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Tommy doesn’t like Ranboo.
He’s way too nervous, for one thing. He’s constantly stressed out about something and Tommy can’t very well stride forward with confidence with Ranboo thinking and overthinking everything over his shoulder.
He’s also entirely too tall. Tommy’s tall for his age but Ranboo is a whole head taller than him and he finds that disgusting. No matter what he does, Ranboo’s always looking down at him, in more ways than one.
He also never raises up to the bait. No matter how much Tommy taunts him or insults him, no matter what stupid idea he drags him into, all Ranboo ever does is smile at him. Why does he do that? He doesn’t get it.
There’s many reasons to hate Ranboo but by far the worst of them is that he showed up and he had the gall, the audacity to take Tommy’s best friend away. And really, who does he think he is? It’s been Tommy and Tubbo since they were children; he can barely remember a time before Tubbo at all. They were seven, so there’s not much to remember. And then Ranboo shows up and thinks… what? That he can just take Tubbo? After everything?
Absolutely not.
So, Tommy complains, and tries to explain to Tubbo how bad they are for each other, and he threatens their kid, even though he’d never do anything to him. And he’s not quite sure if it’s working, but he knows he’s not gonna let it go until they stop. Because Tubbo’s his. Because if he doesn’t have Tubbo, then… What does he have?
That was the plan, anyway.
Then he found Tubbo crying in the woods.
Now, Tubbo’s been a crybaby for as long as Tommy’s known him. The sight of him crying was a staple of his life as he was growing up, so it used to not even upset him. Then, Schlatt happened, the festival happened, Pogtopia happened. And Tubbo stopped crying. He doesn’t think he’s seen him cry since he and Wilbur were exiled. Not even when Dream was threatening to kill him.
And yet.
He’s about to step forward, ask what’s wrong, maybe try to comfort him even though he’s had a little trouble really talking to him lately, but then another voice calls from somewhere to Tommy’s right, and he quickly hides behind a tree.
“Tubbo? Are you alright?” Tommy likes to think he’d recognize anyone from the server just by voice, but Eret’s is by far the most recognizable one. He’d recognize Eret even if his voice was totally out of place in a situation, like now.
“Oh, Eret,” Tubbo says, rubbing his arm against his eyes to wipe away his tears. “Yeah, I’m fine. Super. Doing just great.”
Tubbo really is such a shit liar.
“You don’t… sound okay.” Eret takes a seat next to Tubbo on the grass, sunglasses glinting in the spare rays that make it through the thick cover of the trees above. “Or look okay for that matter.”
That makes Tubbo laugh, and Tommy’s suddenly unspeakably grateful for Eret’s dry wit and calming presence.
“How would you even know that?” You’re blind, Tubbo doesn’t say, but Tommy can hear it all the same. He can hear Eret’s lips curl into a smile when he responds.
“I have my ways.” Tubbo laughs again, then sniffles. A comfortable silence falls over the two of them as Tubbo finds the words to answer Eret’s question,
“Yeah, no, I’m… I’m…” Before he can finish the sentence, he breaks down crying, and Tommy has to stop himself from running to him, spying be damned. Thankfully, Eret’s got him, and she puts her arms around Tubbo, pressing his face into her shoulder.
“Oh, Tubbo.” Eret’s voice sounds a little like their heart is breaking and, for all Tommy knows, it might be. Tommy’s heart certainly is, just a little. After a few minutes, Tubbo finally gets his tears under control and sits back, sniffling. He makes a quiet apology at having ruined Eret’s shirt but she brushes him off.
“I just don’t know what to do.” Tommy has to strain to hear Tubbo’s words, whispered as they are.
“With what?”
“I- I just…” He seemingly gets tired of his own inability to say it out loud because he groans and then starts speaking way louder. “Everything is so hard, all the time. No matter where I go or what I do I always feel like I’m biding my time until something terrible happens. And…”
“And?” Eret voices Tommy’s thoughts. Tubbo sniffles again.
“The worst part is that… the only- the only person who makes things slightly normal, who makes me feel like I can breathe… I can’t have.”
Oh.
“Why?” Eret, unlike Tommy, doesn’t immediately clock who Tubbo’s talking about. He wouldn’t, since Tubbo and Ranboo don’t exactly go around advertising their relationship to the general server. Still, he can’t help but agree; why can’t he?
“Because…” Tubbo takes a deep breath, shakingly releasing it after a few seconds. “Because if I do… it’ll destroy Tommy.”
Tommy closes his eyes, clenching his fists and hitting the back of his head against the tree.
Fuck.
It takes a bit longer for Eret to put it together, but she’s always been smart and it only takes her a bit before she realizes. Tommy can imagine what she’s seeing: Ranboo following Tubbo around like a lost puppy during the entirety of his presidency, a child they both seem to adore, a mansion Tubbo wouldn’t have been able to pay for on his own, a half-built hotel. It’s all right there.
“Oh,” Eret says, slightly breathless. They sound a little like they can’t believe they’ve been so stupid. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“So you two are like…”
“Nothing.” Tubbo sighs, resigned. “Soon to be nothing, anyway.”
“Tubbo…” Eret’s tone is both warm and authoritative at the same time. It reminds Tommy of how he’d talk to him, Tubbo and Fundy during the L’Manberg days, when Wilbur got too tired to scold them. Tommy can’t see Tubbo’s expression anymore, but from his tone he can tell he’s feeling just as chastised as Tommy remembers feeling.
“I know what you’re gonna say, okay? But it doesn’t work. I’ve tried. I’ve tried getting them to get along, but Tommy… He can’t. Or… he won’t. I don’t know.”
And isn’t that the kicker? That Tommy’s the one causing all this pain to Tubbo, after everything. After all they’ve been through, after everything Tubbo’s sacrificed for him, he’s still hurting him. And Tubbo’s still having to make sacrifices for him.
Maybe Wilbur wasn’t wrong when he said that everything bad that’s ever happened on the server was caused by him and Tommy. Maybe being the closest person to Tubbo had made him a target in ways Tommy had never considered.
Eret makes a non-committal noise, to make Tubbo continue, and Tommy’s thinking about what to do; about whether he should just distance himself from Tubbo, maybe leave the server entirely.
Then Tubbo continues.
“And… I don’t blame him. I can’t. He’s my best friend, I love him more than anything in the world.” Tommy whines a little under his breath. Goddamn it, Tubbo. “And it’s so hard for him, so much harder than it is for me. I mean, half the server wants him dead, Eret!”
A miniscule silence falls over them as they consider that, for just a second. Tommy wishes it didn’t feel so much like mourning.
“I know.”
“He only has me.” Tubbo sounds desperate and Tommy wishes, not for the first time, that this server had been a little kinder to them both, even if just for Tubbo's sake. “I don’t- I don’t want to choose between them, but I- I can’t do this to Tommy. I can’t.”
That’s when Tommy stops listening, because he can’t bear to. He can’t sit here and listen to Tubbo talk about how he’s going to give up the best thing that’s ever happened to him for his sake.
He has a lot of thinking to do.
Tubbo’s never been good at talking. Or writing. Or reading. Really, anything that has to do with words is probably the bane of Tubbo’s existence.
Still, with time he’s gotten decently good at communicating; he was a president once, after all. He can give speeches, and argue his points, and he’s pretty good at convincing people that what he’s saying is true, even if he doesn’t quite believe it himself.
He’s not sure how well he’s gonna be able to convince Ranboo this time, though.
“Ranboo, can we talk?” Ranboo’s standing a few feet away from him, painting the outside of the Bee n' Boo in a beautiful yellow color they’d argued endlessly about until they managed to agree on the right shade. Of all things they’re gonna lose after this conversation, the hotel is probably the one Tubbo should care about the least, but he has to admit he’s going to miss it. He only has good memories of this place, after all. And this is also the place where Tommy…
Right, Tubbo thinks. Focus.
“Uh, yeah. Sure. What is it?” He puts down the brush and turns to look at him, wiping his hands against his pant legs even though they’re not stained with paint (Ranboo’s way too neat to ever get paint on himself) or sweaty (he doesn’t really sweat, either). He’s smiling softly in that stupid way he does whenever he’s around Tubbo, and it hurts a little to look at him.
“I- I just…” How do you say something you really don't want to say? “I don't think we can-”
“Boys!” Tommy's voice comes from somewhere behind them, and Tubbo can't help but flinch. He knew having this conversation twenty feet away from Tommy's house would come back to bite him in the ass. "Hello, good morning!”
Ranboo doesn't seem bothered by this interruption however, and he smiles at Tommy as he walks up to them. That's one of the things he loves the most about him, that no matter how people act, he always has kind things to say about everybody.
“Morning, Tommy," Ranboo replies, smiling with his eyes as much as with his mouth. “How are you?”
“I’m doing brilliantly, boob boy. Thanks for asking.” Tommy sounds jovial, like he's particularly excited to have this incredibly mundane conversation. “How are you?”
“I’m doing okay.” Ranboo's tone is fond, and Tubbo feels a surge of love for him. Then, he feels a pang of pain.
Right.
“Uh, Toms… We were kind of in the middle of something, so…” Tommy huffs.
“Yeah, yeah, you can go back to your gross ass date in a second.”
“Date?” Ranboo asks, at the same time Tubbo says: “This isn’t-"
Thankfully, Tommy interrupts them before they're caught up in a loop of uncomfortable questions and flustered stammering. It wouldn't be the first time.
“I just had something to tell you both first," Tommy looks serious, which is when Tubbo starts to worry, because Tommy's only serious if someone is dying; or if it's about Dream; or both.
He hopes this means Dream is dying, but he can't imagine he'll be so lucky.
“I know I talk a lot of shit and… Yeah, don’t look at me like that, you know I do,” Tommy addresses Ranboo, who's giving Tommy a look like he wants to protest. “But despite everything, I…”
Tommy frowns, seemingly unable to find the right words. He looks down and his eyes widen just a smidge before he's reaching for Tubbo's hand, followed by Ranboo's. He holds them in his, then looks at Tubbo in the eyes so intensely that he almost wants to look away.
“I am so glad you two have each other," he says, and Tubbo immediately knows that he heard. He'd been convinced he'd heard something in the woods that day, despite Eret's protests, and now he knows what it was.
He kinda wants to apologize, but it must show in his face because Tommy just squeezes his hand and frowns.
Don't you dare, he seems to say.
Any other time, he would argue. He hates upsetting Tommy, and he hates it even more when finds things out without Tubbo telling him on his own terms. He has enough experience in the matter to know it's better to have an uncomfortable conversation now than let the feeling pester and other people make it even muddier.
Any other time, he'd have an uncomfortable conversation right now to fix it. But that's not what matters.
What matters is that Tommy listened.
He heard Tubbo being disgustingly mushy, he heard him say all those things about Ranboo, and he didn't get jealous. He heard Tubbo say he was upset to lose him, so he made it so he didn't have to. Even though he doesn't particularly like Ranboo, and he might not ever, he's still trying. For him.
“Oh, uh… Thanks, Tommy," Ranboo says awkwardly, clearly confused as to what's going on. Tubbo will deal with him later.
For now, he does the only thing that makes sense, and throws his arms around Tommy's shoulders, burying his face in his neck. Tommy laughs heartily and pats him on the back a couple of times before hugging him back tightly.
After a few seconds of them standing in that position, Tommy stops being able to stand the silence (he's been like this ever since they were little), and starts joking.
“Okay, okay, let me go now, bee boy. I can’t breathe.”
“No," Tubbo says, sounding like a little kid who's throwing a tantrum. Maybe he is, but he loves his best friend, sue him.
“You’re so clingy," Tommy sighs. "Isn’t he clingy, Ranboo?”
Something warm and wonderful blooms in Tubbo's chest at Tommy trying to include Ranboo in the conversation. And calling him by his name, no less.
“Oh, yes, mhm. It’s just awful," Ranboo says, and Tubbo groans as he's forcefully reminded of another thing he really likes about Ranboo. Under all the politeness and niceties, he's a troublemaker at heart, just a little bit.
He kinda had to be, to become Tubbo's husband. Tommy snickers in Tubbo's hold, and Tubbo thinks maybe he's starting to see it, too.
“I will divorce you," Tubbo says, trying to channel all the annoyance he isn't feeling into it. He hopes his message gets across, anyway.
“No, you won’t," both Tommy and Ranboo say at the same time, and Tubbo knows he did. Marriage isn't the only commitment someone can make to another person, and he's glad Tommy agrees.
Later, they'll have to talk. There's still a lot of things to be fixed, not just with them, but with the server at large. Tubbo will bring Tommy home again, so he can start becoming the great uncle he always knew he would be. Maybe he'll finally offer him that empty room in the mansion that he's been thinking about for some time now.
But, for now, they just stand there laughing quietly to themselves, and Tubbo lets himself breathe.