Chapter Text
L'manburg was smaller than he thought it'd be. Really, Ranboo hadn't thought much about the size of the town before. Seeing it now, he knew everything would be different. It was going to be a lot harder to hide his... ability. Maybe it would be easier if he remembered how he hid it before.
His leg was bouncing away as he stared out the window. He would have pulled out his memory book, but he knew the book was blank. He'd already looked in it earlier. Why was it blank anyway? He could ask the social worker, he supposed, but he didn't want to bother her.
What's her name again?
He glanced cautiously at her through the corner of his eye. She was nicer than the last one so far, and her pastel rainbow hair made her look friendly. She was smiling, softly humming along with the radio. The song wasn't one he recognized, but it wasn't bad. He'd have to ask for the name later. Maybe.
"Something wrong, buddy?" Oh gosh she noticed. "You're kinda staring at me."
She didn't seem upset, but it didn't help with his nerves. He quickly turned his eyes to the bag resting on his legs, picking at the loose threads he found. How he'd managed to keep the backpack was a mystery. Maybe it wouldn't be if he had his old memory book.
"It's okay to be nervous you know." She tried, "you're entire situation is changing. I mean, you were living on the streets for so long, and now you're getting dragged out to a farm in the middle of nowhere to live with people you've never met. I'd be pretty nervous if I were you."
He bit his lip. It was sweet of her to try, but she wasn't helping. He could feel the pulling in his gut, trying to find a point to anchor to. Waiting to pull him away from the situation before it got worse. If he wasn't careful, he'd end up passed out in the middle of a field somewhere.
Instead, Ranboo turned his eyes to the outside world. There were a few people out and about. A woman with pink hair sat outside eating a muffin, looking pretty mundane. A man wearing a gas mask (interesting choice, Ranboo must say) and hard hat walking into a construction zone. A person of indeterminate gender greeting everyone they passed warmly. A man with a fox tail. A fairly normal town really.
Wait a minute-
He quickly looked at that last man again. They seemingly vanished in the moments he had realized what he'd seen. Maybe they were just a furry? his brain supplied. It... sounded reasonable. Besides, if he focused on it too much...
"-e there today."
"What?" he turned to look at the woman. What was her name?!
Her brows furrowed and she gave him an awkward smile. "I was just saying I hope Phil told the boys we'd be there today."
Phil? He blinked. "The boys?"
She laughed lightly. "Right, I forgot to tell you. Phil has two sons, and his friend lives with them." She was still smiling. "Don't worry though, there's still room for you there. Phil said he's got you in Wilbur's old room, and Techno may or may not have his own house on the property."
Who? He stared at her for a moment before turning back to his bag and pulling out his notebook. It was a sad thing, a plain composition book he hadn't even gotten to write "Do Not Read" on the cover of. He opened it to the first page before searching for a pen in his bag.
It only took a minute of searching before the social worker spoke up again. "Need a pen?"
He felt his cheeks warm. "N-no no. It- I'm good. I just- it's a bit burried is all-"
She wordlessly pulled a pen out of her cupholder and handed it to him. He took it carefully, muttering a thanks to her. He felt bad using such a nice pen, and what a nice pen it was. It wasn't a fancy, expensive type of pen, but still. It was hardly used, and it had pretty blue ink that sparkled slightly in the light. Maybe it was metallic? He started writing carefully.
Phil will be taking care of me. He lives with his two sons and someone named
He paused. What was their name?
They might have seperate houses?
Social worker let me use her pen. I like it. I should get one for myself.
He shut the book. "Glad to see you using it." The social worker said. He started to put the pen back, but she stopped him "Keep it. It's better off with someone who'll actually use it."
Into his bag the pen went. He would, inevitably forget about it, but it was his now. No one would yell at him about it later. He hoped.
The car took a turn and he glanced up. They were going down a long driveway up to a house. It had a nice porch with a swing and a telescope, though those weren't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the person with a straw hat on stepping off the porch. They'd paused on the last step, one foot on the ground, to watch the car approach. Is that a pig mask?
"Here we are." the car was parked. There was a beat of silence. "Ranboo." He didn't look at her. She sighed. "Look, it could be a good home if you just-"
He quickly opened the door and climbed out. This was not a conversation he was ready for. He wasn't going to listen to another "running away solves nothing" speech. He knew! He didn't want to run from some of his previous homes in the first place!
He shut the door a little more harshly than he wanted, flinching slightly at the sound. Now he was standing in front of the person on the porch. They were still on the last step, frozen and staring at him now.
They were definitely wearing a pig mask, but it was kind of a cute pig mask, if Ranboo were to be honest. It had little tusks by the snout, which covered their nose. The straw hat was simplistic in design, with a golden ribbon as the band. Under the straw hat was long pink hair pulled back in a braid. The soft pink slightly blended in with the color of the mask, drawing more attention to the golden earrings they wore. Beyond that, their outfit was simple, jeans and a plain shirt with thick leather gloves.
"Uh." They managed, in a much deeper voice than Ranboo was expecting.
"Hey, Techno." They both turned to the social worker as she stepped around the car. "Is Phil in the house or out working on something?"
"We were just eatin' lunch." They said, taking a step back. "Uh... You should... come in."
The woman had just said their name and it was already gone. Ranboo glared at his feet in frustration as he followed the two inside. They were talking about something, but he couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the conversation. The pinkette lead them into the kitchen and Ranboo paused at the door.
There were two blondes with blue eyes looking at him. One of them was standing at the sink while the other sat at the table, just finishing their lunch. How unfortunate that they made eye contact. He really didn't like that, quickly turning his eyes away.
"How fucking tall are you?" one of them asked.
"Tommy!"
"Wha-"
"6'6." It wasn't the first time someone had asked, it wouldn't be the last. Glancing up again, the one by the sink, Tommy he assumed, had turned to glare at him.
"No you're not."
"N... No I am." Why would I lie about that?
"No you're not." Tommy repeated, "I'm the tallest, bitch."
Bruh, you ain't even as tall as- "I... disagree."
Tommy looked almost ready to explode as the pinkette laughed. Why had Tommy's name stuck and not theirs? It was a mystery!
"Tommy, he's taller than you, just get over it." The other blonde rolled his eyes. "Don't mind him." They smiled at him, and oh their smile was so warm and gentle. "You must be Ranboo. I'm-"
"What kind of fucking name is Ranboob?" And the moment was ruined. Ranboo frowned deeply and stared at Tommy. Not that Tommy could tell behind his mask.
"Tommy!"
"Sorry, Puffy."
Oh. So that was her name... Such an easy name to remember, and it'd slipped right out of his head. He felt bad.
Puffy sighed and shook her head. "Say sorry to Ranboo, I swear..." she turned back to him. "Ranboo, this is Phil, Tommy and Technoblade."
Right. Technoblade. He was not going to remember that.
"Hi, mate." Phil, he assumed, smiled. Tommy was still pouting, while Technoblade gave a soft "hullo".
"You can call me Techno. Technoblade feels kinda weird to hear."
"Do you need to write that down?"
Ranboo felt as though his vocal cords just tied themselves in a bow and tried to ship themselves off to Peru. He knew that they knew about his memory, but it was a different beast hearing them mention it so...openly. Oh, he did not like that.
"Oh, shit, sorry mate," Phil winced, "didn't realize it was a sore subject."
He swallowed thickly. "It- it's fine." It was not fine. "It- I just- it's no big deal." It was a big deal. "I'll just... write all this down." He managed, carefully sitting at the table and pulling out his notebook. There was a pen somewhere in his bag, he was sure. Why couldn't he find a pen?
He managed to pull out three and just picked one to write with.
"Why does he need to write it down?"
"Tommy- did you miss the entire conversation we had the other night?"
Ranboo tried to tune them out, writing down what he thought was important. His hands were shaking, making his letters sloppy. He paused and turned to Techno. "What... uh. What are your pronouns?"
Techno stopped their argument with Tommy and stared at Ranboo. Maybe. It was hard to tell behind their mask. "Heh?"
"What kind of-"
"I- I just... I wanted to make sure I got it right." he cut Tommy off unintentionally. His heart was racing so fast. Was it always this hard to breathe? Why was he manually breathing?
"I-... Phil..." Techno seemed a bit lost. "No one's ever asked me that before. I- what- How do I respond to that?"
"With your pronouns, mate." Phil chuckled a bit, though he even seemed a bit nervous.
"What are my pronouns? Phil- I haven't thought about this- I-... I'm gonna go tend to my potatoes." the last part of their words jumbled together they spoke so fast before they fled. And oh boy, Ranboo felt that. He hadn't even considered his own pronouns until then. That was a can of worms for another day. At least Techno's panic over their pronouns shocked Ranboo out of his own panic...?
"Uh. Right... Usually we just use he for him, but I suppose you could use whatever you feel most comfortable using for him." Phil answered. "I'm sure he won't mind."
Ranboo nodded. Until Techno said otherwise, he'd probably stick to using they for them. Who knew, maybe they'd figure out that they preferred that?
"Tommy and I both use he/him, by the way." Phil informed him. "Just in case. What about you, mate?"
"Oh God, that's not something I wanna think about right now," Ranboo said immediately, "just- just use he/him for now? That works. That works."
Puffy cleared her throat, taking a seat at the table. "Right. Well, Phil and I need to go over some things really quick." she turned to Tommy. "Could you take Ranboo on a tour of the property?"
"Sure," Tommy shrugged, "First up, Ranboob, this is the pantry. The coke is mine." He walked over to the door, opening it and grabbing a can. Ranboo rolled his eyes as the teen cracked open the drink and took an unnecessarily loud sip. Things were going great so far.