Chapter Text
Tubbo was tired.
He was tired of waking up everyday to see something of his broken, tired of fixing, and rebuilding over and over. But Tubbo tried to not complain, deep down he was grateful for something to do, as building was his escape from reality. It distracted him of his past and the things crumbling around him, focusing all his energy into fixing and fixing as The Regimes Engineer.
Tubbo hummed as he fixed a hole in the factory wall, people always jumped through the windows and never covered the destruction back up. His dragon tail swayed behind him in agitation as he ran out of blocks in his inventory. He sighed and walked over to his storage and typed in the block he needed, he tapped his foot as the frogs chirped and the boxes rattled down the conveyer belt. When the box dropped down he picked up the blocks and went back to fixing the wall.
He finished fixing up the factory and walked outside where he gazed up at the Pantheon. The Regime was mostly empty these days, with Ash and Katie off on either adventures with the other islanders or conspiring to take down the feds. While he liked to be alone, sometimes being alone too long left him with his thoughts.
His tail curled around the air involuntarily and his heart stung. There used to be a little egg he could curl his tail around, he remembered what her shell felt like, what her sunglasses looked like and he remembered the sound of her footsteps around his old factory. Hot tears pricked Tubbo's eyes and he shook himself violently, instead glancing up at his Death Star. That was something he could focus on today.
He marched up to the white elevator on his bridge and he was spawned up onto his Death Star, he jumped down the hole in the top and expanded his parachute. He hummed as he turned it on and it began to hover above the ground, at first it was tilted but after some work he got it to be level in the sky.
Tubbo worked on his Death Star for another hour before he decided to head back to the factory to grab more materials. He fell through the hole at the bottom and walked up to his factory, typing into his storage again and waiting on the conveyor belt. There was a noise outside his factory that made him stand straighter and his dragon ears perk up.
The box chimed as it landed and Tubbo warily looked around before grabbing the box and taking its contents. He slowly walked up to the factory entrance and peeked around the corner looking for any signs of movement. After a beat of silence Tubbo sighed and left the side of the wall he was hugging to walk out into the open. There was a crunch under his boot and he jumped back in surprise. He looked down to see a white paper on the ground, it was speckled in dirt from his boot as he leaned down to pick it up. Tubbo blew on the paper and shook it to remove the dirt smudged onto it before his eyes traced over the words written in ink.
‘Mr. Tubbo,
Come to X: 1850 Y: 142 Z: -620’
He huffed, surely this was some sort of trap by another islander or the Federation. He glanced around The Regime but saw no movement, he looked down at the paper curiously, it was torn at the edges like it’d been ripped from a book and the fresh ink was still shiny. Tubbo’s tail whipped behind him, he didn’t have time to go on a wild goose chase, but then again… he sort of wanted a break from working on his Death Star.
“Fuck it,” Tubbo sighed, and shoved the note into one of the pockets around his waist. Tubbo pulled out his sword in his off hand—though he wasn’t really any good at combat—and looked down at his map. The coordinates weren’t too far ways from where he was now, so he decided he’d give it a look and if anything fishy looked to be going on, he’d come straight home.
.
.
.
The coordinates led to the top of a hill and Tubbo was tired by the end of all his walking, perhaps this person led him this way to tire him out and jump him once he reached the top…
Tubbo leaned over with a grunt, hands on hips as he caught his breath. He looked up and scanned the area around him, it was mostly an open field with a few trees here and there. Tubbo held up his sword and pointed it suspiciously at the trees around him as walked forward into the center of the clearing.
“Hello?” He yelled, eyes darting between the openings of trees.
There was a shuffle of movement and then a white figure emerged from the shadows that hid him. Tubbo's eyes widened and the sword he held went slack in his grip. It hit the soft grass below him and the white bear's ears flattened in response.
“Fred…?” Tubbo murmured, and Fred shuffled his feet nervously, producing a white tulip from his inventory to hold out to Tubbo. Tubbo stayed frozen for a moment before he recognized what this tulip meant, the flower language he grew to know rushing back to him as he cycled in his mind what this flower could possibly mean.
Forgiveness
Fred was asking for forgiveness.
“Oh, I…” Tubbo breathed, and then shook himself. “What… What are you doing here Fred?” Tubbo asked, and Fred’s ears flattened even more, perhaps wondering if his flower had been rejected. Fred quickly shoved the flower into one of the pockets of his blue Federation uniform and fished out a book and pen. Tubbo watched the flower disappear with a twinge of guilt, he should have taken it.
Fred opened the book and quickly scribbled a message before handing it over to Tubbo, wincing as their fingers brushed.
‘I wanted to see you, do you want me to leave?’
Tubbo whispered the words aloud and thought for a moment, he was upset that Fred hadn’t come to see him. When Tubbo came to this new island without any information about Fred he had mourned him as if he were dead and seeing him now made his heart hurt. Was this even real? Seeing him again sparked old feelings that he should keep trapped away. Hell, he was in The Regime… the faction openly against the Federation. What would Ash think?
“Did you want to tell me something? I… should go Fred.” Tubbo sighed, looking away to avoid seeing the hurt on Fred’s face. Fred, for being a white polar bear with a snout and ears but no eyes, had a rather expressive face that Tubbo knew even after all this time could alter his decisions. Tubbo handed the book back to Fred without looking at him, the bear didn’t write for a moment, and Tubbo could feel his gaze. Eventually he opened to a new page and when he was finished he gave the book back to Tubbo.
‘Why have I upset you? What can I do to make it right?’
Tubbo’s heart swelled in guilt, he can’t do this anymore, he should cut things off with Fred, he’s in The Regime and Ash’s daughter was killed by a Federation worker, Katie dating one is enough. He should tell Fred now he doesn’t want to speak with him. He should.
Why can’t he say it?
“Fred, I need to collect my thoughts. I can’t even believe you're in front of me right now. Where have you been?” Tubbo confessed, tearing his eyes away from the butterfly he’d been watching to look at Fred’s face. He handed the book back and Fred took it gingerly. When he was finished writing he held out the book for Tubbo to read.
‘I’m sorry, The Federation has kept me busy, my boss has told me I have too many strikes and I am being watched wherever I go. I could not come and tell you or else I would be punished. Please forgive me.’
Fred held out the white tulip again, bowing his head and pinning his ears behind his head. Tubbo sighed and reached out to grab it, holding it in his left hand.
“I… understand and I forgive you Fred but I need to think about us. Will you give me space to think?” Tubbo murmured, twisting the stem of the tulip between his finger tips as he admired its gentle smooth petals. Fred’s ears perked back up in hope, and flipped his book over, scribbling on the paper quickly.
‘Of course, anything. If you wish to speak to me again this week I will be walking around spawn with other Federation workers. I hope to see you soon.’
“See you soon… Fred.” Tubbo nodded, turning away and starting to make his way quickly down the hill.
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.
.
When he reached The Regime he was exhausted. All this stress is wearing him out and when he got inside his factory he sat down on the cool floor and curled his dragon tail around himself. He was still holding the white tulip in his left hand and he brought it up to his face to smell. The scent reminded him of the first island, bittersweet memories flooded his thoughts and a small smile tugged at his lips.
“Who gave you that?” Ash sneered, making Tubbo jump.
“Ooh Tubbo’s in looovveee! Ash, give me your camera! I want to take a photo!” Katie grinned, circling her little brother Ash. Tubbo flushed, hiding the flower in the coat of his uniform.
“It’s nothing, just some pretty flower I found while walking.” Tubbo huffed, getting to his feet and quickly getting to busying himself, hoping he didn’t look nervous. If Ash found out he was talking to a Federation worker he’d be in big trouble.
“When have you ever picked flowers?” Ash wrinkled his nose.
“Aw he’s embarrassedddd! Tubbo tell us!” Katie skipped around Tubbo joyfully as he was pretending to look extremely busy staring at one of the factory's machines with a furrowed brow.
“There’s nothing to tell.” Tubbo grumbled, speed walking out of the factory and hoping they wouldn’t follow him, to his dismay, they did.
“Who is it? Please tell me it’s not Foolish.” Ash said, sounding horrified.
“Ew no! FOBO is not like that dude. It’s nothing, leave me alone.” Tubbo snapped, jumping on his white elevator to enter his Death Star, the others of course followed him.
“Tell us and we’ll leave you alone.” Katie offered, shrugging like it was a no-brainer solution. Ash nodded along with her. Gosh, they were definitely siblings alright.
“Hmm, how about no.” Tubbo argued, pulling his construction helmet over his face and crouching down to work on the Death Stars controls with his wrench.
“So you admit it’s somebody!” Katie cheered, “Ash, he admitted it!”
“I already said it’s nothing, I’m going to ignore you now.” Tubbo hummed, fixing a gear into place on one of the rudders.