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It was an ongoing joke among the older hermits that Doc was the fortunate one of the group to end up with Bdubs as his 'kid'. And Doc couldn't help but jokingly agree to this statement. 

It's a silly reason really. He just so happened to end up with the kid with a better sleeping schedule. 

He swears to the holy goat mother himself- he could feel their envious stares every time he wakes up in the morning, fresh as a daisy. Heck- sometimes he would chat with them till 12 am in the morning due to the fact that they struggled to put those so called 'nocturnal beings' [the kids] back to sleep. 

But hey, it ended up being laughs and giggles instead of sleep deprived sulking. [Unless you count Zedaph, who's just sleep deprived in general for the past few months now.] 

Anyways, the point is that Doc mostly had 'calmer' nights with the kid, who immediately passes out the moment the clock strikes 7. He could have some quiet nights to himself, maybe think of plans for his own projects, or just sleep early like Bdubs. 

This time, he chose to sleep early like Bdubs. 

After another failed attempt to fix the machine, he and Beef decided to retire to their homes before Zedaph decided that pulling an 'all-nighter' was a good idea. He felt weirdly sick just looking at the machines over and over again. Doc found himself laying on top of his tidied up bed. He could not even bother to tuck himself inside the blanket anyway, he just passed out right then and there. 

He would've continued sleeping if it weren't for someone- or something , poking his arm. Honestly his head was too dumb to deal with this disturbance so chose to ignore it. The poking soon evolved to slaps, then the slaps turned into tugging, then the tugging turned into violent shaking that could scramble the organs in his body! 

" I'm up-I'm UP!!" Doc exclaims as he sat up with his hands surrendered in the air out of exasperation. "Geez.." It wasn't even considered early morning yet. He could tell. He could just see the bright moon through his window, reaching nearly halfway up the sky. 

".. Are you awake?" the young voice asks softly from the shadows. He could just barely see the kid's small figure, standing creepily by his side. 

" I think the answer's pretty obvious, Bdubs." 

Doc sighs as he rubs both of his sleepy eyes with his robotic hand, trying to bring his blurry sight back to reality. Now if you just continue squinting from your tiredness, you could just notice the weird expression on Bdubs' face. He looked exhausted and sick, that's all he could describe him. But he had a feeling that the darkness of this room was hiding something more. 

" 'Bdubs?.. Are you alright, buddy?" 

The kid shook his head. He immediately leans his small head on Doc's upper arm, letting out a soft grunt. 

".. Bdubs?" 

"Uncle Doc?" Bdubs softly spoke up, "I feel a little weird." 

And that was enough to fully bring Doc back to reality. Without warning, Bdubs was taken back by the warm hand, gently pressing on his forehead. He felt the temperature before pressing his own hand on his forehead. Doc found himself sighing in relief as he lowered his hand back on the mattress, looking back at the confused kid. "Sorry. Just checking if you were sick. Fortunately that's not the case." 

Bdubs too sighed in relief, but still had the worried frown on his face. " I don't feel sick. But my stomach feels a bit.. weird?" 

Weird?.. "Does your stomach hurt?" Doc asked, carefully pressing his hand between his stomach. 

"No??" The kid didn't sound certain of his answer though. " It's not really hurt, but it feels- Umm, twisty? It's like pulling me?.. And I don't like it."

He concentrated on the kid in front of him, processing the information he got from him. ".. Do you feel hungry? Sometimes my stomach hurts when I skip my meals." Trust him, he just recently experienced that feeling, no thanks to Zedaph damit-

But the kid only shrugs. He leans closer to my arm, basically hugging it. " I did put some more chicken in your food so that I can sleep early.. " He quietly mutters, grinning shyly. 

Ahhh. The corners of his mouth widened, smirking at the guilty young hermit. " That explains everything." He chuckles as he ruffles his already messed up hair, earning a tired groan from the kid. "Well, if you want, we could go to uncle Renbob and see if he's got some extra food for a midnight snack." 

The kid's head swung up from his position as he hastily nodded his head, eyes were now widened up with excitement. 

" Ohh. So now you're hungry." 

Doc rolls his eyes at the kid. He drags his legs to the floor and picks himself up from his comfy mattress. As tired as he was, he didn't really mind filling his own stomach with something scrumptious. Young Bdubs groaned from the lack of his support arm but lazily got up and followed the creeper cyborg. 

Once they exited the comforts of his wooden starter base, the freezing air soon hit them. It was then Doc realized that this was young Bdubs' very first time staying up this late ever since he was 'babified'. He is about to irresponsibly bring this kid outside, in the dead of night, with no protection from both the freezing winds and cold-hearted monsters-..What was he thinking!? 

He immediately rushed back inside the starter base to find the items he needed. He spotted the green fuzzy hoodie that he got from the donated clothes and grabbed it. He looked back inside his chests, scavenging for the last item he needed till he found the iron helmet. He scoops it up to his arm then rushes back to the exit. 

" Bdubs, I got you some-" Doc paused for a second.. The dim light of the moon finally gave him an actual proper view of the poor kid. He stared blankly at whatever he was looking at, his eyes were droopy, his face was pale, and the sweat visibly ran down his forehead. He felt his anxiety spike up again. Doc kneels in front of him, alerting the kid from his trance. "Bdubs?..If you want, you can just stay here and I'll get the foo-" 

"I want to see uncle Renbob." He replied bluntly. 

All Doc could do was sigh. " Fine. But stay close to me, alright?" 

He nodded in response. 

After wrapping the layers of protection on the kid, he tugs his small hand and leads him across the shoreline, with his diamond sword gripping intensely by his robotic arm. The waves silently crashed by the soggy sand. The moon's light reflected through the water, creating shiny sparkles of waves appearing from the dark void across the horizon. 

As they approached closer to the hippie van, he could just hear the faint sounds of a guitar playing off in the distance. He couldn't stop himself from letting out another big sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't feel the guilt of waking up the hippie. The strumming of the guitar soon stopped once the guitar player finally noticed their presence. 

" Ahhh. Welcome back to my humble abode, man~" Renbob greeted them with open arms, but soon raised an eyebrow at the young hermit by his side. "Say, man. I thought young Bdubs over here was an early sleeper, man?" 

"Well, usually he is." Doc breathes out a chuckle. " We just came here to pick up some food for midnight snacks."

The hippie's blue eyes soon lightened up as he carefully placed down his guitar. " Perfect timing, man! I'm brewing up some hot cocoa over here. " He gestures at the bucket, hovering above the fireplace. " Grab a bowl and start scoopin' up the chocolate, man!" 

Doc sighed for like the 3rd or 4th time today. Oh God.. The caffeine and sugar that's going to enter this kid's body, and that's 'bye bye' to Bdubs' sleeping perfect schedule.. 

The hippie sprinted back to his chest, scrambled through his items, then balanced two empty bowls and a bunch of bread in his arms. He tilts his head towards the towel by the sand, gesturing us to take a seat on the fabric. So we both did as silently instructed. 

" Man, I can't wait for you guys to try my new hot cocoa recipe!" He exclaims as he hands out the two pieces of bread to each of us. " Did you know that my good buddy, Ren-diggity-dawg, showed me the secret recipe for the perfect drink?.. Actually, Ren taught me all sorts of things, and I couldn't be any more thankful, man!" 

".. Ren can cook?" young  Bdubs asks, eyes bewildered and confused. " I thought only our aunties and uncles could cook? Not kids."

" Oh! That was back when Ren used to be an ad-" 

Doc clears his throat, catching the attention of the hippie. Confusion was written all over his face. Doc glares at him. A glare that's telepathically telling him to shut up before he spills any more secrets. 

Judging by the surprised look on his face, the telepathic message finally registered his peace and love-filled brain. "Ohhhhh.."

Bdubs kept switching his stare between him and Renbob, confusion now overtaking the young hermit. " Ren is what?" 

" Hmm?... Oh yeah! Ren is just an old friend I used to hang out with. Like, reaallllyyy old, man." 

Well… he's not wrong-

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So as it turned out, the hot cocoa did not completely mess up Bdubs' sleeping schedule. To his surprise, the kid actually passed out the moment he finished his second bowl. His arms and legs now sprawled all over different parts of the towel, barely just leaving enough room for Renbob to join in. 

The hippie leaned next to his back as support, letting out a him as he strummed a few strings of his guitar. " Man~ I'm stuffed.." 

" Hi stuffed, I'm Doc."

Doc couldn't help but snicker when he heard an audible groan from the hippie. " That was bad, man." 

The two shared a few extra chuckles before the hippie spoke out another question. " Anyways, how's life, man?"

" Weird. "

" Uhuh, I can tell." The guitar playing stopped once again. " It's not everyday that you get to see the adorable versions of your friends, man."

" Are you implying that we're not cute as adults?" Doc looked back to the hippie with a smirk. 

" Ohh no, dude. I'm just saying that you older guys are all hot and sexy, man~" Renbob started wiggling his eyebrows. 

" Alright. Now this is getting weird-" 

The hippie chuckled again before turning his head to show an apologetic look. " Sorry about that, " he said softly, then returned to strumming his guitar again. Doc felt a smile forming on his face again, only this time, it felt more bittersweet. He leaned closer to the hippie's back as he let out another sigh. 

" I miss Ren."

The guitar music stopped abruptly, but Renbob didn't say a single word. Which meant Doc had to continue talking for the two of them. " I don't know.. I actually haven't talked to him for a really long time now, even before I found out he got turned into a kid. It's been months." Doc paused for a second before talking again. " I guess talking to you is the closest thing I'll get to talking to him."

" Hmmm, " the hippie hummed, " I can't really blame you for thinking like that. I'm just as amazing as he is, man."

Doc scoffed as the hippie cheekily grinned at him. " Can't really deny that. "

Renbob went back to his guitar again, but instead of playing it, he placed it lightly on the ground. " Look on the bright side, man! Once you fix the machine, you- or we, will be able to talk to Ren and the others again! Ohh, maybe we can go on space adventures in my hippie van when they come back, man!" 

While the idea of the three of them going on a proper adventure sounds interesting, something felt.. wrong. Doc couldn't help but cringe a bit from the word 'machine'. He doesn't know why it makes him cringe. Was it because of the amount of failed attempts they had with the stupidly brilliant contraption? Curse you Tango and your wonderful brain-

Because if that were the case, then he shouldn't feel this relieved any time they failed, right? Right?.. He felt himself gripping tightly onto the kid's arm, too worried to even let him go. 

A stifled yawn nearly brought him back from his mind. " Ohhh god-" Renbob yawned again, slowly resting himself on the towel. " Maybe I'm just tired, man, but the moon looks like it had a growth spurt." 

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And that's how the Doc x Renbob ship was born- 

[ I swear to the almighty goats, I was just joking-] 

Zedaph: (Tango, Impulse) 

Wels: (Cub, False) 

Keralis: (, TFC, Xisuma) 

Cleo: (Joe) 

Beef: (XB, Etho) 

Grian: (Ren, Scar) 

Hypno: (Jevin) 

Stress: (Iskall, Mumbo) 

Doc: (Bdubs) 

Pearl: (Gemini) 

Ex: (Hels)