Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Haha, man your magic is the literal ugliest and most useless shit I’ve seen.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they all knew already!”
“Man, give up. I know that you want to make friends but you’re just annoying. Give up, man.”
“God, how do your parents even love you, you’re an absolute freak.”
“Ow! God control your damned powers, freak-show! You almost burnt me you fu- “

“Tubbo!” Tommy shouted loudly. Clearly a little annoyed but Tommy ducked after being given a sharp glare from the substitute world history teacher. An embarrassed flush lighting up on Tommy's checks. Lowering his voice, Tommy pried, “What’s gotten you so interesting with the world map, Tubbo? You've just been staring at it almost the entire class. I thought you hated geography!” Tommy asked much quieter. A little glint in his eye that told Tubbo he thought his teasing observation was the funniest thing. Jerking back his head minutely, Tubbo realized with a start how dry his eyes really were. ‘Damn, how long was I lost in thought?!’ he thought with mounting panic trying to blink as fast as possible to rid the uncomfort of eyes drier than a desert.

Turning to face Tommy, he tried is damn hardest to smile as bright as the sun.

“Oh, don’t even worry, big man! Just thinking of my next cool project for computer class!” Tubbo tried his best to seem convincing. But the light in his eyes gave just a little hint that Tubbo wasn’t truly thinking about just his computer class’s next project.

Tommy gave him an odd look that Tubbo couldn’t place. It made him more nervous than he would have liked to admit. Tommy continued talking though, “Alright…but I still want to get back to telling you about this new moth that I caught in my room last night. So, there I was, about to get my history book and smash the wall – “
“I really shouldn’t be spacing off like that,” Tubbo scolded himself, “I can’t lose control again, and god forbid I show them my magic. All that will do is make me lose my two best friends.”

So Tubbo resolved to sit at his desk with all his concentration on his classes. He actually paid so much attention to trying to pay attention to his classes, that he didn’t understand nor remember anything else about what he learned during his school day.

Tubbo had thinned memories of eating lunch with Tommy, while Ranboo gave sarcastic quips and tried to add to the conversation only for Tommy to cut him off and go on another tangent about how moths are superior to butterflies. Ranboo really didn’t like that opinion, and Tubbo silently supported Ranboo in his fickle plan of trying to interrupt Tommy every time he started talking about moths again, to give an ‘interesting fact’ about butterflies.

God, it was the funniest thing, to watch those two idiots flounder about in their attempt to interrupted the other interrupting the other interrupting the other, and so on for ever and ever until the warning bell for classes rang out.

Tubbo just sat on the ground next to the other two, smelling the fresh grass and feeling the cool and hard ground against his back. He occasionally pushed little comments and giggles and sopped up sunlight and warmth.

Tubbo he loved the outdoors. Sunlight nestled deep in his bones, birds chirping loudly around the tree that the three had decided was their designated lunch-spot, little butterflies flittering around. It was truly magical. You could feel Tommy in the way that the flowers would curl just a little around the tree and pin point Ranboo's cool attitude under the shade of the leaves. Tubbo didntk now why or how, but it was undeniably them

After lunch was finished and packed away. The trio made their way back down the hill to start the last couple of afternoon classes. Pushing the need to stay as exposed to sunlight as possible, Tubbo reluctantly trudged inside once more.

‘It’s been so long. So many years, and you still can’t get over not staying in the sunlight 24/7. Get a grip!’ Tubbo screamed at himself.

Tommy peered over at Tubbo as he was mentally scolding and screaming at himself, “You really don’t burn at all do you? Wow, king, you just gotta know that I am incredibly jealous. If I could stay in the sun for more than ten minutes and not burn to a crisp, I would never leave the sunlight again!” Tommy seemed to be having a hell of a time imagining all his time spent in the sun, while Tubbo was having a crisis.

‘After 5 years to spending almost all your time with these dipshits, you will not. WILL NOT. Reveal your magic, bitch.’ If just screaming at himself earlier didn’t do anything, Tubbo would try the method of aggressive repression.

It’s worked before, it’ll have to work again.

Tubbo just nervously giggled, but didnt comment. Thankfully, Tommy never mentioned it again, he just kept talking about that ‘fucking moth again, god damn it.’

After having to listen to Tommy retelling the story of how he had fallen in love paternally with a moth he caught last night, again, to Ranboo on the way home, Tubbo had enough. He waved and shouted his goodbyes to his friends as quickly as possible and raced towards his house.

“Wait!” Tommy shouted one last time towards Tubbo’s back.

Tubbo turned sharply, giving a quick curious glance at Tommy. “Yeah?!” Now having to shout at Tommy to be heard down the street.

Tommy gave him that strange look again before replying with, “How about tomorrow we plan to go to the park down the road? I saw that it’s gonna be sunny, and thought you’d enjoy the warmth?” A curious and what Tubbo thought an almost cautious lilt to Tommy’s question.

“Umm,” Tubbo thought for only a second before, “Yeah! I don’t have any club meetings tomorrow afternoon, but I have to be back before sundown. So, I can’t stay out too late!”

“Great!” Tommy smiled. A small gleam in his eyes. Ranboo quickly shot a look at Tommy, and if Tubbo hadn’t lingered a little, he would have missed it. Did Ranboo and Tommy have something planned for this little trip? It wasn’t any of their birthdays, children don’t normally celebrate their parent’s anniversaries, and having a party just for catching a new moth was a bit excessive, even for Tommy.

Ranboo turned to ask Tommy something, looking almost panicked and apprehensive, but stopped before looked at Tubbo almost apologetically. The two shared quick eye contact before Tommy shouted his goodbyes back at Tubbo and pulled Ranboo harshly down the road towards his own house.

‘What is going on with those two today?’ Tubbo thought hesitantly.

Tubbo walked down the crunched dirt path towards his front door. The smell of blooming flowers and the twit of birds began to silence his distress upon seeing his friend’s secretive behaviours. Tubbo breathed deep and tried to let out all the tension held in his shoulders. Breathing in the light scent of hydrangeas and lilies, pausing to look over at the little fountain to the side of the path for the new bird family to bathe in, and looking up at the sunlit leaves.

The tension fully ebbed away and rolled off Tubbo’s shoulders.

Turning the lock to his front door, he stepped inside. Toeing off his shoes at the entrance, throwing his backpack onto his bed and flopping onto his desk to begin the gruelling work that his high school teachers assigned that day.

He sighed and started, but every time Tubbo paused, or his thought wandered even a little, it always went back to that odd look Tommy gave him.

Chapter Text

Tubbo woke up with his neck sore as all hell. ‘Damn it, I fell asleep at my desk again, didn’t I?’ he thought as he slowly lifted his heavy head. His muscles screamed and joints cracked as he stretched out the little kinks that settled as he was asleep in an uncomfortable position.

He was practically sprawled all over his desk. His dad must have come by too, because Tubbo noted the soft honey-coloured blanket that dropped to the floor after stretching his shoulders and standing.

Tubbo softly smiled as he thought about his dad. He worked relentlessly due to his demanding job, but that never stopped him from spending as much time as he could with Tubbo. And those small moments Tubbo could remember of his dad helping to make breakfast, knitting Tubbo a small hat when it became colder in winter, or trying to help solve difficult math problems before it got too late for Tubbo and he had to go to sleep.

Tubbo picked up the fallen blanket and gingerly placed it back on his bed. He turned towards his window above his desk and eagerly brought his hands around his window blinds and pulled as quickly and as hard as he could without breaking them. Sunlight hit him directly in the eye, and thoroughly blinded him.

“Yep, thanks you sun of a bitch…I know you can’t laugh, but this is kinda awkward silence now. You made this awkward and I hope you know that, king.” Tubbo pointed in the vague direction he thought the bright sun resided in.

Tubbo stumbled back onto his bed sheets and sat for a good portion of his time, trying to get the sunspots out of his vision. The little starts danced for only a short while though.

Humming his way through his morning routine, he popped a protein bar and slowly chewed as he looked over the new project Mr. Sam had assigned them yesterday. ‘Damn,’ Tubbo gleefully thought, ‘This project really is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I wonder if I can ask Mr. Sam to give me an extension, if I need to buy some parts from Amazon.’ Pausing, Tubbo concluded that he’d just have to ask about the deadlines and rules with Mr. Sam later that day.

Tubbo immediate thought up a dozen different ways that he could try and bend as many rules as possible with just one project. Most involved some kind of confidential code or several unorthodox ways of how to crochet a new scarf.

Tubbo chuckled, delighted by the possibilities, before springing over to Schlatt’s study. Hearing soft mumbled about taxes or something.

Tubbo popped his head through the door crack into his father’s study. Schlatt was working at his computer as he always did, looking at boring excel spreadsheets and signing papers for the company he ran. Tubbo had tried to help or get interested in what his dad worked in, but it was so boring! Tubbo didn’t know how his dad could even bare to look all the boring contracts!

“Hey, I’m heading out to school, but I won’t be back until around sunset because I promised Tommy and Ranboo that I’d head to the park.” Tubbo pipped up from his little door crack behind his dad. Schlatt turned towards Tubbo, “Oh yeah, thanks for telling me. Should I save your dinner in the fridge, or will you get something out with Tommy and Ranboo?”

‘Shoot, I should bring my wallet with me then!’

“Um, we’ll get some food while we’re out!”

“Ok, just be careful. Have as much fun and chaos as you little shits want, but if you see someone shady behind a tree, don’t hesitate to call me or tell your friends. Remember to take some pepper spray just in case- “

“’And have my keys available at all times’, yes, I know, I’m gonna go now! Byeee!” Tubbo smiled teasingly from his little crack. Slowly sliding out as his dad tried to shout his ‘goodbyes’ and ‘I love you’s.

Tubbo obviously responded back with his own enthusiastic and sincere ‘I love you’s and ‘goodbyes’, but he quickly and rather joyfully bounded from the study room.

Impulsively throwing everything into his school bag, he bounded out the front door.

He skipped down the path leading out their house, which was lined with blue irises and cornflowers and bright calendulas. Blooming hydrangeas and lilies bowed over the dirt path from their raised perches as Tubbo expertly dodged the new blooms. The dirt path offering satisfying crunching as Tubbo danced around little bugs and blooms.

He paused half-way to offer the little nest of birds hidden in the hedges some seeds that he begged his dad to buy him about a month ago. Tubbo would like to say the birds had taken a liking to him, and when he told Tommy about the little birds that hatched earlier that week, he had been ecstatic.

Tommy hadn’t stopped offering baby names for the new birds for Tubbo to call them by. Tubbo tried his best to deny any names because he didn’t want to become attached when they would eventually flew off, but Tommy had been persistent. With in a couple of days, the birds were named, and attachments quickly settled deep into Tubbo’s heart.

The mother of the three little hatchlings was Matilda, the father was Richard – but Tommy swore up and down that they should only call him by his ‘much better nickname, ‘Dick’’ – the three little birds were Bill, Ally, and Shaniqua – one of which was curtesy of Ranboo.

You can decide which one Ranboo had say in – Bill, as explained by Ranboo ‘It’s a sacrificial right to name your child Bill, so I have taken up the ceremonial torch. I shall be the parent to name their child Bill, as ninety-nine other parents will have to do. There needs to be a constant stream of children named Bill every decade. It is…tradition.’ – which I’m sure you can easily guess which.

Needless to say, after giving Ranboo a very confused look, they relented and named one of their chicks Bill.

After spending a good minute gently cooing at new little Ally, he stood up once more and continued out the front path and down the street towards the bus stop. Tubbo lazily glanced at the sky and noted the slight overcast, ‘Ah, I guess the overcast is why I’m still a little sleepy. Was Tommy really telling the truth about the sunny afternoon later today?’

Tubbo stood for a good minute looking at the sky to see if the silky wave of white would break open to allow the sun to pear down. He didn’t look for too long before he heard the tell-tale hiss of the bus stopping at the curb, Tubbo boarded and sat on the slightly uncomfortable chairs before pulling out his journal to start planning for his computer project.

‘Man,’ Tubbo excitedly considered if he would need a flamethrower, but decided against it, ‘I hope Mr. Sam likes my new ideas. I’m really gonna out-do myself this time. Hopefully I don’t singe off another one of Mr. Sam’s eyebrows though.’

Ruefully remembering what happened that fateful day of the eyebrow singe.

Tubbo shook his head slowly, trying to gently rid himself of the funny memory and focus on the journaling. He successfully put together two new plans for Mr. Sam to look at before he looked up to see his high school sliding into view.

Shucking his journal half-hazardly back into his backpack, he hastily slung it over his shoulder and stood to wait for the bus doors to open. The bus driver knew very well at this point that Tubbo and a couple other students had to get off, so the couple of kids who needed to get off with Tubbo didn’t have to wait for long.

The doors opened and Tubbo energetically stepped off the bus and into morning sunlight.

Bright and welcoming, Tubbo breathed in the morning as he hastily made his way to tutor room. Taking one last look at the beautiful sun just barely breathing over the horizon and painting the sky a breath-taking Ombre of several different colours and hues.

Tubbo ducked his head as he opened and slid through his tutor room door.

Setting his backpack down and getting ready to start another day.

####

“Hey Mr. Sam!” Tubbo greeting his teacher with a smile and Mr. Sam gently smiled at Tubbo, “I drew up some cool new sketches to look at and determine which one is safe enough to be on school premises.”

Mr. Sam fondly sighed at Tubbo, “Ok, I’ll take a look after giving a quick run down for the rest of the class. Take a seat Tubbo, it’ll only a second.”

True to Mr. Sam’s word, he gave a brief run-down for the rest of the class and told them to begin sketching models for the project and brainstorming for lines of code to put in the model.

Mr. Sam walked over to Tubbo and sat down in the seat next to him, “Ok, so what sketches have you made so far.” Tubbo excitedly displayed his plans for the upcoming project. Mr. Sam grimaced as he looked at the planning, looking over the parts used to add a head and arm, but he overall seemed confident in Tubbo’s ability to make it work out.

So, for the rest of the time spent in the morning, Tubbo was working diligently over his new project, hot gluing, sewing, popping in joints, and planning his next step.

But soon enough, the end of class came with a sharp ring, and Tubbo stood back. He admired his work, turning it around and looking at it from all angles.

Mr. Sam came up from behind and stood to admire Tubbo’s unfinished handy work. “You should be very proud of what you’ve made. You should be finished well before the deadline, so if you want to help out the other students with their projects, feel free.” Sam gently recommended.

Tubbo turned and smiled, “Thank you, and I’ll try and help around when I’m finished. It should really just be a couple more classes until I’m done. But I’ve been wondering if I could come after school to work on it. Maybe tomorrow?” he asked hesitantly bowing his shoulders a little with the request.

Mr. Sam chuckled at his determination to get it done, “Well, I don’t see why not. You can come and stay as long as you want tomorrow, and I think I’ll invite my fiancé over to come look at your masterpiece.” He gestured to the hazardous pile of junk glued together that oddly resembled a butterfly.

Tubbo giggled, “I’m sure Ponk would love to look this over. He’s amazing at the artistic side, but you’re amazing at coding, Mr. Sam!” Tubbo pipped. He quickly turned and started packing his backpack to move to his next class.

“It might help to have some extra hands too. But we’ll think about all thought tomorrow! Anyway, bye Mr. Sam!!” Tubbo yelled the last bit as he jogged out the class and waved over his shoulder at his computer teacher. Mr. Sam waved goodbye and turned away to fix the chairs and desks for his next class.

##

Tubbo was in his last class, World Geography, with Tommy quietly giving snide comments about the men colonizing different regions and how they affected the geographical outline.

“I bet he had haemorrhoids; I hope he did. Hey, didn’t Napoleon have haemorrhoids or was it heterrhoids? Damn, I need to get my facts straight if I’m ever going to be able to make fun of historical figures. Look it up for me Tubbo.” Tommy rambled. – it was haemorrhoids if you were wondering.

Tubbo half-heartedly wrote down some notes on Australopithecines and the Bantu Migration, but he really didn’t pay much attention. Something about southeastern movement and cultivation, but besides those snippets, Tubbo was mainly paying attention to Ranboo trying to balance his pencil on his nose.

Tubbo cracked jokes with Tommy and tried to make Ranboo laugh hard enough to drop the pencil now precariously balanced on his nose.

Finally, the end of school bell rang as a glorious hymn. Ranboo jumped so violently, the pencil went flying in the air about six inches above him before hitting and bouncing off Ranboo’s cheek onto the table. But that was enough to make Tommy wheeze and bend half-over in his attempt to stand.

The trio rushed to pack their supplies as dignified as they could while bent half-over from laughter, and crammed their homework into what little space they had in their backpack before throwing it over themselves and rushing and to their lockers. Pushing each other on their way.

Ranboo tried to trip Tommy five different times, but ended up tripping himself over his own shoe laces. Tubbo had to hold himself up with the wall just to breathe from laughing to hard at watching Ranboo scramble up from the floor. Tommy really wasn’t much better than Tubbo, he was honking loudly in the corridor and the three had to be given a stern glare from their English teacher before being able to settle down to quiet little chortles and snickers.

They bumbled their way over to the lockers, giggling the whole way and leaning on one another. Tubbo was so drunk of happiness, he allowed himself to slip just a little magic into his hands. They warmed and had a faint glow, only visible in the darkest room.

Tommy beamed over at Tubbo once he was finished and grabbed Tubbo under his armpits before lifting him up like a kitten.

Tubbo kicked Tommy in the knees before trying to pick Tommy up as well, sadly Ranboo picked Tubbo up from behind and held him out before Tubbo could do anything.

“Simba,” Ranboo reverently declared over the student body and anyone who was watching devolved into giggles, even the English teacher with a stick up her butt. Tommy screeched at Tubbo flailing legs, and begged Ranboo to but Tubbo down. Ranboo relented but you could see the amusement in his eyes as he threw his own backpack over his shoulder and corralled the two younger teenagers out the front school doors.

The three laughed and tripped the whole way to the park. Pushing at shoulders and tugging lightly at backpack strings. Tommy threw his arm around Ranboo’s shoulders trying to give advice on some stupid idea they had come up with along the way.

Tubbo laughed at the absurdity of it all. Tommy dangling from Ranboo’s shoulders as he tried to speed walk away from whatever Tommy was whispering in his ear before.

Finally, they all arrived at the park and set their stuff down next to a tree. Plopping himself down and lying against his backpack, Tubbo looked up through shifting leaves above and breathed in the early afternoon air.

Faint heat washed over him as he relaxed from the long school day with his two best friends beside him. Tommy pulled out some raisins and began purposefully and rather obnoxiously chewing them while commenting on a niche topic or referencing an inside joke.

Ranboo was having a hard time breathing through is laughter, but no one could have been happier in this moment. They all basked in each other’s presence and loved each minute.

Tubbo closed his eyes and rested his head on Tommy’s thighs just like he would do everyday during lunch. Tommy running his hand through his hair and shifting his weight back to accommodate for Tubbo’s added weight.

The three talked about teacher gossip and the newest model of laptop coming out next year.

Tommy started braiding Tubbo’s hair mid conversation about the anatomy of snails and where their respirator pore was. Tubbo was fascinated, but the gently carding of hair and light laughter from Ranboo dragged him to sleep before he knew what was happening.

Chapter Text

He must have dozed off just a little, because suddenly Tommy was gently nudging him wake. The tree branches still swaying in the late evening breeze that felt wonderful as is feathered through Tubbo’s hair.

“Oh sorry,” Tubbo groggily sat up and looked over to Tommy and Ranboo.

They both stared a little at him, maybe a little too long. But Tubbo couldn’t really comprehend much in his sleep-idled mind.

Sitting up, Tubbo smiled and leaned against Ranboo’s shoulder. Ranboo chuckled at the antic but didn’t push away. “Oh wow, the sun must have really warmed you up! You’re a little space-heater just for me!” Ranboo jokingly commented, thinking nothing of it.

Tubbo didn’t understand anything Ranboo just said. Or the implications. He just nodded sleepily and dozed off again onto Ranboo’s shoulder. Tubbo told himself that it was allowed only because the sun was starting to go down.

Tubbo always got tired and groggy when the sun when down, after all, his magic was directly linked towards the sun.

Tubbo woke up with the sun, had lots of energy during the day – if he spent enough time in the sun, he would be able to spend more time awake once the sun went down – and after bouncing around all day long with the sun, he would finally crash into his pillow after the moon surfaced and promptly pass the fuck out.

It was routine at this point.

Tommy and Ranboo just thought that Tubbo just need lots of sleep, as a ‘growing boy’ as Schlatt had said.

That wasn’t the whole reason as to why he got tired as soon as the sun started to go down, but it was a good enough excuse for Tommy and Ranboo to believe!

Ranboo shifted to a more comfortable position and started up a conversation Tubbo misses with Tommy. Tubbo let himself relax into the laughter and smiles between Tommy and Ranboo. The heat had significantly decreased since the trio had arrived in the park after school hours. It was tranquil and soothing to have soft sunlight on his back and across his face as he sat, leaned onto Ranboo.

Tubbo tried his hardest to stay awake and listen, but it worked only minimally. No one had any control over when the sun went down and when it came up – neither did Tubbo but no one besides his dad knew that – and thus no one had control over when Tubbo started to become tired with the sun slowly sidling down the sky.

Tubbo was a little disappointed that he didn’t have as much time to talk with Tommy and Ranboo as he would have liked during their time together, but they could always do this again so he wasn’t too hung up about it.

“Hey, Tubbo,” Tommy called over gently, Tubbo lifted his weighted eyelids and rolled his eyes over to Tommy, “I was wondering what you thought about magic?”

Tubbo blinked once. Twice. And continued to look at Tommy, still not really understanding why Tommy would ask that. Tubbo was still groggy and half-asleep as he responded with a nod and a quick thumbs-up over to Tommy.

Tommy blanched a little at the subdued response and started to poke and tease Tubbo.

“Come on! That gave me nothing. Give me a better answer than that, Tubbo!”

“Tubbo.”

“Tubbo! Tubbotubbotubbotubbo!”

Tommy poked him on the cheek a little harsh. Tubbo idly swatted at Tommy’s finger – that, frankly, wasn’t even on his face anymore, but hey – and brought his eyes to open again.

Tubbo sighed as he lifted his head to Tommy and said, “Magic is fine with me, now can you please stop poking my toes it feels weird.”

Tubbo didn’t give Tommy time to respond as he close his eyes.

Ranboo chuckled lightly at the antics of the other two, Tommy seemed quiet.

Unknown to Tubbo, Tommy glanced at Ranboo with a look which Ranboo quickly shot back with a glare, almost in warning. Tommy obviously didn’t listen and opened his mouth.

“So, if one of us, or maybe even both of us were to have magic, how would you feel?” Tommy asked. Tubbo frowned at that. Ranboo sternly whispered something to Tommy that Tubbo couldn’t hear, but Tubbo didn’t pay attention.

He gave the question some serious thought though.

‘If Tommy and or Ranboo were to have magic, what would I do? I would obviously be overjoyed at the prospect of anyone I knew having magic, but is that even a reality? Are Tommy and Ranboo trying to play a joke on me like other kids before or is this some harmless question? I never thought they would make harsh jokes, but I don’t even know anymore. Could I trust these two enough to tell them about my magic?

Could I trust Tommy and Ranboo to tell them about my magic?

My magic?’

“Umm...” Tubbo sighed weakly, “I don’t know. I think it would be cool, but you guys don’t have magic, so I don’t know why you asked that.” Tubbo still had his eyes closed but opened them a crack at the silence that followed his answer.

He saw Tommy looking over to Ranboo with that same odd look again.

What was with that?

But Ranboo didn’t give Tubbo enough time to mull over why Tommy had asked that because he suddenly shouted in surprise, while looking over to the pond to their left.

The little pond had ripples smoothing over the surface, which was odd because the leaves above on the trees surrounding the pond weren’t supposed to start to shed until late fall.

Tubbo was thrown off Ranboo as he scrambled over to the pond edge, his legs brutally tugging up the grass around them. He raced over the short distance it took to get over to the pond and promply stared into the muggy pond water as if looking for something.

Right when Tubbo was going to ask Ranboo what the hell was going on because‘seriously, I think I’m gonna get a nasty purpled bruise from the tree that you just punted me into,’Ranboo called out in surprise again and pointed into the middle of the lake and looked over to Tommy and Tubbo. Ranboo waved frantically over to the two to hurry up and get next to him. Ranboo’s eyes were filled with fear and horror as they flicked between the pond and his friends.

Tommy came rushing over to Ranboo’s side as Tubbo was starting to get up with a hand on the tree he was launched into.

“Holy fucking shit! Oh fuck, what do we do?” Tommy exclaimed at no one in particular.

Tubbo was confused as all hell though, so he didn’t see the problem yet. But as he rounded over the other two’s shoulders, he saw what was going on.

A little orange tuff was stuck in the middle of the pond and was struggling to stay afloat.

A little baby fox was trapped in the middle of the pond.

Holy fucking shit, indeed.

Tubbo didn’t think as he crashed into the water, dragging Ranboo by the hand to help. Ranboo exclaimed at the sudden pull into the water thankfully quickly recovered and started to follow Tubbo. The two waded through the water and muddy bottom of the pond as fast as they could. Vigorously pushing through the mud trying to stick them into place.

Tubbo, still holding one hand onto Ranboo’s wrist, reached out with his other hand to grab onto the baby fox.

The little orange pup struggled against the hold before Tubbo could get a good grip. Ranboo trying to hold Tubbo up with both his hands so he would slip and crash into the dirty pond water. The mudded sediment on the bottom now kicked and stirred thoroughly into the surrounding water.

Tubbo tried again, this time, gently calling out to the pup and softly moving forward. The fox struggled, but this time Tubbo got hold.

Yes!

‘Ok, now I just need to get a strong hold on this squiggly guy before I can start my way back to the shore.’ Tubbo thought.

He carefully guides the fox pup to his chest and glided away from the middle of the pond where the fox once was.

Tubbo allowed himself to smile as the pup sniffed and tentatively licked his hand. The baby fox still quivered and shook violently in his soft clutch, but Tubbo just wanted the pup to be alive for goodness’ sake!

As Tubbo and Ranboo cut through the last foot of water towards the shore, Tommy reached out to the other two and offered a hand to Ranboo to steady him. Tubbo only looked at the baby fox as he climbed out the pond to make sure that it wouldn’t try and squirm away too quickly.

Thankfully, it didn’t move as Tubbo slowly and steadily walked away from the pond. It didn’t move at all, until Tubbo opened his hand and crouched on the ground a little way away from the pond. Then the little baby fox hopped and scurried over to the tree the trio were sitting under. It bent down in the grass and turned its head to strategically look at the trio while still being poised to leave danger if perceived.

Tommy smiled and called to the baby fox as he gently lowered himself to the ground. Tubbo and Ranboo looking over as he did so and glancing at the pup. The baby fox curiously and cautiously stared at Tommy for a little before prancing a few pacing towards his outstretched hand.

Tommy cooed more to the little pup as it made its way over to Tommy. He softly called and cooed at it until it finally sniffed and stilled near Tommy’s hand. It’s ears wiggled a little. Tommy waited until the pup pushed his hand, until he slowly flipped his hand over and ran a single finger down the pup’s back, through the soft and still wet fluff.

Tommy softly cooed and his eyes wet a little at the little baby’s show of trust towards him. Tubbo smiled softly and accepted that Tommy most likely wouldn’t shut up about this little guy until next week at the earliest.

It wouldn’t be so bad though. The little orange fluffball sniffed and looked over to Tubbo and Ranboo as it was pet under Tommy’s gently strokes.

Thank everything it was safe, but now that the panic from seeing a little baby fox drowning in a pond was over, Tubbo started to sag a little under his tired eyes again.

The sun now much dimmer than the last time he was listening to Ranboo and Tommy talking.

Tubbo leaned closer to Ranboo, still watching Tommy petting the little baby fox as he did so. Ranboo brought an arm around Tubbo so support and leaned back again Tubbo’s back. Tubbo was gently guided down towards the grass by Ranboo.

And the three just sat. Peacefully watching the little baby fox until sunset.

They didn’t talk much, but they all enjoyed the last few moments before they had to leave the small park and their tree in the corner next to the pond.

As Tommy slowly got up, the baby fox scampered off in the opposite direction, being spooked by how tall Tommy was. Tubbo chuckled as Tommy sagged a little under his disappointment, and consolingly patted his back for comfort.

“There, there. I’m sure the little fox will remember our valiant success to save its life. And maybe if we come back tomorrow, it’ll be here again!” Tubbo chirped.

Trying to make Tommy’s disappointment sting a little less and the loss of the adorable pup.

“Yeah, you’re right!” Tommy straightened at Tubbo words, “We should come back tomorrow to see if we can find the little fox again. But we need a name for it!”

‘Ah shit, here we go again.’

“Maybe Delila? Or Lil’ Delila, and Lil’ D for short? No, maybe we shouldn’t be making dick puns as a name for a baby fox. Um…oh! I know how about poppy? But instead of a double ‘p’ it’s just a single ‘p’? or like a hyphen?” Tommy continued to ramble the entire way back to Tubbo’s home, with Tubbo listening to barely even half of what he was talking about and simply loving the warm presence of Ranboo helping to guide the two back to their homes. Tommy was dropped off first and he quickly mumbled himself inside, still thinking about names for the little fox they met that day.

Ranboo continued to help and keep Tubbo from falling over as they walked over to this house. Tubbo couldn’t help it! He was five seconds from falling asleep right there on the sidewalk!'Curse you, you stupid sun related magic!!

Ranboo didn’t seem to mind at all and cracked a few jokes along the way to Tubbo about what Tommy might name the pup next.

As Ranboo lead Tubbo up the little dirt path towards his front door, Tubbo smiled.

He truly loved his friends. Maybe he would tell them. Eventually, but not today.

Chapter Text

Sam and Ponk had met each other at the ending of their university orientation. They bumped into one another while they were on their way out, and clashed heads almost immediately. They scowled and bared their teeth all while trying to one up the other.

Ponk thought Sam was too rigid, robotic, and strict, while Sam thought Ponk was too untamed, chaotic, and too laid-back. The two butted heads for months during their first year at university.

Their ideas and opinions clashed on every topic, though either one of them or both purposefully disagreed with the other just to argue more. To see the other so wound up because of a single inconvenience made from the other.

But as fate would have it, they got stuck with a huge project together. The end of second term project to be exact.

They had to plan, organize, and build a model for a very important test grade, and neither wanted to fail. They both sucked it up and dealt with the other. Entirely believing that they would leave that project having learned nothing but more topics the other disagreed with.

Turns out, they worked amazingly together. Their ideas blended to create an awe-inspiring masterpiece for their exam. The artistic and logical combining into a melting symphony, creating magic and wonder.

The two of them started spending more time with one another, helping the other create new ideas for their exam project or homework assignments, and they came to understand one another.

They understood each other to a level that they soon found, no one else ever did. They began spending countless hours together, creating the wildest ideas, and using their minds to truly create magic.

Ponk taught Sam how to live again. How to see the world in beautiful colours and interwoven patterns that complimented one another so neatly. Sam in turn taught Ponk how to know herself better, how to learn more about himself and be able to rationalize their emotions and how to express himself better in her art. To be able to use the colours to learn about himself and each other.

Sam, the ever-emotional mess, caught feelings first. He never admitted it. Only watching from afar, content to know that Ponk would most likely never be more than a friends. To watch as they fell in love with someone else.

Sam thought this, believed it, so whole heartedly. Had already accepted the fact that his love will forever be one-sided.

The two of them sat together studying for one of their classes, shoulder to shoulder, inside a dusty late-evening sunlight. Ponk’s face was illuminated with a thin ray that cut across his face and hair, highlighting miniscule flecks of gold and silver in hazel eyes. Sam couldn’t stop looking over as Ponk studied. Sam noticed a small dusting of freckles across Ponk’s cheek and leaned down unconsciously to look closer.

At the time that Sam was leaning down to look at Ponk’s cheeks, Ponk turned to ask about a confusing question for music theory.

Turning quickly towards Sam, he didn’t realize how close the other was already and they quickly paused.

Staring into one another’s eyes, completely enraptured with the other. Sam’s breath caught slightly as Ponk looked down at his lips, before looking back at Sam.

Light illuminated their blushed cheek, continuing to sit dumbfounded at their circumstances.

She leaned forwards only a little, before asking, “Are you ok with this?”

Sam didn’t answer as he rushed forwards, capturing their lips for a blissful few seconds before having to pull away to breathe, but quickly brought up his hand to Ponk’s cheek and went back in.

Sam cupped Ponk’s jaw with one hand as the other was used to steady himself. He gravitated towards Ponk, pushing back and pulling in.

Their lips danced for only a moment, before Ponk pulled away looking mused.

“I just wanted help with my music theory question, but I think I got the answer.” Ponk said breathlessly. Eyes slightly glazed and lips red from earlier.

Sam paused, still holding Ponk’s jaw the two still looking into one another’s eyes – ‘Damn’, Ponk thought, ‘The light from behind Sam makes him look like he has a halo.’ – until Sam started to laugh.

He couldn’t stop himself!

‘The love of my life just kissed me! They didn’t even pull away and I actually helped to kick start their brain into figuring out their course work. What in the actual fuck?!’ Sam hysterically thought, as he devolved deeper into his laughter.

Trying his absolute hardest to remain quiet, and Ponk started to giggle along side him. Her hand brought up to cover her mouth.

The two actually got kicked out for laughing too much, but they just laughed harder after they got out of the library.

After that evening, the two were completely inseparable. They worked out how to dorm together the next term and timed their classes and breaks to see one another as much as possible. They held hands and went on dates, kissing one another on the head, lips, hands, and cheek.

On one date, Sam turned to Ponk.

“Hey,” Sam took Ponk’s hand in his and looked into their eyes, “So…I fell in love with you during that first term. I don’t know when, but one day I was walking home, and I realized that I hadn’t stopped thinking about you all day. And not in the ‘wow I hate this person’ kind of way, but in like, about you eyes and hair, your smile, your laughter, when you’re angry, and when you were excited. That’s kind of when I realized that I had started to fall in love. But, what I’m asking now, is…when did you realize you fell in love?”

Ponk paused. Looking off for a minute before smiling. Sam noticed Ponk’s eyes softening at the edges and the soft sigh let out as they looked back over at Sam. “I remember it was actually about a couple weeks before we first kissed. I was painting, but not for school, it was just for fun. And I was letting my hand do the work, not thinking about it. I was enjoying the process, before I realized that had started to paint you.” Ponk chuckled as Sam blushed hard through his ears. Ponk brushed a stray hair over Sam’s ear.

Sam only blushed harder at that.

“But I wasn’t confused, I think in a way I already knew that I had fallen before that evening that I painted you. I was one of the most colourful paintings that I had done for years. And I drew snippets from my memories of you. I know I drew some pink on your ears, and how you tilt your head when you hear something you like. I painted your eyes, and the little fleck of green you have in your right one, I think I drew that one strand in your hair that’s darker than all the others.” Ponk reached back a little behind Sam’s right ear, pulling gently down on one of the thick clumps of hair. Twisting it in her hands before letting it go.

Looking back at Sam made Ponk’s breath even. Sam’s eyes a little wide with surprise and his ears were enflamed – Ponk was surprised that his ears hadn’t caught on fire at this point -, but his mouth was twisted into a lovesick smile. Shoulders relaxed and gravitated towards Ponk, trying to be closer.

They kissed and enjoyed the rest of the evening together until the sunset set ablaze the rooftops as it fell over the horizon. The moon softly peering out of the night’s thick blanket over the sky. Stars glittered gently above and seemed to sway in tune with the two lovers holding hands as they walked back to their home.

Heads together and hearts as one.

After the two graduated, one with their bachelor’s degree in arts and the other in computer engineering, the two moved into an apartment. The view was amazing, looking over the skyline and the rising buildings. Hills to their right and bowed flowers along the edges of their tiny balcony. You couldn’t do much besides sit on the balcony in tiny lawn chairs, which Ponk did more times that she could just to paint the sunset on a particular day. Wanting to capture that flitting moment for years to come.

Sam and Ponk continued their education after their bachelors. Sam minored in education to become a teacher, while Ponk dabbled in other art and teaching courses. They made a living with Sam’s part-time IT job and Ponk being commissioned to do art for rich posh people on the other side of town. The buildings over their seeming to be gilded with gold as the sun rolled over the sky.

Time skip to now, Sam is now a teacher to a high school in the same city he moved to for university, and while Ponk still sells his commissioned art, he teaches full-time as an art teacher.

The two live happily, until they met three teenagers. An anxious wreck of a dirty blonde, a hyperactive and slightly neurotic brunette, and another anxious wreck but this time spicing it up with abrasive and brash humour.

Ranboo, Tubbo, and Tommy. If only Sam had known how these three boys would slink and slither their way into his heart. Sam normally loved his students, but he loved those boys like his own. After hours of ranting to Ponk about Tubbo’s accidental semi-nuclear self-made computer, Ranboo’s nail salon that went up in flames, and Tommy’s mud company that ended in a student wide money depression from capitalistic regimes, it was safe to say that Ponk adored the boys as much as Sam.

So, you can probably guess how excited and overjoyed Ponk was when the offer of working with Tubbo arose.

You could hear their squeal of excitement half-way down the street.

Chapter Text

“OH FUCKING COURSE I’LL HELP, WHO DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?!” Ponk yelled across the room, throwing everything from expensive brushes to cheap-teaching-acrylic paint tubes into a cinch bag.

Turning around with their hair mused, cheeks flushed from excitement, and a glint in her eye, she smiled at Sam with a terrifying grin. A shiver ran up Sam’s spine, ‘God I’m in love with this beautiful maniac’.

“This project is gonna be the best damn project you ever see.”

Sam’s head rolled back. His shoulders fell, eyes closed and prayed, ‘Oh fuck, I really hope I’m not fired for this.’

##

“Then I said back to my mum, ‘But look into her eyes! You cant say no to this beautiful, amazing, sexy, awesome, beautiful, amazing, moth! Just look at her!’ But my mom didn’t buy it and tried to throw Clem and her glass jar out the window, but I jumped across the room like fuckin’ spiderman – it was so cool, I swear – and vaulted into the way to block mum, right? You wanna guess what she did? You wanna guess?? She fucking tsked as me. TSKED. But I mean, I got Clem back so it’s totally worth the tsking from mum.”

“Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you ever gonna stop petting Matilda? Or should I just leave you here?” Tubbo asked while Ranboo chuckled behind him at Tommy’s antics.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll come.” Tommy pouted while bopping Matilda once more on the tip of her rounded beak. Her wings fluttering at the touch and her head bopping up and down at Tommy in a sign of affection. Tommy cooed back at Matilda; his coos were surprisingly accurate. Matilda chirped and cooed back. Rubbing her little feathered head against Tommy’s knobbly fingers.

Tubbo bet that if Matilda could successfully coddle them like her own children, they would only be living off of eaten up worms and other green bugs. He grimaced wondering what that would even taste like. Feel like.

‘Ugh, I think I’ll be sick if I think anymore.’

Tommy finished shaking some leaves from his head when he sighed out the early morning air. “Alright, let’s go you two!”

Tommy brushed the other two’s shoulders as he walked between them, and out the little wooden gate at the end of the trail of Tubbo’s house. Creaking aside, the gate swung back as Tommy skipped down the stairs like a happy kitten.

Ranboo commented as much to Tubbo as quietly as possible so Tommy wouldn’t hear.

“I fucking know you guys are talking about me!!”

Ranboo’s eyes widened as he turned back towards Tommy coming up the stairs again. “Oh shit.”

And those were Ranboo’s last words before Tommy body slammed them both to the floor.

Chapter Text

Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo were some of the only students who had spent time with Ponk. Sure, Ponk would come over to the school to eat lunch with their fiancé, but honestly they didn’t like to talk much with the larger student body. They could be seen floating around the art room like a magical flying ball of art knowledge and pure happiness (spewing strange trivia facts about art history and the effects of water on different oil paint brands) or could be seen reenacting some dramatic scene from a movie, but Ponk was a bit of a rare-sighting. Sam would talk about them with the trio during lunch times if spent together, but the main fun was after classes. When the sun would reach the hottest point in the day (especially since it was mid September and excruciatingly hot) Tubbo was practically vibrating with energy from excess sun exposure.

“-And frankly, I personally thought that this would die immediately, BUT IT DIDN’T! So this is the neck joint, spine, and overall nervous system of the flaming butterfly.” Tubbo pointed to a misshapen blob to the left and ran his finger along a ridged spin. “And this is where the eyes come out.” He pointed to the opposite end of the…object, to put it lightly. “And then…I don’t know what else. I can’t find a good place to put the flash drive or paint tubes, and I’m just stuck on what else to do without messing up the placement of the brain!”

Tubbo gasped for air after his long winded and frankly necessary essay because no one would have been able to understand anything about what was happening without it. Ponk nodded knowingly. Tommy and Ranboo were fixing themselves a nice hat made from trash. “Well.” Ponk started, “If it were up to me, I would move the eyes a little closer to the…what was that called again?”

“Proboscis.” Tubbo offered.
“Porbosis?”

Tommy and Ranboo snuck up behind Sam and tackled him with the trash crown. Cackling as they jammed the hat on his head and geld him still to pin it in place.

“No. Pro - Bosc - Is. Proboscis.”

“Probis?”

Sam had started strutting around the classroom with Tommy and Ranboo behind him, wearing the trash crown in all its glory.

“…Sure.” Tubbo sighed out quietly.

Tommy and Ranboo whispered ‘proboscis’ like a chant back and forth. “Try and say it three times fast.” A badly covered whisper from Tommy rang out which was followed by equally if not worse concealed giggles.
“Ok! So the eyes closer to the porbosci. Maybe try the paint tubes a little lower than the flame thrower cause some can be a little flammable. Try to add more…shape?” Ponk’s voice tilted upward after the pause, their eyebrows raising. Tubbo paused.

“But…the proboscis is essential! If I add more shape…I don’t know if that would-“

“Tubbo!! Tubbo, my man!” Tommy slung himself over Tubbo’s shoulder like a slinky old cat, his eyes shiny from suppressing his giggles earlier. “It looks like a perfect butterfly if you ask me! The head, thorax, eyes.” Tommy’s had traveled down the blob on the table. “Antennas are missing, but your wings are phenomenal! You really got the essence of delicacy in the hindwings and forewings!”

“You think?” Tubbo’s eyes lit up the room, he could feel his hands heating up in excitement. ‘For how anal I am about hiding my magic, I tend to be careless a lot more around these guys.’ He thought to himself while looking up at Tommy. “Of course Big T!” Tommy smiled back, his own hair covered in flowers and leaves from outside. Tubbo stretched upward to brush away the flora from Tommy’s head. “Thank you big man. I don’t think you understand how much I needed to hear that.”

Tubbo looked back at Tommy after brushing off the majority of petals and leaves, but was taken aback at the same odd look Tommy had. ‘It’s that same fucking odd look again! What is with these suspicious ass people!’
“I think I know exactly how you feel…” Tommy mumbled softly so only Tubbo could hear beneath the loud clanging and clamor behind from Ponk arguing about colour theory with Ranboo and Sam.

Tubbo felt off. Did Tommy know something he didn’t? Tubbo swore he caught a melancholy and resigned fragment however small in Tommy’s eyes.
Brushing it off as nothing, he laughed it off and tried to push away the replay of his conversation with Tommy in his head, ‘It’s nothing, I’m sure. He probably just felt awkward after I brushed off petals or some stupid teenage insecurity shit like that!’

‘Totally normal!’

But it didn’t stop there. Throughout the week, Tubbo kept noticing the absolutely bizarre actions, responses, and words from his small group of friends. For instance, the next day, when Tubbo had thought over the previous conversation with Tommy.

“Hey, big man?” Tubbo turned to Tommy with a quick swivel of his chair and a swish of his fluffy brown hair. Tommy looks up a little startled, his eyes a bright blue reflecting the sunlight that was bouncing through the window blinds of the early morning. “Yeah?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier and I wanted to ask when you became so familiar with butterfly anatomy?” Tommy paused for half a second before laughing nervously. “I mean, we took biology for heaven’s sake!”

Ranboo’s head slowly turned towards Tommy. “It seems.” Ranboo started in a controlled and even tone, “That even the best of us fail to reject the beauty of a butterfly.”
“You fucking bitch.” Tommy glared daggers and his previous giggles forgotten.

Tubbo thought about it a little more as the two other boys devolved to a staring match. Sure, they did take biology already and Tommy already had an adept feature of gardening and botany in general, hell, Tibbo wouldn’t be surprised if Tommy had a little magic in him that made him able to grow plants as well! But haha, that’s ridiculous! Tommy? With magic? Tommy…with magic? Tommy?

Tubbo’s smile slipped a little. ‘Tommy?’

‘Stop making brash conclusions! You can’t just project all your hopes and dreams on your friends!’ Tubbo chastised himself roughly.

Turning back to his classwork and trying to forget his strange thoughts about Tommy and magic. ‘The two topics have nothing in common!’

Next was Ranboo.

It was mid October by now and Tubbo’s energy levels had started to decrease in tandem with the sunlight. Ranboo was walking Tubbo home one night practically bouncing down the sidewalk (which was strange as almost every time Tubbo saw him during the day, Ranboo was tired) before he gently grabbed Tubbo’s forearm as he stopped abruptly in place. Smiling upward, Ranboo giddly told Tubbo, “Look! You can already see Aquarius starting to show in the sky!” Tubbo looked up and saw literally nothing. “Umm, boss man. You’ll have to point it out for me.” He said sheepishly.

Ranboo awkwardly laughed as he sidled up to Tubbo and pointed out the various stars connecting together. Tubbo swore that he thought the stars started glowing a bit brighter as the two of them were standing there. He smiled as he nodded and turned towards Ranboo saying he saw it. Star light reflected in the latter’s darkening pupils as he lingered on the dusk-brushed sky. The resulting beam and crinkled eyes from Ranboo made Tubbo burst in warmth. He truly loved his friends.
The two stood on the neighbourhood sidewalk for a little more, silently looking up and pointing towards constellations they recognised. Each constellation pointed out felt like it would glow brighter. Each star glittering brighter and hotter than the surrounding stardust and brushed luster. By the time the two boys reached the top of the hill where Tubbo’s house was, Tubbo was warm with delight.

Tubbo turned to Ranboo, “Thank you for walking me home, Ranboo. I really like looking at stars with you.” Tubbo gave a small smile. He was too tired to do any elaborate ‘thank you’s so he just gave a small smile and a loose and tired hug, before turning around and heading up the crunchy dirt path up to his house.

“Hey Tubbo?!” Ranboo shouted. He turned. “Um…I like looking at the stars with you as well.” Ranboo gave a nervous smile before, “It seems a little like magic to look up at the night sky.”

‘It seems a little like magic…’

Tubbo paused. ‘A little like magic?’

Before Tubbo could say anything, Ranboo smiled and turned away, tromping down the hill at an unreasonably high speed. Thinking back, Tubbo would remember Ranboo’s eyes glowing a bit too brightly from the starlight to be normal and the stars that would seem to sparkle just a little brighter for the two of them to be natural. ‘ A little like magic…’

‘First Tommy, now Ranboo…what the fuuuucckkkk?’
The next day wasn’t any better in debunking his growing theory of his friends having magic. Ponk and Tubbo had been mid-way through working on his project during lunch. Hot glue gun in hand and brown paint in the other. The two worked as a perfect team, Tubbo would hot glue, Ponk would help apply whatever piece of the machine needed to be added, and Tubbo would gently paint over the piece with a thin beginning layer of brown.
Tubbo was currently busy painting a rather large piece of metal, so hyper focused at his job and not focused enough on the melting glue coming out of his gun in hand. Before he could even half-way finish his paint job, a large dollop of burning hot glue plopped and burned down his hand.

“Fuck!! Shit!! Oh my God! Ow!” Tubbo quickly dropped the glue gun in favor of nursing his finger close to his chest. Ponk quickly followed in dropping his supplies and corralled Tubbo to the bathrooms.

“Are you alright? I mean, of course you’re not but can you tell me how badly it hurts?” Ponk spit out quickly. They gently grabbed Tubbo’s burned hand and smacked the tap to cold. “I’m fine, it just hurts a little but it’s not too bad.” Tubbo winced a little as the freezing cold water hit his skin.

The two stood there waiting, Ponk rubbing comforting circles on Tubbo’s back. After a while, Ponk reached over and turned the tap off, they grabbed Tubbo’s hand and gently blew. A slight tingly feeling started in Tubbo’s hand and danced its way up his forearm. A tingle feeling strangely similar to the feeling of when Tubbo’s magic was active and unleashed. Tubbo looked up at Ponk, ‘Why are all my friends so suspicious?’

“You should be alright now, Tubbo. It should heal as quick as magic!” He startled from his place and quietly thanked them for helping take care of the burn. Not thinking too much about it, the two wrapped it up shortly after the incident and Tubbo headed home. He didn’t pause until he reached his little green gate at the end of the dirt path that he looked down at his hand, afraid of what he thought might be a horrible burn was perfectly healed skin.

‘I think I know exactly how you feel…’

‘ It seems a little like magic to look up at the sky.’

‘ It should heal as quick as magic!’

What was going on with his friends?

Chapter Text

The chair next to Tommy screeched back as Ranboo pulled it out and plopped down. Turning to his left, Tommy saw the dark circles under Ranboo’s eyes, the tired expression weighing down on his facial features and he sighs deeply. “That bad, huh?”

“Man, you don’t even know,” Ranboo grumbles. “I swear I slept more than nine hours last night, but my body just absolutely hates daytime.” He glares at the sunlight streaming through the classroom windows. It was a particularly sunny day sometime during post-mid September and slowly transitioning to October. The wind had been picking up lately, but it wasn’t as cold as Ranboo would have liked. Luckily for Tommy, he still had some time before winter started. It was always the opposite for the two boys sitting next to one another. As the blonde would become more tired as the seasons changed to winter, the other would become energetic and full of energy. It was a smooth and perfect trade-off of energy, both the magical and motivational kind, as the two boys complemented one another in their traits. Tommy, unsurprisingly, doesn’t really like winter due to his severe lack of energy during the colder months. He typically brings a whole ass gallon of coffee to school just to get through the day before crashing at home. On the other hand, Ranboo always loved the winter. He could always sit outside for longer and have more energy to hang out with his friends. Granted, he always tried to make time for his friends at all times of the year, why wouldn’t he? But oh boy, during the winter, he becomes that friend who’s jumping all over the place, dragging his friends along, chatting non-stop, waving his hands around, hounding Tubbo and Tommy to hang out and have sleepovers while crushing them in Mario Kart. Ranboo always loved the wintertime, everyone could very well see that, but it wasn’t until the third winter of their friendship that both Tommy and Ranboo noticed that Tubbo seemed to follow a trend as well. Both boys unanimously followed the mentality “Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.” Tommy noticed it at first, Tubbo seemed to follow a similar (yet slightly different) pattern as himself. Tommy noticed that Tubbo seemed to become more sleepy and demotivated during the winter months, but spring back to full force in summer. Unlike Tommy, who really peaked during the spring and early summer, Tubbo peaked from summer to early fall. Like Tommy said, similar yet a little different. After noticing this about Tubbo (and writing it off at first as typical and mild seasonal depression), Tommy started to get a little more curious, and started paying attention to the little details that Tubbo showed that were just a bit too similar to Tommy to be… “normal.”

The first of such moments where Tommy started to think, ‘Huh, this maybe, possibly, perhaps on the most insignificant level of reality, is not that normal,’ was the day they decided to hang out at the park. Tommy was cruising as normal while Tubbo had fallen asleep on Ranboo carding through his soft hair when he felt the familiar pulse of magic. Ranboo paused halfway through their conversation about the anatomy of snails (don’t ask), Tommy could see Ranboo stiffening at the same time as him in his peripheral. He glanced over at him and caught his eye, making a face to silently ask if he had felt the gentle slip of energy through the air around them. Ranboo nodded.

‘Well, crap.’

Tommy looked around and shuffled quietly so as not to wake up Tubbo. He looked under where he was sitting to look for any flowers that might have accidentally sprouted, ruffled his hair to make sure no leaves or little wildflower blooms had popped up and even checked under his long-sleeved sweater to look for any thin vines starting to creep up his forearms. Nothing… ’ That’s odd.’ Tommy was going to let it go, that was until Ranboo let out a quiet noise. Tommy looked back, and as he did so, he felt that slight pulse again, but instead of wondering where it was coming from, his eyes slowly landed on the small mass of a person below. It was coming from Tubbo.

The smallest inkling of magic was slowly slipping its way through the air, and it was all because of Tubbo. Even though it was beginning to become later in the day and the wind was starting to cool down, there was a slight bubble of warmth around the trio, and it was all because of Tubbo. Tommy knew for sure he didn’t have any kind of warmth magic, and Ranboo had nothing close to heating magic so that just leaves…Tubbo.

Tommy looked up at Ranboo to check if he’d come to the same, shattering conclusion as him. By the look that Ranboo gave back to Tommy, he definitely had. Tubbo was not only practically radiating magic, but he was like a space heater! How didn’t Ranboo come to the same conclusion? Tommy was snapped out of the trance though as he noticed the sun beginning to slink its way down the hill to their right overlooking the park they were staying at. Gently reaching over and shaking Tubbo awake. Tubbo groggily sat up, “Oh sorry,” he mumbled slowly looking between Ranboo and Tommy. They both tried to cover up their lingering shock from the beginnings of their conspiracies about Tubbo, silent as they watched him flop over Ranboo’s shoulder again. “Oh wow, the sun must have really warmed you up! You’re a little space heater just for me!” Ranboo chuckled at Tubbo, before sharing one last glance with Tommy.

Tommy and Ranboo let it slide for a bit while Tubbo started to drift in and out of a hazy sleep. Bleary eyes ghosted over the park as they lay on Ranboo’s shoulder still, content in the cooling winds blowing through the trees and branches above. The two teenagers still awake kept softly talking about anything that came up, little lapses of their conversations quiet or filled with silent tinkling laughter. Tommy kept replaying the soft feeling of ripples of warm magic floating over them though in the back of his mind as he and Ranboo talked through. It never quite left his mind. Finally fed up with the images and thoughts festering in his mind, he turned to Tubbo and asked, “Hey, Tubbo, I was wondering what you thought about magic?” Innocent enough right? Tubbo just lazily lifted his hand and gave a thumbs up.

Tommy was taken aback, to say the least. It felt like a laugh was punched out of him at the unexpected response. Ranboo just burst out laughing at Tommy’s face. Tommy was going to give up though, oh no. He decided to rain hellfire on Tubbo, relentlessly poking him over and over again. After a particular jab at Tubbo’s cheek he gave up, “Magic is fine with me, now can you please stop poking my toes it feels weird.”

Tommy felt like this was it. Could the whole friend group really all have magic? No way, right? Seems impossible, but really, from what the two felt earlier coming from Tubbo, it doesn’t seem that implausible. Looking over at Ranboo one last time (all he got was a glare, but whatever Ranbo, I want my answers dammit!), he turns back to Tubbo - his eyes still closed - and asks, “So, if one of us, or maybe even both of us were to have magic, how would you feel?” It felt like Tommy’s heart might break if Tubbo said anything bad. This boy had been part of their little friend group for years. This is the same boy who Tommy had turned to and whispered promises of staying side-by-side, just them, facing the world together. If Tubbo wasn’t supportive, wasn’t ok with, hell, if Tubbo was disgusted by magic like so many other people…what would Tommy even do? What could he do? Tubbo was his bestfriend. What would Ranboo do? How could he handle that stress, pressure, and hatred from others?

Ranboo harshly whispered at him as Tubbo’s brows furrowed downward, “What the hell man? What are you trying to do?!” Fear seemed evident in Ranboo’s eyes. His green and brown filled to the brim, afraid of not only Tommy’s recklessness but Tubbo’s answer.

Tubbo hums weakly through his mouth, “Umm…” they both look down. “I don’t know. I think it would be cool, but you guys don’t have magic, so I don’t know why you asked that.”

…

‘Oh…’ Tommy looked over to Ranboo. His eyebrows felt like they were practically hidden in his hairline for how high they went up. Tommy mouthed, ‘it would be cool.’ to Ranboo, who probably had the same look on his face as Tommy did - surprised, apprehensive, not mad by any means, but a little unsure of what to do next.

Luckily - or unluckily, Tommy doesn’t really know - the trio didn’t have enough time to really dwell on the matter as he saw a little fox in need of help.

##

The next times that Tommy or Ranboo ever felt little inklings of Tubbo’s (supposed) magic again were very few. Now that they were attuned to it though, it was as if they were top-grade satellites. They could pinpoint the gentle feeling of Tubbo magic even across a damn room. It was so particular to Tubbo and only amplified by the fact that Ranboo and Tommy were both ecstatic about Tubbo possibly having magic.

Ranboo was walking down with Tubbo to the math classrooms, the early afternoon was only lightly swept with thin white clouds across the sky, and the sun was shining down brightly on the two. Ranboo hated this kind of weather, ‘I’m so tired, I am so incredibly tired. Someone take the stupid parts of having magic away, please!’ Ranboo felt like these thoughts were boiling over, his brain too tired to help him sort any or help at all. He slowly lifted his eyes to the heavens, asking any deity out there to help the sun race across the sky and fast so he would stop being too damn tired all the time, ‘If Tommy was here, I bet he could have tried to summon some wind. He’s always so good at that little trick.’ He turns to mention a question to Tubbo on his right before noticing how bouncy he is.

‘What the shit.’

“Tubbo, what the hell did you drink for lunch today, 'cause you are bouncing like a pogo stick, I swear.” Tubbo turned to him quickly with a megawatt smile (Ranboo swore he literally squinted), “Oh, don’t mind me, man, I’m just really energetic right now. Must be like the sun or something with the time of day, I guess. I’ve always been a daytime kind of person.” Tubbo slowed a bit in his skipping pace. “I always get kind of tired when the sun goes down. Doesn’t even have to be late in the day, but if the sun goes down, man, I’m out like a light!” Tubbo innocently laughs at himself as if Ranboo isn’t internally screaming because ‘THAT’S EXACTLY THE KIND OF THING TOMMY WOULD SAY ABOUT HIS POWERS?!’

Calm the hell down

“Yep, makes sense. So, did you do the homework at all last night?”

“Oh, not at all, big man!”

Needless to say, Ranboo immediately hunted down Tommy in his next class to talk about what just happened. The two quietly discuss how possibly it is that Tubbo’s comment about the time of day actually being an indicator or if both of them are just grossly overreacting to everything Tubbo’s saying at this point. Tommy was convinced at this point that Tubbo had magic, “I swear you’ve literally heard me say almost the exact same words when I describe my powers to you!,” but Ranboo was still a bit on the fence. What if they were both overreacting and when they did ask Tubbo if he had powers he didn’t and then what if he hated them and what if– Well, you get the idea.

“Calm down, big man,” Tommy said laying a hand gently on his shoulder. “But, what if he says he’s ok with magic, but he’s just lying?” Ranboo worried. He could feel the countless worry lines on his forehead increase exponentially. Ranboo always felt like he showed a calm personality, but really, everyone who talked to him for more than 10 minutes could tell he was always freakin’ anxious. Tommy sighed, “Well, we’ll just have to trust him, won’t we?”

Chapter Text

Tubbo’s whole body felt like it was lead. A deep sigh escaped him as he slumped forward onto his bed. The whole day had been a mess. He’d had terrible sleep the night before and forgot to finish his Chemistry report. While frantically writing the last conclusion to his report his computer died, and you might ask, “Oh Tubbo, how in the world did your computer die? Didn’t you personally rewire the whole computer in order to make the computer last for more than 72 hours?” Yeah, he did, but just like his Chemistry report, his brain short-circuited and he failed to remember to charge it last night. So now he has a dead computer (and obviously no charger because what the hell, let the universe laugh at him, I guess) and an unfinished, unsubmitted Chemistry report.

Shit

After the humiliation of explaining such a situation to the Chemistry teacher, he sat, sulking in the back of the class. Stupid memory. Stupid brain. Stupid chemistry. I will personally destroy the person who thought it was a perfect idea to create this horrible assignment. Unfortunately, that had been his Chemistry teacher who had so been merciful enough to let him off this once, so maybe she wasn’t the worst…maybe. Stormy clouds circled inside his brain (he knew for sure he didn’t have any kind of rain powers), effectively choking out whatever the other kids were spewing from their reports - so many people had chosen Fluorine for some reason. As Tubbo sat stirring in his sweltering anger, he felt his hands starting to heat up. ‘Calm down, it’s just a report, and it’s not even that big of a deal 'cause I was let off.’

But that little hiccup in Chemistry just set Tubbo’s whole day off-kilter. English wasn’t fun anymore, he got too distracted during Computers class while Sam was talking, and he kept forgetting his textbooks in his locker in between classes. It was overall just a pretty shit day.

Right at the end of Tubbo’s last period, History (at this point, Tubbo knew that he wouldn’t be able to remember nor care about anything that the teacher talked about at this point), they were continuing on the topics of the battles that took place in France surrounding the WW Revolutions (Witches and Wizard Revolutions). Touchy subject, I know. It was like constantly walking on eggshells for months straight as the teacher had to go through the grueling task of shooting down all the bigoted questions shot by the other classmates. They all basically said the same thing.

“Magic is way too dangerous of a mutation for people to have anyway. I personally think they did the right thing.”
“Shouldn’t performing magic be a crime at this point?”
“Nah man, it’s just plain weird, especially the people with physical mutations along with their magic. No one wants to see that disgusting shit coming out of your forehead!”

Tubbo was having one hell of a time, for sure. Totally breathing correctly, big deep breaths, not shallow and short and too quick and somehow suffocating. His head didn’t feel like it was filled with soggy cotton sloshing and slishing its way through his head and covering all logical thought processes. He didn’t think he looked too pale. Tubbo didn’t think he was affected by what others were saying that was just a little too close to what the other kids told him before.

He was fine. Everything’s fine!

Why wouldn’t it be?

“They just have to control their damn powers!”

Something in him snapped at those words.

“Oh my god, this is literally the simplest topic to understand. It’s not like they can just flip a switch and become ‘normal.’ Magic is literally in their DNA. You can’t just rip your DNA out of your body, fix it, fist it back in your cells, and walk away all dandy. Decades of human dissection are not ethical at all, so stop spouting BULLSHIT! The government, multiple well-known scientists, and universities have all recognised that magic isn’t a choice, it isn’t something you can just turn off, and you can’t just ‘become better.’ But you can’t seem to wrap your tiny little brain around such a simple topic, so boo-fucking-hoo!”

Tubbo was practically fuming at this point, he knew everyone was staring at him (some more proud than others). He also knew that his hands felt very hot. Too hot. With a shrill scream from the automatic bell, Tubbo ripped his backpack from the ground and made a bee-line to the bathrooms. He had to calm the hell down before anything bad happened.
Just get into the bathroom, just get into a stall and stay there. Now deep breaths. In…and out. In…and out.

He looked down at the now faint yellow glow on his hands. He could feel the pressure in his arms and head slowly releasing more and more as a gentle stream of magic kept coming out. He didn’t even care about anything anymore except calming down. He sat there for who knows how long, just sitting and staring silently at his hands and their soothing glow, before there was a hesitant knock on the bathroom door.

Tubbo stood, putting a hard stop to his magic. The feet seem to shuffle a bit. “Hey, I heard that you had a uh…dramatic end to the day, heh.”

Ranboo.

Ranboo had come here.

“I just wanted to check up on you…see if you were ok after…well. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were ok. Just check-in, and…um - oh hey.”

Tubbo had opened the door, just standing and staring at Ranboo.

“Um…yeah, hey man. You know, it’s ok to have those off-days, and it’s also ok to ask for help. I just wanted to tell you th –”

Tubbo launched his arms around Ranboo with an “oomph” and a small catch of breath coming from the taller boy. Tubbo squeezed like Ranboo was the last connection to himself. Like if he let go, he wouldn’t have himself anymore.

“Hey, it’s ok.” Tubbo could hear Ranboo’s gentle smile, the soft crinkle near his eyes, the soft upward bow of his eyebrows in worry. Tubbo could hear it all, could feel it all. And it was scary that on some level, he knew exactly how concerned and scared Ranboo was for him. Because Tubbo was too.

“I just really needed a breather.” He mumbled through the soft cotton of Ranboo’s sweater. “I just couldn’t be in that classroom any longer.” His voice broke in the last part of the sentence.

Soft, slow circles started rubbing on his back. “And that’s ok,” Ranboo replied. That was exactly what Tubbo had to hear. He knew that he trusted Ranboo to the moon and back.

“Thank you, Ranboo.” He squeezed a little. “Really...thank you.”

######

Sometimes it was too exhausting to really think about how to control his magic. After years of trying to suppress a part of himself, he just wanted to let go. To see his own magic shining through, both literally and figuratively. Would it be such a crime to create a warm ball of light out of his palm? It seemed like such a small thing to him to even fathom someone getting mad at him, but then again, he had to change school the last time he started to think like that.

Opening his white wooden bedroom door, he slipped through and dragged his backpack off his shoulders. Dropping the weight off his back and onto the floor before unceremoniously flopping onto his bed. He drowned out his thoughts for a moment to relive the last hours.

Bathrooms and tears. Ranboo. Hugs. Warmth. Afternoon into dusk. Walking home. A concerned last glance before turning. Waving goodbye. Tweeting from a familiar nest below. Gravel crunching.

Tubbo lifted his hands, staring at his palm lines. Tracing with his eyes, he went up and down his fingers, palms, and down to his wrist. He focused a little longer until a little bust of light came from his right hand. Not blinding, if anything it felt like an old spark. Too rusty to be pretty or admired. Too old to be bright enough. A sad smile stretched along his face, real, but sad.

Tubbo sat up, keeping his hand constantly in his sight. Blame him, but he didn’t want to let go of the little bit of light left in his palms. He breathed out before closing his eyes as a visualised more of his magic flowing to his hands. It felt like a gentle rush and trickle of water down his arms and up his veins like a forest creek. The feeling reminded him of Tommy and his smile turned genuine. He thought about the way Ranboo helped him today, calmed him down, and held him for a bit before walking him home. Focusing all his thoughts on his magic and the warmth coming from his hands, he was able to spill all of the messy tangled mush taking up space in his brain. The warm faltered, flickering a little as if Tubbo had added just a bit too much firewood on a weak fire before the light and warmth gradually built. Tubbo could not only feel it building but see it.

It was such a warm and comforting light. Tubbo didn’t know why he had cut off his part of himself for so long - it felt so good, like a comforting hug on a bad day. Cupping his hands onto his lap, he held his light a little longer as if cradling a young and fragile kitten.

Unbeknownst to Tubbo, a certain someone smiled as they felt the familiar pulse and ebb of his magic before walking away from the worn down and paint-chipped garden gate.

Chapter Text

Afternoon light shined through the curtains of Tubbo’s room, filtered through by the bright green leaves of the large and surprisingly old oak tree in the front of the yard. The thick trunk used to be three times Tubbo’s size when he was growing up, but now he can just barely wrap his arms halfway. Progress…he guesses. By now, Matilda’s three little chicks should be chirping for her to find food, his dad should be up by now (probably making himself breakfast), and he should definitely be getting dressed at this point judging by how bright it is outside. Peeling his bedding back, he sits up, noticing immediately how he feels…lighter. Like a plug in a river has finally been cleared away or sludgy gunk scraped clean of previously dirty and clogged pipes. It’s definitely not a feeling he’s rather familiar with, but remembering last night, he’s pretty sure he knows why he feels like this. Perhaps he should do little light shows every night if he feels like this afterward. So with a lighter heart and a lighter step in his gait, he makes his way to start the day. There’s nothing like the feeling of eating sticky pancakes in a soft green pullover.

“Hey there bud.” His dad makes his way over to where he’s sitting at the glass-topped kitchen table mussing up Tubbo’s fluffy bedhead as he passes by.“I got a text from Phil, saying that you guys were gonna go to the park today?” Tubbo nodded in response, “I don’t know how long we’ll stay out, but Ranboo’s coming as well.” Tubbo turns to look at his dad, “We’re gonna be heading over to Niki’s and Jack’s shop after we hang in the park for a bit. Did you want anything while I’m out? And if so…do you have any sweet, crisp dollars I could take off you?” Tubbo asks with a sly grin on his face. After taking orders (hey, at least he wasn’t the one technically paying), Tubbo picked up his phone, texting Tommy and Ranboo to tell them he was on the way.

The walk there was amazing as always. The city park was a ways from his house; five-minute walk to the bus stop, fifteen minutes to the city stop, three minutes to the park entrance, and about four minutes to their specific spot (a big, old elm tree shading a small creek and pond with a couple of ducks making rounds on occasion). Tubbo walked along the city street, the sounds of cars beeping, slow traffic, and cooing pigeons passing him by. The sun wasn’t at its height yet, but he was still excited. Turning the corner, he immediately spots the fluffy tuff of Ranboo’s hair. Tubbo cleared his voice.

“Excuse me, sir, it’s illegal to be standing here. About a $1000 fine.”

Ranboo whipped around, eyes wide. “Oh, sor- Hey!! What the hell, man!” Tubbo was squawking with laughter. “That was actually terrifying, why would you do that!?” Ranboo made a perfect frowny face, which just made Tubbo laugh harder. “I swear, I’ll get you back for that!” Ranboo jokingly said. The two continued to piss about the park entrance, to the chagrin of everyone else in their vicinity until a lanky mop of blond bounded toward them.

The three of them talked their way through the green leaves, wind against their backs, and hair being carded through by the soft fingers of late summer. Settling down at their usual spot under their tree, they started to pass the day away; running around the small pond of water and Tommy trying to coax the ducks around the place to come closer. Soon enough, the trio was sitting in a sea of ducks, the little ducklings that were previously little yellow fluff balls just a couple of months ago were just starting to fly, their downy feathers molting away to show contour feathers and flight feathers. Tommy never failed to coo at the little ducklings as they grew up, the mothers would begrudgingly allow their little flock of yellow puffballs to waddle up to Tommy. Ranboo probably has a video of that, and knowing him, he probably already shared that video to

Looking over at Tommy now, Tubbo saw him cooing again and Ranboo once again recording the shit out of it. Tubbo had to utilise all his self-control not to burst out laughing in case it would scare the ducks away. His head felt like it might explode from holding all of it in. After a while though, the ducks realised they didn’t have any food at all, so with a last quack to their new brethren (Tommy was convinced that they had basically adopted him into their duck family), they waddled their way away from the trio sitting in the grass. It felt nice; to sit with his friends on the cool ground, the sun slowly creeping its way through the clouds and blue sky. It felt so refreshing to be like this. Tubbo closed his eyes and let the filtered sunlight wash against his eyelids. The light came and went like the waves on a beach would; out and in, again and again.

Tubbo heard rustling to his left, ‘Must be some kind of bird coming to play with Tommy. God knows how much birds love him for some reason.’

He opened his eyes just as Tommy was looking over where the rustling was coming from, his blond curls bouncing at the excited turn of his head. Tubbo was expecting Tommy’s usual (uncannily accurate) bird calls, but they never came. Instead, Tommy shouted.

“Oh hey! It’s that little fox we saved the other day!”

Whipping around, Tubbo tried to peer through the small gaps between thick dark leaves on the large bushes. He had to squint a little, but eventually, he was able to recognize the shiny glint of glassy, wide eyes staring back at him. Smiling, he slowly turned and maneuvered around on the ground, so instead of having to turn his head a full 180 degrees, he was now facing the little fox hidden in the bushes head-on.

“Should we try and call him over, or would that just scare him away?” Tubbo heard Ranboo ask behind him. Though it took some effort, Tubbo resisted turning his head around to look at Ranboo as he replied back, “I guess it couldn’t hurt to try?”

Slowly raising his hand, flattened out, and tried to gently coax the fox out of the bushes with a soft “tsk-tsk-tsk” of his tongue. Immediately, the pup scampered off back into the forest behind the pond.

“Well…that was a complete failure.” He sagged as he turned back around to face his friends, picking back up their conversation where they left it last. Before long though, Tubbo heard the rustling again behind him and turned. Lone and behold, the little fox had returned; staring at them through the bush with its large eyes.

Ranboo turned towards Tubbo with excitement, “Let me try this time.”

So just like Tubbo, Ranboo slowly turned to face the little fox, extended his hand, and gently called to the fox again. Only this time, the fox didn’t run off so soon. Instead, it stayed there, its eyes now boring into Ranboo. A small orange paw lifted up and over the separating branches of the bush it was hiding in. And slowly (painstakingly slow) the little fox pup placed its now front paw on the soft ground, one step closer.

Tubbo felt his breath catch. His excitement clawed and constricted his throat in anticipation and wonder. He studied the tiny paw that now lay still on the grass; bright orange fur covered the leg until the very bottom where a tiny glove of white covered the remaining toes. The trio stayed completely still as the fox gingerly stuck its head further out of the bush; its button nose and pointed face peeking out.

“Come on little guy.” Tommy softly called behind him. The fox now quickly switched from staring at Ranboo, over to Tommy. Moving forward once again, it now almost had its whole head sticking out. Its ears perked on the top of its head like thin mountain peaks, whiskers twitching with its black nose. Silently, the fox pup fastidiously made its way toward the small group, meticulously stepping its way around rocks or sticks. Eventually, it stood right in front of Tommy, sniffed his hand, and paused. Then promptly made its way toward Ranboo, sniffed, and paused. Tilting its head up to look at each one of them, the small fox pup trotted around the trio into the space right between the group and the large tree behind Ranboo.

Wide-eyed, the three of them all slowly turned toward one another. No one said anything, but they all understood each other perfectly, ‘Well, what do we do now?’

Tubbo saw Tommy mouthing, “No sudden movements!” Calmly nodding, the three of them lowered themselves to sit in their original positions with forced nonchalance. And that’s how they spent the rest of the time at the park. Talking in soft voices and calm movements, with a baby fox eyeing every movement out of the corner of its eye.

The three of them eventually came up with a name (read: Tommy was trying his best to make the silliest names, Tubbo liked one in particular, and refused to allow the little fox to be named anything but that special name), Fundy.

###

The city seemed to be soaked in a golden haze from the lowering sun. Late afternoon had the clouds turning into rose-gold dashes across the sky. The hubbub of rush-hour had passed, leaving the usual noise of traffic as white noise as the trio made their way around town.

“Oh!” Tubbo exclaimed, promptly cutting off Tommy and Ranboo’s conversation about specialised two-way mirrors. “My dad wanted us to stop by Niki’s and Jack’s place before we make our way home.”

Turning on the adjacent street, the group made their way to a small hole-in-the-wall ice cream shop. The canary yellow and baby blue sign - the only indication of the place exists. Before Ranboo became friends with Tubbo and Tommy, the duo would make their way over to this tiny shop almost every day during the summer. The familiar five small steps leading to the painted door, the brass handle that always squeaked when turned more than halfway, and the light wood floors that somehow made the space feel so homey and safe. The first time Ranboo every hung out with Tubbo and Tommy, they dragged him to this exact spot the moment school let out. Tubbo can still remember the first thing Ranboo ordered, a single vanilla scoop with extra gummy worms.

Pushing open the white front door, a small chim sounded as the three of them made their way in.

“Hello! I’ll just be out in a second!” A soft feminine voice called from the back of the shop. Tubbo looked around the shop as they waited. It was a small shop compared to other places, but large enough to have multiple small tables scattered around. A thin row of windows along the top of the wall opposite the counter with the late afternoon sunlight warming the place. Light wooden floors that were always spotlessly clean, but constantly squeaked from any kind of movement, and the large ice cream containers behind glass where the counter was. A small vase of light purple flowers sat next to the cash register, a Christmas gift from a couple of years back that the three of them had given to Jack and Niki. It felt like a small, safe place where moments in time seemed to be paused - the first time they hung out with Ranboo, Christmas presents, and summer time memories.

The back door turning signaled Niki’s return.

“Sorry about that, just handling - Oh! Hello! How are you guys? How’s school been? Your regulars I’m guessing?”

The trio ordered, paid, and spent the rest of the time talking with Niki. Turns out, Jack had to go out and handle the shopping for this week, so he wouldn’t be back for a while. The small group spent the rest of their time talking with each other at a small table in the shop, Niki occasionally having to step out of the conversation to take care of customers. Tubbo knew when the sun went down without having to look out the windows above. He knew it in the way he felt his eyelids involuntarily slip down, his shoulders sag, and his quieter responses. Ironically, Ranboo seemed to perk up, the moment the sun started to go down.

“ - and that’s basically how I learned to never leave my windows open again!” Niki finished her story just as Tubbo’s phone rang out - his dad.

“Shit, what time is it?” He asked.

“Um… about 9:00 PM!” Ranboo balked at his phone screen. “Crap! We need to start heading back. Sorry, Niki! It really was lovely to talk to you, but we seriously need to go now.” The three of them laughed on their way out as they scrambled themselves together and promptly left with a quick wave and a shout goodbye.

Chapter Text

The walk home was warm, as any late summer night should be. Of course, the trio couldn’t actually enjoy it when Tommy had a curfew cut off at 8:30 PM and they were all extremely late.

“What time - hah - what time is it now?” Tommy panted as they rounded the corner. They were almost to his house, just a couple hundred meters left.

“Um..” Tubbo hurried to grab his phone from his back pant pocket, which was unsurprisingly difficult while sprinting faster than he has his entire life. Taking his phone out, his hands sweaty and shaking from adrenaline, and promptly almost dropped the damn thing.

“It’s uhh… 9:23 PM!” Tubbo shouted back. His lungs burned after running that whole time. They finally turned onto Tommy’s driveway, and Tommy immediately bent over from an excruciating stitch in his side.

“Haha, my mom’s gonna kill me.” Tommy breathlessly muttered staring at the white paved driveway.

The front door to his house flew open, pounding against the doorstop on the side of the wall inside. Black hair billowed as Tommy’s mother, Kristin, stared down at Tommy’s half-folded form. “Thomas! Do you know what time it is?!” His mother’s face scrunched in frustrated worry and disbelief. “And have you any idea what time you were supposed to be back? You better have some good answers for me young man, or you will get the lecture of your life!” Her painted fingernail pointed down at them. Tubbo almost thought it looked biblical.

But before he could think about that any longer, she turned towards Ranboo and Tubbo, “I hope you boys had fun, get home safe!” She smiled sweetly at them.

‘I thank God every day that I am in her good graces.’

“Thank you, Mrs. Minecraft. Ranboo and I should really get going now. Please don’t be too hard on Tommy, it really wasn’t his fault that we stayed out too late.” Kristin’s brow softened at that. Her black dress flowed behind her as she stepped down, walking towards them. “Alright then,” She relented. “I won’t go too hard on him. But seriously…” She looked down at Tommy, “Don’t give your old man a heart attack. Or me for that matter!” Walking further, she ruffled Tubbo and Ranboo’s hair. “As for you two, you better hurry home before you get in trouble as well.”

The walk back to Ranboo’s place wasn’t too far, but they weren’t in any rush. Ranboo knew his moms would be lenient as long as he got back before midnight. So, it left Ranboo and Tubbo some time to talk as they made their way. They talked about anything, nothing, and everything; pointing out constellations or different planets, pointing out bird calls (and trying and failing miserably to imitate them as Tommy does), and talking about their new little fox friend. After a lull in the conversation though, Tubbo started to think that Ranboo was acting weird. He would catch his breath as if to say something, only to glance over at Tubbo, and sigh. He would wring his hands nervously, laughing at anything Tubbo would remotely joke about (and please, Tubbo knew he wasn’t that hilarious). He seemed entirely preoccupied with something else running in his head. Tubbo knew Ranboo long enough to know that if he didn’t ask about it now, it would just fester in the back of Ranboo’s brain, and that never turned out well. It started to simultaneously grate on Tubbo’s nerves, and make him increasingly concerned. Eventually, after what felt like the millionth time hearing Ranboo sigh, Tubbo whipped around, eyes staring straight into Ranboo’s, and asked, “Alright, what is it?”

Ranboo paused before, “I want to ask you something, but you have to promise not to get mad at me…or Tommy.” Ranboo hesitated before quietly adding, “or yourself.”

Tubbo didn’t have any idea what this was about, but he shrugged and agreed to whatever contractual terms Ranboo wanted.

Ranboo seemed to hold his breath for a minute before letting it all out in a sharp exhale. “I know that we’ve been friends for a long time, so I don’t want you to… blame yourself for not figuring it out earlier. I never actually planned to tell you this anytime soon, or maybe I did, I-I’m not really too sure about that because I didn’t really give myself time to think about it after I realised and…well.” He broke eye contact and looked to the side. Tubbo smiled, “Hey, it’s alright. Thank you for thinking about me, but seriously man, you look like a shaking chihuahua. And frankly, I think you should worry a little bit more about yourself right now, than how I might feel. But thank you.” Tubbo smiled again. He reached out and squeezed Ranboo’s arms, watching how the tension in Ranboo’s shoulders seemed to spill away; eyebrows easing up, the corners of his mouth tilting upward, and his breathing evened.

“Yeah, thank you.” Ranboo earnestly replied. Emotions quickly ran through Ranboo’s face, too fast for Tubbo to catch all of them, but he saw at least two - fear and determination.

Ranboo’s shoulders pulled back as his green eyes seemed to steel themselves.

“Tubbo…I have magic.”

Silence. Tubbo knew in some subconscious corner or his mind that Ranboo was nervously twitching while he rambled on about how he “didn’t think anything really had to change between us. It’s really just magic, it’s not like I’ll hurt you, ever. You’re my best friend.” but honestly, Tubbo heard none of that. Right now, Tubbo’s whole brain was short-circuiting, and he could only stare in dumbfounded shock at Ranboo.

All of the subtle hints. All of the gentle eyes when he seemed to let go of his magic. The sideways glances and whispers with Tommy when the other two thought Tubbo didn’t notice. How in the world did Tubbo never notice? Never piece it all together. Never think twice about anything remotely strange… ‘Well, I guess my friends are strange, to begin with.’

Coming back to, Ranboo’s voice filtered through the stuffed cotton that seemed to have formed in his ears at some point. His brain trying to play catch up with the rest of the world.

“So, I hope that you don’t think anything bad about this, and I would love to still be your friend even after all of this. I don’t know if you have anything to say, so I’ll give you a moment now. Yeah, starting…now.” Ranboo inhaled sharply as if he hadn’t been breathing through his whole rant (which he probably hadn’t been).

Tubbo took in a shaky breath. “Um,” - the epitome of his eloquence, truly - “can you explain a little more about how your magic works?” Ranboo’s eyes seem to glow brighter, “Yes! Yeah, I can do that! Well, for starters, my eyes can glow in the dark.” Pointing at his eyes, Ranboo leans in closer, excitedly showing Tubbo. And he was right. Ranboo's eyes glowed a subtle shine, and now that Ranboo didn't have to hide anything, he let his eyes shine in full. Bright green eyes stared into Tubbo's (strangely similar to a cat's reflective eyes). “And umm, I can see better in the dark. I inherently know the phases of the Moon and the stars.” Ranboo put his hands on Tubbo’s shoulders and turned him around to look up at the sky. “And if I think hard enough, I can actually make certain stars glow brighter in the night sky.” Ranboo pointed at a random star in the dark expanse, and after a moment, Tubbo could see the star brighten. Shining much more prominently than the other stars in the sky, brilliant and true.

Ranboo let go of Tubbo, but he kept standing in the same place as when Ranboo had spun him. Yes, he loved that Ranboo had enough faith in him to confess to his magic. Yes, he definitely still loved Ranboo, it would be incredibly hypocritical if he didn’t. But a small part of his brain, a selfish, self-preserving, self-serving, childish corner of his brain reared its head.

‘How come Ranboo is able to tell someone about how own magic? How come he can be so happy about his magic when I had to endure horrible insults, phases, and ridicule, from everyone who knew me? How could I have become so messed up that I couldn’t even have enough faith in my friends to admit to a vulnerable part of myself? How come Ranboo had enough faith and bravery to admit, confess, share, and love that part of himself, his magic? How come I don’t have that? How can I have that? Why can’t I just have that one thing? That one small, fundamental part of myself. To love that part of myself.’

Tubbo had so meticulously made sure to monitor his magic for years. Years! He denied himself such freedom just because of his primary school classmate’s words. He forced himself to contain and lock away such a primary and fundamental part of himself since he was fucking eight.

And for what?

For some douchbags who didn’t even give a shit about him? Didn’t even understand anything about what magic was? They just spit the words their parents said behind closed doors about Tubbo’s “poor dad. Oh, I pity how he must have to deal with such a burden. Taking care of a magic kid? God, no!”

Tubbo’s hands clenched.

‘Why? Wh-’

“Uhh, Tubbo?” Ranboo cut through his thoughts like a hot knife. Tubbo tried his best to breathe in slowly. Taking a few deep breaths, he closed his eyes before clenching his hands, steeling his nerves, and taking in a final breath.

“I have magic too.”

Chapter Text

“Uhh, Tubbo?” Ranboo cut through his thoughts like a hot knife. Tubbo tried his best to breath in slowly. Taking a few deep breaths, he closed his eyes before clenching his hands, steeling his nerves, and taking in a final breath.

“I have magic too.”

Time seemed to stop, and so did Tubbo. He didn’t breathe, didn’t blink. He just stared at Ranboo’s shocked expression, steeling himself for the response. Tubbo knew that Ranboo couldn’t get mad, he would turn into the world’s largest hypocrite if he did, but yet…Tubbo was still irrationally afraid of how Ranboo would react. How he would feel about Tubbo actually having magic. And the worst part - how he would feel about Tubbo hiding it from him for so long - too long, in Tubbo’s opinion. As Tubbo started, moonlight reflecting upon Ranboo’s bright eyes, he saw the other’s face soften. Ranboo’s eyes relaxed, his shoulders slowly fell down from beside his ears, he exhaled his sharp inhale slowly in a soft sigh, and his mouth turned into a small, knowing smile. Ranboo almost looked proud. Why would he be proud? It’s not like Ranboo knew that Tubbo just spilled the largest secret that he had been holding from his closest friends because he was afraid that they would leave him the moment they realised…wait a minute, did Ranboo know?

He took a breath before responding, “I know. I think I’ve actually known for a while.”

Tubbo reeled at that confession. It felt like his world was crashing and burning very slowly in front of him. After all the time spent covering up this part of him, Ranboo knew?

“And when I say recently, I mean recently. I really didn’t get any kind of idea until about a couple weeks ago. It was when we were outside under our usual tree, and you kinda fell asleep. You were laying in the sun, and I guess you were happy enough that your magic just started to practically radiate out.” Ranboo chuckled as he seemed to remember. The vague memory of sleeping under the usual tree during lunch at school, the warm sunny rays on his face, the glowing warmth, a steady reminder of how nice his magic could actually be.

“I’m glad you felt like you could tell me. And I don’t want you to feel like Tommy will hate you, cause he won’t. I know he won’t, cause he knows I have magic, and obviously we had our suspicions about you, but didn’t want you to feel pressured. And I know I’m rambling, but I still think it’s important that you know that we don’t hate you, and I’m really proud that you would tell me that given that most of our school is pretty mean about people with magic.” Ranboo seemed to deflate after word vomiting, but he was right. Tubbo felt like he could breathe again around Ranboo, and knowing that Tommy knew about Ranboo and didn’t react badly was a good thing.

‘Maybe I’ll tell Tommy soon.’

However, until then Tubbo couldn't throw caution to the wind just yet. "You can't tell Tommy about this yet. Please, Ranboo, not yet." Tubbo almost pleaded with Ranboo, his gaze firm and determined. So what if Ranboo was ok with his magic, even if Tommy did know about Ranboo's magic, Tubbo wasn't sure if Tommy would still accept him. Countless years of ridicule mounted on his conscience is a pretty strong deterrent for wanted to pour your heart and soul out to others, even if you've known them for long enough.

Tubbo thoroughly ignored an annoyingly loud voice in his head saying that he knew Tommy well enough to know he'd never hate Tubbo, even if Tommy didn't like magic, which he didn't seem to seeing as he's ok with Ranboo. Shaking his head out of those thoughts, Tubbo watched as Ranboo stared conflictingly at him. Ranboo's silence stretching longer and longer with each passing second. And with each second, came more and more anxiety.

What if Ranboo doesn't keep the secret? What if Tommy hates me after knowing? What if, after years of knowing my best friends, they turn on me, hate me, don't want me, don't trust me?

Tubbo could feel the pressure behind his eyes growing, and took a steadying breath. "I promise I'll tell Tommy, but until then I need a little bit of time to get more comfortable." Ranboo's shoulders sagged and his head dipped in resignation. "Ok, I promise I won't tell Tommy. But you have to promise me that you will tell him sometime soon. OK?" Relief seemed to flood Tubbo, a strong current taking any residual tension, anxiety, and unwanted thoughts away. He smiled, “Thank you, Ranboo. And I promise I will tell Tommy soon, I just a bit of time.” Ranboo smiled softly in response, slightly strained with worry and a hint of concern, but still a smile. It was quiet for a moment as they slowly started to walk again, and Tubbo started to think.

He'd always thought that confessing his magic, revealing that part of himself would be much more climactic than this. He was expecting sobbing, screaming, possibly losing his friends. ‘I guess I was way too over my head in paranoia.’

Instead, he could feel his shoulders loosing tension slowly, his hands unclenching - which he didn’t know were clenched until now - as they continued the slow pace. A feeling of relief seemed to softly land on him, soothing his tension, his anxiety about all of this, his worrying over something that turned out wasn’t such a big deal.

Now that Tubbo thought back, he never really expected to tell anyone he had magic. Never really wanted to expose himself like that to others even if it was someone like Ranboo or Tommy. Thus Tubbo wanted to keep it a habit of never using his powers. He's never had good control of his powers either as a result. This presented a bit of a problem.

“Do you…” Tubbo paused. Even if he did feel better after the confession the situation was still terribly vulnerable. Starting again, he continued. “Do you have good control over your magic?” Hesitantly glancing at Ranboo, embarrassment tingeing his ears at the implication of his inexperience. A quiet hum before, “I think so.” Ranboo tapped his chin as he thought, his shoes lightly padding on the sidewalk. “I have more innate or…natural responses to my magic than controlling ones, if that makes sense?” Ranboo’s hands circled around as he tried to think of a better explanation.

“Like, for example, my eyes glow a little in the dark, I have good night vision, I know constellation and moon positions and what-not, I have more energy during winter and fall and obviously during the night. And that’s all fun and games!” Ranboo paused and turned back to face forwards again as if to avoid Tubbo’s gaze. “But, the one part of my magic that I know I can control is temporarily making people blind.” Ranboo paused, the moon shone above them, bright and white, casting light onto the surrounding areas. The crickets seemed to quiet for a time. Ranboo looked hesitant to continue, "Do you mind talking about it more?" Tubbo asked. Tubbo knew Ranboo wanted to continue, and wanted to explain how things happened the way they did for him to find out about this part of himself, however, whether or not it was too emotionally taxing right now was another issue entirely.

Ranboo turned, smiled, and nodded. He straighten his back, pulling back his shoulders, and letting out a sharp exhale before he continued. “I found out that I could do that when I told my only friend back in primary school. She seemed to take it ok at first, asking me questions, how it felt to have magic, it was just a kid’s curious questions. I was happy to answer them all, but she seemed to only want to ask me about my magic. One day, we were hanging out outside of school, I think we were walking home or something, and she made a comment of how she wanted my magic.” He let out a sharp huff, his eyebrows furrowing in. “I just laughed it off, she’d made small comments like that before. But she didn’t laugh back this time. She just kept staring at me before she grabbed me by the arms and just wouldn’t let go. She kept repeating that she wanted my magic and to give it to her.” His eyes seemed detached as he recounted the story. Frankly, Tubbo was horrified to be hearing about this, but it seemed important to know. “Eventually, I got so scared, and I just wanted to run away. That’s when she started screaming. She kept saying she couldn’t see. And I just ran. I moved schools quickly after that, but not before she started to tell everyone at school that I had magic. She could see again by the next day, and that was all that I was worried about. I didn’t care too much that people were rude to me because of the stuff they heard from her. But I moved here.” Ranboo smirked, and turned back to Tubbo - now trying his best to process a hero-type tragic-backstory.

“I met the weirdest boys I’d ever met.” Ranboo started to grow the most shit-eating grin Tubbo thought he’d ever seen. “And one of them had this disgusting poop coloured hair -” “Hey!”

They burst out laughing. “I think poop-colour is a lovely colour!” which only served to make Ranboo laugh harder.

By the time they’d calmed down, Tubbo knew that everything would be ok. Turning towards Ranboo, who was still wiping tears from laughing so hard earlier, Tubbo blurted, “I think my magic is sun related.”

Ranboo turned, raising an eyebrow, “You think?” Not judgemental, just simple curiosity.

“Well, yeah. Like the first time you guys seemed to figure out by magic was when I was laying out in the sun. And whenever I think about collecting magic in my hands, they glow and go all warm. I typically run warmer than the normal person. And similarly to how you’re more energetic at night or winter, I’ve noticed I have more energy during the summer or during sunny days.”

Ranboo hummed. “Yeah that seems plausible. But earlier when you asked if I could control my magic well enough, was that because you wanted help to control yours?” A little embarrassing to admit for Tubbo, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Alright, that’s perfectly fine, especially if you haven’t used you magic regularly. My moms know, and Mama has magic, so I regularly use mine. Do you want to come over to my house sometimes and practice there?”

Tubbo felt like crying (this was so unreal for him), and nodded vigorously in response. For years, it felt like he would never be able to find people to be comfortable enough to share this part of him. He felt like he’d have to bottle it up forever and never let even an inkling out. And here was his best friend, inviting him over to his house to help him practice his magic. Tubbo had to take a deep breath to avoid sobbing and collapsing on the side of the road, which would have made not only Ranboo panic, but the cops might have been called if anyone else saw. So with a fortifying breath complete, Tubbo looked back up, “Thank you, Ranboo. That really means a lot to me that you’d do that.” Ranboo nodded. “I’ll see when would be a good time to meet up. But it is getting late, so we should really be getting back.”

“Oh no.” Ranboo looked down at his phone, his face falling into one of resignation. “It’s been nice knowing you.”

###

To say the walk home wasn’t at least a little scary would be a lie. Tubbo knew his dad would sometimes get home late from work, but this was just a little too late for Tubbo to be safe. He crept up the stone path up to the front door, hoping the forever squeaky gate door wasn’t loud enough to have already woken up his dad or at least alerted him.

A swift key insert and click from the front door lock as all he needed before he turned around and booked it straight to the garage. Peeping his head in…nothing. But just before he could begin celebrating, he heard a creak behind him. He wiped around, only to come face to face with his dad.

Shit.

“Hey, I got you ice cream, haha.”

Chapter Text

Snacks finished, and practice wrapped up, Tubbo lumbers down the stairs of Ranboo’s home towards the front door, turning around to say his final goodbyes. It’s with a quick wave and thrown on shoes that Tubbo begins to make his way back home, walking slowly up the hill to his house around the corner. All the while staring at his hands. If he could just stare at them long enough, maybe the hours of practice with Ranboo would finally pay off and his hands would randomly combust. But Tubbo's eyes only started to water from the wind, and his hands remained stubbornly cold. “I wonder if Ranboo is better adapted to colder climates. Probably better than I am.” shivering as he talked to himself. Hands in his pockets, and give or take half an hour later, Tubbo walks down his house's stones pathway and into his room.
“My god have mercy on my back.” Tubbo groaned before plopping down into his desk chair to begin plowing through the mountain of homework. Project after assignment after essay, Tubbo worked through each making sure to message Tommy when he’d finished his half of the English analysis for Shakespeare.

Tubbo slapped his computer closed most likely harder than necessary and stood with a loud groan, stretching his arms up and around. He smiled to himself, flexing his fingers, getting ready to try and put some more practice into what Ranboo and him had been at for hours before. Sitting down on his bed, he took a deep breath like Ranboo told him and held his hands in his lap. Breathing in again, he imagined a small warmth and light in his hands, spreading from his fingertips all the way to the top of head and back again. Holding the image, he breathed in and out for a few more minutes, calming his mind and heart before opening his eyes to see…absolutely fucking nothing. Ok, Tubbo, not everything is gonna work the first time round. Let’s just try again.

Same routine, breath in, breath out, hands together, head back to fingertips, and open. And call it placebo, but Tubbo could swear that besides a stark lack of light, his hands felt warmer. By God, please, it’s not terribly difficult. Just try again.
In, Out, hands, Head and back, and open! Tubbo’s whole face lit up, literally. He finally felt the warmth from the small ball of light in his hands beating weakly like bird wings, or a small heartbeat. His hands held the warmth, increasing in heat in tandem with Tubbo’s increasing heartbeat. I knew I could do it, Ranboo definitely doesn’t give himself enough credit to his teaching skills.

But what if I can take it a little further? He breathed in, closing his eyes again, and tried to imagine the light not only being held in his hands, but getting brighter, bigger, and spreading through his whole body. He could feel the light lapping at his fingers and palms, could almost imagine the light spreading through his blood and into his toes crossed beneath him. Could feel his magic actually heating up more and more. Tubbo opened his eyes with a toothy grin, giddy with the thought of finally having control over more of his magic. And while the previously small sunshine warmth was now a steady wave of heat washing over him, the ball remained the same size. With determination taking hold, Tubbo breathed in again, trying to make his magic grow some more to make his small ball of light even slightly bigger. He could begin to feel the sweat accumulating around his brown and neck as he kept breathing in and out staring at the ball (which maybe wasn’t the best idea when remembering all the telling off from his dad about looking straight into the sun).

Tubbo frowned as he tried to channel all his energy and thoughts into controlling the size of the ball, to increase it even a little, to show that he did have a connection to his magic. With one final breath in and out, the ball started to glow brighter, moving outward by the smallest increment before shrinking back to its original size. He let out a startled laugh before quickly losing it to try and focus again.

The heat was borderline unbearable, not even the hottest summer days when Tubbo was sitting on only shorts sporting ice cold water could compete with the heat created here. But Tubbo didn’t want to stop now, just when he’d finally gained more control over his magic after…however many years it’d been already. With one more push and the deepest breath he could manage, Tubbo’s little light grew. He was so ecstatic he didn’t notice that along with the light growing so did the heat. And soon that light had almost doubled in size.

But when Tubbo finally registered the intense and sharp heat, it was too late. He pulled his hands out from under the light on reflex, yelping from the pain. Cradled to his chest, his hands throbbed with pain likely blistered from the heat. Tubbo gently peeled them back, hissing at the blisters already starting to form. He leapt from his bed, running to the closest bathroom door. Wincing hard as he had to twist the handle to open it, tearing and pulling at his already raw and throbbing blisters. He slapped the tap on, pushing both hands under the cool water, and sagging from the pain being washed away.

That was until he heard soft padding footsteps down the hall. “Hey, are you alright?! I heard a bit of a racket earlier and thought I should…check. Did you burn yourself?” His dad leaned over to see. “Yeah, I did…Just thought I’d make some noodles but ended up losing control of the water heater and burned myself.” He was going for a guilty laugh, but it sounded too forced. “I guess I overestimated how much water was really needed for ramen.” His dad grimaced, “Oh buddy, I get that, but how much would you have to overestimate to burn your whole hands. And your wrist.”

“Um, I overestimated by a lot…”

“Uhuh, and this has nothing to do with the fact that there’s actually no ramen packet in the kitchen, and the fact that the water heater is in fact cold.”

“You don’t know that! And I bet you also don’t know I had to throw the ramen packet away because I dropped my food on the floor.”
His dad frowned, hsi eyes suspicious, “Without a bowl…”
They both stared silently at each other. Tubbo didn’t want his dad to know that he was dumb when practicing magic and ended up burning himself like some toddler. But on the other hand, would his dad even understand? It’s not like he had magic himself, so how could his dad even help him?
“You know, I really think it’s only my own business on how I make my ramen, thank you very much kind sir. Now if you’d please, I need to run my hands under cold water until they feel better, and you trying to distract me is not helping in the slightest.” Turning back to his hands, his blisters already forming, and his skin still hot tamales red.

“Ok fine, don’t tell me. Keep your special ramen secrets close to your chest.”
His dad turned to leave, throwing over his shoulder, “just come get me when you’re down under that tap. I want to put some ointment and bandages over those blisters.” Adn with a quick smile, he left, the bathroom light still spilling into the dark hallway.

####

“Hey, so like, I know that you told me to take it easy with the practicing and all, but I got a little carried away, and really it wasn’t my fault cause it’s just really fun. But now I have blisters and they hurt, and I need your help because I don’t want to keep practicing if it’s just gonna end up with second degree burns.”

The lull of the cafeteria filled Ranboo’s silence at the table, Tommy looking at Tubbo’s frankly poorly bandaged hands, up to his face then over to Ranboo, and back down again. Trying his hardest to piece together everything. “Um, well…” Ranboo started, “I think I know someone who’s a little more..versed in warmer magic because I honestly don’t know how to deal with…” He lowered his voice, “magic burns.”

Tommy whipped his head around, “What you have-”
Tubbo let out a stressed laugh, aw fuck it might as well, Ranboo took it well, maybe Tommy would too. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me! And what, you told Ranboo first?!” maybe not.

“Well, it just happened, and I was planning on telling at least one of you soon, and Ranboo just came out and confessed first, which gave me the courage and then it just kinda rolled out from there.” Tubbo gushed in one go.

“But yes, I do. And - just to catch you up to speed - I burned myself like an idiot and now I need help…please.”

Tommy slowly nodded along, silent, but not angry. At least Tubbo didn’t think so. His face was almost blank if not for the thoughtful furrow. “Well, why don’t you guys come over to my place tonight, and we can talk more about this without hoards of people that could overhear us.” Tommy gave a quick smile, his fingers picking at the lunch tray - a nervous tick Tubbo knew he had since he was a kid. But regardless, he returned the smile, letting out a bit of tension he didn’t know he carried on him, and nodded. “Ok, that sounds good, and we might be able to catch up on some of that English project we have due in a week.”

And with a smile and a nod, with the topic resolved, they went back to their typical chatter. Nerves about the impending talk at Tommy's after school, still lingering in the back of Tubbo’s mind.