Archive of Our Own ^beta

Ranboo was a completely normal Minecraft Youtuber. There was no underlying secret that he hid from the world, no embarrassing hobbies or indulgences that he kept from even his closest friends. He was one hundred percent ordinary, yep. He was just another moderately attractive white boy that blew up on tik tok. 

He only bought cat ears because he knew his fans would like it! He definitely didn't want them anyways. He surely never caught himself acting like a cat because he found it fun, comforting even. Nope, not him! 

This is something he hoped his closest internet friend, Tubbo, believed. He hoped that he wouldn't catch onto any signs of him possibly being a cat boy (or kitten regressor, if you wanted to get technical with the terms) when he went to visit him in the UK. The boy was fairly confident that he wasn't obvious about it. 

The boy had been dead set on not even bringing any of his cat stuff with him, but his friend insisted it'd be funny for a stream. With that excuse, along with a few other explanations, he stuffed a good amount of his kitten gear into his bags and suitcases, feeling comforted by their presence alone. 

He was still sure he wouldn't slip into his kittenspace, because he didn't feel like explaining his almost-daily after-stream hobby to his friend. 

"Ranbooooo." 

The teenager found himself whining at the voice that woke him up, refusing to open his eyes and pulling the blanket he had been given over his head, as if he was hiding from the fact that he had to face the day and do things. He heard Tubbo's laugh, before feeling the comforting fabric of the blanket get pulled off of his body. 

His eyes shot open and he grumbled in a low voice, "Whaaat?" he asked, practically glaring at his friend. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't kill the messenger. You're the one that planned this jam-packed day of filming and streaming. We're going live later tonight and we need to go out and vlog with Jack and Tommy first," he explained. It took Ranboo a minute to register his words, but he nodded slowly, sighing quite overdramatically. 

He had made today's schedule, and they had both made the mutual (and honestly, stupid) decision to stay up late despite being aware of the fact that they had to be up early the next day. And now it was time to vlog with his friends with only a few hours of sleep (and maybe lots of sugar and caffeine) in his system. 

What could go wrong?

--

"Come oooon! It'll be funny, stop being a pussy!" The blonde's loud voice sounded weirdly convincing as he tried to push his friend into putting on the cat ears he brought. He also held up his phone, recording the boy. 

Ranboo rolled his eyes at Tommy's borderline peer-pressuring, getting a little annoyed at this point. "Yeah, wear the cat ears out! I'm sure any fans we run into will find it quite amusing," Jack tried to hold back a chuckle, watching as the boy's eyes went wide and he immediately shook his head. 

"NO WAY!" he shouted, "Nuh-uh, nope!" 

"You can wear them on a stream for hundreds of thousands of people, but you can't go in public with them? Woooow," Even Tubbo joined in on the teasing, holding out his words in a joking manner. 

"You try going outside with a pair of these things on, I bet you couldn't last half an hour," the boy in question scoffed, causing the other to straighten his posture and raise his eyebrow, as if he was being offered a duel to the death or something. 

"Got another pair?" he challenged, "I bet I could make it longer than you." he added, Tommy and Jack making dramatic 'ooooh'-ing sounds in response, hyping up the bet for the viewers. 

At this point, Ranboo was in to deep, and he wanted to prove his friend wrong. So, he retrieved another pair and handed them over, pulling the other ones onto his head. "They even match our outfits!" Tubbo pointed out once they were atop his head, motioning him over to a mirror on the back of his bedroom door. Ranboo walked over, taking a few steps back so that he could see himself completely. 

His friend wasn't wrong, the ears corresponded with their fashion choices for the day surprisingly well. He looked...cute, actually. He tried to push those thoughts out of his head, whenever he thought of things to cuddly, adorable, or remotely kitten like, he opened a gateway to slipping into the mind set of one of the little creatures. 

"You look adorable," Tubbo added cheerfully, helping absolutely nothing, "Lean down for me, please?" he asked, turning around to face his much taller friend. Ranboo seemed confused, but he did so, his face flushing when the shorter of them patted his head twice, "You look like a kitten, I wanted to pet you." he explained as the other straightened up, laughing at the look on his face. 

"You suck," Ranboo claimed, everyone else bursting into laughter. 

"Let's go, you cat boy bitches! We gotta get to the Tesco before it's to late," Tommy claimed, hurriedly trying to push past the cat-eared teenagers to open the door. 

"To late for what?" Jack questioned, earning a quick and dramatic response from the blonde teenager as they trailed out of Tubbo's room, the light-haired boy in question walking through the house backwards so that he could film them.

"For us!" he practically shouted. 

"Well that's ominously threatening-" Ranboo's joke was cut off by Tommy finishing his sentence,

"For us.... to get the cheap donuts." 

"Ooooh," everyone said, basically in unison, their voices overlapping in a way that'd probably turn out sounding funny in the final vlog. 

As they exited the home with quick goodbye's and 'thank you for breakfast'-s to Tubbo's parents, they crammed themselves into Jack's car and headed towards the Tesco to shop together, which Ranboo hoped would be chaotic in a good way.

Chaos was the best form of fun.

--

Turns out, letting three teenagers and young adult, all of which are irresponsible and have their own income, into a large shopping center without any supervision was bound to turn out crazy. The shopping trip started with them taking pictures with fans in the middle of the bakery section, and ended with a cart full of junk food to make it though the first bit of Ranboo and Tubbo's multi-month meet up. 

The chaos of everything isn't what frustrated Ranboo, though, it was how he wasn't able to forget about the cat ears on his head, no matter how hard he tried. His friends were even worse then his viewers, honestly, with all the teasing and stuff. Continuously being called cat-specific nicknames and being teased for any remotely kitten-like qualities or behaviors, made it really hard to not just...act like a cat. 

He knew the teasing and temptation would mostly stop if he just took them off, but he wanted to outlast his friend and win the bet.  

"You really are just a kitten, aren't you? Playing with literally anything you can find," Tubbo joked in a teasing tine, poking fun at him for getting distracted with a rattle toy meant for babies. 

Ranboo immediately dropped the item back onto it's self, his face a bit red. He just liked the rattling sound, he didn't mean to get so caught up in it! His friend looked like he wanted to say something, glancing at the rattle, but they were called over to participate in a bit for the vlog. 

The taller boy was glad to have a distraction, walking away first, while the other hung back, picking up the package and shaking it a bit. Yeah, it was a baby toy, but Ranboo seemed to like it. And, it'd be a funny joke gift that he could take back to America with him. The teenager didn't rationalize on it for long, dropping it in the basket he was carrying and burying it under a few other things. 

As they were checking out, the shorter participant of the challenge complained, adjusting the headband on his head. "How do these ears not hurt you? It feels like this headband is literally digging into my skull," he whined, about ready to give up. 

Ranboo shrugged, biting on his nail as he pulled out his phone, preparing to send the money needed to pay for this to Jack, who decided that he'd pay, and they'd send them their part. The boy didn't wanna explain that he was used to the headbands because he wore these ears more often then he wanted his friends to think, so he settled on the most neutral response possible: A shrug. 

At this point, the boy was practically waist-high in kittenspace, all the teasing and the cat ears making him wanna just be the 'little kitten' his friends kept referencing. Still, he fought it off in favor of winning the bet. He was sure that he could pass of any signs of being a cat boy as an act for the bit.

"Ugh," Tubbo pulled them off of his head, finally, ruffling his hair. "You win, I can't do this." he decided, shoving the pair he had been wearing into the other's hands. 

"Woo!" Ranboo cheered, smile clear on his face under his mask, "I won! This so awesome." 

His cheering got laughs out of his friends, and the whole bet probably made the vlog so much funnier. After everything, he was gonna make a point to rub it in Tubbo's face, with a million and one 'I told you so'-s. He may have almost slipped in public, but it felt like it was worth it. 

Once checking out, they headed back to Tubbo's place, parting ways and ending the vlog with dramatic 'goodbye' monologues as if they were doing lore or something, even referring to the groceries as 'treasures' at one point. No matter how silly their bits were, they were having fun. 

And now, it was time to stream. This would end up better then the embarrassment of the vlogging trip, right?

--

"Well, there are cat ears here, chat," Tubbo pointed out, speaking directly to his viewers, "They're in my room though. There's also like, collars and stuff, I've been trying to convince Ranboo to dress like a catboy for you guys." 

Like a catboy, the taller one repeated in his head, hoping with all his might that Tubbo really was just teasing. He hoped that he hadn't connected the dots and figured it out. 

The other boy's face flushed at all the cheering and agreements rolling in through the chat, and he groaned, acting annoyed. "How about you go change at the subgoal?" his brunette friend was devilishly smirking with the suggestion. "It'll be funnyyy." he pleaded, holding out his words like he always did when he really wanted something.

"No way, I already went out in public with cat ears, I can't go full-out catboy!" he denied. He knew his fans would like it, and that the fan art would be amazing, but he was still very hesitant. His cat gear tended to make him slip, especially when you added the teasing Tubbo insisted on, he didn't know if he'd be able to handle it. And if he couldn't muster up the courage to explain pet regression to his closest friends, how'd he explain it to his millions of fans?

"I'll up the subgoal by 500, you only have to do it if we hit it," the other boy negotiated. The younger friend paused, thinking for a few moments, as if debating his decision. 

Ranboo knew that his friend could use the subs, he's been trying to hit his current goal for a bit now. He sighed, reluctantly agreeing, wanting to support his best friend in any way he could. 

Even if that meant embarrassing and possibly exposing himself. He's gotten this far without slipping up, he was sure he'd be able to make it through one stream. Even if he was fully decked out in his cat gear, and surrounded by things that triggered his regression. 

He'd be fine. 

"Fine. I will only do it if we hit it before the end of the stream." he spoke up, watching Tubbo's face light up before he moved to change the subgoal, Ranboo secretly hoping that they wouldn't hit it in time. 

The teenager quickly found that it was wrong to underestimate their fans, watching the subscriptions roll in quicker then he ever expected. "How about we end the stream early? I'm a bit hungry, aren't you?" he sounded panicked as the number drew closer and closer to it's goal by the second, chuckling nervously as he spoke, "Maybe we can up the subgoal a little or something? Y'know, make it harder for them? Get you more money?" 

Tubbo laughed at his antics while chat called the situation a scam, shaking his head. "Nope, you can go get snacks from the kitchen if you're really hungry." 

"I hate everything about this," Ranboo whined, leaning back in his seat, knowing he was being dramatically pouty and acting like a little kid, complaining about every tiny thing and trying to get his way, but he didn't wanna embarrass himself in front of so many people. Plus, he knew the viewers were eating it up the dramatics and antics between the two friends. 

It was only a few minutes later that he was begrudgingly making his way down the hall to Tubbo's bedroom and digging through his bags. He stood in front of the mirror a bit later, examining how he looked. He had a choker that matched his black and white ears well, and both accessories had bells on them. Before he even thought his actions through, he found himself shaking his head from side-to-side, the bells on the ears and choker making him smile. 

He giggled at the movement and sounds, scrunching his nose up a bit. He had also pulled on a few other cat-themed garments, or just random things he associated with his kittenspace. Such as metal rings for both of his hands, the gems and pointy bits on them made him feel like he almost had claws! 

He had learned how to use his rings to rip through thin plastic and paper, it was kinda cool, actually. He could probably attack someone in a decently effective way if he tried hard enough, though he'd never do that. 

He managed to push thoughts about his pet-like behaviors from his head as he made his way back to the streaming room, promising himself that he'd get through this stream at the very least. If it really came to it, he'd talk to Tubbo once the cameras were off, though he hoped it wouldn't get that far. 

--

Ranboo knew that it was a little unrealistic to think that he'd be able to hide his regression from his closest friend throughout the entire 5 month meet-up, but he had told himself that he was gonna try to last as long as he could. He just thought his attempts would get him farther then the first week. 

But alas, he found himself fidgeting with his hands the moment the stream ended, trying to think over how he was gonna bring this up and explain it. The stream had been fun, really, he was sure he'd remember it forever, and the comforting and friendly vibe of everything probably added onto his want to act like a tiny kitten. 

The teasing didn't help anything, sure, but it was the calming, safe feeling of everything that challenged his normal headspace. Sitting there with his best friend and making dumb jokes about a block game and him being catboy had an oddly specific vibe that made him wanna open up to his friend all the more. It probably didn't help that he was sleep deprived and they've been consistently doing things all day, and they had finally reached their free time. 

He associated his pet regression heavily with relaxing and taking a break. And he wanted to think that his best friend would be accepting anyways, right?

"You good, big man?" Tubbo's voice interrupted his anxious thoughts, making the boy snap his head up towards him, staring at him uselessly as he failed to come up with a verbal response. "I'm sorry if my jokes today bothered you, or anything, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." he apologized without prompting after a moment, making a loosely adjacent guess as to what was wrong.

"No, no, it's okay!" Ranboo managed, "I- um, just..." he trailed off, sighing and taking a deep breath. "Um, I have something I kinda wanna tell you." he admitted, looking down at his lap, messing with the rings on his fingers as a distraction. 

"Like a secret?" his friend questioned, sounding concerned. He leaned forward, speaking softly and giving the other teenager the time he needed to gather his thoughts and courage. 

"So you know how you've been calling me a catboy all day?" he asked, still refusing to look up. 

"Yeah?" Tubbo wondered where this was going, so he listened closely.

"I do this thing sometimes where I actually do act like a cat- or kitten, actually. It's called pet regression, it's like a headspace I get into that can help me deal with things," his voice was almost reduced to a mumble. "Like anxiety or overwhelming emotions, and it's fun too. It's like I get to be a little kitten instead of dealing with the stress and responsibilities that come with...being a human?" 

His tone sounded hesitant and confused, the teenager hoping that he was making some sense to the other boy. 

"That explains a lot, actually," Tubbo chuckled in response after a bit, taking a few moments to process the information, "All the cat stuff isn't just a super-intricate bit, it's part of some sort of....hobby you take part in?" he sounded questioning, not knowing the right term to get his point across. 

"Coping skill." Ranboo corrected, "And yeah, it started with the cat ears for that one stream a while ago, something just clicked after that, I guess." 

His friend hummed, and he finally looked up from his hands, being met with nothing but a kind and supportive smile. "A-anyways, a lot of things can trigger it..like the cat ears and stuff, and being treated like I'm a kitten." he admitted, biting at his lip nervously. 

"OH!" His friend's eyes went wide with sudden realization, "Is that why the jokes embarrassed you so much?" 

He nodded in confirmation, "It's okay, don't worry. If anything, it made the situation funnier, but a bit harder for me, I don't really want the fans to know. You're kinda the first person I've told, actually."

"Really? Aweee," Tubbo cooed, "I'm glad you told me." 

Ranboo felt relief settle into his chest as he got that final confirmation that his friend wasn't weirded out by this, but he still didn't know how to say that he was regressing now. 

"Speaking of cat-related things, I got something for you at Tesco earlier, mostly as a joke," his friend jumped from his seat suddenly, grabbing his hand and pulling him up from his. He lead them back towards his bedroom, shutting the door once they were both inside and finally letting go of the other's hand. 

Ranboo watched him with wide and curious eyes as he beelined for a plastic bag sitting on his bed, digging through it until he had his hands wrapped around the object he had been playing with earlier that day. He gasped, going over to the bed and sitting down, waiting patiently for his friend to get it out of the package. 

He didn't know what it was, but this simple toy sent him into kittenspace without a second thought. He was just a tiny kitten, and he was entertained easily by plastic objects that made nice noises. 

Tubbo seemed to have an idea once the toy was free from it's packaging, holding the rattle as high as he could over Ranboo's head, shaking it to grab his attention, not unlike how'd you tease a cat while playing with it. The other teenager squeaked, his eyes full of sudden innocence as he flopped onto his back, batting at the rattle with his hands. 

It made nice noises, just like his bells! He wanted it! Tubbo held it out of reach for him to grab while laying down like he was, so he settled on sitting up partially to snatch it from his friend's hand, laying back down and shaking the object next to his ear. He heard his friend laughing softly, an amused undertone clear in his voice.

"Are you a kitten right now?" he heard his friend question, the other boy sitting on the bed next to him. Ranboo turned his head to the side, facing him. He stared at him silently, blinking a few times. He might've forgotten to warn his friend that he was mostly nonverbal while in this headspace. 

"Kitten's don't talk, do they?" Tubbo realized after a moment, "I'm just gonna assume you're doing that pet regression thing until you prove otherwise, mate. I don't know my other options." 

The regressor hummed in confirmation, allowing himself to be distracted by the rattle once again. Tubbo let him have his fun for a while, checking his phone to see what was going on Twitter following their stream. He was going over the most like 'Catboo' fanart when he felt moving on the bed next to him. He glanced up to see Ranboo crawling across the bed to sit in front of him. 

"Hello, kitty!" he greeted, his heart melting at the wide smile that overtook the other boy's face. "You wanna cuddle? I know you were very tired, we can take a nap until dinner, if you want?" 

He got the boy to shake his head, watching as he took a new position right in front of him. He sat on his legs bent under him, balancing on his feet, with his hands placed directly in front of him. He really did resemble a cat, especially while sitting in that position. He bounced in place, as if signifying his energy, or like he was gonna pounce onto the other boy. 

"You wanna play, then?" Tubbo asked, watching as he got more excited. "Alright, where's your rattle, sweetheart?" he found himself falling into a caring tone, feeling confident that what he was doing was right. He figured it was probably just because he cared a lot of about his friend, and he knew a lot about actual cats since he owned one himself. 

Ranboo looked behind him, not moving. "Okay..." Tubbo trailed off with a chuckle, reaching behind him to acquire the toy once again, "I've got it, then." Once again, he stood up, holding the rattle high over his head and letting him get it back easily. 

"You're so good at this," he claimed, the praise making the other happy and all the more excited. The next little while was full of them just playing, the only sounds coming from the kitten in question being hums, squeaks, and giggles. A tickle fight broke out in some point, and Ranboo ended up tiring himself out. 

"Come on, baby cat. Don't you wanna get the rattle again?" Tubbo asked, seemingly more awake then the regressor, who sat in his prior bent knees position, rubbing at his eyes with his fisted hands. The taller teenager shook his head, lowering his hands to stare up at his friend with blank eyes. He blinked a few times, not knowing how to communicate that he was sleepy and wanted cuddled, like what Tubbo had offered earlier. 

His friend tilted his head, seemingly confused. After a moment, Ranboo impulsively snatched his hand and held it close to his chest, causing the boy to tumble onto the bed. He gasped, feeling bad for possibly hurting him, while the other just laughed at his eagerness. He didn't feel like talking and his alternative form of communication may have just hurt his friend, and that thought sent him down a spiral of panic.  

"You want me to lie down with you?" Tubbo softly pulled his hand away, adjusting himself on the bed. He only took a second to look over Ranboo's glassy-eyed, pouty face, "What's up, little one? Are you sad?" he sat up more properly, giving him a gentle look. 

Ranboo shook his head, realizing that he was being stupid. It didn't seem like Tubbo was hurt, he was laughing and talking just fine! It was a moment of babyish panicking, that's all. He didn't know how to tell Tubbo that, though. He didn't talk much while in this headspace, he found it quite hard, actually. 

"Hurt you," he managed eventually, his voice high-pitched and meek. 

"You didn't hurt me, sweet thing, I promise," he cooed, "I'm just a bit clumsy, but I landed on the bed. I'm completely fine!" he assured. Ranboo nodded, 

"Cuddle?" he added, earning a smile from his friend. 

"Well, of course. Come here," He positioned himself so that he was sitting with his back against the headboard, pillows sitting as cushioning behind his back. Ranboo eventually wound up curled up next to him, his head on his friends thigh while the other played with his hair. "How about he get all this stuff off, hmm?" the other boy questioned, removing his hands from the regressor's hair and softly taking his hand instead, slipping one of the rings off of his fingers. 

Ranboo whined both at the loss of contact and the idea that he had to take his kitten gear off. He was just a normal-looking human without that stuff, and he didn't wanna be a human right now. "You're still my cute little kitten without the ears, darling," Tubbo sounded promising, pulling the rest of the rings off, one-by-one, before setting them on the bedside table. "Plus, if you're still feeling like a cat when you wake up, you can put all this back on the moment you open your eyes." he offered, moving to undo Ranboo's 'collar'.

The boy huffed in annoyance rather then listening to his words, giving up and cuddling further into his friend, "I know, I know, you feel like a cat and wanna look like it too, but there's no way sleeping with all this stuff on is comfortable," the other pointed out, pulling the head band off. Ranboo hummed lowly when he felt his scalp get scratched again, leaning into the touch and allowing his eyes to to drift shut a bit. 

He'd fight his friend about cat ears later, but for now, he just wanted to enjoy the pets and cuddles. Tubbo kept talking to him until he fell asleep, only getting responses in sounds and noises, just as before. Eventually, the noises stopped, and the older boy heard nothing but the low humming. 

It was as if he was purring. 

After a while, that stopped too, and there was only a light snoring coming from the boy. He seemed peaceful, and so small. It was adorable really, to see the boy this vulnerable. Just a playful and cuddly kitten. 

Tubbo may or may not have pulled out his phone to take a picture of the boy, who had pulled the rattle to his chest and was cuddling it like a stuffed animal. Ranboo might kill him when he caught a glance of his new phone background, but it was worth it. 

Taking a picture felt important, somehow. He was immortalizing this moment forever, and this moment was everything to the both of them. It only made sense that he'd want something to hold onto this calm and peaceful atmosphere forever.