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The bed-roll is snatched away. Bdubs tumbles to the ground, with nothing to break his fall but the grass and flowers littering the field in which they’ve stopped at. For a moment, he pats at the ground in confusion, wondering where his bed went. His face is strange, lips pulled back into a baring of teeth that barely resembles a smile, eyes wide and all-seeing. Etho loves it. He loves the way that Bdubs groans in realization at last, looks up at the tall Hermit with an expression of mock betrayal and anger. He even loves the way the moss covering Bdubs’ upper body seems to shimmer and move with him like something more than just a plant, more alive than what was called for.
Put simply, he’s smitten. He thinks he always has been, and always will be. Loving Bdubs was a part of him.
Bdubs stands up and dusts himself off, eyes narrowing as he holds out a calloused hand. “Etho…”
His tone is of warning, and Etho knows if he doesn’t let Bdubs sleep for the night things will get messy. They’ve competed before over sleep, Etho racing to sleep before Bdubs just to get under his skin and make him glower in that way that’s so inauthentic to Bdubs’ character it makes Etho cackle. Instead of conceding and giving him his bed-roll back, Etho slaps it down and jumps on top of it with a triumphant laugh.
“Etho!” Bdubs is laughing now too, all his frustration- both real and performatory- dissipating looking at the man laying on the floor. “You know I need to sleep. Things are going to start lurking, this place isn’t lit up well. You might even attract phantoms.”
Etho nods. He does know this- of course he does, just as every Hermit knows that if Bdubs is around, he wants to be the one bringing their daylight cycle ever closer. He’s never really gotten an answer out of Bdubs as to why that is- it’s not like Bdubs is afraid of the dark, or particularly unequipped to handle whatever ends up haunting them at night. He’s seen the way his eyes take on a glaze of fear towards phantoms, or the way his sword shakes when he fights them, but every Hermit knows how to protect themselves. A simple fear isn’t enough to explain the methodic and insistent way Bdubs must sleep.
Regardless, Etho doesn’t mind the mystery. If anything, it’s a fun source to tease Bdubs on.
Like now, lying atop Bdubs’ bed-roll and smirking at the disgruntled figure above him. It was all too amusing to play with him, and the way Etho could run circles around the other was just an added bonus to the almost reverential attitude Bdubs seemed to have of him.
“I’m not stopping you,” Etho smiles coyly. He slides a bit to the left on the matted wool and straw beneath him, patting it with one hand. Bdubs blanches, looking back and forth from Etho to the bed with something akin to confusion. Eventually, he huffs.
“You are stopping me. You’re sittin’ right on my bed!” He throws his hands up in exasperation, looking at Etho with an expression bordering on desperation.
Dusk has fallen, now, long shadows cast dark and getting darker still as light fades completely from the sky. The sun has gone to sleep, and as such Bdubs must sleep too. A solar creature, one with the warmth and light and creation and joy. It just made sense, the way Etho must lurk and sneak about or the way Grian must cause trouble at every opportunity. The Hermits had their ways, and they stuck to them.
“There’s room for two,” Etho says pointedly, even though there really isn’t. Bdubs takes another long look at the bed, then the man upon it, and finally the way the world is growing duller by the second as the sun makes itself scarce.
“Yeah- I guess you’re right,” Bdubs replies, somewhat nervously. Nothing can stop him from sleeping, though, so he drops to Etho’s side and slips next to him, face strangely expressionless. It’s like he’s frozen, waiting to see what Etho could possibly do next to surprise him.
They’re barely inches apart now, and Etho wants to close that gap between their bodies and fuel the smaller figure across from him with warmth. He sees the point where Bdubs gives up on being concerned as to what they’re doing and decides that his drowsiness is a more important factor, sees when those big eyes slip closed like windows shuttered to the rain. That’s when Etho makes the choice to shuffle closer, wrap his arms around Bdubs and pull him tight to his chest.
They’ve done this before, a long time ago- or maybe it was a dream. In a world where their lives meant so much, where dying meant permanency and recklessness was feared, if not outlawed. Where they had fought and bitten and blown things up and tried to keep things green because red had meant becoming evil and dirty and forgotten.
Where Etho hadn’t been allowed to hold Bdubs like this, lest a dagger be driven between them.
He watches as the moon speeds across the sky, fueled by one little creature’s decision to make the day come quickly. It’ll never get less disorienting, being brought abruptly from darkness to light, eyes stinging slightly from the change.
It only takes a moment for Bdubs to wake back up, yawning immediately as if he’s had the best and most restful sleep of his life. Ethos watches him fondly, still so close, and when Bdubs opens his eyes his pupils jump into focus at the man across from him, surprise filtering briefly through his features before settling on a content expression.
“Etho,” he mumbles sleepily, a huge toothy grin taking over his face again. Etho nods, words unneeded, and reached a hand up to pet soft hair. He makes a silent plea to the pale sky that Bdubs will stay with him for a moment, before he bursts off into a flair of action and ideas and buildings and business.
The sky grants him a mercy in the way that Bdubs nuzzles into Etho lazily, clutches at his sleeves and mumbles nonsensically into his shirt about redstone and castles. Etho feels like he’s won the lottery, in this tiny moment before the day has truly begun to take its toll on them.
He feels at home.