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Tubbo was sitting at the kitchen counter, a collection of books and papers that he needed to take care of surrounding him on the counter. He scribbled on the lines, squinting at the neatly written script. It was a letter from Foolish regarding the mansion. Something that usually Ranboo would take care of, but said enderman hybrid was off collecting resources as he often did during the day. Which left only Tubbo to deal with it.
Tubbo heard a door creak open and shuffling in one of the bedrooms down the hallway. His heart skipped, he could’ve sworn that he was the only one in the cabin besides Michael who was up in the attic. Tubbo only sighed and pushed himself away from the counter, making his way down the hallway.
His hooves clicked against the hardwood floor, he stopped in front of the closed door to Ranboo’s room. There was shuffling coming from the other side. Tubbo was pretty sure that Ranboo had left several hours ago.
Despite his worries, Tubbo knocked before opening the door.
“Ranboo I thought you went out?” Tubbo started, sighing heavily as he stepped into the room. He nearly jumped out of his skin seeing an unfamiliar but familiar winged figure rooting through Ranboo’s closet and Tubbo mentally smacked himself for forgetting the other person staying in his cabin.
“Tommy, what the hell are you doing?” Tubbo asked, his tone sounding a lot harsher than it meant to.
Tommy’s wings flared out, knocking against the closet door and he pulled away with the hiss, hitting his head on the metal pole where the hangers were. He spun around, his cheeks blooming a dark red, traveling to his ears. His eyes wide with surprise, Tubbo could see his hands shaking from across the room.
“What are you doing?” he shot back defensively, furrowing his eyebrows. He coughed awkwardly.
“If you’re looking for Ranboo, he’s not going to be in the closet…” Tubbo said, attempting a joke before he got to the real question.
“Ranboo is out mining,” Tommy said, his wings shifted and he wrapped them around himself, “he left like a few hours ago.”
“So what are you doing in his closet?” Tubbo asked, gesturing to the open closet door. He stuffed one hand in his pocket, his ears twitching. Tommy looked even more like a deer caught in the headlights.
“What does it matter?”
“Are you trying to make a nest?” Tubbo asked. That was a logical assumption, considering that Tommy had been in snowchester for a while now and nesting season was coming up. Tubbo also hadn’t really gone into the guest bedroom that Tommy had taken over recently, so he had no idea.
“No!” Tommy exclaimed, tugging at the hem of his shirt, “no, I—It doesn’t matter!”
“If it’s a hybrid thing you don’t have to be embarrassed about it, you know neither of us would judge you,” Tubbo reassured him, nodding his head to the grass block that was placed quite inconveniently near the window, “we’ve all got the weird things we do.”
Tommy growled under his breath, choosing to ignore Tubbo and turn back to the closet, he shifted through the hangers and pushed aside shirts and other suit jackets. “Tubbo, which one of these actually fit Ranboo? I know not all of them do.”
“Huh?” Tubbo frowned, he stepped further into the room, approaching the closet. Tommy ruffled his wings and gave Tubbo a side glance.
“Why do you—?”
“It’s important, just help me find it,” Tommy grumbled, he shifted on the balls of his feet.
“I mean I assume Ranboo would be wearing it?” Tubbo said slowly, but he shifted through each one of the suit jackets, looking for the streaks of purple on the lapel of Ranboo’s favorite. Though, considering that Ranboo went mining, he might not be wearing it.
Tommy hissed under his breath, chirping softly. He wrung his hands but didn’t say anything else.
“Here,” Tubbo said, surprised himself to see the jacket hanging up with the rest, he pulled it off the hanger, “this one’s his favorite. But why do you need it?”
Tommy took it gently, his wings twitching as he ran his fingers over the fabric, examining the cuffs and lapel with an unreadable expression. Tubbo could practically hear the gears in his head whirring.
“Okay!” Tommy nodded determinedly, “thanks Tubbo.”
“Why are you taking it?” Tubbo asked again, a hint of desperation in his tone.
“You’ll see later, just…” Tommy started towards the door, the jacket still in his hands, “don’t tell Ranboo about this okay!”
Tubbo’s eyes widened, he spluttered for a few seconds before agreeing. Tommy grinned and nodded, quickly scurrying out of the room, a trail of feathers fluttering behind him.
That night at dinner after Ranboo had returned, covered in coal dust and bits of stone, Tommy hadn’t brought up anything about the coat. Tubbo kept trying to catch his eye, to ask a silent question but Tommy avoided him, focusing on the food in front of him and occasionally answering what Ranboo asked him.
They all went to bed like nothing had happened, Tubbo’s mind was spinning, questions popping up in his head.
Ranboo didn’t even notice until a few days later. He paced around the house, anxiety set in his shoulders, his tail whipping back and forth.
“Hey, what’s wrong Boo?” Tubbo asked, peeking into the living room where Ranboo was muttering to himself, looking through the linen closet.
“I have a meeting I need to go to, I can’t find my jacket, the purple one,” Ranboo said, and while the description was vague, Tubbo knew what he was talking about.
“Oh,” Tubbo paled, he opened and closed his mouth a few times as he tried to figure out something to say.
“don’t tell Ranboo about this okay!”
“I’m sorry…” Tubbo said slowly, the lie coming off the tip of his tongue, “I washed it earlier today I… if I knew that you needed it I wouldn’t have. It’s still drying.”
Ranboo visibly relaxed, he sighed, his ears drooping, “oh… it’s okay… uh,” he wrung his hands, “I’ll just wear another one… It’s fine.”
Tubbo felt a pang of guilt, but he had hopes for whatever Tommy was doing with Ranboo’s jacket. While he didn’t really believe that Tommy wasn’t building a nest, he trusted that Tommy would at least say that he had stolen someone’s clothes. He did that when they were younger to prevent confusion.
But that was when they were younger.
“I’ll make sure to tell you the next time I wash it, okay,” Tubbo smiled reassuringly, Ranboo smiled back, though it was a bit hesitant. He nodded and padded his way back to his bedroom to get another jacket. Claws tapped against the wood but besides that, he walked near silently.
After he left, letting Tubbo adjust his tie and pat him on the arm beforehand, Tubbo made his way down the hallway to Tommy’s bedroom. He knocked on the door, waiting before he heard a grumble from the other side. Tubbo hadn’t seen much of Tommy besides this morning when Tommy left for a bit and came back with a mysterious bag a foot or so in size.
“Tommy, what have you been doing with Ranboo’s jacket?” Tubbo asked after he entered, “you got him all stirred up because he thought he lost it?”
Tommy pursed his lips, his wings fluttering. He was sitting on the bed in a circle of blankets and other fabrics. There was thread and string bundled up next to him and the bag he had shown up with this morning was in front of him, knocked over and the contents spilled out. The contents being various swatches of fabric and threads, along with other sewing supplies. He must’ve gotten it out of his dirt hut.
However, the project that he was working on was nowhere to be seen.
“What are you doing?” Tubbo asked, tilting his head to the side.
“He’ll get his jacket back in a bit. I'm almost done,” Tommy said slowly, not answering any of Tubbo’s questions.
Tubbo crept closer, his tail wagging, brushing against the hem of his shirt. He examined the sewing supplies that were scattered around. It definitely did not seem safe for needles to just be lying around like that.
“What are you doing?” Tommy asked, his feathers fluffing up defensively, his eyes darted around the mess he had.
“What are you doing?” Tubbo repeated, “what are you sewing?”
Tommy stood up quickly, his wings flaring out as he tried to shoo Tubbo out of the room, “shut up it doesn’t matter. Go away.”
Tubbo bleated in surprise, but he let Tommy half push him out of the door. Shutting it quickly behind Tubbo before he had the chance to turn back around.
Tubbo just sighed, shaking his head as he left.
Ranboo got back home late that night, his ears drooped and his tail swished tiredly against the floor. Tubbo was in the living room watching Michael run around happily, his stuffed chicken gripped tightly in his hands. He squealed excitedly when he saw Ranboo and crashed into his father’s legs, babbling incoherently.
“Hi, Michael!” Ranboo perked up, patting Michael on the head and scratching behind his ear. Michael pressed his face into Ranboo’s pants, the chicken being squished tighter.
“Did you miss me?” Ranboo gathered the baby piglin in his arms, smiling at Tubbo, who smiled back. Michael nodded and grabbed at Ranboo’s ear, his fingers curling gently around the sparkling gold piercings.
“How was your meeting?” Tubbo asked, he didn’t question what it was for, he didn’t need to know. Just as long as Ranboo was back safe.
“As well as any meetings on this server can go,” Ranboo chuckled nervously and sat down next to Tubbo on the couch, bouncing Michael on his knee, he shrugged his jacket off and laid it on the cushion next to himself. “what did you do while I was gone?”
“Bugged Tommy, me and Michael played for a while, answered a letter from Jack, y’know,” Tubbo shrugged, “wait for you to get home. The usual.”
Ranboo laughed, knocking his shoulder against Tubbo’s, “sounds super fun.”
“You have no idea,” Tubbo rolled his eyes.
“Where is Tommy anyway? Doesn’t he usually come out to mess around with Michael around this time?” Ranboo asked, looking around.
“Beats me, Tommy’s been holed in his room the whole day, I tried going in to see what he was doing but he shoed me out.” Tubbo leaned against Ranboo, who was chirping softly, pretending to be the chicken plush that Michael had. Michael giggled.
“Ah,” Ranboo pressed his lips together in a thin line, “that’s a bit concerning right?
“Nah, he seems to be working on something but he wouldn’t let me see.”
As if he knew that they were talking about him, Tommy materialized in the doorway of the living room, his feathers fluffed and his arms behind his back like he was hiding something.
“Hi, Tommy!” Ranboo gave a half wave, Tommy chirped in response, anxiety fixed in his posture. He stayed at the edge of the room, shifting his weight back and forth.
“Tommy come sit down,” Tubbo patted the spot on the couch next to him.
“Ranboo I have something for you,” Tommy said slowly, barely muttered out. Ranboo jumped, looking over at Tommy with a confused expression.
“Huh?”
Michael wiggled out of Ranboo’s grasp, running over to Tommy excitedly, he brandished his chicken toy. Tommy chuckled weakly and patted Michael on the head.
“Here,” Tommy moved quickly, shoving a bundle of fabric into Ranboo’s arms. He jumped back, curling one wing around himself, the other one was wrapped around Michael, pressing the baby piglin closer, who clung to Tommy’s pants leg. Tommy was creeping closer to the exit while Ranboo examined what he had in his hands.
It was the jacket he was looking for earlier, the one with the purple stripes on the lapel. Now, along with the purple stripes, there were neatly stitched allium flowers dotted around in a neat pattern. More flowers were stitched on the cuffs, not just alliums, but still in other shades of dark blues and purples. Ranboo’s eyes widened his tail swishing in the air excitedly.
“Did you do this?” Ranboo asked, even if the answer was obvious.
“Yeah…” Tommy answered sheepishly. He rubbed his arm.
“Really!” Ranboo grinned, “Tommy these are amazing, it’s so pretty.”
“Your jackets were boring, I thought I’d just spice it up,” Tommy kicked at the ground, looking everywhere but Tubbo and Ranboo. He wasn’t able to see the large smile that Ranboo wore.
“That’s what you were doing?” Tubbo asked, “I honestly thought you gave up sewing?”
“Course not,” Tommy mumbled, a small flush creeping across his face. Ranboo stood up, his tail flicking back and forth, hitting Tubbo in the face who spluttered and pushed it away. Ranboo muttered an apology, slipping the jacket on.
It didn’t make much of a difference, but Ranboo spun his hands, examining the flowers.
“How does it look?” Ranboo asked, tapping his feet against the ground.
“You look great Boo!” Tubbo said, clapping his hands together.
“Tommy thank you!” Ranboo clapped Tommy on the shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. Tommy squeaked in surprise, his eyes widening.
“Yeah, yeah, not a big deal, big man,” Tommy patted him on the back awkwardly. His grip lingered for a few seconds after Ranboo pulled away.
Although Tommy tried playing it off, Tubbo could see the swell of pride hidden in his expression. Ranboo ran his fingers over the neatly stitched flowers on his cuff, admiring them with great interest.
While Ranboo was doing that, Michael had tugged on the hem of Tommy’s shirt. Tommy picked him up, holding him close.
“If you would’ve told me what you were doing I would’ve come up with a more creative lie,” Tubbo chuckled weakly, rubbing at the back of his neck.
“Wait you knew about this?” Ranboo asked, staring at Tubbo.
“Well I knew that he took your jacket, I didn’t know what he was doing with it though…”
“If I had told you, you would’ve spilled the next time you saw him,” Tommy insisted with a huff.
“You underestimate me.”
Tommy raised an eyebrow. Ranboo chuckled lightly and stared at both of them, still bickering,
“I love it Tommy, thank you, truly.”
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Tommy shrugged and chirped softly. Ranboo sat back down on the couch, he continued to run his fingers over the flowers absently. Tubbo stared at Tommy until the winged man also sat down, still holding Michael.
Tommy curled his wings around himself and smiled softly to himself. Listening as Tubbo and Ranboo continued their conversation. He entertained Michael, scratching behind his ear and mimicking the chirps and grunts that Michael made.