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Joel knew what all of them said. Calling him awful things, painting him as a villain – but it all boiled down to one simple fact.
Joel couldn’t be trusted.
And they all knew it.
Which is why he was so nervous when Double Life finally rolled around, and Grian announced that there was a new gimmick.
Joel didn’t want to be alone again… but choosing it would be better than being rejected.
So he prepared himself for the inevitable, prepared to live through another round of this awful death game alone .
But he didn’t have to.
Because this season, each of them was assigned a soulmate.
A soulmate .
Joel wouldn’t be alone.
(Unless his soulmate knew what everyone did, that Joel's edges were too rough, his teeth too sharp, his everything too much-)
And then there was Etho.
And Joel couldn’t help himself, couldn’t let go of him like he should have.
But Etho just smiled back at him, eyes crinkling in the corners, and said, “Together forever?”
Joel could only nod.
And they were together, until the very end.
Through all of the bruises and deaths, picking their way through the embers of The Relation, and holding onto each other desperately in the nether before-
Before it was over.
And Joel was alone again.