Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

———

As Ranboo stepped into his “home” after walking from school they could smell alcohol radiating out of it. As he walked up the stairs as quietly as possible, they were still able to hear a clatter coming from the kitchen. Ranboo froze. He hates his foster brother, he isn’t fit for taking care of anyone, and the mother who’s fostering doesn’t have time to notice. But then again Ranboo’s been taking care of themself for a while.  But… They usually don’t have to worry about their brother for at least an hour after school. So they bolted up the stairs as fast as possible while staying quiet, with so many homes like this he got good at it quickly. The noise died down soon after.

Ranboo used to love it here. But it got worse, just like the rest of them.

Ranboo quickly sat down on his bed and pulled his shitty phone out. They don’t have much to do with it, as it’s rather old and They didn’t have many friends and not any with their numbers saved. As they lay down they let out a tired sigh and continued scrolling on his phone, slowly drifting off.

~~~~

They woke up to his foster brother (dream? He can barely remember) in his room, They sucked in a breath and looked up at him.

“When did you get home,” he said in a harsh voice. They attempted to avoid his Murderous tone. You could see Ranboo's hands quivering.

“Only recently, I swear. School lets out at 4:20!” they said as quickly as possible and as he glanced at the time they knew it was the wrong thing to say. They let out a shaky breath as he realized it was now 8:17 shitshitshitshitshit.SHIT. What do I do?! They thought, panicking. The mother of this home wouldn’t be here for another hour. What the hell do I do??

“I'll let you off easier this time. Don't let it happen again,” he said as walked towards me. Ranboo didn't even realize tears were streaming down their face until he felt the first hit.

The only thing you could hear from the outside of the room were Ranboo’s screams and sobs of pain…

~ but the author doesn't like to write violent scenes~

~~~~

When Ranboo woke up, he could feel the bruises forming on his face and thighs. Hell, they could barely move. As he reached for his phone he could see a large slash on his arm, which he could only assume was the fault of a knife being used against them. He had barely any memories from last night. He let out a soft sob as they dialed 911.

"911, what's your emergency?" he heard from the other side of the phone and let out a sigh of relief although you wouldn't be able to tell, it was more like a whimper.

“My foster… My foster brother has been a-abusing me…” he said as quietly as possible.

“Okay, now what's your name kid? How old are you?” she said with a softer tone while still maintaining urgency.

“My name is Ranboo… I'm sixteen years old,” he responded.

“Okay Ranboo, where are you right now, can you give me the full address?” he nodded before realizing that she couldn't see them and gave his address as quickly as possible.

“Alright, now Ranboo are you in any immediate or at risk of being in danger?”

“I don't think so, my guardian is probably at work now, and the real threat is Dream he shouldn’t be awake he’s usually passed out drunk right now,” he said, slightly embarrassed. Although he doesn't know why, it's not like it's his brother.

“Okay, we're sending some people over now Ranboo, I'll stay on the phone with you until they arrive okay?” They mumble in agreement and try to find a good hiding place, in case all of this goes south.

As they climb into their closet he shuts the door as quietly as possible, but apparently, the rustling and speaking upstairs caused the nasty man downstairs to wake up. As he heard stomping walking up towards his room he took a stiff breath and began to silently cry, the tears burning his skin.

“He’s coming up to my room,” he dares to whisper. But doing so only makes things worse as he lets out a choked sob that makes dreams eyes shoot over toward Ranboo’s closet. He rips the door open and drags Ranboo out, smashing his phone in the process.

“No, nonononononono,” Ranboo cries, the tears just won't stop coming. Their face burning more than he can bear.

“You DUMB FUCKING HYBRID!” Dream shouts as he shoves Ranboo to the floor. And when he tries to get up again he gets kicked down. Dream stomps on his chest with so much force he thinks his rib might be broken. This continues until he hears sirens, and as Ranboo lies bloody and beaten…

He passes out.

Chapter Text

Ranboo stared at the floor in front of him, he was sitting with Mr. Sam in his office.

“Ranboo, as happy as I am that you are okay, we need to find you a home.” Ranboo sighs, knowing what comes after this, still looking at the floor fidgeting with his thumbs.

“But because this was such short notice I've gotten my good friend to take you in, he has three kids already,” He examines Ranboo, trying to see their reaction.

“He hasn't fostered in a while but his name is still under for emergency placements, and he works well with hybrids,” 

Sam says he's a good person, but he also said that about the other houses he's been to, and we all know how that turned out.

I mean she didn’t even notice

So Ranboo gets ready to leave.

~~~~

As Sam walked Ranboo to the house his tail wrapped around his leg and he self-consciously touched his horns. Even if Phil was supposed to work well with hybrids that doesn't mean he'll want anything to do with a hostile one. Endermen weren't passive, he'll likely send them back as soon as possible…

Ranboo sucked in a breath and knocked on the door.

Sam was still standing with him, but it wouldn't calm his nerves. He knew this act, and experienced it many times before. Even if he acted nice around Sam, it doesn't mean he won't do the exact same thing that Dream did.

This transfer was so sudden that Ranboo didn't even have a chance to meet Phil and his kids. Would the kids be nice? Or would they be bigger assholes than their father?

The door suddenly opened, startling Ranboo out of their thoughts. And a child? boy. (definitely, not Phil Ranboo thought.) with blonde hair opened it. Ranboo looked down, remembering that the height difference between most people was a foot or so. This was no exception, his enderman genes had kicked in recently even if he was usually taller than people.

The boy looked at Ranboo and Sam for a moment before the shouting began.

 “HOW OLD ARE YOU?” making Ranboo flinch from surprise. 

“Nevermind, were you born, before or after April 9th, 2004?” he said less loudly.

“Uhh… Before,” Ranboo says, and the boy's eyes go wide and he grins, Ranboo tried to pick up on what was happening but he couldn't figure out what made him so happy.

“So you're younger than me,” he said, still smirking.

“No,” Ranboo says nervously, not wanting to ruin his good mood.

“That means that I'm older,” Ranboo says, the boy's eyebrows furrow and he throws his hands up running back into the house.

“AUGHHHHHH WHY AM I STILL THE YOUNGEST!!!” he screamed.

“Tommy be quiet, you'll scare the- Holy shit! You're tall,” a brunette said looking up at him, he was wearing a pale yellow sweater and deep brown pants. While he was much shorter than Ranboo he was quite tall for a human. That is if he weren't the hybrid that Sam was telling him about.

“Hello, I'm Sam. I'm Ranboo’s foster care worker, where is Phil?” Sam spoke quickly, interrupting Ranboo’s thoughts. The brunette motioned for them to follow him, and began walking through the house. The boy, Tommy, seemed to decide following the nervous boy would be an amazing idea.

Ranboo was crouching making themself smaller as Tommy bombarded him with questions, such as; how long have you been in the system, are you from around here, what kind of hybrid are you, why did you have an emergency transfer? All of which Ranboo was too anxious to answer Tommy didn’t seem to mind, it was almost like he just liked asking for the sake of speaking.

When they stopped moving Ranboo noticed just how large the house was, and it still had a stairway leading to presumably, the rest of the bedrooms. The kitchen was an open space leading to the living room, and they had a dining room connected by a door to the kitchen. The walls were a nice blue with paler blue accents.

It was nice here

Maybe even calming… he thought absently before snapping back into reality.

No, you can't enjoy it here. You’ll just be sent back anyways, no one would like a hostile mob in their house…

Upon remembering he exists, Ranboo notices two people in the kitchen. One had long pink hair and many gold piercings, he seemed to be reading some Ancient Greek book. The other was blonde with a cool-looking heart necklace, Ranboo couldn’t quite remember what it reminded them of. 

“Ah, Hey mate! You're early!” The blonde man said enthusiastically with a big smile, it made Ranboo kind of uncomfortable, as the only households that tended to do this were assholes behind closed doors. So he just nodded and let Sam do all the talking unless something was directed at them.

~~~~

“Alright! I think we're all set,” Sam said with a bright smile.

Ranboo nods and as Sam says his goodbyes Ranboo could feel the reality sinking in and begins to panic internally. He was going to be left alone with three teenagers and one man. Sure Phil loves his kids, but what about Ranboo? Would he even care about him? What if this is one of those foster houses so the parents just get paid?

“Hey there Ranboo, how are you doing today? I'm Phil, as you probably could have guessed, and these are my sons, Techno, Tommy, and Wilbur,” Phil says pointing at each of his kids, Ranboo nods and stays quiet, he doesn't know what sort of rules were in this household, and he definitely didn't want to find out the hard way.

“I WANNA GIVE THE TOUR,” the blonde boy, Tommy, says loudly. 

“Okay, try not to overwhelm him,” Phil says with a chuckle.

~~~~

And with that, Ranboo was now being led around the house by one of the loudest people he’s ever met. He had already seen the kitchen and living room but there were so many rooms in this house that it was crazy that anyone could even afford it.

“And this, my good sir, is your room. How’s about you get settled and join us for dinner, that is, if you're comfortable with it,” Tommy stated looking a little more nervous than before. Ranboo nodded and sat down on the bed given to him as Tommy left the room.

 They didn't have anything to keep in their room besides their journal and a small locket with a picture of him that says Ranboo beloved. 

This house will take some getting used to, though they're sure it'll turn out the same as the others…

Chapter Text

Ranboo sat on his bed looking around the room, it was bare but it had a nice bed and a small desk with a lamp and some pencils. It was nicer than what he was usually given. Maybe this house would be different…

He could hear talking downstairs, concerned that it was about him, they stayed up in their room.

Ranboo decided to try and sleep until dinner, then he would learn the rules of this house. So he laid down and closed their eyes. 

~~~~

Although the bed was comfortable, the anxiety of being in a new house was so much he couldn’t fall asleep. He was tossing and turning for about an hour until he heard someone knock on his door. Making him shoot up. His heightened senses made him pick up on some sort of fast food, oh! They got In-N-Out , from downstairs.

“Hey, Phil wants to know if you’d be up to eating with us tonight if you're up to it, not we can just bring some food up to you,” Ranboo hears the voice of Wilbur(?) on the other side. They scramble up and quickly open the door, not wanting to make anyone mad so soon.

“Oh! I have to say I wasn’t expecting you to trust us so soon, it took me forever to start eating with Phil and Techno,” he chattered while walking down the stairs, Ranboo hunched over trying to make themself as small as possible. Ranboo did not trust them. But maybe it would be easier if they believed so.

~~~~

Dinner is… awkward, to say the least. Technoblade was reading, Tommy was stuffing his face, and Wilbur was on his phone. Phil was trying to get to know Ranboo but was met with very short and curt responses. Ranboo was trying though! He just… did what most other houses asked from them, he just couldn’t figure out why they were still acting kindly toward him, maybe it was some sort of elaborate prank. 

God please not again…

“So Ranboo, we were thinking we could take you out shopping when you're up to it, we didn’t decorate your room because we were unsure about what you liked and it was a bit sudden,” Phil says with a smile, Ranboo just nods, not having said a word all dinner. They go back to pushing at their food, not wanting to eat much, just in case.

“Ugh, it’s so quietttt” Tommy complains, Ranboo’s tail rustles, dipping slightly. The person next to him, Technoblade, shifted as the tail slightly touched his seat. He slightly glanced up from his book and looked back down almost immediately. 

Ranboo was scratching at his pants, he was always as quiet as he could be, what was different in this family? He just didn’t want to bother them with his presence…

“Hey Ranbooooo,” Ranboo’s head quickly turned to Tommy and he nodded. Waiting for him to continue.

“Instead of you going with Phil tomorrow, you should go with us, the cool dudes. We're the biggest men, not the oldest men,” Tommy said, which made Phil start laughing startling Ranboo. They noticed that even Technoblade smiled, sure it was not the same laughter that Phil and Wilbur had but it was a smile nonetheless.

“Eh? Eh?? What'd’ya say,” Tommy says with a grin, Ranboo gave a small smile and nodded. 

You could probably hear Tommy’s cheers from space because holy crap was that loud.

~~~~

When Ranboo finally finishes his dinner people are a bit more lively and chatting amongst themselves, though Ranboo still finds themself being quiet. He silently excuses himself from the table, getting a nod from Phil to know it was okay, and puts his dish in the sink. He stands in front of the sink for a moment,

  I should wash my dish…  

But it'll burn me! 

Argh, why does my life suck so much?

  Ranboo’s inner thoughts were pulling him every which way. Eventually, he just grabbed a sponge and decided to deal with the pain. He didn't cry, he was too used to it to really feel the burns. It was just a wince. Their hands would feel awful in the morning, but it'd be worth it if he was on this family's good side.

If you were to walk into the kitchen you would hear the slight sizzles from his skin burning. There was a door, still open, but far enough away from the dining room so you couldn't even hear it…

As Ranboo moves to go sit back down with the foster family Tommy's Nose scrunches up.

“Does anyone else smell that?” he asks, confused. The others nod and try to figure out what it is. Before Ranboo quietly interrupts them.

“Uh… It's just um, my hands,” they say with very little confidence. Raising their hands up slightly. All eyes turn to him, and Phil’s eyes widen.

“What do you mean it's your hands? What could you have burned yourself on..?” Phil says before the realization dawns on him.

“Ranboo, did you wash your dish?” he says worriedly, Tommy and Wilbur still look confused, but Technoblade’s face shows that he knows what's happening.

“What does washing a dish have to do with anything?” Wilbur asks, tilting his head slightly.

“Ranboo, aren't you an enderman hybrid?” Technoblade asks. When those words are said both Tommy and Wilbur stop being confused and their faces immediately show concern.

“Yes… yes, yeah, sorry I'll get rid of the smell,” They said, scrambling up trying to think of what to do.

Great… how do I do that… Maybe this house won't be so good after all…

“Nonononono, mate, just sit down, we can help with that. Don't even worry about it,” Phil said. Oh but Ranboo was worried, they were so very worried… His eyes squeezed tight as his hands were grabbed… But not angrily..?

Oh god, what sort of torture am I about to be put through… 

He was fully expecting a face full of water, but instead, Phil held his hands softly as he sent Tommy to go get gauze and bandage wraps and Wilbur to get medicine. And slowly but surely Ranboo felt the bandages wrapping around his hands. His eyes opened and saw that Phil and Technoblade were wrapping both his hands after they put the cooling antibiotics on them.

“Thank you, Phil, thank you, Technoblade,” Ranboo said gratefully, Phil smiled at him and set his hand back on his lap.

“Just call me Techno, kid,” Technoblade, no, Techno said. Ranboo smiled, rocking back and forth in his seat happily. Techno snorts, not angrily, but with a smile on his face. He called him kid… he’s only a few years older than him… either way, Ranboo was happy.

~~~~

Dinner was nice .

Ranboo was writing in his journal.

I got to know more about the family, they seem cool. Although I still don't know what the rules are in this house, I really hope I don't mess this up. 

They didn't seem worried about me being an enderman hybrid, so that's good.

Maybe this house will finally be one where I can feel safe…

Ranboo snorts at the statement, even if they like him now they'll send him back, they always do…

⏚⟒☊⏃⎍⌇⟒ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒ ⟒⋏⎅⟒⍀⍙⏃⌰☍

Chapter Text

“Hey, okay, so, Ranboo has clearly had some… issues with speaking to people. So I’m asking for you to help me figure out how to make him more comfortable,” Phil says to three of his sons, they all nod or give some sort of recognition to what he said.

“Thank you, just tell me about anything he mentions that makes him comfortable, anything he seems like he wants to do, maybe some sort of toy that he wants, literally anything that could help,” Phil says

“Yeah man, we were in his shoes at one point or another, whatever could help,” Tommy says with a shrug.

~~~~

Ranboo was startled awake by a knock on their door, followed by a soft-

“you up?”

He’s assuming came from Wilbur.

Oh! SHIT I forgot about shopping today, they sounded really excited… What if I ruined it for them… Argh I should have woken up earlier.

They take note of that in their journal, planning to wake up at 6:30 each morning even if they’ll just be stuck in their room. Better early than late they thought as they frantically pulled the cleanest pair of pants they had, on and hurried out his door.

Ranboo was moving so fast that he face-planted at the bottom of the stairs.

“Pftt- HAGHAUHAHAHA!” Tommy cracked up at Ranboo’s clumsiness and helped him up soon after he stopped laughing.

“Hey big man, your nose is bleeding,” Ranboo zones back in and touches his nose, huh , that’s weird… why's it purp..le… oh shit… Ranboo forces themself to smile and Tommy grabs him a tissue.

“Sorry about waking up late,” Ranboo says sincerely. Tommy looks up at him and smiles… 

Genuinely smiles..

At Ranboo.

“You’re all good mate, Wil just woke us up early because Techno takes so long to get up, and we thought you’d be the same. Although you are pretty fast,” Ranboo smiles as Tommy keeps talking about their family dynamic. And soon after Techno is dragged down the stairs by Wilbur.

“Alright I think we're ready,” Phil says as he walks down right after. He grabs a bag from the cubby’s up front and opens the door for all the kids.

The car ride was awkward, like everything that has happened in ranboos life recently. Ranboo noticed that every time he joined the conversation it sounded like they were walking on eggshells. He didn’t want them to be bothered by him, he truthfully could just sit up in his room all day and starve himself. If they gave him an invite he would join, but he really didn’t want to.

~~~~

As the car stopped there had been little to no talking, they probably assumed Ranboo hated talking. But I’m reality no one just cared to listen, although there was a boy from the foster homes… if only he could remember what his name was, hell even what he looked like…

  Maybe it was T-

“Ranboo? You comin?” Phil says peeking into the back seat of the car.

“Ah, yes… sorry Phil…” They say. Phil laughs with a soft smile.

“Hah, Don’t worry about it mate!” He says warmly

“I’ll be doing some shopping if my own so the boys will take care of your shopping,” Phil says letting Ranboo out.

~~~~

God this is the biggest mall I’ve ever been in before… Ranboo thinks as he walks through the doors. His eyes wide with wonder. 

He’s quickly dragged into some trendy clothing store by Wilbur. The rest of the kids follow along looking bored.

“So! See anything you like?” Wilbur asks. As he does so Tommy  immediately drops something on the floor and gets lectured by an employee while Techno laughs at him.

“No… everything here is so expensive,” Ranboo frowns, when they glance at Wilbur he sees him gathering clothing that is clearly too big for himself.

“Somehow I knew that you’d say that, soo~ I gathered some things I think you’d look nice in,” he says, dragging Ranboo to a changing room. Before they step through the door Wilbur asks them a question.

“How many articles of clothing did you bring to our house?” Ranboo thinks about what the most appropriate answer would be, he probably wouldn’t want to be lied to…

“I think I have like 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and a hoodie,” they respond, and as soon as they do so Wilbur looks upset, so maybe it was the wrong thing to say. They try to smile down at him but Wilbur is having none of it.

“We’ll have to go to some other store’s after this, get you some variety,” Wilbur says, clearly not stating his mind. Ranboo nods slowly and hurries into the changing room.

They have a bit of a fashion show for Wilbur and the boys before having to pay. Ranboo insists that they don’t have to buy him anything but they do anyway. 

Soon, as in two seconds later, they’re being dragged into a store that seems to have everything, from toys to books to clothes to even kitchenware. Most of the clothing Wilbur called ugly, but a few struck Ranboo’s eye. There was this horrific Hawaiian shirt, and also a very nice looking blazer that comes with a tie.

Wilbur must have caught a glance at what Ranboo was looking at because he asked if he wanted them, Ranboo shook his head, not wanting to make anyone spend more on him. Wilbur seemed to pick up on that and backed off. They looked around the clothing some more, and when Ranboo “didn’t” want anything they moved on to room decor, meeting up with Tommy at the toy section.

“You stay with Tom for a bit, I’ll go find Techno,” Ranboo nods and quietly watches Tommy look through the legos and stuffed animals. 

“So big man, see anything ya like yet? I think I'd really like to give this bee to Tubbo, and keep this spider for myself. He looks like a shroud, what do you say?” he says. Ranboo thinks he likes Tommy because he doesn’t have to speak much with him, he’s happy just to listen.

“Oh, not really,”

“Doesn’t sound like a no big man, what do you like from here!” Tommy exclaims.

What does Ranboo like? From the toy section? They haven’t been asked that for a long time. Tommy probably wouldn’t care if he mentioned anything, he wouldn’t but it but it wouldn’t be awful to talk about…

“Uh, I like the flower legos, especially the alliums, they’re really pretty. Did you know that they aren’t all just purple? They can come in white, yellow, pink, purple or blue, and they taste like onions so if you plant them you won’t have to worry about deer” Ranboo rambles on for a little while before realizing what he was doing. His face flushed a deep purple as they shrunk into themself.

“Hey, why’d you stop, that was really interesting, or did you run out of facts? We should look for some more,” Tommy says, beginning to ramble himself.

They continue their conversation eventually straying from alliums and going deep into other interests of theirs, Ranboo didn’t even mean to start talking, and now they can barely stop! They were so into the conversation (that somehow ended up with arson?) that they don’t even notice Wilbur and Techno sneak up on them.

“Okay everyone, let’s not set anyone’s house on fire please!” Wilbur say’s uneasily. Tommy rolled his eyes and laughed. 

Tommy seems to laugh at everything.

It’s nice.

He doesn’t even notice when Tommy drops the Lego set in the cart.

Chapter Text

As they get back to the car Ranboo sits in the back trying to take up as little room as possible, it’s a bit difficult considering he’s a giant but he tries nonetheless.

When they get home the kids head up to Ranboo’s room to organize his closet. Tommy notices Ranboo looking uncomfortable and decides to try and steer the group away. 

“Hey guys, we should leave Ranboo to set his room up. Don’t we have to help Phil with dinner?” He says, Techno nods and walks towards the door with Wilbur close behind.

“Don’t worry big man, we’ll be sure to call you for dinner,” he says with a triumphant smile. He slowly shuts the door behind him and hurries down to Phil.

~~~~

“HI PHIL,” Tommy says loudly as soon as he got down the stairs

“Hey Tommy,” Phil says with a sigh. He set the book he was reading down and looked up to see his three sons getting settled.

“You asked us to help make Ranboo more comfortable, yeah? Well, I got to know a bit more about him at the store,” Tommy says proudly. 

“Oh yeah! I saw Ranboo looking at this…” Wilbur's face looked torn on what to say.

“Lovely… shirt!” Phil snorts and nods, thanking his kid. 

“Well we had an awesome conversation about flowers an shit, it was mostly him nerding out them. His favorite are alliums I think. We got a little off track and started talking about arson,” Tommy said as he puffed out his chest. Phil looked concerned but he was thankful nonetheless.

“OH and I got him this Lego set, he didn’t take it up yet though, I don’t know if he knows it’s his,” Tommy says uncertainly.

“I didn’t talk much with him,” Techno said with no emotion to his words.

“That’s fine, I’m sure you’ll get your moment with him later. But otherwise, I think we should figure out a way to make him see that we aren’t going to hurt him, we just need to figure out what his love language is I suppose,” Phil says, looking at his sons for answers.”

“We could start with gifts…” 

~~~~

Ranboo yawned, waking up at six isn’t ideal… but it’s just the price to pay when you stay at a house like this. They stood up and put on a simple outfit Wilbur helped them pick out. He didn’t really know how to feel about the way they were acting towards him.

He quickly opened the door and immediately ran into Tommy and Phil. 

“Oh my god I’m so sorry, here let me help you pick that up,” They said with panic in their voice. Bending down to grab what he made them fumble. They couldn’t quite tell as their eyes were already glossing over. Nothing too noticeable but once he was alone they would be crying.

“Ah it’s fine, but why are you up so early?” 

Oh, that’s new..? 

I wonder what he means…

“I just thought it would make for a better stay,” Ranboo says, continuing to avoid eye contact. They were staring at him, he could feel it…

“Oh, well you can always sleep in if you’d like. Though if you’d prefer you can wake up early. Usually no one’s up though,” Phil says brightly.

“Oh, okay… Thank you Phil,” Ranboo says, still fiddling with his hands. 

“Ah, well anyways, we were coming to give this to you,” Phil says holding out the allium legos Ranboo mentioned to Tommy the other day. They were flustered. Sure the household has been nice so far, but a gift? 

That’s new. 

Most of the houses Ranboo’s been in have been pretty shit, in fact they’ve been in worse houses than dream, he could power through that. But this? He didn’t want to have his trust betrayed yet again, it hurts. 

He won’t stay for long, he knows it, but even in nice households he just doesn’t understand the concept of gifts. He’s only ever gotten a few.

“Thank you,” Ranboo gets out through his thoughts. He bows his head and watches Phil and Tommy wave goodbye.

~~~~

The first thing Ranboo did was put the legos together, it was fairly simple.

 Ranboo was good at following directions.

It was done in maybe 30 minutes. He set the legos on his windowsill.

He stared at it happily, tail wagging, feet rocking and face feeling like it was about to explode.

He hasn’t been this happy for so long, maybe since his parents…

Stop getting attached, they’ll leave you said a little voice in Ranboo’s head. 

But they’ll probably be better than the others, said another conflicting voice.

There was also that. They probably wouldn’t want him if they knew of the voices. He’s learned to block some of them out. They slip out every once in a while. When he lets his guard down.

They shouldn’t be doing that.

Not here.

But he really likes them…

I’ll figure it out, it’ll be fine…

Chapter Text

Ranboo and Techno haven't really talked much, they’re both quiet people but it was a comfortable silence, the occasional comment here and there, but otherwise, nothing too notable has happened. Although he’s only been in the house for a little while.

~~~~

Techno (kinda?) Pov

Techno had already been outside tending to his potatoes when Ranboo had stepped out, likely to get away from the screaming child inside. His tail was drooping and his ears were low.

 It was too loud inside. He could tell.

Ranboo didn’t seem to notice Techno when they walked out. Still nervously glancing behind him.

“You're alright to be outside by the way,” Techno said, still working on his potatoes. Ranboo very obviously flinched, his hands tightening. The piglin just continued on his potatoes.

“Oh… thank you,” Ranboo said as they moved to the small bench on the deck. 

Techno was more of a people watcher, he doesn’t really talk to people unless he’s very comfortable around them. Clearly, he couldn’t just strike up a conversation.

Dammit how do I talk to him, I literally know nothing about him. 

The voices only get bad when he’s stressed, usually, he’s able to control them. But it was getting bad. The kid looked so uncomfortable. 

-

Live chat

Carlito: Ranboo pog?

BigPoggers: Nooooo comfort the baby boyyy

Boopdyboop: Haha leave him to die

Chatnotfound: Ahhhh just help him already 

Froggyinnit: aweee Technosoft <33

Dreamonpog: Tommy said he liked flowers!

PloppyBee: ^^^

LittleSlays:^^^

ILikeSadness:^^^

-

Ugh, how annoying. 

But chat was right, Tommy did mention flowers. Perhaps he likes gardening…

“Hey, Ranboo. Do you like gardening? We could plant flowers,” he speaks up so Ranboo could hear him. Although due to the reason he came outside, he really shouldn’t have done that. Ranboo was very startled and let out a quiet hiss, if Techno wasn’t paying attention he would have missed it. But either way Techno noticed a raised tail behind the young boy.

“Okay Si- Techno, okay Techno,” Ranboo got up quickly and walked over to Techno. As Techno looked up at him he tried for a smile, and when that failed he just gave Ranboo a shovel.

“Thank you for joining me, that’s pretty cool,” Techno says. 

-

Live Chat

Chanceless: Well that was cringe

Littlehorseyguy: haha nerrrdddd

Carlman: bro did you really say that

Kingorange: TechnoCRINNNGGGGEEEE

-

Well I definitely don’t regret saying that, thank you hypixel chat

“Uh I don't really know what you would like me to do,” he said, his tail twitching. 

Oh! Right, the kid was probably used to instruction.

Kinda like me when I first got here…

“Okay well first I’ll grab a pot so you can take them to your room if you’d like,” he says, trying to give him options. “And we have seeds in the basement, I can show you that first so we can get the right type of pot,” Techno said, perhaps he can get his proper bonding moment today.

“You guys have a basement? This house is gigantic,” the last part was muttered but Techno picked up on it.

“Yeah it’s not used much but it’s good for keeping the seeds cool and out of sunlight,” he says as he leads Ranboo inside. 

Before stepping through the door Ranboo hesitates.

Oh shoot, he went outside to get away from the noise. Now I’m just bringing him right back in.

“Here wait let me tell the dumb kids to be quiet,” Techno says walking into the house. 

As he walked into the kitchen he looked at Tommy and Wil.

“You’re scaring the new kid, we’re bonding so shut up,” he said plainly. Wilbur gasped.

“Yes! You're finally getting a bonding moment,” He said only a moment later.

“Yeah so please be quiet so he doesn’t have a panic attack,” he said and walked back out to Ranboo. Motioning for him to come inside. He did and soon was led to the basement. 

“Alright so here are the seeds we have, marigolds, cosmos, sunflowers, cornflowers and poppies, does any catch your eye?” He says in a monotone voice.

Chat I swear to the god I don’t believe in if you make fun of me for any of this I will find a way to kill you all.

“Oh I think the cosmos look fun,maybe the marigolds,” he says, unsure of himself.

“We can plant both, I think marigolds grow in almost any soil, and cosmos are pretty neutral,” he said, grabbing both packs of flowers. “Cosmos take about, I wanna say 7 weeks to bloom? And marigolds I’d say are 8 weeks, they’re annual so they might die once summers over if we don’t take care of them,” he doesn’t know too much about flowers, he tends to stick to vegetables, but he does definitely know his way around a garden. And both of those flowers were pretty easy to tend to, so even if Ranboo gave up Techno would be able to probably save them.

Ranboo nods clearly attempting to understand what Technos saying.

“If you’d like we can start with just the cosmos so you can see them bloom sooner?” He says, hoping to leave the awkward energy behind. Thankfully Ranboo nods and continues listening.

“They can get pretty tall so we can pinch them before that happens, and we can buy a five inch pot so it has room to grow” he rambles passing the cosmos seeds to Ranboo.

The boy looked ecstatic at the thought of taking care of something. But also still a bit nervous about who he’s with. Techno can understand that, though he slightly wishes he didn’t. Ranboo reminds him of when he first came here, he knows it’s probably the same with Wilbur and Tommy, but this was new to him, when Wil and Tommy came they were both so different from how he had acted.

“Ah you don’t need to buy anything for me, if it’s too much work we don’t have to do this,” he said anxiously.

“Nonsense, this will be good for the both of us, and it’ll be cool to have something you helped grow next to your flowers you made on your windowsill,” he smiled at Ranboo as they walked back up the stairs. 

It was getting late so they couldn’t start today but Techno promised he would help as soon as possible, though he was busy tomorrow so that was off the table. But the day after he was free, unsure as to whether Ranboo was as well. But Techno fell asleep with a smile on his face tonight.

Chapter Text

Ranboo yawned, waking up this early was never easy, but they preferred it anyway, even if it’s not required. As they walked over to their closet they put on something simple and moved to the bathroom. 

This hallway seems a bit bigger

As Ranboo walked down the hallway he saw pictures of young Tommy, Wilbur and Techno. There was one very endearing photo of Wilbur seemingly eating sand, at the end of the hallway he saw a small and simple photo of one of the first days Ranboo had been in the house, it was just him at dinner. As he opened the door to the bathroom he noticed the light wouldn’t turn on. Although his eyes were usually adjusted to seeing in the dark due to being half Enderman, even so it was still too dark to see anything. 

That’s… odd… he thought, but went about his morning routine as usual. He brushed his teeth and hair. As he walked out of the bathroom he decided to head downstairs. He quickly grabbed a book about flowers Techno got him and walked to the stairs.

God I must be tired… These stairs never seem to end…

Eventually he gets downstairs and decides to sit on the couch and read his book. He quickly walks over to the living room and sits down in a small corner of the couch. As he opened it he saw there was nothing inside.

What..? What kind of book is this?

As he flipped through the pages he saw nothing, no words, no pictures, nothing. Everything was blank or ripped out. As he got to the last page he saw a little note.

You really think you’d actually get a present from me? You’re just an attention seeker. No one in this family actually loves you.

“Please, you're pathetic,” a voice snorts. Ranboo looked up and saw Techno looking down at him.

“Who does he think he is,” Wilbur said, almost robotically . As Techno and Wilbur laughed at him he glanced around to see where Phil or Tommy was. Gripping the book, almost ripping it. As he looked down again the note was gone, replaced with a smile. 

The same one that his stupid foster brother used to wear. 

“You think we actually want you in our family? You don’t belong here,” he heard Phil say. His head shot up. The man was standing over him, between Techno and Wilbur.

But… but they care! They said they did… right? Oh XD this can’t be happening again!

Ranboo gripped his hair trying anything to snap out of this state and stop seeing that man everywhere.

“Tommy..? Tommy, where are you, please. You can at least stand me… right?” As Ranboo cried out for the boy he could see Tommy’s shadow emerge from the stairs. His face wasn’t visible.

Why is it so dark, it should never be this dark! My eyes were built for the dark…

He heard laughter. It was Tommy. Tommy was laughing, oh how Ranboo loved that laugh . The only difference this time was that he was laughing as Ranboo was being tormented .

What’s happening, why can’t I speak?

Ranboo touched his throat and looked directly at Tommy.

Tommy looked at him with a menacing smile.

“Aw, it’s okay Ranboo, just t̶̮̀͝r̷̯͍͐̓ú̸̝ṡ̶̼t̴̻̋ ̶̠͙̏͐m̵̥̦͛͊ẻ̷̢͝,Ḩ̶̢̠̺̯̤͎̘̈̊̈́ẽ̴̢̗̖͖͊̽̽ ̷̛͔̄̿̿̀d̶͂̃̀̈́̀͘͜i̵̛͚̝̠̠̼͎̔͊̑d̶̨͕̣̦͎̖̳̪̳̑̓́̊̏͝n̸̛̳̯̱̲͑̚͜͜’̸̛̛̜͎͈͉͕̜̥̃͂̆̍̃̋ẗ̴̡̬̪̯͇̻́͒̎̋ ̷̢̨͕̖̱̱͇̊̽m̶̨̥͍̩̔͌̇͂̆̚ȇ̴̢̱͔̱̳͖̰̘̤̿̋̉͌̑̕̚͠a̷̧̡̮͎̦͇̣͚̫͊͒ņ̸͇̣̦͎̜̠̐̈́̇̇͒ ̶̛̣͉̜̲̥̜̣̌̒̍͜i̴͇͖̋̽̽̇̈́̅͋̕ţ̴̘̬͚̔̂͋͛̈́̃͘͝͠,̶̢̛͉̹̣̆̂̚ ̷̱̖͍̪͕̼̳͎̓̎̍̉̅̒͝ͅh̵̥͚͓͍͈̬͕̅̄̒̚o̶̧͍͎̭͖̕̚n̴̎͜͝ȩ̵̘̘̮͈̥̦̲̑͘s̵̞͉̭̜̟̼̟̅͒̿̓͗̆̓̇t̸̳̭͔̽̑̇̊!̸͎̥͊̈́͗͌̈́̈̂͂͝ Tommy said as he held his hand out for Ranboo.

As Ranboo reached for his hand, Tommy helped him up. He gave them a tight hug. Maybe a bit too tight for Ranboo’s taste, but it was still a hug.

He felt Tommy’s expression change, and he pulled away and held his shoulders, Tommy smiled at him as he shoved him to the ground. 

“Wait...Wait Tommy, what are you doing?” They said as he hit their leg on the coffee table, wincing in pain.

“What, you really thought I cared about you? I mean really, why do you even bother living,”

His tears began to hurt more and more by the second. They were looking up at their foster family with fear. Phil’s wings were lifted up holding his real sons and shadowing Ranboo. Tommy was smirking, Techno had a plain glare on his face, Wilbur was smiling maniacally while twirling a small knife in his hand.

Ranboo felt a sharp pain on their chest, as he looked down they saw a big bloody smile.

“Aww look, Ranboo’s going to cry, what a baby,”

“You don’t deserve to live,”

“If I were you I think I’d kill myself,”

“Everyone would be better off without you,”

“We didn’t want to take you in, it was a mistake,”

“You’re so weak, you can even stand up for yourself,”

“You’ll never amount to anything, you were destined for failure,”

“Why are you even trying, you’ll never be good enough,”

“Can’t even remember his parents name,”

His head was crowded with voices.

The dark figures were standing over him, each of them pitch black, all except one. 

Dream.

~~~~

Ranboo gasped awake, sitting up frantically. Their tears burned, still streaming down his face. He was hyperventilating. As he wiped his tears he felt the burns on his hands and tried to remember how to breathe. He quickly grabbed the book Techno gave him and flipped through it.

Okay… okay. You're fine. The pages are all here, there’s no note. They haven’t tried to hurt you so far.

He quickly sucked in another breath and walked over to the closet. Making sure to not pick out what he had worn in the nightmare, he even remembered to put on the little makeshift belt that his memory book could latch onto.

Sure it was plain, but what was he supposed to do, wear a suit everywhere? 

That would be pretty impractical.

Shockingly, he feels decently rested. Even after an awful nightmare he felt awake enough to be able to get out of their room.

He waited a moment before turning the door handle. As he did he glanced at the clock.

How the hell is it only 4:27? It was later than that in my nightmare!

He sighs and walks out the door anyways, still taking the book(s) with him. He walks to the bathroom and brushes his teeth and hair. 

Jeez, even in my dreams I had the same boring routine… Oh well I guess

As he looks in the mirror he notices how his tear tracks have burned, and left a slight indentation in his skin revealing a deep purple beneath it.

He shakes his head and wipes his eyes again.

Let’s just hope they won’t notice or care.

He grabbed his book and headed downstairs. The stairs were normal. Everything is okay because the stairs are normal. It’s all going to be alright.

As he looks at the couch he surprisingly sees Phil. He seems to just be looking at his phone, sitting slightly hunched forwards shifting his wings around. The bags under his eyes were obvious.

Ranboo freezes.

Why did he have to still be awake today of all days?

Ranboo is great at walking silently, Phil didn’t even notice him slowly backing away. He quickly bolted up the stairs when he ran into someone.

Seriously?! It's like 4:30 in the morning.

“Whoops, sorry Ranboo. You alright?” He says as the bottom of their chin hits their forehead. 

“Oh, yes sorry, are you alright?” He quickly asks. The person smiles.

“Oh yeah I’m fine! What’re you doing awake at this hour?” He asks, guiding him back down the stairs unknowingly with a smile still plastered on his face.

“Oh, well… I was just headed downstairs to start reading this book techno gave me,” he says, quickly screwing himself over.

“Oh god, is it one of those Greek books he keeps trying to make me and Tommy read?” He groans, his head tilting backwards. “Don’t tell him this, but I still haven’t read the one he’s lent me,” the person whispers loudly, looking up at Ranboo. Ranboo nods, smiling uncomfortably.

You’re fine, it’s all fine you are okay, you feel amazing, it was just a dream

Oh wow do I love gaslighting myself!

After being led down to the kitchen he quickly flips through his memory book and sees the list of names.

Wilbur, okay cool it’s not like I forgot he existed I just forgot his name

“Are you hungry, we could make pancakes or toast or something,” Wilbur says as Ranboo sits down at the counter. Ranboo nods slowly, still freaked out after the dream. It’s still dark in the house, but this time Ranboo can see perfectly fine.

“Pancakes sound nice, if that’s okay,”

“Okay, then I think I’ll make pancakes for us, then I can top almost all of them with brown sugar!” He says with a smile. 

“Why brown sugar? You probably have more options than that, right?” Ranboo can't help but ask. He sits on one of the stools provided at the island.

“Well sure,” Wilbur says, grunting as he struggles to find it in the pantry. “But brown sugar is almost the same texture as sand, and I love sand,” he says as he lays his supplies out on the counter. Quickly attempting to whip up pancakes, definitely failing but he was still trying. As Ranboo watches he zones out. Not wanting to make any interaction with the boy if not necessary.

He only properly gets out of his own head when he sees a darker shadow walk up behind him. His breathing stills and he blinks rapidly. He feels the man walk up behind him, he whips his head around as Phil walks up behind him.

“Wilbur, you should turn the light on. Not everyone can see in the dark like you,” he said. “Me and Ranboo are struggling to see, right mate?” He said, turning his head towards them.

“Oh, actually I can see pretty well in the dark. What with being half enderman,” they explained with a small uncertain smile at the end.

“Well damn, here I was thinking me and Tommy could gang up on Wil and techno. Maybe we could finally get them to use a light switch for once,” he laughed, Ranboo nodding along nervously.

It’s fine, they won’t hurt you. They might leave you, but they certainly won’t hurt you… probably…

“I didn’t know Wilbur was a hybrid…” he gets out.

“Oh yeah, he’s a phantom, it’s pretty cool, but he’s a little shit about it,” Phil responds.

Ranboo watches as Phil flicks the lights on and suddenly he doesn’t see everything in an overlay of purple. Phil continues talking to Wilbur as Ranboo reads their book, hoping not to be spoken to.

“-and then me and T-'' Phil stops talking, staring at Ranboo. As if he’s trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

“Hey Ranboo, have you been crying mate? Are you alright? Did we say anything to upset you, anything we should avoid?” He said quickly. Ranboo touched his face, remembering about the tears shed over something Phil probably wouldn’t care about.

“Oh uh no, you’re fine, I was just being stupid,” they say. Phil and Wilbur share a look. Ranboo would be sweating in their seat if they, y’know, had sweat glands. 

“Well mate, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but if something happened us knowing would be good,” he said, smiling lightly. 

Well maybe this is these guys' way of making me say it…

“It was just a nightmare is all,” he said. Phil nods in understanding, and Wilbur lets out an ‘ohhh’. 

“I get that, the first few months I was here I had nightmares too, you can talk about them if you’d like, you don’t have to though,” he says, dumping a huge pile of brown sugar on his plate. 

“Oh, no. It’s fine I don’t want to bother you,” he says smiling, shaking his head. They share another look. What’s with that?!

“You won’t be a bother mate, we want you to feel welcome here. We know you haven’t been here too long but we hope you feel safe here,” Phil says, placing his hand closer to Ranboo. They nod their eyes darting around the room.

As he glanced down he saw Wilbur holding something. Ah it was a knife. How wonderful.

Well I guess my nightmares are coming back to haunt me.

Apparently he stares for too long because Wilbur gives him an odd look. 

He put his hand on his chest, trying to feel for the scar.

“Ranboo are you okay?” He asks, as Ranboos breathe gets quicker.

Oh god, was this room always so small? I feel like I’m suffocating.

“-anboo? Ranboo, are you okay?” He hears a voice say. His vision gets blurry and they feel their body shaking. Their heart was pounding in their ears and he heard a loud ringing noise.

“Uh I-I, um I need to… I need to step outside. P-please let me go outside,” he thinks he says, although with everything happening it’s hard to tell.

With their vision blurry, they quickly stumble up and head towards the door. They shove it open as fast as possible and finally let the new tears fall down his cheeks.

There were slight noises that sounded like they were coming from inside Ranboo. Nothing too loud, just  small vwoops every once in a while. The only thing they could see was purple particles, they were practically yelling at him. Voices clouded his head, he couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake.

The scenery changed so fast and he wasn’t even trying to move.

Eventually the teleporting, running stopped and Ranboo slowed down. As he began to have proper vision again he quickly saw Wilbur and Phil standing at the front porch.

Oh god what if they get rid of me, they probably hate this!

He was frozen and didn’t move. His breathing didn’t slow down and the particles were still there.

What the hell even are these.

He refused to make eye contact with the two at the porch and chose to stay as still as possible. After about 3 minutes of just standing there, they gave a slight nod and Phil seemed to have sent Wilbur over.

He’s not even going to do it himself, he’s sending over his son. Ranboo thought, tears still streaming down his face as he clenched and unclenched his hands.

This is fine, I don’t hate myself in any way and it’s fine. You can deal with rejection. It’s not new. Literally you’re fine.

“Hey Ranboo, can you hear me?” He says, Ranboo nods slightly. “Okay good, good can you see me,” He says, slowly inching closer and closer to Ranboo.

“⊬⟒⌇, ⊬eah ⟟ ☊⏃⋏ see  ⊬⍜u, ⟟’⋔ ⍀⟒a⌰⌰y ⌇or⍀⊬,'' they say, slightly stepping away from Wilbur, he stops moving at the gesture. But as Ranboo speaks his face changes into one of confusion.

“Okay, Ranboo I don’t want to alarm you but I cannot understand a word you're saying. I think you might be speaking a different language,” he says. He was standing about a foot away from Ranboo.

Ranboo still can’t breathe.

Okay, okay what the hell. 

“Ranboo what are three objects you can see,” he says slowly.

What kind of question is that?

“Uh ⟟ can see, um ⊬⍜u? ⏃n⎅ ⎍⋔ th⟒ ⊑⍜u⌇⟒ a⋏d ⎍⊑ ⋔y ha⟟⍀,”

“Okay, okay good, now can you tell me 3 things you can hear,”

“Uhm I c⏃⋏ h⟒⏃⍀ y⍜u. a⋏⎅ ⟟ can hea⍀ u⊑ the b⎍g⌇, ⏃n⎅ t⊑⟒ wi⋏d,” Ranboo says, his breathing calming.

“Alright, you’re doing great. Now can you move three of your body parts?”

Ranboo tilts his head, wriggles his tail, and lifts his arm. The particles around him stop appearing (though they don’t disappear). He was still crying and his entire body was shaking, but at least he could breathe. 

“Ranboo would you be okay if I gave you a hug, or held your hand??” He says. Ranboo stiffens, but nods his head anyways. Wilbur walks towards him, offering his hand. Ranboo takes it quickly and Wilbur leads him back to the house, though they don’t go inside. They sit on the porch and Wilbur continues to hold his hand.

“Is there someone else who you’d like to help calm you down? I know we’re not exactly the closest,” He asks, keeping his tone soft.

While that was true, he wasn’t really close with anyone here. Sure he and techno garden, but he didn’t want to bother him, and he was almost worse with emotions than Ranboo was. Tommy would probably be too loud, and Phil would probably be even worse than Wilbur.

He shook his head, not wanting to speak.

“Okay, do you want to stay out here? Or head inside,” he said. Ranboo stayed silent, which Wilbur took as him not wanting to move.

“I see that your tears are hurting you, is it okay if I head inside for a moment to grab tissues?” He asks. Still holding his hand, tapping in a soft rhythm that was comfortable. Ranboo nods and lets out a short shaky breath. Wilbur slowly stands up and walks inside. Ranboo sits there alone for a minute. They couldn’t stop crying, and they were cold. He really didn’t want to go inside, but it was looking like their only option. 

That is until Wilbur walked back outside with a blanket, a box of tissues and a mug of what Ranboo thinks might be hot chocolate . His ears perked up and Wilbur helped wrap the blanket around them.

“Do you want me to help dry your tears or would you rather do that yourself?” He asked sitting down next to him again, Ranboo reached for the box himself and started wiping his tears. Wilbur gives him the mug and they take a few sips before grabbing more tissues.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, Wilbur offers his hand again. Ranboo takes it subconsciously and they fall back into the rhythm of Wilbur squeezing it in the pattern of a song Ranboo wouldn’t know.

Ranboo takes one last deep breath before turning to Wilbur.

“Thank you,” he says quietly. Wilbur just looks at him and smiles.

“Thank you for not leaving me. Or, or telling me I wasn’t welcome here or something,”

“Of course,”

Chapter Text

It’s dinner time, Phil, Tommy, and Wilbur are all eating pasta, while Ranboo and Techno are eating baked potatoes that they had quickly pulled out of the garden. It was going pretty good!

He’s come to learn that they are all hybrids, that’s why they’re so welcoming to him. Phil is a crow, Techno a piglin, Wilbur’s a phantom though he looks nearly human and Tommy is some form of avian. (Ranboo can’t quite remember what) Their species are all so interesting, if only Ranboo could work up the courage to ask…

 Ranboo had been in this house for about a month and a half, and they still seemed to enjoy his company. He and Tommy would play games (Ranboo got the hang of Mario kart pretty quick), he would listen to Wilbur play music, and he and Techno would garden. They started planting his cosmos after getting the right pot. They usually try to help with dinner, otherwise he and Phil don’t really hang out much, but Phil seems to kinda like him? Overall this is one of the best houses he’s stayed at! Sure it was awkward and he wasn’t 100% comfortable, but it was a start.

They still haven’t really spoken about his breakdown yet.

He smiled slightly as he ate, tuning back into the conversation.

“-Dad I was wondering if Tubbo could come over tomorrow, it’s been like a month since I’ve seen him,” Tommy says, loudly slurping up his spaghetti. Ranboo pauses.

Oh, that wasn’t my intent…

Phil turns towards Ranboo. That makes him feel absolutely wonderful…

“Ranboo do you feel comfortable with having another person in the house? We can always ship him and Tommy off to the arcade or something,” Phil said. Tommy clearly didn’t want to go somewhere tomorrow. Besides, it’s fine, Ranboo can handle a kid coming over. It probably won’t be too bad, if it is, he can hide up in their room.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me, I’ll be good,” he says with a nervous smile.

“Alright!” Tommy shouts, pumping his fists in the air. 

“Okay, but Ranboo, tell us if you’re uncomfortable in any way while he’s here, okay?” Phil says seriously. Ranboo nods and goes back to eating his potato, avoiding eye contact for the rest of the meal.

~~~~

As Ranboo gets up from bed and looks at the clock.

5:46? Why can’t I just wake up at 6:00 at least. He thinks groggily.

 he walks to the bathroom to do his usual routine then walks down stairs after grabbing his book. When they get to the bottom of the stairs they sit down in a corner of the couch and begin to read.

The book is titled, ‘The Complete Language of Flowers’ . It's pretty interesting, it’s about what flowers can symbolize. He quickly flipped to the cosmos page, wanting to know what the flowers he kept so dear to their heart meant.

Simplicity, joy, and beauty. 

As Ranboo looked at the page he smiled. He traced the pretty picture of the flower, knowing the meaning made everything so much better. This flower, this single flower meant everything Ranboo had ever wanted, he wanted simplicity in his home life, he always missed the happiness they had when they were younger with their biological mother, and beauty. Ranboo loved seeing the beauty in things, almost everything was fascinatingly beautiful. He always wanted to see that beauty in themself.

Continuing to read about his favorite flower he learned that they were native to Mexico, and that watering was actually less of a problem than he thought it would be. They have an alarm clock in their room, and Phil said he was working on getting him a phone (even though Ranboo said they were fine without it) so remembering wouldn’t be too much of an issue. 

Probably. 

Well either way, flowers are fascinating. The language hidden in the petals, the fact that some (Aconite) can mean negativity is crazy. Ranboo had never thought that such pretty flowers could have so many layers, and that originally they had only scratched the surface.

He hadn’t even realized that Techno had joined him on the couch with his own book. They don’t notice now, or in two more hours. They just silently sat there and read.

In fact, the first time Ranboo looks up from his book, they see Tommy practically cartwheeling down the stairs. As he glanced around he saw that the entire family was up now, Techno reading on the chair across from Ranboo, Wilbur messing with some sort of sound(?) app on a laptop, and Phil cooking breakfast.

He quietly closed his book as Phil called for breakfast, and got up to walk towards the kitchen.

He held his book tightly and made himself a plate. It was a simple breakfast, some eggs and bacon. But to Ranboo was more than he used to get at breakfast. He knows he should trust them. They have to trust them. But they just can’t find it in themself.

He pokes at his food. It’s delicious, sure. But he doesn’t really have it in him to eat, so instead he listens to the family talk.

“Okay so Tubbo’s coming over at 10:00 and it’s like 8:00 right now so that’s two hours. Aughhhhhh I can’t wait that longgggg,” Tommy drags out his words, exaggerating his impatience.

“I think you’ll live Theseus,” Techno says nonchalantly.

“Funny you should say that, because I think I won’t,” he snaps back groaning. 

“Who is Tubbo?” Ranboo asks quietly. Soon he feels the heat of all their eyes on him.

“Only the second greatest hybrid alive! Me of course being first,” Tommy says, puffing out his chest. Ranboo just smiles and nods, that description not helping them understand at all. Wilbur pokes Tommy in the side, causing him to yelp.

“He’s my best friend, he’s a goat hybrid and we met at school. You should try to greet him, just so he knows you exist if you don’t interact with him. Anyways, he’s pretty cool, he was the class president or something before summer which is pretty cool, that was such a chaotic election. Techno swears he only got it because of nepotism,” Tommy says with a grin on his face, muttering the last part. Ranboo nods and tries to remember to write that down. 

“You’re not ready to meet him, but to be fair, no one’s really ready to meet Tubbo,” He says.

Well that’s just not calming my nerves at all. 

Ranboo thought, it must’ve shown on their face because Techno turns to talk to him.

“Tommy’s just exaggerating, you guys’ll get along. I will warn you that it does get pretty loud in here when they’re together, so if you need to step outside we can do some gardening,” he says calmly. Ranboo smiles at him. He gets back into eating.

~~~~

Time passes fast at the Minecraft’s, they don’t do much, all Ranboo does is read. Then rereads, and then rereads again. Every time they reread their book they notice new little details in the drawings, and understand the words even more, and fall in love with flowers more.

Eventually his ears shoot up. Hearing the person from outside before they even get to the doorstep. Assuming it’s okay to open the door, he gets up and walks to the door, opening it before the person even has the chance to knock. 

“Hi there, you’re Tubbo… right?” He says nervously, looking down. 

Whoa he’s short.

As the boy looked up at Ranboo his barely visible eyes widened. He nodded quickly, and Ranboo stepped aside to let him into the home. He took his shoes off and quickly shoved past Ranboo before he could say anything, giving him a dirty look.

Ouch. Maybe he doesn’t like new people..?

You could already hear the shouting from the living room. Ranboo walked to the living room to grab his book, he wasn’t planning on staying long, they don’t really like new people. As he stepped into the room Tubbo froze, as he looked over at him and watched his every move. As he grabbed his book, he slowly headed up the stairs, eavesdropping.

“Tubbo? You okay?” He heard Tommy say.

“Yeah it’s fine, I just think that, that’s someone I-” as Tubbo was about to finish his sentence Ranboo collided with someone, resulting in him falling down the stairs.

“Ack sorry Ranboo, we really have to stop doing that,” Wilbur says as he helps Ranboo up. Apparently the commotion was enough for Tommy to be interested, because a few moments later he and Tubbo appeared by the stairs.

As Ranboo looked down at them he could see Tommy holding back a laugh, but Tubbo looked absolutely terrified, glaring at Ranboo.

Is it because I look hideous? Aren’t you a hybrid as well?

Ranboo thought, his tail drooping noticeably. Tommy gave them both a look after that.

“You guys good?” He said, looking confusedly at the two of them.

“Tommy why do you have that in your house,” 

Chapter Text

“Tommy why do you have that in your house,”

~~~~

Ranboos' eyes widened and they shrunk into himself. 

Tommy looked shocked. Wilbur was still right behind Ranboo. He put a hand on their shoulder.

“Tubbo what the hell, you just met him,” Tommy says confused. 

“I’ve met him before. That bastard is fuckin feral,” he spat, continuing to glare at Ranboo.

“Whoa whoa whoa, let’s calm down here. This is Ranboo. Tubbo, this is the new person we’re fostering, okay?” Tommy said as he stood between them. Looking directly at Tubbo.

“Yeah? So what. I know what he’s like. I was in a house with him once. He’s fucking dangerous. So stay away,” he said firmly, pushing past Tommy.

“Okay wait, what do you mean feral? He’s literally the chilliest person I’ve ever met, are you sure you’ve got the right guy?” Wilbur said, sounding confused. Ranboo smiled slightly at the boys defending him, but was quickly pulled back into reality as Tubbo pushed past Tommy and shoved Ranboo to the ground. 

“You may have them tricked. But I will not be fooled you asshole,” he said. And as he walked away he tried to grab Tommy, who just shoved him off, giving him a scared yet confused look. Tubbo looked hurt but continued walking to the door. The three left in the room stood in silence. Tubbo had only gotten there a little while ago, Tommy’s confused look only got sadder. Tommy and Wilbur turned back to Ranboo.

“Ranboo do you have any idea what’s going on?” Tommy said. Ranboo shook their head.

“No! No I honestly don’t, I don’t know why he would ever hate me. I don’t even remember being in a house with him!” He said quickly, turning his head to see Tubbo putting his shoes back on in the doorway.

“I can go talk to him, but I’m not sure what I should say,” he says. 

“Well, I can try to convince him to have a conversation with you or something, but I think that’s about it…” Tommy says. Ranboo nods as Tommy walks to the small entryway. 

They hear quiet arguing from the next room, but choose to ignore it, attempting to focus on something else. Anything else.

“Do you really not remember him? I mean I know you’ve got a shit memory and stuff but not even vaguely?”

He thought back to the homes he could remember, there were a few kids whose name started with a T, but that was about all they could remember. He shook his head.

“Well maybe if we can get this conversation going we’ll find out,” he says, not really at Ranboo, more just out in the open. 

Ranboo nods. As he sees Tommy practically pulling Tubbo back in the room. He still looked pissed, but more willing to be here than before.

“I'll leave you both alone now,” Tommy said as he and Wilbur walked into the kitchen. They were probably just going to eavesdrop anyway.

As he looked down they saw Tubbo glaring at him.

“So. Tommy said you wanted to talk to me. Apparently you have memory problems?” He snorted.

“Uh yeah, I’m sorry. I really don’t remember you. Um I just, uh can you please tell me why you hate me,” he quickly blurted out. Tubbo looked surprised, but quickly changed back to his angry face.

“Oh, yeah uh. Well you were a total dick I mean you acted nice sometimes but then others you would try to fucking attack me! I remember i used to live listening to you talk ‘n shit but then you attacked me! You were fuckin feral. I still don’t think you have your shit together,” he said, spitting out the last part sounding uncertain.

“Uh well, could you explain what you um mean. I really don’t get what you mean by ‘feral’ I mean I get that I like um, attacked you. But I don’t really remember, I swear ! When even was this?” He said, slightly panicked.

“We were both like, twelve or something, you looked really different” he said…

~~~~

It was late in the afternoon, Tubbo had just gotten home from school. He sighed, flopping down on the couch. The foster parents were nice this time at least. As he looked up he saw the slightly taller boy, Ranboo , standing right next to the couch. He looked fairly human. You probably would’ve just thought he had a bad hair stylist if you just looked at him.

But if you looked closely enough you could see the speckles of dark purple on one side, and pale white on the other. 

“Do you need anything?” He said as he sat up. The boy sat down right beside him, not giving any acknowledgment that he even heard Tubbo.

“Hey man, are you good?” Tubbo asked as he prodded his side.

Ranboo blinked and Tubbo could’ve sworn his eyes changed colors. Tubbo shook his head. And the boy smiled down at him. 

“Yeah I’m fine, I was just spaced out!” He said Tubbo didn’t believe him. But what would be the point in saying that? So he nodded instead as the boy started talking. They were friends, surely. He only really spoke to Tubbo anyways.

His voice cut out. As Tubbo looked up at him, he didn’t see his signature multicolor eyes. They were purple, straight purple. Tubbo froze.

“Hey uh, you alright man?” He asked. Ranboo’s head snapped towards him. As Tubbo attempted eye contact the boy grew angry, his jaw slightly unhinged. 

God why can’t I look away. He thought panicking. 

He was frozen in place.

Ranboo grabbed his shoulder. He didn’t grab it too hard. It’s fine. He’s probably just worried or something… 

His grip tightened.

“Ow, hey! Hey dude, hey stop!” He shouted, trying to shove Ranboo off, but his grip was too tight. His other hand reached towards Tubbos face. He’s able to keep his hand away, but the one on his shoulder began to draw blood. The tears in Tubbos eyes were proof of the pain.

“Ranboo! Ranboo STOP !” He said clawing at the hand. Ranboo just stood up, still holding Tubbo. He raises him up and throws him to the ground head first. His purple eyes piercing Tubbo before he passes out.

~~~~

“I don’t remember too much after that, I was in the hospital for a while, you were surprisingly strong. All I know is that they sent you back, and me too after a while, I caused too much trouble,” Tubbo said, picking at his skin.

Ranboo was shocked, they didn’t know what to say, or how to comfort someone from a, probably traumatic memory. He probably didn’t want to be touched, especially by Ranboo.

“I, Uh, I'm really sorry. I still don’t know who you are. But um while I’d like to start fresh I understand if you can’t do that. It sounds like I Uh really hurt you,” Ranboo said fidgeting with his hands. 

“We can try to start fresh, if you really don’t remember. I can’t confirm I’ll feel comfortable around you immediately, or even soon, but we can try. But if I find out you’re lying I’ll kill you,” he threatened.

Chapter Text

The family was watching some dumb rom-com. It was definitely… a movie… but Ranboo had to physically cover their mouth to stop making fun of some dumb girl named Kat while she fell in love with a “bad boy” Patrick. Who in their right mind would name their character Patrick if they’re trying to make a compelling film. Anyways the family realized that Ranboo was not someone to watch rom-coms with. (Even if he tried to not make faces)

As Ranboos' mind grew bored of the crappy movie they began to wander, they slowly landed on Tommy’s phone. He clearly wasn’t watching the movie, just playing some game where you place blocks or something. Either way it was more interesting than whatever ‘ten things I hate about you’ crap was on.

Phil happened to be looking up at the right moment and gasped.

“Oh shit! We haven’t gotten you your phone yet!” He exclaimed. Ranboo looked up confused, Phil had said he’d get them a phone, but he didn’t think it’d be so soon. I mean, what if he doesn’t end up wanting them?

“But, if you’re going to send me back what’d be the point in getting me a phone?” He asked, confused. The three hybrids in the room looked up, hurt, Ranboo had made progress in trusting them, but clearly not enough.

“Ranboo, we aren’t planning on sending you back unless you don’t want to be here,” Phil said after a moment. Ranboos' eyes widened.

“Oh, no! I like it here, I really really do! I’m sorry!” He said, hurrying to clarify.

“No, Nono Ranboo you’re fine, we weren’t going to send you back. But I need to send over the paperwork an’ shit. I’ve got everything sorted out, except for actually buying the phone ,”  he says. “I’ll get working on that, alright? I’ll give you all of our numbers as well,” he says, as he slowly, still looking at Ranboo, turns away.

Chapter Text

Ranboo and Tubbo were doing fine. Tubbo had given them a chance and he was less, how to put it… threatening. 

They had hung out a few times, always with Tommy, but they really began to click! They contrast each other well and they quickly grew into good friends. It had only been about two weeks since they talked, yet they were already hanging out constantly! 

Soon, Phil got Ranboo his own phone, even after the teen insisted that they didn’t need it. Ranboo quickly added everybody’s number and got Tubbos soon after. 

~~~~

Tommy was sitting in the corner of the couch.

“Hey Tommy, me and Tubbo we’re going to meet up at the park today! Do you want to join?” He said excitedly, tail wagging happily.

“Nice to know you’re aware I exist,” he mutters snarkily, turning back to his phone. Ranboo looks at him confused.

“I’m not sure I follow,” he says, frowning. When Ranboo was met with silence he just stood and waited. It took Tommy a minute to realize that Ranboo was still there.

“What, can’t you understand basic social cues? I’m not hanging out with you guys. All you do is ignore me,” he says, muttering the last bit. Though Ranboo has excellent hearing, so he heard it anyway. His smile falters and he slowly walks away, not wanting to cause any sort of drama. 

Tommy scoffs and goes back to his phone playing some stupid game. 

~~~~

“Hey, Tubbo? I think we need to talk,” Ranboo says. Tubbo looks up at him with confusion. They were taking a stroll down to the creek near the park.

“What’s up, man? You sound pretty concerned,” he said, keeping a level head. Ranboo on the other hand was more… attempting… to keep a level head. He seemed fine on the outside but when they spoke their voice trembled, knowing that if he messes up, the work he’s put in to get along with the family could all be for nothing. Work where he tried even harder because he liked Tommy.

“Woah woah woah, let’s stop tearing up. I can hear your skin burning,” Tubbo says, waving his hand in Ranboo’s face. Ranboo snaps back into reality and uses their sleeve to dab the tears. He wasn’t crying but it definitely hurt.

God I wish I was more apathetic 

Once they calmed down they teens kept walking.

“So what happened? You good?” He said after a bit of awkward silence. Ranboo nods

“It’ll probably be fine, but I also maybe think Tommy hates me,” he said. Tubbo looked confused. “He got mad when I asked him if he wanted to hang out today, then he said ‘What, can’t you understand basic social cues?’ About me specifically I think, and ‘I’m not hanging out with you guys. All you do is ignore me,” they said as the creek finally came into view.

They both sat down and Tubbo put his feet in the water,

Ranboo, of course didn't touch the water, but the sounds of the creek were nice.

“Oh,” Tubbo said. Then he thought for a moment. “I guess Tommy’s always been kind of jealous and protective,” he shrugged. Grinning at Ranboo confused face.

“I mean like, he just gets really attached and shit. It’s his avian instincts I think, he’s made me part of his ‘flock’ or something,” he said shrugging. Ranboo nodded even if he still didn’t really understand. 

Tubbo wasn’t a bird was he?

They decided to not bring it up again.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before it was filled with the rambling of the two teens. 

~~~~

Ranboo sat on their bed staring at their blank phone screen. They had just gotten home from their outing and he still couldn’t stop thinking about Tommy. They didn’t want him to be mad at him. 

They let out a huff and pulls himself up, leaving their phone on the bed. He pops his back and starts walking to the hallway, stopping in front of Tommy’s room debating whether or not to go in. 

They knock.

The door opens, Ranboo sees the sour expression on his face as he realizes who’s at the door.

“Uh hi, i wanted to talk to you? Um, is that cool?” They ask, Tommy keeps the door open as he sits back on his bed still looking salty.

“I know you’re kinda, like, mad at me and stuff, but I can stop hanging out with Tubbo if you want,” he says, fidgeting with their hands. While he didn’t want to stop hanging out with Tubbo he would if that’s what Tommy wanted. This was a terrible, terrible mindset to have. But after years of neglect unless you’re bending over backwards for someone it kind of becomes a habit…

“No!” He says hurriedly. “No, do not do that. I just-” he sighs loudly. “I've just had some… unfortunate… experiences, with, ya’know being replaced…” he mutters the last bit, but Ranboo assumed he was meant to hear it.

“O-oh if you’d like to talk about them, uh, you can always talk to me? I mean I know you’re going to therapy (I think?) but I’ll always try to make time for you if you need me to,” Ranboo continues to ramble on about wanting Tommy to be comfortable around them. The only reason they snapped out of it was because of the small breathy chuckle that Tommy let out. As Ranboo looked up he saw tears forming in Tommy’s eyes. 

Ranboo’s eyes widened, Tommy was crying? Tommy never seemed to show any emotion other than aggressive happiness. Or just aggression in general.

He’s never been too good at reading people, never knowing why people are crying.

“Oh, uhm,” he said as he sat next to Tommy. “Do you want a hug? Or something?” He said awkwardly. Tommy nodded, his face was unmoving, but there were tears running down his face. Ranboo reached over and gave Tommy a hug as best he could, and quickly realized that they’d never comforted someone in his life. They both sat silently for a moment before letting go of the hug and staring awkwardly at the floor.

“Do you want to, uh, talk about what happened?” Ranboo asks after a few moments of awkwardly tapping their hands.

“You're right…” Tommy said, Ranboo’s eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “BUT, I wasn’t jealous-” Ranboo gave him an uncertain look. “Hey don’t be an asshole, I was just being… protective, tubbo means a lot to me, we’ve been friends for years, since we were like, 13-14 years old. He’s been part of my flock for years now…” he said quietly. Ranboo nods signaling for him to continue.

“We met in middle school, we were both being fostered in the area so we kept in contact through school, i was just starting with Phil, and he was with his new parents. We didn’t really get along much at the beginning, I think we even got into a few fist fights every once in a while… but eventually Phil forced me to give him a shot. For the longest time I never admitted it, but we became good friends, we’ve been together for so long… and… I don't want to lose that! Especially if it’s because he’s just made another friend, I guess you’re pretty cool though,” he says. Ranboo wasn’t expecting to get much out of Tommy, but now that he knows more of the issue he can figure out a way to fix it.

Maybe.

Ranboo’s not great with emotions.

“How about this, because I know you’re very protective of tubbo, maybe we could alternate the planning schedule. You know nothing can shatter your bond, I mean even if you killed someone the other would probably help with the body. Anyways, me and tubbo never meant to make you feel left out, I was just excited about someone actually wanting to be my friend,” he says relieved. Tommy nods, they don’t say anything else for a long while.

~~~~

Ranboo can hear the shuffling of feet and some sort of clicks? He feels the warmth of a heavy misshaped blanket On top of them. They keep their eyes closed as they shift and try to fall asleep again, their alarm hadn’t gone off yet so it’s not even 6:30 yet. The “blanket” makes a yelping noise and Ranboo’s eyes shoot open. Quickly stumbling upwards. There’s a thud behind him and as they turn to see what’s happened he sees the three older men staring at them, looking downwards he could see a very embarrassed Tommy rubbing his hand.

Huh, this is really weird. Something you’d see in a fanfic or something… eh whatever. He thought tiredly before remembering Tommy was still on the floor. He reached his hand out and pulled Tommy to his feet.

 As he remembered the night before, he and Tommy had fallen asleep hugging, of all things. They could feel their ears heat up. Looking at Phil he could see a polaroid camera in his hands, and Phil waving out a photo grinning.

As soon as Tommy got up he quickly snatched the picture from Phil and bolted out the door, leaving techno Wilbur and Ranboo in the room alone, just watching as a thirty something year old man chase a 16 year old around the house.

That’s not something that Ranboo thought he would ever see. Glancing around the room he could see Wilbur cheering Phil on and Technos blank stare. He smiled realizing how good he has it.

The happiness feels as though it would never fade. So as he smiles he can’t help but tear up. Even after everything he’s been through, the difficulties adjusting, the arguing with Tommy? He really felt that eventually he could call this place their home.

Although.

Sometimes things won’t last forever.

It’s unfortunate…

Chapter Text

Phil’s been having a fairly simple time adjusting to Ranboo, he’s been calm for the most part and Phil likes the change, he and his sons get along well so adding another boy to the mix is a fun way to spice things up! Of course, that’s not the only reason, he loves Ranboo like he’s his own son already. I mean how could he not? The boy is kind, funny, and calm, everything they need to balance out the household. 

Phil smiles and goes back to scrolling on his phone waiting for the pasta to boil.

“-No dude I swear if you,” the three boys walking in are loud, nothing Phil isn’t used to by now, but they stop dead in their tracks and start giggling. Giggling of all things, Phil can’t help but roll his eyes fondly.

“Hey Phil,” Tubbo says almost in unison with Tommy. Ranboo waves silently, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“Hey guys, I’m making pasta tonight, it’s been a long week, figured we could make something simple,” he says smiling into his phone. There was a beat of silence, likely used to exchange glances, before he heard Tommy groan loudly.

“Phil? Phil. Hear me out. Pizza. Okay? You heard that yeah? I think you should get pizza because my dumbass parents don’t ever eat out,” Tubbo says, making exaggerated hand gestures. 

Phil just rolls his eyes and turns back to the pasta.

“We can get pizza tomorrow you little shits,” he says with a tired sigh, and begins stirring. He hears Tommy begin his dramatics, and just before he can start he pops his earbuds in.

The whining goes on for however long it takes for Wilbur to throw something at Tommy and he soon becomes distracted. As Phil looks back at the boys he thinks he sees a small glint of purple in Ranboo’s eyes. He shakes his head and it’s gone, it’s like it was never there… 

Phil frowns. He had read Ranboo’s file, it said that he used to be a very violent kid, and still can be, but it rarely happens. It said he was an enderman hybrid. Hell, it even told him that Ranboo didn’t have sweat glands. But never once were his eyes mentioned. He ponders, thinking it was just the reflection of the light in his eyes he ignores it.

~~~~

As Phil lay awake in his bed he soon grew thirsty. He slowly got up, his bones cracking, and put his slippers on. As he stretched out his back he heard a floorboard creek. His wings shot up, knocking over a small pot in his room.

Dammit.

… I’ll get Tommy to clean that up… he thinks as he turns away and walks out the door.

Phil stumbles down the stairs, as he gets to the bottom of the step he is almost fully awake. He walks to the kitchen and fumbles for a cup in a cabinet. 

He shuts the cabinet door and jumps as he sees Ranboo standing there, usually he can tell when someone sneaks up behind he can tell almost immediately. So obviously, Ranboo being there was a surprise, I mean sure he’s quiet, but not that quiet.

“Gah! Jesus Ranboo, ya scared the shit outta me,” he said, clenching his heart. Ranboo said nothing, he just kept his eyes closed.

“Uhhh, Ranboo? Mate? You alright?” Phil says, flapping his wings in front of his face. When Ranboo didn’t respond Phil shrugged.

I guess he… doesn’t feel like talking..?

As Phil turned away to get his water. As he turned the tap on he heard a hiss from behind him, he just casually turned around. As he looked up to see Ranboo’s face,  his eyes were replaced with purple ones white white slits.

“Whoa there, okay. Uh, alright,” Phil said as he stumbled backwards. As he brought his eyes up to meet Ranboo’s, he quickly looked back down.

Ranboo hates eye contact, I should know this by now. He thinks, flicking himself in the head. He avoided looking in Ranboo’s eyes before the young boy grabs his head.  As the boy held his head in his hand he saw that his jaw was almost fully unhinged and his hands were… sharper… than usual. 

Ranboo looked angry, but as Phil saw a flash of red and green he was dropped. As he caught a glimpse of his eyes they had turned purple again. As Phil flapped away from Ranboo he could see tears burning him as he tried to pull his own arms away from Phil. As Ranboo came down with a large swing, Phil covered his eyes, not being able to move away in time.

He felt something that felt almost… dusty? As he opened his eyes he saw a flurry of purple and Ranboo in the living room, his eyes open wide. He was back to his mismatched self and Phil felt his shoulders relax.

“Ranboo? Are you alright?” He said softly. The boy's head snapped up, looking horrified.

“I’m sorry. ImsorryimsorryImsorryimsorryImsorryimsorry,” he kept repeating the words over and over running his nails down his face over and over again. Phil ran over and grabbed his hands and pulled them down. The boy was still repeating the words, Phil wasn’t snapping him out of it.

“Hey, hey Ranboo, Ranboo you're okay, I’m not mad I just want to know what happened, okay?” He says softly as he tries to wipe Ranboo’s tears.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what happened. I don't remember, I don’t remember. I can’t remember. Nothing makes sense. What just happened,why did I do that?!” he said, panicking.

“You don’t have to worry, okay? Just talk to me when you’re ready, if you don’t remember and want me to tell you I can do that okay?”

Ranboo nods before asking if Phil wants to go back to bed. Clearly he was uncomfortable in staying with Phil so he let him leave.

~~~~

Oh my god. Why the hell did I do that?! Phil probably hates me now! Oh my god oh my god oh my god. I ruined everything .

As Ranboo quickly walked up the stairs it dawned on them.

He’s going to send me back

“Fuck,”

Chapter Text

He knows. 

He knows he knows he knows he knows he knows.

Ranboo is sitting on the floor of the bathroom crying.

No. You said you’d stop. If they find out… well… then they’ll definitely get rid of me…

Stop. Stop. Stop. STOP. 

But 

He knows

He can’t know he’ll tell everyone  

Wait

What am I doing

Stop

STOP

They don’t stop

It doesn’t matter anyways soon his wrists and thighs are bloodier than when he was with any household they’ve ever been in...

He’s already ruined his chances at happiness 

He’s not worth the love given to him.

As thick beads surround the thin lines, his thoughts consume him.

Chapter Text

⚠️ -As Ranboo yawns he found himself curled up in his bed at around 6:15 am. His legs burned and so did his shoulders. As he got dressed they made sure to wear clothes with longer features for… obvious… reasons… they tried to ignore it...- ⚠️ 

He got dressed quickly and went to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Their morning routine was simple. He didn’t use water when he brushed their teeth because the water would burn them, but it worked nonetheless. He fumbled for his phone and when they got it out they saw a message in the Tommy-Tubbo group chat.

Tubbo: Hey gyus, r u up to hang out today? I want to go to th arcade

Tommy probably wasn’t up yet so Ranboo decided to answer for the both of them.

Ranboo: I’m sure Tommy and I can make that : )

They put their phone away and began brushing their matted hair. As he was working on it he could hear Tommy’s closet door open. They smiled and absently wandered over to his room. He quietly knocked on his door and waited for a loudly quiet “COME IN!” to be heard before entering.

Still brushing their hair Ranboo sat on Tommy’s desk chair and waited. Just re-reading some old texts, they didn’t have any games on their phone yet. 

As Ranboo was giggling at some of the things Tubbo had sent him Tommy opened the door to his closet. He was wearing what seemed to be a nicely made DIY shirt that said Sunday Club. Ranboo smiled and stood up.

“Ranboooobbbb why’d ya have to respond so earlyyyyyy,” he said, dragging his feet to the other teen. He flopped down where Ranboo had been sitting a moment earlier and they stood there looking at him for a few moments before pulling him upwards and walking out the bedroom door snickering. They subconsciously tiptoed quickly down the stairs and jumped from the last two onto the floor with a soft thud . They stood only a second before Tommy stumbled down beside him. As they both walked into the kitchen Tommy beelined for the pantry, grabbing out a few slices of bread and a strangely large avocado.

As Tommy prepared toast for the two of them Ranboo went into the fridge and grabbed out the orange juice, along with two eggs, and poured the juice into two tall glasses. Grabbing a pan and setting it on the stove he quickly buttered it and cracked the eggs over easy style. 

Throughout the time from Ranboo getting here to now the boys each had different morning routines with the tall hybrid. Tommy and him made breakfast, while he and Techno made tea with a side of potatoes and watered their plants, but he and Wilbur listened to music quietly while they made toast. Ranboo was still awkward with Phil so he just read while the older man scrolled on his phone while making some form of breakfast. 

If you didn’t know them you wouldn’t have noticed the slight falter in his smile or the dip in their tail. Luckily Tommy was turned around, humming some song Wilbur wrote to himself. As Ranboo flipped the eggs he accidentally touched the hot pan with their arm, as he hissed in pain Tommy turned around.

“You okay king?” He said with a tiny hint of concern. Ranboo glanced up and smiled brightly.

“Yeah I’m alright!” The smile felt weirdly… fake… on their face. It’s fine though! They’re probably fine… 

Tommy grabbed the two plates and put the freshly eggs on the toast as they sat down. They ate while listening to their brother friend talk. His eyes slightly widened at the thought of getting attached to the family, sure they were nice but he still had the gross feeling of abandonment. He doesn’t think it’ll go away anytime soon, always lurking, but it might get better…

Oh my GOD why am I like this. 

He thought, before returning his attention to Tommy. The boy was talking about how much he was going to destroy Ranboo at all the arcade games. Smiling they set their dishes in the sink, not being able to wash them himself they left them for someone else.

They felt a little buzz and picked up their phone, seeing Tubbo had sent a text, it was around 8:00 now.

Tubbo: cn we wait till 9 t hang out, meet at mine

Tommy: you got it big man 

Ranboo liked: cn we wait till 9 t hang out

Now that they had a bit more time he and Tommy sat down and put cable on while talking. They liked talking with Tommy, they think about that a lot but they just can’t help it, Tommy is one of his best (only) friends! They feel like they should tell him something, but he can’t put his finger on it. 

As Tommy finished his rant, they both turned to the tv subconsciously and began watching some show Ranboo kept forgetting the name of, the one with four little vulgar boys in Colorado or something.

Gah, why can I never remember anything! What happened last night?!

He thought, absently scratching his leg until it hurt. Trying to ignore the thoughts of hopelessness he was having he turned back to watch the tv. They only watched about one episode before Tubbo texted again.

Tubbo: r u guys ready to go

Ranboo: Yup, we can head out now.

Tommy liked, Yup, we can head out now.

The two teens get up and Ranboo writes a quick note for Phil so he knows where they are. And then they quickly walked out the door, to Tubbos house.

Knocking on the door the shorter of the boys quickly answered.

“Hey guys, let me just grab my wallet,” he says before rushing back inside. Tommy and Ranboo stand at the door for a few moments before seeing the hybrid sprint back out.

“I GOT IT LET GOOO!” He shouts, leaping out the door.

Me and Tommy smile at him and follow him quickly.

They live close to the arcade so they walk, it only takes them about 5 minutes, but that’s still five minutes of complaining.

When they finally get there Tubbo and Tommy rush to the prizes.

There may not have been anything the boys especially wanted, but they were happy nonetheless.

As Ranboo laughed with them there was a slight bittersweet feeling, he couldn’t process why. He was laughing with his friends but still felt so disappointed, not at them, more so at himself. It’s probably whatever…

Snapping back to reality he shot at Tommy in whatever game they were playing.

Grinning as he killed him and won the game, they moved on to the next, only of course after Tommy begged for a rematch. 

To which he still lost.

I’m having fun goddammit. Nothing can ruin this moment. 

~~~~

The boys decided to split up so they could play their favorite games and meet back somewhere around 11:30-ish. 

⚠️SH internal monologue!⚠️ 

Ranboo walks into the one stall bathroom he locks the door and stares at himself in the mirror.

It's fine it was a one time thing and won’t happen again. He thought, picking at his sleeves. As he did he noticed that when he got home they should re-change the wrapping. It was starting to get dirty and an infection was not something they could risk. 

God I wonder what they’d think of me… 

No. It’s fine Ranboo! It’s okay. They said they wouldn’t send you back. You are okay. He thought as he left the bathroom. (Yes his hands are clean, no I’m not sure how, I mean who cares)

⚠️it’s over right here!!!⚠️ 

As he walked out of the bathroom their tail swished behind him, probably not the best at an arcade. When someone ran past they stepped on it, not hard, sure, but it still hurt. He glowered for a moment and continued to walk along the games, occasionally he stopped and played a round or two but nothing really caught his eye.

That was until he saw an old pinball machine…

 It didn't look like people had been using it recently. He stepped up to it looking at its theme. 

Oh nice! Garfield! He thinks before swiping his card. He plays Garfield Pinball for quite some time, when he checked his phone he saw that it’d already been about 30 minutes. He looks up at how he decimated the score board. But what to put as his name…

 Snickering with his own “joke” he walked away but not without a picture of him and his winnings.

In third there was of course…

Zac - 15,793

Second…

Car - 16,849

And Ranboo, at the top…

Ass - 18,469

How original, right? But they still thought it was the funniest thing on the planet.

They quickly hurried back to the middle to try and pool together their tickets with Tubbo and Tommy.

In total they had around 5,000 tickets. They got a few lollipops and some sticky hands before leaving making sure that every game they played was decimated.

And in the end Ranboo’s smile only faltered a little…

Do you ever look to the heavens and beg that nobody will ever love you, because you are incapable of love?

 ~~~~

Chapter Text

Techno had been noticing… weird… things recently.  But it was happening to Ranboo of all people, who after techno, was the most sane hybrid in the household! His mood had shifted, his tail dropped as he was smiling and he hadn’t explicitly asked to help with the garden for about a week. They both used to keep the potatoes and flowers together, it was a hobby they both enjoyed. But recently Ranboo had been less than eager to help. Techno could’ve brushed it off if it was just a handful of times, but this had been a full week without even a glance to the garden.

One could take that as being distracted, or finding new things to do, but not techno. Neither his nor Ranboos' brain worked that way. Ranboo would’ve mentioned not wanting to garden, even if he’s “getting better” he still gets anxious. 

After observing carefully Techno decided to write down and document the differences in Ranboo’s mood.

-

What’s going on with Ranboo 

• Doesn’t want to garden

• Less talkative

• More jumpy

• Less sleep

• Less willingness to be around people

I don’t understand  

-

The only issue Techno was having with his studies is that aside from the gardening thing, Ranboo was just acting like Techno. Was he imagining it? He could have finally adjusted the way he wanted to…

Techno was having trouble with his conclusion until one fateful night…

~~~~

Techno was reading while Tommy and Ranboo were playing Mario kart. It would be his and Wilbur’s turn soon enough. Wilbur was focused on his guitar, and Tommy’s eyes fixed on the screen. Techno was watching Ranboo, trying to find more proof of him not being himself.

“-STOP FUCKING CHEATING!” Tommy screams, at the top of his lungs.

“I'M NOT YOU'RE JUST BAD!!” Ranboo yells back. Ranboo let out a whoop when he won, throwing his arms up in victory. It wasn’t a good look, he barely saw it. But Techno could’ve sworn he saw blood on Ranboos wrists, but he couldn’t tell for sure. Not being one for confrontation until he’s sure he’s correct, he waited. Taking special care to specifically looking at Ranboo.

Nothing happened for a while, Ranboo and Tommy asked if he wanted to switch off. He declined but Wilbur took Tommy’s offer and began playing against Ranboo. Ranboo had been on a lucky winning streak recently, he was getting better though. As he stared down Ranboo Tommy glanced over.

“Hey man, what are you doing, why’re you just glaring Ranboo down,” 

“Hm? Oh, I just thought I saw something on his arm,” techno said, brushing off Tommy’s concern. But of course, Tommy doesn’t understand the same social cues Techno did.

“RANBOOOOO,” he shouted. Technos eyes widened slightly.

“Wait Tommy, don’t mention it to him,” he whispered, glaring at the boy. Ranboo looked back at Tommy with a confused look.

“Nothing, just hoping you’d mess up,” he said, and right in cue, a green shell hit his kart in the back.

“Awgh! Jesus Christ, whyyyy,” he said quickly, reaching at Tommy, before he turned back to the game, trying to regain his first place. In the split second of the sleeves being baggy enough to look down them, he saw it. The bandage wraps around his arm, the seemingly dried blood. He was hurt, and by the look on Tommy’s face he noticed it too.

Silently Techno grabbed Tommy and pulled him into the kitchen.

“Tommy I need you to not mention this to anyone, I will tell Phil as soon as he gets home so we can have a safe intervention with Ranboo, okay?” Techno says staring directly in Tommy’s eyes.

“Uh, yeah? I mean i don’t even know what’s going on right now,”

“I’ll explain when Phil gets home, let’s grab some snacks and head back,” he says, already reaching for the microwave popcorn. Tommy nods and grabs a bag of chips silently. He walks out of the door before techno. Eventually he returns to the living room where Tommy is strangely quiet. Not that Wil or Ranboo noticed, as they were both screaming their heads off.

It went on like that, switching controllers every turn for a few hours. Phil had been out doing work and grocery shopping, that when he came home the house was so full of noise he entered undetected. That would be true of course if Techno hadn’t been waiting impatiently the entire time.

As soon as Phil opened the door techno jumped up. He quickly looked at the time. It was only around 11:30, he’d have to convince Ranboo to get ready for bed.

It should be easy enough, which is an issue for another time, but easy is good in this situation.

“Hey Ranboo, you should get ready for bed, we can hang out again after,” Techno said, looking at Tommy. The look of realization dawned on him, even if he didn’t know what was going on, and he quickly whispered something in Wilbur’s ear. Ranboo looked at techno and nodded, he quickly got up and gathered his things.

As soon as he was out of earshot Techno grabbed the three people and sat them down.

“Hello family, I’ve been going over what I need to say in this for about 2 hours. I’m concerned for Ranboo,” as soon as he said that Phil’s head perked up. 

“What do you mean?”he said, the look of concern growing on all three faces.

“He’s been acting off lately, so I decided to study(?) him. I’ve recently noticed that he’s becoming uninterested in things he once loved and he’s stopped sleeping as much,” techno said, stalling for what he was going to tell them.

“It sounds like he could be adjusting, it can have its highs and lows Techno, we can have a talk with him though,” Phil said.

“Yes, I agree, however there is… something else that has me worried… it’s important and you may want to mentally prepare yourself,” he says, taking a pause after so they could process what he said.

“Okay, I don’t know how to say this lightly so I’ll just be as straightforward as I can be. I think that Ranboo has been hurting himself, on purpose, I saw the cuts on his arms,” he said, trying to keep a level voice. As soon as he told them they gasped, all of them looked sad, shocked, and worried. Tears were forming in everyone’s eyes.

“What..? How did- how did you find out? How do we help, what do we do? Did we do anything wrong? How- what- how do we help him? ” Phil chokes out, tears have fully formed and the boys next to him were crying as well. Tommy’s hands were clenched on his pants, he looked the most hurt out of them all. It made sense really, they were the closest. Ranboo had gifted his first flower to Tommy, and Tommy had kept it. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Tommy asks softly.

“I hope so, we have to talk with him soon. We- we have to plan what to say and do so he doesn’t think we blame him, or like, hate him,” Techno murmurs, he continued to glance at the staircase to make sure Ranboo wasn’t walking down.

“He will be okay,”

Chapter Text

Ranboo hadn’t been expecting anybody to know. Nothing was wrong with them, they hadn’t meant to. But of course he wasn’t good at hiding.

They’d gotten ready and went to bed, he decided to ignore the quietness when they had gone back downstairs to say goodnight.

~~~~

Staying up the next day was hard, all they wanted to do was sleep. But even with the confirmation that they could go to bed early they still felt the need to be up today.

He went through the same routine he always had and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nobody was up yet, so he made himself some tea and began reading a book. Nothing special, just whatever was laying around. 

He sat for a while reading before he heard someone else get up. His head perked up to see Phil overing near him, he clearly looked nervous. He could hear the others talking in the kitchen quietly.

Ranboo raised his eyebrows.

“Are you guys okay? You look a bit worried,” he says, fiddling with his sleeve.

“We wanted to talk to you about something Ranboo, and I want to say before that we’re not mad we just want to make sure you’re doing okay,” Phil says, as he sat next to Ranboo.

His tail flicked worriedly while his eyes slightly glazed over.

“What, what do you mean? By that?” He said worriedly, voice breaking in the middle once his sentence.

“We don’t want to worry you, but we know about, um, we know that you’ve hurt yourself. Deliberately,” he said, still sat right next to Ranboo.

What. No. Nonononoonononono… Ranboo freezes, his eyes go blurry and he drops his book. Eyes welling up.

“I, um. I’m sorry I didn't. I didn't mean to. I just did and, and then, I didn’t mean to. I'm sorry, I’m really really sorry,” he said, scratching his arms, hyperventilating, his tears burning him.

“Okay, okay no, nononono it’s okay Ranboo, I just want you to know that I am, that we are here for you when you need us. We can try to find you some sort of licensed professional to help you talk or something, we just want you to have a different coping mechanism. We don’t want to see you hurt and we don’t blame or hate you for this. I just want you to be okay,” Phil vowed, he looked at Ranboo and he smiled sadly.

“I know Wilbur helped you calm down the last time this happened, do you want me to get him? Or would you rather I tried to help,” he said, as he passed Ranboo some tissues.

“Yeah, that’d be, that would be nice…” they said, as he avoided eye contact catching his breath. 

Phil nodded and walked quietly to the kitchen. Ranboo heard quiet words being shared.

A few moments later Phil and Wilbur walked back out. Both on either side of him Wilbur put his hand on Ranboos shoulder and started tapping in a rhythm of three. Ranboo set his hand out, hoping Wilbur would grab it. He did and began pressing the rhythm into his hand instead. Slowly but surely Ranboos breathing slowed. 

“Do you want to talk? Or do you want some more time,” he said slowly and quietly. Ranboo nodded and sucked in a few more breaths.

“When, when I was with Phil. Uh, okay so the other night I was in the kitchen and I didn’t like, notice Phil and I, uh okay. So, I, and then. Um, I hurt-” he stuttered, not quite able to finish his sentence. He flaps his hands and wipes them on his pants. They choked and hiccuped for a few minutes before they took a deep breath.

“When I was- when I was in the kitchen I was zoned out. Um I think. I don’t remember what the doctors called it? When I hurt Tubbo? Um but I, I think it’s the same thing that happened then. Because I don’t really like control myself when um that happens, but uh I like, I hurt you,” he choked out as he looked at Phil, Phil’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth a few times before leaving the talking to Wilbur.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m so so so sorry,” he repeated. He repeated this over and over and over again. Not wanting to give anyone the wrong message. He choked and hiccuped and sobbed and screamed and shouted.

The tears running down his face didn’t stop until he passed out in his fathers guardians arms.

“At least he knows we know. And that we don’t blame him. We can find him a therapist when he’s ready,” Phil says as he holds his son.

Chapter Text

We can look for a professional

We can look for a professional

We can look for a professional

We can look for a professional

We can look for a professional

The words repeated in Ranboos' mind. They knew that it would be good and healthy, but the thought of Phil spending so much on something that might not even work terrified him. His appointment was for 3:30 at an office that Techno had gone to when he first met the Minecraft’s. He had decided a few years ago he didn’t want to go to therapy for a while, to see how he would do without it.

He was scared

“Ranboo! Ready to go?” Phil said to the sitting boy. Ranboo nodded and stood up. Phil and him walked quietly to the car. Ranboo sat in the front seat while Phil drove. 

“You wanna set up some music?” Phil said. Ranboo nodded as they set up Lemon Demon , their newest favorite artist (a recommendation from Wilbur). Ranboo didn’t say anything, he just hummed along to the music. 

“I don’t want to force you to do this or anything Ranboo, we can find a different way, I just think that we should try this once or twice so you see the options, okay?” Phil asked, as he glanced at Ranboo. They just nodded again. They stayed silent until they got to the office. It was a small building. 

Very… beige… they thought as they walked in. There were a few paintings and plants. There was a lady sitting at the receptionist's desk, she had small horns sticking out from her head and she wore a pale pink button up. She looked up as the quiet bell hooked on the door jingled.

“Ah! Hello, what time is your appointment?” She said brightly, keeping a smile on her face. 

“Hello! His appointment is at 3:30,” Phil said, smiling just as wide as the receptionist lady. 

“Would you like some water to drink?”

Ranboo’s tail twitched. He scratched at his sleeves and sat down as Phil quietly sorted out the payment, trying to ignore the amount of money that they discussed. He took deep breaths and flicked his fingers.

 Just a moment later a young lady with pink hair walked out of a door to the side of the desk.

“Ah, hello! You must be Ranboo! Let me show you to my office,” she said. She shook hands with Phil and led Ranboo to her room. He stood awkwardly in front of the door, not knowing what to do or how to act. 

“My name is Niki, how are you doing today?” She said with a smaller smile on her face than Phil had.

“Hi Niki, I’m doing good,” Ranboo settled on. He fiddled with his hands as he spoke.

“That's good, Let’s get started, if you’re ready then. This first session won’t be anything groundbreaking or intense, we’ll just get to know each other a bit, I will be writing things down so I remember what you say if that’s alright with you,” she said. Ranboo nodded and she began speaking again.

“Wonderful! Now, we can start with something easy, who are your family and friends?”

“Um, I don’t know if uh… My foster dad is Phil, the one who walked me in, he’s really nice and pretty cool. I also have three foster brothers, Wilbur, Techno, and Tommy. They’re pretty nice as well,” He said, tail still twitching. “I like to garden with Techno, and me and Tommy play video games together and hang out with our friend Tubbo. Wilbur and I talk about music and movies and stuff,” he said, kicking his feet a little.

Niki nodded and joted a few things down on her paper pad.

“My friend Tubbo is cool too, him Tommy and I like to take walks in the park and we also go to the arcade a lot,” 

“Well that’s fun, do you have anything you like to do when you aren’t hanging out with them?” Niki said as she fiddled with her pen.

“I like to listen to music and sometimes I’ll build with some spare legos or read,” they told her. 

“What type of music do you like?”

He thought for a moment, “I like to listen to Lemon Demon, and Wilbur plays for me sometimes, he’s really good,” Ranboo said, smiling fondly. Niki smiles back at him.

“That’s fun,I hope you enjoy him playing for you! What do you enjoy reading?” She says. The conversation continues on like this for a while, Niki just trying to get to know Ranboo. He answers her questions simply, only expanding when she asked follow up questions. The time went by slowly.

“Okay Ranboo this will be one of my final questions to you today, why do you think you need therapy?” She asks calmly. 

Ranboo breathed in quietly, he picked at his pant legs as his feet tapped.

“Uh well, a week or two ago I um, well I was in a bit of a bad uh state. And um I, I hurt, myself,” he stuttered, not looking at Niki.

“I see, do you want to talk about why you did that? I won’t force you to do anything, but it would likely help to talk about,” she said, looking sympathetic. Ranboo shakes his head.

“Um if it’s cool with you I don’t think I’d like to talk about that just yet,” he said, shrinking into his seat. Niki just nodded knowingly.

“Well Ranboo it was lovely meeting you, I hope if you decide to continue therapy I am able to help you grow,” she said, as she led him out of the room to Phil. 

The two walked to the car together and Ranboo put music on, hoping to not have to discuss anything with Phil. There were a few questions that were answered shortly, and as soon as they got home Ranboo headed straight for their room.

This will work, and this will help me. If I continue this, if I work hard enough I can do this. He thinks as he sits in their bed, clawing at their sleeves.

They reflect for a while longer, not quite gaslighting himself fully. But enough to be okay to join the family for dinner that night.

Chapter Text

Ranboo has listened to Wilbur sing multiple times, but it never gets less impressive. Sometimes he has a few friends over to play a little something. It wasn’t for too long, wanting to keep the house quiet for the majority, but Ranboo and Tommy always try to sit and listen to them.

Today they were playing a song that they hadn’t heard much of before. They were fine tuning bits and pieces, but it was peaceful, even if the song was a little aggressive. Plucking their pants like a guitar was always something Ranboo enjoyed doing while he watched them play. It was a habit he picked up after he found that the house was always full of music. The band had been working on getting another gig for a while so their practices became more frequent, commonly taking place at the Minecraft’s house.

Not too long after the group said their goodbyes and left the house, Wilbur was still strumming quietly on his guitar and Phil had called Tommy down to help with dinner, so that just left Wilbur and Ranboo together. There wasn’t very much playing happening, but Ranboo really enjoyed live music, especially Wilbur’s.

After a little while he got out his computer and recorded a couple notes in some sort of new save file. It wasn’t much, just a few notes that he liked together.

But it was nice, and while Tommy left Ranboo stayed. Wilbur was nice about it, always keeping the chatter in the room comfortable. Eventually he went on his computer and started writing to a short tune he’d created. Nothing he wanted to do anything with, just some practice. He let Ranboo hover over his shoulder before they decided to go help Phil with dinner, leaving Wilbur alone in his room humming to himself.

Dinner was simple that night, just some baked potatoes and a side of Brussel sprouts. Phil didn’t need too much help, especially when he put Tommy to work. So Ranboo just helped set the table, and called Wilbur down soon after. Techno being out at the time. 

The room soon held a casual conversation, Wilbur was talking about how his band finally finished setting up their new online portfolio? Or something? Ranboo doesn’t really know too much about how the music industry works, but it had been a way Wilbur was bringing in cash for himself for a while, so he wouldn’t question it too much. It was interesting to learn about anyways.

The days went on like this for a while as Wilbur’s band practiced more and more, sometimes at the other’s places. But they always let the family listen if they wanted to, and it was fun for Ranboo and Tommy to hang out with the band.

It all was a great way to spend time with the family without having to worry about messing anything up, and everything was going great! The band had finished for the day and when Wilbur got home he saw Ranboo writing in his journal. It was just a simple entry, adding things to the likes and dislikes page.

And he may not look it, no that’s a lie he does look it, but Wilbur is a very smart person, emotionally, scholarly, and artistically, a very well rounded hybrid. So when he saw Ranboo writing it sparked an idea…

——

Wilbur had brought up the idea to Techno a few days ago, just some sort of writing workshop kind of thing he wanted to do with Ranboo. He knew the boy had a lot of pent up emotions, he wasn’t… the best … at hiding them. At least not the (self proclaimed) twins. They were very observant, just in their own ways. And Ranboo always seemed to be looking for a reason to hang out with them anyways, so why not make it a fun way to help yourself.

Speaking of… Wilbur thought, turning to Ranboo, who was sitting quietly on the couch reading a book Techno got him.

“Hey Ranboo! Me and Techno, we're wondering if you wanted to write with us, we figured it could be a fun thing we could do together or something,” he said, a smile planted on his face.

“We don’t even have to talk or anything I just need to work on lyrics more,” glancing outside it was getting well into the afternoon, so it’d be a nice time to sit down and chill.

The boy looked up at him, with slight confusion in his eyes that was quickly shaken away by the prospect of hanging out with the two of them. He nodded his head.

“When did you wanna do this? Is it like, right now? Or..?” He asked, setting his book down. 

“Yeah, we can do it now! We didn’t really have a plan, we just wanted to hang out,” Wilbur said, and Ranboo nodded and stood up. He and Wilbur spent the next few minutes looking for a few pencils and journals.

 Wilbur was quick to drag Techno away from his potatoes and to his room. 

“Now this doesn’t have to be an amazing story or anything, it could be an essay or an argument or something. I don’t really know, but at the end or our little session if we don’t feel comfortable I don’t think we should have to,” Wilbur said shrugging.

 He then threw a notebook at an unsuspecting Technoblade and hit him in the head. Scoffing Techno picked up the book and grabbed himself a pencil to write with.

The three of them sat quietly writing on the floor for a while before getting interrupted. Asking for advice and words.It was a nice calm environment and it seemed like it would stay that way until-

“TECHNO! PHIL NEEDS YOUR OPINION ON THIS!” Tommy screeched from downstairs, causing all three to stare at the door before the boy bursts in screaming his name.

“TECHNOOOO!” He yelled, but upon seeing the other two in the room he froze.

“Oh sorry,” he said, “but why are you guys even in here?” Confusion spread across his face.

“We’re writing now, leave us be gremlin,” Wilbur said, shooing him away before pausing, “You said Phil needed Techno?” Tommy nodded and Techno sighed, pulling himself to his feet and walking out the door with a chattering Tommy.

“Well I guess that’s that for today, we should probably help Phil with dinner,” Wilbur said, helping Ranboo up, “I hope this was fun or like, good to do,” he continued.

Ranboo had a good night. He walked to his room and put his newest notebook on his desk, open. Only one page visible, the rest of the entry cut off.

-

⟟ ⏁⊑⟟⋏☍ ⟟⋔ ⎎⟟⋏⏃⌰⌰⊬ ☌⟒⏁⏁⟟⋏☌ ⏚⟒⏁⏁⟒⍀

Chapter Text

The house has been… a little hectic the last few weeks. Christmas was really stressful for everybody involved, getting gifts, decorating, and wrapping were all things Ranboo was used to, but he was never someone to really receive gifts himself. So not being allowed in some parts of the house for a while was odd to him, but it made sense, he wouldn’t want anyone to walk in on him wrapping the family’s gifts.

Nothing would be perfect, but Phil gave all of them a bit of cash so they could buy everybody presents.

So of course he bought them all things, there’s no reason to not get something of nice quality for the family. They got Techno, a few books he thought he’d like, Wilbur got a guitar tuner with some fancy looking pics, Phil was getting some shiny rings with funny looking rocks, and he was a bit stuck on what to get Tommy. Tommy was a bird too, maybe he wants shiny things too? He liked video games, but with the budget Ranboo had he wasn’t really able to get him any good ones. 

He wasn’t quite sure what to get him until they were walking in the mall together looking for a gift they could get Tubbo. A Quick Look through the music store got them nothing on their friend, but Ranboo saw how Tommy lingered between two discs. He held them both up for size, sighing when he put them back.

“We’re shopping for Tubbo,” he muttered. He seemed disappointed that he wasn’t able to get them for him, so that’s when Ranboo knew exactly what to buy him.

So just a little while after he convinced Tommy to head home without him, after all the mall wasn't too far from the house anyways. He was in and out in just a few minutes, only buying the discs and some wrapping supplies. But didn’t head back inside the home right away, instead he sat on the porch, hastily wrapping the gift and setting it under the tall tree. It was difficult to tell that the tree was fake, but Ranboo had to help Phil set it up.

The tree wasn’t too extravagant, but it was nice, and Ranboo thought the colors flashing throughout it were pretty.

“RANBOO IS THAT YOU?! ARE YOU BACK?!?” They heard Tommy scream from the top of the stairs. The boy threw himself down the stairs before jumping over the railing. He floated down slowly, smugly displaying his wings.

“Yes Tommy it is me. Are you alright?” Ranboo asked, plugging his phone in as the boy landed.

“Okay I know we didn’t find anything at the shops, but I was scrolling online and found this game I think he’d like,” he said, climbing onto Ranboo and shoving his phone in their face. 

 “What the-“ Ranboo snatched the phone out of Tommy’s hands “-what is this?” 

It wasn’t necessarily an expensive ame, but it would definitely be best to get him a joint gift.

“I was thinking we could pool our cash together and get it for him,” he said, jumping off Ranboo and taking his phone back. Ranboo just nods and Tommy takes that as an ‘okay’ to order the game.

“It’ll be here tomorrowish, anyways boober, I’ll be off,” he said before grabbing his jacket and running out the back door.

“Is he gone?” Ranboo could hear Wilbur say faintly.

“Uh… yes? If you mean Tommy,” he said, walking to the door Tommy had left wide open to close it.

“Okay good,” Wilbur said before hurrying to place his gift for what Ranboo could only assume was for Tommy. He looks at Ranboo and gives a knowing nod and heads back up to his room.

Ranboo stands there almost stunned before walking up to his room. 

The rest of the days happened as a blur, everything was a bit crazy, straying from last minute gifts to broken items. But finally after a long week, Christmas Day finally arrived.

——

When Ranboos' still extremely early alarm went off he opened his eyes to see an excited Tommy standing closely over him. Falling off the bed Tommy quickly helped them up and threw him and Ranboo down the stairs, flapping around frantically.

“Are you okay? You seem…” Ranboo trailed off, as the boy began flapping his hands up and down while running off to wake the others. Although Ranboo couldn’t really judge him, his tail was wagging and he felt extremely jittery.

He sat down on the couch, patiently waiting for a tired Phil to walk out of his room. But he unexpectedly saw Wilbur dragging a tired Techno down the stairs with an upbeat Phil behind them.

They all sat down with a smile on their face while Tommy passed out gifts that were addressed to them, Ranboo picking at his clothes excitedly as he saw the amount he was being given.

“Okay I think that’s everything! Are we going in a circle this year? If so please let me start,” Tommy said. Phil nodded and Tommy began opening his first gift.

The first thing was a homemade looking flag, with lyrics to a song on the back (something about a l’manburg?). Tommy glared at Wilbur fondly. 

They got through gifts quickly, Tommy’s reaction to the discs was probably Ranboos favorite. His smile lit up the room and Ranboo was relieved to have made the right choice.

When it got to be Ranboos' turn he gasped when he saw a fancy notebook with an ink feather pen. He was quick to open the rest. The legos were complex and of bouquets of flowers. A beautiful pendant with a realistic ender eye stone and a few rings. The most notable one was a homemade drawing of an Allium and a flower press. He looked up at Tommy grinning wildly.

The dinner was lovely as well, all but the eggnog. Ten family’s traditions were a fun mix of cultures and Ranboo couldn’t remember a time he felt so loved during the holiday.

Chapter Text

Hey there you guys, I know this fic was based off of Dsmp Ranboo, but it very obviously had wlbr in it and I don’t feel right writing about an abuser in a good light or at all. He was a major influence in the fic and while I haven’t gone through abuse to the extreme that Shubble did I still have gone through things like that. And I definitely know that I do not want to write that shit stain anymore. He isn’t the main focus so I could technically write him out of the fic, but I don’t know what the best course of action would be. I feel bad for discontinuing this but I feel like that’s the best thing for me to do. I’ll likely orphan or anon this work, but I want to say that I love the fact that my writing had people who were kind enough to sit down and enjoy my work. But I don’t think I should continue this fic, I don’t know what the most respectful way to do this is, but I don’t want to support an abuser in any way whatsoever so I won’t be writing him ever.

I fully stand with Shubble and my love goes out to all those who have had to deal with things like this. I'm so so sorry that happened or is happening, but I am so happy that you have stayed with us, you all are so strong.

I won’t be updating this unless someone specifically asks for the detailed plan but the short version is bonding between him and Techno specifically over chess, therapy, coming out as enby, shenanigans, The manipulation thing, fluff, panic attacks, adoption.

While that doesn’t directly involve wlbr I’d prefer to keep my distance as he used to inspire me and I don’t want to write anything close to about him, especially because of the way he responded and all the people I am writing about responded, I know they are not okay with what he did, and I am so so grateful that they aren’t.

If you are okay with what he has done I would like to ask you to leave immediately.

I’ll post what I had planned if anybody wants it because I did have the plan for the rest of it, but I likely won’t finish this. I deeply apologize and I hope this is an understandable explanation.

-Butterfly

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• Dreams mean to Ranboo 

• Phils chill, we don’t know if we like Phil though

• Whoooo awkward dinner amirite also The whole dishes fiasco where Ranboo does them but it hurts him, very overdone but very cute I still enjoy it

• The shopping trip, Ranboo picks only the necessities with the bros (not Phil) and they open up a bit to Tommy 

• The bros talk to Phil about the trip and based on what they know about him to try leaving him gifts from Tommy’s pov

• I LOVE PEER PRESSURE DUOOO <33333

• Just a little nightmare hurt/comfort from our dear insomnia boys (2/4) :) probably with wilbur

• Tubbo comes over one day and thinks he recognizes Ranboo, but he has no clue who tf tubbo is because of haha funny memory loss

1. Ranboo finds out he was kinda feral when he was younger, meaning tubbo was a bit skeptical so a bit of anxiety for both of them. But He and Tubbo have a talk
2. THEY GET A PHONE just giving context for the next chapter
3. Just a fun filler, or is it… pov Tommy has a fear of being replaced and, what?? Even though it’s Ranboo centric… there are… other characters? with their own problems?? Unheard of, Anyway hurt/comfort 
4. Oh no what’s that I see? Ph1lza wakes up in the middle of the night and see’s Ranboo enderwalking? :) They talk, #bonding?
5.  Oh god, Ranboo please don’t hurt yourself… no one finds out… it’s a short chapter…
6. It’s a normal day It’s a normal day It’s a normal day It’s a normal day It’s a normal day I SAID ITS A NORMAL DAY GOD DAMMIT oh, oh wait? Ranboo I’m sure is ashamed of what he was doing last night… no one knows… yet? Maybe never…
7. No one knows it’s fine, we’re chill~ Oh wait they found out- god dammit techno why are you so observant, not from ranboos pov but instead from idk yet, someone’s lol prolly technos sbi has a talk an shit
8. Oh shit they know Ranboo pov,
9.  Ranboo starts therapy 
10. Woo just fluff after that roller coaster, probably a bit short, probably with Wilbur and him???
11. Woo Ranboo and techno play chess while being cool nerds about books, Ranboo breaks the chess board and goes to buy a new one with techno??? Idk
12. Ranboo has a breakdown but tells nobody and nobody comforts him. It’s just to keep people knowing that sometimes there isn’t someone there for you even if you need them to be. (It’s about his memory)
13.  Another therapy episode where they talk about how he is enby but too scared to tell anyone
14. Bench trio tries alcohol and is like hmmmm let’s not? Do illegal things?
15. Ranboo coming out as enby to Techno and Wilbur first because they were the ones around during a panic attack 
16. Them coming out the the rest of the family (this family includes tubbo at this point)
17. The whole thing based on the manipulation referenced early on, ex: not again when speaking about a “prank” ( a family loving him ) (puffy?) this chapter might be split in two or it might just be really long
18. I mean we could end it here, but let’s get some more fluff out of our system and get a rainy day ep but not scared, they like it, they just can’t touch it. Just Ranboo episode till the end when phil comes over and silently chills with Ranboo
19. Actual bench trio fluff because sometimes I lie
20. BAM ADOPTION I know, I know never been done before, also happy tears still burn lol that’s something I need in this bit
21. epilogue if I feel up to it, it’d just be them about a year into the future being happy and more comfortable