Chapter Text
When he was finally transported back into the overworld, Quackity couldn't help but feel extremely dizzy, like he'd traveled a couple hundred kilometers just from passing through the portal. He gasped and stumbled forward, pressing his back against the obsidian walls to catch his breath while his vision swam unpleasantly around him, his appearance reverting into his normal duck form.
After regaining his composure, he finally looked up and was met with a tree—actually, a whole fuck ton of trees, apparently. Who in their right mind places a nether portal in the middle of a forest?
He cursed under his breath and at once started calling out for Tilín again, his voice now desperate and slightly scratchy from all the yelling he'd already been doing. Eventually he managed to stumble across a path leading out of the forest, and despite the growing panic settling in his chest, Quackity still desperately tried to keep his hopes high that his child was safe and sound somewhere nearby.
As he hurried down the path, he quickly pulled his communicator out of his pocket, trying to ask if any of his friends had seen Tilín, but the damn thing wasn't even turning on, which was completely weird considering those things practically had an infinite battery.
Quackity stared at the communicator bitterly before shaking it, smacking the side of it a couple times in a weak attempt to get it working again.
Of fucking course it stops working now. Lovely. He shoved it back into his pocket with a frustrated sigh, rubbing a hand over his face.
His breathing slowly started to pick up the further he walked, and when he finally managed to exit the forest, needless to say, he had no fucking clue where the hell he was supposed to be.
Quackity found himself standing in front of a massive crater, sealed off by surprisingly sturdy glass blocks, and the sight was so absolutely horrific that his breath caught in his throat.
"Wh… what the actual fuck happened here?!"
He muttered under his breath in disbelief, unable to tear his eyes away from the destruction. It looked horrible, like genuinely ugly, and for a brief second Quackity genuinely considered turning around and going straight back through the portal.
But the thought of Tilín forced him back to his senses.
Quackity pushed himself forward again, eventually spotting what he could only assume was the main path further off in the distance. He was still desperately hoping this was simply some location he hadn't gotten around to exploring yet in the QSMP, but the eerie silence hanging over the place wasn't reassuring in the slightest.
Eventually he reached the main path and felt a small amount of relief settle in his chest at the sight of a couple players walking around nearby, although unfortunately none of them were familiar. He didn't exactly want to risk approaching strangers or getting into any kind of altercation if he really was in an entirely different place, away from the island.
Quackity quietly moved from one building to another, trying his best to stay out of sight while nervously glancing around the unfamiliar area, before abruptly coming to a halt.
A couple inches in front of him stood Tilín.
A wave of relief crashed into him so hard it almost made his knees buckle, but the feeling was quickly overshadowed when his eyes landed on the person standing in front of them.
An extremely tall male… creeper hybrid?
The man had crouched down to Tilín’s level, though even then he still loomed over them. Quackity couldn’t hear exactly what the two were talking about, but the sight alone filled his body with anxiety.
Before he could properly think things through, his legs were already moving.
Quackity rushed forward and stopped beside them, grabbing Tilín’s wrist and pulling them to his side, a distrustful frown etched deeply onto his face as he stepped back. The hybrid snapped his gaze toward him.
"Who the hell are-"
"Quackity…?"
Quackity was cut off by the creeper hybrid, who slowly stood up in clear disbelief, staring directly at him.
His grip around Tilín tightened and he swiftly hoisted them into his arms, craning his neck up to properly glare at the man.
"How— how the fuck do you know my name? Who are you?!" Quackity snapped, wings flaring slightly as his heart pounded violently.
His sudden outburst drew a few nearby glances, making Quackity instinctively shrink in on himself, but he still for the love of god couldn’t recognize the man in front of him.
And yet… the longer he looked, the more an uncomfortable sense of familiarity settled in his chest.
"Whatever, doesn’t matter," Quackity said sharply, pulling Tilín closer. "Don’t ever try to touch my kid again."
The man looked genuinely taken aback, his expression softening in a way that only made Quackity more uneasy. When the creeper hybrid slowly reached out, Quackity snapped out of it and stepped back.
Without another word, he turned and ran.
He sprinted away, Tilín held tightly against his chest while panic surged through him. He didn’t even remember how long he ran for.
Only when he finally glanced back and saw no sign of the creeper hybrid did his legs give out.
Quackity dropped to his knees, immediately pulling Tilín against his chest, one hand cradling the back of their head as he exhaled shakily into their hair.
"Jesus christ…" he muttered, squeezing them tighter before pulling back just enough to check on them.
The red bow he had tied earlier had loosened slightly.
Quackity carefully fixed it before giving them one last pat on the head, then stood up and grabbed their hand tightly, clearly unwilling to lose sight of them again, continuing down the path while trying to ignore the green man who somehow knew his name.
"You have to stay close to me, Tilín. Not one step behind. We don’t know this place or the people here," he said quietly, uncertainty slipping into his voice despite his attempt to sound firm.
Quackity had originally planned to ask nearby players for directions back home. A part of him even felt slightly guilty about how he had reacted earlier, but he was exhausted and just trying to get his child to safety.
But now even the goddamn villagers were starting to give him weird stares.
They were villagers for fucks sake! What exactly did he do to offend them?!
Quackity tightened his grip on Tilín’s hand when they tugged at him excitedly, pointing toward a flower-covered field nearby.
He couldn’t really blame them. They were still a kid, and they’d been outside for who knows how long. They were probably exhausted and hungry.
Unfortunately for Quackity, the only thing in his backpack that remotely resembled food was a couple pieces of days-old rotting zombie flesh.
Okay, Quackity was dumb, but not THAT dumb.
There was absolutely no way in hell he was feeding his child zombie flesh.
Himself on the other hand...
"Tilín," he started quietly, slowly crouching down to their level, "we should probably search for some food first, yeah? I was being careless and forgot to pack food for you, I'm sorry..."
He looked at her expectantly, but Tilín still stubbornly pointed toward the flower field, clearly more interested in searching for their favorite flowers and relaxing with their dad for a while.
"Tilín..." Quackity sighed tiredly.
"How about this," he started again after a moment, "once we successfully find some food for you, we can come back here and play on the grass for a while, alright? We still gotta be mindful of the time too, the sun's heading down..."
At the sound of his words Tilín brightened and nodded enthusiastically, unconsciously making the corners of Quackity's mouth lift into a smile.
"Alright, let's go." he spoke with a small amount of newfound confidence.
...
/msg Ponk "Ponk."
/msg awesamdude "???"
A couple seconds passed before another message was sent.
/msg Ponk "I just saw Quackity."
The response came instantly.
/msg awesamdude "What."
/msg Ponk "He was standing right infront of me"
/msg awesamdude "Sam."
/msg Awesamdude "Sam, please. Quackity's dead, we all saw that notification that day."
/msg Ponk "I know what I fucking saw Ponk."
A long, stretched out pause followed after that.
/msg awesamdude "...Are you absolutely sure it was him?"
/msg Ponk "I'm sure."
/msg Ponk "I know my son when I see him."
...
By the time the sun had i completely disappeared beneath the horizon, Quackity and Tilín had long since abandoned the pathway entirely.
The deeper they wandered into the wilderness, the less eyes Quackity felt lingering on him, enough that some of the tension slowly began to leave his body. The forest around them had grown significantly quieter too, only interrupted by the occasional rustling leaves or distant zombie grumbling somewhere far off in the dark.
Tilín quietly held onto the sleeve of his jacket while the two carefully climbed over rough terrain, visibly exhausted from all the walking they’d been doing. Every now and then they stumbled over loose stone or roots jutting from the ground, and each time Quackity instinctively steadied them before they could properly fall.
Eventually, his eyes landed on a small cave tucked into the side of a cliff nearby.
On the way over, Quackity had thankfully managed to spot and kill a couple cows grazing near the riverside below, the raw meat hastily shoved into his inventory alongside the rest of his supplies. The hunt itself hadn't taken too long, though Tilin still looked mildly disturbed watching him dig the axe back and forth out of the second cow for longer than necessary with a stare full of resentment.
He'd chosen not to comment on it, and the rest of the walk passed mostly in silence after that.
The cave itself thankfully didn't look very deep, but Quackity still made sure to carefully check every corner before allowing Tilin inside. A couple bats screeched overhead at the sudden intrusion while he shoved some loose gravel aside with his foot, mentally noting each possible exit they could take in case of an emergency and thankfully the lack of mobs hiding inside.
The second he deemed the cave safe enough, Tilin practically melted against the nearest wall from exhaustion.
Quackity quietly exhaled through his nose before crouching near the middle of the cave to get a furnace running. The familiar warmth and soft crackling from the fire slowly filled the small space while shadows flickered across the stone walls around them. Still cold as shit, but manageable atleast.
After a moment Quackity shrugged his backpack off his shoulders and took off his now slightly blood stained jacket and quietly draped it over Tilín's shoulders instead, the oversized fabric nearly swallowing them whole as they curled into it for warmth, leaving him in nothing but a thin white undershirt.
The cave remained mostly silent outside of the furnace crackling softly between them and the occasional distant mob noise echoing somewhere outside.
After what felt like hours, the food finally finished cooking and Quackity handed the steak over to Tilín immediately. They started eating hastily despite how visibly exhausted they were, barely even pausing to breathe between bites.
Quackity brushed a hand through their hair before letting out another low coo underneath his breath.
"Slow down," he murmured softly. "The food isn’t going anywhere."
Tilín blinked sleepily at him before slowing down slightly, taking smaller bites now.
By the time they'd finally finished eating, they looked seconds away from passing out completely. Unfortunately for both of them, neither had anything remotely resembling proper bedding.
So Quackity awkwardly settled for sitting closer toward the furnace instead, using the damp wall behind him for support while Tilín remained curled up against his chest. One of their hands loosely clung to the fabric of his shirt while Quackity carefully adjusted the jacket around their again to keep the warmth trapped inside.
Another couple quiet chirps left him instinctively when Tilín shifted against him again, visibly fighting sleep despite how exhausted they clearly were.
"It's alright." He murmured softly while resting his chin lightly against the top of their head. Humming a soft tune under his breath to help them relax.
Eventually Tilin's breathing evened out completely against him, soft and steady.
Quackity stayed still for awhile longer, absentmindedly running his fingers through their hair while the furnace crackled quietly nearby. The warmth from it barely reached the rest of the cave, though with Tilin curled up against his chest underneath his jacket, it was manageable enough. He glanced toward the leftover steak sitting beside the furnace before almost immediately looking away again, his nose wrinkling slightly.
His hand instead drifted into his inventory out of habit, fingers brushing against the familiar texture of rotten flesh before pulling a chunk out. Tilin barely stirred when he shifted slightly against the wall, still deeply asleep against him while Quackity took a bite.
He quietly chewed while staring blankly toward one of the darker corners of the cave, he still had to figure out how they would get back to their world. Exhaustion settled heavier into his body with every passing minute. One arm remained loosely wrapped around Tilin the entire time, instinctively keeping her tucked close against him, his wings carefully curling around her small frame.
Eventually even the sounds around him started fading into background noise.
Quackity's eyes slowly started slipping shut not long after that, exhaustion finally catching up to him while the half-burnt furnace continued crackling softly nearby.
...
It didn’t take long for his eyes to snap open just as quickly, all sleep leaving his system as he sat up straight. The furnace died down and It had started thundering outside the cave, one particular lightning strike was loud enough to jolt Quackity fully awake.
He looked down at Tilin’s calm, sleeping face, his breathing slowly evening out the longer he stared.
…Yeaaah, there's no chance he was gonna be able to go back to sleep.
So he just leaned back against the stone wall instead, staring up at the cave ceiling, fixating on a single water droplet that kept forming and falling from the same spot over and over again, hitting the ground with a quiet, steady rhythm.
He stayed like that until the first faint light of sunrise started creeping in from the cave entrance, a yawn slipping out of him before he could stop it.
Quackity hummed softly and gently shook Tilin awake.
They let out a small groan in protest with a raspy "Daaaddd," pushing at him weakly, and he just snorted under his breath and helped guide them upright as they blinked the sleep out of their eyes.
He grabbed his jacket and zipped it back on, feeling Tilin’s small hand wrap around his index finger without hesitation. That alone made something in his chest loosen slightly.
They made their way out of the cave together, heading down toward the river to wash up.
Tilin was still rubbing their eye with their knuckles when they reached the water. Quackity just sat down unceremoniously at the riverbank and pulled their onto his lap, scooping water up to clean both of them off properly.
After a moment, he set them down on the grass nearby and started fixing their hair. Their ribbon had loosened again during the night, so he gently undid it, sitting behind them while carefully combing his fingers through their short black hair.
Tilin quietly played with the grass and small flowers around them, distracted, humming to herself while Quackity worked the strands into a simple braid.
His hand was just about to reach for the ribbon lying in the grass to tie it off when something suddenly shifted in the bushes nearby, causing him to freeze.
Tilin barely had time to react before Quackity pulled them back against his chest, instinctively wrapping an arm around them as his eyes snapped toward the sound.
Then a figure pushed through the bushes.
A short Goat hybrid, to be exact.
Quackity’s expression tightened, irritation cutting through the surprise.
“Do you mind? You nearly scared the shit out of-”
The boy cut him off before he could finish.
“Is this some kind of sick joke? WHAT THE FUCK—HOW THE FUCK?? HOW ARE YOU ALIVE MAN?!”
Tilín flinched hard at the volume, and Quackity reacted instantly, pulling them tighter against him, his wings curling protectively around them without thinking. His glare sharpened as he looked at the stranger properly now. Confusion flickered across his face more than anything else.
The goat hybrid didn’t seem to notice Tilín at all. His entire focus was locked on Quackity.
"No, no, no, but you’re- you’re dead, I-I saw- we all saw-"
Quackity frowned slightly, wings drooping slightly in bewilderment. "Dude, what the hell are you talking about?" he said flatly, making the goat hybrid go quiet. He furrowed his brows and shook his head, perplexed. None of this was making any sense to him.
The goat shifted awkwardly on his feet, eyes darting between Quackity and Tilín now. Quackity, meanwhile, just looked increasingly unimpressed.
"Please tell me this was just some sick joke, big Q? This really isn't funny..." The boy kept persisting, his expression still hopeful.
But unfortunately he was unable to spot any recognition on the man's face, Quackity’s brows lifted only slightly at the stranger's words, his grip on Tilin tightening a fraction with distrust.
The goat exhaled sharply through his nose, slower this time. The look of pure misery still eminent on his features.
"Okay," the goat spoke, more controlled now. "Okay then, well, I’m Tubbo."
"…Tubbo," Quackity repeated slowly, letting the name roll of his tongue, clearly unfamiliar with it. “Well uh… it's nice to meet you, I guess? My name’s Quackity.”
“Yeah, yeah I know…” Tubbo muttered, ignoring the utterly confused look Quackity send his way while he glanced around the forest edge, voice lowering slightly. “Listen, I don’t think this is something we should be doing out here in the open. People are gonna notice you. We should leave, quickly.”
Quackity narrowed his eyes slightly, eyeing the boy up and down.
"And why exactly should I follow you?" he asked suspiciously. “For all I know you could attack us the second I let my guard down. I don’t even know you!”
Tubbo sighed deeply and slowly lifted both hands in surrender.
"…Look," he started carefully, "I just think a lot of people are gonna be very surprised to see you walking around out here in public." His eyes flicked toward Tilín briefly before he continued, shutting down any attempt of protest from Quackity.
"Just follow me, alright? I don’t have any ulterior intentions, you have my word."
Quackity hesitated for a second, eyes scanning Tubbo’s face for any dishonesty before eventually sighing quietly through his nose and grabbing Tilín’s hand again. Tubbo looked relieved when Quackity finally got up and started following him out of the forest.
...
The further they walked, the colder it got. At first Quackity thought it was just because the sun still hadn’t fully risen yet, but eventually the grass started disappearing under thin patches of snow, a cloud of air escaping his lips each times he'd exhale.
Tilín had long since stopped walking on their own.
They’d gotten tired maybe twenty minutes into the walk and eventually just reached both their arms up at him with an exhausted little chirp, and Quackity couldn’t exactly say no to that.
So now they sat against his hip while he walked, bundled underneath one of his wings and his jacket, half-asleep and warm against him.
...
The peace had only lasted for a short moment before Quackity started throwing question after question at him, barely giving Tubbo enough time to answer before jumping to the next one.
Although Tubbo managed to keep his responses vague and noncommittal the entire walk, Quackity eventually fell quiet, an irritated pout pulling at his mouth as he gave up trying to get anything useful out of him.
What kind of stupid name was Turbo anyway.
...
After a half hour of walking in complete awkward silence had passed, with Tubbo contantly reassuring them that they were only a couple minutes away from their destination.
Quackity started to loudly complain about the cold, his wings wrapping around himself in in desperate means to warm himself up, despite their size barely being able to wrap around the entirety of his torso, while Tilín rested their head against his collarbone without complaint.
Tubbo glanced back at the pair, his eyes finally landing on the little kid with them with interest.
"Oh! And what's the little one's name?"
Quackity snapped out of his whining and glanced down at Tilín before looking back at Tubbo again.
"Oh right," he said, completely forgetting the fact he was nearly freezing to death, "This is my kid, Tilín."
A smile instantly pulled onto his face at the mention of them, softer than anything else Tubbo had seen from him so far. Tilín waved excitedly from where they clung to Quackity’s side, nearly losing their grip on his jacket for a second before he steadied them absentmindedly with one arm wrapping around them.
"You adopted too?” he asked curiously, something nostalgic flickering across his face. “Me and my partner got our own aswell, back in Snowchester.” But only received a lifted brow from Quackity in return.
“Um, no…?” he answered slowly, brows furrowing. “They're my biological child.”
"..What?"
“I mean technically I laid the egg so I don’t really know what else you want me to call it-”
"WHAT."
...
By the time Snowchester finally came into view, Quackity was genuinely starting to suspect Tubbo had been trying to lead them into the arctic just to die.
The cold bit viciously at the exposed skin on Quackity’s legs (he should’ve known wearing shorts to the Nether wasn’t worth it), sharp wind cutting across his face hard enough to sting.
Tilín, like the little traitor they were, openly gaped at their surroundings, letting out tiny gasps of astonishment while pointing at practically everything in sight. At one point they even wriggled out of Quackity’s arms just to dive face-first into the snow, somehow attempting to make snow angels without even rolling over properly in the process.
Which, naturally, forced Quackity to drop to his knees in panic and yank them back out before they could either suffocate or start eating the snow.
Unfortunately, judging by the way the little shit’s cheeks puffed out suspiciously, he had clearly already been a few seconds too late.
"Hijo de puta-"
Quackity clicked his tongue in disappointment and flicked them lightly on the forehead before pulling them upright again, grabbing their hand in a death grip to make sure they wouldn’t sprint off again if he let his guard down
He heard someone clear their throat nearby and slowly looked up. Tubbo was staring at him expectantly.
Quackity stared right back with a perfectly deadpan expression in rebuttal, half tempted to start blowing raspberries at him aswell.
The boy sighed heavily through his nose before turning around and motioning for them to follow him toward one of the larger buildings nearby.
The second they stepped inside, warmth immediately wrapped around Quackity like a blanket, causing him to nearly groan from relief.
The heat hit his frozen skin so suddenly that his wings instinctively folded neatly against his back underneath his jacket, feathers settling for the first time in what felt like hours.
"Oh thank god," he muttered weakly underneath his breath.
Beside him, Tilín desperately started trying to tug themselves free from his grip again.
Quackity narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously before finally relenting with a warning chirp. The second he released his grip on them, they bolted further into the house without hesitation.
Tubbo was already shrugging off his layers and hanging them up to dry near the entrance. He offered to take Quackity's jacket aswell, but the winged man respectfully shook his head, in which Tubbo just shrugged in response.
"Right," Tubbo started carefully, rubbing the back of his neck a little. "So, this should probably be a better place to explai-"
A loud crash suddenly echoed somewhere deeper inside the house. Both of them snapped their heads toward the noise.
His eyes darted around the room searching frantically for Tilín, but the second he realized they weren’t anywhere in sight, his heart dropped to his ass. He didn’t even bother asking for permission before sprinting further into the house toward the sound.
"Tilín?!" He called out desperately, with Tubbo hurrying right behind his tail.
Their footsteps pounded loudly against the wooden floorboards as Quackity shoved past the hallway entrance, heart racing violently in his chest-
Only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight infront of him.
A book was laying on the floor right beside the couch, pages crumpled awkwardly underneath it. Tilín stood directly infront of the couch itself, completely still, looming over another piglin child curled up underneath a blanket on the couch cushions, their head tilted slightly with fascination written all over their face.
The kid, older than Tilín by a couple years at least, stared back equally as bewildered, ears twitching nervously underneath the attention, his eyes darting back and forth between the enderman sitting right next to him on the couch and Tubbo, who was standing right beside him.
The enderman sitting on the couch looked profoundly uncomfortable, choosing instead to stare at the book on the floor rather than meet anyone’s gaze.
It was painfully silent.
Tilín slowly reached forward, but before they could get any closer, Quackity crossed the room and scooped them up with a horrified squawk, pulling them back against his chest.
"Oh my god, you cannot just approach random children like some kind of cryptid! Tilín!"
Tilín chirped loudly in protest while squirming in his grip, clearly still trying to get back to the other piglin child. Quackity tightened his hold and shot them a warning look, which they very blatantly ignored.
He glanced back toward Tubbo with desperation written all over his face, silently begging for help, but Tubbo averted his gaze instead.
Coward.
Eventually, Tubbo seemed to muster up enough courage to finally speak up, loudly clearing his throat and making everyone in the room look toward him.
"Guys- okay, guys, let’s just calm down for a second, alright?" he started carefully, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ranboo, could you maybe grab Michael and take him into the other room for now? This is kind of a...serious situation."
Ranboo looked deeply uncomfortable about the entire ordeal, eyes darting nervously between Quackity, Tubbo, and Tilín, who was still staring at Michael with concerning intensity from Quackity’s arms.
Ranboo finally sighed and leaned down to hurriedly snatch the fallen memory book off the floor first, tucking it underneath one arm before scooping Michael up with the other, the latter looking absolutely devastated.
"Wha- But I wanna stay!"
"Nope," Ranboo cut in right away, already heading out. Tubbo butting in just as quickly. "Absolutely not, Michael. You are not helping with whatever this is."
"But dad!"
"Michael."
The piglin child huffed angrily but still wrapped his arms around Ranboo’s neck, glancing back toward Tilín one last time while being carried away.
Tilín chuffed back at him and Quackity had to physically tighten his grip on them before they could somehow leap out of his arms and follow after them.
A second later the bedroom door clicked shut behind Ranboo, leaving the rest of the house in heavy silence.
Quackity let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding and shot the kid in his arms another look, not trusting to let go of them anymore. Tilín blinked up at him innocently, his eyes only narrowed harder at that.
Tubbo let out a tired sigh from somewhere behind them, "…Right," Tubbo said before motioning awkwardly toward the couch, "Sit down."
Quackity didn’t move at first, intensily staring him down as if daring Tubbo to make a wrong move.
"PLEASE," Tubbo begged desperately, making Quackity visibly cringe. He had to admit, he wasn’t that cruel, so he reluctantly swallowed his pride for once and sat down on the far end of the couch, deliberately as far away from Tubbo as possible.
Quackity didn't comment on how incredibly comfortable the couch felt, and how badly he wished he could just melt into it. But instead pulled Tilín into his lap and secured them with a wing, still staring Tubbo down just as intensely as before, not letting his guard down for a single second.
Tubbo took the seat opposite them.
"So you didn’t even recognize Ranboo? Or Michael?" Tubbo asked desperately, only receiving a look of barely concealed pity from Quackity. "I mean, I know you never really knew them on a personal level, but-" The sentence lamely died on his tongue.
"…Okay then," Tubbo sighed quietly, rubbing a hand over his face. "Did you come across anyone else before I found you? Tell me exactly how you got here."
Quackity pondered for a long moment before finally responding.
"Right… so yesterday, I decided it would be a good idea to go mining in the nether with Tilín, just to spend some time together." He paused briefly, gathering his thoughts. "Later on, we decided to play a game of hide and seek, and they ran off. I couldn’t find them anymore, and eventually I came across a portal, different from the one we originally entered through.” His brows furrowed slightly.
“And then I got transported here.”
Tubbo stayed quiet, listening intently while Quackity continued.
"After that, I ended up wandering through some massive ass forest before stumbling across that giant crater." He grimaced faintly. "Seriously, that thing was unnerving as hell."
Tilín shifted sleepily against his side while Quackity absentmindedly adjusted the blanket of his wing around them.
"Eventually I found some kind of path, and that’s where I finally found Tilín again." He hesitated for half a second before continuing. "There was a man standing with them too. Really tall guy, at least six foot seven or something."
"Now that I think about it," Quackity added thoughfully, "he didn’t really seem to have any malicious intend toward my kid or anything… but I was panicking and just lashed out before grabbing Tilín and running off."
He exhaled quietly through his nose.
"And then we took shelter in a cave for the night before eventually running into you."
Tubbo nodded along carefully, mentally cataloguing every detail Quackity gave him. But the mention of the tall stranger clearly caught his attention the most.
"And this tall guy," Tubbo started carefully, "could you describe him a little more? What exactly did he look like?"
Quackity paused, feeling Tilín’s hand curl around one of his fingers reassuringly while he thought.
"Well…" he hummed thoughtfully, "the guy was awfully green-"
Tubbo’s eyes widened immediately in alarm, straightening in his seat.
Quackity blinked at the reaction before quickly continuing.
“-The man was standing on four legs though. Creeper hybrid for sure.” Tubbo visibly deflated in relief.
"Oh thank god," he muttered underneath his breath.
Quackity raised a brow suspiciously at the response, but Tubbo quickly waved him off before he could question it further.
"Right," Tubbo sighed, pushing himself upright from the couch. "Quackity, thank you for telling me all this. I’ll try to handle things from here."
He slowly started walking toward the hallway Ranboo had disappeared down earlier before pausing near the doorway.
"In the meantime," he continued, glancing back toward the pair, "try not to wander too far off, alright? I’m not trapping you here or anything, you’re free to explore this place or Snowchester if you want, and you can stay here for as long as you need."
His expression tightened slightly.
"But I’m still a little wary about you interacting with people outside of here. Things are still a bit…risky."
Quackity narrowed his eyes at him in confusion, though eventually nodded anyway.
Tilín was already halfway asleep in his lap by now, one small hand slipping underneath his jacket to lazily paw at the golden feathers hidden beneath. Quackity instinctively rested his hand over theirs, gently smoothing his thumb across their knuckles.
"Get some rest, Quackity," Tubbo said softer this time, already halfway through the doorway. "And if you need anything… you know where to find me." He paused briefly. "…Or Ranboo."
Finally, Quackity looked away from Tubbo and down toward Tilín instead. One of his feathered ears twitched faintly at the sound of the door clicking shut behind the boy.
The room fell silent again.
...
"So… how’d it go? What did you talk about with that guy?" Ranboo asked curiously, looking noticeably exhausted after spending the last hour calming Michael down and eventually coercing him into falling asleep. He leaned against the doorframe of their shared room, arms loosely folded while he watched Tubbo pace in circles.
Tubbo blinked once before looking over at him. "Guy? Ranboo, that was Quacki-" He abruptly stopped himself with a grimace. "Alright, nevermind, it doesn't matter right now," he added, making Ranboo look even more befuddled.
Tubbo let out a long, drawn out sigh, dragging his hands down his face before continuing. "It went... fine, I guess?" he muttered. "But this doesn't make any sense. Where the hell did he even come from after all these years?"
His voice trailed off as he stared down at the floorboards, brows knitting together. The gears in his brain were clearly turning.
"…Michael seemed to like Tilín," Ranboo mumbled after a moment instead, making Tubbo bark out a laugh immediately.
"Oh my god. Yeah, those two are bound to become a problematic duo together, that's for sure."
Tubbo snorted quietly under his breath before finally dropping down onto their bed with an exasperated breath.
Ranboo slowly wandered closer before absentmindedly resting his chin on top of Tubbo’s head, who promptly leaned back into him without hesitation.
Suddenly, Tubbo froze, his eyes widening almost comically, causing the enderman to look down at him worriedly.
"Oh."
"Oh!" Tubbo said louder this time, snapping his fingers and pointing up at him with a smirk.
"I KNOW EXACTLY WHO TO CONTACT."
He was already muttering under his breath now, eyes lighting up with growing excitement the longer he thought about it. Ranboo lifted his head slightly.
"Tubbo, let’s not start-" he began carefully, letting out a startled screech when a pillow was suddenly flung straight into his face at full force.
"We have to get to Kinoko Kingdom as soon as possible," Tubbo declared, practically vibrating with energy now. "I know just the person who specialises in this kind of thing."
...