(listen i had to squish 2 chapters together so i'm sorry you're missing, "etho is dumb but don't worry he figures it out". I know it would've been perfect and i'm a genius for even thinking of it)

Mumbo sighed, pulling his hand out from under the lastest machine to break. It didn't take as much of a genius as himself to guess which one was.

"You really need to get a new one of these." He commented offhandedly, groaning a little at the smear of coffee beans across his sleeve. He thought he rolled it up enough...

"Shh!" Grian snapped. "Don't say that so loud you spoon."

"What? You need-"

Grian clamped his hand over Mumbo's mouth.

"Mmmh!" Mumbo protested, before sticking out his tongue.

"Did you really just lick me?" Grian asked in disgust.

He crossed his arms. "Well that's just- karma! Payback! For all those times you did it."

"What I'm hearing is that you're learning from the best." Grian said proudly, smirking. (and subtly wiping his hand off on his shirt. He'd wash it in a sec.)

"Yes well- No! Wait!" Mumbo laughed. "No! Stop licking my hand is what I'm saying!"

"Mmh stopped listening." Grian said, waving him off with a smile and ignoring the second part. "Let me be proud of myself for teaching you a valuable life skill."

"It's not a-" Mumbo started, frowning. "Whatever. What did you want me all hush hush about?"

"A new.." Grian tipped his head towards the caffeine machine Mumbo was working on. "Mh mh."

"Ohhh..." Mumbo realized, dropping his jaw slightly.

"Ha!" Grian laughed. "That's your response!"

"Well it's not like I can say much more." Mumbo shot back. "The amount I'd love to rant about the ease of... well, y'know? So much less work on me."

"Yeah yeah I get it. You can talk to me about it after work."

"Your's or mine." Mumbo said, rolling his eyes as he popped the back open. And grabbed onto a wire he swore he secured well enough last time.

"Both, I suppose."

It was quiet for a little bit as Mumbo focused and Grian attended to an order (thankfully not with coffee) and right about as Mumbo finished, the door slammed open (bell be damned) and a shouting kid came barging in.

"See Big Man? I told you he'd be here!" They shouted, no regard for other customers. Mumbo looked up at the sound for a second, and had a blank expression when Grian looked his way.

"I'm not sure, Tommy; He looks busy." The other said, looking slightly more respectful as they caught the door, letting it shut more carefully.

The kid- Tommy, ignored his friend, sauntering up the counter anyways, past the ordering line, and leaned against the counter right where Mumbo was.

"Mumbo!" The loud one grinned, "Of the Jumbo variety I must add, just like Big Man Tubbo 'ere." Tommy grabbed Tubbo's arm and pulled him closer, pointing enthusiastically. "What are you doing here on this lovely day?"

Mumbo looked mildly confused as he gestured to the caffeine machine. "Fixing this?"

"Aw look see he's so brilliant! Tubbo you see?" This kid talked very fast.

"Are you here to order?" Grian cut in, trying to hide his unamused expression with an ounce of his customer service voice.

"Noooo." Tommy drawled out, "Just here see this fine young man! Mumbo Jumbo!"

"Actually I'll take a cookie." The other one, Tubbo, spoke up.

Tommy shot him a look.

"Well we're here already, aren't we?" Tubbo defended. "Quackity said they were good."

"Big Q doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Well I'm still getting one." Tubbo crossed his arms. "I didn't walk all the way from the other side of campus just to see your second father figure of the week."

"I'll ring you up over here." Grian said, ignoring the second statement and walking over to the ordering counter.

"Thank you, two cookies please."

"Oh 2?" Grian asked.

"Tommy will come to his senses later." Tubbo shrugged.

"That's nice of you." Griam smiled. "I'm assuming then he's not always... like this?"

"Eh... Maybe it's 50/50." Tubbo estimated, "He can be sweet when he wants to, but that's a rare sight of the public."

"Ah."

"Want me to drag him out of here?" Tubbo offered.

"Please."

"How much for the.."

"On the house, if you can get him away from Mumbo without property damage."

Tubbo nodded, saluting quickly, before going to his friend, who was talking Mumbo's ear off.

"Have I mentioned you are like a big brother to me?" Tommy said.

"Uhh.."

"You are so cool and smart and-"

"Tommy we're leaving." Tubbo stated.

"What why?"

"Because I got two cookies for free to drag you out."

"Two cookies- for free?!" Tommy looked at Grian, who couldn't decide if he should act ignorant or smile confidently. He chose the latter.

"You little bitch boy-"

Grian gasped in offense.

"Tommy, I'll see you in class tomorrow. Let me just finish fixing this." Mumbo pleaded, sighing.

"Fine but only because you asked, Mumbo." Tommy pouted, finally letting Tubbo pull his arm away.

Grian stuck out his tongue right as Tommy glanced back at him, and Tommy shamelessly flipped him off with a glare.

"I got you a cookie Tommy." Tubbo mentioned.

"Oh what type?" Tommy asked, immediately distracted.

"That kid is-" Mumbo started after the bell rang and the door fell shut.

"A menace." Grian finished.

"I was going to say "something", or "a handful" but yeah." Mumbo sighed.

"What did you mean- "see you in class?"" Grian asked

"We're required to take some art credit and I have art 101 with him. A button popped off my suit and he offered to sew it back on and then rambled to me about how cool I was for the rest of class." Mumbo chuckled. "He knows of me from a few rumors, and a few coding videos I made for programming 101 a year or so back. Sweet kid really, but- y'know, never sell him caffeine if you can help it."

"I think I see that now."

"Neither of us can even draw stick figures, but the kid can sew and crochet pretty much anything and that's an option for like- half of the assignments."

"Maybe he'll make a mustache for christmas for you. Would sewing or crocheting look better for that?"

"Never give him that idea, G. I'm serious."

They both started laughing, and barely noticed Bdubs coming in through the backroom humming to himself some Christmas song. Tis the season after all, with every other store in the world playing the same songs on loop it was bound to get stuck in their heads eventually. Cleo, the goddess herself, was kind enough to have simple, non lyrical Christmas music quietly through the coffeeshop, and nothing worse.

"I see you've been plagued with Christmas songs already B." Grian commented, "Couldn't hold out."

"Oh hush!" Bdubs said, "I waited until December at least! Those other schmucks have been singing them since Halloween."

"Oh you waited until December?" Grian asked with a fake surprise. "Oh hold on lemme get you a medal for that- a Nobel prize even!"

Mumbo couldn't help letting out a snicker and Bdubs rolled his eyes with a smile.

"I expect gold, at least. Platinum even!"

"Sure, sure, we'll buy one after we get a y'know." Grian said, nodding to the caffeine machine.

"Grian, you are not subtle at all." Bdubs frowned. "Stop that before she gets here."

"Who gets here?" A voice popped up behind them.

All three of them whipped around to see Cleo, standing with her arms crossed.

"Oh uh- Gem!"

"Pearl!"

Grian and Bdubs lied at the same time. They glanced at each other.

"Gem and Pearl- who heard that uh- Mumbo fixed the machine again!" Grian said quickly, waving his hand over to Mumbo to try to distract Cleo. Mumbo, with words stuck in his throat, only nodded, an awkward thumbs up popping up from behind the counter.

"They want coffee." Bdubs added, dumbly.

"Right, yes." Grian gritted out, because what Bdubs said was already clear. "Because we told them it was broken before and they wanted to know what it was fixed, and now it is! All better!"

"And what did Grian have to stop before they arrived?" Cleo asked suspiciously.

They all blanked on that one, trying to subtly look at each other for something. A plant hanging on the ceiling in the corner caught Bdubs eye, something Scar had insisted on behind hung, and in a split second, Bdubs had blurted something out before he could think.

"Grian kissing Mumbo!"

"What?" Mumbo squeaked, turning red from embarrassment.

"Yeah, what?" Grian gritted out.

Cleo snickered silently; She was enjoying this.

"So uh- Gem and Pearl wouldn't like- show Scar a picture? Cause uhm- well Scar wanted to put up mistletoe first over here or get us to put more and all- and wouldn't be happy they did it first without him- but also...Yeah." Bdubs finished, like that made sense at all.

"Ok, I'll buy it for now." Cleo shrugged, probably ignoring most of the last rambling part. "I have other things to attend to right now anyways. I'll be in the back if the building catches on fire or something."

The door shut, and Grian was glaring at Bdubs.

"Bdubs, you are hereby forbidden from making excuses in a group here prior. Or at least a group with me and Mumbo," Grian stated, and Mumbo nodded firmly next to him.

"Agreed."

Bdubs chuckled nervously. "That's... fair."

They were all laughing now, and Mumbo packed up his supplies, a slight tint to his cheeks as he wiped his forehead with his hand and got coffee grinds on it.

"I just-" He sighed, motioning to his head.

"Yeah, you did."

Grian leaned over, wiping it off quickly as Mumbo sputtered out a thanks. Bdubs tried not to watch them, that was rude, but saved the memory for later anyway. Blackmail on Grian, minor or not, was worth gold.

"See you lads later, I best be off." Mumbo said, fitting a cozier jacket over his sleeves and scooping up his supply bag.

"See ya Mumbo!" Grian waved cheerfully.

"Thanks for fixing it again!" Bdubs called over.

---

It had been an hour or so before something felt missing in the atmosphere. It was a normal Sunday, the normal amount of customers filling in with maybe a few extra speciality drinks and winter themed than normal, but that was expected.

There was a short break in customers, and Bdubs still couldn't quite land what was bugging him.

Ren, to save money and sugar intake, only came every few days now, the same days Doc did, and that wasn't on Sundays often. He mentioned maybe a Christmas eve party yesterday, but nothing was weird there.

Keralis had the next 2 days off, celebrating the Solstice with his family on the far side of town, and was texting Bdubs occasional pictures of food, which he was slightly jealous of. His absence wasn't it either.

The bell ran, drawing Bdubs attention off the weird feeling as he got ready to take an order and make it. Grian had noticed the store was mostly empty a few minutes ago and took his break early, leaving Bdubs alone. Not like he minded much, as he wasn't being swamped with customers again like that one time.

Etho walked in, but instead of the same green vest Bdubs had almost solely seen him in, he was wearing something completely different.

A long black trench coat, with a gray striped sweater underneath peeking out of the end of the trench coat sleeves that showed off his usual fingerless gloves. Not to mention jewelry, a silver headband to match it, combat boots, and silvery hair tucked out of his face and pulled behind his ear. A little was still down, but it didn't cover his ruby eye and Bdubs could finally see the scar that traced over it, down to the mask, clearly.

Bdubs quickly looked away. It was rude to stare.

Hmm. The weird feeling was gone. Probably nothing then.

Etho walked up to the counter with a new confidence that was- probably fake actually. Bdubs could respect that though. Having enough confidence to fake it correctly? Impressive.

"Hey Bdubs." He smiled under the mask, both eyes piercing through his very soul, and Bdubs couldn't help the awestruck look, before a grin spread on his face to replace it.

"Heya Etho!" Bdubs replied quickly, "I love your new look!"

"Oh uh-" Etho started to stutter. "Thanks. Uh- your.. Sweater.... Looks nice?"

"Dammit dammit dammit that sounded like a question." Etho scolded himself, cringing on the awkward pauses.

Bdubs looked down at the sweater he was wearing with a dumb smile.

"Thanks!"

"Crap why'd ya have to look down you fool!" Bdubs scolded himself.

The pause was a little awkward until Etho cleared his throat, and some of the fakeness washed off him as his voice got quieter.

"Stress and Co. actually made me wear this outside. It's warmer than I thought it would be." He admitted.

"Oh yeah? I was wondering how you haven't frozen outside yet." Bdubs chuckled. "Seems sparser than normal."

Oh he really hoped that didn't come off wrong.

"I'm Canadian. We're born in snow." Etho said. "Doc once challenged me to swim in the lake in late fall. I don't think the snow could freeze me if it tried."

Bdubs was honestly impressed. The lake? Swimming in late fall? It took a mad man to do that.

Maybe Etho ran hot, that's how he could pull off that stunt. (He sure looked the part.)

"Good to know, next time I challenge someone to stand in the freezer for longer, I won't expect an easy win." Bdubs said, trying not to boost his ego too much.

"That's uh- impressive though." He added quickly after, quieter. Etho, despite his last claim of being ice proof, froze.

"Thanks." He tried to laugh it off.

"I won the last game of being in the freezer." Bdubs boasted. "Grian claimed he could last forever after he beat Keralis, but I beat him, and then Cleo said her arm would fall off if she went longer. I turned blue, but it was worth it!"

"Despite being so small and short? You lasted long?"

"wHY YOU LITTLE!"

"Little? Of the two of us, Bubs, I ain't the small one." Etho joked. Bdubs was at a loss for words at the accidental nickname, but Etho didn't notice.

He was laughing, closing his eyes a little, and Bdubs took a greedy second glance at his face. There was a red dash on his forehead- something he didn't notice before, and spoke before he thought, per usual.

"Oh you have something on your forehead." Bdubs mentioned.

"Wait crap I just told him I was staring. That was dumb." He realized.

Etho's mask shifted, probably a frown, as he tried to look up and rub at it.

"Thought I got it all off." He mumbled, completely rubbing at the wrong spot. "Stress and Co. made me wear that too, I guess."

"Yeah." Bdubs chuckled. Etho was right up against the counter, so all he had to do was lean over and boop the spot- right side of his face, over his eyebrow- to show him where it was.

Their faces were close, until Bdubs quickly jumped back.

Etho stopped moving for a second and Bdubs was afraid he broke a boundary, until Etho started speaking, nervously chuckling.

"Oh h-haha thanks." Etho quickly lifted his hand and started to rub at it, getting it off pretty quickly.

"No problem," Bdubs said, throat suddenly tight. "So uh, white mocha as normal?"

Etho gulped "Yeah." There was a pause. "Oh and a cookie too." He added.

"Oh switching it up a little? Good choice, Grian just made these fresh this morning."

Etho only nodded, pulling out his card.

"Did I say something wrong?" Bdubs thought distantly. "There I go, screwing it up again."

He tried to wave it off- Etho was probably having a weird day. Etho had walked over to the casual leaning wall to wait for his drink and cookie while Bdubs got to work. He looked again over to Etho, leaning on the wall and swiping on his phone.

"Damn he...- that-... that's a cool trench coat." His thoughts were all jumbled up, making him really frustrated. That dumb feeling was back again, but instead of feeling like he was missing something- or someone- he felt like the conversation had died because of him, and now Etho probably hated him forever.

"No, that's an exaggeration." He told himself.

He made the drink smoothly, easily though, and glanced at the red pen still sitting in the cup. No need for that now, for better or worse.

"Coffee for Mocha Man Etho!"

"Hmm, that's nicer than normal." Etho glided over to the counter, swiping up his drink and cookie.

"Figured pasty white haired guy didn't fit today." Bdubs chuckled. "You're wearing it out of your face for once."

Etho glanced away, "Yeah trying something new today."

"I like it!" Bdubs complemented. "You look confident."

Etho didn't say anything, but Bdubs could tell he was smiling under the mask, no matter how much he tried to hide it. Bdubs smiled more, he liked making his friends happy.

The back door opened, and both Grian and Cleo came through, talking about something to do with pirates? Pranks? He might have to ask about that later, if he remembered. Grian mentioned something about being out of some ingredients and went back to the back (ha) leaving the 3 alone.

"Hey Bdubs," Cleo started, giving a quick and knowing look to Etho, who had an unreadable expression. "You've been working for a while, how about you take a break."

"Uh, really?" Bdubs asked.

"Yes." She said, "It's the holiday season. Don't make me change my mind."

"Ok! Ok!"

Etho looked a little uncomfortable, but Bdubs didn't notice as he took off his apron and ran to throw it in the back where the hooks were.

"Cleo, what are you doing?" Etho asked in a hushed whisper once Bdubs was out of sight.

"I should stop expecting you to thank me, it seems." She shrugged.

"If this is your idea of helping-" He started, but Bdubs was out soon enough and Etho had to cut himself short.

Cleo was smiling- never a good sign. "Hey Bdubs, Etho was just saying he was gonna walk around the campus a little and would like some company." She smiled, "Now that you're on break- 30 minutes, don't be late-" She added in the middle. "It could be good for you to get some fresh air, hmm?"

Bdubs took a second to process the request before looking at Etho. "Oh uhm, would you be okay with that?"

"Huh?- oh uh yeah, course." Etho said quietly.

"Cool, lemme just grab my jacket in the back." Bdubs said, running back again.

"Cleo, you are a menace." Etho whispered with a glare.

"I better get to be your best man at the wedding. And you will be paying for my suit." She smiled, winking.

Etho finally had the decency to blush (took him long enough) at those words, and he only had a few seconds to glare at her more before Bdubs popped out of the room, tugging on a jacket over his sweater as he pushed open the door with his foot.

"Not wasting a second of my 30 minutes!" Bdubs said, waving Etho to follow after he walked around the counter.

---

Etho was stiff, and Bdubs really hoped it wasn't because of him.

"The trench coat is just weird fabric." Bdubs told himself, loosening his grip anyways when they got outside.

It was snowing slightly, little flakes drifting slowly without any wind or rain to make it sting. Barely starting to stick, Bdubs committed the scene to memory in case everything was covered in a white blanket of the stuff later. Mental before and after picture.

"Gosh, it's so pretty in the winter." Bdubs marveled out loud.

"The snow hasn't even piled up yet?" Etho said. "And it's not winter yet. Solstice is tomorrow."

Bdubs rolled his eyes, "It feels like it is- and it's not just the snow."

"No?"

"It's the ice on the lantern street lights, and the mist in the air, and the cool colors mixing with the warm street lights."

"I can tell you learned two things from color theory and ran with them." Etho snickered.

Bdubs lightly punched his arm. "You're an asshole." He commented, smiling the whole time. "Where's that sweet man I went stargazing with?"

Something in Etho shut off as his body tensed, and Bdubs was afraid he said something wrong before Etho spoke a second later.

"Uh- he was busy?" Etho tried to joke.

"Oh so you're a clone?" Bdubs asked in a fake serious tone.

"Yes." Etho nodded. "Etho 404, at your service." He bowed slightly, still looking up at Bdubs with those piercingly pretty eyes, and Bdubs realized how cold it was outside. That's why his face felt so warm suddenly!

Bdubs laughed and Etho did too, dropping the facade pretty quickly. He pulled down his mask to take a sip of his coffee, and the breath he let out, visible in the cold, had Bdubs staring a little. He shook his head and looked away before Etho could notice anything.

"Come on, my 30 minutes won't last forever."

It was a nice walk around campus, snow lazily falling after 10 minutes of talking and laughing and complaining about classes. Well, Bdubs was doing most of the complaining and talking, but they both were laughing. Bdubs never wanted him to stop.

"See, it's snowing! It's winter now!" Bdubs exclaimed triumphantly.

"The solstice is tomorrow, you can't be patient on the last day of fall?"

"Eh it's all the same cold to me." Bdubs waved his hand.

Etho just hummed.

Bdubs kept rambling on for most of the walk, explaining his new design idea for a class project, and another thing Jellie had done that made everyone laugh, and how much Xisuma loved the aquarium and he how he wanted to back sometime soon, and how he was gonna get X a stuffed animal for Christmas of an axolotl but he couldn't decide the color yet-

And Etho was just happily listening to it all. Bdubs was so enthusiastic about everything and it inspired Etho to see a little more color in the world, to take a break from his screen and see whatever he could each day. All he wanted to see right now though, was Bdubs smiling.

"So then-" Bdubs started. "Wow-ah!" He was clearly slipping and unable to save by the time Etho tried to do something, but in Etho's rush forward to try to catch him, he fell too.

"Ow."

Bdubs looked at him, realizing what Etho tried to do, and burst out laughing

"Did you try- HAHAH!"

Etho could've taken offense to it, being laughed at by trying to help, but Bdubs laughter was infectious and within seconds he was laughing too.

"I was a few feet away," Etho said between breaths. "I don't know what I was thinking!"

"It's the thought that counts, tryna save me n' all, but clearly you weren't thinking about how both of us falling was worse!"

"Yeah," Etho laughed, trying to stand up again. He sorta had to crawl to a less icy area to get his footing right, but at least he was doing better than Bdubs who kept slipping every time he tried to use one foot to lift the rest of him up.

Etho laughed more, but eventually reached out a hand from the safety of his leaves, and then managed to drag bdubs over and help him up. It was probably hilarious to see from a distance.

Bdubs laughed into his arm, but Etho, still holding onto his hand, moved them downwards.

"Don't hide your smile."

Bdubs would've turned into a stuttering mess if it weren't for one thing. He looked at Etho's face, his mask, and the words left his mouth before he could recite them again.

"You hypocrite."

Etho chucked. "I guess I am."

But it was no secret he was grinning under the fabric anyway.

Eventually, they had looped around completely, and were walking back to the cafe from the other side. It was slightly frozen over on this side, a thin sheet of rain the night before that had practically iced over the section of the sidewalk that dipped a little before the doorway. The glass looking into the cafe was reflective, and Bdubs stole a glance at the two of them walking side by side instead of paying attention to each step.

Mistake!!

Bdubs started to slip forwards, bracing for a bruise on his leg somewhere as he yelled out.

"AH!"

"Woah!" Etho, who was smarter, walking on the crunchy frozen over leaves that weren't slippery, barely managed to spin on the ice, catching both of Bdubs's arms in his own. He slipped a little too backwards, but with both of them steadying each other, neither fell this time.

Etho chuckled softly while Bdubs was still in the shock of it all. To make matters worse (or better, wink wink nudge nudge) as Bdubs tried to stand up after, pulling his arms towards himself, and Etho did the same, they slid together, faces merely a breath away.

Etho inhaled quickly and looked away, slowly letting go and trying not to be awkward, while Bdubs wasn't thinking much of it other than the shock of "wow".

Honestly, he'd done enough thinking today.

"Thanks, and thanks for walking me back!" Bdubs smiled. "You didn't have to do that."

"No, it's no worries- problem. No problem." Etho said.

"It's sweet; Did you switch with your clone half way through the walk?" Bdubs asked with a lopsided smile. "Maybe when I was slipping on my ass over and over."

"Oh no! Did he tell you our secret? I thought I programmed him not to!" Etho complained weakly. "Darn, gotta reboot him then."

Bdubs giggled, and Etho melted.

"Alright, tell me how the reboot-update-whatever is. I gotta get back to work cause if I'm a minute late Cleo will have my head!"

Etho chuckled and just nodded, wishing a quick farewell as he spun on the ice and kept walking down the path. Smooth.

---

"What was that, Bdubs?" Grian asked the moment he stepped inside, still grinning with traces of snow in his hair.

"Uhm, my break?"

"Yeah Grian," Scar started, oblivious and confused. "What's so weird?"

"They practically kissed right there!" Grian exclaimed, "Did no one see it!"

Bdubs just gaped at the accusation.

"What? No they didn't. They just slipped on ice." Scar said. "Weird though, Etho so easily walked on it after." He mumbled.

"U-uh YEAH!? What are you talking about?" Bdubs finally spit out.

"What's going on here?" Cleo came in, looking over at them "You know how I feel about shouting in here. Only Keralis gets to do that."

"Sorry Cleo!" Bdubs quickly said. "Grian was just-"

"Pointing out the obvious!" Grian interrupted. "Him and Etho practically just kissed outside."

"Ooh they did? Cute!"

"It is not- we didn't- me and Etho aren't like that!!" Bdubs protested.

Cleo frowned, "Shame. You'd make a cute couple." She mentioned, and left the conversation at that.

"What." Bdubs said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She acted like she knew something he didn't, which didn't make sense at all. He and Etho weren't like that.

Scar laughed, "What?" He wheeled closer to the counter and around it. "I have no idea what I just witnessed."

"Ok I don't know what Cleo's on." Grian started. "But I am not blind, and I saw what I saw. Just don't start bragging to Iskall about it alright?"

That only left Bdubs more confused, "What does Iskall have to do with this?"

The bell rang, and Bdubs just decided to wave the whole thing off. He didn't have time for this; He had a job to do. Ignoring both how Etho made him feel and the random conversation that just went down was the best plan of action, forever!

----

"Void, I'm so stupid!"

Bdubs flopped on his bed dramatically (it's always dramatically, and will always be dramatically. He lives alone.) after the long day and threw his hands in the air because he felt like it.

"I slipped on ice and stuttered so much and couldn't even carry a conversation!" Bdubs sighed, thinking back on the day's events. "And then I almost spilled like 3 drinks and that one pink haired guy had to repeat his order twice. Twice!"

"There wasn't even anything distracting me." He felt annoyed with himself. "Other than that dumb shit Grian and Cleo were on about Etho... UGH!"

"Why the fuck does he make act so stupid!" He exclaimed, talking to his ceiling. "Does it rub off or something?"

He put his arm on his forehead and groaned. "Sure he has style now- well he did before too, it's just more confident now? I guess? And sure he's a fucking genius, and funny and kind, and damn I don't even care if he can cook; That tea he gave me was amazing-"

Bdubs paused, sitting up "Wait, why do I care if he can cook?" He laughed, completely off track of his original point already. "It's like I-"

He couldn't even say the words before they died on his tough and his face fell. "I have a..."

There was a pause as he tried to process the conclusion his mind had come to, listing everything over again before he accepted it.

"Void, I am so stupid." Bdubs grinned, falling onto his bed again with a lopsided smile. "I am such an idiot."

---------

(4884 words!)

pacing a little off and god i struggled with piecing some of this together but it's done! i think i got Tommy's personality pretty good if i do say so myself! especially when i've  been trying to write him and mumbo together for 1,2,3.....12 chapters about! 

anyways this might get some heavier editing in the future (note to future editor me) but for now it serves it's purpose, mostly as filler before the last 2 chapters. wow. 

have an amazing day or night!! (again, sleep if night) and i'll see you again when its waaaaay too late for a christmas special!

(btw you guys should totally vote on all of the chapters it would be soooo cool and amazing of you and if you hate me, you can always change you're mind later. also! wattpad does this thing where is unfollows you(/j), so you should totally check that out and follow)

:)

(that was dream and fundy half-quotes btw for the confusion)

edit: OH YEAH HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO!!! YEAH!! (what the heck its already 2023????!!! what happened to all the in-betweens for 2020??)