Work Text:
"Do we have to go to all these garage sales?" Tubbo sighs dramatically as he slumps down in the back seat of his aunt's car. It was a Saturday, and he could be doing something actually fun instead of driving around neighbourhood after neighbourhood to find old people stuff that the owners didn't know what to do with.
Obviously, his aunt thought otherwise. Why else would she drag him out here knowing full well he hates it? Confirms Tubbo's thoughts when she says,
"We could find something you like" Aunt Puffy turns her head to face him, glancing at the road still every so often, "Isn't it your friend's birthday soon too? You could find something they like"
She does have a point, his friend Ranboo's birthday is in a few days and Tubbo still hasn't thought of anything to get them. Maybe this is a good idea then, he thinks as he humphs, turning back to the window, watching as all the suburban houses fly in and out of his vision.
Tubbo snaps back to reality when the click of the jangling keys twisting hits his ear. Aunt Puffy looks back at him as she steps out of the car, an inquisitive look plastered on her face. Tubbo sighs, reluctantly straightening himself up, unbuckles his seatbelt, opens the door, and steps onto the road. His legs hurt from sitting so long, but he tries to not act as if it bothers him.
As always, most of the things laid out on the ground and fold-up tables are pretty boring. Old jewellery, dresses, children's toys, but then something catches Tubbo's eye. In the middle of a bunch of books that range from children's picture books to the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." Series. A maroon book, worn down from years of use, sat neatly next to everything else.
The book was dark red, with a gold spoon, knife, and fork forking into each other. It also had swirly gold accents that lined the same colour of the gold border that was about an inch from the rim of the hardcover edges of the book. It was beautiful, really. Just by the cover alone, Tubbo could tell that it was a cookbook. The silverware in the middle of it gave it away.
Tubbo carefully picked up the book, as it seemed like it would crumble away in his hands. He quickly glanced back over his shoulder at Aunt Puffy, who was cooing over embroidered towels. Then he took one of his hands off the book to pat around at his jeans pockets. After some fiddling, he was able to pull out his wallet, which when he opened it, had two $5 bills inside.
Ranboo really likes baking, and probably already has dozens of cookbooks. But then again, they've probably tried every recipe at least twice, so could it really hurt to have more? Out of curiosity, Tubbo flips open the book, putting his wallet on the table in front of him to let him use his arm. The recipes looked pretty normal, if you ignored the ominous riddle on every page that is.
The book was strange, though it'd still be useful nonetheless. Tubbo picked back up his wallet and turned on his heels to walk over to Aunt Puffy, where she was now looking through the jewellery.
"Hey Aunt Puffy, could I maybe have this?" Tubbo waited for her to turn around before he held out the book. As soon as Aunt Puffy turned around, her breath hitched as she surveyed the entire book with widened eyes. As quickly as it came, she relaxed her face into a soft smile, "Of course, you got the money for it though?"
Tubbo pursed his lips, something was off about her reaction, but he decided to not think about it harder. He flipped the book around, looking for a price tag. It didn't appear to have one, so Tubbo pointed thumb in the direction of the garage. He had seen an old couple sitting on two rickety fold-up chairs, and he had assumed that those people were the owner of this house.
"There's no price tag on this, I'm going to ask the owners" Tubbo didn't wait for a response from Aunt Puffy, just began walking in the direction of the couple who were talking to another potential buyer. It didn't take long for them to finish up their conversation, things were exchanged in thirty seconds and the other person was on their way. The old woman turned to look at him,
"What'da lookin' to buy?" She smiled softly, and in the best 'I'm a good and innocent little boy who could never do any harm' voice he could muster, he replied,
"Just this book, please! There's no price tag on it, so I was wondering how much it cost" Tubbo held the book out in front of himself so they could see it clearer, but the woman just furrowed her brows in confusion. Jeez, is something really wrong with this book? Tubbo thinks. The old man wandered over to where the old woman and Tubbo were talking. He glanced over the old woman's shoulders and too furrowed his brows.
"I- is there something wrong with the book?" Tubbo inquired, baffled at what an old and broken-down cookbook could have hidden within the riddles and recipes. "Well, it's just, we haven't seen that book in years, and.. we didn't put it out on any of the tables here" Ah, that made sense why there wasn't a price tag. Though, that spawned more questions than gave answers. If they hadn't put it there, then who had? They seemed to at least have had the book.
Tubbo glanced down at the book, wondering if there was something wrong with it that made even Aunt Puffy startled. The old man spoke up, breaking Tubbo out of his thoughts, "Well, if there aren't any price tags on it, I'm sure none of us would mind you having it. Seeing as Hannah probably won't ever use it again." With that, the old man patted his shoulder, and then both of them walked somewhere being him.
Tubbo, stunned by what just happened, decided to turn around and leave this place. Aunt Puffy would probably go home soon, as the sun told Tubbo that it was getting pretty late. After Aunt Puffy had probably bought something (Tubbo couldn't tell what) she gestured with her hand back to their car. Tubbo followed, praying to prime that this would be the last stop so that Tubbo could go home and wrap his gift.
They each opened their respective doors, with Tubbo in the middle of all three rows of seats. Aunt Puffy turned around to face him, arm holding on to the back of the driver's chair. "I can tell you're pretty tired, wanna do one more stop before we head back?" Tubbo groaned at the question but reluctantly shook his head yes. The next stop was pretty boring, the owners already packing up for the night.
The drive home was pretty short, only about 15 minutes, but it did feel shorter as Tubbo thought about how he'd wrap the gift. Again, he got startled when the car keys were pulled out of the ignition and the car came to a halt. Silently, Tubbo hopped out of the car, not saying anything to Aunt Puffy, just going straight to the cabinet in her room.
Digging through the vacuums and other stuff they shoved in the closet, Tubbo was finally able to reach the basket of wrapping paper they had. It wasn't much, but the book was probably small enough to fit the last of the birthday wrapping paper. Running to the kitchen, Tubbo quickly grabbed tape and scissors, before being caught by his older cousin, Foolish.
"What are you doing?" A small laugh fell through his words as he shuffled into a more comfortable position on the couch in the living room, an amused grin plastered on his face.
"Oh y'know, birthday stuff" Tubbo shot back. Foolish stood up from the couch and walked to the kitchen counter to lean on it near Tubbo.
"Do ya need any help?" He asks.
"No, I should be fine" Foolish shrugged, turning on his heels to go back to sitting on the couch to watch more of his sports. Tubbo made sure to hold the scissors correctly, and hurried back to his aunt's room. Grabbing the rest of his materials, he took it all back to his room, dropping a few things along the way.
Tubbo doesn't spend much time warping the book and sloppily tapes the whole thing together so it comes out as less than decent. Still, it's passible at hiding the gift inside. Tubbo slowly puts everything back in their places and puts the poorly wrapped gift on the kitchen counter. When Tubbo looks back at the living room, two people are sitting on the brown couch that only one of them was on earlier. From the noises of the TV, Tubbo assumes that his two cousins, Dream and Foolish, are watching some football team.
When Tubbo looks at the clock on the wall, it's only a little past six. Aunt Puffy would have made dinner by now, but the fact of it was a Saturday reminded him that it was leftover night. Tubbo grabbed a tupperware of pasta from the fridge, popped off the lid, left the lid on the counter, and began heating the pasta up in the microwave.
As he watched the timer tick down, his phone vibrated against his leg. Grabbing it, he checks the few notification bubbles that appeared under the clock. One of them signified that he had a text from someone. Quickly typing in the code, and failing a few times, Tubbo watches as the text bubble grows bigger quickly into the group chat he and his three best friends shared.
Toms: hey call tonight?
Ranboo: In an hour at most I'll be free, just got back from piano lessons so I'm pretty worn out
Aimee: hah nerd
Ranboo: Shut it.
Tubbo giggled to himself at the conversation, typing out a quick message that let them know that he'd be free in a few minutes once he finished heating his dinner, and sets his phone down on the counter. Right before the microwave dings, Tubbo opens the door and mixes his food around with his fork. A few more buzzes come from his phone, but he waits until he gets back in his room to answer them.
Tubbo grabs his phone and slides it into his sweatpants pocket, then shifts the container between his two hands like a hot potato, and is about to walk over to his room before being startled by Dream,
“Isn’t Ma going to get ticked off by you eating in your room, again may I add?” Tubbo groans loudly at the question. Yea, she is going to get mad, but it’s Saturday and he doesn’t think he’s going to be able to get out of his bed after he lays in it.
“I’m the one getting in trouble, so I’ll be the one to deal with the consequences.” It feels like a routine at this point. Anytime he and his best friends plan to get into some mischief, at least one of his cousins will question him, and he’ll say the same thing each time. Dream just rolls his eyes, Foolish glances at Dream, then Tubbo, sending him a small shrug until his attention is brought back to the TV on the wall.
Tubbo puts the container of food on his nightstand, making sure that the fork doesn’t fall out of it, and then lays back in his bed. Suddenly, he’s reminded that he has friends to talk to by another buzz by his leg. Tubbo pulls out his phone, unlocks it with a few more tries of his code, and sighs softly at the augment that has started between the siblings, Aimsey and Ranboo.
When he scrolls through the continuing messages, he discovers that they are trying to prove that Ranboo is a nerd by definition. When he scrolls down to current messages, Tubbo discovers that the three of them have been trying to get his opinion for the past few minutes.
Toms: what do u think tubs? is the boob a smartass or not?
Ranboo: ???
Aimee: can’t deny it can ya? but this still needs our last opinion
Ranboo: I don’t think we need another opinion? It’s obvious that I am a normal person with normal skills.
Toms: sure yea, believe whatever you fucking want
Toms: tttuuuuubbbsss where are youuuuu
Aimee: chill he said he was getting dinner
Ranboo: Tbh Tommy sounds a little clingy
Toms: i hope you step on a fucking sidewalk crack ranboob
Aimee: thats kinda a mean thing to say to the almost birthday person
keyword almost :Tubbo
Aimee: Ah now that you're back, what are your thoughts on Ran and their smarts
Uhhh Idk :Tubbo
Tommy: cmon man we need an opinion
Ranboo: Should we call now that Tubbo’s available?
Toms: sure
Aimee: Blatant topic change but alright
Tubbo sits up as the phone starts to buzz, situating himself before pressing the accept button. Ranboo is the last one to join
Tommy was the first to speak up,
"Hey yo Ranboo and Aimsey, what time do we come over tomorrow?" Aimsey hummed, in thought for a moment.
"I'm not sure, Ranboo you go ask." Aimsey said.
"Nah, you should go ask"
"No you"
"I can and will curse you to the bottom bunk tonight"
Aimsey dramatically gasped, "You wouldn't!"
"I'll do it! That's why you need to go ask!"
"Fine! But then I'm making you clean the kitchen."
"Deal!" A handshake was probably exchanged , before the door was quickly shut. Ranboo sighed, before presumably climbing to the top bunk.
"Any tea?" Tubbo asked, just as a small icebreaker. Sometimes Ranboo and Aimsey's family could have drama, and it always felt like one of those "Am I the Asshole?" Reddit videos with the insanity of the stories afterwards. Ranboo enjoyed vocalizing his feelings about these gatherings, and they despised them.
"I mean, we still don't know where my uncle Jason is going to get married, nothing interesting" Tommy and Tubbo made a disappointed noise.
Then, the door from Ranboo's mic could be heard opening, announcing Aimsey’s arrival. The door was closed, before the springs from the bed bounced, and Ranboo shrieked, “Aimsey! You gremlin stop shoving me!” Ranboo continued to try to sound serious, before they all burst out into laughter.
Their conversations fell into other subjects, things like how one of their teachers was really bad at giving out homeworks and when and what kinds of cake they should make for tomorrow's get-together.
"Hey, don't you have work tomorrow?" Ranboo asks out of the blue, most likely only talking to Tommy and Aimsey due to the fact that Tubbo doesn't have a job yet. The two worked at a coffee shop named Niki's cafe. Niki, the owner, is a very sweet lady, only about in her early twenties. She had inherited the cafe from her grandparents, keeping the tradition that everything there was handmade.
"Ugh, yea, we do." Tommy groans, a little too close to the microphone for comfort, and Aimsey nods in agreement.
"I bet we can just ask Niki for a day off, she probably won't mind. Besides, she always lets us off on birthdays even if it isn't ours and is just a friend" Everyone nodded at their own rate, but soon the friends fell into an awkward silence, having run out of things to talk about. Ranboo looked like they were about to say something, when a sudden *crash!* and the squeak of a door being flung open made Tubbo jump, quickly looking up at his own door just in case.
"Hey, Tommy!" A loud voice spoke, obviously coming from Tommy's side. Tommy groaned, and footsteps could be heard clearly coming towards the phone.
"What do you want, Wilbur." Tommy grumbled,
"Dad wants you to do the dishes," Wilbur said casually like he hadn't just flung a door open. Tommy seemed to make a shooing gesture, as the next thing that Wilbur said was, "I know you want to talk to your friends, but he's going to whoop your ASS if they aren't done by the time he wakes up. And besides, you'll see them tomorrow" The other three friends stayed in silence, as you do when one's sibling or parent barges into their room, and or they’re being yelled at.
Tommy made another over-exaggerated sigh, before saying, thankfully further from the mic this time, "I'm going to let you guys go, but I'll text tomorrow morning" The group all made their respective goodbyes, even Wilbur said a "Cya".
As soon as Tommy left the call, Ranboo spoke, "So my mother is home, so I'm going to check with her" As soon as Ranboo shuffled to get up, the static started up again from presumably being shoved in their pocket. Tubbo wanted to say something about it but Aimsey beat him to it.
"You can just leave your phone on your bed y'know" Ranboo sighed, and the static wasn't long this time. "Also tell your moms I said hi!" Aimsey hurried to get the words in, then a thump could be heard, and then it was just Aimsey and Tubbo.
After Tubbo was sure that Ranboo had left the room, his lips curled into a mischievous grin, even though Aimsey couldn't see him. "Hey, do you wanna prank them at the party?" Tubbo really hoped that his smile hadn't etched itself in his words, but it probably didn't matter.
"Y'know, I was actually thinking of getting Ranboo a fake present along with the real one" Aimsey sounded calm as they said it, his voice slightly fading out at the end. Tubbo's smile widened,
"Oh, what do you plan on putting in it?" Tubbo leaned forward, resting his chin on one hand as the other held the phone close to his face.
"Probably have a wrapped box, and put a sticky note at the bottom that says something like 'get rekt lmao' on it. I hadn't really planned on actually doing it but it was a thought" Tubbo sat for a second, thinking the idea through. They always pulled pranks like this on each other's birthday, it was a tradition at this point.
"We should fill it with something, y'know, just to not be suspicious" Tubbo suggested, as Ranboo was pretty good at figuring out when they did these types of things. One time, the friends gave oobleck in a cardboard box, and Ranboo somehow figured out how to pour it on Tommy, something Ranboo still won't reveal to this day.
“Yea..” Aimsey trailed off in thought, and Tubbo began resettling himself as he waited for her to continue their sentence. “Oh! Oh! What if we just put a bunch of like, boxes in the-” A shut of the door cut them off, and it definitely wasn’t from either of them.
“..What are you guys talking about?” Tubbo’s breath hitched. This may have been another reason why Ranboo could always figure out their pranking plans. Tubbo tries to think of a response, but he’s never been good with words, just hoping Aimsey has an idea.
The silence is deafening, sounds like she doesn’t.
Ranboo hums suspiciously but doesn’t continue the conversation, can sense that it’s not for him. The rest of the night is quiet, Aimsey falling asleep sometime in the mix. A lot of nights are like this, but most of the time there are four of them. They’ll stay up helping each other study, or laughing their asses off at stupid jokes while sleep deprived. Other times, it’s just like this. Quiet. Sometimes they need it, the chaos of their days finding no need to seep itself into the late hours.
Tonight is one of those nights, just them saving up their energy for harassing each other and having tons of fun the next day. It’s the weekend, who cares about their sleep schedules?
─
Tubbo doesn't know when he falls asleep, all he knows is that it’s not even light out when he wakes up. Groaning, he digs out the sand that has accumulated in his eyes during the night and begins patting around the mess that is his blankets for his phone. When he finally reaches the hard plastic of his phone case, he flips the phone a few times until it’s finally upright, squints at the dark screen, a red battery symbol telling him that it died sometime in the night.
Sighing, Tubbo debates going back to sleep, but then he’d wake up way later than he intended. Making the hard but best decision, Tubbo looks up at the clock on his dresser and realizes it’s only four am, so almost too early.
Tubbo stretches his arms high above his head, muscles slightly aching at not being used. None of his friends are probably up at this hour unless Ranboo decided to pull another all-nighter, as the weekends are the only time their friends will let them do so.
Tubbo scrolls through his phone, bored with it being so early. By the time the clock hits 6:32, he decides that it's probably an acceptable time to get up and start doing things. He drops his phone onto his bed, shoving the blankets away from him with his feet. He then slides off the mattress and walks out of his small bedroom.
When Tubbo enters the living room, he notices that Foolish is already up, sitting in front of the toaster and leaning on the counter. The handle is pushed down, so it’s pretty obvious he’s toasting some kind of bagel.
"Well you're up early" Foolish points out the obvious. Tubbo would say the same thing to him, but it'd be wrong. Foolish always got up early for a good spot at the gym, he was that type of jock. Tubbo just nods in response, pushing past him and looking for something in the fridge to eat.
He’s not really hungry, but it’s something to do.
Tubbo pushes past Foolish to walk to the fridge, opens that door and looks through his options. He settles on a bowl of cereal, closing the door without taking anything out. He scoots over to the cupboard, has to go on the balls of his feet in order to reach the box of Frosted Flakes. Foolish eyes him as he pours the cereal without any milk and begins eating, but doesn't say anything. They'd lived with each other long enough to ignore strange quirks.
The rest of the time that Tubbo is in the kitchen, the air is clouded with thick awkward silence, only broken when Foolish sits across from Tubbo with his buttered plain bagels,
"When are you leaving for the birthday party?" Tubbo pushes his mouth to the side, thinking of a good response. He should probably tell him when both Aunt Puffy and Dream are up, but Foolish won't be there when they're awake. Tubbo's train of thought gets broken when Foolish softly taps on the table.
"Nine or ten I think, but I'll ask Ranboo again" Foolish hums quietly with a bite of bagel shoved in his mouth. The air stops being so suffocating, as all questions have been answered, just the two of them enjoying the early sounds of the morning. The sun is beginning to rise, and Tubbo thinks about going outside to watch it rise. He hasn't seen many sun rises, as he normally wakes up whenever it's in the sky.
When he finishes his bowl, he follows through with his thought and opens the door.
“Where are you going?” Foolish questions, hand holding on to the edge of the door frame to the hallway which connects to his and Tubbo's room. Tubbo lazily gestures to where the sun is, and walks out the door.
Tubbo closes the door behind him, breathing in the crisp morning air. The sun shines reds and yellows on the thin clouds streaming across the sky. As Tubbo sits down on the edge of the porch, the grass tickles his feet, dew still fresh and cold. The hoots of an owl echo through the air, never to be seen but always heard.
He sighs, not sadly, not happily, just holds the chilly air in his lungs, and lets it go. The stillness in the air as the sun lifts higher in the sky has Tubbo feeling like he could be the last one in the world. I wonder what that would be like, he wonders half-coherently.
Tubbo doesn't know when, but Aunt Puffy appears behind him, she has a tendency to do that, and asks to sit with him. The sun had already risen, but the air was still calm.
It doesn't seem like they sit for too long, and after a while, Aunt Puffy's leg taps his to bring him back to reality. Tubbo snaps his head up, and she smiles at him, "Hey, you should get ready, ya? It's like-" She cuts herself off as she fishes her phone out of her back pocket, "It's six thirty.” This makes Tubbo scoff,
“I leave in four hours, can’t I just sit here till then?” He pleads, sticking his bottom lip out for emphasis. Aunt Puffy laughs at the gesture, clearly not convinced by the way she stands up and holds out a hand to help him up.
“One, no, because you need to get dressed, and two, sunrises don’t last forever! Look,” She points up at the sky with the hand she had reached out for Tubbo, “The sunrise is already over. C’mon, why don’t you just come inside and actually do something while you wait.” Tubbo sighs, looking longingly up at the air, and a smirk reaches his lips,
“How ‘bout a few more minutes?” Tubbo asks as innocently as he can. Aunt Puffy rolls her eyes and sighs affectionately. Aunt Puffy has a pretty bad short-term memory, so he’s used this to his advantage whenever he could. Obviously, he was a boy who cried wolf too many times, so she is no longer affected by his tactics.
“Nope! I know exactly what you’re trying to do and it won’t work again! Now let’s go!” Aunt Puffy slides her hands under his arms and pulls him back away from the edge of the porch, and Tubbo goes limp just to spite her, though she’s stronger than she looks and doesn’t falter.
Tubbo realizes a bit later than he should have that Aunt Puffy isn’t giving up. It’s best to give up and wait the horrifically long three and a half hours until he can go hang out with his best friends, and he doesn’t know what to do with his free time.
Tubbo decides to sit on the couch and play Mario Kart on the old Wii the family has had for about as long as they could remember in order to pass the time. He's only able to finish three races until his phone buzzes on his lap, making him jump and jerking his controller enough to fall off the map he was currently racing on. He groans, pauses the game and picks up his phone to get a closer look at whoever was bothering him this early in the morning. With enough squinting and moving the phone back and forth so his eyes would finally focus on the small screen, he saw that Aimey had texted him. Unusual, but not unwelcome.
Aimee: Hey man you up?
yup, unfortunately :Tubbo
Aimee: too bad so sad, i've got plans for this years prank >:)
Now this piqued his interest. With his game fully forgotten, Aimsey and Tubbo planned out their entire scheme to mess with Ranboo and have a bit of fun. After an uncertain amount of time, the two had devised the perfect plan, hopefully it was perfect enough to annoy Ranboo this time.
Psychology always comes in handy.
Still with time to spare, they both continued to text each other afterward, talking about whatever it was that came to mind as a better way to make the time fly by. After a while, Puffy poked her head into the living room, managing to jumpscare Tubbo so badly he ended up on the floor, and told him that he should probably start getting ready because it was just about time to go.
Tubbo said his goodbyes before shutting down his phone and shoving it onto his hoodie pocket. He hurries to his room and checks the clock once he reaches it. Nine thirty, shit, Tubbo’s discovery causes him to hurry.
Tubbo quickly put on a black tank top, jean shorts, and a green and black checkered jacket. It didn't take him long to get ready, especially because he was rushing to get out the door as soon as he could. Once he was finished with everything he could think of, Puffy was waiting by the door that led through the laundry room to the garage with the gift in her hands. Tubbo walked around the front of the car to the passenger's seat, opened the door and sat down in the chair, closing the door the same time Puffy did. He clicked the seatbelt in place as Puffy started the ignition, then she buckled her seatbelt, then they were off.
It didn't take too long to get to Ranboo's house, and Tubo was buzzing with excitement. None of the friend group's birthdays were in summer, and a regular sleepover never had the same effect as a birthday one. Once they were parked in the driveway of the house, Tubbo climbed out of the small car and hurried to the front door.
“Tubbo!” He stopped in his tracks, turning around to face where Puffy was still parked, “You forgot the gift!” laughter slid into her words, Tubbo going slightly pink with embarrassment. He returned to the car, grabbing the box which Puffy was holding out the window for him. As he actually made it to the porch, Puffy called out “Say hello to Raine and Angela for me!” as she backed out of the driveway.
“Will do!” Tubbo called back, knocking on the door before opening it and walking in. Ranboo’s house is actually quite large, with the front door leading straight into the living room. Tubbo glanced into the kitchen located on the right. Raine, one of Ranboo's moms, walked out of the kitchen while taking off oven mitts from her hands.
"Hiya Tubbo! Ran and Aimsey are in Ran's room by the way" She had one of those smiles you couldn't help but smile back at, she also talked a lot with her hands. Tubbo nodded, smiling back. He began to make his way up the steps when Raine suggested "I can get that box for you," Tubbo leaned back from the second step to place it in her hands "Don't want them figuring out what it is before they're allowed to open it, yeah?"
"Yup!" He continued to walk the rest up the stairs, "Puffy says hi, too!"
He hopped up the stairs two at a time once she was back into the kitchen, sliding on his socks on the hardwood floor. He almost collided with the wall, but managed to slow his momentum before slamming into the sky blue paint. Walking much more carefully to Ranboo's door, he turned the knob and opened it.
Ranboo and Aimsey were both sitting on Ranboo’s bed in the corner of the room, deep in some conversation about whatever was playing on the TV in the far corner. The room was slightly a mess, with a few textbooks here and there and small clutter on the desk, but nothing too unusual. The two seemed to be too caught up in their conversation to notice his arrival, so Tubbo walked in, shut the door behind him, sat on the bed, and leaned against Aimsey’s back.
This finally got them to notice him, as Ranboo’s flinch carried across the bed like a shockwave, and the room was in full silence as they watched him in confusion.
“What? You guys were too caught up in whatever you were talking about and I didn’t want to bother” He tried to sound as casual as he could, but he was struggling to stifle his giggles as they continued to look at him dumbfounded.
“Well then, hello Tubbo!” Aimsey’s face brightens considerably, putting an arm around him. She grabs her bunny hat from beside her and puts it on, trying to adjust it one handed. “When did you even get here?”
“Like, a minute ago I walked through the front door, so not long” Ranboo nods slowly, and Aimsey tries her best to reposition him but Tubbo refuses to move, so she ends up giving up.
They sit in a comfortable silence, the sound of the TV playing whatever show in the background. Tubbo pulls out his phone to check the time, 10:15, which means Tommy should be here by now, but alas, Tommy is never on time for anything. He told them something about ‘time blindness’ and how much it sucked a while back. None of them really got it, but Ranboo did some research into it later.
“Welp..” Ranboo starts, breaking the tranquility, “What should we do-” Loud footsteps came rushing down the hall, a bump, and an ‘Ow!’, and the door slammed open. They all cringed at how hard the door slammed into the wall, even with the door stopper.
“I made it!” Tommy almost tripped on his own feet but managed to lose the momentum safely after slamming into the door, standing stable after a moment of fumbling. His grin was wide and he had his hands on his hips, as if nothing had even happened.
“If the handle broke into the wall I’m making you pay for it” Ranboo sighed, and leaned back to get a better glimpse at the poor wall. Tommy stepped over to the door and pulled it back slightly, and there happened to be no damage. Tommy shrugged while Ranboo pinched the bridge of their nose. Tommy walked over to the bed and laid down behind Ranboo.
“When do we eat the food?”
“Tommy it is ten in the morning” Aimsey took off their bunny hat and threw as much force as possible onto his face. Tommy picked it up and threw it back at them, and before they were able to get into an aggressive game of catch, Tubbo grabbed it and put it on his own head.
Ranboo glared at their antics, “We can head down now and I can start on the cake. Ma said she was making lunch so we’ll have that to eat later”
“Sounds great!” Aimsey pushed Tubbo off of her onto the floor to stand up and started walking towards the door. Tubbo attempted to grab her ankles from the floor but missed.
All of them shove each other as they file down the steps into the living room, multiple of them almost falling down the stairs several times. They were always a loud and chaotic bunch anywhere they went.
Raine and Angelia were already sitting in the living room, talking to one another about something the group was being too loud themselves to hear, and they stopped stalking as soon as they spotted them. They were dressed fancy, Raine in a long flowy off-white dress with flowers dotted all over it, and Angela with a light blue flowy shirt and light blue jeans. Raine stood up and grabbed a bag from the table next to her.
"I'm not sure if I told all of y'all, but me and Angelia are going on like, a date day to let y'all to have your fun and stuff" She had walked over to the wall near them and leaned on it as she spoke. Tommy had tried to sneak off to the kitchen, but Tubbo grabbed his arm. "Y'all should know the rules around here, and make sure you feed the cats, don't set the house on fire, all that jazz. Basically don't destroy the house"
"But can't we commit a little arson?" Tommy jokingly pleaded, and Raine smacked his arm as she passed him to the door. Angelia followed close behind, and side-hugged Ranboo as she passed. Angela lightly smacked Tommy with the back of her hand on his arm,
"You can commit a little arson" She whispered quite loudly. The group snickered and Raine sighed, but she still gave a fond smile. The two slipped their shoes on and both walked through the door frame, except for Raine stopping midway, and turned back to them.
"You all have me and Angela's number, right?" They group answered with their own variations of a 'yes', and with that she closed the door behind her.
Aimsey walked over to the couch and flopped down from the side onto it. "Aren't we going to start on the cake?" They asked, sitting up.
"I guesssss.." Ranboo drawled, walking into the kitchen. "I need you guys to at least bring out the ingredients, Mom put the recipe on the counter."
Tubbo followed close behind, and looked at the small paper laying on the counter. It was more of an island, but it was attached to the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. The title on the top of the paper read 'Red Velvet Cake With Marshmallow Frosting'.
"What do you need us to get, head chef!" Aimsey asked very enthusiastically while walking up to the counter and hopped up to sit on it.
"First off," Ranboo pointed an accusing finger at her "never call me that, makes me sound too professional" She opened her mouth to probably call them the name again, but they sigh disappointedly, "And yes, for the marshmallow frosting it calls for butter, marshmallows, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract" Aimsey gives a salute, then hops off the counter in the direction of the cupboards on the other side of the room.
"Can I get the chocolate?" Tommy asks, puppy-eyes and all. None of the group really trusts Tommy with sugar and he normally just eats it before giving it up for baking, but he always tries a new way of getting sweets. Most of the group is able to get through the puppy dog-eyes, but Ranboo has absolutely no spine, and most of the time gives up to Tommy’s antics.
Ranboo sighs, placing their head on the counter. “Someone tell him no please.”
“No Tommy, you can get the..” Tubbo glances over Ranboo to look at the resipe’s ingredients, “cake flour. Yeah that’s something you probably won’t eat”
Tommy grins, “Test me bitch!” and hurries off to the large cupboard and begins looking though it. Ranboo sighs again, sitting up.
“Tubbo, you get the rest of the ingredients, and I'll get the pots and pans and stuff” Tubbo nods as Aimsey sets the ingredients they'd been sent to collect on the counter next to the list of instructions.
It didn't take long for them to get all of the ingredients out, now the hard part was keeping the ingredients in the bowls.
"Tommy! You can't eat raw flour!" Ranboo called after a blur of white and red. Ranboo sighed as Tubbo and Tommy giggled from the living room, and Aimsey gave them a comforting pat on the arm from where they sat on the counter next to them; before also sticking a finger in the batter Ranboo was stirring, giggling as they ate it. "Children, I tell you" Ranboo murmured to no one in particular and continued mixing.
It didn't actually take that long until a pan full of batter lay in the oven, but it sure as hell felt like it to Ranboo. Not one cake could be untouched by the gremlins they called friends. Ranboo sprawled out on the couch, finally resting after doing three fourths of the baking, and keeping said baking intact.
While Aimsey and Tubbo were who-knows-where, Tommy sat on their legs. "Move"
Ranboo narrowed their eyes at him, "A little difficult now, isn't it?" Tommy nodded, and didn't move. "Well, if that's where you plan to sit, what do you want to watch?" They gestured to the TV.
"Kinda wanna watch The Wizard of Oz, but we should save that until everyone else is here."
"Where are they?" Ranboo looked at him accusingly, already guessing that he'd been sent to distract them until whatever act the other two were doing was over or being set up.
Tommy glanced down at Ranboo, "No clue. Whatever you're thinking it's probably wrong because you suck" Tommy turned back to staring at the blank TV. Ranboo attempts at grabbing the remote were futile, and they went back to laying in silence. There was definitely mischief happening on the second floor, but as long as neither of them were screaming bloody murder it was probably fine.
"What do you think they're doing?" Ranboo asked, no real thought behind the question. Tommy hummed for a moment in thought.
"What I think," he started, "is.." and then trailed off. "Okay I have no idea."
"Did they only leave you here so you could distract me?"
"Yup"
"Figures." Ranboo is trying to gain access to their legs, as the pins and needles feeling in his feet is quite uncomfortable, but Tommy is refusing to budge.
"What do you think is going on?" Tommy asks, moving so he's no longer only sitting on Ranboo's shins, but on laying on them.
"Probably their prank. I'm slightly worried for this one though"
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, I mean-- wait a minute are you trying to get information out of me?!" Ranboo raised their voice, insulted, only just now registering the amusement in Tommy's words that only sounded of trouble. Tommy just grinned mischievously.
The two sat in silence, listening tp the shuffling upstairs, plus the occasional giggle or "What the fuck, Tubbo!". They each stifled a laugh at particularly funny moments, just enjoying themselves in the moment.
Now, Ranboo was extremely curious about what they were doing, but Tommy had stopped them multiple times from getting up. "Look," He started, "I was sent here to stop you from knowing whatever the fuck they're doing. I am *not* betraying their trust" Ranboo nodded, because *fair* and was able to finally get their legs back. Tommy looked absolutely betrayed by this, but Ranboo just grabbed the TV remote, turned it on, and began scrolling though Netflix. Tommy side-eyes him with disdain, but joins them in looking for something to watch without much fanfare.
A thump and a loud "Fuck!" that appeared to be closer than if it came from Ranboo's room, startled the both of them out of their scrolling, both turning to the staircase. Aimsey was carrying a huge box, with Tubbo behind them to make sure they didn't fall. Once they got to the bottom of the staircase, Aimsey dropped the box on the ground and leaned over heaving. Ranboo and Tommy glance at each other with a mix of concern and amusement.
"It's the present time!" Tubbo announced, picking up the box and placing it near the other, much smaller, boxes.
"We haven't even fin-"
"Nope! Present time!" Tubbo cut off Ranboo swiftly, and they swallowed the rest of their sentence.
By then Aimsey was able to breathe normally again, she swiftly crossed the room to the living room and grabbed Ranboo by the arm with so much excitement it looked like they just might combust. Tubbo was grinning just as brightly next to the box, body language trying to go for innocence, but Ranboo could see through it by now.
Yeah, they were very worried by now.
Tommy sat up and followed them to the kitchen entrance, where Ranboo picked up the box; he immediately dropped it.
"Prime, what did you put in this thing?!" None of them answered. Ranboo sighed, and began opening it. Once he pulled the box’s flaps open, there was a smaller box inside. By now, he knew exactly what they were doing. Ranboo continued to open the boxes to everyone’s amusement, and they didn’t dare show a sign that they were confused.
They couldn’t let that happen, could we?
After a minute or two, Ranboo finally reached the last box, shaking it to confirm that they hadn’t figured out how to make the boxes less than hand size. When they opened it, a bright yellow sticky note at the bottom read: You did it birthday guy! In clearly their sibling’s handwriting.
They sighed again, glancing up at their friends, shaking their head in disapproval. "This is not what I expected, so I'll give you credit for that" Tubbo and Aimsey beamed. "But," they paused, "where did you get these size boxes?!"
"Tommy's family collects them" Aimsey shrugs.
“You do not want to see our garage” Tommy mock shudders.
Tubbo opens his mouth to say something, but is quickly cut off by Ranboo's phone alarm. "I should go check on that," Ranboo mutters, before heading off to the kitchen. The rest of them peek around the corner and Ranboo opens the oven, studies the cake, and then grabs the oven mitts.
"Is it done?" Tubbo asks with excitement, walking into the kitchen. Ranboo nods while they put the mitts in their drawer. Tommy and Aimsey jump up and hurry to the cake. Tommy being Tommy, he attempts to grab a piece, before pulling his hand back suddenly.
"Shit! Shit that's hot!"
"That's what I said to-" Ranboo elbows Tubbo in his ribs, earning him a half-hearted glare.
"How about we wait for it to cool before eating, yeah?" Ranboo throws a look at Tommy, making him scoff. Tubbo walks out of the kitchen, picks up his gift, and hands it to Ranboo. They carefully open the wrapping paper, and furrow their eyebrows at the book.
"I just saw it at a garage sale and thought of you," Tubbo shrugged. Ranboo nodded, opening the book and looking through it. When Tommy looks over their shoulder at it, he wrinkles his nose in distaste.
"Why the fuck are there weird riddles" This caught Aimsey's attention, making her join Tommy.
"Might be interesting to figure out as you bake it, I s'pose" As Aimsey tried to reach for it, Ranboo closed it.
"We can play it later" Aimsey frowned, "You live here too, you can literally use it whenever. And we can use it to make dinner"
When Ranboo puts it on the counter, it... opens? They all look at it as it quickly flips through pages. Once it's done doing, whatever that was, it landed with the title saying Paranormal Pizza.
"You- You guys saw that right?" Aimsey whispered, and Ranboo backed away with his hands in the air.
"I think we have our dinner!" Tommy announces excitedly. The siblings deadpan Tommy, while Tubbo grins, both ignoring the obviously not normal thing that happened in front of them. Aimsey cautiously approaches the book, looking down at the recipe.
They scan the ingredients, then furrow their brows at a particular one.
"It calls for.. gründe basil. Do you guys know what gründe is?" They look around at their friends, all shaking their heads.
"We can ask Niki! She knows just about everything about baking." Tommy pipes up, "I bet she's still open" Ranboo grabs a random reseat from the counter and puts it into the book.
"I guess the day's set then."