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Lazy people don’t get stuff done if there isn’t an immediate reward to it. Why should anyone bother mining fifty feet below ocean level for some measly ores and resources if you could tuck yourself into the pocket dimension beneath your skin and sleep. Even as Tubbo was explaining this to his friends he was resting his head on top of the table, arms crossed to serve as a headrest.
He lost pretty much everyone with his reasoning at the ‘pocket dimension beneath your skin’ bit, and, as good friends should, they advised him to get off his lazy bum and get some actual work done instead of asking for pity and scrounging materials off of them again.
It was a harsh rejection. How was a demishulker supposed to survive in this kind of climate? Didn’t they understand that his stubby cute legs were not made for walking but for sticking to a surface and not moving for a decade?
(“Do you think Tubbo just talks this much with himself that he doesn’t realize that he said all of his inner monologue out loud?”)
He was surrounded by fools who would never understand his struggles! But amongst the dark and inhuman treatment there was hope shining like the radiant sun.
“You know, I just go mining and have fun while doing it. You’ll be fine!” Like a knight in shining armor Ranboo explained and, as another perk of being lazy, tubbo was quick to realize the opportunity at hand.
“Join me!” Tubbo yelled out, reaching out over the large table to grab the slender wrist. At first Ranboo seemed to be a bit confused, but after a moment of silence and everyone staring at them to finish their moment, he slowly nodded.
“Suure..? I mean why not!”
That was enough for Tubbo to slide from his seat and drag the tall man out of his. Again Ranboo seemed too perplexed to fight his little friend until they were leaving through the front door.
The front door shut itself with more force than needed and immediately after the two were gone there was unison chuckeling.
“You’re pretty energetic for someone who didn’t want to go mining a few minutes ago?” Ranboo finally said with a confused but amused tone. They had been looking for a cave opening and found a promising one right next to the ocean.
It was true that Tubbo still couldn’t stand the thought of going mining, but if he just thought of this as a field trip…
“We’re lucky that we don’t have to cross the ocean, that would’ve taken so much time…” he mumbled as he started climbing down into the steep hole. Ranboo looked down with his polite smile before vanishing into thin air and the purple shimmer that followed him anywhere.
“You’re exaggerating! A boat would’ve been easy to craft.” his voice echoed from down below in the darkness. Right. Teleportation.
“Aren’t you afraid of the water tho’?”
Tubbo pulled out a torch as soon as he arrived at the bottom and looked up to the lanky enderdemi. In the bad lighting of the flame it was hard to make out if Ranboo looks paler than usual, but his smile seemed nervous.
“Well, I sure do avoid it.” He laughed rubbing his neck. “It irritates my skin greatly when I get some on it, but it’s pretty easy to get out. And again, it’s safe in a boat y’know?”
“Yeah makes sense, you and Jack always run around like wild chicken when it rains! It’s hilarious!”
“Haha, yeah… hilarious.”
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“Huh?” Ranboo turned around, eyes wide. “...hurt?”
“Yeah! Like, I dunno, like poison is pretty painful y’know? Is it like that?” Tubbo asked, sticking torches into every nook and cranny to keep and monsters at bay as they went deeper into the cave system.
“It… It burns I guess… a small amount of water can itch for hours but if I were to be suspended in a large body of water… I dunno, it would be like falling into a pit of hot lava I suppose.”
At that the smaller of the two whirled around, large eyes looking up at the taller one.
“That’s… That sounds horrible!” he exclaimed, loudly. “No wonder you run like chicken! That’s just- just-!” he threw his hands in the air, trying to articulate the surprise he was forced to contain in his small body.
“Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at not falling into- oh! I’ll be right back!”
Ranboo ported himself away, deeper into the cave, just past some iron.
“Ranboo! The iron! Get back here, don’t leave me alone!”
But too late. The other has already left Tubbo in his pearlescent purple dust.
“Why did he even go along if we’re just splitting up again huh? And always looking for diamonds, pick up the iron first you snob...”
Tubbo stuck another torch into the ground behind him as he pulled out the pickaxe from beneath the Shulkerskin on his body, swinging the tool over his head to get to some of the exposed veins that ran up into the ceiling.
“Whoever does not respect the penny is not worthy of the dollar!”
It took only a little moment. Really, not that long. Hitting a pickaxe into stone could almost be considered therapeutic and the sooner he was done the faster he could rejoin Ranboo, maybe hit the guy over the head as he jumped down again.
But then more than just the iron vein dislodged. A second before the pick hit stone his braced for the patch of gravel that would rain down on him. And he was right, his body was hit by gravel. Not as much as he expected though.
and then he noticed that right after the graveled there followed something wet and salty.
Water?
It wasn’t much, like the stream of a creek. But the gravel around that little hole followed the stream and every second he stuck in the gravel more water flowed past him and when the torch he had jammed between rubble suddenly went out something clicked in his mind.
Ranboo.
Nononono, Ranboo went down and the water would flood him.
Tubbo pulled himself out of the gravel and ran forward. Water was pooling around his feet, and if he wasn’t thinking about how his friend was about to burn up in water he would have been thankful for wearing boots that kept his socks dry.
Instead he cursed at the water that seemed to flow faster by the second. At first he thought he had outpaced the stream, but then he heard the thumping of stone on stone and the rush of water behind himself. He was running so fast, he had never run this fast in his entire life.
He couldn’t look back, he didn’t have time, but he could feel the smallest droplets flying onto the nape of his skin as he ran down a slender and, god bless, lit path.
His breath was ragged and he could almost feel how his lungs were collapsing on themselves, but when he saw the end of the tunnel and a lanky man crouching down to fit into the narrow space, that didn’t seem to matter.
“RANBOO!!” he yelled the second he saw his friend eye a vein of diamonds embedded into the stone of the floor.
Ranboo didn’t look up immediately, still occupied with the shiny stones, but before Tubbo could yell again he felt like a whole bucket of water was dropped on him, making him sprint even faster than before to hurl himself at the enderdemi and pull him into the pocket dimension that was usually reserved as his sleeping spot.
“Ow! Tubbo!”
There was a moment of silence. Tubbos face was burrowed into Ranboos chest, still fighting for every breath. He had been cold from the water and dusty air sticking to him, but now the fear and shock was seeping in like a burning sensation.
“Tubbo?”
God, why didn’t he notice the gravel earlier? Why why why did he want to pick that stupid iron, who even needs iron.
“Tubbo what happened, what’s- ouch!”
There had been a second of a touch on his head, but Ranboo immediately pulled his hand away.
“Why are you wet?”
Tubbo opened his mouth, unsure what to say, but settled for a choking sob.
“Jesus, fine fine, don’t worry, it doesn’t even hurt that badly, see? I was just surprised! What- is this your Shulkerbox? Why bring me here right now? Are there mobs?”
“Water…” the Shulker just pressed out.
“Water..? Wait, did you flood the cave?!”
“It was an accident!”
“Are we underwater right now?!”
“The whole cave is!”
That made Ranboo go silent. He looked pale.
“We.. how do we… Can you…?”
“Get us out? I- I should be able to carry you in here…” Tubbo finally let go of the other, sitting up with a frown. “the Box can’t really let in pure fluids so… so you should be fine here…. it’s cramped but…”
Tubbo trailed off, biting his cheek. His eyes were still watery. That had been such a close call…
“Let’s get out of here.” Ranboo croaked, pulling his legs close to his chest. “Sorry you didn’t get any mining done because of this…”
Tubbo balled his hand into the shell-floor.
“Don’t blame yourself, I mined enough for the next decade.”
Again a thick silence fell over them.
“Thank you.” Ranboo broke said silence, again. “I don’t know why it flooded, but… I would’ve probably drowned down here. I mean we come back but that would’ve been... haha… painful...”
A shiver went down Tubbo’s spine, remembering it had been him who dislodged the gravel in the first place. But how could he tell Ranboo? That he didn’t know they were this close to the water. That it wasn’t on purpose. That he never wanted to kill the other.
“Haha... don’t worry about it…”
Obviously he couldn’t.