Chapter Text
Ranboo was more than a little nervous. Moving into a new house was always nerve-wracking. Especially when you hadn’t lived in one in years. Nine years, to be exact.
He didn’t have much on him. Just a notebook full of things he wanted to remember, a pen to write them with, and the suit he wore.
Just a couple weeks ago he wouldn’t have believed you if you were to tell him he’d be living in a real house soon. Yet, here he was, standing in front of a huge house with a huge yard, holding all his belongings.
A hand rested on his shoulder. “Are you ready, mate?”
He looked over at his friend’s dad, Phil, and smiled. “Y-yeah. I think so.”
He didn’t know why he was so anxious- he had been here several times before. Maybe it was the thought of a permanent place to live, or the very possible risk of being kicked out. He probably shouldn’t let himself get too comfortable, just in case.
Phil grinned and patted him on the shoulder once more before walking up to the door and unlocking it. Ranboo quickly followed behind.
“Boys! I’m back!”
Almost immediately, a blur of red and white and fluffy blonde hair crashed into Ranboo despite him being very much behind Phil. He barely processed the arms wrapped around his middle and the stinging sensation the feeling left before they were gone. In front of him stood a grinning Tommy, wings and hair all fluffed up.
“Ranboob!” Tommy exclaimed, bouncing in place. “C’mon, I wanna show you your room!”
Ranboo laughed quietly. “A room? You guys set up a whole room for me?”
“Of course, idiot. We aren’t gonna make you sleep on the fuckin couch.”
“You really didn’t have to do that-”
“Shut,” Phil interrupted, chuckling as Tommy dragged Ranboo up the stairs. He had never been upstairs before this, so he had no idea what it was like.
Tommy skidded to a stop in the hall, making Ranboo bump into him.
“Sorry Ranboob,” Tommy quickly apologized before knocking on a door with a flag Ranboo had never seen on it, as well as a drawing of some sea animal taped to it. “Hey Techno! Wilbur!”
The door opened to reveal an older teen in a yellow sweater. Wilbur, Ranboo remembered.
Wilbur’s eyes landed on Ranboo, lighting up in recognition. “Oh! Ranboo’s here! Welcome to the family.”
Ranboo simply smiled. Family was a bit too strong of a word to use, but he didn’t protest.
A head of pink hair popped into the doorway. “Hey Ranboo. Hey other children.”
“I’m not a fuckin child!” Tommy spluttered, waving his arms around and nearly smacking Ranboo in the face.
The pink haired guy- Techno?- smirked. “Yeah, okay. Don’t hit the new guy.”
He then disappeared back into the room.
Wilbur smiled. “Well, I’ll leave Tommy to show you your room. It’s not much, but it’ll be enough until Phil takes you shopping.”
Ranboo frowned. “Shopping?”
Tommy nodded, grinning. “Yeah! You need things to make your room yours!”
“O-oh.”
He’d never really been able to go shopping for anything more than the necessities. Sometimes he treated himself to a small bag of chips, or maybe a chocolate bar, but that was it, really. He couldn’t imagine having enough money to go out and get whatever he wanted.
There was a short moment of silence before Tommy grabbed his hand again and pulled him further down the hall.
Tommy pointed to a door with a sign reading “Do Not Enter- that means you, Tommy” and a large pig sticker that was peeling off. “Here’s Tech’s room- they’re in Wilbur’s room right now- and here’s my room.” He motioned to a door with a piece of paper taped to it with the words “only cool people and WOMEN can enter!! dont come in if you are a wrongen!!!” scribbled on in sharpie.
He then stopped in front of a plain door close to the end of the hall. Ranboo guessed the one furthest down the hall was Phil’s. “This one here is yours!”
Tommy opened the door, revealing a simple bedroom with a fluffy rug, a double bed, a desk, a dresser, and a bookshelf. The walls were all bare apart from a clock and a wall-mounted coat hanger. There was a window in the corner with curtains thick enough to block anyone from seeing inside, but thin enough to let light filter through and color the room a light blue. On the desk sat a pc, two brand new notebooks, and a mug full of various writing utensils. There was a waste basket under the desk, but no chair. The bed had a thick, fluffy blanket as well as several pillows and a throw blanket carefully folded at the end. There was also a small wrapped box sitting on it that Ranboo decided to check out later.
He wandered into the room, looking closely at everything, taking in every detail. He spotted a door to his right and headed over to it to open it. On the way over, he set his notebook, which he had been holding close to him this whole time, on the desk.
“That’s the door to your closet and the bathroom we share,” Tommy explained. Ranboo wasn’t sure how it could be both, but when he opened the door he quickly understood.
He stood in front of a small hallway. To his left was a door, and when he opened it, he found the closet. Directly ahead of him was the door to the bathroom, which had a door on the opposite side which he guessed led to Tommy’s room. The bathroom itself was quite simple- a counter with a built-in sink, a mirror, a shower-bathtub combination, and a toilet.
Tommy followed him in and walked to the door. “You can lock the doors if you don’t want anyone coming in. You just gotta push this button on the handle.”
Ranboo nodded, watching as he explained. This was all so foreign, even the concept of locks on doors was unfamiliar.
“I’ll explain how the shower works later,” Tommy continued. “You know how a sink works, right?”
Ranboo nodded again. “Yeah. I, uh, don’t really use them, though. Enderman hybrid and all.”
Tommy’s eyes widened. “Oh! Oh. yeah. I forgot about that. That’ll be… weird. I’ll ask Phil about it later for you, if you want.”
“Sure, if it’s not too much trouble.”
Tommy laughed. “Nothing is too much trouble for big man Tommyinnit! Anyways, you’re here to stay! We wanna make you comfortable.”
Ranboo smiled. “Thanks.”
“No problem!” Tommy paused. “Hey, want me to give you a tour of the house? I know you’ve been here before, but if you’re gonna be living here you should know the whole layout ‘n shit.”
Without waiting for an answer, Tommy rushed forward, grabbed Ranboo’s hand, and pulled him out of the bathroom. They made their way back up the hall and past the stairs into a big open room. There was a second set of stairs in the far left of the room that led downstairs, and the floor around this area was lower than the rest of the floor. There was a tv mounted on the wall to the left. There was a table under it with several video game consoles and a basket of games on it, along with a mess of controllers. To the right, the wall was lined with windows and bookshelves. There were several beanbags scattered throughout the room, and multiple piles of pillows and blankets pushed up against the walls. There were two short circular tables, one by the bookshelves and one closer to the center of the room. The one by the bookshelves had a pile of books and what appeared to be someone’s homework spread out on it. The other had an empty glass and a couple various trinkets.
“This is the lounge. Feel free to grab some books from here to take to your room. We didn’t fill up your bookshelf much because we weren’t sure what you’d like, or if you even like reading. I sure don’t! It’s a waste of time and I have many important things to do and women to talk to.”
Ranboo chuckled. “I like reading. I practically lived at the library.”
“Weirdo,” Tommy joked, pulling Ranboo back down the stairs.
They ended up in the kitchen. Ranboo had been here before- once he tried to help bake a cake. It went alright, in his opinion. He still thought it needed more M&Ms.
There was a large fridge built into the wall next to the door to the dining room. An island sat in the middle of the room with stools lined up on the side, and a small circular table behind it. Past that was the living room, with a tv in the corner and chairs lining the walls. Between the living room and kitchen was the back door, giving a clear view of the huge backyard.
“You’ve already been over here, I don’t need to give you a tour of down here. I’m also not showing you how to use the oven because I’m pretty sure you’d set the house on fire if you tried to use it,” Tommy said, scrunching up his face comically.
“True!”
Tommy grinned, then pointed in the opposite direction of the kitchen. “That way is the garage and washing machine and shit. We usually all do our own laundry separately, but if you ever need help just ask someone. Also, we haven’t gotten you any clothes because we weren’t sure what size you are, so you’ll just be using me and Wilbur’s old clothes. They’ll probably be too short, though, because you are unnaturally and freakishly tall.”
"Like I said, enderman hybrid."
Tommy froze, eyes wide. "Shit. I- I'm so sorry. I was just joking, I completely forgot about that-"
Ranboo laughed. "No, no, you’re fine. My memory isn't great, so I get that. I don't mind anyway. A little joke won't hurt me."
Tommy made a strange face, but said nothing more about it. Instead, he shrugged and said, "Welp, tour's over. Phil said he wants to talk to you once you get settled. His office is down the hall to the left of the front door coming in, as well as a bathroom and a secret room for secret things. Also, there's something for you on your bed."
Ranboo nodded and watched as Tommy ran back upstairs, probably to bother Wil and Techno. He waited a moment before following, then he headed to his room. His room. He had a room of his own now, not just a rented one in a motel like he sometimes got. He smiled brightly as he opened the door and walked over to the bed.
He looked down at the small box sitting on the bed for a minute before picking it up to examine it. It was rectangular and covered in silver wrapping paper. He shook it gently, hearing something inside bump against the side of the box. Carefully, he began unwrapping it, finding that it was a phone box. One of the expensive ones. It was probably just a reused box, though. Ranboo doubted Phil would get him a phone as soon as he started living here.
He opened the box and. Well. It was a phone.
Ranboo pulled the phone out of the box, eyes wide. There was a sticky note on it that read,
“Hello Ranboo! Tommy told me you didn’t have a phone, so I went ahead and got you one. It’s already set up, so you don’t have to worry about it. It also has all of our phone numbers on it. Feel free to download whatever you’d like.
-Phil
(also, if you’d like we can pick out a case together)”
Ranboo dropped the phone back in the box once he finished reading, and for a good several minutes, he kinda just. Stood there. He definitely hadn’t been expecting this. Suddenly, all of the hospitality and feelings from the day caught up with him, and he sat heavily on the bed, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He quickly scrubbed them away, not wanting to deal with burns at the moment.
He took the phone back out of the box and set the box down next to him. He pulled the sticky note off the screen, turned it on, and started exploring the phone. He might as well use the gift he was given.
Several experimental photos and scuffed mobile games later, there was a knock on the door. Ranboo’s head shot up from the screen, surprised. He stuttered a little before saying, “Come in!”
The door opened to reveal Phil. “Are you settling in alright?”
Ranboo nodded. “Yeah. T-thanks for, uh, the phone.”
“No problem, mate! So, I have some questions for you.”
Ranboo nodded again, now a little nervous.
“First, we need to make your room yours. I was thinking I’d let you pick out a desk chair and a phone case, as well a blanket. Wilbur, Techno, and Tommy all have these huge blankets meant for king beds that they use as throws, so I was thinking we could get you one of those. Also, clothes. You’ll be using some of Tommy and Wil’s old clothes for now until you get some of your own. There’s probably something I forgot, so if you need anything, don’t hesitate to tell me, okay? Oh, and I downloaded some games on your pc. Feel free to check it out. If you need help setting up accounts or anything, ask me. Or anyone in the house, really.”
Ranboo nodded, overwhelmed. He was nodding a lot in this conversation. Did it even count as a conversation? He hadn’t really said anything.
Phil smiled kindly. “Do you want to pick out a chair and phone case right now, or would you rather wait? This is all probably a bit much.”
“Uh, sure.” Ranboo stood up, turning off his phone and putting it on top of its box. He followed Phil out of the room and down to the office.
Phil was right. This was a lot. But, Ranboo could put off the crisis until nighttime. He probably wouldn’t sleep, anyways, since this was a huge change from his usual sleeping situation.