Work Text:
Ranboo felt small rays of sun lay across his skin, the smell of flowers almost too strong for his liking. Michael seemed to be unaware of anything, just running around the flower forest and giggling as butterflies flew past him. His pink hair was messy like always and a smile largely present on his face.
“What flower is your favorite?” Ranboo asked, grabbing Michael’s attention.
He stilled as his eyes roamed the field, “I like this one.”
He pointed towards a flower that looked to be a mixture of pink and purple, lighter than his favorite allium: a peony.
“It’s like, two times your size,” Ranboo laughed, picking off one of the spare flowers and placing it gently in Michael’s hair.
Michael smiled and Ranboo took out his phone, the device they used to communicate long-distance and what everyone referred to as ‘whispering’ to each other. He wanted to get a picture with Michael, it would be a good addition to the Father's Day gift for Tubbo.
That was the reason they were wandering through the valley close to Kinoko Kingdom. Tomorrow was their first Father's Day together and while Ranboo hadn’t really participated in one before, at least from what he could remember, he wanted to make it special.
Michael giggled again as the camera clicked, an acknowledgment that the photo was taken. It was kind of like a polaroid, dispensing itself from his phone. He held it safely in his hand, not wanting to risk it getting wrinkled in his pocket.
“Do you remember what flower is Tubbo’s favorite?”
“You always get him-” Michael stopped to think about it, “pink tulips!”
“Mhm,” Ranboo nodded.
“And yours is a-lee-uhm.” Michael sounded the word out, it was harder to grasp than a two-syllable and easy to roll off the tongue word, “Tubbo got you some the last day-”
“Wait, don’t spoil the surprise,” Ranboo laughed, Michael now trying to cover up his words, “And the word for a day that has gone is yesterday instead of ‘the last day.’”
“Yeh-str-day?”
Ranboo nodded.
He giggled, “Okay!”
After picking a few pink tulips and a variety of berries, Ranboo took Michael in his arms, walking back the longer journey to Snowchester.
//
He woke up to the smell of breakfast being made and groggily got out of bed, slipping his wedding ring onto his finger. He could hear faint giggles coming from below signaling that Michael was already up. Either Ranboo had slept in, or Tubbo was up fairly early.
He got dressed into a more relaxed outfit, ditching his suit for once. He figured today was just going to be a nice, chill day where he wouldn’t have to worry about much.
After brushing his long hair, he made his way downstairs, immediately bracing for a hug whenever Michael ran over to him.
“Happy Fathers Day!”
Ranboo picked him up, spinning him around as he laughed, “Ready for the ride of your life?”
They had done this multiple times before to the point where Michael would finish his homeschooling and immediately ask for what Ranboo had childishly named ‘the ride of your life.’ And Michael would always be giggling for more spinning even after the both of them were dizzy.
Tubbo watched them turn with a fond smile: they were his half-enderman husband and zombie pigman son that he wouldn’t change for the world.
“We should go before it gets too hot and everyone starts crowding the smp,” Tubbo suggested.
“What’re we doing?” Ranboo asked, placing Michael on his feet.
Tubbo had been the one coming up with plans for the day.
“You’ll see,” he answered, “I can’t give away the small surprise.”
Ranboo grabbed the cake he had made the day prior, the pink tulips, berries, and photo. He followed Tubbo out of the doorway and they made their journey towards a small patch of grass a bit away from Tommy’s dirt house. Ranboo noticed that a few trees had been planted as a way to give shade, probably from Tubbo’s preparations beforehand.
A red and white plaid blanket revealed the secret plans.
“A picnic?”
“Mhm.” Tubbo nodded, placing the food items onto the blanket, “And, Michael and I made us flower crowns.”
Michael was looking intently at his, finally sitting down next to the duo. Ranboo placed his own golden crown on the ground and the flowers laid almost weightlessly in comparison.
“They’re very pretty, you guys did a great job,” Ranboo smiled, handing the pink tulips to Tubbo that was accompanied by the picture.
“Aw,” Tubbo drew, “Look at the flower in his hair!”
“The peony?”
“It's my favorite,” Michael said, eating a couple of berries.
Footsteps signaled another person joining in on their conversation, “What are you doing outside of my house?”
“Uncle Tommy!” Michael stood, running to embrace him in a hug.
“No, no. I am not your uncle!” He yelled, though by now, Michael knew he was only joking.
“Happy Father's Day!”
“ No, no, no, no, no for fucks sake . I’m not a Father!”
“Not around the child!” Ranboo warned lightheartedly.
Tubbo choked over his laughter. It seemed Michael didn’t entirely understand the distinction between dads and childless men.
“You can join us, Tommy,” Tubbo invited, passing a slice of cake.
“Well, I wanted to visit someone today. Y’know, ask for some drugs. ”
Michael had sat back down by now, returning to the cake that Tubbo had given only a little bit of.
“There is plenty of time to see Phil later and thank him for being a father fig-”
“I was not going to see Phil. I’m telling you, it’s the drugs I want!” He said, cutting off Ranboo.
“Just take like, half an hour to sit with us,” Ranboo asked.
“I don’t know Mr. Boo man.”
“I’ll let you wear my crown-”
“You have a deal.”
The blonde started some needless ranting about having ‘all of the power’ now that Ranboo’s crown was upon his head. As a normal conversation sprung, Michael was playing with a random soccer ball that had been left there, Tubbo lightly starting to braid Ranboo’s hair. It was something that he did a lot whenever the wind started to pick up and Ranboo’s loose multi-colored locks blew with it.
“Why are you copying my braid?” Tommy complained.
“Yours is literally the side of my finger,” Tubbo explained, “If anything Ranboo’s hair can actually go fairly long with it.”
“My mini-braid is the best and you cannot compete with greatness.”
“If Michael had a mini braid he would definitely compete,” Ranboo challenged.
“Wait!” There was a small call from the grass, “I want a braid!”
“No bitch, I will out-compete you!”
“And I want the small white flowers with each one too!”
“Daisies?” Tubbo asked.
A nod was received.
“This isn’t fair. I can’t win against a smaller child!”
“I’m gonna beat Uncle Tommy,” Michael giggled.
“Not true!”
By the end of their small debate, everyone had braids loosely created in their hair. Tommy had left first, making good on his agenda to visit Phil in the snowy area of Ranboo’s second house. The half-enderman figured he would give thanks the next time he was in the area.
“Today was a lot of fun,” Michael cheered, walking through the forest on their way back to Snowchester. He had been singing a happy tune, gently grasping a flower he had picked within his hands.
“We should make that kind of like a tradition,” Tubbo suggested, “Every year we’ll do that and invite Tommy or anyone else that wants to hang out.”
“I think that’d be a lot of fun,” Ranboo agreed.
When they got home, Michael had been in the living room playing with his plush chicken as the two talked: Ranboo placing the dishes in the dishwasher -- attempting to not get any liquid on him -- and Tubbo going through the mail.
“Ranboo, there's a letter for you with no return address.”
“What?”
“Yeah, come look.”
When he had made his way over, he carefully opened the mail and was greeted with enderman language.
“What is that?”
“Oh, uh. It’s in enderman.”
Tubbo looked up, it was the first time he had heard about the language but it made sense, “Can you read it?”
He responded with an uneasy nod, reading the message in his head.
“ Dear Ranboo, if you are somehow still alive and well with regained memories, come find me. It’d be nice to see you again, son.”
He stumbled back, hand slipping off of the table that was supporting his weight. A large glass plate that had been close to his fingers flipped from the change in position, shattering on the ground and cutting the taller teenager.
“Ranboo!” Tubbo panicked, swiftly grabbing a few bandages in hopes of stopping the bleeding.
When blueish-green eyes met irregular purple ones, Tubbo collapsed back and heard a soft ‘zvoomp’ before he had realized his mistake. For some reason, Ranboo was in an enderwalking state which could rarely handle Tubbo staring at him. But for some reason, part of him thought the reason was not on his own accord, but rather the letters that had disappeared with Ranboo.
The brunette quickly got up, opening the door to a chill evening, “Ranboo!”
And yet his pleas for his husband's return went well unanswered.