Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I tug my too-short sweater down, so it just barely meets my cold wrists. The chilly wind whips my hair, and goosebumps rise on my skin. 

“C’mon, hurry up, Tubbo! Stop being such a scaredy-cat.” The blond in front of me crows over his shoulder, curls flipping in the breeze. 

“I’m not a scaredy-cat!” I protest, but this abandoned house is giving me the chills. It’s pretty cliche with the cobwebs and dim flickering lights, creaky floor boards, and occasional rustling, but it does the trick in creeping me out.

“Ooh, a basement!” Tommy cackles before descending down the stairs, eventually dissolving into the darkness. 

I mutter something under my breath about his reckless actions before chasing him into the dark. I’m not about to hang out in the gloomy hallway on my own. 

As I go down, the boards squeak under my feet and I cringe every time. I hear a footstep, and tense up, before remembering that Tommy is right in front of me. 

Chill out, Tubbo. 

It’s super dark down in the basement and I can barely see anything. I wander forward and then bump into something… or someone. I yell and jump back, terrified for my life. 

Then I hear a malicious laugh that could only be one thing.

“Tommy I swear to god..” I exhale, breathing hard. My heart is beating so hard I can hear it, and I place a hand over my chest to try to calm it down. 

My friend just laughs some more, and I can just barely make out his figure in the darkness. 

“Alright, let’s go check out the other rooms.” Tommy says once he’s done wheezing, before climbing up the stairs.

I’m about to follow when I realize my shoe is untied. I bend down, feeling for the laces in the low light. I knot them together lazily, and start to stand up again. 

Suddenly, though, a hand clamps over my mouth and another hand grabs my stomach and drags me into the shadows. 

I kick and push against the unknown figure, a panicky adrenaline coming over me. Trying to scream but failing.

I wriggle and squirm, and powered by a rush of fear, I dart out of the person’s arms and run up the stairs. 

Crashing into Tommy, I cling to him, sobbing. 

“Woah, are you okay?!” The tall blond hugs me tightly, glancing warily at the basement. 

“Th-there wa-was someone an-and grabbed m-me-“ I choke out, shivering. I know the sentence doesn’t make sense but I can’t breathe and I’m just terrified.

Tommy’s eyes fly open and he grabs my hand and runs out the door. Together we dash towards the street, but my steps are sloppy and slow, exhausted from my desperate escape.

We jump into Tommy’s car and I sit there, panting, crying. Silent tears stream down my face and I suddenly feel very, very hot, so I tear off my sweater. 

“Tubbo, man…are you okay?” My friend glances over at me, and I wonder what I look like to him. 

One look in my phone camera and you’d think I’d seen a ghost. Disheveled, sweaty brown hair, pale face, and wide terrified eyes. My chest heaves up and down with each raggedy breath I take. 

“…no.” I whisper, and my eyes prickle, promising more tears if I don’t pull it together. 

“Aw…Tubbo. Did you see who it was?” He turns the wheel and we start heading down a separate street.

I shake my head no, staring down at my intertwined, sweating hands.  

“Tub, you don’t want to talk about it, do you?” Somehow Tommy can switch from a goofy brash guy to the most caring in the world, and he can always tell how I feel. 

I shake my head again, and when Tommy finally stops the car what feels like ten years later, he unbuckled his seat belt and leans over to wrap me in a hug. 

I shake silently in his arms, tears pouring out of my eyes. I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that I almost got kidnapped. 

I don’t know…I don’t know what I would’ve done if I did. I didn’t even know who it was. 

I shiver again even though it’s hot in the car. 

Then I pull away, slide out of the car, and trudge to my room. 

Chapter Text

I’ve been terrified to go out since the incident. I’m always looking over my shoulder, even in the safety and comfort of my own room. 

But at this point I have absolutely zero food and need to go shopping. And I already feel bad enough for making Tommy run the last few errands for me. 

“I can do this,” I repeat to myself in the mirror. I know I look worse than ever with baggy sweats and a sweatshirt, plus dirty hair that hasn’t been washed in a while. 

Like..two weeks. 

I grab Tommy’s keys (he very kindly lent them to me) off the counter and walk to his car, my flip flops quacking on the pavement. 

Once I start the engine, the station turns on and one of my favorite artists comes on. I can’t bring myself to sing because I keep sneaking glances behind my shoulder as I drive, but I drum my fingers on the wheel to the beat. 

Someone flips me off for driving too slow at a turn since I kept checking behind me, but I don’t care, to be honest. 

Pulling into the parking lot of the grocery store, I check all around the car before stepping out. Sticking my hands in the pockets of my sweater, I shuffle across the road and head into Target. 

I’m too tired to cook and Tommy is busy so I just grab a couple microwave lunches and a giant bag of MnM chocolate popcorn to eat while I binge watch a bunch of drama shows. 

As I check out, my eyes drift around me, and I keep side eyeing the cashier like he’s going to grab me and drag me away. Funny, I know. 

But then I hear a familiar voice yelling when I’m exiting the store, and I run behind the Target to the direction of the noise. It’s Tommy’s voice.

The sight that I see makes my breath fall short. There Tommy is, his wrists and legs bound together with rope. 

“Tubbo!” He screams when he sees me, and I dart to him to try to untie the massive knot. “It’s a TRAP!” Tommy yells, face pale with terror. 

I turn just in time to see a figure right in front of me. He has split dyed hair, one side black and one side white. He also has one green eye and one red eye. 

And he’s also, oh, I don’t know… GRABBING ME AND PUSHING ME UP AGAINST THE WALL???? 

I shout and kick, but feel all the blood drain from my face. Those hands.. his hands. 

“Hello, Tubbo.” The man croons, as I squirm in desperation. 

“How do you know my name??? Who are you, what do you want??” I gasp, the brick is pressing through my sweater into my back painfully, and his hands have a steel grip on my arms. 

“Nothing much…just to turn you and make you mine.” 

Suddenly my brain focuses on a detail I had missed. 

A very, very important detail. 

Two shiny white fangs. 

Chapter Text

I shift uncomfortably, looking at anything except across the giant and very long table to where he is sitting. The plate in front of me is filled with a glistening steak and delicious looking buttery potatoes. 

The scent wafting up my nose is one that promises heavenly food, but I will not eat anything I am given. 

“Tubbo. Eat something, dear.” Ranboo calls across the table, patting down his fluffy hair. If he weren’t like, my kidnapper, I’d say his hair looked cool. 

“I’m not your dear.” I mutter into the plate, and when my kidnapper asks me to repeat I just ignore him. I’ve been wearing the same clothes for days, so I tug my low sweater sleeves so it barely hits my wrist. 

I’ve been here for days, actually. He hasn’t even tried to turn me yet, because he wants me to adjust to this giant “house” first. 

I don’t quite like mansions to be frank. And this one is like…the mansion of mansions. It has white halls lined with black gold. Is that even a thing? Everything is pristine and sparkling. 

Even the table we’re sitting at is pure quartz, with edges covered in intricate designs in black gold. The plates and cups are lined with gold, screaming, ‘I’m rich and snotty!’

Like, this guy is rich rich. 

“You like what you see?” Ranboo asks, twisting a fork in his fingers. His eyebrows are raised, but I refuse to humor him. 

Instead I just say “Eh”, which absolutely pisses him off. I smile a little then, but seeing my smile, he grins, so then my smile drops, and I just glower at my food.

A lot to happen in just a moment, I know. 

It’s cold in here, and I shiver and bring my knees up to my chest. Ranboo glances at me, “If you’re cold..come with me.” He stands up, stretching long legs. 

Or maybe they’re not long, and it's because I’m short.

I see no point in arguing, since I’m freezing, goosebumps are rising on my arms under the ratty sleeves of my sweater. So I get up and follow him.

The halls are long, and tall. Like really, really tall. And no, I’m not saying that because of my height. There’s clean windows, glimmering so brightly and so free of dust that I wonder if Ranboo has any servants or butlers. 

I notice there’s no paintings or portraits on the wall, just marble wall and gold lining. It’s so un-personalized, like he just moved in. As if it’s brand new. 

We turn down a smaller hall, and into a giant room. And I just gasp.

What else can I do? 

The whole floor is literally mattresses. There’s dozens of pillows and blankets that look impossibly soft. It’s like a giant fort. I immediately jumped over to the corner of the nest and wiggled deep into the blankets and pillows. 

Ranboo looked at me, amused, “I can see you like it.” Suddenly something changes in his tone, though, and he adds, “That’ll make it easier.”

…easier? What’s that mean? I shift, watching him with apprehension. When I tell you that I did not blink ONCE. 

The taller comes closer, so he’s standing over me. My breath catches, my heart is beating out of my chest and sweat is pouring down my face. 

“I’m sorry Tubbo, dear.” Ranboo murmurs, before grabbing my arm rather forcibly and biting. 

I guess.. I guess the best way to describe it would be a sharp, burning pain, followed by another pain when he drew them out. Then came the tingling sensation, and finally the lightheaded and doozy feeling. 

My vision starts going black around the edges, and I slump against the pillow before everything goes dark. 

Chapter Text

I shift, I’m in some sort of pillow fort. It’s incredibly soft but I try to sit up. 

“Hello, Tubbo.” Ranboo cooes at me, and suddenly a wave of memories hits me.

I hiss, my eyes flicking to the bite mark on my arm and then to the other guy. 

Suddenly, my kidnapper rips his skin with his teeth. “Hungry, dear?” He asks, blood pooling around his arm and dripping. 

I smell it, stronger than I’ve ever smelled anything. The metallic, rich scent, and it’s so alluring. Feeling myself start to drift towards him, I turn around and shove my nose into a pillow. 

“No.” 

“Tubbo.. oh, it’s fine. The next time you wake up and everything has really set, you’ll be much better.” 

I grumble something and stay curled up like that until everything goes dark again. 

***

I smell my sire. I chirp, calling out for him. Warm hands wrap around me.

I smell blood. Delicious blood…

So I latch on, sucking up the warmth. The thick liquid fills me up, and I just can’t get enough. 

Now I’m full, and I sleep again. 

***

I wake up, and look at Ranboo with a surge of love. My previous life was bad. He really helped me. 

“Hello Ranboo.” I whisper, hugging him. He wraps his arms around me affectionately, any form of his menacing-ness having disappeared.

“Hey Tubs.” He murmurs back, smoothing down my hair. I practically melt in his arms, when was the last time someone cuddled with me? Tommy wasn’t much for physical touch.

I mumble something adoringly, and doze off. 

***

My eyes flutter open and I growl at my kidnapper, and back away. 

I don’t want to be a vampire..

Walking to the opposite side of the room, I curl in on myself and grumble angrily. 

I’m so exhausted and all my emotions are so confusing. 

***

I’m mainly confused. I don’t want to be with Ranboo, but I also can’t be away from him. 

And I love him and hate him. 

At this point I’ve just decided to set up at neutral and go from there. I can’t not like him, but it’s also hard to like him.

So now I am just starting over. 

“Hi, I’m Tubbo.” I say, reaching out my hand to Ranboo. 

He looks bemused but goes along, “Hi there Tubbo. My name’s Ranboo.” 

“So..tell me about yourself.” I settle down, criss-crossing  my legs. I’m warm and comfy leaning against soft fluffy pillows. 

“Hmm… well. I like.. reading. And I really like plants, too.” Ranboo tells me, also leaning back.

“Oh, plants? That’s cool. Kinda like a gardener.” I say, ignoring the conflicting thoughts in my head; 

Go to sire! 

Run away from your kidnapper.

“Yeah,” Ranboo ruffles his cool hair, “I actually have a greenhouse. I just find it relaxing. How about you, what do you like?”

“Hmm. I like Netflix.” I admit with a laugh. 

“What kind of shows?” Ranboo asks.

And that’s how we ended up on the couch watching my favorite comedy/drama. 

Chapter Text

I exhale slowly, the cold morning air feeling good on my skin.I’m on Ranboo’s back porch, which just so happens to have a giant lake right in front of it.

Of course, porch would kind of be an understatement. The whole floor is marble, the chairs with soft velvet plush. There's a whole dock reaching across the water too.  

The lake laps at the wood of the dock, shimmering with the sunrise. I’m out early, wrapped in a blanket and holding a mug of hot chocolate. 

The time goes by as I breath out the cold air, take a sip of my hot chocolate, wrap the blanket tighter around myself. At some point, Ranboo shambles out silently, standing next to my chair. 

I stare out at the river, a couple birds calling out to each other as they soar overhead. The breeze tickles my face, winding through my hair. 

“Tubbo….” Ranboo says quietly, breaking the silence. He moves to stand in front of me, then crouches down, holding my hands. 

“I’m sorry for kidnapping you..I was lonely. And you caught my eye. I hope you can forgive me..” He says, his split-dyed hair ruffling in the wind. 

I stare at him, itching to pull my hands out of his. I don’t know what to say because half of me never wants to let him go-the vampire half- and the rational half never wants to even see him again. 

Finally, I break the silence. “Will I ever be able to return?” I whisper quietly. The blanket covering me and my hot chocolate had made me warm, so I know the shiver passing through me isn’t from the chilly morning air. 

I miss everyone.

“…” Ranboo starts opening his mouth, looking uncertain. “Tubbo, for that you’d need to..promise never to leave for good.”

I stare at him. Half of me has no problem agreeing with this but the other half….I don’t want to spend my life trapped in this giant mansion with a psychotic vampire who kidnapped me because he wanted a friend.

Don’t say that about sire, the vampire in me cries out, wishing to wrap my arms around Ranboo. Shut up, I think. I mean…I guess he’s not exactly psychotic but I wish he didn’t pull me away from everything that I love.

I sigh, “Ranboo…why me? Of all the people..”

“You…intrigued me. Whenever you hung out with Tommy you were sweet and funny but not too brash and..you seemed like the kind of friend I’d like to have.” Ranboo admits, staring at me. He’s still kneeled in front of me, holding my hands. 

“So you..kidnapped me? Just because you wanted a friend?” I say, staring past him at the lake. 

“Well…” Ranboo chuckles nervously. “When you put it that way it doesn’t sound so great does it…” He sighs, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry Tubbo.” 

I glance at him, seeing that his red and green eyes are sorrowful, apologetic. “It’s….its fine.” I sigh. “You do realize it’ll take me a long time to get used to you, right?”

Ranboo stares at me earnestly. “Tubbo, I’d wait a thousand years.” He says genuinely. “I already have.” 

I blink. “You’re over a thousand years old?”

“And I’ve never had a friend.” Ranboo confirms. “I’ve seen movies and friends going out together but I never knew what it was like. No human willingly wanted to be friends with a vampire.” He shifts on his knees in front of me, squeezing my hands a little. 

“And then…I saw you. And you seemed like just the type of friend I wanted. And you did such fun stuff with Tommy, but you were always careful and not brash.” The vampire says. “And I’ve been so damn tired of being alone for hundreds of years. I’m really sorry, Tubbo.” 

I shift from where I’m sitting on the chair, gently pulling my hands out of his so I can run them through my hair nervously. “I…I get where you’re coming from, but you still shouldn’t have done that..”

Ranboo bows his head apologetically, staring at the floor. “I know. I’m sorry Tubbo.” He stands up and offers me a hand. “Come with me.” 

With no energy to fight, I take his hand, pulling myself up. For a moment I stand there, holding hands with my kidnapper, the breeze blowing my hair in my eyes. This is my life now, I realize. 

Ranboo starts walking in the mansion and I follow him, our hands loosely intertwined. My whole mind is a mess. I want to simultaneously hug Ranboo and also run away from him. 

Soon enough, we arrive at a giant garage filled with old-timey shiny cars, glistening with the lights overhead. 

Ranboo leads me over to a car so clean it looks like it was made this morning. He gazes at it affectionately, and then motions for me to get in, opening the car door gently and sitting down in it himself.

I slide in and sit down on the cushy seats. I may not be a fan of rich, fancy things, but I have to admit…this seat is great. 

Ranboo grins and pats the dashboard proudly. “Ain’t she a beaut’?” He’s treating it like his child. 

“I mean..it sure is comfortable.” I admit, sinking into the seats. Ranboo smiles widely at my comment and pulls expertly out of the garage, his hands turning on the wheel.

I try not to dwell on the fact that I’m driving to a mysterious place with my kidnapper. Oh well, I guess. It’s better than actually being kidnapped. I would know. 

“We’re going to the movies.” Ranboo says, like he read my mind. I don’t respond, just stare out the window. 

What am I supposed to say?

Chapter Text

I grab a handful of buttery popcorn and cram it into my mouth.

The familiarity of the movies is nice, the chapped feeling your lips get that don’t deter you from continuing to have the salty popcorn, the realization that you finished the drink already, the occasional cough during the ads. 

The itch to stretch out and put your legs on the seat in front of you, to finish the popcorn before the movie even starts, when you put a sweater on because it’s chilly.

That moment when something happens in the movie and you share a meaningful glance with the person that came with you. 

I’m experiencing all that. Except the last part. 

I don’t know how to act around Ranboo. The vampire in me loves him to pieces, but my rational side feels quite the opposite. 

I’ve found that he’s good company, though, other than his overwhelming overprotective-ness. 

Anytime anyone even risked a glance at me, he’d shove me behind him. When I tried to talk to the movie person (Are they called cashiers?) about the kind of drink I’d wanted, he’d push me aside and order it himself. 

Someone asked me where the bathroom was and Ranboo snapped at them to get away from me and stop bothering me. 

Every couple of seconds he’ll glance from the movie to check on me as if I’ll run away. I want to, but I know won’t. 

I can’t. Part of me is tied to him no matter how much I wish it wasn’t true. It feels inevitable in a way.

Like how a flower will always get rained on. The rain is nice at a slight drizzle, but too much will bear down onto the petals until it crumples in on itself and will inevitably drown-

Jeez Tubbo..calm down. I prop my feet up on the seat in front of me- there’s no one there anyway. 

One of those movie trivias comes on during the ads. It’s an old movie edition- I don’t recognize any of them at all. Ranboo, on the other hand, keeps getting them all right.

“How do you even know all these movies?” I ask after a moment because I can’t help myself, tugging at the sleeves of my sweater again. 

Ranboo shrugs. “I’m hundreds of years old, Tubby.” 

Ew. Tubby. What am I, a bathtub? I try to ignore the weird feeling I get and stretch my short legs further out onto the seat in front of me. Sometimes I forget the guy next to me is probably from the black and white times. 

Which is ironic because everything about him is anything but black and white. 

When the ads finally end, I adjust my position, hyper-aware of Ranboo’s presence beside me. I swear, if I listen hard enough, I can hear his gentle breathing.

I quickly focus back on the movie as it starts, cramming another handful of popcorn into my mouth. I can feel the corners of my mouth burning a bit from the dry salt, but it’s too delicious and buttery for me to care. 

Ranboo offers me a sip of his soda, which does look good, but I deny it because one: hygiene, and two: I am not sharing a drink with this guy. 

No matter my stupid emotional attachment to him, I can’t help but feel so negative about him. This whole…thing?- it feels like some kind of dream. Messy, incomplete, jumping from location to location, feeling endless. 

I just wanna be home. 

And to be truthful, it’s not even just my vampire instincts that make me attached to Ranboo. It’s my idiotic, childish need for the paternal attention I had never gotten. 

I shift, eating another few kernels of popcorn to try to push down the knot forming in my stomach. I’m so tired.

Tipping my head back, I stare at the tall ceiling of the movie theater, silently daydreaming of throwing the bag of popcorn at Ranboo’s head and making a run for it. 

I know it’s stupid, but I’m torn between wanting to be back with my family and my vampire-ish need to be near Ranboo. But this is all his fault.

Stupid Ranboo.

No matter how good the movie is, no matter how many times he feeds me or makes me a nest, or shows me his fancy cars- I will never truly accept and love the man sitting next to me.