#friends in the walls

[jkknight98]

A Friends in the walls story: A Good Day to Relax

A little late of a Christmas present for you guys, but having mono can really take it out of you it seems. But this is a little story that entails some bonding between Techno and Ranboo while the other boys terrorize poor Phil. I hope you guys enjoy this story and as a hint, look up what a eastern box turtle is for reference~

Edit: I posted at 12:27 am, it's not even Christmas anymore

Warnings: bullying, harassment, false accusations.

Techno could only sigh in annoyance as he watched the chaos erupting around him, trying to drink the tea that Phil had prepared for them as his brothers messed around, flinching only once when a shirt hit him in the back. Turning his head, he got a glimpse of Tommy and Tubbo running around the stairwell laughing their heads off while Wilbur perched on the railing, he almost looked like a panther as he stalked after the younger two. A loud yell from his brother only added to the slowly growing headache that the tea could no longer stave off, maybe he should get out of the house for a little while.

A soft huff drew his eyes downward and Techno couldn't help but smile as Ranboo tried to pull a bit of cheese out of the mini sandwiches Phil had tried to make, but the bread was burned beyond saving. The borrower was slowly getting covered in the cheese that he tried to eat, the yellow making an interesting contrast to the normal black and white of his skin and hair,” I thought you are supposed to eat cheese, not wear it, or is it good for your skin?” Techno huffed in amusement as the borrower sputtered in embarrassment,” be happy that Wilbur is chasing the other two, or else he would be offering to clean you.” 

Phil entered the kitchen with a low chuckle and grabbed a small hand towel,” I think he’s pretty well occupied with them, but you never know when he might swing back in here, here you go Ranboo.” The elder stretched his wings slightly as he moved to pour his own cup of tea and sitting down before the two, frowning as he tried to find a less burned sandwich,” I don’t know how I managed to fuck these up, but oh well.” The three at the table jumped as a loud thump echoed from somewhere else in the house, giving the impression that the smaller ones got away from Wilbur once again, especially as the low giggling followed it. Phil only shook his head with a look mixed with amusement and disappointment, “Techno, why don’t you and Ranboo go out for the day, it's not too cool even with the cloud cover, I know you’ve been visiting the park pond recently.”

Techno gave a low huff as he turned away from his father's knowing gaze and looked to see how Ranboo took the idea, smiling fondly as he did. The younger’s tail was wagging with excitement as they turned to look upwards, red and green eyes meeting crimson in a look of clear wanting, and Techno couldn’t deny his weakness towards the borrower. “Yeah.. alright, don’t forget to grab your gear Ranboo, I know you're going to collect things while we’re there.” Techno offered a hand and held back a pleased hum and the borrower climbed into it, it always amazed the man when the tiny things put so much trust into him, even after knowing what all he had done in the past to those that hurt his little brother.

It wasn’t long before Techno was striding out the door with Ranboo tucked into his scarf, the tiny pressed up against his neck as a warm little lump against the nipping first winds of fall, and hiding his scent from any other giants. It wouldn’t be the first time that another giant tried to snatch the younger family members since they were seen as either a pest, pet..or a free snack, It brought a smile to Techno’s face as he remembered when he punched a random cat hybrid that tried to snatch Tommy off his head with the excuse of  “Just trying to remove his stowaway”. His attention was brought back down as he felt a little rhythmic tapping on his neck, Ranboo was looking over the edge of the scarf with apparent excitement, meaning that the tapping was his wagging tail (it definitely didn’t make his own tail give a slow wag, you saw nothing nerds).

“You enjoying yourself Ranboo, I thought you traveled a lot?”

*

The pointed ears tilted downwards as Ranboo sighed,” We did… but there were a few times that it wasn’t for enjoyable reasons... Tubbo’s injury being the most recent, but not the worst..” The throat beside him rumbled in curiosity, making the borrower lean against it for comfort. He and Tubbo had been living with the giants for a long time now that they easily considered them family… way more than the colonies they both came from,” I can't tell Tubbo’s story before we met up, but my life in the colony wasn’t great... My size and coloration made me stand out too much in some people's eyes... But my allergy to water is really what set them off.” He couldn’t help the shudder that ran through his body as he felt the phantom pains of his past,” there was a group of kids that thought it was funny to hide in small spaces and toss water at me before running off. I could never catch them, and if I did I was told that they were just children having harmless fun…” The giant gave a low growl that shook his entire body, it almost made him fall deeper into the scarf if he didn’t have such a good handhold.

“They didn’t punish them at all? Couldn’t they see the marks it was leaving on your skin!!”

Ranboo let out his own small purr of appreciation toward the piglin’s outrage for his situation, but it was too late to change anything,” they never did, but I was able to deal with it since my height let me reach places the others couldn’t without gear, so I had a use on the foraging runs…until it led to me escaping over someone else.” Ranboo couldn’t help the low whine that escaped him as he thought back to the day, he knew it wasn’t his fault, but not in the eyes of the colony. It was supposed to be a safe area away from any giants, but the blackberry bushes were not as safe as they thought.

He was with another borrower on the edge of the bushes as a third acted as a lookout, he actually felt at peace for once since the two were halfway nice to him. He had only just reached out for a rather plump berry when the scream happened, he whipped his head around to see a plastic cup slammed next to the watcher, how had they missed the giant that snuck up on them,” Shit I missed them, guys I found some Tinys in grandmas bushes!!” Ranboo dropped his haul as he ran for the relative safety of the deeper thorns, but had to stop suddenly as a large stick came crashing down near him, and it was followed by four other sticks. The giants were going to either flush them out... Or crush them in the process. His only hope was to make it to the fence they had climbed through and make it to the relative safety of the woods, he just needed to make it to the small hole and climb through it once again. His fellow gatherer had the same idea as he watched them sprint for it, dodging the snagging branches or slipping on fallen fruit, their dark hair flashing as they made it to the lead rope and started the climb. The only sounds that Ranboo could hear at this point were his panicked breathing and the voices of the giants getting closer, and the only thing he saw was the opening getting closer and closer until he lept for it, arms and legs scrambling for all the purchase he could get. He ignored the rope completely as his hands dug into the poorly painted wood and pulled with all the strength he had, not noticing his struggle had pulled the rope higher until he fell panting to the other side.

“Where is Alec, he was just behind you wasn’t he, where is he!!!?” Ranboo could barely focus as the other borrower shook him, turning his head to look back at the fence in mute horror. Through a small gap in the wood, they could see the watcher fighting to grab the rope as a giant closed in on them, they only just made it to the hole, arm reaching out to pull themselves through, when they were snatched away and the rope slithered after them into the sky. “ALEC!!” The borrower next to him collapsed in sorrow, pulling at her hair as the giant voices moved away, and the barely-heard yelling grew fainter…..

*

“The giants that day took him and none of us knew what happened, and the other borrower blamed me for pulling the rope higher than he could reach when I climbed through, which I know was unfair, but in the eyes of those that wanted me gone…it was just the excuse they needed.” Ranboo looked up from his reminising when Techno stopped moving and gasped at the sight before him, there was one of the most beautiful lakes he had ever seen in his life. There were oak trees that framed the edges while glades of wild grasses and flowers took up the sunny spaces; it looked almost entirely untouched by any civilizations, giant or borrower. The site was beautiful enough to make him forget his past for a moment.

Ranboo couldn’t help but gush in excitement about collecting fresh acorns, which led to the two of them collecting for over an hour and had a sizable pile to sort through. The two of them now sat beneath a large oak tree as they worked, Techno gazing out at the lake with such a calm look that it almost startled Ranboo. 

“This is where I go to get away from everyone, I found it a little while before we moved into the house, it's just me and the world around me…and I can indulge the voices a bit.” Techno saw the little borrower look up confused from the pile of acorns the two had collected and were now sorting through. He picked up one acorn and held it in his hands thoughtfully, the surface looked perfectly pristine and like how any normal acorn should, but that perfect image was broken as he cracked it. Instead of the normal yellowed flesh, the inside was a dark gray from improper development, showing how it was utterly imperfect on the inside. “As you could probably tell, I’m not biologically related to Phil or Wilbur, I didn’t get adopted by them until I was about eight…and that was when my problems had already started to show.”

Techno wasn’t even sure how old he was when the voices first entered his head, he would be fine playing with the other piglin children and then a voice only he could hear would speak, and everyone would stare when he responded to them. It was easy to ignore when it was a single voice, talking with the same childish tones as himself, but then they started to multiply and sound much older than he was. There were times they offered useful advice, but they were rather bloodthirsty in other instances, especially when he was bullied in his youth.

*

Techno was quick to duck the first aimed for his face, feeling the wind of it rustle his tangled hair, but was unable to avoid the foot that kicked his legs out from under him,” stay down you freak, no one wants a freak like you for a kid.”  He lifted his head to spit out the gravel that slipped inside, but a larger hand pressed his face back into it,” didn’t you hear them freak, or were the voices in your head too loud?” The three older kids kept laughing as he tried to fight against them, managing to cut his lips on the sharp gravel, and igniting the fury of voices in his head.

Blood. They drew blood.  The director can’t be mad. They did it first. Make them eat gravel. Blood. Blood. E. Blood. There’s too many. We can take them. He’s too young. Blood. Blood.

The sounds were getting to be too much for Techno to handle as he brought his hands to his ears, trying to drown out everything he didn’t want to hear, but it was too much when a kid that looked eerily like a zombie kicked him hard in the ribs. That was when he blacked out... He didn’t come out of it until he was being held in the air by the director of the orphanage while the three bullies were holding back tears at the wounds Techno gave them. “Technoblade what did I tell you about fighting with the other kids, you’ll never be adopted at this rate and I’ll be stuck with you until the age I can kick you out!”

*

“That's pretty much how my life went when I lived in that hell of a place, it's also why I hate orphans so much, they're assholes.” Techno could only sigh as he leaned his head harder against the tree,” I really thought I would be stuck there until I was an adult, but Phil came in and saved me from that, it was hard in the beginning as you might guess, Wilbur and I fought a lot.” Techno couldn’t help but chuckle at the memories, especially when anything golden colored was involved, which included Phil and his blond hair. Techno then reached out a finger to gently rub the borrower on the head, ruffling the black and white tresses,” But things worked out in the end, me and Wilbur are as close as blood brothers and my instincts view all you tiny nerds as my family too, the voices don’t shut up about you being the favorite.”

Boo boy. Sounder. Ours. Ee. favorite. Mini me. Ours. Ranboo!

Ranboo felt his face flush at the admission, Techno was never one to voice their feelings so openly to any of them, but here he is saying that he likes him. It made his tail wag in happiness, an action that Tubbo pointed out that he started doing again, much to his embarrassment. He brought his hands up to try and smoosh his hair back down,” We both came from some sad backgrounds, does that make us the main characters or something?” The giant body let out a rumbling laugh as Techno chuckled, almost making Ranboo fall off the leg he was sitting on, startling the borrower immensely due to the loud noise.

“The main characters huh, maybe on a internet blog, but I see myself as more of a mysterious mentor,” Techno finally got his chuffing under control as he looked down fondly at the borrower, until his eyes were drawn to movement on their left,” well would you look at that.”

Ranboo turned around to see a large turtle waddling its way towards them as fast as its little stout legs could take it, a very determined gleam in its orange eyes as it drew closer. He lightly panicked that the turtle would try to eat him, a snake had tried to eat Tubbo once, so who’s to say that a turtle wouldn’t try with him. He scrambled higher onto Techno’s body as he wanted to be out of the turtles reach as possible, but was stopped by a giant hand pulling him back down to the lap,”It’s alright Ranboo, that's just Carl, He’s a friendly box turtle and he wouldn’t eat you; didn’t Tommy.” Ranboo slowly peered over the pale fingers to find the turtle with its front legs placed on Techno’s as it looked at him with curiosity, but not any maliciousness. The hand slowly lowered enough that Ranboo was level with the turtle's face, a face that was as big as his torso, and looked up at Techno with worry. The giant just nodded with a gentle smile, causing a small bit of tusk to jut out,” he really likes his nose rubbed.” Ranboo gently reached his hand out, ready for the moment the turtle could bite for his fingers, but was amazed when it closed its eyes at his touch. The skin was slightly cool to the touch and almost felt like leather under his fingers, and like nothing he had ever touched before.

Techno watched the whole interaction with a softness at how he didn’t think was possible in his youth, here he was with a turtle leaning against his leg and a borrower sitting in his palm, it sent the voices into a fluttering warmth that left him slightly dizzy. He couldn’t help but chuckle when Carl turned his head away to give him an annoyed glare,” alright you spoiled thing, I got a carrot for you.” He reached with his free hand to pull the carrot he had swiped and offered it, smiling as the borrower took hold of it while the turtle happily munched away. A low rumble of thunder caused his ears to twitch slightly and the smell of incoming rain drifted into the clearing, and that meant this visit was coming to a end,” alright Ranboo it's time we head back, it's going to rain and I don’t want to see you get wet.” The borrower gave a sad sigh but gave Carl one last pet before climbing back up to his scarf, burrowing in to avoid any risk of water reaching them. Techno gave Carl a gentle stroke across his shell before standing, his pockets clicking with all the acorns as he stood with a groan, now wasn’t the time to go slow as another rumble of thunder sounded. 

He was just starting a fast stride when a faint voice echoed from his neck, “Thanks for this Techno…Today was a good day”, before he felt the sensation of tiny arms wrapping around him the best they could. The small action sent him into a low rumbling that no doubt shook the borrower completely, but he was right, today was a good day to relax.

*

Phil could only sigh into his cup as the ceiling thudded above him as Wilbur was still chasing Tommy and Tubbo around the house, it seems like Wilbur is losing his touch. Maybe going on morning runs with Techno instead of sleeping in would do him good, but he would need to be drugged out of bed first. A loud yell of triumph almost made him drop his cup, leaving him to pinch his brow, why couldn’t he relax today.

[xamitras]

For many of years I had this tradition of drawing Wirt and the beast once a year to see how much I have improved, then depression hit in 2023 and couldn't continue, but it left so really amazing art in the process

[wanologic]

sorry danny, sam will never think you’re cool

[stil-lindigo]

lighthearted.

if this comic resonated with you, please consider donating to this palestinian escape fund (vetted by @/nabulsi and @/el-shab-hussein) as it is less than $7,000 away from it's goal.

i turn 24 today. To celebrate, I made this comic to be a spiritual successor to lead balloon, a comic in which I talked about the darkest period of my life so far.

A lot has changed since my 23rd birthday and this one. My priorities have shifted a lot, in ways that I think are mostly good. But i think the best part about today is that suicide has gone back to being a far away notion. I'm really lucky, and I'm grateful for that.

[bigfatbreak]

they both got bonked for being silly.

[474lyse]

October it's coming 🌫️🍂💨

[mllenugget]

The exact opposite of being doomed by the narrative

I discovered this game while playing with a group of friends on Halloween, and I must say it was quiet immersive because we each wanted different things so we always had to argue together on what to do before the Voices would Took 3 days to complete a single run

[golden-wires]

Pretty much a direct sequel to this image I did yesterday

[shaykai]

Still thinking about Gortash’s coronation and how smoothly he cuts a Durge off from their companions (and wishing we had a follow up with that)

The first words out of his mouth are that he cares about them- anybody else who remembers Durge has only distain for them, but not him- he’s happy to see them, he missed them, they’re his favorite assassin and he’s only glad to see them alive

And then he takes it a step further by providing insight into their past, something Ketheric refused to do for them- and Gortash isn’t dumb. He knows exactly how Durge’s companions will react, knows that he’s effectively outing Durge when he so easily could have pulled them to the side instead

And when their companions snap at them and refuse to look at them, Gortash is still smiling. Suddenly, he’s the nicest person in the room. Suddenly, everything is unstable and dangerous- but he likes you. He’s sitting there with open arms while the companions are rightfully so mad with Durge, but Gortash is more than happy to resume their alliance

He’s more than happy to be their sole source of comfort again, and isn’t he just so sweet for that?

[my-darling-boy]

But where have we come? And where shall we end?

[jkknight98]

Just a small sneak peek of the newest story I'm working on for Friends in the walls, got to have some sadness before the fluff you know?

[bylerlipglances]

An appreciation post for Dustin Henderson

the man has "FRAMED" will byers's painting.

[mosstoheaven]

PRESSURE DOODLES

She may be a limited-time friend, but I love her sm! I think She'd be their little hype friend, even during unexpected times.

[luminarytex]

my babygirls oh how i love them and their joy

[go-star-sailor]

transfem wirt truthers wya

[bunnieswithknives]

In which Dev finally talks about what happened to Peri :3

part (1/2): next