Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The music fades as Tubbo wraps up his barre exercises, finishing off with tendues from fifth position and a grand battement. He’s always found that the routine of barre work helps when he needs to get his mind off of things. 

He’d had a rough day at school. They had a supply teacher in English and the school had neglected to inform her of his dyslexia. And she’d called on him to read aloud. When he told her he couldn’t do it, she told him he’d better, or she’d hold him after class. Seeing as he couldn’t be late for his next class - where he would be graded on his most recent pas de deux with his partner, Suong, who he’s done several dances with over the years - he decided to just try his best. 

 He’d gotten about halfway through the second sentence, stuttering and restarting constantly, the teacher looking more and more impatient as he went, before nearly half the class raised their hands to get the teacher’s attention.

“Miss?” Tara Greene had said, an unsure look on her face. This supply had already yelled at Ethan Roy, one of the nicest, smartest students in the class. “You are aware that he is… unable to read?” She had cringed a little at her own wording, sending an apologetic look Tubbo’s way. 

“He’s dyslexic,” Emily Jones had added. “I can take over for him, if you’d like.”

The supply teacher had sent Tubbo, Tara, and Emily to the main office for lying. She blamed Tubbo’s poor reading on his poor grasp of the subject they were learning. Tubbo wishes she’d known that he’d gotten full marks on his last assignment, thank you very much. 

The office staff had sorted it out, of course, and it was nice to know that his class had his back. But no matter how used to it he is, it’s not fun to have somebody look at you like you’re stupid. Especially when it’s something you can’t fully control. 

Tubbo sighs, taking a swig of his water bottle. The barre work did help, thankfully. He basks in the silence of the studio for a moment, taking in the familiar tall mirrors and scuffed floor. 

He startles when somebody knocks on the studio door. He shouts for them to come in and the door swings open.

“Oh, hey kid,” Will says. “I have to kick you out. My class is going to start in half an hour. The studio next door is free, if you want. I don’t think Priscilla’s hip hop class starts for at least another hour.”

Tubbo’s father opened “The Muses Dance Studios” when Tubbo was only two years old. His father’s studio is how he got into ballet in the first place. The place has classes for ballet, contemporary ballet, jazz, tap, and hip hop. Will, here from Canada on a visa, teaches tap to the younger kids. Tubbo’s pretty sure his next class is for a group of four to six year olds. They’re adorable. 

  “You can’t call me a child, Will, you’re twenty-three.”

“You say that every time and yet…” Will steps further into the room and spreads his arms wide like here we are. Tubbo laughs. “Actually, though, if you aren’t busy, do you want to help out with the class?”

Tubbo reaches to the floor to grab his school bag. He came straight to the studio after school. “I’d love to,” it’s hard to pass up a chance to help teach a bunch of little kids how to dance, “but I’m meant to be streaming later. I should probably head home now so I can be ready.”

“Alright,” Will grins. “See you, kid!”

“Not a kid!” Tubbo shouts as he heads out the door. Will’s laughter follows him out. 

...

The stream is another modded minecraft playthrough with Tommy and Ranboo. Only Tubbo and Ranboo are actually live but Tommy is apparently filming so they can turn it into a YouTube video later. 

“Wait, let me get some food before we go,” Ranboo says just as they’re about to go to the Nether.

“You can have some of mine,” Tubbo offers. Ranboo laughs. “What?”

“I meant in real life. I’m starving,” Ranboo says. Tommy bursts into laughter, which sets Tubbo off too. “Give me a second!”

Ranboo mutes himself, leaving Tommy and Tubbo to fuck around on Minecraft until he gets back. When he does return, he must hit one too many buttons when he unmutes himself because Tubbo can - very suddenly - hear whatever music Ranboo has been playing for his stream. Very loudly, as well. 

“Oh what the fuck?” Tommy shouts. He must hear it too, then. 

“What?” Ranboo asks.

“We can hear your music,” Tubbo tells him, rushing to turn his volume down before he loses his hearing or something. The song is classical and mildly intense, a far cry from the calm music Tubbo has been listening to. 

“Oh shit, hold on,” Ranboo’s end of the call goes silent for a moment, save for the blasting music. Finally, the song cuts out. “Is that alright?”

“It’s fixed,” Tubbo confirms.

“What the hell even was that song?” Tommy asks. 

“Uh… I don’t know,” Ranboo says. “I found that playlist, like, an hour ago. I haven’t listened to it the whole way through.”

But well, Tubbo knows what that song was. So he tells them. “It’s Le Travail from Coppelia.”

He regrets speaking the minute the words leave his mouth. It’s not exactly that he’s hiding the whole dancing thing, or anything. After all, he goes to the professional ballet school that’s attached to his sixth form college. Where people see him. Where people know him and know that he’s also a streamer. But… the people at the ballet school are really nice (unless it actually has to do with dance, in which case the competition verges on murderous) and they’re all super chill about keeping his privacy. 

So he’s not hiding, exactly, but he isn’t advertising it either. Before he went to a professional ballet school, when he was just in a normal school…

Kids still have prejudices about boys doing ballet. 

People who don’t understand ballet still have prejudices about boys doing ballet. 

There are stereotypes and the word ‘gay’ is thrown around like it’s some sort of insult all the time and dancers who can lift a hundred-fifty pounds of girl while spinning get bullied and bruised by kids and grown adults alike.

And Tubbo’s streaming community is gamers. He doesn’t think he’s ready for his two worlds to collide. 

“What the fuck is Co-pay-lee-a?” Tommy asks. Tubbo winces. Fuck. He can’t just say nothing now. That would be even more suspicious. 

“Coppelia,” he glances at his chat. It looks like some of them know what it is. “It’s a ballet. An inventor creates a life-sized mechanical doll and a man falls in love with the doll but the inventor wants to use the man as a sacrifice to bring the doll to life. Then this woman, Swanhilda, who was originally supposed to marry the man, saves his life.” 

The call is silent. Shit. Too many details, Tubbo! Why did he have to go and explain the whole damned ballet? 

Finally, Ranboo breaks the silence. “What in the world?” Surely Ranboo wouldn’t make fun of Tubbo for knowing that, right? “Who came up with that story? It’s a ballet?” 

Tubbo lets out an internal sigh of relief. Tommy and Ranboo start laughing, probably at how absurd the story sounds. Tubbo laughs too, though it’s a little forced seeing as he’s just gone through a bit of an emotional ringer. 

“Alright,” Tubbo says. “Let’s go to the nether.”

It’s not until later, as they’re making their way to the stronghold, that Tommy’s character suddenly stops and Tommy says, “Wait. Tubbo? How did you know that?”

“Know what?”

“The ballet.”

“Oh,” Tubbo is careful to school his features so his viewers don’t see the panic that has overtaken him. He thinks for a moment, hoping that it isn’t too obvious that he’s coming up with an excuse. “My sisters. They like ballet.”

And that’s that. 

For now.

...

“No! Stop! Stop!” Ms. Kathy shouts. “You’ll break your ankle! Where did your form go?”

“Sorry! Sorry, Ms. Kathy,” Tubbo sighs. 

He’d asked Ms. Kathy - who teaches ballet to the older students at The Muses Dance Studios - if she could teach him a few things on pointe. He just thought it would be fun to learn how to use pointe shoes. He’ll probably never need the skill, male ballet dancers usually don’t, but he thought it would be cool to see if he could even do it. Still, Ms. Kathy takes things very seriously, so he’s been practicing with her fairly often for the past couple of years. He’s not terrible, but he’s not exactly good. 

“It’s alright. Why don’t we stop for today. You need to practice that variation for school, do you not?” 

He does have to rehearse his variation for school. It’s worth, like, 30% of his overall mark. 

 “Yeah, I’ll do that,” Tubbo says. “Can I stay in this studio or should I move?”

“Priscilla’s teen hip hop class is next-door and it will begin in ten minutes so don’t blast your music,” Ms. Kathy frowns, thinking for a moment, “And I believe your father uses this studio for his contemporary ballet classes but I don’t think that starts for another hour or so.”

“Alright. Thank you, Ms. Kathy.”

“Of course. Just remember your form,” she raises an expectant eyebrow at him.

“I know! I know, I’ll be careful,” Tubbo assures her. “My variation doesn’t involve pointe, though, so you don’t have to worry.”

“I’ll always worry about you, hun,” Ms. Kathy waves and heads out the door.

Tubbo sets about preparing the studio. He plugs his phone into the aux so his music will play over the speakers and sets up a camera so he can film himself. Filming yourself while dancing is a good way to find out where you’re going wrong. All Tubbo has to do is watch the video back in order to see all of the flaws in his movements so he can do it all again and fix them. 

The variation he’s doing is the Don Quixote Basil variation. He’s been practicing for a while now but he knows that he can get better. 

He hits record, he presses play on the music, and he gets into position.

And then he’s off. 

...

Tubbo has been dancing since he could walk. His father is a dancer, after all. When he was a kid, Tubbo would spend all of his time at the studio with his dad. The privilege of having what could basically be considered a private teacher from such a young age means that Tubbo is really fucking good at ballet.

It also means that his teachers are still trying to guilt him into joining the career track again. The ballet school that he’s a part of has two tracks, the career one, which can lead to an actual career in ballet, and the general one, which is for those who aren’t as serious about it.

Tubbo was in the career one originally. He thrived there. But, it took up so much of his time and he loves streaming. He loves working on videos and doing lore on the smp and he adores Tubnet. He can’t wait for it to be finished. So the career track just wasn’t for him.

Which is fine.

Except his teachers think changing to the general track was a bad decision. He doesn’t care what they think, but it sure is annoying. 

“Alright,” his teacher, who had held Tubbo after class, says, “It seems you’ve made up your mind,” yes, Tubbo thinks, I made it up when I first dropped the career track months ago, “I suppose you might be accepted into a ballet company anyhow.”

Well that’s news. “Even without the career track?” Tubbo can’t help but ask, not that he’s ever going to audition for one.

His teacher hums. “Indeed. You are good at dancing. Remember that.”

...

“Unboxing stream!” Tubbo shouts at chat.

“Woo!” Ranboo says over the phone. 

Tubbo had had so much fun with the last shopping and unboxing streams that he figured he’d do it again. Except this time, with a twist. When they did the shopping stream, Ranboo streamed it instead of Tubbo. Ranboo was in full control (including being in control of Tubbo’s Amazon), and while Tubbo was in a call with him, he wasn’t allowed to look at Ranboo’s stream at all. 

So Tubbo has no idea what could possibly be in any of these packages. 

As it turns out, a lot of cool stuff. A shit ton of weird stuff, too, though. 

There’s a really nice-looking jacket and a shirt that could actually be considered stylish. There’s a nice spring-form cake pan and a recipe book dedicated to breakfast food.

There’s also a sweater that says “Dad: The Man, The Myth, The Legendary Gamer” and a t-shirt that is taken up entirely by Tommy’s profile picture. There’s another cookbook, too: “101 Ways to Prepare and Eat SPAM”. 

Tubbo gets down to one of the last few packages and cuts it open. Inside is some sort of jacket-looking thing, which Tubbo pulls out to get a better look at, holding it up for the camera. 

He takes a look at it and- oh. Oh shit. 

This isn’t part of the unboxing stream.

This is something that Tubbo ordered for himself. 

It’s a black, Spanish bolero jacket with gold accents and embellishments.

For his Don Quixote variation.

“I don’t remember buying that,” Ranboo says. 

Chapter Text

Afraid to look at his chat, Tubbo struggles to find an excuse for the jacket. How the hell does he play this off? 

“Tubbo? What is that?” Ranboo asks. 

“It- uh.”

Lani is the best sister, because she steps into the room, unseen by the camera, and sighs dramatically. “It’s happened again, hasn’t it?”

“Uh, yep,” Tubbo says, trying to play along.

“I’ll bring it over to the neighbours for you, give it here,” Lani reaches out for the dance outfit and Tubbo hands it over. She winks on her way out of the room. The tension that has been building up within Tubbo leaves with her, thank god. 

“The neighbours keep sending their packages to our house on accident,” Tubbo explains to the chat. 

Ranboo and the chat seem to accept that explanation and soon enough, the stream moves on. 

...

“Kid, where do you even find these stupid memes?” Will asks. 

“Suong, mostly,” Tubbo explains, nodding to his dance partner who is stretching at the barre. She laughs and waves, taking full credit for all the shitty dance memes. 

“Suong! No!” Will laments, “I had such high hopes for you.”

“You can never escape the memes,” Suong teases. 

Tubbo and Suong are going to perform the new pas de deux that they’ve been working on for Will. They sort of forced him into watching because they haven’t performed it for anyone yet and he happened to be at The Muses when they arrived. 

They get into position and Will starts the music for them. The dance goes well for the most part. It’s the Bluebird pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty. They fumble slightly when Tubbo has to lift Suong up so that she’s sitting on his shoulder but it’s only for a moment and they get back into it pretty easily afterward. 

Will claps and cheers when they’re done. “That was great!” 

“Thank you, Will,” Suong smiles. “We do need to practice some of those lifts, though.”

“Right, well,” Will nods to them, “I’ve gotta go teach a class. You two work on those lifts.”

They spend a good hour or so working on the dance. When they manage to get through it several times without messing up the shoulder lift, they decide to call it quits for the day. As they’re packing up their things, they make light conversation.

“Are you streaming tonight?” Suong asks.

“I am,” Tubbo confirms. 

“Can’t wait. On the smp?” 

“I think so,” Tubbo says. “I might just stream on my alt, though.”

“Don’t do another ten-hour alt stream,” Suong gives him a look.

“I know! I know! I promise I won’t drop you due to sleep deprivation when we rehearse in class tomorrow!”

“You’d better not,” Suong tells him. “See you tomorrow.”

...

A week later, Tubbo is just getting out of school when he gets a frantic call from Will.

“Will? Breath, man. What’s going on?”

“You know how- you know how Tina always helps me out with the little-ones tap lessons? The four to six-year-olds?”

“Uh… yeah?” Tina teaches little-ones ballet so Will will sometimes help her out, too (four to six year olds can be very difficult to handle alone, no matter how adorable, especially when they’re hyped up on dance energy). 

“Right. She was in a bus accident-”

“She what?” 

“No! No, she’s fine! The hospital is just monitoring her for a concussion but it’s not even likely that she has one!”

“Will! Man, you can’t scare me like that!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just need help! Can you take her place tonight? The class starts in like, an hour!”

“An hour? I’ll be there,” Tubbo says firmly.

“Oh fuck. Thanks, dude. Sorry again for scaring you,” Will takes a deep breath. “I was freaking out a little there.”

“A little? That was a lot, big man-”

“Streamer talk?”

“Yep. Anyway, I’ve got an hour. I’m going to go get a bar of Tina’s favourite chocolate for her. Getting hit by- wait what actually happened, exactly?”

...

Tubbo is sick of “Walking on Sunshine”. A single tap class and he’s heard the song about a billion times. He doesn’t mind too much, though. Getting to help teach a bunch of kiddos how to dance? It’s precious. 

After the class, Tubbo finds that he’s received a few texts from Tina in the ‘Teachers 2’ group chat (‘Teachers 1’ includes Tubbo’s dad and Ms. Kathy, both of whom are too old to understand the shit that goes on in ‘Teachers 2’). 

“Did you see Tina’s messages?” Will asks.

Tubbo hums, “haven’t read them, yet.”

“She’s alright. No concussion, not even a scratch.”

“That’s good,” Tubbo says, relieved. “I still can’t believe that her bus was hit by another bus. How does that even happen?”

“Hell if I know,” Will shrugs. “Thanks again for helping out so last minute, by the way.”

“Of course, Will. Anytime.”

“Unless you’re streaming,” Will says.

“Unless I’m streaming.”

“Or rehearsing a variation.”

“Or that.”

“Or rehearsing a pas de-”

“Will!” 

...

Tubbo is laying in bed, bugging Tommy as he streams. Wilbur is in the call too and for the past ten minutes Tubbo and Wilbur have been having a conversation about- well, originally it was about musicals because Ranboo has been introducing Tubbo to quite a few of them, but that devolved into costume design and now Wilbur has just mentioned pointe shoes and Tubbo is really on edge now. 

“I mean, they must be painful, right?” Wilbur asks. Tubbo would really love to know how their conversation ended up here, thank you very much.

“Wilbur, what are you talking about?” Tommy cuts in.

“I watched a video and this girl was on one leg for nearly half a minute,” Wilbur says, ignoring Tommy entirely. “While spinning.” 

“Wow,” Tubbo responds, unsure of what to say. He could join this conversation and talk about pointe and ballet. He isn’t an expert on dancing on pointe by any means but he certainly knows more than Wilbur does. However, if he starts spouting ballet facts, his secret will surely get out. Or he’ll look suspicious, at least. 

Thankfully, he doesn’t have to make a decision. Tommy takes over the conversation, steering it away from pointe. Tubbo mutes for a second, breathing deeply to calm himself down a bit.

...

He somehow ends up on Karl’s Jackbox stream. George, Quackity, and Bad had all pulled out last minute (for valid reasons, as far as Tubbo knows) so Karl had turned to Ranboo, who’d suggested Tubbo join too, and Tubbo had, in turn, suggested Tommy be the final replacement. So now here Tubbo is playing a game of Quiplash with Karl, Sapnap, Dream, and his two best friends. 

Tubbo submits his answers for the final round and sits back in his chair, humming softly to himself. 

“Dude, is that Walking on Sunshine?” Karl asks. Tubbo frowns. Nobody says anything and Tubbo realizes that Karl had been questioning him. 

“Oh. Uh, yeah?” He hadn’t noticed what he’d been humming. That damned song has been stuck in his head since the little-ones tap class. 

“Why?” Dream asks, laughing a bit. 

Shit. How is Tubbo supposed to explain that the song is burned into his brain because he had to listen to it over and over again for nearly an hour during a children’s tap dancing class? Well, he definitely can’t explain it like that, that’s for sure. 

The round starts, thank fuck, but that doesn’t stop Sapnap from bringing it up again after Ranboo wins the game. One thing leads to another and Tubbo did not expect this to be a karaoke stream but everybody just starts… singing the song? Tubbo might actually be in hell. He’s never going to escape “Walking on Sunshine.”

That fact is solidified when, not even a day later, Tubbo comes across #tubbofanart that is Walking on Sunshine-themed. He just sighs and likes it. What? The art is good.

...

Wilbur
Haha

Tubbo looks down at the message in confusion. Since when does Wilbur text him with his actual phone number and not through Discord? Tubbo only has Wilbur’s personal number for emergencies (what kind of emergencies, Tubbo isn’t sure). 

Tubbo is at The Muses, practicing his variation again. On his water break, he had figured he might as well check his phone. He wasn’t expecting a text from Wilbur. He quickly opens up his messages to find-

Well fuck.

A dance meme.

Tubbo sent a dance meme meant for Will to Wilbur. How the fuck did he manage that? 

Wilbur doesn’t seem to be questioning it, though, so Tubbo sets his phone back down and goes back to working on his variation. In the back of his mind, he’s aware that he’s meant to be in a vc with Wilbur later tonight for another one of Tommy’s video recordings. He can worry about that later. Right now, he needs to work on his leaps. 

He sure is worrying about it now. Wilbur and Tommy are already in the vc together when Tubbo shows up. They just have to wait for Quackity and Phil before they start recording the video.

“Tubbo!” Wilbur greets. “What’s with the dance meme?”

So they’re jumping right into it? Great. “I didn’t actually mean to send that to you,” Tubbo replies honestly.

“A dance meme?” Tommy asks.

“But you did mean to send a ballet meme to somebody?” Wilbur questions.

“A ballet meme?” Tommy asks.

“I thought one of my friends would find it funny,” Tubbo explains. It’s still the truth! “My, uh, my sister first showed it to me.”

“A meme about ballet?” Tommy asks.

“What’s this about a ballet meme?” Oh great, Phil’s here now, too. 

“It’s just an inside joke I have with one of my friends, that’s all,” Tubbo says, grasping desperately for some sort of clever way out of this. Strangely, the inside joke excuse seems to work. Soon enough, Quackity joins the call and they get into recording the video, dance meme forgotten. 

Tubbo really needs to stop just barely getting out of these situations. 

...

Ranboo slumps in his chair. He’s had a long day, but he has to be part of this meeting. It’s important, apparently. He figures it probably involves upcoming lore since Dream, Sapnap, Wilbur, and Technoblade are also in the meeting.

“Are we all here?” Dream checks. 

“Tommy and Tubbo are streaming together right now so they won’t be able to make it,” Wilbur says. “I’ll keep them updated on what’s going on, don’t worry.”

“Alright. We all know about the upcoming lore, but we’re going to have to push it back a bit.”

“Oh?” Wilbur inquires.

“Dream and I are going travelling to England to surprise George,” Sapnap explains. “Now that the travel bans have been lifted.”

“You are? When?” Techno asks.

“Next week,” Dream says. Ranboo’s mouth drops open. “And we’ll be staying for two weeks, so neither of us will be available for any lore-heavy streams because we won’t have our setups.”

“Next- next week?” Ranboo chokes.

“Yes?” 

“I- I’m also going to England next week.”

“You what?” Wilbur gasps. 

“Yeah. To surprise Tubbo.”

“Don’t you think Tubbo’s parents might be a bit weirded out if a tall as hell American child just shows up at their doorstep?” Techno points out.

“Tommy and I have been setting it up with Tubbo’s parents,” Ranboo is so excited for the visit. He’s going to fly in and stay the first night in a hotel with Tommy before heading over to see Tubbo the next day. Tubbo’s parents won’t be home when Tommy and Ranboo arrive (because they’ve got work) but they’ve given Ranboo their address so that he and Tommy can just show up at their door.

“Hey Techno,” Wilbur says, “how do you feel about coming to England next week?”

Techno sighs. “I’m already buying tickets…”

...

“-and it turns out I sent Wilbur the meme instead of sending it to Will!”

“You know,” Suong says as she flits across the studio, “I feel like you should just… tell your friends?”

“Why would I-” Tubbo sets his hands on Suong’s waist, supporting her through a pirouette, “-do that?”

“Because they’re your friends?”

“But-” he leaps, “-I’ve been keeping it from them for so long. And what if they think it’s-”

“Weird? They won’t. And if they do, they aren’t really your friends, are they?”

Tubbo lifts Suong into the air. “I suppose you’re right,” he walks several paces with her in his arms then sets her down gently. He gracefully makes his way back to the other side of the studio, continuing the pas de deux.

“Of course I’m right,” Suong says as Tubbo spins.

Tubbo frowns. “It’s just- I’ve had experiences , you know?”

“Alright, stop,” Suong says, dropping down to flat feet from where she was en pointe. Tubbo lets his hand fall from her waist. The music continues to play but Suong ignores it. She turns to look Tubbo dead in the eye, grabbing his shoulders to keep him in place. “I know you’ve had experiences. A lot of male ballet dancers do, which is total bullshit if you ask me, but they’re your friends. Do you think Tommy’s gonna make fun of you for it?”

“I mean-”

“No. Seriously. Do you think that Tommy will talk shit about something you’re passionate about? And Ranboo? You think he’ll call you a homophobic slur? You think Wilbur Soot is gonna turn around and call a kid names because he does ballet? ”

“Well, no-”

“Exactly. Not only are they your friends, but they’re good people.”

“But, Suong, not to sound- ugh. Just, you only really know them from streams, right?”

“No,” Suong sighs. “I don’t know if you know this, but you talk about your friends a lot. You obviously care about them, and from what I’ve heard from you, they care about you too.”

“Oh.”

Chapter Text

Tubbo feels like crying. He fucked up big time. 

A few days ago, Tubbo had been part of recording one of Techno’s videos. Late last night, Techno had asked if Tubbo could send his side of the footage to him. So Tubbo, in his tired state, had sent his recording to Techno.

Only, it was the wrong file. And Tubbo didn’t discover that until waking up in the morning to several messages from Techno. 

The second that Tubbo switches from “Invisible” to “Online” in Discord, Techno calls him. Techno video calls him. Tubbo sighs. He won’t be able to avoid this conversation forever, so he takes a deep breath and answers the call.

“Hello Technoblade,” Tubbo says, not looking at his screen. Techno probably video called by accident. He knows Techno doesn’t always enjoy showing his face. 

“Tubbo,” a pause, “Can you look at me?”

So, maybe not an accident, then. Tubbo looks up and there’s Technobalde, looking confused and concerned. 

“I, uh, I didn’t mean to send that to you,” Tubbo clears his throat. 

“Yeah, I kinda guessed that,” Techno says awkwardly. “You’re- you’re really good, by the way. At, uh, ballet. Or whatever.”

Tubbo can’t help it, he bursts out into hysterical laughter. Techno seems caught off guard by Tubbo’s outburst, which is fair. Tubbo is pretty caught off guard by himself, too. 

When Tubbo calms down, he finds that he has tears in his eyes. He wipes them away, hoping that Techno hasn’t noticed.

“So, you dance?” 

Tubbo tenses. He still can’t believe he sent a video of himself practicing his variation to Techno instead of Minecraft footage. 

“Yep,” Tubbo says. He feels like he’s one misstep from cracking through the ice and falling into a freezing, all-consuming ocean. “Since I could walk.”

“Wow.”

“It’s-” Tubbo bites his lip, “you don’t think it’s strange, then?”

“What? No. I’m impressed.”

“Actually?” 

“Yeah,” Techno frowns. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, I mean, it’s ballet.”

“Yes? I might not know a lot about ballet but from just that one video, it seems like you’re pretty good, right?”

“No I mean-” Tubbo huffs, “It’s just, sometimes people are… weird about boys doing ballet.”

“Oh.”

Tubbo hums. “Yeah.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Oh.”

Techno snorts. “Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

“Eh,” Techno shrugs. “It’s just the truth. Anyway, if I was weird about it, I’m sure Tommy would come for me.”

It’s clearly meant to lighten the mood, but Tubbo just winces, curling in on himself. He can’t believe that out of everyone, Technoblade found out about the dancing before either Tommy or Ranboo.

“About that…” Tubbo frowns.

“Oh shit,” Techno says.

“Yep.”

“I’m the first to…”

“You are.”

Techno gets this bewildered look on his face. “Why?”

So Tubbo tells him everything. Like, everything. He tells Techno about his dad’s dance studio, about practically growing up in The Muses Dance Studios. He tells him about his dance school and about dropping the career track and his teacher telling him he’s good enough to get into a company even without the career track. He tells him about Ms. Kathy and the pointe shoes and about Will and the little-ones tap class. He tells him about Suong and finally, finally, he tells Techno about his fears. 

He talks about the mean kids and the meaner adults. He talks about the insults and the slurs and the bullying.

And he explains that it’s not just the words that hurt, it’s the fact that he knows he’s an amazing dancer. He knows he’s strong and graceful and talented. That’s what hurts the most; he does what he loves and he does it well, but people are still so… so shitty about it. 

“And I’ve gotten over it,” Tubbo says. “It doesn’t hurt me as much as it used to. But-” he stops, taking in a shaky breath, “but it’s different when it’s my friends. I’m worried about what they’ll say.”

“Tubbo, they aren’t going to be dicks about it.”

“I know that,” he thinks back to what Suong told him. He had almost messaged Tommy and Ranboo that night. Wilbur too. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not still scared. And I want to tell them, but I’m terrified to take that leap. I’m scared that I’ll jump and fall.” 

“You’re a ballet dancer, right?” Techno asks. Did Tubbo not just spend half an hour telling him that? 

“Yes?”

“Aren’t you trained to jump and land on your feet?”

...

Ranboo hears Tommy before he sees him. He barely has time to spin around before Tommy throws his arms around him. Stumbling a bit, Ranboo laughs and returns the hug. 

“Tubbo’s gonna love this,” Tommy grins, pulling away. 

“He will,” Ranboo yawns. “I need a nap.”

“I can tell,” Tommy rolls his eyes. “Come on, then. You can sleep all afternoon.”

Tommy’s dad drives them to the hotel and drops them off. Tommy’s dad apparently thinks that Ranboo is responsible enough for the two of them, so he heads home. He’s not chaperoning this meetup (though he’s been in contact with Tubbo’s parents about it for weeks). 

Ranboo is honestly so excited for this. Not only is it going to be a fun surprise, but it’s also giving him the opportunity to meet Tommy and Tubbo in person. And, after the discovery that the Dream Team is also doing a meetup this week, Techno really did buy plane tickets, and the meetup has become one big, combined meetup. 

Dream and Sapnap have been here for a few days already. They still haven’t told their audiences, but the two of them and George have been acting increasingly suspicious on Twitter, riling their fans up. Tomorrow, they’re going to join Tommy and Ranboo, and, along with SBI, they’re all going to go surprise Tubbo. 

For now, though, Ranboo is going to sleep. 

...

Tubbo wakes up Saturday morning with a plan. First, he needs to sew his new pointe shoes. Then, he’s going to go to The Muses and rehearse his Don Quixote variation. He’s being graded on it next Friday. After that, he’s just going to have a bit of fun with the pointe shoes. There’s a variation that he’s been working on with Ms. Kathy, and while he isn’t perfect, he’s been getting better. He wants to be able to show it to Suong soon. 

He sits in his room with a cup of tea and begins sewing his pointe shoes. He’s done it enough times now that he has no trouble with it. He distantly hears his mother leave for the day. She has something with work today, apparently, which is a bit strange considering she doesn’t often work weekends. His father has already left for the day, first to a meeting for the venue of The Muses’ end-of-year show, then to bring Lani to the cinema. 

When he’s done with the shoes, he packs his bag and sets off for the studio. 

...

Meeting so many people at once is a bit overwhelming, if Ranboo is being honest. Luckily, he already knows these people, even if they’ve never met in person before.

They’re all gathered at a cafe close to the address that Tubbo’s parents gave Ranboo and Tommy.

“Alright,” Techno says, returning to where everyone is gathered at a table. He’s got a massive coffee in his hand. He flew in yesterday, just as Ranboo did, but it seems like Ranboo was able to sleep away the travel exhaustion better than Techno did.

“Yes!” Tommy practically shouts. “Let’s go!” 

So they do. 

Only-

“This isn’t Tubbo’s house,” Tommy frowns, staring up at… ‘The Muses Dance Studios’ as the sign proclaims. Ranboo checks the text he received from Tubbo’s parents, comparing that address to the one on the building. They match. 

“This is the address that Tubbo’s parents gave me,” he says.

“I don’t think Tubbo lives in a dance studio,” Sapnap points out.

“No shit,” Dream says.

“Maybe we should go in,” Wilbur suggests.

“What? Why?” Tommy turns an incredulous look on Wilbur. Meanwhile, Ranboo texts Tubbo’s parents to get the proper address. 

“It could be a total mistake,” Phil says, “but it might not be. Maybe someone in there can point us in the right direction.”

Techno stays silent. Maybe a little too silent, not that Ranboo really notices. He’s too confused to notice.

Phil’s idea makes a bit of sense, and when, after fifteen minutes, Tubbo’s parents still haven’t responded, they head inside. Techno puts up a bit of a fight, saying that it would be strange for all of them to enter a dance studio looking for some random teenage boy, but they have no other ideas so Techno’s points go ignored.

The dance studio has a little front office. There’s a young man inside, gathering some things into a bag. Phil goes up to the desk while the rest of them hang back. Ranboo suddenly feels very awkward being here. 

“Oh,” the man behind the desk says. “Hello. I’m Will. Can I-” he finally realizes that there is a rather large gaggle of people behind Phil and his eyes go a bit wide, “-can I help you?”

“Hi,” Phil says, “We were directed here but we may have gotten the wrong address. We’re looking for someone named Tubbo. Or, uh, his real name-”

“Tubbo?” Will squints his eyes at them all. He seems to realize something and it takes Ranboo a moment to realize that it’s probably because Will recognizes all of them. Well, all of them except for him and Dream. Ranboo is wearing his sunglasses, mask, and glove combo, just in case someone recognizes one of the others. Dream is wearing sunglasses and a black mask, the hood of his sweater pulled up over his head. “He’s in studio four. Just down that hall and around the corner. I’m sure he won’t mind if you let yourselves in. Anyway, I’ve actually gotta run. Let the kid know that he needs to lock up when he leaves!”

And then Will is gone.

And their little group is left bewildered. 

“Um,” George says eloquently. 

“Studio four,” Tommy says, and then he’s gone, off like a rocket down the hall that Will had pointed out.

“Tommy!” Wilbur calls after him, but Tommy ignores him. Wilbur sighs and follows after him, so Ranboo goes too. When he passes Techno, Ranboo notices an uneasy look on the other man’s face. Maybe Techno needs another coffee. 

The others follow them down the hallway and around the corner. They find Tommy standing outside of a door labelled ‘4’. 

“Found it,” Tommy points at the door.

“We should knock,” Techno says. Tommy throws open the door and steps into the studio. Dream and Sapnap lock eyes, shrug, and go in too, which means George steps in after them with a sigh. Wilbur and Phil also meet eyes, Phil raising an eyebrow at Wilbur to ask if he knows what’s going on. Wilbur just shrugs. They step into the studio too. 

Now it’s just Ranboo and Techno who have to go in. Techno looks like he wants to be anywhere else, which is strange. Ranboo nods his head to the door, looking at Techno. They enter the studio. 

The sight they are greeted with is…

Holy shit.

Tubbo clearly hasn’t heard them come in. He isn’t facing them and his music is up pretty loud.

And he’s dancing.

...

Tubbo loves getting lost in the music and the dance. As he’s gotten more used to the Don Quixote variation, he finds it easier to just forget everything and dance. It’s one of his favourite parts of ballet. 

He finishes off the variation, hitting the strong, striking end pose and can’t help but smile to himself. That was… perfect (well, as perfect as it can be). He’s definitely ready for next Friday. 

And then the smile falls.

Because the studio is suddenly filled with applause. 

Tubbo jumps to his feet with incredible speed and absolutely no grace. He whips around to face the door and-

No.

“What the fuck?” he gasps.

“Holy shit!” Tommy says. Tubbo braces himself for a harsh comment. Instead, he gets, “That was fucking amazing! When the fuck did you learn to do that?”

“Tubbo,” Wilbur says softly, and only then does Tubbo realize his cheeks are wet. Tubbo reaches up to wipe the tears from his eyes. He isn’t sure when he started crying, probably when he noticed everybody, but now he can’t seem to stop. 

“Tubbo,” that’s Ranboo. Ranboo is meant to be in America. “Tubbo?”

Tubbo is shaking. 

And then there are arms around him. For a second, he’s really confused, but looking up, he finds both Ranboo and Tommy have their arms wrapped tightly around him.

“Tubbo,” Ranboo, who no longer has his mask and glasses on, says. “You’re an amazing dancer.”

He isn’t sure how long the hug lasts, just that by the time he pulls away, he’s calmed down again. He’s come to terms with the fact that a shit ton of his friends just discovered he can do ballet. 

“Hi guys,” Tubbo says. 

“Hey Tubbo,” Dream waves. Dream. Jesus fuck. 

“Tubbo?” Wilbur approaches. “That really was incredible.”

“Yeah, mate,” Phil says. “I didn’t know people could do that kind of shit.”

“Thank you,” Tubbo can’t help but smile. Everyone is taking this really well. 

“Told you so,” Techno deadpans, practically reading Tubbo’s mind. 

“Wait, you knew!?” Tommy shouts.

Chapter Text

They end up sitting around on the studio floor while Tubbo explains everything to them. He starts from the beginning, like he did with Techno, explaining that the studio belongs to his father and that Tubbo has been dancing for pretty much forever. 

“You could be part of a professional ballet company?” George asks, awed, when Tubbo mentions what his teacher had said.

“If I wanted to,” Tubbo says. “But I, uh, don’t.”

“Really?” Wilbur asks, taken aback.

“I like streaming,” Tubbo tells them bashfully. 

Phil asks if he’d be comfortable doing his variation (well, he calls it his ‘dance’) again so that they can see the full thing. Tubbo decides that he might as well. They’ve already seen part of it, he can show them the rest.

He gets into position and has Ranboo start the music for him. He gets into position while the others move to sit along the wall. The music starts.

As he goes, he hears gasps and expressions of awe every few seconds. At one point, he even hears Wilbur say, “holy shit.” There’s another moment where Sapnap gasps so loudly that Dream reaches up and covers his friend’s mouth, all the while not taking his eyes off of Tubbo. 

When he finishes the variation, the applause is even louder than it was last time. Tommy whoops in excitement and Ranboo comes up and hugs Tubbo. 

And Tubbo feels so… happy. He spent so long worrying about what could go wrong if his friends found out that he never really gave himself to think about the possibility of things going well. 

“Hey, why did your parents send us here?” Phil asks. “If you were trying to keep it a secret, wouldn’t they have told us to go to your house?”

Tubbo thinks about it for a moment. He isn’t mad at his parents or anything, he realizes. “They probably think that you already knew,” Tubbo says.

“What?” Tommy asks. “Why?”

“Well, you are my friends, and I’m - okay well I was sort of hiding it - but not entirely,” Tubbo explains. “The people at my school watch my streams, after all. And I spend so much time here that you probably wouldn’t have found me at home today, anyway.”

“Wait, you dance on pointe?!” Dream gasps. “Like, with those special shoes?”

“Uh, yep.”

“Isn’t that mainly for girls?” Tommy asks. 

“Tommy,” Wilbur gives him a look.

“I mean, yeah?” Tubbo says. “But I don’t care. Ballerinas are so badass. My dance partner, Suong, is amazing. She’s way better at pointe than I am, obviously.”

“Dude,” Ranboo says, eager, “can you show us?”

Tubbo had already planned on practicing some pointe today, so he shrugs and grabs his shoes. He can’t believe this is really happening. Everyone just seems so… interested in? excited by? his dancing. 

The variation he does is from Swan Lake. It isn’t perfect by any means, and he definitely doesn’t dance en pointe at the same level that the ballerinas his age do, but he does fairly well, he supposes. 

“How do you even get your legs to bend like that?” George asks when Tubbo has finished. 

“Forget his legs,” Dream says. “Tubbo, how do you stay upright?”

“Have you guys never watched ballet before?” Techno asks.

“Oh, and you have?” Sapnap counters.

“I have.”

The studio is silent. Tommy guffaws, “Of fucking course!” Then he turns to Tubbo. “But seriously, how the fuck?”

“Tubbo, you really are very good,” Wilbur says quietly, so as to not draw attention. They’re all gathered in a restaurant. They’ve pushed several tables together so that they can all fit. Wilbur is to Tubbo’s right. 

Across from Wilbur, Phil leans forward slightly to add, “I agree, your dancing is very impressive.”

“Course it is,” Tommy, on Tubbo’s left, rolls his eyes. “It’s Tubbo.”

Ranboo, who is seated across from Tubbo, laughs. “Makes sense,” he agrees.

“I told you that you would land on your feet,” Technoblade says as the adults drop Ranboo, Tommy, and Tubbo off at Tubbo’s house. Apparently, Tubbo’s parents have already set up a guest room for them. He still can’t believe that his parents helped set up a whole surprise meetup. 

“Yeah,” Tubbo smiles, bright and joyful, “you did.”

“Welcome to the stream! You may have noticed that I’m not in my usual streaming spot!” In fact, he’s not even in the camera’s view, at the moment. “I’m in a dance studio! Now, you may be wondering: Tubbo, why are you in a dance studio? Here’s why.”

He nods to Tommy, who is also hidden from the camera, seeing as nobody knows that he and Ranboo are here. Tommy grins and presses play on the music. 

It’s the Nutcracker Prince Act Two variation.

He learned it a few months ago for school.

Tubbo’s chat goes fucking crazy. He doesn’t even finish the variation before he’s trending on Twitter.

When he does finish, he moves to stand in front of the camera. He checks his laptop, which is sitting on a stool, so he can read the chat. 

“Awe, thank you,” he says, reading the overwhelmingly supportive comments. “For those of you wondering, there’s a professional ballet school attached to my sixth form college. I’ve been dancing since I could walk. Father dearest actually owns this studio!”

He reads the chat, answering some more questions (“I have competed before!”) (“I could probably join a company if I wanted to but I like streaming too much to audition! I love you lot way too much!”) (“Can I lift people up then? Yes?”)

“Alright,” Tubbo claps his hands together. He’s jittery with excitement. “Showing off my dancing skills wasn’t the only reason for this stream. I have other plans!” He grins mischievously. “I’ve got some friends who don’t know how to dance. Today, I’m going to try teaching them some ballet basics!”

Chat is once again going crazy, this time with theories as to who the ‘friends’ Tubbo mentioned could possibly be. 

“Chat!” Tubbo shouts. “Please welcome: TommyInnit and Ranboo!”

His two friends jump into frame. “Hello boys!” Tommy shouts. 

“Hi everyone,” Ranboo waves. He’s wearing his mask, gloves, and sunglasses, of course. 

“Now. Chat,” Tubbo giggles. “Who’s ready?”

He honestly still can’t believe that he convinced either of his friends to do this. He can’t fucking wait, though. It’s going to be an absolute shitshow. 

It’s also going to be one of the best streams he’s ever done.