Chapter Text
A tall man stood in a large ornate bedroom with a wooden four-poster bed against one wall and a sturdy wooden desk against another. Along one of the walls was a large window looking out onto the grounds of the large mansion and further beyond to the lands of the Underworld. The tall man with black and white hair and skin with intense green and red eyes was Ranboo, the god of the dead and King of the Underworld. Ranboo was described by many others as a quiet king who often avoided eye contact and kept to himself, rarely venturing out of his mansion where he carried out his duties as both a god and King.
The quiet man heard a creak behind him, causing him to turn towards the sound. The ornate wooden door that was the only entrance into the bedroom was adorned with flowers carved into the wood, had opened slightly.
"Who's there?" Ranboo called towards the door, while running through a list of people that could be coming to see him, the ruler did not get many visitors, so this intrusion was out of place. He hoped it was his Cerberus, he needed the comfort as he had been experiencing higher levels of distress in the last few days. Ranboo’s memory often failed him, causing him to keep a diary that he had named a memory book, however, some time ago, a book that contained people he knew, and his most important events had been taken from him. This book also contained where he had kept other memory books that also contained similar events, so the ruler had had to rely on the members of his court to ensure that he was not forgetting anyone. Recently, he had felt like he was forgetting something or someone important, but he could not work out what. He had no clue what his hazy memory was trying to remember, he just knew it was important.
A short, brown-haired man stepped through the door, his hair was covering his eyes and had curved horns coming out of either side of his head similar to that of a ram’s. His clothes looked ornate with various flowers sewn into the fabric, they were loose-fitting creating a flowing, dynamic look to them, adding to the already ethereal look to him. Ranboo did not recognise him, though the man felt familiar, his hair, clothes, everything about him seemed familiar, but this ethereal man could not be placed within his memory.
Not knowing who this strange man was, and along with feeling some familiarity of the man, created unease within Ranboo, he could feel a knot in his chest start to rise along with his breath coming in shorter bursts. Who was this man? How had he gained access to his room? It was meant to be private, no one but him and a few select trusted members of his court could reach this place. Before his thoughts could spiral sooner a voice cut through.
“Bossman?” The horned man called out into the large room, “Autumn started, I’m back until spring. I’ve missed being here, being with you.” That voice, it also sounded familiar, who was this man? Why were so many things about him be so familiar? Ranboo could normally remember important things, important people, so why did he not know this person?
“Who-who are you?” Ranboo hated how his voice shook when asking the question, he was meant to be the fearsome god, King of the Underworld, and here he was broken by a man he could not remember. Where was that memory book? That book must have had this man in it. How could he have lost it? He thought his court would have told him everything important, but they seemed to of missed a person from his life. This person seemed important to him and his life, especially if he was able to reach his room. Why would they do that? Once Ranboo worked out who this person was he was going to have to investigate what had happened to find why a person had been missed from the important details that were needed to be known.
“Ranboo? It’s me, Tubbo?” Tubbo’s? posture changed from confident and excited to shrunken within himself, head down, shoulders slouched. “What happened? You always remember me when I come back. Where is your memory book? I’m in it right at the front?”
“It’s gone, I lost it,” Ranboo said quietly “You were in it?”
“How is it gon-wait never mind” He steps forward getting closer to Ranboo almost within arm’s length. “I am Tubbo, your Consort- “
“Consort?”
“Yes, Consort, let me finish explaining” He smiles, the happiness doesn’t go up to his eyes, Ranboo notices, but, this Tubbo person was slowly capturing his attention. Ranboo could barely listen to the explanation, he was just entranced by the person in front of him.
“Ranboo? Did you hear anything I just said?” Tubbo sighs softly, looking at the god with an exasperated expression.
“No” Ranboo replies softly “Can you please repeat?” Tubbo then launched into the explanation again, Ranboo hung on to every word said. Taking in that Tubbo had been gone for six months, that he had had to leave to allow the overworld to experience spring and summer and to appease a deal made with his mother, Demeter. How he had eaten six pomegranate seeds and that was what allowed him to stay with Ranboo. How they both had come together at first just as friends with Tubbo trying to get away from his past but had slowly fallen in love with one another.
Ranboo was struck by the story and could feel some memories of them together fall in place, Ranboo slowly moved away from Tubbo and pick up a leather-bound book from a table. The book had ‘Do Not Read’ etched into the front, the edges were worn, and the pages wrinkled, there was a pen attached to allow for easy writing. Ranboo sat at the desk and started to write down what had been explained to him by his apparent Consort, he could not allow himself to forget this man, his Consort, someone who seemed to be once an important figure in life that would bring him joy and love, again. He felt a weight over his shoulders and looked up to see the now reassuring face of the horned man, Tubbo started to pull the god out of his seat and towards the large window facing out onto the grounds and the underworld.
“You don’t need to worry about writing it all down again now,” Tubbo says reassuringly “I’m not gonna be gone tomorrow, memory boy, we have plenty of time to go over it again. Let us just take this evening for ourselves.”
They both turn and look out the window, arms around each other taking comfort that at that moment in time everything would be okay, and they had time to remember and make new memories.