Chapter Text
It was the last period of the day when Ranboo got a shock. Group project. In a class where he didn’t already have someone he knew. And it was photography too, so they would have to meet outside of school. Needless to say it would be extremely awkward.
Looking around him for a suitable partner he couldn’t seem to spot a person that wasn’t with another person. That was until another pair of desperately searching eyes caught his own. The eyes in question were attached to a short boy with ruffled brown hair and a scrunched green shirt.
The boy seemed as relieved as Ranboo was at finding another person. They both gravitated towards each other, the last ones to do so.
“Wanna be partners?” Ranboo asked, just for confirmation.
“Yep, we can go sit at my table,” The boy said pointing over to his spot that sat directly next to a window. Ranboo gave the boy a polite smile, “Of course,”
The project was a simple one. It was a photography project that simply needed to tell a story, they were essentially given free reign. The teacher told them it was a chance to get to know other students in their class because most of the work was independent.
The boy looked over to him while holding up a paper, “We can brainstorm some ideas and kinda draw the general idea of the story on this paper,” Ranboo nodded at the boy, “Yeah that should work,”
“Oh yeah! My names Tubbo by the way, kinda forgot to mention that,” the boy- Tubbo mentioned awkwardly. Ranboo nodded and chuckled, wasn’t this the boy who’s poem he found?
“Nice to meet you, I’m Ranboo, and um.. I was the one who found your poem the other day, it was kinda funny,” Ranboo answered shyly, ducking his head. He could see the others eyes light up.
“Oh! That was you?” Tubbo questioned, Ranboo nodded hesitantly, “pfff, they turned it into my English teacher, she was so confused,” he said laughing.
“Yeah, I take it you’re not a fan?” Ranboo asked, already drawing his own conclusions, which were confirmed by a head nod.
Continuing to chat with the boy they outlined a few plans for a possible story line, though none of them really stood out much. The storylines included aliens, guns, wack-a-mole, and various illegal activity’s.
“Oh come on! This is shit, why is every fun idea illegal,” Tubbo whines loudly as Ranboo snorted.
“I mean, technically the idea about aliens isn’t illegal,” Ranboo pointed out in an amused tone as Tubbo slammed his face dramatically into the table.
“Oh, you know what I mean! I wish we could just like, fuck around and take photos without all the hassle,”
“We could just say it’s a story about like.. teen life?” Ranboo mentioned as he tried to think of a solution. This seemed to spark a light in the other boy’s eyes.
“Just like a coming of age story! But without the seducing!” Tubbo said leaving Ranboo wheezing as he tried to comprehend the sentence just spoken. When the boy looked at him Ranboo couldn’t help but splutter out, “seducing?!” In a concerned tone. Tubbo just seemed more confused, and Ranboo had to hold himself back from doubling over in laughter.
“Yeah? Isn’t that what they always do in the movies? Someone always seduces the main character,”
“No! What movies have you been watching?!” Ranboo said at a high pitch, which really grated on his throat. Tubbo simply threw his hands up, “I dunno, all the movies as in all of them? What do you want from me?” The boy said as he crossed his arms angstily, though Ranboo could tell he was hiding a grin.
Thank god Ranboo got stuck with a partner who wouldn’t make him do all the work, and who was actually pretty funny. The amount of time that he’d gotten stuck with someone who didn’t even attempt to help was infuriating. Even if Ranboo isn’t the best in every subject, he at least gives his best attempt to help on each project.
It also helps that he doesn’t really have much else to distract him at home, other than his siblings.
The rest of class passed in somewhat of a blur, the kind you get when you get really focused on a conversation.
“Okay! We’ll start taking pictures tommorrow, okay bossman?” Tubbo said slinging his backpack over his shoulder and starting to make his way over to the door.
“Yep, buh-bye!” Ranboo said, Tubbo turned and waved at him before skipping over to a bald man with funky glasses.
As Ranboo walked home he put in his earbuds and started to bop his head to the upbeat tone of the song that popped up on his Spotify. Honestly music was extremely calming to him, and a good way to calm his brain down around other people. It was after a couple of minutes that something broke the calm atmosphere.
“Hey! Young man! I’m talking to you, take those damn earbuds out!” Some random lady yelled right beside him as he flinched. He quickly took his earbuds out.
“Sorry, what?”
“As I was saying! Anyway, you need to look across the road before crossing, even if you don’t see any cars-“ the random lady continued to scold him and eventually Ranboo mentally checked out and started to breath heavily, she continued to talk to him about how distrespectful he was for not acknowledging her immediately, and how the youth was ‘so damn rude’ at some point Ranboo could feel some sort of panic uncurling in his gut, “uh yeah cool, I’m going to go now,”
Speed walking his way out of there he felt the anxiety continue to curl in his gut, even though he didn’t do anything wrong. There wasn’t even anyone else around other than that lady who seemed to want to cause problems on purpose.
The rest of the walk home felt so much longer than it was, Ranboo could feel his breath hitch every so often. It really wasn’t a big deal though. It was just a random person, in the end she wouldn’t matter.
So why did the interaction keep dragging through the trenches of his brain down to his lungs where the words seemed to slowly squeeze his lungs in a slow soft dance that was just noticeable enough to be a hinderance? It wasn’t like it was an unfamiliar feeling either. Ranboo simply put his ear buds in and ignored it.
When he got home he smiled at his siblings and told them he had a project he had to work on. It wasn’t even a lie.
The next day was started off fairly well, seeing as Ranboo had gotten the courage to ask his neighbor if he could pet their dog as they were leaving the apartment building. Petting a fluffy dog was always the best way to start the day.
Other than that the day went pretty normally, that is, until lunch.
Ranboo was sitting and munching on an apple, minding his own business as he listened to music. Suddenly a voice pops up out of no where.
“Hello! I’m going to sit here,”
Turning around Ranboo sees that it’s Tubbo. The other boy casually plops down a tray of food and slides into the seat directly next to Ranboo, “uhh, okay?” He says, confused by the actions of his project partner.
“I just don’t wanna sit alone or with my older brothers friend,” Tubbo mumbled, seemingly realizing that he had invited himself to sit at Ranboos table. In all honesty Ranboo didn’t really care.
“It’s fine, no one else sits here anyway,” Ranboo says smiling at the other who grins back.
“Oh! Nice, It was just getting awkward sitting with the technical family friend, we only really have my family in common so that’s the only thing he talks to me about,” the boy said rolling his eyes. Ranboo winced. That really did seem like a less than pleasant experience, “That really sucks man, I don’t really know your family if that helps?”
Tubbos eyes seem to widen, “Oh! I would be fine if you talked about my family, I just cannot stand hearing about all the shenanigans my brother and his girlfriend get up to with Fundy, honestly they act like he’s their child,”
“Maybe some sort of under the table adoption went on?” Ranboo questioned causing Tubbo to snort, “Honestly? Wouldn’t be surprised,”
After eating a bit of food Ranboo looked over to Tubbo who was still shoving food down his throat. The brunette seemed totally content to sit at the table of someone he barely knew. It baffled Ranboo.
“So, what made you decide to sit with me? There are a lot of other people more interesting than me,” Ranboo questioned Tubbo who quickly swallowed his food in order to answer.
“I dunno, I don’t really know anyone else and it was easy to talk to you, also you seem like a decent dude,” Tubbo said shrugging. Honestly, Tubbo was pretty easy to talk to as well, Ranboo didn’t really mind talking to the boy over lunch, “Oh, thanks, you’re a pretty ‘decent dude’ yourself,” Ranboo responded, giggling slightly behind his hand.
Tubbo grinned and bumped his shoulder “Oh piss off!”
Having lunch with Tubbo.. was interesting to say the least. The conversation seemed to flow nicely, and the weather wasn’t mentioned once. At one point they began sharing music.
“Yo, this is a banger,” Tubbo says bopping his head, “This is literally sad piano music, I doubt anyone other than you could bop to this,” Ranboo teased as the other laughed.
“Welp! I’m me, so I’m saying this is a literal bop,” Tubbo said increasing the speed of his head bopping.
“Uh huh, sure buddy,”
“Hey! Don’t get that tone with me young man!” Tubbo scolded playfully as Ranboo rolled his eyes.
“Are you even older than me?” Ranboo questioned.
Turns out, Tubbo was. Which was interesting.
When the bell rung Ranboo sighed and waved goodbye to the other. He hadn’t had that much conversation with anyone for a while, he had to admit it was nice to just vibe with someone else for a while.
Really just sharing interests was fun, having someone else listen, as well as learning more about that person. Normally Ranboo would feel tendrils of anxiety curl into his gut after spending time with someone. His brain liked to imagine all the ways everyone hated him. But that didn’t seem to be as present with Tubbo, the boy was just so upfront and seemed content to hangout with him.
And Ranboo could understand that. The need for a short burst of social interaction. Though he was still content to sit by himself, his music fending off the silence.
The day went by with only a few hiccups. One such hiccup was awkwardly sitting in a bathroom stall while someone sung them their heart out in front of the mirror. It nearly made him late for his math class.
The last class was photography of course, and once again there was a smiling brunette at his desk.
“We’re gonna start taking pictures after school, so stick with me big guy,” the boy said, holding up an invisible camera and clicking it at Ranboo which made the blond snort.
“If it’s about teen life we should go to the park, and get the lonely shots we were talking about,” Ranboo said as the other boy lit up. Tubbo slammed his hands on the table enthusiastically, “Dude you know the swing set? The one with really nice sunset shot?” Ranboo nodded, “We can use that for the first shot, with one of us sitting in front of the swings, like a silhouette shot, and at the end have one with us both swinging!”
Ranboo thought it was a really good idea, seeing as the photos would stand out, seeing as they were going for a more natural somewhat selfie driven route with the story album. It would really lead to a nice conclusion and not leaves any doubts about where the end was.
“That’s a really good idea, it’ll really wrap our project together nicely,” Ranboo said, not being able to keep in the big grin that slipped across his face.
“Our projects going to be the best, I know it,” the other said with a strangely deep conviction, it was actually kind of touching, “Kinda wish we could use guns though,” and moment over.
“I really don’t,” Ranboo said with a concerned chuckle which made the other boy’s face light up with mischief, “No promises. I’m actually ordering large quantities of guns this very second,” and it was true. When Ranboo glances at Tubbos phone he was order several nerf guns off Amazon. If that didn’t put the fear of god into Ranboos heart he didn’t know what would.
As class continued Ranboo and Tubbo ended up watching robots duke it out on Tubbos phone, which the teacher didn’t care about seeing as they couldn’t really take their photos in class.
“Imagine having one of these things go after your ankles,” Ranboo mentioned, looking at the sharp attachments on the ankle high robots.
“I could probably make one if I really tried,” Tubbo mentioned shrugging his shoulders as if this was an everyday thing. It was definitely not. Honestly Ranboo couldn’t help but perk up at what the other said, “Really? You totally should then,”
“Mmm maybe I will then, it might be kinda cool,” the boy said sinking into his shoulders.
“It would be really cool,” Ranboo said grinning at the boy whose eyes glimmered, he obviously wasn’t expecting a very genuine answer, most likely he was expecting a joke.
“I could definitely bring you down to my height,” the other said grinning mischievously as the boys once again started up a lighthearted banter.
And, at the end of the day when they started walking to the park, it was nice. That is, until pidgins started to chase Tubbo down causing them to both run down the streets.
“I swear to god, I feed you fucking birds ONCE and you do this shit, not cool, not cool,” Tubbo yells over his shoulder as they turn sharply into the park, birds still on their tail.
“Maybe we should book it to the swings?” Ranboo suggests as the pidgins don’t give up their pursuit. Tubbo nods “Yeah, we should definitely get our pictures and leave,” he says glancing behind him, eyes searching for any signs of the birds. Luckily they seemed to have flown off.
After getting pictures in front of the swings Ranboo also got Tubbos phone number.
“I’ll text you where to meet me, we’ll have the entire weekend to take pictures!” The other said grinning at Ranboo who was already imputing a name into his phone, “Yep! I’ll be there, text me if you have any props that would be good to use for the project!”
“Will do big man,” Tubbo said grinning and waving at him before walking off. After taking a few pidgin pictures Ranboo also set off on his way home, which was long enough that the street lamps started to turn on.
When entering the apartment it was deadly quiet.
“Hey Boo, we have nuggets for dinner,” a sleepy Niki said as she stretched as she stood from where she had been sketching on the couch.
“Yum. I bet Erets excited, those are their favorite,” Ranboo stated, knowing that Eret loved chicken nuggets, even though it wasn’t super fancy or sophisticated.
“Sadly he’s not going to be home until later, she got stuck with a late shift again,” Niki explained sighing. It wasn’t even an uncommon occurrence. Somehow Eret always seemed to get stuck with bosses that liked to change the schedules last minute. Apparently selling secondhand suits made some pretentious asshole think he could do whatever he liked.
Sitting down at the table with Niki was calming after such a long day. As they munched on their nuggets his sister decided to start up conversation, “So what did you do after school today? You were home later than usual,” the girl said between bites. It was said in a way that didn’t force answers or sound overly forced, like parents often made it sound. It was just genuine interest about his life.
“I had a project for my photography class, I was taking photos for it,” Ranboo said truthfully. Niki hummed in agreement before looking up at him, “That sounds like fun, you take them at the park?” She had a knowing glint in her eye. Ranboo sighed as he deflated against the table.
“Maybe,”
“Haha! I knew it, so predictable,” she teased as she giggled. Ranboo simply rolled his eyes and pried himself up off the table.
“So what did you do today?” He questioned. That caused his sister to go into a fairly short explanation of her day which Ranboo listened to intently. A lot of the story’s seemed to be story’s shared with Puffy, her friend and coworker who did the counter that day while Niki mostly baked for the coffee shop.
Eventually the conversation dwindled into talking about hair.
“Oh yeah, I need my roots touched up a bit in a week or so if you want to help,” Niki told him. Ranboo fist pumped, “Heck yeah, lets make you look even pogger,” he said excitedly which made Niki snort at his antics.
“You know we could try dying your hair if you ever wanted,” she mentioned. It wasn’t that Ranboo didn’t appreciate the idea, but the thought of other people staring at him more than they already did made his skin prickle.
“I don’t think so..”
After Chicken nuggets Ranboo said goodnight and went to bed, or at least tried to. He stopped counting the hours after midnight ticked by.
BZZZzzz.
When Ranboo awoke groggy and still sleepy it was to his phone buzzing with a text. Fishing it off his dresser he unlocked it with his thumb.
[Tubbo] yo, meet me in the center of town, bring extra cloths and a picnic blanket if possible
[me] Sounds good! Ill bring snacks too since we’ll be out a while
[Tubbo] thnks :}
[me] it’s cool :D
Closing his phone Ranboo started to shove everything he needed into an extra shoulder bag. He did have to fish a picnic blanket from the top corner of a hall closet where it had been collecting dust.
“Bye, I’m heading out,” Ranboo said into the house where only Eret poked her head out, “Bye, have fun,” they said as Ranboo closed the door.
When Ranboo arrived at the town center he spotted Tubbo almost immediately seeing as not many were out and about on a breezy Saturday morning.
“Tubbo, over here,” Ranboo yelled at the other who turned and gestured for Ranboo to go over to him. This just made Ranboo pick up the pace on his walk.
They spent a good amount of time discussing destinations that they could go. They ended up deciding to go to the Ferris wheel on the peer, a small clearing in a forest on the other side of town, as well as a small dollar store that was a bit far away.
“Which one do you want to go to first?” Tubbo asked him as the boy tilted his head. At the time it was there most likely weren’t as many people at the pier, meaning more good shots. Also avoiding social interaction was a plus.
“Mmmm Ferris wheel,” Ranboo answers. At that Tubbo grabbed his sleeve and pulls him forward, “Onward then! No time to waste,” the boy said, enthusiasm leaking into his tone.
“I’ve never actually been on the Ferris wheel,” Ranboo admitted as they walked down desolate streets. That made Tubbo look over to him, “I’ve been on there once, but that was years ago,”
Honestly Ranboo could barely hold in his excitement. He really enjoyed trying new things, especially ones that had a good view.
“Was it fun?” He questioned the other who nodded.
“Yeah, you’ll have a great time, unless you’re scared of heights?” The brown haired boy asked looking over at him questioningly. This made Ranboo chuckle, “I’m definitely not, I’ve only ever been on rollercoasters which were fun either way,”
Tubbo laughed, “If you liked rollercoasters then you’ll definitely like this, it’s just less fast,”
Continuing to chat they finally got to the beach. The Ferris wheel was sitting at the end of the pier, a few little stands set up, but not as much as there would be in the summer.
“Come on! I have money to buy tickets,” Tubbo said sprinting up to the nearly sleeping person who was on shift for manning the colorful Ferris wheel which didn’t have anyone on it. The poor man had bags under his eyes as he took Tubbos money and let them into a little cart that had glass surrounding it and two plastic benches.
On the way to the top the view was stunning, it wasn’t super far into the afternoon and there were grey clouds drifting. Only a tiny corner of sun was poking through the chilling sky. Once they reached the top Ranboo took out his phone and started to take his photo.
“Tubbo, maybe move a little to the left so it looks a little more accidental that your in the selfie?” Ranboo suggests. Tubbo nods, “Got it,”
When Tubbo moved he somehow positioned himself directly under the sun, Ranboo quickly threw up a peace sign and took a couple photos. It ended up turning out really cool, Tubbo looking like he had a halo as he was propped up on his elbow looking out the window.
Showing it to Tubbo with a smile they went through the rest of the ride with small laughs and smiles, content with the work they’d done.
“You were right, that was really fun,” Ranboo said once they got to the ground, he felt like he was smiling more than he had in months. Tubbo smiled and pointed to a tiny ice cream stand, “Let’s get ice cream in celebration!”
“Yeah!” Ranboo said fishing out his phone which had some money tucked into the case, but before he could Tubbo glared at him.
“I’m paying, my treat,” The other said going up to the stand meaning Ranboo had to jog to catch up with him, “but you paid for the Ferris wheel, I can at least pay for ice cream,” Ranboo said, feeling guilt start to naw at his stomach.
“No, but if it makes you feel better my dads rich so this isn’t technically my money,” Tubbo said giving money to the employee that was listening in on their argument. It made Ranboo tilt his head down and sigh, “Not really but I’m guessing there’s nothing I can do to convince you to let me pay,”
“Damn right,” Tubbo confirmed with a smirk as he handed Ranboo a cone. The cold on his tongue only made the cold breeze bite deeper, but Ranboo couldn’t find it in himself to care. He just continued to take increasing dramatic bites while staring directly into Tubbos eyes. This just caused a compitition which got increasingly more intense.
When Tubbo got ice cream directly in his eye Ranboo definitely didn’t laugh at him.. maybe a little.
“Stop laughing dickhead, this is your fault!” Tubbo said dabbing at his eye with a napkin. It was really hard not to double over in laughter as the boy pouted at him.
“I have no idea what your talking about,” Ranboo said with a calm voice, handing Tubbo another napkin.
“Oh sure you don’t,”
“Yep,”
“..dickhead,” Tubbo said letting out an eye roll and laugh.
Throughout the rest of the day it went around the same, they had a picnic and chased each other around the forest taking goofy shots of each other, as well as seeing who could stand in the freezing creek the longest. Neither of them lasted long, but Tubbo did end up winning, stubborn till the end.
After that they went to the dollar store took pictures, and dipped. A lot of those were quite funny as well, the person manning the counter didn’t stop them, seeing as they probably weren’t paid enough to deal with two teens taking pictures.
Walking home and chatting was nice, it felt very natural. It was to be expected seeing as they had just spent the entire day collecting photos together. The only one left was the sunset picture which they took quickly on the way back, both of them tired from the busy day.
“Hey, I’ll see you back in class,” Tubbo said turning and waving at Ranboo who returned the wave, “See ya, and thanks for paying for the ice cream and Ferris wheel,”
“I’m just glad you had fun,” Tubbo answered simply which made Ranboo smile.
It wasn’t even a lie, Ranboo hadn’t spent an entire day out with anybody for a while, not even his siblings. He’s gone to peoples houses for projects, although rarely. On occasion he’ll go into his neighbors apartment to dog sit a chaotic dog named Logan. But nothing this fun in a while.
Maybe he’ll go to the Ferris wheel more often, after all, after their project was submitted on Sunday he most likely wouldn’t spend as much time with Tubbo. He’d only really known the other for a few days, and photography didn’t often do partner projects.
[Tubbo] wanna start organizing photos and turn in 2nit? u don’t need to if your tired tho
[me] I’m good to work on it, I’ll just send you the shared slides
[Tubbo] yehhhh A+ here we come
Forgoing dinner Ranboo spent around thirty minutes organizing the slides with Tubbo.
When he hit the submit button it was over, and that was good. They would get an A+, and it would be good.
And it wasn’t like he couldn’t text Tubbo if another partner project came up in class. Over this whole thing Ranboo now has three numbers in his phone.
Going back to his laptop he continued on some history homework that was due the next week.