Ink Stains (MCYT Oneshots)

Aliens Bonding (Tommy & Tubbo & Ranboo)

(A/N: i really have to stop starting to write these so late jesus fuck
anyways have another snippet from an ongoing fic bc I lost track of time haha)

"I cannot believe you," Tubbo says. "Really?"

"Stop looking at me like that," Theseus huffs. "They're harmless."

"They could've killed you," Ranboo points out, a deep frown etched onto his face. "They're humans, Theseus- we don't know much about them, what if they had some sort of weird abilities or whatever?"

"Well it's not like they could've," Theseus says stubbornly. "I found them nearly dead on a wasteland planet! I saved them; they'd at least be honour-bound to not kill me. And even if they try to, with what? I even locked them in the cells properly!"

"And now they're out?" Tubbo spreads his translucent blue wings out, flapping them in stress.

"Yes!" he cries exasperatedly. "Because they're harmless! Because we have fought after Wilbur collapsed, and they're good, but they're not that good! Because they've already had so many chances to kill or harm me and didn't. Because I trust-!"

He cuts off mid-sentence at that.

"You trust them?" Ranboo's voice is soft when he says that.

Theseus shifts. "I... they're good, really."

When Ranboo whips out a stun-gun, Theseus decides to step it up a notch.

"I'm not mind-controlled, or brainwashed, or anything like that," he insists. "Prime- you've done your illegal research on humans before! You know they can't mind-control anyone, or do any brainwashing, or tamper with minds like that! You already know what they're- what they can do, and that- they aren't controlling me. Please."

With a shared look, Ranboo puts away the stun-gun as Tubbo seats himself next to him.

"It's not that we think so lowly of you, Theseus," Tubbo murmurs, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. "It's just... we're worried, alright? You can handle yourself, yeah, but they're strangers."

"I can handle myself," Theseus grumbles, leaning into Ranboo when the tallest - much to his disgruntlement - out of all of them sits on the other side. "Look, just talk to them for a bit, alright? They're good."

"You've said that way too many times already," Ranboo snorts. Theseus doesn't deem that with a response, turning to Tubbo.

"Now, what happened during your bonding leave, huh?" Theseus asks. "Get anything good that doesn't involve mooching off of Ran-"

"Prime, shut up!" Tubbo hits him as Theseus cackles. "No, Theseus, we're not idiots. We don't do stupid and reckless things, unlike someone."

Theseus flips him off, moving his hands into a cross shape at his chest. Tubbo returns the gesture, before immediately launching into an explanation of what he and Ranboo have done during their travelling.

There's something that they aren't telling him, he knows, with the way they seem so shifty when they talk about their travel in the duration that Theseus couldn't contact them. Still, Theseus lets it go for now; it's clearly not that dangerous if they look more sheepish rather than nervous, and it's not his priority right now.

He trusts them enough to let him know if there's anything truly dangerous.

"And that was that," Tubbo finishes the tale of what had happened during their bonding leave.

"Wow," Theseus says. "That was boring."

Tubbo jabs his side. "You kept asking us questions about the Coldly Blossoming Fruits of Si'dwan!"

"Only because its name was too stupid to ignore," Theseus scoffs. "Did you seriously visit it because of its name?"

"Well, yeah," Ranboo shrugs, like he doesn't know what's wrong with visiting a place simply for its name. "But they were paying beings to try out their games, too, and my medicine was running out, so I used that money to buy some more."

Theseus feels a pang of guilt at that, even if it's never been his fault to begin with.

He had met Ranboo through Tubbo, who was the one to argue for Ranboo to be able to join them in training to be a flier in the first place. When he'd first met him, he quickly realised why Ranboo hadn't been allowed to train for outer-planet jobs.

Ranboo is a 'medical mystery', to say the least. With wonky genetics, featherless wings that could still fly, heterochromatic hair and eyes, two types of blood, and more... well, it was no wonder the scientists on their planet wanted to keep him in to see if they could find a way to 'cure' him. Ranboo had been like a doll; fragile, locked in, had little to no agency of his own... it was kind of sad. By the time Theseus had met him, they'd been able to find a sort of medicine that would allow him to move around and act much like any other Aezen, which was one of the main points in Tubbo's argument for Ranboo.

When it was refused, everyone - including Theseus himself - had thought Tubbo would let the matter go. After all, Aezens are trained and taught to follow the laws that govern their planet.

To this day, though, Theseus still has no idea what sort of confidence or illusion deity had possessed Tubbo, because somehow - either through sheer luck or his surprising intelligence - he had managed to disguise Ranboo and sneak him out. Then, he argued even more, with the help of Theseus, and eventually found a loophole that basically forced the higher-ups to let him train to become a flier.

It was all very terrifying. It still is.

In the end, Tubbo had been put - and still is on - the Risk List, which is a list of names that the higher-ups would need to keep an eye on. On the brighter side, after bonding with Ranboo, who was the perfect student through their training, his position on the Risk List has been lowered. Also, Ranboo was able to form a flier group with them.

But with freedom comes a price, and that price was the fact that they weren't - aren't - supplied with Ranboo's medicine anymore.