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"Please?"
"No."
"C'mon man, please?"
"Tommy, Scott literally built you a farm so you didn't have to do this. I'm not giving you my food."
"I don't wanna use Scott's fuckin pity farm!"
"You'd rather follow me around all day?"
Tommy stared at Ranboo for an uncomfortable 30 seconds, awkwardness amplified by Ranboo's desperate attempt to avoid eye contact.
"Yes," Tommy replied bluntly after the long pause, Ranboo huffing a soft sigh of relief at the broken silence. "I'm gonna go mine. You probably shouldn't come, the caves are dangerous, and you're…" he made a vague gesture generally towards Tommy.
"I can come with you!" he insisted, standing up on his tiptoes. "I am extremely strong and somewhat above average! I can go in the caves just as well as you can, boob boy!"
"I'm not helping you if you come with me, you'll have to fend for yourself. And I'm still not giving you food,” Ranboo replied simply. Tommy considered his options for a moment before shrinking back on his heels. He glanced around the small den in which he stood, thinking. "...Fine. I don’t need you anyway, bitch."
"Mhm. Can you let go of my sleeve?"
"I was never holding it," Tommy replied as he let go. "You're imagining things boob boy, you're de-lir-i-ous,” he continued, making a point to stress every syllable of the last word. Ranboo decided not to respond to that as he started to step out of his cave-home. Tommy watched the enderman leave anxiously, trying to push down the sound that was rising in his throat. Unfortunately, it couldn't be helped. Tommy peeped, immediately clasping his hands over his mouth afterwards, face burning. He could feel his feathers fluff up, and he suddenly wished he had wings that were big enough to do anything useful, so that maybe he could hide in them.
Ranboo turned to look at him, clearly amused. "Yeah?" he said with a smirk in a tone that made Tommy want to attack him. "Shut the fuck up, bitch," Tommy managed as his small chirps got worse, and he realized that attempting to threaten anyone right now would end in more humiliation. Ranboo huffed a laugh. "You're like a baby bird, huh?”
"I'm not-!" At this point Tommy couldn't finish, cut off by chirps and trills. "Are you like… okay?" Ranboo asked, head tilted as he walked back over to Tommy. He seemed less concerned than he was amused. As soon as he was within reach, Tommy hugged Ranboo's arm, his incessant chirps subsiding almost instantly afterwards. "I hate you, fuck you, I hope you die," the boy said as he hid his face in Ranboo's side.
"What the hell is going on…?" Ranboo muttered. He got a melodramatic groan in response. “I hate you.”
"Why are you holding onto me…? You’re gonna get my coat dirty... "
Tommy groaned again and moved away from Ranboo, still holding onto his wrist. "First of all, you smell like shit, so honestly I probably just made your coat cleaner. Second, it’s some dumb bird shit Phil told me about, fuckin’ in-printing or something. It happened with him first, I couldn't leave him alone, y'know? I guess since he’s been busy, it happened again… with you," he glared at Ranboo as he finished talking, which was a comical contrast to Ranboo’s hand that he had brought up to his cheek. "I hate you, and I hate these stupid bird powers, and I hate being a fuckin vegan, and-" he cut himself off with his third groan of the past few minutes, this one partially muffled by Ranboo’s palm.
"Tommy."
"What do you want?"
"I don't really understand all your, like, bird stuff, but I mean… It is kind of funny, but I don't wanna, like, leave you all alone and miserable. I mean, I do, but I also-"
"Ranboo?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut the fuck up. Also, your hand feels weird."
Ranboo scoffed. "I don't wanna hear it, feather boy," he laughed, running his free hand over the patches of down on Tommy's forearms. He furrowed his brows as he felt the irregularity of them, doing his best to see Tommy’s wings. "Your feathers seem kinda messed up."
"Shut up man, 'mimimi I'm Ranboo and I know everything mimimi'-"
"No, I-..." Ranboo shook his head exasperatedly. "I was gonna offer to preen your wings for you."
"Wh- Fuck no! You're gonna mess them up!"
Ranboo shrugged. "Phil taught me, I know how. If you don't want me to, though, that's cool. I get it if you don’t trust his teaching skills."
"Wh- Hey! Ranboo you are being manipulative, you are a fucking evil man! Phil is the most trustworthy man in the world! " Tommy cried, turning around. Ranboo stifled a laugh. "Sit down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Tommy replied, despite the fact that he obeyed. Ranboo decided not to comment. “Your house isn’t very comfortable,” the golden boy spoke suddenly, shifting on the stone floor.
"Well, I'm moving somewhere else soon."
"Probably somewhere shitty."
Ranboo sighed. “Well, it’ll be perfect for me once it’s done. Maybe not you, but hopefully you can leave me alone by then.”
Tommy would’ve whipped around to argue if he didn’t mind risking Ranboo bending one of his feathers.
"Do you think you'll ever be able to really fly with these?" the taller boy asked after the silence had stretched too thin for his liking. "Well, yeah, hopefully. One day I'll be like Phil,” Tommy started. “Hey, you’re not gonna purposefully mess them up, are you?”
“What? Of course not. Well, it’s sort of amusing to think about. But no, I’m not.”
“It’s not funny, it’s fucking evil!”
Ranboo hummed in a way that Tommy would’ve described as patronizing, tail patting the floor. Tommy took one look at it before immediately grabbing it like a toddler picking a toy off of a store shelf, holding it up in front of his face. Ranboo didn’t know how to react. "What…?"
"I dunno, never noticed you had a tail before."
"I- How??"
Tommy shrugged. "Hey, sit still. It’s like you want me to bend a feather,” Ranboo mumbled, though he didn’t sound too annoyed. Tommy opened his mouth to say something, then paused for a second. He weighed his options in his head before deciding to speak.
"Y'know, Ranboo, you're kind of like my bitch."
Ranboo gave him a look of disgust. "If I leave you alone for more than 10 seconds you become nonverbal," he retorted, seeming thoroughly unamused. In response, Tommy went into a fit of incessant yet incomprehensible swearing for a couple minutes while Ranboo continued working nimbly. Eventually, Tommy did quiet down, and then shut his mouth completely. He felt his eyes flutter close as he absentmindedly fiddled with the end of Ranboo's tail, and though he knew he was falling asleep, he couldn't be bothered to prevent it, as embarrassing as it was.
He awoke with a startled chirp just a few minutes later. "How can you even fall asleep like that…? You were about to topple over," Ranboo spoke with a look of concern. Tommy glared at him, not happy to have his nap interrupted. "Mans was tired. Can't you finish while I'm sleeping?"
"Maybe if you were facing me, so you wouldn’t crack your skull on the floor.”
Tommy gave Ranboo a look. "Do I have to sit on your lap or some shit?" he asked. He may have been more affectionate than he would typically like, but he did draw the line somewhere.
"No, I think I can-" Ranboo started, but quickly gave up trying to explain. They awkwardly attempted to adjust for what was probably a minute, but felt like a few painfully long hours, until Tommy had leaned his head against Ranboo's chest, sitting between his legs.
"This fucking sucks."
"No part of it isn't your fault."
"I hate you."
Tommy found that Ranboo had started using humming as a way to blatantly avoid responding to things. He just continued to preen Tommy's wings while the bird did everything in his power to be angry about the situation. He eventually heaved a sigh of acceptance, or maybe defeat, and relaxed against Ranboo. He carded his fingers through the ends of the enderman's hair, fidgeting as usual.
"Your hair's so soft… It's like silk," he mumbled, leading Ranboo to let out a poorly-stifled giggle in response. "Thanks…?" he said, somewhat confused. "It is, though!" Tommy insisted as though he had something to prove. "Yeah, I believe you. I'm done, by the way,” Ranboo nodded. Tommy shook his head. "No you're not."
"What?"
Tommy shot him a look that was begging him to take the hint. "You're not done," he repeated, and Ranboo finally figured out what he wanted. He hesitantly put his hands on Tommy's back, and then pulled him into a sort of hug. This sort of thing was certainly alien to them both, but Tommy seemed happy with it. "You gotta learn to just ask for things man, no one here is a mind reader. At least, I don’t think so.”
"No," is all Tommy said in response, continuing to mess with Ranboo's hair. Eventually, they fell into a comfortable lull of Tommy carding through Ranboo's hair while Ranboo hummed and rubbed his back in small circles. Tommy was about ready to drop his hands and go back to sleep when Ranboo's humming turned more into an inhuman rumble, making Tommy pause.
"Are you fucking purring??"
"Oh god, I was hoping you wouldn't notice."
"You PURR??"
Ranboo sighed. "Yes. Don't tell anyone and I won't talk about your bird thing. Deal?"
Tommy considered the offer for a second before smiling up at him. "Deal."