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Ranboo watched Michael run across the snow covered landscape, keeping a close eye on the pig child, just to make sure he wasn’t attacked by a mob or another person in their world. It had been just the two of them for the last few days, mostly peaceful, but the two still missed Tubbo. He had left to go help Tommy with something that sounded important. Whatever it was, he was sure that Tubbo would tell him everything about it once he returned home.
He was brought out of his thoughts by their son running over and hugging his legs. Ranboo smiled softly, leaning down to pat the top of his head. “Ready to go back in?”
Michael nods, darting inside as fast as he could.
Ranboo chuckles, following after and then heading to the kitchen to make them both some hot chocolate.
The rest of the day runs at a similar rate, watching Michael run around with his high energy and have some bonding moments, up until it was bedtime. They both sat on Michael’s bed, staring at each other. Michael was getting better at understanding English, but the two had settled into this routine and neither sought to change it. Michael’s chicken had settled into Michael’s lap, waiting for his owner to fall asleep.
The parent and child stared into each other's eyes, red and green patiently waiting while a pale and hollow eye stared back with determination. But as goes each night, the determination slowly morphs into extreme exhaustion and yet stubbornly staying up, then the pale eye closed and soft snores rise up from the child. With a soft smile, Ranboo reaches over and helps him lay down on the racecar bed and pulls the covers over his small form.“Good night Michael.”
Ranboo kisses his forehead, then leaves the room.
~
Ranboo was sitting in their new closet when he heard the front doors open.
“Ranboo! Get down here!”
Despite how cheerful Tubbo sounded, all Ranboo could feel was confusion. What did he want? Was he okay? Did he wake Michael? How was he? Did he have fun? Did something bad happen? Ranboo walked out of their bedroom and saw Tubbo shaking himself dry and holding something wet. “Shhh, you might wake Michael.”
“Sorry.” Tubbo grins, talking softer now as he looks around for cloth to clean the wet furred thing. “I got excited, how have you two been?”
Ranboo smiles, walking closer but keeping a distance from them because of the water. “We’ve been doing alright. Took him for a little walk earlier, he had some fun.”
“That’s great.”“What do you have there?” Ranboo leans down to look at the item better.
“A cake.” Tubbo grins wider, pulling a cake out of his inventory to show him.
“Oh. Nice.” Ranboo blinked, holding the cake.
“I also got a rabbit.” Tubbo laughs, holding up the slightly dry mammal.
“I see.” Ranboo nods. “Can I ask why?”“Hmmm,” Tubbo pretends to think for a while, continuing to dry the small animal, “nope!”
“Alrighty, then.” Ranboo chuckles. “Can I ask how then?”
Tubbo thinks for a bit, then nods. “I threw a new experimental potion into the distance and they accidentally ran into the crossfire, so we’re keeping them to observe them and make sure they don’t, like die or something.”
“What if you just created the first zombie rabbits?” Ranboo jokes, leaning down as the rabbit looks dry enough to not splash water if they shook.
“Oh god, I hope not.”
“Hello, this is patient zero of the rabbit apocalypse.” Ranboo grins.
Tubbo laughs.
Ranboo carefully pets the confused animal, then tilts his head as he feels a collar. Searching around in the fluff reveals a name tag. “Buni?”
“Yep, didn’t want them disappearing.”
“You spelled ‘bunny’ wrong.”
“And you spelled Micheal wrong.”
“I looked up the name, it said that Michael, ‘ae’, was correct.” Ranboo defends.
They bickered like this for a while, the argument getting more ludicrous and funny to the both of them. They didn’t want to wake Michael and risk upsetting him, so they decided to wait til the next day to see how the two would get along. So they brought Buni to their room for the night. Gently, holding the rabbit between them and coaxing them to sleep.
~
The next morning, Ranboo woke up to a face full of fluff. Which wasn't unusual, but now it was a face full of light grey fluff instead of fluffy brown hair with small horns. For a brief moment, he wondered if Tubbo’s hair had suddenly gone grey, but then he had a small padded foot step into his eyeball and remembered the small bundle that his husband brought home. He lifts his hands, trying to hold them, but that movement sends them running. At least he could breathe air now.
Ranboo slowly sits up and watches the rabbit run around on the bed. They jump off the bed, then think better of it and jump back onto the soft bed. He tilts his head, squinting at them. Did they… Did they get bigger? Like not just their stomach, but their overall body just looked bigger, almost chicken height. “One hell of a potion. I wonder if it’ll make you keep growing.”
“That would be terrifying and amazing.” Tubbo yawned, sitting up. “Buni got bigger.”
“They also stepped on my face.” Ranboo turns to Tubbo and grins. “Control your child.”
“Excuse you, he’s our child.” Tubbo laughs, grabbing a pillow and smushing it into Ranboo’s face.
Buni looked over at the two, ears going up and then darting to Tubbo’s lap, seemingly content or tired.
Tubbo grins, picking them up. “Son boy, son boy allowed.”
“Are they a boy?” Ranboo asks, stretching.
“I have no idea. It’s just their vibes.” The sheep teen says as he pets the rabbit.
“What do the vibes decree about this one?” Ranboo chuckles.
“The vibes assign them a pretty man.” Tubbo grins wide, lifting them up to the half enderman’s face.
Ranboo smiles, carefully taking them from him and just holding them. “Do you agree with the jury’s decision?”
Buni stares into his eyes blankly for a while, possibly not even comprehending what the two were talking about. After a few moments, they look up, then down, then back to Ranboo.
“They have agreed to the vibes of pretty man.” Ranboo decrees.
Tubbo laughs, petting Buni. “Our pretty little man.”
Buni makes a noise.
“Are they… purring?”
“Can rabbits purr?” Tubbo asks, leaning closer to listen.
“I’m gonna look it up.” Ranboo says, passing him to Tubbo and then grabbing his phone. He learned that not only could they purr, but also that there were several videos of them doing so. “Normal, happy rabbit noise from what I can tell.”
“Cool.” Tubbo grins.
Ranboo’s ears perk up as he hears tiny clops against the floor in the next room. “Sounds like our son is up.”
“Great.” Tubbo’s grin widens, pulling the rabbit closer to his chest.
There’s a few quick clops, then a gentle knock to the door. Ranboo smiles, walking over to their son’s door and opens it. A sleepy zombie piglin walks into his legs and wraps his arms around them. The half-enderman smiles, leaning down and picking him up. “Good morning, sleep well?”
Michael makes a soft noise and nods, leaning against his father’s shoulder.
“That’s good. Hey, what if I told you, you have a new sibling of sorts?”
Michael stares up at him, probably not understanding most of the words he said.
“Do you know ‘rabbit’?” Ranboo asks, leading him to the large bed near the center of the room.
Michael made some snorts, likely trying to imitate the word.
“Can you say ‘bunny’?”
A snort followed by what sounded like a calm squeal, like a common pig noise.
Ranboo sits on the bed and tries to angle his body so that Michael could see the fluff in Tubbo’s arms. “Michael, this is your new sibling. Buni, this is your older brother.”
Buni wiggles their nose, staring directly at Michael. The zombie child tilted his head, curious. Slowly, he reaches over and pats them on the head. He repeats the snort and squeal.
“He knows their name.” Tubbo’s face lights up with joy. “Have you been teaching him how to talk?”
“A little here and there. Mostly just getting him acquainted with objects and simpler words.” Ranboo smiles, patting Michael’s head. “Not sure if he’ll be able to speak common like us, but he’s on the road to understanding it enough to communicate.”
“Our son’s so smart.” Tubbo moves a hand from holding Buni to also pat Michael’s head.
They hear a soft gurgling noise and look down towards the noise. It was Michael’s stomach, who was also staring down at it.
“Sounds like it’s time to make some pancakes.” Ranboo grins, picking Michael up again and resting him on his hip. “Should we bring Buni with us or..?”
“Good question.” Tubbo looked down at the rabbit. “Can you eat pancakes?”
Buni stared back, unable to speak common like their sibling, but it was still undetermined if they could even understand the two of them. One potion is not a full education after all. So Ranboo pulled out his phone and looked it up. The answer was no, very much no, but you could make rabbit shaped pancakes.
“How about we make them something else to eat, something that won’t upset their stomach?” Ranboo suggests.
“Probably a good idea.” Tubbo shifts Buni into a better holding position and gets up. “What do we have left in the pantry?”
Ranboo smiles and lists off the items they still had, heart warm in this snowy fortress, as his family got a little bigger. They walked down the stairs and to the kitchen, knowing that the future lied ahead and eager to see what awaited them.