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They all had decided to go out and head to the beach.
Why, they weren’t really sure, but there was a nice place and Scar wanted to test out something he and the others had made. Which looked like something Doc Ock would make, and it worked . So now he was tramping along in it, Zedaph, Skizz, Impulse, and Tango all clinging to it and cackling like any twenty-something prankster would. Smiling, Beef watched them go, shook his head and then glanced to the side.
Etho was standing beside him. Watching everyone, he stood there in a grey-and-white hoodie and black skinny jeans, a mask over his nose and mouth. Even though they didn’t necessarily need to mask up anymore, Etho still wore his. If Beef had to guess, it worked like protection. A safety measure, something Etho got to have and keep and control completely. He wore the mask, he took it off, he put it on. No one else, just him.
An odd look was on his face. Frowning, Beef tipped his head to the side slightly. “Etho? You alright?” Glancing over, Etho smiled softly—Beef knew from the way his eyes crinkled at the edges.
“Yeah, I’m alright.” Up ahead, Skizz screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone turned to see him swimming in the water, even though even he didn’t seem to know how he got there. “Oh, he’s not.”
“Skizz! Nooo!” Impulse dramatically yelled from where he was still with Scar.
“Impulse! Help! I’m drowning!” Skizz said, sitting up in the water. It barely came up to his chest. Lapping around his shoulders, it splashed up like it was flicking him on the back of his head. “Hey! Someone get me, the ocean’s rude!”
“Quit being dramatic.” Hels sighed, although he and Wels did go to drag the man out of the waves. “You acted like this in high school, too. I don’t understand it.”
“It’s called being awesome.” Skizz replied, grabbing onto Wels and Hels’ offered hands and getting up. His clothes were completely soaked through, and Hels sighed. Grinning, Skizz threw an arm over Hels’ shoulders, ignored the disgusted look on his face. “Come on, Hels. You know I’m right.”
Shoving him back into the water, Hels stalked up the water, saying, “You are not coming home in my car. I will rip your throat out.”
“You love us, Hels! You just don’t want to admit it!” Skizz said, cupping his hands around his mouth. With a shake of his head, Wels walked around. Hooking his hands under Skizz’s arms, he picked him up easily, started dragging him up the sand.
“Come on, you damsel in distress. Someone’s gotta rescue you before Hels drowns you.”
Laughing, Beef shook his head. Back at the cars, there was a yell to catch their attention. “Hey!” False waved an arm, standing in the back of Stress’ bright pink pickup by the coolers. “If you don’t help with the food, you’re not getting any of it!”
Grabbing Etho’s hand, Beef pulled him back towards the cars. “Come on, we both know she’s serious.” He commented, glancing back. Etho laughed, shook his head but kept walking.
It wasn’t until later, when the setting sun turned the sky a lovely dusky blue and the clouds pinky-orange, when the ocean turned a gorgeous shade of lavender-silver, that they finally got around to eating.
“Skizz, quit it!” Tango half-snapped. Skizz, being Skizz, was trying to joust people with the hot dog skewers. Considering the fact that it was more of trying to joust other people’s hot dogs with his own, it was…interesting.
“What? I’m just having fun.” Skizz commented, knocking elbows with Impulse as he moved. Next to him, Impulse shook his head, commented something to Zedaph that made the man snort loudly. “Hey, what’d you say about me?”
Impulse glanced over at him. “Like I would ever tell you.” He replied. Everyone laughed lightly, except for Hels and Ex (because to them emotion was apparently a sign of weakness. The Hermit Gang was working on it). Frowning, Skizz whacked at his hot dog, and Impulse started yelling and fighting back with his own. “Leave my hot dog alone!”
“Oh, I am so glad you didn’t use a synonym for that.” Xisuma said, running a hand over his face. Beside him, Ex let out a long exhale.
Glancing over at Etho, Beef nudged him. “You alright?” He asked, leaning in and dropping his voice to a lower tone. The others were all chattering away. Still, Etho’s gaze met his.
“Yeah, I’m alright.” Swallowing, he glanced to the side. Hesitated. There was something else, something behind it. For a moment, Beef hesitated to push. But something told him he needed to press, needed to check in. Well, Etho was his queer platonic partner, it wasn’t like he was just meant to not check in.
“Are you sure? You know that you can talk to us, right?” He pressed, gently. Not something fierce, not a demand. This wasn’t the time to be harsh, wasn’t the time to force something. Just…asking a question, instead.
Swallowing, Etho looked at him. Hesitated. He wants to say something. But not right now, Beef realised. Smiling, he touched Etho’s shoulder. There was a soft smile in return, and then Etho looked back at the others. “I’ll tell you later, alright?”
“Okay,” Beef said quietly. “Okay.” Etho turned back to the others. Then, clearing his throat, Beef started chatting. “Hey, Skizz, how was your little swim earlier?”
“Oh, it was horrible! I have sand all up in—” Yelling loudly, Impulse slapped a hand over Skizz’s mouth. It actually sent him backwards, flipping his seat. Landing on the sand with a huff of air, Skizz laid there for a few moments.
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” Impulse said. Meanwhile, Tango and Zedaph were both cackling. Not laughing, actually cackling . Grian was clearly holding back a laugh of his own. Shaking their head, Xisuma pulled out a bag of marshmallows. “I didn’t mean to do that, are you alright?’
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Leave me alone with my dying pride.” Skizz replied, lying on the sand. Dramatically, he threw an arm over his head, loudly groaned, “I fear I must be dying! Death has come for me.”
Expression flattening, Impulse shook his head. Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, he replied, “Whelp, I guess we’re going to have to bury him at sea. Zedaph, Tango, mind helping?” Wicked grins crossed both of their faces, and Tango cracked his knuckles.
“Absolutely.” Moving, Zedaph grabbed Skizz’s legs, while Tango and Impulse took his arms.
“Sacrifice for the sea gods!” Zedaph yelled, and all three of them sprinted, carrying a screaming, protesting Skizz down to the shore. In the ever-growing moonlight, the Hermits watched as the ZIT team chucked Skizz into the ocean, proceeded to trip, and then tumble in after him in a pile of flailing limbs and a rather large splash .
“Your friends are idiots.” Ex commented, looking over to Xisuma. Shooting him an affectionate look, then looking to their friends like a lesbian watching her wife and children fingerpainting for the first time, Xisuma shrugged.
“You’re an idiot.” Hels commented, taking a bite of his hot dog. Turning to glare at him, Ex smacked him upside the back of the head. Yelling, Hels glared at him. “Do that again and I will chuck you into the ocean.”
“I dare you to try.” Ex replied, crossing his arms. Looking to Wels, Hels arched an eyebrow. Immediately, Wels made a gesture, and Hels grinned wickedly. “Zedaph, come help me!”
In the waves, Zedaph popped up, ignored the impromptu splash fight happening behind him. They could all see him grinning as he charged up the sand. Clearly, Ex realised what was about to happen. Rolling backwards out of his chair, he started sprinting across the sand.
“You’re not getting away that easily! Get back here!” Hels yelled, running after him.
Laughing, Beef glanced back over at Etho.
+++
A couple hours later, Beef and Etho and some of the others were lying on the sand, stargazing.
Of course, not everyone was stargazing.
Currently, the ZIT team and Skizz were still having a fight in the water, splashing one another and trying to dunk a currently buried Ex. They’d gotten to him earlier. Meanwhile, Wels was helping his brother in the bathroom with a bloody nose. Unrelated to Ex, although no one had believed it until Ex was revealed to be sitting in the sand, buried up to his neck with a confused and slightly offended expression on.
Cub and False were currently running around…somewhere. He wasn’t sure where. Ren was trying to fish, even though that probably wasn’t legally allowed on this beach. Jevin was sitting next to him, reading. Bdubs was napping in Keralis’ truck. Scar had gone home with Mumbo, Iskall, and Grian, bringing up a work project he needed to do. Cleo and xB were currently looking for seashells with Stress, although Beef could see them walking back in the corner of his eye, hands empty (but they weren’t taking anything anyways) and expressions bright.
Which left Xisuma, Keralis, and Hypno with Etho and Beef.
Not that that was a problem, that was just where they were. Honestly, Beef was just surprised there weren’t more people stargazing. It was a thing they did.
Arms crossed over his stomach, he glanced over when Etho moved. “Look, there’s the Archer.” He pointed out, voice quiet. Following his movement, Beef looked up to find the stars and smiled softly.
“Right. It’s very pretty.” Beef commented. Smiling, Etho let out a little huff.
“I’ve seen better. I still remember this one time, where I was out in the middle of the woods. I looked up, and there were so many stars. I just—I couldn’t find any of the constellations I knew, there were so many of them. I got lost in the sky.” When Beef glanced over, he noticed Etho wasn’t looking at the stars anymore. Gaze downcast slightly, the young man quietly mused, “I still know what it looked like.”
“Who were you with?” Beef asked.
“My family.” Taking a breath, Etho dropped his voice a bit more. “I miss them.”
That caught the others’ attention. Looking over, Keralis asked, “What happened?” At first, Etho didn’t say anything. Picking at his nails, he sat up cross-legged in the sand. Wouldn’t look at any of them, not directly. “Etho?”
“Hey.” Sitting up himself, Beef reached over, touched Etho’s arm. “You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to. But we’re here for you, okay?” Please tell us what’s going on. I don’t want you to hurt.
Smiling tightly, Etho looked back towards his hands. Band-aids wrapped around several of his fingers, masked the fingertips. On others, Beef could see where they were torn and jagged, ripped at due to stress. What’s wrong?
“I don’t talk to my parents anymore. I’m not living with them.” Etho admitted, softly. “Do you remember when I fell asleep before TFC’s class that one time? Back when we were freshmen?”
“Yeah, that was kind of weird. You didn’t usually do that.” Beef replied. On Etho’s other side, Keralis, Hypno, and Xisuma were all upright as well. Hypno and Xisuma exchanged worried glances, and Keralis’ gaze held onto Etho. Concern knit the man’s eyebrows together.
Etho kept staring down at his hands. Jurassic Park wrapped over pale skin, cheery-looking multi-coloured owls on a sky blue background shielded otherwise bruised and cracked knuckles. Eventually, he spoke again, still picking at his nails and the edges of the bandages, although he didn’t seem to be aware of it. The words made Beef’s heart drop to the sand below, shatter into a thousand glass pieces.
“My parents outed me that night.”
What? It wasn’t a secret that Etho wasn’t straight, he wasn’t exactly anything in particular. Used masculine pronouns, wasn’t necessarily a guy but definitely wasn’t a girl. (Not that there was anything wrong with being a girl, there was just something wrong with Etho being a girl, because he wasn’t and he’d lived that way for years and it wasn’t true. It wasn’t him.) But Beef…hadn’t known this about him.
“What?” Keralis asked, softly. Like he didn’t believe it either. Behind him, Hypno and Xisuma exchanged another look. Xisuma quickly dropped it, looking at Etho with something between concern, empathy, and just pain. Hypno, however, seemed split in a thousand different ways (Beef could sympathise).
“They outed me. Lot of gaslighting, lots of…anger, I guess.” Etho replied, still not looking at any of them. Meanwhile, Cleo and Stress and xB had made their way over, apparently catching onto the conversation. They didn’t interrupt, went quiet and settled down gently in the sand. Ex had pulled himself from the sand, was striding up with the ZIT team and Skizz behind him. As they approached, Beef watched concern split across their face. Still, Etho was telling his story, quietly. “They dragged me out of the closet, read through my messages. Wouldn’t let me go until I told them the truth, and then they got all pissy. I had a panic attack and barely slept that night between all the nightmares, so…instead I just ended up sleeping in class. I felt bad about it, obviously, but…it definitely helped.”
“Why didn’t TFC do anything to help?” Stress asked softly, legs tucked under her as she leaned forwards a bit. Her eyes almost glowed in the nighttime. Glancing up, Etho met her gaze, smiled a bit. Then, he looked away.
“I didn’t tell him everything. As far as I knew, I was fine. Obviously, I wasn’t.” Swallowing, Etho continued, “It took me until…March of senior year to figure things out. Well, to realise. May was when I figured it out for sure.” Three years? How much did we miss? Beef glanced over, noticed a tight expression on Zedaph’s face. Tango’s eyes narrowed slightly, Impulse grabbed onto Skizz’s arm and they shared a glance. “I’m fine, really.”
“What about your therapist? Didn’t your—didn’t you have one around then?” Zedaph asked. Behind him, Ren was approaching, arms slung over Cub and Jevin’s shoulders as he strode between them, laughing. False was a couple steps in front of them, chattering away to the three amicably. From the bathrooms, Hels and Wels were returning with a notable lack of bloodied shirts and a paper towel or something shoved up Hels’ nose.
“I did, but…I didn’t want to say anything. Didn’t want them to get hurt.” Looking up, Etho laughed and half-smiled. “I guess it’s kind of ironic, right?” Shakily, Beef reached up and touched Etho’s shoulder. Looking over, Etho smiled softly. Then, he leaned into him, and Beef wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulled him close and hugged him. “Thanks.”
“Of course.” Beef replied.
There was a beat, where nothing happened. No one spoke. It was just them all and the silence, where they were just…there. Sniffing, Etho reached up and rubbed at his eyes. “I’m sorry, this probably sucks.” He replied, looked down at the ground again.
“Etho, stop apologizing. This isn’t your fault.” Stress finally pointed out. “Your parents made their choice. It’s not your fault that they did…any of that.”
Taking a breath, Etho smiled at her, “Thanks, Stress.”
+++
A couple days later, Beef was carrying boxes in from Stress’ truck to his apartment.
There weren’t many boxes, of course. Only a couple. Only some clothes, only some old knickknacks. And Etho was sitting on the couch, curled up and forbidden from helping Beef, xB, False, and Stress from moving things in. Instead, he had been ordered to sit there with Keralis, Bdubs, Cleo, and Joe. Joe was reading a book of poetry, not to anyone but just to himself in his own mind. Cleo was playing with the dogs. Bdubs was chattering away with Keralis, who had his fingers in Etho’s hair.
Looking at his QPP, smiling softly, Beef set the last two boxes down on the dining room table. Apparently, Xisuma and Ex were still setting up one of their estates for all of the Hermits. It was big enough and could count as a hotel of sorts. They could do it.
For the moment, though, Beef watched Etho’s gaze wander to him. Sent a smile the man’s way. Etho returned it, Side Kit bundled up in his arms.
This was fine.