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once they'd finally reached tubbo's house, iris had calmed down almost immediately. tubbo and ranboo greeted her just as warmly as they did with tommy, and she found herself hitting it off with both of them right off the bat.
tommy had napped on the way there, so he was filled with energy, whereas iris was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to faceplant onto tubbo's couch and sleep for the next eight hours. they ordered lunch and iris ate hers quietly while the three streamers chatted animatedly, iris scrolling through twitter. she had an account, but she never posted and tommy didn't follow her. ranboo had noticed her silence, and left tubbo and tommy to their own devices to go move closer to her.
"it's vegan," he nodded to the slice of pizza that had been left uneaten on her plate. "tommy texted me and let me know so we'd get you one you can eat. they all have vegan cheese though, so i can take stuff off if you want?"
"that's really sweet, ranboo, thank you," she said earnestly. "i'm okay. just kinda tired, not really hungry."
"you can go to sleep if you want?" they offered. "i'll chuck some pizza in the fridge for you for when you wake up? you can even take my couch if you want?" iris looked at him uncertainly, not wanting to overstep. ranboo seemed to sense this, and spoke up again. "if you don't wanna be in the stream with us, then now would probably be the best time. that way you're not sitting around waiting for us to be done, and you get some rest. unless you want to join?"
it was asked sincerely, but iris just giggled. "yeah, i'm good thanks. i don't think it's my thing. this face is not for the internet,"
ranboo laughed, eyes crinkling behind their sunglasses. "neither's this one," the two of them sat in the corner of tubbo's living room, talking quietly as iris slowly got more and more comfortable with ranboo. he'd already face revealed to tubbo since they had been staying at his house, and ranboo had been wanting to with tommy as well. he'd taken an immediate liking to iris, and it wasn't that he didn't trust his friends to not leak his face. it was more of an anxiety that they wouldn't like what they saw.
but he could see that iris felt the same. she was in the same boat as him, except ranboo had chosen it. iris hadn't signed up for having a famous best friend when she'd met tommy, and of course he would have respected her wishes and not mentioned her online if iris wasn't comfortable with it, ranboo could tell that everything she did in regards to an online presence was out of support for tommy. ranboo had become a streamer on purpose, and while he'd never expected to blow up as quickly as he did, they knew it was a possibility.
they saw themselves in iris, and ranboo found himself trusting iris a lot more than he expected to. tommy had assured him that iris was wonderful, but he hadn't been expecting to get along with her so well right off the bat.
"you ever get the urge to lock yourself in a room forever and never interact with another human ever again just because your face is slightly asymmetrical?" iris asked, leaning back on the couch. ranboo nodded.
"oh, one hundred percent. sometimes the urge to glue the mask on is just too strong." they were both joking (mostly) but it did lead to tommy and tubbo sitting across the room, staring at them in morbid fascination.
"are they alright?" tubbo whispered to tommy, who furrowed his brows. as far as tom was aware, iris was one of the prettiest girls he knew. he knew she had some issues with how she saw herself, but he'd never thought it was that bad.
"i don't know,"
after they finished eating, iris decided that she'd go sleep while they streamed, and tubbo offered up his bed so she could get some quiet. "it's kinda messy, but the sheets are clean," he said.
iris smiled gratefully. "thank you, i appreciate it. you sure you don't want me to take the couch or something?" tubbo just waved her off, telling her that if she woke up and they were still streaming she was more than welcome to either hang out in his room, or come join them if she was comfortable. iris knew she'd most likely just lay in bed on her phone if they were still streaming, and she got the notification that tommy was live. she knew they'd most likely be loud, so iris dug her airpods out of her bag so she could put music on and hopefully get a nap in. before she'd even managed to close her eyes, she heard the sounds of tubbo's piano before one of the boys could be heard shrieking in fear.
tommy had attacked tubbo, the latter laying on the ground and cackling as the other two streamers laughed in their seats. "we need to be quieter," tommy said though gasping breaths. "iris is asleep."
as his chat went nuts at the mention of iris, tommy sat back in his swivel chair, smiling fondly at the thought of her. "yeah, she's here too. she's napping though, so we can't be too crazy,"
of course, that really only lasted ten minutes, but they did try their best.
— AUTHOR'S NOTE ranboo and iris's duo name is aisleduo because of how they originally met and even if it doesn't make sense with how i've written it now i will make it make sense
