Midnight Arson (Platonic! Ranboo x Tubbo)

Chapter 23: The Climax

"Hi, Quackity! I'm back!"

All heads instantly snapped towards the back of the building, where a visiting bystander stood. Of all the people on the server, no one expected to see Charlie the happy slime today, much less here and now. If Ranboo squinted, he thought he could see a shorter figure hidden behind the slime...

The mayor of Las Nevadas groaned. "What do you want, Charlie?!" he roared. "I'm a little busy right now!!"

"Sorry, boss. I just thought you'd like to know I went to go check out that secret dreamon lair I found," the slime reported. "Once I told them you were working with Wilbur, they let me meet one of your friends. And he really wanted to come visit, so here he is!"

Emotions ranging from mild surprise to outright horror rippled throughout the room as the green, translucent slime stepped to the side. It couldn't- It couldn't be- "TUBBO?!" 

And there he stood- the President of Snowchester back from the dead. Though small in stature, his presence silenced everyone in the room. Clad in the cold-weather clothes he'd died in, the goat hybrid giggled before his audience. "Seems as though I've arrived just in time for the show," he announced. "How wonderful!"

The tiny bundle in Tubbo's arms suddenly shifted in a restless manner, until a quiet, little creature turned to face the crowd. If Ranboo was surprised to see his husband, he was mortified by the presence of his own son. "Michael!!"

The piglin perked up at the sound of his name. The minute his eyes connected with Ranboo's, the child was leaning away from Tubbo, grabbing at air. "Papa! Papa!"

"No, Michael," Tubbo chided. "We don't like Papa anymore." Pressing the child back against his chest, he crooned, "Papa left us to die in hell. He doesn't care for us anymore."

Ranboo felt his heart implode, leaving a deep, endless void where it once was. How could Tubbo ever doubt him so? Nothing could be further from the truth. He had fought tooth and nail all this time to save his husband, but the hatred in Tubbo's eyes told a different story, one of hurt and betrayal.

The enderman hybrid made to speak, hoping to make amends, but Charlie beat him to it. "Welp, time to skedaddle!" he declared. "Duty calls. Bye Tubbo! Bye Michael!" With a jovial wave and a pleasant smile, the slime slid out the way he came, off to who knows where to do who knows what.

That didn't matter to Ranboo right now- his first priority was his platonic soulmate. "Tubbo-"

"Save it, Ranboo," the goat hybrid snapped. "I don't want to hear it. All this time your family's trapped in hell, and I hear you've been running around solving puzzles." The President narrowed his eyes into a hateful glare. "The truth is, Ranboo, that you should have known this would happen all along."

Ranboo very nearly lost his mind. "How was I supposed to know you were planning to blow up the server, huh?! I can't read minds, Tubbo."

"Yes, but you're my platonic soulmate!" his husband shouted back. "You're supposed to read my soul! You should have known I wasn't happy. I've been planning this for months, and you never ONCE noticed how I isolated myself. I'd go away for days, and you'd pretend like I'd never left!"