Chapter Text
Everything Ranboo owns can fit in a duffel bag and a cardboard box. Which is kind of a depressing thought.
He doesn't have to worry about it too much, though. He still has a week and a half left until he is officially kicked out of his parent's house. I mean, he gets it. He's been living here all his life, rent free, and is about to go into his first year of collage. I mean, he would kick his kid out too if he was in their parent's situation.
Ranboo knows the real reason they're kicking him out, though. He's heard the conversations behind closed doors.
"...not enough social interaction..."
"...afraid he won't make friends... have anyone to talk to..."
All lies, of course. Ranboo has friends. Well, friend. Only one, really. Speaking of...
Tubbo answers on the second ring.
"Hey bossman! What's up?"
"Hey Tubbo. Um, y'know how your sister is like, a real estate agent? Do you think she could help me find a really small house? Or like an apartment? Wait, do real estate agents even do apartments?"
"Wait, why? Surely you're not getting kicked out?" Tubbo says, almost indignantly.
"Eh, it's fine. I've lived here for so long anyway, I- Uh. Tubbo? You still there?" Ranboo pulled his phone away from his ear to check. Tubbo had in fact, hung up.
Okayy then. Guess it was time to google apartment listings.
He had just pulled up a new browser when his phone rang again.
"I have the solution to your problem!" Tubbo says excitedly as soon as Ranboo presses accept.
"Oh?"
"You can move in with me!" He could hear the excitement in Tubbo's voice.
"Dude, I have no idea where you live." Ranboo laughed.
"Yet!" Tubbo says brightly, "Google the Watson apartments."
Ranboo does so. And oh wow, are they nice apartments. The building is a faded gray color, with what looks to be four stories with a gated off backyard and fancy shrubbery lining up the walkway to the front door.
"Wow, Tubbo, do you live here alone?"
"Nope, I have roomies. But they're all pretty great." Tubbo says, excitement growing. "Whatdya say, bossman? Wanna move in with me?"
And thats how, one week later, he ends up in Tubbo's car, driving to his new home.
"The place was built in the early 2000's by this guy called Phil Watson. He's our landlord, of sorts. Him and his family live in the penthouse on top," Tubbo explains as they take yet another left, "We all kinda hate the name 'Watson Apartments' though, so we renamed it Calamity House. Cause, y'know, it sounds cool. And it's pretty accurate." He grins.
"We?"
"Yeah, me and the roommates. Theres ten guys total on my level, or the guys level as we call it. The floor above us the the girls floor. There's five of 'm. You'll get to meet everybody soon! And hey, no stress," he says, noticing how Ranboo shrunk down in his seat, "They're all cool. All pretty excited to meet you, too!"
Tubbo pulls the car into park in front of the gate and punches in a few numbers. The gate swings open, and he pulls forward.
"And this is it!" Tubbo says, pulling up to the clunky yet polished collection of apartments. "Welcome to Calamity House," he says with a grin.
Turns out 'calamity' was a bit of an understatement. The front lawn is littered with empty bottles and garbage, and Ranboo can spot at least four lone shoes.
"Sorry about this," Tubbo mutters, sidestepping over a pair of boxers. "The guys threw a party last night and it got a bit rowdy. The inside is better than this, I promise."
The inside is much nicer. The walls were very open and white, giving the room an airy feel. There was a foosball table and mini basketball hoop in one corner, and weights and a bench press in the other. A TV was mounted on the wall with numerous game consoles underneath. A huge shelf of board games and stacks of cards sat neatly by the stairs.
"Wow." was all Ranboo had to say. Tubbo's face spilt into a wide grin.
"This is the den. Where the guys, and Puffy, do weights, and everyone else plays games." Tubbo said motioning to various corners of the room. "Upstairs?" he prompts, to which Ranboo nodded.
"Welcome to the guys level. Where they are still apparently, cleaning up from last night's fun." He says as they reach the top of the stairs.
The guys level is quite the mess. The floor plan apparently consists of the main living area, which houses another TV, a few couches, and a DVD rack. To the left, a kitchen area with a large island. There are two hallways off to the right leading off to bedrooms and bathrooms. A glass sliding door opens up to the balcony. And there are bottles and confetti everywhere.
"Hello there!" A voice says to his left, leaving Ranboo to practically jump out of his skin. A brunette with white framed glasses pushed up on his forehead is standing there with a vacuum. "You're the new roommate, right?"
"Y-yeah. Hi, I'm Ranboo." He holds out his hand to shake the brunette's.
"Hi Ranboo! I'm George, the only sane person in this apartment." Georges says with a grin.
"NOT TRUE!" Someone yells from across the room. A guy with a bright blue sweatshirt and dark hair pops up from under the sofa, clearly annoyed. "I'd count myself and Bad onto that list."
"Skeppy, what are you doing under the sofa?" George asks, tone indicating he very clearly did not count this Skeppy onto the sane list.
"There's beer bottles under here, dumbass. I'm trying to get all of them." Skeppy says.
"Language, Skeppy!" says a voice over Ranboo's shoulder, making him jump again. The voice belonged to another guy with brown hair and a black and red hoodie, who said to Ranboo, "Excuse his language. He's a tough muffin. You must be Ranboo! I'm Bad Halo." Ranboo shook his hand. "Nice to meet you!" Bad grinned. "You too. Now, George where in the world is Karl? He was the last one with the dustpan, right?"
"Cmon," Tubbo said to Ranboo, "Let drop your stuff in your room. Well, our room, as we're sharing. Hope thats cool," Tubbo adds nervously.
"Of course its ok!" Ranboo assured, hitching his duffel higher on his shoulder. He followed Tubbo down the left hallway, listening to Tubbo list off the room's occupants. "That's George's room with the blue door. That's Dream's room on the right, I would not suggest going in, he is very partial to his personal space. Thats Sapnap and Karl's room with all the stickers on the door. Karl's probably in there writing again. Prick. He never helps with cleaning. The other hallway houses Bad, Skeppy, Velvet, and Ant's rooms. And we are... right here!" Tubbo says, pushing open the door at the end of the hallway.
The room is spacious, with two twin captain beds on either side of the room, each with a white dresser on the end. The left side of the room, which was clearly Tubbo's, was decorated with band posters and stickers all over the walls. Over the headboard was a cork-board covered in photos and memorabilia. His bed was covered in clothes and plushies.
The right side was blank, with just the dresser and the bed. A blank canvas for Ranboo to fill with memories.
He dropped his stuff by the dresser and looked back at Tubbo, who was smiling hesitantly. "Whatdya think, bossman?"
Ranboo grinned. "I love it. It's perfect."
Tubbo poked his head around Ranboo and pointed to the bed. "There's that too, if you wanna open it."
Ranboo turned around, noticing a square package on the foot of his bed, wrapped in brown paper. The label on the front said: 'tO ranbOb!'
"Yeah, Skeppy wrote that one." Tubbo laughed. "He's not the best at spelling."
Ranboo carefully unwrapped the package, careful not to damage the label.
Inside was a quilt.
It was surprisingly soft, with fourteen mismatched squares of fabric and one plain white one in the middle, which said RANBOO! stitched in pale green letters.
"Everyone did a square, which is why they don't match. We all decorated our own and then had the girls upstairs sow it together." Tubbo says from over Ranboo's shoulder. "Its a tradition to make one for the person moving in," he says as he motions to his own quilt, which was hanging off of the end of the bed. Each square was a different shade of yellow, patterned with tiny bees.
"Aw, why does yours match?" Ranboo mock-complains.
Tubbo socked him fondly with a pillow. "The roomies weren't as creative when I moved in."
The sound of yelling brought them both back to reality. "What now?" Tubbo whined as he flung open the door and darted out. Ranboo followed.
"Skeppy! Give me my reading glasses!" Bad yelled, chasing Skeppy around the sofa, "I don't want you to break another pair!"
Skeppy just giggled like a maniac.
"Skeppyyyyyyy!" Bad yelled as they completed another lap around the couch.
"Well this is entertaining," Tubbo muttered gleefully, watching them run.
"No kidding!" a new voice says from behind Tubbo. Ranboo turns to see who he assumes is Karl. He's around a head taller than Tubbo with pale brown hair, wearing a multicolored hoodie and matching sweatpants. "Hi!" He grins at Ranboo, who smiles nervously in response. "Welcome to Calamity. How'd you like it so far?"
Ranboo laughs. "Its pretty great, actually!"
The screeching of tires below has Skeppy stopping in surprise, giving Bad time to grab his glasses back with a triumphant little 'Ha!'
Karl darts to the balcony and looks out below, saying "Aha," and turning around to yell "George! The boys are back!" to which George appears in the hallway with a grin. Karl turns back to Ranboo and says "Ready to meet the rest of the gang?"
The rest of the gang turns out to be four more boys, carrying bags of groceries. "Fridge restock time!" one of them says in a singsong voice, dropping the food on the island. He turns and notices Ranboo standing awkwardly off to the side. "Hey man! Welcome!"
He walks forward to shake Ranboo's hand. "I'm Sapnap. And thats Dream," He points to a tall blonde in a green hoodie, "Ant," a guy with dyed blonde hair, who had his arm around a guy with brown hair, "and Velvet, Ant's boyfriend," who Ranboo had to assume was the guy Ant had his arm around.
"Hi!" The three parroted back to them.
"H-hey!" Ranboo said with a tiny wave.
"The girls are out axe throwing, and the Watson's are on vacation, but you'll get to meet them soon!" Karl says to Ranboo.
"Axe throwing?"
Karl laughs. "The girls are a special bunch. Best housemates ever."
"I'm starving, whats for dinner?" Skeppy asks, popping up to sit on the counter. Bad quickly waves him off, annoyed.
"I'm making lasagna. Now get your butt off the counter."
Dinner is clearly a group routine for the calamity house. Bad organizes the cooking, Dream and Sapnap cut stuff, Velvet sets the table. Everyone seems to have a set job, which in Karl's case is simply to bug everyone. Ranboo stood awkwardly to the side, unsure of what to do.
"What should I do to help?" He asked Tubbo, who thought for a moment.
"I think we got dinner, boo. Go unpack! Get used to the room!"
And so Ranboo unpacked his stuff.
It didn't take too long. He put his clothes in the dresser and put up a poster or two. He put a few polaroids of him and his family above the headboard. Perfect.
"Ranboo? Where are you man? Lasagna's done!" he hears someone, probably Bad, calling from the kitchen. He'd personally never been a huge fan of the stuff, but what could he lose to try?
Turns out Bad's lasagna was excellent.
The girls got home soon after dinner, the slamming door and high pitched laugher signaling their arrival. "Boys?" Someone calls from the stairs, "You all here?"
The five girls that come up the stairs look slightly older than everyone else here, maybe by one or two years. Two with varying shades of pink hair, two brunettes, and one blonde.
"Oh! You must be the new roommate! Hello!" the one with the hibiscus pink hair says, throwing her arms around Ranboo in a hug. Ranboo gave an awkward hug back.
"I'm Niki Nihachu," the girl says, releasing him. "It's nice to finally meet you!"
"You look so much taller in person!" the other pink haired girl said, the one with cherry blossom pink hair. She gave an awkward wave, but thankfully didn't hug him. "I'm Lizzie Shadow! You can just call me Lizzie, though. I'm Niki's cousin."
"H-hi!"
The other girl introduced themselves. The tall, extremely muscular brunette was Puffy, the brunette with the rose pink sundress was Hannah Rose, and the blonde with a green hoodie and a chunk of hair missing was Drista, who happened to be Dream's twin sister.
"Drista, what the shit happened to your hair?" Sapnap asked, ignoring Bad's half-hearted 'language!'.
Drista laughed. "Liz threw the axe so well it rebounded and cut off the chunk of hair Hannah was braiding for me." She and Lizzie grinned at each other.
"And... your not mad about this?" Sapnap asked, extremely confused.
"Nope, I needed a haircut anyway." she said. And with that the girls darted upstairs.
The groups sat in silence for a good second before Ant said, "Girls are odd."
After dishes were done, the girls had re-joined them for game night. Drista and Karl wanted to play twister, but George vetoed that one, as he couldn't tell which colors were which. Then Tubbo had suggested Nintendo, which led to an argument between whether to play Mario Kart or Hollow Knight. So to calm tensions, Bad suggested they play monopoly as they couldn't decide which Nintendo game to play. This led to a shouting match about Bad and Skeppy cheating the last time they played monopoly, and at that Ranboo decided it was time for him to go to bed. He'd never been a big fan of shouting
"I'm gonna go to bed, I think," he said to no one in particular, and walked back down the hall to his room, shutting the door behind him. He sat down on his bed, tracing the lines in the quilt. It really was pretty.
"Hey, you ok?"
Ranboo looks up to see Hannah hovering in the doorway. "U-um. yeah?"
"Can I come in?" she asks. Ranboo just nods. She plops herself down on the bed next to him. "Hey, I'm sorry about them. They all can be a little much for me too. Too..."
"Rowdy?"
"Yeah," she nodded, "Rowdy. You'll get used to them, though. They're all really sweet when you get to know them."
They sit in silence for a moment.
"Hey," Hannah says with a smile, "You unwrapped the quilt! It was my idea to have everyone do a square," she says proudly, and points to one with a tiny embroidered rose. "I did that one."
"You like roses, then?" Ranboo asks.
She nods. "It's my namesake after all." She stands up and walks over to the door, but hesitates in the hall. "Y'know, if you ever need a friend, I'm always here. And Lizzie, I know she doesn't always feel at place here, so if you want someone to talk to, she's here too."
"Oh," Ranboo says, "Do you know why she feels like that?"
Hannah gave a sad smile. "Guess you'll have to talk to her to find out, huh?"
"Yeah. Thanks for the chat, Hannah." Ranboo said.
"Anytime. I hope you'll find a home here," she said with a small smile, and walked back down the hall to the still-yelling group out in the living room.
Maybe Ranboo would find a home here.