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It was the middle of the night when Michael woke up. Some sound from deep within the house had awakened him, though his sleep-addled mind was too tired to remember exactly what it was.
He yawned and sat up, wondering if his chicken had managed to make its way out of it’s pen again. But the continued silence revealed that was not the case - last time it had gotten out, constant squawking and feathers flying everywhere had quickly revealed its escape.
This time, the only sound was the quiet thrumming of redstone wiring in the walls.
Weird.
Michael rubbed at his eyes and slid out of bed, deciding to get a glass of water before going back to sleep. Maybe he’d swipe a snack from the kitchen, too.
He wandered through the mansion, carpeted hallways muffling his footsteps. He turned a corner, barely stifling a yelp of surprise when he nearly ran into Ranboo.
“Dad!” He took a step backward, craning his neck to look up at Ranboo. The half-enderman didn’t seem to even notice him, instead staring out of a window with an unreadable expression.
“Daaaa-aaaad.” Michael tugged on his pant leg impatiently. “Can you get me a snack?”
Ranboo turned toward him and knelt down in one fluid motion. His head was tilted slightly to the side, regarding Michael with curiosity. He stared intently at the boy, and Michael felt strangely uneasy at the eye contact. For the first time, he noticed the faint purple particles that were hovering around his dad, buzzing faintly as they moved agitatedly through the air.
“...Dad?”
Ranboo’s eyes were dilating back and forth and he was shaking faintly. When Michael spoke he jumped, eyes snapping back to Michael’s.
Michael yelped in alarm as Ranboo picked him up and started walking toward the kitchen, long strides moving them quickly through the mansion. Ranboo set him down on the table before moving over to the fridge, rifling through it’s contents with strange intentionality.
Michael sat frozen on the table, completely confused. “Uh, dad? You’re acting weird.”
Ranboo didn’t offer a response, still digging through the fridge. Michael took the opportunity to examine him more closely.
Something was… wrong. The way Ranboo moved was different, going from jerky and stuttering one second to completely fluid the next. His suit, normally kept in pristine condition, had multiple rips going through it, a few odd stains dotting the clothing. The purple particles Michael had noticed before were still there, buzzing faintly as they swirled in the air.
Ranboo pulled a cake out the fridge and set it in front of Michael, an odd triumph to the way he performed the maneuver. Michael’s eyes went wide.
“Woah!? How long have we had this!?” Whatever uncertainty he’d had about the way his dad was acting vanished instantly as Michael grabbed a slice of cake, completely distracted.
Michael gulped down the piece of cake, licking the frosting off his fingers when he was done. For the first time, he noticed that his dad was staring directly at him, head tilted to the side with curiosity, nearly the exact same expression he’d had when Michael had first run into him in the hallway.
The unease was suddenly back. Ranboo was acting different than he normally did, very different. It wasn’t… bad, necessarily, but Michael wasn’t sure he liked it either.
That said, he wasn’t opposed to taking advantage of it.
“Can I have another piece?” He asked sweetly, making his eyes as big and round and innocent as he could. When Ranboo nodded, he picked up another slice, quickly devouring the sugary goodness.
Michael got three more slices before Ranboo interjected, picking up the cake and sliding it into his inventory.
“Aww.” Michael pouted, looking pleadingly at his dad. “But there were still two slices left!”
Ranboo’s only response was to set the cake back down on the table, restored to full size.
Michael looked at the cake, then at his dad, then back at the cake.
“What.”
Ranboo tilted his head, a confused warble coming from the half-enderman.
“You mean to tell me,” Michael started slowly, “that you’ve been able to do that this entire time - and you never told me!?”
Ranboo’s only response was a silent stare, unblinking eyes regarding Michael with a mixture of puzzlement and amusement.
“...I think I like this version of you better.” Michael decided. He then proceeded to wolf down four more slices of cake.
Ranboo stayed still and silent the entire time, unblinking stare fixed on the young piglin. Michael was aware of it, could feel it practically boring holes through him. It made him shift his weight under the uncomfortable sensation of being watched, made it harder to enjoy the cake he’d been given.
Which was irritating, to say the least. He didn’t often get cake, so it would be nice to enjoy when it was available.
“I’m full.” Michael said when Ranboo tried to offer him another piece. The half-enderman was visibly disappointed at the declaration, shoulders drooping as he picked the cake up and put it back in the fridge.
Michael scooted over to the edge of the table in preparation to jump down. Ranboo hissed at the motion, the sound mixed with garbled static. Michael yelped and backed up from the edge, alarmed at the strange sound.
“Okay, okay, I can stay here. That’s fine.” Michael eyed his dad nervously as Ranboo approached, resisting the urge to back away.
He wasn’t trying to be scared, he really wasn’t, but - Ranboo was acting weird, and it was creepy and unsettling, and Michael was really starting to think he should’ve just gone back to bed.
The cake had been good, though.
Michael squeezed his eyes shut as Ranboo reached out, trying not to flinch with surprise when he was picked up and set gently on the ground. He risked opening one eye once Ranboo released him, relief filling him at the feeling of solid ground beneath him.
“Huh.”
Michael released a shaky breath, annoyed with himself for being so on-edge. He looked up at his dad who was, predictably, staring down at him.
“Wanna play?” Michael asked. Ranboo tilted his head, looking extremely confused. “It’s kinda dark, so we’ll have to stay inside.” Michael continued, “But I think we can find something fun. Foolish dropped off some new dolls earlier I haven’t looked at yet - maybe we can play with those? Oh!” Michael clapped his hands together excitedly. “We can play Invasion! It’s where you gotta like, try and steal blaze rods from the nether fortress, but the evil wither king is guarding them! It’s super cool! I can show you how to play, if you want.” He looked hopefully up at his dad.
Ranboo made a vwoomp that was both questioning and confused, complete incomprehension in his eyes. He pulled a pickaxe out of his inventory, holding it out as if it was an offering.
“Huh?” Michael stared at the tool, then back up at his dad. “It’s not mining, it’s playing! Like, pretend.”
Another blank look. Michael rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, I’ll show you. It’ll be fun!” Michael grabbed his dad’s hand and tugged him toward the playroom. Ranboo followed without resistance, another confused vwoomp the only sign he was present at all.
“Here.” Michael said, digging through his dolls. “You can be the wither king, and I’ll be the hero!” Michael tossed ranboo a clay figurine of a three-headed wither. Ranboo caught it clumsily. Michael kept digging through the chest, oblivious to the puzzled way Ranboo was eyeing the doll.
“And here’s the hero!” Michael emerged triumphantly, a netherite-clad figure clutched in his hand. “Look, I’ve got the fortress all assembled already. It’s got like, removable pieces that you can rearrange, it’s so cool! But we can just use what I’ve already got set up for now.”
Michael tugged Ranboo over to the model fortress, eagerly setting up the scene. “Here’s a chest full of blaze dolls, you can set those up around the spawners.” Michael explained. “You gotta try and stop me from getting to the wither king, and I gotta get there before I run out of golden apples! Just try it, it’ll be great, you’ll see.”
Michael excitedly set the hero figurine in front of the fortress, puffing up dramatically. “Wither King!” He yelled, striking a pose. “I, the great hero of the overworld, have come to steal your precious blaze rods! Prepare to be destroyed!” There was a long silence following the grandiose statement. Michael coughed and nudged Ranboo.
“This is uh, where you respond. Cuz you’re the wither king.”
The following sounds that emerged from Ranboo were anything but human, some grating combination of static, shrieking, and buzzing. Michael winced and covered his ears, trying not to feel bad when Ranboo looked at him hopefully.
“Maybe, uh… maybe I’ll do the talking for the wither king. And you can just move the figurines around.”
It didn’t take long for Michael to settle into a rhythm, dancing around the room making grand speeches as they played, a constant stream of dialogue coming from the young piglin. Ranboo actually got into it as well, to Michael’s great delight, moving around the dolls and occasionally chirping or humming to add to the dialogue. They played for long into the night, neither feeling the need to go back to bed.
When Ranboo woke up, he was sitting in one of the mansion’s playrooms. Gentle sunbeams cut through the window, illuminating the scene.
Michael was sprawled out on the floor, sleeping. He was surrounded by various nether-themed dolls. The rest of the room was in similar disarray, toys spilling out of open chests, covering the floor.
Ranboo knelt down next to Michael, trying to piece together what had happened. He could vaguely remember coming home last night, but he had no recollection of anything after that.
Ranboo sighed and picked up Michael, carefully tiptoeing through the messy room and making his way through the mansion to Michael’s bedroom. He tucked the boy in, relieved at how peaceful he looked. Ranboo returned to the playroom and started cleaning up, carefully picking all the figurines up off the floor, trying in vain to remember what had happened.
He supposed it didn’t matter too much. He felt vaguely like Michael had been happy, and that was the only thing that really mattered to him, anyway. His enderwalk always made him nervous, but knowing that Michael had encountered him and been unscathed was a great relief.
He looked out at the rising sun and smiled.