatred and bad things happen.” Tommy interrupted the story. “Wha bad things?” He asked both nervous and curious.

“Well,” Techno looked to wilbur for help who just shrugged as if to say ‘go for it’. Techno sighed and continued. “They would try and harvest the powers at first, so that everyone would have some. When that didn’t work they’d kidnap and experiment on hybrid children and babies. If they weren’t captured they were slaughtered.

Many hybrids took refugee amongst other hybrids or people who didn’t believe in the hate that was being sent their way. The most hated were perhaps, those who were descendants of admins and herobrine. They were some of the most powerful non-animal hybrids so they were both the most sought after and the most feared.

Though if they knew how to control their powers, you were fucked.” Tommy chuckled at Technos bad language and Techno apologised and continued. “This went on for hundreds of years. Eventually mob trafficking rings came about, especially in the newly establish at the time country, 2b2t. 

Hybrids lived in fear. Besides Admins and Herobrine descendants, Phoenix, Witch, Ender Dragon, Blaze, Enderman, and Piglin hybrids were sought after the most. Witches for their unmatched talent for potion making, Ender dragons for the magic that couldn’t be obtained elsewhere, Piglins for their natural ability to fight, Blaze for their fire that once lit could only be put out by them, Enderman for their teleportation that could get you anywhere, and Phoenixs for their fire and their feathers.” Tommy perked up at that, not having any feathers himself. Only fur.

“Wha‘bout feathers?” Techno sighed and settled him in closer. “Well a Phoenix's feather could-” Techno was quickly cut off by a knock at the door. “Boys are you in there?” They both froze. It was Phil. 

If they stayed quiet, they’d get in trouble. If they answered he may see Tommy. Techno got an idea. “Yeah we are.” He quickly pushed tommy under the covers and covered him in stuffed animals. “Stay down, stay quiet.” Techno took his silence as a confirmation.

Phil peaked his head in. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to see the charts I got of all of El Rapids stars.” He knew the boys loved stars so he was really surprised when they turned him down. “Sorry dad. We were just going to have twin time, you know? Its been a routine for the past few months you were gone and it just feels weird to break the tradition.” Techno explained.

“That’s uh, that’s fine. I’ll just be in...my office if you need me.” Phil sighed and turned away closing the door. Techno went to bring Tommy up only to find him sleep and curled in on the stuffed animals. Techno chuckled and book marked where he left with Tommy before continuing to read the story himself as Wilbur played his guitar.

 He could deal with Phil tomorrow. For now, they would just have brother time like they said.