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ranboo was midstream and very tired, it had been a shit day and the only reason he was live right now was to keep the streak. otherwise, he’d be facedown on his bed crying or something. he told tubbo as much, and he insisted on staying in the call through his full stream to make sure he was doing okay. ranboo sighed and glanced at his donos. “can i see colors yet? chat, if i had met my soulmate by now, do you think i’d have an over 100 day steaming streak? answer these questions for yourself, chat.”
“do you think we’re soulmates, ranboo?” tubbo yawned. it was silent for a few moments, ranboo trying to process why the hell tubbo had just said that out loud in front of 90k viewers, and tubbo realizing that he had just said that out loud in front of 90k people.
“i don’t know, tubbo. would be cool if we were, but i doubt it.” he eventually answered, laughing lightly towards the end as if it would do anything to ease the tension.
the rest of the stream was awkward after that. maybe awkward isn’t the right word, but there was obviously a tense tone surrounding their usual flirtatious banter. once ranboo ended stream, they stayed in call and talked about video ideas for a short while.
tubbo eventually addressed the elephant in the discord call. “so, elaborate on your thoughts about soulmates now that there aren’t a bunch of people listening,” he said, resting his chin in his hands.
ranboo softly smiled and looked down at his lap. “i don’t want to get my hopes up, tubs.” he opened the small fridge by his desk and pulled out a can of 7up. cracking the can open, he sighed. “i dunno what i’ll do if it isn’t real.”
they’d had so many conversations about how connected they feel, how perfect they click; and how the fact that they won’t know if they’re soulmates until ranboo gets to the uk was eating them alive.
“what are you drinking? can you turn your camera on?” tubbo asked, getting a can from his own fridge and cracking it open. his screen buffered for a moment and he saw ranboo’s tired face appear.
“just a 7up,” he said, lifting it towards the camera. “is that a pepsi?” tubbo nodded. they sat in silence for a few moments, examining each other’s faces as they sipped at their drinks.
“i wish this stuff worked through cameras. fuck the universe, man. i just wanna know. and i don’t want the chance that we aren’t to ruin everything else,” tubbo vented, setting his pepsi down and fidgeting around in his chair.
“let’s promise right now, if we aren’t soulmates, we’ll still do whatever makes us feel right, yeah?” ranboo offered.
“okay, that’s okay. yeah. we can do that.”
the two sat in silence for a bit longer. “i’m gonna go get some sleep tubs. you should too, m’kay?” tubbo nodded and they smiled sadly at each other before ending the call.
tubbo took a deep breath and sat back in his chair, terrified that his hopes were too high to ever come down.
••
ranboo bounced his knee nervously as the captain announced the plane was landing. the person next to him looked obviously ticked off, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. when they finally were on the ground and the seatbelt light turned off, ranboo shot up from his seat and immediately snatched his carry on from the overhead compartment. as he exited the plane and went out to find baggage claim, he didn’t notice the way he was walking just a little bit faster and his fingers fiddled with the air just a little bit more than usual. as soon as he found the belt that would be carrying his luggage, he saw a 5’4 brunet boy in a grey hoodie with his back towards him; and his heart may as well have fell out of his ass. he rocked back on his heel until he finally saw his suitcase and lifted it off the belt. it took everything in him to breathe evenly and not look like he was having an anxiety attack over the conveyor belt in front of him.
ranboo was looking at the ground, but he was positive tubbo had turned around and seen him by now. he walked towards him and looked up just enough to see his legs barreling towards him.
tubbo was caught in a tight hug, he heard the suitcases fall onto the ground but he couldn’t care. all he knew was that they were in each other’s arms. tubbo started to pull back to see the other’s eyes, but ranboo pulled him closer to his chest.
“don’t wanna look. m’scared.” ranboo mumbled into tubbo’s hair. he sighed.
“we’ve gotta, okay? do you want me to count us down?” ranboo slowly nodded, eyes still squeezed shut.
“three... two... one...” their eyes finally met. for one painful moment, the world remained colorless. but slowly, tubbo’s eyes began to swirl with something ranboo had never seen before.
“holy... holy shit, boo,” tubbo said, eyes quickly watering up. neither of them even thought about looking at the rest of the world around them, as far as ranboo was concerned his world was the face in his hands being gently wiped of tears.
ranboo leaned forward and pushed their foreheads together. “i was so scared toby, i was terrified. but we are. we’re soulmates toby, we-“ he choked out a sob.
“i know, boo, i know. i see you. i can see you,” tubbo managed to spit out through his tears. he pulled ranboo back into a tight hug, his feet leaving the ground as ranboo pulled him as tight into his chest as he could.
they finally pulled apart from each other, holding each other’s arms and just staring at each other’s eyes. it was like once eye contact was made, it could never be broken again.
“home?” tubbo suggested, rocking up on his toes to release some of the energy in his body.
“yeah. let’s go home, toby.” ranboo answered, picking his suitcase up with one hand and grasping tubbo’s hand in the other.
that night, as tubbo fell asleep with his head tucked under his soulmate’s chin, all ranboo did was tweet a simple “his eyes are green.” he thought that said just enough about what happened that day and he left his phone on the nightstand to snuggle into his soulmate. soulmate. the word rolled along his tongue like chocolate. ranboo shut his eyes and placed a gentle kiss into tubbo’s hair. he couldn’t see tubbo’s smile as his own mind was drifting off to sleep, but the warmth in his soul was enough to last him through the coldest of winters, and that was all he needed.