Chapter Text
A giggle.
“Dad!” The brown-haired boy squealed. The boy ran ahead of him, a jump in his steps. He turned around, or tried to.
The boy tumbled into somebody (the dad, he’s assuming), wrapping his arms around the man with a force that visibly caused him to stumble.
The man let out a chuckle, wrapping his arms around the boy.
It felt like… candy. Orange candy. For no one specific reason, not really, but it just felt so sweet . So saccharinely sweet, obsessively sweet, sickeningly sweet even.
He took in a breath, smelling many things at one. Namely, orange and iron. He shook off the shudder that threatened to rock his body.
The boy’s father pulled back, smiling down at the boy. The boy pulled his face out of the man’s chest to smile up at him as well.
“——! You’re back!” He beamed up at the man, who ruffled the boy’s hair in turn.
“Yeah, I am, mate.” The man spoke, wisps of a chuckle in his voice. He paused, before brightening. “Oh yeah, did I mention that ——— won the tournament!”
The man didn’t notice the boy stilling in his arms, that or he just didn’t care. He continued speaking, going on and on about this so-called tournament.
“Oh..” The boy looked up at his father, smile faltering. “Anyways!” He chirped, eyes strangely blank. “How was it? Was it cool? I bet it was cool!”
The boy and his father smiled at each other. The man had a distant look in his eyes. “Yeah.. it was.”
He smiled too, feeling oddly compelled to do so.
He ignored the stench of rotting oranges mixing with iron just behind him.
The man pulled back, clapping his hands. “Well! How have you been ———?”
The boy cleared his throat. “Uh, I’ve been good. Yeah, uh, ——-‘s been good too.”
“That’s good- that’s great mate.”
A pause. Slightly awkward.
“Well-“
“Pheeeel!” A toddler slurred, wobbling into the… frame. It had the brightest blue eyes that he’d ever seen, accompanied with golden blond locks.
Time fell back into place. The boy jolted up, scrambling towards the toddler. The man had an unreadable expression on his face.
“Hiya ——.” The boy cooed softly. The blond child giggled, hair falling onto his face.
The boy tucked the hair behind the child’s ear. He looked over at the man.
Nobody spoke, the only sounds being the twittering of birds from the tree they leaned on.
He moved forward from where he was watching. Huh.
He sucked in a sharp breath. Slowly, he took another step.
Then another. Then another, and another, and another and another-
Replaced by static, the birds stopped chirping. He smiled.
The family turned their heads to look at him, a blank look in their eyes. Slowly, they smiled too.
Just a bit too sharply. He didn’t even think about how odd this was at this point.
The boys started to giggle. It was slow at first, but it became more and more manic, more unhinged, more… crazed.
The man smiled at him, all teeth. He stretched out his arms like a cat, fingers(?) digging into the dirt and tearing up the grass.
He blinked.
The man joined in on his sons’ laughter.
Orange candy, orange candy, orange candy.
It repeated like a mantra in his head.
The man started to move unnervingly slow, giggles never quite stopping. He could hear joints cracking and popping from where they were being bent.
Clack, clack, clack.
Something clinked in his pockets.
He paid it no mind.
The man(?) started chittering, his body twisting up through the tree. The static got louder.
His neck cracked, stretching longer than should be humanly possible, fingers sharpening into claws, oranges rotting.
Orange candy, orange candy, orange candy.
With nimble claws, the man worked on bringing some oranges down from the tree.
Ranboo smiled, an orange appearing in his clawed hand. Iron cut through his nose.
Something clinked in his pockets.