The Lives We Save

In My Mind

Tubbo sat in the gardens of Philza's castle. His home. Fingers deftly wove daisy stems together as the waterfall rushed next to him, drowning out the other sounds. The short boy twisted the flowers over and over. His thoughts were dulled by the sound of water and muscle memory of making daisy chains.

Tubbo let his mind drift down the creek of his thoughts. Sometimes he just floated, staying in a calm pool. Other times his mind raced down rapids, jumping from one topic to the next, creating stories and theories and ideas, weaving together like vines up the side of the castle.

No one bothered him out here, just with his thoughts. It was nice to get away from the pressure of schoolwork Phil and Kristen were having them do. Who needed to know trigo-whatever it's called anyway?

Tubbo sighed, finishing another crown. It his him then how sore he was from sitting against the rock next to the waterfall. His fingers were stiff from what was probably hours of working on the daisy chains. The sun was starting to sink in the sky, and Tubbo was surprised no one had come to get him yet.

He shrugged. Ranboo and Tommy knew where he was, they probably told Phil. Tubbo sat up on his knees, taking a flower crown that he messed up. It was going to be for Tommy, made of daisies and a few yellow rose buds, but the thorns broke the fragile daisy stems, destroying the carefully crafted crown.

Tubbo sent the flowers into the creek. He watched as the crown drifted towards the smaller waterfall a few feet downstream of the larger one. The flowers went over the edge. Tubbo didn't know if they resurfaced.

The never did.

Tubbo walked down the hallways to his room, yawning and stretching. His stomach grumbled. Maybe he would stop by the kitchen and pick up some food. He had missed lunch after all.

"Tubbo!"

The boy turned, smiling when he saw Ranboo walking towards him.

"Hey boss man, what's up?" Tubbo asked.

Ranboo shrugged, "nothing much. Did Tommy tell you we were going on a picnic tomorrow?"

Tubbo shook his head, "no, I haven't seen him since this morning."

Ranboo frowned, "I'm sure I asked him to tell you... Did I forget?"

"I dunno." Tubbo shrugged, starting towards the kitchen again, "we can ask him when we find him."

Ranboo rolled his eyes, following the shorter, "okay. What have you been doing all day?"

"Making flower crowns." Tubbo smiled softly, "messed up one though."

"I'm sorry." Ranboo told him.

Tubbo laughed, "it's not your fault boss man. Stupid rose thorns broke the daisy's."

"Mhm." Ranboo hummed, shaking his head with a small smile.

Tubbo sighed as he walking into the kitchen and grabbing an apple, "anyway, I'm hungry."

"Then you should get more than just that." Ranboo told him, moving to look in ten fridge, "we had this amazing spaghetti for lunch, I can hear some up for you?"

Tubbo gave him a small smile, "Sure boss man."

Tubbo pushed himself up to sit on the counter as he munched on the apple. It was sweet. When he and Tommy were little, they stayed in an apple tree for a little while. It was a large tree, with a hollow under it, just big enough for the small boys to huddle under. And when fall came, the scent of apples was so thick in the air they could taste it. The syrupy sweet apple smell on their tongues was warm. They often fell asleep with it surrounding them and the sound of drunk wasps buzzing on the ground, too intoxicated to fly.

Tubbo opened his eyes as the microwave beeped. Ranboo handed him a steaming plate of spaghetti.

"Here you go." The taller smiled softly.

"Thanks Ranboo." Tubbo tossed the core of his apple into the trash, almost missing but still getting it in.

"No problem." Ranboo chuckled, then busied himself with cleaning up the leftovers.

Tubbo started to eat. Ranboo was right, it was delicious. He wondered if Ranboo helped make it, or gave his 'secret' recipe to the chefs to make. Tommy and Tubbo both knew it was just the type of tomato used for the sauce.

Tubbo finished his plate and sighed, "I'm ready to go to bed now... What time is it?"

Ranboo shrugged, "pretty late. You were in the gardens for a while. I think Techno's already gone to bed."

Tubbo rolled his eyes, "Techno always goes to bed either super early or super late though."

Ranboo laughed, "yeah..."

"Well!" Tubbo hopped down, "I'm going to bed! Night!"

"Night Tubbo." Ranboo smiled as he walked away.