Work Text:
The pounding of the rain clashed with the calm atmosphere that rested in Ranboo's L'manburg home. The wood underneath him creaked as he moved around, the animals that rested on top of them lay silent, except for Enderchest, who trailed behind Ranboo's feet as he worked.
He was trying to busy himself, the enderman cleaned around the small abode, but ignored sorting his chests. Ranboo was one who liked things neat, but he would never sort his chests out of spite. He never really knew who it was in spite of, maybe himself.
The rain continues to crash against the house, it was something that was hard to ignore. Usually, Ranboo liked the calm that the rain brought, but tonight's storm was anything but, the droplets hammered away. Ranboo pulled out a bucket from one of the barrels that lined the walls, and climbed up the ladders to reach the attic. He put the metal underneath a hole, if he tried to patch the gap while the downpour decided to ravage, the home wouldn't be the only thing in bad shape. He looked at the scars on his hands, and then turned around to climb back down.
He glanced out the window, and then bent down to pet Enderchest as she continued to follow him. He wondered how Tubbo was. Ranboo hoped he was sleeping, but he knew that Tubbo was recently swamped with work, so getting rest wouldn't be on the top of his list.
Ranboo sighed, and got up and walked to the back of the house. He dug out an umbrella from his gear, along with his helmet. He wasn't able to wear the rest of his armor in L'manburg, but Tubbo made an exception for the enderman's helmet (which he was very thankful for, and made sure that Tubbo knew that often).
He gazed down at his cat for a moment, a smile came across his face. "I'll be back in a bit, I just want to make sure that Mr. President is alright." The cat meowed in response, and even though Ranboo knew cats couldn't understand, he could tell she got the general idea, due to the items he had in hand.
Ranboo placed the helmet on top of his head, and grabbed the crown that hung on an iron rod beside the door. He opened the purple umbrella, made sure it wouldn't close in on him, and then opened the door.
The sound of rain became much clearer, and the cold settled in. Ranboo shivered for a second as he got used to the temperature, and started to walk. At the sound of thunder, he quickened his pace, the puddles of water splashed up to scar him, but Ranboo ignored it so that he could get out of the rain as fast as possible.
Eventually, he made his way to the White House doors, the papers that used to hang out front now gone, the remains of why was not yet ripped by the wind swung from side to side. Yet there was one sign that still clung on. "AUTHORIZED ONLY", it read, in bold letters that would make most turn away. However, Ranboo just dug into his pocket, and pulled out a card. It was given to him shortly after the meeting with Dream, so that he could get into the White House at any moment. So that's exactly what he used it for, he swiped it in front of the reader, and smiled as it let him in.
Once Ranboo closed the door behind him, he turned over to the coat rack that stood to the side. Ranboo closed his umbrella, and slid it into the middle, which had a bucket that rested inside to collect any water. He then unequipped his helmet, and hung it up. He replaced the purple headgear with his crown, and adjusted it so that it it probably looked alright. He couldn't check however, seeing as President Tubbo removed them all as soon as the place was fully repaired.
The enderman turned, and walked down one of the halls, each step echoed, and it rang in his ears. It was just so empty, Ranboo knew that, but he made the realization everytime he journeyed through the build. It was a shell. Not that stuff needed to be here, anyway. It was rare to see Tubbo actually in the building, due to the fact that he and his cabinet liked to travel around the country constantly, brainstorming and planning. (Was Ranboo part of the cabinet now? He couldn't tell. Physically, he wasn't, he knew that. However, Tubbo didn't treat Ranboo like everyone else on his staff.)
Eventually, Ranboo made his way to the main part of the build. Two doors around his height blocked the way between him, and Tubbo's office. The intricacies of the door were unmatched, each piece of dark, heavy wood had designs carved into it from top to bottom. Whoever made these was especially skilled at their craft, that was for sure. He wasn't here to study carved wood. Ranboo brought one of his hands to the door, and knocked.
It was quiet, at first. Ranboo thought maybe that he actually went to sleep, or fell asleep right at the desk. After a few seconds however, "go away."
A short and bitter response, just like Ranboo expected from him at this time of night. Tubbo was probably exhausted, and maybe needed food, too. Ranboo knocked again, this time adding his own voice. "Mr President? It's me, Ranboo." He grabbed the edge of his suit jacket sleeve. "C.." he stumbled a bit on his words, "Can I come in? Just for a momen—"
Before Ranboo could finish his sentence, the door opened slowly, revealing the shorter boy. His brown hair was in tangles, a complete mess that almost hid his eyes and the bags that lay underneath. His suit jacket was still on, the golden epaulettes jingled as he shifted onto his right foot. Tubbo grabbed the pen that he had in his mouth, and looked up at the taller one before him. "Hey, Minutes-man." He smiled, a smile that despite being strained, was unmatched by anyone else the enderman had met. "Come on in," Tubbo spoke as he turned around, and went back into the room.
Ranboo hummed, to show that he had heard Tubbo's request, and followed him in. Ranboo closed the door behind him, and took a deep breath as he looked around the room.
If there was one word that Ranboo could use to describe the room before him, he couldn't find it, it was chaos. An oval shape which contained all sorts of things. The pattern on the floor was so intricate, he couldn't even begin to describe the shapes below his feet. There were bookshelves that covered the walls, paired with paintings of both who Ranboo assumed to be Wilbur and Schlatt. He had never seen either of them, they died before he came around. He had met Ghostbur, however, that's how he could tell who was who. There was a white couch that was near the center, and had two wooden chairs facing it. In the middle was a small coffee table, costers littered around it. Though it was nothing compared to the desk towards the back of the room.
It was a dark oak color, similar to the one which was the front door he just entered by. Though the carving of the table was hardly the most impressive thing about it. The thing that amazed Ranboo the most was the amount of items that were placed on top of it. Books after books, papers scattered across, a few had made their way to the floor. There was a cup full of pens knocked over, the writing utensils spread around. A knife lay at the corner, and chess pieces also accompanied everything else on the desk, making it one huge bundle of stuff.
Behind the desk were three windows, the binds were in the three L'manburg colors, Blue White and Red. The rain still continued to come down hard, but the sound was muted due to the multiple layers of quartz that separated the inside and out. Beside the desk, there were two chairs, both of them knocked over. On the floor around the general area, there were footprints, Ranboo couldn't tell if they were recent or not, but they were definitely a sign of pacing.
Ranboo watched as Tubbo took his place in his seat, a spinning chair that was way too big for a teen his size. He rotated around a couple times, before stopping to look right over Ranboo's shoulder. "What brings you here? It's late, not to mention.." he pointed behind him, "this is not your type of weather."
Ranboo sighed, "that is true, it hurt a bit to get here." He looked down at his ankles, the ends of his pants leg were still wet from the rain, but he tried his best to ignore the sting that continued to exist. "However, I wanted to come over here." He walked closer to the desk, and grabbed one of the chairs off of the floor and placed it in it's proper position.
"That reason being..?"
Ranboo had a hundred ways to say why he was here, each of them were true, but he decided to stick with something simple, but direct. "You."
"M—" Tubbo paused for a minute, his stance changed as he processed it. "Me? Minutes-man, I'm." He paused again, as if trying to figure out what to say. "I appreciate it, but I'm doing what everyone assumes I'd be doing, working." He chuckled.
"That's exactly what I'm here for.." Ranboo's voice grew quiet as he finished his sentence. "You've been working for too long, how about you get some rest? It's.." Ranboo glanced down at his watch, the one he and Tubbo matched. "Around Midnight, I'd say. Please, just put the pen down."
Tubbo sighed, and glanced at his own timepiece as Ranboo finished. He put one of his arms on the table, the other wrapped around his chest.
"Ranboo."
That was the first time the president had used his name during this conversation. "Tubbo?"
"I wish it was that simple," the brunet finished, "really." He got up from his seat and the desk, and started to pace as he spoke aloud. "I got so much to do and to learn still, I don't really... expect you to understand just yet. Though you will one day, I'm sure. I'll have to teach you," Tubbo looked at Ranboo, "even though I don't quite understand myself yet."
Ranboo watched as Tubbo continued to walk, his steps ricocheted across the walls. Ranboo got up himself, and walked closer to the President. "Why can't you rest? You'll be better energized in the morning, and then you can work on the papers and.. read the books.." Ranboo's argument lost steam as he continued to reach for reasons. "I can even help! Quackity can help, we can make this work."
"Quackity won't help, he says he will but he slips out once it comes to the paperwork."
Ranboo rolled his eyes, "but I'll help. I already write all day anyway, it wouldn't be much different. You just.." Ranboo took a deep breath, preparing himself. He looked directly into Tubbo's eyes. "You can't carry all of this on your shoulders by yourself." Tubbo's eyes were a light blue, similar to the sky on a cloudless day in L'manburg. Yet they were warm, which lit a flame in Ranboo himself. People had always said that eyes were the window to the soul, but he looked away before he could pull away the blinds.
When Ranboo looked away to look just pass Tubbo, he heard the other sigh. A shaky one, at that. "I have to, Ranboo. I wish I could get that into your head."
The taller just laughed softly in response. "Nothing can stay in my head." Ranboo walked closer, "now, remove the jacket, we're getting you to bed."
Tubbo pushed him away lightly, no ill-intent behind the shove. "I refuse," he smiled, "you can't tell me otherwise."
"Maybe I can't," Ranboo responded, "but you need to consider what your body wants, Tubbo. You need sleep, just as any other president before you did, good or bad." The enderman crossed his arms. "I won't be leaving your office until we've come to an agreement."
Tubbo looked up at Ranboo, and seemed to weigh his options. Ranboo just looked back, and waited. The sound of rain became more noticeable of silence, the rhythm was something that the hybrid welcomed, although he was unsure about the others thoughts. Eventually, Tubbo responded. "Fine, go ahead."
Ranboo couldn't help but smile at the response he had gotten, "thank you. Now, let's get that jacket off first." He closed the distance between the two, and pulled the heavy piece of fabric and metal off of the boy, and then set it on the chair that was behind him. He'll hang it up later, so that Tubbo has easy access to it. "That thing is heavy, are you sure it's made for you?"
He sighed in response. "Uhh... Not made for me specifically. We tried to tailor it to my size, but there was little time to get it perfect."
Ranboo nodded as he talked, and started to untie the red cloth that clung to Tubbo's neck tightly. He pulled it away, and set it on top of the jacket. "There we go, that's a start."
Tubbo crossed his arms as Ranboo took a few steps back. "I can't believe you convinced me to do this."
"To be honest?" Ranboo replied, "I can't believe it myself. Besides for Tommy, I've never seen another person touch you without getting slapped into the solar system," he couldn't help but laugh at the mental image that he had created in his head, and he could tell that Tubbo found the picture funny himself, due to the small smile that graced his face.
"If it wasn't you knocking at the door, I would've just straight up turned them down. You're.. different." Tubbo scanned Ranboo multiple times, "though I can't tell why. Maybe..." Tubbo let a shaky deep breath out, "maybe it's because I know you won't leave."
That hit Ranboo in the same way that an arrow to the heart did (trust him, he's experienced that himself). The thing was, Tubbo was right. The two hadn't even known each other as long as anyone on Tubbo's cabinet, but Ranboo was the one that always came back when everyone else had left. He knew that Tubbo needed the support. Not only that, he needed someone to guide. Ranboo was more than happy to be both. He hummed in agreement. "I would never. Now, let's get you out of this office."
He smiled, and grabbed Tubbo's wrist as he made his way towards the door. He let go of Tubbo once the two had reached the exit, and opened the door for him. "After you, Mr. President."
Tubbo chuckled, and poked Ranboo's arm. "Thank you, my Minutes-man. Let's go."