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1
“Hey! You!” someone yelled, startling Ranboo out of his thoughts. He glanced around wildly, eyes straining in the low light the lamps over the path gave off, to find the figure storming their way towards him.
“Uh, hi?” Ranboo tried, cowering in on himself as the person stomped their way up to the bench he was sitting on. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, you can ‘help’ me!” they yelled, not lowering their volume at all, despite how much closer they’d gotten. “You can help me by getting the fuck off my bench!”
Oh. Whoops. Wait, that meant…
“You’re…” Ranboo snapped his fingers by his head a few times. Tubbo’d told him who this was.
Oh, you’ll love him! My best friend-
“Tommy!” That was it. Right?
Tommy(?) drew back from him slightly, brow crumpling in confusion as he stared down Ranboo. Ranboo shifted slightly where he was sitting, hoping the low light of the pre-sunrise early morning hid his uncomfortableness.
“How do you know my name?” Tommy(!) finally asked, volume suddenly miles below where it was before. Ranboo opened his mouth to respond, before Tommy puffed out his chest, raising his volume once more to say, “Nevermind. Of course, you know me! The great and powerful Tommy Innit!”
Ranboo didn’t have a response to that, but the ‘Great and Powerful Tommy Innit’ didn’t seem to care, flopping down on the bench next to him. The wood creaked slightly, thin wooden boards shifting with the new weight addition.
“Um, thanks for letting me stay here,” Ranboo tried in an attempt to ease the silence. Tommy waved his hand dismissively in the air.
“Good place to watch the sunrise,” he mumbled, tucking his chin into his bandana. A few flakes of ash fell off his fingers. Ah, he’d just come from the Nether then.
“Isn’t the sun supposed to rise behind us?”
“Shut up.”
“You got it.”
The sun, in fact, did rise behind them, dying the clouds orange and red before the gentle rays of sun spilt over the clouds. The lack of staring at the sun while it happened was a nice bonus, Ranboo would admit.
Tommy shifted slightly the longer they sat, glancing over his shoulder at L’man… something (Big? Build? Hole? He’d get the name one of these days.) like he was waiting for someone.
If he was, Ranboo didn’t want to intrude.
So he stood, brushed the dirt off his pant legs, and gave Tommy a half-hearted wave.
“See you later Tommy.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
2
The bench was, unsurprisingly really, not empty.
Tommy sat smack in the middle, disk clutched loosely between his fingers, arms on his legs, staring out over the SMP. He looked… defeated.
Ranboo supposed it wasn’t the most unusual look for someone in his situation to have. Not every day you and your best friend were challenged with either imprisonment or exile.
The bench creaked slightly as he sat down, Tommy barely reacted.
“So…” Ranboo let the rest of the words die in his mouth at the withering look Tommy shot him. “Right.”
Tommy put the disc carefully in his bag, curling the rest of his body around it.
“Ranboo-”
“Yes?”
“Don’t interrupt me,” Tommy snapped with no real heat. “Would… Do you think Tubbo would really exile me over that?”
‘Do I deserve it?’ Hung unsaid in the silence that followed. Ranboo bit his lip, pondering his choices.
Did Tommy deserve it? No.
Not if he didn’t. He’d been there too. He’d burned down the house too. But he wasn’t being threatened with exile from his home. So why was Tommy?
He knew the answer to that.
He wasn’t being threatened with it because Tommy protected him. Lied to everyone’s faces so that Ranboo got off the hook. Deceived everyone despite Ranboo’s soot-stained hands and smoke scented suit.
“If it was me I wouldn’t exile you.”
He was avoiding the question. He knew that, Tommy knew that. But it was enough.
“Thanks, big man,” Tommy mumbled, picking at the seam on the bottom of his pant leg. “Means a lot.”
The silence that followed weighed heavy on the both of them. The early morning sun beat down on their backs. Birds chirped happily in the distance. It didn’t seem like Judgment Day. And yet.
And yet the tension never really left Tommy’s shoulders. And yet there was no one walking down the Prime Path. And yet no sounds of building echoed happily from New L’Manberg.
And yet Ranboo’s suit still smelled of fire.
“Well, I should probably go talk to Tubbo before… the rest of today happens,” Tommy finally said, pulling himself to his feet.
“See you later Tommy,” Ranboo said, sparing his friend a glance from the corner of his eye. “Hopefully around L’Manberg.”
“Yeah… see you around too Ranboo.”
3
Logstedshire always felt slightly off and it’d only been around for a week. At least, Ranboo thinks it’s been around a week. He’d only started dating his journal entries recently, and the page that first mentioned Logstedshire’s top was glaringly blank.
But no matter how long it’d been there, it never felt quite right. Creeper holes, covered over by stone instead of dirt or grass littered the surrounding area, and every time Ranboo visited, Tommy seemed more and more drawn into himself. He’d flinch back at him approaching. Like he was annoyed at seeing him.
( One of his journal entries read ‘I don’t think Tommy likes my visits. Maybe I should stop??? But aren’t we friends? Surely he’d tell me if he didn’t want me there. ...right?’ )
But that wasn’t the thing on Ranboo’s mind right now. Right now, he was staring awkwardly at the back of Tommy’s head as the blond curled in on himself on the bench. Not The Bench, but a bench nonetheless. Ranboo sat down to the right of Tommy like he always did.
“Oh,” Tommy said monotone, sparing Ranboo a half-second glance. “ You’re here.”
“I am.” a beat of silence. “Is that… bad?” ( - don’t think Tommy likes- )
“Not… necessarily,” Tommy decided on. “Just… not the company I was hoping for.” The empty spot on Tommy’s left speaks for itself.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Of course.”
The wind ruffles both of their hair as they sit in silence. Tommy picks at the stitching of the L’Manberg flag patch on his coat.
“He’d be here if he could, you know.”
Tommy blanches at that, though Ranboo can’t imagine why. Was it really that unbelievable? The thought of Tubbo wanting to visit his best friend?
“Wil-? Oh. Oh ,” Tommy muttered, hands flying to the compass tied to his waist. “Really?”
“Yeah. Just… presidential duties and all that.”
“Mmmm.”
The compass lid makes a nice clicking noise every time Tommy opens and shuts it. Ranboo lets his eyes unfocus, allowing the repetitive sound to wash over him, calming him.
Tommy makes a noise that sounds like a muffled curse.
“You should get out of here before Dream comes,” Tommy says, snapping the compass shut one final time. The sun glances off his hair from its spot directly above them. “Wouldn’t want… you getting in trouble or anything.”
What? Why would he get in trouble? Aren’t people allowed to visit him? It was exile, not enforced solitude. ( - likes my visits. Maybe I should stop- )
“Of course. See you later Tommy.”
“Sure, sure, sure. You can go now”
( - he’d tell me if he didn’t want me there… right?- )
4
The arctic temperatures cut through his suit like it was made of paper.
Ranboo pulled his arms around himself, delicately lifting his feet so that snow didn’t fall into his shoes. He’d have to put on better ones when they got to wherever Ghostbur was taking him.
Said ghost hummed happily, floating above the snow, an absent smile plastered on his lips, as he lightly tugged at the lead attached to Friend. They sure made an odd sight.
An enderman hybrid, a bright blue sheep, and a ghost. It sounded like the start of a bad joke. Ranboo smiled to himself at that one. God his humour was warped.
“Ah! We’re here!” Ghostbur cheered, his voice quickly being lost to the vast expanse that surrounded the… tiny two-story house? What was something like this doing out here in the middle of nowhere?
“Phil!” Ghostbur called, speeding up as they grew closer and closer to the house. “Techno!” Ranboo froze where he stood at that. Wasn’t Techno the one Tubbo said set Withers against L’Manberg? Was it safe for him to be here?
Ghostbur floated unconcerned up to the front door, pulling Friend up the stairs behind him. Ranboo stood in the snow for a long minute, before turning on his heel and starting to walk away. This shouldn’t be a place he knew of. He was suddenly glad he didn’t grab his memory book.
He began to follow his and Friend’s footprints back to the portal when a loud shout of annoyance caught his attention. Tommy?
Ranboo turned away from his path, picking his way across the snowy plain to find, in fact, Tommy, hammering the last bit of wood down on a makeshift bench. Always him with his benches, huh?
It takes him maybe three seconds to take his spot next to Tommy.
“Jesus!” Tommy squawks, jolting away from him as he sits down. “Warn a guy next time, maybe.”
“Sorry,” Ranboo offers quietly, not exactly sure what to say. He’s pretty sure Tommy should be in exile back in Logstedshire, but who was he to judge someone being in a place they shouldn’t be? “My spot was open.”
Tommy grumbles and rolls his eyes, but the hard lines of his shoulders slump slightly. He lets out a sigh, the air turning into a cloud in the frigid temperatures of the snow biome. Ranboo stays quiet, watching the white puff of vapour slowly curl out at the edges and vanish into the late afternoon air. He really shouldn’t stay too long least the sun sets and it gets even colder.
“You know it’s weird that it’s you my conscious decided to summon up,” Tommy says, slumping down on the bench, booted feet stuck firmly in the snow. “You’d think it’d be Tubbo again.”
“I- what?” Ranboo asks, flicking his friend a concerned gaze.
Tommy laughs softly, all hallow and empty sounding. “Nevermind.”
“... okay.”
The sun continues it’s path towards the horizon, steadily falling lower and lower, the temperature dropping with it.
“Well, this has been… something,” Ranboo finally decides on, nervously eyeing the encroaching clouds. He’d have to get back to the portal before the snow covered his tracks, or he’d be lost.
“Sure,” Tommy waved him off, lifting his feet onto the bench as Ranboo stood up. He caught Ranboo’s eye with something akin to wistfulness filling his gaze, but it was gone in a flash as they both tore their gazes apart.
“See you later Tommy.”
“Mhmm.”
5
Ranboo numbly turned his gaze away from the hotel, feet moving him across the path without him really processing it. He didn’t feel like he’d really processed anything today.
How was he supposed too?
Tommy was gone. Dead. Dream had… had won, he supposed. And god what a horrible sentence that was.
Ranboo sat on the bench, curling his legs into his stomach, and wrapping his arms around them so he was as small as possible. The bench would feel too big anyways.
A three-person bench shouldn’t be sat at alone.
The wind rustled the leaves from the nearby tree, a few falling to land on the ground, the bench, his foot, the ender chest glowing faintly in the dark. Tommy’s ender chest. The one that should be in Snowchester right now being used to unpack Tommy’s things as he moved in. The one that would never be unlocked to reveal Tommy’s items ever again.
The tears stung in his eyes, pushing to run free, but Ranboo refused to shed more tears today. His cheeks still burned, the scars aching with their fresh reopening. More tears would only worsen the situation.
The silence was familiar, the scenery even more so, even if a few new things had been built. If Ranboo pretended enough he could almost imagine Tommy sitting beside him, quiet for one of the few times in his life.
If he pretended enough, the past few days felt like they didn’t exist.
But doing that was dangerous. His memory book weighed heavy in his bag. He knew he shouldn’t try and forget but-
But, but, but.
A second weight settled on the bench next to him. Ah, Tommy was here, good.
No words passed between them, even though they probably should.
Ranboo should ask him about his plans for visiting Dream, if he’d need help moving to Snowchester, what he planned on doing now. But all that could wait just a bit.
They could sit in silence a little longer.
Finally, when he figured it’d been long enough, Ranboo turned to Tommy, questions on the tip of his tongue. Empty space greeted him.
Oh.
Right.
Tommy was gone, wasn’t he?
A lump swelled in his throat.
“... See you later Tommy.”
The wind swept through the trees again, and for a moment, it sounded like a familiar voice.
“Of course.”
+1
He’s not sure what compelled him to sit down on the bench. Not sure what drew him to the boy, only that an odd sense of familiarity surrounded him.
The boy seemed to relax when he sat, a soft smile crossing his face, but in silence, the two of them remained. That also felt oddly familiar.
The air settled around them, wrapping them in the gentle warmth of spring as the minutes ticked silently by.
The boy finally turned to look at him, lips parted like he was ready to speak- only to slam his mouth closed. He tilted his head to the side curiously. Did the boy forget what he was going to say?
“... See you later Tommy,” echoed in the air for a long moment. “It’s fine…”
The boy muttered something else to himself, far too quiet for him to hear, as he stood, resting his hand on the bench for a long moment.
He scrunched his nose. Who was this Tommy fellow the boy was so worried about? Then, as the boy turned to walk away, it clicked. He was Tommy.
“Of course,” Tommy muttered, turning to watch the boy walk away. “Of course I’ll see you later!”