Work Text:
“I’m gonna go hang out with friends!” Tommy shouted, grabbing the keys to his family’s 2005 Honda Accord. Something smacked the back of his head. A burnt piece of toast fell to the floor with a bap. “What…?”
“Be safe, and don’t forget your practice with Sam.” Puffy called from the kitchen. Foolish waved, his mouth full of pancakes.
Drista smiled, a half eaten slice of toast in hand. Dream snatched a pancake off Foolish’s plate. Smirking as he turned back around to see his plate one pancake less.
“DREAM! COME ON, MAN! GET YOUR OWN!” Foolish spun on his chair, tackling his brother onto the floor.
“Boys!” Puffy sighed, rolling her eyes.
“I won’t!” Tommy locked the door behind him. Grinning, he heard someone trip on the stairs and curse. Probably Ponk. Cursing was like a pastime for him. Heavy footsteps were quick to follow. Sam, he was always the nicest out of the family.
~
“Heading out, mate?” Phil looked up from his stack of paperwork. Insurance for cars wasn’t cheap apparently. Especially when you owned more than six.
“Yeah, Ranboo’s coming too.” Tubbo leaned on the door. “We’ll be back before practice.”
“Ten minutes tops.” Techno grumbled, tossing keys at the tall, lanky figure coming down the stairs. “Take this.”
“Why?” Ranboo fumbled for the keys, nearly dropping them.
“To avoid the fans.” He shrugged. “Thought it’d be quieter than your car. Not for Tubbo.”
“Not cool.” Tubbo flashed the middle finger at the man. Techno blinked before heading to the living room.
“Ready?” Ranboo looked down, always amused by the height difference he had with Tubbo.
“Phil, everyone’s bullying me.” Tubbo whined, following Ranboo into the garage. The only response he got was laughter.
~
“Hey Tubbo! Ranboob.” Tommy waved his friends over.
“That’s not my name.” Ranboo sighed, sitting next to him on the bench.
“It’s close enough.” Tubbo shrugged.
“So. What are we doing today?” Tommy huffed, hands on his hip.
“Ice cream? The good one by the track?” Tubbo looked up, a grin on his face.
“He just wants to watch the cars go by.” Ranboo rolled his eyes, pulling up the bike Techno gave him.
“Race you there?” Tommy looked at the bike and then his car.
“You have yourself a deal, Tommy.” Ranboo straightened his posture. He was taller than Tommy by a few inches, and making him seem shorter made the blonde furious.
“2021 BMW R 1250 RS versus a 2005 Honda? Easy win.” Tubbo laughed, putting on his helmet.
“Don’t underestimate my car.” Tommy winked, spinning the keys on his fingers.
~
“Easy. Like I said.” Tubbo clapped, watching Tommy pay for the ice cream.
“How the hell did you even get a R 1250 RS?” Tommy looked at Ranboo, who was eating the ice cream as fast as it melted.
"Family.” He blurted.
Tommy stared at his friend, it was common for the three of them just to blurt things. They did it so often that they deemed it normal. Knowing perhaps too much about cars just made the conversations interesting. Another very normal thing the trio talked about.
“You do the same, big man. Blurting shit out.” Tubbo took a scoop of his ice cream. “Who’s that?”
“Who’s who?” Tommy walked over to Tubbo. Peering through the chain link fence that separated the track grounds from the noisy public.
“The one in green. Dark green, not the bright green one.” Tubbo added, remembering Tommy’s obsession with racers.
“Warden. Used to be a repair guy like down the street from uh- what’s it called?” Tommy rambled. “Tesco! He’s good, but Utopia’s better.
“Is he new to Captain’s Call?” Ranboo looked over at the track, his ice cream just thrown into the trash.
“No, he just came back from Europe.” Tommy snapped “How do you know about Captain’s Call?” His eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Google…? You talked about Utopia for an hour and got curious. I found out that Captain's Call is the other racing team in the area.” Ranboo shrugged, grabbing into Tubbo’s shirt as he attempted to climb the fence. “Tubbo and I have to go in ten minutes.”
“Tutoring?” Tommy sighed, his own phone ringing. He looked at the screen and a reminder popped up. His appointment was in ten minutes.
“You too?” Ranboo nodded, his own phone out as he dragged Tubbo off the fence. “Tubbo, it's not a climbing wall.”
“See ya tomorrow!” Tommy called out jogging towards his car, unlocking the door.
“Bye Tommy!” They both waved, walking towards where they parked their bike.
~
“Three minutes early.” Techno nodded, waiting for Ranboo to park the bike in the garage. “Wil’s in the main one.” He motioned to the front. Tubbo waved to Ranboo and ran off, disappearing through the door.
“What’s on the to-list today?” Ranboo asked, picking up his helmet off the hook. He noticed that Niki’s and Michael’s were missing from the rack.
“Working on your personal best. Be careful though. Captain’s Call got their own kid on the track.” Techno shrugged, passing his own car. “Niki’s watching you today. I’ve got to get ready for tomorrow’s race.”
“What more can you do with your 1970 Dodge Charger?” Ranboo crossed his arms. He could see his own reflection in the car’s shiny red acrylic enamel.
“Something you'll figure out when you race more.” Techno rolled his eyes, pushing the kid outside. “Go do a few laps in your blue 1995 Subaru WRX STI.”
“It’s purple.” Ranboo corrected, shoving his head into the helmet before stepping out of the garage.
“It looks blue to me.” Techno mumbled, closing the garage door with a slam.
“Boo!” Someone wrapped their arms around Ranboo’s waist.
“Hey Michael. Niki, how’s it going?” Ranboo picked the teen up, nodding to the woman with pink hair.
“Breaking laws on the daily with car nerds. Nothing new around here.” Niki looked at the track. Speeding past was a red and white striped Ford Shelby GT500, the driver inside unknown.
“Yeah, I’ll get to it.” Ranboo put down Michael, ruffling their hair.
“Lemme move my car first, it’s in front of yours.” Niki jogged to her 2005 black Honda S2000. It was a good choice on her end. The car at glance looked like it belonged to a nice and sweet person. Niki was both of those, but she had a hidden side for racing. Secretly playing dirty was her thing.
“What’s she making you do today?” Ranboo crouched down to Michael’s level.
“Wash my car,” Michael huffed, pointing to his already very clean black and yellow 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28.
“Just because you're only 18, doesn’t mean we clean your car for you.” Ranboo chuckled, giving a thumbs up to Niki when she moved her car.
~
“Question.” Ranboo asked from his mic in his helmet.
“Yeah, bossman?” A voice responded, very much a Tubbo.
“Who drives the red and white?” He glanced at the end of the track, where the car sat.
“Uh, lemme look… Nice car. Um, Wilbur says it’s Theseus. Trainer’s Warden.” Tubbo whistled. “Why?”
“It just looks like something Tommy would drive. The bright red screams for attention.” Ranboo chuckled. Tubbo went silent. “What?”
“Y’know how Tommy knows a lot about cars, specifically old cars like you and me.” He mumbled. “Now that you mention it, I've been thinking that Theseus is Tommy. Like how you’re Enderpearl.”
“And you want me to find out for you?” Ranboo sighed, putting his gloves back on with a tug. He could feel the excitement radiating off of Tubbo through his headset. “Fine.”
“YEAH! Sorry, Wil! Fill me in when you figure it out. Got to go!” Tubbo’s voice got softer as he walked farther away from the mic on his end.
“OI. THE BITCH WHO HAS ANARCHY AS THEIR TRAINER!” A voice shouted, scaring Ranboo.
“He sounds like Tommy for sure…” He muttered before rolling down his window. “Yeah?”
“Let’s race. You're working on your personal best, right?” Tommy? Theseus nodded.
“Three laps.” Ranboo nodded back.
~
“How the fuck do you do it?” Theseus whispered.
“Do what?” Enderpearl looked at his rival. The three lap race was hours ago, adding another victory to his belt, and loss to Theseus’.
“Do this so calmly?” Theseus scoffed, sitting up.
“It’s the way you think. If you keep thinking that you’ll win, you won’t. I’m not saying you should think about losing either. Just think about racing as a hobby, not as a job. You’re doing this for fun. You win, cause you earned it. Not by shoving others who get in your way.” Enderpearl shrugged.
“You just gave me a fuckin’ lecture.” Theseus groaned, a grin growing underneath his helmet. “You seem like a nice guy. Like my good friend, Ranboo. He’s a bitch, but in a good way.”
“Really? I bet he is a cool dude. You remind me of Tommy, who’s a good friend of mine.” Enderpearl stood up, grabbing his gloves from the ground. “It’s getting late and I’ve got to go. See you tomorrow Tommy.” He waved, not bothering to hide the smile in his voice.
Theseus stood there, stunned. “Bye Ranboo.” He whispered, giving him a little wave.
~
Tommy arrived thirty minutes early. And for what reason? He didn’t know. His brain was blurry from the night before. He was pretty sure he dreamed that Ranboo was Enderpearl.
“What are the chances of Ranboo being Enderpearl..” He muttered.
“Hello, Theseus.” A voice spoke. Behind his Ford sat Enderpearl’s purple Subaru. The racer was nowhere to be seen but Ranboo was standing right in front of the car. And he was grinning from ear to ear, Tubbo next to him looking the same.
“Enderpearl.” Tommy sighed, walking up to the two “It’s nice to see your face, bitch.”
Tubbo groaned, punching him in the arm. “Give me credit too, I made Ranboo do it.” The taller teen shrugged, “Apparently, Captain’s Call and Sleepy Bois Inc. have been friends for years. We were just, maybe, a bit stupid to figure it out. Not as fast, I guess.”
“Utopia and Anarchy?” Tommy’s brain was lagging, not quite getting the conversation.
“Dream and Techno. Their tension goes way back to their middle school football team.” Tubbo shook his head.
“Another race to the ice cream shop?” Ranboo asked, laughing as Tommy’s eyes lit up.
“Not an easy race now, bitch.” Tommy grinned, keys clinking in his hands.
“Sure, Tommy.” Ranboo sighed.
“Can I climb the fence when we get there?” Tubbo gasped.
“No.”
“TUBBO-”