What's Worth Saving (Is Never Worth Letting Go to Waste)

Chapter 9: All That's Left (Are Your Bones)

When Tubbo woke up, he wasn't expecting a knock on the door. But life has a way of subverting his expectations, usually for the worse, so he can be forgiven for panicking a bit when Michael pulled on his sleeve with a grunt and he opened his eyes to a concerned Ranboo holding the piglin.

"Wh'ssup?" He mumbled, peeling his face from where it was buried in his arms. He'd pulled an all nighter again, still working on plans for Snowchester. Winter is coming fast, and they live in a snowy taiga, where snow coats the ground and the days are cold all year round. Tubbo can imagine the snowstorms and freezing cold winter will bring. They'd have to make a lot of preparations for food stores and ways to keep warm. Tubbo knows Ranboo hates when he neglects sleep for work, the ender hybrid has hated his horrible self care habits since they'd met back in New L'Manburg. He still has foggy memories of Ranboo standing awkwardly in his office, recommending that Tubbo go to bed and leave the piling stacks of paperwork for the morning when he was a bit more lucid. Tubbo had ignored him then, and he still does now.

"Good morning." Ranboo says, and Tubbo smiles up at him, still barely awake. 

"Any reason why I'm being woken up?" Tubbo asks with no real bite to the question, just general curiosity. Usually Ranboo lets him sleep in when he pulls an all nighter, insisting he gets some sleep while lamenting about his fucked up sleep schedule.

"Well- uh, Wilbur's outside and I've kinda been keeping him waiting for the past ten minutes-"

Wait a fucking second .

Tubbo scrambles to his feet, pushing past Ranboo and rushing down the stairs to the front door, where after a peek outside one of the mansion's large windows revealed that yes, his adopted brother was sitting right outside patiently. The man occasionally spared a glance at the door, but for the most part seemed content sitting at their doorstep and seemingly enjoying the view.

Tubbo noticed Ranboo behind him, the hybrid giving him a reassuring glance as he held a curious Michael in his arms. Tubbo knew Wilbur was aware of their marriage, Ranboo letting it slip when he'd been forced to bring Michael with him to work at Wilbur's burger van while Tubbo locked himself in his workshop to repair Your Tommy. Part of him was afraid at what Wilbur would do with the knowledge of their marriage and son, but luckily for them the man didn't seem to care all that much.

Taking a deep breath, Tubbo prepares himself to open the door. He has an idea for why Wilbur would be visiting, and he'd rather just get it over with. As soon as his hand touched the doorknob with a soft rattle, scrambling was heard outside, and Tubbo opened the door to Wilbur attempting to casually stand as if he hadn't been outside for the past few minutes. Who knows how long he'd been waiting outside, honestly. 

"Tubbo!" Wilbur greets with a smile that Tubbo doesn't bother with returning. Michael is really the only one who has a positive reaction, clapping his hands with a grin as a hello that Wilbur returns with a wave. 

"Cut to the chase, Wilbur." Tubbo says, focusing on his brother instead of his son's antics. "Why are you here?"

"Oh." Wilbur sighs, a hint of disappointment in his eyes. "Alright! I was wondering if you knew where Tommy was, I haven't seen him in a while."

"He's nowhere!" Ranboo quickly says before Tubbo can even think of a reply. Wilbur tilts his head, and Tubbo rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. 

"Well, I mean- maybe I've seen him.. and I just.. forgot, y'know?" Ranboo quickly corrects, and Tubbo almost faceplants, quickly speaking up before Ranboo can be even more suspicious.

"He means we haven't seen him, not since Dream escaped." He says, keeping his voice steady to avoid any further suspicion from Wilbur. He knew his brother better than Ranboo does, trusting himself to handle the situation far more than he trusts his husband. Right now he only had one goal, and it was for Wilbur to fuck off without any information on Tommy. His best friend had only begun settling in with Sapnap and Karl in their whole mushroom kingdom (Tubbo still thinks burning a mushroom to check the drug levels was necessary), Tubbo wasn't going to take this second chance from him.