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Ranboo and Tubbo were watching something on Tubbo’s laptop, almost leaning against each other, when Ranboo laughed at something one of the characters said. Tubbo couldn’t stop himself from watching him. He’s heard Ranboo laugh countless times, but nothing compared to actually seeing it in person in front of him. His whole face seemed to light up, eyes crinkled around the corners, smile wide and large.
He didn’t realize he was staring until he noticed Ranboo looking over at him, a questioning look on his face. Tubbo blinked and quickly looked away, glad they weren’t streaming. If they had been, then Ranboo would have his mask on, and he wouldn’t be able to see the full beauty of his smile.
Neither of them said anything, just continued to watch the show, but Tubbo was looking at Ranboo out of the corner of his eyes. The taller still had a smile on his face, and the sight of it alone was enough to make Tubbo’s chest ache. He wanted to be the one to make him smile like that, not some character on some dumb TV show.
“You’re staring again,” Ranboo mumbled, and Tubbo could still hear the smile in his voice. He nearly slipped into thoughts about his smile again before his words sunk in, and he blinked.
“Shut up, dickhead,” Tubbo fired back, ignoring the heat he could feel creeping up his cheeks as he turned back to the laptop. Ranboo chuckled, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from flicking back over to see it.
It was so much better seeing it in person than it had been seeing it over facetime or a discord call. And the sound was much clearer. Tubbo would be quite happy hearing it every day of his life, he decided. Especially if he was the cause for Ranboo’s elation.
Ranboo caught his eyes and he quickly flicked them back to the laptop, refusing to give Ranboo any satisfaction.
Things calmed for a bit before a joke said on the show caused Ranboo to laugh even harder than he had before. He nearly doubled over from where they were sitting on Tubbo’s bed. This time, Tubbo couldn’t stop himself from openly staring. It was…it was nice hearing Ranboo laugh so freely. Really nice.
He let out a little laugh at seeing and hearing Ranboo’s laugh. “You really like the stupid jokes, huh?”
Ranboo hummed in response after he had calmed down. “And you really like looking at my face.”
Tubbo froze, sputtering in response. “I do not -. In fact, I quite hate your face, bossman.”
“Mmhm, sure, sure. That must be why you can’t seem to stop looking at it then.”
Tubbo huffed, crossing his arms and pointedly looking at his laptop, not even looking at Ranboo as he heard his deep chuckles.
Time passed before Tubbo spoke again. “I was looking at your smile,” he muttered.
“You…what?”
“What? ‘s a nice smile. And your laugh is really…uh,” he floundered for a moment. “It’s…nice.”
Ranboo didn’t say anything, so Tubbo sneaked a glance at him only to see his face slowly being overtaken by a blush. And oh, wasn’t that a sight to see? Especially as he slowly began to smile, though he tried to hide it for a moment. Tubbo, of course, wasn’t having any of that, and quickly reached up to lower his hand so he could see the smile in full.
This, of course, brought them much closer together than he had been expecting. He could almost feel the waves of heat coming off Ranboo’s face. Or perhaps that was his own cheeks heating up.
Tubbo’s gaze flicked to Ranboo’s lips for a moment before quickly flying back up, his eyes widening as he quickly scrambled back to his place at his side. Even feeling that close felt like too much, but he couldn’t get too far without it seeming suspicious. Even more suspicious than it already was. He quickly coughed, looking away from Ranboo.
“A-anyway. It’s…it’s a nice smile.”
“...Thanks.”
They both turned their attention back to the laptop, matching blushes on their faces. Still, they each had a small smile.
As they continued watching the show, Tubbo found himself looking forward to being able to see Ranboo’s smile more and more over the time he’d be in the UK.