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“Um, do I really have to go?” Ranboo asked nervously, his eyes trained on the floor. He had his slim, black and white tail curled around his hands, wringing it in a way that seemed uncomfortable.
His sister, Niki, peeked out from behind a torn hardback novel on chess strategies to look up at her little brother—little in age but clearly not stature. She took great care not to lock eyes. “Well, you don’t have to, but you know my friends would love to meet you and it’d be nice for you to talk to some people.” She offered the explanation in a gentle tone.
Ranboo bit down on his lip, twisting his tail particularly hard. He did want to meet all the people Niki talks so affectionately about, but… “You’re going to the lake, right?”
Niki let out a sympathetic hum before setting down her book. “If you’re worried about the water, it’s alright. You don’t have to go in.”
Ranboo nodded, still hesitant, but he agreed. Niki smiled and motioned to the chair next to her. He gave her a small smile back and folded his lanky limbs into the sagging armchair. He cracked open a book of his own—this one blank and awaiting the tender stroke of a quill. The two were enveloped in a comfortable silence until late in the night, awaiting the morning sun.
---
“Niki!” a tall man called from a full picnic table near the lake. He gave a jovial wave, grinning at Ranboo and Niki as the duo approached. The height difference between the siblings was almost comical—one a 6’6” giant and the other a petite figure barely surpassing five feet.
A shy grin split across Niki’s face and her eyes lit up as she yelled back, “Wilbur! Guys!” She hastily stuffed her phone and keys into her pockets. A short boy in swimming gear was the first to whip around, and he echoed Wilbur’s greeting by excitingly calling Niki’s name. The brunet grinned, and the expression on Niki’s face was enough to assure Ranboo that he had made the right call by coming to the celebration. Ranboo trailed slightly behind Niki, despite the fact that it was futile in reducing his presence. Already, a couple of the people at the table were staring at Ranboo—wide eyes filled with wonder and curiosity. His tail flicked and curled around his upper thigh.
Niki began to make her rounds, greeting every member of the party with a hug and a soft, genuine smile. Each person wished her a happy birthday as she approached and many of them, especially her two best friends, Minx and Puffy, complimented her on her hair. Ranboo had helped her dye it a pale pink yesterday. The other two sported their own colorful hair colors, but Ranboo figured Minx’s deep purple was natural, judging by the similarly-colored horns protruding from her hair and the deadly sharp point of her canines when she opened her mouth to laugh.
Ranboo stood off to the side, shuffling his feet and trying to avoid eye contact. Niki hadn’t introduced him yet. Was it polite to just go for it? Break up their greeting? His tail found itself back in his hands, curling around his knuckles. Instead of confronting it, he trained his eyes downwards, watching dew glisten on the grass from last night’s rainfall. A large drop of water plummeted from a nearby oak tree and landed on his cheek. Ranboo hissed when it came in contact with his face, a burning sensation spreading through the area. He shook his head to rid his sensitive skin of the water and wiped at it with the sleeve of his dark sweater.
“Who’s this, Niki?” someone asked in a deep monotone. Ranboo’s head snapped up, eyes unblinking. Niki was hugging another tall man, who turned to glance at Ranboo with milky-white eyes. The man had no pupils. Ranboo averted his eyes. “Is this your brother?”
“Yep!” Niki chirped, moving to stand next to him. “Everyone, this is my brother, Ranboo. Ranboo, these are my friends!” A chorus of “hellos” and small waves greeted Ranboo, but of course, niceties couldn’t prevail.
“Yo, dude, are you fae?” someone asked. The question came from a grinning man with burgundy cat-like ears protruding from his head. He was leaning forward in his seat to scrutinize Ranboo’s appearance. A fox hybrid—no wonder his expression felt unsettlingly devious. Ranboo’s gaze flicked around in a panic, but he managed to stutter out a confirmation.
Another person made a hum of agreement before shouting, “Your eyes are all green and red and unblinking and shit.” Wilbur, who had greeted Niki initially, leaned over to the blond that had spoken and smacked him on the back of the head. A loud whine escaped the boy’s throat.
“You can’t just say that to people,” Wilbur hissed. “Apologize, Tommy.” Tommy groaned before mumbling out an apology. Wilbur gave him a pointed look and repeated it at an audible volume.
Ranboo wrung his tail once and stuttered, “It’s no problem. I know I look weird.”
“Oye, no deprecating your supernatural traits here, kid,” Minx butted in. “Ya don’t want the rest of us offended, do ya?” She tapped her goat-like horns with a grin and gestured to Fundy and another hybrid who stood next to him—fluffy, golden wings folded against his back. The bird hybrid raised an eyebrow as if daring him to say a word.
“No, ma’am,” Ranboo answered to which Minx responded with a boisterous cackle.
“You’re alright, kid. Come on, you can chill with me while the rest of those crazy humans leap into that freezing lake.”
“Half!” the bird hybrid yelled over his shoulder as he and Fundy sprinted for the beach.
“Shut it, Quackity! I know, ya rotten little duck!”
“Not little!”
“You’re 175!”
“I hate you!”
Ranboo let himself chuckle at the exchange with the rest of Niki’s friends and he found himself smiling—just a little. “You can’t go in the water either?” he asked Minx.
She shook her head. “Nope. Demon-bred, ya know? Cold and wet isn’t ma thing.” She watched fondly as Eret shoved Fundy brutally into the frigid water and Tommy and Wilbur stripped down on their bathing suits, kicking sand at each other all the while. “Hand?” she asked. Ranboo shrugged and placed his own long, unnaturally slender hand in hers. Minx grinned and promptly dragged him towards the beach. “Come on. Let’s make some sand art.”
---
An hour into the party, the sun now shining high into the sky, the thought hit Ranboo that, well, he was actually enjoying it. He honestly didn’t think he would. Ranboo’s track record of social interaction had always been characterized as awkward. Any conversation was usually accompanied by a thin veil of primal fear coating every word and frequent, wary double-takes at his unorthodox features, but Niki’s friends were different, and he was eternally thankful for that.
Minx immediately took him under her wing, making it her self-appointed duty to include Ranboo in the conversation and chaos of the friend group. Puffy and Eret, despite their (mostly) human appearance, were open and sweet to Ranboo in the same comforting, familial way that Niki had looked after him since she found him alone—confused and sobbing—on the streets of the nearby city. Wilbur, he found to be the most interesting conversationalist among them all and Ranboo found himself a little star-struck by how cool and composed the man seemed to be—right up until he shoved a hand full of sand in his mouth just to prove his brother wrong and committed himself, for several minutes, to the task of making everyone wildly uncomfortable with absolutely disgusting crunching sounds. Quackity and Fundy were the comedic duo whose elaborate bits never failed to land, and he connected to Tommy and Tubbo immediately with their near-limitless enthusiasm and shared passion for editing and video games.
Although Ranboo couldn’t step foot in the lake, he managed to have a wonderful time on the shore. As promised, he found himself drawing little doodles and phrases into the sand with a stick alongside Minx, who was making a commitment to carving out the wildest, most inaccurate depictions of common animals and objects and demanding Ranboo guess them on her clearly theatrical drawings. He also got dragged into a game of beach volleyball on the public net, which started with balanced teams and quickly devolved into him, Eret, and Wilbur versus everyone else—the three of them clowning around and trying to shut down the ball at the net rather than actually receive anything. Immediately after, Tubbo roped him into making a sandcastle with him, Tommy, Quackity, and Fundy, and though the skin of his palms tingled lightly as he shaped the semi-moist sand into pillars, he was ecstatic to joke around with all of them.
Lunch came around faster than Ranboo anticipated, and as everyone else bolted for the picnic table, Ranboo fell in step with Niki, who was trudging up the hill to the table with a large, satisfied grin on her face. Ranboo pulled her into his side, giving her a light squeeze before releasing the one-armed hug. He leaned down a bit to whisper, “Thank you for pushing me to come. I like your friends.”
Niki turned and gave Ranboo a proper hug, her arms curling around his waist and pulling the taller boy into her embrace with surprising strength. “I’m glad. I think they’re your friends now, too.”
---
Lunch, much like any activity with Niki’s friends seemed to be, was a loud and chaotic affair.
There was yelling up and down the table—all playful insults and dramatic declarations of offense. Several different conversations were going on at the same time, and Ranboo found himself struggling to keep up with all of them simultaneously. Not to mention, he didn’t think he’d ever seen this much food laid out in one place. He was unused to the way everyone served themselves from the middle whenever they pleased and how plates of sandwiches, fruit, and other foods were continuously passed between people. In fact, by the end of the meal, Wilbur and Minx were about two seconds from throwing hands over the last of Eret’s pasta—a recipe he had gotten from his friend, Tricia, an assimilated forest nymph.
Ranboo tuned out of his conversation with Tommy and Tubbo to watch the rapid-fire exchange of increasingly strange insults flying between Wilbur and Minx. He was basically snickering into his hand when Tommy let out a horrifying screech and a plastic container of water toppled over. Ranboo’s head snapped around as copious volumes of water spilled onto the picnic table right next to him. A frigid panic seized his heart and Ranboo rapidly scrambled to get as far away from the puddle growing on the table as possible. He shoved himself away from the table, tripping over the bench he sat on and flailing uselessly as he tipped back and hit the ground back-first.
A small “oof” left his mouth as the air was knocked out of his lungs and the sky spun. A bit of nausea swept over him, and all of a sudden, Tubbo and Niki were standing over him. Ranboo stared at them, wide-eyed and unblinking.
“Ranboo, are you okay?” Niki asked with a slight frown on her lips. Ranboo, gathering his bearings, gave her a small smile and a weak thumbs up. Then, he pulled himself into a sitting position. He grimaced when his vision briefly whited out.
“Yep, just fine. Nothing bruised but my dignity.” Eret and Minx let out chuckles at that while the former helped Tommy and Wilbur frantically soak up the massive puddle on the table with a depleting roll of paper towel.
“Ya got any water on you, big guy?” Tubbo chimed in, eyeing Ranboo as if he could detect the near-invisible burn marks on his skin if he glared with enough passion.
Ranboo shook his head before hopping to his feet. Tubbo almost seemed to wilt at the reminder of their height difference. “Close call, though.” He chuckled a bit sadistically. “That wouldn’t have gone well.”
Considering the disturbance and the fact that Tommy had drowned the remaining dishes in water (“R.I.P the pasta,” Wilbur had intoned morosely), the group decided that they had enough lunch and split off to engage in more beach shenanigans. Quackity, who had some primal part of him who could lounge around in the lake all day, made a beeline for the water again, persuading Eret and Tubbo to join him. The rest of the group found themselves laying languidly on mats and towels in the warm sand. Ranboo joined them, settling on the edge of one of the large mats Puffy had brought. He stretched and found that nearly the entire length of his legs hung off the mat. Next to Ranboo, Niki and Minx gazed up at the nearly clear sky and cloud gazed while he bobbed his head to an unrecognizable tune that Wilbur was strumming to his guitar and dug his clawed toes deep into the soft sand.
The peace didn’t last for long, though—Ranboo was finding that it never did—and soon pretty much everyone, whether they liked it or not, found themselves caught up in the middle of a mandatory (soft) tackle rugby game.
Ranboo didn’t even know how to play rugby.
So there he was, in the middle of a casual rugby match, a bit clueless because the only instruction he had received was a brief rundown of the rules by Wilbur that he proclaimed in a purposefully thick and near-indecipherable Australian accent while Minx, Tommy, and Fundy cackled in the background. He about got the “don’t throw in front of you,” the “underhand,” and the “there’re no stupid pauses like in American football” before Puffy whistled through her fingers to start the game.
“Help,” Ranboo just blurted out as soon as Eret punted the ball to their side of the beach.
Niki jumped up from behind him and affectionately slapped him on the shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Ranboo. Just catch, throw, and run; you can do it!”
Ranboo muttered the words a few times, jogging slightly behind Fundy, who was trying to dash through “enemy lines” to get to the other team’s goal. Catch, throw, run. Catch, throw, run. Ranboo let out a small groan. There was no way he could do that.
In front of Ranboo, Fundy got slammed, bodily, to the ground by Minx, who leaped at him full force. Fundy hit the ground on his right side, wheezing out an “It’s supposed to be soft tackle” as Minx snatched the ball off the ground. Minx’s strategy, it seemed, was to swiftly change direction away from Ranboo and run directly (and quite menacingly) at Quackity. It turned out to be a good bet because Quackity promptly freaked out and shuffled out of the way, his small wings fluttering wildly, but Minx’s charge was foiled by Wilbur, who knocked her to the ground while she was taking the time to flip off Quackity.
Wilbur hopped over Minx, scooping the ball off the ground along the way. He started sprinting, but when he came face-to-face with Eret, who had a devious gleam in his otherwise blank eyes, he twisted around and shouted, “Ranboo!”
Ranboo jerked to attention at the call of his name and he had about a second to react before the ball was chucked at him from across the beach. He eyed the ball’s position before stepping into the catch and securing the awkwardly-shaped ball in his hands after a bit of floundering. He caught it! He actually caught it! Ranboo realized quickly, though, that he now had a new problem on his hands: He was the main target.
Cursing somewhat liberally, Ranboo tried to hustle closer to the other team’s goal zone. He could hear Niki and Fundy shouting vague advice and encouragement in the background, but he found his most pressing issue to be the fact that Tommy and Tubbo had shared one glance before deciding it was their job to annihilate all of Ranboo’s dreams. He was running somewhat fast, but Tommy and Tubbo were closing in on him. Mere feet from the goal zone, they cut him off.
Ranboo ground to halt, laughing nervously. He glanced to his right; he was so close to the out boundary. “Hey, hey, guys. Look, we can talk about this.” He took a few steps back, raising one of his hands in a vague indication of surrender.
Tubbo just smirked. “You’re not getting out of this one, buddy!” and both he and Tommy launched themselves at Ranboo, mostly going for his legs.
Ranboo let out a high-pitched squawk (which he will deny until the end of his days) and collapsed under the weight of the two boys. The ball flew out of his hand as his body hit the ground. He felt solid ground under half his body, but when he tried to break his fall with his hands, all he grasped was air. An uncontrollable gasp left his mouth and his upper body fell, propelling him down a slope and submerging him… directly into the lake.
A violent splash echoed through the air as Ranboo’s body hit the surface of the water. For a few seconds, he felt as if he were floating. The entire world was still. No sound, no movement. Then, there was only pain.
A white-hot burning sensation engulfed the entirety of his body, stinging his eyes and seeping into his nose. His lungs were on fire, and every limb felt as if it were submerged in molten lava. Ranboo opened his mouth to scream, only to have the sensation rush down his throat. Ranboo flailed wildly, trying to escape the all-consuming pain that the water was carving into his skin. It was excruciating—like being boiled alive.
Ranboo’s thoughts started to go a little fuzzy; his mind spinning out of control. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it... And then he didn't register anything at all.
---
Ranboo drifted back into reality to a muffled chorus of mumbling. His ears were ringing, and everything else was but a vague conglomerate of sounds and sensations. Muttering and the press of a cool substance onto his skin. Then, the pain hit him again. His body ached all over, from his pounding headache to the soreness in his calves. He groaned softly.
The chatter in the environment ceased all at once. The ringing and the unpleasant tingle on his skin consumed his senses. Ranboo tried to turn over, to curl into the comforting ball that he usually slept in, but his limbs were entirely uncooperative. He couldn't force a single muscle to budge. He groaned again. The muscles in his back spasmed.
"Ranboo," someone whispered. "Ranboo."
The effort that it took to focus his vision was monumental. It felt like the protective film over his eyes was super-glued to his pupils. His whole face felt itchy.
A high wooden ceiling greeted him. A thick beam ran across it.
"Ranboo, can you see anything?" the same voice asked.
Concern dripped from the owner's tone, so Ranboo opened his mouth to reply.
All that exited his throat was a rough croak. The vibrations ripped through the tender skin in his throat; a verbal cheese grater against his vocal cords.
"It's okay. Don't speak. Just tap a finger; once for yes, twice for no. Can you do that for me?" The voice was ridiculously sweet and oh-so gentle. How could Ranboo refuse? He put all his concentration and energy into the forefinger of his right hand and tapped it against the soft surface he was lying on once. His whole hand shook with the effort. He was so so tired.
"Awesome. Good job, Boo," the voice mumbled comfortingly. "I'm just going to finish treating your burns. Go to sleep. Everything will be alright."
Ranboo couldn't even think about arguing, not when his thoughts were jumbling together again and the idea of escaping the deep ache that penetrated every inch of his skin was the most appealing proposition he'd heard in a while. He drifted off.
---
The first thing he registered was the soft crackle of a fire.
The air around him was pleasantly warm, and it did wonders to the chill in his bones. All his vision could pick up was brown and the shapes were all fuzzy. He put conscious effort into focusing his eyes and found himself staring up at a slanted wooden ceiling. He was at home.
His mind was blank, like a TV gone static. He squinted in confusion. How did he get here? Ranboo swore Niki had coerced him out of the house to meet her friends at the lake— The lake. He had fallen in the lake. Alarmed, Ranboo tried to push himself into a sitting position. His whole body felt heavy, and his arms moved lethargically. He pressed his palms into the mattress—he was lying on his bed—and lifted his torso, but when his legs dragged against the sheets, he had to bit back a scream.
Digging his teeth into his bottom lip, Ranboo slowly inched his torso upward. He exhaled shakily when he was finally propped up against the headboard. His vision was swimming and his head was pounding. He brought his hand up and pressed into his temple, trying to soothe the ache, but he went nauseous with disgust when he caught sight of his skin. His left hand was bumpy and inflamed, and his veins were prodding out from beneath the skin, making their crimson color known. On his right hand, the swelling was less visible due to its dark color, but his veins were even more prominent, an alarming, vibrant emerald just below the surface of his skin. Ranboo weakly kicked the blankets off despite the pain that simmered across his legs—they were in a similar state. Ranboo clamped a trembling hand over his mouth. The bedroom door opened.
“Ranboo!” a bright voice shouted. Before Ranboo could register anything, someone was launching themself in his direction. Tubbo landed on him with a dull thump. Ranboo hissed and flinched away. “Sorry!” Tubbo said, leaping away from Ranboo.
Ranboo just groaned, gritting his teeth and riding out the wave of pain that had crashed over him when Tubbo had made contact with his skin.
“Tubbo! Be careful with him!” Niki chastised from the doorway, clutching a tray topped with a plate of cookies and a mug of hot chocolate.
“Sorry!” Tubbo chirped again, a light blush coloring his cheeks. Niki maneuvered around him to set the tray on Ranboo’s bedside table. The rich scent of dark chocolate wafted towards Ranboo; he inhaled it greedily.
“Yes, I know. Choccy milk makes pain go away. Here you go,” Niki said fondly despite her eye roll. She picked up the mug, carefully not spill even a drop, and deposited it in Ranboo’s hands. The surface of the mug caused his hands to tingle a little, but the pleasant warmth radiating off the ceramic made up for the slight pain. Ranboo grinned cheekily, bringing the mug up to his mouth and taking a large gulp. The drink was scorching, but the heat didn’t bother his throat like it did humans. Tubbo visibly cringed—clearly, he didn’t know.
Ranboo was licking up a drop of hot chocolate that had spilled down the side of the mug when the door to his room cracked open again. When the person hiding behind the door realized he was awake, they swung it open. In strode Eret, the rest of Niki’s friends shuffling in behind him. Ranboo warily pulled the mug away from his face and gaped, remembering why they were all at the lake in the first place.
“Niki! Oh no, I’m so sorry. I ruined your birthday!” Ranboo blurted out, snapping his head around to stare at Niki with large, regretful eyes.
Niki just shook her head, a smile, affectionate smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “You didn’t ruin my birthday, Ranboo. In fact, that was the best one I’ve ever had. My best friends and my brother in one place, getting along? I couldn’t ask for more.”
Ranboo smiled softly at her. He chuckled wetly. “When I’m all healed, I’m going to give you the best hug—just you wait.” A chorus of lighthearted laughter followed.
“Of course,” Niki said sweetly, giving Ranboo a gentle peck on the forehead. “Now, that everyone knows you’re okay, why don’t I ask them to clear out, and you can get some rest?”
“No, no, no!” Ranboo protested, flapping his hands around. “It’s your birthday! You shouldn’t have to send them home because of me.” Niki gave him a sour look, planting her hands firmly on her hips. She opened her mouth, probably for some scathing lecture about taking care of himself, when Wilbur hesitantly interrupted her,
“Come on, Niki, the party doesn’t have to end here! We’d all be fine with chilling in here with Ranboo. We can all look after him.” He ended it with a charming smile, hoping not to incur her wrath. Niki pursed her lips, contemplating.
“I’ve got UNO,” Eret added, wiggling a deck of cards between his hands. Instantly, Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo were aiming puppy eyes in Niki’s direction—somewhat ineffectively on Ranboo’s part considering he doesn’t blink and it becomes disturbing after a while.
Niki’s shoulders deflated. “Fine, deal the cards,” she sighed dramatically. Everyone let out a collective cheer before settling into various positions on and around Ranboo’s bed. As everyone got into the game and the cacophony of chaos that Ranboo had come to associate with them started up again, Ranboo hid a tiny smile behind his deck of cards.
He was really glad he had gone to the lake.