When he found himself in the familiar forest in the DreamSMP, he was confused at first. Did someone revive him? Then why wasn't he by the prison?

He had nothing on him. No items, no armor, not even his memory book. It was like he didn't even exist.

He jumped when he heard laughter nearby. The laughter grew closer, and he could hear footsteps.

"Tommy!" He heard someone yell. "Wilbur told us not to go too far!"

"Wilbur can shove it! I want to explore!" He heard another yell.

Moments later, two children ran into the clearing. One had shaggy blond hair and blue eyes and was wearing a white t-shirt with red sleeves and shorts. The other had messy brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a forest green button-up shirt with one or two of the buttons undone and jeans.

They looked familiar.

The particles buzzed excitedly. He couldn't make out all the voices, but he managed to make out a few words.

"Tommy...Tubbo...younger!"

Oh. That'd explain it.

They were very young, about eight or so. Their eyes were bright and mischievous, unlike the dull eyes of his friends currently.

Tommy looked up at him. "That's a weird lookin' enderman."

Tubbo hit Tommy in the arm. "Don't look at him in the eyes! He'll kill you! Remember what Wilbur said?"

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Meh, meh, meh, oh look at me, I'm Wilbur and I know everything!" He mocked, his voice going lower (or as low as it can get with his pre-pubescent high-pitched voice.)

Well, at least his mocking never changed.

Tubbo rolled his eyes as he looked back up at Ranboo. It was then that he noticed that Tommy's and Tubbo's heights weren't very different. Of course, that'd change once they got older, but right now they were almost the same height, with Tommy being ever so slightly taller.

"You're right though," Tubbo said. "I've never seen an enderman like this."

"That's because I'm not like most Endermen," Ranboo mumbled, not expecting the younger two to hear him.

He was wrong because Tommy and Tubbo screamed.

"HE CAN TALK!?" Tommy screeched.

Ranboo sighed. "Can you please be quiet?"

"Why do you look like that?" Tubbo asked.

Ranboo shrugged. "I don't know, I just do."

"Can you teleport?" Tommy asked.

Ranboo rolled his eyes. "No, I can't teleport. Yes, water hurts me. No, I don't know where I came from."

Tommy and Tubbo blinked.

"Can you shit?" Tommy asked.

"Tommy!" Tubbo exclaimed.

"What!?" Tommy yelled.

Ranboo sighed. This was going to be a long day.

~<•>~

After a couple of hours of dealing with Tommy's constant questions ("why are you white?" was his personal favorite) and Tubbo's constant comments about his appearance, both good ("your eyes are cool") and bad ("your hands look weird"), he finally managed to convince them to give him a tour of the place, which is why he is currently walking on the prime path, fairly new and not yet sun-bleached and damaged by years of abuse and exposure.

Despite having a good chunk of people living in the area, it wasn't quite as...lively...as the current Greater SMP. Yes, there were buildings, but they were mostly houses, and a lot of them were damaged due to griefing and creepers. Despite that, this version had character to it. While the current Greater SMP was scarred and practically abandoned at this point, the older Greater SMP was new. It was lively, despite only having a few occupants at the time. While some buildings were abandoned, most weren't, and everyone was still friendly with each other.

Ranboo kind of wished he got to live in this version of the SMP, the one that wasn't riddled with war and betrayal. The one where his friends weren't constantly fighting for their lives and weren't scarred in more ways than one.

"—and my brother, Wilbur, recently joined us as well, and he started a drug van and started selling drugs, but Big D didn't like that so now Wilbur and Dream are fighting like they're married." Ranboo tuned in to Tommy's insistent rambling.

Oh, so he was that far back. Okay.

He knew a little bit about the drug van and L'manburg. He knew that one led to the other, and Wilbur became insane after losing L'manburg and that L'manburg really affected Tubbo and Tommy in multiple ways, but he didn't know the specifics, and he never really cared to ask. He knew the topic was touchy with the other two, so he just let it be.

Tubbo rolled his eyes. "Wilbur isn't actually Tommy's brother, he just says that because Wilbur found us when we were little and basically adopted us. Mostly Tommy."

Ranboo laughed. "Seems like a nice guy."

Tommy beamed. "Oh, he's the best! One time, he—"

"Tommy!" Speak of the devil...

Wilbur ran up to the three of them, a smile on his face. This Wilbur seemed...younger...in more ways than one. His eyes are brighter, less dark, and insane. His hair was messy, but in a way that seemed intentional. He was wearing a black t-shirt and was holding an orange jacket with black accents since it was too warm to actually wear it.

Despite all that, Ranboo could see the darkness that lay beneath Wilbur's outward appearance. Despite his warm smile, he couldn't shake away the darkness that lies underneath it.

He wondered if he could start seeing that Wilbur break through during the war.

Tommy beamed when he saw the brunette. "Wilby! Me and Tubzo found this guy in the woods and are giving him a tour of the place!"

Ranboo had to keep a straight face at Tommy's nickname for Wilbur.

Wilbur smiled warmly at Ranboo. "I apologize in advance for these two. They can be quite a handful, especially this little gremlin child." Wilbur said as he messed with Tommy's hair, smiling fondly as the blond tried to fix it while pouting.

Ranboo waved him off. "Oh, it's okay. They've just been very talkative, especially Tommy."

Wilbur laughed. "Yeah, Tommy's always been a talkative one. What's your name, anyway? I don't think I've seen you before."

"O-oh, I'm Ranboo." Ranboo said. "Uh, I just kinda woke up in the forest over there and these two found me."

Wilbur hummed. "Well, I'll take them out of your hair now, if you don't mind. I need to talk to Tommy."

"Do I have to go?" Tubbo whined. "I haven't even showed him the Community House!"

Wilbur sighed with a fond smile on his lips. "Alright, you can hang out with him a little longer. I'm sure Tommy will catch you up to speed afterwards." He gave a half wave to them as he started walking away. "Bye, Tubbo! Bye, Ranboo! Nice meeting you!"

Tubbo grinned as he pulled Ranboo in the opposite direction, towards the community house.

The walk was quiet. It was kinda awkward, but he was mostly a comfortable silence. It reminded Ranboo of the times where him and Tubbo would just watch the stars silently, never needing to say a word to fill the silence.

He missed those times.

"Can I say something weird?" Tubbo asked randomly.

Ranboo shrugged. "Shoot."

"Why do you feel...familiar?" Tubbo asked. "Like I knew you before?"

Ranboo shrugged. "Who knows? I get that feeling all the time." A partial lie.

Tubbo hummed. "I don't know, I just feel comfortable around you for some reason."

Ranboo hummed before he felt something in his pocket. He pulled it out to see...his wedding ring? Thats...odd. Especially since it wasn't in his pocket before.

Maybe it's a sign?

"Uh, h-hey, Tubbo." Ranboo started, earning the eight year olds attention. "I have a ring here, if you want it. I don't exactly need it," anymore, "so you can have it if you want."

Tubbo took the ring and examined it. It was a simple ring, a golden band with a red gem in the middle and small diamonds beside it (Tubbo's ring was similar, but was a green gem instead), it's just that the meaning behind it held more significance than this Tubbo will ever know.

Tubbo shrugged. "Sure." He said as he tied it around a string he had in his pocket (does he always keep that around with him?), and tied the string around his neck.

Ranboo had to stop himself from crying, knowing that his Tubbo wears his ring the exact same way.

They made it to the community house.

~<•>~

Tubbo frowned as he fiddled with the ring he proposed to Ranboo with. It was sun-bleached and beaten, and the gems have long lost their shimmer after years of fidgeting with it, but he still loved it.

It was given to him ten years ago by a man he had hardly known. He doesn't even remember his name, or what he looked like, he just remembered him giving Tubbo the ring, and he kept it.

Part of him felt...off...

Did he propose to Ranboo?

~<•>~

1516 words

Most chapters are probably gonna be this long, yeah.

If you didn't get it, Ranboo altered the timeline slightly at the end there, and Tubbo felt the effects of it.

I know that canonically, Ranboo proposed to Tubbo (platonically, ofc), but this timeline is altered, which is why Tubbo feels off.