Chapter Text
Ranboo, Tubbo thought, was weird. Tommy had said he was weird, but he failed to mention just how weird. Or maybe Tubbo had downplayed the oddities he'd heard. It wasn't until he met him that it really hit him.
First off, how dare someone his age be so tall. It was rude. Especially since he was a good foot taller than Tubbo himself. It was incredibly rude of him. It was also rude of him to have anime protagonist features. The black and white hair, the two different colored eyes that he couldn't remember the word for, it just creamed main character. It pissed him off a little bit.
Of course, the mask was also on that list. It was just a very unusual choice. A face mask that covered the bottom half of his face, in the same split color as his hair. Annoying in that it made it so much harder to read his emotions, but Ranboo was expressive enough with his eyes, he supposed. Maybe he had to be, since he never took the damned thing off. Not as far as Tubbo had seen, but he'd only been there since the night before.
He glanced over at the doorway when the floor creaked. Ranboo was standing there, frozen. He'd moved so silently, Tubbo should have been the one looking startled. Instead, Ranboo was the one that looked startled. His eyes were wide, which kind of drew attention to the pimple peeking out from under the mask. Maybe that was just Tubbo looking for what the point of the mask was. Acne was a pretty good one if you asked him though.
Ranboo tried to catch Tommy's eyes, failing miserably while Tubbo finished eating. He still hadn't moved by the time Tubbo put his plate in the sink. "You alright, bossman?"
Tommy finally seemed to realize he was there. He started shoveling his food in his mouth quickly. Ranboo nodded, refusing to even look at him. Whatever he was looking at Tommy for, he must have thought it was more important. Honestly, Tubbo was a little insulted. Especially when Tommy hurried to put his plate in the sink and pulled Ranboo out of the room.
"What the fuck?" He shook his head and followed after. Ranboo was nodding to whatever Tommy was saying, but he seemed a bit upset. His brows were furrowed and he barely glanced at him before hurrying to the kitchen. "Tommy?"
"Let's go play some of that goose game." He started dragging him off before he could say anything else.
"Wha- Tommy! At least explain what that was all about!" he stumbled on the stairs, Tommy moving too fast for him. He was moving so fast, in fact, that he was already in his room and sitting down by the time Tubbo caught up. "Tommy..."
"I don't wanno."
"Explain or I'm throwing you out the fucking window."
Tommy bristled and looked at him rather than the TV. "You wouldn't dare."
To prove a point, he walked over to the window and opened it a crack. Tommy visibly paled. "I- Well- You-" He raised a brow at him and opened it further. "I-I can't. Ranboo... He don't like us talking about it. It's his thing anyway so you gotta ask him yourself. Please don't throw me out the window, I would very much like to stay inside where it is warm."
He sighed and shut the window. It must have been very personal to Ranboo for Tommy to refuse even after he threatened to throw him outside. Whatever it was, he would find out eventually. Right?
He played the game with Tommy for about 20 minutes before he was too tired to stay up anymore. Tommy mumbled something about him staying up all night while he climbed into the top bunk. He just flipped him off and got comfortable. He only planned to take a nap really.
But could you really consider it a nap if you slept through dinner and the night? Tubbo didn't think so. He would have gone back to sleep if he wasn't super hungry. He figured he could just ask Phil to make him something to eat. That sounded good.
He yawned and figured he should brush his teeth. His mouth felt gross and he didn't care for that.
He walked into the bathroom, considering taking a shower too. He was starting to smell like Tommy's room... But he decided to eat first. He was too hungry to wait. He would have eaten in the shower if he didn't think it'd get him banned from that too.
He grabbed his toothbrush from the holder and put on some toothpaste on it. He paused, glancing at the toothbrushes in the holder. A red one for Tommy, Techno's pink one with the soft bristles, and a purple one labeled Ranboo.
Why would his be labeled? He wondered as he started brushing his teeth. The pieces were starting to come together in his head. The label on the toothbrush, the looks of confusion turned to members of the household, the calendar they put up, the date being on the chore chart... He couldn't quite figure it out. Part of him wanted to wait for Ranboo to tell him. Another part of him couldn't wait that long.
He started to rinse out his mouth when a startled sound caught his attention. Turning his head, he was confused to see Ranboo himself pressed against the wall. He looked slightly terrified, which wasn't really the expression Tubbo wanted to see on his face.
Though he was a bit surprised he could see his entire face.
Ranboo actually just looked like a normal guy. He had a bit of acne, which was about what Tubbo expected, along with the porcelain white patches that mostly seemed to be on Ranboo's left side. The strangely shaped burn mark that covered quite a bit of his right cheek and snaked around under his chin stood out a bit, but he really wasn't paying attention to that.
Ranboo was still staring at him... Like he didn't recognize him... But that wouldn't make any sense. Why wouldn't Ranboo recognize him? He'd been there for two days.
"I-I'm sorry!" He suddenly burst out before running back to his room. He might have shut his door a bit more harshly than he wanted, because Tubbo heard him softly apologize through the door.
Techno opened his door and looked around confused. "What the heck?"
"Ranboo just freaked out, I think."
Techno stared at him for another moment before stepping out of his room. He walked right over to Ranboo's door and knocked. "Hey, kid, you alright?"
A muffled "I'm fine" came through the door.
"Yeah, right. What's going on?"
"What is going on?" Tubbo asked, walking over.
"I forgot," came through the door. Tubbo looked at Techno, confused. Techno hesitated. "Do you want me to tell Tubbo?"
After a long pause, Ranboo opened the door, mask on and looking nervous. "N-no... I can... I can tell him myself..." It was like Ranboo was forcing every word out with great difficulty. It made Tubbo concerned, but he patiently waited for him to speak, understandably curious about what he was about to say.
Ranboo eventually got out that he had memory problems and, after calming down a bit more, explained that he'd completely forgotten who Tubbo even was. It hurt a little, but he couldn't imagine how Ranboo must have felt. How would he have felt if he'd just woken up and there was a stranger calmly brushing their teeth in his bathroom? Not great probably. Then for that stranger to act confused as to why you're scared, and your housemate to say you've met...
Ranboo lived in a terrifying reality, if you asked him.