Ranboo walked back to the apartment warily, over aware of the thousand dollars in his pocket. One of his best jobs yet, and he wasn't willing to give up the cash to some pick pocket. He was holding tightly onto the money in his pocket, keeping as much of an eye on everyone around him as he could, though the places where the fabric bunched up more made it difficult to see. Ranboo was excited to see his friends again. He was so excited to tell them how much he made. One week away from his friends, and he got a thousand dollars. They would have cool gear in no time.

The apartment was empty. And trashed. It hadn't been cleaned in who knew how long and there were dishes and trash everywhere. It looked like a mess. The living room had a bunch of trash and crumbs all around the couch and on the coffee table. The kitchen was empty, except for some water bottles and soda bottles in the fridge that smelled disgusting, and dirty dishes were stacked in the sink and along the counter. The bedroom had clothes everywhere, Tubbo's clothes, and the bed was unmade. The bathroom was the only organized part of the apartment. Ranboo had to wonder if he was the only one who knew how to clean.

Ranboo decided that this was definitely the result of depression, which if Tommy was dealing with then so was Tubbo. So, Ranboo set the money on Tubbo's desk, which was more of a mess than usual as well; Ranboo normally just avoided it when cleaning, and got to work cleaning the apartment. First the living room, vacuuming and throwing away the trash. Then the kitchen, first throwing out the disgusting bottles and then sweeping the floor. One of the other two would have to do dishes as he couldn't touch water for very long and there was a lot to do. Then Ranboo cleaned the bathroom sink and toilet, just because they looked like they needed it. Then Ranboo put Tubbo's clothes in his dirty laundry basket, Tommy's looked unnaturally empty, and started Tubbo's laundry in the community laundry room. Ranboo made the bed and did a final inspection of the apartment, deciding it also needed to be dusted.

By the end of his cleaning spree, four hours had passed and Ranboo decided the apartment was better looking than ever. It was almost 6 pm when Ranboo noticed the time, and he worried that neither Tubbo or Tommy was home yet. Tubbo was supposed to be home at 3, and Tommy got out at 5. Ranboo tried calling both of them. Tommy's phone went to voicemail immediately, and Tubbo's rang through but he didn't answer.

Tubbo showed up at 10:43. Ranboo was about ready to just go look for them, but he stayed at the apartment for an extra 30 minutes to map out where they could possibly be. Then Tubbo burst through the door, smelling like shit and barely standing up. Ranboo ran over and helped him stand up better, walking Tubbo over to the couch.

"Where were you? What happened?" Tubbo fell on the couch and forced his shoes off. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

"You cleaned. I thought you were coming back tomorrow." Ranboo huffed out a sigh and sat next to Tubbo, helping Tubbo get his coat off. "I'm fine, I don't need your help." Tubbo threw his coat on the floor and laid down on the couch, yawning.

"What happened Tubbo? You smell horrible." Tubbo groaned and covered his face with his hand.

"You sound horrible. Go get me water from the fridge." Ranboo bit his lip and held his breath, nervous.

"I threw it out." Tubbo sat up and looked at Ranboo. His movements were slowed and he seemed to have a hard time keeping himself up. "It smelled bad so I threw it out. What?" Tubbo groaned and threw himself back at the couch. Ranboo flinched slightly, feeling a bit bad about having thrown away the water.

"It's supposed to smell bad, Ran. What about the soda?" Ranboo tilted his head slightly. Water was not supposed to smell bad. What did Tubbo do to it?

"Threw that out too." Tubbo sighed and mumbled.

"Next time I oughta be here before you throw away my shit." Ranboo took a deep breath and stood up.

"Well you don't look too good so let's get you to bed. Do you know where Tommy is?" Tubbo nodded and Ranboo helped Tubbo stand up, walking Tubbo to the bedroom. Tubbo was leaning on him heavily and barely lifted his feet off the ground. Ranboo had no idea how Tubbo even got up the stairs in this condition.

"He's with some friend of his. Be back in a couple of weeks." A couple of weeks? Ranboo had another job in a couple of weeks. Tommy seriously could not be gone that long. Ranboo laid Tubbo down in bed, the latter quickly relaxing and getting comfortable. Ranboo checked Tubbo over for any injuries, and he found nothing. Tubbo was just slower and less alert, and smelled bad. Ranboo didn't know what'd happened to him, and Tubbo clearly wasn't willing to tell.

The next day Tubbo spent the entire morning throwing up in the bathroom, and Ranboo called the farm to tell them he wouldn't be coming in. Afterwards, Tubbo still refused to tell him what was going on, and just ignored him whenever he asked about it. A week passed, Ranboo turned down the job offer. He couldn't leave Tubbo in the condition he was in, whatever that was, and he needed to know what happened to Tommy. Ranboo also found out Tommy was declared missing, and after freaking out to Tubbo, he'd been informed it was a front so that Tommy didn't get fired. Ranboo didn't understand the situation but Tubbo promised him that Tommy was safe so Ranboo let it go.

Another week passed. Tommy returned on the fifth day of the week. Ranboo was sweeping the kitchen when he heard the front door open, and he knew Tubbo was going to be out until after 10. It was only 6. Tubbo was staying out very late recently, and when he did get back Ranboo was either patrolling or asleep already so Ranboo never saw him after he left for work. Ranboo stopped sweeping and peeked out of the kitchen, smiling widely when he saw Tommy stood at the front door looking around the apartment.

"Tommy!" Tommy's head snapped over to him and Ranboo ran over, hugging Tommy tightly. Tommy hugged back and Ranboo buried his head in Tommy's shoulder.

"Hey big man. How's it been?" Tommy patted Ranboo's back, having expected him to have let go already. Then it hit Tommy that Ranboo hasn't seen him in a month. Tommy hugged Ranboo tightly. They pulled away slightly and Ranboo started looking Tommy over. Tommy was wearing a red shirt, jeans, and shoes that he definitely did not own. Tommy also looked a lot healthier than before. Even his hair looked healthier.

"So, so bad. Where have you been? The underground news said you went missing and still aren't found. There were two different crime scenes that you were at? You were kidnapped by a gang? Tubbo said the missing report was a front." Tommy took a deep breath and closed the apartment door, walking over to the couch and dragging Ranboo along with him. They sat down and Tommy looked at Ranboo.

"It was a front. I forged both crime scenes. Since the situation with my wings happened, I've been staying at another friend's house. Did Tubbo not explain everything?" Ranboo shook his head and looked at his lap.

"Tubbo's been, weird. I don't know what's going on with him. He leaves for work in the morning and by the time he comes back I'm asleep so I've barely seen him. When I first got back he wasn't home and he came stumbling in smelling horrible and barely able to keep himself upright." Tommy's posture straightened and he took a deep breath. That's what he smelled when he first opened the door. Tommy had suspicions, but he had to make sure they were accurate at all.

"Can you describe the smell?" Ranboo shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I don't know. Like the burger joint on Tube street that we needed to be 18 to go to for some dumb reason." Tommy sighed and nodded. He was correct. They really shouldn't have kept Ranboo from learning about that kind of stuff. They originally did it because the only thing Ranboo could remember about his family was that they had a history of addiction, and they didn't want Ranboo to experiment with that.

"I see. I'll talk to him Ranboo, don't worry. In the meantime, how have you been?" Ranboo and Tommy talked for a while about the past month. Ranboo noticed that every time they were separated for a while, they ended up talking for hours after. Tommy was focused on how he was going to kill Tubbo for being drunk around Ranboo, because for all they know Ranboo could get into the shit and get addicted, and he wouldn't even know about it.

Tubbo got home at 12:56, Tommy and Ranboo having stayed up all night to talk to him. When Tubbo walked through the door, he stunk of alcohol and he was holding a stick like his life depended on it.

"What's with the stick?" Tubbo jumped and looked at the couch, making eye contact with Tommy.

"Welcome back. Fuck off." Tommy scowled and stood up, walking over to Tubbo and dragging him to the couch. Tubbo fell on the couch and swung the stick towards Tommy, just barely missing. Tommy glared at Tubbo and Ranboo stood up as well, moving out of range of Tubbo's stick.

"You've been drinking." Ranboo looked confused and Tubbo sighed, waving his arms around dramatically.

"Congratulations, you cracked the case." Tubbo looked up at Tommy and saw his unimpressed look. "What's your problem?" Tommy crossed his arms and took a deep breath. He had to be kind of patient, it was Tubbo after all.

"Tubbo, you're 17. First of all it's illegal, and second of all we didn't even tell Ranboo about this shit, why would you do it around him?" Tubbo sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"I'm not doing it around him. Look at him, still clueless as ever. First week both of you were out of the house, I drank every night. Then he got back and I went out to drink instead of just bringing it home. He can't get addicted if he doesn't have exposure. Now you're back so there goes drinking at all. Simple as that, no harm no foul. Now piss off." Ranboo frowned and Tommy looked at Ranboo. He didn't know about drinking, but the look on his face brought Tommy to the conclusion that he wanted to know about it now. When they found him, he said he was losing his memory and that he didn't want to know anything bad about the world. Not about his family's drinking problem, not about abuse or violence, not about substance abuse, nothing. He made them vow to protect him from all that. That five minutes before he lost his memory entirely was the real Ranboo. The scared, hurt, and vulnerable part of Ranboo that they hadn't seen since. He was built like a hero. Now look at him. Desperate to know what's hurting his friends, even though he made them promise to never tell him.

"You remember the promise just as well as I do Tubbo. Don't be selfish enough to go back on it." Tubbo stared at Tommy in shock and hurt. Tommy walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind himself. Tubbo looked at Ranboo and Ranboo looked away from him, going into the bedroom. Tubbo sighed and laid down on the couch, Tommy leaving the bathroom a minute later and going into the bedroom.