Chapter Text
logsteadshire is at peace as the night begins to settle in.
well, perhaps peace is the wrong word. it’s quiet in a way l’manburg’s populated streets will never be and the view of the ocean splashing against the shore is a pretty sight, but the town’s one resident would never describe this place as tranquil.
tommy never hesitates to scorn this makeshift campsite in both the notes they leave to each other in hidden chests and straight to ranboo’s face when they meet beneath the stars. ranboo can’t blame him for the ire. you can never judge a book by its cover and the well-made house ghostbur had built will never be a home, not to tommy, not when it’s barren of any sort of love.
ranboo feels the same about l’manburg, if he is honest with himself. the house he resides in is built on top of a crater, the streets are filled with lanterns and market stalls and out of place wanted posters, the smiles of its residents feel fake the instant you realise they willingly cast out one of their own - it’s all just a garish facade made for fools to believe in and ranboo has no want to believe in its lies.
maybe that is what drew him and tommy into each other’s orbit. for while ranboo was already far too gone at just the sight of a braces-filled and ridiculously bright smile, he was fully ensnared by tommy’s charms in the evenings they’d spend hiding away from the rain in a white tent, water dripping down the blonde strands of hair as tommy shivered from the invading cold. something snapped into place in those moments, something deep inside telling ranboo that yes, this is the one he wishes to protect against all odds.
visiting logsteadshire is no easy task, not when the eyes of l’manburg’s cabinet have grown sharper with suspicion and paranoia. as the days pass by, the air of discomfort grows, with fundy weighed down even more by his father’s passing and tubbo still dealing with the guilt of betraying his closest friend and quackity falling into the cycle of abuse. ranboo has to be careful, has to make sure no one distrusts the forgetful boy who plays his cards right to keep both him and tommy safe.
but ranboo always manages to slip away in the quiet moments, when everyone is resting in their beds and no one has their gaze focused on another realm. travelling through the nether portal is not a strange experience for a hybrid built on the framework of a species that can transport themselves at will. no, the chill that rises over ranboo’s spine is from another source as he looks over the grass to see if he can spot that emotionless mask that makes his blood run cold.
instead, he thankfully is greeted by sun-kissed hair and cold hands as a slightly shorter body collides with his own, uncaring of the hard armour that encases ranboo’s looming form. and ranboo returns the affection in earnest, wrapping his too-long arms around tommy’s shoulders and pressing his nose into his hair, uncaring of blood and dirt that stains tommy’s skin.
ranboo prefers to pretend that he cannot feel tommy’s palms shaking against his back and that he can’t notice the redness around tommy’s likely sore eyes. prying information from tommy’s lips was easier once upon a time. now it’s a chore ranboo cannot commit to, not when that soft gaze zips his mouth shut as tommy pleads for a small moment of normalcy. he’ll talk when he is ready and ranboo will forever wait for him to speak his mind, but forever won’t be very long if tommy’s exile continues on without a reprieve in sight.
he peers down at tommy as the sun sets, the orange-tinted horizon casting a glow over muted blue eyes. even like this, beaten and battered with his clothes ripped to shreds, he’s ethereal, a higher being that ranboo will never deserve. perhaps that is what makes him so intoxicating to be around. ranboo doesn’t know what it truly means to love and be loved in return, not when he is a hybrid split down the middle who can barely remember what led him down this path into tommy’s open and inviting arms, but he thinks he has found that peace here.
tommy is so much more than ranboo could ever be, bright and energetic and fighting against defeat till his soul is torn to pieces, and he’s beautiful for it, even when he is crumbling apart and barely holding on. he was once a spitfire that attracted everyone to him like moths to a flame and ranboo wants to reignite that spark again, set alight the passion that would make his face light up like the summer sun.
he’s a shadow of that person now, sickly in his seclusion. a trench coat that has seen better days, covered in soot and dried blood, hangs over his figure. it’s too big for his tiny bones, for while tommy may be tall, he is the opposite of imposing, just malnourished and starved instead. there’s a burn over the curve of his arm, harsh and red against the paleness of his skin, from when tommy got too close to one of dream’s explosions. there are bruises over his knuckles and dark circles etched beneath his eyes and he curls into himself, posture stunted.
tommy has become far too obedient under dream’s rule and it stings more than it should, as ranboo cups his cheek in his hand and watches the relief flood tommy’s features. the tommy of before would have ranted about how even with ranboo’s arrival he is still the youngest on the server and pulled him down by his pointed ears demanding for them to be on an equal level and bitten ranboo’s lips till they bled and ranboo couldn’t tell if he was breathless from the kiss or from the smoke filling his lungs. instead, tommy sinks into him, touch-starved, and ranboo leans down to brush his lips over tommy’s scraped forehead.
in the end, ranboo cares so little about l’manburg and dream and this damn server, and the only reason he pays any care towards the discs is because they mean so much to this boy. he’s been here for not too long, half a year spent in a constant war of push and pull, and the only one who truly managed to capture his attention is tommy.
ranboo is a dedicated traveller, never stopping for more than a week since no one ever caught his eye, not until his gaze landed upon a blonde boy in a red and white shirt laughing like the world was ending, who would drag him into silly, reckless schemes all for fun and games, who was the first person in eons to not act like ranboo was a circus attraction. and then he watches that boy fall, shattered upon obsidian walls for small sins, and ranboo learns quickly that the dream smp is kind to no one.
and so ranboo prepares, feigning most of his memory loss, talking amongst the locals to gain their trust as he builds up his weaponry and supplies for the long journey ahead of them. and the small inkling of warmth ranboo feels for tubbo and fundy and niki is nothing compared to the fondness for this boy who carries the weight of a server on his shoulders, for no one else seems willing to help with that burden. friends and family have lost their right to be called such the minute they abandoned tommy to the whims of nature and the server’s operator.
the primal side of ranboo that only rises when a stranger tries to dig too deep into his vibrant eyes rears its ugly head. he’s too protective of tommy and he knows it very well. he nearly snapped when they banded together to proclaim the boy selfish, because it’s blatantly obvious that tommy cares too much and too deeply as his fragile body overflows with it, till he is ready to cast himself in the nether’s pit of lava. and no one cared, no one tried to save him from this fate, not even the anarchist of a brother who could have stood up to dream’s tyranny, and ranboo is only held back by the knowledge that tommy still loves those who turned their back on him.
“tommy,” ranboo whispers. it is the first noise cast across this land apart from the rise and fall of the ocean’s waves hitting the sand. tommy has become silent in his solitude and ranboo’s brethren know better than to stray near the boy, the rumbling of monsters beneath the surface rising up no longer. and hazy eyes raise up to stare into his own, blue against red and green, and ranboo knows he has made the right decision.
“let’s run away,” he says bluntly, for it is the obvious and only conclusion he could ever come to. tommy needs to heal, far away from the crimes that litter this server and the family that refused to protect their youngest sibling, and ranboo will never let this boy be lonely again for as long as he can still breathe. “i- i’ve been packing up for a while now. i have enough food to last us for a couple of months when we get out of here. we could find a new server, somewhere peaceful, just the two of us. together.”
“together?” tommy whispers. his voice is hoarse and raw, still not accustomed to being used often, not when dream would beat him into the dirt for his defiance and everyone else had long grown used to yelling at him to shut up. “you want to leave here… with me?” he is so hesitant at the thought of someone wanting to stick by his side and it leaves behind another crack in ranboo’s self control, pulling the boy a little tighter into his arms.
“together,” ranboo affirms, nodding with a fond smile, brushing a hand gently through tommy’s hair. “forever and always, yeah? i’m not leaving you behind. you’re the only one here i really give a damn about and i’m not letting you rot away in exile forever. screw dream, he can’t stop us from getting out of here. he won’t be able to hurt you anymore, tommy.”
tommy’s bony fingers cling to the back of ranboo’s suit through the gaps in his armour, as he looks up into ranboo’s face with such unbridled awe, tears pricking at the corner of his glossy eyes. he surges up, pressing dry lips against ranboo’s own in such a quick act of desperation that it catches the hybrid off guard, and ranboo catches tommy as they stumble into the grass together, sprawled awkwardly over the steps. but ranboo doesn’t care about the sudden pain in his back, not when tommy is looking at him like that, eyes shining a little brighter, a small smile that has been sorely missing gracing his face.
no one is there to watch as they stand again, brushing their dirt off their knees and smiling to each other as they share a deep secret. no one will notice their absence until the next morning and perhaps they won’t be able to figure out the circumstances of their disappearance, not when everyone was convinced ranboo was happy behind l’manburg’s suffocating borders and not when many of them had lost their understanding of tommy long ago.
in the time to come, the people they are leaving behind will possibly regret the decisions that led the two here. but regret fixes nothing and together, tommy and ranboo raise their communicators, ranboo’s brand new and shining, tommy’s with the screen shattered and the edges rusted. and together, they press the button that will lead them onto a new and fulfilling life. together.
[ranboo left the game.]
[tommyinnit left the game.]
to new beginnings, the system whispers in its code, sending the pair onto a kinder path, watchful eyes protecting a child forged in the bloodshed of war and the half-monster who seeks to love him unconditionally regardless of the consequences.