Chapter Text
normally foolish would stop when building made him slip, his hands shaking, and materials were not put where they should be. he would stop when he felt tired and hungry. he would stop when he wanted to do nothing more than cuddle in his blankets and sleep.
normally.
but he needed to get the mansion done. tubbo and ranboo were expecting him to be done soon and he barely finished the roof. the chandelier made him want to scream. the stairs up to the second floor weren't symmetrical. his eyes burned with tears sitting on the back of his eyes, but his determination and timeline kept him from stopping.
“foolish?” he heard a voice call, making him snap his head up and perk excitedly.
“ranboo! boo!” he shouted, rushing down and towards the front door where the enderman hybrid was standing, searching for the other.
red and green eyes turned, smile across his lips. “hi, foolish! was just coming to check up on things-”
“they’re good! things are good! wanna see? i finished the roof and the chandelier! look, boo! look at the chandelier!” the god exclaimed, grabbing ranboo’s hand and dragging him deeper inside.
“it’s a very nice chandelier, foolish. very complicated and cool,” he replied gently, but foolish was still jumping around and running his mouth a mile a minute. ranboo was concerned.
“come look at the top!” foolish cried, pulling him up the stairs and towards the top of the building in the attic.
“it’s super spacious,” ranboo commented.
“yea! so-so ‘bo can have bees! so much bees! they warm and bright here!” foolish said, jumping on his feet.
ranboo tilted his head. foolish was acting strange, unlike his normal personality of a little crazy but physically calm. his words weren’t put together properly and he stumbled in his excitement. it reminded him of michael when he got excited about drawing a new picture or showing off his chicken. the quick talk and jumping.
ranboo widened his eyes. “hey, foolish. how old are you?” he asked cautiously.
foolish hummed. "i'm big!" he argued with a pout that definitely wasn't adult like. "i need to finish this!"
ranboo looked at the scaffolding and messily placed ladders, along with the mounds of dirt used to get up to places. it wasn't safe by any means and foolish had nearly fallen off the roof if ranboo hadn't caught him in time. he wasn't stumbling and not stable at all.
"maybe we should take a break. get some juice and crackers. im sure you're hungry after all this hard work," ranboo suggested.
foolish pursed his lips in thought. "boo think i do work hard?"
ranboo smiled softly. "of course. you are doing such an amazing job, and i think you need a reward for it."
foolish giggled. "okay! can nap too?" he asked.
ranboo tilted his head. "you tired, little shark?" he asked, holding out his hand for the other.
he nodded, yawning and rubbing his fist into his eye. "too mush," he whined.
"you've been very busy lately. of course you can nap," the enderman hybrid promised as he brought him to their small house in snowchester, making a mental note to write down that he needed to check up on foolish more often if he wasn’t sleeping.
tubbo had taken michael out for a playdate with shroud, so it would just be the two of them without any explanations or questions. ranboo wasn’t sure tubbo knew anything about age regression, or healthy coping mechanisms in general, so it would be kind of hard to explain while caring for foolish.
ranboo sat the little on the couch with a blanket and a stuffed animal laying around, promising he would be right back as he headed to the kitchen. he heard little babbles and mumbles coming from the shark obsessed totem god as he made a little snack.
he was genuinely surprised that foolish resorted to such a coping mechanism. he thought that building was his coping mechanism, but perhaps it was the cause of his stress in the first place. no matter, ranboo didn’t mind caring for him when he did feel mentally younger. he wasn’t really busy anyways.
after cutting apple slices and putting two cookies on a plastic plate with a sippy cup filled with juice, he walked back into the living space. he found foolish blowing raspberries and moving the stuffed animals limbs around. he looked up at the enderman hybrid and smiled, dropping the stuffed animals and held his hands out.
ranboo chuckled as he set the plate down, earning a ‘thank you, boo!’ from the toddler. “you’re welcome, bud. don’t push yourself again, okay? you can always come to me when you feel small, but don’t work until you’re nearly falling off buildings,” he warned.
foolish nodded with an apple slice in his mouth. “p’omise!” he exclaimed after chewing and swallowing.
“good… no chandelier is worth your mental state collapsing,” ranboo added.
“but good though?” foolish asked, tilting his head dramatically.
“of course, it is. it’s all really amazing, foosh,” the enderman hybrid praised, patting the toddler’s head.
foolish giggled. “foosh,” he parroted.
“you like that?” he earned a furious nod. “my little shark, foosh.”
another giggle from the totem god before he cuddled up against ranboo’s side, munching happily away at an apple slice.
when tubbo came home from shroud and michael’s playdate turned sleepover, he found ranboo and foolish on the ground with crayons and papers. he noticed ranboo’s drawings were like his typical ones, but foolish’s weren’t anything like his plans he made for builds. it reminded him close to what michael draws.
“ranboo?” he called, earning the two’s attention.
a wide grin spread across foolish’s lips. “bo!” he cried out excitedly. “hi!”
tubbo smiled slightly unsure. “hi?”
“foolish was showing me the mansion and now is feeling quite small and unable to keep building. so we got a snack, a little nap and started playing,” ranboo explained.
“small?” tubbo inquired, walking over to the two and sitting beside his husband.
“age regression,” ranboo started explaining. “it’s when your mentality falls younger than it is to either feel better during a severely stressful time or just for fun. he’s just a little toddler right now.”
“oh…” tubbo breathed out. “so he’s like michael right now?”
“mhm,” the enderman hybrid hummed, “and he wanted to draw before i made dinner.”
“i can make it while you stay here,” tubbo offered.
“if you’re okay with that?” ranboo replied, tail flicking nervously. “i can do it if you don’t really want to. it’s my turn anyways-”
“no! it’s okay, i can do it. you two are having fun anyways and you’re in the middle of making a masterpiece. i’m okay,” tubbo explained with a teasing grin as he stood.
“bo?” foolish called, gaining the brunette’s attention. he held up a drawing. “like?”
it was a severely crude picture of ranboo and tubbo holding hands with hearts dancing all over the page. tubbo couldn’t help but chuckle at it fondly.
“i love it, foolish. this is the best! you should sign it so i can put it on our board of art,” tubbo answered.
“here, little shark, i’ll help you,” ranboo offered as the brunette walked into the kitchen and started making dinner.
after dinner (which required a mess of towels to clean his face) and some more playing with blocks (no tubbo don’t spell that. he’s a toddler), foolish slept peacefully on the couch. ranboo smiled as he laid a blanket across him, before the two went up to their room.
the next morning, the couch was empty, save for a paper that bashfully read ‘thanks for everything - foosh’.