The rest of the day progressed as normal. He and his friends messed around, goofing off and having fun in the park for another couple of hours, though they split up after that to go home. Dinner with his family went relatively well, though Techno and Tommy almost started a food fight. Kristen thankfully stepped in, giving both a stern look and reprimand. Phil was trying his best not to laugh at their antics, while Toby and Wilbur openly laughed at their brothers.

That night, Toby wanted to try and get answers. It wasn't a guarantee he would, but he might as well try right? So as soon as Tommy was asleep, he donned his Tubbo outfit, and snuck out the window. He'd gotten better at that the more he did it. He also still needed to get some goggles for his costume, but he could do that tomorrow-

He made his way to the town, climbing up to a roof for a higher vantage point. It was a long shot that Ranboo would be out this late, especially considering what happened before, but he wanted to check. He hopped from roof to roof occasionally, looking around. He wasn't having much luck, until he was across from the grocery store. He was sat on the apartment complex across the street, when he saw a familiar tall figure exiting with a bag. Bingo-

Ok, now how to approach his friend without scaring him... he frowned under the mask, thinking, ok just...approach him cautiously. Don't jump out at him...he could do this. He jumped to the neighboring roof as Ranboo started walking, crossing the street, on the same side as Tubbo.

The boy in question was hurrying down the fire escape, reaching the bottom just as Ranboo passed the alley between the buildings. The movement must have caught his eye, cause he turned sharply in Tubbo's direction. He probably was on edge due to the attempted mugging the other day. His eyes widened when he saw Tubbo, and when the shorter boy took a step towards him, he bolted, dropping his grocery bag.

"Wait!" Tubbo cried, running to the opening of the alley and looking around. He saw Ranboo running to his right. Grabbing the grocery bag, he started running after him. "Hey!"

Ranboo glanced back and yelped, turning back around. Luckily, Tubbo was fast. But as he started catching up to the taller boy, he disappeared in a spray of purple particles like he had before.

"Shit-" Tubbo muttered, before he heard footsteps behind him. He turned, and saw Ranboo booking it the other direction. That sneaky little- he ran after him.

This continued for about half an hour, Ranboo teleporting in small bursts, never too far, which made Tubbo wonder, but he wasn't complaining. Part of him reasoned that he could just use his powers to get his friend to stop, but he quickly shook the idea away. He didn't want to force Ranboo to do anything. They were friends, and trust was a big part of that.

He ran behind Ranboo, who seemed to be getting more tired from the running and the teleporting.

"Ranboo!" He yelled, which made the tall boy freeze in place, before abruptly turning as Tubbo caught up, a bit winded himself from all the running. He was surprised Ranboo had let him catch up at all.

"You, uh, you left your groceries-" he panted, holding the bag out to him.

Ranboo frowned in confusion, "Uh- thank you...you're that newer hero right..? Tubbo?"

"That's me!" he nodded, catching his breath and putting his hands on his hips.

"Why...why haven't you used your power? Why chase me for half an hour? Not that I'm complaining, I just-"

"No I understand..." Tubbo sighed, "I want you to trust me. I don't wanna force you to do anything you don't want to do, we're friends after all-"

He quickly shut his mouth. He'd forgotten Ranboo didn't know his identity. Nice going "Tubbo" he thought to himself.

That made Ranboo looked even more confused, "We're friends?"

"Uhh, ignore that, it's nothing-" he said, waving a hand, "Truthfully, I wanted to ask about your...abilities...you're not registered either right?"

Ranboo shuffled awkwardly, and it occurred to Tubbo that he probably didn't want to share stuff like that with a stranger. Of course he wouldn't- Tubbo wouldn't either.

"Right..." he rubbed his chin, thinking. Pondering every option. He wanted to help his friend. But he didn't want to lose his trust... "follow me-"

He made his way into a nearby alley, poking his head back out when Ranboo didn't follow, "Come on, I'm not gonna hurt you- I would have already if I wanted to..."

"Well that's comforting-" his friend nervously followed him in, "What's up?"

Tubbo looked around, making sure there were no cameras, before turning to Ranboo.

"I can keep your secret if you keep mine..." he said, "deal..?"

"Maybe..? What-" Ranboo stopped when Tubbo pulled down his hood and bandana, his eyes widening, "Toby?"

"Hello Ranbo" he grinned

"I- you- you're- oh so much makes sense now-" Ranboo stuttered, pacing, "Holy- does Tommy know? Does anyone else know?"

"Uhh, no, Tommy doesn't...I've hidden these powers until recently...no one on my family knows, none of the guys know either, 'cept for you now... there's a girl who knows too, she figured it out herself cause I saved her once-"

"You saved her?"

Toby nodded sitting against the wall, explaining, Ranboo sitting next to him and listening intently, "woah-"

"Yeah..." Toby nodded, "Still doesn't feel real sometimes...anyhow what about you?"

"Oh right..." Ranboo smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "basically...I was a late bloomer. Really late. I didn't develop my power until I was 14. Don't know why...but at that point I had come to terms with not having a power, I was actually pretty glad. I didn't want to be a big hero, or anything like that. So when I ended up getting a power so late I just...didn't say anything. No one was really around to see me use it the first time, so it was easy..."

Toby whistled, "Huh, we both had similar solutions to our problems-"

Ranboo chuckled, "Yeah, guess so huh?"

There was a moment of silence, then Ranboo asked

"So what made you want to do this hero stuff?"

"My older brother, both of them to be honest. They're twins, and could not be more different. One of them is actually a hero, he protects the city, and the other is a college student who plays guitar, he always tries to help people and make them smile. Me and Tommy always looked up to them, though Tommy will never admit it" The memories of both of them made him smile

"Wait, you mean Technoblade? Your brother is freaking Technoblade? That's awesome!" Ranboo cried, eyes wide.

Toby chuckled, "I guess- what about you? Why did you not want to be a hero if I may ask?"

He didn't know why, but talking with Ranboo about this stuff was...freeing almost. He wished he could be this open with Tommy, but part of him still said it wasn't safe. At least Ranboo had powers he could use to avoid trouble. Tommy usually ran headfirst into it.

"You may-" Ranboo nodded, chuckling, "To be honest, I was obsessed with heroes when I was little, like every other kid my age, I did a ton of research on them, but the more I looked, the more stories i found about heroes who loved ones were targeted by criminals. Some of them lost their loved ones to them, and it changed them. For the worse. I didn't want to hurt anyone I loved, even if I wasn't directly responsible, you know?"

He paused, "And I'm not saying your choice to be a hero is bad at all, they help a lot of people..."

"No, I get it...I worry about that too" Toby nodded, "That's kind of another reason I want to keep my identity as secret as possible."

Ranboo nodded, "Yeah, that's a good idea.."

"Though, my family knows how to fight, so villains wouldn't have an easy time..." he chuckled, "Techno and Phil trained us to defend ourselves and fight since we were old enough to do so."

"Bet that comes in handy-"

"It does...they all took me under their wing since I was little, even Tommy, though I'm still older...I appreciate all of them..."

"They sound great..." Ranboo nodded, then paused, "Wait Tommy is younger than you, but he was there first? How's that work?"

"Well...technically I'm not biologically Phil and Kristen's son, but they are my parents. They made that abundantly clear. Phil found me in a box by the road when I was two. I would have died if he hadn't found me. They raised me as their own, and they are family, blood or not, you know?"

Ranboo gaped a bit, "woah..." he shook his head to shake himself out of it. "You're absolutely right though...thank you for feeling comfortable enough to tell me about it..."

Toby grinned, "of course! We're friends aren't we? I trust you.."

"I trust you too..."

"Thanks..." Toby looked down, deciding then and there, he would never use his powers on his family or his friends. He promised himself that.