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So the first week of college was done. Ranboo had never been so glad of anything in their life. Their classes weren't hard or anything (not yet, at least, though the syllabuses looked scary as hell), and they hadn't really had any homework yet that couldn't be done in less than half an hour, but the stress was insane.
Part of it was just… living on their own for the first time. Like yeah, they were in the dorms and there were people all around, but they didn't know those people, and the roommate they were supposed to have just- hadn't shown up. So with their family several hours' drive away, they didn't really have anyone to turn to if things went wrong.
Not that things had gone wrong. Actually, the start of the term had been going really well, compared to all the worst-case scenarios they'd been worrying over for months. They were pretty much exhausted from all the New Things, and hadn't really had a day to themself yet, but like- nothing was on fire, they hadn't missed any assignments yet, and they'd actually said hi to one of their classmates yesterday, which was pretty cool!
Today, though, was Saturday, which meant they had a whole day to themself. Finally. They could just rest, relax, and take some time to do things that made them happy.
Like re-dyeing their hair.
The black-and-white split dye had already gotten several compliments from random other students, but it was starting to grow out, and it just looked kinda weird now. They hadn't had a chance to fix it in several weeks, which meant that now was the perfect time. Although this time, they were thinking about just dyeing all of it black. Then they wouldn't have to deal with bleach anymore. That part was always a little stressful; they were always worried about overdoing it, and usually washed it out too early.
Armed with this new purpose, Ranboo set about unpacking the hair dyeing supplies from their suitcase, still sitting open in the middle of the dorm floor. (In their defense, they'd meant to unpack sooner, but they'd nearly had a panic attack the day they'd arrived at college, crashed, slept for eleven-ish hours straight, and hadn't gotten around to it since. So on the floor it stayed!) And it was a good thing they'd decided on switching up the style, because it looked like they hadn't packed bleach anyway.
Okay. Dye, gloves… that was everything, they were pretty sure.
Thankfully, their dorm room had a bathroom attached, so they didn't have to leave the room and risk running into (*gasp*) a fellow student. Despite the fact that it was getting close to one in the morning, they could still hear people out in the hall, because apparently no one at college liked to go to sleep at a normal time. Which- fair enough, Ranboo was also up at 1AM impulse-dying their hair (sort of- did it still count as an impulse dye if they'd been thinking about it for a while and just hadn't thought they'd actually follow through?).
They pulled on the gloves, staring at their own anxious face in the mirror.
They could do this.
It was not that big of a deal.
Their hands started shaking when they went to open the dye container. They took a breath, letting it out slowly, then closed their eyes before dipping one gloved hand in the dye and running it through their hair. And that was that! They couldn't turn back now!
They opened their eyes so they could see better to get the dye done properly-
And froze. Because there was now a pink streak running through their hair.
See- this, in and of itself, wasn't a problem. Not really. Pink was a pretty light color, so all they'd have to do was rinse it out and get black dye at a store, and it would all be fixed. (Though honestly, the pink was a pretty color.)
No, the problem was: how did they end up with pink hair dye in the first place?
The answer to that was both simple and terrifying, because they happened to know exactly where they'd gotten it, and the mix-up wasn't hard to guess. Their older brother, Techno, used pink hair dye, and all the hair supplies were stored in the same cupboard at home.
However, unfortunately, Techno just so happened to be one of the most terrifying people Ranboo had ever met. He'd been off to college when Ranboo first became a part of the Craft family, and when he'd come back home, seemed to make a point of avoiding them at every opportunity. Ranboo had considered bringing it up to Phil, but they really didn't want to cause trouble, and - and it wasn't that big of a deal. Techno ignoring them wasn't the worst thing in the world.
… it did make this whole hair-dye thing a lot more of a problem, though. Because this meant that they'd have to actually communicate the switch-up with Techno.
They gripped the edge of the sink, then belatedly remembered the dye on their gloves. Hopefully that would wash out. They should- they should finish dying their hair first, actually.
No, they weren't procrastinating sending a simple text. This was totally the most important and logical thing to do.
It only took about fifteen minutes for them to finish fussing over their hair (and yes, all of those minutes were Very Important), clean up the sink and counter, and throw away their gloves. Then they just kinda stood there for a minute, studying their reflection. The pink really didn't look bad. In fact, they'd say they really liked the way it looked.
Unfortunately, this did mean they couldn't put off messaging Techno any longer. The dye would have to stay in for about half an hour, and that was more than enough time.
They pulled out their phone with a quiet sigh to themself, tapping over to their messages and starting to scroll down. It took a good twenty seconds of scrolling for them to realize it had been a long time since they'd last messaged him, and they went over to their contacts instead.
Ah yes, Techno Craft (probably hates me). Nice to know things hadn't changed in the past… however long it had been.
They opened the message history, and abruptly realized that their last text exchange had literally been from when they'd first arrived at the Craft house.
Hey! This is Ranboo
I'm your new foster sibling
Phil gave me your number, hopefully that's alright
hey. this is techno
… and that was it. Four messages from like- six years ago. Honestly, this was a terrible start.
Did they really need to mention the hair dye switch-up, or could they just pretend they hadn't noticed? Surely Techno would notice, anyway- black and pink hair dyes looked very distinct, and it was sort of Ranboo's own fault for not seeing the incredibly different color before it was too late.
No- no. They would be nice about this.
Before they could overthink it too much, they snapped a quick picture of themself in the mirror, making sure the pink in their hair was clearly visible.
So uh. I think I accidentally took your hair dye
[img.png]
Really really sorry, I swear I didn't mean to
I can maybe mail it back?
The dye, that is
Or not
Idk
Just thought I should warn you
Sorry again
Ranboo tapped their fingers against their phone case, staring at the screen as though by sheer force of will they could make a response appear. They weren't really sure they wanted a response; Techno didn't seem like the sort of person to get angry easily, but he also took swordfighting and martial arts classes for fun, so maybe he wouldn't say anything at all and just show up to Ranboo's college directly to beat them up.
… that probably wasn't going to happen, Ranboo told themself firmly. Catastrophizing about things like this wouldn't help anyone. And besides that, it was already past one in the morning. They wouldn't be getting a response (if one was even going to come) until a more reasonable hour anyway.
With a sigh, they closed the message app, then clicked over to YouTube so they could find something interesting to watch while they waited for the hair dye to finish setting.
And that was when a notification popped up.
When Ranboo tapped it, all the preview said was [img.png], which was incredibly ominous. They opened the message app again before they could talk themself out of it.
The image didn't load immediately, but another message appeared a second later.
[img.png]
yeah, i kinda figured that out
That… wasn't the worst response. Crisis averted, then? Techno was actually smart and made sure he was using the right dye before putting it in his hair, no problems here?
A second later, the picture loaded, and Ranboo instantly regretted ever letting themself have hopes of any kind, because the picture - slightly blurry though it was - clearly showed that the lower part of Techno's hair was now stained black. He wasn't smiling, either.
Which- to be fair, Ranboo couldn't think of any time they'd seen Techno smile, so maybe that was normal?
Then again, Techno was very particular about his hair. He'd apparently been growing it out for years, so cutting it wasn't an option, and going from black back to pink would be incredibly time-consuming and difficult, and this was all Ranboo's fault, and this could not possibly end well.
I'm so so sorry
Genuinely
I should've checked the labels before grabbing them
chill
it's fine
i wasn't tryin to blame you
this was on me for dyin my hair at 1am with the lights off
Really?
I thought you'd like. Drive to the school and beat me up or something
lmaooo
nah, it's all good
i'm gonna see if i can get it to fade into the pink
should look pretty cool
Ooh yeah :0
also, what're you doing up?
don't you have classes or something?
It's the weekend, so no
My next class is on Monday
And I don't have homework
Which is why I'm up now
I was going to dye my hair again to celebrate getting through the first week
What about you? Why are *you* up?
sorry, had to check what day it was
could've sworn it was thursday
anyway
i'm up because i was going to redye my hair today, but kinda just put it off all day, and now i have to do that before going to sleep
Honestly, same-
Okay! So that…. hadn't gone terribly. The response was pretty unexpected, though; Ranboo was realizing that they really didn't know all that much about their foster brother, which was kind of sad. He seemed like an interesting person to talk to.
And maybe it was a bad idea to make more impulsive decisions at one in the morning, but ah well, here went nothing.
So uh
Random question
shoot
So
Well
I'm not really sure how to ask this, actually
Because like
We haven't really talked ever
really?
I mean, kinda
Our last text conversation was literally years ago
that is true
Anyway, I guess I just wanted to know if I did something wrong
Ik that like. Having a foster sibling can be hard
And if that's it, that's totally fine
I just. I want to know if it's something I did, or if you just don't want to talk to me
There were several long moments without a response, and yet again, Ranboo regretted ever making impulse decisions. Because like- there wasn't really a good answer to this, was there? What on earth was Techno supposed to say to that? Maybe this was the point where he started ignoring Ranboo again, and y'know what, that would be totally fair.
They'd almost resigned themself to that possibility when a new message appeared.
it's not something you did
this is about as much as i talk to anyone
i'm just not really good at bein social
sorry if that came across wrong
No it's okay !!
That's actually a relief
I thought you secretly hated me
oh oof
i thought you just didn't want to talk to me tbh
i hear i can be intimidatin sometimes
Just a little, yeah xD
You're really cool though :D
But also terrifying
thanks lol
alright, i gotta get back to figuring out how to get an ombre effect with the dye
gl with your classes
Thanks! :D
oh also, if you ever need help with essays, just lmk
i used to be a tutor at my school's writing lab
the one good thing about being an english major
I might have to take you up on that one
There's a few writing classes required for my degree
And essays are such a pain-
ikr
anyway, gn
Gn !!
… you know what? That actually went pretty well. Ranboo was quite proud of themself.