Work Text:
Ranboo and Tubbo stood side to side looking at the restaurant that they had chosen for the vlog, it felt far too posh for them both but they had promised their subscribers this video so Ranboo had to push down the feeling of not belonging and being judged for even being in the vicinity of the building. The only way they could book this restaurant to do the vlog was to lie to the owners that it was their 1 year anniversary and wanted to film it for the memories. Well that and a lot of money to rent it out for the night, Ranboo thinks they probably thought it was weird two not even 18 year olds were doing this but oh well, they wanted to make the vlog. He did think it was a bit far but Tubbo insisted that it was fine, even though they would probably have to act like a couple in the video but hopefully their bad acting can be edited out so no one thinks that they are anything but friends. Though Ranboo wouldn’t mind if people thought they were a couple, he had been sort of vaguely implying he wouldn’t mind if they had got together for a while but it seemed like maybe he had been too subtle with it. So Ranboo was going to take this opportunity to live out what he had been pining for.
Tubbo pulled his arm forward so he could be dragged into the building, Ranboo resisted slightly before sighing and allowing himself to be pulled along by the shorter boy. As the door opened Ranboo could fully take in the beauty and atmosphere of the chosen restaurant, it had looked beautiful on the website but he hadn’t quite realised how romantic this was going to be. They had truly pulled out all the stops for this meal, Ranboo knew they had paid a lot of money for this but he hadn’t quite realised all that he would get. The room was only lit by candles, with one table in the middle having the most light on it. Damn this was truly romantic, possibly more than what he had signed up for, how was all these implications going to be removed from the vlog? This isn’t how he thought this would go down at all, he had plans. Plans. He had a detailed way he would come out and how he would do it (he also had plans for how he would ask out tubbo but that was a talk for another day).
“Boss man?” Tubbo called out towards Ranboo, where he had apparently stopped halfway towards the table lost in thought. “Ranboo, come on we gotta film.”
Yes. They did. They had to do their job, right. He brought the camera up to his face and checked the settings before taking a deep and got into recording Ranboo mode. He found it weird sometimes the disconnect between him and who he was on camera felt almost wrong but then he had to remind himself it’s what is needed (though he wasn’t always sure about that).
Ranboo filmed Tubbo as he sat down at the table, making the commentary that was expected of him from the fans. He made sure to specially put it on this time, he wanted no hints of his crush on Tubbo to come through and he felt he needed to make sure all the romantic atmosphere was dimmed so they got no one being able to assume anything from the vlog. Tubbo didn’t seem to mind too much what he was doing throughout the meal, however the staff of the restaurant were giving them weird looks but that could just be contributed to the fact they were filming a silly vlog when it was meant to be a serious anniversary video.
The meal was good, when they weren’t filming for the vlog and let their persona relax a little Ranboo could pretend a little more that this was a actual date with Tubbo, rather than being a stupid video that was chosen by a stupid meal. Ranboo had to reel back his thoughts, he couldn't get too mad at the situation surrounding this ‘date’ as it was probably the only chance he would get to experience this with Tubbo.
When they finally decided to finish filming and enjoy themselves it was everything Ranboo thought the date would be and more. He could just sit there and take in Tubbo in this romantic setting and act for a little while that this was an actual anniversary of theirs. Little did Ranboo know that he was an idiot and had left his camera filming for longer and had captured the conservation after the meal and while it was not overtly romantic it could be taken that way out of context. However, it was Tubbo that picked up that camera and noticed that it was still filming and he thought nothing of it and just sent the footage off to the editor to piece it together to become a video.
The day of the video release nothing was amiss, Ranboo was relaxing on the couch next to Tubbo not really worrying about the video. He had a scheduled tweet with the link so he didn’t even have to look at twitter that day, sticking to his new rule of going on it yet. However, even with all this he still had an instinct that something was gonna go wrong. Maybe people would think it was too romantic, maybe it would out him somehow, maybe there would be division in the fans, there were just so many things that could go wrong with a meal in a romantic setting when neither of them had full disclose their sexualities and even then there would still be plenty of people thinking they were dating. Oh god it felt like a mess.
Okay, maybe he should check twitter, it's been like an hour since the video came out and surely nothing could’ve gone wrong, that's just his anxiety talking. Oh. Oh. Maybe his anxiety was right.
He couldn’t look away, he could only see one tweet and that was all he needed to see. They thought they were dating. Damn. This truly was the worst case scenario. Okay. He took a deep breath in and decided to look through more, maybe if they even thought they would be nice, respectful (He was doubtful). As he looked through there were more and more tweets, he didn’t think he actually knew what they were saying. Maybe he should tell Tubbo. Yes. Tell Tubbo. He needed to know. Ranboo needed to tell someone.
“Tubbo?” Ranboo called to him, Tubbo’s head lifted and looked at him, a question written all over his face.
“Boss man?” Tubbo replied. “What’s up?”
Ranboo just silently passed the phone to him, still showing twitter’s reaction to the dinner video. He held his breath as Tubbo looked through what was in his phone. What would he think? What would he say? Oh god, what if Tubbo kicks him out? What if all his friends leave him? Wait. Stop. Breathe in. Out. Calm. It will be fine. Tubbo won’t hate you. It's fine.
“Ranboo?” A voice broke Ranboo out of his panic and made him freeze. “What are you so worried about?”
“What am I worried about?!” He snaps at Tubbo. “They think we are dating, Tubbo!”
“Aren’t we dating already, Boo?”
“What?”
“We’ve been dating for like a while, Big man”
Ranboo sat back. What? He had been dating Tubbo? For a while? He was dating his crush? What? He was in disbelief.
“Whe-when did we start dating?” Ranboo asked quietly, voice shaking with uncertainty.
“I don’t know, Boo” Tubbo answers, fiddling with his hands, face down turned and more closed off than Ranboo had ever seen him. “We never confirmed it, and I guess I’m finding out why we never did.”
“I-I’m confused” Ranboo was still in disbelief at all this. First he thought that he would lose everything and now maybe he is actually going to lose Tubbo, someone he loved. Loved? He had never thought of it as love before but he guessed it had been love for a while and he had never recognised it before.
He stood up and got closer to Tubbo, pulling him into an embrace. He could feel him breathing heavily, Ranboo still couldn't quite believe what was happening but he knew that he needed to show Tubbo that his love was reciprocated. Ranboo put Tubbo’s face in his hands and put his lips to his, trying to convey all his love for him in one action.
“Boo?” Tubbo asked when they broke apart.
“Tubbo, I can’t believe you never confirmed with me.”
“Well, I thought it was obvious, Boo.”
“I guess it is now, isn’t it”
Twitter was forgotten, the rest of the world was forgotten, it was just the two of them for the rest of the night. No one else needed to interrupt this moment, this was for them. Ranboo got to spend time with his person. His brain felt calm, the first time all evening, he could relax. He was happy. He pressed a kiss to Tubbo’s forehead and pulled him closer, he had his person. His Tubbo.