Life moved on, and Ranboo supposed that was the worst part of it all. Life didn't just stop whenever you wanted it to...you couldn't freeze time simply to wallow on the couch. You couldn't expect the bills to not come piling in, or for your taxes to be allowed left unpaid, or to not feel hungry...even if you didn't feel like getting up from the couch. You could wait as long as you wanted, but your stomach would still grumble if you didn't eat, and your hair would remain dirty if you didn't shower, and you would feel gross if you didn't change your clothes and just allowed yourself to lay in bed, wishing that the day could be over the second it started. Life didn't just stop for you. You either had to get with it, or you would be crushed by it.
Ranboo had allowed himself to be crushed by life before...the time that Tubbo had broken his heart so long ago, when they were so young. He remembered how he didn't feel like showering...he didn't feel like eating and he didn't feel like drinking water, even if his throat was dry. The blonde would barely eat anything over the summer. In his mind, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but the way he was feeling, the way his heart was aching, but even then he didn't want to talk about it. Oh, and how Ranboo would stare at his phone for hours, looking at the old text messages that he and his ex-boyfriend had shared...the way they had spoken so kingly to each other, and the nights where they had just been so smitten that they sent long paragraphs attempting to describe how lucky they felt having the other person in their life. The blonde would read these underneath his breath, getting choked up halfway through and having to put his phone aside so he wouldn't get tears on the screen.
It was only until his mother came into his room one day, tears in her eyes and begging for her son to eat something. Commenting on how thin he had gotten, and how scared she was. How she wanted to help him and how she wanted for him to let her help him. The sight of seeing his mother cry in front of him had allowed Ranboo to start thinking about how what he was doing was affecting his family. Tubbo might not have wanted him...but his parents wanted to see him thrive, they wanted to know that their son was okay. And he wasn't. He wasn't okay, Ranboo had been so far from it...but knowing that there were people there for him picked him back up again. And, despite an extremely rocky start...the blonde recovered. He learned to accept the breakup and continue his life, despite always wondering what he could have possibly done to deserve such a fate.
This time around would be different. Ranboo didn't have anyone who would be there to support him. He had people in his life, yes...hell, even his parents were still in the picture. Oh, but he hadn't spoken to them in so long. Over two years...not a word had been exchanged between the two of them. There was never a falling out, or anything...Ranboo simply stopped responding. He didn't have them anymore to lean on. He knew well enough that the second he texted them, they would welcome him with open arms; but what a selfish thing to do. To avoid them for years and return only once he wanted them to solve his problem, one that they had already solved for him when he was in high school. It wasn't fair to them...so he couldn't. He wouldn't.
But that meant Ranboo would have to do everything on his own. He would have to lift himself up, be his own shoulder to lean on. He couldn't rely on his parents anymore. He was an adult, and he certainly had to act like one. Which was why the blonde had already gotten himself out of bed, making it afterward despite feeling sick to his stomach. He had showered, gotten a new pair of clothes, and even had himself breakfast: a simple bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. Life, as Ranboo had suspected, was moving on, and he would have to move with it. It was one thing not to want to do anything as a child without any responsibilities...it was another thing to do so as an adult. Not to say that the blonde had so many responsibilities...he hardly had any.
So, there the blonde was, a package tucked underneath his arm as he made his way to the post office. The previous day, a box had been delivered to his apartment door, but he hadn't ordered anything, and after texting around he confirmed that no one else on his floor had ordered anything. So, it obviously belonged to someone, and Ranboo would have to go to the post office to get it sorted out. And, if not that, then at least have the package returned to where it had been shipped from, as it hadn't been opened, the packing tape still in place. It was a relatively small box, but it could be something important. It could be medication or something, Ranboo didn't know. He hadn't really checked the label. He just knew that he didn't order a package, and that was the end of the story.
