Chapter Text
“Of all people,” Tommy says, sharply pushing the bottle opener down and flinching a bit when the cap of his cream soda pops off loudly, “You pick my brother to teach you to play guitar?”
“Our town is roughly three miles long, and then you’ve got another twelve until you hit the next town. Where else will I find an angsty, musical young adult to teach me their ways?” Tubbo says, bringing his own soda bottle to his mouth and tapping his heel against the curb.
Tommy shrugs, tossing the bottle cap down the sewer vent and pausing a moment to hear it clink down. “Guess you’re right.”
“When am I not?”
Tommy gives Tubbo a look.
“What?”
“Forget it. Anyway, ‘least you have an excuse to stay over more.”
Tubbo grins with the realization. “You’re right! We could do this every night if we wanted!”
Tommy grins back. “My supply of cream soda is limited, big guy, but we totally could.”
“Is this really cream soda?” Tubbo says, glancing at the pale orange liquid in his bottle.
“It’s orange flavored.”
“That exists?”
“Techno came home with it Saturday, I dunno. He always comes home with something new. Dad calls him an ‘explorer’.” Tommy says, doing air quotes before taking a swig of his soda.
Silence falls upon both of them. Tubbo stares at the streetlight’s reflection in the wet pavement. The air’s cold after the rain, and the chilly drinks doesn’t ease it any. Tubbo rubs his shoulders a bit, the glass making a sound against his sweater.
“So,” Tommy says, dragging out the ‘o’, “What else is new?”
Tubbo hums, searching his head. “Oh! Dream’s tutoring a kid.”
Tommy snorts. “In music too?”
“Oh, god no. As much as Dream wishes, everyone on this earth knows that could never happen.” Tubbo laughs. “English, I’m pretty sure. He’s a talented author, y’know.”
“Oh, I know. Techno punched a hole in Wilbur’s wall when Dream beat him in the poetry contest last year.” Tommy remarks, and Tubbo cackles.
“The hole that Bo Burnham’s face now covers?”
“Yup,” Tommy pops the ‘p’, “Right next to Wilbur’s door. Techno did all of Wilbur’s chores for a year. Still doin’ em, I think. Y’know, if you look closely, the other side of the wall in the hallway has a little bump from where Techno’s knuckles came in. Kinda sick if you ask me.”
“He’s got brain and brawns. I’m a little jealous.” Tubbo chuckles.
“Dunno about brains. But he’s got something close, I guess. Moving on from that, d’you know the kid Dream’s tutoring?”
“Nope. Dream said he’s in our class, though I’ve never seen him so I couldn’t tell you who. He tutors me like, an hour after Wilbur does apparently. So he’s being tutored right now, probably.” Tubbo takes another gulp of his soda. It was good, but had a strange aftertaste. Maybe that’s what kept you drinking it.
“In our class, huh? Surely we know them, then.”
“Unless it’s the new kid.”
Tommy raises an eyebrow. “Allyson? Dude. If your brother is tutoring Allyson, I’ll be over too. Joint lessons.”
Tubbo laughs, shoving his friend slightly. “Ew. I’d never let you. We’ve got two new kids though, don’t we?”
“Yeah, we do. It’s a record.”
“No it isn't. We had like, four new kids in elementary school.”
“And they all moved away a year after they came.”
The bottle clinks against Tubbo’s teeth. Touché.
“Two’s still not a record.”
“Whatever. Other kid’s name is like...Ranboo, I think? I could ask Techno. Techno was the one who toured him on his first day.”
“Maybe it’s him, then. Dunno what girl in her right mind would want private lessons with my brother.” Tubbo says.
“Girls love your brother.”
“I know. I hate it. It’s ‘cause he’s blonde, you know. I got the bad genes.”
“You’re right, it is ‘cause he’s blonde. I’m blonde. I would know.” Tommy says, sitting up a bit straighter.
“I take it back.”
Tommy turns to face Tubbo, a look of betrayal on his face. “Dude. What the fuck.”
Tubbo smirks, looking back at the reflective street. “I bet I’d get a lot of girls if I had my mom’s cool half and half hair. I truly am not very lucky.”
“You can’t just change the subject like that!” Tommy squawks.
Tubbo grins, staring his best friend down. “Did you know my favorite color is dark green?”
”Tubbo!”
-
Mornings in the Minecraft family always made staying over much more exciting. Especially on weekdays.
Tubbo had two brothers and one parent himself, but nothing was as chaotic as Tommy’s household was.
Mornings in Tubbo’s family tended to be mellow. Foolish woke up at the asscrack of dawn, stomping down the hallway to wake up everyone else. “Chaos” could be considered Dream and Foolish throwing a football back and forth over the kitchen counter while Puffy yelled at them, but nothing beyond that.
Tommy’s household didn’t even compare.
The second the sun rose over the trees, the three brothers rose, and the battle of the bathroom commenced.
Despite there being two sinks in the shared bathroom, the brothers were adamant in having the entire bathroom to themselves while they got ready. Only Tubbo was allowed to be there with whatever brother had gotten to the bathroom first, and that earned him dirty looks from the two brothers who were forced to wait.
This time around, he was washing up with Wilbur, who talked about music with him through toothpaste-filled mouths and over the sound of hairbrushes and running water.
“You’re a traitor.” Tommy says once Tubbo and Wilbur emerge the bathroom and Techno quickly enters.
“I’m no traitor. It’s just my privilege as the guest.”
“Keep talking shit and I’ll lick you.”
“What the fuck?! How old are you?!” Tubbo exclaims as Tommy sticks out his tongue and aims for Tubbo’s exposed hand.
“Stop being gross. I’m driving us today.” Wilbur says from down the hall, standing in his bedroom doorway and stuffing some papers into his backpack.
“Aw. Is Mr. Minecraft going to work early?” Tubbo asks. He was rather fond of Tommy’s dad. He had become a sort of father figure for him, being the only strong male figure in his life besides Dream and Foolish.
“Yep. You could probably catch him before he heads out if you go downstairs now, though.”
Tubbo takes that as his cue to stomp downstairs, spotting Phil by the door packing up his briefcase.
“Mr. Minecraft!” Tubbo exclaims happily.
“Mornin’, Tubbo. You know you can just call me Phil.” He says warmly.
Tubbo chuckles. “I forget. Thank you for having me last night!”
“Anytime! Have a good day at school.” Phil says, before cupping his hands around his mouth. ”Boys!”
A chorus of “Yeah?”’s sound from upstairs.
“I’m off! Have a nice day at school, don’t start shit!”
Another chorus of “Yeah”’s, with some goodbyes and “ayup”s thrown in as well.
With a small salute, Mr. Minecraft opens the door and makes his way out.
Soon enough, all the boys are ready. They pile into the car (Tommy and Techno briefly fight over who gets to sit shotgun), and after a few tries, the engine starts.
“Old ass car.” Tommy mutters (from the backseat beside Tubbo).
“It’s got charm.” Wilbur says, Techno nodding in agreement.
“You’re weird.”
“I’m sentimental. There's a difference.”
“Ey, Tubs.”
Tubbo glances over at Tommy, raising an eyebrow.
“Say ‘sentimental’ without the ‘senti’.”
Tubbo pauses. “Mental?”
“Yeah. That’s what you are, Wilbur.”
“Piss off.”
-
The day is surprisingly cold, and frost lines the sidewalks and crunches under the boys shoes when they walk through the grassy front field.
“I swear it was August like, two days ago.” Tommy mutters as they walk into their warm homeroom class.
“Nope. It’s October.” Tubbo chirps, throwing his backpack down by his chair.
“I know, I meant like-” The morning bell ringing cuts Tommy off, and the two boys finish their conversation and turn their attention to their teacher who walks to the front of the classroom.
Eventually, Tubbo’s last class period rolls around, and he arrives in his classroom to see the one most terrifying thing imaginable.
A new seating chart.
He groans (mentally. No one can know his inner despair.), and goes to glance at the paper on his teacher’s desk.
Well. At least he was sitting in the back of the room now. But, next to someone he didn’t know.
He squinted to read the name better. Ranboo.
Wait.
New kid! Potential kid Dream is tutoring!
Alright, maybe the new seating chart wasn’t that bad.
Although it would be rather embarrassing if Tubbo started a conversation only to discover that this kid doesn’t know his brother, and Allyson really is the one getting tutored by his brother.
Well, he could only wait and see.
Ranboo was already seated when Tubbo found his way over to his desk.
For a moment, Tubbo lets himself observe the other boy.
Two-toned hair (like his Mom. Sick.), warm-looking purple sweater (looks soft too. Tubbo wouldn’t mind burying his face into fabric as fuzzy as that). Wait. Were his eyes two different colors too? That’s fucking awesome.
Ranboo looks up, meeting Tubbo’s gaze.
Tubbo’s face instantly heats up and he quickly scrambles to face forwards and focus on his work, nearly knocking his pencil off his desk in the process.
Surprisingly, Ranboo lets out a low chuckle.
Maybe Tubbo likes the sound.
Tubbo swallows hard, realizing how bad his observation looked from an outside standpoint. He probably looked like he was checking Ranboo out.
Which, technically, he was.
Maybe, Tubbo had also noticed that Ranboo’s legs were long and tucked all weird under his desk. He was probably tall. And maybe Tubbo noticed that Ranboo had a nice face. And that his eyes weren't just cool, but super pretty too.
“You’re Tubbo, right?” Ranboo says suddenly and oh god, his voice is nice too.
“Mhm, that’s me.” Tubbo says, playing off his embarrassment as he looks back over to Ranboo. “And you’re Ranboo the new kid.”
Ranboo raises an eyebrow. “Is that how I’m known?”
“By me and my friend, yeah.”
“If you’re Tubbo, then Dream is your older brother.” Ranboo says.
Tubbo nods. “Yup, one of two.” He smiles a bit, twirling his pencil. “So you’re the kid my brother is tutoring.”
“That’d be me. Did he not tell you my name?”
“Dream’s weird about that kind of stuff. Even if he did, I’d just be looking harder for you.”
A bit of color springs to Ranboo’s face (Tubbo fights down the bit of him that squeals). “You were looking for me?”
“Course I was! You come to my house nightly. I’d like to get to know the stranger in my home.” Tubbo exclaims. “That being said, you’re coming by tonight too, right?”
“Yeah, I am. Thursdays and Fridays.”
“Can’t believe you’ll be spending your Friday evening with an English tutor.” Tubbo grimaces at the thought.
“Well, Dream’s cool. He’s funny. Plus,” Ranboo smiles a bit, glancing down at his desk. “Maybe now that we know each other, we can hang out after my session with him.”
Tubbo’s heart flutters a bit.
“Sounds like a plan.”