Chapter Text
When Techno regained consciousness, it was quiet.
Not a quiet before the storm either, the kind of quiet that came right before sunrise, before people had woken up.
When you knew the birds would start singing any minute now, and the air was crisp.
A gentle kind of quiet.
After all the chaos before, Techno welcomed it with open arms.
Besides, after opening his eyes he knew where he was. The walls were painted with a light purple, and the big window across from the door was slightly tilted open.
The king size bed was comfy and warm, even with the cold air leaking from the window.
He was in the guest room in Phil’s mansion.
His arm was bandaged up too. Techno supposed that was a bonus too.
Last time he had seen the mansion, he had been running away from it like his life depended on it. And subsequently gotten kidnapped.
Now though, it didn’t seem all that bad.
Spending a day with evil vampires and obnoxious hunters really lowers your standards.
Besides, maybe Phil only killed a couple of people. As a side hustle.
That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?
Better than dying at the hands of the Angel of Death at least.
How did he get here anyways?
Didn’t he die?
Techno didn’t feel dead.
Stretching his hands above his head and yawning, neither did his body.
What now?
Could dead people go to college?
What would his professors say? And what about Dream? Did he have to find a new roommate?
Could dead people rent?
A quiet knock on the door distracted him from his crisis.
Then the door slid quietly open.
For a second all Techno could see was the Angel of Death, having come to finish the job.
Then the person moved into the light from the window, and all there were left was Phil.
“How are you feeling mate?”
Techno groaned, before attempting to bury himself deeper into the blanket.
“Your wound needs to be cleaned”
Techno didn’t dignify this with an answer, simply sticking his injured hand out. There, was Phil happy now?
A chuckle.
What was so funny?
It was efficient, and this way he didn’t have to get up.
Closing his eyes again, he felt his right arm get lifted up, before Phil started undoing the bandages and applying new ones.
Really, bandages? Wasn’t that a little overkill? Last Techno remembered, the cut was minor, only bleeding a little bit.
Whatever, if it calmed the mother hen down.
“There, done. You still need to wake up though, there is food in the kitchen, and we have a lot to talk about.”
Retracting his hand and hiding it under the blanket, Techno hissed.
Phil, the monster, simply laughed before saying, “See you in fifteen”
After spending 10 minutes trying to ignore Phil’s suggestion, Techno reluctantly got up.
Getting dressed in some of his clothing he had no clue how Phil had gotten hold of, Techno was ready to conquer the day.
Or at least not collapse crying.
Small victories.
Walking out of the door and towards where Techno vaguely remembered the kitchen was, he wondered what Phil wanted to talk about.
Maybe the creepy serial killer basement?
It would be great to get some explanation for that. Even if Phil shouldn’t know he had seen it.
Grabbing the handle, Techno opened the door into the kitchen.
Phil was sitting by the island, a bowl of orange-y soup in front of him. Another chair on the opposite side was put out too.
The dining table was cluttered, with paper thrown haphazardly onto it. Like Phil had been in a hurry and hadn’t gotten to cleaning the table yet.
“Good morning, mate.”
Techno winced at the brightness in Phil’s voice. How was the man so awake? Techno was barely not collapsing.
Phil merely smiled, before toning his voice down a little.
“Apologies for the mess, but getting you some food was just a little more important. Did you sleep well?”
Techno just nodded tiredly, before walking around the island and sitting down in the chair opposite of Phil.
Phil pushed the soup towards him, along with a glass of water, some garlic bread on a plate, and a spoon.
“Here, you need to eat. Going so long without anything isn’t good for you.”
Sure, sure, whatever you say Phil. At least some food would be nice.
The soup tasted nice, and Techno didn’t complain about some extra garlic bread. In no time, he had finished the entire bowl.
“So, first ting first. Where do you wanna do this?”
The question didn’t surprise him considering it was Phil, ever the mother hen, but the tone caught Techno of guard.
It was serious and worried.
Like Phil was scared he would genuinely scare Techno and trying to give Techno some control over it by letting him pick the place.
Well, wasn’t that unsettling. Maybe Phil was going to explain the serial killer thing.
At least he knew where he wanted to go.
“The couch in your living room.”
It was heavenly to sit in. Techno was nothing but a weak man, and it wasn’t his fault Phil was so rich.
Phil looked a bit unsure, before nodding.
“If that is what you want, we will do that.”
Techno nodded, before setting of towards the living room. Phil followed, but stayed a couple of steps behind, almost like a paranoid bodyguard.
That was just a bodyguard though, Phil followed him like a bodyguard.
Opening the door into the green room with huge window letting in morning light. He headed towards the lavender couch and plopped down in the corner of it.
Phil followed suit.
Leaning backwards into the soft leather, Techno sighed. This truly was heaven.
Too bad he had things that needed to be done. Staying on task, he sat up again.
“So, what was it you wanted to talk about?”
Phil hesitated, before starting.
“You got kidnapped. And hurt. I imagen that must be pretty scary.”
Oh that. That made sense for a conversation. He had almost forgotten about that. That felt like eons ago.
Techno laughed, now that he was thinking about it “pretty scary” was underselling it.
“The evil vampire out to kill me didn’t exactly help either.”
Now Phil froze.
“Evil vampire? There was an evil vampire there? Are you ok?”
Now it was Techno’s turn to be confused.
“What are you talking about. Of course there was a vampire. Were you even there? That was the most central part of the whole thing. Why I was kidnapped even.”
Actually, how did Phil know what was happening? He hadn’t been there, at least not given what Techno knew.
Maybe he had come later?
Phil looked like he was realizing something.
“So, when the vampire appeared, that was the evil vampire right?”
What was Phil on about. This was obvious.
“Yes, Angel of Death. Evil and dangerous vampire. What are you not getting?”
“I think I just realized something.”
Well, that made one of them at least. Techno was pretty damn confused.
Phil, one the other hand was starting to look pretty distressed, with a dawning look on his face.
His voice was surprisingly calm for someone whom looked like they had just been told that the sky was yellow.
“You know I’m the Angel of Death, right?”
Wait, what?
“Heh?”
“That’s why you woke up here. I carried you after you passed out.”
No. He had just materialized there since it was the last place he slept. It was his current spawn point.
“No, the Angel of Death wants to kill me. I just appeared here.”
Phil paused again.
“That doesn’t even make sense. Besides, he doesn’t mate. I should know, considering I am him.”
“Why did you try to kill me then?”
“I didn’t mate. I was trying to find you, and then stop you from running into more trouble.”
That seemed…
That seemed surprisingly likely.
At least if he presumed if the Angel of Death was as much of a mother hen as Phil.
The Angel of Death hadn’t really hurt Techno, just tried to stop him from running. Looking for something.
Something important.
“Wait. I was the thing you were looking for?”
He couldn’t really help his surprise in his voice. Phil averted his eyes, looking slightly guilty, but not denying it.
Techno thought back on it. if you have what is mine
That made him feel, well, surprisingly calm.
At least that ment Phil wouldn’t kill him, and possibly protect him if anything like that happened again.
The notion was strangely comforting.
Besides, he was allowed to have a little strange relationship with his employer. If he still had the job.
That wasn’t what was important right now.
Because if Phil was the Angel of Death, that ment Phil-
Phil.
Matt.
Techno felt something wet drip from his eyes.
“But what about Matt.”
The question came before any sense of self-preservation could stop him, both harsh and strangely empty.
Filled with unspoken grief.
Phil winced.
“I’m sorry you had to see that. If it helps, he was a major asshole, and this isn’t the first time he tried doing something like this.”
Phil was talking about Gabe.
Gabe being dead wasn’t the problem.
Gabe being dead would never be the problem. It was kind of relieving if he was being honest.
No, Matt being dead was the problem.
“I don’t care about Gabe. What about Matt? You killed him. He didn’t even to anything.”
“Who?”
“Matt”
Why did Phil have to make him say it again. Matt was dead, now he was just being cruel.
“The kid?”
Phil seemed kind of surprised.
“Yeh. It wasn’t his fault his dad was Gabe, hunter and professional idiot.”
Phil chuckled.
“He isn’t dead mate.”
Wait what?
“No, pretty sure I saw you kill him.”
“No. I was trying to save time, looking for you. He’s just unconscious.”
That didn’t make sense. Matt had seemed pretty defeated last time Techno saw him.
Basically willingly sacrificing himself to the Angel of Death, having given up on coming out there alive.
There was no way he would act that way knowing he was just going to get knocked out.
Which ment…
“Does Matt know that?”
Phil paused.
“Know what?”
“That he isn’t dead. Does Matt know that he isn’t dead?”
Phil started talking, “Well, obv-” then he paused.
“I think I might have fucked up.”
“You think? Now Matt’s going to wake up believing heaven looks like the crappy shed where he died.”
Phil winced.
“Honestly, this is about as bad as your serial killer basement.”
Phil paused again.
“My what now?”
Woops. That hadn’t been on purpose. It just kind of slipped out.
“Mate, did you go into my basement?”
Time for plan B. You know what they say, gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss.
“What basement? I didn’t know you had a basement. What are you talking about? Are you sure you are not hearing things?”
Phil sighed, shaking his head disapprovingly.
“First of all, it technically isn’t my basement.”
Heh? What was Phil on about now? It was his mansion, of course it would be his basement.
“You see, this isn’t technically my house.”
There were a lot of technically-s going on here. Did Phil mean that he stole the mansion?
How would that even work?
“This is an old hunter house. A couple of decades ago, the hunters here and me got into a bit of a fight.”
Ah, so he killed them, got it.
Did Phil think Techno couldn’t read subtext here, or what?
“So you killed them?”
“Well, yes… But let me finish. There’s more to this story I promise.”
Sure, sure, whatever you say Phil. Killing people is totally ok when there is context involved.
“They had broken an old deal we held, you see. And they had gone back to killing every vampire they saw.”
Phil sighed, weary.
“A lot of people died, many of them human.”
“Turns out, the hunters weren’t particularly good at spotting vampires.”
Well, wasn’t that dark.
“A dear friend of mine died. She was only twenty.”
And that made it worse.
Ok, maybe Techno was starting to see why Phil had been killing people.
Sue him. The hunters he had met hadn’t exactly not deserved it.
Especially now that Matt was going to be traumatized, but not dead.
Poor guy. At least he didn’t have to deal with Gabe anymore.
Not noticing Techno’s internal monologue, Phil picked up the knife laying at the table, trailing the letters inscribed.
“Afterwards, I got the place. What better way to make sure the hunters wouldn’t gather here again, right?”
He put the knife down again. His voice sounded strangely hollow.
“I tried renovating the rooms, but the halls and basement were simply too much work. I was scared to accidently tear down a wall and make the building collapse or something.”
Well, that explained the strange design of the mansion. Swiching between serial killer vampire, and a manic and color-crazed loner with way to much time on their hand.
“That’s why the halls are so creepy and bloody. You didn’t think I would pick something so on the nose, did you?”
Well…
If Techno was honest, he did think that was something Phil would do.
This was the man who owned one knife, rotating between the rooms.
And saw one rainbow and decided on the theme for his whole house.
“Well…”
Phil turned to him, looking scandalized.
“Not my fault you have bad decorating skills.”
He squawked.
Which Techno didn’t know was a thing vampires could do. Was he a bird or something?
Phil simply moved on.
“Anyways, I think that was all. Besides it’s getting closer to lunch, and I might have made Dream believe you got kidnapped.”
What?
“So, you should probably find him before he calls the authorities.”
That was probably a good idea.
But really Phil, couldn’t you have not made Dream believe he had been kidnapped.
He had been, but still.
Standing up, he headed towards the door. Better to not have to explain this to the police. At least Dream would wait until he was certain Techno was gone.
If he knew Phil was looking for him, maybe that would help.
Or make it worse. Calling you roommate and a random man answering doesn’t exactly scream trustworthy.
Dream was well within his rights to believe Phil kidnapped him.
Running back as fast as possible was looking like more of an attractive option as time went on.
Navigating the halls and getting to the door, Techno could feel time slipping through his fingers.
Before he could start his magnificent, and not at all slow, run home, Phil caught up with him.
“I understand if yesterdays action made you want to end our deal. I won’t bother you again if that is what you wish.”
As if old man.
“What are you talking about? I still need the money. See you next Friday.”
Techno could practically hear Phil shaking his head behind him. At least he still had a job.
Running took almost 15 minutes, but finally he got home.
Tired, and so so out of breath.
He almost hit Dream in his exhaustion.
“Techno. Where have you been? You didn’t show up to our study session, or class. Do you know how rare that is? It practically never happens.”
Getting ushered inside by Dream, the man continued.
“To make matter worse, you didn’t answer when I called. Instead, a random man did, and he just said you had rushed out. Do you know how suspicious that looks?”
Another deep breath before he continued.
“It looked like you had gotten kidnapped. That is what it looked like. You are lucky I met you now, or I would have had to involve the police. Nobody wants the police involved.”
Techno lifted his hands above his head in surrender.
“Sorry, just got caught up in something. No need for the police.”
Dream screeched.
“Is that a bandage?”
“Well, yes, but it’s not what it looks like.”
“Not what it looks like!?”
Dream dragged him to their kitchen table.
“You are going to sit down, and you are going to tell me everything. No excuses.”
It seemed like Techno’s already long day was far from over.
Beware the wrath of worried friends.
At least Dream wouldn’t kill him.
Probably.