Gold and dragon feathers

you ever feel a heartbeat?

Ranboo runs his hands carefully through slightly overgrown blond hair, careful to avoid the purple horns adorning the head in his lap. It's honestly hard to tell if the vibration he feels running along his arms is from his own throat or if it's the crunchier purr that he hears from Tommy soaking through the blanket.

For all of the stress and uncertainty Ranboo's seen in his friends' eyes due to the dragon's wings, he has to say that he hasn't seen Tommy so entirely relaxed. He thought he had but without the dropping ears and the almost impressive amount of the hybrid's weight  that's pressed against his legs he doesn't think he has. Somehow even dead asleep, the blond's secret had been weighing on him.

Ranboo exhales loudly, a mix of fondness and concern so strongly lodged in his chest that he's certain that the owner of the hands braiding his own hair heard the emotions loud and clear. He tilts his head back until his lap isn't the only one holding a head (though it looks like technically Micheal already has that covered) and he can make eye contact with the goat hybrid. Sure enough, Tubbo's expression contains nothing but soft understanding.

They hold eye contact for a quiet moment. Only rumbling and the sound of birds accompany the feeling of warm understanding. Gently Tubbo bends down to softly bump his forehead against Ranboo's, a quiet bleat requesting relief. Ranboo answers with a warble before they part, or at least before Tubbo sits back up and Ranboo follows suit.

So much is shared without a word, with his back against the couch.But, of course ,words are nice too. After checking that Tommy is still asleep, wings pinned under his own body, Ranboo decides to speak.

" I've never seen Tommy so relaxed before"

He parrots his observation from earlier.

" yeah... guess I haven't either"

The dragon hybrid shifts a little bit and Ranboo helps free one of his wings from an especially uncomfortable looking angle.

"Is... is it weird that it doesn't feel unfamiliar though?"

"What do you mean?"

" mean- if he's been hiding this his whole life, isn't it odd that it feels more normal than his usual form already?"

Ranboo considers the sentiment for à l'ombre before responding

" I don't think so, I mean this is how it was always meant to be. We're not made to stay in our other forms"

"And yet he did"

It's as if Tubbo could read his mind.

"Yeah... "

His thought trails off before landing itself right in another. Somthing that's been bothering him.

"Has he talked to you about your instincts?"

"My instincts? No, the only thing to do with instincts he's done is when he made that 'hoard' or nest or whatever yesterday"

" huh"

"Why"

"Well, the other night he said somthing about 'waiting until our instincts wear off' and I can't figure out what that means"

Tubbo hums and Ranboo can practically see the goat hybrid's frown.

" I don't know... I was thinking he seemed on edge but after yesterday I figured he just had been holding back his dragon brain too long"

Not to mention how that extreme display of instincts really showed (yet again) how much keeping his hybrid species a secret cost their friend.

" maybe that was part of it but I'm just worried"

He studies the face of the younger hybrid, hoping with all of his heart that (after how it felt to think he lost him) Tommy won't ever try to leave them.

" Me too but I don't know what to do about it."

There's the big problem. They already knew Tommy had a habit of prioritizing his "big man" persona and friends over sharing his emotion. He tends to default to shying away from talking about his feelings if they're negative. This just proves that that "habit" actually went even further than they had thought.

" yeah, I just can't believe how much he was doing just to keep it a secret"

He really must have been afraid.

" yeah, at first I was mad about him pretending to be Mellohi instead of just going with me but at this point I'm more worried about whatever the hell is going on in there"

"... yeah. "

He looks up at the windows, it's the middle of the day. The obsurdury of how mundane everything has felt despite everything is at least somewhat amusing.

" you know what though?"

"What?"

" I'm just glad you're both back"

Tubbo chuckles meekly at that, finally returning to the braids he's been neglecting.

"Glad to be back, boss man"

It sure is.

(Oop, this one's pretty short but to be totally honest I kinda adore it. Hope you guys do too!) (also apparently rewrorking the timing ended up meaning make a short chapter that wasn't originally planned I guess)