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“Mate, you’ve already had too much sugar today.” Ranboo said, gently taking the bag of Skittles from Tubbo’s hands. “And we’re streaming in half an hour. You’re gonna crash, bad, and I’m gonna be the one dealing with it.”
Tubbo whined, making grabby hands for the candy and attempting to snatch them when Ranboo didn’t relent. He held them up over his head, earning a pout and hands reaching for it, scrabbling for a hold on his hoodie.
“Ranboo!” He grumbled. “Give it back! I want my sweets!”
“Nope.” He placed them on the top of the bookshelf to his right, pushing them to the back and out of sight. “No more sugar. “I am not dealing with your stupid bits about dick that you do when you’re hyper, this stream is going to be bad enough as it is.”
Tubbo only giggled, exactly proving his point. He was already hopped up on candy and an energy drink and god knows what else- Ranboo knew from his long distance calls with Tubbo that he would act like this for a few hours and then crash, and he would be dealing with the aftermath. Which would be a clingy, sleepy, whiny boy who would latch onto him and ramble for a while before falling asleep.
Ranboo sighed. “Come on dude, let’s just get ready for the stream. You are going to be so hyper.”
~~~~
“Hi everyone!” Ranboo waved at the camera. “We’re doing a spooky stream today! Tubbo’s just gonna be hanging out in the background while I do this.”
Speaking of, said boy was swinging his feet back and forth in his chair, an excited grin on his face and Ranboo could tell he was practically buzzing. He hoped the older could make it through the next few hours without crashing, but he didn’t have high hopes. The more sugar he had, the harder and faster he crashed, Ranboo knew from experience.
“Yeah!” He exclaimed. “I get to watch Ranboo get jumpscared!”
Ranboo scowled beneath his mask. “Of course you’re excited about this.”
“Yep!”
~~~~
Ranboo didn’t know where he had gotten it, but at some point he pulled a full bottle of chocolate milk from the fridge and began swigging it, much to Ranboo’s horror. God, that was even more sugar and an even more hyper Tubbo he’d have to deal with after stream. Just his luck. He truly didn’t mind, not in any meaningful way, he got to spend more time with his friend, but he did get a little concerned at Tubbo’s self-destructive tendencies.
They ended the stream in the early hours of the morning, sometime around 2am. Ranboo yawned and pulled his mask and glasses off with a relieved sigh, rubbing his eyes, before turning to his friend. Tubbo had finished the bottle and was now pushing it around on the desk with his fingertips, humming slightly. Ranboo noted he looked a little pale.
“I’m tired.” Ranboo mumbled. “I think I’ll head off to bed.”
“Awwww.” Tubbo pouted. “I wanted to watch a movie. Can we watch a movie first? You said you’d watch Black Widow with me!”
“I guess.” He slurred. “But don’t blame me if I fall asleep.”
“Yay! Come on, come on! I’ll get it set up!”
Ranboo rolled his eyes fondly as his friend dragged him from the desk to the couch, collapsing on it. Tubbo was still buzzing, running back and forth, turning on the TV, grabbing blankets, turning down the lights and shutting off the computer. Ranboo could hear him giggling. The movie started and Tubbo threw his legs up over Ranboo’s lap, bouncing one of them, beginning his commentary straight away. It was the best part of watching anything with him- he talked the entire time about anything that came to mind.
“Oo, she’s got blue hair!” “Dude, that plane is taking off way too slowly.” “Why the fuck are they in Cuba!?”
~~~~
About half an hour after the movie ended, Ranboo’s chin was resting on his chest, and he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Tubbo was still talking about anything that came to his mind, about the characters, plot, costume, the overall Marvel cinematic universe, and while it was enduring, he really needed to sleep. Tubbo had yet to crash.
“-and like, I get the post-credits is a set up for later stuff but come on, couldn’t you at least wrap up some of the loose ends? What happened to the other Widows? I wanna know what happened to them! Did Yelena do anything with that flash drive Natasha gave her? Did they disarm the Widows we didn’t see? Like, come on, they could have done so much more-”
“Tubbo man, I get it…” Ranboo slurred, pressing his head into his knees. “But I’m so tired. Can I have my couch back so I can go to bed please?”
“Not until you call it a sofa.” Tubbo said triumphantly, giggling.
“Please Tubbo.” He whined. “I just wanna go to bed.”
“Aw, alright.” He stuck out his bottom lip. “You can have your sofa back. Here,” he handed back the blanket, “night dude.”
“G’dnight.”
Ranboo, relieved, immediately curled up in a tight ball and buried himself in the pile of blankets, allowing the silence to wash over him. Tubbo had left, assumedly to have a shower. As much as he loved his friend, he still greatly appreciated any time to himself- he was an introvert, after all.
He was just about to drop off to sleep when Tubbo returned, stumbling around in the dark, dissolving into curses at one point when he stubbed his toe on something. Ranboo knew he was trying to be quiet, but it wasn’t working.
What caught his attention was when Tubbo stopped, letting out a low groan. It sounded painful. He poked his head up from his nest and watched his friend wrap an arm around his stomach, leaning against the ladder to the loft, face pinched in discomfort.
“You alright?” He asked into the darkness.
“Mm.” He groaned again, burping into the back of his hand. “Too much chocolate milk I think.” Tubbo paused. “Is this a good time to mention that my mum thinks I might be lactose intolerant?”
“Tubbo!” He wrestled the blankets away, rushing to his friend. “Jesus Christ, why didn’t you say anything before?”
“Cause I’d rather not- not say anything on stream about it.” He grumbled. He burped again. “Didn’t want to give them another thing to infant… infantil…ilize about me. God knows what they’d do with that.”
“Are you okay though? Do you think you might be sick?” Ranboo asked, concerned at the way he was swaying.
“Maybe, I dunno. I- I think it might be the milk and an energy crash too, you were right about having too much sugar.”
“Mm, wonder why. It’s not like I saw it firsthand constantly.”
“Shush.” Tubbo griped. “Being self-destructive is my specialty, and I- fucking hell-”
Tubbo swayed, dangerously close to collapsing for a moment. Ranboo caught him quickly, securing his arms around his waist, bringing them to the floor so they could both sit down. Tubbo looked positively miserable. He was pale, sweaty and shaking, stomach gurgling audibly, face still pinched. He kept one arm over his stomach.
“Oo…” He groaned, leaning forwards. “Really not feeling good.”
“Right, bathroom, come on.” Ranboo pulled him back to his feet. Tubbo stumbled, eyes half closed. “I’ve got you, just walk and I’ll steer you.”
He took Tubbo’s shoulders and pushed him in the direction of the bathroom, increasingly concerned as the older belched, groaned and then gagged. Quick, quickly! His alarmed brain repeated. He only just managed to get Tubbo leaning over the toilet before he vomited a mixture of bright blue and brown- the result of the sweets and chocolate milk he had eaten over the day.
The only thing Ranboo could do was rub circles on his back, wrinkling his nose and trying not to be sick himself. Tubbo gagged one final time before falling back against him, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and groaning.
“I know this is my fault, but this fucking sucks.”
“At least you can admit it.” Ranboo sighed. “But yeah, it does. Think you’ll be able to go to bed now?”
Tubbo nodded sluggishly. “Could you grab me a glass of water first?”
“Course, give me a sec.”
He returned with a glass of cold water and a blanket, since the older was shivering, and tucked it around him. He took a moment to clean everything up.
“Bed now?”
“Mhm. Yeah.”
It was a bit of a task getting someone who was stumbling every second step up the ladder and into bed, especially when he was holding a half full glass and yawning, but they made it. He set the glass down on the bedside table and collapsed into bed, grumbling about intolerances and how he just wanted to drink some chocolate milk.
“Have we learned anything today?” Ranboo joked.
“No.” He laughed. “Absolutely not. You know I’ll definitely get another bag of candy and do the whole thing again.”
“Gremlin. Will you at least no drink an entire bottle of chocolate milk?”
“Mmmm…” He paused. “Maybe. I dunno, I think I like chocolate milk too much not have it.”
“You and every other lactose intolerant person in existence. I swear, you just don’t care!” Ranboo chuckled.
“We don’t, dairy products are too good! Do you know what it’s like to have to live without cheese, and ice cream, and chocolate milk! And just, like, chocolate in general!” He pouted, throwing his arms up. Ranboo pushed them back down.
“It is calm time, let’s not get ramped back up. Bedtime for a gremlin.”
“Hey!” He protested, but his voice was fading fast. “Not a gremlin.”
“Mhm, sure, I bet everyone else would have something to say about that.”
Ranboo was just up there to tuck him into bed and then head down to the couch to sleep, but he quickly realized that Tubbo wasn’t going to agree with that. He had latched both hands onto the front of Ranboo’s hoodie and refused to let go, whining when he attempted to pull away.
“Am I staying then?” He chuckled. Tubbo nodded happily.
“Yeah.” He chirped. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Ranboo sighed fondly, giving in immediately. He placed his arms around Tubbo and pulled him into a gentle hug, hissing as a pair of cold feet brushing his legs.
“Catboo.” The sleepy boy murmured, moving his feet again. Ranboo playfully pushed him away, huffing.
“No cuddles if you keep doing that.”
“Aww, ‘boo, no!” He pouted. “Want cuddles!”
“Then stop be a bastard and go to sleep.” Ranboo laughed. “You know, like I wanted to do two hours ago?”