#aka GODDAMNIT LET ME HAVE SOME GOOD CHARACTER INTERACTIONS WITHOUT FUCKING RUINING THEM WITH MISCOMMUNICATIONS

[strawberryshroomz]

Standing in the soaked and wet rubble of the community house, Tommy made a rash decision. He always made rash decisions, but he had to do something to prevent L'Manburg, his home, from being blown up for the third time. 

As Techno prepared to leave, dark eyes flitting between each of the weapons pointing at him from nearly twenty people, Tommy shouted in a hoarse voice cracking with fear,

"Wait! Stop!" He dropped the axe of peace, the enchanted weapon forgotten as Tommy grabbed Technoblade's red satin cloak, its material slippery between his fingers, almost like his friendship with the man who wore it, who turned to face the glassy eyed teenager. 

"What are you doing Tommy?" His voice was forceful, confused, but still angry… hurt. Tommy had hurt him, Tommy had hurt a lot of people he'd begun to realize, even someone he had thought unable to be hurt. 

"Please… wait," 

"Wait for what? For all of them to attack me?" Tommy looked to the others who were still training their weapons at Technoblade. 

"You've gotten what you wanted Tommy, your friend, your government-" 

"Y-you're my friend too!" There were faint murmurs where it was tense silence before, Tommy could hear some talking about how he was a traitor. He ignored them. 

For once Technoblade was stunned into silence, his black eyes wide as he blinked slowly. 

"Please, Technoblade… Techno, you said you trusted me yesterday, so trust me now!" 

"Why?" 

"What?" Tommy was slightly taken aback by the single word response. 

"Why should I trust you when you've stabbed me in the back and betrayed me not once, but twice after I helped you?" 

"I… I…" He stumbled for an answer, and nearly fell forward when Technoblade ripped Tommy's hands from his cloak. 

"That's what I thought, I'm pjust a weapon for you to use-" 

"I'm sorry!" Tommy squeezes his eyes shut as he yelled, hands clenching into tight fists. "I'm sorry for everything, for being useless, for being a pain in your ass, I'm sorry that I rushed in here like an idiot, or that I went to your base to scrounge for supplies like a raccoon! I didn't know where else to go then and you were the strongest person I knew!" He fell to his knees, hot tears staining his already dirty cheeks. 

"When Dream finally broke me in exile I didn't know what to do with myself, and when I finally had the chance to break free I went to you because… because I thought that maybe… just maybe I could actually be strong instead of weak against him like I always have been!" 

"Toms," Tubbo's voice is soft, cutting through his cries. 

"Just…" Tommy wipes his eyes pathetically on his shirt sleeve, barely looking up at the anarchist. "Just go… I don't need you to rub it in my face that I'm just as worthless as Dream and you said I was." Tommy hears a sigh, and shifting before his chin is being lifted to look at a much more tired looking Technoblade, one much more worn than he'd seen him, even when dealing with his own antics. 

"Are you actually sorry Tommy, or are you just saying this to get me to stay?" 

"Would it matter?" Tommy wretches his face out of the others loose grip, huddling up with his knees to his chest, sulking like a child. "You want to destroy L'Manburg. You said you'd do it even if I sat out, so why would you change your mind now?" 

"... You're right, I did say that," He stands up, brushing himself off from the charred remains of the community house walls dusting the floor. Tommy looks back at him through his thin arms, watching him look at the people glaring down at him, weapons still trained. He sighs, tightening his grip on his trident. 

"But I want to know if you're really sorry Tommy." His voice is still terse, like scolding a child… Tommy supposes he is scolding a child, him. 

"I…" He fumbled, voice muffled by his arms. "I know I fucked up so many times. Destroying George's house and not doing what Tubbo said, stealing your things, um… making Sapnap release Mars… I - I know now…" He swallows down more tears, biting his lip. "I know now I'm just as friendless as Dream said because I never listen…" His voice grows smaller as he speaks, until it's barely a whisper. 

"Tch, who cares what Dream thinks. He's just some homeless dude, and when did any of his opinions matter to you anyways?" Tommy flounders for a minute, unsure what to say at the grinning Technoblade offering a hand to help him up. No malice from what Tommy can see. He shakily accepts the hand, and he's hoisted to his feet. 

"What?" Tubbo's voice is even more clear to Tommy now… Tubbo, who he'd betrayed and said was worthless to the discs… god, what had he become in that moment? 

"Now don't go thinking I trust you fully, you didn't earn that trust back fully from the last time you betrayed me… but if you're really sorry Tommy… I accept the apology," Tommy stares wide eyed, unable to process what's being said to him. 

"Besides, I don't trust Dream either. I just owe him a favor similar to how L'Manburg owes me for trying to murder me-"

"You set off withers! You killed countless-" 

"What do you want us to give you as penance?" 

"Well," Technoblade places a hand on his chin, Tommy still staring at the anarchist flabbergasted while Quackity argues with Tubbo in the background, others chiming in their two-sense. 

"Well, I think I have two, small little things." Tubbo puts a hand up to Quackity, silencing him as he faces Technoblade again. 

"What are they? Aside from L'Manburg's destruction…" Technoblade laughs, and Tubbo chuckles nervously with him. Tommy stares between them, mouth dry. Technoblade… had accepted his apology, and wasn't immediately killing everyone else either. 

"Well, first, like Tommy here just did, I want an apology. I'm not a weapon or a tool, and Pogtopia used me to help overthrow the government to install just another tyrant," Tubbo flinches back, ignoring the yells of protest from others like Quackity. 

"I speak for myself and as president, it extends for everyone else as well… Technoblade, we're sorry." 

"For?" 

"For using you for our own gain, and," Tubbo adds. "For hunting you down when you protested against this unfair treatment." Techno smiles wider. 

"And the second thing, abolish your government." 

"Woah, woah, woah!" Tommy cuts in, his brain catching up with him finally. "If L'Manburg doesn't have a government, how will we be a nation, how will we actually have a way to argue against Dream just taking us back and making us un-independent again?" Technoblade tilts his head at Tommy's outburst. 

"You have your friends now again, don't you?" Tommy's jaw flaps for a few seconds. 

"Yeah, but-" 

"Alright." Tubbo cuts him off. Face resigned and tired, bags looking far more prominent than they had ever before. 

"Tubbo! You can't be serious!" Quackity's voice cuts in for Tommy, and Tubbo gives the other man a tired look. 

"Dream was right, I wasn't a good president. And how all of you stood back and said nothing proves he was right… we were wrong hunting down Techno, doing that only made him angry at us Big Q. So," He turns back to Technoblade with a sigh. 

"I resign as president, but before I do I declare that no new presidents shall be elected and that there are no positions of power. We are all, truly, equals on the same ground. We still stand for freedom and liberty from tyranny. We don't need a government to do that." 

"Tubbo, are you sure?" Tommy's voice wavers. "I'll stand by you, no matter the decision, but,"

"I'm sure Toms. I ask Techno though, you want us to apologize for what we did. I ask the same of you. The withers, the hostages, all of it you've done against L'Manburg, please." Technoblade considers for a moment, face dutifully crafted into a poker face as water drips on them all before shrugging. 

"The hostages were probably a bit too far, so yeah, sorry." 

"Don't lie to us either." Tubbo's voice is stern itself, tired, but stern. And Technoblade takes a second to nod. 

"Maybe you aren't such a bad person after all… yeah, I'm sorry for the withers and the hostages." A quiet 'me too' comes from Tommy, looking down at the ground. Tubbo's shoulders relax as he lets out a sigh. 

"So, you won't destroy L'Manburg?" 

"No… but hey!" He grabs Tommy's wrist and throws them both up into the air with the trident propelled by the water around them. "We have a homeless green man to deal with who thinks I still got a grudge to deal with!" 

A short "fix" it with the festival ending. I enjoy Techno's and Tommy's dynamic. But both of them, as well as everyone else, is flawed. 

That doesn't mean that I think rehashing the same event for the destruction of L'Manburg with the same arguments of betrayal was a satisfactory or narratively right thing. I would have enjoyed a flip on what happened last time. Aka PEOPLE ACTUALLY TALKING AND USING THEIR GOSH DANG WORDS! Because what's a better way of showing character growth, other than actually flippin showing it on all ends. Not just on Tommy's or Tubbo's, but on Techno's too. 

Also, sorry if anyone seems out of character, it was quickly written for me to mostly get my thoughts out of what I wish had happened (might make a comic when I get my computer. Not 100% though. Also might continue writing blurbs for this "fix" it AU too. Idk though.)