Coin-Operated Boy

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Tubbo a crazy inventor, Ranboo the crazy invention.

platonic

Inspired by Coin-Operated Boy by The Dresden Dolls

Toby Smith was lonely. And it wasn't just an insult from his school bullies anymore, it was a well-known fact to almost everyone who even knew his name. The whole neighborhood knew of the teenage boy by the nickname of "Tubbo", who spents weeks upon weeks on end holed up in his bedroom. Barely even his family saw him, even less since they moved him into an extension just off their own house, in a failed attempt to bring him out of his shell by giving him his own living space. It wasn't space that was the issue, however, nor was it that Tubbo struggled to leave his room at all. No, he could leave any time he wanted. He just didn't want to. He was far too busy, working on the greatest thing the world had yet to see.

It had been almost two full years before Tubbo finally screwed tight that last screw and stood back, wiping his brow and marveling at his creation. It stood at just over six and a half feet tall, towering far over Tubbo, but that was just the way he wanted it. He smiled to himself as he looked it over, buzzing with excitement that his project was finally finished - or just beginning, depending on how you looked at it. As the final piece of the puzzle, Tubbo fished into his pocket and pulled out a small silver disc, around the size of a 2 pence coin. He stepped around the creation and lifted the loose shirt he had given it, stolen from his dad, to press the coin into the slot, then let the shirt fall and stepped back round the front. A few seconds passed and nothing happened, Tubbo starting to feel that familiar sense of defeat in the pit of his stomach, before he began to hear a low humming noise and his smile brightened. It was working! The creation jerked into life, bright red and green eyes lighting up and head turning slowly from side-to-side. It moved very stiffly and mechanically, but that's just how Tubbo expected it to be. He may be a genius, but he's not a Tesla engineer. Tubbo smiled as the creation laid its bright eyes on him and cocked its head to the side. He lifted a hand towards it.

"Hi, my name's Tubbo," he greeted, "I created you!" The creation whirred loudly in response and lifted its hand slowly, then extended a long finger to poke at Tubbo's hand. Tubbo giggled. "No, silly, you shake it! Like this!" he carefully clasped the creation's metal hand and shook it gently. It smiled and whirred happily.

"Tu- bo-" Its voice was scratchy, deep but not quite human-like. There was always a mechanical hum to it, and it was quite distorted and broken, but Tubbo was still just amazed that it could even speak that clearly at all.

"Yeah! I'm Tubbo!" he agreed excitedly, "Now, what do we call you?"

The creation slowly looked around the room, starting to get the hang of movement and jerking about a little less. It extended a hand and pointed at a rainbow sweater that Tubbo had attempted to knit a while back, in the couple of weeks last year where he tried to pick up a "normal" hobby after he got stuck with a certain mechanic of his creation, before eventually figuring it out and going back to work on his main project again, the sweater discarded.

"Huh? Oh, that's a rainbow!" Tubbo explained when he saw where the creation pointed. Its hand dropped and head jerked to look at Tubbo.

"Ran- bow-?" it attempted.

"No, no, rain-bow," Tubbo repeated slowly accentuating the words. You could quite literally hear the gears turning in the creation's head.

"Ran- Boo-?" it tried again.

"That's- even worse," Tubbo sighed, "You know what? It's fine. Ranboo is close enough." The creation's eyes flickered, then Tubbo gasped, "That's it! I'll call you Ranboo!"

"Ran- Boo-?" the creation repeated, and Tubbo nodded.

"Yep! Your name is Ranboo, and my name is Tubbo!" Tubbo grinned excitedly and Ranboo attempted to copy him, which only made Tubbo laugh at how funny it looked. "We're going to be great friends, okay Ranboo?"

"Tu- B- B- Bo- Ran- Boo-" Ranboo replied, "Fr- E- End-"

"Yeah! Friends!" Tubbo giggled and Ranboo made a sound like scratching metal, Tubbo assumed it was trying to copy him. It learnt very quickly, he noticed, and it was so much cooler than he could ever have imagined. He finally had a friend! His very own, coin-operated boy.

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