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michael was so bored today. there was nothing to do in his room. he had used all his paper and he didn’t know how to read yet. bee hadn’t come to see him today, and michael had seen boo outside but he didn’t stop by either.
so he was all by himself with nothing to do. he had been staring out the window for forever. nothing was really happening, just bee running by sometimes. michael just wanted to play with someone.
he was zoning out until something new came past his window. boo looked like he was running somewhere.
maybe he was going to hangout with bee? michael decided that whatever boo was doing would be more fun then staring out a window. so, being very sneaky, he creeped to the trapdoor separating his room from the rest of the house.
michael knew his parents always came whenever someone came into or left his room. he didn’t know how but he knew he had to be careful if he wanted to sneak out without them knowing.
rethinking the trapdoor, michael thought it’d be easier to go through the trapdoor windows. he hobbled over and checked to make sure no one was right outside his window.
he quietly opened the window and scrambled up. he pushed himself through the window, not realizing there wasn’t anything to land on, making him fall down the side of the house.
luckily for him, there was snow to cushion his fall. he stood up, realizing how cold the snow was on his hooves. he didn’t even grab his winter coat, so he was in his pajamas.
michael wasn’t used to being alone or being outside, unless his parents were there obviously. so this was michaels first time outside all by himself. it made him feel like a big kid. well, technically second time outside without his parents, he was with a really big green guy that time. bee and boo fussed over him for days after.
to be honest, he was a little scared to be by himself. but he’d rather follow boo than be bored in his room. he’d already come this far all by himself. just like a grown up.
he walked in the direction boo went in. he struggled to keep up because he had really little legs and boo has super tall legs. boos legs are taller then michael himself!
but he was determined and definitely having much more fun sneakily following boo.
they went through the nether, which was a relief to michael, who was getting pretty cold, only thing that had been keeping him warm was running after boo, super sneakily of course. he almost got lost after getting distracted by the mobs in the nether.
he saw boo pull out the square thing that he used to talk to michael and bee when boo was away. suddenly, boo looked very scared. michael heard bees voice on the other end. but boo kept going so michael kept following him.
they soon went through another purple door, which lead them to another cold place. michael almost thought they’d just gone in a circle.
he didn’t really understand why boo walked so long to go to another cold place. they already lived in a cold place, why go to more cold places?
boo walked past a house that looked a lot like his house at home, but boo didn’t go in that one, he kept walking past.
it was getting harder to find places to hide, seeing as it was mostly flat snow. but boo kept mumbling to himself, michael didn’t think boo would notice him even if he was in the open.
boo walked up to a lava pool, and jumped in. michael almost squealed which would’ve given him away. he knew boo wasn’t lava-proof like him.
michael, getting scared for his parent, went over and jumped in after him. the warm lava was pleasantly warm, before he feel past water. he wasn’t soaked but his fur did absorb a lot of water. michael felt really cold, like when he went swimming with the tall green man. his parents didn’t like the green man after that, but michael didn’t mind him, he had lots of gold so he must be really important.
michael was standing on stone and looked around for boo but couldn’t see him anywhere.
so, obviously he decided to walk around to find boo. thinking that, that’ll be how he wins his secret game of hide and seek. except, he’s seeking and hiding!
he tiptoed around as best as he could with his hooves. peeking around every corner before walking past.
he was just about to go around another corner when he heard someone talk behind him. and it wasn’t boo or bee.
a low grumble came from behind him, causing michael to squeal and quickly turn around. he saw large hooves like his own and a red cape. his eyes travelled up to meet the eyes of an adult piglin with deep red eyes and a large scar down his left cheek. this piglins had a gold tusk and pierced ears with gold studs.
michael squealed again, since this piglin wasn’t part of his sounder, he might try to kill him.
the adult seemed to look annoyed and he huffed as he bent down to michaels level. michael immediately took a step back, eyes wide. where was boo?
“are you lost, little one?” the adult asked in piglin.
michael didn’t know if he could speak, he was so scared. but this piglin didn’t seem mean, maybe he just looked scary but was really nice.
michael looked down, “followed boo, dunno where gone?” he fiddled with his hands.
the adult sighed, standing up, making him look all scary again, “blade. name?”
michael didn’t know what his name in piglin was, so he tried really hard to say michael in commonspeak, he heres bee and boo call him that all the time so surely he can say it, “m-mmmkael,” he stutters out. if you weren’t paying attention you definitely wouldn’t know it was a word spoken in commonspeak. to be fair, michael hadn’t learned how to speak in his parents language yet.
blade nodded, “i’ll help find.” and started walking away to where michael had been going originally. he followed closely behind, he thinks he likes blade, blade is nice and helps find boo.
blade takes him into a big room, bigger then his room! and there’s a big table in the middle with people sitting around. michael sees a man that looks a little taller then bee with large black wings, and a girl with bright pink hair and a dark cape that’s a lot shorter then blades.
blade is talking and the peoples heads turn towards them. at this moment michael sees boo, wide eyed staring at him.
jumping excitedly he squeals a common word he knows he can saw for sure, “boo!”
boo jumps up and runs towards him, scooping him up in his arms and backs away from blade.
---
ranboo already wasn’t having a good day. he hadn’t seen tubbo or michael and he had a syndicate meeting. he had stopped by snowchester before leaving for the meeting, not having time to say hi to michael like he usually did.
he was in the nether when tubbo called frantically asking about michael say he wasn’t in his room. ranboo got just as terrified as tubbo but couldn’t help look because he’d already missed to many meetings and couldn’t be suspicious.
he had a bad feeling which got worse when techno was late. he thought he would have an anxiety attack and to top it off techno just walked in with his son. that almost made him spiral but he could afford that, he had to protect michael.
he rushed over as michael yelled boo and grabbed him away from techno. startling everyone.
techno’s surprised face turned into a suspicious frown, “you know this kid?”
“uh, um, yes, this is um, michael.” he paused, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, “he’s, um my son.” might as well come clean,” mine- and tubbos, son.”
ranboo was sweating nervously by now, michael happy in his arms, god why was michael so cold, he’d have to get him a jacket- techno’s face tried into a hurt angry, and phil got up and moved closer to techno.
“uh, tubbo and i are um-we’re, we’re married. platonically- of course, and um michael is our kid.” god techno is going to kill him. ranboo knows tubbo and techno don’t have the best relationship and they literally went to check if snowchester was a government like two weeks ago! this is why he didn’t want to tell techno.
niki seemed okay though, if not a bit surprised. at least that was okay- maybe.
“you-you married government?!” techno said, “ranboo i thought you were on ou side. now your siding with the government!?” techno looked more angry and his voice got louder as he spoke.
that- that one hurt, if he’s honest. techno knows he chooses people and not sides. michael was starting to get unsettled in his arms.
“i- techno, i don't choose sides, i choose people!” ranboo yelled frustrated, “you, phil and tubbo and michael are people that i’ve chosen.”
“that doesn’t matter! he’s still government!” techno grunted, phil moving closer grabbing techno’s arm as he goes closer to ranboo, “hey, mate, let’s calm down-”
techno huffed, “no,” turning to ranboo, making him step back against the wall, “you betrayed me.”
“i didn’t betray anyone! tubbo and michael are my family and they make me happy! ”
a sad look on his face, ranboo said in a quieter voice, “why can’t you accept that? that i just want to be happy?”
techno was about to say something when michael started crying. niki stood up, “look what you’ve done now, you made the baby cry.”
ranboo was getting tears in his eyes to, this wasn’t how he wanted this to happen. who did michael get hear in the first place?
they seemed to be at a stand off in silence until phil broke it, “let’s just calm down now. ranboo why don’t you take michael and go. i need to talk to techno. niki i’m cancelling the meeting for today.”
ranboo left as quickly as he could after that shooshing michael on the way.
—-
ranboo hurried back to snowchester as fast as he could. whispering to tubbo that he found michael, tubbo kept whispering but ranboo was in to much of a hurry to make sure michael was in a safe place to answer.
he got out the nether, tears rolling down his face. he really wanted to stay friends with techno but he knew if it came down to it he’d choose michael.
ranboo burst through snowchester, tubbo running up to them, asking for michael when he saw ranboo so distraught. tubbo lead them inside and up to michaels room. michael saying bee and boo, over and over again.
tubbo sat them on michaels bed, “hey, hey ranboo. look michaels okay, your okay, everything’s fine. ”
after a few moments ranboo calmed down enough for tubbo to ask what was going on. ranboo told tubbo how techno walked in with michael and how they had a fight about choosing sides, “why can’t he understand i don’t want to choose a side, i just want to be happy.”
michael hopped onto ranboo and gave him a hug, to which tubbo joined as well, “it’ll be okay, you said phil was going to talk to techno? i’m sure he’ll resolve it. ”
shakily he responded, “yeah- yeah, phil will talk to him, it’ll be fine.”
tubbo smiled, “exactly, so why don’t you sleep here tonight and we can resolve this in the morning. see, michaels already tired. ”
tubbo tucked michael in and dragged ranboo into a spare bed before going to sleep himself.
—-
the morning was so normal, tubbo made breakfast, they played with michael (not before scolding him when they realized he’d followed ranboo yesterday) ranboo could almost pretend nothing happened yesterday.
obviously, this peaceful morning couldn’t last as ranboo got a whisper from phil that he and techno were coming to snowchester.
tubbo told him not to worry, but ranboo was definitely worried.
about half an hour after that message, phil and techno arrived. immediately tubbo shielded michael, even though he’s said he’s forgiven techno for the festival, his body can recognize a threat.
techno awkwardly walked up to them, phil smiling ominously at techno from behind.
“look, ranboo i’m sorry. i know you don’t choose sides and i’m sorry if i made you feel like you had too yesterday. “ techno looked behind him at phil, “and-and i’m sorry for making michael cry.”
he looked back and down at michael, “i, uh made him a gift, cause he’s piglin like me so i dunno, jus thought he might like it.” techno says as he pulls out a gold wrist band, it’s ingraved with piglin, translating to little one.
tubbo and ranboo are still in shock that techno apologized at all, phil must have been very harsh.
once michael saw the wrist band, he immediately made grabby hands for it. techno went to give it to him but tubbo snatched it before moving back and then giving it to michael.
michael was squealing happily, “blade nice, gives me gold. nice like bee and boo.”
“sorry, for making little one cry.” techno apologized. michael giggled, “s’okay!”
phil had gone up and pat technos back, “good job apologizing, mate. now what do you say?”
techno sighed, “i’m not going to make you pick sides. i don’t like that your married to gover- tubbo, but whatever makes you happy. um and your still welcome at the,” he glances at tubbo, “book club.”
ranboo laughs, anxiety draining, “thanks techno, and i’m glad we can still be friends.”
“yeah,” he says as michael wiggles out of tubbos grasp and waddles over to techno and starts playing with his tusks, “uhhhh, can you get your kid?”
tubbo, who’d been still hesitant and on edge, laughes, devolving everyone into laughter. techno just says, “bruhhh.” and let’s michael keep playing with his tusks and piercings.
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