Chapter Text
"international flight: ___ is now boarding at gate three."
ranboo blinked harshly and rubbed his eyes, attempting to wake up. he had been attempting to sleep, unsuccessfully of course, waiting for the plane, when the announcement went out. when he realized that was his flight, he jumped up from his chair, nearly falling over. he ignored the little black dots flooding his vision and blinked again, running over to the boarding zone.
he passed his ticket to the lady at the desk and was ushered onto the plane. he located his seat, first class thanks to tubbo, and put his bag in the space infront of him. it was almost like a private room; little separators hid him from the other passengers, with a little door-like slider to his left. there was a small area for his baggage, but the rest of the area was like a room. there were charging ports beside him and two plane windows to his right.
he finished settling in and waited patiently. it wasn't too long before the flight attendants and captain came over the intercom, announcing that they'd be taking off in a matter of minutes and that everyone should put on their seatbelts. they gave the safety talk and within minutes, the plane was rolling down the runway.
being in the sky gave him lots of time to think. he was nervous, mostly. he knew that tubbo had seen his face loads of times, and that his best friend would never judge his physical appearance, but the irrational side of his brain couldn't stop worrying. he bounced his leg on the floor while he scrolled quietly through twitter.
he liked a few tweets, replied to a few people, and checked his dms. no matter what he did to distract himself, however, the worry wouldn't go away.
night began to fall as the plane moved over the ocean. it was an eleven hour flight, and it would be about seven AM in the UK when he arrived.
he attempted to sleep, but gave up within minutes and instead, decided to use the airplane wifi to facetime tubbo. he plugged in his headphones and opened his contacts, clicking the little camera call button.
it barely rang before tubbo picked up and yelled, "RANBOO!"
"tubbo!" he replied back, smiling. he had the camera aimed at the roof of the plane, rather than at his face.
tubbo raised an eyebrow and was clearly upset by this fact. "where are you? show me -- face!"
ranboo winced at the way facetime's audio cut out a bit. the wifi must have been bad, he thought.
he inhaled deeply and leaned the camera up, resting it against something on the side table. "i hope you know my wifi's bad over the ocean, so if the call drops, you know why."
tubbo smiled and nodded. "i'm so excited, holy shit! how's the flight so far?"
"well, first class is nice, even though i wish you didn't spend all that money on me-"
"oh shut up and enjoy the nice seat, little stinker." tubbo smiled again, positioning his phone so that it was leaning against his monitor and so ranboo could see him.
ranboo laughed and looked out the window. "wait, let me show you the view." he said, picking up his phone and angling the camera out one of the windows. he wasn't sure if tubbo could see much, but because it was over the ocean, light pollution was essentially non-existent.
"holy shit, there's so many stars!" tubbo shouted, "do you see those?"
"yeah! it's nice, right?" ranboo replied, angling the camera back towards himself. "this flight feels like forever."
the flight, however, was not forever. around seven AM, UK time of course, the plane landed at heathrow and he was rushing to grab his bags. he grabbed the suitcase from above his head and his carryon bag before racing off the plane and out of the gate. he scanned the crowd and smiled when he spotted tubbo, holding a sign that simply said, "TALL MAN". he laughed and snapped a picture of his friend with the sign.
he put his backpack on correctly and started walking forward, waiting for tubbo to notice him. when he was about fifteen feet away, his friend shouted and pointed him out to his family.
"he's not even that tall- i told you!" tubbo hissed at his sister, smiling. he turned his gaze back to ranboo, who was now only about three feet away, and who towered over him. "...never mind then."
he was going to hug tubbo before remembering tubbo hated hugs, and instead went for an awkward high-five type thing. "funny seeing you here," ranboo said awkwardly.
"yeah, yeah, whatever. welcome home, bossman." tubbo said, smiling.
"-and this is the studio!" tubbo said, opening the door. "kitchens right as you walk in. through theres the living room," he explained, walking towards the room. "and up there is my room," he gestured to a loft above head.
ranboo nodded and looked around the living room. "nice in here, hope i don't get murdered."
tubbo laughed and grabbed one of ranboos suitcases, setting it by the large patio doors. "i'll let you get settled in, then we gotta do the big reveal thing."
ranboo settled in quickly and ducked into the far corner of the room, out of sight of tubbos webcam as he went live. he smiled, watching tubbo confuse the audience. he clicked a button on his stream deck to kill his camera and waved over ranboo, telling chat he was fixing his camera. he clicked the button to turn it back on and watched chat loose it at the sight of ranboo stood behind tubbos chair. once the whole reveal was over, he sat down beside tubbo and began speaking to chat, occasionally diving off screen to avoid scott in the minecraft MCC practice lobby, and answering questions. a knock at the studio door sent tubbo away briefly, but it wasn't long before he returned with two plates.
ranboo winced under his mask. his biggest concern about going to the UK was the whole eating situation. considering he'd be with tubbo nearly the entire time, he wasn't sure how he was going to hide it. he recovered from the shock quickly, sliding his chair off screen to his own desk.
he zoned out as he poked at his food, only coming back to reality as tubbo shouted his name.
"ranboo! jesus, man flew back to american mentally for a second." he laughed a bit, concern etched on his face.
"sorry, had a stream idea!" ranboo replied, looking up from his plate.
tubbo laughed lightly and pointed to where ranboo was sitting, despite no one being able to see him. "dude, you eat so slowly. i've finished mine and ranboos literally had like two bites."
ranboo panicked slightly. tubbo was still live, everyone heard him say that. "yeah yeah, whatever. let me eat in peace, stinky."
tubbo feigned offense at the joke and turned back to his monitor, making some more jokes. ranboo decided to give up on dinner. tubbo didn't notice his nearly full plate resting on his desk as he slid back into camera view. it seemed to go unnoticed by chat, too.
the rest of the stream went relatively smooth, everyone seemingly forgetting about the ordeal. they even got through ranboos own stream later in the night with no questions. he clicked end stream and ensured the camera was unplugged and that he was offline before taking off his mask and glasses. he leaned back into the chair, sighing.
"movie time?" tubbo asked, smiling.
ranboo nodded and raced over to the sofa to get the best seat. tubbo quickly chose a disney movie and curled up on his side of the sofa.
it was quiet for a good amount of time before tubbo broke the silence, looking at ranboos desk. "i just noticed, there's still a whole plate of food there."
ranboo turned to look at his desk and winced. he should have thrown it away in the kitchen.
"oh! i got distracted by the stream." ranboo explained smoothly.
tubbo nodded and stood up, grabbing the plate. "here, i'll heat it up, you must be hungry from the flight and streaming-"
ranboo stumbled over his words with panic. "no! that's okay- i uh, i ate on the plane and im not all that hungry."
tubbo raised an eyebrow, still holding the plate. "i was on call with you the entire time? i don't remember that."
"oh, well, i did-"
"even then, that was sometime last night or early this morning. i'll go heat this up," tubbo insisted, walking into the kitchen.
when be returned, he passed ranboo the plate and curled back up on his side of the sofa. he glanced over at ranboo occasionally, frowning at the still full plate. but within minutes, he was asleep.
ranboo carefully crept into the kitchen and out the studio door. he felt extremely guilty as he dumped the food into a bush by the fence, hoping rocky found it. he ran back inside, rinsing the plate and returning to the sofa.
he gently poked tubbos arm, "tubbo? uh, wake up. i sorta need to sleep here-"
tubbo sighed and dramatically rolled off the sofa and over to the stairs up to his loft. he climbed the stairs and crawled into his bed.
ranboo let out a sigh of relief and got comfortable on the couch, turning off the TV and grabbing his phone. he opened twitter and clicked the button to make a tweet.
"ranaltboo: Hello!! thanks for coming to todays streams, everyone. had fun :)"
he clicked tweet and watched the replies roll it. he liked a couple replies but eventually, he inevitably landed on the hate.
"lmao ok. fuckin skinny ass minecraft streamer."
he laughed a bit at it and tried to ignore the pride swelling in his chest at the skinny part of the comment. he liked the tweet and continued scrolling before falling asleep on the couch.
"finally! i finished that video. it's going up now." tubbo said, leaning back in his chair. it was warmer today, and ranboos second day in the UK was going quietly. tubbo had spent most of the morning editing, after all.
"awesome!" ranboo smiled. "well, upload it and i'll set up the next stream, yeah?"
tubbo nodded and set the video to upload and let ranboo sit at his desk and set up the stream, as his computer wasn't set up yet. the video went up quickly and then ranboo hit "go live".
he gave his usual welcome to chat, promoting tubbos new merch and things, as well as tubbos new video. he began to answer questions and talk to chat as tubbo wandered around the room.
"hey ranboo? can i wear your hawaiian shirt?" tubbo asked, already walking into the hallway to put it on.
"yeah, sure." he called back.
"it's a large? jesus!" tubbo complained from the hallway.
ranboo winced at the comment. "uhm. yeah? i'm a tall dude, not my fault your short."
tubbo re entered the room now wearing the hawaiian shirt and pretending it was a cape. ranboo laughed a bit, brushing off the comment from earlier. tubbo had been distracted with editing for breakfast and lunch, but ranboo made sure he brought the meals. it must have slipped tubbos mind that there was no second plate for his friend.
he raised the gain on the microphone so chat could hear tubbo, who was laying on the floor when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and doubled over. he leaned his chest and head over the desk he was sitting at.
"woah, you okay over there bossman?" tubbo asked, immediately sitting up.
"ow, yeah-" ranboo replied, wincing again. "must have gotten a bruise on my hip from when i ran into the glass door. whacked my hand on it on accident." he explained, hoping it passed as truthful.
tubbo believed it instantly, offering to get an ice pack, which ranboo declined. chat however, was a bit different. messages flew by asking if he was okay, telling him to get some water, and encouraging to end stream if he wasn't feeling well.
"calm down chat, i can take care of myself." he laughed lightly and sat up, arms wrapped around his stomach, just out of view of the camera. "tubbo, entertain the stream while i get some water please."
tubbo smiled and jumped up, taking ranboos place as he slowly stood up and walked to the kitchen. he downed a glass of water, ignoring the pain it caused his stomach. he rested for a moment, leaning against the counter, before he refilled the glass and entered the living room again.
"-and that's why you should use your twitch prime on twitch.tv/ranboo live, twitch chat." tubbo said, enthusiastically.
"he's right! twitch prime!" ranboo shouted, walking to the desk. tubbo gave him back the chair and sat down beside him.
the stream continued briefly and eventually, the two boys said goodbye to chat and ended stream. ranboo unplugged the camera again and took off his mask and glasses and tubbo immedietly began talking.
"okay, are you good? i can get you an ice pack, or like some water if you-"
"tubbo, i'm okay, calm down." ranboo laughed lightly, turning off the computer. "i didn't get a bruise, chill out."
tubbo froze, raising an eyebrow. "so what happened, then?"
"i dunno, my stomach just hurt." he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and stood up, plopping down on the couch.
"oh my god, i forgot! we didn't get you any food today, i was so busy i didn't think about it. i'm so sorry, i'll go make so-"
"tubbo! chill out, it's fine." ranboo insisted. "i just didn't want to be a bother by asking."
"asking for food, a basic human essential, would literally never be a bother. you are my guest, i'd prefer you don't starve to death. you made me food, so let me return the favor." tubbo laughed lightly and rushed off to the kitchen, returning with a plate of pizza they had left over. he passed it to ranboo and sat down beside him. "i'm really sorry, i completly forgot-"
"it's okay, man, don't worry about it! i'm not really that hungry." ranboo insisted, pushing around the pizza. he knew he had to have a little at least, or tubbo would be worried.
he ate a slice and then put the other two back in the fridge. he put on another movie and the boys fell asleep on the couch. or at least, one of them did. ranboo stayed awake, obsessively searching for hate comments left about him.
he read through hundreds of posts insulting his appearance, some even insulting tubbo. he felt enraged. he didn't care if people insulted him, but he sure as hell didn't like seeing things like that about his best friend. just to spite the people, he liked a few tweets hating on him, avoiding the ones that mentioned his best friend who was a mere three feet from him. he carefully rose from the sofa and opened one of the patio doors, sitting on the wooden platform. he let the nice summer night air warm him slightly as he looked up at the stars.
gentle footsteps startled him as he turned around, seeing tubbo approaching. he was wrapped in a giant blanket, clearly still half asleep.
"hey boo. why are you outside?" tubbo asked, yawning.
"it's nice out. stars are out and stuff." ranboo explained. "plus, i couldn't sleep." he continued, opening his phone to twitter. he clicked onto the trending page to see his name and raised an eyebrow. he clicked on it to see screenshots of his liked page with worried captions.
"what are you lookin' at over there?" tubbo asked.
"twitter, i'm trending for some reason."
"oh, really? i'll go look." tubbo said, opening his phone and yawning again. he raised an eyebrow at the screen and looked to ranboo. "are you liking hate tweets? you dumbass! we don't read those, remember?" tubbo flicked his forehead and laughed lightly.
"i know! i know. it's just funny."
"boo, you seem upset lately. just, don't keep thinking too hard on what people say." tubbo paused, as if considering his words. "i'm worried, ranboo. what's going on with you?"
"what do you mean?"
"you've just seemed different these last few months. you've only been here two days and you just seem tired. have you been sleeping enough?" tubbo asked.
"yeah! just jet lag i think-"
"-plus that whole thing today on stream. if you didn't get a bruise why did you look so hurt?" tubbo said, cutting him off.
"i told you, my stomach hurt-"
"yeah, but why?" tubbo seemed more awake now, more alert.
ranboo froze momentarily. he considered what to say before speaking. "dunno, just a stomach ache? it's no big deal, bo."
tubbo shrugged and adjusted his blanket. "just don't spend all your time reading those hate tweets, boo."
ranboo nodded and rubbed his hands together in an effort to warm them up. "yeah, i won't."
"that clip is going around, y'know. people are really worried." tubbo turned to look and ranboo and frowned again.
"i'm okay, and i'll make a tweet telling everyone that. don't worry." ranboo insisted.
"yeah! i know right, two whole weeks in the UK. one eighth done!" ranboo said, reading a few chat messages. "he's only almost stabbed me twice!"
"i think it was three times, boo." tubbo said, sitting up off the floor.
"maybe four."
"maybe! could be five." tubbo joked, smiling.
ranboo laughed and glanced over to chat. "i'm gonna get some water, tubbo, you watch chat. keep them behaved!"
tubbo nodded and saluted as ranboo stood up. his vision went black, and his knees felt wobbly as he stood. the ringing in his ears was loud and scary. he put a hand on his forehead and used the other to stabilize him on the desk, before the black dots faded and the ringing grew quiet.
tubbos face fell with concern and he stood up as well, putting his hands out to the side of ranboo just incase he did fall. of course, it's not like he could do much, the guy was 6'6.
"im good! i'm all good." ranboo said, giving the camera a thumbs up as he stabilized a bit more.
"i'm also gonna get some water, we will be right back chat, don't burn the place down." tubbo said, attempting to mask his worry with a joke. he clicked the button to mute his mic on the stream deck and pulled ranboo into the kitchen.
"what the fuck was that? are you okay?" tubbo asked, examining his friend, hands still hovering beside him incase he collapsed.
ranboo nodded a bit, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge. "i'm fine, tubbo. calm down."
"okay, i- i'm gonna end stream and we should talk." tubbo said, racing out of the kitchen.
ranboo vaguely heard his friend saying goodbye to the stream and telling chat everyone was okay and that there was a family thing they had to do. he sipped on his water anxiously until tubbo returned.
"spill. what the hell was that?"
"i have low iron, it's fine! i just need to take my iron supplements." ranboo explained, setting down his water bottle and reaching up into the kitchen cabinet.
tubbo sighed and tapped his foot on the floor. "promise that's all?"
"promise."
"cmon, wake up ranboo! the stars look so cool." tubbo complained. ranboo mumbled something back and flipped over on the couch, wanting to sleep more.
tubbo groaned and grabbed ranboos wrist in an attempt to drag him out of bed. the feeling of his friends bones startled him a bit, but he ignored it in favor of ranboo getting up.
eventually, ranboo finally got up. tubbo hadn't noticed before, but when ranboo twisted to the side, his ribs were visible through his shirt, even in the low lighting. had it been that way when he arrived?
he desperately tried to ignore it. but he only kept noticing more and more things; the way his mask seemed looser on his face, the way his once fluffy hair seemed thinner, the way his nails were discolored. things felt strange and tubbo wasn't quite sure why.
days dragged on, more and more things happening on stream. ranboo continued to read the tweets at night, letting them lower his self esteem further. months ago, he had been a completly normal teenager. other than the streamer thing, of course. even tubbo had mentioned little things when it started a few months before the meet up. he wasn't sure what to do. he was supposed to be okay in time for the meet up.
tubbo dragged him out onto the patio and plopped down on the wood. he pointed out the stars to ranboo and silence fell over the two.
"are you okay?" ranboo asked, looking over at his friend.
"yeah, i just- i don't know. just thinking." tubbo sighed.
"hey, well bright side we meet up with the whole crew tomorrow!" ranboo smiled and nudged tubbo with his elbow.
"yeah, we do." tubbo replied, smiling. "pretty sure niki is half your height."
"she may be shorter than me, but don't doubt it, she could beat me up." ranboo laughed, looking back up to the stars.
"niki nihachu! it's so nice to see you again," tubbo said, smiling. "and ranboo is here too-"
"hi!" ranboo smiled, offering a hug to niki which she took gratefully.
"ranboo! it's so nice to meet you. jesus, your tall." nikis smile fell at the feeling of bones through ranboos hoodie. it was so hot outside, why did he need a hoodie?
"your so warm!" ranboo smiled, pulling back from the hug.
"and you are so very cold! do you want another jacket?" niki offered, frowning.
"oh, i'm okay! look- theres wilbur and jack!" he smiled and waved at the two, who were approaching from the other side of the shop.
"tubbo! niki! ranboo! it's so nice to see you all." wilbur said, waving to tubbo, hugging niki, and offering a hug to ranboo, which he took. "jesus, kid, your cold. want a jacket?"
"that's what i said!" niki laughed a bit as she gave jack a hug.
wilbur shot ranboo a concerned look, almost daring him to deny something. he just wasn't sure what he was meant to deny.
jack approached next and looked up at ranboo. "who even makes someone this tall?"
"nice to see you too, jack." he laughed as he hugged jack and then retreated to stand next to tubbo. his phone buzzed in his pocket and he looked over to see niki typing. she was only a few feet away, why was she texting?
he didn't bother checking, just continuing to scan the crowd for tommy and phil. soon enough, the two joined the group.
"i refuse to believe i am no longer the tallest here." tommy complained. "i'm just jokin'. it's nice to meet you, ranboo."
he gave tommy a hug and moved to phil, offering a hug which he took. phil was frowning though, for whatever reason.
"it's nice to meet everyone! this is so weird." ranboo said, scratching the back of his neck.
"yeah, well, cmon! we've got shops to go to." wilbur insisted, smiling. he began to walk, and the group split off into two lines, one of four (tubbo, jack, tommy, and phil), and one of three (ranboo, niki, and wilbur) who were slightly behind the others.
"ranboo? can you check your texts?" niki asked, turning to look at him as they walked.
"sure!" he replied, taking out his phone. he skimmed the messages and frowned, tucking his phone away. "yeah, i'm all good, niki."
niki hesitated before nodding. wilbur looped around the group to stand next to ranboo and elbowed him in the ribs.
"ow!" ranboo whined, holding onto his ribs.
"what's up, little man?" wilbur asked.
"okay, one, i'm literally taller than you-"
"i disagree, but not the point. when we get into the next store, follow me." wilbur instructed.
so he did. when they entered the next shop, he followed wilbur to the back corner and folded his arms.
"is everything okay?" ranboo asked, slightly anxious.
"i dunno, why don't you tell me?" wilbur said, folding his arms to match ranboo.
he raised an eyebrow. "what do you mean?"
"either tubbos an idiot or he's too scared to confront you." wilbur mumbled, pinching his nose bridge. "you look different. like, hugely different."
"what? how so?" ranboo asked, glancing around and smiling when niki approached.
"niki, tell me you see it too." wilbur gestured to niki and frowned.
niki looked between the two and sighed. "i mean, i've never seen his face but yeah."
"jeez, just call me ugly to my face." ranboo scoffed, slightly upset. "is someone gonna explain what the hell is happening?"
"you just look like, really skinny compared to last time i saw you. maybe it's the camera, but are you okay?" wilbur asked, pretending to inspect a product when tommy passed.
"thanks! i'm all good, just been going on more walks." ranboo explained, anxiety growing by the second.
niki frowned and looked at the floor momentarily. wilbur looked her and she looked up, shrugging a bit.
"what the hell am i missing? what's wrong?"
"nothing, ranboo. i'll dm you about it later." wilbur sighed and rushed down an isle, locating tommy and tubbo.
"niki? are you gonna explain what the hell that was?" he asked, tapping his foot.
"he's worried. i think we all are. phil especially." she explained. "just know i'm here for you, okay?"
ranboo stood, stunned, as she walked away. he continued to look around the store, pushing the conversation out of his mind. eventually the group gathered outside the shop and wilbur proposed the idea to get lunch, shooting a look at ranboo.
they walked a little ways until they reached a cafe. they got a big table and sat down, tubbo and phil sitting beside ranboo.
"-okay! and what for you, sir?" the waiter asked, looking to ranboo.
"oh, i'll have a plain salad, i gue-"
"he'll have what i'm having." phil spoke up.
the waiter nodded and wrote down the order before running back to the kitchen.
"phil, i can order for myself. i'm not ten," ranboo said, rolling his eyes.
phil shrugged and sipped on his drink.
lunch went by quietly. everyone else had cleared (or almost cleared) their plates, while ranboo had at least two thirds left.
"is it not good?" phil asked.
"oh, don't worry phil, he's just a slow eater. he always takes ages." tubbo said, laughing a bit.
wilbur folded his hands in his lap and stared ranboo down as he ate. it was only five minutes until he insisted he was done and that the group should probably keep moving.
they went to stores until around six PM, when tubbo and ranboo had to catch the train home. they arrived home by eight PM and decided to do a small alt stream.
it went by smoothly and by ten, the two boys had gone off to their separate rooms. tubbo asleep, and ranboo texting wilbur. he asked over and over what today was about and if wilbur had a problem with him. wilbur of course insisted there was no personal problem, that he was just worried. he eventually drifting off to sleep, and morning rolled around.
only one boy rose that morning.