Chapter Text
‘Ranboo was running. He couldn’t stop running. Behind him he could hear shouts, feel the thud of feet on the ground, taste the scent of smoke. His legs ached, his chest burned. But he couldn’t stop moving. He had to reach the edge of the forest before–
No… wait… that’s a little too early. Let’s back up. To the story where a tall sixteen year old with nowhere else to go and nobody on his side entered the forest no one is supposed to go into. Let’s go back… to the beginning.
Ranboo was tired. His head ached. He’d blacked out again, for the third time this week, and no matter how many times he tried to explain to his parents that not giving him food was making him more stressed and thus causing the blackouts, they wouldn’t listen. He was hungry , and exhausted, and it wasn’t as if he could go beg for food from the shops. They’d give him that look they always do. His parents are rich, surely he has plenty to eat? He should leave the food for the people who need it.
So, Ranboo headed into the forest.
It honestly looked a lot more normal than he was expecting, after all the horror stories that he had heard about it. It was a hot day in the middle of summer, so Ranboo was already sweltering under the weight of his suit and mask. The leaves on the trees were a bright green, and the sky was a cheerful blue– Ranboo’s favorite shade. The clouds were so puffy, Ranboo felt like he could reach out and touch them. It was a perfect day.
So of course, that was when it all went wrong. Ranboo hadn’t really been following a path, just wandering along. The fresh air actually did wonders for his anxiety, although that could have been the fresh potatoes he had found, which had helped a lot with his strunger(Ranboo’s term for “stress hunger’). As he was walking, he’d noticed a little break in the trees, and on a whim, had decided to step through it. The moment he did, his breath caught in his throat and behind his sunglasses, his eyes widened.
Although the glasses that he wore always dimmed the world, this clearing still seemed incredibly bright. There were no trees blocking out the sun, although they grew in a direct ring all around it. The grass was scattered with wildflowers, bluebells and lilacs and dandelions. Ranboo wanted to pick some up, maybe get a handful of grass to rub between his hands, but he could picture what would happen if he went home with grass stains on his suit, and he couldn’t go another night without dinner.
In the middle of the clearing, there was a circle of mushrooms. Hesitantly, Ranboo stepped towards it, but before he could get too close, there was a flash of light and then a voice.
“Hey there!” said a boy– no, a fae– standing in the center of the circle.
Ranboo’s first reaction was panic. Complete and utter panic. However, by this point he’d gotten pretty good at controlling his anxieties. Nobody wanted to see them, he highly doubted that the fae would be any different. So instead of collapsing on the ground and hyperventilating like he wanted to do, Ranboo just said, “Um, hello?’
The fae smiled. “Nice to meet you! So, could I ask what your name is? Just so I know what to call you.” He smiled, all sharp teeth and jagged edges. It was hardly a smile at all and although the fae was quite a bit shorter than him, with curly brown hair and brown eyes, and looked about his age, it was very clear to Ranboo in this moment that he was facing a predator.
Ranboo shook his head. “Oh, no I’m not falling for that trick. I’m not that stupid.” He folded his arms, very carefully directing his glare at the ground so the fae wouldn’t take offense.
The fae actually looked… confused. “Oh, no, I’m not– I mean I was, but I’d really just like somebody to talk to. You don’t have to give me your real name.”
Embarrassingly, Ranboo didn’t even comprehend what this meant, and just stared at the fae blankly.
The fae sighed. “You’re really going to make me go first, aren’t you? Alright. Call me…” he thought for a moment before his eyes lit up and he snapped his finger, “Bee!”
This choice of name drew Ranboo’s attention to the sweater the fae was wearing. It had a large cartoon bee on the front, and seemed an odd choice of clothing for a fae. Weren’t they supposed to wear fancy fabrics and jewelry?
Ranboo wrung his hands, wishing he had something to fiddle with. He’d seen some other kinds with cubes and bendy sticks, but his parents would never let him have something like that. “Um… Boo?” he said, smacking himself internally for how stupid he was. That could be enough for the fae to control him!
To Ranboo’s complete and utter shock forever, Bee just smiled. “Cool name, bossman! So, do you come from the village? You look a little young to be wandering in the forest by yourself.”
Ranboo blinked in surprise. How could the fae tell how old he was. “I- um, I mean, I am a minor, but I can go places by myself, I’m old enough.”
Bee held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, no worries, I don’t have a problem with it. I’m glad you came out here!”
“So you can try to steal my name?” Ranboo said wryly. It was oddly easy to talk to the fae, and he kept finding himself forgetting to analyze and overthink and pick apart every one of his words before he said them.
Bee’s eyes widened comically. “Whaaat? I would never do something like that!”
Ranboo laughed, and was almost surprised by the sound. He hadn’t laughed in a long time.
The day went on thusly. They talked, and laughed, and Bee tried to get Ranboo to go into the mushroom circle and Ranboo of course refused and Bee threw sticks at him and Ranboo tried to recite a story for him but forgot half the words and… it was nice. It was really, really nice.
Ranboo headed home that afternoon and even though he was still hungry and his pajamas chafed at his skin, he went to sleep with a smile on his face.