<°In-Between°>

13-Softly Asleep

'maybe it's time I pay the prison a visit'

________

The soft sound of bird song slowly roused your senses as the crisp morning air reached the parts of your body not shielded by your thick quilt. Opening your eyes you shivered the sleep from your bones, looking over the sleeping figures in your room.

Tubbo was curled up near your side, mouth open and small snores occasionally escaping the open space between his lips. Ever since that night when you had hugged Tubbo to sleep he had always insisted that you or Ranboo sleep next to him, and you didn't protest. Sleeping close to someone had helped alleviate most of the nightmares, the ones about birch trees, polished stones, black roses with stinging thorns, unseen beings trying to take what sanity you had left, and replicas of you roaming empty halls.

Though one of the downsides to sleeping next to Tubbo was how much he kicked and talked in his sleep. The talking was manageable, small mumbles here and there creating a comforting signal that he was still beside you. The kicking however was something horrid, strong skilled legs from years of working his hybrid ones never failed to leave bruises on your shins by morning.

You had offered that the four of you sleep in your bed because honestly there was enough room. Your bed had been made far too big for just you being a solid 9ft by 9ft. Puffy had told you that it would take longer to make one the size you originally wanted, but it just so happened that she had a second mattress that bad had ordered from her which she made two of accidentally. Ranboo however had turned down your offer as soon as it was made. Tubbo tried to coerce him into sleeping on the comfortable foam, but even he was shot down.

Once Ranboo had made it clear that he didnt want to sleep on your bed Tubbo wrapped his arms around your torso and stuck his tongue out at Ranboo saying "Fine then, y/n and I will just platonically cuddle without you twig boy". Ranboo had then resorted to ignoring Tubbo and in the most sassy way possible he neatly folded the blankets of his makeshift bed and crawled into them with a very snobby look on his face, all the while you and Tubbo we're snickering at his theatrics.

So there Ranboo laid sprawled out in the blankets of his pallet on the floor. The light from the windows behind your bed shone down on his divided skin, casting an ethereal glow which made the dark skin of his body show a deep purple. The lighter side of his skin looked like the snow in the morning sun, and both sides looked almost as if they were sparkling. He was- he looked- you couldn't describe the feeling you felt when you looked over his softened features. His hair was tussled from rolling about in his sleep, covering part of the horns that grew from his skull, and his tail lay curled gently around Micheal flicking occasionally from one side to the next.

The small piglin was curled into Ranboo's arm wrapping his limbs around the lanky boys bicep. His small tail twitched as he dreamed and he ever so slightly grabbed Ranboo's tail as his dream progressed. Colored pencil laid near Michael's feet and next to Ranboo's hip curled up loosely. It hadn't surprised you on how quick your companion had taken to protecting the kid, after all he had become very overprotective of Tubbo and Ranboo aswell in the week he had known them. Micheal's chicken was already up and about, pecking at one of the few insects that had managed to survive the cold of the tundra.

You scooted from the center of the mattress over towards the edge where Ranboo and Michael laid leaning over the edge to look at Ranboo's face. His features were so much softer than the worried ones he constantly wore and he looked as if he were dreaming of something nostalgic and a bit comforting. The furrow of his brow and a roll onto his side startled you for a moment before a soft silence filled the room once more.