Where Is Your Rider (OFFICIAL WATTPAD UPLOAD)

Chapter 15

Tubbo wasn't quite sure what to think.

Firstly, after escaping getting grilled for information by the tall man in black and red who called himself Bad for the time being, he'd found out his boyfriend had run off into the jungle. Not only that, but apparently they were below the actual jungle, in a part of it where all of the plants weren't deadly toxic.

Secondly, Tubbo had found his boyfriend in the river downstream of the Badlands Commune, trying to drown himself.

And thirdly, he was currently in the cabin they'd been allotted—and his stomach was growling like hell; when was dinner, anyway—trying to dry Ranboo's hair for him, and none other than Tommy had just come drifting down the river, floating on his back with a foul expression on his face and both middle fingers held aloft.

"Is that Tommy?" Ranboo blurted hoarsely.

His gas mask was off, resting on the table nearby. The scars on his face still glistened damp from not-yet-dry tears and river water. His hoodie and T-shirt were gone, too, set aside to be washed and dried. There was a towel wrapped around his shoulders, but it didn't hide the countless old, long-healed scars that littered Ranboo's torso, or the metal plate embedded in his chest, barely visible under the skin that'd healed over it years ago.

Tubbo squinted out the window.

"I think it is Tommy," he said. "He looks like a wet cat."

Ranboo cracked a faint, soft smile. "Yeah."

Tubbo hesitated.

It was... strange, to see Ranboo's face, his real face. It was a bizarre feeling to see what lay under his ever-present gas mask and sunglasses, to gently touch his face, to gaze into his dichromatic eyes and kiss his scarred lips—

"You're staring again."

Tubbo winced, looking away. "Sorry."

"It—it's not so bad," Ranboo blurted anxiously, his wide, ever-so-expressive eyes darting nervously from his face to the floor and to his face again. "I don't feel... bad. Not when you do it."

"Really?"

Ranboo nodded quickly, giving him another little smile. "You don't stare at me like I'm ugly. You stare at me like you like staring at me."

"I do," Tubbo confessed. "I like your eyes, you know. They're quite beautiful."

Ranboo's cheeks flushed, and his lips quirked into an awkward, flustered smile as he hastily broke eye contact. "Ha, very funny."

"No, really," Tubbo said, with a smile of his own. "I got lost in them, the first time I saw them."

Their eyes met, and Ranboo's blush deepened.

It was silent for a brief moment as they stared at each other, a strange tension growing.

"We should go get Tommy," Ranboo blurted.

Tubbo nodded awkwardly, clearing his throat. "Y—yeah, I suppose we should go get him before he falls over a cliff or some shit."

What Tubbo wanted to do was wrap Ranboo up in a hug and smother him in affection, to dry his hair and kiss him senseless and apologize, tell him everything was alright and that he was sorry and that he shouldn't've said those awful, spiteful things—

—His thoughts were interrupted by Ranboo buckling his gas mask back on and slipping on the fresh clothes Bad had left for all of them.

By the time they made it outside, Tommy had drifted to the shore and was spinning in slow circles in an eddie, visibly struggling to keep from bursting into tears. A nasty-looking set of bruises had popped up on his cheek.