would you like a mini headcanon?
Tubbo does that thing goats do where they chew on stuff. He doesn’t do it on purpose, not really, but it is pretty noticeable. He chewed on the corks on potion bottles during the first L’Manberg revolution. He’d chew the edge of his bandages if they came loose while his face was all bandaged up after his execution. He chewed on pens, pencils, erasers, sticky notes, etc. while in office.
Again, he doesn’t do it consciously. He doesn’t think about it at all really. He’s that kid in your English class that idly chewed on the eraser on their pencil but like. On steroids.
He wasn’t aware of the habit when he was younger, only really having it brought to light by Schlatt while he worked under him, who used it as a way to demean him (even tho he totally has the same instincts but whatever), then by Wilbur who lashed out more and more often towards the end of his life, then by Dream during his presidency, who used it to make Tubbo feel childish and inadequate in hopes of keeping him easily suggestible and manipulated.
So by the time he started living with Ranboo he was very, very aware of the habit, and he did his best to avoid doing it in front of them or just. In general. But it’s very comforting to him- it was probably somewhat self-soothing when he was younger, during the wars and such- and even as he got older it helped a lot with stress.
It all kinda came to light when Ranboo noticed Tubbo was chewing on their shirts when he was asleep. They didn’t say anything about it at first- it didn’t bother them that much and their sleep shirts were already in less than stellar condition seeing as they’d sometimes wear them during the duo’s late-night adventures out in the woods.
But sue them, they got curious and decided to bring it up. Tubbo got avoidant and defensive, trying to get them to drop it and whatnot. There was a moment where he almost tried or began to try to say something along the lines of “you didn’t really see that, maybe you’re making it up. Maybe you’re mistaking it for something else. Your memory messes with you sometimes”, but cut himself off fast when he realised what he was saying because like- that’s so fucking manipulative and sounds like something Schlatt or, gods forbid, Dream would say. It made him guilty enough to admit to the habit.
Ranboo, obviously, did Not Care. His response boiled down to “oh, ok, yeah that makes sense” and then he moved on with his life.
It was such a startling change from the recent past that it kinda really threw him off. I think Ranboo noticed. He talked to Tommy about it and did his best to read up on hybrids like Tubbo and kinda started slowly encouraging the habit in healthy ways, since it did do so much to help Tubbo with stress.
It was little things: not drawing attention to it when Tubbo started chewing on something, or even mimicking the behaviour himself at times in very small ways (like slightly chewing the back of a pen) so Tubbo didn’t feel so weird.
Then slightly bigger things. He bought him things that were safe to chew on and meant to be chewed on. I kinda imagine like that chewlery stuff? I’ve heard those can be helpful for that kinda thing. (Tubbo has a bee he keeps on his keys)
Anyway, long story short, Tubbo chews on Ranboo’s shirts at night when they cuddle and Ranboo’s sleep shirts are in even worse condition than before and they’re very happy about it.
YESS YESSSSS YESSSS ANIMAL-IFYING THE HYBRIDS YESSSSS
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