Work Text:
“I came as soon as I heard.” Etho said as soon as he landed, putting away his rockets and walking over to where Zed was standing. Despite the mask he wore, he was sure they could hear the smile on his face. “Where is he?”
Zed smiled at Etho in greeting, though his seemed a bit more sheepish. “He’s just over here, I’m, uh, still trying to find a way to reverse the effects. He’s not really happy at the moment.”
“Oh, I can imagine.” The information did nothing to weaken his glee. Etho walked further into the room and his eyes honed in on who he had come here to see. “Joel!” Etho exclaimed, grinning.
Joel turned around, eyes wide as Etho came closer. “Oh for the love of--what are you doing here?!” Joel yelled, backing up a step as Etho made it over.
Etho took him in, in a bit of awe at the situation. He wasn’t quite sure what Zed’s experiment had been meant to do, but what it had ended up doing was shrinking Joel down to only a few inches tall. “Aww, you’re so cute.” Etho said, a teasing tone to his voice. Joel glared at him and then at Zed when he joined them.
“I can’t believe you told Etho about this.” Joel said to Zed, crossing his arms with a huff.
“Sorry, but he was the one asking me where you were.” Zed revealed and at that revelation Joel’s frown turned into a grin.
“Oh, was he now?” He turned to Etho, a smirk on his face. “Obsessed much?”
Etho rolled his eyes playfully, not deterred by Joel’s teasing. “Not me. I was looking for you to ask a question. But then Zed told me this had happened, and well…” He knelt down and ruffled Joel’s hair with a finger. The squeak he got in response was both funny and adorable. “How could I not come and see you like this?”
Joel fixed his hair as soon as Etho took his finger back and then went back to glaring up at Etho. At such a small scale though, it wasn’t very intimidating. “How did this even happen anyway?” Etho asked, looking to Zed for the answer. Unfortunately, Zed just shrugged.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I was just messing around with an incomplete redstone contraption of mine when it suddenly went off. Joel was hanging out here and it ended up hitting him, which then proceeded to shrink him. I had no idea that was even possible.” Zed then grinned at the revelation. “But clearly it is! If I can replicate this, this could be huge!”
Etho nodded along. If something like this was possible with redstone of all things, that could pave the way for a lot of new devices and ways to make farms and such.
“Um, how about we focus on finding a way to reverse this before trying to replicate it again!” Joel exclaimed, gaining Etho and Zed’s attention back.
“Ah, right. Sorry.” Zed said sheepishly and then turned back to Etho. “Actually that reminds me, the main reason I told you about Joel was because I was hoping you would be able to look after him while I tried to find a way to reverse this.”
“Look after him?” Etho asked, raising an eyebrow. As expected, Joel was not happy about that.
“Wha-? I don’t need to be looked after!” Joel said. “I’m fully capable of looking after myself.”
Zed put his hands up, trying to de-escalate the situation. “I know you’re perfectly capable…usually. Look, the world out there isn’t made for someone so small. And you need to be careful especially because…well…” Zed rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t…actually know what would happen if you died right now.”
“Wait, what?” Joel asked, anger leaving him briefly to be replaced by confusion and a sudden sense of dread.
Etho, too, was feeling some of that dread as he looked at Zed with narrowed eyes. “Are you saying his respawn might not work at this size?”
Hesitantly, Zed nodded and suddenly this situation was a lot less funny to Etho. Etho glanced over at Joel, who was now sitting down after hearing the news. Zed continued when no one else said anything. “You know how I get when I’m in the zone and I need my full concentration on trying to find a way to reverse this. Which is why I need you to watch him.”
“I don’t know if I’m really the best person to be-” Etho started but was then cut off by Joel.
“Oh no, I’m not letting anyone else find out about this. So sorry Eefo , but you’re stuck with me.” Joel said, arms crossed and looking like he wasn’t going to budge on the issue. Etho simply sighed.
“I guess that’s that then.” Etho said with a shrug and Zed smiled.
“Brilliant! I’ll message you if I make any headway!” Zed said and then went over to his workstation to start trying to figure out the issue.
Etho looked down at Joel a bit awkwardly. “So, uh…how do you want to do this?” He asked. Joel put his head down, a slight embarrassed blush just barely visible on his cheeks.
“I don’t know…just put your hand down over here and I’ll climb on I guess.” Joel settled with. Etho looked at his hand and then at Joel and shrugged, doing as Joel said and putting his hand palm up next to Joel.
Joel stared at it for a long moment before huffing and stepping onto the hand. Etho tensed, the feeling of an entire person getting onto his hand was weird . Though he supposed Joel’s perspective wasn’t any better. Etho must look huge to him right now. He couldn’t help but admire how brave Joel was being, putting his life into the hands of a giant. Even if that giant happened to be Etho himself.
Once Joel was settled, Etho carefully lifted his hand up and brought it close to his chest. He then used his free hand to hover underneath, just in case something happened and Joel fell. He walked out of Zed’s area and looked around wondering what he should do now. He figured flying was off the table, since he didn’t want to risk Joel falling and it wasn’t too much of a walk to get back to his base from here either way.
“Just make sure no one sees me, got it?” Joel suddenly said and Etho looked down. Joel had sat down in his hand. His arms were crossed and he was very pointedly not looking at either the ground below him or Etho.
“Right, don’t worry.” Etho reassured him. “There aren’t any hermits based between me and Zed, so we should be fine.” Joel nodded at that and then Etho started his walk back but paused when Joel spoke up again.
“Why not just fly?” Joel asked, finally glancing up at him.
Etho looked back down with a raised eyebrow. “Um…because I’ve got a tiny passenger that I don’t want falling off mid-flight?”
Joel scoffed. “I may be small but I’m not fragile . You can fly, it’ll be a lot faster anyway.”
Etho furrowed his eyebrows. “But-”
“You’re not going to let me fall.” Joel said, cutting Etho off and surprising him with how much confidence he said it with. Etho let out another sigh.
“Alright. If you’re sure.” He equipped his elytra and brought Joel close to his chest, curling in his fingers even more to make sure he was secure in his grip. He felt Joel tense up but ignored it for Joel’s own sake.
And then Etho took off with a rocket and flew back towards his base.
Flying was faster, Joel had been right. What would have taken them probably a half hour to get back on foot only took them about a minute by elytra. Etho landed gracefully on his front lawn and took off his wings with his one free hand. He then carefully brought his hand holding Joel away from his chest and opened his hand up fully.
Joel’s eyes were shut tight and his breathing was rapid. And even without being able to feel it, Etho could clearly see that Joel was shaking too. Etho bit his lip. “Joel? We’re on the ground again.” He said, a bit softer than he normally would.
Joel slowly opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that Etho was right. His breathing evened out and he unfurled himself from his tight position. The shaking was still present though. “L-Let’s…” Joel started, stuttering. “Let’s not do that again.”
Etho almost wanted to say he told him so, but with the way Joel was looking, he figured now wouldn’t be a good time. So, he just nodded. “Well, we’re at my base now.” Etho said, walking up to the front door. “What do you want to do?”
They ended up not really doing anything. Both were too nervous to do anything too dangerous, what with them not knowing what would happen if Joel died. So, they ended up just sitting around Etho’s base and talking. They did eventually end up having lunch as well.
As the evening came, Etho heard his comm ding and he went to check it. His eyebrows furrowed and Joel looked over, confused.
“What is it?” Joel asked from his place on the table. Etho, who was currently sitting at the table, looked down at him.
“It’s Zed. He said he’s figured out how to get you back to normal.” Etho said, before going back to reading the messages Zed was still sending.
“He did?” Joel said, jumping up into a stand with excitement to finally be able to get back to normal. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s head back!”
Etho shook his head, which gave Joel pause. “Actually, there’s no need. Zed says you…just have to die and respawn and it'll fix itself.”
Joel blinked. “Is…is he sure ? Because before he was saying he didn’t know what would happen if I died. And I don’t really feel like perma-dying today.”
Etho tilted his head. “Good point.” He typed something onto his comm to send back to Zed and Zed responded almost right away. As if he had been expecting Etho to question him on it. Etho’s eyes widened when he read the message. “...He said he’s tested it himself and that it’s all fine.”
Both Etho and Joel looked at each other, processing what that actually meant. Joel frowned. “Should…should we be concerned about that?”
“Probably.” Etho went to another contact and typed out another message and sent it before putting his comm away. “I sent Tango and Impulse over to him.” Hopefully they could talk Zed into being more careful with his own life.
“That’s good.” Joel said and then was silent for a moment. “So…I just gotta die then?”
“Looks like it. Here.” Etho held out a hand for Joel and Joel was less hesitant to take it this time. Etho brought him over to his bed and set him down on it. “Set your spawn so you come back here.”
Joel placed a hand on the bed and felt the magic of setting a spawn go through him. “Right, okay. Now, how should I die?”
Etho hummed, looking down from the bed and gauging the height. “Fall damage will probably be the easiest.” It didn’t look all that far, so he placed his hand next to Joel again, who once again climbed on. He stepped back from the bed and then lifted his hand high into the air. “There you go, that should definitely be far enough.”
Joel nodded and then looked down. He took a deep breath and jumped.
[Smallishbeans fell from a high place]
Immediately, Joel appeared on Etho’s bed, full-sized and back to normal. Joel blinked, gaining his bearing and looking around. He looked down at himself and grinned. “Finally! I’m big again!” He jumped up from the bed and turned to Etho.
Etho chuckled at him. “Well, I don't know if I would say big exactly .” He placed a hand on Joel’s head, showing off the size difference between the two of them. Etho was a head taller even with Joel back to normal.
“Oi!” Joel yelled, knocking Etho’s hand off his head and Etho laughed at the reaction.
Quietly though, they were both happy Joel was back to normal.