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There were very few character flaws that Tubbo wasn’t willing to overlook for the sake of his best friend.
He knew how rowdy the other teen could get, often screaming at the top of his lungs as if he feared a single moment of silence would erase him from everyone’s memories. He’d witnessed the side-effects of his arrogance and of his impulsivity during the long-winded trial that led to his exile. He knew he could be reckless in battle, often turning himself into a shield with the confidence of a man who didn’t think he could die, despite already having made a trip to Hell and back. Tommy wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed; he could be selfish, he kept getting attached to people who hurt him, and his whole family situation was a can of worms better left unopened.
Tubbo knew all of that, and still he loved his best friend. Less so in spite of his imperfections and more so together with all of those, because they were what made Tommy himself.
So, imagine his surprise when what finally managed to give him a moment of pause was when Tommy brought over his ‘pet’ when moving into the mansion. The blond had asked for permission in advance, although now that he could see what his precious furbaby was, Tubbo was starting to understand why he’d remained vague about the species.
In front of him stood an eight-legged horror.
A thing of nightmares, dark like the night sky, with fangs sharp as daggers and dripping venom as it walked. It stood at about half of Tommy’s height, a little under a block. Its countless black beady eyes burned with bloodlust and malicious intent.
It was a fucking spider.
And not an especially friendly one either. As soon as it crawled into the mansion and away from the sunlight that kept it drowsy, it lunged at Tubbo. It could have also been aiming for a swift escape through the door as, in his shock, the goat hybrid had not moved a muscle. However, he doubted that somewhat since it immediately settled down when Tommy yanked it back toward himself by the leash wrapped around its elongated body and cuddled it to his chest as one would with an especially nervous small dog.
Tubbo didn’t know why he’d been expecting something different. His friend had always been a tad bit odd. He was the lover of the unlovable. Always chasing after the ugliest critters and seeking the approval of the scum of the Earth. Like that good-for-nothing older brother of his. That said, Tommy had always loved cute animals, too. His love for cows was well-documented, and he’d been walking about with Friend, Ghostbur’s blue sheep, always a couple of steps behind, before Skeppy decided to murder them for one of his cruel pranks. A lesser-known fact was that he also loved horses, dogs, and pigs just as much. Really, the only animals he tended not to vibe with were cats. So, when it came to picking pets, he was spoiled for socially acceptable choices that would have made him just as happy; he didn’t need to go look in the darkest caves beneath the surface and unearth whatever eldritch monstrosity he found down there.
And yet he had.
Would Tubbo have been a bad friend for going back on his word? Or would it have been understandable considering the kind of curveball that Tommy had thrown at him?
Unsure of the answer himself, Tubbo did what he always did best, and ignored the problem. Future him could deal with it once he was better equipped to do so if that day were to come. Until then, he decided he would just… build a separate enclosure in the mansion for Tommy’s giant crawly critter. One that neither he nor any other member of his family could accidentally stumble across. Maybe a detached shed or something…
Reassured by the shadow of a plan he’d concocted, he plastered a smile onto his face and greeted his best friend properly at a distance. “So… how did you acquire your lovely pet?” he questioned before a ‘Hello! How are you?’ could cross his lips. Curiosity had gotten the better of him and made him forget all manners. Thankfully, he knew that Tommy wasn’t the type to care about that.
Predictably, instead of getting offended by Tubbo’s bluntness or by his refusal to step any closer and put the sword he had a white-knuckled grip on back in its sheath, Tommy lit up like the big tree in front of the main Nether portal. There were stars in his eyes at the prospect of being able to embellish what was likely to be a rather mundane tale of mining and resource gathering.
“You will never believe it” Tommy declared when they both knew that he was about to recount the most believable story in existence, aside from a couple of the superfluous details he would throw in for the drama of it all. “So, I was minding my own business, planting some flowers around my house or maybe farming some carrots, I don’t remember. Point is, I was unarmed and defenseless. And suddenly, from a few blocks away, I hear this loud hissing. And, as you can imagine, I expected the worst. I turned, thinking there would be a creeper standing there, about to end me, and instead this little guy was there!” as he said that, he lightly shook his pet, making all of its hairy legs jiggle ominously. Weirdly enough, the spider didn’t seem to mind that treatment. In Tommy’s arms, it was better behaved than most adults on that server. “And he was the most adorable thing I’d ever witnessed, so I invited him in, and he just chilled in a corner of my ceiling. His name is Shroud, and he’s my son now” the last sentence was spoken with a degree of seriousness that was rare for the other teen. He might not have been begging, but Tubbo could hear the plea underneath it all, the doubt that he’d be allowed to keep something he loved this time (even if that something was a scary ass poisonous animal) when he had never been before.
That desperation broke Tubbo’s heart.
He couldn’t, in good conscience, take Shroud away from Tommy.
Because, while his friend had an endless laundry list of flaws, he was also kind, funny, and caring, and he didn’t deserve any of the shit he’d been put through. And ensuring he would never suffer again was the main reason why Tubbo had invited him to live with him and his family at the mansion in the first place. That and the fact that his house got blown up constantly and was objectively unsafe to live in.
A small, selfish voice in the back of his mind tried to remind him that his motivations weren’t purely altruistic. He had missed his friend, and living together for his sake was as good an excuse as any to finally be able to keep him where he could keep an eye on him. The base of it all was his possessiveness. Thankfully, that sentiment was quickly squashed and pushed back to the dark corners of his mind that Tubbo wasn’t yet willing to acknowledge, where it could perish for all he cared.
“I’ll build Shroud his own room” he reassured his friend. “For now, keep him in your room, though. I don’t want Michael to come across him and somehow get hurt”. It was a fair compromise in his opinion. He wouldn’t be feeling completely safe until that beast was tucked away somewhere else, but he could live with it being just out of sight for a short while.
His friend thankfully accepted his condition.
And, with that, Tubbo figured that the most awkward part of their cohabitation was over. There was a bright future ahead of them, and they could reach for it right after they got done dealing with this small bump in the road.
Oh, how wrong he was…
---
Tommy had been living with Tubbo, Ranboo, and Michael for almost a month when another incident occurred.
It was early in the morning, Tubbo was sitting at the kitchen table, coffee in hand and a plate of his husband’s breakfast spaghetti in front of him (he was eating them out of marital obligation, however he would have lied if he said that he wasn’t hoping for some kind of distraction that would have allowed him to claim that he’d simply forgotten about that sauceless and saltless mush), Ranboo was pacing back and forth with their son in his arms, gently rocking the small zombie piglin to try and soothe him. Michael was starting to grow his baby teeth, so he’d been particularly fussy the night before.
The mansion was as peaceful as it could get those days. Birds were singing outside. Snow was gently falling, covering the ground. And the sun was covered by a thick layer of clouds.
For a single moment, Tubbo allowed himself to feel happy, to acknowledge that he’d finally made it, he was finally safe… then that moment of idyllic bliss was shattered by the sound of their front door being slammed open, quickly followed by the grunting of a zombie and by Ranboo’s horrified screech. He didn’t even manage to count to three before their son, scared by his father’s reaction, started wailing.
Tubbo sighed.
He put down his fork and stood up, still holding his coffee. He would need it to be able to deal with whatever bullshit Tommy was pulling this time around.
Exiting the kitchen, he found himself face-to-face with his best friend, who didn’t look as cocky as he’d imagined him. Instead, he just looked somewhat embarrassed. There was a zombie child wrapped around his leg. It was looking around wildly and grunting threateningly. Still, it refused to let go of Tommy. It didn’t even try to attack them as its instincts were most likely urging it to. It stayed there.
It reminded Tubbo of a frightened animal hiding behind its mother.
“What is this?” Tubbo asked flatly.
This time around, his bluntness did earn him an offended squawk; however, he couldn’t have cared less about it. He hadn’t gotten much sleep that night because of Michael’s aforementioned teething issues, and he hadn’t even gotten a moment of peace to enjoy his damn coffee. He was pissed off. Had Schlatt seen him like that, he would have made one of his classic misogynistic comments about him being on his period (or perhaps not. He’d kinda stopped doing that after Fundy just started to respond, ‘yeah, currently losing about a liter of blood a minute, wanna see?’ every time. There was nothing that scared the old dictator more than questionable biology facts).
“First of all, they’re not a what, they’re a who” Tommy’s attempt at correcting him was met with nothing but an unimpressed stare, so he dropped the attitude really fast. Instead, his shoulders sagged and he sighed. “I don’t know Tubso… I think they lost their parents. I found them in a cave all alone, and they immediately became very clingy. I couldn’t just kick them away or kill them after that, could I? They didn’t even try to attack me! It would have been nothing but cruel”. Once more, fear, sadness, and longing permeated his every word. Tubbo could tell that his friend could relate to the monster glued to him. Years before, he’d been found in a cave by Wilbur, lost, scared, with no idea of where he’d come from, and with no way to survive on his own. And, sure, the blond appeared human, and he wasn’t a danger by any means, but that’s not how he saw himself. Not ever since his latest exile.
Tubbo wasn’t sure what had happened during Tommy’s time in Logstedshire, but he knew it had changed his best friend a lot. He was less sure of himself now. Self-hatred that hadn’t existed in their childhood was now a dark cloud constantly looming over him. He always gave off this intense air of desolation.
Things had gotten even worse for him when he’d gotten out of the prison after his last visit to Dream, with one less life and one more debt to the man who had ruined him plenty of times already. Tubbo couldn’t confidently say that his best friend was even human anymore after that, for as much of an asshole as that sentiment made him sound like. There was something off about him. The stench of death refused to let go of him ever since. And maybe that was why all of a sudden, all hostile entities refused to go after him. And maybe that was one more reason for him to care about the zombie wrapped around his leg.
Just like before, Tubbo knew that he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he took this small joy from his friend. Besides, for as revolting and terrifying as zombies usually were, the little guy seemed rather harmless. They were definitely better behaved than the spider that took over their attic and kept stealing whatever scraps of meat they had lying around in chests.
With a resigned sigh, he glanced at his husband, who was begging him not to do anything stupid with his eyes, and then back at his best friend. “They can stay”. His statement was met with a loud cheer from Tommy and a shocked gasp from Ranboo. Michael was still crying, so he doubted he’d heard anything he said. “But they’ll have to stay in the attic. Both because there is no sun up there, so they won’t go up in flames, and because I don’t want to risk it with them running around. You know what that one baby zombie did to Phil…”.
Tommy nodded quickly. “That’s more than fair. Thank you, Big T! I owe you!”. And, with that, he was off, running up the stairs, still with the zombie child hugged to his calf.
Once he was out of earshot, Ranboo turned to him and asked: “We’re not really letting that thing stay, right? Please?”. As his husband, his wants and needs should have come above all else for Tubbo. And it was rare for the half-enderman to ask anything for himself as it was.
It was a pity that they both knew that Tubbo’s priority would always be his best friend.
“Just don’t go to the attic” he said. And that was that.
---
Going to the Nether to gather netherite and gold should have been a pretty easy thing for Tommy, who had spent a good part of his childhood in the lava-riddled dimension (often tagging along with Technoblade on whatever peaceful trade missions he conducted down there). Tubbo knew that there were mostly incredibly hostile creatures living there, but the only ones who were truly undead and may have been affected by his best friend’s newfound not-quite-human status were skeletons and wither skeletons, and neither of those were very sociable even with their own kind. Hoglins were aggressive as Hell, even toward other Nether-dwelling beings. They already had both an enderman and a zombie piglin at home, so it was unlikely for the other teen to want a repeat. And, while striders were sorta ugly, they were friendly, and he himself wouldn’t have minded keeping one as a pet, as long as they managed to build a proper enclosure for it.
Needless to say, Tubbo was pretty confident that everything would go well and their already odd family wouldn’t expand any further.
And yet, once again, his best friend managed to defy his expectations.
He was crouched in front of the small potato patch they had there in Snowchester, pulling out all of the plants that looked ready. Ranboo stood next to him, a half-full wicker basket in his arms, and Michael was lying on the ground on his right, looking up at the cloudy sky and muttering unintelligible words in a mix between his native language and English. They’d decided to do something productive while they waited for Tommy to retrieve the resources they needed to complete Michael’s very first armor set.
Tubbo would have been lying if he said that he wasn’t a tad bit anxious.
It was rare for him to allow Tommy to get out of his sight those days. Partially because the last time he did, the guy came back with a child, and partially because he’d heard rumors about Wilbur being back from the dead, a gift nobody asked for.
After hours of waiting for his friend’s return, his nerves were fried. He was more on edge than he’d ever been before, bar that time he’d been publicly executed. And maybe that time Dream decided to get rid of him and imprison Tommy somewhere unreachable (probably in the vault the tyrant found himself trapped in instead). And that time Eret betrayed them, and he saw his best friend and Wilbur die in front of him before Sapnap finally managed to land the killing shot on him. His life had been full of anxiety and tragedy, and the fact that his worry for Tommy that day made it so far up in the list was impressive in and of itself.
The loud, inhuman screech that pierced through the air, shattering whatever peace his poor country could afford, certainly didn’t help his sense of unease. And turning around only to be faced with a ghast ominously floating in their direction didn’t either.
Quickly, he grabbed Michael and handed him off to Ranboo, ordering them both to run back inside and barricade themselves in the basement. Ghasts were sight-based hunters. They were entirely deaf, and their sense of smell wasn’t the greatest either, so for as long as they were out of its line of sight, they were safe. And even if this one turned out to be an exception for some reason, the basement was blast-resistant.
Ranboo hesitated.
His eyes were glued to the approaching horror. No amount of pushing on Tubbo’s part was getting him to move, so the only thing the goat hybrid could do was summon a sword and a shield, step in front of his husband, and prepare to return a couple of fireballs to its sender.
“Unbelievable…” Ranboo muttered, earning a confused stare from Tubbo. He pointed up at the ghast, specifically at a darker spot protruding from its back. Squinting his eyes against the too-bright sky, Tubbo managed to spot a familiar red and white T-shirt and a mop of blond hair, and it clicked. That wasn’t just an animal that had gotten lost and randomly wandered through a portal, which, while unlikely, did happen sometimes when portals were big enough. That was a soon-to-be pet of theirs. “We’re not keeping it” Ranboo decided. He sounded firmer than he’d ever heard him be before. “This is a step too far and everyone can see it. We need to draw a line somewhere, and a ghast is far over that line”.
Tubbo couldn’t agree more.
There were plenty of sacrifices that he was willing to make for his best friend, and the fact that he’d considered letting him keep a strider was proof of that. Not considering the possibility that he would fall in love with a giant floating death balloon was his fault; however, that didn’t mean that he would just lie down and accept that outcome. His husband was right; they had to set some limits.
At least that ghast didn’t seem particularly aggressive. It was screaming at the top of its lungs, but it was yet to attack with one of its formidable explosive shots.
The ghast slowly lowered itself to the ground until it was flush with the snow below it. Its legs were splayed out to the side, and its expression turned content. Its red eyes were closed, and its mouth was turned up into a smile. It whined a bit when Tommy hopped off its back, but was easily soothed with a couple of pats to the side. Tubbo had never before seen one of those creatures look so content and at peace.
For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating, so he rubbed his eyes and looked again, only to be met by the same exact sight.
“Tubso, my man!” Tommy started, somehow sounding confident, upbeat, and nervous all at once. He was wringing his hands together and swaying his hips back and forth like a kid who knew they were in trouble and was trying to worm his way out of the scolding he was sure to receive. Michael acted the same whenever they caught him stealing whatever pieces of gold they had lying around. He wondered which of them had started doing it first. “So… I know you’re not the biggest fan of my pets… but I promise that Clementine is nice! She wouldn’t hurt a fly! And look at her, she seems to like snow a whole lot. Sending her back to the Nether, where there is no snow at all, would be cruel. Besides, I’m sure you’ve always wanted to fly too; it would make traveling so much more convenient. And she loves flying around with people! She’s very sociable. And she helped me out a ton in the Nether-” he was rambling, his words were coming out a thousand blocks a minute. He was not expecting Tubbo to agree to his request; that much was obvious.
And neither was Ranboo.
The half-enderman was staring at Tubbo expectantly, still holding Michael in his arms as if to emphasize the reason behind his firm boundaries once more. That last part would have been more effective had their son not been trying to squirm out of his hold and toward the ghast, seemingly feeling curious and playful at the sight of the giant being (it made sense, ghasts and piglins usually cohabited in harmony. There was no reason for the little guy to think he was in any danger).
There was only one correct choice in that situation, and everyone present knew what it was.
And yet, Tubbo turned to Tommy, who still looked so tense and nervous, and sighed. “You’re gonna help me build a suitable stable for Clementine. I’m not building it all alone”.
Tommy’s expression brightened, and he pumped a fist in the air in victory. Seeing him so happy washed away all possible regrets Tubbo could have had. As long as his best friend was smiling, then he’d done his job. Besides, Michael, who didn’t entirely understand what was going on or what had been said, cheered just as loudly at the news and quickly freed himself from his fleshy cage so he could go do a traditional victory dance with his favorite uncle and cuddle their new family mount.
“Unbelievable” Ranboo muttered bitterly. “I’m gonna go stay at my Arctic house a while, I need a break from this insanity” he stomped off before Tubbo could do anything to stop him. Not that he would have known what to say or how to convince him. He’d made his expectations clear, and Tubbo had once more trampled all over them. The only thing he could hope for was that he could cool down and come back sooner rather than later.
---
The time between Clementine’s arrival and Tommy’s next acquisition was shorter than all the others.
A mere three days later, after Tubbo sent him off to collect some cobblestone for the stable they were constructing, Tommy came back with a warden in tow who was also helpfully carrying materials.
By that point, Tubbo wasn’t even surprised any longer. He looked up at the horror of the deep, put out his arms, and accepted the materials it offered him with a nod. It wasn’t as if panicking did him any good anyway.
Ranboo hadn’t come back yet, meaning that all the childcare responsibilities fell on him and Tommy, and Tubbo was quite tired. He was grateful that his best friend was always willing to take on night duties, and his ability to speak piglin usually meant that he was quicker at calming the crying toddler down than either he or his husband ever were. However, Tubbo did most of the chores during the day since he didn’t want to do what Wilbur once did and drop all responsibilities on the shoulders of his best friend; it wouldn’t have been fair. And maybe that was why he found himself predisposed to accepting this new addition to the family so easily.
From Tommy’s bewildered expression, he could tell that he’d been expecting anything but that. It crossed Tubbo’s mind that maybe his best friend had been trying to push boundaries until Tubbo snapped and sent him away, and why would he have ever expected him to do the exact opposite when that was what he’d done in the past? He’d tried to do so before by antagonizing Ranboo, but it had quickly become clear that Tubbo’s priorities were his child above all and then Tommy as a close second, so that hadn’t quite worked out the way he’d imagined. Gathering a whole gaggle of oddities at the mansion must have been his second attempt.
Unlucky for him, Tubbo was a stubborn motherfucker.
He had to become one to survive under Schlatt, and old habits never truly died out.
The three of them, Tommy, Tubbo, and the warden who apparently got the name of ‘Princess’ (an extremely ill-fitting but funny moniker for the hulking beast), worked side-by-side in silence on Clementine’s stable, while Shroud, the still unnamed baby zombie, and Michael ran around in the yard, chasing each other and letting out some delighted squeals here and there. Their family mount wasn’t there at the moment; Jack Manifold had borrowed it to go to work at the Big Innit Hotel. Had she been there, she would have been floating above them, keeping them safe from any oncoming threats. Or at least warning them of any she spotted.
However, without their best security system around, the members of the Syndicate had already breached their borders when Princess straightened up, antennae vibrating as it sniffed the air. Up until that moment, she had shown no signs of aggression. She clearly had a distaste for the noise the kids had been producing, but she kept herself in check by pressing her ears into Tommy’s hands any time it started getting on her nerves. This time around, however, she’d taken on a battle stance and was starting to charge one of its deadly yells. Tommy had to run damage control, positioning himself in front of her, just to avoid her blowing Phil up as soon as he stepped into view (and close enough for one of her blasts to hit him).
Noticing the angry warden, Phil immediately went stock still. Which then caused Techno to bump against him, and Niki to bump against the piglin, and Ranboo to bump against her. It was a domino effect, and all of them, aside from Tubbo’s husband, ended up face-planting either on the ground or on each other.
Tommy couldn’t contain the loud bout of laughter that escaped his mouth, and Tubbo wasn’t much better as a bit of a giggle slipped past his lips too, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it.
It wasn’t every day that one could see two infamous warlords and an arsonist face down and ass up like the world's clumsiest clowns.
The humor of the situation eventually dissipated, and the realization that Ranboo must have been the one to push for another inspection of Snowchester dawned on Tubbo. The fact that he would do so when their son was out and about and not hidden safely in the attic was the biggest betrayal in Tubbo’s opinion. Still, with Shroud and the baby zombie both quickly shielding his son, he felt rather safe and in control. The situation could have been worse, but they weren’t defenseless, and Techno’s fidgety behavior proved that he was well-aware of that. If he was concerned about the idea of attacking, then the rest of his posse would follow suit, so Tubbo decided to focus on him and deal with his husband at a later date.
He stepped close to Technoblade, almost enough to come chest-to-chest with him, to Tommy’s and Princess’s dismay. “What’s your little military group doing in my commune? Out for a field trip at the zoo? If so, it’s a pity, because our ghast is not even here today…”. Once upon a time, it would have been unimaginable for him to be able to remain so calm in front of the one who had carried out his public execution. Had that same confrontation happened even just a few months prior (before he’d lost his best friend for good once, before he built his nukes, before he decided that he would never let anyone step all over him ever again), he would have been tucking his tail between his legs and lowering his head. Now he refused to be the first to lower his gaze.
Was that a sign of progress, or had he become even more fucked up than before?
Did it matter when his newfound confidence filled him with pride?
Techno was the one who backed down first. He took a step back and raised his hand, palms splayed out and forward-facing, in a sign of surrender. “It’s a friendly visit” he lied. Tubbo pretended to believe him, but refused to back down at all still. He wouldn’t. Not until they’d left the country he’d created as a refuge for all the ones they’d left misplaced after Doomsday. That could have been considered petty, but he didn’t care. They didn’t deserve any more kindness than that. Techno’s eyes shifted to Tommy, and something pained flashed over them. It was gone in an instant, though, and he soon moved on to Princess, Shroud, Michael, and the baby zombie. “You’ve got quite the varied assortment here”.
Tubbo rolled his eyes. “You’re a pig who lives with a bird, a half-enderman, and a human. You can’t judge shit, Blade”.
Techno snorted and nodded, conceding the point. Then he turned to Ranboo and patted his shoulder. “I don’t see anything of our concern here. I’ll leave you to handle the rest” and, with that, he, Niki, and Phil retreated. Their steps were too hurried; they betrayed their lack of composure. For as much as Technoblade tried to show otherwise, their array of hostile mobs must have given him quite the fright.
With them gone, Tubbo turned on his husband, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in irritation.
Ranboo was guiltily looking everywhere but at him; he was sheepishly scratching the back of his neck with his claws, and he was kicking around a small puff of snow with the sole of his left shoe. His attempt at acting casual was atrocious.
“Boob boy, I suggest apologizing; otherwise Tubso will just make you sleep on the couch” Tommy piped up from a few steps away after almost five whole minutes of silent staring.
He knew Tubbo so well because that was exactly what he’d been thinking of doing. Either that, or sending him to sleep in the unfinished stable.
His husband must have realized as much then, because his shoulders sagged and he meekly raised his mismatched eyes to meet Tubbo’s icy glare. “I was upset first…” he muttered. He sounded defeated and sad. And his misery alone was enough to make a great deal of Tubbo’s anger evaporate. “I know Tommy’s your best friend. I know you’ve known each other longer. But you just… you ignored everything I said. Every time. It hurt”. His lower lip wobbled, and Tubbo could feel himself start to tear up as well. He hadn’t been the best husband lately, that much was true. In his desperation to keep his best friend happy and avoid the mistakes of the past, he had been neglecting Ranboo an unfair deal. Of course, resentment would build up after that. “Still… I’m sorry for bringing them here. I should have known better than to do that” Ranboo concluded with a somewhat half-hearted apology.
Behind him, Tubbo heard Tommy and Princess gathering all the kids together and corralling them back inside. The argument might have been technically started by Tommy’s actions, but it wasn’t any of theirs to fight, so it was for the better if they didn’t witness it either.
Tubbo noted down in his mind that he would have needed to thank Tommy for his foresight later.
Once they had all retreated back inside, Tubbo dropped his arms by his side and sighed. “You’re right” he muttered. “I’ve been a bit of a dick lately. But, Boo, Tommy is important to me. He is my only family, and I’ve let him down before. I want to give him a happier life than he’s ever gotten before, and if I have to make some sacrifices to achieve that, I will”. His expression hardened; he wanted to make sure his husband understood how serious he was, and what the underlying meaning of his words could be in case he found it necessary. He loved Ranboo a lot, and he wasn’t under the false impression that he’d been a saint in their relationship and he’d been treating his husband fairly. But if push came to shove and he needed to cut someone out of his life, it wouldn’t be Tommy. “Whether you stay and we work on finding a new balance, or you run away back to the Arctic, is your choice. But if you abandon me alone with our child for days on end once more, I’m changing the locks to every door. Understood?”.
Ranboo nodded.
For a moment, neither of them moved, and Tubbo thought that was that.
But then, Ranboo surged forward and wrapped him in a tight hug. After the initial shock faded, Tubbo reciprocated the affection with just as much warmth.
“I’m not good with changes” Ranboo confessed. “But… for you and for Michael… I’ll try. Okay?”.
Tubbo smiled. “Okay. Now come on, we gotta properly introduce you to Princess”.
“Princess?” Ranboo questioned, worry already trickling back into his voice.
“The warden” he explained nonchalantly.
“Right” Ranboo sighed, resigned at long last. “Let’s meet Princess then”.