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T/W mild violence, transphobia and misgendering :(
Also, I used the word Redacted instead of using a deadname and I wrote the word slur instead of writing what slur it is because you can probably infer it with context and I don't like writing slurs and things.
Tommy's P.O.V
So. I'll cut right to the chase. Ranboo and I were siblings. He was a year and a half older than me and for the first 5 years of my life, I was unaware of his existence. A little under a year after my mum had had Ranboo she was pregnant again - with me - but a few months into the pregnancy, she found out that my dad had cheated on her. They were divorced by the time I was born and my dad took Ranboo and moved to America. I stayed in England with my mother. Father and son, mother and daughter. Yes, I was born a girl but that's not important yet. For the first five years of my life, I was oblivious to the fact that the baby pictures on the mantlepiece had two different babies in them. When I was 6 I decided to ask. My mum sat me down and tried to explain what had happened in a simple way that a child's mind would be able to understand.
When I was 7, I got a computer and started playing Minecraft/ making videos.
After being violently bullied for several years, I stopped. but it was my dream and when I was 13, I decided to start again. I got twitch and discord and started streaming as well as uploading youtube videos.
This was the same year that I first spoke to Ranboo. My mother and father were still somewhat in contact and Ranboo had wanted to know if I had discord (which I did) and he had sent over his user tag. I was a bundle of nerves as I pressed add friend only for the request to be accepted instantly.
<Ranboo> [Redacted]
<Redacted> Hey!
<Ranboo> God, this is strange, isn't it?
<Redacted> Yeah, wanna hop into a vc?
<Ranboo> Sure!
I started a video chat which - once again - was instantly accepted. It took a moment for both of our webcams to turn on, but we were speechless when they did. The likeness was uncanny. We looked so similar except for the fact that his hair was browner than mine. We had the same fluffy hair albeit mine being a little longer, same facial features and both of us were wearing a hoodie making the similarity even more shocking.
We called every day after that and I started noticing changes to myself that weren't the same with any of the other girls in my school. How I wasn't comfortable in my body, hating the way my hips curved or the way my chest wasn't flat. I hated all the things that made me inherently 'feminine'. It just wasn't right. I didn't feel like I was...myself. I wanted to look more like Ranboo, with a stronger jawline and short hair and...less like a woman I guess. I pulled all-nighters looking things up and finding loads of genders and pronouns and definitions that I had never heard before. I found myself scrolling through pronoun dressing room websites and trying different combinations until eventually, I landed on he/they/void. Void was lesser-used but I still liked it. Then I started to look through names, I scrolled through shitty 'what to name your baby' websites but in the end, I came up with the name myself. Tommy. The only thing was coming out. I knew that my mother would accept me as she had always been quite the LGBTQIA+ advocate, but my father on the other hand was quite the opposite. I didn't know much about him but from the few conversations I had had with him, he had always spoken poorly in trans matters. I didn't know Ranboo's views on transgender people and neo-pronouns. I doubted that he would be unaccepting but I still worried.
On my 14th birthday, I finally mustered up the courage to tell him. We were sat in a VC at around 8 pm having been on call for most of the day when I spoke up. "Hey, Ranboo?" I said slowly.
"What's up [Redacted]?" He replied. I cringed inwardly at the name.
"I, uh, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while now and...I- I'm trans."
"Wow, I-" Ranboo paused for a moment, in thought.
That was it, that was gonna be the moment that he would tell me I was disgusting. He would leave me and -
"I'm so proud of you."
What?
"Just to clarify, what are your name and pronouns? I want to make sure I get it right."
"Uh, my name is Tommy and I go by he, they or void. I get that void might be difficult to use so don't worry about that."
"If it's a pronoun that you use, then I am going to use it. Also, would you prefer being called my brother, sister or sibling?"
"Sibling."
"Damn, I'm so proud of you Tommy."
I think that was the happiest night of my life.
2 years went by and Ranboo and I were both famous streamers/YouTubers. We had never meant to keep it from our other friends but it never came up in conversation. Ranboo got insanely protective over me which I think tended to confuse people, but they themselves were pretty protective too so they just guessed that it was in Ranboo's nature.
We were practically the perfect idea of siblings, rarely fighting. In fact, we had only ever fought once. I was in America, staying with Ranboo and our step mum. Our dad was away on a business trip so I didn't have to worry about him. I was sitting in the corner of Ranboo's room, listening in as he streamed. There was an ongoing bit where I was always angry at Ranboo for stealing Tubbo, in reality, it had never really bothered me, well, not until that day.
It started with hearing Tubbo and Ranboo joking around, then scrolling through Twitter to distract myself and finding a ton of people praising Ranboo and Tubbo's dynamic and saying how I only interfered and how they were so glad that Tubbo was able to find someone better. Finally, Ranboo and Tubbo started doing a bit that Tubbo and I used to do. That was our thing. I took a deep breath, made sure that Ranboo had his facecam off and then left the room. Ranboo must've noticed because only a minute later I got a text from him.
<Ranboo> Where'd you go?
<Ranboo> Toms, you good?
I couldn't bring myself to respond. Tubbo was my best friend. Well, Ranboo was, but Ranboo was also blood-related whereas Tubbo was not. So, namely, Tubbo was my best friend and the thought of him ditching me and becoming best friends with my brother. It felt like someone was strangling me, cutting off my air supply all while screaming how I wasn't good enough. I wasn't like Ranboo. He was everything I wasn't. Everything that was worthy.
Tears flooded my eyes as I walked into Ranboo's room and lay flat on my back on the blow-up mattress I had been sleeping on. God, this was such a mess.
Ranboo came in 10 minutes later having ended the stream and sat down on the end of the blow-up mattress. His expression softened when he saw the drying tear tracks on my face. "What happened? I ended early cause I was getting worried."
"Go back to Tubbo," I murmured, there was no malice to my words, just defeat.
"What?! What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means what I said, go back to Tubbo."
"Tommy, what's going on here, I don't understand."
"Tubbo was my best friend, now he's yours. That's fine. Go back to whatever you were doing."
"Toms, why would you say-"
"Please, Ranboo, just go. Please, get out."
"Tommy-"
"Please, Ran, please, please, I can't-"
I couldn't breathe.
Ranboo's P.O.V
I watched as his pleas for me to leave got more and more desperate, to the point that voi was hyperventilating. He was having a panic attack. I sat down in front of them reaching out my hands, palm up, and letting them hover. An invitation for him to take them, which he did. "Alright, Tommy, can you hear me?"I asked, receiving a quick nod, "Okay, we're gonna try this. Can you tell me 5 things that you can see?"
"Y-You, the bed...the floor, my hands and my pillow."
"Good job! Now we're gonna try 4 things that you can touch."
"Y-your hands, the bed, my blankets and the floor."
"There you go! How about 3 things you can hear, that's a bit trickier."
"Uh, your voice, my voice and the trees rustling outside."
"Perfect! This one's even harder so don't worry if you think of any, 2 things you can smell. Um, deodorant...and... I don't know-"
"That's okay, 1 thing you can taste?"
"The coca-cola from earlier."
"You breathin' a little better now?"
"Mhmm, I'm sorry Ranboo, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lash out at you, 'm scared."
"Scared of what, sunshine?"
"Losing you and Tubbo."
It made so much sense now. My heart melted a little and I moved over so I could pull Tommy against me, hugging him tightly. "Never, sweetheart, I would never leave you, neither would Tubbo, we both love you and wouldn't even think of abandoning you," I whispered, resting my head on top of theirs.
Now, a year later. I was in England for a meetup. I'd been planning to go and see Tommy for a while but covid had hit so I wasn't allowed and then Tubbo suggested I go so that we could meet up for the 'first' time, the three of us. He still wasn't aware that Tommy and I were related.
When I arrived at the airport, Tubbo's dad was there with Tommy and Tubbo to get me. I was staying with Tubbo and Tommy in a small house that we were planning on moving into together in future. I had my mask and sunglasses on as Tubbo wanted me to take them off and show Tommy and him my face. We got into the house and Tubbo was looking at me expectantly, I knew he wanted to see what I looked like. Seeing my face, however, was a big giveaway that Tommy and I were related. Their appearance had changed a little over time and we looked the exact same asides from the slight hair colour difference. We literally looked like we were identical twins, if I wasn't taller and older of course. Tommy smiled and nodded at me. It was time. I took off the mask and sunglasses, putting them on the table before straightening up and locking eyes with Tubbo. He wore an expression of mild confusion, looking back and forth between Tommy and me. "Are you two...like...related, or something? Cause what the hell." He finally managed to say. Tommy and I burst out laughing. "Yes, Tubbo," Tommy said after a moment, "We're siblings."
"When were you gonna tell me that?!"
We spent a long time explaining what was going on to Tubbo but he sat patiently and listened to our story. In the end, he deemed it as 'cool', wishing that he had a long lost sibling out there somewhere.
The same thing happened when we met up with George and Jack. But the way that Phil and Wilbur found out wasn't so pleasant. Our dad had come down from America to see Tommy and to visit our mum but there was a problem. He didn't know that Tommy was called Tommy. Or that they weren't a girl. I was sat at my desk upstairs when our dad arrived. Tommy was the one to let him in and I guess my dad must've realised something because all of a sudden there was yelling from downstairs. "Who is that Ranboo?" Wilbur asked.
"Shit, one sec." Was all I managed to say, I didn't bother with muting my mic or turning off my video (I had my mask and sunglasses on) as I was just going to go downstairs and try to calm my dad down before going back up again. Of course, that wasn't the case. I left my mask and glasses on a cabinet in the hall as I rushed down the stairs to the living room where the yelling was coming from. Tubbo wasn't home at that point, he was out at the shops so I knew it was just Tommy and our father. What I didn't expect was for Tommy to be on the ground, bleeding from their lip and a cut on his forehead with my dad looming over him, having caused the damage. "What is happening?!" I asked rushing in.
"What's happening is that [Redacted] thinks she's a boy."
"No voi doesn't," I said curtly, moving forwards to help Tommy to their feet.
"What the fuck is a 'voi'? It's she."
"Go back to America you fucking prick." I snarled, wrapping an arm around Tommy's waist when voi started to hyperventilate, "We don't want nor need you here and would appreciate it if you got the fuck out." I led Tommy up the stairs and into my room noticing how they flinched when our father yelled up the stairs, "Fine, I'll leave, but [Redacted] you're not my kid anymore, fuck that, I won't have a slur for a daughter."
"In that case, you don't have any kids, dumbass, cause I'm not sticking around after that bullshit."
The front door slammed shut.
It was then I remember the discord call, that was still running, that we were very much visible too. I unplugged my headphones and got Tommy sat on the chair, myself leaning over it. "Well, ask away," I said.
"Firstly, who was that?" Phil asked.
"That was our father."
"You're related?!"
"Yeah, it's a long story."
"Who's [Redacted]?"
"That's...uh...that's my birth name, I was uh, afab." (A female at birth.)
As far as everyone on the server knew, Tommy was born a male but they're non-binary. They didn't know that voi was born a female.
I ran and got a wet cloth to wipe off Tommy's face as he spoke to Phil and Wilbur. I turned his chair to face me so that I could clean his cuts while he continues telling our story from the start. In the end, Phil told us that it might be a good idea to take a small break from streaming after what had happened as, even though we didn't feel too bad then, that could all change in a heartbeat. Especially with the whole characters and their trauma. We agreed and scheduled a discord call with Dream in which we explained everything. He was super understanding and told us to take all the time we needed. Next, we addressed the fans, in the first way we thought of, a Twitter thread.
Ranboo
12:32
Hey Tommy?
TommyInnit
12:33
Yes, Ranboo?
Ranboo
12:33
So...when were we planning on telling the fans we're related?
TommyInnit
12:34
SHHHHH! That's a secret...dear brother of mine.
Tommyinnit
12:34
But in all seriousness. I think we're breaking Twitter :) Oh well. Surprise bitches.