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Tubbo looks up at the twins, Jubilee smirking down at him. He can hear Ranboo in his ear, “Tubbo? You ok, what's happening?” Ichor reaches down towards him, Tubbo risking letting go to swat at his hand. He draws his hand back, looking annoyed.
Jubilee chuckles, “Come on kid, just let us help you.” Tubbo scoffs, “Help me? Are you fucking serious?!” The two turn to whisper to each other, Tubbo taking the opportunity to reach down his vest, fiddling with the pockets. He locates the right pocket just as a hand grabs his wrist, pulling him up. He fumbles with the small box, hitting the ledge and falling at the two villains' feet.
Jubilee picks it up, turning it from side to side then nodding to Ichor. He drops Tubbo who scrambles to grab the ledge again. He grits his teeth as the concrete scratches his hands. “What does this do?” Tubbo shrugs, “Click the button, find out.” Jubilee goes to press it, Ichor snatching the box from his hands.
“You idiot,” he hisses, smacking Jubilee over the head, “it could be an explosive.” Tubbo rolls his eyes, master supervillains at work
He pulls himself up ready to leave and go home, he rests an arm on the ledge, feet propped up and prepared to move. He pushes himself off, reaching a hand down to activate the small boosters on his shoes. Something pulls at his ankle, looking back it's Jubilee. He’s leaning over the ledge, Ichor gripping his jacket.
Tubbo swings back towards the twins, body slamming into the side of the building. He winces at the jagged edges hitting his face, blood slightly running down it but he brushes it aside as he is pulled up toward the two. He reaches down to pull out a sword and swipe at Jubilee who yelps and drops him.
Tubbo barely grabs the ledge again, resheathing the sword then groaning internally at the position he has yet again put himself in. Ichor chuckles, producing the small box again, “What does this do?” He scoffs, “Like I’d tell you, piss off Ms. Piggy.” Tubbo flinches at Ranboo’s laugh in his ear, “Yea! You tell him, Bo!”
Tubbo lets himself huff in amusement before registering a foot in front of- wait? A foot? Tubbo feels it slam into his nose, the force snapping his head back. Ranboo calls out in worry but their voice fades, Tubbo watching through his peripheral as his earpiece hits his shoulder and falls to the alley below. He rests his head against the brick, licking the blood off his lip, he tries to stop the ache and think of a plan.
Pain blooms through his hand, his hand falls from the ledge, and some fingers bent at strange angles. He brings it to his chest feeling another foot places itself on his other hand, slightly pressing into his fingers. He looks up, Ichor grinning, “Last chance kid, what does the box do?” Tubbo shakes his head, licking the blood off his lips, “You’re seriously going to kick me off this building over a box? Fuck off.”
He shrugs, “Have it your way.” He picks up his foot and slams it down on Tubbo’s other hand. Tubbo curses, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He hears Jubilee chuckle, “Ok, let's do this, don’t drop me.” Tubbo opens his eyes, Jubilee’s face right next to his. “Hey, there. Don’t mind me, just grabbing this.”
He reaches for Tubbo’s sheath grabbing the hilt of one of his swords. Tubbo takes his mangled hand which he still had cradled against his chest and pushes at Jubilee with the heel of it. Jubilee pushes his hand away, Tubbo pulling back but bringing a foot up to kick him.
Jubilee removes the sword then hits Tubbo multiple times with the hilt of it. Tubbo curls his arm around his head to protect himself. One hit connects with his temple, black dots making their way into his vision. The foot replaces itself on his hand, “Alright kid, it’s been fun.” He pushes his foot under Tubbo’s hand and pushes it up. Tubbo doesn’t hesitate to reach up, grabbing Ichor’s ankle and pulling.
Ichor slips off the building, Jubilee missing his hand. Now they're both falling, Tubbo looking around for anything to grab, “No fire escape on this one.” Tubbo looks down, the ground rapidly approaching, he looks back at Ichor, “Why me?” He shrugs, “Opportunity.”
“At least you’re going down with me.” “Ha! No,” he points to himself, “I’ll heal. You won’t.” Tubbo’s eyes widen the realization setting in. “I mean, I could help you if . .” “If what?” “Unmask yourself.” Tubbo is taken aback for a second before unhooking his mask. He takes it off, handing it out to Ichor, the man grabbing Tubbo’s arm and pulling him closer.
Tubbo feels the moment they hit the ground, the moment his leg snaps, and he screams Ichor having been too slow. He grips Ichor’s shirt despite himself, he flinches when a hand places itself on his back. “Relax, kid. I'm moving you. You’re not the only one who whose hurt.” Tubbo is put down, jostling his leg sending fire through his lower body. “Shit, fuck, shit”
Ichor chuckles, “For a small guy, you do have a big mouth.” “Piss off,” a hand tugs his hood off of his head, “Hey-” A hand grabs his face, covering his mouth and pulling his face upwards, Jubilee’s wild yellow eyes meet his brown ones, “What the fuck was that?” Tubbo bites one of his fingers, Jubilee pulls his hand back then slaps Tubbo.
He crouches down in front of Tubbo taking his chin and turning his head back and forth, “Pretty young to be out here, huh?” Tubbo snorts, “Pretty old to be out here, huh ?” Jubilee’s eyes darken Who are you Tubbo shakes his head, biting his tongue hard.
Jubilee grip tightens on his chin Who are you “Bo” Jubilee huffs, “Real name.” Tubbo hesitates for a moment before dropping his head, “Tubbo” He can hear Ichor chuckle, “And where do you live, Tubbo ?” He doesn’t answer, just gripping his sweatshirt. He can hear the two talking above him, “We can just get it out of him later.” “True but we can’t exactly carry him like that. We need Kali.” “Where did Kali go?” Tubbo looks up, Jubilee is peeking out of the alley, looking both ways before shrugging.
“Whatever, he can catch up.” They both move toward Tubbo who backs up, not getting very far. Ichor bends down and grabs his sleeve, “You have somewhere to fix that leg?” Tubbo hisses as he is pulled to his good leg, he pushes away, balancing on the wall, “What the fuck? You want me ‘fixed’ after throwing me off a building?”
“You’re just gonna be bait, relax.” Ichor pulls at Tubbo’s arm until Tubbo reluctantly lets Ichor put him on his back. They scale the building and Tubbo points the two in the right direction. “This is it.” Jubilee’s eyes get wide with excitement, “This is where you live?” “No-” Jubilee either ignores or doesn’t hear Tubbo because he’s climbing down and a crash is heard.
Ichor sighs and shakes his head, Tubbo holding on as Ichor follows. They get into the window, Tubbo’s leg aching. He peeks over Ichor’s shoulder at Puffy and Sam’s faces, fear in both of their eyes. Ichor removes Tubbo from his back and practically pushes him towards the pair.
Sam darts up to grab him, Tubbo grabbing him before he falls, making his leg worse. Tubbo lets himself be sat down, gripping onto Sam. Puffy kneels by his leg, taking it carefully, her hands glowing orange. “Sooo, Tubbo. Where do you live though, actually?” Tubbo shakes his head, wincing at Puffy’s hand gently moving down his leg.
Jubilee steps toward the trio, Sam stepping up, “Don’t get any closer.” The two stare each other down, frantic knocks interrupting them. Everybody turns to the door, Jubilee turning back to Sam as more knocks ring out, “Well? Go answer it.” Sam swallows, moving to the door and opening it a crack. The door pushes the rest of the way open, Ranboo bursting through, “Sam! Oh thank god, Tubbo’s not answering his earpiece and he’s moving around a lot. He finally stopped here so I came to see-”
They stop, looking down at Tubbo, noting his missing mask then back up at the two villains standing there. Jubilee starts walking towards them, “So you’re the one who corresponds with him and-” the realization dawns on him, Ranboo taking a couple steps back, Sam coming up behind them. Ichor also steps forward, “I’d stay out of our way if I were you.”
Jubilee goes to look at Ranboo’s ears, they cover them, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jubilee takes one of Ranboo’s wrists, the earpiece clattering to the floor. The room falls quiet, Tubbo looking up at Ranboo who’s frozen in their spot.
“Ender, are you there? Hello? Was he there?” Jubilee picks up the earpiece, “Hello there little hero.” Ranboo stands frozen, watching Jubilee, flinching whenever his expression resembles any bit of anger. A tug on their arm brings their attention down, Tubbo trying to pull them to sit, slightly wincing at Puffy resetting his fingers.
They move towards him, Jubilee sticks a finger out, Ranboo freezing, “So you’re coming? Good, wouldn’t want Tubbo here to get hurt again, would we?” Ranboo shifts in front of him, Jubilee raising an eyebrow, “Oh? So you wanna play the hero now too huh?” Collapse Ranboo takes a stumbling step forward but doesn’t fall, eyes flaring anger and a bit of wariness at the villain.
I said collapse
Ranboo practically involuntarily throws themselves on the ground, Tubbo reaching out to them. Ranboo starts to push themself up, trying their best to ignore Jubilee who is still talking to Tommy. They start to put their knees under them, “Hey!” Jubilee turns quickly at Ichor’s shout, moving to kick Ranboo in the stomach, bringing them back down.
Ranboo curls an arm around their stomach, another kick sends them onto their back. Ichor stands over them, tilting his head, “I’d listen to us if I were you.” Ranboo doesn’t answer just staring past him at Jubilee who looks at them with the most venomous look Ranboo has ever seen.
They nervously lick the blood off their lip, “You wanna know what happens when you mess with us. Here, listen.” He takes the earpiece out, Tommy’s faint protests can be heard by the group. “Are we doing this now? I’d rather do it to shorty over there, he’s the one that pulled me off the roof.”
“No, they’re already on the ground. I’ll hold this closer.” Ranboo shifts to sit on an elbow, watching the two come towards them, they find Sam, “Sa-ah!” Ichor presses his foot down on Ranboo’s throat, practically crushing their airway. Sam moves towards them, Puffy holding onto Tubbo who is thrashing to get to them.
Stay back
Tubbo is still moving slowly, Puffy and Sam frozen.
Stay back
Tubbo finally stops, helplessly watching Jubilee pry Ranboo’s hands off Ichor’s boot. He sits on them, placing the earbud next to Ranboo’s mouth, “Listen little hero, we will and are slowly killing your friend,” Ichor presses harder, Ranboo gasping, “So you better get here before you only have one friend to rescue.”
They look over at Tubbo, tears now running down their face. Tubbo pushes through Jubilee’s command, reaching a hand out toward them. They wriggle enough to pull one hand out and reach towards Tubbo. They connect hands, Tubbo squeezing in reassurance.
Ranboo continues to gasp, their lungs feel like they are on fire. They try to plead with the two but they are not listening, too wrapped up in threatening Tubbo to Tommy.
Ranboo comes up with an idea, a pretty morbid one but anything to get out of this. They slowly push their eyes into the back of their head, letting their hand go limp in Tubbo’s. They close their eyes, listening to his friends' screams of horror. They force their body to go limp, their chest to go still despite the yearning for air.
The pressure from their neck is removed, almost nonchalantly. “Well, I guess you’re too late Sparky. One of your friends is dead, Tubbo’s next if you don’t hurry.”
Move
They can feel the hands remove themselves from their wrists. Their head gets lifted up, something wet dripping onto their face. More pressure is put on their chest and hand.
Don’t save them
More sobs from above them then shaking, “Come on Boo, wake up please!” Air moves violently through the room when a shout is heard, “Get away from them!”
-----------------
Tommy is downright panicking, he can hear Ranboo’s gasping then nothing.
Nothing?
He stops, right across the street, able to see the situation perfectly. He can barely hear Jubilee, his words sounding like they're underwater as they watch Ranboo. Ranboo’s not moving.
There not moving
Tubbo is first to move to them, cradling their head sobbing. Puffy and Sam are next, Sam positioned to start CPR when he suddenly stops. Jubilee smirks from where he’s standing with Ichor. They motion towards Tubbo and Tommy breaks, throwing himself in the already broken window.
Using all his energy, he throws as much electricity as he can at the two. He knocks them both off their feet, “Get away from them!” Ichor bounces back, lunging towards Tommy as Jubilee throws himself at Tubbo, command at his lips.
He throws a shield up around the four with one hand, pushing shocks through Ichor’s with the other. Not lethal, he’s not like them, he doesn’t kill people. Ichor falls, unconscious. Tommy huffs, looking at Jubilee, “You’re gonna pay for this you SON OF A BITCH !” He launches him at Jubilee, pouring the rest of his energy into beating the shit out of him.
Tubbo actually turns away, Puffy moving over to cover his ears. Ranboo can’t take it, they gasp, finally getting oxygen into their lungs. Tubbo jumps at Ranboo’s coughing, watching Ranboo’s eyes finally flutter open. “H-hey Bo'' Tubbo shushes them, “Don’t talk, just breathe boss man.”
Tubbo turns back to Tommy, who is standing over Jubilee. He’s sporting a new black eye, split lip, tears in his clothes and his hair is sizzling. “Tom! Look!” He glances over, seeing Ranboo’s eyes open and their chest moving. Tears prick his eyes, he watches Ranboo slowly sit up, Puffy healing their neck.
“Tech! Wil!” Tommy’s head snaps to the window, Kali standing there, wings out, “What did you do to them?” Tommy rolls his shoulders back, standing tall, “I gave them what they deserved, they almost killed my friend and hurt another. What I did was NOTHING compared to what they did.”
He grabs Jubilee by the jacket, Kali wings shuffling. Tommy throws him at Kali’s feet then same with Ichor, “Take them and get the fuck out of here.” Kali picks Ichor up, Jubilee using him for support to get up. They turn to leave, “Hey, wait.” They ignore Tommy, “I said, WAIT ! He shoots a bolt past Kali’s head, hitting the wall beside him. Kali freezes, turning back to the hero, “You ever come near these two again, I won’t hold back next time, understood?” Kali nods, finally leaving the apartment and disappearing into the night, well now early morning, the sun slowly peeking its head over the horizon.
Tommy turns back to Ranboo, tearing down the barrier before launching himself at them. Sparks fly out at his fingers as he collides with Ranboo, taking them both to the floor. He doesn’t care about Puffy protesting behind him. He can hear Ranboo breathing and can feel their arms wrap around him.
“Hey, don’t hog them. I want hugs too.” Tubbo practically throws himself onto the pile, Ranboo wheezing. Both boys jump off them, hands in the air, scared look in their eyes. Ranboo chuckles before sitting up, “I’m ok, honest. Just took me by surprise.”
He gestures for them to come closer, both boys hesitantly moving closer. “I thought we lost you, Boo. I thought they-fuck” Tubbo chokes on tears, wiping his eyes, Ranboo takes his hand, “They didn’t, not for a second.” Tommy looks confused, “But then why-?” “I faked it. I knew that if I didn’t, I might’ve actually, y’know.”
Tubbo throws his arms around Ranboo’s neck, Tommy doing the same, “Don’t you ever do that again, Ranboob. I’ll actually kill you.” “Me too,” Puffy smacks Sam on the arm, “No, listen. Ranboo, what you did was terrifying to say the least.” Ranboo ducks their head, ashamed, “Look, Sam, I had no choice. Like I just said, I would have died if I didn’t.”
Sam opens his mouth to protest, Puffy getting in between the two before a full fight could break out, “Ok, let’s take a breath. We’ve all just been through a lot. Let’s get somewhere safer than we can talk.” Everybody nods, slowly moving to leave the partially battered apartment. They make their way to the trio’s apartment, everybody silent.
Ranboo looks up, making out Tommy on the rooftops, watching. They look down at Tubbo, also keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. They make it there in one piece, Tommy dropping down to walk in the building with them. The sun no longer peeking above the buildings as they make it inside. The trio square themselves into the bathroom, Sam and Puffy notice with some practiced precision.
“It looks like you’ve done this before,” Ranboo nods from their seat on the toilet, “Yea, usually Tommy and I would be switched but…” Tommy huffs, “You’re the one who's hurt this time.” Ranboo rolls their eyes, “Not really-” “You almost died!” their eyes widened, taking in Tommy’s fearful look, “you still have the bruise on your neck!” He turns back to Tubbo, wiping his head then placing a bandaid on it.
“You don’t know what is what like, to hear someone suffocating, then seeing you just laying there,” he turns back toward Ranboo, tears in his eyes and Tubbo gripping his arm from the sink counter, “I thought you were dead, I thought I was too late.”
Ranboo ducks their head, balling their hands into fists, “I’m so sorry, Tom. I didn’t know-” Tears drip onto their hands, they desperately wipe them away, “Sorry, sorry, um yea, I didn’t know what to do and- and I,” they trail off, still feverishly wiping the tears off their face, “Ran, it’s ok. We’re not upset with you.”
“But I-” “Look, as stupid as it seemed at the time, we know that you did what you had to do. We may have not agreed with it but we’re just glad you’re alive.” That breaks the dam for Ranboo, a sob breaks its way through and they cover their mouth with both hands. Tommy grabs them, slowly bringing Ranboo down onto the bathroom floor.
Tubbo hops off the counter, sitting by Ranboo, wrapping his arms around his sobbing friend. Tommy moves to the toilet, pulling them to lay their head on his leg. The two friends let Ranboo sob in both of their arms, Sam and Puffy standing against the wall outside.
Ranboo’s sobs slowly die down into quiet labored breaths, “Let’s get something to eat,” they look at Tubbo, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving .” All three of them laugh, “Yea, I could eat a horse.” Tommy snorts, “What about a pig?” They burst out laughing again, Ranboo coughing, throat aching but they feel better.
They do eventually leave, wounds treated and the air a little more comfortable. Tommy moves towards the stove, Ranboo and Tubbo stopping him. It breaks out into an argument, which Sam promptly breaks up before they could actually hurt each other.
When they sit down to eat, Ranboo feels lighter. The bruise on their neck aches as they sip their smoothie but Ranboo ignores it. They're alive and with their friends, their family.
That’s good enough for them.