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Tubbo’s tireeeeddd.
Or maybe tired is an understatement, he’s straight up exhausted. Hanging out with his friends in Brighton had been fun, amazing even, but he’s not built for that much travel. He’s not used to the whole hanging out with people thing. So even though it was amazing, and fun, and a much needed break from social media. It also means he’s fucking tired.
Being tired isn’t an excuse to not alt stream though, he’d promised his audience one and…he kinda missed streaming a little bit. It’s not hard to convince Ranboo to join him (if he missed Ranboo just as much if not more than he missed streaming well…that’s no one’s business but his own) and soon they’re live in front of 70k people.
Tubbo doesn’t really know what he’s doing, he’s way too tired to put much thought into the stream, instead it’s just him and Ranboo bouncing off each other as they talk about everything and nothing. It’s nice, really nice. Comforting in a way that Brighton hadn’t been, Tubbo suspects that’s probably just because it’s Ranboo he’s talking with now though.
He’s always been a comforting presence for Tubbo, something about him just makes Tubbo feel…safe.
So it’s not really his fault that he slips up. In his defense, it wasn’t about the meetup date or any of their upcoming plans. Ranboo just has a way about him that lures Tubbo into a sense of security, so when he’s complaining about people he doesn’t really-think too hard about it all.
“Goddamnit I’m sooooo sick of people dude” he’s really just complaining for the sake of complaining.
Wilbur, Tommy, Jack, Scott, they’re all lovely, he just doesn’t have the social battery for it. Ranboo’s response takes him by surprise a bit, even though it really shouldn’t considering it’s nothing out of the ordinary.
Ranboo’s voice has that lilt to it, the playful one that tells Tubbo to just suck it up, “Welllll there’s about to be another one pretty darn soon so you better get used to that actually” he knows it’s playful.
A little bit of banter and teasing to hype up the meetup date that’s getting closer and closer. Tubbo decides to explain himself anyway, it’s not his fault that his voice lacks that same playful tone. It’s painfully sincere in his state of exhaustion, and maybe if he were a bit more awake he’d be less inclined to answer seriously.
But as it happens, his response is nothing but honest, “Yeah well you’re-you- you’re not, you’re not like a-” he pauses, trying his best to put this into words Ranboo will understand, not just the warm feeling he gets in his chest whenever they call together.
Or the way his heart flutters when they’re on facetime, and Ranboo gets that special little smile reserved for him.
Words have never been his specialty, but he thinks he does okay, “-you’re you, okay. I could never get sick of your company”.
He tunes out a little bit, goes on a rant about Jack Manifold to distract twitch chat about just how sincere that was. He hears Ranboo aw in the background, and he knows he’s got that dumb smile on his face.
The one he wears when Tubbo takes him by surprise, it’s Tubbo’s favorite smile.
The one where Ranboo can’t contain his sappiness, so he smiles at Tubbo like he hung the moon. Of course, Tubbo’s definitely getting teased for this once they’re both offline and y’know, not in front of 70k people. He’s got a brief reprieve before Ranboo confronts him though, since they’ll both be live and Ranboo’s going to need time to process all his gooey sappy romantic-ness.
He just hopes twitch chat doesn’t look too hard into it, whose he kidding though? Tubbo could say he romantically liked guys, and they’d still find a way to throw a slash P on there. Might as well try and move on anyway, twitter be damned.
~~~
Ironically, the interaction gets forgotten about. Tubbo’d been so worried about being too honest or too much, but instead it seems like Ranboo and Twitter had both just…forgotten.
Not that Tubbo’s complaining really, besides things are getting busy. MCC is coming up, and he’s dropping his merch soon, and oh yea Ranboo’s sleeping on his bed right now until it’s time for Tubbo’s stream.
Meeting Ranboo in person it was….surreal. He still can’t really believe it, that the boy he’s been falling for is here after all this time. Tubbo’s been staring since Ranboo got off the plane, he’s sure the other would’ve noticed if he hadn’t been staring as well.
There’d been a minute there where they just looked, unable to really process the reality that was them, together. The hug had been initiated by himself, surprisingly, he’d run at the other while he’d still been frozen. They’d collided together quite awkwardly, with the foot or so height difference between them, but it was perfect because Tubbo was hugging Ranboo, in person. And now they were back at Tubbo’s, and he was staring again.
It really wasn’t his fault okay!!
Ranboo’s just…he’s gorgeous. No matter how many times Tubbo says it Ranboo never really believes it. It’s the truth though. He’s gorgeous when he laughs at something dumb Tubbo says, and when he makes a stupid pun, and he’s especially gorgeous when he smiles, because Tubbo knows they’re meant for him.
He’s gorgeous even now, asleep and peaceful on Tubbo’s bed.
It’d been a fight to even get him to go to sleep, but there was no way he’d be able to join the end of Tubbo’s stream and stream himself without getting a couple hours of sleep. He’d been complaining, only reluctantly allowing himself to be pushed onto the bed by Tubbo.
There’s no trace of that now, just slow breaths and a smooth face. It makes Tubbo want to reach out, to card his fingers through the other's hair, to trace his fingers across the planes of the other’s face. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling, to want to hold, and touch, and stare.
Except this time he’s hit with the fact that he can.
No more yearning to hold, now he can just do it.
It’s been about an hour since Ranboo fell asleep, and they don’t have to be live for a couple hours more. So, Tubbo moves cautiously to the bed, as if Ranboo’s going to jump awake any second and call him out for being grossly in love. He sits on the edge, waiting to see if Ranboo’ll wake.
When he doesn’t, Tubbo moves cautiously closer, until finally, he’s sitting cross legged right next to Ranboo.
He doesn’t know quite where to go from here. So he just….reaches out, slowly once again, and rests his hand on the other’s sleeping face. He traces his fingers down the other’s cheek and hears him let out a soft sigh.
It’s enough to make Tubbo pause in his movements, not willing to wake Ranboo up and break the peace that’s settled throughout the room. After a couple minutes pass and Ranboo doesn’t wake, Tubbo moves his hand again. This time, to the locks that rest on Ranboo’s forehead.
His hair is softer and fluffier than he had imagined, and he runs his fingers through it once, twice, a third time.
He doesnt stop, but can you blame him? Now that he’s finally able to touch the boy he loves, well it’s addicting.
So he settles in, content to run his fingers through Ranboo’s hair until it’s time to stream. Tubbo’s internal clock may be a bit skewed, but he thinks it’s about an hour after he made that first move towards Ranboo that he fucks up irreparably. He’s so engrossed with twirling Ranboo’s locks that the opening of his eyes goes completely unnoticed.
“Hey Bo” the gravel of his voice makes Tubbo jump away as if he was burned, he yelps as he goes right over the side of the bed.
He lays there face down on the floor wishing that the wood would just swallow him whole. That’s when he hears the laughing, normally the reaction would just make him wish harder, but Ranboo’s laugh is as beautiful as the rest of him.
Tubbo lifts his head to stare at the bed, and he swears that the room’s lighter, even though he knows there’s cloud cover today. He moves to sit back on the bed, and he knows he’s staring, but Ranboo’s probably the most gorgeous he’s ever seen him.
Laughing freely, freshly awake in Tubbo’s bed a foot away rather than the normal thousands of miles. When Ranboo stops laughing and looks at him, Tubbo can’t help but smile wide, hopelessly in love with sparkling eyes.
Ranboo smiles in kind, motioning Tubbo to move closer. Stronger men than Tubbo could say no, but Tubbo is weak, so he goes. He ends up right next to Ranboo’s head again, crossed leg and quiet.
When Ranboo moves so that his head is in Tubbo’s lap, Tubbo thinks somewhere in the back of his mind that he’s going to have a heart attack from the amount of love bursting in his chest. Tubbo itches to run his fingers through the other’s hair again, to twirl the locks that are a million times softer than Tubbo’s own. But now that Ranboo’s awake it’s like there’s this mental block in his head, keeping him from reaching out again.
So he sits there, hands tucked next to his thighs to keep him from reaching out, until Ranboo sighs that is, “It’s okay Bo. I liked you playing with my hair, it felt nice”.
Tubbo’s sure his face is burning red, but there’s a blush on Ranboo’s too and he’s too excited to let the embarrassment stop him from reaching out again, moving to stroke Ranboo’s hair. Ranboo sighs again, and he likes to think he can see the nonexistent tension melting out of his shoulders.
As Ranboo falls into a space between sleeping and being awake, Tubbo lets himself stare, content to be existing with Ranboo, so much so that he misses Ranboo’s question.
“Sorry what was that you said Boss Man?” he asks with a questioning noise.
Ranboo hums, his voice is soft, and he sounds so peaceful Tubbo could cry, “Asked if you meant it”
“Meant what?”
“That you could never get tired of me?” Tubbo smiles, almost as soft as Ranboo’s voice.
He’d been wondering if Ranboo would eventually bring it up.
Though he feels much less panicked about his honesty when they’re together like this, “Yeah of course I meant it Boo. I mean I….” he trails off.
He can feel them there, in his throat, the three little words that he longs to say. It’s not like it’d be a surprise to Ranboo. They’d already confessed to each other, well, Tubbo had confessed after months of flirting on stream, and he’d been shocked to hear his feelings reciprocated.
They hadn’t wanted to do anything official, preferring to wait until meeting up in person, and Tubbo was completely fine with that, as long as he could continue vying for Ranboo’s affection.
And there was of course, that fateful valentine’s day stream where they’d said there I love you’s.
But….it feels so much different now, and he doesn’t want to go too fast with this, it’s too precious, too important to him.
So instead he leans down, bending so that he can place a kiss onto Ranboo's forehead. He can hear the hitch of surprise in Ranboo’s breath, and when he sees the small smile that grows on his face, softer than anything he’s seen before. He thinks that maybe Ranboo understood anyway, without Tubbo needing to verbalize it.
“Wake me when it’s stream time mkay?”
Ranboo sounds positively out of it, making Tubbo giggle, “Of course Boo, rest well”.
There’s a hum of affirmation as Tubbo combs his fingers through Ranboo’s hair, nails lightly scratching at his scalp. He settles in, prepared to stay in this position for however long he needs to, the streams can wait afterall.