Day 14 - Can't go home with hurt!Ranboo
Other characters: Technoblade
Other tags: Origin smp setting, just sadge basically
Summary: Ranboo and Techno get stuck in a cave during a rainstorm
The one thing Ranboo liked most about Technoblade is that he would do anything for a price.
The price was always the same too: a bundle of carrots, less if you could catch Techno on a good day and he was hungry. Ranboo always carried some around for such an occasion, knowing how easy it would make getting Techno to do chores for him.
Menial work was simply not befitting somebody of his stature. He would not be debased toiling among the rest of them, not if he could get somebody else to do it for him.
The flip side, however, was that Techno worked for carrots and carrots only. And Ranboo's budget for the day had run out.
This wouldn't have been a problem - Techno was just done mining Ranboo all the gold his little heart could desire, and certainly enough for the project he needed it for. But then on the way back, a solid mass of dark clouds that had been hanging ominously over the landscape all day had suddenly broken open and started a torrent of water down on them.
The first splashes of rain burned his skin, scorching. He'd yelped and ran to take cover in a nearby cave, straightening his clothes and weaving his hands through his hair to make sure it hadn't been ruined by the stupid downpour. Techno had followed him, shaking stray droplets from his ear with a couple of short twitches.
"Technoblade," Ranboo said firmly, "I need you to go to my house and get my umbrella. Also, an autumn coat so I don't get soaked. Perhaps the green one with the gold buttons-"
"Nah." Techno shook his head.
Ranboo could not have looked more dismayed. "N… no?"
"Going through the rain sounds like a terrible time." Techno stared out at the entrance of the cave, where they couldn't see more than six feet out because the rainfall was coming down that badly, creating a shield of gray.
"Yes, which is why I don't want to do it," Ranboo said, leaving the rest unspoken.
Techno regarded him passively. "Do you got any more carrots?"
"I… no?"
Techno flicked his ear again, once. Then he sat down, legs pulled out in front of him. "I thought as much."
Ranboo sighed, wanting to follow his example but finding the ground too dirty to risk it. He pulled out his outer jacket, folded it, and sat down on top of it. The garment might be salvageable later, it might not be. It was better than getting his pants stained.
"I don't like this," he complained, getting not more than a hum from Techno, who was pulling on his hair, grooming the soft fur of his nape.
"I hate this actually," Ranboo amended after another moment of being ignored.
…
"I'm cold and it's wet in here."
…
"And I'm far too busy to be wasting my time sitting around in some cave."
…
"I want to go home."
No response, but instead Ranboo sighed. Because it itched at him, and it hurt, and he suddenly didn't know what he was even asking anymore.
"I want to go home." His knees hit the polished ground, claws digging into his own legs. The cold eyes that were watching him did not afford an ounce of pity on him. "Please… please I'm sorry, don't send me away, I want to go home!"
He shivered - either the cold or the memory.
Techno tilted his head a little. Then he inched closer.
"The place where I grew up didn't have a lot of carrots," he said. The sudden change of subject was enough to drag Ranboo from his reminiscing.
"What?"
"I think it was a soil thing, they just wouldn't grow." Techno tucked his arms in. "Sometimes I'm sad I can't go back there but… this place has a lot more carrots, you know?"
Ranboo blinked, perplexed.
The halls were made of veined marble, black struck through with white and gold. He'd lived there, grown there, been loved there.
But when he thought of home now, was it not the humble little cabin he was thinking of? Or the shop counter from behind which Tubbo smiled so brightly at him, or the valley where Tommy took them for picnics, or the waters that Niki built bridges over so he could get by unharmed?
Already the clouds were clearing a little.
"The rain will be over soon," Ranboo said. "And then we'll go home."
