Work Text:
“Ranboo, do you mind restocking some of the shelves?”
Looking up, Ranboo shot a thumbs-up to their manager, Dream. At their leg, Ender wagged her tail. “Yeah, I can do that.”
Looking over, Dream nodded and smiled. “If you get overwhelmed, feel free to come back and take a rest. Same goes for Tommy and Tubbo, wherever they went.” Purpled was off for the day, sick at home. Obviously the owners—Phil, Ranboo’s dad, and Dream’s aunt and uncle, Puffy and Schlatt—weren’t going to let a teenager work sick. That was just asking for everyone to come down with the exact same thing. And so, Purpled had been banished to his bed. Bending down, Dream rubbed Ender’s ears after Ranboo gestured that he was alright. Then, he said, “You protect Ranboo. Do your job, or Tubbo will murder me.” Patting her cheek, he kissed her nose, then got up. “If anyone has any issues, Tech and I will kick ‘em to the curb.”
“Mhm!” Pulling up their mask, Ranboo clicked their teeth to Ender and then they were off, walking through the store with their arms filled with toothpaste. That was what they needed to restock according to the whiteboard by the door. And so they were restocking the toothpaste.
Generally, it was a pretty chill job. They had a lot of fun with it, got to hang out with their friend/adopted brother Tommy, their platonic partner Tubbo, and a bunch of the other friends they’d made. Mostly it was for the summers, since they needed to focus on important things like school, but in the meantime…yeah, Ranboo was good with working at the store.
Of course, sometimes it had its ups and downs.
As soon as Ranboo clocked the Karen and her children, they knew. This was going to be an issue. For starters, she just had that expression. The one that meant she was going to be trouble. For another, one of her children was on a leash. Only one of them. And she had three. One of which was walking around, messing with stuff and being far too loud.
Already, something Ranboo did not like.
Swallowing, they tried to avoid them at first. Grabbed their comm and warned the people on the private line through the code. “Red Riding Hood in Aisle Three.” They whispered, kept walking. Unfortunately, the Karen walked right into the aisle, and Ranboo knew immediately that there was going to be another issue about it.
One of the kids immediately began heading for Ender. No. No, please, no thank you. Please, I would really prefer not to. Nope, no thanks. Kicking their nearly four-foot legs into gear, Ranboo hurried towards the personal hygiene aisle.
And just their luck, the Karen had to go into that aisle.
And the middle child was climbing the fricking shelves, too. As Ranboo crouched down, Ender tucked into a corner where she couldn’t get into the way of the customers. Oh, gosh. I’m going to ask to work at the register. ASAP. There was a cubby for Ender to sit in, where she wouldn’t be in the way of the other workers. Not that anyone had ever complained. Rather, they enjoyed Ender’s presence, when she was off duty they loved on her and when she was on duty they respected her and Ranboo’s distance and treated Ranboo like any other coworker.
Much better behaviour than Karen and her kids. Standing up, finally having finished packing the toothpaste shelf, Ranboo cleared their throat. “Uhm, hello. Please don’t climb on the shelves?” Karen scowled at him. Her oldest son was messing with the organization, and Ranboo swallowed as all of them looked to them. The kid on the leash was knocking items from the shelves. “Th-they-they’re, uhm, nnn nnot vvvery str-strong.” She was giving them a look. Because of the stutter. And that was making it worse and she was going to get offended and call them stupid or something—and now Ranboo was hitting a block with their next words. Great.
Against their leg, Ender nudged her nose into their thigh. Immediately, Ranboo swallowed. She’s alerting. This isn’t good. This really isn’t good. Normally she didn’t alert. Most shifts they could go without her alerting at all, whether it was to their panic attacks or their PTSD or anything else.
Finally, their vocal chords decided to work again, “I-I-I- I wwwould—“ And another block. Great. This sucked. “Appreciate i-it if if yo-if-if-if—“ Clearing their throat, they took a breath. She was glaring at them. She was glaring at them oh gosh this was going horribly they needed to go ask to work at the register they needed to get away from here—
Ender gently locked her teeth around their fingers, tugged once. Soft mouth and all that, she was a golden retriever. Of course her mouth was soft, of course she’d be gentle.
“If you d-didn’t cli-cl-climb on them.” Finally. Through two sentences. This was bad, this was really bad. Reaching for the pager on their belt, they typed out SOS in Morse code, tapped the three. Braille and Morse code lessons really came in handy.
Karen’s oldest son suddenly busted out laughing.
Swallowing, Ranboo felt their face rushing with heat. Their fingers and feet were cold. I’m going to have a panic attack. “How dare you? They’re doing nothing wrong!” Crossing her arms, Karen scowled at them. Heart dropping, Ranboo swallowed again. Sucked in a breath through their nose. “And you have that stupid mask, too! If you’re not even capable of talking correctly, can you at least have that stupid thing off?”
“I-I have this for-for heal-health reasons.” Ranboo replied. It was a grounding thing, helped them keep their anxiety down because their brain told them that they weren’t being paid attention to. Sure, it may not actually have been right, but anxiety wasn’t exactly logical by any means.
“I don’t care.” Gesturing to the store around her, Karen added, “We’re the only people in the store anyways! It’s not like we’re in any danger!”
“What’s wrong with your voice ?” The oldest son snickered, cupping a hand over his mouth. Shaking, Ranboo watched as the younger son, the middle kid, strode over. Holding his hand out, expecting Ender to sniff it. He was maybe six or so, old enough to know better, though.
“Pl-please don’t touch her.” Stepping back, Ranboo quickly ordered her into a back block. Immediately, she obeyed. Still, the kid continued. And Ranboo stepped in front of the kid. “You-you aren’t allllowed to distra-tract her. She’s a serv-service dog.”
“Please, you’re fine. It’s just a dog.” Karen dismissed, turning to look at the different hygiene products. The kid reached for Ender. On instinct, Ranboo slapped the kid’s wrist.
Falling back like a soccer player, the kid grabbed their other hand and started wailing. Loudly. The sound grated against Ranboo’s ears, itched at the back of their neck. Their uniform hurt, too. Like, actually hurt , rubbing against their skin the wrong way. Stumbling away, Ranboo sucked in a breath. Ender moved with them.
The Karen turned to them.
Immediately, Ranboo’s heart dropped even more. Ender kept alerting. And the Karen got closer, screaming at them. Whatever it was, they weren’t sure. Everything was too loud, too fuzzy and too bright. Gasping, Ranboo stumbled back, especially when she grabbed their wrist and started yelling in their face.
At the same time, they weren’t fully present. Instead, they were sitting across the table from their parents. Not Phil, their birth parents. The bad ones. Angry words, painful ones, questions they couldn’t answer and continuous slams of so many different things and gaslighting.
Ender tugged at their other wrist, gently.
The angry blonde’s face shifted into someone else’s. Heavy, open hands slammed down towards their face. He’s going to kill me. He’ll kill me.
The next thing Ranboo knew, they were on the ground, arms around their head and Ender trying to get in between their arms to task. Someone else was shouting, someone was kneeling beside them between Ranboo and the Karen. Meanwhile, Ranboo was gasping between the flashes of angry faces and the reality of what was actually going on.
After that, they didn’t really remember what happened. It was a bit fuzzy. What they did remember once their brain was finally working properly, Ender was lying in their lap performing deep pressure therapy and Techno was beside them with a water bottle already in hand. Dream was guiding the Karen and her kids out of the store with George, Bad, Ant, and Sapnap flanking them. With Bad and Sapnap in their security getup, it was pretty obvious they were not going to go anywhere.
“I want-I want to go back. To the-the back.” Ranboo forced out. Nodding, Techno glanced over.
“Let me know when you want to stand.” Nodding, Ranboo gestured to Ender. She got off of them, and Techno helped them up. “Can I touch you?”
“Y-yeah. Yes. Please.” Ranboo whispered. Gently, Techno placed a hand on their back. Guided them through the store, Ender on their other side. They were taken to the couch, laid down. “Do you want a blanket or is that bad pressure.”
“No thanks.” Ender hopped up on the couch beside them, settled down on their lap and rested her head on their chest. Reaching up, Ranboo stroked her head. Quietly, Techno set down a low table beside them, put the open water bottle there. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Leaning over, Techno gently kissed their hair. “You’re safe. If you need anything else, lemme know and I’ll get it.”
“Thank you.” The door opened, and Ranboo looked over to see Tommy and Tubbo moving over. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Tommy said in a soft tone, dropping down on the couch. “You have water yet? You need snacks?” He pulled a granola bar from his bag and handed it over. Sniffing, Ranboo smiled. Tubbo was taking their pulse, then gently began massaging their free hand.
“Water. Drink it.” Tubbo ordered. There was another sound and they all looked up as Tubbo held the water bottle to Ranboo’s lips. And accidentally smacked them in the nose with the bottle mouth.
“Accidental boop.” They joked. Sniffing, they said, “I want to sit up. Lemme up.” When they sat up, they could hear their heart beating in their chest, neck, and ears. Immediately, Ender settled into their lap again, licked their neck. “Thank you.”
Eret and Niki arrived. “Hey, Ranboo. Heard you ran into a Red Riding Hood. We got a picture for the mad bads.”
The “mad bads” was a wall of pictures displayed by the “smile, you’re on camera” sign placed inside the shop. It had pictures of everyone who was banned. Usually at their angriest, or right after they’d been kicked out of the shop. Some argued that it might be rude. However, Schlatt had cackled when Tubbo and Tommy proposed the idea with a PowerPoint during one of the meetings. Ever since, it had been enforced.
“Ooh, show me.” Grinning, Eret showed it off. Niki gently touched Ranboo’s wrist. When they didn’t respond, she waited, and they sent a nod to her. She started playing with their hair.
Eret showed the picture.
It was Karen, sure enough. With the most foul expression on her face.
Cackling, Ranboo snorted so much Ender sat up and frantically licked into their mouth, which made everyone laugh.