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1.
Ranboo was awake and waiting, knowing that as soon as they heard the crashing sound from the direction of Tubbo’s workshop that they would have to actually get up for the day. It didn’t happen often, but sudden loud noises still startled the other teen into a panic most of the time. So, on mornings like this, Ranboo sat and listened, knowing that Tubbo had fallen asleep at his workbench.
Ranboo was always the first of their little family to wake up, there was something that they found peaceful about the quiet early mornings, sun barely visible at the horizon. Endermen don’t sleep, and while Ranboo did, his natural sleep cycle was shorter and… different. It gave them time to enjoy some morning solitude.
Ranboo was paging through his memory book as he sat, making sure that there was nothing else that he was forgetting that needed to get done as the day went on, when he heard it. There was a crash of metal and quiet swearing. Ranboo took the cue to get out of his pajamas and get dressed for the day, allowing Tubbo the time to calm down somewhat on his own. Ranboo knew that Tubbo didn’t like other people seeing him when he panicked, and Ranboo respected that as much as possible.
Clad in his full suit, lovingly hand-sewn by Tommy after their last one had gotten badly damaged, Ranboo left their room and headed for the entryway, where Tubbo was muttering to himself and seemed to be going out to do Prime knows what without even a jacket on.
“You’re going to get sick if you go out like that, you know,” Ranboo said as Tubbo jumped, having not heard them come down the stairs and into the room.
“I’m not going to be out for long. I just need to go do… something,” Tubbo replied, pulling his shoes on. His eyes were wide and Ranboo could see that he was struggling to keep his breaths even.
“Something?” Ranboo arched an eyebrow.
Tubbo sighed, “I’m just going to go check on Tommy, make sure that everything is alright.”
“Did he message you or something? I find it hard to believe that Tommy of all people would be awake at barely five in the morning.”
“No. I just need to make sure, no reason.”
“Right. So, nightmare then?” Ranboo asked, already knowing the answer.
“Just a bit. And the machine I was working on fell apart and woke me up. I must have not tightened the screws enough. Now I’m too worked up to go to bed, so I’m checking on Tommy.” As Tubbo spoke Ranboo went over to the coat closet, grabbing both of their coats.
“Alright, we’ll go together then. I’m not waking him up though if everything else seems fine, I don’t have a death wish.” Ranboo spoke as they handed Tubbo his jacket, then shrugging their own on. Ranboo had dealt with a sleep deprived Tommy before, and honestly playing patty cake with a feral raccoon would be a safer experience.
Together they went, it wasn’t actually that far of a journey, but Snowchester was cold in the mornings and sickness was always a risk if you didn’t take precautions, especially with the humid morning air. It was peaceful, walking together like this when the rest of the server was either asleep or deep in the mines. Birds flew through the sparse treetops, Ranboo could even spot a few of Phil’s crows who seemed to have wandered away from the arctic.
“Thanks for making sure I didn’t go out on my own. Even if I did grab my coat, I don’t think it would have been a good idea for me to be alone with my thoughts like that,” Tubbo broke their comfortable silence.
Ranboo smiled, “Don’t worry about it, you know I’m always awake early anyway. When we get back we can get Michael up and have breakfast. Maybe some family time will help you feel more settled?”
Tubbo nodded, “That sounds nice. After breakfast I should probably go get more sleep though, I only got a few hours.”
“Yeah, I figured,” As Ranboo spoke, the pair arrived in front of Tommy’s house, which was just as peaceful as the rest of the world, the grass green and glistening with morning dew as butterflies flitted between flowers. Tubbo immediately relaxed, shoulders dropping as he let out a long breath. Ranboo just stood as Tubbo leaned into their side, happy to be a grounding presence.
“Let’s go home.”
2.
“Ranboooo. Get up, I need your help,” Ranboo groaned as Tubbo knocked on his door, wiping a hand across his face as he blinked open his eyes.
“Tubbo? What time is it?” They called, fumbling on their bedside table to turn on a lamp so that they don’t trip on their way to open the door.
“Not too early, I’m honestly surprised you were still asleep. I think it’s about 5? Anyway, I want to go check the perimeter traps and I don’t want to go out there alone when it’s still this dark,” Tubbo explained as Ranboo looked at the already too-awake teen.
“Yeah, alright, let me get dressed and I’ll meet you downstairs?” Tubbo nodded rapidly in response, so Ranboo closed the door and did just that. It wasn’t an unusual request, they usually went out and checked the traps once every week or so, just to make sure that there were no wild animals that had gotten stuck in one. Honestly Ranboo was sure that they would end up taking the traps down soon, it was clear that they weren’t going to be used for their actual purpose. Things had been peaceful for long enough that they really didn’t need the extra security measure. Tubbo disagreed, though, and Ranboo was willing to keep checking the traps if it made Tubbo feel a little more safe in their home.
“Not feeling like dressing up like you normally do?” Tubbo asked when he saw that Ranboo wasn’t wearing his typical suit, but rather a more cozy looking casual outfit.
“I think after we do the rounds I’m going to have a day in with Michael, and this sweater is made out of his favorite material.” Really, Ranboo had been having more ‘days in’ than days out recently. There just wasn’t anything else for them to do. They didn’t feel like going mining often anymore, they already had more than enough diamonds and gold and even iron stocked in their enderchest for emergencies. With the server more peaceful than they could remember it ever being, there just wasn’t a point in continually preparing for the worst, so instead they were investing their energy into being a good parent to Michael. Recently they had been working more on speaking, and the little Piglin had even started regularly using a few words.
“Aww, look at you being all domestic,” Tubbo teased as the two put on their coats and headed out.
“Like you aren’t the same when you’re actually awake during the day. He adores you just as much. Those wooden dominoes you carved him have been his favorite toy all week,” Ranboo smiled.
“I’m glad he likes them, I’ve been teaching him how to use them to push around his marbles, too. Maybe I’ll make him a marble run set next time I’m in a wood carving mood.”
“As long as the two of you don’t turn the whole house into a Rube Goldberg machine somehow,” Tubbo laughed, though his face was a little too considering of the idea for Ranboo’s liking.
Checking the traps wasn’t hard, Tubbo had a map with each of the locations marked off, so all they had to do was roll up the carpet of fake snow and check down the pit. Normally it was completely empty, though of the twelve or so traps they had dotted around the less dense areas of Snowchester usually one or two would have the body of some poor creature waiting at the bottom, usually a fox in this climate.
Really the only reasom they checked the traps regularly was to see if any people had been caught in them. All visitors were warned about the traps beforehand, and the traps werent near any of the normal paths through the town, so if there was a person at the bottom of the pit that meant intruders.
“Oh, that’s a shame,” Ranboo commented as they looked down to see a sheep, wool stained with dirt and blood from its fall.
“And unusual, I wonder where it wandered in from,” Tubbo frowned in thought as he rolled the carpet back into place.
“Maybe it followed Tommy in the other day and then wandered off? Animals love him,”
“Yeah, maybe,” Tubbo was distracted as they walked in the direction of the next trap, after that they only had two more before they could head back and have breakfast.
As they walked in silence, Ranboo’s mind wandered. Maybe they should take up a hobby other than taking care of Michael? With things being so safe they weren’t sure what to do with themself. Maybe they should take up painting, or maybe Tommy would teach them how to sew? As they thought, something poked at the back of their mind, insistent yet just out of reach. Frowning, they pulled out their memory book, maybe there was something they needed to do today that they were forgetting. Eyes widening, Ranboo moved without thinking.
“What the fuck, Ranboo, why did you tackle me?!” Tubbo shrieked as he hit the ground, hard.
“Watch where you were about to step, Tubbo! I thought you were keeping an eye on the map,” Ranboo gestured towards the ground once they stood and dusted themself off. Indeed, right where Tubbo was about to step, there was the barely visible transition from snow to carpet.
“Oh,” Tubbo let out a breath, still sitting on the ground, eyes wide, “You saved my life. Why couldn’t you have warned me sooner?”
“I was just following you, it was pure luck that I noticed and got to you in time.” Ranboo’s heart pounded with adrenaline, “Can we just go home now? Please?”
Tubbo nodded silently, accepting Ranboo’s help off the ground as they both headed back to the mansion. “That was really lucky, Ranboo. Literally one more second and I would have been…” He trailed off.
“We’ll be more careful in the future. Or maybe it’s time to fill the pits in? I’m not saying we need to stop being secure, but there has to be another way that isn’t just as dangerous to us if we aren’t paying attention.”
“You’re right. Maybe we could call Tommy and make a day of filling them in, have a nice meal afterwards,” Tubbo clearly hated the idea of Snowchester, even temporarily, being less secure.
“That would be nice.” Ranboo smiled, even a month prior Tubbo wouldn’t have even considered the idea, so this was progress. Healing.
3.
After the pit incident, things had really calmed down. They filled in the pits, and with that off their minds, both Ranboo and Tubbo seemed able to relax a little bit more. Even though the traps had been there as a safety measure, they had been part of what kept the two stuck in the past.
Tubbo was still anxious about what they would do should they come under attack, so Ranboo suggested an active defense system, something that they could set up and not have to think about until it was needed. Tubbo had agreed and so had spent a week developing a cannons that he would set up along the boundary of Snowchester, on the side facing towards the looming Pandora’s Vault.
As Ranboo got ready for bed he looked out the window, he couldn’t actually see where the line of cannons sat from this window, and he was actually thankful for that. It was nice to be able to look out at their home and not have to think about any threats, future or past.
It was perhaps later than he should have gone to bed considering the time that he planned on waking up, or at least it would have been if they were someone who needed a full eight hours of rest. Luckily they typically averaged around five hours of sleep a night, even if they had no alarm set at all, and they always felt fully rested. This being said, they did still remember to set an alarm and set their memory book open by their bedside before they crawled under the covers and drifted to sleep.
The snow is always so pretty under the moonlight, like powdered diamonds had been poured over the landscape. Ranboo watched, moving without needing to walk, content to simply see where the dream took them. Many nights went like this, floating over the landscapes of their home, observing the crows that passed through under the cover of night. Some nights were peaceful, others full of chaos as Tubbo worked for hours without rest, always so determined to keep their family safe.
For the first bit of the dream it seemed as though it would be a peaceful, if slightly boring night. That was until some time in, though really the passage of time was a suggestion in these dreams when there was nothing but the movement of the stars to ground it, when a light flickered on in one of the windows of the mansion, and out came a bundled up Tubbo. The boy was hauling a bag of supplies behind him, one that Ranboo knew to associate with another cannon ready to be assembled in its place.
Tubbo made his way slowly but surely to the coast, finding a nice spot that was flat enough to set up the cannon without having to do much landscaping. Tubbo used a small hand shovel to carve a seat out of the nearby snowdrift. He started the slow process of assembling the canon piece by piece. It was relaxing, almost, watching Tubbo work, the way his calloused hands knew exactly how to fit the lovingly constructed pieces together. Smooth copper and iron fit together perfectly, first to form the sturdy base, and then the barrel of the cannon was secured.
There weren’t many moving pieces, the simpler the design the more reliable it would be after all, but the pieces that did exist were heavy and unwieldy. Tubbo was incredibly strong to have been able to haul all of the pieces from the manor in one trip. Once the cannon was in place and assembled, Tubbo had to walk to where the last one had been placed so that he could connect them to the defense system. The whole system was hooked up to a master controller found in Tubbo’s workshop, which could fire all the cannons at once, or fire them selectively.
Running the redstone was simple work, the tedious part was just digging the trench to hide the wiring and then recovering it. Working around the snow and digging through soil hardened by the cold weather was never easy. Tubbo worked as efficiently as possible, clearly thankful for his well maintained tools that allowed him to work quicker than he would have otherwise been able.
One moment everything was going fine, Tubbo had finished digging the trench and laying the redstone wiring and had just started on covering it back up. He must have touched the wiring while touching the metal part of his shovel, because the next moment there was a thunderously loud boom as the previous cannon fired its ammunition. Tubbo jumped backwards dramatically, dropping his shovel and breathing shallowly as he fell into the snow bank behind him, eyes unseeing.
Ranboo rocketed out of bed, flicking on his lamp and grabbing his memory book and quill. They wrote themselves a reminder to check in on Tubbo whenever the boy was working on the cannons. To calm their racing heart, they went to check on Tubbo, first checking his workshop, and when they found that empty, checking his bedroom. Unfortunately, they did not wind their worry lessened at all, Tubbo being completely absent from his bedroom, and then not being in Michael’s room or the kitchen either.
Ranboo slowly worked themself up further with each moment, hoping that the dream was not of this night. Surely they would have seen something so important sooner? They knew that it didn’t really work like that, that they could guide the topic of their dreams sometimes but never the specificities. Frown etched onto their face, Ranboo faced the cold winds and freezing temperatures of the early hours of Snowchester. Thankfully they remembered their coat, though they grimaced at how slowly they moved against the wind.
Slowly and carefully, Ranboo made their way towards the cannons, and hopefully towards Tubbo. The cruel part of their brain made them imagine, what if something else had happened to Tubbo, something they had never even seen, and now they were going in completely the wrong direction to help? It wasn’t a useful thought to have, they were working with what information was available, they were doing their best.
They came to the start of the row of cannons, they were quite spread out, so it took them a while to find the one that they saw in their dream, and their heart sank when they took it in. There was melted snow beneath its base, a half covered wiring trench dug beside it. Worst of all, Tubbo was nowhere to be seen.
Ranboo’s eyes desperately searched the snow bank behind the cannon for any sign of a limb that they could use to pull the other teen out by, but they had no such luck. Moving behind the cannon, to almost the exact spot Tubbo had last been standing in their dream, Ranboo looked at the snow and cursed themself, as they had forgotten gloves on their way out.
Long, clawed hands built for excavating land reached into the snow, showelling away at it relentlessly despite the searing sensation that it brought. Already they could feel their hands blistering under the water. They hissed, an inhuman sound that vibrated through their throat.
Finally, they found a boot, and connected to it a leg and eventually a whole person. With all of their strength they pulled, and out came a shivering, freezing cold Tubbo. He was even paler than usual, covered in snow, but didn’t seem to have any frostbite, thanks to the snow protecting him from the wind.
“Tubbo, c’mon, let’s get you inside,” Ranboo gently shook Tubbo’s shoulder, hoping to bring the boy back to the present. Tubbo nodded, the slightest of movements that allowed Ranboo to let out a vwoop of relief. They helped the other up, bending down to better support his weight across their shoulders. Slowly, they staggered back towards the mansion.
The entire walk back, Ranboo was nervous, Tubbo still had not said a word, still seemed trapped within his own mind. Ranboo knew the feeling well, and walked just a tiny bit faster, knowing they would be able to help better once they were inside on the sofa, bundled up in front of the fireplace.
With the hand that wasn’t supporting Tubbo, Ranboo dug their claws into their leg a bit, not enough to hurt or to puncture their pants, just enough to ground them into the present moment from the pressure. They needed to be present. For Tubbo.
Even moving with the wind, the path back home felt long and painful. Ranboo almost cried when they finally made it to the front door, pulling it open and enjoying the rush of warm air from inside. They quickly moved to set Tubbo down on one of the benches and to take off both of their coats, as well as tubbo’s soaked through gloves, shoes, and socks. Ideally they would have gotten rid of all of Tubbo’s cold, wet clothing but they weren’t going to do that when Tubbo was still so out of it.
Gently, Ranboo guided Tubbo to the couch, draping a soft sheepskin blanket across his shoulders before moving to light the fireplace. Once that was done, Ranboo took a seat near Tubbo, giving him personal space while still being close enough in case he wanted comfort. Slowly, Tubbo’s breathing evened out, shallow quick breaths being traded in for deeper and slower ones.
Silently, Tubbo took Ranboo’s hand, rubbing small circles with his thumb. Not a word passed between them, but Ranboo could tell that it was Tubbo’s small way of reassuring them, of letting them know that he was going to be okay. They both sat there like that, quietly enjoying each other’s company, until Tubbo broke the silence.
“It was like I was back there again. I heard the explosion, saw the flash of fire, the yellow , and it was like I was back in that box.” Tubbo’s voice shook as he gripped Ranboo’s hand a bit tighter.
“You don’t have to explain yourself, if you don’t want to.”
“No I- I need to talk about it.”
Ranboo nodded their understanding.
“I could feel the heat too, it was so sudden. Back then it was sudden, too. I had no idea what was going to happen that day… that Techno would ever consider doing that to me. And then the snow closed me in and I was trapped. How do I always end up trapped, Ranboo? Trapped in a box, always just Tubbo in a box, with nothing I can do about it. Always relying on others to come save me no matter how much I try to protect myself,” Tubbo was crying by now, Ranboo pulled him into their side, handing over the handkerchief that they always kept on them.
“You do protect yourself, Tubbo. You protect yourself, you protect this family, you protect Tommy. There’s no shame in needing help sometimes, and I promise, I will always come help you whenever I am able. You don’t need to do everything on your own.”
Tubbo just sobbed into the handkerchief, leaning more of his weight into Ranboo while the half-enderman reassured him.
“I just can’t be helpless like that again,” Tubbo admitted.
“You’re the most capable person I know, you know? Michael looks up to you so much. You’re far from helpless, in fact, you’re most of the reason that we are as safe as we are now. You should be proud of yourself Tubbo, I know I am.”
Tubbo nodded, wiping tears from his face. Ranboo could tell he still needed some time, so they held the smaller boy close, hoping that their presence offered some comfort.
4.
Ranboo had a plan, and like all good plans, this plan required a little assistance.
“Michael!” Ranboo smiled as he ran up to the little boy who was coloring at his activity table. Michael squealed in response, turning his head to look at Ranboo and pointing down at his paper. “Oh, that’s such a good drawing of your chicken, buddy. Did he pose for you? Yeah?”
Michael abandoned his drawing and raised his arms high, and Ranboo obliged, lifting the boy onto his hip. “Do you want to help me with something, Michael?” Ranboo asked. Michael nodded rapidly, his ears flapping with the vigorous movement.
“Alright, Tubbo is out right now, so we’re going to be reaaally sneaky and grab the toolbox from his workshop, okay? Do you think you can be stealthy like a ninja, Michael?” Michael shrieked in laughter for a moment before doing his equivalent of a whisper. Ranboo ruffled the fur at the top of his head with the hand not holding him.
They made their way through the halls to Tubbo’s workshop, Ranboo making sure that he had a firm hold on Michael before opening the door. The general toolkit was right by the door, Tubbo kept it there in case Ranboo ever needed to grab it for repairs.
Bending down while keeping Michael from running off into the workshop was a bit of a challenge, not helped at all by Ranboo’s ridiculously long legs, but it was manageable. Soon enough the duo were making their way to the staircase, the focus of the day’s plan.
Close to the bottom of the stairs one of the boards was loose, and every day it got looser and squeakier. Now, Ranboo could have let it be, and in about a week Tubbo would get fed up with it and do it himself, before deciding that he might as well redo the entire staircase. Ranboo’s reasons for doing it now were twofold, on one hand they just felt like doing something nice for Tubbo, on the other hand, they would also rather avoid the main staircase being completely unusable for a few days while Tubbo methodically fastened every single board back down.
Ranboo set Michael down next to the toolbox on the step above the one that needed fixing. Just tightening the single step wouldn’t take too long, but Ranboo wanted to make an activity out of it. “Okay Michael, you know what we’re going to do?”
Michael shook his head, snorting.
“We’re going to fix this step! Listen to how squeaky it is, and see how much it moves when you press on it? That means it’s too loose.” Ranboo demonstrated their point by putting a little weight onto it, causing it to let out a tiny squeak.
Michael tilted his head, “How are we going to fix it? Well, you see these nails here on the corners. They’ve started to come out a little bit. We just need to use the hammer to get them back into place.”
Michael pointed at the toolbox with his hoof when he heard the word hammer, and Ranboo nodded, “That’s right, the hammer is in the toolbox, that’s why we needed to go get it.”
Now, tightening down a single plank of wood should really have taken maybe five minutes, but Ranboo didn’t care about being efficient, and he had a small child to entertain, so it took maybe a little while longer.
“Good job Michael, you’re so strong!” Ranboo cheered as the small piglin stood in front of them, their hands wrapped around his hooves on the hammer, which had just completed a swing. Maybe Ranboo would talk to Tubbo about making a set of wooden tools for Michael’s birthday coming up, the boy seemed to be enjoying himself after all.
They did still finish after about half an hour, Michael all smiles and happy snorts. “You did such a good job helping, buddy, how about we go have some pancakes?” Ranboo took Michael’s clapping as an enthusiastic ‘yes’.
Ranboo made sure that Michael was happily coloring at the dining table before starting on the pancakes. It’s not like it was a hard thing to make, but cooking anything is infinitely harder when there is a small child in the way. Even with Michael distracted, Ranboo had to keep an ear out for any sign of trouble.
The benefit of being an enderman was that Ranboo was able to take full advantage of his lengthened limbs to take the flour and sugar down from the cabinet. It might seem counterintuitive that there were baking supplies shoved in the highest cabinets, considering that Tubbo was not the tallest of people, but there was a very reasonable explanation. While Tubbo might be perfectly fine at chemistry and other complex sciences that you would think would carry over to being a functioning human being in the kitchen, Tubbo could burn water with enough determination.
Ranboo didn’t actually mind being the only person in the house most of the time who could cook, though. It was something they enjoyed doing, and they liked to think that they weren’t that bad at the actual cooking aspect of it, however Tubbo might judge some of their decisions regarding flavor combinations.
Michael started squealing just as Ranboo finished mixing the batter, clearly trying to get their attention, “What is it, Michael? Oh, did you drop your pencil? It’s okay, let me get it for you.”
They continued going back and forth like that for the rest of the time that Ranboo spent cooking, every time Ranboo would finish another pancake, Michael would start squealing, having dropped a pencil. Ranboo could almost swear that the boy was doing it on purpose. “Michael, I need to finish cooking so we can have breakfast, buddy, I’ll pick up your pencils when I’m done. I promise.” Ranboo eventually said. There were maybe two pancakes worth of batter left in the bowl, and they just wanted to get it done.
Finally Ranboo sat a plate of pancakes down in front of Michael, cut into tiny pieces so the boy could practice his dexterity with the fork. Ranboo was so proud of him, really, it wasn’t easy to maneuver utensils using hooves, and Michael still wasn’t recovered enough from his brush with zombification to learn how to shapeshift like Technoblade did.
As they ate Ranboo heard the front door open, signaling Tubbo’s return. “Welcome home!” Ranboo called out.
“Hi Michael! Are those pancakes good?” Tubbo asked as he came into the dining area and saw Michael with syrup smeared across his snout. Michael nodded, snorting happily.
“What, no greeting for me?”
“Hi Ranboo, do you two have any plans for the day? I just got back from helping Tommy with Shroud’s new bedroom.”
“We actually already did our plan for the day, you know that loose floorboard on the staircase? We fixed it this morning. I know it was going to start driving you crazy sooner or later.” Sooner. It would have been sooner.
“Oh, nice. Did you help Ranboo fix the stairs, Michael?” As Tubbo turned back to Michael, Ranboo stood and moved to fix the other teen a plate, setting it down in front of where he was standing.
Tubbo smiled, “Thanks. We should see about having Shroud and Tommy over for a playdate. I think Shroud is starting to get bored of only hanging out with us old people, and it is safe enough finally.”
Ranboo nodded, “We should set something up to introduce them before Michael’s birthday, and then he can come to the party if they get along.”
“That’s smart, I’ll send a message to Tommy. Are you excited to make a new friend, Michael?” The little piglin clapped with sticky hooves.
5.
Ranboo was fluttering about the mansion, making sure that everything was ready for the long day ahead of them. For obvious reasons, they were the one in charge of putting up decorations, while Tubbo was finishing the wrapping of Michael’s various gifts from the two of them.
Michael’s current obsession was birds of all kinds, so there were banners with ducks, chickens, crows, and parrots hanging all around the living spaces and entryway. A massive happy birthday banner hung on the wall behind the dining table, and a duck-print tablecloth had been put down.
“Presents are wrapped and on the coffee table, are you done here?” Tubbo asked.
“Nearly, just need to line this last banner up properly,” Ranboo replied.
“Alright, Tommy should be here with Shroud any minute, and then Phil and Techno will be by briefly later to drop off their gifts, but they don’t plan on staying long. Eret said that they should be able to make it, but not for at least another half hour, they’re finishing up something at the museum. Puffy will be here with Michelle not too long after Tommy and Shroud get here. Everyone else on the list should stop in, but I think only Tommy and Shroud plan to stay for the whole time,” Tubbo listed off. Ranboo nodded, trusting Tubbo to have that side of things handled.
“Once I’m done with this I’m going to put out the fruit and veggie platters that I made earlier, and then I’ll start on dinner so that it will be ready by 6. The cake is all frosted and in the fridge, but make sure no one sneaks a piece until after dinner. There are cupcakes for people who aren’t going to stay for dinner, in the container with the red lid.” Ranboo was admittedly a little bit stressed, but who wouldn’t be? They just wanted to make sure that this party went as smoothly as possible, it was the first time they would be able to have a big celebration like this with the kids around, it just hadn’t been safe this time last year.
Just as Ranboo finished with the banner and put the snack food out on the table, Tommy and Shroud arrived. Ranboo was always stunned by just how tiny Shroud was, so much younger than Michael and even then small for his age. The little spider hybrid was clinging tightly to Tommy, soaking in his warmth. Ranboo felt a little bad, knowing that spiders can’t thermoregulate and that the walk through Snowchester must have left the kid freezing.
“Hi Tommy, hi Shroud. Michael is still up in his room playing with his chicken if you want to head up there, little dude.” Shroud nodded, and ran up the stairs.
“How are you doing, Tommy? Shroud settling into the new room?” Ranboo asked, knowing that the boy had been struggling with sleeping in the new bedroom that Tubbo had helped construct.
“He really does like having the larger area to play in, but he’s still crawling back out to where his old bed was about half of the time,” Tommy talked as they walked from the entryway into the dining room, where Tubbo greeted Tommy with a wave.
“Give him time, he’ll get used to it eventually. He’s making really good progress already, though. Michael struggled for a long time when we moved him out from hiding into the mansion, it was such a bigger space than he was used to. He used to crawl into the walk-in closet and sleep on the floor there instead of in his bed,” Ranboo reassured Tommy.
“Have you tried making him a bed tent?” Tubbo suggested, “If it’s the size of the room that makes him feel unsafe to sleep in there, he might have an easier time if the area around his bed felt more closed off.”
“That’s a great idea man, thanks. I’m sure I have some spare sheets somewhere that I could use to set one up.”
The three friends stood around the dining room table, there wasn’t much for them to catch up on really since they all saw each other fairly often, but the banter flowed easily.
“You know, Tubbo was talking all of this big talk about how he was going to make Michael the best marble run ever and how it was going to run the whole upstairs hallway. And then he tripped over a marble and fell on his face after testing the first section,” Ranboo was explaining. The marble run had been an ongoing project of Tubbo’s, worked on whenever he needed something to do with his hands, and the first test run of the first full segment had happened just the other night.
“How? Why were you walking anywhere near where a marble would have been if the marble run was up against the wall?”
“It’s not my fault that one of them had rolled out into the center of the hallway!”
“I mean, you could have watched where you were going, dude. I had to pretty much carry you to the bathroom to make sure your nose wasn’t broken,”
They kept going on like that, eventually Puffy and Michelle arrived, the little girl wearing a lovely yellow duck dress, having clearly heard of the theme. Eret stopped in a moment later, joining the adults in the dining room while the children were all playing upstairs.
“How is the museum going, Eret?” Ranboo asked, the five adults now sitting at the dining table.
“Pretty good. I think I’m almost getting it to the point where I’m happy with it. I’m always open to more artifacts, but I don’t know how much there still is out there that is actually relevant to the server’s history.”
“That’s good. You know, I might have some stuff in my attic in my house here if you want to take a look at some point. I’m not over here often so there might be some pretty old things,” Puffy offered.
As they talked Ranboo stood to start on dinner, though they were still listening and chiming in while they could. They were working on a hearty rabbit stew, roasted potatoes with rosemary, and carrots glazed with brown sugar and ginger.
The kids stampeded down the stairs, Michael leading the charge as they raided the fruit tray and other snack food at the table.
“Wash your hands first! No dirty little fingers in the snack food,” Tubbo playfully chastised, shooing the kids into the kitchen to wash their hands.
Not too long before dinner was ready, Phil and Techno arrived. Ranboo was a bit nervous for the duo, they were excited to see them, but they were also not sure how they would interact with the other people present.
“Oh- Hey Techno. How goes it?” Tommy greeted, friendly but tentative. Ranboo knew that Tommy had been working on his relationship with his family, but it was very much still a work in progress.
Techno grunted, “I’m doin’ fine, just taking care of the dogs these days.” Clearly done with interacting with the adults in the room, Techno turned to the two young piglins in the room and started grunting in a language that Ranboo could not understand more than a word or two of. Tommy had been teaching him what he could, but the other teen’s vocal cords couldn’t actually produce all the same sounds as a piglin, leaving gaps in his vocabulary.
Michael seemed happy to see Technoblade, recognising that the older Piglin was like him, and enjoying his ability to communicate in Michael’s native language. Michael had come a long way, and was starting to use some English words. Just as Tommy couldn’t really speak Piglin properly, Michael’s vocal chords weren’t built for human speech.
Dinner was a chaotic affair, but the atmospehre was light and joyous. All of the adults watched as the three children present laughed and communicated amongst themselves despite only Michael and Michelle actually being somewhat able to talk to each other. Tommy and Tubbo were arguing about whether they would rather fight one hundred creeper sized chickens or a hundred chicken sized creepers (with explosions scaled to their new size, of course). Puffy and Eret were having some pleasant adult conversation about something Ranboo didn’t really care to pay attention to. Ranboo, Phil, and Techno just sat and watched the rest of the table, quietly enjoying their meals.
The three piglins in the room absolutely demolished the roasted potatoes, while everyone else enjoyed the rabbit stew, glazed carrots, and what remained of the potatoes. Conversation was quiet and pleasant, Ranboo could hear Eret and Puffy talking together about the museum. Tommy and Tubbo were bantering back and forth, forks waving playfully (Ranboo winced as a carrot flew off of Tommy’s fork and landed across the table).
Ranboo spent dinner avoiding the inevitable awkward conversation with Phil and Techno. Honestly they weren’t expecting the duo to even show up, let alone stay for a meal. It wasn’t like they really had anything against the anarchists, there was just some… unresolved tension. Mainly about Ranboo not telling them that they were essentially married to the founder of a new nation as well as the previous president of a different one.
Luckily for Ranboo, Phil and Techno seemed more than content to ignore them, focusing on the meal and on the children who were excitedly chattering at them. Even Shroud seemed to be doing his best to join in on the conversation, though it was clear that his chatter was less actual language and more just attempts at mimicking the sounds he heard Michael and Michelle making.
Once dinner was finished, Michael was impatient to get to cake and presents. They decided to do presents first, of which there was a good stack sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch.
“Michael, come sit down, bud,” Ranboo called after clearing the dinner table. Michael squealed, practically launching himself at Ranboo.
“Woah there, if you knock me over I can’t give you your presents,” Ranboo laughed, moving Michael to be nestled against their side. Tubbo joined them on the couch, with the rest of the guests standing around or taking seats at the armchairs that made up the rest of the living room seating.
Michael tore into presents with glee, admiring the wide variety of toys, clothes, and other small items that had been given to him. His favorite seemed to be the duck patterned t-shirt from Puffy and Michelle, matching Michelle’s dress.
“Okay, okay, I get it. You want cake, right?” Ranboo asked as Michael tugged at their sleeve after opening the last present.
“Oh don’t worry Ranboo, I can go bring the cake out, you can just stay out here with everybody, Prime knows you’ve worked hard enough today,” Tubbo offered, standing and already heading towards the kitchen before Ranboo could protest. While Tubbo retrieved the cake, the rest of the party moved back to the table, though Phil and Techno had to leave at this point.
Ranboo was watching as Michael tried his best to talk with Tommy, the two communicating through a frankly amusing mixture of piglin, english, and gesturing. As Tubbo set the cake down, he frowned, “Oh shit, I don’t think I have a lighter down here, I need to go up to my workshop to grab one.”
Tommy waved him off, “No need, I have one in my pocket.” He grinned, patting down his jeans before emerging victorious with the aforementioned lighter. He tried to hand it over to Tubbo, but instead Tubbo gestured to Tommy to light the five candles that adorned the cake.
One by one, Tommy lit the candles, moving clockwise around the cake. Ranboo watched as the first was lit, and then the second. As soon as he hovered over the third, Ranboo tugged him back, throwing a glass of water onto the teen’s sleeve, which now sported a small burned patch.
Tommy shrieked in surprise, before realizing why Ranboo had torn him away from the candles, “Oh shit! Thanks man.”
Unseen to Ranboo, a question had formed in Tubbo’s mind.
+1
Something had been bothering Tubbo. Really it had been bothering him for a while now, but for a long time he had had other things on his mind. Now that his family was safe and his home was secure, he could actually dedicate time to it.
There was something strange about Ranboo. Nothing bad, really, but Ranboo always seemed to have superhuman reaction speeds to dangerous situations, far beyond what could be explained by simple hypervigilance. Tubbo would bet all of his diamonds that it was something to do with their enderman half, and so, it was time to research.
Doing research on endermen was a difficult task, village libraries were unlikely to have anything beyond the absolute basics on how to safely interact with endermen, maybe some legends about the end. That left only two options for finding out further information: the stronghold and Phil. Which, considering the location of the only known nearby stronghold, were really the same thing.
Tubbo wasn’t particularly keen on asking Phil for help with anything, but the curiosity was eating away at him, plus, it wasn’t like he was planning on actually heading toward Phil’s house, he would just send a message asking for access to the stronghold library, no big deal.
Apparently it really was that easy, Tubbo sent a message over one morning and quickly received a response telling him to meet Phil on the shore of the arctic that afternoon. Tubbo didn’t carry much with him, a sword for protection, a bag with some notebooks for taking notes both on the endermen research and on anything else interesting that he found while looking through the library, and some snacks.
Meeting Phil at the shore was awkward as expected, though really Tubbo was glad that it was just Phil and not Techno as well. It had been bad enough having the older Piglin at Michael’s birthday party. It wasn’t like Tubbo still held everything against Techno overly much, but the warrior never went anywhere without full netherite armor and more weapons than Tubbo owned in his whole house, which brought back less than pleasant memories of more than one war.
“So what are you looking for anyway? Those books are practically older than I am, they’re written in galactic. Do you even read Galactic Tubbo?” Phil asked as they made the short journey to the stronghold.
“Just some academic curiosity, really. Now that I have time for that sort of thing I wanted to take a look. And yes, I read Galactic, why do you think I did most of the enchanting for L’Manburg after Eret left? While Tommy was learning potions I learned high-level enchanting,” Tubbo responded, mildly offended that Phil would think that Tubbo couldn’t read the most common language for historical documents.
“Right right, sorry. It’s not a particularly common skill so I had to ask. I will let you know that the library isn’t completely full, I did take a few books for my personal collection when I first found the place, but if there’s anything that you need that I might have let me know and we can run by my place after we’re done here and I can see what I have,” Tubbo appreciated the offer, really, but he had absolutely zero intention of going any closer to Phil and Techno’s houses.
As they entered the stronghold Phil guided Tubbo through the winding corridors and closed doors. The whole place had been thoroughly lit, torches casting dramatic shadows. It didn’t take too long for them to end up in the truly massive library. There was a desk pushed against the back wall, and so Tubbo dropped his bag off there before wandering into the shelves. It truly did feel ancient, dark wood warped and stained, most surfaces coated in a thick blanket of dust and cobwebs. There were some areas that were cleaner, often near where a book or two had clearly been taken, but they were few and far between.
The spines of the books were often worn, titles faded and book cloth frayed, but Tubbo did manage to find a few books that looked promising. Once he had a good stack of about five volumes, Tubbo headed back to the desk where he had set down his stuff. Placing down and lighting a lantern at the corner of the desk, Tubbo got to work reading, translating, and taking notes. The language was recognizably Galactic, but it was old and difficult to understand even for Tubbo. He managed it, but it was clear that some of the books were older than anything Tubbo had ever seen before.
Many of the books contained the same kind of basic information that he would expect from a village library, possibly even early editions of the same books that were still circulating. However, one of the books, the oldest of them, was exactly what Tubbo was looking for. He slowed down reading, slowly translating line by line the best he could from the archaic language.
Endermen are well documented to travel spatially, teleporting at the slightest sign of danger in an area. What is newly documented, however, is their ability to traverse time. By tracking a single haunting of local endermen, given slices of fresh fruit and tracking the rate of decay, it is clear that the endermen are jumping forward in time. Backwards time travel has yet to be observed, however, and it is possible that it is impossible due to the probability of paradoxes.
Time travel. Was that what was going on here? No that wouldn’t make sense, if endermen couldn’t travel back in time then how would Ranboo clearly have prior knowledge of future events? There had to be a connection, but Tubbo couldn’t find whatever it was. He kept reading the book, though there were only a couple other mentions of time travel, and none of them mentioned moving backwards in time, only ever forwards.
Tubbo had no clue how long he had been down in the stronghold reading, but eventually Phil managed to get his attention, telling him that if he wanted to be back in Snowchester before dinnertime then they should head out soon.
“Right. Let me just put these books back where they belong and then we can go,” Tubbo nodded, standing from the desk to do just that. It took him a little bit to remember where in the labyrinthine shelves the books had come from, but he did manage it eventually. Once that was done with, he and Phil made their way out of the stronghold and into the cold arctic air. The sun was still in the sky, but much lower than it had been when they had arrived, hanging below the clouds. Waving a silent goodbye to Phil, Tubbo hopped back into his boat and made his way home, thoughts swirling around in his brain.
He was going to have to ask Ranboo about this, he realized. Now that he knew what he did, there was no way he could just allow things to continue on without any sort of conversation. Maybe Ranboo would be able to explain to Tubbo what exactly was going on? Tubbo doubted that, though, Ranboo had always been less than aware of their own abilities.
It wasn’t a long journey from the edge of the arctic back to Snowchester, and Tubbo arrived to the smell of steak in the oven and the sound of a fire blazing in the fireplace.
“I’m home!” He called, hearing the stomping of hooved feet on hardwood as Michael leaped towards him before he had even finished taking off his coat.
“How was your day out? What were you even doing today, if you don’t mind me asking? Usually you aren’t out away from Snowchester for so long unless you’re helping Tommy with something” Ranboo followed Michael into the entryway, wearing an apron over their black slacks and soft blue sweater.
“Actually I was already planning on talking to you about that, no worries. After dinner and putting Michael to bed though,” Tubbo responded.
Ranboo nodded, and the whole family made their way to the kitchen.
“Dinner will be ready in like ten or fifteen minutes, by the way,” Ranboo said as they helped Michael back up into his chair.
“Did you two have a good afternoon?” Tubbo asked.
“Yep, just went out to the potato farm to pick some stuff up for dinner tomorrow. Stopped by Tommy’s for a little bit because he finished fixing up my one shirt, Michael and Shroud played with those little wooden trains you made for Shroud. We got back here not too long ago, I think about an hour?”
“That’s nice, how is Tommy doing? I haven’t gotten over to seeing him in a bit.”
“He’s good, still adjusting to being on better terms with Phil and Techno. They’ve been doing family dinners occasionally which is. A terrifying thought frankly, but I’m happy for him.”
The small talk continued until dinner was ready. Dinner was taken mostly in comfortable silence, with the occasional interjection from Michael demanding attention from his parents, which they were more than happy to give. Once dinner was done and Michael was in bed, it was time to talk.
“So, I actually saw Phil today. He took me down to the stronghold to check out some of the books in the library,” Tubbo started, the two of them sitting on the couch with mugs of hot chocolate.
“Oh, cool. What about?”
“Endermen. That’s actually why I wanted to talk to you. Did you know that endermen can travel forward in time?” As Tubbo spoke, Ranboo’s face shifted into understanding, and at least some of Tubbo’s suspicions were confirmed.
“I. Yeah, I’ve spoken to a few that have done it. It’s not super common, only some families can do it.” Ranboo answered haltingly.
“I’ve noticed a few things, the past few months mostly, but I didn’t really notice until it happened at Michael’s birthday party. You just seem to be able to react to danger far quicker than frankly anyone should be able to.” Tubbo stopped there, hoping that Ranboo would fill in the blanks of his obvious curiosity.
“Right. I mean, it isn’t that interesting. You know how I don’t really need to sleep as often as you guys? When I do sleep it still isn’t really sleep . I mean it is, my body isn’t going anywhere and that is the time that I rest for the night, but my mind just. Doesn’t turn off. Instead I see the future, usually related to whatever I was thinking about before I went to bed. Then when I wake up I write down anything important.”
“So you were able to put out Tommy’s sleeve that caught fire so quickly because you had seen it happen before?”
“Yeah, and that one night, with the cannon that scared you when it went off? I actually saw that as it happened. I guess my soul just wanders out of my body through time when I sleep? That’s the best way I can explain it at least.”
“That’s so interesting! Are you limited in how far in the future you can see?”
“I don’t think so? I mean I’ve never seen more than a couple of months in advance really, but that’s because I usually just see whatever I was thinking about before bed, which is usually just worrying about you and Michael.”
“So even when you’re literally asleep, you’re still protecting us?” Tubbo asked, voice quiet.
“I have this ability, of course I’m going to use it to protect the people I care about, nothing else matters,” As Ranboo spoke, Tubbo tackled him into a hug, and they stayed there like that. Together.