Cigarettes in the Snow

Things were changing.

The murmuring of people could be heard from down the prime path, he was sitting down behind the chests in the Bee&Boo hotel. Tubbo leaned his head against the chests, and shakily brought the cigarette to his lips. He lifted his wrists to his face and wiped off a portion of his tears.

This was the fucking worst, he didn't want this to be real. The sinking feeling was becoming harder to ignore. He just wanted closure, and though he was letting some of his pain out through his tears, it wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

He finished his cigarette, wiped his face, and started looking for Ranboo.

—

Ranboo was gathering wood and some extra recourses and made his way over to the prime path. He was just about to go meet back with Tubbo until he saw Tommy, staring at him.

"Tommy?"

"Hello...Tubbo's friend." Tommy looked at Ranboo with disgust, then made eye contact with Tubbo who had just walked behind Ranboo.

"What is," Ranboo turned around, "Oh, hi Tubbo." Ranboo's head shifted back to Tommy, "You're- You're here...Wow, uh, wow that's-that's cool. Uh, how are- how are you doing...? You doing alright..?" What was happening right now..? Was Ranboo dreaming? He blinked a few times, to his surprise Tommy was still there. Tubbo put his hands on Ranboo's shoulders, as if afraid of Tommy. Feeling Tubbo touch him assured him that he wasn't dreaming. This was real.

"...Y-yea." Tommy sounded like he wanted to cry, seeing Tubbo cling onto Ranboo.

"That's good, that's good...Uhm..." Ranboo was struggling with his thoughts, but was surprised he was still managing to keep up a conversation. "You're- okay, you're here...okay so- okay. So obviously your he- wait h-how do you- how do you...how are you here? I mean obviously, you know.."

"You know I'm here, you know I'm here, right?"

"Yea..-"

"Wait, obviously I know what..?"

"Obviously you know, what happened- or know what everyone thinks."

"What happened..? No, what happened, tell me! Tell me, tell me. Tell me. TELL ME! No one's treating me normal."

"Sam- Sam- So what, what happened was one day we- we were outside the prison, Sam came out lookin' all worried, he told us that you...lost your last life. You were gone." Ranboo felt Tubbo hold his shoulders a little tighter. "Did Sam lie..?"

"Sam did not lie, I was gone."

"You were gone?"

"...Stop making me talk about- everyone's making me talk about it and I know that it's-"

"No, no, it's okay."

"Why is he lookin' at you like that? WHY IS HE LOOKING AT YOU LIKE THAT?!" Tommy looked over at Tubbo. Tubbo was looking at Ranboo like how he would normally look at him.