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When Wilbur had seen him next, the first thing that he had noticed was the thin band that wrapped around Tommy’s finger. The gold that was woven into it reflected the light and caused Wilbur to turn to investigate.
But Tommy just kept walking, his gaze straight ahead and his arms crossed in front of his chest. His shoes thumped against the wood of the prime path as Wilbur trailed behind him.
Wilbur had nothing to connect the ring to, and thus, let himself muse on it for a while longer before he pointed it out. He wrinkled his nose, stuffing his hands in the pockets examining the ring for any known significance.
There weren’t many people he knew that often wore rings. He had seen Ranboo with dozens of rings that he pulled off before putting gloves on to work in the burger van. He knew that Technoblade had a significant amount of them wrapped around his fingers. Phil had a thin gold wedding band that he fidgeted with when he was nervous.
Hell, Wilbur had even seen the rings that Quackity wore on a chain around his neck.
None of these rings seemed to match the one that Tommy wore around his ring finger. It was an odd placement for just a single ring but Wilbur couldn’t think of anyone to match.
So he decided to comment on it.
“What’s with the ring?” Wilbur asked, tilting his head to the side. He stuck his tongue out between his teeth and curiously awaited Tommy’s answer.
The younger boy stopped walking, he visibly tensed up and if Wilbur noticed the way he seemed to fumble for an answer, he didn’t show it.
“It’s a fashion statement,” he snapped after a few moments of silence. Tommy looked down at his hand, twisting the ring, “clearly you’ve never heard of fashion.”
“But on your ring finger?” Wilbur took a few steps forward, saddling up next to Tommy so that their shoulders were touching. Tommy flinched away, wrinkling his nose. “Usually people only have rings on their ring finger when they're married.”
“Yeah and I’m starting a new trend,” Tommy started walking again, his footsteps seeming to echo, “haven’t you heard? Though I guess you’re too poor to afford a ring.”
“I’m offended,” Wilbur quickly caught up with him, “and for a moment I thought that you were able to find someone that wanted to get married to you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tommy felt his heart skip a beat and he looked over his shoulder at Wilbur who was trailing behind Tommy with his hands stuffed casually in his pockets.
“Please, you know what I mean,” Wilbur looked Tommy up and down and the unsaid words hung in the air.
“I mean, you’re you.”
Tommy clenched his jaw, a low growl bubbling up from his throat that he quickly swallowed. He quickened his strides, hoping that Wilbur would get bored and go back to wherever he hung out when he wasn’t being a complete bother.
He tried to pretend that what he had implied hadn’t stung.
He tried to pretend that what Wilbur was saying hadn’t affected him at all.
Eventually, Wilbur did end up getting bored of following Tommy around the server. He bid goodbye, ruffling Tommy’s hair before carrying on his way. Tommy shouted some obscenities at him as he walked back the way he had come.
The next day, Wilbur stood at the counter of his burger van watching out of the corner of his eye as Ranboo tied the apron around his back. His paws tapped against the floor like a rhythm to some song that only Ranboo could hear.
He went through the same routine every workday, he would show up, tie his hair back, put his apron on, take his rings off, and then put gloves on. Ready to carry on with his work.
Wilbur had been watching him do this from the moment that he had started working. It was weird, he never missed a step and always seemed to be whispering to himself as he did so.
Today, Wilbur was watching him a bit closer and trying to be nonchalant about it.
Ranboo’s tail swished back and forth absently as he did so, the hairnet at the end of it containing all the fluff that threatened to escape when preparing food. He slipped the rings off his finger one by one. He put them in his jacket pocket, which was hanging up on one of the hooks by the door.
It was meticulously, each ring was taken off with care, in the same order that he would later mirror at the end of the day.
Then he got to his left-hand ring finger. There was only one ring on that finger.
Wilbur recognized the obsidian band and the gold was woven into it. How had he not made the connection before when he had seen Tommy wearing practically the same one.
It couldn’t have been the same one, Ranboo had massive hands. One of his rings would never fit Tommy.
So that meant that they had matching rings, which opened up another whole jar of questions.
A shiver ran down Ranboo’s spine and he quickly looked up from what he was doing, he made eye contact with Wilbur, his pupils dilating. Wilbur realized that he had been staring.
“Just looking at your rings,” Wilbur leaned against the counter, “they’re pretty neat. You’ve got a lot of jewelry.”
“Yeah…” Ranboo swallowed thickly, he pulled his gaze away from Wilbur and back down to his hands, he was still holding that obsidian band, the same one that Tommy had, “I like wearing it.”
“You know—” Wilbur pushed himself off the counter and stepped closer to Ranboo, “—Tommy’s got almost the exact same ring as you I noticed.”
Ranboo swallowed thickly, he curled his fingers around the ring, trying to ignore Wilbur and move to put it in his jacket pocket. Wilbur let him put it away.
“Does he? Must be a popular type,” Ranboo said, his voice pinched.
“You know Tommy, right?” Wilbur tilted his head to the side, “you two are friends?”
“I mean, if I see him on the same path as me I’ll say hi,” Ranboo focused on his hands, taking the next ring off and putting it in his pocket.
“Hmm,” Wilbur shrugged, “I mean… people don’t usually have matching rings unless they're married.”
Wilbur figured that it would make sense for the two of them to be married. He hadn’t seen much of Tommy’s interactions with Ranboo but it was enough to consider that there might’ve been something going on.
After all, what better way to hide a relationship was to thickly mask it behind anger and scorn.
“Married?” Ranboo froze.
“Yeah, you two had it on the same finger too,” Wilbur clicked his tongue, “now that I think about it, didn’t Phil mention that you made all your jewelry?”
“What does married mean?” Ranboo looked up from his hands, his eyes were blown wide and Wilbur didn’t see anything else in his gaze besides confusion, and a hint of anxiety.
“Huh?” Wilbur was taken aback by his question, he blinked and Ranboo continued to stare at him, his expression unfaltering.
“I suppose it makes sense you wouldn’t know what it means,” Wilbur sighed, he stepped away from Ranboo and moved back to the counter, “I mean, you are a hybrid after all. Marriage is a human thing or mostly thing.”
Ranboo grimaced, tugging the rest of his rings off to put in his jacket, hurrying up with getting ready. He stared at the ground as he moved around the cramped van.
“So what does it mean?” Ranboo prompted, playing on his assumed ignorance of the subject. Trying to get Wilbur off his trail.
“It’s like—” Wilbur waved his hand in a loose circle, “—when two people sign a bunch of legal papers and stuff and get legally bound together. It’s a declaration of love and wanting to be with them forever. Do endermen have something similar?”
Wilbur was looking at him again and Ranboo wanted nothing more than to curl up and hide. The prolonged eye contact made his head throb with a growing headache.
“Uh… I’m not sure… I’ve never heard of something like that…”
“Hm,” Wilbur leaned his chin on his hand, “I see. Guess I must’ve been mistaken. You two must just have really similar rings. I don’t think Tommy would be that desperate to marry someone who doesn’t even know the concept.”
“Yeah…” Ranboo nodded, unsure of what else to say. Wilbur just shrugged.
“Maybe it’s better that you don’t know of anything similar,” Wilbur continued, “I mean, what marriage on this server has ever actually played out well?”
Ranboo looked as if he had a live bug in his mouth and he quickly looked away from Wilbur. Turning so that he was facing the counters.
Wilbur didn’t understand what had made him so upset. He rolled his eyes and brushed it off, probably another one of Ranboo’s weird things.
The enderman hybrid never ceased to confuse Wilbur.
Later he would’ve seen Ranboo hurriedly wiping ink stains off of his hands with a towel. The book he always carried was open on the counter, spilled ink eating the letters on the pages as he tried to mop up the mess.
Wilbur said nothing. Ranboo’s hands were shaking.
Ranboo stuck the key in the lock of the front door, his ear twitching as he heard voices from inside.
Pushing open the door with his shoulder he pulled his jacket off and hung it up on the coat rack, his wedding ring clutched in his fist, his ring finger distressingly empty. He had clutched it closely the entire walk home but hadn’t put it on with the rest of his rings at the end of the day.
Tommy and Tubbo were sitting in the living room talking. Tommy looked up when he entered.
“Oh, Ranboo!” Tubbo followed Tommy’s gaze, looking over to see Ranboo standing at the entrance to the living room. Ranboo smiled at them, squeezing onto the couch with Tubbo and Tommy.
“How was work~,” Tubbo asked, leaning forward to look around Tommy, he winked. Ranboo rolled his eyes.
“Wilbur found the message you left,” Ranboo said, “out back, in red ink on the grass. He was livid.”
“Oh, so glad he liked it!” Tubbo clapped his hands together and sunk into the couch cushions.
“I can’t believe you’re working with Wilbur,” Tommy grumbled, he said Wilbur’s name like it was some kind of disease.
Ranboo just shrugged, he didn’t feel like reiterating what he had said countless times before already. Ranboo’s tail flicked back and forth, the end of it brushing against the back of the couch which nearly caused Ranboo to flinch every time it did.
“What’s in your hand?” Tubbo asked, he threw his hooves up over the armrest of the couch, leaning into Tommy. That’s when Ranboo remembered that he was still holding his wedding band.
“Oh…” Ranboo uncurled his hand, “it’s my ring…”
“Did something happen to it?” Tubbo furrowed his eyebrows, examining the band in Ranboo’s hand, trying to figure out what was wrong with it to explain why Ranboo wasn’t wearing it.
“No, I…” Ranboo looked down at his hand, worrying at his lower lip, “I just… forgot to put it on after work…”
It was a horrible lie, easy to see through, and unbelievable even with Ranboo’s bad memory. He wouldn’t have forgotten to put something on that he had carried in a tightly closed fist all the way home. Ranboo slipped the ring on his middle finger, twisting the band around to try and focus on something other than Tubbo’s confused gaze.
“What’s wrong, Boo?” Tubbo asked.
“It’s nothing,” Ranboo said.
“Look at me and say that.”
Ranboo clenched his jaw, prying his eyes away from his hands to look over at Tubbo. Both of them were looking at him now, Tommy looked confused and Tubbo looked concerned.
“It’s nothing…” Ranboo tried to insist, his forced neutral expression breaking under their gazes.
“Did Wilbur say something?” Tommy asked, looking down at his own matching ring.
Ranboo’s eyes widened and he blinked, that seemed enough answer for Tommy. Tommy sighed and leaned against Ranboo’s side, linking their left hands together.
“What did he say?” Tubbo asked, looking over.
“It doesn’t matter… it’s stupid,” Ranboo waved his hand dismissively, “it shouldn’t upset me…”
“I bet it’s not stupid,” Tubbo said.
Ranboo hesitated. Then, he slowly began to recount his and Wilbur’s conversation earlier from what he had remembered. The page that he had written some details of the conversation down in his memory book had ink stains so blotted on that he couldn’t read any of the writing, so that wasn’t much help.
He explained how he had panicked, playing dumb to Wilbur’s questions to stop his suspicions.
“He… he talked about how it would’ve been better, I don’t know about it…” Ranboo muttered, “because of all the failed marriages on this server… and—” he cut himself off, his cheeks flushing a dark purple.
“Well, there hasn’t been that many marriages,” Tommy said, “and what’s to say all marriages are going to be like that.”
“We’re in a new era now,” Tubbo shrugged, “L’manburg’s gone for good, Dream’s in prison. You shouldn’t base the future around how the past went.”
“Eh,” Tommy waved his hand in a “so-so” gesture.
“Eh,” Tubbo rolled his eyes, “it’s situational.”
“Right…” Ranboo looked away, rubbing his thumb over Tommy’s scarred knuckles. Tommy all but melted at the small touch.
“Yesterday Wilbur commented on my ring too,” Tommy said, “he probably made the connection because of yours. He…”
Tommy grimaced and clicked his tongue, “he just spews things out. Doesn’t know any of what he’s talking about.”
“Out his arse,” Tubbo added, burying his face in Tommy’s shoulder. Ranboo and Tommy chuckled at that.
For a few minutes, they sat there.
“I think Tommy should make dinner,” Ranboo said, breaking the silence, “y’know since Tubbo and I both work at a restaurant.”
“You guys are so lazy,” Tommy rolled his eyes, sliding down the couch, “I was working all day too.”
“You were babysitting.”
“I was taking care of our child,” Tommy reluctantly let go of Ranboo’s hand and sank to the ground.
“Oh of course, how could I be so silly,” Tubbo ruffled his hair, causing Tommy to swat his hand away with a disgruntled squawk. He stood up.
“If I set the kitchen on fire that is entirely your fault,” Tommy said as he turned on his heel, walking towards the kitchen, “I’m being left unsupervised in the presence of many sharp objects and also open flames”
“If you set the kitchen on fire I’ll cry!” Tubbo called.
Tommy turned over his shoulder, sticking his tongue out at Tubbo before disappearing into the kitchen.