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wren-kitchens · 2 months

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oh, another day, another sunset

2659 words

there are not nearly enough things to do inside, and those activities that do exist have all been completed at least five times over by now. honestly, joel is considering just going outside and seeing how far he can get before he dies—he guesses the base of the mountain at least, if he sprints. of course, no one else is suffering the same boredom as he is because the deadly weather outside is just rain. honestly, being a blaze is fun until it starts raining and you can’t do anything before it stops. maybe joel should have based closer to the water, since he’d at least be able to fish for the time being. not that fishing sounds like the most entertaining thing in the world, but it’d beat just sitting around doing nothing. somehow more annoyingly, he can’t even do anything relaxing, like take a bath, because joel had the stupid idea of building most of his base out of very flammable wood, and if he tried to pour lava anywhere near the houses, they’d burn immediately. not to mention how many naps he’s already tried to take only for them to last ten minutes at most.

if this is a bit weird and clunky or the pacing is off then you will have to forgive me because I have been working on this pain in the ass since joel's first video on hermitcraft

me when depression makes my life harder (no one saw this coming)

maybe joel should have based closer to the water, since he’d at least be able to fish for the time being. not that fishing sounds like the most entertaining thing in the world, but it’d beat just sitting around doing nothing. somehow more annoyingly, he can’t even do anything relaxing, like take a bath, because joel had the stupid idea of building most of his base out of very flammable wood, and if he tried to pour lava anywhere near the houses, they’d burn immediately. not to mention how many naps he’s already tried to take only for them to last ten minutes at most.

the most entertaining thing joel has come up with to do is to watch the raindrops slide down the window in some desperate attempt to keep from dying of boredom. sure; he could just message one of the other hermits and ask if they’d keep him company but- well, they’re all definitely busy. joel is busy- or would be, if he weren’t trapped inside, so he can’t imagine how busy everyone else is.

to be honest- he can't really imagine it because he hasn't exactly asked anyone if they’re busy or not. it isn’t- it’s not like joel is embarrassed about it—of course not! these are his friends, it's not like they'd be freaked out or something if joel asked them to hang out. in fact, he’s been hanging out with loads of people, and just because they asked him first doesn’t mean he couldn’t be the one to ask them. in theory.

joel is so engrossed in his own thoughts that it takes him a long second to notice that as he was staring at raindrops, a figure has appeared in the street. and- not just anyone, but etho.

panicking a little, joel ducks away from the window and into the corner of the room, where he attempts to look nonchalantly at a book he scrambled to grab at the last second. he realises, a moment too late, that the book is upside down. shit.

“oh- joel?”

joel looks up a little too fast, and finds etho stood outside his door, halfway through putting a book into a chest. “hi boat boy.” he says, and suppresses a wince. way to go.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be here.” etho says, leaning against the doorframe, book still in hand. “I was, um- replying.” he waves the book, looking awkward, and joel grins.

“well, now i’m here, you can reply in person.” joel stands up, tail sweeping across the floor as etho watches. “i’m all e- does that say yoel?” he says, direction pulled to the title of the book.

“I- yeah, iskall told me to.” etho grins, a little sheepishly. “I was asking- y’know, ‘cause you put eefo on your book, I wanted to- uh, match?” a familiar warmth floods joel’s chest, and he feels his smile soften unconsciously. his ear flicks, and etho’s eyes focus on it. “are you- wait, you’re not a wolf anymore.”

joel snorts. “well observed.”

etho rolls his eyes. “yeah- okay. you look familiar.”

from the look on etho’s face the second joel opens his mouth, he must already know what’s coming. “yeah, there’s a reason for that- we were soulmates? remember? boat boys for life?”

“y’know, i’m starting to have doubts about missing you.” etho says, clearly meant as a teasing insult, but joel is too fixated on the end of that sentence to care.

“you missed me?” joel blurts before he can think about why that would be a very bad idea. “that- I mean-“

etho looks a little awkward again, and joel finds himself appreciating that it’s not just him. “I mean. yeah.” he shrugs, clearly aiming for nonchalance and missing by a mile—landing somewhere close to embarrassed and fond. “y’know, I- you’re fun to be around. and I only ever seem to see you when we’re trying to kill each other, so.”

joel thinks that, if he were more poetic, he’d probably note the space between them as being kind of symbolic; all they have to do is walk forward, but neither of them have moved- despite openly admitting that they missed each other. be it pride or doubt or fear of rejection, they haven’t taken one step forward since they started speaking.

but joel isn’t that poetic, and anyway, metaphors are stupid. and to prove that, he’ll walk forward right now. just- okay, just give him a second.

“what was it like?” joel says, maybe too abruptly. “when- after double life, when everyone got back. what was it like for the people whose soulmate was- y’know. there.”

the wind changes direction, and the rain begins to pour underneath the canopy. etho’s hair is getting wet, and he jumps inside. joel grins at him. “i’m- well, I was told that it felt.. kinda like they were cut in half.” etho hesitates. “or- well, bdubs at least said that it was like.. half of him was gone, but not.. gone? like, it was still there, he could still see it and touch it, but it was like touching a tree or something.”

“did he say tree?” joel says, not quite knowing how to respond to the rest of that.

etho gives a grin. “well- he said moss, actually.”

joel snorts a laugh. “yeah, I thought he might.”

“circling back to your new hybrid, it’s just occurred to me that you’re a blaze.” etho says, and joel cackles. “wh- you can’t make fun of me for that- i’ve never seen you as a blaze!”

“etho,” joel is grinning. “you thought I was gonna sit in here and do notihing voluntarily? I thought you were meant to be my soulmate- you should have known.” he shakes his head, mock-disappointed.

“do you-“ etho says suddenly, and joel looks at him. there's something- oddly soft about his expression. “I mean- do you think we’re, y’know. still soulmates?”

“I- probably?” joel says, some kind of tightness in his chest. “I don’t really know how soulmates work, but- I mean. i’d- i’d like to be.”

joel doesn’t realise that he’d been moving his tail until he accidentally smacks it into the bookcase behind him—painfully. he suppresses a yelp and jumps forward. etho looks like he’s trying not to smile at him, and joel resents how much he doesn’t care about it.

“well, I hope you wouldn’t be doing that the whole time.” etho says, sounding both amused and enormously relieved.

joel scoffs. “if you keep making fun of me, I will.” he pauses, before saying, very deliberately, “eefo.”

something in etho’s eyes softens in that weird way again, and joel almost frowns at it. “wh- okay, you’re not allowed to do that either.” he grins. “yoel.”

“speaking of,” joel says, stepping towards etho in what he hopes is an entirely innocent manner. “you came to drop off a book?”

“oh- I mean, we don’t have to read it right now.” etho says, hurriedly putting the book behind his back. joel’s curiosity is piqued tenfold. “it’s not really that interesting, I was- it’s mostly me making fun of you, actually. so.”

joel smirks. “oh yeah? what were you making fun of me for?”

“I- y’know- how obsessed with me you are.” etho says, clearly trying to look smug and failing miserably. “with- you still have that shirt. with my face on it.”

joel snorts a laugh, and etho’s eyes crinkle in the corners. “yeah, and you’re in my base, without being invited, to deliver a note that you won’t let me see.” he takes a step closer, now dead set on reading the note and hoping it isn’t abundantly obvious that’s his goal. “honestly, etho, it’s just getting ridiculous now, I mean- you- what are you doing?”

etho blinks, apparently oblivious to the stupid thing his face is doing. “what?”

“you’re doing a thing. with your eyes.” joel says, suspicious.

“oh- well joel, that’s called blinking.” etho says, mock-innocent. he cackles as joel makes several indignant noises in offence. “how am i meant to know what you’re talking about? i’m doing a thing with my eyes all the time!”

joel gives a huff of annoyance. “you’re giving me a look.” he folds his arms.

“wh- no i’m not?” etho says. honestly, if joel didn’t know him, he’d be fairly certain that etho was just playing dumb right now. however, joel does in fact know etho pretty well, and therefore knows that etho is just that dumb.

“you literally are- honestly, it’s kind of funny how dumb you are right now.” joel grins, edging closer under the pretence of getting up into etho’s space. the man in question seems to have completely forgotten he was holding a book in the first place, which he now holds limply at his side. “do you seriously not know you’re doing it?"

etho gives an exasperated huff, which joel recognises as a very joel-like thing to do. okay. so etho picked up his mannerisms. who cares? "I don’t even know what you’re talking about. what am I doing?"

"you keep doing this- thing with your eyes." joel is in reach of the book now, but the confusion on etho's face is too funny to ignore. "they go all soft."

finally, there's a look of understanding that flashes across etho's expression—which is immediately replaced by an incredible amount of embarrassment. "oh- it- i’m doing that, uh- visibly?"

it's joel's turn to be confused now. "you- what do you mean, visibly?"

"I- well, you see-" etho says, turning pink as he talks. "it's- I kind of-"

joel watches with interest and amusement as etho rambles about facial expressions and emotions—in all honesty, he doesn't care an enormous amount as to why etho keeps making that face at him; this is far funnier. joel can’t believe he ever used to think this guy was mysterious.

after a moment, etho stammers to a halt, looking slightly indignant. "don’t laugh at me."

ironically, the offence in his voice makes joel snort, though he hurriedly covers his mouth. "i would never laugh at you, etho." he flicks his tail, waiting in anticipation for the silly argument they’re about to have about nothing in particular.

but that never happens, because instead of insisting that joel is a bad soulmate who is violating his trust (like joel expected), etho hides his face in his hands and mumbles something almost incomprehensible about joel being stupid. uh- what?

joel blinks, trying to think of what could have happened for etho to do this. he’s not exactly difficult to embarrass—something that joel definitely took advantage of when pretending not to know about etho's ridiculously obvious crush on bdubs just to watch the way etho scrambled to change the subject every time joel brought him up—but this is weird.

"are you- did I say something?" joel bends down in an attempt to get a look at etho's face. all he can see is that he’s turned even pinker. "you gotta tell me, so I can keep saying it." he grins at his own joke, but etho just mumbles in response, so joel jabs him. "c'mon etho, what was it?"

etho looks up, practically glaring at joel. "your stupid w- it's your fault." he says, voice softer than usual. joel is incredibly confused, and is about to tell him just that when etho huffs, "it's- you keep saying eefo."

there's a pause as joel understands what etho means, before he gasps in mischievous delight. "etho," he grins as etho groans. "are you telling me that you like how I say your name?"

joel doesn't think he’s ever seen etho look so embarrassed in his life, and it is hilarious. "it's- only yousay it like that." etho practically mumbles. "it's special."

and suddenly, joel is the one who's embarrassed, because- okay, how would you react to being called special by one of the most important people in your life? yeah, that's what he thought, so you can stop judging him for forgetting how to speak for a solid five seconds, because you would too. no- you would.

that dumb softness is back in etho's eyes, and joel is going to blow up the entirety of magic mountain with himself still standing here. "I- are you oka-"

"shut up." joel says, looking away before etho can do that thing where his eyes crinkle in the corners as he tries not to laugh.

it barely matters though, because etho's laughter is clear in his voice when he says, "you- joel, are you embarrassed?"

joel turns back to glare at etho, but he can’t make it last as long as he wants. look- in his defence- etho is a master of manipulation, okay? he’s probably using mind control or something, so it's not even joel's fault actually.

"you are!" etho laughs in delight, and honestly, he's the worst soulmate ever. "aw, joel."

he wraps an arm around joel's shoulders in what is clearly meant to be some kind of jest, but apparently joel isn't done embarrassing himself, because before he can think about what he's doing, he relaxes into etho. it must be some kind of- muscle memory, or something, because he doesn't even notice that he’s doing it before etho hugs him properly, and another wave of embarrassment crashes down on him. it's worth it though.

"I missed you." joel mumbles, half hoping his voice is too quiet for etho to hear him.

etho gives a soft huff, closer to joel's ear than he realised he was. "i’m really glad you’re here." he says, as if he doesn’t expect joel to listen. like he'd be doing anything else.

"still feels weird." joel scoffs to himself. "it's so- I can just see you whenever I want. I keep thinking- there must be some kind of- some kind of catch."

"I think the catch is ourselves, I gotta be honest." etho says, mock-weary, and joel snorts. "seriously though- what are we doing?"

joel cackles, looking up. "can't believe you even have to ask- making things harder for ourselves, as always."

etho rolls his eyes, and joel is grinning because it's so sickeningly fond, and it's clear etho hasn't realised his face is doing that just yet. not like joel is gonna tell him—which is absolutely not because he likes the way his eyes go soft, why would you even say that, you’re so wrong. how embarrassing for you.

"I- y’know. it doesn’t look like it's gonna clear up for a little while." etho starts, glancing away in what seems to be embarrassment. "and it's- I can’t imagine sitting here is all that fun. 'cause- yeah." etho clears his throat. "I just- uh. I could stay with you- for a bit. if you want."

joel is going to explode. in a good way. "well- I was getting pretty bored." he says, in an attempt at nonchalance. etho is smiling like he didn't expect joel to say yes. what an idiot. "only 'cause you want to though. not- I don’t care either way, but- y’know."

etho presses a kiss to the top of joel's head, and laughs as he turns pink. "yeah, just 'cause i want to."

"idiot." joel elbows him, but he can't stop himself from smiling. "do i get to know what's in the book now?"

"oh- absolutely not."

#boat boys #smallishbeans #ethoslab #joel smallishbeans #etho #hermitfic #hermitcraft #I will make any excuse to make these two qpps #they'd never actually talk about it enough to establish what they are specifically #but they're in a qpr. to me #don’t tag as ship #this took me an obscene amount of time to actually finish but I like it #i've been staring at it for too long now i'll have to come back in like a month or something before I can like it again HKFJD #anyway one day my prince (psychiatrist) will come (actually respond to us) and I will hopefully be able to write faster GKFHD #wren writes

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