1.14.22
((it's been a while, sorry, ive had writer's block for a bit eeee))

              Tommy blinked in disbelief, they were together and he never knew about it to begin with? He had mixed emotions about this, in fact, his emotions were all over the place to begin with which only made things feel way more complicated than they should be. "How long was this ago?" He curiously asked. Ranboo thought about it for a moment," Well, it wasn't that long ago, I guess it was a few days after you got exiled. It just kinda happened because of money purposes for the country I think? I'm not too sure of it myself."

              Tommy sighed sharply," Come through the portal, Dream's gone for now." Micheal giggled and jumped through, followed by Ranboo delicately walking through as well. The sky was pitch black with a few splatters of stars here and there scattered throughout the shadowy canvas, the breeze was gentle and could only pick up a few leaves to make an ephemeral kind of dance along to it, and the torches randomly placed around the exile campsite made everything feel more welcoming. Tommy breathed in a sigh of relief," Thank god he's gone now, sometimes it feels like he'll never leave me alone, even if he wasn't here, he still would be. Mentally, I guess."

              The enderman hybrid only nodded in agreement, then turned to the other," By the way, what was he doing? Like what was he there for? I know he looks after you and all but-" Tommy cut him off with a shaky tone, catching Ranboo a little off-guard," That stupid... he does anything other than look after me. He's terrible, he keeps forcing me to put my shit into a hole and then blow it up, apparently I can't have any tool above stone because he'll think I'm trying to overthrow him, I-" Tommy rambled on and on about him, only beginning to talk faster and get more frustrated. Ranboo frantically tried to calm him down, telling him to take deep breaths and he eventually calmed down.

              Micheal hugged the panicking teenager's leg during all of this, making Tommy tense up but relax slowly into a subtle smile. "Thanks, Ranboob," he crouched down and pat Micheal on the head," and you too, Mi... Micheal was it?" Micheal smiled brightly and nodded his head, putting both of his hooved hands up, then let them fall on the blonde's head of hair," Gold!" Tommy laughed, confused," Why does... Why does he do that, Ranboo?"

              "Oh, he's a zombie piglin so he really likes gold... or anything that has the same color as gold. We assumed he was colorblind because he seems to only identify the color yellow and a little bit of blue so far. All the rest he described to be dull or the same colors when they were very different to each other." Tommy nodded to this," Ah, that makes sense. Are most piglins colorblind, you think?" Ranboo shrugged and responded to this with," Might be a possibility."

              Tommy took a couple of minutes to remember the cornflower and stood up from his position," Oh, by the way, I have something for you, Ranboo. Close your eyes really quick, though." Ranboo tilted his head in curiosity, but slapped a hand over his eyes and then was pulled by the hand of the blonde teen. The zombie piglin, who also decided to tag along, gasped as he saw the flower come into his sight surrounded by colorful rocks of all shapes and sizes.

              After picking up the flower by discarding the stem from the roots, he turned around and let go of Ranboo's hand holding out the light blue flower with both of his hands wrapped around the delicate stem, "you can look now." With that, Ranboo removed his hand from his face and his eyes fluttered open, gazing down at the flower Tommy held out semi-aggressively. "I thought since you gave me that dumb allium when we met, I could get you a flower that you can also have to think of me. Well, 'cause I'm so awesome and all." Tommy jokes, but then it turns into a certain seriousness moments later," just... just one friendly gesture to another I guess."

              Ranboo was awestruck, he didn't know Tommy would get him a flower in return let alone think of flowers in general, but it sure did make him feel like he was starting to become friends with the other teen. His hands grazed the petals and the leaves ever so gently and then grabbed the flower, making Tommy retract his hands into crossed arms. "You better like it or else I'm suing you!" He joked again, making the two both laugh out loud. "I love it, Tommy. Thank you. That was just unexpected is all." Ranboo spoke as Tommy added on," I mean, I am unpredictable, my smartness never ceases to amaze people."

              They all hung out for what seemed like only a couple of minutes, laughing together, exploring around the exile area, playing a few games of tag here and there, and bonding over a few topics that were explained to one another. It felt nice until the sudden rush of sleep kicked into both Micheal and Tommy, making the teen take out his clock from his beat up leather bag. He deciphered the time to read "00:37" and decided it would be time for them to leave, especially since Micheal was beginning to doze off and trip over his own footsteps.

              He nudged Ranboo to grab his attention," It's half past midnight, king, you think it's time for you guys to leave?" He picked up Micheal in both of his arms' embrace," besides, this little champ is looking quite exhausted, innit?" He ruffled the tiny fluff of hair on the toddler's head and smiled softly. Ranboo discreetly agreed and switched Micheal over from Tommy's arms to his, barely feeling tired but figuring he should go collect some of his groceries he promised to collect.

              Ranboo waved goodbye to the other as he phased through the portal's barrier, placing Micheal in the basket, tucking him in with the blanket, and chuckling as he snuggled into the comfortable fabric. Ranboo then looked at the cornflower in his left suit pocket, grasping it with care and burying the stable stem between his ear and hair. Tommy probably didn't know how much that friendly gesture meant to him, like their friendship is blooming now, pun intended, despite all their differences.

- - -

            Tubbo was worried yet again, his husband was later than usual, but it wasn't that worrying. He did in fact estimate it to be around midnight-ish and. He traced the edge of the last paper he had to fill out for the night with his long nails, he felt lonely to say the least. But then he remembered Micheal was still in the house which made him feel better about still being up at this time. He figured after he'd finished this last paper to go check up on Micheal, but before he could even place the tip of his pen down the door creaked open softly.

            Ranboo trudges through the door sleepily and stretches," Hey, Tubbo, sorry I'm late." He walked over to the kitchen area to place all of the gathered items in their selective chests and closed it quietly so as to not wake Micheal sleeping peacefully in the basket. "It's alright, you got all you needed?" Tubbo asked, shuffling the stack of paper he had finished around to make it neater, currently almost done with his last paper. "Yep, I got apples, sugar cane, wheat, some carrots, uhh... and mushrooms." Ranboo fumbled around through his basket gently, seeing Micheal sound asleep, but a tiny snore came out of the basket, making Ranboo freeze in his position and hope Tubbo didn't hear it. Unfortunately for him, Tubbo did, which made him divert his attention towards the other, tilting his head and asking," What was that?"

             The enderman hybrid had to think quickly," I was... I was just laughing... er, snorting I guess, at something I heard from my friends recently, y'know those jokes that you remember later on?" Tubbo laughed and nodded in agreement, then thinking of the times he had shared those kinds of jokes with Tommy and his face dropped into a frown. "I... eh... Ranboo? Can I talk to you about something after you're done with all the unpacking?" Ranboo turned around his head to look at the other and smiled warmly," Of course! I'll be right back, okay?" Tubbo nodded as Ranboo wandered over to Micheal's room, being mindful about carrying it with care. He slowly opened and closed the door to the baby piglin's bedroom and placed said piglin, who was peacefully sleeping at the moment, in his bed.

            "You sure are a heavy sleeper", Ranboo softly whispered, laughing to himself and tucking the toddler in with the comforter. He gently pecked Micheal on the forehead and snuck out of the room to put away his things, later returning to the main room. Tubbo and Ranboo both locked eyes for a split second until the ram hybrid decided to pull out the empty chair that sat beside the one he occupied, Ranboo took that as a sign to sit there. The enderman hybrid spoke up through the suffocating silence," So, what did you want to talk about?" Tubbo chewed the inside of his mouth and sighed, simply stating," About earlier."

            "Earlier? What about earlier?" Ranboo questioned, leaning his cheek against his hands with his fingers intertwined and elbows propped up on the table. Tubbo shifted in his seat to face his body towards Ranboo beside him," About Micheal wanting to visit Tommy and... the things I said about him." The ram hybrid inhaled sharply and slowly breathed out an exhale," I didn't mean to be hostile towards the situation, just the subject of talking about what he's done wrong is enough to prove that he's not the best. Yeah, maybe he can make a few mistakes here and there, but most of the time he can't see the best solution to things right in front of him, he just finds a way to push it further into chaos. I also feel... terrible for having to exile him, but after seeing what he's done was a threat to the people and our land."

            Tubbo sighed, picking up the last paper he worked on delicately, scanning the contract's contents. "I was... I was planning on reasoning with Dream about the walls or exile agreement, but it was so sudden and I couldn't think of anything other than the only two choices I had to make at the time. I had this in mind, it's not the best but I guess it would be enough." Ranboo grabbed the paper gently and pulled it towards himself to examine thoroughly. It consisted of Tubbo's desperation to reason with Dream, listing two additional options Tubbo would've been able to resort to at the time: a legal action about the threat, making threats like these near to illegal if it was agreed to by the people of the land. Said threat would result in an arrest to bring out the prominence of situations such as these. The next reason wasn't very thought out and was risky at best. Tubbo would agree to being exiled himself in place of Tommy, forfeiting over his place as president over to the other, making both even for how many times they've both been exiled.

            Ranboo understood why he wouldn't be able to make a deal that satisfies both parties. Dream didn't seem to agree to things that didn't benefit him or the people he cares about, so having Tubbo and Tommy staying together was something that he couldn't bring up. Even if he did go through with banning threats and anything that could harm the people, Dream wouldn't follow through and make a statement about how he owns the server, giving him the idea to overthrow the law if presented to him to continue his threat. "Tubbo, you'd give up your presidency to Tommy? Wouldn't that be terrible and unprepared for?" Ranboo looked up at Tubbo who now looked as though he was silently sulking and looking to the side.

            "Who cares,  I don't want to be put into a high position anymore... I know that Snowchester isn't exactly finished to be considered a country yet, but being in this position and making decisions that can ruin so many relationships that I had... it's not worth it, Ranboo, I really hate being so pressured into things. Then again, what about the people? They're depending on me to make big decisions for the country..." Ranboo hated to see his husband torn between two decisions without much of a choice of picking a more comfortable option. Tubbo is pretty much like a butterfly trapped in a glass beaker at this very moment. It can see all of the available options outside of the beaker, but the only option is to stay inside of it because of the only known solution blocking off the top; the way out to be free to roam around with fearless serenity.

            "I guess I'm just more used to following others' leadership? Like when Wilbur made L'manberg, I followed him along with Tommy until it went into a big spiral downwards. I mean, it's not meant to sound sad or anything, but I'm just not used to being the leader, never realized how stressful it was or that's just me, I don't know..." Ranboo understood him, although not being in the position the ram hybrid was in, he could sense by the rambling and body language that it wasn't the most comfortable situation to be in for him.

            Ranboo smiled, bringing out a calm expression," Whatever you think is best for yourself and the country is indeed the best option you can think of. Just remember that if you need help with decisions, ask someone because they might be willing to help. Whether they agree with you or not, or even change your mind about your previous decision, you got this." Even though Tubbo could tell he was trying to help, it still didn't make him feel less stressed. Despite this, he still smiled to show his appreciation, even gave the other a hug and peck on the cheek whilst whispering a quick thank you. Ranboo smiled back and was taken aback by the sleepiness that raided his limbs and lack of energy, making him yawn and stretch upwards.

            "We should probably get to sleep, it's probably about 1am right now... aren't you tired?" Ranboo questioned as Tubbo immediately shook his head. "I'm used to staying up this late. I might need to shake that habit, so I'll come to bed with you." Ranboo nodded and headed off to their shared room while Tubbo stayed behind to clean up his work area. He tidied up the stack of papers by putting them in a short rectangular bin beside the now blown out candle and placed all the writing utensils in a column next to the bin. As both husbands made their way to bed, saying their goodnights, it didn't take long for them to start their slumber. Although both of them were asleep peacefully, the rest of the night wasn't so peaceful for one of them, perhaps even tragic.

            At least it was all in his head. It was all just a dream. Just a dream. Just a Dream.

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