Best Beloveds

"I found Ghostbur!"

"I don't even want to know what happened..." Ranboo sighed as he wiped the blood off.

"Good, cuz I'm not telling you." Tommy nodded, looking out the window. Ranboo tugged some leaves out of his hair, sighing as he saw the dirt buried in his scalp. Tommy grinned at the memory. He looked out to the snowy terrain as Ranboo fussed over him, going to get the dog shampoo. Behind the treeline, Tommy saw a flash of blue wool.

"Friend?" Tommy got up and pressed to the window, slightly fogging it up with his breath. There, a yellow and blue mix dashed behind the deciduous trees. Tommy pushed away from the glass and went for the door, roughly pulling it as he dashed out. Nobody had seen Ghostbur since around chapter three, maybe less, but it's a full twenty chapters without Tommy's ghostly brother. 

"Tommy wait!" Tommy could hear Ranboo shout from behind him, Tommy only glancing back to see him holding a towel and some shampoo. Tommy kept dashing towards the echoey voice and the bleat of a sheep, ignoring the needles stinging his face or the thin layer of snow biting at his bare feet. Turning, Tommy slipped on some unexpected ice (who put that shit there?) and fell onto his ass in front of his ghostly brother, who was petting his blue sheep.

"Oh! Tommy!" Ghostbur exclaimed. After twenty-four chapters, Ghostbur was in front of Tommy.

"Ghostbur!" Tommy grinned, picking himself up. Friend bleated at him, nudging in for head pats, which Tommy complied. Tommy looked over to the soot-coloured person. 

"Tommy! I went on my own adventure!" Ghostbur giggled. "How are you?"

"I- Ghostbur," Tommy breathed, "it's been almost two years!"

"Oh!" Ghostbur gasped. "That's a long time!"

"Yeah," Tommy nodded, "what did you do on your adventure?"

"That's a surprise!" Ghostbur twirled in the air. He reminded Tommy of a more calm and sweet Drista. "What's been going on in your two years, Tommy?"

Before Tommy could answer, there was crunching snow from behind.

"Tommy Beloved-Underscore-Innit!" Tubbo yelled from behind Tommy. The blond turned to see his husband look more terrifying than Ranboo could ever. Speaking of him, he was standing cautiously behind Tubbo, holding Tommy's boots.

"Oh!" Ghostbur smiled. "Hello Tubbo!"

"Ghostbur?" Tubbo looked just as shocked as Tommy probably did, tilting his head to his side. His goat ears flopped to his side, square pupils dilating a twinge.

"Tubbo!" Ghostbur cheered. "Tommy says that I've been on my adventure for two years!"

"I-what?" Tubbo stuttered.

"I found Ghostbur!" Tommy explained.

"You aren't even wearing fucking shoes!" Tubbo scolded, Ranboo stepping forward to place the shoes at Tommy's feet. They were really stinging now. He carefully slipped them on. Ranboo draped his coat over Tommy's shoulders as well, bringing some warmth. It was far too big for the blond, but Ranboo's body heat was still stuck to the fabrics.

"You have amazing friends, Tommy!" Ghostbur gushed. "They really care about you a lot!" 

Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo looked at each other.

"Yeah," Tubbo nodded, "really good friends."

"Amazingly good friends," Ranboo agreed, "and we're only friends. Nothing more."

"Yup," Tommy exaggerated, "we are only friends and nothing more."

"You're acting weird," Ghostbur noted, "did something happen between you?"

"Something," Tubbo nodded, "I suppose you could call it."

"You wanna come back to the mansion?" Ranboo offered. Ghostbur nodded and they started to return to the mansion.

"The mansion?" Ghostbur asked, clutching Friend's leash tighter. "You share a house?"

"We also share the bed." Tubbo deadpanned. "And a five year old child."

"What?" Ghostbur looked between the three of them. They got inside the mansion.

"Ghostbur," Tommy looked over, "could you keep a secret?" Ghostbur stared back at him with his voided azure eyes.

"I think so!" Ghostbur giggled. Tubbo pulled open the hatch to the attic.

"Me, Tubbo, and Ranboo are married," Tommy explained, climbing up, "and this is our son, Michael."

Ghostbur gasped in delight as the piglin child came running up, Tubbo and Ranboo just climbing up. Ghostbur watched as Tommy picked up and spun the kid, Tubbo lightly scolding him for being dangerous and Ranboo on the lookout for the piglin. They really look like family, Ghostbur thought, and it happened over two years.

"Would you like to see what I've been doing for two years?" Ghostbur offered. The trio looked up from Michael's drawing.

"If you want? We can drop Michael off with Puffy." Tubbo smiled.

"Where are we going?" Ranboo wondered aloud as he and his husbands were dragged along by his husband's dead brother's ghost and his blue sheep.

"It's a surprise! We're almost there." Ghostbur promised as they kept going down the Prime Path. Ghostbur turned to face the three as he got to his project. "Here we are!"

"Ghostbur..." Tubbo trailed off, "this is the L'Manhole." And so it was. The obsidian grid above was decorated in hanging vines and moss, leaving the dirt remaining in the crater to start regrowing. It was beautiful, in a way, with the actual server taking back the country's remains. There were small streams of water filling the crevices of the hole, mushrooms adorning the sides of steep cliffs and the jagged rocks of explosions smoothing out under the waters.

"Come down here!" Ghostbur floated down some steps, that were carved into the side. Cautiously, Tommy went first, walking down the stairs with Ranboo following. Tubbo went last, with Ranboo noting he stuck to the wall for the most part. Ghostbur led them to a small cave, maybe a couple tnt setting off in the bottom of a cliff but not damaging the top. It was like a den, really, with lit candles and mostly smoothed walls and floor with chips here and there.

Even though Ranboo couldn't relate, he could tell what Ghostbur did was deep for his husbands. Laid out in front of them, was everything and nothing.

"What..?" Tommy stepped forward, delicately running a hand on the blue velvet uniform.

"This is everything I was able to recover from the L'Manhole." Ghostbur explained, as Tubbo gasped and took a box. Everything was almost good as new, with some dull stains in clothing or small tears in photos. Ranboo could see all sorts of things, from normal household items to important objects.

"Feel free to touch!" Ghostbur chirped. "But I was thinking to give these to some old citizens. They deserve some of their thing back."

"Yeah." Tommy nodded, in a sort of trance as he picked up the jacket from twelve years old. Slowly putting his arms through, it was much too small for him but if fit at the exact same time. Next to him, Tubbo held his own old coat up to him, giving a watery chuckle as the jacket's arms were much too skinny. Tommy pulled off his coat and hung it next to Wilbur's, which he took and swung on.

Tubbo's jaw dropped.

Tommy looked... exactly like Wilbur.

Later, Snowchester citizens cried over small items they thought they lost along with their own home. Tommy too, cried that night over the little items he thought he lost with his home.