#beeduo analysis

Well, Leo, if you insist, I suppose I have to..

(I am talking about the characters here, lines get a bit blurry for this era because the content creators were becoming friends at the time, but I am looking at it from the perspective of canon)

One of the many things that drives me so insane about Presidency Era Beeduo is that they were able to become so close in such a short amount of time. Ranboo joined the server, and Tubbo gave him a tour, and it’s like- somewhere between there and Doomsday, they formed an incredibly close relationship.

In the midst of all the shit that when down after the prank on George’s house, somewhere along the line, Ranboo and Tubbo just- clicked, with each other. Tubbo was not in a good mental state at all during his presidency, especially after exiling Tommy, but Ranboo was there for him the whole time. Ranboo was a comforting presence for him, someone who was there for him, who he could be himself around.

We can see how much they cared about each other in their actions!

Despite being in competition with each other, they never held any animosity towards each other. If Ranboo won the presidency, he planned to make Tubbo his Vice President. If Tubbo won the presidency, he planned to make Ranboo his Secretary of State.

Tubbo, who is known for being the fucking commander and chief of repressing his emotions, opened up to Ranboo about his concerns about his presidency. Ranboo supported him, and told him he was doing a good job, something that no one else was telling Tubbo. Tubbo thought himself to be a horrible president, but Ranboo genuinely supported him when basically no one else did. Hello?!?!?

And let’s talk about when Ranboo was outed as a traitor.

When Ranboo was outed as a traitor, he expected Tubbo to hate him. He expected the relationship that they had built to be destroyed. When he showed up on Doomsday, he fully expected Tubbo to hate him, or punish or hurt him in some way, but Tubbo acted completely fine. I don’t remember his exact wording, but he was legitimately confused by Tubbo’s nonchalance, writing something along the lines of “Why doesn‘t he hate me?” Even after Doomsday, and Tubbo did nothing against Ranboo, he took Tubbo off of his friends list, assuming Tubbo hated him. Ranboo angrily cursed himself for betraying ”the one person who trusted me the most“. Which. Ow. Like. God. God.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Ranboo, Tubbo was 100% on his side. When Quackity brought up the idea of executing Ranboo, Tubbo immediately shut him down, comparing Quackity to Schlatt, which is, you know, basically the worst fucking person to be like in Tubbo’s mind. Not only that, but Tubbo threatened the life of Quackity, one of his oldest friends, in Ranboo’s defense. Even after saying that executing Ranboo would be treason, Tubbo brought it up again, pulling out his axe and saying “You’re not gonna touch Ranboo, though.” He made his point clear. Like!!! He cared so much!!! They had such a close relationship!!! FUCK!!

ALSO. Just. Doomsday. MAN.

As someone who recently re-watched Doomsday from Ranboo’s POV, there are so many little actions that showed his closeness with Tubbo. He moved Squeeks away from where the explosions would be, saying that he had “already hurt Tubbo enough”, so he should at least save Squeeks. He chose Tubbo’s side, despite the fact that he believed Tubbo hated him, and he chose Tubbo BECAUSE he didn’t want to hurt him again. LIKE. HIS EXACT WORDS. “I’ll hurt him again.” GOING INSANE! And he left a sign in front of Tubbo saying “I’m sorry.”

What if Tubbo went into the restaurant and saw Ranboo, he was so excited to see him, only for Ranboo to not meet his eyes? What if Tubbo’s eyes kept flicking to Ranboo as Quackity talked about him, looking for a reaction, only for Ranboo to seem to barely be paying attention to what Quackity is saying? What if when Tubbo saw Ranboo holding a grass block and realized how nervous he was, Tubbo tried to signal to him to understand what was wrong, but Ranboo pretended not to see?

Let’s start with Ranboo. From Ranboo’s perspective, there is just so much to take in.

Given what we’ve seen of Ranboo and Tubbo’s relationship in canon, this is probably the most upset he has ever seen Tubbo. Already, that was probably a shock for him, to see the one of the people he cares about the most of anyone that upset for the first time.

But the other thing about it is that he doesn’t even fully understand what Tubbo is going through. Ranboo was never there for the original L’Manburg. He wasn’t there for a good majority of the server’s history. The only things he knows are the bits and pieces he’s picked up, the reactions of his friends, the recreations in the museum, the pieces leftover. He only knows what Tubbo has told him, and that isn’t much, so he doesn’t even have the information to follow the discussion between Wilbur and Tubbo in the first place. Instead, he had to try and piece together what he could from the things being said. And not only does he not understand from an information point of view, but he will never understand what it was like for Tubbo, and there’s nothing he can do to change that, and that makes it so hard for him to help his husband.

Then, of course, there’s Tubbo.

Tubbo, who learned a long time ago to repress his emotions, to not show weakness, to not whine, to not cry. Tubbo, who dreams about what happened to him every single day. Tubbo, who came to the ruins of L’Manburg, dressed in his old President’s suit, who sang the anthem to himself, tears welling up in his eyes, mourning alone, only to be interrupted by the very person who blew up L’Manburg the first time, and who made Tubbo President of a Crater, and who caused him so much pain.

Tubbo was caught in a moment of vulnerability, something he works so hard to avoid. He was forced to talk to someone who had hurt him severely in the past, and in the midst of reliving exactly how he was hurt.

And when Ranboo asked Tubbo if he wanted him to stay, Tubbo broke, but he couldn’t break, he was supposed to be alone when he broke.

It’s not just the fact that Tubbo told Ranboo he wanted to be alone, it’s the way he said it. While his voice betrayed his emotions, while tears ran down his face, Tubbo politely said “No, I would like to be left alone please.” Even when he’s breaking, he’s polite, because he always had to be, with Schlatt. And even when Tubbo was crying, when Tubbo was completely breaking down, he told Ranboo “I’m fine.” Because he learned that from Schlatt, too. No one wants to listen to him whine.

AND the entire time this is happening, the entire time they are having this conversation, both of them are acutely aware of the fact that Wilbur is right there. They can’t get too close, they can’t say too much, because they’re trying to keep each other safe, they’re trying to keep their son safe from someone that neither of them trust.