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For most, the year had been rotten. Tubbo knew he was one of the lucky few that had had a good year. He’d been successful beyond his wildest dreams on Twitch, he’d made some of the best friends he could ever hope for and done some incredible things… Surely it was only right that he did some good now? He was only young, he wasn’t sure he could do much, but there was so much suffering he could see that he wanted to put some of his money toward alleviating it.
That was why Tubbo was smiling into his camera, talking to his chat at the start of the stream.
“I think that’s everything.” He said, holding out his left hand and counting on his fingers. “All the money from subs and primes this month are going to Crisis Christmas, all the money from bits and donations will be spent on buying gifts for a local charity for women and children escaping domestic abuse. So if you’ve been on the fence about subscribing, or can only afford to do it once, or want to use your free trial of Amazon Prime, maybe do it this month!”
And with that, he moved seamlessly on, logging onto the Dream SMP and feeling good about himself. He knew this was a good thing to do, he hoped that his audience would get behind it and that people would subscribe and donate just as much as usual.
Of course, giving away his income for the month wasn’t the only thing he planned on doing. Giving to charity was a good thing, but he wanted to treat the friends that he’d made along the way - and the people that had made his growth possible - to presents of their own. Some people, like Tommy and Wilbur, would be easy enough to buy for, but Tubbo wasn’t sure what he should get for people like Phil or Dream. All Tubbo knew about gifting for married men came from his father, and he seemed to just get whiskey and socks every Christmas. He’d have to put a little more effort in for people like Dream and George too, because he didn’t talk to them as much as he did his other friends and he really wasn’t sure what to get for them. They had everything - or at least seemed to have everything - and even if they didn’t have something they were both very capable of buying things for themselves.
So, after he’d finished his stream, he sat down and wrote out a list of all his closest friends on the SMP. Of course, there were the Sleepy Bois: Techno, Tommy, Wilbur, and Phil. Whatever he decided upon for Techno he’d need to order online, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to send a package and have it arrive in time now. The same would have to be said for Dream, Sapnap, the Captain, Skeppy, and Bad. He wasn’t sure where Eret or Niki would be for Christmas, and with Fundy only in Europe he was fairly certain he’d still be able to send a gift to him personally. With that list made, he began another list, the things that he’d buy them and the cards that he’d send.
When his parents came up to investigate why the light in the office was still on when they were heading to bed, they found Tubbo fast asleep on his keyboard and the list half written out already. They’d just smiled, before his father had rested a hand on his shoulder and shook him slowly awake. He resolved to finish planning the next day rather than keep working late into the night.
A few days later, after he’d begged his mother to take him Christmas shopping, Tubbo had set up a camera and his laptop in the living room. He’d already filled boxes with the gifts for his friends, but had decided to wrap the boxes in beautiful wrapping paper and decorate them with ribbons and bows before sending them - something he could do on stream. Each box had a sticky note on it saying who’s presents were inside, ensuring that once wrapped, decorated, and wrapped again in brown packaging paper he would be able to address the parcels off stream. He wanted to be kind to his friends, the last thing on his mind was accidentally doxxing them.
Throughout the stream, his friends all dropped in and out of the call and asked him what he’d gotten them, but he refused to say. He’d peak into their boxes and smile knowingly, before shrugging and talking about something else. It annoyed Tommy the most - though Technoblade and Dream had both been very curious, and Dream had even threatened to ban him from the server if he didn’t say what he was getting.
In reality, though, while he streamed, his friends were all sitting in a separate call together. They watched his stream, and one by one left the call to join his stream only to return with whatever information they’ve found. Unfortunately, no one ever seemed to come back with anything useful. They had no idea what Tubbo had gotten any of them, only that he had been incredibly kind with all of his gifts, and that he expected nothing in return for his gesture.
Of course, that would never do.
So the group worked together. Tommy and Wilbur led on the initial spitballing of ideas for gifts, and Niki and Fundy were on SMP duty. Whenever he streamed on the server they’d join him, and together they’d try to figure out what he wanted. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to have caught onto their tricks, and they’d been able to report back a list of things that might give Wilbur and Tommy a better idea of what to get.
Lastly came a financial contribution. Tommy had almost expected there to be difficulty, or a kind of awkwardness in asking his friends to give him money, but they’d been more than willing. In fact, with Dream and Skeppy contributing the ludicrous amounts they often spent on their friends at the drop of a hat, he found himself utterly blown away and unsure of what to do with so much money. Sure, he could buy gifts for Tubbo, but at this rate he’d be able to buy him an entire store.
“Hey, Tubbo.” Tommy said, looking up to his discord. The two of them were sitting on a voice call together one evening. Tubbo had been working on homework, and Tommy was adding the messages that everyone had sent him for Tubbo to his card.
“What’s up?” He replied.
“Can I have your address? I got you something for Christmas.” There was no point in lying, and besides, he didn’t need to know quite how much he was going to be sent.
“Aww, Tommy, you didn’t have to get me anything! You know I just wanted to do something nice!”
“Yeah, well I’ve bought it now and I didn’t ask for a receipt so it’s a bit late, bitch.” He laughed, trying to keep up his usual facade so Tubbo wouldn’t catch on. With a little back and forth, Tubbo relented, and Tommy smiled when the message containing his address appeared on his screen. He pinned it to their group, and immediately wrote it on the envelope of the card so he wouldn’t forget.
The next day, he posted the card and the parcels, and he sent a message to the group so everyone knew that it was done. It was all in the hands of Royal Mail now.
Tommy had almost forgotten about their scheme entirely until his present from Tubbo arrived a few days before Christmas. He peeled back the brown packaging paper carefully to reveal a beautifully wrapped box. The paper was red with a shiny golden pattern printed onto it, and a thick golden bow had been tied into a ribbon. Tucked under the ribbon was an envelope with his name on it, which he removed and took upstairs after placing the present beneath the tree. He recognised the present from Tubbo’s stream - and his handwriting - so he didn’t have to think twice to know who it was from when he sat at his desk and began to read.
‘Dear Tommy,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! Thank you so much for this year, Big Man. You’re my best friend, you’re so successful, and I’m really proud of you for everything you’ve done. Thank you for starting a revolution with me on a Minecraft server, I don’t know where I’d be if we hadn’t.
Have a lovely end of the year and stay safe. Hopefully next year will be better and we can see each other even more!
Lots of love,
Tubbo.
P.S. Please don’t try to kill me if we go on a paddleboard again, that was kind of scary.’
He chuckled to himself, putting the card on his desk where he’d be able to see it whenever he glanced away from his screen, and he leaned back in his seat to start setting up for his stream that night. Before hitting go live, he made sure to send a thank you message to Tubbo, and made him promise to say when he got his card.
It was two days later that he received a message asking to call, and he accepted without hesitating.
“Tommy!” Tubbo shouted, and Tommy winced immediately when he heard his voice.
“What?” Tommy asked. “Why are you hurting my ears?”
“The card!” Tubbo said, and then Tommy heard a sniffle and his heart broke just a little. “Y-you… And everyone, Tommy, you didn’t have to do this!”
“Tubbo…” Tommy said softly, his voice barely a whisper. “We wanted to. You’re so kind, you deserved this. Did you get anything else?”
“Anything… What?” Tubbo said. “What do you mean, anything else?”
“Well, we’ve sent a few presents, too.” Tommy explained. “We tried, anyway. We figured you might like a little something.”
“Tommy--”
“Gotta go!” Tommy said quickly, even though he really didn’t have to go, hanging up before Tubbo had a chance to get another word out.
It was the 22nd, so there were still two more days of post until Christmas came. He just hoped that the presents would arrive in time for Tubbo to open on the big day.
As far as Tubbo knew, when he went to bed on Christmas Eve, nothing had arrived from Tommy. His parents had received packages in the morning,but when he asked he was told none were for him. Oh well, he thought to himself, it would be a nice surprise whenever it came.
It meant that when he woke up on Christmas day and went downstairs, any tiredness that had been left inside him was utterly blown away when his eyes met the sight beneath the tree. There were presents galore - so many more than there had been the night before - and his sister and parents were all smiling at him.
“What is all this?!” Tubbo exclaimed, letting out a laugh. “You guys didn’t--”
“We didn’t.” His father said. “These are all from your friends.”
Tubbo felt his heart grow in his chest, and a warmth began to flow through his body. Sure, it was far too early on Christmas morning for the air to have any real warmth to it, but inside he just felt fuzzy. To think that they’d do all this for him… He’d gotten very teary eyed in the space of just a few seconds, and when he approached the pile he had to use a hand to wipe at his eyes.
“Are you alright, sweetheart?” His mother asked, and Tubbo nodded a little, laughing and sniffling.
“I wanted to do something nice for them, I didn’t think they’d do something like this in return. I j-just wanted to be a good friend after everything that’s happened this year.” He let out a hiccuppy sob, wiping his eyes again. “I know that some of them are gonna be alone, I wanted to make their days b-better.”
“You make everyone’s day better just by being you.” His father said. “And your friends think you deserved this, so clearly you’ve done an excellent job.”
Tubbo nodded, taking in a few breaths to steady himself and after he’d wiped his eyes one last time he started to work through the presents. They’d all been wrapped in the same paper (and equally badly), but each was addressed from a different friend. He supposed that if Tommy had coordinated the card, it made sense that he’d sorted out the presents too. Tubbo made a mental note to say an extra thank you to Tommy for that.
From Dream, there was a brand new - and very powerful - GPU. From Niki, a knitted Christmas jumper of a bee wearing a Santa hat. Bad had sent a baking book, and Fundy several books of songs to learn on his keyboard. Everyone had sent something that they knew Tubbo would cherish, and the fact that there was a part of them in everything as well as a part of him made the presents all the more wonderful.
He’d come across the gift from Tommy halfway through his opening spree, but he’d very deliberately set it aside to save for later. Tommy was his best friend and, well, he wanted to save that to open on his own. He loved all of his presents, but the one from Tommy would automatically have a special place in his heart. So when he’d opened everything else and the time came to open Tommy’s gift he excused himself and took the parcel upstairs, squishing and squeezing it on his way to try and figure out what it could possibly be.
Despite its odd shape, it was the best wrapped of all the presents, and Tubbo couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Tommy had very clearly decided the best looking present had to be the one from him.
When he’d closed his door and sat down on his bed, Tubbo waited a moment before tucking his thumb underneath one of the folds and tearing the tape, pulling the paper apart slowly as anticipation built. After a moment, he’d opened it up enough to put his hand inside, and he almost didn’t want to look. His hand had landed on something soft and the shape was too odd for him to figure out what it was, so he caved and pulled the gift out of the wrapping paper.
He blinked twice when he looked at it, taking in exactly what he saw before his eyes began to water again.
Plushies of their Minecraft characters in L’Manburg skins, holding the famous discs, Cat and Mellohi. They were perfect, every detail was perfect, and he pulled them close to his chest as he cried. He wasn’t the sort of person to build up a wall to hide his emotions, and when he was alone in his room there was no point in pretending he wasn’t crying. They were tears of joy, anyway, and why should he hide pure, unadulterated joy from the world?
He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting on his bed, but by the time he’d stopped crying the sun was higher in the sky and his eyes were sore. Tubbo didn’t particularly care what he looked like as he made his way to the office, plushies still held tightly to his chest, and he logged onto Discord. Most of his friends were offline, but Tommy was on do not disturb, which Tubbo had always taken as advice rather than a rule. He wasn’t streaming - because of course he wasn’t, it was Christmas! - and so Tubbo typed out a quick message to get his attention before almost immediately calling him with face cam on.
“Tubbo! Merry Christmas Big T!” Tommy shouted as he joined the call, and when Tubbo’s video loaded his face fell. “Tubbo?”
“Thank you so much, Tommy.” Tubbo croaked out, and if he had any tears left to cry he would have started shedding them once more. “This is so special.” He said. “Your gifts mean the world to me. Y-You didn’t have to do this for me.”
“I know, Big T, but I wanted to. I’d been planning those for a while anyway, but everyone wanted to get you something after we saw what you were doing for us, and all the charity stuff. You deserve it after everything you’ve done for us and this community. We love you Tubbo.” Tommy said, a smile on his face. There was no persona today, and the honesty and thoughtfulness of his words was something Tubbo would never forget.
“Have you opened your present from me, yet?” Tubbo asked hopefully. “It’s not quite as much as personalised plushies but…”
“I wanted to do it with you.” Tommy shrugged. “Let me grab it.”
Tubbo sat where he was, watching as Tommy stood up and disappeared from his bedroom only to return five minutes later with a neatly wrapped box and a plate with two mince pies on them.
“I love food on Christmas day, you never have to eat proper stuff. It’s just like, chocolate for breakfast, second breakfast twenty minutes later, the biggest dinner ever, then meat and cheese and crisps until you pass out.”
“I haven’t even had breakfast yet.” Tubbo said, leaning towards his camera. “C’mon, open it! I want to see what you think.”
Tommy had taken a bite of a mince pie while Tubbo spoke and he chewed quickly, nodding his head in reply as he tore the paper away from the box quickly, swallowing his mouthful as he pried the box open (thankfully, not finding a knife to start stabbing shit).
Tubbo watched closely to see Tommy’s face changing, his eyes widening just a little and his honest, true reaction showing. This wasn’t Tommy doing an unboxing video, this was his best friend opening up a Christmas present he’d picked and created with care.
First to come out of the box was a personalised hoodie. Like the plushies Tommy had sent Tubbo, it had both of their minecraft characters on, embroidered on the left side of the chest. Tommy slipped it on immediately, beaming at Tubbo over the camera before he continued to rifle through the goodies that had been sent. Like any good Christmas present, there were several bars of chocolate, but the real thing that Tubbo wanted Tommy to see was at the very bottom of the box: a small scrapbook with pictures in. Pictures from their time together, pictures that Tommy had sent him from his meet up with the others, screenshots from various moments on the SMP, from MCC, and from every other video he could find that they’d appeared in together. He watched as Tommy slowly looked through the pages, watched as his eyes became glassy with unshed tears, and he clung a little tighter to the plushies.
“Tubbo…” Tommy whispered, looking up and blinking. “This is incredible, I don’t think you know how much this means to me. I don’t know if I can ever thank you enough, or ever repay you.”
“You don’t have to repay me, it’s a present.” Tubbo laughed. “You’re my best friend, Tommy. I love you so much.”
“Merry Christmas, Tubbo.” Tommy said quietly. “Thank you so much.”
“Thank you, Tommy. Merry Christmas.”
The two talked for a little while longer, before saying their goodbyes to spend some time with their family. They’d planned with Techno, Wilbur, Phil, Dream, George, and Sapnap to stream some jackbox games together later in the evening - wanting to try and make sure their audience would have something to look forward to even if their celebrations had been scuppered by the restrictions in various countries. Until then, though, Tubbo didn’t let the plushies leave his side, and Tommy didn’t take off his hoodie.
When the end of the month came, Tubbo donated all the money he’d made on Twitch as promised. Thousands of dollars were donated to various charities and, after a message on Discord, Tubbo’s donation was matched in the US by Dream, who donated the same amount to charities in Florida, because that’s what Christmas was about. Getting gifts as special as the ones he’d received was wonderful, but giving just felt so much more rewarding. Tubbo would never forget how happy he’d made his friends, but he hoped that next year he’d be able to make them smile like that in person.