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La Jolla San Diego, California. With its crystal blue water, it’s sandstone canyons, the tall pine trees, the beautiful cove and the shell beach. No wonder it was a popular spot for people who took the time to plan things and really look into good places to spend their time that aren’t common places.
No wonder Tommy took Tubbo there for beachside dinners, stargazing, long walks on the beach because they both thought that was funny and so many more things Tubbo would never be able to forget.
Tommy had heard of the place via a Wilbur Soot song from Your City Gave Me Asthma and looked into it, deciding it was a quaint place to go.
Tommy had proposed 3 nights in of their week long vacation. Tubbo didn’t want to tell the fans of the engagement.
And by 5 days in, they were getting on a plane and heading back to the UK. Ranboo had just been dumped by his partner, Mason and Tubbo knew he was needed by their best friend.
Tommy never even got a chance to have a talk with Tubbo about when they could tell the fans. He never got a chance to express how he felt. He never got a chance to even enjoy his engagement because Tubbo was so worried about fans noticing the ring. He was so worried about fans pointing out how much closer they seemed. He was so worried about the secret getting out.
-
Sara, Mason’s mom/The Twitch COO, looked out the window of her office, Mason was sitting on the small couch. “Toby’s here.”
“He’s meant to be in La Jolla, are you sure it’s him?” Mason asked.
“He came all the way from San Diego? Damn.” Sara said.
Within minutes, Tubbo walked into the office. “Aren’t you meant to be on vacation?” Mason asked.
“Yeah well I came as soon as I heard.” Tubbo said.
“Well then you should know that I never intended to-“
“I’m not here to see you.” Tubbo said. “What room is he hiding in?”
Mason let out a breath, “236.”
Tubbo nodded, “I sure hope you aren’t lying to me.” Tubbo turned and left, giving Sara a Salute.
Tubbo held the ring that was on a necklace around his neck in his palm as he walked through the halls of the Twitch Office.
Tommy had been acting so weird lately and Tubbo wasn’t sure why. Did Tommy not actually want this?
“I tried hard to love me too, Toby.” Ranboo said as Tubbo hugged him on sight.
“Oh, Boo…”
“Maybe Mason was right for leaving me, I mean it’s obviously a recurring event.” Tubbo winced. Tubbo had left Ranboo once too.
Tubbo frowned, “Ranboo, that’s not- it’s not like that and deep down you know that.”
“Do I really?” Ranboo paused, “because I know that I will force myself to be fine with this breakup as long as it makes Mason happy.”
“But that contradicts what Mason said.” Tubbo forced Ranboo to look at him. His eyes were dull. But Tubbo noticed Tommy’s had been dull the whole plane ride and the trip back to his apartment. “Mason said he didn’t want you to sacrifice your happiness for theirs.” Tubbo recognized the sacrifice like a shot in the gut. He recognized the dull eyes of sacrifice as the ones in his own fiancé.
Ranboo shrugged, “I was happy in my relationship, I was happy with Mason. So incredibly happy.” Ranboo motioned to his desk drawer. Tubbo walked over and opened it, gasping at the ring box. “I hid it here instead of my office at home since I never come here for anything really so I know he couldn’t have accidentally found it and ruin the surprise.”
“Ranboo do you realize how this could change things?” Tubbo knew it could change things. Tubbo wore the silver band on a chain, keeping it by his heart since the day Tommy knelt down on the sandy beach. Tubbo knew things had changed then, but he wasn’t sure how great they were for him and Tommy right now.
Ranboo frowned, “What does it matter? Oh yeah, it doesn’t. This is all pointless and I ruined it all, you can’t fix that, I can’t fix that and the stupid ring won’t fix it.”
“Boo, let’s get you home okay? Or uhm.. let’s call Phil- unless you want Wilbur.” Tubbo knew with everything going on he couldn’t invite Ranboo back to his place. He had to go to his own house to have dinner with his parents then head to Tommy’s to spend time like he planned to.
“Phil..” Ranboo mumbled. Tubbo nodded and called Phil, giving him the rundown and then Phil showed up via Uber a while later and drove Ranboo and him to his house in Ranboo’s car while Tubbo took the train back home.
Tubbo stayed pretty quiet throughout the dinner. He told his family about his engagement and they congratulated him but when his dad asked why he wasn’t going to tell the fans.. he froze. “Oh I uhm.. well we plan to I just-“
“Toby, didn’t you lot have an issue with this before? You wanted to keep the fans out of your relationship and it caused issues.” Tubbo’s father said. “If you’re scared that’s fine but you need to tell him that.” He paused, “you need to communicate with your fiancé.”
Tubbo nodded a bit and excused himself, cleaning his plate off into the garbage and leaving the house to head to Tommy’s. His dad was right.
“Tom?” Tubbo asked as he walked into the flat. He could hear the blonde speaking loudly about some game and knew that he was streaming. Had Tubbo not gotten the notification? Tubbo pulled his phone out and looked at it, seeing the notification.
It must’ve happened at dinner.
Tubbo walked into the room and kissed Tommy on the head, “Hey.”
Tommy smiled. His eyes dulled. “Hey!”
“What are you going to play?”
“Some story mode game Ran suggested. It’s meant to be long but I figured you would have been at dinner longer than 20 minutes. And that you would have gone back to see Ran.” Tommy said, fully facing Tubbo now.
“I had Phil get him. He’s probably going to hide out for a few days anyway. At least until the wine festival.” Tubbo’s hand found the ring and he held it for a moment. Tommy’s expression softened.
“Toby, I love you.” Tommy said after a few beats of silence.
“I love you too, Toms.” Tubbo spoke softly. “When you’re done playing we should talk about La Jolla. I’ve been a shit communicator with the Ranboo and Mason stuff, but I won’t anymore.”
Tommy leaned up a bit and pressed his lips to Tubbo’s. “Of course, love.”
Tubbo smiled and went to the living room while Tommy spun back around and went about starting the game.
-
“Tom?” Tubbo walked into the room when he didn’t hear Tommy’s talking anymore. “Had he ended the stream?”
Tommy yawned and stretched as he turned to Tubbo and muted. “Hey the game is still going but I paused it to take a minute since it’s so long and I wanted to give chat a chance to relax.”
“Okay, baby, it’s just late.” Tubbo said and Tommy nodded.
“We can talk uhm now.” Tommy said. “Then I’ll resume the game.”
“Right, sure.” Tubbo said and paused for a brief moment, “I’m just worried.”
“I’m confused. What uhm what are you worried a-about.” Tubbo usually thought Tommy’s random stutters after talking for so long without end were cute but Tommy looked so frustrated by it compared to his usual embarrassment that Tubbo didn’t want to swoon about it.
“Just what everyone will think.” Tubbo’s hand found the ring.
“I-I-I-“ Tommy groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. “Fucking stutter.”
Tubbo just gave a patient smile.
“I don’t understand.” Tommy said. “They didn’t care when we- when we started dating.”
Tubbo used the context clues to figure out that Tommy may have called for the break because he was stuttering. It would also explain why he was sitting in silence on his phone when Tubbo walked in despite still being live.
“I know baby I just..” Tubbo cupped Tommy’s face and rubbed his thumbs on the soft skin. He was reassuring Tommy about the stutter and about their relationship all in the simple touch. The dull eyes were starting to grow some interest. And maybe even tears. “I don’t want that hate to go to you. I don’t know what I would do if it did. I just want to protect you.”
“Toby, I proposed knowing full well the co-consequences.” Tommy put his hands on Tubbo’s, “I love you and that’s all that matters. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you being Tom Simons and Toby Smith. TommyInnit and Tubbo_ have no place in this, not if it divides us. We can just be ourselves and go from there.”
“I would love that.” Tubbo said and took the necklace off, handing it to Tommy. Tommy took the ring off and slipped it onto Tubbo’s ring finger, kissing his knuckles.
Tubbo bent down and pressed their lips together before showing the ring to the chat and walking off letting Tommy continue the game like nothing just happened.
They both laughed about it all later.