"She moved with shameless wonder."
In which Ranboo meets a girl named after the stars. A girl with a troubled past who's meant to find a community and instead they both find a best friend.
Her path of self-destruction and anger leads her to her cous...
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Shapes dance on the ceiling as Ash lays completely still, her back pressed to the floor. She doesn't know the time or how long she's been there. The flask lays empty and tossed to the side.
Beside her, her phone starts to sing bringing her back to reality. She lazily grabs the phone and without checking who the call is from answers it.
"Hey Ash," the familiar voice of Ranboo says. She puts him on speaker and sets her phone aside again.
"Ranboo," she says smiling at the ceiling.
"Are you okay? You said you would call later and well.. it's later and you never did."
"Got busy," she says with a hiccup. "I feel all warm inside, I forgot," she laughs quietly placing her hand on her cheek. "Crazy."
"You're talking crazy Ash. What's going on?"
"I'm not talking crazy you're just hearing crazy."
Ranboo frowns trying to make sense of the situation. The realization of what might be happening takes some thought. "Are you drunk?"
"Um-" she says dragging out the m sound for much longer than needed. "I'm moderately functional."
"I'll take that as a yes. Where did you get alcohol and how much did you drink?"
Ash blinks slowly as she thinks about the answer to his question. "I got it from a box, well no a bottle- flask! It's gone now."
"Holy shit Ash," Ranboo's worry for his friend only grows. He decides the best thing for her to keep her on the phone with him.
"Did you know it's Christmas Ranboo?"
"Yeah I did. How was your Christmas?"
"Techno cried at a movie," she says laughing. The sound of laughter stops very abruptly though. "My mom didn't call, or my dad. Fucking pieces of shit!" The laughter has now been replaced by the faint sound of sniffling. This leads Ranboo to guess she could be crying.
"Hey it's okay Ash. You're right they're awful but you've been doing well without them. You've been doing well without them."
"Not anymore. Christmas is supposed to be happy." Ash has reduced to angry tears, "why can't I be happy? Or loved? Either would be nice. It all went to shit it always does."
"You are loved Ash. Techno loves you, Tubbo and Tommy do," he hesitates briefly before continuing. "I love you Ash. Someday I'm going to give you the best Christmas ever. A happy one.
Ash tucks her knees against her chest, her tears leaving wet spots on the floor below her. "I love you too," she says. "Don't tell Techno. I'm begging you don't tell Techno. I can't go to the hospital again."
Again?
Ranboo never knew she has ever been. In that moment he realizes how little he knows about her past. How broken she really is. Now is not the time to find out but he decides that he will talk to her.
For now he focuses his intent on getting her to talk until she falls asleep. "What's your favorite flower?"
"Dandelions."
They talk until the call goes silent on her end expect for the quiet sounds of steady breathing. Ranboo doesn't leave and falls asleep on call her with.
When he wakes up the next morning she's still there, sitting in the call but it's silent. He assumes she's still asleep so he mutes to avoid waking her up and carries on with his day.
Three hours later when she finally wakes up Ranboo is in the middle of a zoom call for school. She groans and rolls onto her knees holding her head.
"What the fuck?" She mutters getting up and squinting at the light. Through her grogginess she realizes she's on a call with Ranboo. He's muted but a message from him shows up on her screen.
Ranboo Good morning. I'm in a zoom call but I'll be done in a bit.
Ash Morning You don't have to stay on call if you want to leave
Ranboo I'm staying
Ash Okay Talk to you soon
Gripping her phone tightly she heads out of her room to get some water and pain killers. The hangover she's feeling right not is unlike anything she's ever felt. Every step causes her to feel like she's going to either throw up or pass out. Her head is pounding and she fills a glass and takes a long drink.
Techno walks into the kitchen and says good morning. Asteria forces a smile trying not to make him worry before retreating back to her room.
She lays face down on her bed to block out all light while she waits for Ranboo. 15 minutes or so later his voice returns to the call.
"Hey," he says. "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit," Ash admits. "Fuck, I promised a stream today but there's no way that's going to happen."
"Hey, don't worry about it. Taking care of yourself come first."
"I'm obviously not very good at that," she mutters as she opens twitter.
Ash @.Asholic No stream today :( Some stuff came up, I'll hopefully be back tomorrow. ❤️ 12.628 🔁 293💬 2,649 User1 - hope everything is okay <3 User2 - don't worry about it Ash User3 - damn I was looking forward to it. User4 - not surprised
"I'm sorry," Ash says to Ranboo.
"For what?"
"Being a mess. I don't understand why you didn't hang up on me."
"I didn't hang up because I care. Also I don't think you're a mess."
She laughs breathlessly, "if you could see me right now you'd change your mind."
Ranboo is silent for a minute before bluntly saying, "turn on your camera."
"Ranboo, I look like shit you really don't want to see me like this."
"Please? I'll turn mine on too."
"You don't have to," she says knowing this would be the first time she sees his face.
"I want to," the boy says quietly, glancing over at a mirror and halfway trying to fix his hair some. Ash sighs and presses the button to reveal her ceiling. After Ranboo notices hers is on and he turns his on as well, also showing his ceiling.
"Wow you look like a ceiling," she says picking up her phone and slightly smiles at the camera. She sets it up against a lamp next to her bed.
Ranboo slowly brings his camera up to show his face. "Do I?"
"Hi," she whispers smiling. Her eyes glance at his features. "Nice to see you."
~ Author Speaks ~ Word count: 1046 Since we don't know where Ranboo lives that means I get to choose right? Right. Just thought I'd mention that. Also to describe what he looks like I'm going to be using what Tubbo has said as well as things that I imagine. So if he ever does a face reveal don't go oh you were wrong.
Update: HE LIVES IN THE BAY AREA?!?!!!? No he doesn't. Not in this book.
