Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Ranboo run! What are you waiting for?! Don’t just stand there, run!! Their words seemed to repeat themselves endlessly like a bad memory in the enderman hybrid’s mess of a mind. No matter how hard the boy tries to get them to stop, they refuse. His mind is gonna be filled with panic and useless words, and there is absolutely nothing he can do about it.

He had, without any second thought, sprinted as fast as his weak frail body could manage. He wasn’t going to just disobey a command. He knew better, he knew what the consequences were for disobedience. He learned that lesson many, many, many times before. He wasn’t gonna make that same mistake again.

Wind made itself known as the boy’s worst enemy. It rushed, and rushed, making the hood of his cloak fall off his head, taking his long, thin white and black hair along with it. Keeping the cloak on top of his head was a constant battle. The wind was seemingly winning, leaving no room for Ranboo to have a smidge of victory.

If things couldn’t get any worse, colored tears began to flow from Ranboo’s vibrant eyes, making spots of color on the boy’s white bandana. He tried to make them stop, he tried so desperately to make them stop, but they refused. With every failed attempt, the tears started to flow even harder. Breathing became a very difficult task. It was already very challenging breathing through his bandana before, but now it is nearly impossible.

Gasping for air, he began to slow down, making his sprint into a light jog. He didn’t dare stop. He couldn’t dare stop. It doesn’t matter that they are probably miles away, he can’t take the risk of them seeing. Hopefully, they don’t get mad at him for slowing down.

He looks back. No no nope. Stop. You can’t look back. Don’t you DARE look back. He quickly jolts his eyes back to infront of him. He can’t look back. He shouldn’t look back. He wants to look back. Past experience tells him that's probably not the best idea. Obey or suffer the consequences.

Why? Why does he even want to look back? He’s free from him. Why the heck would he want to go back to that?! He just really really wants to. Guilt floods his mind like an ocean. They had gone above and beyond to get him here, they gave him everything he has. Why is he being so ungrateful?!

After everything they had done for him, Ranboo has the audacity to want to go back. They had not only spent their precious time, but also their money to get him literally everything he has. They made sure that he had everything he needed to escape.

They spent weeks planning this escape, Ranboo shouldn’t let their effort be in vain. They had given him a perfect disguise, making sure everything was taken care of. They had given him a black coat to cover his arms and head, a white bandana to cover his face, some black gloves to cover his hands, and some black pants and boots. They really had thought of everything.

They even gave Ranboo something that wasn’t part of his disguise, his most valuable possession, his memory book. They found out about his less than perfect memory, and thought it was best to give it to him. They told him to write down any memories he remembered, whether good or bad. That way he couldn’t be taken advantage of.

They had done so much for Ranboo, and Ranboo couldn’t even be grateful. Maybe he’s just focusing on the ‘good’ things there, maybe he just needs to replay bad memories. He still has a hard time remembering things like traumatic events, but he still can remember some bad things.

Well, he did often hurt him. He has the scars and bruises to prove it. It was like a hobby for him, that and spending the diamonds he gets through Ranboo’s suffering. It’s fine though. I mean if Ranboo didn’t want to be hurt constantly, he shouldn’t drop diamonds when injured. If he wasn’t born part white enderman, none of this would have ever happened. He blames himself for the harm inflicted upon him.

That’s not really a bad memory if he deserved it, right? Ranboo doesn’t count it as one. If he didn’t deserve it, it would be a very, very different story.

The food sometimes made him feel very sick, but that's probably just normal. All food must just be like that, or he did something to earn the sickness. Yeah, that’s probably it. He never liked food that much anyways, well not anymore.

Needles.. Just the thought of the word makes him shudder. He pushes that memory as far away as possible, not wanting to dwell on it any longer. Some memories he would much much rather forget.

This is all a bad idea, he shouldn’t have obeyed them. Sure, he would have wasted their time and effort, and most importantly be punished, but it can’t possibly be worse than if he’s found. He appreciated their efforts and all, but he wishes they would have taken his own opinions into account. He can’t really blame them though no one ever does that anyway.

He wants to go back, but he can’t. It’s way too far to be traveled on foot, by the time he got back, he would definitely know he had escaped. Ranboo never had feared any punishment as much as he did now. Even if he wouldn’t know, they burnt it down, none was left without flames, the blazeborn made sure of that.

He had no other choice, but to move on. He couldn’t go back, he just couldn’t. He continued on. What was he even going to do? What is his goal here? He couldn’t possibly live with the humans. It would be better to go back with him, then to be found out by the humans, at least that was what he was told.

The stream of tears flows more rapidly, leaving wet colored spots on his bandana. Why? Why did they do this to him? Why did they go through all this trouble, then tell him to fend on his own? Do they even care, if something worse happens to him? They just want him to suffer?

Ranboo’s legs ache as if they are crying for a break. On top of the pain, he has barely any energy, the only thing keeping him awake is the panic and dread that follow him wherever he goes. Luckily for Ranboo he approaches the walls of a town.

Ranboo loves walls, well, town walls, not the suffocating walls of his room. He has no idea why. They just seem comforting for reasons unbeknownst to him. Colors fill the sky, as the sun begins to rise. Woah. It looks so pretty.

Ranboo feels like now is probably the best time to rest. He did travel pretty far, it should be safe to sleep for a little while, hopefully. It’s now or never, it would be very unsafe to sleep in broad daylight, since that's when most humans are awake. He needs to be very very alert around humans.

Should he just sleep against the wall? No, he can't be seen. He must find a hidden place. He glances at his surroundings, a tall oak tree sticks out to him. Sure, it is pretty high up, falling from that height might hurt.

With no other options, he uses his last bit of stamina and climbs the oak tree. For as high and dangerous the tree is, it gives Ranboo an overwhelming amount of comfort. He rests his back against the trunk of the tree, and starts to write in the memory book.

He is after me. Run. Can’t go back. Trust no one. His messy handwriting is barely legible, it's almost like he hasn’t written anything in, like, eleven years. He tries his very best to write more. He has to write more, before he forgets.

His eyelids become very very heavy, they keep closing, but Ranboo keeps opening them back up. He can’t fall asleep, not now. He must stay awake. Despite Ranboo’s best efforts, he drifts off, pencil and book in hand.

The anxious boy finally gets some much needed rest.

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Ranboo jolts his head forward, opening his eyes very very quickly. His ability to regulate his breathing, immediately leaves him like everything else always does. The tree is shaking, the branches shift violently from side to side. Everything is moving, Ranboo stands up, as if that will make it stop.

He immediately regrets that decision, as his balance becomes almost nonexistent. In hindsight, that was probably not the best idea. Ranboo loses his grip on the tree, he screams in terror. He closes his eyes tightly in fear. He falls.

Luckily, for Ranboo, it didn’t do much damage. Sure, it did hurt a very significant amount, but it wasn’t enough to seriously injure him. He’s gone through worse, what’s another bruise to the collection?

The sound of laughter fills Ranboo’s eardrums. Wait, someone was watching him?! He quickly reaches for the hood of his cloak, and puts it back on top of his head. It must have fallen off doing his ‘graceful’ descent. Ranboo desperately hopes whoever this is, didn’t see him fall.

Ranboo begins to pull himself off the hard ground, he stops. His eyes immediately dart to a shiny blue ore hidden in the grass. Wait, is that a diamond?! Did it really hurt him that bad?! He carefully picks it up, and shoves it into his pocket, he doesn't want anything to give him away. That's the very last thing he wants.

He picks himself off the ground, his legs are shaky. Is he really that scared, or is it just the pain? Maybe it’s a bit of both. He quickly brushes off the leaves, and grass from his black and white outfit. He wishes he could just walk away, and pretend nothing happened, but it’s just not that simple.

Wait a minute, where’s his memory book?! He had it just a second ago, where could it have possibly gone?! Maybe it fell while he was falling, it could be literally anywhere, it could be stuck in the tree, or anywhere in the tree’s general vicinity. Ranboo may never find it. Of course Ranboo loses it not even a full day after being given it.

Ranboo’s eyes look around to find his lost book, to his demise it is right by a human’s feet, a small gremlin human. It seems to be laughing for some strange reason. The human’s laughter dies down, as he notices the book, and picks it up, he locks eyes with Ranboo. Ranboo wants to run away, and curl into a ball. Can he run from this? No, that would make him suspicious, just, just act natural. Ranboo has no clue how to do that. He tries his best, giving the human a nervous smile. He looks like he committed a crime.

The human quickly approaches Ranboo. Ranboo feels like he’s gonna have a heart attack, his heart is beating so fast, he can hear every single beat. He hates that feeling so much, but sadly it’s the feeling he experiences the most. He wishes it would stop, but it never does that, it’s way too stubborn for that.

The human stares at Ranboo dead in the eyes, this makes Ranboo very uncomfortable. He has never liked eye contact before, especially since he’s an enderman hybrid, but now it’s as scary as ever. He knows doesn’t he?! What if he reads the book?! Ranboo is absolutely terrified. If he makes one wrong move, all his worst fears could come true, that’s quite a lot of pressure.

“That’s a sus amount of tall you got there.” The human jokes, handing Ranboo his book back, slightly chuckling whilst saying it.

Ranboo quickly shoves the book into his pocket. What the human said just now hits him like a truck, Ranboo panics. Oh crap, is my height that obvious. He is an enderman hybrid after all, endermen are well-known for their height, Does the human know?! Did he put two and two together?! Ranboo is probably just overreacting, the human could mean literally anything by that.

The human could also be referring to the big height difference between the two. Ranboo did seem to be significantly taller than the human, with the human’s head only slightly going above Ranboo’s shoulders. He thinks it's safe to say, they have a big height difference. So it’s fine, he could mean anything by that, no need to panic.

“With that amount of tall, I should just call you, enderman,” the human innocently jokes. He chuckles a bit after he states this joke, expecting laughter, but none came. Instead, he was greeted with severe and utter panic.

OH CRAP HE KNOWS. Ranboo internally panics, not wanting to show any sign of ‘weakness’ as he would say. Ranboo has no clue what to do, he wants to cry. He wants to just run, and curl into a ball and just cry. He wishes he didn’t need to pretend like everythings fine, because spoiler alert, it never is.

“I was kidding I was just kidding.” The gremlin human reassures Ranboo, upon realizing he didn’t get his hilarious joke.

Ranboo lets out a deep loud sigh, maybe just a bit too loud. Welp, he can’t take it back, so hopefully, the human doesn’t think too much of it.

“I’m Tommy, Tommy Innit, but you can call me awesome.” A giant smile adorns his face, as he says the last part of his statement, he looks very proud of his joke.

“Nice to meet you, awesome.” Ranboo states nervously in a raspy voice, having just woken up a few minutes ago. He isn’t really used to talking, hopefully, he’s doing it right. He once again didn't get the joke.

Hysterical laughter leaves Tommy’s mouth as soon as he heard Ranboo call him awesome, instead of his name. He didn’t expect Ranboo to take it literally, which makes it ten times funnier.

Oh no. Did Ranboo say something wrong?! What is he supposed to do?! Ranboo panics. He is absolutely terrified, laughter never means anything good. Laughter is a sign that punishment will come, and it will be worse than ever imaginable.

“I'm sor-sorry!” Ranboo blurts. He closes his eyes tightly, and puts his hands defensively above his head. Why does he always do that? Doing that has never saved Ranboo from him, if anything it just made it worse. Why would it help now?

“Wat?” Tommy questions with pure and utter confusion. Why is Ranboo so scared, all of a sudden? “You didn’t do anything wrong, you don’t need to apologize.”

“But, you laughed.” Ranboo replies with more confusion than Tommy has ever owned in his life. “Doesn’t that mean I did something wrong?

“No, of course not!” Tommy declares with great confidence, not doubting a single word that came out. “I was just laughing cause you called me awesome instead of Tommy, but no that’s my bad, I was just making a joke.”

Ranboo sighs deeply. “Oh ok, sorry my bad.

“Dude, you didn’t do anything wrong, you don’t need to apologize.” Tommy asserts.

“Oh ok……….sorry.” Ranboo replies, trying his best not to apologize, but his instincts getting the best of him.

“It’s ok.” Tommy sighs, he wishes that Ranboo didn’t feel so inclined to apologize all the time . “What’s your name by the way?

Oh no. Ranboo doesn’t have a last name. Would it be weird, if he just said just his first name? It might be pretty suspicious. Quick, Ranboo think.

“Uhhh- Ranboo….” He pauses for a bit and looks around, he spots a tree. “Tree, Ranboo Tree, heh. Yep, that’s definitely my real name.” He nervously chuckles. Dang, he is such a bad liar.

“Ranboo….Tree…?” Tommy questions, confusion being the only visible expression on his face. Tommy’s not buying it, there is no way, this guy’s name is Ranboo Tree. Ranboo is hiding something, why won’t he tell him his name?!

More nervous chuckles escape Ranboo’s mouth. “Yep! Ranboo Tree, that’s my definitely real, not at all fake name. Uhhh- but you can just call me, Ranboo.” He utters quickly, his voice getting higher and higher as time goes on.

“Ok…if you’re sure that’s your name.” Tommy replies, not at all believing a single word the tall boy uttered.

“Positive.” Ranboo tries to assert, his voice cracking a bit at the end.

“ I don’t know enderman has a much better ring to it.” Tommy jokes innocently, not knowing how much it upsets Ranboo.

“Please please please please, just call me Ranboo.” Ranboo pleads, his voice is filled with pure and utter panic.

“Oh ok, Ranboo.” Tommy replies reluctantly. He is rather fond of the nickname of enderman for Ranboo, but if it makes him uncomfortable, then he won't use it again.

Ranboo sighs deeply, he wasn’t too sure if Tommy was going to comply. “Thanks, Tomothy.” He says with a smile, this is probably the first time anyone has actually listened to him.

Tommy bursts into laughter. Oh crap. Did Ranboo do something?

“I'm sorry.” Ranboo apologizes, unable to keep the panic out of his voice. He shuts his eyes tightly, and places his arms defensively over his head. He must have done something wrong, like he always seems to.

Tommy is very confused. Why is Ranboo so scared of him? Why is he always apologizing? He’s literally done nothing wrong, this whole time. Well, maybe except lie about his name, but that's literally all. Why is he so nervous?

“Ranboo, it’s ok. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not gonna hurt you.” Tommy states comfortingly, some concern showing through is voice and facial expression.

Ranboo sighs, and opens his eyes, lowering his arms to his side.

“I was laughing cause you called me Tomothy, not cause of anything you did. It's a cool nickname though, you can call me that if you want.” Tommy assures, he doesn’t want Ranboo to feel more anxious and worried, than he already does.

“Ohhh ok, sorry my bad.”

“Dude, you don’t need to apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh ok.” Ranboo quietly replies, not believing a word Tommy just said. It’s always his fault, he is never able to do anything right. He is always in the wrong, at least that’s what he always said. Wow, humans are so weird, oh wait, no, he was a human too.

If all humans are bad, why is Tommy so nice to him? Was this the guy he needed to fear? Tommy must just be weird, no one is ever this nice.

Maybe he just wants something, that’s the only reason anyone would be nice to him. They were nice to him, but only because they wanted Ranboo to escape him, which has only caused Ranboo more problems thus far.

No one really cares. It’s all just an act, a clever plan to get him to put down his guard. Well, jokes on Tommy, Ranboo’s anxiety won’t let him do that. Something inside him wants to believe, he wants to so desperately believe that Tommy is good, but he just can’t.

Ranboo’s brain just can’t understand why Tommy is being nice to him, other than it being an elaborate scheme. No matter how much Ranboo would like to believe that Tommy actually cares about Ranboo, his instincts tell him that’s not even remotely possible.

Why would anyone be nice to him? No one has before, why would they now? Tommy actually seems to care, he listens to Ranboo. No one has ever done that to him, well at least not anyone he can remember.

He’s absolutely nothing like him. He’s nothing like how he described humans. Something's off. Either he was lyin-. No, how dare that even cross his mind. He has never lied. He would never do that.

He can’t cling onto Tommy, he can’t risk Tommy finding out. Even though he seems to have hundreds of reasons to not trust Tommy. He can’t help but want to cling to him.

Chapter Text

“Dude, you good?” Tommy questions with genuine concern. Oh crap. Ranboo must have zoned out. How long had Ranboo been lost in his thoughts?! Was Tommy mad at him?! No. If Tommy was mad at him, then why did he seem to be genuinely concerned? When he got mad at Ranboo, he never showed an ounce of concern for Ranboo. Concern is not something Ranboo deserves.

Oh crap. Did he zone out again?!

“Yep, sorry,” Ranboo awkwardly replies, having no time to think of a good response in his rush. The last thing he wanted was Tommy getting mad at him. This was the one person who seemed to actually care about Ranboo. He doesn’t want to leave him. He wishes he could stay with Tommy forever, but he knows he can’t do that.

“Ok good!” Tommy exclaims with a kind smile. He seems to be genuinely happy. Why? He couldn’t possibly care about Ranboo. Why would he do that? No one else has, why would he?

Ranboo’s heart feels like it’s gonna break. He wants to stay, he wants to. He wants to more than anything, but he knows the consequences. If Tommy ever finds out that Ranboo’s an enderman hybrid, he’s gonna hate him. Then, he will officially lose the one friendship he managed to gain. If Tommy even considers them friends, to be fair, they did just meet today.

It’s not just about losing Tommy’s friendship, sure, it would definitely hurt, but not worse than anything he’s been through before, at least he hopes. It’s mostly about if he finds Ranboo while he’s with Tommy. Knowing him, he will most definitely hurt Tommy just to get back at Ranboo, and Tommy deserves none of that.

He shouldn’t put Tommy at risk for being friends with him. He needs to leave Tommy as soon as possible, he’s getting ,way too attached. The sooner he leaves, the less it will hurt. Sure, it will still hurt, but that's Ranboo’s fault, he shouldn’t have gotten attached.

“Wanna go get some food?” Tommy questions, a mischievous grin adorns his dirt-covered face.

“Sure.” Ranboo reaches into his pocket, pulling a diamond out, and quickly shoving it back in. He just wanted to make sure it was still there. Since he has the diamond from earlier, he can buy Tommy food. He can now pay Tommy back for his kindness, it’s the very least he can do.

The boys venture inside the town’s stone walls, Tommy seems to know where he’s going. Makes sense, this is probably where he lives. He must have lived here his whole life. Ranboo wished he could’ve lived here. With all these comforting walls, who wouldn’t want to live here?

Tommy carefully walks up to a booth, Ranboo follows behind. The booth looks very very busy, large groups of people surround it. Instead of going to the end of this seemingly endless line, Tommy goes right to the side. Then he, without a second thought, grabs a loaf of bread off the display.

“Tommy, what are you doing?!” Ranboo questions loudly, a bit too loudly.

“HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THIEF!!” The owner of the booth angrily shouts, people are staring, they look very very angry.

Tommy instantly drops the bread, and quickly grabs Ranboo by the arm, making a dash for it. Ranboo is very confused, but runs anyway. It seems to be the only thing he ever does.

Why is Tommy taking Ranboo with him though? Why didn’t he just leave him? Ranboo can’t seem to understand.

They finally exit the town and its stone walls. Ranboo will miss those walls, it’s a real shame they had to leave. He didn’t get the chance to buy Tommy food. This is all Ranboo’s fault, he should’ve asked his question way quieter.

The town’s stone walls are barely visible, when Tommy stops to catch his breath, Ranboo does as well, copying Tommy’s movements. He didn’t want to stop if Tommy wasn’t going to, he didn’t want to slow him down.

Tommy catches his breath, and begins walking to quickly walk again, Ranboo follows from behind as Tommy quickens his pace.

The human keeps himself in front of the enderman hybrid, everytime Ranboo gets by Tommy’s side, Tommy quickens his pace. The human takes many many deep breaths, the longer they go on, the more the breaths he takes, the breaths getting deeper and deeper.

Ranboo can’t see the human’s face, since Tommy won’t allow him to walk by his side, that’s probably for the best. Ranboo doesn’t need to see the human’s face to know the expression.

Tommy must be mad at Ranboo, he can tell. He’s seen anger many many times before, it was an emotion he showed more than anything else. He understands why Tommy is mad at him, but he just can’t understand a few things. If Tommy is this mad at Ranboo, why did he take Ranboo with him? Why is Tommy not taking his anger out on Ranboo?

It just doesn’t make sense. He never hid his anger, he always made it known to Ranboo. Why is Tommy hiding it? It just doesn’t make sense, he just can’t understand. Maybe if Tommy is hiding it, there’s a chance Ranboo can make it right. He can make it up to Tommy, hopefully,.

The deep breaths start to decrease in number as Tommy starts to calm down. He starts to slow down, and allows Ranboo to walk by his side.

“So-” Tommy pauses, taking another deep breath for good measure. “Why don’t you like stealing?” Tommy questions curiously, trying to sound as calm as possible, not wanting Ranboo to take it as anger.

“Cause-” Ranboo pauses, he never really thought about it, he just knew. “Cause it’s wrong.” Ranboo states, not really knowing what else to say. Something, something deep down tells him it’s just not right.

“Well, why is it wrong?” Tommy questions, getting a bit more irritated, he takes another deep breath to calm himself.

“Uhh, well.” Ranboo needs to think this through. He knows that it’s wrong, but why? He never taught Ranboo not to steal, he never gave Ranboo the opportunity. So, if this idea wasn’t from him, then who was it from? Ranboo has no clue, he can’t remember.

“You see Ranboo, when you steal it hurts others. Just because you want more doesn’t mean it's right to take from others.” He states sternly. “You have to think about how that affects others, Ranboo. Stealing comes with consequences.”

“Ranboo?” Tommy questions, concern being the only thing he’s showing.

“Sorry, must have zoned out, heh.” Ranboo nervously chuckles. He has no clue what just happened. Everything’s still fuzzy. He couldn’t make out anything visually, it’s way too fuzzy, like a dream that slips away. He can kinda remember some of the words, but he can’t recognize the voice. Maybe it’s just his inner voice, there’s probably not any real meaning to it.

He’s just going crazy, makes sense. It was doomed to happen eventually.

“I mean stealing can hurt others.” Ranboo states unsurely, basically just copying what the voice told him. He knows what he’s saying is right, he just can’t express it very well with words.

“I guess, but they probably deserved it. If they didn’t want me to steal it, they shouldn’t have been selling it when I was around.” Tommy justifies his actions. He was hungry so he took it. Never get in between Tommy and his food.

Ranboo facepalms. “Even if they deserved it, stealing always comes with consequences.”

“Well what do you suggest?” Tommy questions with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

“I mean I have money, we could like, buy some.” Ranboo suggests, not recognizing that Tommy was being sarcastic.

“Wait, you had money this whole time?! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was going to, but then you went and tried to steal before I could say anything.” Ranboo declares defensively.

“Oh, my bad” Tommy apologizes, feeling a bit stupid.

“It’s ok, I can just buy you food at the next town.” Ranboo States casually.

“Don’t you mean buy us food?” Tommy questions. Why would Ranboo buy only food for Tommy? Doesn’t he want to eat as well?

“Oh yeah, that's definitely what I meant, heh.” Ranboo lies, his voice getting higher and higher. He nervously chuckles a bit. Hopefully, Tommy will just forget about Ranboo eating.

Ranboo would really rather not. He doesn’t really like food, not anymore. The only reason he would eat it is if absolutely necessary. Even if he didn’t have a fear of food, he would have to deal with eating with his bandana on. It might look very suspicious, but then again, it looks suspicious either way. Ranboo just can’t win.

Maybe if Ranboo just ignores it, it will disappear. He desperately wishes that’s how it worked. Oh well, it can't hurt to try.

Ranboo glances around, looking for anything to take attention. A slight breeze rushes by, making the blades of glass and flowers sway from side to side. The wind attacks these fluffy purple flowers, taking some of the fluffy petals, while the rest of the flower stays firm.

Ranboo watches this battle unfold, as the purple flowers come out victorious. The wind seemingly gave up, recognizing its defeat. Ranboo watched the flowers with pure amazement. They look so fluffy, he just wants to touch one. He wonders if it's as fluffy as it looks.

Ranboo runs a few steps ahead, wandering a bit off the dirt trail, and tries to pick one of these fluffy flowers. He pulls out the flower, and quickly returns by Tommy’s side. Hopefully, Tommy doesn’t judge him for picking flowers.

He brushes his hand against the fluffy petals of the flower. It felt so fluffy. A large smile adorns Ranboo’s face from underneath his bandana. He’s never felt anything so fluffy before, it feels so nice. He never wants to let that flower go.

In the distance, a bunch of shop booths are strategically placed along the trail, as the trail merges into a town. The booths get closer and closer, as they enter this new town.

They walk up to a booth selling bread. Ranboo quickly searches his pockets, and carefully pulls out a small diamond, and puts it on the counter of the booth. The shopkeeper slides him a loaf of bread. Ranboo smiles from underneath his bandana and nods, as if to say thank you.

Ranboo awkwardly carries the large loaf in his arms, as they walk back outside the town, looking for a good place to rest. A tree catches Ranboo’s eyes, it looks exactly like the old one, except a bit bigger. Ranboo smiles widely, he looks to Tommy, as if to ask for approval, Tommy nods. They found the spot.

Before Ranboo even gets a chance to try and climb the tree with the loaf in hand, Tommy quickly grabs it and climbs the tree. Heh? What? Ranboo shrugs it off, and climbs to where Tommy resides with the bread.

Tommy splits the loaf in half, taking half for himself and giving the other half to Ranboo. Ranboo stares at it with pure terror. He can hear his heart pounding, he can feel it, he doesn’t like it.

Ranboo can’t seem to think of a good solution to this problem, which makes his anxiety declare war against him. His whole body is shaking, it’s very visible. MAKE IT STOP. The more he tries to stop it, the worse it becomes. He feels like he’s dying.

A sudden weight is placed on one of Ranboo’s shoulders, he flinches back against the tree. He closes his eyes tightly.

“Ranboo?”

Ranboo slowly opens his eyes and turns his head toward Tommy, still shaking uncontrollably.

“Ranboo are-” Tommy pauses, “are you ok?”

Ranboo shakes his head, he’s tired of pretending everything's fine, it’s never fine. Ranboo slowly slides the piece of bread toward Tommy.

“Ple-please ju-just take it.” Ranboo struggles to talk, his shaking increasing as time goes on.

“Ok.” Tommy replies, seeing as this really bothers Ranboo, he decides not to ask any questions. He just wants Ranboo to be ok.

Ranboo is shocked. No one has ever listened to what Ranboo wanted before, he didn’t actually expect that to work. His shaking starts to slow down, along with his heartbeat, he sighs deeply.

“Th-thanks.”

“No problem.” Tommy replies, he wishes Ranboo would eat, but he doesn’t want to force Ranboo. Maybe he just doesn’t want to take off his bandana, or maybe he feels bad and wants Tommy to have the rest of the bread. Either way, Tommy just doesn’t want Ranboo to be upset.

Ranboo’s eyelids feel heavy, as they start to close, He immediately forces them back open. He can’t fall asleep. He can’t allow himself to do that. Think about the consequences. He just feels so tired, the war against his anxiety took a lot out of him.

Tommy glances at Ranboo to see him falling in and out of sleep. Ranboo is trying his best to stay awake, and Tommy sees this. Tommy wants his friend to be able to sleep, and to not worry about it. That must have taken a lot out of him, of course he needs sleep.

Tommy carefully and gently places his hand on Ranboo’s shoulder. Ranboo doesn’t react, he’s too tired to even know it’s there.

“You can fall asleep.” Tommy reassures. “I don’t mind.”

Ranboo shakes his head, he can’t fall asleep. He’s not going to burde-

Ranboo’s head goes limp on Tommy’s shoulder, as the boy fades into unconsciousness. Tommy smiles, and lets Ranboo’s head rest there.

The anxious little boy once again gets some well deserved rest.

Chapter Text

Colored tears drip from the enderman hybrid’s vibrant eyes, directly down onto the human’s red and white shirt, leaving red and green blotches, which make themselves well-known on the white bits. Tommy’s eyes immediately search for the source of this new wetness on his shirt. Hopefully it’s not rain, he doesn’t want anythingto wake Ranboo up.

He glances up, placing his hands up to check for raindrops, nothing. If it’s not rain, then what is it? He glances at his shirt, his eyes widen when he spots the red and green blotches. Weird, he’s never seen anything like it.

It looks kinda like dye, but it couldn’t be dye, there’s nothing on this tree that could be used as dye. Well, unless these leaves can, Tommy severely doubts it.

“I-I’m sorry-” Tommy’s eye’s immediately dart to Ranboo, thinking Ranboo was apologizing to him for the millionth time. This time, Ranboo was only sleep talking. Saying Tommy was surprised, would be an understatement.

“Ple-please don’t hurt him-” Ranboo’s breathing skills became nonexistent.

“Ranboo?”

“Don’t ple-please, he didn’t know.”

Tommy quickly places his hand on Ranboo’s shoulder. Ranboo immediately jolts forward, his eyes quickly force themselves open, his breathing increases in speed. The tears begin flowing more rapidly, making themselves visible on Ranboo’s bandana.

“Ranboo, it’s ok. It was just a dream.” Tommy reassures.

“I-it felt s-so real.” Ranboo struggles to get out, choking on his tears.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No, sor-sorry-” Ranboo bursts into a sob, he tries so desperately to stop, which just ends up making it worse.

“Do-” Tommy pauses, not really knowing what to do, “Do you want a hug?” Tommy asks, he desperately hopes that will help. He doesn’t know what else to do. It’s safe to say he’s never really been in this situation before.

Ranboo hesitates for a moment, as if he’s debating whether he wants to bother Tommy, then aggressively nods. He doesn’t really know what a hug is, but he assumes it’s comfort. If it’s pain, Ranboo deserves it, so it’s fine.

Tommy wraps his arms around Ranboo, he tries his best to comfort Ranboo.

“I-I’m sor-” Ranboo chokes on his sobs, he tries to say it again, but nothing comes out, nothing but sobs.

“It’s ok, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Tommy reassures, giving him a kind smile.

Ranboo pulls away from the hug, he doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t want to burden Tommy with his stupid sad, pathetic emotions. That’s how he wanted Ranboo to act. Why can’t he just hide them, like he did before? Why is it so hard now?

Ranboo hides his head in his arms, red and green tears getting all over his clothes. He wants to pretend like everythings fine. He wants to pretend that he’s fine, but he just can’t. He’s not fine. He’s never been fine. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be.

Tommy has an idea. He climbs down from the tree, leaving Ranboo up there by himself. He must have decided that Ranboo’s sadness was too much for him, and left. The sobs come down harder, he knew it would happen eventually, but he didn’t expect it to hurt so much. It physically hurts, like he’s mourning his friendship with Tommy.

Why had Ranboo been so stupid?! Maybe this would’ve been better if Ranboo hadn’t met Tommy in the first place, then it definitely wouldn’t hurt as much as it does now. Ranboo knew he would have to leave Tommy, so why does he care so much? He shouldn’t have gotten attached.

Ranboo jumps, someone is climbing the tree. Ranboo quickly rushes to the edge to see who it is. Oh, it’s just Tommy. Wait, it's Tommy?! Ranboo places his back against the tree, the tears start to slow down upon realizing Tommy didn’t actually abandon him.

He takes deep breaths, trying to suppress what tears are left. Ranboo might not be sobbing anymore, but the tears still refuse to stop coming, even if they are slowed down a bit in their normal speed.

Something is placed in Ranboo’s hands. It’s fluffy? Ranboo quickly glances down at his hands to see what he is holding. It’s the flowers, the fluffy purple ones from earlier. Ranboo smiles from underneath his bandana. He caresses his hand against the flower, petting it like a cat.

“Th-thanks.” Ranboo struggles a bit to say, not as much as earlier, though. He places his attention back to his precious flowers.

“No problem, I’m glad you like them.” Tommy gives a kind smile. He seems to be genuinely happy that Ranboo is happy. Weird.

Ranboo is very confused. Why would anyone care about Ranboo’s emotions? Welp, no time to think. Flowers are way more important than thinking. Ranboo goes back to lightly brushing his hands against the fluffy top of the flower.

The tears slow down, until eventually they come to a stop. The shaking stops, and his breathing slows. In that moment Ranboo completely forgot about any of the troubles in his life. No trouble or pain existed, only fluffy flowers.

Ranboo wishes he could do this forever, but whether Ranboo likes it or not, he can’t. Ranboo glances up from his flowers, his hands still carefully brushing against them.

“Sorry.” Ranboo looks towards Tommy, but makes sure to look in the distance, not wanting to make eye contact.

“It’s ok. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Tommy states as if it was a fact, with an overwhelming amount of confidence. Ranboo tries to keep his confusion hidden, but utterly fails, as a very very confused expression slips out.

Tommy clearly has no clue what he’s talking about, Ranboo always does things wrong, and now is no exception. How could Tommy say something so blatantly false?

Is Tommy just stupid? Maybe he’s just lying..? But why would he lie? There doesn’t seem like there would be any real reason to lie here. Could Tommy actually mean what he said? It just makes no sense.

“But but I cried,” Ranboo argues.

“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not your fault you had nightmares,” Tommy states with the same confidence from earlier.

“No, it was my fau-”

“No, it wasn’t.” Tommy interrupts. “You didn’t choose to have those nightmares, and even if you did, which I severely doubt, it still wouldn’t be your fault.” Tommy stubbornly argues.

“I-”Ranboo tries to argue, but cuts himself off. “That’s what he always said though,” Ranboo states, his voice being almost a whisper, seemingly talking more to himself than Tommy. He goes quiet, looking very saddened by what came out of his mouth. It doesn’t matter that he believes what he always said, it just ends up making him feel horrible.

“Well, he was wrong,” Tommy states sternly, anger starting to make itself apparent. Ranboo flitches, waiting for Tommy to attack. “Sorry, I’m not mad at you, I'm mad at him.

Wait, what? Why would anyone be mad at himHe was right. Weird. Tommy is very weird. Everything Tommy says contradicts everything he has taught him. He’s lived with him his whole life. Why should he just trust the first person he meets who doesn’t agree? None of this makes sense.

“Ok.” Ranboo pretends he believes Tommy, but he doesn’t. He wishes he could, he wants to so desperately, but that doesn’t matter.

What is he doing?! Why is he getting attached?! He can’t stay with Tommy, he just can’t. If he doesn't leave now, it’s just gonna hurt more. He needs to leave, Tommy’s safety is at risk every second he’s with Ranboo. As much as this hurts Ranboo, he knows that this is the right thing to do.

Ranboo takes a deep breath, fighting off the tears that want to break free from his eyes. “I should probably go,” Ranboo says, his voice sounding quieter and sad.

“You mean, we?” Tommy corrects, hoping that it was just a mistake. Ranboo didn’t actually mean it, right? Ranboo can’t just leave him like that.

“No..” Ranboo pauses and takes a deep deep breath, making sure he doesn’t break out in a sob while saying it. “I meant just me.” Ranboo still doesn’t sound happy about what he’s saying.

“So you’re just gonna leave me?! Tommy questions, feeling betrayed.

“I have to-”

“Why?!” Tommy interrupts. “Why do you have to leave me?!”

“I just-” Ranboo cuts himself off, wiping the tears that escaped from his eyes. “I don’t want to, bu-but I-I have to.” All the tears escape, no tear is left behind.

“Why do you have to?” Tommy questions with more confusion in his voice than betrayal.

“I-” Ranboo cuts himself off, his breathing increasing in speed, making it harder to get out what he wants to say. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Well, then make me understand.”

“I can’t!” Ranboo yells, quickly covering his mouth which is covered by his bandana, his eyes widen in horror. “I’m sor-sorry, he’l-he’ll kill me.” Ranboo quietly sobs, hiding his head in his arms.

Tommy places his hand on Ranboo shoulder, Ranboo flinches back. “Hey, it’s ok.” Tommy comforts Ranboo, giving him a kind smile. “I won’t let him do that.”

“You don’t understand, he’ll kill you!” Ranboo yells again, his sobs getting louder.

“I’d like to see him try.” Tommy chuckles. “I’m way too strong for him.”

“I don't want him to hurt you, Tommy.”

“Don’t worry about me, he won’t,” Tommy says sternly.

“But what about your family? Won’t they be worried about you?”

“Dude, I’m homeless. My family couldn’t care less about me.” Tommy declares with a bit of anger mixed into his voice.

“Oh, sorry.” Ranboo apologizes, he should have known. Tommy’s face is covered with dirt, his hair is filled with leaves, and his clothing is torn at a few bits, Ranboo really should’ve known.

“It’s ok, you didn’t know.” Tommy replies, his voice going a bit quieter than normal. “Ranboo, you’re my only friend, I’m not gonna let you leave me.”

“I’m your friend?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t you be?”

“Because I’m a piece of crap.”

“No, nope. You’re not, I will not allow you to say bad things about my friend,” Tommy argues.

“But-”

“Nope.”

Ranboo sighs, deciding not to argue any longer, even if what Tommy is saying is completely false. The tears that were once rapidly flowing, come to a complete stop.

He wants to believe that what Tommy said is true, but he can’t. He’s been told, for what seems to be his whole life, these things about himself. Tommy just doesn’t know him well enough to realize. If Ranboo’s bandana ever leaves him, so will Tommy. Ranboo doesn’t want that to happen, even though it most likely will.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” Tommy and Ranboo’s eyes immediately dart to the source of this loud, terror-filled scream. The sound is getting closer and closer, they can’t seem to see anything from inside the leaves.

Ranboo can’t breathe, he tries to control his breathing, but it just comes out as a bunch of short panicky breaths. Tommy carefully places his hand on Ranboo’s shoulder, making Ranboo flinch back.

This time he wasn’t lucky enough to be facing the trunk of the tree. Instead, he was facing the branches, which provided no support, meaning he was doomed to fall.

Ranboo’s back falls onto the branches, making them break, and sending Ranboo falling down. Tommy quickly reaches out a hand, but it was too late, Ranboo couldn’t reach Tommy’s hand.

Ranboo falls.

Chapter Text

Ranboo falls, and falls, and falls. It feels like he’s falling into an endless abyss, or stuck falling for an eternity. Just falling, destined to do nothing more, than fall and wait for an end that never comes. The ground that he once knew so well, the pain it brought. Oddly enough, Ranboo would give anything to feel that pain again, anything to stop falling to his never ending doom.

Everything’s pitch black, like the endless abyss, he feels like he’s falling into. There’s absolutely nothing. Nothing to see, nothing to bring comfort, nothing to bring pain. At least he has that going for him.

Just when he thought he could get away from the pain, from the suffering, from the memories that refuse to go away, his mind appears to bring that to an end. It looks like him? Makes sense, it is his mind.

“How about we take a trip down memory lane, shall we?” The voice asks creepily, like an evil version of his voice. It doesn’t wait for an answer, it doesn’t need an answer.

And without any sort of warning, the black endless abyss transforms into a familiar place. A place Ranboo would much rather forget, home. It's cold stone walls and floors still make him shiver. The corner he’d cry in, the corner he’d hide in. The room, a constant reminder of the pain and suffering he endured, for years. How many? Ranboo doesn’t even remember.

“This is such a fun place isn’t it? You must have loved it here!” A very wide creepy smile can be seen on his counterpart's face, as if it enjoys this. As if it finds joy in Ranboo’s suffering, like a child getting a new toy.

“No, I didn’t.” Ranboo mumbles under his breath, staring directly at the cold stone tiles.

“But you deserved it!” The voice replies, with some kind of sick joy, it’s smile getting wider and wider with every word it declares.

“Tommy says I didn’t, though.” Ranboo mumbles a bit quieter than last time, hoping it doesn’t hear him.

“WELL, TOMMY DOESN’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” The voice yells, it’s smile leaving for a split second, but then returning to deliver it’s next line. “I mean, Tommy has no clue what he’s talking about.” The voice lets out a chuckle.

“Knows more than you.” Ranboo mumbles, just barely audible.

“What did you just say?!” It’s smile is not fading, it stays creepily placed on it’s face, like it’s been glued on.

“HE KNOWS MORE THAN YOU!” Ranboo takes a deep breath, he doesn’t like yelling, even if it’s just to his stupid, dumb, mean mind. “All you ever do is say mean things to me! Like jeez, dude, get a hobby.” Ranboo smiles mischievously, it feels so good to talk back to someone after all these years, even if it’s just his own mind.

“I’ll make you regret that!” The voice promises, transforming from his Ranboo-like form into something much more terrifying. If Ranboo isn’t gonna fear it now, he’s gonna fear it in a second.

Smoke surrounds the voice as it shifts into a different form, the smoke slowly fades, something absolutely terrifying visible. Ranboo’s eyes widen. Why did he have to say that?! Did he just forget about the consequences for these things?! It doesn’t matter that Ranboo knows that that's not really him, he can’t help but tremble.

It smiles, letting out a chuckle, having done way more than complete it’s goal, but that’s not enough for it.

“How about a change of scenery, shall we.” The voice snaps it’s fingers, and with that smoke surrounds them, wisping them away to a new place. It can’t be any worse than this, right? Right?!

The smoke clears, they’re outside..? This can’t be right. Why would the voice want to take him outside? The scenery actually seems nice, there’s no way that’s correct. Maybe it made a mistake..? That doesn’t make sense, the voice doesn’t seem like it would be the one to make mistakes.

“It looks nice, doesn’t it?” The voice interrupts Ranboo’s train of thought as if to answer Ranboo’s questions. How could it have known?! Oh no, Ranboo completely forgot, this is his mind, of course it knows what he’s thinking. Nothing is safe.

Ranboo jolts himself around to face the voice, instantly regretting his decision as he is reminded of the form it took. He takes a few shaky steps back, as if that's gonna help anything.

If it wasn’t enough to look absolutely terrifying, the voice decided to use his voice as well. The more Ranboo looks at it the more, Ranboo wants to curl in on himself.

Everything about it, makes Ranboo shudder. The voice found a way to look even more terrifying than him. The giant creepy smile, the cracked porcelain mask that held that creepy smile Ranboo grew up fearing, a glowing green eye peeking out from behind the mask, everything, just everything about it makes Ranboo feel like he’s gonna die.

With every step the voice takes, Ranboo takes another step back. Every moment trying to make it stay as far away from it as physically possible, to no avail. Every moment it’s still in front of him, he wants to curl into a ball and cry.

So, without taking any time to think this through, Ranboo sprints in the opposite direction. He can escape it by running from it, right? If he just runs from it, it will go away, right? It has to, Ranboo has run out of options.

"YOU GET BACK HERE!” The voice screams, it’s tone not changing, it’s smile not ceasing to exist, not even for one second. It makes it so much worse.

Ranboo continues to sprint, he’s not gonna stop. It’s too late to stop. He has to keep running, running is the only solution, it always has been.

He keeps running, his lungs feel like they’re gonna explode, but he can’t stop. He can’t stop. Ranboo battles tree branch after tree branch, until he stops.

Why was he stopping?! Ranboo’s eyes widen, he peers down at the seemingly endless ravine. He jolts around to try and find another way to escape. How could he escap-

“Looks like you have no place left to run.” The voice’s smile grows bigger, it chuckles, taking a big step closer.

Ranboo trembles. It's right, he doesn’t have anywhere to run, there’s no possible way he can escape this. His legs give out, making him fall on his stomach. He tries getting up, but he can't, he’s shaking way too hard.

The voice takes another big step, placing itself directly in front of Ranboo. It smiles widely and chuckles. Ranboo forces his eyes shut.

“Bye bye, Ranboo.” The voice chuckles, Then with a swoop, kicks Ranboo into the ravine, like a kickball.

Ranboo screams.

Thump.

—---

“RANBOO?!” Tommy shrieks. Not knowing what else to do, Tommy grabs Ranboo’s arms and shakes him. The pit in his stomach growing larger and larger with every second Ranboo doesn’t wake up. He can’t lose Ranboo. He can’t lose his only friend. Tears start to build up in Tommy’s eyes as he shakes Ranboo even harder.

Ranboo jolts up into a sitting position, gasping for air. Tears gush out of his eyes like a waterfall, as he breaks into a sob.

Tommy is flooded with relief, but that relief quickly leaves him. Not knowing what else to do, Tommy places his hand on Ranboo’s shoulder. Ranboo jumps back.

“Are you ok?” Tommy questions.

Is Ranboo ok? Is Ranboo ok?! Of course he’s not! He was just stuck in his mind for what seemed to be an eternity, with an evil version of himself. Why would he be ok?! Not to mention what he-

Ranboo can’t breathe.

Breathe. breathe. breathe. breathe. breathe. I can’t. I can’t. I CAN’T.

Tommy places his hand back on Ranboo’s shoulder. “Ranboo, it’s ok. You’re safe now. I won’t let anything like that happen to you again. You gotta breathe, broski.”

“I-I ca-.” Ranboo gets interrupted by more of his short raspy breaths.

“Uhh, oh, try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Like this.” Tommy suggests, demonstrating his new trick. Ranboo follows his lead.

Ranboo’s breathing goes back to normal.

“Are you hurt?” Tommy questions.

Ranboo shakes his head, he picks up the memory book sitting beside him.

“Oooo, a diamond!” Tommy smiles widely, shoving the ore into his pocket. Ranboo trembles. His eyes widen. There’s no way Tommy’s that oblivious. There’s no way he doesn’t know.

“What? First come first serve.” Tommy jokes. Ranboo’s expression doesn’t change. “Fineee, we can share it.”

Ranboo can’t breathe again.

“It’s ok, it’s over now. I’m here.” Tommy opens his arms out wide.

“Hug?” Tommy questions.

Ranboo hesitates for a second, then slowly nods his head. Tommy wraps his arms around Ranboo, Ranboo awkwardly stays in Tommy’s arms not knowing how to return the hug. For some reason he stops trembling. He feels safe…?

Inside Tommy’s arms nothing can hurt him, nothing. At least, that's what Tommy told him. As unrealistic as it sounds, Ranboo wants to just ignore everything and just pretend like he is safe, whether he is or not.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

Tommy is the first one to pull away as he jumps to his feet. Moving his head from side to side to find the source of this noise. His eyes widen, fear making itself known.

Ranboo trembles on his knees, bracing for the worst. Ranboo’s not just overreacting this time. Tommy doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything. So if Tommy is genuinely afraid, then what is it?!

The source of the scream gets closer and closer, Ranboo feels like his heart is going to beat right out of his chest. It’s taking everything he has just to keep breathing.

Tommy quickly grabs Ranboo’s hand, trying to make a run for it, but Ranboo collapses back onto the ground, every part of him trembling. Ranboo forces his eyes tightly shut, and presses his hands against his ears. He’s absolutely terrified.

Maybe it’s all just a very very vivid dream, yeah that’s probably right. He’s just dreaming, he must still be in the same dream from earlier, or something like that. This must be just a nightmare, it will all pass, it will be fin-

Ranboo’s thoughts are interrupted by a stinging sensation below his eye, Ranboo’s eyes shoot open. He quickly forces himself to sit up. A small bee falls out of Ranboo’s bandana.

Ranboo’s eyes start to water, his tears beg for a way out, to be given freedom, freedom to make everything worse, like they’ve always have.

What if Ranboo’s just imagining things, maybe you can feel pain in dreams. He’s just dreaming, he will wake up, and everything will be fine. Yeah right, if that was true, he's been dreaming for eleven years.

Whether Ranboo likes it or not, this is reality, and he’s forced to face it. The tears escape from their prison. He tries to shove them back, but they refuse. This is stupid, Ranboo has gone through way worse, he shouldn’t be crying over this.

It hurts. It hurts so bad. It feels like his whole left side of his face is on fire. It’s so hot that it feels cold at the same time. Maybe Ranboo is just overreacting. He should just stop, he’s just imagining it.

Another cold feeling makes an appearance on Ranboo’s face as a diamond appears. Ranboo quickly takes it out of his bandana and shoves it into his pocket. This can’t be good.

“MY BEES!!” The source of the screaming cried. The stranger sprints over to Ranboo. The stranger looks like he’s about to charge at Ranboo like a ram, his horns seeming even sharper than knives. Ranboo’s trembling becomes more violent.

Tears flow down the stranger’s face as he crouches down right in front of Ranboo, and carefully scoops up the dead bee.

“You-you killed my bees…?” The kid states, not fully grasping what just happened.

“Sor-sorry, I-I didn’t mean to-”

“YOU KILLED MY BEES!” The stranger interrupts, skipping directly into the anger stage of grief.

Tommy quickly forces his way in front of Ranboo, acting as his shield. Tommy matches the kid’s anger.

“YOUR BEES STUNG US!! Tommy yells, he looks back at Ranboo, who seems to be trembling even more because of the shouting coming from the two. He takes a deep deep breath. “It’s not our fault your bees stung us.” Tommy says in a calmer tone, not wanting to frighten Ranboo.

“Are you saying it was my fault?!” The kid questions, anger very prominent in his tone.

“Maybe I AM!” Tommy yells in response. He doesn’t have to take this, in fact, he won’t. Neither of them provoked the bees, so that leaves this angry kid left to blame. If anything the kid should be apologizing to them!

Ranboo flinches back, he stares at Tommy’s hands as they are scrunched into fists, they shake violently. Ranboo knows the meaning of those movements, he’s seen it happen many many times before..

This is all Ranboo’s fault. If he hadn’t been trembling on the ground instead of running with Tommy, the bees wouldn’t have died. The bees wouldn’t have stung anyone, if it wasn’t for Ranboo. Now, his friend is probably gonna get in a battle with this other kid, leaving no child left unscathed.

Ranboo doesn’t want to watch his friend get hurt, he doesn’t want this kid to get hurt, he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. It’s all Ranboo’s fault, it’s always Ranboo’s fault.

This kid is just mourning his bees. Why should he get hurt because of Ranboo’s actions?! This is all Ranboo’s fault. What is he supposed to do about it?! He can’t stop this.

A sudden weight suddenly appears on his shoulder, Ranboo flinches back. He lifts his head up to see what the weight was.

“Are you ok?” Tommy questions. Wait, why is Tommy crouching in front of him, trying to comfort him??

Ranboo realizes he isn’t breathing, and tears are gushing out of his eyes like a waterfall. He tries to correct his breathing, but instead chokes on a sob.

“Sor-sorry-“ Ranboo tries to say more, but chokes on another sob. Not more than a second later, Ranboo feels Tommy’s arms wrap around him, as he is pulled into another hug.

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault.”

“IT’S ALWAYS MY FAULT!” Ranboo snaps. His eyes widen in horror of the words that escaped his mouth, he gasps, and immediately shoves his hands over his mouth.

Ranboo looks away, and forces his eyes closed, waiting for the final blow. Waiting for what always comes, and what will com-

“Ranboo.” Tommy doesn’t sound mad…? He doesn’t look mad either. Why isn’t he mad?! He should be mad, Ranboo has done something absolutely horrid, deserving of the most severe punishment.

“Ranboo, It’s not your fault. Why would this be your fault?”

“I-“ Ranboo interrupts himself, trying to remember what he did this time. There is no doubt in his mind that it’s his fault, but why is it again? Oh yeah, right. “Because, if I hadn’t been too weak to run, the bees wouldn’t be dead.”

“That’s-“

“It’s not your fault.” The kid interrupts. “It-it’s mine. I was trying to pet the bees, but they just got mad at me, and chased me. If I-I hadn’t tried to pet them none of this would’ve happened.” The kid sniffles, a few tears slide down his face, he wipes them away, and takes a deep breath.

“I-I shouldn’t have blamed you guys, I-I just didn’t want to accept that it was my fault. I’m-I’m sorry.”

“Well, apology not accepted.” Tommy pulls himself off the ground, so he can stand up and look down on this rude little kid, to assert dominance.

“You yell at me, yell at MY FRIEND AND EXPECT ME TO BE FINE WITH IT?!” Ranboo flinches back at the yelling.

“Sorry Ranboo, I forgot you don’t like yelling.” Tommy awkwardly apologizes in the middle of his angry rant.

“It’s-its ok.” Ranboo lies, his voice gets quieter and higher in pitch.

“You have the audacity to think I’m just going to be ok with it?! Just because you said sorry?!” Tommy continues his angry rant.

“I-I-“ The keeper of the bees stutters on his words, not knowing what else to say. A few tears slip out of his eyes.

Tommy opens his mouth to speak, to yell, to fight. From the looks of it, if no one intervenes now, someone will get punched in the face, and knowing Tommy, he’ll definitely be the one to make sure of it.

Ranboo quickly jumps in between them, almost falling over in the process. Despite all odds, Ranboo stays on his feet through the power of determination. His legs shake violently, begging for a break, but he does not appease them. They can do their job for once in his life.

Ranboo tries looking the kid in the eyes, but immediately gets uncomfortable, and directs his gaze at the shoulder instead. He takes a deep breath, his whole body shakes.

“It’s ok, I forgive you. Sorry about the bees.” Ranboo states sincerely, trying to give him a smile, but realizing the boy wouldn’t be able to see that with his bandana covering it, so he resorts to an awkward thumbs up.

Tommy’s eyes widen, he’s in total shock and disbelief of what he just heard. Did Ranboo really just forgive him just like that?! After everything he did to him, he’s just gonna let it go?!

The kid goes over to where Tommy was originally standing, and picks up a dead bee. Tears flow down his eyes, like he’s mourning a friend, which makes sense cause he is.

“Do-” The kid sniffles, a few tears fall. “Do you guys wanna come to my house? We could hang out.”

“Absolutely.” “Absolutely not.” Ranboo and Tommy reply in unison, Tommy smiles very widely while saying it. They both look at eachother with confusion.

“Uhhhhhhhh, give us a minute please.” Ranboo begins to walk the other direction of the kid, motioning with his hands for Tommy to follow. Tommy gives the kid a death glare, placing his hands on his eyes and pointing to the kid.

The kid shrugs it off, and continues mourning his precious bees, tears flowing from his eyes.

They walk a bit away, enough for the kid not to hear them, but not enough for him to be out of sight. Ranboo stops, he opens his mouth to speak.

“Dude, why did you say yes?!” Tommy interrupts Ranboo before he gets the chance to speak.

“Because, you know, the bees.”

“That wasn’t our fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Ranboo corrects.

“Dude, bro, broski, he literally admitted that it wasn’t your fault.” Tommy tries to reason.

“Yeah, I know. He just-he just doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Ranboo says in a rather sad tone, his voice being very quiet and soft. He directs his gaze at the ground, not wanting to look anywhere near anyone’s eyes at the moment.

“Ranboo, what’s it gonna take for you to admit this wasn’t your fault?”

“It just is OK!” Ranboo slams his hands over his mouth. “Sor-sorry, let’s just go with the kid please. I wanna make this right.” He pleads.

“Ughhh, fine.” Tommy rolls his eyes. “But if he says one more rude comment we’re out of there.”

Ranboo nods.

They begin to walk back. They come to Ranboo’s conclusion, making it seem like Ranboo has won. But has he really? He should be happy about this, he gets to make up for the bee incident, for everything he did wrong to him. Whether it was an accident or not, it doesn’t matter.

He feels really guilty about the bees, because of him, this kid's precious bees are dead. He deserved to be punished very very severely. The guilt still resides in him, and not just because of the bees. He’s putting this kid in danger by just being around him. No matter what he does, he just can’t win.

“What was your name again?” Tommy interrupts Ranboo’s train of thought, the question doesn’t seem to be directed at him though.

“Tubbo, and you?”

“None of your business.” Tommy rudely replies, as if he didn't ask for this kid’s name mere seconds ago. “Can I talk to you for a second, TuBbO? Tommy asks, saying the kid’s name weirdly to mock him.

“Sure…?”

—---

Tommy leads the way, walking in complete silence until he reaches a spot far enough away. Tubbo makes the mistake of following him. Tommy stops, and turns around and stares at Tubbo directly in his eyes, staring deep into his soul.

“Ranboo might forgive you, but that doesn’t mean that we are all good. I’ll let it slide this time, for Ranboo. But if you dare, hurt Ranboo, if I even catch you even thinking about hurting Ranboo, you will regret it.”

“Is-is that a threat?”

“No, that’s a promise.”

Chapter Text

Ranboo speedily walks back and forth from the tree to the dirt path, and then back to the tree, this motion continues, only making the feeling worse as time goes on. He rotates his hands in a wave-like motion, occasionally digging his hands into his matted hair, trying his best to distract himself, but it’s not working.

What if they are fighting? What if something happens? Maybe I should go over there- No, no that’s a terrible idea. Don’t be stupid, Ranboo. It’s fine, it’s all fine. No need to panic, they’re just talking that’s all, no need to panic or anything like that.

There’s no logical reason for Ranboo to be panicking right now, and he knows that, but that doesn’t make it any better. In a way it makes it worse. His heart has decided it wants to go vroom vroom, and it refuses to stop. His body does whatever it wants, it doesn’t even take Ranboo’s opinion into consideration.

That’s not out of the ordinary for Ranboo’s mind, it has already made it crystal clear how much it hates Ranboo, it’s as if it made it’s life long mission to ruin Ranboo’s already miserable life. 

It seems to have gotten even worse since he met Tommy, which he didn’t think was even possible. It had nothing really to hold against Ranboo before, he had nothing, which means he had nothing to lose. So, maybe that was better..?

Now that Ranboo has something to care about, something to lose, it holds it against him constantly. Making constant threats against him, saying that if he makes one mistake, Tommy will just leave him like the trash he is.

Every second that Tommy isn’t by his side, his brain whispers these threats into his ears, increasingly getting louder until he accepts it. Not that it doesn’t come when he’s with Tommy, it’s easier to ignore then. Especially since Tommy comforts him for some weird reason.

But then again, it also does that when Tommy’s around. It just feels worse when Tommy isn’t around, cause than his villain of a brain likes to rub it in his face, that this is what it’s gonna be like without Tommy, absolute misery.

Oh no. Wether Ranboo likes it or not, he’s grown attached. He had one job, one singular job, and he blew it. Now he can’t even be mere seconds without Tommy without feeling panicky. Why did he let this happen?!

Ranboo went from being able to go days to the occasional week without social interaction, and if given the opportunity, he'd probably choose to be without for longer. But that was the old him, the old him is locked away in that cold dark room he used to call his home, now he’s a newer version of him, who can’t live without social interaction with Tommy.

His future doesn’t look very bright, if he can’t stay with Tommy forever, then how is he supposed to survive? He’ll probably be so desperate for company, that he’ll risk everything and go back to him . Ranboo had been heavily considering it, it seemed like the only option were no one gets hurt, well except him.

How would he break that to Tommy though? You know that person I’ve been having nightmares about, yeah ima go back to him. Yeah, he has a feeling that wouldn’t go over very well. 

The idea seems less pleasing the more Ranboo thinks about it, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t need to be, all it needs to be is safe, safe for everyone, anyone except Ranboo.

Tommy’s gonna find out either way. Nothing Ranboo can do to stop it, no point in trying to prevent it. When Tommy leaves him, Ranboo will just return to him . He’s been gone long enough.

“Ranboo, you good?”

“Oh, yeah.” Ranboo takes a second to realize what Tommy said, having been abruptly brought out of his own thoughts.  “Sorry, yeah yeah I’m good.” Ranboo lies, putting on a fake smile, using it like a mask, hiding any troubles that can be seen behind it. No use making everyone else worry. It’s his problems, not theirs. 

“Ok, if you’re sure...” Tommy slowly replies, trying to make it obvious to Ranboo that he’s not buying it.  

“Yep, I’m sure.” Ranboo lies again, the pitch of his voice ratting him out. “When did you guys get back?” Ranboo quickly changes the subject.

“Just now, why?” 

Ranboo sighs with relief. If they just got back, then they didn’t see Ranboo having a mental breakdown a few minutes ago. It’s best they don’t see him like that. He doesn’t deserve their pity. It's better that they don’t see.

“Just curious.” Ranboo lies, his voice cracks a bit at the end, not being very used to lying often. Maybe he should just not lie, then he won’t have to deal with that problem. 

“Sooo uh, do you guys wanna head over to my house now?” Tubbo asks awkwardly. He has no clue how to do this, which is fair enough, since it is his first time inviting people to his house. Well, if you don’t count bees, that is. 

“Sure!” Ranboo quickly agrees, not wanting to give Tommy a second to be able to refuse.

“Great! Follow me. It’s just up this way.” Tubbo’s face lights up. A smile almost half the size of his face, makes its way further up Tubbo’s face. The eyes once gushing with tears, now are dry like a desert, making the whites of his eyes an almost bright red. 

Tommy rolls his eyes. 

Tubbo leads the way, while Tommy and Ranboo stay closer behind him. Tommy staying consistently in front of Ranboo, acting like a barrier between him and Tubbo. Ranboo didn’t mind though, being in the back means being less seen, which gives him more freedom to move around as he pleases.

He glances around making sure there’s no one walking beside them or in front of them. He glances twice, both times not seeing a single soul. He takes a deep breath, and slowly lifts his hands above his waist, rotating them in a wave-like motion.

Energy surges through Ranboo’s veins, and not the bad kind. He hops a tiny bit off the ground, flapping his hands a bit. A smile brushes against the inside of Ranboo’s bandana. No one can see him, no one can hear him, he’s just free to just be happy.

Ranboo doesn’t deserve to be happy. Ranboo almost forgot about his stupid idiot mind. Well, for all Ranboo cares, it can shut up. Ranboo can’t ever recall feeling like this ever. So, his mind can go stomp on someone else’s parade.

 “These were Spins’ favorite flowers.” Tubbo sniffles, picking up a few daffodils with his free hand from the patch of flowers growing next to each other in the grass beside them. Tommy rolls his eyes.

Ranboo glances at the patch of flowers, and he's immediately drawn to one of the fluffy purple flowers that he was petting earlier, in the center of the patch. Without thinking, he walks over to where Tubbo is standing, and picks the flower.

He rubs it against his forehead, it feels so fluffy and soft, even more than it did when he pet it with his hand. Ranboo imagines, it’s what those white fluffy things in the sky feel like.

He wishes he could rub it against his cheek, but that would require him to take off his mask entirely, which wouldn’t be worth it, right? 

“Is that your favorite flower?” Tubbo asks, staring at Ranboo.

Ranboo jumps like a startled cat, he quickly removes the cloud-like texture off of his face, and hiding it behind his back. Ranboo wants to run, he wants to sprint to the other side of the earth. He forgot that happiness has consequences for a second. That must be why he can’t remember experiencing this emotion.

Part of him wants to pretend like he never had a flower, but the other part of him knows playing stupid is always a bad idea. It’s never worked before. Why would it work now? 

“Uhhh, I guess so…” Ranboo answers uneasily, he doesn’t want to get in trouble. Sure he’s never got in trouble for it before, but that's only because he’s never been given the chance. What would he rub his face against, the stone walls?!

Ranboo takes a step back, looking behind him at Tommy, and then at the path behind them, making sure he has every escape route mapped out in his head, not letting a single detail be overlooked.

“Nice. I personally prefer tulips, but alliums are pretty cool too!”

Ranboo tilts his head, and quickly un-tilts it. Showing any sign of visible confusion is disrespectful, and disrespect never goes unpunished. Hopefully Tubbo didn’t see that. So maybe rubbing your face against a flower isn’t something to be punished for..? Doesn’t seem right, but then again, he’s never gotten punished for it before.

Now that that confusion has vanished, a new one takes its place as Ranboo fully starts to grasp what Tubbo said. None of it makes any sense.

“Sorry um, wha-what’s an allium?” Ranboo asks, he is instantly flooded with regret. He went from dealing with one problem to jumping into the next without any thought, and now it’s time for it to all catch up to him. Does he even think before he speaks?! “Sor-sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, sorry.”

“Oh no, it’s ok. An allium is the type of flower you’re holding, usually identified by their round fluffy clumped up petals.” Tubbo explains, motioning towards the allium behind Ranboo’s back. Ranboo slowly brings the allium back into Tubbo’s view.

“Oh sorry, my bad, I should’ve known, sorry.” Ranboo apologizes, fidgeting with the flower, discreetly brushing his hand against its soft fluffy exterior. 

“No, it’s ok, don’t worry about it, you didn’t do anything wrong. It's not common knowledge to be able to classify every flower by name. I just know the names because I have a flower garden for my bees..” Tubbo explained, the excitement draining out of his voice as he starts to fully grasp what happened.

“ He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” The voice whispers, just when Ranboo thought it would go away, it was foolish of him to think it would ever go away.

Ranboo gives Tubbo a weary smile, which was kinda useless with his bandana being in the way. He quietly walks back behind the others, setting his gaze on his worn out boots. They continue their steady pace with their original positions, Tommy still separating the two of them. Ranboo stays silent, not even letting his breath become too loud.

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” The voice’s words echo in Ranboo’s mind. Ranboo sighs, hanging his head low in defeat. It doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon.

Ranboo lifts his head from the ground, moving it to his side, glancing at the booths placed a few feet to the side of the path, trying to distract himself the best he can. 

Ranboo stops walking for a second, turning around in a circle. Glancing at the colorful patterns providing the shopkeepers with cool shade, protecting them from the sun’s suffocating rays. Taking in a whiff of the sweet aroma coming from a particular section of booths. The conversations of other groups of people mixing into one big suffocating noise. He can’t go five seconds without hearing all of their voices, he’s probably just overreacting, it’s fine.

Ranboo jolts his head back in front of him as Tommy grabs his hand, latching onto it tightly, dragging Ranboo along with him, directing him through the crowds of bustling people, like a mother making sure her child doesn’t get lost. They excite the crowds, and the noise fades. Ranboo lets out a loud sigh, relief being the only emotion being felt at the moment. 

Tommy frees Ranboo’s hand from his grasp as they come to a stop in front of, what they could only assume was, Tubbo’s house. 

“We’re here!” Tubbo exclaims, taking a giant stride towards his house.

Ranboo stops in his tracks, his jaw drops. This is a house?! This is not how a house should look like. A house is supposed to look cold and uninviting, not warm and cozy. It completely defeats the whole purpose of keeping people out, and locking certain people in.

Ranboo’s home fulfilled this purpose for years, keeping him locked away in the small dark stone room below the ground, allowing no exit except for a small wooden trap door from above, too high to reach from the ground.

Ranboo wasn’t able to get a good enough view of his home before the blazeborne engulfed it in flames. Ranboo remembers run down wood being there for not even a second, and then it being nothing the next.

He can still remember the bitter taste of smoke and remember the feeling of the smoke as it caused a burning sensation as it entered his throat, making him collapse on his knees in a fit of coughs.

Ranboo can’t remember seeing any house like Tubbo’s before, which is probably a good thing, since Tubbo’s house seems very impractical on so many levels. 

First of all, it made almost the exact mistake Ranboo’s home made, being made almost entirely out of wood. It’s just a normal thing with homes, but it’s just so useless. Like seriously, what’s the point of having wood anyway. Do people want to watch as their homes are gulped up by the flames?! Maybe buildings should invest in some stone. Stone is good.

The house did have a type of stone, but not the cold gray stone Ranboo was used to. It’s not as cold, and it’s a darker shade, but it’s not wood, so that’s a plus.

Ranboo snaps out of his thoughts, feeling a small tug on his cloak sleeve. He quickly moves his head to his side, finding the source of the tug.

“You coming?” Tommy questions, staying firmly placed in front of him.

“Yeah, sorry, must’ve zoned out again, sorry.”

“No worries, just wanted to make sure you didn’t change your mind.” Tommy states as if inviting Ranboo to do exactly that. Ranboo considers it, but it’s too late, he already agreed to this.

Ranboo waits a few seconds, before giving Tommy a small hesitant nod. Tommy tilts his head as if to ask Ranboo if he’s sure. Ranboo gives him another small nod, taking a deep breath, and takes a large stride towards the very very flammable house.

Tommy runs in front of Ranboo, creating the barrier again as they walk to the front door, where they find a frustrated Tubbo waiting for them.

Tubbo bangs his fist against the door, making Ranboo jump back, hiding behind Tommy in case Tubbo decides to take out his anger on him instead of the door. When he gets no response, he sighs, extending his hand to the knob, turning it tightly until it completely gives up. 

The door slowly creaks open, making a loud squeaky noise, alerting anyone nearby of their presence. Tubbo steps in through the opened door, motioning for the others to follow him. Tommy begrudgingly follows, rolling his eyes, while Ranboo slowly enters after him, fidgeting with his sleeves, having dropped the flower somewhere in the chaos of the market.

Ranboo heavily regrets agreeing to this. This is a bad idea. There’s no way Tubbo doesn’t have a caretaker. Ranboo can feel his heart throbbing inside his chest. It’s ok, all he has to do is act completely perfect, and the caretaker should leave him alone.

Who is he kidding? He wasn’t able to do that ever with him . What makes him think he can just magically be given the ability to do it here.  

“Mum, I’m home!” Tubbo shouts at his mum. Ranboo startles at the sudden noise, jumping back a few steps. 

Is Tubbo trying to get them in trouble?! They’ve not even been in the house for more than a minute, and Tubbo’s already causing a raucous. He might as well be begging for punishment.

Ranboo tries to push down the feeling of uneasiness, trying to ignore it. If he allows himself to be anxious, then it will come off as nervousness. And if Tubbo’s caretaker sees him acting suspicious like he just robbed a booth at the market, then he will be punished for something he didn’t even do. All he needs to do is act completely calm, no pressure .

Ranboo takes a deep deep breath inhaling in through his nose and out through his mouth, just like Tommy taught him. He reaches up to pull the hood of his cloak further down his face. He quickly stretches his hands behind his neck, firmly pulls the ends of his bandana tighter, so much that it gets harder for him to breathe. He wraps the ends around each other once more, knotting it a second time.

   The bandana brushes more frequently against Ranboo’s face now that it’s tighter, Ranboo has the urge to take it off all together, but resists. Ranboo’s face burns, as the rough material leaves his skin, feeling like little grains of sand lodged onto his face. By the time the feeling leaves him, the bandana brushes against his skin again, making the cycle continue.

Ranboo feels like crying. He raises his hand up to relieve himself from the constant pain, but stops, quickly dropping his hand to his side. 

It’d be better to suffer in pain than have the possibility of his bandana slipping from his face, making his true identity revealed.

It’s one thing to ignore the feeling normally, but with a bee sting is a completely different story. Now that the bandana is practically glued to his face, it rubs against his face, basically caresses it.

The pain shoots up every time the bandana touches it, making him wince. He can’t do this, it’s literally throbbing in pain. This was a bad idea. He needs to leave, NOW !

Ranboo’s head jolts to his side, slowly shuffling behind his two friends as a door to his side slowly creaks open. Someone emerges from the shifting shadows, making themselves known as they step into the lightly lit room.

He quickly hangs his head, directing his gaze to the wood panel flooring. His heart pounds inside his chest, feeling his ears with the fear inducing sound. A sudden wave of dizziness spikes him, making the wood floors spin around in a circular motion, forcing him to raise his head to lessen its effects.

The spinning doesn’t stop completely, but slowly goes away at snail speed. He stares at the back of Tommy’s head, distracting himself by looking at the individual strands, since he doesn’t need to lower his head fully to focus on them.

His arms stay glued to his side, shaking with the rest of his body.

The clicking of hooves hitting the hard wood  floor fill Ranboo’s eardrums, perfectly matching the rhythm of his heartbeat. The two sounds mix, causing his heart to beat even harder. His heart feels like it’s going to rip right through his chest.

The clicking stops.

“Tubbo, Tubbo you know I love you and that won’t ever change, but sweetie this is the third door knob you’ve broken this week . Can you please just use the key I gave you?” Tubbo’s mum calmly reasons, not seeming mad at all.

OH CRAP. Tubbo’s going to get in trouble!!

Ranboo moves his head up, moving his eyes towards where Tubbo and his mum are standing. Ranboo has the urge to scream, to warn Tubbo to get out of the way. He wants to throw himself in between Tubbo and his mother, but he can’t..

He desperately tries to unstick his arms from his side, but they don’t budge. He tries to run, but his feet  remain stuck to the floor. Ranboo moves his head to the side, forcing his eyes shut.

Tubbo’s going to get hurt and there’s nothing he can do about it.

“But by the time I get the key out, I could’ve already gotten in by breaking the door knob. Plus it’s kinda fun, not gonna lie!” Tubbo argues, smiling widely, letting out a few chuckles.

“Tubbo! Ok fine, yeah I’ll agree breaking door knobs is pretty fun.” Tubbo’s mum agrees, letting a smile cover her face, gentle laughter exiting it. “But you have to be mindful that door knobs cost money, and we can’t keep breaking them with no reason.”

“Ok, my reason is cause I want to.” Tubbo jokes, smiling so wide his mouth hurts.

“No Tubbee, just don’t break our door knobs, ok? We'll find something more fun to do than breaking our door knobs, ok?” Tubbo’s mum suggests, trying to offer an alternative option. 

“Fineeeeee.” Tubbo agrees, breaking out in a fit of giggles. “But other people’s door knobs are fair game.

“No!” Tubbo’s mom rolls her eyes, chuckling. “You’re just like how I was when I was younger.” Tubbo’s mum ruffles his hair.

“What can I say, I learned from the best!” Tubbo smiles proudly, lifting his head up to look directly into his mother’s eyes.

Tubbo’s mum quickly steps closer to Tubbo, and wraps him in a hug. Tubbo returns the hug. 

Wait, what?! How did Tubbo get out of being punished?! Aren’t all caretakers the same, making demands and commands and expecting others to obey. Causing multitudes of cuts, bruises, and pain beyond imaginable when others refuse. It’s just a thing caretakers do. How else would anyone learn?!

Why is Tubbo’s caretaker different? Maybe his caretaker was the way he was because of Ranboo. He is an enderman after all. If they knew, they wouldn’t be acting all nice to him. Endermen don’t deserve such pleasures.

Tubbo exits the hug, a smile permanently paisted on his face. He turns around,  jumping back, and letting out a startled bleep. He completely forgot that Tommy and Ranboo are here. His face turns bright red, making him look like a tomato.

“Ranboo and uhh-”

“Tommy.” Ranboo whispers almost inaudibly. Tommy jolts his head towards Ranboo, shaking his head disapprovingly, giving him a betrayed look.

Oh crap, I betrayed Tommy. I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have said that.

Ranboo hangs his head, looking back at the floor tiles, now that the dizziness has subsided. Why did he say that?! Great, he just ruined the one friendship he had .

“Ranboo and Tommy, this is my mum.” Tubbo motions at his mum with his arms, walking over to her side.

“It’s nice to meet you Ranboo and Tommy! My name is Puffy, you guys must be Tubbo’s friends-”

“We are not friends.” Tommy snaps, rolling his eyes, he crosses his arms.

Ranboo’s eyes widen, lifting his head back up from the ground. He manages to move his arm over in Tommy’s direction, and elbows him lightly in the hip.

Tommy turns his head toward Ranboo, giving him a confused glance. Ranboo motions toward Tubbo and Puffy, Tommy aggressively shakes his head. 

“We just met today when my bees-” Tubbo cuts himself off, tears forming in his eyes. The stinging feeling in the back of his throat warns against the tears that form. Tubbo lifts his hand to wipe his eyes, he doesn’t even wipe away one tear before the rest come, flowing like a river from Tubbo’s eyes.

Tubbo reached into his overall pocket, pulling something wrapped in a handkerchief and placing it into Puffy’s hands before collapsing on his knees in sobs. Puffy carefully opens it, finding what remains of Tubbo’s bees lying within it.

Puffy gasps, covering her mouth. She carefully lays the handkerchief down on the coffee table at her side. She carefully lowers herself to her knees, trying not to startle the child crying beside her.

“I’m, I’m so sorry Tubbo.” She tries comforting him, slightly opening her arms. Tubbo rams into Puffy, hugging her tightly, refusing to let her go. He sobs into her shoulder.

“ Oh crap. Why did Tubbo do that?! Does he know that that’s a one way ticket to getting chucked to the other side of the room?! Ranboo would know, he tried it when he was younger, it’s still one of his most vivid memories.

Tubbo’s mother returns the hug, clinging onto him more than he is to her. She doesn't punish him. Why is she letting this happen? This can’t be right.

Tubbo pulls out of his mother’s arms, wiping the remaining tears with the sleeve of his sweater, sniffling a bit before fully explaining to his mother what happened.

“I-I-” Tubbo takes a deep breath. “I-I pet the bees-” Tubbo cuts himself off, the back of his throat stings again.

“And they stung my friends and then-” Tubbo glances over at the table where the bees lie, quickly jolting his head back, and clings onto his mother again, refusing to let go.

“Did you guys get the stingers out?” Tubbo’s mum asks, looking back at her son, who is leaving the hug. 

What’s a stinger? Ranboo slowly glances at Tommy to see how he reacts.

Tommy doesn’t look confused, so it must just be Ranboo. He must just be incompitent, of course he doesn’t know what a stinger is, that sounds about right. Ranboo feels like he’s let everyone down, he can't seem to understand anything, it must be very annoying for everyone around him.

“No, I don’t think we did.” Tubbo mumbles.

“Ok well, we might wanna get those out now. How long has it been since you guys got stung?” Tubbo’s mum asks, directing her question at the blond boy staring directly at her.

“Around thirty minutes.” Tubbo interrupts,

“Oh, then we better get those stingers out now !” Tubbo’s mum exclaims in a rush, moving closer to the two boys. Tubbo clings to her side, like a shy toddler, refusing to leave his mother’s side.

Ranboo’s eyes widen, he slowly inches behind Tommy, hunching down as to hide behind him, using him as a human shield from the caretaker. Tommy won’t let anything bad happen right? Ranboo doesn’t want to stay to find out, he tugs on Tommy’s arm, like a child trying to get someone's attention.

“ We can get our own stingers out, thank you .” Tommy argues, puffing up his chest and standing on his tip-toes to make himself look bigger and stronger.

Tubbo’s mum sighs, of course they were gonna be difficult. “I will give you a cookie if you let me get the stinger out.” She offers defeatedly.

Tommy takes a moment to ponder her offer, placing his hand on his chin, and stroking it like a beard. 

“Deal.” 

What?! Ranboo felt betrayed, as if Tommy had stabbed him in the back. Ranboo was completely counting on Tommy to get them out of there, and he just did the exact opposite. Whatever, it’s Ranboo’s fault for relying on others.

Ranboo watches as Tubbo’s mum uses the blunt side of her claws, and scrapes at the tiny black thing sticking out of Tommy’s arm. The black thing comes out, and Tubbo’s mum puts a bandage on it. She quickly rushes to another room, and returns with a circular type of food, handing it to the gremlin boy.

Tommy quickly snatches the cookie out of her hands, and shoves it into his mouth, eating it in one bite. He licks his lips, not letting a single crumb go to waste.

“Ok buddy, where did it sting you?” Tubbo’s caretaker questions, looking over at Ranboo. Ranboo’s eyes widen, he quickly looks away, trying to set his glance on the wall behind Tubbo’s caretaker. He tugs at Tommy’s arm a second time, hoping that Tommy will get the hint this time.

Tommy slowly turns around, tilting his head and giving him a very confused look. Ranboo motions toward the door with his head, trying to be as subtle as possible. The last thing he wants is for Tubbo’s mum to catch on.

Tommy looks toward the door and back at Ranboo, he tilts his head further, his confused look growing bigger than imaginable. Tommy mouths the word ‘why’, not letting any sound come out of his mouth.

Ranboo freezes, he slowly motions at his bandana. Tommy looks even more confused than before. Why was Ranboo so insistent on keeping his bandana on? Surely a cookie would be worth it, right? Ranboo can’t have that stinger in forever, and if he never takes that bandana off, then it will never come out.

Tommy can’t help him out here, he needs to get the stinger out. If he leaves then he will most likely run, there’s no way he will willingly take off the bandana.

“Give us a moment.” Tommy boldly commands, motioning to Ranboo to follow him. Ranboo sighs, Tommy must have got his hint. But to Ranboo’s demise, Tommy doesn’t head to the door, instead he goes over to the other corner of the house.

“Dude, you have to get the stinger out. Either you let her do it, or I'll do it.” Tommy whispers, trying to sound as nice as possible, not wanting to scare him more than he already is.

Ranboo looks away from Tommy, trying to hold it together. Part of him wants to completely break down. He wants to run, he wants to run to a corner and hide. He can’t let them do this. He doesn’t want to run from Tommy, but sometimes he has to do things he doesn’t want to do.

“Sorry Tomothy.” 

Before Tommy has the chance to realize what Ranboo just said, Ranboo makes a dash towards the door, making it half way before he feels something grab his wrist firmly, and pull. 

The hand grabbing him slips, sending Ranboo sliding onto the floor. He tries to quickly pull himself up, maybe if he gets up fast enough he can still make it out. He pulls himself to his knees, and then to his feet, placing his weight against the wall as the dizziness starts to kick in again.

To his demise, Tommy is standing at the door, refusing to move. Maybe Tommy just happens to want to stand there, he’ll move, right? 

“Please move.” Ranboo pleads, trying to reach his arm over Tommy to the doorknob, but Tommy pushes it back. Ranboo tries again, the same thing happens. “Please.”

“We both know I can’t let you do that, Ranboo.” Tommy firmly states, not moving from his post at the door frame. It hurts Tommy more than it hurts Ranboo, but he has to do it. It’s for Ranboo’s own good. 

“Please.” Ranboo pleads again, looking for a second into Tommy’s eyes, then immediately looking away. 

“No.”

Ranboo’s heart stops, that’s his only way out. So if he can’t escape from that door, then… he can’t escape.

Ranboo’s heart stops, Tommy motions to Tubbo’s mum, who takes the opportunity and walks closer to the two of them. 

“I’m sorry buddy, but I have to get the stinger out, can you show me where it stung you, please.” Tubbo’s caretaker pleads, trying her best not to do anything to scare him further.

Ranboo jolts around, taking a large step back, keeping his weight placed on the wall beside him as his legs revolt against him, it seems that his whole body teams up against him, making everything harder.

His back hits something, he turns around, terror fills his entire body as he realizes he’s cornered. Tubbo’s mother has strategically placed herself at the only point where Ranboo could possibly make a run for it. Ranboo tries to keep his breathing steady, but it gets increasingly hard as time goes on.

Ranboo lifts a shaky hand toward his bandana as if to answer her question, he knows the consequences of leaving questions unanswered, especially ones asked by a caretaker.

“Can you take it off please so I can get the stinger out?” 

Ranboo shakes his head, placing his hands defensively in front of his head, waiting for the consequences of his actions to catch up to him. Tubbo’s mum’s horns look as sharp as knives, surely she will ram into him. 

Ranboo can feel his heart start to race. His hands start to sweat, his whole body is shaking as if there’s an earthquake happening inside his body. In an instant all the composure he has, flies out a window.

There’s no way out, no escape. Ranboo knew this day would come, but he didn’t expect it to come so soon, and to make matters worse, now he’s probably going to be put in another tiny stone room. Except this time, it’s gonna be tinier, colder, and he won’t be given any of the mercy that he got with him . He’d probably be better off dead .

Ranboo forcefully shuts his eyes, he can’t bear to watch. He can’t watch as he comes to his own downfall.

Chapter Text

“Please sweetie, I really need to get the stinger out. I’ll give you a cookie if you let me get it out!” Puffy bargains, pointing with her arm to a blurry plate with circular disks stacked on top of eachother in the far back corner of the kitchen.

Puffy lifts her head up towards the taller child. If his height wasn’t very obvious before, it definitely is now. Ranboo leans against the wall behind him, slouching to make  his height seem a little bit more reasonable.

Puffy stares directly into the red and green eyes of the Enderman-hybrid. Ranboo quickly looks away, gazing at the blurry plate of disks on the other side of the room. The sounds of his heart banging against the walls of his chest flood his ears.

Does Ranboo really have a choice here?! Sure, if he says yes, he’ll get one of the round circular pastries, like the one Tommy got, but is refusal really an option?

What if Ranboo doesn’t want a cookie, how about that?! Sure, the disks might look all soft and fluffy, and their sweet aroma might allude to a taste so delicious that it might be worth the pain, but Ranboo’s smarter than that. If it sounds too good to be true, it most definitely is.

It’s food which means it’s gonna cause pain, and Ranboo would much rather deal with the growls and protests from his stomach, than the aches and pains that eating  always provides.

The only option that provides Ranboo with any sort of security is fleeing, but unfortunately that isn’t really a choice he’s free to make, especially since Tommy is guarding the door.

With flight being crossed off his list, Ranboo only has two options left: fight or freeze. Both are absolutely terrible choices, none being a smidge bit practical considering the consequences.

If he fights, he could find himself angering Puffy, and that's not a risk Ranboo’s willing to take. Her knife-horns could very well be used against him. Adding more cuts to his collection, or worse.

If he freezes, he’ll be captured, doomed to a fate of torture. Losing everything he ever cared about.  

With nothing better to do, Ranboo slowly shakes his head from side to side, indicating his refusal of Puffy’s bribe. 

His body threatens to collapse beneath him as Ranboo trembles in fear. Why did he deny only “good option”?! He leans further into the wall. Does it really matter if it’s the  good option or bad option? In the end, the outcome stays the same.

Why did Ranboo ever think things would change? How could he be so gullible?! After all, he tends to fall into the same vicious cycle, over and over again. 

Ranboo can’t blame himself for the first time he fell for it, there’s no possible way he could control what happened. He was just a child, nothing more than a poor defenseless child. 

Ranboo couldn’t control that he was abandoned in the End. He couldn’t even gather food for his poor growling stomach. He couldn’t shake off the freezing cold with no blanket for his shivering tiny body. 

Ranboo’s lucky he found him when he did, or Ranboo might not be here today.   

Ranboo can’t even remember for himself what happened, but luckily for Ranboo, He was always quick to remind Ranboo about what happened, about how his parents gave him up without such a passing glance to the cold islands of the End, how they were monsters who didn’t deserve to raise their own son. 

That's how all enderman are, Ranboo being with him as a constant reminder of that. 

Ranboo was lucky to have someone as kind and merciful as him. After all, he did take care of Ranboo for eleven years of his life. He kept Ranboo alive, that’s more than his parents tried to do.

They didn’t come back, Ranboo should be thankful for him telling the truth to him about his parents, but instead of paying him back, Ranboo didn’t heed any of his warnings, and is now being forced into the same situation, but without the mercy he had ever shown to him. 

“I'm sorry sweetie, but I need to get the stinger out.”

Ranboo’s shaky leg reaches back behind him to take another step, but instead of the floor it is met with a wall instead. He forces his arms in front of him, carefully guarding his face in an x-like position. Ranboo forces his eyes to be glued shut, dropping his head towards the floor.

Puffy tilts her head. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to get the stinger out.” She tries to assure.

Ranboo may be stupid, but not that stupid, he’s not going to remove his only defense.

Puffy sighs, taking a large step toward Ranboo. A hand wraps around Ranboo’s wrists, pulling them down along with his arms and sticking them in front of him. Ranboo tries to jolt his arms away, but they don’t budge under Puffy’s firm grip. 

Colored tears build in Ranboo’s eyes, but he refuses to open his eyes, not letting them escape.

A hand settles on Ranboo’s chin, forcefully lifting it up, Ranboo slowly opens his eyes, a few tears escape, he looks at the hand reaching for his bandana. His heart in his chest.

The bandana slips down from Ranboo’s face. Ranboo’s heart drops. 

The room falls silent. Puffy gasps, letting her free hand cover her gaping mouth. Puffy’s once firm grip loosens, only slightly hugging his wrist.

Ranboo takes the opportunity, and jolts his wrist away, sprinting towards the door. Ranboo gets a mere five short steps before his legs finally give out, leaving him stranded against the nearest wall.

It’s too late. He had one chance to escape and he blew it. Of course he blew it, He’s such an idiot. He can’t even run from his problems correctly. 

Ranboo lifts his knees to his chest, hiding his face in them. The only sound that can be heard in the house is his faint sniffles and sobs. 

“You knew this whole time didn’t you?!” Tubbo demands, moving his head towards the blond boy guarding the door, and glaring. “YOU KNEW DIDN’T YOU?!”

Tommy moves his mouth to answer, but no words exit it, instead he slowly shakes his head.

“YOU REGRET DEFENDING IT, DON’T YOU?!” Tubbo questions aggressively. “YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE THREATENED ME FOR IT!” A few seconds pass by, reverting back to silence before more the fight breaks out.

“DON’T INSULT RANBOO LIKE THAT! HE’S JUST AS MUCH AS MY FRIEND AS BEFORE. WHY WOULD THIS CHANGE ANYTHING?!” Tommy demands.

“CAUSE HE’S AN ENDERMAN, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH THAT THING?!” 

“DON’T CALL HIM THAT! HIM BEING AN ENDERMAN CHANGES LITERALLY NOTHING!” Tommy argues.

The room goes quiet, Tommy turns his head to the side. He crosses his arms, and lets out an angry huff.

Tubbo glares at Tommy, copying his arm crossing movement He turns his head and directs his gaze at Ranboo. 

“Nil.” Tubbo mutters under his breath.

“Tubbo, go to your room, now.” Puffy commands.

“But-bu-”

“NOW.” 

Tubbo falls silent, staring at Puffy with his eyes wide and jaw dropped. His eyebrows furrow into his eyes, he crosses his arms, letting his shoulders fall down with them. He opens his mouth and lets out an angry bleat, staring Puffy dead in the eyes. He then stomps to his room like an angry toddler, slamming his door shut with a loud thud.

Ranboo flitches back, banging his head on the wall behind him, drawing the unwanted attention back to him. The Ranboo’s sobs become more noticeable now that the yelling has come to a stop.

A familiar weight resides on Ranboo’s shoulder, making him flinch back against the wall, banging his head once more. 

“I’m sorry.” A familiar voice apologizes. 

Wait, what. 

“Wh-what?”

“I’m sorry.” Tommy repeats.

This makes no sense. Why is Tommy apologizing to him?! If anything the roles should be reversed.

“Wh-why?”

“Because.” Tommy pauses, taking a deep breath. “I should’ve stepped in sooner, I shouldn’t have let Tubbo say all those mean things about you. I-I was just kinda surprised, I didn’t really know what to say at first.

“It’s fine, I deserve it.” 

“No. No you don’t. You don’t deserve any of that.” Tommy affirms.

“Bu-but I’m an Enderman.” Ranboo argues.

“That doesn’t change anything. People should still treat you with decency. I don’t know what being an Enderman has to do with any of this.” Tommy declares with a huff, glaring at the direction of Tubbo’s room.

Ranboo lifts his head from his knees, tilting his head towards Tommy.

“Look man, I don’t care that you’re an Enderman. You’re still my best friend, and nothing will ever change that. My promise still stands, I’m not going to let anything happen to you, bestie.” Tommy promises sincerely, turning back to Ranboo.

“But I didn’t tell you, and I’m a monster, why would you still want to be friends with me?” 

“I understand why you didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t tell you if I was in your shoes, no offense.”

“None taken.”

“And you’re not a monster. I know you’ve gone through a lot, man, but trust me when I say that whatever he or anyone else told you, are complete and utter lies. For all I care, he can eat a thousand lemons.” 

Ranboo tilts his head. He has no clue what a lemon is, but now probably isn’t the best time to ask.

“It would be better if you just left me to rot.” Ranboo mutters.

“Ranboo.” Tommy places both his hands on Ranboo’s shoulders. “I’m not going to leave you. I already told you, you’re my bestie, which means you lost your leaving privileges. You’re stuck with me, bestie.

A smile adorns Ranboo’s now fully shown face, tears drop from his eyes. He turns to Tommy and wraps his arms around him. Tommy returns the hug. Ranboo doesn’t let go and neither does Tommy. They both stay in the warmth.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I kinda still need to get the stinger out.” Puffy awkwardly reminds them. “Can I please take it out?”

Ranboo and Tommy quickly leave their hug. Tommy turns his head towards Puffy, then back towards Ranboo.

“Ranboo, what do you think?”

Ranboo turns his head towards Puffy then back towards Tommy, he fidgets with his fingers, rubbing the thumbnails with the opposite thumb, repeating the motion.

“I can if you want, it might take longer though, cause I don’t really know how.” Tommy suggests.

Ranboo looks up towards Puffy. “You don’t care that I’m an Enderman?”

“Of course not! Puffy exclaims, giving Ranboo a sympathetic smile. “Sorry about Tubbo, what he said was completely out of line.”

“It’s okay.” Ranboo takes a deep breath. “You can take out the stinger if you want.” 

“Okay! If you’re sure.” 

Ranboo takes another deep breath. “I’m sure.”

Puffy kneels down in front of Ranboo, reaching her hand out towards Ranboo’s face. Ranboo forces his eyes closed, Tommy takes his hand and squeezes it.

Puffy scratches the stinger, it comes out immediately. A bandage is placed on the wound.

“Okay, done!”

“Really?!”

“Yep, that's it! Are you sure you don’t want a cookie though?”

“Nope, I’m good.” Ranboo’s voice cracks.

“Okay…..if you say so.” Puffy stands back up, moving her head back towards the kitchen. “Are you guys thirsty?”

Tommy aggressively nods.

“Okay, I’ll be right back with drinks.” Puffy turns towards the kitchen, her hooves click against a stone-like floor.

Ranboo lowers his head towards the floor. Ranboo feels his heart start to beat again. He doesn’t want a drink. All drinks have side effects, the most common being burning. If he’s lucky, the drink will only burn while sliding down his throat. 

If he’s unlucky it will burn and make him teleport all around the room, a state Ranboo likes to refer to as “panic teleporting”. He despises it with a burning passion, and for good reason.

When he’s “panic teleporting”, he has absolutely no control of any of his movements. As the name implies, he basically teleports constantly in any direction with no ability to stop. The only way it stops, is when forced by an outside source, or until he passes out from exhaustion. 

He’d much rather not experience that again, so drinking anything is definitely not an option for him. Being dehydrated is a small price to pay compared to it.

Puffy returns holding two different colored drinks in her hands. She hands Tommy a yellow drink, and Ranboo a white one.

Tommy gulps his down, licking his lips.

Ranboo glances at the white liquid staring back at him in the glass. He slowly extends the glass towards Tommy. Tommy pushes it back towards Ranboo.

“No, you have to drink it, Ranboo. You don’t wanna get dehydrated.” 

“I don’t want it to hurt me…” Ranboo pleads.

“Oh…. It’s ok, it’s just milk, I don’t think milk has any water in it. You shouldn’t feel pain from it.” Tommy assures.

Ranboo looks back at the milk in his hands, he takes a deep breath, and takes a little sip. He forces his eyes shut. Nothing happens…

Huh? Wait, what. Ranboo takes another sip. He can’t feel any pain. Wait, not all drinks cause pain?!

Ranboo slowly sips on his glass of milk, wanting to savor its taste for as long as possible.

Ranboo finishes the milk, licking his lips just like how he saw Tommy do it.

“Thank you!” Ranboo exclaims.

“No problem. Do you guys wanna come back for dinner?”

“Yes!” Tommy quickly replies, not wanting to decline a free meal. 

“Okay, you guys should probably go outside and play, I have to talk to Tubbo, and make dinner.”

Tommy nods, taking Ranboo’s hand and pulling him up. Ranboo lifts his bandana over his face. They walk out the door back into the outside world. 

“Let’s go back to the tree.” Tommy suggests.

“Okay.”

Ranboo’s heart pounds in his chest. Why did Tommy agree to dinner?! There’s so many things that could go wrong. It would be best if they run while they still can.

What if Tubbo alerts people that he’s an Enderman, and then he will be forced into captivity with a jail cell disguised as a room. He doesn’t want that. Who would?!

What if dinner is just a trap?! What if he’s forced to eat?! What if he comes back and hurts everyone?! What if he does something wrong and Tommy leaves him?! 

Ranboo doesn’t want to go, but he can’t just say no. Tommy already agreed. This means a lot to Tommy, the least he can do is come along, but after dinner, they have to go right away.

Ranboo moves his head towards Tommy, Tommy moves his head towards Ranboo and smiles. Ranboo returns the smile. Ranboo might not have much going for him, but he has one thing.

Tommy is Ranboo’s best friend, and he’s not going anywhere.

Chapter Text

Tubbo sits on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. He glances at the bed in the corner, but quickly shakes his head in dismissal. He’s not going to his bed. He doesn’t deserve such a luxury.

    He growls at the messy pile of blankets in the middle of his room, practically begging for him to come recline on them. It doesn’t matter how soft and fluffy they appear, Tubbo will not succumb to the temptation.

    He had ripped them off his bed while in his anger, acting like a toddler throwing a fit. 

    It was stupid. He didn’t even know what he was doing until it was done. It was like his anger had taken full control of his emotions, leaving him to feel nothing but an overwhelming amount of anger.

   Tubbo catches himself longing for the pile even more as time goes on. Not wanting to succumb, he quickly directs his attention away from it. 

    He frowns, glaring at the door in front of him, wanting nothing more than to look at anything else. But Tubbo doesn’t deserve to look at anything else, so why should he?

   Tubbo flitches at the memory of his door slamming the door shut, sounding overwhelmingly loud. He quickly covers his ears, trying to block the sound from repeating. He shakes his head profusely, trying to shake the memory out of his head.

   It isn’t his proudest moment, but then again, not of this horrendous day is.  

   Tubbo grimances, noticing the two large dents on his door. He didn’t think he rammed it that hard, but then again, he wouldn’t be surprised if he did. 

   They aren’t fully holes, though, just two small dents, which isn’t any better. The only difference is no one can see from the outside. 

    Holes or dents, it doesn’t really matter. The only thing that does matter is that Tubbo has just made the biggest mistake of his whole entire life, and he doesn’t know if he can fix it.

    Tubbo pulls his knees up to his chest, letting a pathetic bleat escape from his mouth. His ears flop down, brushing against the tops of his knees.

     Why did he yell at Ranboo?!

    A tear slides down Tubbo’s fluffy cheek. He quickly swipes it away. He doesn’t get to just do something like that, then wallow in his own self pity like it wasn’t all his fault.

   Why did Tubbo do this?! 

    He will probably never see Ranboo again, which is deserved. Tubbo doesn’t want that to be the case. He wishes he could just take it all back.

   It happened once, maybe Ranboo will forgive him again..? 

   No. Don’t even think about that. You can’t just say sorry and expect every wound to be instantly healed. That’s not how things work.

   Tubbo hopes Ranboo will forgive him. He honestly doesn’t know what he’ll do if he doesn’t.

    Ranboo was Tubbo’s only friend, well, if Ranboo ever considered him a friend.    

    Of course Tubbo found a way to push away the only person who put up with him, well except his mum, but she doesn’t count. 

    Ranboo was so nice to Tubbo, even after he yelled and blamed him for his bees death, that was clearly Tubbo’s fault. Ranboo felt so bad about it as well, Tubbo’s yelling at him had a really big effect on him. 

    And what did Tubbo do to fix that? He took out all his anger on Ranboo, again.  

    Ranboo didn’t even make fun of Tubbo for his horns or for not being human, well Tommy didn’t either, but he just didn’t get the chance. Ranboo was one of the only people who actually understood what Tubbo was going through.

    You’d expect him to be more thrilled about it, but no, of course he wasn’t. 

    Instead of treating him the way he wished he had been treated, he paid forward the actions of his bullies, becoming the one thing he despised.

   “ Look at you with dem wonky legs! You look just like an Enderman.” They would tease, laughing as if this was the funniest thing in the world.  

    “I don’t look anything like an Enderman and you know it!” Tubbo would angrily refute, stomping his hooves on the ground.

    “Oh hush, you don’t even have toes.” 

    Tubbo shudders at the thought.

    How could he do the exact thing that drove him to tears day after day?! He swore he’d be different, he’d never be like them. He'd never snoop down to their pathetic level.

    That he was wrong.

    Someone knocks on the door. 

   “Tubbo.” A voice softly addresses. “Can I come in?”

  Tubbo sighed, glancing back at the blankets and dents. She was going to find out anyway. Tubbo places his hands on the floor, not allowing his knees to drop to the floor.

  “Yes.” Tubbo barely  mutters.

   The door slowly opens with a slight creak as Puffy steps into Tubbo’s room. She turns around to close the door, staring directly at the two dents. 

    Tubbo grimances.

    Puffy sighs, gently closing the door. She takes a few steps towards Tubbo, and carefully sits herself beside him, not making much of any noise at all.

    The two of them sit in silence, none of them  saying anything.

    “Do you know why I sent you to your room?” Puffy finally asks, her voice still being soft. No anger spilled into her voice, even though it would be deserved if it did.  

    “Yes.” Tubbo mutters at barely a whisper, trying his best not to talk to keep the tears forming in the corner of his eyes from spilling out.

    “So what is it?” Puffy patiently asks. 

     “Because-” Tubbo cut himself off, a tear sliding down his face. He takes a deep breath. “Because I was a jerk to Ranboo. He probably hates me now.” 

     Tubbo couldn’t hold back the tears any longer, allowing them to slip down his cheeks. He buried his face in his knees.  

     “It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay.” Puffy comforts, bringing Tubbo into her arms, rubbing circles on his back.

     Tubbo cries harder, practically sobbing into Puffy’s shoulder. 

     “Ranb-Ranboo hates me!” Tubbo cries, sobbing harder into Puffy’s shoulders.

     “He probably doesn’t hate you.” Puffy assures. “He’s probably just sad.” Puffy tries to comfort.

     “He should hate me.” Tubbo snaps, flinching at his own tone. “I hurt him.” 

     “Yeah, you did.” Puffy frowns. “You should probably apologize.”

     “Will he forgive me?” Tubbo sniffles. 

     “I don’t know, sweetie.” Puffy pauses. “He doesn’t have to, but at least you’ll know that you at least apologized.”

     “Okay.” Tubbo frowns. “ I don’t know where they went though.”

     “Maybe just wait till tonight, since they’re coming for dinner” Puffy suggests.

     “No, I'll just go find them.” Tubbo ignores Puffy’s suggestion, pulling himself to his feet and walking to the door.

     “Okay then. If you can’t find them, just be back for dinner.”

     “Okay, bye mum.” Tubbo runs out the door, practically sprinting.

     “Bye Tubs!” Puffy shouts just before she could hear the sound of the front door slamming shut. She smiles, shaking her head.  

----

    Ranboo’s legs dangle over the ledge of the tree branch, swinging back and forth, extending farther with each swing,  extending so far that they hit the branch in front of them. Ranboo flitches back, slowly resetting the swing in order not to hit the branch again. The cycle continues.

    “I can’t believe I didn’t know.” Tommy quietly mutters..

    Ranboo tilts his head. Was he missing something?

    Tommy seems to catch wind of Ranboo’s confusion, and answers his question before Ranboo has the chance to ask. “You know.” Tommy pauses, moving closer to Ranboo to whisper into his ear. “That you’re an Enderman...” Tommy whispers, hoping that Ranboo understands what he means.  

    Ranboo’s legs immediately stop swinging. His eyes widened. He slowly turns his head in Tommy’s direction, fiddling with his sleeves.

    “Uhhhhhh, Tom-Tommy.” Ranboo pauses. “Could you not use that word in public, please?” Ranboo asks, trying to seem as calm as he can with his brain threatening to force him into a panic attack.

    Why would Tommy bring this up in public of all places ?! What if someone heard?! No, Tommy whispered it, and they were high up on a tree. That’s not possible. 

    But what if someone has super good hearing or something?! No, that’s impossible, but then again most Enderman have the ability to teleport, it’s possible for a different species to have really good hearing. 

    No, that can’t be right. No other species has abilities. If they did, Ranboo would’ve known about it. 

    But then again, Ranboo did spend eleven years of his life in his stone room, so he wouldn’t know. He didn’t even know fuans were a thing until today.  

     Oh crap .

    There’s no way Tommy will actually listen to him. Why would Ranboo ask something so dumb?! Tommy is just going to scream at him now. That’s what he would always do.

    Tommy might do something even worse than what he would do. What if he just decided he was sick of Ranboo and his foolish questions, and hands him over to the first human he sees.

    Why couldn’t Ranboo just keep his mouth shut?! Tommy was only whispering. Sure, it made Ranboo really really uncomfortable, but that’s fine, a little discomfort won’t kill him. But an ignorant question might, or at least make him wish he was-  

    “Yeah yeah, of course. Sorry, I didn’t really think that through. We can talk about this later, if that’s okay with you.” Tommy reassures.

     What.

    Tommy was apologizing to Ranboo?! That’s not right. Does Tommy not know how he’s supposed to act? Doesn’t he know he’s supposed to be mad? 

    Ranboo needs to be punished for his ignorance. He could add another bruise or cut to Ranboo’s arms or give him back to him or someone far worse, but never apologize.

    Maybe Ranboo heard him wrong. Yeah, that’s probably right.

    “I’m so-sorry, wh-what?” Ranboo braces himself, waiting for the punishment that should come.

    “Sorry, I won’t say it in public again.” Tommy repeats, surprisingly not seeming angry at all.

    Ranboo’s jaw drops. This can’t be right, Tommy is just confused. He can’t actually mean-

    “Ranboo? Are you okay?” Tommy asks, seeming genuinely concerned.

     Huh? 

    Before Ranboo gets a chance to answer, tears stream down his face, sliding onto his bandana. He tries to wipe the tears away, but more come to replace the fallen. Ranboo can’t stop them.

    “I’m-I’m sor-”

    Tommy pulls him into a hug.

    Ranboo makes a startled sound, flinching at the sudden weight placed around him. He tries to keep the tears in, trying not to sob all over Tommy’s shoulder.

    “ I’m sorry. You're not the one who needs to apologize.”

    The tears flow more rapidly and he gasps for breath, still trying to not sob.

    “It's okay. You can cry.” Tommy assures.

    Any control Ranboo had over his emotions slips with a single statement.

     Ranboo sobs.

    Why is Ranboo like this?! All Tommy did was put up a fake apology, there’s nothing really to it. It was most likely to get Ranboo’s guard down, so the final blow hurts so much more. 

    But it seemed so genuine… That’s because Ranboo is bad at reading people. He’s just stupid and naive like he always said he was.

    All this is fake. Then why does it feel so real? Why is Ranboo so gullible?!

    Even though this isn’t real, Ranboo can’t help but lean into the touch. It feels so warm and comforting. Ranboo doesn’t ever want to leave.

    Which is incredibly selfish of Ranboo. Even if this is just a trap, Ranboo shouldn’t be wasting Tommy’s time or burdening him. Tommy wasn’t the one at fault here, he shouldn’t have to deal with Ranboo’s pathetic emotions.

    “I’m so-” Ranboo pauses, choking on a sob. “I’m sorry.”

    “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re not doing anything wrong.” Tommy comforts genuinely, sounding so genuine that  Ranboo almost believes him.

    But in true Ranboo fashion, he doesn’t fall for such nonsense. Why can’t he just shove all this emotional crap back inside him, he could with him . Why is it different here?

    He doesn’t know the answer, which makes him cry all the more. Why can’t things just be simple?! Why can’t things just make sense for once?!

    “I'm sor-sorry. I-I can’t make it sto-stop.” Ranboo struggles to get out, immediately going back to sobbing on Tommy’s shoulder after he said it.

    “Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault.” Tommy tries to comfort.

    Ranboo doesn’t believe a single word, but he knows Tommy won’t just take ‘no’ an answer in this case. 

    He continues sobbing, sobbing and sobbing. If his body would allow him, he’d probably sob for an eternity, but his body didn’t want that. Growing tired of his antics, it forces him to take the rest he needs. 

    The sad anxious boy gets some more rest.    

—---

.   

    Tommy had no idea what he was doing. 

    Everything was going fine. They were just walking to some random kid’s house, nothing could possibly go wrong there. 

    Sure, this kid did just yell at him and Ranboo for something that wasn’t even their fault, causing Ranboo to have a panic attack, but that was over. Everything was fine . 

    Everything would be fine , Tommy would make sure of it.

    That was a foolish prediction.

    When they actually got to the kid’s house, his mother got all concerned about the bee stings and crap. Which was completely stupid, Tommy has gotten stung by a bee before, it was no big deal. 

    He’s a big man, he can take care of himself.

    Tommy got his stinger out by himself not by the kid’s mum, the cookie proved nothing, it was just a gift for being so awesome.

    Ranboo on the other hand, could not get his own stinger out. Which was understandable, since this was probably Ranboo’s first time getting stung by a bee. 

    This wouldn’t really be much of a problem though. Tommy or the kid’s mum would just get the stinger out, no big deal. But no, the bee just had to sting Ranboo under his bandana, which made the situation way more complicated.

    The kid’s mum asked if she could take out the stinger, Ranboo had refused. Which was the only time Tommy had ever seen Ranboo say ‘no’ before, and he looked like he was going to die because of it.

    Tommy tried to offer to take the stinger out himself,  instead of the kid’s mum, but Ranboo refused again, which was very weird.

    Sure, Ranboo could have had very bad self-esteem issues at the time, or maybe he just hates the way he looks. But this didn’t seem like that. Ranboo was acting very suspicious, like he had something to hide.

    Tommy would’ve just brushed it off if Ranboo hadn’t tried to run away .

    As much as it pained Tommy, he had to stop Ranboo. So he reluctantly blocked the door. He will never forget the look of betrayal in Ranboo’s eyes, looking as if Tommy had sentenced him to death.

    Tommy almost stepped away from the door, but he didn’t. It was for Ranboo’s own good, he told himself.

    Tommy soon regretted that decision.

    The kid’s mum pulled Ranboo’s bandana off, revealing the reason he didn’t want it off in the first place.

     Ranboo is an Enderman.

     Tommy couldn’t bring himself to say anything at the moment. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He couldn’t believe he had never noticed.

    It all made sense, the bandana, the fear of people, the constant apologizing, the mention of him . 

     Oh no. It’s so much worse than Tommy imagined.

    Tommy must have zoned out because one second, everything seemed to be fine, and the next, Ranboo was crying on the floor with some kid screaming at him.

    How had he allowed things to get this bad?!

    Now Tommy is sitting on a tree with Ranboo passed out on his shoulders, wondering how this day had taken a turn for the worse

    One word comes to his mind.

     Tubbo.

     If wasn’t for that stupid kid, everything would be fine. 

    But no, that kid just had to mess things up, didn’t he?

    Tommy swears if he ever sees that kid again-

    “Tommy, Ranboo, is that you guys?” A strangely familiar voice questions from the bottom of the tree.

    It somehow knows their names, which can’t be good. Tommy brushes it off, not wanting to think too much of it.

    “Tommy, Ranboo?” The voice repeats.

    Tommy rolls his eyes, opening his mouth to snap some insult at him, but closes it,  remembering the Enderman sleeping on his shoulder.

    The last thing Tommy wants is for Ranboo to wake up in a frenzy of panic.

    “Hello?!” 

    Ranboo’s head shifts on Tommy’s shoulder, Tommy grimaces. Fortunately, Rnaboo doesn’t wake up, Tommy sighs in relief.

   “Hello?!” The sound repeats, growing more and more impatient.

    Tommy rolls his eyes, half tempted to never respond. He glances back at Ranboo. and frowns.

    Would this kid have the audacity to ask another time? Maybe he’ll just think he’s seeing things and leave the way he came. That would be nice. 

     Unfortunately, that’s not the case, the kid may be dumb but he’s not stupid.

    Tommy’s lucky if he doesn’t yell at the top of his lungs. Tommy can almost see the panicked look in Ranboo’s eyes and hear the raspy breaths.

    Tommy sighs, no use in putting Ranboo in jeopardy. 

    “Depends on who’s asking.” Tommy snaps, his voice being barely over a whisper.

    “Tubbo.” The kid replies.

    As much as he wants to scream at the top of his lungs to this brat, Tommy resists the urge. He’ll do that later, when Ranboo’s not in the room.

    “Oh, well then. They aren’t here. Leave. ” Tommy demands as aggressively as he dares.

    “Pleaseee, I just want to apologize to Ranboo.” Tubbo pleads.

    “No!” Tommy quickly covers his mouth, Ranboo shifts his head on Tommy’s shoulder again, but doesn’t actually wake from his peaceful slumber. Tommy sighs, wiping his forehead with his other hand.

    “I mean no.” Tommy barely whispers.

    “Please.” Tubbo pleads again.    

     “No , we had a deal, and you blew it.” Tommy recalls, crossing his arms and looking in the complete opposite direction of Tubbo. “You can’t just say sorry and expect everything to be fine.”

     “I know that.” Tubbo says more quietly. “I just want to apologize. He doesn’t have to forgive me.” Tubbo tries to reason.

     “Yeah right, sure.” Tommy mocks, rolling his eyes. “Do you really think I’m that stupid.”

    “I’m being serious.” Tubbo huffs. “I feel really bad about it.”

    “I’m not letting Ranboo have a panic attack because you feel guilty.” Tommy snaps, looking at the sleeping boy reclining on his shoulder. 

     “But-”

     “ Leave.” Tommy interrupts.

     “But I need to apologize.”

     “ Leave! ” Tommy flitches at his own volume.

     “Fine!” Tubbo shouts back, stomping his feet on the ground below them, before running back home.

Chapter Text

Rays of sun burn through the barrier of the leaves and directly onto Ranboo’s eyelids, making him turn his head in the opposite direction in irritation. 

    Ranboo feels something brush against the top of his head, he quickly jolts his head forward, almost falling off the tree in the process, again.

    Fortunately, Tommy realizes what is happening and grabs Ranboo before he can actually leave the branch, pulling him back.

    “Ranboo, you good?” Tommy asks, seeming concerned for some strange reason. Did something happen? What happened?

    “Ranboo, you need to breathe.”

    Oh crap, Ranboo’s not breathing. His breathing gets worse upon the realization.

    “It’s okay, it’s okay. Just copy me.” Tommy inhales, holding his hands up and tensing his shoulders up.

    Ranboo tries to repeat Tommy’s movement, inhaling a short raspy breath.

    Tommy exhales, lowering his hands and relaxing his shoulders.

    Ranboo copies Tommy, exhaling a short raspy breath.

    They go over the exercise until Ranboo’s breathing is back to normal.

    “Better?” Tommy asks.

    Ranboo nods his head, opening his mouth to say something but no words come out.

    He feels like a pit of emotions is swirling in his chest, and his voice has left him. 

    “Sorry..” Ranboo barely mutters, the pit grows with every word he utters, and he feels like staying silent forever.

    “Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Tommy assures.

    Ranboo doesn’t believe him. He knows that Tommy wouldn’t lie to him, or at least he deserves it. It’s not that he thinks Tommy is being malicious.

    It just doesn’t feel real. He can hear the words, and he knows the meaning of the words, but they just feel kinda there.

   They just feel like a lie, feeling like ordinary words with nothing special about them. 

    Ranboo wants the words to feel special to him, but he just can’t. He’s just so stupid. He can’t even accept Tommy’s comfort.

     Wow, you’re such an idiot, Ranboo. You really can’t at least make Tommy feel better. 

    Useless.

    Tears stream from Ranboo’s eyes, as he tries to fake a smile. His whole body shakes and he feels incredibly pathetic.

    “Ranboo? Are you okay?”

    “Yeah, yeah, I’m fi-” Ranboo bursts into sobs.

    Tommy instantly pulls him into a hug, and Ranboo hugs back, sobbing into Tommy’s shoulder again.

    Here Ranboo is burdening Tommy again. How is he not sick of Ranboo’s crap yet?

    “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Tommy tries to comfort, rubbing circles into Ranboo’s back.

    No, this is not okay.

    Despite every instinct in his body telling him to pull away, he can’t. He leans into the warmth. He knows this is temporary, but he just can’t stop himself.

    The tears eventually stop, and Ranboo reluctantly pulls away from the hug, wiping the tears from his eyes.

    “Better?” Tommy asks.

    “Yep, sorry.”

    “Nah, it’s all good.”

    Ranboo can’t help but not believe it, but at least the pit is gone now.

    Now that all that emotional crap is out of the way, what happened? Ranboo can remember a bit of what happened but everything’s very fuzzy.

    It feels like every memory he has from the last couple of days has just blurred together into one giant foggy mess. Wait, has this all just been one day? Ranboo just wants this nightmare to end already.

    Ranboo reaches into his pocket and pulls out his memory book. Surely, he wrote everything down.

    Ranboo flips to the first page, frowning at its contents.

     He is after me. Run. Can’t go back. Trust no one.

    He forgot to write almost everything in his memory book. This is a very flawed solution to his problem.

    Oh well, he might as well write everything he can remember right now.

    Ranboo stares at the page, picking up the pen from his pocket.

    Well, he can’t really remember anything at the moment, but it would be pretty rude to keep the first statement since he’s friends with Tommy now.

    Guilt adds itself to the pit swirling in Ranboo’s chest. He quickly corrects his first statement.

     He is after me. Run. Can’t go back. Trust no one. (except Tommy)

    Also keep writing in the book every moment you can.

    Ranboo frowns. What else is he supposed to write?

    “Sorry, we might wanna start heading over to Puffy’s house or we might not make it there in time for dinner.” Tommy reminds Ranboo.

     Oh crap.

     “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Tommy assures. “With everything that happened earlier, it’d be pretty understandable.”

    “No no no, it’s fine!” Ranboo’s voice cracks.

    “Are you sure?” Tommy questions seeming extremely unconvinced.

    “Positive!” Ranboo lies, his voice cracking again.

    “Okay, if you say so..” Tommy sighs, seeming rather disappointed that Ranboo won’t tell him the truth. “If you change your mind please tell me.”

    “Okay.”

    “How are we supposed to get down, though?” Ranboo questions nervously, staring at the distant ground beneath him.

    “Like this.”

    Tommy sighs, pulling himself to his feet and balancing with his arms. He quickly lowers himself on the trunk of the tree, moving with little care or disregard for the consequences of just one mistake here.

    Ranboo watches in horror.

    Tommy hugs the tree, wrapping his limbs around the trunk tightly and slowly lowers himself, jumping off when he is close enough to the ground.

    “Now you try!” Tommy yells.

    Ranboo finds himself clinging to the tree even tighter than before.

    “No!” Ranboo yells, quickly clapping his hands over his mouth. “Sorry, I just-I just!” 

    Ranboo takes a deep breath, staring at the hard menacing ground staring right back at him. “I just don’t want to fall again!”

    Ranboo can feel the warmth dwell in his cheeks.

    “It’s okay, you won’t!” Tommy assures, seeming rather calm.

    “Yes I will!” Ranboo can feel the tears well in his eyes as the panic settles in his chest.

    “You won’t!” Tommy assures. “But if you do end up falling, I’ll just catch you!”

     “I’m too big for you to catch!” Ranboo yells back, he hugs the tree so tightly that if he wasn’t wearing his coat would leave marks.

    “Ranboo, trust me!” Tommy yells, still sounding patient despite Ranboo’s protests. “I’m a big man, I can catch you!”

    “Are you sure?”

    “Positive!”

     Ranboo takes a deep breath, and tries to copy what Tommy did. 

    He gets up and hugs the tree even tighter than he already is. He goes to wrap himself around the tree and slips. 

     Oh no.

    Ranboo forces his eyes shut, and waits for the familiar thump of hitting the cold hard ground, for the pain it inflicts.

    But none of that comes, instead something catches Ranboo.

    “See, told you I’d catch you.” Tommy says, holding Ranboo up with little to no effort. 

    Ranboo can’t believe it, Tommy actually caught him?!

    This might be the first time Ranboo got down from a tree without adding another big bruise to his shoulder or back. It felt nice.

    Ranboo quickly got back onto his feet, realizing Tommy was still carrying him, not wanting Tommy to get mad at him or anything.

    “Sorry.” Ranboo apologizes, fidgeting with his sleeves.

    “No no, you’re good. You have nothing to be sorry for.” Tommy explains, looking very confused.

    Ranboo opens his mouth to argue, but stops himself, not wanting to make Tommy mad.

    Without a word spoken between them, Tommy leads the way to Tubbo’s house.

    Ranboo hopes Tommy actually knows the way and isn’t just heading in a random direction, but then again would that be so bad?

    If they end up getting lost, then that means Ranboo won’t worry about being forced to eat food or having to deal with Tubbo yelling at him.

    Is Tubbo even okay with them coming to his house after what happened? 

    Is this a good idea? What if Tubbo sends him back to him ?! What if he hurts Tommy in the process?! What if-

    Ranboo stops himself to take deep breaths. He doesn’t want Tommy to worry about him again.

    He tries to do the breathing techniques Tommy taught him in hope that maybe they could silence the loud thumping of his heart or stop the swirling in his chest.

    It doesn’t work and Ranboo feels himself being pulled into the scenario as if it is actually happening in real life and not just in his head.

    Ranboo can practically feel the tight grip on his wrist, holding it down. He can feel the panic stir in his chest even though this has happened more times than he can count on his fingers.

    He can almost feel the cold shiver and sharp pain in his arm as-

    “Ranboo, you good man?” 

    Ranboo realizes he’s not breathing and takes a deep breath. It’s okay, it’s over now. It’s not happening, you’re good. 

    “Yep, sorry.” Ranboo apologizes, sounding very unconvincing.

    Tommy frowns. “It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

    Ranboo frowns, but doesn’t argue. He knows better.

    “I think we're here by the way.” 

    Ranboo glances up at the house in horror. Ranboo wishes he never agreed to come. He wishes he had the guts to run here and now.

     Run run run run run run run run run run.

    Ranboo glances to his side at Tommy. He can’t just leave him.

    Ranboo takes a deep breath, and takes a shaky step forward.

    Tommy quickly walks in front of him, acting as his shield in case anything goes wrong.

    Ranboo takes comfort in the barrier.

    Tommy takes a step forward and goes to knock on the door, but before he gets the chance the door slams open.

    Ranboo jumps back, letting out a startled yelp. 

    Even Tommy seems a little surprised, but quickly morths his expression into one of anger as he glares at Tubbo.

    “Tubbo.” Tommy greets, his tone dangerous. 

    “Tommy…” Tubbo fights off the urge to roll his eyes. Instead glancing at the very anxious Ranboo standing behind Tommy. “You guys can come in.”

    Wait, what.

    So Tubbo is okay with Ranboo being here?

    Ranboo doesn’t know whether he should be scared or relieved.

    Tommy steps into the home, Ranboo follows carefully behind.

    “Oh um, Ranboo-” Ranboo’s heart drops. “-can I talk to you for a minute?”

    “No.” Tommy responds for Ranboo.

     “You’re not Ranboo.” Tubbo states, seeming quite fed up with Tommy.

     “Yeah, I know, but I’m not going to let you talk alone with him. If you want to say something you can say it in front of both of us.”

    Tubbo stares at Ranboo, waiting for a response. Ranboo wants to shrink in on himself.

    “Yeah, I want Tommy to be there….sorry..” Ranboo barely mutters.

    “No no, that’s okay.” Tubbo assures. “I just wanted to make sure that’s what you wanted.”

    “So what did you have to say?” Tommy questions impatiently, quietly stomping his food in aggregation.

    “I’m sorry for earlier. It was very wrong of me and I really shouldn’t have done that.” Tubbo sighs. “You don’t have to forgive me, but I just wanted to make sure I apologize, sorry.”

    What.

    Tubbo is apologizing to Ranboo ?! None of this makes sense. Well, it never did, but it makes less sense as time goes on.

    “It’s fine, I deserved it.”

    “No, you didn’t!” Tubbo refutes. “You didn’t actually do anything wrong.”

    Ranboo frowned. Is this some sort of trap? One second Tubbo was screaming at him, now he’s apologizing?

    This doesn’t seem right at all.

    Ranboo looks back at Tommy as if to ask if this is true.

    Tommy nods his head, still not ceasing to glare at Tubbo.

    “Oh okay.” Ranboo says nervously, not fully believing it himself. “It’s fine, I forgive you..”

    “Ranboo, can I talk to you for a second?” Tommy asks, motioning for Ranboo to follow him. 

    Ranboo follows him, feeling almost relieved to get away from Tubbo.

    “You know you don’t have to forgive him, right?” Tommy whispers into Ranboo’s ear.

    “I know, I know. I just feel bad. It’s my fault anyway.” Ranboo whispers back.

    Tommy sighs. “Ranboo, how could this possibly be your fault?” 

    “I’m an ender-”

    “No, that has nothing to do with this.” Tommy sternly whispers. “You can’t control that, and being an enderman isn’t bad.”

     “Yes, it is.” Ranboo refutes. “Endermen just cause hurt and pain. Just ask anyone else and they will tell you the truth.”

    “Well, they’re wrong.” Tommy sighs. “Ranboo, I doubt you could hurt anyone if you tried, no offense.”

    Ranboo severely doubts that. He’s an enderman after all. 

    Sure, he may not know how to fight anyone properly, but that’s because he wasn’t with his ‘family’ long enough. 

    If he did, he’d be the monster he always fears he’ll one day be.

    “That’s not true..”

    Tommy raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

    “Yes.”

    “Ranboo, please just trust me here. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

     Ranboo doesn’t believe that for a second, but Tommy looks so desperate for some reason and it’s what Tommy wants to hear.

    Ranboo sighs. “Okay.

    “Does that mean you don’t forgive Tubbo anymore?”

     Ranboo flinches at the name, but shakes his head.

     Tommy frowns, but nods anyway.

    They walk back to where Tubbo is waiting for them.

    Tommy leads the way, making sure Ranboo is safely behind him.

    “Welcome back.” Tubbo awkwardly greets, scratching the back of his neck.

    “Let’s get one thing straight.” Tommy growls. “Ranboo might forgive you, but that doesn’t mean you can push him around. If you lay a single finger on him, I will make you regret it .”

    “Okay okay.” Tubbo agrees. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

    “You better not have.” Tommy snaps, glaring at Tubbo.

    Ranboo freezes.

    Oh no. What if Tubbo gets mad at Ranboo again, because of Tommy’s threats?! What if Tommy actually follows through?!

    Will Tommy kill Tubbo?! No no, Tommy wouldn’t do that. He’d probably just hurt him. But isn’t that even worse?!

    Ranboo doesn’t want Tubbo to get hurt. Sure, Tubbo did threaten Ranboo but that was deserved.

    Ranboo is an enderman after all. He deserves nothing more than a life of pain and anguish, the life he had a couple days ago.

    Not even a single bruise was added to his wrist or arms because of Tubbo, ranboo considers that quite merciful.

    Suspiciously merciful. No one is that merciful. 

    But then again, Tubbo is a kid. Maybe it’s only adults that deal out punishments. 

    “Dinners ready!” Puffy calls, holding some sort of container filled with what Ranboo can only assume is food.

     “Coming!” Tubbo calls back.

    Tubbo begins walking towards some weird round table. Ranboo has never seen anything like it.

   Tommy follows Tubbo, making sure to aggressively roll his eyes, and glaring whenever he gets the chance.

    Ranboo follows, getting more confused as time goes on.

    What is this table thing for? Why are they going towards it? Won’t it be hard to eat on the ground right by a table?

    Ranboo’s jaw almost drops when he sees Tubbo sit in one of the chairs. Why is he sitting on something that’s elevated, won’t that just make it easier to fall?

    Ranboo can’t blame him, though. The tree was fun to sit on, so a chair must provide that same feeling.

    Tommy walks over to a chair directly in front of Tubbo’s and motions for Ranboo to sit next to him.

     Ranboo wearingly sits down, making sure his feet are both firmly placed on the ground, which is extremely uncomfortable.

    He’s tempted to swing them around, but he doesn’t want Puffy or Tubbo to get mad at him.

    It would make him mad back at home, but then again these people are different.

    Ranboo can’t understand it. They must just be too nice to give him the punishment he deserves.

    Before Ranboo can dwell too much on it, a plate of food and a glass of milk is set before him. Well, Ranboo assumes it’s food.

    But it doesn’t seem like any good he’s had before.

    It doesn’t look bad, but that must just be deceptive because all good is bad.

    But still, its pleasing aroma dances across the room, making him feel tempted to take a bite.

   But no, he shouldn’t. He can’t.

    Sure, it doesn’t look like the weird mush he would always give Ranboo, but that doesn’t mean anything.

    Not all food he gave hurt, but that would make things too predictable. He can’t rely on this food being good.

    The others know this too. Well, Tommy did eat some food earlier and was fine.

    It must’ve just been that specific food. Surely, no one else is falling for something so stupid

    He looks to his side at Tommy and his jaw drops. His eyes widen.

    Tommy fell for it.

    Tommy is eating the food, basically shoveling it into his mouth with the staby thingy.

    Oh no. Tommy ate the food. Tommy’s going to be in pain. Ranboo doesn’t want Tommy to be in pain-

    “Ranboo, is everything alright?” Puffy asks, her voice being soft and not demanding.

    Ranboo shoves himself out of his head in a panic. “Oh uh sorry, I’m just not hungry.” Ranboo lies.

    His stomach growls.

    Puffy frowns, but doesn’t do anything for some weird reason. 

    Ranboo was sure she’d at least threaten him or something.

    He looks over at Tommy. He’s also frowning.

    Ranboo lowers his bandana and nervously sips on the milk. Hopefully if he finishes the milk, they’ll forget about him not eating.

     Unfortunately for Ranboo, Tommy’s not gonna let this slide.

     “Ranboo-“ Tommy begins. “-please eat your food. You need it to survive man.”

    “But I don’t want it to hurt me…”

    The whole table falls silent.

    Tommy sighs, his expression almost one of anger. Ranboo wonders if he finally made him snap.

    But Tommy quickly hides it, before it can become too noticeable.

    “Food is not supposed to hurt.” Tommy states, his tone firm.

    Oh no, did he make Tommy mad?!

    “Sorry.”

    “No no no, sorry. It’s not your fault. I’m not mad at you.”

    Ranboo feels himself being somewhat relieved at the statement.

    “But this food doesn’t hurt, see.” Tommy takes a big bite of the food on his plate. “It doesn’t hurt.”

    Ranboo looks at Tommy wearingly. “Are you sure?”

    “Positive.”

    Ranboo slowly grabs his spoon and scoops up a tiny bit of the somewhat familiar looking substance.

    Is this really worth it? Sure Ranboo won’t feel the pains of hunger, but at what cost.

    The pain that he’s experiencing right now will just be replaced with a much worse one.

     Can he really risk gambling on this? Does he really want to be hunched over in pain for the next few days.

    The food didn’t always cause pain back at home, but it was more random than not.

    Maybe things will be different here, maybe food won’t be painful?

    The milk was good, it still hasn’t caused pain.

    No no no no. That’s just a trap to make him let his guard down. It’s not worth it.

      “Food isn’t supposed to hurt.”  

    Tommy wouldn’t lie to him, right?

    He hasn’t before so why would he start now.

    Ranboo takes a deep breath, and takes a bite.  

    Wait, what.

   It actually tastes good..?

   Ranboo forgot how good food can taste.

    Maybe this food is worth the pain. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that, though.

    Ranboo slowly eats everything else on his plate, taking the time to savor every single bite.

    If he’s gonna be in pain for this, he might as well make it worth it.

    Maybe it won’t hurt if he eats it slowly. 

    No. That’s a foolish thought.

   “You guys should probably head home now.” Puffy informs the two of them. “Your parents are probably getting really worried.” Puffy pauses. “You guys asked your parents if it was okay if you had dinner here, right..?”

    Oh crap, what does Ranboo say to that?! 

    No, I’m kinda on the run from my caretaker because two random adults burnt down my home and told me to run. 

    No, he definitely can’t say that.

    “My parents don’t care.” Tommy states, resentment bleeding into his voice.

    “Did you ask them..?” Puffy questions.

    “They don’t care!” Tommy snaps. “If they did, they wouldn’t have left me.” Tommy says the last bit with a bit of sadness in his tone as if he misses them.

    Ranboo has never seen Tommy like this before.

    “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

    “I don’t want to talk about this.” Tommy snaps.

    “Okay.” She turns to Ranboo. “I’m guessing it’s the same for you.”

    It was in a certain way, but that was before he met his caretaker . He wasn’t abandoned like Tommy was, instead he selfishly ran away.

    Can he even claim to be like Tommy?

    He much rather not explain his current situation though, and it is sorta true, his parents did abandon him.

    Ranboo slowly nods.

    “Okay, since you both don’t really have a place to stay for the night, why don’t you guys just stay here. I really don’t want you guys to have to sleep on the streets.”

    “I’ll have you know I sleep in trees, thank you.” Tommy remarks. 

    “Okay okay, I don’t want you to have to sleep in a tree tonight.” Puffy corrects. “So would you guys like to stay here?”

    This is some sort of trick isn’t it?! He’s gonna be forced to stay in a room and the moment he walks in, she will lock him in, leaving him with no way of escape.

    If that’s true, then Tommy will be wrapped into this mess. Ranboo doesn’t want Tommy to get in trouble-

    “I guess one night won’t hurt, if Ranboo’s okay with it.” 

    Ranboo is not okay with it, but Tommy wants to stay. He’s probably tired of sleeping on trees, it must get really uncomfortable. But then again, stone floors are more uncomfortable.

    What even is good in this situation?

    For Ranboo absolutely nothing, but maybe Tommy will be okay if Ranboo accepts. Maybe this is just a test. A test if Ranboo fails will hurt Tommy.

    He can’t let Tommy get hurt.

   A little bit of pain for Tommy’s sake is fine. He’s gone through worse. How bad could it possibly be?

    He doesn't allow his brain to answer that question.

    “I guess, if you want to, Tommy…” Ranboo quietly replies.

    “Are you sure? We don’t have to if.” 

    “Positive.” Ranboo manages to utter.

    “Okay, you guys can stay with Tubbo in his room then.”

    Ranboo is flooded with relief, but maybe he shouldn’t.

    It’s still gonna be a stone room but just filled with Tubbo and Tommy instead of just him, which makes the stakes way more high.

    If Ranboo does anything wrong, they might get locked in with him. Ranboo doesn’t want them to get in trouble because of him.

    Hopefully, he can manage to not do anything stupid until they leave.

    “Can I show them my room now?” Tubbo asks excitedly.

    “Sure.”

    Tubbo quickly gets out of his chair and motions the others to follow him, before sprinting to what Ranboo could only assume is his room.

    Tubbo slams the door open, revealing a room..?

    This can’t be right. This isn’t how rooms are supposed to look.

    For starters, there’s no stone tiles on the floor, as a matter of fact there’s no stone anywhere in this room, only weak flammable wood.

    Not that he missed the stone, that’s far from it. He just doesn’t like the thought of the whole room being engulfed in flames. It only takes one small spark and the whole room is gone.

    Ranboo doesn’t want to think about it.

    Maybe he should focus on something else in the room.

    There’s pieces of long paper decorating the walls. Some have pictures of bess on them, others seem to be little doodles and sketches.

    Ranboo likes them, but that’s not how rooms are supposed to be. Rooms aren’t supposed to make you feel comforted.

    Ranboo glanes to the far corner of the room, there some weird slab thingy lies. It has wood but it’s not fully wood. 

    The wood seems to be keeping the slab up, which looks surprisingly soft.

    Ranboo can’t even start to grasp what that could be used for.

    Part of him wants to ask, but he knows better. Tubbo might get mad at him, and who knows, Tommy might too. Just because he hasn’t yet doesn’t mean it’ll never happen.

    Ranboo doesn’t want to find out the hard way, not again. He doesn’t anougher scar on his arm.

    Plus it’s Ranboo’s fault that he doesn’t know what the slab is. Tubbo and Tommy both seem to know what it is. Ranboo should just know, it’s probably common knowledge.

    “I only have one mattress.” Tubbo says, scratching the back off his neck. “But I don’t think it’d be very comfortable to all share that. Soooo, we might have to make some make-shift mattresses out of pillows and blankets or any other thing we have that is comfortable.” 

    Ohhh, so that’s what the slab is called. Still, it doesn’t really make sense. Why do they need the slab anyway, and why are they gonna make more slabs? Is it some sort of decoration?

    “Yeah, I don’t want to be anywhere near you.” Tommy snaps. “So sharing a bed is definitely out of the picture.”

    “Yeah, that’s why I said we could make some mattresses…”

    “I know what you said.” Tommy snaps again. “I have ears.” He points to his ears.

     “Why do we need mattresses?” Ranboo asks, quickly covering his mouth after uttering it.

    “You don’t know what a mattress is?” Tubbo asks, not sounding angry but kinda sad.

    “Sorry, my bad, stupid question. Forget I said anything.”

    “No no, it’s okay. You just wanted to know, nothing wrong with that.” Tubbo assures. “Anyway, a mattress is that thing on my bed.-” Tubbo points at his bed. “-It’s usually used for sleeping on. So, we’re gonna make some so you guys don’t have to sleep on the floor.”

    “Who said you were getting the bed?!” Tommy snaps. “If anything I-'' Tommy looks at Ranboo. “-I mean Ranboo should get the bed.” He corrects.

    “I mean if Ranboo wants it, then sure.” Tubbo states, looking over at Ranboo.

    “No, I’m fine with sleeping on the floor. You can have your bed.” 

    “Who said anything about you sleeping on the floor?!” Tommy shouts.

    Ranboo flinches.

    “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I just mean we’re not gonna let you sleep on the floor man. We can make more mattresses or at least kinda mattresses.”

    “But-”

    “Nope, I don’t wanna hear it. You’re getting a mattress whether you like it or not.” 

    Ranboo opens his mouth to argue but stops himself. Tommy isn’t going to change his mind.

    “So uh, how do we make these mattresses..?” Ranboo asks.

    “So basically we need to gather a bunch of pillows and blankets and just anything that we can find that could maybe make a mattress, or at least I think. I never really made one before, but if I had to guess I’m pretty sure that’s how they would be made.” Tubbo explains.

   “Do you have any of the things we need?!” Tommy demands.

    “Not really. I mean, I have an extra pillow and a few extra blankets but that’s all.”

    “Then how are we gonna make the darn things?!”

    “Hmmm, good question.” Tubbo pauses to think. “Oh, my mum probably has some we can borrow. I’ll go ask.” Before Ranboo has any time to process what he just heard, Tubbo sprints out of the room.

    Ranboo is so confused. Why do people sleep on things instead of the floor? Do they think the floor is disgusting?

    Maybe, but that’s not that big of an issue. If you sleep on something else then that will just get dirty as well. Then what?

    This plan is very flawed.

    Before Ranboo has time to think too much about it, Tubbo and Puffy walk into the room with a whole heap of pillows and blankets. They set them in a pile, which becomes taller than the bed itself.

    Ranboo can only stare in awe. 

    “That’s all the spare blankets and pillows I could find. But if you need any more just let me know and I can probably get you guys more.” Puffy states.

    “Okay, th-thanks.” Ranboo says, his gaze still fixed on the pile and his mouth open.

    “No problem! Have fun!” Puffy leaves, closing the door behind her.

    She didn’t slam it. Ranboo didn’t even hear a lock, but he can’t help but feel uneasy because of it.

    It doesn’t want to get locked in. 

    It takes all his will power not to sprint to the door and rattle the knob. He shouldn’t do that. It’d just make Puffy more angry cause he tried to escape.

The others don’t seem to be bothered by it. Are they even aware that they are trapped in this room? They could literally be trapped in here for days and they aren’t even batting an eye?!

     These people are very strange.

    “How do we make them?” Ranboo asks, trying to take his mind off being trapped.

    “I’m pretty sure we lay the pillows down in a mattress shape and then we put blankets on top of it to keep the pillows in place. I think. I don’t really know, I’ve never done this before.” Tubbo shrugs. “Hopefully this turns out okay.”

    “I don’t think there’s any way we can really mess it up.” Tommy glares at Tubbo. “Correction, I don’t think me or Ranboo could mess it up.” Tommy corrects.

    “Are you trying to say I’m stupid or something?!” Tubbo demands.

    Ranboo can feel his heart beating in his chest.

    “Maybe I am.” Tommy snaps.

    “We’ll see. I’ll make your mattress and I’ll make Ranboo’s. Ranboo chooses the winner. Deal?” 

    “If you wanna lose then sure.” Tommy smirks. “Don’t cry when you lose though.”

    “I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that.” 

    Tommy and Tubbo start making the ‘mattresses’, trying to work faster than the other.

    Ranboo starts to panic. He was told he was supposed to judge.

    He doesn't want to judge. What if he picks the wrong one?! What if they get mad?! What if-

    “Done!” The two boys shout in unison.

    “You call that a mattress?” Tubbo questions, pointing at a crude lump of pillows in a circular position with a few blankets thrown on top.

    “It’s better than yours!” Tomm retorts, pointing at Tubbo’s ‘mattress’ which looks almost exactly like Tommy’s except Tubbo’s has less pillows and more blankets.

    “We’ll see about that! Ranboo, which one do you think is better?” 

    “Uhhhhhhh.” Ranboo hopes they don’t get mad at him. “Both of them..?”

    Tommy sighs. “Maybe we should have someone else judge next time.. No offense Ranboo, I just realized you might not be the best person for this.”

    “Oh okay, sorry.” 

    “No no, It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

    “Oh okay.”

    “Welp, this mattress is for you Ranboo.” Tubbo gestures toward his creation. “I hope it’s to your liking. If you need more pillows or blankets just get from what’s left of the pile.”

    “Okay.”

    Ranboo crawls onto his mattress, and almost cries. It’s so soft.

    He gets to sleep on this?!

   Ranboo sleeps on this, he may never get up. He’s not sure that he’d want to. 

   “Do you like it?” Tubbo asks.

   “Yes!” Ranboo yells. “Sorry, I mean yes. I love it. Thank you!”

   “No problem, man.”

    Before Ranboo knows it he’s lying on top of his mattress wrapping a blanket around himself. He wants to enjoy this feeling forever. He never wants this to end.

    But all good things must at one point come to an end. Ranboo’s eyelids feel heavy.

    Ranboo must stay awake, he can’t fall asleep no-

    And just like that Ranboo falls asleep, bringing this incredibly long day to a close.

    Hopefully, he can have more days like this.  

Chapter Text

  Ranboo wakes up slowly for once.

    Everything is dark, and he’s not sure how he feels about it.

    Sure, he can’t see anything but a black void, but at least he’s calm. He feels somewhat peaceful. He can’t remember ever feeling like this.

    Is he dead?

    It would make sense. 

    Honestly, he kinda hopes he is. 

    He can’t put anyone in danger if he’s dead, and he doesn’t have to worry about everything constantly.

    He doesn’t know why he kept going before.

     Tommy .

    Oh, Tommy. 

    Memories from the previous day play in his mind.

    You’d think with so many bad things happening that day that the whole day would automatically be remembered as horrible.

    But Ranboo can’t help but reminisce on the good things of that day.

    People care about him, at least that’s what they want him to think.

    That’s what he wants to think.

    Somehow he can’t shake the feeling that they somewhat care. If he was gone, would they be sad? 

    Ranboo doesn’t know if he knows the answer.

    Before he can realize what’s happening, tears spill from his eyes, and he starts sobbing.

    As selfish as it is, he just wishes someone would care. He wishes someone would be sad.

    Ranboo slowly opens his eyes, and sits up, wiping the tears away from his eyes.

    As much as he’d like to sit here and sob all day, he can’t. He has to pretend like everything is fine, and continue on.

    Like always.

    Ranboo sighs, wiping away another tear.

    He stands up, he should go find Tommy. He’d much rather not be stuck alone with his thoughts.

    Where is Tommy anyway?

    Did Tommy finally get sick of Ranboo and leave him?!

    He really hopes that isn’t true.

    He practically leaps off his “mattress” and frantically searches the room for any sign of Tommy. 

    He quickly runs over to the window, and shoves the curtains open, before realizing that he didn’t have his bandana on.

    He quickly closes the curtains, pulling his bandana back up, and then reopens the curtains again.

    Bright light floods the room, making Ranboo’s eyes feel like they're burning.

    But that’s not important, if his eyes hurt, so be it. He needs to find Tommy.

    To his dismay, Tommy is not on his “mattress”, or any part of the room for that matter.

    Maybe Tommy did leave him.

    Tommy wouldn’t do that, right?

    Muffled yelling fills Ranboo’s ears, and he flitches back.

    Ranboo can’t make out the words or the people arguing for that matter. It just sounds really muffled and more like gibberish than anything coherent.

    It doesn’t matter. Ranboo needs to get out of here right now. 

    But can he?

    Ranboo stares at the metal door knob in front of him. 

    It should open right? That’s what it did last night.

    But what if it’s locked like the front door was. He doesn’t want to be trapped in here.

    Panic starts to settle in his stomach, and he feels like if he doesn’t leave the room right now, he will suffocate. 

     He reaches a shaky hand over to the knob, and quickly turns it. 

    To his surprise, it opens.

    They didn’t lock him in…?

    Why…?

    Did they think he was too much of a coward to try?

    That’s…fair enough. 

    If Ranboo hadn’t heard the commotion coming from outside the room, Ranboo most likely would’ve been too scared to even try to leave. Attempting to escape would just make them angry.

    Will they be angry?

    He hopes not.

    Ranboo runs out of the room, and  frantically searches for the source of the yelling from before. 

    “Good Morning Ranboo.” 

    Ranboo jumps.

    “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” Puffy apologizes, sounding sincere. “I’m making some eggs, do you want some?” 

    Ranboo doesn’t know how to respond to that. He needs to choose the right answer, though. The last thing he wants is to get in trouble.

    Crap, what’s the right answer?!

    He stares at Puffy, panic swirling in his chest.

    “Uhhh, I don’t care. Whatever you want.” Ranboo replies, trying his best not to directly answer the question.

    Ranboo hopes he picked the right answer.

    Puffy frowns. “I asked what you wanted, Ranboo. If you want me to make you eggs I can. I just don’t want you to have to eat something you don’t like.” Puffy explains.

    “Oh. Uh well, I don’t want to bother you and I don’t really know if eggs are good-”

    “I offered.” Puffy interrupts. “Plus if you don’t like them you don’t have to eat them.”

    “Okay.” Ranboo agrees, trying to hide his nervousness.

    Puffy goes back to making the eggs, and Ranboo feels somewhat relieved. 

    “ How dare you ?!”

    Somewhat.

    Ranboo quickly runs over to Tommy and Tubbo, who seem to be having yet again another argument.

    Ranboo watches as Tommy takes an already torn paper and  slowly rips it into little shreds, making sure to make direct eye contact with Tubbo while doing it.

    Ranboo doesn’t feel safe.

    “Wow, so mature.” Tubbo mocks, sticking out his tongue.

    “Says the person who throws a tantrum every time something doesn’t go his way.” Tommy retorts.

    “I do not! Take that back!” Tubbo yells.

    “Sorry.” Tommy says, grinning wildly. “I don’t tell lies.” 

    “Why you little-“

    Ranboo doesn’t know what to do. Panic eats at his stomach.

    His only friends are fighting, and if they don’t stop soon they will tear each other limb from limb.

    Ranboo doesn’t want that to happen.

    He can feel his heart pounding in his chest, and his breath getting harder to control.

    He can do this. This is fine, nothing to worry about.

    “Tubbo, Tommy…” Puffy calls, a slight warning. “Stop arguing, you’re scaring Ranboo.”

    They both stop and turn to face Ranboo.

   “Oh crap, sorry Ranboo, I don’t mean to scare you.” Tommy apologizes, scratching the back of his neck.

    “Yeah, I’m sorry too.“

    Tommy shoots Tubbo a death glare, and Tubbo glares right back at him.

    The panic in Ranboo’s chest only grows by the minute.

    “Eggs are ready.” Puffy calls.

    Tommy smiles mischievously. “Wanna race to the kitchen? Bet I could beat you, but then again you’re probably super slow.”

    “If anything I’ll beat you. But sure, if that’s what you want to believe.”

    Tommy grins. “Okay, 3 2 1 go!” Tommy quickly utters.

    Tommy quickly sprints to the table, leaving Tubbo behind him.

    “I win!” Tommy cheers, pressing his hand against the table. 

    “You cheated!” 

    “Did not.”

    “Did so.

    “Did not!”

    “Did so!”

    “Boys, please. You’re scaring Ranboo again.”

    Ranboo can feel his whole body tremble as he walks up to a seat and sits down. If he was still walking, he might have collapsed.

    “Sorry-“ Tommy apologizes looking at Ranboo and then back to Tubbo. “-that Tubbo doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.”

    “ I don’t know how to keep my mouth shut?!” Tubbo chuckles angrily. “You’re one to talk.”

    “Enough!” Puffy shouts.

    Ranboo flinches back. Is this it, are they finally getting punished?

    “Sorry, Ranboo. I shouldn’t have shouted like that.”

    “It’s-its okay.” Ranboo struggles to get out.

    “You guys really need to stop fighting. If this happened back when me and my brother were kids, our mum would’ve-“ Puffy cuts herself off. “Wait, I have an idea. Stay right there.”

    Puffy walks over toward her room, stopping to look at Tommy and Tubbo.

    “Please don’t fight while I’m gone.”

    And with that Puffy leaves the boys alone in the kitchen.

    “This wouldn’t have happened if you just shut up.” Tommy mutters under his breath.

    “Maybe if you didn’t act like an idiot all the time we wouldn’t have this problem.”

    “You take that back!” Tommy yells.

    Puffy sighs. “I left for five seconds. You guys couldn’t stop fighting for five seconds.” Puffy sighs.

    “Well if-“

    “Nope, that’s it. I was debating on whether I should actually follow through on this, but you know what, I think you guys made it pretty clear what you want.” Puffy sighs, holding a white t-shirt with “Our get along shirt” written in very sloppy black writing.

    Ranboo is very afraid now. Puffy is actually going to punish them. It’s not just a thing he thought up in his head. He doesn’t want his friends to get hurt.

    “Sorry, it’s my fault.” Apologizes frantically.

    “No it’s not your fault, Ranboo.” Puffy sighs.

    Ranboo isn’t convinced.

    Puffy is now looking at Tommy and Tubbo. “Well, since you guys won’t stop fighting, you both need to wear the get along shirt together.” Puffy explains.

    “Absolutely not. There’s no way I'm sharing  the shirt with him .” Tommy snaps.

    “I didn’t want to share with you anyways.” Tubbo crosses his arms.

    “Guys, please. If anything do it for Ranboo.” Puffy points at Ranboo, who is still visibly shaking.

    Tommy and Tubbo both turn to look at Ranboo.

    Tommy sighs. “Fine, but only for Ranboo.”

    “For Ranboo.” Tubbo repeats.

    “Okay, good.” Puffy slides the shirt onto Tommy and Tubbo.

    “So uh, when do we get to take it off?” Tommy asks.

    “Until you guys get along, I guess.”

    Tommy sighs. “So what you’re saying is we’re going to be in this stupid shirt forever.”

    Puffy sighs. “You can take off the shirt by the end of the night if it really comes to it.”

    “Okay.” 

    “Ranboo, wanna run some errands with me. I have to go to the market to pick some things up, and I think I’d be better if you didn’t hear them fight for now.”

    “Uhhhhhhhhhhh.” Ranboo looks at Tommy for an answer.

    “Why are you looking at me, it’s not my decision.” Tommy sighs. “Look Ranboo, if you want to go then go, but I don’t want you to be forced into anything.”

    Ranboo doesn’t know what he should do. Sure, he really likes how the market looks, but what if it’s too loud and overwhelming again, or worse what if someone finds out he’s an Enderman.

    No, as long as he keeps his bandana on at all times, things should be fine. Nobody would’ve even known if he didn’t get stung. 

    Puffy won’t let him get stung again, so it should be fine.

    But what if Puffy tells others about him. What if she takes him back, or worse.

    But Puffy has had so many chances to do that, and she hasn’t. Maybe she’s not going to…?

    No, Ranboo can’t let his guard down. He needs to stay with Tommy, it’ll be safer that way. Well, as safe as it gets.

    But, does he really want to see Tommy and Tubbo fight constantly? Sure, Tubbo scares him, and he made Ranboo really upset the other day, but that doesn’t change anything.

    Tubbo apologized. It’s all okay. Plus, it was Ranboo’s fault anyway.

    He doesn’t want to see his only friends fighting, especially not over something that’s his fault.    

    “Are you sure?”

    “Absolutely.” 

    Ranboo takes a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll go with you.” 

    “Okay. Just tell me when you’re ready to leave.” 

    Ranboo takes another deep breath. “Okay.” He pauses. “I'm ready.”

    Puffy frowns. “Are you sure? You haven't finished your breakfast yet.”

    Ranboo stares at the plate of eggs staring back at him.

    He doesn’t really want to eat. What if it hurts him? What if this is all just a trick and he wasn’t actually supposed to eat the eggs.

    Ranboo’s head starts to spin. He wishes things could just be simple.

    It doesn’t matter if he wants to eat the eggs or not, he’s forced to. Puffy made these for him, he can’t just not eat them. That’d be rude.

    Ranboo slowly lowers his bandana. He slowly picks up his spoon and takes a small piece of the eggs, shakingly lifting it up to his mouth.

    He closes his eyes, and takes a bite.

    Ranboo’s eyes brighten and he smiles. He quickly scarfs the rest of the eggs down, and chugs his glass of milk. 

   He doesn’t want to make Puffy wait on him.

    “That was fast. Ready to go?” 

    Ranboo nods, pulling the bandana back over his mouth and giving a nervous wave to his friends as he and Puffy leave for the market.

——

    “Let’s go to the couch.” Tommy suggests.

    “No, the couch is too far. We can just sit on my bed.” Tubbo argues.

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “Dude, the couch isn’t even that far. Stop being so dramatic”

    “Yes it is.” Tubbo argues. “Plus my room is cooler.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “We can flip a coin.” Tommy suggests. “You have a coin, right?”

    Tubbo searches his pocket, pulling out one small copper coin. “Yep.”

    “Okay, flip it. Heads, we go to the couch, tails we go to the couch.”

    “Okay.” Tubbo smiles. “Don’t get mad when you lose, though.”

    Tubbo flips the coin. It lands on tails.

    “Yes!” Tubbo shouts. “How's it feel to lose?” Tubbo taunts.

    Tommy smiles. “I didn’t lose.”

    “But it landed on tails.” Tubbo says, confusion bleeding into his voice. “Heads we go to the couch, tails we go to my bed.”

    Tommy’s grin grows wider. “No, heads we go to the couch, tails we also go to the couch. That’s what I agreed to.”

    Tubbo pauses. “You can’t just rig the coin flip!” Tubbo yells.

    “I just did. You agreed to it.”

    ‘Ugh, fine.” Tubbo huffs. “But only because I want to go to the couch now.”

    “Keep telling yourself that.”

    Tommy quickly gets up from his chair and tries to sprint to the couch.

    Tries.

    The moment Tommy got a few steps from the chair, Tubbo falls down, causing Tommy to fall right down with him. 

    “What the heck, man?!” Tubbo yells. “Do you know how much of a pain it’s gonna be to get back up again?”

    “Well, you fell. I count that as worth it in my book.” Tommy smiles.

    “What’s your problem?!” Tubbo snaps.

    “What do you mean ‘what’s my problem’?! I think I made that pretty dang clear!” Tommy yells back.

    “Is this about Ranboo again? Cause if it is I said sorr-“

    “Sorry, doesn’t flippin cut it! You can say sorry all you want, but it doesn’t change anything.”

    “Then what the heck do you want me to do?! It was a mistake and I regret it.”

    “A mistake?! A MISTAKE?! It’s way more than just a mistake.” Tommy’s face is hot with anger. “Did you just ‘accidentally’ yell at Ranboo constantly over things he couldn’t even control?!”

    “No. I know I should have done that. That’s why I apologized and I’m trying to make it better-“

    “Well I don’t give a darn crap. I don’t want you anywhere near Ranboo.” Tommy interrupts.

    “He’s my friend too.” Tubbo argues.

    “He’s flippin 'scared of you.” Tommy points out. “Do you see the way he acts around you?!”

    “I uh-“

    “Shut up, I don’t want to hear it.”

    To Tommy’s surprise, Tubbo went silent.

    Tommy sighs. “Let’s just get up. I don’t know about you, but I'd rather not be stuck on the floor the entire day.”

    “Really? Nooo, I thought you wanted to stay on the floor.” Tubbo mocks sarcastically.

    “Shut up.” Tommy snaps. “So uh, how are we supposed to get up.”

    “I don’t know, do you think this has ever happened to me before?!”

    “You’re so helpful.” Tommy says sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

    “Well maybe I’d try to be helpful if you didn’t shut down everything I say.”

    “Mhm, keep telling yourself that.”

    Tubbo sighs. “Arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

    “No dip.”

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “Come on. Think about it this way. The faster we ‘get along’ the faster we get out of this dumb shirt. Then we can fight all we want as long as it’s not in front of Ranboo.”

    “Don’t say his name. You don’t get that right.”

    “Tommy, this is exactly what I’m talking about. I’m literally saying we should stop doing something that’s hurting Ranboo.” Tubbo sighs. “Look, I understand that you don’t really trust me because of what happened, but can you please give me a second chance?”

    “And let you walk over Ranboo again? Absolutely not.”

    “Fine, we can talk about this later, but for now let’s just get off the stupid floor.” Tubbo bargains.

    “How are we supposed to do that without falling?”

    Tubbo sighs. “I don’t know. We  probably just need to do this at the same time.”

    “Okay, I’ll count down. Three…two…one…go.”

    They both manage to pull themselves up without much difficulty. If they hadn’t taken so much time on the floor arguing they would’ve been off the floor a long time ago.

    “So how are we supposed to get the couch without falling over again?” Tommy questions.

    “Same way we got off the floor. We just have to walk at the same pace.”

    “You walk too slow, though.” Tommy complains.

    “Would you rather fall?!”

    Tommy sighs. “Let’s just get this over with, the sooner we get on the couch the better.”

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “I’ll count out the steps so you don’t go too fast.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes.

    Tubbo begins counting, and Tommy resists the urge to walk super fast just to spite him, but he doesn’t.

    They somehow manage to get to the couch without falling over.

    Tommy flings himself onto the couch, and Tubbo lets out a startled yelp as he is also pulled to the couch.

    Tommy laughs, adjusting into a sitting position, and trying to get as far away from Tubbo as possible.

    Unfortunately, it’s not much. Every time he tries to pull away, the shirt either pulls Tubbo closer to him or gets super tight, which kinda hurts.

    He wishes he could run and not have to feel Tubbo’s shoulder rubbing against his, or be able to use both his arms again without the stupid shirt getting in the way..

    But he can’t, he’s bound to this stupid shirt, all because Tubbo can’t keep his mouth shut.

    None of this is his fault. How could any of this be his fault?

    Sure, he started most of the fights, but that’s only because Tubbo deserved it, so it’s Tubbo’s fault.

    “I’m bored.” Tubbo complains.

    “Well, you wouldn’t be bored if you hadn’t gotten us into this stupid mess.” 

    “It wasn’t just me, Tommy, and you know it.” Tubbo snaps. “Just admit you were also in the wrong.”

    Tommy scoffs. “I am not.”

    “Are too!” 

    “Am not!”

    “Am too!!!”

    Tubbo sighs. “We have to stop doing this. I don’t want Ranboo to be scared every time he’s with the two of us.”

    “Who said he’s going to be around you anymore?” Tommy snaps.

    “Well, I kinda assumed since you’re staying at my house-“

    “Who said we were staying at your house?” Tommy snaps.

    “Where else would you go?!” Tubbo questions, not waiting for an answer. “You’re literally homeless, Tommy! And Ranboo’s an Enderman which makes him a target if he gets seen without his bandana. Do you really want Ranboo to have to live in constant fear because you hate me?”

    “I uh-“ Tommy stumbles on his words, not really knowing what else to say. “Fine, but only till I find a safe place for Ranboo and I to stay.”

    “Fine.” Tubbo huffs.

    Tommy sighs.

    Is there ever going to be a better place for them to go? Ranboo is always going to be at risk because people are idiots.

    Seriously, can’t they just leave Ranboo alone, and all Enderman for that matter, if they still exist.

    If Endermen still exist, Tommy has some strong words to say to the people who didn’t protect Ranboo.

     But then again, he’d never meet Ranboo if they hadn’t been negligent. That’s the only good thing that came out of this messed up situation.

    He wishes Ranboo did have to go through any of this crap. Sure, he probably would’ve never met Tommy if he didn’t, but it’d be worth it. 

    At least Ranboo would be happy.

     Tommy shakes his head. It doesn’t matter now. He can’t change the past, all he can do is help Ranboo now.

    He hopes Ranboo has an amazing time with Puffy.

Chapter Text

Ranboo doesn’t know why he agreed to this.

    Actually no, that’s not entirely true. He knows why he agreed, but then again, it wasn’t like he was given much of a choice, but when is he ever? That’s something he learned to accept a long time ago.

    Ranboo sighs.

    None of this would’ve happened if he had just kept running instead of stopping at that stupid tree. Ranboo would be safe. Well, as safe as he’s ever gonna get. Then none of this mess would’ve happened.

    But then he wouldn’t have met Tommy.

    Guilt swirls in Ranboo’s chest like a whirlpool, spinning and spinning until Ranboo feels like throwing up.

    Ranboo shakes his head.

    He’d be better off without Ranboo. 

    The thought makes Ranboo want to cry, but that doesn’t matter. The truth hurts, he just needs to accept that.

    As much as Ranboo wants to argue with it, he can’t. There’s no point trying to deny the truth.

    Ranboo is putting Tommy at risk by even being associated with him. What if he finds them? He wouldn’t hurt Tommy would he ?

    No, he wouldn’t hurt a human. The only reason Ranboo got hurt was because he deserved it. Not to mention he’s an Enderman. Ranboo had it coming.

    Even if he doesn’t do anything, Ranboo is still holding Tommy back. Tommy can’t even get food the normal way anymore.

     Not to mention the fact that Tommy’s willing to fight a kid just because he treated Ranboo the way he deserves. 

    The thought of the two fighting makes Ranboo’s throat sting. 

    None of this is okay. Everything is all messed up and it’s all his fault. When is it not?

    Can’t he do anything right?!

    “Ranboo, are you okay?”

    Ranboo jumps, letting out a startled yelp before realizing that colored tears are spilling from his eyes.

     He quickly wipes them away, trying his best not to let any more spill. 

      Stop crying. You don’t want her to get mad at you. You’re fine.

    “Yeah..” Ranboo mutters quietly. “Yeah, I'm okay.” Ranboo sniffles, wiping away a few more tears that drip from his eyes.

     Stop crying.

    Ranboo pinches the webbing between his thumb and his index finger so hard he’s sure it’ll leave a mark, but it distracts him from the tears so he continues.

    “Are you sure? You were just crying.” Puffy asks sympathetically. “It’s-”

    “I’m sorry!” Ranboo interrupts, his whole body trembling. “I’m-I’m sorry. I did-didn’t mean to. It won’t happen again.” Ranboo says, his voice wavering. He pinches the webbing even harder than before.

    He messed up. Puffy’s mad at him. He was crying. What if she takes him back now? What if she gives him to someone else? What if she does something to Tomm-

    “Ranboo, it’s okay.” Puffy quickly reassures.

    Ranboo jumps back as a hand is placed on his shoulder, letting out a startled yelp and gasping for breath. His whole body shakes, and the tears are getting even harder to hold back.

    Puffy quickly takes a step back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Puffy apologizes.

    “It’s-it’s okay.” Ranboo lies, trying his best not to cry. His whole body is vibrating, and he can still feel Puffy’s hand resting on his shoulder even though it’s not there anymore.

    “Are you sure? You don’t look okay.” Puffy sympathizes.

    Ranboo can’t do this anymore.

    The tears began to stream from Ranboo’s eyes once again, and this time they refuse to leave. It’s almost like they want Ranboo to get in trouble.

     He can’t do this anymore. 

     Ranboo runs.

    That definitely wasn’t the best idea, but he’s committed nonetheless.

    It’s too late, he’s going to get in trouble no matter what.

    He keeps running until he gets to the tree, and quickly sits down as he gasps for air.

    Why’d he do that?! Now Puffy is going to be furious. Why did he think that that was a good idea?!

    “Ranboo?” Puffy calls, running up to the tree. 

    Ranboo starts sobbing. ‘I’m sorry!” Ranboo chokes out between sobs. “I don’t know why I did that. I’m sorry, plea-”

    “Ranboo.” Puffy interrupts, carefully sitting herself beside Ranboo. “It’s okay, I’m not mad at you.” Puffy assures.

    What?

    “But I ran away from you…?” Ranboo sniffles, confusion bleeding into his voice.

    “That’s okay. You were just scared. There’s nothing wrong with that.” 

    No, that’s not right.

    “But-“

    “It’s okay, Ranboo. I’m not mad.” Puffy assures calmly. “Try not to run away in the future though, I don’t want you to get hurt or anything.” Puffy explains.

    She doesn’t want him to get hurt..? Does she even know what she’s saying?

    “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” Ranboo quickly apologizes, trying his best not to dig himself into a deeper hole.

    “It’s alright.” Puffy assures. “Anyways, do you still want to go to the market with me? If you don't, that's completely fine and I can take you back home. Tommy and Tubbo will be doing the get along shirt still though.” Puffy explains.

    Ranboo sniffles, wiping away the last of the tears.

    He almost forgot why he came in the first place. 

    Ranboo frowns. He doesn’t really want to go back to Puffy’s house right now, especially if Tommy and Tubbo are still fighting.

    “I still wanna come.” Ranboo says, lifting himself to his feet. “If that’s still okay with you.”

    “Of course it is!” Puffy exclaims, lifting herself to her feet as well. “I offered.”

    “Are you sure?”

    Puffy smiles. “Positive.”

    “Okay!” Ranboo says, trying to hide his excitement but ultimately failing as he starts to slightly bounce up and down. 

    He should stop. He never liked it when he did such childish things.

    But Puffy doesn’t seem to care, maybe it’s okay for now..?

    Ranboo shrugs. He’ll just stay behind Puffy, and if he accidentally does it again, it won’t be a problem.

    Puffy smiles and they begin to make their way towards the market.

    Conveniently, the tree that Ranboo ran to wasn’t actually that far from the market, so they were able to get there very quickly.

    The moment Ranboo and Puffy step into the market, Ranboo is reminded of how much he loves this place. 

    The smell of fresh baked bread, sweet stuff, and things he’s never even heard of fill the air. Ranboo takes a deep breath, savoring it all.

    His stomach growls, and he wishes he could eat some, but he’s not risking being in pain for a few bites of bread. It’s just not worth it.

    “Are you hungry?” Puffy asks, looking at a wide variety of booths with food being sold at them.

    “No.” Ranboo lies. His stomach growls again.

    Puffy frowns. “The food won’t hurt if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

    Ranboo frowns. “But what about the bandana?”

    “Hmmm, good question.” Puffy pauses to think. “We can go somewhere where no one can see us, and I can hide you while you eat or you can just eat with the bandana on.” Puffy explains.

    “Okay.” Ranboo hesitantly agrees, not wanting to anger Puffy.

    “Alright, what food do you like?” Puffy asks, searching for a good booth to buy the food from.

    Ranboo shrugs. “I like bread.”

    Puffy frowns. “Is that all you like?” 

    “I liked the food you made, but that’s all I know. Sorry.”

    “No, no, it’s okay.” Puffy quickly assures. “It just doesn’t like we have many options, but I think we can find something you like.”

    “I could just not eat.” Ranboo quietly suggests.

    “No, absolutely not. I’m not letting you starve yourself.” Puffy says, her voice becoming more serious. “We’ll find something you’ll like. Just tell me if you don’t like something and you don’t have to eat it, okay?”

    Ranboo hesitantly nods. It’s not like he’s given much of a choice.

    Puffy continues searching for a booth with something Ranboo might like while Ranboo timidly follows her around, making sure not to bump anyone around him.

    “Oh, here’s one.” Puffy points to a booth, and quickly heads over to it before Ranboo can get a good look of it.

    “Do you guys sell milk here?” Puffy asks the tired-looking lady behind the counter of the booth. Ranboo can’t really blame her. He would be as well.

    “Yep. We have normal and chocolate.” The lady replies, letting out a yawn.

    “Great! I’ll take two chicken sandwiches and two bottles of milk please.” 

    “Coming right up.” The lady says, grabbing the two bottles of milk and putting them on the counter before going to assemble the sandwiches.

    “Here.” Puffy hands Ranboo a bottle of milk. “This one’s yours.”

    Ranboo’s eyes practically light up. ‘Really?” Ranboo asks excitedly.

    Puffy smiles. “Yep!”

    “Thanks!” Ranboo exclaims as he quickly grabs the bottle of milk out of Puffy’s hands.

    Puffy’s smile grows wider. “You're welcome.”

    The lady returns with the two sandwiches and carelessly plops them down on the counter. “Here’s your food.”

    “Thanks. Here.” Puffy puts a handful of some type of coin into the lady’s hands. “Is that enough?”

    The lady carefully counts the coins resting in her hand and smiles. “Yeah, that should be enough.”

    “Okay, good. Have a great day!” Puffy says as she grabs the sandwiches and her bottle of milk and leaves to find somewhere where 

    “Thanks, you too!” She calls.

    Ranboo wonders what made the lady so excited all of a sudden, but that’s really none of his business.

    “Do you wanna sit by that one tree again?”

    “Won’t people see us?” Ranboo asks nervously.

    “Nah, not many people take that path.” Puffy explains. “But if it makes you feel better, I can look out for people, and if I see anyone I’ll tell you to put the bandana back on.” Puffy suggests.

    “Are you sure that will be safe?”

    “Yep. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen.” Puffy promises.

    “Okay.” Ranboo hesitantly agrees.

    They make their way back to the tree with not a single other person walking along that path, making Ranboo question why so many people would neglect such a good path.

    Now that he thinks about it, the path does look as nice as the other with the current path being made of dirt with clumps of weeds sprouting onto it. It’s definitely not as nice as the pretty stone one in the other direction.

    To be honest, Ranboo would much rather use this path than the fancier one. If anything he prefers the surplus of greenery, even if it’s taking over their path.

    “Here.” Puffy says as she hands Ranboo one of the sandwiches.

    “Thanks.” Ranboo says as he slowly takes the sandwich from Puffy’s hand. 

    Puffy smiles. “No problem!”

    Ranboo raises an eyebrow. What is that supposed to mean?

    Ranboo shrugs, deciding to ignore the weird statement, and sit down.

    Puffy sits down beside Ranboo, and starts to peel off some of the paper that the sandwich is wrapped in.

    Ranboo does the same until his sandwich is completely unwrapped, placing the paper on the grass and putting the sandwich back on top of the paper.

    He stares at the sandwich with a mixture of curiosity and disgust.

    Part of him wants to eat it, but the other part of him wants to leave it there to rot.

    Sure, it might look good. Heck, it looks delicious , but looks can be deceiving.

    Ranboo scoops up the sandwich in his hands and takes a big whiff. 

    Ranboo almost takes a bite right there.

    It even smells good!

    Ranboo smiles, taking another whiff of the sandwich.

    He goes to take a bite, but stops himself.

    Is it really worth being in pain?

    But Puffy said the food won’t hurt.

    What if she’s wrong? What if it hurts even worse than normal?

    “You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.” Puffy says, interrupting his thoughts.

    Guilt swirls in Ranboo’s chest. Puffy paid for this food. He can’t just waste it.

    Ranboo takes a deep breath, and slowly pulls down his bandana. “No, it’s okay. I’ll eat it.” Ranboo says, closing his eyes, and taking a small bite.

    Ranboo is at a loss for words. 

    It’s so good.

    Ranboo’s face lights up. A wide smile adorns his freckled face.

    Honestly, if this hurts him it’ll be worth it.

    Puffy smiles. “How is it?”

    “It’s so good!!” Ranboo exclaims, waving his hands around in excitement.

    Puffy smiles. “I’m glad you like it.”

    Ranboo smiles as he quickly eats the rest of his sandwich and chugs his milk.

    “Wow, you finished that fast.” Puffy chuckles, eating the last bite of her sandwich.

    Ranboo frowns. “Sorry.”

   “No, don’t apologize. I just thought it was funny, since I’m usually the first one to finish.” Puffy explains.

    “Oh okay.”

    “Anyways, I have to get a few jugs of milk and then we can head back home. Does that sound good?”

    Ranboo frowns, pulling his bandana back over his nose. 

    He doesn’t really want to leave now. He doesn’t want this to be over.

    No use delaying the inevitable. Plus,  he wants to see Tommy again. He knows it’s only been a bit, but he kinda misses him.

    Ranboo sighs. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

    “Okay, great.” Puffy says, pulling herself off the ground, and reaching out to pull Ranboo up as well.

    Ranboo takes her hand, and Puffy easily pulls him up, and they begin walking back to the market.

    Ranboo sighs. He really doesn’t want to deal with Tommy and Tubbo fighting right now or ever for that matter.

    But who knows, maybe they stopped. Maybe Puffy was right about the whole shirt thing.

    Puffy’s probably right.

    Ranboo really hopes she is.

Chapter Text

    “This is sooooo boring.” Tubbo complains. “Can’t we just do something?”

    Tommy groans, trying not to put too much energy into a reply. 

    He’s been trying to fall asleep for what feels like an hour now, and he doesn’t want all that time to go to waste.

    It’s okay. Tubbo will stop eventually, and then Tommy can finally get some sleep. Who knows maybe he can sleep till Puffy and Ranboo get back.

    All he has to do is ignore Tubbo, it can’t be that hard.

    “Tommmmy” Tubbo whines. 

    Tommy stays silent, trying his very best not to lash out.

    It’s okay, he’ll stop eventually.

    “Tommmmmmmy.” Tubbo whines again, this time shaking Tommy with his free arm.

    Tommy doesn’t have enough patience for this.

    Tommy’s eyes snap open,  his face burning with rage. 

    “What’s your problem?!” Tommy snaps, trying not to think about the good nap he could be having right now.

    “I’m boreeeeeed.” Tubbo whines once again.

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “That’s not my problem.”

    “Can’t we do something?” Tubbo asks, his voice getting higher, making it more shrill and annoying.

    “I’m not doing anything with you.” Tommy snaps. “Why don’t you take a nap or something?”

   “But I don’t wanna take a nap.” Tubbo complains.

    “Not my problem.”

    “Come on, Tommmmmmmy. We have to do something.”

    “No, we don’t.” Tommy huffs. “Suffer for all I care.”

    “I’ll lick you.”

    “What?”

    “I’ll lick you. Tubbo threatens.

    “You’ll lick me cause I’m not hanging out with you?!” Tommy questions, getting even more annoyed.

    Tubbo nods. “Absolutely.”

    Tommy raises an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t..”

    Tubbo smiles mischievously. “Wanna bet?”

    “You won’t.” Tommy says, his voice not sounding as confident as he hoped.

    Tubbo smiles, sticking out his tongue and getting closer to Tommy.

    Oh crap, he’s actually going to do it.

    “Okay okay!” Tommy shouts frantically. “We can do something.”

    Tubbo smiles. “That’s what I thought.”

    “You’re disgusting.”

    “I know.” Tubbo declares proudly. “So what are we gonna do?”

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “I don’t know. This was your idea.”

    “My idea was that we do something. I never said I was picking what we do.” Tubbo explains.

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “Well, since this is your stupid idea, you should pick.”

    Tubbo frowns. “What if I can’t think of anything?”

    “Not my problem.” Tommy says as he closes his eyes once again.

    Maybe he can actually take that nap he wanted.

    “Just help me think of ideas, Tommy.” Tubbo whines.

    “Do it yourself.”

    “Don't make me lick you.” Tubbo warns. “I will do it, don’t test me.”

    Tommy’s face scrunches up into one of disgust, and he opens his eyes, lifting his free hand placatingly. “Okay okay, jeeeeez.”

    Tubbo smiles. “Thank you.”

    Tommy frowns with disgust. “You’re disgusting.” 

    Tubbo’s smile grows wider. “I know.”

    Tommy scowls. He really hates Tubbo. 

    Like seriously, can’t the kid just do something by himself? Sure, they are kinda forced to stay together with the whole shirt thing and all, but can’t he just entertain himself?

    That’s what Tommy had to do basically his whole life. So why can’t Tubbo? 

    Sure, it can get quite lonely at times, but that’s just how things are.

    This kid wouldn’t survive a day on the streets. Tommy chuckles. He’d probably ask every single person he finds if they want to play with him.

    Tommy frowns. The thought reminds him somewhat of himself, or at least what he used to be like. 

    Sure, he doesn’t do that anymore, but that’s because he’s learned. Tubbo hasn’t though.

    Tommy frowns. He doesn’t want to think about this anymore.

    “So are you gonna help me or not?” Tubbo asks, pulling Tommy out of his thoughts.

    For once Tommy is happy to hear that absolutely obnoxious voice even if it’s just going to annoy him even more.

    Tommy hums. “You come up with the ideas and I’ll say whether it’s good or not.”

    Tubbo frowns. “You don’t have any ideas?” Tubbo asks, his voice sounding somewhat sad but still just as annoying.

    “Nope.” Tommy awkwardly replies.

    Tubbo sighs. “Fine.” Tubbo agrees. “But you better not be picky.”

    Tommy chuckles. “Depends on if your ideas are good.”

    Tubbo glares at Tommy before sighing, tuning his face toward the wall to think of ideas.

    At least that’s what Tommy thinks he’s doing. For all he knows, Tubbo could’ve just taken Tommy’s advice and zoned out.

    Tommy frowns. For some stupid reason, he hopes that’s not the case. 

    Which is completely stupid. He should be mad at Tubbo right now. He hurt Ranboo.

    That’s not something that Tommy can take lightly.

    Ranboo had a panic attack because of him, multiple actually. Ranboo is scared to even be around Tubbo, but then again, that goes for most people as well.

    Tommy frowns. He wishes that didn’t have to be the case.

    But he understands.

    “We could go outside.” Tubbo suggests.

    “Absolutely not.” Tommy snaps. “I’m not going outside in this ridiculous shirt with you. Do you know how stupid we’ll look?!”

    “Okay okay, I get it.” Tubbo quickly says to get Tommy to stop. “It was just a suggestion.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “Good.”

    What was he thinking about before he was so rudely interrupted?

    Oh, right. Ranboo.

    Tommy frowns. Would Ranboo want him to be fighting with Tubbo right now?

    Tommy sighs. He thinks he knows the answer to that one.

    That’s the whole reason Ranboo left in the first place. All because the both of them couldn’t stop fighting in front of him.

    He’s with Puffy, though. Hopefully, he’s doing okay.

    Tommy sighs. He might actually have to be nice to this kid, for Ranboo’s sake.

     Only for Ranboo, he assures himself. 

    He doesn’t want to even think of becoming best friends with this annoying kid. 

    Tommy rolls his eyes. He won’t.

    “How about baking?”

    “What?” Tommy asks, startled by the sudden question.

    “How about baking?” Tubbo repeats. “We could bake cookies or something.” Tubbo suggests. “Unless you have a better idea.”

    Tommy hums. That idea doesn’t sound half bad.

    Tommy sighs. But if he admits that, that would mean that Tubbo actually has good ideas.

    Tommy internally shakes his head. It was one good idea. One . 

    It means nothing. He just got lucky that’s all.

    “Soooo is that a yes or a no?” Tubbo asks.

    Tommy hums. “I guess.” Tommy finally replies.

    As much as Tommy hates to admit it, he really wants to bake right now. He hasn’t done anything like that since he was a little kid, and even then, it wasn’t really even baking.

    “So what should we make?” Tubbo asks, awkwardly.

    Tommy hums. What should they make?

    Tommy frowns.

    He hasn’t had sweets in a while. The closest thing Tommy has gotten to eating something sweet this year has been smelling the desserts they sell at markets. He can barely remember what they taste like.

    Tommy sighs. Does he remember any desserts he liked?

    Tommy smiles. “Cookies!” He shouts excitedly before he can stop himself.

    Tubbo chuckles, and Tommy can feel his face turn a bright shade of red.

    “I don’t see you having any ideas.” Tommy snaps.

    “I know I know.” Tubbo puts his  free hand up placatingly, still chuckling a bit to himself. “So what kind of cookies were you thinking?”

    Tommy frowns. There’s more than one kind?

    Tommy hasn’t had cookies since he was a little kid, and even then it was only a few times. Cookies are for special occasions, they aren’t supposed to be eaten every day.

    If that’s true, then why are they making them now? What’s the special occasion?

    This is different. Tubbo’s the one who suggested it.

    Wait, no he didn’t. 

    Still, Tubbo agreed nonetheless, if it was that big of a deal he would’ve said no.

    But what if they make cookies more often? What if this becomes a regular thing?

    Tommy rolls his eyes. There’s no way baking with Tubbo will be something Tommy does all the time.

    Well, what if he bakes cookies with Ranboo or Puffy? What would happen then?

    Tommy sighs. He needs an occasion.

    Hmmmm.

    Because he can..?

    Tommy frowns. Is that really the best he can do?

     Wait, they could do it for Ranboo. If anything Ranboo deserves it. Plus it could definitely be a special occasion for him.

    That’s good enough for Tommy.

    “So uh, do you have a certain kind in mind.?” Tubbo awkwardly asks, pulling Tommy out of his thoughts once again.

    “Uhhh, I don’t know. What kinds are there?”

    “There’s chocolate chip.” Tubbo suggests. “I know there’s other kinds, but I don’t really remember what they’re called.”

    “Okay.” Tommy agrees. “But if it’s not good I’m blaming you.”

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “We’re both making them. If anything it’d be your fault.”

    “My fault?” Tommy scoffs. 

    “Yeah, cause you know, I’ve probably baked longer than you.”

    Tommy shakes his head. “I could probably still make something better than you.”

    “Is that a challenge?” Tubbo asks, a smug grin growing on his face.

    “Yes! We can have Ranboo judge.” Tommy suggests. 

    Tubbo frowns. “Won’t he just not choose like last time?”

    Tommy frowns. Yeah, Ranboo might not be the best choice.

    “How about Puffy?” Tommy suggests. “She’s not biased right?” Tommy asks.

    Tubbo shrugs. “That doesn’t matter.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “Yeah, cause she’ll just pick yours.”

    “Exactly.” Tubbo beams. “It’s not like you’d win anyway.”

    “You wish.” Tommy remarks. “Lets just not tell Puffy who’s cookies are who’s. Then she can’t be biased.” 

    Tubbo frowns. “But what if I want her to be biased?”

    “That’s too bad, that's the only way you’d ever win.” Tommy smiles. “Guess you’ll have to deal with losing.”

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “You wish.”

    Tommy doesn’t have to wish. He knows he’s going to win.

    Sure, he hasn’t baked since he was a little kid, but that doesn’t matter. Tubbo probably hasn’t baked once in his entire life!

    Tommy frowns. Now that he thinks about it, that’s far from the truth.

    Tubbo has lived in a house his whole life, he probably has had plenty of opportunities to bake. Not to mention that he can afford ingredients as well.

    Tommy frowns. It’s not fair.

    Whatever, he’s still gonna beat this kid.

    “You ready?” Tubbo asks excitedly.

    Tommy smiles. “Only if you’re ready to lose.”

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “We need to get up in sync then.”

    Tommy sighs. He hates this stupid shirt.

    “Do we really need to still wear this stupid thing?” Tommy asks, gesturing at the shirt.

    Tubbo sighs. “Yep.”

    “But we’re hanging out.” Tommy complains.

    Tubbo sighs. “Yep, I know, but if Mum sees that we took off the shirt we’ll get in trouble.” Tubbo groans.

    “You mean you’ll get in trouble.” Tommy corrects.

    Tubbo raises an eyebrow. “You’ll get in trouble too. You’re staying in our house, after all.”

    Tommy frowns. “She doesn’t have to know.” 

    Tubbo raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?” Tubbo questions.

    “You know. We put the shirt back on before she gets back.” Tommy explains. “Then it’ll be way easier to move and stuff.”

    Tubbo frowns. “She’ll know.”

    “What do you mean she’ll know?! How could she possibly know?” 

    Tubbo shrugs. “She just will. She always knows these sorts of things.”

    “What do you mea-“ Tommy asks, cutting himself off. “Whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

    “Okay.” Tubbo says, sitting himself up straight. “Okay, on the count of there, let’s get up. One…two…”

    “No no, I’m doing the countdown.” Tommy interrupts. “You’re too slow.”

    Tubbo scoffs. “Am not.”

    “Are too!”

    “Am not!!”

    “Are too!!”

    Tubbo sighs. “This is taking way longer than it needs to be, Tommy.” Tubbo says dryly.

    “It’s my turn though.” Tommy counters. “You did it last time.”

    “Who cares?!” Tubbo questions, putting his one hand in the air. “What are you, a child?!”

    Tommy scoffs. “I’m not a child!” He yells. “I’m probably older than you, so if anything you’re the child.” 

    “Yeah, right.” Tubbo says sarcastically. “What are you five?”

    “Haha, very funny.” Tommy snaps.

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “Are we gonna get up or what?”

    “If you let me do the countdown.”

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “Fine.” Tubbo huffs. “But if we fall again, I’m blaming you.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “Three….two….one…go.” 

    They both lift themselves off the couch without much trouble, with Tubbo almost falling, but thankfully catching himself before that can happen.

    Tommy sighs in relief. Good, that’s finally over.

    Tommy frowns. Now all they have to do is walk all the way to the kitchen.

    Tommy groans. He thinks he’s taken walking normally for granted.

    Tommy sighs. “Let’s just make this quick. I don’t want to take ten minutes just to walk to the kitchen.”

    Tubbo sighs. “Agreed.”

    They start walking to the kitchen, with Tommy counting the steps. They almost trip and fall multiple times, but still somehow manage to make it to the kitchen without falling once . 

    They both sigh in relief as Tubbo clings the nearest wall.

    Tommy groans. “Why did Puffy make us wear this stupid shirt anyways?” Tommy snaps. “Didn’t she know it’d be hard for us to walk like this?” 

    Tubbo rolls his eyes. “Well, maybe if you didn’t walk so fast it’s be easier.” Tubbo snaps back.

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “You’re just mad cause you’re slow.” Tommy insults. “Whatever, let’s just make the cookies already.” Tommy says.

    “We have to get the ingredients first.” Tubbo reminds. “Unless you wanna make cookies with literally nothing in them.”

    “Shut up.” Tommy snaps. “I know we need ingredients, I’m not stupid.”

    “Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes. He opens his mouth to say something, but stops himself.

    Arguing with Tubbo is just going to make this whole process even longer, and he really wants it to end.

    So he keeps his mouth shut, glaring at Tubbo.

    Whatever, Tubbo is stupid anyways.

    Plus, the sooner he makes his cookies, the sooner he can rub it in Tubbo’s face.

    Cause he knows he’s gonna win, and he’ll never let Tubbo see the end of it.

    “Where’s the ingredients?” Tommy questions, looking around the kitchen for anything that they could possibly use.

    “I don’t know.” Tubbo admits. “But we have to find the recipe first. I don’t exactly remember how to make cookies.”

    “You don’t?!”

    “Nope.” Tubbo replies, popping the ‘p’.

    “How are we even going to make them then?!” Tommy snaps.

    “We?” Tubbo questions. “This is a competition.” Tubbo reminds him. “I’m not helping you.”

    Tommy’s face turns a bright shade of red. “I wasn’t asking for your help.” Tommy snaps.

    “Do you even know how to make cookies?” Tubbo asks.

    “I know how to make cookies.” Tommy lies. “It’s just been a while.”

    “Well, I guess we both don’t know what we’re doing.” Tubbo chuckles. “Maybe for the cookies’ sake, we should just work together.”

    Tommy frowns. “I don’t want to work together.” He huffs.

    “We can do something else for the competition.” Tubbo suggests. “Plus it’d be really hard to make two different batches of cookies while in the shirt anyways.”

    Tommy sighs. “I guess we can do that.” Tommy agrees. “But only because I want these cookies to be good for Ranboo.”

    “Good. The recipe should be somewhere over here.” Tubbo comments, leading them towards the counters. “Here it is.” Tubbo says, pulling a notebook out from inside a drawer.

    “What does it say?” Tommy asks impatiently, not wanting to wait a moment longer.

    He really wants the cookies to be done before Ranboo gets back. If he arrives in the middle of the process it’ll ruin the whole surprise.

    Ranboo would probably still be touched anyways, but that doesn’t matter.

    Tubbo hums. “Instructions on how to make cookies.” 

    Tommy facepalms. “I mean, what ingredients do we need?”

   “A bunch.” Tubbo remarks, frowning. “We’ll have to go to the cupboard for most of this.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes. “Let’s just hold onto the counter.” Tommy suggests. “Then we won’t have to worry about falling.”

    “Okay.”

    Tommy rolls his eyes.

    He hopes the cookies don’t take too long.

    Tommy sighs. He really hopes Ranboo likes them.