Chapter Text
"Hey, 'Boo," Tubbo whispered, voice croaky and sleepy- he should have been asleep hours ago, but Ranboo and him had marathoned a season or two of the Office, and hours flew by like seconds.
"Yeah?" Ranboo asked, tone soft and fond. If Tubbo noticed, he could always chalk it down to Ranboo's energy level going down because of sleepiness. Oh, the beauty and convenience of sleep calls to a pining teen.
"Do you hate me?" Tubbo asked timidly, "You've been acting weird- you... I don't know, big man. When we're not on stream, you just act... different, I guess. I thought it was just because you'd be tired, or because you just act different on and off stream, but... I dunno, it's stupid."
"It's not stupid," Ranboo said immediately, "But I could never, ever hate you, Tubbo. Quite the opposite, actually." He added on hastily, without really thinking about his words, only wanting them to remedy any distress his friend felt.
"But..." Tubbo paused again. His camera was on, and through the dim lighting, Ranboo could see him biting his lip in thought. "I... uh. Tommy said there was something you weren't telling me. Something important. Did I do something?"
Ranboo's shoulders tensed. Did Tommy tell him?
As though he could read Ranboo's thoughts, Tubbo was quick to speak again. "He also said he couldn't tell me and it had to come from you. He didn't tell me. But... I still want to know. If it's okay."
"Um." Ranboo said, very eloquently, thank you very much. "I told him... um, that I was really excited to meet up with you once travel ban lifted."
"Bullshit," Tubbo responded, sounding upset, "I already know that Twitch chat and Twitter knows that too. Everyone knows that. Just... if it's that important, I don't need to know. Just tell me if it's something bad I did."
"It's something you did," Ranboo admitted, after a pause, "But it's not a bad thing you did. If anything... uh, I did the bad thing. And, uh, I feel... guilty, I guess, still being your friend even with the... bad... thing, yeah. But it's not your fault, Tubbo."
"It is my fault, isn't it?" Tubbo said miserably, "If something I did made you do something bad enough that you feel guilty then it's definitely my fault!"
"No, Tubbo, it's not!" Ranboo exclaimed irritably, before immediately quieting down. "S-sorry. But I mean it. It's not your fault."
"...You're angry."
"I'm not angry. Just... frustrated." Ranboo frowned.
"Because of me." Tubbo finished, sounding defeated. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Ranboo replied, the ghost of a laugh tracing his face as the moon shone from the window onto his face. "Because it's not your fault. I promise."
"I don't want things between us to get all weird." Tubbo admitted, "Because I... you're one of my best friends, Ranboo. You are my best friend. My favorite person."
Butterflies swarmed his stomach, and Ranboo hoped that his camera couldn't show Tubbo just how bright his cheeks had turned.
"You're mine, too." Ranboo croaked out, wishing that his words were used in a response to a very different, very romantic, and very in-real-life-and-in-person type of situation. "My best friend."
"I..." Tubbo paused, looking like he was about to say something. "The sun's rising. I think I'm gonna try and get some sleep."
Ranboo bit his lip as his finger hovered over the button that could get him out of this odd situation- Tubbo stayed on, for some odd reason, as if he was just waiting.
And, well, Ranboo didn't want Tubbo to wait for something that would never come. Unless... he stared at Tubbo's pixellated face, who stared back with an unreadable expression that Ranboo never wanted to see again-
"It's not your fault!" Ranboo admitted hastily, "Because-!"
"Ranboo?" Tubbo asked confusedly, as Ranboo's eyes were blown wide in anxiety. "Because what?"
Ranboo's heart was pounding against his ribcage in anxiety, and it became hard to breathe.
"Because- I... you- I... I like you- no, actually, I'm in love." He admitted, "With you." He added on stupidly, as Tubbo seemed to stare at his phone in disbelief.
There was nothing but silence, for a few moments, and he could hear nothing but the rapid 'ba-dump, ba-dump' of his heart.
"I love you. Romantically. And... Tommy knows, I told him, and-" Ranboo bit his lip, feeling like he was about to cry, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I couldn't... control it. I- well, that was it. God, I messed up. I'm sorry."
Ranboo chewed at his lip, before moving to his PC, sitting fretfully at his gaming chair while waiting for a response- a reciprocation, a rejection, anything.
A minute passed.
He left the call, changed his status to invisible, shut his phone off, and shoved his noise-cancelling headphones on and cranked up the first angsty love song he could find to as high as it could go.
Across the ocean, a brunette boy stared down at his phone in a confused sort of awe. His best friend liked him- no, loved him back.
Tubbo just couldn't control the wide grin that had over come his face, dreary and cloudy eyes revamped with the excitement of a requited teenage love.
After all, it's not like he had ever tried to hide his attraction for the taller boy- if anything, he tried making it obvious, with direct jabs and flirts, and treating him like no other. Ranboo had always seemed to laugh them off, occasionally firing back with his own playfully romantic quips- but Tubbo had always assumed the boy was straight and simply comfortable with pandering to the masses.
But now, it was obvious Ranboo was anything but- Tubbo didn't know exactly, not yet, but the fact that Ranboo actually liked him back made his stomach do flip flops.
His heart beat in his chest like bongos, and the song of a first love was playing in his head, Ranboo playing with Tubbo's heartstrings 'til all Tubbo could hear was the soft sound of a cheesy love song playing on loop in his mind.
Tubbo wanted to date him, hold his hand, talk about moving in together and not having to hide behind a platonic tone indicator...
...But first, he had to message the guy.
tubs
oh my god Ranboo!
ranboo i like u back !!
Facetime me!
It seemed impossible, but Tubbo's smile grew even wider when he saw the following:
ranboo is typing...
A few hours later, both Tubbo and Ranboo got seperate messages from a certain TommyInnit.
To Tubbo, was a message of:
fuckicn told you no man who wears hawaiian shirts and platform boots is heterossexual. congrats m8 also please dont flirt in forront of me. and dotn hurt hes hes my friend if you hurt him im castrating you fuck you dickhaed.
And to Ranboo, was a slightly nicer one, reading:
proud of u for tellin him big man. brave of u. hope it goes well but if it doesnt then fukc you. don't hurt tubso.
All hail TommyInnit, the best ally and wingman that either of the two could have ever asked for.