Chapter Text
Tubbo yanked a blanket from the arm of the sofa and wrapped it around himself. He tried his best to focus on the “You Laugh You Lose” stream Jack was doing with Niki streaming on the TV in front of him. “Ranboo, why is it so fucking cold?” Raising his head to look at Ranboo, who was seated in the middle of the sofa, he groaned.
Tubbo spotted Ranboo roll one of his eyes (the other was hidden by his "emo hair"). "I don’t know; maybe it's because you set the AC on full blast an hour ago." Both 17-year-olds were dressed in t-shirts and pants, but Ranboo did not appear to be shivering.
Tubbo instinctively corrected him. "Air-con." Tubbo moved across the room and slipped on his yellow Nihachu sweater that was sitting on his desk chair while waiting for Ranboo to react. During these times, Tubbo remembered why he wore hoodies like they were a religion.
He returned to the sofa to see Jack and Niki on the TV, shaking their heads at a media share of Miles Morales from Into the Spider-Verse walking through a hallway. The character was sweating with nervousness as TommyInnit lip-syncing to “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars surrounded him. Tubbo chose to ignore it in favour of focusing his attention on Ranboo, who gave Tubbo a sidelong glance when he emerged. “Should I move over so you can hog the couch?”
“You know me so well, my beloved,” Tubbo joked as he spread across the sofa, forcing Ranboo into the corner. “Also, it’s a sofa, not a couch, dumbass.”
“Mhm,” Ranboo droned. “I’m going to keep saying couch.”
“You’re wrong for that.”
Tubbo chuckled, and the two boys became silent, satisfied to watch the stream. "You know, the longer Niki’s been here in the UK, the more she's developed an English accent," he sat up and stared at the TV. “You should do that.”
“Mmm, no.”
“Yes.”
“Nope.”
“Yes.”
Tubbo waited a moment for Ranboo’s response, but cheered when it never came. "Ha, I win." Jack sat alone on the TV, peering around his set-up. Tubbo wondered absently where Niki had gone; maybe to the restroom or something. Ranboo remained deafeningly silent. Tubbo cast a glance to where Ranboo was sitting.
He was gone. “Ranboo..?” Tubbo murmured. There was no response. He rose up and turned off the television. He took a trip through their small house, upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, and even outdoors. The longer he went without seeing Ranboo, the more concerned he became, and his stroll became more of a jog. Where the fuck did he go?
From a logical standpoint, it was probably fine. Ranboo simply went off to do something... entirely discreetly... in a short period of time... and without informing Tubbo. Tubbo came to a halt in the centre of their room, sound-proof doors ajar. “Ranboo!” He yelled loud enough for anyone in the house to hear it.
He heard footsteps approaching the bottom of the stairs and Tubbo's shoulders relaxed; Ranboo had heard him. He came down the stairs, ready to question his friend.
“Toby?” His heart sunk. It wasn’t Ranboo.
"Hi, Lani," Tubbo said. He slumped against the wall, allowing his head to bang against it.
"What's going on?" Lani inquired as she sat down on the step she had been standing on. Tubbo followed suit.
"Have you seen Ranboo?"
“Uhm, no, sorry.” Lani waited for a response, but it didn’t come. “You can’t find him?”
Tubbo brought his hands to his head and made a noise of frustration. Maybe he was a little dramatic -Ranboo has to be somewhere- but it was stressing him out a lot.
“Have you tried calling him or- uh, texting him? Is his phone here?” Lani suggested. Tubbo dropped his hands. How had he not thought of that? It seemed so fucking obvious.
“No, I haven’t,” Tubbo admitted. “I’ll do that.” He stood up and strode over to the sofa. Tubbo’s phone was on the armrest while Ranboo’s was nowhere to be seen. He grabbed it and pulled up Ranboo on Discord.
Tubbo glimpsed over his shoulder at Lani who was still on the steps. “Thanks, by the way.” She gave him a small smile and left.
Looking back at his phone, he took a deep breath and rang Ranboo. The call was accepted almost right away.
The first thing Tubbo heard was static. Then, straining his ears, he made out a small, “Tubbo?” Despite its volume, Tubbo could tell it was Ranboo was yelling.
“Ranboo, where are you?” Tubbo hissed into the phone. The connection was pathetic and his panic rose more every second.
It was hard to decipher, but Tubbo heard the words, “appeared, versions, dream, me, Karls, and help,” through the static.
Tubbo tried his best to take deep breaths; it was not working. “Ranboo, I can barely tell what you’re saying; the connection is really bad! How do I help you?!”
But the only answer he received was static. His connection was lost. “No, no, no, no, no, no,” Tubbo muttered, but it was no use. He couldn’t get the call back up; he couldn’t get Ranboo back. He slumped on the sofa, eyes prickling with tears. Without any idea of what else to do, he called Tommy, just for someone to talk to.
“Hey, bud, what’s up?” Tommy answered, completely calm. Tubbo relished the existence of his other best friend. At least he was okay.
“Ranboo’s gone,” Tubbo’s voice shook.
“Wait, what? Toby, mate, what are you on about? Are you okay?” Tubbo took a couple seconds to pull himself together enough to answer.
“Ranboo- he- he disappeared.” Tubbo’s voice cracked. “I called him and- and- and all I could only make out through the-the static was um- was a couple words.” Jesus Christ, he had to pull it together.
“What did he say, Tubs?” Tommy asked, his voice strained.
“Fuck, I can barely remember. Something about dreaming and maybe Karl and that he needed help.” There was nothing but silence on the other end of the line. Tubbo started to panic. What if Tommy was gone too? Soon enough, he would begin to hear static again. Or maybe Tommy thought he was joking! This was all just some big elaborate prank. Or Tommy got- Tubbo didn’t know- taken to wherever Ranboo was too? He couldn’t lose another friend-
“We’ll get him back, Toby.” He was still there. Tubbo let out another sob, though he wasn’t sure if it was from sadness or relief.
“Can we turn on our videos?” Tubbo asked. He didn’t want that worry again.
Tommy agreed and the two boys turned on their cameras. Tubbo could see Tommy was on his phone in his room and had some tears in his eyes. He seemed lost in thought.
“What do we do, Tommy?” Tubbo whispered.
Tommy continued to stare off into space. Tubbo gave him time to answer. “…We could call Will?” Tubbo nodded. Scrolling through his Discord friends, he found that-
“He’s online,” Tommy murmured.
“You beat me to it, bossman,” Tubbo protested lightly. Tommy chuckled a little. “He’s in a VC with Jack,” Tubbo said. Then he thought about it for a bit. “Jack should be streaming a You Laugh You Lose with Niki.”
Tubbo opened up Twitch. “He ended early,” he muttered. He was about to ask Tommy to jump into their VC, but then-
Static. Tubbo sucked in a breath and rapidly opened up his discord window. Tommy’s screen went black. “Tommy?” He yelled weakly.
Somehow, the static was even louder than the static on Ranboo’s call. He couldn’t hear a thing Tommy was saying. Instead, Tommy’s camera showed what Tubbo thought to be a sunset sky before the call ended for a split second.
Without a second thought, Tubbo joined the VC with Jack and Wilbur. They had their cameras on already. “Ranboo and Tommy are gone!” He shouted right away.
Then he actually got a look at Jack and Wilbur’s faces. The only description for how they looked was stressed. Jack was in Niki’s streaming set-up on his PC while Wilbur was on his phone at his house and looked like he was going to pass out. “Toby, please say you’re fucking joking,” Wilbur’s voice cracked at the end. Tubbo shook his head slowly. Wilbur looked down with wide eyes and began shaking his head at the ground.
Jack didn’t look much better. “Niki’s disappeared too,” he revealed, his eyebrows knit and his gaze fixed to the general direction where Niki was sitting during their stream. Tubbo let out a shaky breath. “It happened on stream, and I ended right away,” Jack looked back at his monitor. “Me and Will tried calling her, but all we heard was….”
“Static,” Tubbo finished for him. Wilbur banged his fists against his desk, causing Tubbo to flinch. “Wilbur..?”
Wilbur looked up at the monitor with his jaw clenched. “Whoever did this, I swear to fucking god….” Tubbo’s breathing quickened.
“Will, calm down,” Jack insisted. “We’ll figure this out.” Wilbur’s expressions softened, and he began playing with a fidget.
“Why him.. why them?” Wilbur mumbled to himself.
“Wilbur, this could be like, some crazy prank or something,” Tubbo suggested, even though he didn’t know how that would be possible. Eventually, he let out a small, high-pitched giggle. “Maybe it’s for a vlog.” Tubbo’s phone was slipping from his fingers; his hands were really fucking clammy.
Wilbur ignored him. “How do I get to wherever they are?” He questioned with dark eyes.
“I don’t know if you want to, mate,” Jack responded.
“I do,” Wilbur said with no hesitation. “I need to be there. With To- with them.” Jack sighed, and Tubbo rocked slightly side-to-side. They stayed quiet for a minute after that. What else were they supposed to say? They had no fucking idea where their friends were and no fucking idea how to get them back.
Tubbo heard Wilbur suck in a breath, and he looked back at his phone screen. In a fraction of a second, Wilbur disappeared, looking like he was sucked into nothing. There was no static, his phone staying propped up against a random object. Tubbo assumed it was because he wasn’t holding his phone when he-.
Tubbo was hyperventilating; Jack was frozen in spot, staring at the screen. “Toby?” Jack asked quietly. Tubbo didn’t answer. “Toby, breathe. Toby breathe. In… Out…” Tubbo tried to focus on Jack’s instructions, but he just couldn’t. “I’m here, Toby. I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere.”
Tubbo choked on a sob. “How do you know?” He was shaking now.
Jack didn’t answer his question. “I’m gonna head to Bognor,” he said instead. “Just stay put. I’ll meet you at your house, alright?”
Tubbo let out a quiet, “Mhm.” Why wasn’t he breathing right?
“I’ll stay on the call, okay, Toby?”
“Mhm.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I won’t disappear, I promise.”