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“Uh-“
Shit. Shit shit shit. Ranboo held the overflowing potion bottle at arms length, glancing nervously around their small brewing room. Shit. Techno was going to kill him.
Dropping the bottle onto the counter, Ranboo backed up, watching and wincing as the salmon pink liquid bubbles across the varnished countertop. He was so dead. Void, it was only his second week here, and he was already messing up so badly.
He could feel his heart rate stuttering, and panic creeping into the edge of his vision, but forced it away. This needed to be cleared up. He needed to clear this up.
It had probably been a stupid idea to wake up in the middle of the night and make potions. Yeah, that was coming back to haunt him. But he’d just wanted to be useful, and this had seemed like the best way to be useful, and… now he was here. Breaking things. As usual.
Ranboo reached out tentatively, wondering if he could actually even touch the ruined potion, or whether it would dissolve his fingers in the same way- yep, it was corrosive. Shit.
Grabbing his gloves- it didn’t matter, he could get new ones- Ranboo started trying to sweep the liquid towards the sink, hissing curses under his breath.
“Shit, shit- Techno’s gonna kill me- oh, Void, ow-“
Gloves really didn’t do much, it turned out. And apparently the water content of attempted potions was just the right balance of not actually dissolving his flesh, but still feeling like lava mixed with acid being poured over his hands. That was fine. If it meant he could clear this up.
Ranboo grabbed a towel. That would be a good idea. Towel, corrosive potion, sink. Brush. And absorb, that was something towels did, but he could live with the pain.
In his rush, he accidentally knocked the tap, and shrieked in pain as several drops of water landed on his exposed wrist. Then he hissed again, he needed to be quiet, get this sorted out quickly.
Nearly there. The glass was fine, so that was good to know. But… shit, yeah, there were scorch marks on the wood. Who made a brewing surface out of wood? Not that he was questioning Phil and Techno, of course not, he was sure they knew what they were doing. He, however, did not.
He started humming under his breath, utterly tunelessly, but just in an effort not to hyperventilate. It was ok. Look, he was fixing it. Then he could try again, and hopefully make up for the burn marks.
Nope, they were going to kill him. It didn’t matter how much he did, he was just never going to be able to do what they did.
Ranboo could feel his knees shaking, which was nice, because he couldn’t see anything through the tears clouding his eyes. Just a little bit more. Then he could just give up and go to bed.
But Void just wouldn’t let him catch a break, because his stupid clumsy elbow stupidly caught the potion bottle, still with acidic remnants lurking in the bottom.
He watched it fall, tail moving in slow motion as his breathing stopped. Then it hit the floor, and at least several shards of glass hit his ankles, but he couldn’t stop to notice, because he still couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear, couldn’t see couldn’t think. Not when he kept making stupid mistakes like an idiot.
His knees hit the floor, whether he collapsed or consciously got on the floor to clean up, it didn’t matter, because now he was piling glass fragments in his palm, and hey, he hadn’t really noticed his blood was that colour-
“The hell are you doin’?”
Techno. It was a good thing his unconscious mind filled that blank in, because his conscious mind was very much not onboard with anything that was happening right now.
Ranboo stumbled to his feet, lamely trying to kick the remaining glass shards somewhere unnoticed as he felt the one he’d picked up lacerate his palm.
“I- uh- nope, nothing! Nothing at- at all, just- just potion-ing!”
“I can see the glass.”
Techno crossed his arms, staring levelling as Ranboo panicked internally and externally. What fun.
“Nope. See what?” His laugh sounded forced, even to him, and he tucked his clenched fist behind his back. “Nothing to see here! Just- I’m dreaming. You’re dreaming. This is a dream, ok?”
“Lethe, shut up.”
Ranboo dutifully shut up, and was rather grateful for it, because his gibbering wasn’t about to go anywhere sensible.
Techno surveyed the scene. An enderman badly hiding the evidence of something that probably looked like an explosion, with glass all over the floor. Ranboo was either going to sink into the floor or simply cease to exist from mortification.
“A’ight. Put the glass down, we’ll clean up in the morning.”
Ranboo blinked. Then hesitated. Then decided to blink again.
“What?”
“Put that down, and go to bed.” Techno yawned, and nodded. “It’s midnight, in case y’hadn’t noticed.”
“But-“
“Yes?”
There was something about the way Techno said it, tired and bored and already disapproving all in one, that made whatever half hearted self hatred Ranboo had been trying for die in his throat.
“…aren’t you angry?”
“Nah. Mistakes ain’t a problem. Unless they’re stupid. And Phil’s blown up his fair share of potions, so don’t think you’re alone.”
“He has?” Ranboo couldn’t keep himself from sounding curious, almost hopeful, like he wasn’t the biggest screw up Techno had ever seen. “Sorry, I- I don’t mean…”
“God, you can’t imagine the stuff this place has seen.” Crossing the room, Techno patted the bench fondly, and it was only under his scared hand that Ranboo noticed other scorch marks, grooves and stains layered under his own mark, just another on the pile. “Don’t worry about messin’ up, kid. Brewing’s a pain anyways, I’m glad you even tried.”
Ranboo could feel himself blushing, from fear or genuine gratitude, it was hard to tell.
“I didn’t get anything done, but thanks, I guess.”
“You learnt.” Techno bent down to pick up a larger shard he’d missed, setting it firmly on the side. “I’d put that down too, or you’ll be getting glass out your hand with tweezers.”
It took him a moment, but Ranboo realised Techno was talking about the glass he was still clutching like a lifeline, and flinched again, hurrying to dump it out from his shaking hands.
“Shit- sorry, there’s blood on that, I’ll clean it up.”
Techno’s hand laid over his, and Ranboo looked up in a kind of adrenaline fuelled nervous overdrive, as close as he ever got to the piglin’s eyes.
“Nope. Bed. Now.” There was a subtle growl to Techno’s voice that was nothing short of terrifying. Then he sighed, and smiled. “No way am I lettin’ you clean up glass that’s got your own damn blood on it.”
Swallowing, Ranboo nodded, trying not to collapse again.
“Ok. Thanks. Again. And sorry about the-“
“No apologies. It is way too early for apologies.”