Chapter Text
“Techno, you’re being ridiculous,” Wilbur muttered, crossing his arms. “You need to go, you need help.”
Phil nodded.
“You’re not dealing with this in a healthy manner,” he said. “It’s not your fault, but you need someone to help you.”
Techno shook his head and curled in on himself.
“It’s a waste of money. We can’t afford it.”
Phil's face twisted.
“It’s not a waste of money. Besides the insurance will cover most of it and Aunt Caroline said she’d pay for the rest.”
“If it’s not a money issue, why won’t you go?!”
“Because we’re doing ok, Techno,” Wilbur said, not unkindly, “and it’s alright that you’re not, but-”
Techno leapt to his feet.
“Are you serious?! Tommy cries himself to sleep every night. We never know if you’re going to snap and start screaming at us. Phil’s just a shell of himself, he never smiles or laughs anymore. How is that doing ok?! None of us are ok!” Techno sobbed.
Wilbur and Phil stared at him in shock.
“I’m not going unless you go too,” Techno said firmly before turning on his heel and taking the stairs two at a time to his room.
~~~ several months earlier ~~~
The intercom crackled to life in the quiet classroom. Techno ignored it until his name was called over it.
“Excuse the interruption. Can I please have Wilbur, Techno, and Tommy Craft sent to the office with their things, they are leaving for the day.”
Techno glanced around, confused, as he put his books in his bag and headed downstairs. As he entered the office, he was met with Wilbur and Tommy, who looked equally as confused.
Tommy looked up at him and threw his arms up in the air.
“Great! So none of us know what’s going on!” he exclaimed.
He was shushed by the receptionist.
Techno frowned and dropped into the chair next to his brothers. Why would they be leaving early?
Techno didn’t notice Phil walking in, but Tommy did, letting out a quiet gasp. Techno looked up to see his oldest brother holding the door open for them with tears streaming down his face.
Phil was crying.
Techno numbly followed his brothers out to Phil’s car and climbed in the backseat next to Tommy. His mind raced through different scenarios where Phil picked them up early and cried. None of them were good.
~~~
“Phil. What’s going on?” Wilbur demanded as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.
Phil didn’t say anything, just got out of the car and started walking towards the doors. Wilbur and Tommy hurried after him. Techno took a moment to make sure Phil took the keys and then locked the doors before jogging to catch up.
~~~
Even after the doctors explained, Techno still didn’t really know what had happened. He hadn’t been paying attention. Instead he was focused on the fact that they were just told that their parents weren’t expected to live through the night and his brothers were all crying and sobbing and Techno … wasn’t. He didn’t feel sad, or angry, or anything, really. Maybe he was in shock and it would take a while to process. He hoped that was the case, because what would it say about him if he wasn’t upset about his parents dying?
~~~
By the time the funeral was done and his parents were buried, Techno still hadn’t cried. He held his brothers tightly as they cried beside the graves because the one thing he did feel slightly, was the tiny fear in the back of his head that he’d lose his brothers too.
~~~
When they went back home after that, things started changing. Phil moved into their parents room and Wilbur moved out of his and Techno’s shared room into Phil’s old one. Phil called his advisors at the university and dropped out. He switched his job to full-time and started trying to workout the finances.
“I’ll drop out and find a job too,” Wilbur announced, dropping into a chair at the table.
There was a loud crack and Techno looked over to see the pencil that Phil had been using snapped in half in his hand. He was suddenly very grateful that Tommy had asked to go to Tubbo’s after school.
“Absolutely not,” Phil said, his tone dangerous.
“Why not? That’s exactly what you did!”
“That was college! It’s different and you know that!”
“How?!” Wilbur laughed bitterly.
“Because I’m an adult! Because I have to provide for the family now! You think I wanted to drop out?! News flash! I don’t get a choice! But I’m making that sacrifice, Wil, not you. I will not allow you to drop out of highschool. You are under 18, you’d need my consent and I will not give it. That is final.”
Phil left and went up stairs. Wilbur huffed and grabbed the car keys, heading out the front door. Techno stared down at his hands.
He had to do something. He had to help somehow. Wilbur was at least trying. Phil was breaking, he could see it. Their parents’ death had been really hard on Phil, on all of them actually. …except for Techno. It had been a couple of weeks since they died and he still didn’t feel…anything. He hadn’t cried at all. He wasn’t sad or upset. He didn’t think that was a good thing. Did that mean that he didn’t care? Did it mean that he hadn’t loved them as much as his brothers did? He didn’t know. He didn’t like thinking about it. But, maybe, since he wasn’t affected by it like they were, he could help out better.
Techno stood up and moved over to where Phil had been sitting and looked at the papers he had spread out. He quickly did the math in his head as his eyes scanned the documents. There wasn’t going to be enough. They weren’t going to have enough money for what they needed. That’s why Phil was so stressed about it. They were going to have to pull money out of their parents savings, but there wasn’t much left there either after the funeral expenses. There might be a way he could help though.
~~~
Techno knocked on his parents- Phil’s bedroom door. That was still really weird. He didn’t get an answer, but he could hear small sounds of movement that gave away that someone was inside.
“Phil?” he called quietly. “Can I come in, please?”
“Oh, it’s you, Techno,” Phil said through the door. “Yeah, of course. Just a second.”
Techno waited for a moment before Phil opened the door. His eyes were wet and red in a way that said he’d just been crying. Techno could see a picture of their parents lying on his bed.
“Yeah, mate?” Phil asked, clearing his throat.
Techno blinked. Right. He walked into the room and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed. Phil closed the door and then came to sit next to him, big brother mode activating.
“How can I help you, Techno?”
Techno heart twisted a bit at that. Phil thought that he would only come talk to him if he needed something.
“I- I’ve been thinking about getting a job,” he started.
Phil tensed beside him so he hurried to finish.
“For a while now, before any of this happened. So that I could have extra money for books and fencing tournaments and stuff. Um, but now I was thinking that I could give you part of the money to help out.”
“Techno, you don’t need to worry about that,” Phil started to protest.
“I can do math, Phil. I’m not stupid.”
Phil sighed and put his head in his hands.
“I want to help, please, Phil.”
“Ok, fine,” Phil conceded. “But. You’ll only work part time, school comes first, and you keep over half of your paycheck.”
“Thank you,” Techno whispered.
He stood up and went back to his room. He had some research to do. Originally his plan had been to work at the library or something like that, but he needed something that paid more.
After half an hour of searching, Techno applied to a handful of retail stores that had part time positions open. Now he just had to wait.