Chapter Text
“Tubbo.” The gentle shake on his shoulder brought him back to the present. “You listening, Tubbo?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Tubbo rubbed his eye with the back of his hand. “Sorry bossman, just zoning out a little.” Quackity gave him a slight nod before looking back down at his clipboard.
“Like I was saying,” He turned back to look at Tubbo before gesturing to the docks in front of them. “Construction on the stage slash podium is all done, Fundy confirmed to me this morning. With that, everything seems to be all in order, besides finalizing residency for some of these homes and I think… Niki— she wanted you to sign off on something for her bakery. She left a letter.” Tubbo just nodded. For a country that had not too long ago been blown to pieces, L’manberg— New L’manberg— was looking pretty damn good. Largely thanks to Ghostbur, whose focus— unlike his living counterpart— was on creating rather than destroying, the country was looking better than it ever had before. Free of its walls, still standing above the destruction that tried to bring it down. Tubbo was proud of L’manberg. His country. His country.
It was still a hard concept for him to grasp, even weeks later. Tubbo never expected to be made President, but he vowed to protect this country. To make peace. To fix up L’manberg to how it was in its heyday. Maybe they weren’t quite there yet, but Tubbo wasn't going to give up until it was.
“Besides construction news, we’ve obviously got a few things on the agenda for tonight,” Quackity said as he adjusted his beanie. Tubbo nodded quickly.
“Yeah, I was noticing the… lack of decorations. The party’s in like, a few hours. What’s going on?” Quackity rubbed the back of his neck.
“I, uh, didn’t really want you to be around when we put up the decorations. Just in case,” he mumbled, looking at his feet. Tubbo nodded slowly with realization. The… incident… at the festival had happened almost 2 months ago by now. Tubbo wasn’t going to pretend like it didn’t affect him. He still had nightmares. Almost every night. Couldn’t handle fireworks— or any kind of explosions for that matter— in any capacity. Developed an intense fear of enclosed spaces. It fucked him up. But seeing decorations put up for a party?
“I appreciate the effort, Big Q, but I can stand to see some party decorations put up. Just don’t put me in a box or anything, alright?” He said with a chuckle. A dark joke, not one too well received by Quackity, who clearly was still feeling guilty over the whole ordeal. Tubbo forgave him quickly, of course. That’s just how he is. And maybe Tubbo should feel bad for making him uncomfortable with the joke, but, you know, it’s payback.
“Anyways,” Tubbo started, interrupting the silence. “D’you know the newbies who are coming tonight? There’s like three of ‘em, right?”
Quackity cleared his throat and flipped to a different page on his clipboard. “Yeah, we’ve got… Captain… Puffy. Connor— ConnorEatsPants? Okay then. And Ran? Ron? How do you pronounce this? Boo. Ranboo.”
“Those are some names,” Tubbo replied, grinning. “Looking forward to meeting them tonight.”
“Oh, speaking of meeting up tonight,” Quackity’s cheerful expression dimmed. “I got a message from Dream. He wants to speak with you at the party tonight.” Tubbo sighed.
“Did he tell you about what?”
“Nope. Was just fucking ominous as ever.”
“Of course. Well, I guess I’ll figure it out tonight then.” A buzz from his pocket. Another buzz from his pocket. Two more subsequent buzzes from his pocket. “Let me guess who,” Tubbo said with a chuckle as he pulled his communicator out.
Four New Messages From: TommyInnit
TommyInnit whispers to you: tubbo
TommyInnit whispers to you: tubbo help how do you tie a tie
TommyInnit whispers to you: tubbo plz i dont know what to do
TommyInnit whispers to you: anwser ur fuckign texts tubbo i need help
Tubbo sighed. “Duty calls,” he said, gesturing with his communicator.
“I see. Well, I’ll get the rest of this figured out and I’ll see you at the party, Mr. President.” Tubbo nodded and gave him a small salute with the hand still holding his communicator. Once Quackity turned and left, he messaged Tommy back:
You whisper to TommyInnit: calm down im on my way ther
TommyInnit whispers to you: move faster
You whisper to Tommyinnit: no fuck u
Tubbo put his communicator back into the pocket of his dress pants and began walking back towards the White House. The appearance of the building had improved since its creation. The aptly named white building seemed quiet enough from the outside, but Tubbo knew as soon as he walked through the door the current peaceful silence would be gone. Upon approaching the door, he relished in the calm for a moment as he appreciated the effects of the lowering sunlight over New L’manberg. He sighed and walked through the large double doors.
“TUBBOOOOOOOOO!” As he expected, the silence had been broken. Tommy came barrelling down the spiral staircase, his unbuttoned black vest flying wildly. Around his neck was what should have been a tie, but arguably couldn’t be called that, considering the shape it was currently in. The bright red satin fabric was folded and knotted and jumbled to the point of incomprehensibility.
“What the fuck happened?” Tubbo asked, confused, horrified, and honestly a little impressed as his best friend bounded down in front of him.
“Listen.” Tommy started, lowering his voice to that tone he always gets when joking around. “I am a Big Man of many talents. And many women. Ties? Not one of those talents.”
Tubbo rolled his eyes. “Let’s go upstairs and I’ll try to figure out how to first untie this monstrosity you’ve created.” Tubbo walked around Tommy and began climbing the spiral staircase as Tommy trailed behind. The boys entered Tubbo’s bedroom, Tommy moving immediately to flop down onto the bed while Tubbo took off his presidential coat and hung it back up in his closet.
“You excited for the party tonight, bossman? It’s been a while since we’ve had one. A real one that is,” Tubbo asked, turning back to Tommy, who was yanking violently at the knotted tie.
“I— think— so—“ Tommy sputtered out while pulling at the tie with all his might. Tubbo let out a small sigh and walked over to Tommy, taking the tie out of his hands. Tommy relaxed as Tubbo began pulling gently and methodically at the knot.
“I haven’t met any of the new people yet. Big Q just told me their names. There’s three of them I think?” Tubbo asked as he sat down on the bed in front of Tommy. Tommy grumbled. “What? You seen any of ‘em?”
“Yeah, one…” Tommy mumbled with a pout.
“Wh— what’s the big deal?”
“This… this fuckin’ guy… Ra— Rah— Ran Boo. Fuckin’ stupid name… Dickhead…” Tubbo raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? What’s wrong with hi—“
“I don’t wanna talk about it. Dude’s just an arsehole,” Tommy grunted, folding his arms.
“Hm.” Tubbo squinted as he pulled the final knot in the tie loose. “Good to know, I guess.” Pulling up the collar of Tommy’s button-up, he straightened out the tie to do it properly this time. “Big Q did tell me, though. Dream wants to talk to me tonight.”
“What the fuck. About what?” Tubbo shrugged.
“Neither of us know. If Dream’s good at one thing, it's being mysterious.”
“I don’t like Dream being able to just fucking hang around like nothing happened. He’s always been against us. I don’t fucking trust him,” Tommy said, ruffling his hair.
Tubbo shrugged again. “He says he’s changed his mind. I don’t know. I think I’m willing to give people second chances. I don’t hold grudges very well,” he chuckled.
“Just— be careful around him. Be a little wary. He’s a suspicious guy.”
“Sure thing,” Tubbo nodded as he tightened the tie around Tommy’s neck and put his collar back down. He patted Tommy’s shoulder. “There you go, bossman. All fixed.”
“Thank you, Tubs,” he replied quietly, jumping up to examine Tubbo’s work in the mirror. Tubbo walked into his closet and pulled the hangers holding up his formal attire off the rack.
He moved to close the door behind him. “Gonna change. Be out in a sec.” Tubbo quickly changed out of the day’s clothes and began to put on his formal suit. Turning towards the mirror, he ruffled his dark brown hair into place. His fingertips ran gently over the small horns peeking out slightly from within the volume of his hair. He let out a small sigh. I’m not like him. He re-affirmed in his head. I’m not like him. And I’m never going to be like him. His fingers ran down his face to lightly trace the line of the scarring on his cheek. Never.
With a blink, he stopped his staring and continued getting dressed. His formal suit had a similar shape to his regular one— gold-colored tassels dangling from his shoulders— but this one was a black, almost velvety textured fabric. His darker red tie had an intricately embroidered paisley pattern, one that matched the handkerchief that sat neatly folded in his chest pocket. Tubbo gave the bottom of his jacket a final tug then turned and walked back into his bedroom.
“Ooooh!” Tommy exclaimed, jumping up from Tubbo’s bed. “What a dapper-looking man we have here.” Tubbo rolled his eyes, trying his best to suppress the smile on his face.
“What time is it? It’s probably not too much longer ‘til the guests arrive, right?”
“Uhhh…” Tommy vocalized while scanning the room for a clock, finally discovering one on the nightstand. “It’s… 6… 6:54? Starts at 7:00, yeah?” Tubbo nodded with a hum. A wave of what felt like a weight laid over his chest hit him. He took a deep breath. Everything was going to go fine. There’s nothing to worry about. His cabinet is organizing everything wonderfully. There’s nothing to worry about. He walked over to the side of his bed and sat down, eyes focused on his shuffling hands. Tommy sat down next to him.
“You alright, Tubs? Nervous?” Tubbo smiled a bit. It was like Tommy could read his mind sometimes. Tubbo nodded. Tommy leaned over a bit, waiting to see if Tubbo wanted to speak. When met with silence, Tommy just rested an arm over Tubbo’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be great, man. You’re a fucking awesome President and tonight’s just gonna prove that to everyone. You’re gonna hit it out of the park.” Tubbo grinned in response, nodding again.
From downstairs, a mixture of voices and warming-up musicians distracted Tubbo. After listening in to the muddled commotion for a beat, Tubbo cleared his throat. “I think the party’s starting, big man,” Tubbo said, standing up.
Tommy scoffed as he followed. “Please. No party can start until TommyInnit walks in.”