Work Text:
"I honestly can't believe you two," Drista said, leaning back the chair she'd been sprawled across as she glared down two of the four other people in the room. The two who weren't being glared at, Tommy and Purpled, burst out laughing at Drista's attempt at a 'mom tone' knowing damn well the next thing she said wasn't going to be anywhere near serious. "Really, Ranboo? How could you, you're going to have to make an honest man out of Tubbo after this!" She said, pointing at the tiny zombie piglin which was sat in Tubbo's lap while she glared the both of them down.
Tommy and Purpled just laughed even harder while Tubbo tilted his head to the side as though he didn't get the joke that Drista was making. Ranboo knew better. He saw the malicious glint in the younger boy's eyes.
After the final confrontation against Dream things seemed like they were somehow going both better and worse. Tommy got his discs back, but it was obvious a lot of things were left unsaid between not only him and Tubbo, but him and the rest of the server, and frankly Ranboo hadn't been sure at the time how to fix it. If left the simmer and fester, than he was pretty sure Tommy's situation only would have spiraled and gotten worse as the youngest fell deeper and deeper into the cracks of his own psyche. And there was nothing that Ranboo could have done to prevent it.
Luckily, Purpled could.
The day that Purpled finally got Ranboo, Tubbo, and Tommy into the same room and somehow convinced Drista to barrier block the five of them in ended in tears, but also healthier relationships. Ever since the five minors of the server (technically four and an ageless deity, but Drista often said in terms of divine lifespans she counted) had been holding little get togethers as often as possible. At least once a week. The five would get together, chat about what they were doing, and on occasion give warnings and protection to one another.
Of course, all of this had led to Tubbo and Ranboo showing up with Michael since they didn't want to risk leaving him alone. Which was understandable considering the inclinations of the server. Of course, they had to explain to the other three why they had a baby zombie piglin which had in turn led to the present line of jokes.
Tommy was still cackling like a mad man, speaking between bursts of giggles. "You better purpose with something massive and shiny, Big R, considering how right you are. If you don't there's gonna be some problems."
"Why am I the one getting ribbed though when we both went to get Michael together," Ranboo stuttered indignantly.
"Because you're the one who first offered?" Tubbo said. Ranboo gave him an affronted expression, one of those 'you were supposed to be on my side!' kind of looks. Tubbo just shrugged as he waved a little piece of gold in Michael's line of sight and immediately relinquished it to the piglin when Michael's little hands made a grab for it. Ranboo just made a frustrated, mortified kind of noise as the other three members of the group laughed at his suffering.
"I feel like I've made a mistake," he muttered as Tubbo gave an affronted gasp.
"I'll divorce you," Tubbo threatened, wrapping his arms around Michael's midsection.
Ranboo threw up his arms in mock surrender, the frustration starting to leak further into his body language. "We aren't even married yet! We aren't even engaged!"
"And that's exactly the issue," Drista said with another fit of giggles. She and Tommy were a match made in hell. Literally, Ranboo sometimes thought. There wasn't something entirely... human about Tommy. Well, aside from being an avian hybrid. There was a familiarity between him and Drista as though their dynamic was one that had stood for as long as Tommy and Tubbo's if not longer. Either way, it made it a pain in the ass to deal with when both of them became dead set on something. Jokes especially.
Ranboo shuffled his wings with a heavy sigh, feeling like it was going to be a long hour before Tommy's next phrase whatever it was going to be got cut off. "Alright you two, that's enough," Purpled said. Despite being as young as the rest of them and just as chaotic, Purpled acted a lot like a mediator from time to time. Only when he really deemed it necessary, of course. He was just as much of a little shit as the rest of them. But he also acknowledged the fact he carried the least trauma out of the group as a whole and took on certain responsibilities because of it. Ranboo's shoulders sagged slightly as he shot Purpled a grateful look. Tommy and Drista pouted for a moment, but they were quick to move on to the next topic.
They stuck with the topic of marriage of course, but it shifted from teasing Ranboo about getting married to Tubbo towards Tommy boasting about his many (nonexistent) wives. "No sane woman would ever want to marry a child like you," Drista said as Tommy narrowed his eyes and Ranboo started to check out of the conversation.
Marriage. It was something Ranboo had thought about before but suffice to say something he never thought would be possible due to the fact he'd never really found someone he was romantically intrigued by to that degree. Obviously since there was no one Ranboo was that romantically interested in, he'd just never get married.
His lease on the entire situation had changed somewhat after meeting Bad and Skeppy. The two weren't romantically involved, though it was easy to make the mistake. They were married in a legal sense, but the one time he asked Tubbo and Tommy had taken turns explaining that it was for legal reasons. Tubbo had told him it was so Skeppy would also have custody of Sapnap in case something went terribly wrong. Tommy had instantly started talking about the tax fraud possibilities. He'd still be a little confused after that, understandably so. Tubbo and Tommy were both smart, really smart at times, but not the best at putting their thoughts into words. Phil had been the one to gently explain to Ranboo what queer platonic relationships were, how they could err closer to platonic or romantic and how they applied to relationships that didn't fit in society's normal perception of relationships. How Bad and Skeppy's marriage applied to that as a platonic leaning qpr.
A platonic marriage. Not a loveless one, but one that was centered around a different kind of love.
Ranboo glanced at Tubbo one more time, the other boy playing with Michael's little fingers as the baby zombie piglin happily snorted along still sitting in his lap. And Ranboo, well, it sure as hell wasn't romantic but Ranboo loved Tubbo, but it was love all the same.
Long after the joke died and the conversation moved on past marriage, Ranboo couldn't get the thoughts out of his head.
~
"Hey, you wanna go flying with me?" Ranboo asked, wringing his hands uncomfortable as he stared down the younger boy.
Tommy quirked an eyebrow curiously, fingers still running through the soft vermillion, scarlet, and burgundy feathers. That much red should have been painful and unnatural concentrated in one place, but it looked completely right when the limbs were attached to Tommy. Something about the boy made it so the feathers didn't look unnatural in the slightest, though there were those who complained about the wings. Looking less at the wings and instead seeking things to complain about that they could blame Tommy for.
Ranboo's own wing, large and webbed, didn't need as much preening thought they still required care here and there. He supposed that ender dragons just weren't like birds.
It hadn't been that long since Ranboo last went flying. Dream had banned the practice, but Ranboo wasn't a part of these lands for a while and had frequently used his wings before ending up here. Additionally, the moment that Dream was locked up in the prison every hybrid that was a winged creature simultaneously threw off whatever bindings they had and flipped off the green man. So for Ranboo it had been a short if uncomfortable stretch of time.
Tommy was a different case entirely, having occupied the lands of the Essempii for longer than than a lot of people on the server. Of course, Tommy was also a rule breaker. He taunted and provoked, it was simply the way that he was. Meaning Dream had to forcefully implement his rule. Tommy's flight feathers had only recently grown back from the last time they were clipped, the primaries still fresh from his recent molt and the wings themselves mildly atrophied from the absolute abuse they'd faced. From what he'd heard, Tommy did his best to exercise the wings during the time he couldn't fly, but considering his multiple exiles, he wasn't always in a position where it was an option.
He'd only just been starting to get the strength back into his wings with the help of their group, which meant it shouldn't have been weird for Ranboo to ask Tommy to go flying with him. It wasn't like it was the first time he'd asked. But it showed in his body language he had something important to talk about and that obviously enough raised Tommy's hackles since, naturally, when someone had something important to say Tommy had built up the internal assumption that it was usually something bad. Typically about him.
Almost always about him.
That was, however, not Ranboo's intention so he tried to give the most reassuring smile he could even if it just came off as stilted and much too toothy.
In spite of the awkward hesitance on behalf of both parties, Tommy slowly nodded. "Okay, sure," he said, ruffling a pair of wings that looked like they'd been set aflame. Ranboo didn't quite let out his sigh of relief yet. No, that was the easy part. The next part would be convincing a boy so used to hard teeth and meaningless 'I Love You's to give his blessing.
The pair took to the skies, Ranboo trailing behind Tommy slightly, following the glinting of red wings as they careened through the open air. It was in some ways easier to talk to Tommy when the two went flying. It was like a piece of Tommy was able to be more honest when he wasn't bound to the earth. Like the part of him that had experienced years upon years of violence and trauma was left behind and he was allowed to be the Tommy that Tubbo on occasion described when he referenced their childhood.
That much was obvious by the growing smile on Tommy's face. It hinted at a feeling of safety, and Ranboo felt himself relaxing.
"So. There was something you wanted to talk about, right?" Tommy asked. Despite his expression there was a lightness to his tone. Tommy felt safe here, and he felt safe with Ranboo. It was a kind of trust that Ranboo refused to break. So in spite of the hesitance there was a willingness to listen on Tommy's part that caused Ranboo to relax slightly and nod a couple times.
"Yeah. You remember those jokes you guys were making the other day, about how Tubbo and I should get married?" Ranboo asked, beating his wings a little faster as he felt his cheeks starting to warm. Tommy eyed him warily, a spark of something lighting up in the younger boy's eyes. None the less Tommy nodded quietly without interrupting. "Well, you see, the thing is... I wanted to ask for you blessing," Ranboo said.
Now, Ranboo was expecting a lot of different reactions from Tommy. Ranboo could get yelled at for even asking and chased out of the sky and there was a chance he could lose Tommy as a friend. A couple months ago maybe that's the reaction he would have expected as well. But the more Tommy had overcome and the more Ranboo had gotten to know Tommy, the more he realized that was the least likely outcome. He still got called boobboy, but he wasn't about to misjudge the fact Tommy had openly defended Ranboo before. He wasn't going to forget the shocked but increasingly fond expression on Tubbo's face when he'd described it as something that Tommy had only ever done for him before. There was the more likely option that Tommy just laughed and brushed it off. Maybe disregarding the thing entirely until they actually got married or maybe he'd jokingly say sure not expecting anything to come from it.
He didn't expect Tommy to take this seriously, but it only felt right to ask. There was no one that Ranboo could ask since Tubbo's adoptive father, Phil, didn't really see the boy as a son anymore. The person that Tubbo considered a brother was the next best thing.
Ranboo had expectations walking into it and frankly that was Ranboo's first mistake. You never walk into a conversation with Tommy having expectations because the younger boy is always going to find a way to defy them. That was exactly what Tommy did when his eyes went as wide as dinner plates and his wings locked up mid air. For a complete heart stopping second Ranboo thought that Tommy was going to drop out of the air, either dying from the impact with the earth or a heart attack.
He certainly wasn't going to get married after that. 'Hey Tubbo, I accidentally killed you best friend from shock but I still wanted to purpose would you pretty please marry me!' Like that was going to work. To Ranboo's absolutely relief Tommy's wings unlocked themselves and a couple frantic beats kept him still in the air while he made a noise somewhere between stuttering and hacking up a lung like he'd accidentally breathed in salt water. This wasn't the reaction Ranboo had been expecting but shame on Ranboo for walking into this with expectations. A foolish decision.
"Why?" Tommy suddenly asked, eyes taking on a hard glean that Ranboo couldn't recognize. Tommy glided a little closer till the tips of their wings were almost touching. He'd watched those electric blue eyes slowly lose all color and turn gray, staying that way for a while during his stay with Techno before slowly regaining their color after the final battle for the discs and actually talking through all that trauma with Tubbo and Puffy's help. Those electric blue eyes regained their color, but this wasn't their color that Ranboo was staring into now. He was looking directly into an inferno. Like someone had captured a blue sun and trapped it in a glass bottle which had been placed into the eyes of the boy in front of him. Ranboo was worried that the gaze would burn him up.
"Why?" Ranboo parroted back stupidly, trying to figure out what had caused the tonal shift.
"Why do your want to marry Tubbo? What are you intentions with my best friend?" Tommy asked and suddenly the pieces clicked together. Ranboo tried not to let out a little oh as he reached into the back of him mind for answers.
"Well, umm," Ranboo stuttered out as Tommy continued to roast him alive with his eyes alone. No, Tommy wasn't human. He wasn't a normal avian. Ranboo refused to believe that when it felt like he was going to be turned into charred dragon within a matter of seconds if his answer wasn't good enough. "I mean platonically!" Ranboo blurted out.
Tommy crossed his arms, wings straightening out to a glide and forcing Ranboo to match his pace. Ranboo who was damn near close to a heart attack himself. Since when was Tommy scary? Was this actually Tommy? "No shit. I kind of gathered that from the context clues. But that still doesn't answer why. Ranboo, tell me why you want to marry Tubbo and then I'll decide if you're good enough too. Yeah, he's not the precious innocent boy a lot of the server makes him out to be. He's borderline insane if you asked me. But he's my best friend and I want to know that you're making this decision for the right reasons and you aren't going to end up hurting him because of it!"
Now, Ranboo was usually the first to point out that Tommy had a higher than average emotional intelligence he just didn't know how to use. But in those moments Ranboo felt like it was a sword being held to his neck. Tommy continued to stare him down silently and Ranboo just took a small breath, nodded his head, and spoke.
"Because, plain and simple, I love him. Not in the weird gross way, and not in the same way that you love him, but I still love him all the same. I want to keep him safe and I want to know he's there to return the favor. And one of those ways is making this a, you know, legal kind of relationship," Ranboo didn't know how else to explain it but Tommy nodded his head quietly. He looked into the distance for a moment, letting his arms go back to their natural positioning, before talking a deep breath and turning back to Ranboo.
"Suppose I of all people understand getting married for tax fraud," he said simply with such a pain expression that any other circumstances would have made Ranboo think he was joking. Something about Tommy's tone though implied that Ranboo had just passed some sort of test and he allowed a deep sigh of relief. He was very certain that he would have died if he answered poorly. Sure, Ranboo had three lives and totems to spare, but something about Tommy made Ranboo feel like that didn't matter. Not if it was for Tubbo.
Tommy's silence didn't last long though, "What exactly made you decide that marriage was the best decision."
Ranboo thought about it for a couple moments, weighing his answer. "I'm not entirely sure. Something you guys said while you were joking just kinda stuck with me I guess. Tubbo, me, and Michael. We'd be a family. It'd be nice I guess. I don't know if I've ever had a family, I can't remember, but Tubbo and everyone else in the group including you is the closest I think I'll ever get to understanding what a family is supposed to feel like. I wanted to, I don't know, I suppose announce that to the world in a way that would matter to them?"
Tommy again nodded quietly, accepting the answer for what it was. "You aren't allowed to ever tell Tubbo, and I mean ever, but if he says yes I'll help you plan the wedding."
Ranboo's face split into a massive grin while Tommy's started to wash over with crimson. "Aww. Soft! Clingy!" Ranboo jabbed. He knew that Tommy had originally gotten jealous of how close Ranboo and Tubbo were, but Ranboo supposed that was also part of why Tommy was so easily able to understand. Tubbo had explained it as a different kind of love, the emotions were just as important, but they were in different shades so to speak. Tommy wasn't being replaced, he was still just as important to the dynamic, it was just a different kind of love. Tommy had accepted that once it clicked, and Ranboo had slowly learned how to tease Tommy for it and love him like a brother just as much as Tubbo.
"Listen. I'm still keeping an eye on you. I have to watch after him, you know? He's like my little brother!" Tommy tried in vain to justify as the red slowly sunk down his neck and up to his ears.
"He's literally older than you, but okay Tommy," Ranboo laughed. Tommy smacked him with his wing as he sped far ahead of Ranboo, shouting a litany of curse words that could barely be heard about the wings. He loved his family. He wouldn't have them any other way.
~
Tommy was exact when it came to planning out the details apparently as Ranboo was currently stuck standing around with a bouquet or roses. Not just any bouquet of roses, as Tommy was exact and knew more about flower language in its various forms that Ranboo had first given him credit for. He knew more than the normal person, almost a questionable degree Ranboo had quickly learned, and he had no idea where in the hell Tommy got he flowers when without an warning what so ever a bouquet of like pale pink and blush colored roses were shoved into his face.
The bouquet was massive. Exactly 77 of them. Tommy had counted three times.
"Chinese rose numbers. A different number of roses has a different meaning, you know?" Tommy had explained. Ranboo understandably had asked if they really needed this many and he was pretty sure Tommy had debated murder for all of half a second before purposefully explaining "That part where I said different numbers have different meanings? Yeah, that's the important part of this Ranboob. You're going to give him the flowers and since pale light pink and blush colored roses often mean friendship it'll mean in flower language a platonic marriage proposal!"
Ranboo highly doubted that Tubbo would even know that, but in an attempt to placate Tommy, Ranboo took the flowers alongside the ring he'd spent hours crafting.
Apparently though, Ranboo was wrong. Which frankly he should have expected considering the amount of time he and Tommy had been friends. Once Tommy actually tolerated a person, one of the first things you kind of had to realize was the boy loved flower language. Ranboo honestly should have been expecting Tubbo to be fluent.
The moment Ranboo had handed Tubbo the roses he'd asked how many there were. Ranboo barely managed to choke out the 77 before Tubbo had already said yes.
"I haven't even gotten to ask you! I haven't even gotten on one knee yet! I haven't even pulled out the ring yet," Ranboo said loudly, looking somewhere between upset and exasperated. Tubbo just laughed at him, struggling to hold the sheer amount of flowers that had been handed to him.
"Go ahead," Tubbo said with a roll of his eyes, pulling the flowers a little closer.
Ranboo sighed before straightening himself out and getting down on one knee. "Tubbo Underscore, will you please platonically marry me," Ranboo said, struggling to keep his expression serious.
"Yes!" Tubbo said (over exaggerating his answer as much as he could get away with), putting the bouquet to the side so that Ranboo could carefully slip the ring onto Tubbo's finger. "I am curious though, what exactly brought this on?" He asked, admiring the carefully crafted silver ring inlaid with emeralds and diamonds. They'd joked once before about getting married, how the person who decided to purpose needed to either purpose with the most hilariously gaudy and overly expensive ring they could possibly get or a Cheeto. There was no in between.
They'd need something a bit simpler when it came to actual wedding bands.
"Well," Ranboo said nervously. He slowly stood back up, tail lashing agitatedly for half a moment. "We've already talked about doing this before, right? I know they were usually jokes, but after we adopted Michael I couldn't stop thinking about what the others said. At the time it sounded like a good idea and by the time I asked Tommy for his blessing there wasn't really a lot of room to back out." He would have been murdered. Even if he hadn't asked Tubbo yet, Ranboo could say with full confidence he would have been murdered.
This managed to get a shaking laugh out of Tubbo. "Oh my god, you actually asked Tommy for his blessing? Why? How did that even go?"
"Well, usually before you purpose you ask for the parent's blessing but I don't like your parents. So I asked Tommy since he's the closest thing either of us has to family at this point. And shockingly well if I'm gonna be honest, the flowers were his idea," Ranboo said, gesturing to the pale pink and blush blooms.
Tubbo nodded slowly, "make sense."
Ranboo carefully rubbed the back of his neck. "So I guess we have a wedding to plan now, huh?"
"Guess so," Tubbo said with a grin that already had Ranboo wondering if maybe death was preferable. Whelp.
~
A date for the wedding was set and the wedding itself was slowly put together. Michael was going to be the ring bearer so that he could be included. Drista and Purpled were going to be the best men for Ranboo and Tubbo respectively. You'd assume that the ender man hybrid, Purpled, would want to be the best man for the ender dragon hybrid, Ranboo, but you'd be wrong. Instead Purpled had immediately claimed the role as Tubbo's, not that Ranboo really minded his being Drista. Honestly, if Tommy was an option then it would have probably ended up a fight over who got him (one Tubbo would likely win), but Tommy's heart was apparently dead set on flower girl, much like it had been at Fundy and Dream's sad excuse for a mock wedding that ended in disaster.
The boy, allegedly, also had a different very important job preventing him from being either but he wouldn't tell Tubbo or Ranboo what it was and that mildly scared Ranboo.
He probably would have been more insistent on knowing what this secret job was if it wasn't for the fact that Ranboo couldn't micromanage this entire thing on his own. Ranboo was currently sprawled across a chair, watching the snow fall outside the window keeping Snowchester hidden under a thick blanket.
The only thing keeping him from collapsing was the faint excitement still bulling under his skin. Tubbo walked into the room, carrying something behind his back. He smiled at Ranboo who perked up slightly at the appearance of his soon to be husband. The two had been talking for hours about logistics of the wedding before calling for a break while they waited for Purpled and Drista to come by since they were also helping. Tommy would be there later, apparently, but he wanted to finish sewing everyone's outfits first. Adding sewing to list of oddly specific skills Tommy had that Ranboo didn't know where they came from but seemed perfectly normal to Tubbo. Tubbo was like that too though, considering no one ever seemed to bat an eye at him knowing how to make nukes.
"I brought you a gift," Tubbo said with a sly grin. Before Ranboo could respond a bouquet of roses, pale pink and blush, were pushed in his direction. "100," Tubbo said before pulling out another small bundle and tucking it into the main bouquet, "and 8 more for good measure."
Ranboo blinked a couple times, having been forced to memorize all the different numbers and meanings. "I'm already marrying you!" He blurted when his mind finally caught up and the meaning of both 100 and 108 roses caught up with him.
Tubbo laughed, making sure Ranboo was holding onto the bouquet. "Just making sure you don't back out now, you know?" He said, his grin half genuine and half shit eating for lack of a better description. Ranboo just rolled his eyes, setting the flowers down carefully and pulling a stack of papers into his lap. Tubbo settled down and the two relaxed while the seat clop of hooves from upstairs continued rhythmically.
It didn't take long for a set of knocks to jolt them from their silence though. "Coming!" Tubbo shouted, jumping to his feet. Ranboo did bristle slightly, worried about who it might be. They were inviting most of the server, which logically might not be the best decision, but it was a decision that they had both eventually agreed on with the other members of the group reassuring the duo that they'd make sure nothing went wrong. The other three were very insistent that it didn't matter if it was Bad and his cronies or Techno and Phil, no one was going to be causing any trouble at the wedding.
Tommy and Purpled had been particularly insistent, their expressions matching dangerously and the glint of their teeth when they smiled silencing any doubt Ranboo had.
That being said, it didn't mean that someone wouldn't try to stop the wedding ahead of time. He was braced for the people behind the door to be anyone, from Techno to an escaped Dream. He was constantly perched on the edge of his seat waiting for that one thing to finally go wrong. But no, Tubbo swung the door open and it was just Purpled and Drista with a couple of bags in hand. "Niki agreed to make the cake!" Drista whooped.
Ranboo liked Niki. Niki, though, had been noticeably rattled for a long time. Unstable in her footing and sanity. Ranboo liked her, but he'd known the moment she joined the anarchist commune that she wasn't completely there. Over time she'd gotten better though, she'd shifted focus from trying to kill Tommy (a story he'd only ever heard second hand) to trying to focus on herself. She started baking again, apparently, so they'd asked her if she was willing to bake the wedding cake, giving her plenty of chances to back out.
He was kind of relieved that she'd agreed. It was hard to describe. It filled Ranboo with a sense of things healing the same way that the labyrinth under Tommy's house did, even if Ranboo himself had never been around to meet either before hand. He could tell Tubbo felt the same by the way that he smiled and ushered Drista and Purpled in with a chipper voice.
"We got a lot of letters back and almost everyone we sent letters to replied, saying that they were going to be attending and that they would in fact be behaving," Purpled continued as he placed a small stack of notecards they'd included with the RSVP notice.
"How'd you even manage this?" Ranboo asked as he picked up one of the cards. There was a little tick box on the top of every one that stated that the person replying would not cause any problems. If they were seeing being disruptive they wouldn't fight back against getting kicked out, nor would they swear vengeance for the perceived slight. And sure, maybe it was just a honor code thing and the responder could be lying, but still. No one had kicked up any fuss yet.
Drista shrugged, adjusting the little smiling cat emote mask she wore. Similar but different to Dream's in a way that didn't set him on edge. "Dunno. Mostly I think it was Tommy. Apparently he hand delivered all of the letters and had a pretty long Talk with ever recipient about behaving for one god damn day on this server. I was there sure, but it was mostly him doing the talking and the... reassuring that bad things would happen if the attendees couldn't get along with this little policy. I'd say he was pretty persuasive. Even Techno looked shaken."
There was a part of Ranboo that wanted to ask what in the fuck Tommy had done to Techno but there was a large part of Ranboo that didn't want to know so he simply set down the card and decided to be happy they'd be attending and hopefully behaving despite the fact that "Ranboo was marrying the government."
"Can't believe the boy who'd probably lose a fight with a bird somehow threatened the whole ass server into behaving," Purpled snarked.
"Get you a best friend who can do both," Tubbo said with a grin.
Purpled rolled his eyes as he settled down on the floor. They were mostly working through budgeting and seating and all sorts of other boring stuff. Drista set down a box of little cupcakes that Niki had handed off to them as a replacement for a proper cake tasting, so that the boys could figure out what they wanted. "You know, he's put a lot of effort into this. More than I thought he would. He trying," Purpled said.
Ranboo couldn't help smiling softly at that. "We know," Tubbo murmured as he sat back down and laced his hand with Ranboo's.
The group fell into a comfortable silence before another knock at the door drew attention to itself. Given how loud the knocking was, there was simply only one person it could have been. It was Ranboo who jumped up and opened the door, finding a very disgruntled Tommy holding a multitude of garment backs and trying to use his wings to shield himself from the snow. "Why the fuck did you pick the second coldest god damn place to live. This is absolute shit," were the first things out of his mouth and Ranboo wouldn't have it any other way.
He brushed past Ranboo, throwing the bags at their respective owners who yelped and gripped when the bags hit them in the faces before shoving the last one towards Ranboo. "Everyone's gonna take turn trying their on so I can see how they fit and then it's your job to take care of them and keep them clean until the wedding day. Once we're done with that, Ranboo, lesson time," Tommy said and the way he grinned sent ice through Ranboo's being.
Ah yes. Lessons. Specifically, lessons on how to ballroom dance. Yet another strange skill that brought up so many questions that only led to more questions than answers when asked. "Find," Ranboo said, deciding to bite the bullet and go get changed first.
~
On the day of the wedding, not a single person was brave enough to cause trouble.
Ranboo was dressed in a soft, dark green suit. The one Tubbo wore was shaded in a bit of a lighter green. The wedding started with no issues, Tommy doing the duty of the flower girl quite cheerfully for someone who didn't like to admit he like flowers until he trusted someone with his life.
The seating plan was carefully arranged to make sure no one who disliked each other was too close, keeping certain groups far away from one another so that no fights would break out. The halls of church prime were decorated beautifully and behind where the priest was supposed to stand were a 1001 beautiful pale pink and blush colored roses. Ranboo didn't know how they'd even managed to collect that many, but apparently it took Purpled and Drista somewhere over six hours and they wouldn't say anything more about it.
The music started and it was time for Ranboo to walk down the aisle. He was admittedly pretty nervous, standing just outside the door. It was terrifying, so many sets of eyes to walk in front of, but Tubbo was waiting for him at the other end. So despite the fear he had to swallow it down. Before he could actually start, though, a voice cut through his thoughts.
"Ranboo?" Tommy asked, approaching the taller man.
"What are you doing here?" Ranboo asked. Tommy straightened up slightly, smiling. Instead of a suit he was wearing robes with the symbol of Prime emblazoned onto it. Now, Ranboo hadn't actually believed it when Tubbo told him that Tommy was allegedly a priest to the god in question, but dressed like this Ranboo kind of believed it.
"You remember when I said I had that important job, right? Well. The reason you asked for my blessing was because I'm the only family Tubbo has left, right? The same kind of goes for you, big man. So I'm here to walk you down the aisle," Tommy said. Ranboo knew that the scars under his eyes were going to get deeper today, for a good reason this time, but he didn't think it'd happen this soon. His eyes began to water as Tommy held out his arm and Ranboo looped his own through it. As the music swelled, the doors opened and Tommy carefully escorted Ranboo down the aisle to where Tubbo was waiting for him.
The boy in question started grinning ear to ear the moment that Ranboo stepped through the door. Ranboo wasn't the only one with damp eyes.
Tommy let go of Ranboo's arm as Ranboo moved to take his place next to Tubbo. Instead of moving away to a seat, Tommy stepped behind the empty altar. Oh. Oh. The robes made a bit more sense now as Tommy gentle rang the bell next to the altar and silence filled the room. Tommy cleared his throat, standing up as straight as he possible could. Inside of Church Prime, his voice sounded strangely at home.
"Dearly Beloved and Honored Guests, we are gathered her together to celebrate and witness the union of these two souls. These two, despite all of the struggles on this server, were able to find each other. Find strength in one another. Today we stand here so that together they may be bound before the laws of this server and Prime itself. This union ship, entered after careful thought regarding the serious obligations and responsibilities you'll forever owe to one another, is consecrated by your actions here and now," Tommy said in a voice that strangely seemed to echo through the entire room, speaking with a kind of ease. Ranboo felt his stomach twisting and turning slightly as Tommy turned towards Tubbo.
"Tubbo. Do you take Ranboo to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, maintaining the love, loyalty, and ferocity of this pairship until death do you part?"
"I do," there was no hesitation in Tubbo's voice as he spoke, smiling gently. Tommy nodded, giving a small smile himself.
Then he turned to Ranboo.
"Ranboo. Do you take Tubbo to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, maintaining the love, loyalty, and ferocity of this pairship until death do you part?"
Ranboo could feel the words in the back of his throat, and despite the fear resting in his chest, he was able to push them out. "I do."
Tommy's smile got a little brighter. "Very well. If there are none who object to this union then you may exchange rings and with it exchange with one another your promises of commitment to one another for as long as this union may hold," he said as he motioned to the rings.
Tubbo and Ranboo only waited a half beat of silence before plucking the rings from the pillow offered up by Michael and slipping them onto one another's fingers. The entire time, Tommy's gentle smile had slipped into a harsh glare as his eyes jumped across the gathered crowd. Almost daring one of them to so much as think about voicing an objection. No words were said and the rings were carefully secured.
Tommy turned back to the duo, smile easily returning. "By the authority vested in me as acting priest of prime, I now pronounce you husband and husband." Tommy's voice was half cut off by the claps and cheers as Ranboo and Tubbo held hands, knocking foreheads together and turning to the rest of the server. With the actual ceremony done Tommy rang the bell beside the altar with zeal. Tubbo and Ranboo walked out of the church, but remained on the holy lands for the party to commence.
For the first time in a long time, everything felt fine. He had his first dance with Tubbo, though he danced with Tommy and Drista as well, Tubbo sharing a short dance with both Tommy and Purpled. Ranboo even caught Fundy dancing with Michael, picking up the little zombie piglin to twirl him and hold him. Some of the attendees left the moment the ceremony was done, but that didn't matter, because as Ranboo and Tubbo danced together everything felt hopeful.
If the party ended with five kids getting into a food fight, laughing both at and with one another with their fancy clothes smeared with cake, then that was exactly how things were supposed to be.