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“I miss you.” Tubbo said for the tenth time that minute. “I want to see you. Why can’t I see you?” He slumped over his desk, staring at his computer screen.
All he received in return was a small chuckle from the other side of the voice call. “What, do you want me to turn on my webcam?” Ranboo teased. “Miss my face already?”
Tubbo groaned, his irritation not completely feigned. “It’s not enough.” He complained, playing with one of the many cords and wires on his desk. “I hate this crappy pandemic. I wish it would just end already!”
He could tell that Ranboo was shaking his head, even with the younger boy’s webcam off. “Don’t we all.” Ranboo said dryly.
“I just want to beat up the virus.” Tubbo continued, now starting to spin his chair around and around. “You know, just stab it and crap.”
“If only.” Ranboo laughed, starting to type something. The sound of his keyboard, albeit distorted from being an entire ocean away, was strangely calming. Then Ranboo groaned, sounding disappointed. “UK travel bans won’t be lifted until at least May.”
“You’re just making me feel worse.” Tubbo whined, while the other boy laughed at him. “Please shut up.”
Ranboo only laughed harder, the typing sounds resuming. “You know you love me.” The younger boy joked. “I mean, I can turn on my camera if you want.”
Tubbo shrugged with feigned disinterest, though he smiled slightly at the thought of seeing his friend’s face again. “Go ahead, big man.”
Almost immediately, Ranboo’s face popped up on Tubbo’s screen, grinning sheepishly. “Hi!” He waved, slightly awkward.
“Hi.” Tubbo waved back, grinning evilly. “Looking awfully hot today, I see.”
“Tubbo!” Ranboo spluttered, although he was still smiling. “You can’t say that when I have my camera on!”
Tubbo just shrugged. “Don’t push it.” He deadpanned. “I’m still sad about the pandemic.”
Ranboo’s smile slipped slightly. “Yeah…” He sighed, glancing at one of his other monitors. “I can’t wait for the meetup. We have so much planned too!”
“Yeah, but the stupid pandemic is just getting in the way.” Tubbo pouted, slumping down even more in his chair so that the camera could barely see him.
They sat in comfortable silence for a while. Ranboo continued typing, probably finishing more homework. Tubbo kept spinning his chair, despite having sunk so low in it that half of his body was hanging off the chair anyways.
“Wait.” Tubbo sat up suddenly in his chair. “Why can’t we meet up?”
The typing sounds paused and Ranboo glanced up at his webcam, wearing a confused expression. “What do you mean? The pandemic, obviously—”
“But why don’t we meet virtually?” Tubbo continued excitedly, completely ignoring Ranboo’s response. He pulled his chair closer to the desk, seizing the keyboard and typing furiously into the Google search bar.
Ranboo stared at his monitor suspiciously, clearly looking at Tubbo’s video feed. “You’ve got that look in your eye.” He pointed out warily. “That never means anything good. And what do you mean, virtually?”
Without looking away from his computer screen, Tubbo stuck out his tongue at Ranboo. The younger boy just sighed, clearly resigned to following whatever schemes Tubbo had thought up. “If you mean Minecraft VR…you do realize that we’ve met there already? Multiple times?”
Tubbo ignored him, continuing to click away at his computer. “Yes!” He cheered suddenly, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. “Let’s GO!” He leapt up from his chair, ignoring Ranboo’s sound of surprise, and headed straight to his closet.
“Tubbo? Where did you go?” Ranboo called from his computer, sounding even more confused than before. “Tubbo?”
After only a few seconds, Tubbo emerged from his closet again, carrying a small box in his arms. He fell backwards into his chair, grinning widely at Ranboo. The younger boy raised an eyebrow at Tubbo, silently asking for an explanation.
“Minecraft VR.” Tubbo said breathlessly.
Ranboo frowned slightly, leaning forward to try and get a better look at what Tubbo was holding. “Yeah, I assumed, but—”
“New edition.” He cut off the younger boy as he began to open the box, trusting that those simple two words would suffice.
Tubbo was right. At first, Ranboo continued to look puzzled. “New edition?” He echoed, furrowing his brow. “What makes it different from—oh.” Ranboo’s eyes slowly lit up with realization. “Oh!” He repeated much more excitedly.
“Yeah!” Finally getting the box open, Tubbo grinned as he took out a relatively new headset. “Don’t get me wrong, the old Minecraft VR was great. But now, no more crappy block characters! We’ll actually be able to see each other’s realistic avatars!”
Ranboo, who had reached over his webcam to retrieve his own VR headset, paused in examining it and looked up at the camera with a bright look in his eyes. “And we can use our default skins too!” He said excitedly. “You know, the ones that actually look like us.”
“Yeah!” Tubbo cheered, plopping the headset onto his head and plugging it in to his PC. “Are you good to go now?”
“I think so!” Ranboo replied, also putting on his VR headset.
Tubbo grinned, sliding it over his eyes and settling more comfortably into his chair. “Let’s join the first realm we made together.” He heard Ranboo hum in agreement. “I’ll leave the call now. See you there!”
He groped around for his mouse and peeked out from under the headset, clicking first leave the call and then to choose the correct realm on Minecraft. Then Tubbo secured the headset around his head, pressed the button on the side, and waited.
A short but pleasant melody played, as the world around him changed from darkness to a rich, earthy brown. Tubbo waited, butterflies in his stomach as the realm began loading around him. He had tried this new edition only once, and that was just to calibrate the headset. He didn’t really know what to expect.
Soon, Tubbo found himself standing in the middle of a grass field. A smile grew on his face as he took in the world around him. He stretched out his arms, both to test his movement, and to bask in the early morning sunlight that was shining down upon him.
“Oh, right!” Tubbo suddenly remembered exactly why he had chosen to use this edition. He pulled up the invisible control menu, clicking to change the FOV. Immediately, Tubbo’s view switched from his regular first person perspective to a third person one. It was strange to see his own body from such a different perspective, but the mechanism itself wasn’t what surprised him.
“Woah…” Tubbo stared at his own face. It was like looking in a mirror, much smoother and more natural than the previous editions had been. He recalled trying to do 3rd person FOV with a chunky block character, and snorted internally.
A ping distracted him. Tubbo immediately clicked on the flashing light in the corner of his vision, his nervousness suddenly returning again. Why was he so anxious?
“Tubbo?” Ranboo’s familiar voice sounded just like it always did in voice calls. “Are you there?”
“Yeah!” Tubbo replied, smiling as he looked around the meadow. “This is epic! Where are you?”
A few moments passed before the other boy spoke. “Huh?” Ranboo sounded slightly distracted when he finally answered. “Oh! I’ll send you my coordinates.”
“Wait, no! I have an idea.” Tubbo said quickly, already starting to wander around the meadow. He grinned slightly at the seamless way his body moved. “Why don’t we try to find each other? That way, it’s—”
“Sure!” Ranboo cut Tubbo off before he even finished, his voice rushed and strangely relieved. The younger boy seemed to notice his mistake, as he hurried to apologize. “Sorry, sorry! I’m just…well, I’m a little nervous to finally meet you. I’m not stalling!” Ranboo added defensively. “Just…just nervous.”
Tubbo paused where he stood, frowning as he stared into the distance. “Actually, me too. I’m not really sure why…” He started walking again, choosing a direction confidently. If his memory was correct, he had an idea of where Ranboo might be.
“I guess it’s just…” Ranboo trailed off, seeming to be considering his words. “We’re finally meeting. Even if it’s technically online, it’s still so similar to the real world.”
“I get that.” The open field smoothly transitioned into another grass biome, this time dotted with small pools of water. Tubbo paused again as he passed by a river, gazing down at the crystalline water. His own face, far more realistic than he was used to, was reflected hazily in the surface of the water.
“I guess I’m just scared that, I don’t know,” Ranboo sounded slightly embarrassed as he continued. “That you won’t like the real me.” He finished, his voice trailing away into whisper.
“What?” Tubbo couldn’t help but laugh, surprised and slightly amused by Ranboo’s words. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you.” He clarified as the younger boy let out a huff of annoyance. “I’m just surprised.”
“But I kinda understand too.” Tubbo continued, smiling slightly as he momentarily locked eyes with himself in the river’s reflection. He turned away again, resuming his path through the land. “This is going to be different from anything else we’ve done.”
“That’s a bit of an understatement, I think.” Ranboo pointed out dryly. Tubbo could faintly hear what sounded like the snap of twigs and the flow of water from the other side of the intercom. “It’s literally just like meeting in real life.”
“Yeah, that’s why it’s kinda scary.” Seeing the start of a forest in the distance, Tubbo broke into a run. “But if you think about it, it’s still the same as talking on a call.”
“I guess…” Ranboo still didn’t sound very certain.
Tubbo slowed to a walk again as the trees grew nearer. He almost stopped again as he saw what looked like a beehive on one of the trees, but forced himself to continue through the forest. He had to focus on Ranboo, and being there for his friend. He could satisfy his curiosity later.
“I’m kind of scared too.” Tubbo admitted, ducking under some low-hanging tree branches. He could still feel anxiety churning in his stomach, but it was overpowered by pure, nervous excitement. He could understand why now. “But we have to be rational here. I mean, we already know everything about each other. We practically spend every living moment together.”
Ranboo snorted, evidently thinking about all the hours spent on VC together. “True.”
Tubbo glanced around the forest, trying to see if he was close to his destination yet. “Don’t worry about it! It won’t be any different from talking on VC.” Catching a glimpse of something through the trees, he immediately turned in that direction. “It won’t be any different from us right now.”
Ranboo didn’t reply immediately, the various rustling sounds from his walking also ceasing. “Yeah.” He murmured after a while, his voice quiet but thoughtful. “I guess so.”
Tubbo could tell he was getting closer. The trees were beginning to thin, and sunlight streamed into the land without the obstruction of leaves. He began to see flowers, cornflowers nestled in the lush grass and dandelions growing amid the roots of trees.
“You underestimate me.” Tubbo joked, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach. “I’ll stay by your side, no matter what. Even if you’re a serial killer.” He smiled as Ranboo chuckled softly, glad that his friend no longer seemed as anxious as before.
Tubbo shielded his eyes as a shaft of sunlight shone directly upon him. His heart pounded as the trees fell away entirely, revealing a clearing in the middle of the forest.
A figure stood in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by soft green grass and lush growths of flowers, his back turned to Tubbo. The older boy’s face broke out into a smile, wide and full of joy.
“Look behind you.” He whispered, not trusting his own voice to stay steady.
There was a sharp intake of breath through the intercom, as the person in front of him tensed. Ranboo turned around, his eyes wide, to truly face Tubbo for the first time.
Time seemed to slow. Tubbo felt himself start to move, running straight at the younger boy. Ranboo dropped the flowers he was holding in his hands, holding out his arms to catch Tubbo as he launched himself at the younger.
They sank to the ground, Tubbo wrapping his arms tightly around Ranboo, never wanting to let go. “It’s you.” Ranboo kept whispering, his shaky voice full of shock and yet elation as he hugged back just as tightly. “It’s you!”
“It’s me.” Tubbo’s voice came out in a happy sob. He could feel tears of joy running down his cheeks as he buried his face into Ranboo’s shoulder. “It’s—you’re—you’re actually here!”
Ranboo laughed, the sound somehow much brighter and much more real than he’d ever heard. Tubbo felt the younger boy gently rest his chin on his head, and start to rock them both back and forth. “I’m here. I’m here, Tubbo.”
They stayed there, wrapped in each other’s embrace, simply enjoying each other’s company. Tubbo clung tighter to the younger boy; it was surreal to really feel Ranboo’s arms around him.
Tubbo eventually untangled himself from Ranboo’s arms, wiping his happy tears away. Ranboo laughed, his voice still slightly shaky from emotion as he rubbed at his eyes too.
“Hi.” Tubbo said, his smile soft as he took in Ranboo’s features.
Ranboo grinned back at him. “Hi.” He echoed. “Minecraft VR really is amazing, isn’t it?”
“It really is.” Tubbo agreed, finally glancing away from Ranboo to look around the clearing. “I knew you’d be here.”
“Really?” Ranboo questioned, sounding slightly surprised.
Tubbo turned back to Ranboo, tapping his own head and smirking. “My memory didn’t fail me. I remembered the general area where you logged out…” He gestured around at the lush grass and colorful flowers surrounding them. “And I know you like flowers.”
Ranboo laughed sheepishly, glancing down at the flowers around him too. “I was picking them.” He admitted, leaning over to grab the flowers he had dropped earlier. “Allium, for me.” The younger boy held up a handful of lavender, ball-shaped flowers. “And…sunflowers, for you.”
Tubbo’s eyes widened as Ranboo handed him several large flowers, each with a familiar dark center and brilliantly yellow petals. “Wow.” He held the sunflowers up to the sunlight, watching in awe as the center glowed rich brown and the petals shone gold. “Thank you.”
Ranboo just shook his head fondly. “This is amazing. All of this. The trees, the flowers, the sky…” His voice grew warmer. “Being able to see you…”
“All thanks to Minecraft.” Tubbo finished, laughing slightly at the strangeness of that sentence.
“And…” Ranboo set his alliums aside, suddenly looking embarrassed again. “Thank you. For not thinking I was stupid for worrying so much. And for always being there for me.”
Tubbo blinked, surprised at first, then slightly amused. “Of course, big man.” He replied honestly. “What kind of friend wouldn’t do the same?”
Ranboo chuckled, getting to his feet and offering Tubbo a hand. “Why don’t we go exploring?” He suggested. “Let’s have some fun!” Tubbo gladly grabbed onto Ranboo’s hand, allowing the younger boy to pull him up.
“Sure.” Tubbo gave the other boy an affectionate smile. “We have all the time in the world.”