Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tubbo pushed open the creaky door of the 1970's house, flinching slightly at the loud sound. He set his bags down on the floor and looked around his new room, it didn't look that old-fashioned, someone must have remodeled it semi-recently. He kicked his bags to the side and sat down on his new bed. The sheets were dark red, with green accents. A bit ugly for his taste but it will have to do until they can get new ones. He flopped back into the cold pillows, sighing loudly. It was late August, his new school's year started in a little less than a week, he wasn't looking forward to it at all. He was usually bullied at his schools because it was common sense to pick on the small, weak kids, and Tubbo fit that exact description. It didn't help that his name was considered weird, thanks a lot for that dad. He stood back up and started unpacking his bags, wanting to be able to sleep as soon as possible. 

~~~~~

He sat down at his desk, looking around his new room and taking it all in. He looked at his ukeleles hanging on the wall, then over to his posters. There were a few from his favorite games and bands, which included Lovejoy and Queen, as well as Minecraft and a few other games. There were also a bunch of his small doodles hanging up as well, most of them were of his favorite animal, bees. He loved them. They were easy to draw, not to mention super cute. He turned to look in front of him at his gaming setup but whipped his head back around when he saw his poster move. It wasn't a lot, just a few inches off the wall, but it was enough to freak Tubbo out. He looked at his window to make sure it was shut, then his fan, which was off also, and finally his door, which was closed too. There was no wind circulating in his room, but after a few moments he shook it off and booted up his computer, opting to play some Minecraft to take his mind off it. After a few hours, he shut down his computer and flopped into his bed, his father had said that he would arrive in the morning, leaving Tubbo alone for the rest of the night. A moment later and he was fast asleep, not even changed out of his normal clothes. 

Tubbo awoke with a start after hearing a crash, whipping his head around his room to look for the source of the noise. Everything seemed normal at first but then his eyes landed on the wall where his 3 ukeleles hung, well, 2 now. He stood up and made his way over to the smashed instrument, He felt a gust of cold air and shivered, but just shoved it off as his mind playing tricks on him. He bent down and picked up a piece of it and turned it over in his fingers, he sighed and grabbed his trash can, scooping up the splintered wood and throwing it away. 'At least it wasn't the one dad bought for me' he thought as he laid back down and eventually drifted into an uneasy sleep. 

He sat up and rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes, yawning and shakily standing up. He looked over to his smashed ukelele and sighed softly. He opened the door and walked out, closing it behind him. He walked down the creaky stairs and turned into the kitchen doorway, where he saw Schlatt standing at the stove.

"Hey, dad." He said, taking a seat at the worn-out dining table.

"Morning Tubbo! How did you sleep?" He asked the younger, who just sighed as set his head in his hands, yawning again.

"Not very good." Tubbo answered. Schlatt gave him a small smile and placed a plate of eggs in front of him, rubbing circles into his back.

"Yeah, I'm sorry bud. First nights are always the worst." Tubbo nodded his head and watched as his father sat down to the side of him, eating in silence. After a while, Tubbo deposited his plate in the sink and bid goodbye to his father, rushing up to his room and closing the door behind him. His eyes caught on the nightstand that was sitting next to his bed, with something on it that definitely not there when he left his room 30 minutes prior. He walked over to it and inspected it. It was a sticky note with petite, cursive writing on it. That wasn't the most concerning thing though. Under the note, sat a 100 dollar bill. After determining it was real (a skill that his father taught him when he was a child, he was very grateful for it now) he pocketed it. He picked up the note and began to read it.

Hi There!

I feel really bad for breaking your instrument last night, so I got you this! I don't know if that is enough to buy a new one, but it's all I have. I'm really sorry. Anyway, welcome to the house! I haven't had a housemate in so long so I'm really excited!!! I know you can't see me but I'm here forever! (JK If you want me to leave, just tell me! I can't really leave the house but I can wander around! I respect your privacy!!) I know this is probably really freaky for you, ya know, since I'm a ghost and all, but I won't hurt you! Anyway, It's nice to meat MEET you!! (sorry I'm bad at spelling)

Ranboo! The Ghost

Ok, what the fuck. He needed to sit down for a moment. He flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. He opened his eyes again and took the note in his hand once more, turning it over a few times to check it was real, then he did the same thing to the money in his pocket. Both were, in fact, real. He opened his drawer and slipped both pieces of paper inside. He stood up and got dressed for the day, bounding downstairs to where his dad was waiting for him. They walked out to the car and started driving to the airport to pick up his aunt.

~~~~~

"Schlatt! Tubbo! How are my favorite boys?" A voice called out, almost tackling the youngest to the ground with a hug.

"Hi aunt Puffy!" Tubbo twisted around and returned the hug.

"What's up bitch!" Schlatt said, deceiving his tone with the grin that was painted on his face.

"Schlatt! There are children here!" Puffy responded, playing up her annoyance with a smile.

"I'm not a fucking child. I'm 15" Tubbo butted in, softly punching Puffy's arm, who then cried in fake pain, holding her arm and doubling over herself.

"Puffy your causing a scene. Plus we have shit to do, let's go." Schlatt said, grabbing her bags and starting to walk to the car, leaving the others to run to the car. They all get in and drove home, Schlatt blasting music just to annoy the neighbors. 

They eventually got Puffy's room set up, and Tubbo returned to his own to rest before dinner. He opened the door and his smile immediately fell. 

Sat at his computer desk was a teenage boy, who was partially see through. The boy turned towards him in his seat and smiled. 

What. The. Fuck. 

Chapter Text

Tubbo opened his eyes slowly, taking in his surroundings. Puffy was sitting beside him, looking down on him as he woke up.

"Hey, bud." She said softly, bring her hand up to his forehead, to check for a fever, Tubbo assumed. 

"How are you feeling?" She asked. Tubbo pondered for a second before answering.

"I'm fine aunt Puffy. Just didn't get enough sleep last night." The older woman looked at him pointedly but just sighed.

"You really need to fix your sleep schedule. You have to start school soon, you know." She spoke. Tubbo just nodded tiredly. She gave him a small smile and stood up from the side of the bed.

"I'll see you at dinner. Get some sleep." She said, walking out the door. He just sighed and looked around his room before laying back down. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep but he shut his eyes anyway. Just as he was able to doze off, he heard his closet door creak open. He shot out of bed and whipped his head towards the door. It was slowly being pushed open, and Tubbo could feel a slight cold draft coming from inside of it. He had an urge to walk over and yank it open, but resisted it, somehow sensing that it was a bad idea. The door eventually hit the wall with a soft thud, making him focus on the shadows that his clothes cast. He heard a small sigh and looked around his room. He didn't see anyone so his gaze fixed on the closet again, except he couldn't. His eyes were all cloudy like they were grayed out. The world's color came back to him, the gray was now only in one spot, he slowly realized that it was a figure, he looked up to where its face was. He nearly passed out again when he saw the same face that he saw sitting at his desk some time ago.

"Thank god you're ok! I thought I killed you." The spirit said in a floaty voice. It made Tubbo's head spin, was this a dream? No, it couldn't be. Puffy's hand felt real, and the soft thumping in the back of his skull from where he hit his head was still there, so this was real. This was real and he was talking to a ghost. Wait. He was talking to a ghost! He opened his mouth, ready to scream, but was quickly shut up by a pair of cold hands covering his mouth.

"Hey! No! Please don't freak out! I won't hurt you, I promise!" They said worry flooded their tone. Tubbo closed his mouth under their hands and looked up at the ghost's face. He took their features, their face had a soft coloring to it, it was more a hue, from how grayed out it was. One of the ghost's eyes was a dull red-brown color to it, and the other would probably be bright green if they were alive. Their hair was very fluffy and it looked like it was split down the middle, one side was darker than the other, looking almost black while the opposing side looked a bright white. The two sides blurring together from how it was swept to the side. Freckles covered his cheeks and nose, drifting up to their forehead. Their ears looked pointy, like the elf ears he would see on characters from cartoons he would watch when he was younger. From them hung earings, which seemed impossible to him, as they didn't look grayed out like everything else, but he brushed that aside. One of the earings was a cross, and the other one was the same, but upside down, there were studs up and down the sides and they had an industrial, where a chain at the end connected it to a daith piercing, which was in the shape of a little star. They also had a septum, as well as a bridge piercing. When they smiled, he could see they had a smiley, which caused them to look like they had little silver fangs, though, their canine teeth were already sharp enough to be counted as fangs (They stuck out when they smiled. Tubbo thought that was pretty cool). When they talked, Tubbo could see that their tongue was split as well, with small studs at each end and a little metal purple flower at the base of the split. They had some normal jewelry on too, a few necklaces, bracelets, and rings. They had a small black felt choker on, as well as a heart locket, and a chain that held a pawprint charm. They had 2 rings on their pointer finger and pinky, one on both their middle finger and thumb, it was switched on the other hand, two on their middle and thumb, and one on their pointer and pinky. Neither hand had one on their ring finger though. On their wrist were a couple of braided friendship bracelets, tattered and grayed out, so Tubbo assumed that they were from before they died. They had a little gold crown tattooed on their wrist. They wore an open pink suit jacket with the sleeves pulled up, and a floral button-up underneath. A pair of black jeans, a couple of patches were sewed on the keep the holes from wear closed. They were using a chain as a belt, with a red carabiner hooked to one end, keeping the two ends together, and a green one hanging from the other end hooked on a leather bag. Through a small hole at the bottom of their pants that wasn't patched yet, he could see that the ghost was wearing cat socks. He had to stop himself from giggling when seeing them. He looked down farther and saw that they were wearing a pair of pink doc martens with purple laces on one of them, and yellow on the other. A voice suddenly broke through his thoughts.

"-ey? Are you ok?" The ghost asked worriedly. Tubbo just nodded and laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Your outfit just kinda... distracted me." The ghost just giggled and flared their jacket, spinning on their heels.

"I look pretty snazzy, right?"  The spirit said happily. Tubbo nodded and answered.

"Yeah, snazzy!" They just laughed for a moment before mulling into a comfortable silence. 

"Anyway, my name is Tubbo!" He said, breaking the mutually made silence. The ghost looked down at him and smiled. it wasn't until then that he realized how tall the ghost was. They had to be at least 6'5.

"My name is Ranboo! He and him please!" Ranboo said excitedly.

"He/him too." Tubbo answered back. Eventually, Ranboo ended up sitting down on Tubbo's bed with him, and they lulled into a soft conversation. About their lives, what music they liked, what games they played.

"So, here's what I'm confused about... I assume you weren't killed like, 6 months ago, so how do you know about this stuff? Like, most of the stuff you like didn't exist a year ago, so how do you do stuff?" Tubbo asked, looking at Ranboo. 

"Oh well, I kinda just live like a normal human, except people can't see me. I have a phone, stuff like that. Death is fond of me, I suppose." He answers and Tubbo raises an eyebrow.

"Death? Is god like, not real?" Tubbo asks.

"Oh no, she is, I'm just not in heaven. The way death works is that" He pauses. "There are like, levels? I guess that's how I would describe them, but there is heaven, where people spend their time in 'paradise', it's not even that cool anyway... There's heaven, then there's hell, where it's just, not heaven. It's not that bad, but it is really hot down there, then there's death, death is where people that don't belong in either go. It's just like living but alive people can't see you or things you own. There are apps for ghosts, we have jobs, we just, kinda live. I would be in heaven, but I guess I did some 'undesirable things in my life." Tubbo looks interested and Ranboo smiles. 

"What did you do?" Tubbo asks.

"Oh, well, I guess I kidnapped someone, It was for a good reason though!" He exclaimed at the sight of Tubbo's terrified expression. "I kinda smuggled my friend here with me when I moved here. Their parents were really bad people, so it was for their good! But, their parents found out and drove over here and kinda shot me!" Ranboo laughed nervously and lifted up his shirt a little to show Tubbo about 5 bullet holes right above his waist. Tubbo gaged and covered his mouth. Ranboo just giggled sheepishly and shoved his shirt back down.

"Yeah, sorry, it's a bit disgusting." Tubbo just nodded and put his hands back down in his lap.

"Sorry, that was a bit unexpected..." Tubbo just chuckled while Ranboo nodded. They both were silent for a few moments but eventually started to talk about their different interests instead of death. They started playing Minecraft after a while, Tubbo on his phone while Ranboo used his computer. This continued until-

"Tubbo! Dinners ready!" He heard Puffy yell. He shut off his phone and stood up.

"Be back soon, don't do anything stupid!" Tubbo said to Ranboo, who smiled.

"No promises!"