‼️DISCONTINUED‼️ Drowning Olympian - DSMP olympic water sports AU

Chapter 9: Protect Teamates At All Costs

Tubbo POV:

Of course, Ranboo wouldn't sleep forever, and soon enough he did wake, noticing the time and complaining that Tubbo hadn't woken him up.

"You know I can never adjust to timezones if you don't wake me up. Why do I always have to tell you? I'm not going to be annoyed if you wake me."

"Eret said to stay in our rooms," Tubbo lied, Eret hadn't specifically told him to, but she had also said that she didn't know when training would start because the coaches were busy making sure everyone was ok.

Ranboo gave him a confused look, because unlike Tubbo, he had checked todays schedule the previous night, and knew they had training in the morning.

"Don't we have the pool in..." Ranboo stopped to check the time, "Half an hour?"

"I don't know, I'm just doing what I was told," Tubbo said, trying to hide the guilt that was starting to well up in his voice. He didn't like lying to Ranboo, he never had, but they would just go and worry about it, and Tubbo wanted to protect them from that.

"What's going on?" Ranboo asked softly in a tone that suggested they were going to push, regardless of how nice they would be about it. Of course they would. What else could Tubbo expect?

"Wilbur... apparently there was a run in between him and his old team," Tubbo explained, and when Ranboo tilted their head- clearly not understanding- Tubbo remembered that his teammate didn't know, "They were... they hurt him a lot... they didn't care about the Olympics, they hurt him again."

Tubbo's eyes were welling up with tears, realising that not only had it happened, but Ranboo had no preparation for it. No one had told him. Tubbo had only found out because he insisted on knowing what had happened in everyone's lives before this team, and more importantly he insisted on working out his team's triggers. He would not have a repeat of the incident.

Tubbo had insisted his way into each of their pasts, standing stubborn until they told him. He refused to let them hurt alone silently.

Tubbo knew everything there was to know about his team. He knew about how Ranboo didn't remember their family due to memory loss caused by a failed highlight causing a head injury a few years ago. He knew Aimsey hated heights passionately. He knew that Techno always doubted his abilities in everything except his strength. He knew that Fundy had spent a lot of time doubting his worth as a team member before Tubbo had pulled him into the team properly. He knew that Sally would sit at the bottom of the pool when things got too much, because it was the only place she found truely quiet due to her sensory issues. He knew that Niki struggled to trust people at first, always being kind to others, but never letting them in to see her weaknesses. He knew that Eret hated it when people instantly chose to yell at each other instead of solving things more calmly. And of course, Tubbo knew about Wilbur.

Ranboo however, didn't know the intricacies of everyone's pasts. In fact, the kid often forgot that other people had memories from childhood. All Ranboo knew was that his muscles remembered how to do synchro. He had found his parents again, but it wasn't a normal dynamic. None of Ranboo's family recovered from his memory loss, so Ranboo had claimed this team as his family and had joined them to do the one thing he clearly knew well.

So, while Ranboo adored the team completely, their pasts weren't really a part of his conversations.

Ranboo now seemed to regret not asking more, and he took his time to try to understand what was happening. Tubbo now- after multiple messages to Eret while Ranboo had slept- had the names of the two monsters he fully intended to "accidentally" trip up. No one hurt his team without paying the price. Not if Tubbo could help it, and he liked to think he could.

Tubbo moved to sit next to Ranboo, wrapping his arms around his friend. He couldn't blame Ranboo for not knowing, very few of them knew at all. From what Tubbo knew, it was only him and the team members who were there when they found Wilbur, that being Techno, Eret, and Niki. Sally had found out later when she had joined the team and eventually started dating him.

"I didn't know... I didn't know..." Ranboo mumbled, clearly only just barely holding back tears.

"You couldn't have known, they don't tell anyone, not easily. It's just hard to talk about, you know?"

"I should've asked... I should know this stuff..."

"No, Ranboo. I need you to stop, ok? You can't blame yourself. Promise me you won't blame yourself."

"But-"

"No, no Ranboo, look at me. It is not your fault you didn't know. Wilbur doesn't like it, he doesn't like bringing it up. It took me a long time of nagging to find out. You know how I can be. I wouldn't expect anyone else to do that."

"I..." Ranboo hesitated, before shaking his head slightly, looking at Tubbo again, as though taking in a question sparked in his mind, "How do you... why do you know? You know everything, even if people aren't willing to tell, I mean you know more about me than anyone else, why?"

"I just like to know, I don't want to hurt you unintentionally," Tubbo lied- well it wasn't a lie really, but also not the true answer to Ranboo's question. He just nothing. There was so much, so many things that drove him to do what he did. It wasn't that simple, but he tried not to show it. Ranboo didn't need to know. Ranboo had their own shit to worry about, they didn't need to deal with Tubbo's. Tubbo dealing with others helped him deal with his own, Ranboo wasn't like that.

Words: 1000

A/N: y is writing sometimes 10x harder then necessary? Like I wanna write? Ik what to write, I'm good at it (I think), but then every now and then I go to write and ✨nothing✨ no thoughts, head empty. AHHHHH (that's why this chapter took so long, and why my other fic also hasn't been updated in ages) ;-;