won't you say goodnight, so i can say goodbye

+ one

The sky is darkening, a tell-tale sign of the upcoming thunderstorm that was brewing. The wind was beginning to pick up, too, making it a lot colder than before. The storm will hit soon, meaning the teen's had to hurry up the pace.

The two boys skip down the road, laughing and being all-around idiots; the storm merely a distant thought. They're teasing each other. Friendly shoves and banter ensue as they make their way home. Tubbo left a textbook he needed for school the next day at his house, so he and Ranboo left Phil's house to retrieve it.

They promised the elder that they'd be back before the storm began, as it was dangerous to be out in it. The brothers are supposed to be sleeping over and going to school with them the next day, so Tubbo really needed this textbook. Plus, they knew Dream was home, so he would be able to let them in without waking up their dad.

Tubbo doesn't hate their dad, but he can be loud and scary. He says a lot of mean things, directed at whoever happens to be there at the time. He also calls Dream by his real name, which is weird cause no one does that. He also smells bad from drinking so much, but he's rarely home. And when he is home, neither he nor Ranboo is ever really home at the same time as him. Basically, they don't have to worry about him that much.

But they still need to follow the rules, and one of those is to not ever, under any circumstance, wake their dad once he's asleep. If they do, he gets furious, and that's when the screaming starts. Sometimes, Tubbo gets scared it'll go further than yelling, especially with the look in his eyes he occasionally gets when he's angry. Thankfully, he's never gone past verbal insults. He doesn't think he would go that far.

Or at least, that's what he thought.

When their mailbox comes into view, the first few droplets of rain hit the pavement. The two boys look at each other and smirk. Tubbo suggests a race, to which Ranboo instantly agrees, which is a dumb idea in hindsight. Tubbo has short legs, starkly different to Ranboo, who was really tall and lanky. Soon enough, he'd be taller than Dream, and Dream was really tall.

The two break off running, giggling as they are hit by incoming pellets of rain, blown in from the side by the wind. Tubbo instantly falls behind in the race, and by the time he gets to his driveway, Ranboo is already there at the door, but something immediately feels wrong.

It's like once he crosses the border to his house, the air goes stale. Ranboo is standing dead still by the door, looking down. The next thing Tubbo notices is the front door, which is wide open. He breaks into a run towards the door, stopping by Ranboo, whose eyes haven't moved from the ground.

Tubbo's own gaze lowers, trying to find what Ranboo is mesmerised by, and his heart drops. On the floor by the door, a drop of blood. Only a singular spot of red, but something that definitely wasn't there this morning. His eyes follow from the droplet to the door, and his heart sinks further, noticing the blood on the doorstep and handle. The brunette snaps back to attention, shaking Ranboo and pointing. The two teens are left scrambling, entering the house without hesitation, following an ever-thickening trail of blood.

Ranboo follows the trail, leaving Tubbo behind. The blonde saunters slowly, taking in every single detail of his surroundings. His chest is tight with anxiety, and his thoughts run rampant with worst-case scenarios. All of these increase tenfold when the trail of crimson turns, leading the blonde teen to a door. The door to the basement. The one room in the house they were banned from. Ranboo shudders.

He has two options right now, he could either stay up here and wait for his dad to wake up before getting permission to go down. Or, he could go down because someone, Dream, could be hurt and need help right now. Someone could've injured his brother, and he may need them. The answer is obvious. Carefully, Ranboo descends in the basement, flicking the light on the way down.