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Where Snowchester is cold, freezing even, the inside of Tubbo and Ranboo’s home is warm.
Technically, it has to be, for Michael at least. Their son was happiest when his room was the closest to the temperatures of the Nether, his old home. While his dads would always prioritize him, though, they couldn’t deny that the warmth was comforting after so long in the cold.
A crackling fireplace, fed by the massive spruce trees outside, served nicely to maintain the temperature. Flickering firelight from torches and the fire itself lit most of the rooms, with lanterns for safety in the places where Michael could reach.
All in all, with his family by his side, Tubbo was warmer in his Snowchester home than he thinks he’d been anywhere else.
The snow from the latest storm is building up outside again. He’ll have to shovel before Ranboo leaves for the night. The job nearly always falls to him because, unlike his husband, he doesn’t regularly get burnt from contact with water, and he’s strong enough to make quick work of the drifts. If it means Ranboo gets back to his own house safely, Tubbo would shovel the remains of a thousand snowstorms. With how much it regularly snows in Snowchester, that might have already happened.
Inside, by the fire, Michael is sitting on their couch, wrapped in a knitted blanket. It had been a gift from Tommy a few weeks back after he’d finally officially been named Michael’s godparent, but he’d given it to them so quickly that Tubbo strongly suspected he’d already been working on it beforehand. Either way, it rests over the back of their couch, slowly being worn over time with use just like the couch’s cushions.
On the coldest days, when it feels like even the fire isn’t enough to warm the little house, the three of them will bundle themselves up in Tommy’s blanket and sit together. Ranboo will make mugs of hot chocolate and they’ll tell stories in the warmth, making sure Michael’s hot chocolate doesn't come spilling out over everything else. It’s happened before and the furniture has the stains to prove it, but the little remnants of previous happy moments always end up making Ranboo smile and they make the house feel more lived in, so Tubbo has long since given up on trying to get the stains out of the fabric.
Tonight, the blanket sits folded in its place, and Ranboo and Tubbo are making dinner. It’s a long-established routine, something the two of them do so often that they don’t even interfere with each other in the small space anymore, a routine so practiced it seems effortless. Tubbo brings in potatoes from the farm in the basement, one of the few places not touched by the chill of outside. They get cut into wedges and tossed in oil and spices, then slid into the oven to roast. It’s a simple recipe, one he appreciates because everyone likes them and he can change it up easily, one he had known for years. Ranboo brings steak from the cow pen next to his house, and although his sword technically cooks as it kills he always remembers how to pan-sear it to perfection, in Tubbo’s opinion. It’s a dinner they’ve made together many times, but one that is always nice.
Maybe they’ll change it up for tomorrow. It’s a big day, after all, and there’s no better time to try something new.
A pair of elbow-length rubber gloves sits next to the kitchen sink. They’re for Ranboo to do the dishes, of course, because if they’re out of sight his beloved idiot might absentmindedly start washing plates without them. Water doesn’t exactly burn him instantly on contact like a normal enderman, but it definitely irritates him, and the long-term exposure of scrubbing dinner’s leftovers would probably leave scars like tears. No matter how many times he’s left with water burns, Ranboo always insists on being the one to clean up after dinner, and so Tubbo’s solution is the gloves.
After dinner it will be bedtime for Michael, and Tubbo will pick his son up in his arms and carry him up the ladder back to his attic bedroom, always the warmest place in the house. Heat rises, after all, and Michael deserves the warmest room of them all. Ranboo will join the pair of them, and they’ll tuck their son into bed together before reading him a story as he drifts off to sleep. Michael’s always been partial to the fantasy stories, the ones with dragons and knights and royalty. Tubbo and Ranboo have done their best to stock up on as many as possible, just so he doesn’t have to read the same handful over and over again, and they line part of the bookshelf stretching along his bedroom wall.
Maybe, if they could, once Michael’s asleep they’ll watch a movie together. It’s almost a shame Snowchester is still running on torches and fire. Movie night happens at Tommy’s house, closer to the center of the SMP where everything’s long since been fully established. Snowchester is still a work in progress and will continue for a while to come. The most recent addition has been the mansion taking up a massive section of the former forest next to the small village, having been finished just a handful of months earlier. Tubbo keeps meaning to start moving in, bringing in farms and storage bit by bit, but something always interrupts him no matter how many times he’s tried. He’s sure Ranboo has ended up the same way, because everywhere he looks in the mansion it feels just as empty as the day it was finished. Maybe tomorrow they’ll try again. A day like that is always a good time for a change.
For now, though, Tubbo and Ranboo are making dinner at home. The snow is piling up outside, and Tubbo will need to remember to clear it. Michael is scurrying around making a mess, and Ranboo will eventually have to follow after him and fix it all. It’s a peaceful little time, and Tubbo wants to save it forever.
Tomorrow will be better, though. He’ll make sure of it. It’s a big day for Ranboo: the anniversary of his arrival on the server, the same day he’d chosen as his birthday, since he couldn’t remember the real one. There’s cake mix stashed away in the back of a cupboard, the same dark chocolate that Ranboo loved so much, complete with a couple containers of vanilla icing to offset the flavor and complete Ranboo’s whole black-and-white aesthetic. It’ll be going in the oven as soon as he leaves tonight, ready to be frosted early the next morning before Ranboo arrives.
Tubbo wants to make sure it’s a day he’ll remember for the rest of his life.