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Ranboo's life had never exactly been easy.
Born into abject poverty, the first few years of xirs life had been a blur of dirt and cold and hiding in the corners of the apartments xe and xirs mother stayed in.
Then it was the facility, seven years of being hooked up to wires and machines and having xirs blood drawn and xirs flesh taken even when he screamed and kicked and begged them not to.
Every day, woken up by the guards from xirs beige room, taken to shining laboratories, strapped down on a gurney and injected with things until xe passed out from screaming, or from lack of oxygen, or from the sheer agony in xirs bones.
And then had come the fire, when the labs had burned, and the guards were too busy trying to set out the screaming scientists to notice a small figure dashing through the hallways, thin, bloodied and terrified, but knowing that this was xirs only chance.
Xe guessed that they thought xe was dead, now, that xe'd burnt up in the flames like the other test subjects, and most of the staff on site.
That was for the best, even if xe was somewhere they could never reach xir now.
Xe'd found the portal through sheer coincidence - avoiding the corridors that were blatantly aflame, ducking through doors whenever xe was worried xe'd been spotted by panicked guards, until eventually xe'd burst through a door with a shimmering golden light within it, and then-
And then xe'd been somewhere else entirely.
The world had been strange - nothing like xe remembered from xir childhood, the buildings were different, the technology was wrong, and, more terrifyingly, everyone had beasts with them.
The dogs were normal, and xe hadn't paid much attention to them at first, and neither had xe when stranger ones had passed by - hedgehogs clinging to suit lapels, ferrets on shoulders, even a monkey or two. Xe'd completely freaked out, however, when a man had walked by with an entire polar bear, walking calmly at his feet.
The man had noticed xir panic, and had collared xir, dragging Ranboo down an alleyway and telling xir to be quiet before xe got caught.
Techno had recognised the look on xirs face on sight, and had immediantly clocked Ranboo for what xe was - an intruder from another dimension. His husband was too, Techno had explained, and had promptly dragged Ranboo back to their home.
There was other children, when they arrived - three boys called Tommy, Tubbo and Wilbur, who while not like Ranboo or Phil specifically, had all wandered into their home at some point and simply not left.
Since Wilbur was older, he mostly left the younger ones alone, and Ranboo had been nervous about connecting with Tommy and Tubbo - they were best friends already, close as anything, practically twins. As it turned out, though, xe'd had nothing to worry about, since they accepted xir easily and without a second thought, helping xir find a faux daemon to help xir blend in, and giving xir a crash course in both how to be a human, and how this world functioned.
Ranboo had explained haltingly how xe'd arrived here, talking about the golden light and the facility. Phil had looked utterly horrified and even Techno a little green, and Wilbur had blurted outright the question of how was xe a functioning person?
The answer was- Ranboo had no idea. Xe was doing xir very best to mimic normal person behaviour, and was apparently doing a better job at it than xe'd thought, considering none of them had guessed the depth of xirs trauma.
Enderchest, the cat they'd procurred for xir, was perfectly trained and an absolute darling. Although Ranboo couldn't talk to her like Tommy and Tubbo could talk to their daemons, and though she couldn't shapeshift like theirs did, she seemed to take an immediate liking to xir, and xir to her.
Once Ranboo had healed enough from everything that had been done to xir, and had put on enough weight not to look like a skeleton, they could pass perfectly on the street outside, heading out to do chores for Phil and Techno, as long as no one's daemon tried to talk to Enderchest. If they did, they'd know instantly that something was wrong, so Ranboo was careful to keep xirs head down and move fast, Enderchest curled up inside xirs jacket most often.
It was nice, being looked after like this.
No one had cared for Ranboo since xirs mother had died, years and years ago, and the scientists did the bare minimum to keep xir alive and useful. Phil cooked every meal from scratch, bandaged injuries and comforted xir when xe woke up screaming from nightmares, while Techno went out to work and bring money back to sustain their growing household.
Phil sometimes joked that they took in children like some people took in cats, to which Tommy had complained loudly that he wasn't a pet, and had thrown a pillow in the man's direction.
Which of course resulted in him being pummelled with pillows, and screaming for mercy while Techno him him repeatedly over the head with one of the couch cushions.
Ranboo had sat quietly in the corner, right up until Tubbo hurled one right in xirs face, and then xe'd gone on an attack mission, teaming up with Techno to defeat them both at the same time. It had been a glorious day, and all xe needed to do now to threaten either of them was raise a cushion.
Ranboo wasn't quite sure what the long term plan for xir was - right now, as a child, xe could get away with hiding in the house most of the time and never leaving. But once xe was old enough, surely xe'd have to work to help support the household? There were six human mouths to feed, four daemons, a cat and Phil's crow, and while whatever Techno did for a living (it wasn't specified and Ranboo was a little scared to ask) brought in enough money at the moment, they also needed stuff like new clothes, and bill money, and emergency funds for if something went wrong-
Whenever xe started to panic, though, Phil told him that they'd work something out closer to the time, and that as a child, xe wasn't supposed to be worrying about stuff like that.
"Ranboo? You still awake?"
"Yeah, Tubbo, I'm still awake," Ranboo whispered, startled out of xirs own thoughts by the voice in the dark, "What do you need?"
"Do you want to come up to the roof with me? I can't sleep…"
"Sure." Ranboo replied, slipping softly out of bed and sticking xirs feet in xirs slippers, "Should we wake up Tommy?"
Tubbo shook his head, "No, it's okay. Cmon-"
Climbing up to the roof was a bit of a challenge - or rather, doing so quietly was. There was a bunch of vines they could use to clamber up, but they also happened to be right outside of Techno and Phil's bedroom, and they were not supposed to be on the roof at any point, and especially not at night.
That had never stopped them, however, and soon enough they were sat on the roof tiles, Ranboo shivering slightly in the night's air. Tubbo had been more prepared and brought his jacket, but it hadn't occurred to xir before they'd left.
"Why couldn't you sleep?" Ranboo asked curiously, shuffling closer to Tubbo to share his warmth, "Are you worried about something?"
Tubbo shook his head, wrapping his arm around Ranboo's shoulder carefully, "Just thinking about some stuff. Did you know that Wilbur has a girlfriend?"
Ranboo scrunched xirs nose, "No, I didn't- oh wait! Is it the red-haired girl with the salmon daemon? She's had to carry around that fish bowl at all times, doesn't she-"
"Yeah, that's Sally," Tubbo nodded.
"Why are you thinking about Wilbur's girlfriend, then?" Ranboo continued to prod, watching as Tubbo's daemon scampered around a little way away, shifting from a small dormouse up to a silvery fox, and then settling as a goat, looking a little ridiculous perched on top of the roof. Though goats were climbers, weren't they? So maybe it made sense/
"Not about her specifically," Tubbo clarified, "More just about… having a girlfriend. Or- you know, someone like that. I've seen them kiss, and Wilbur says that it feels great."
Ranboo nodded slowly, "I've never thought about kissing someone, really. I guess I haven't had the chance. Have you?"
"Mhm. I was- I was actually wondering if- if maybe I could kiss you?" Tubbo immediately flushed, his face going red, "Not that you have to, just because- well- you're very pretty, and-"
Ranboo thought about it for a moment. About kissing Tubbo.
Xe'd seen Phil and Techno kiss before, and they were always smiling when they stopped kissing, so maybe it would be nice?
And the idea of kissing Tubbo was much better than kissing Tommy, so that meant xe liked him, right?
"Okay," xe said finally, nodding, "We can try kissing."
It was clumsy, for a moment, as they tried to figure out where their lips and noses and teeth were supposed to go, but once they'd slot together, it felt… it felt nice, and a little zingy, and it made Ranboo's stomach flip with butterflies.
Xe wanted to kiss Tubbo more, xe thought. Not as girlfriend and boyfriend, like Wilbur and Sally were, because Ranboo had known forever that xe wasn't a girl, but as something else.
What did Phil and Techno call themselves again? Partners, right?
Ranboo would like to be partners with Tubbo.
And from how Tubbo smiled when xe suggested it, and leaned forward to kiss xir again, so did he.
So no, Ranboo's life had never been easy, but it was certainly looking up.