Work Text:
With a frustrated huff, Etho brushes his bangs away from his face for what felt like the hundredth time in the past five minutes. He was in the middle of adjusting the high scores in Ravager Rush, scaffolding up and down while duplicating the numbered banners in between.
Finally on the last person, Joel, the frog champion for November, Etho climbs the scaffolding up. Once he reaches the top, he hears nearby rockets and the whooshing of someone’s elytra gliding and closing. Not one to initiate a conversation, he continues to place the three banners.
Etho takes a step back on the one-by-one block, intending to get a good look at the banners. Instead, he overestimates how much room he has behind him, right foot stepping on air and sending him stumbling backwards.
The fall is only about ten blocks, and Etho couldn’t be bothered to try to save himself. He lands on his back, staring at the ceiling. Wincing, he squeezes his eyes shut and sighs. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a break. On the floor.
Only, when he opens his eyes, he is met with familiar, but upside down, big brown eyes blinking down at him. “And everyone says I’m the sleep master,” Bdubs snarks, grinning from his position behind Etho’s head.
Etho hides his grin, deciding to shut his eyes again. “Maybe it's time for you to step down.”
He feels a hand smooth over his bangs softly. Etho opens his eyes immediately, glaring up at Bdubs without any heat. He can feel a pink tint spreading behind his mask. Oddly, Bdubs isn’t making eye contact any more, instead frowning towards Etho’s hair. “What? Do I have something in my hair?”
“No, no,” Bdubs laughs, taking a step back. There’s a moment of silence, where Etho takes the opportunity to stand, adjusting his vest. Bdubs has his eyebrows furrowed, and Etho can tell he has something to say. He waits patiently, cleaning up his scaffolding in an effort to stop staring at Bdubs.
“I never realized your hair wasn’t naturally white.” Etho raises an eyebrow, glancing back at Bdubs and closing the ender chest.
“Really? You thought it just grows like that?”
Bdubs immediately huffs in frustration. “Well how am I supposed to know! Maybe you have alopecia. I’m not a freaking hair expert.” Etho laughs out loud, happy to be back in their familiar banter.
Bdubs glares at Etho, coming close and poking a finger into his chest. “Mister know-it-all over here. I guess I won’t offer my superior expertise.” Bdubs puffs his chest out, putting his hands on his hips.
Barely containing his laughter, Etho jokes, “Expertise in what?”
“HEY!” Bdubs might sound angry, but Etho knows better. He watches as Bdubs’ eyes twinkle while his body language portrays fake frustration with his crossed arms.
“Alright, alright, I’ll bite. Mr. Double O 100, take it away.”
Bdubs sniffs pretentiously. “Thank you very much. I noticed that you’re due for a bleach and tone, Mr. Slab.”
Etho pauses, actually considering Bdubs’s observation. He supposes that his hair was pretty long, and once it gets that long it definitely means that his dark brown roots were showing. “And I suppose that you’re just the man for the job?” Etho raises an eyebrow, looking Bdubs up and down.
Bdubs shrugs, “I have done it before. Mine wasn’t nearly as white as yours though.”
“Ok, ok.”
“Knowing you, you would wait until the last minute to do it, therefore ruining your precious reputation,” Bdubs points out.
“I said ok!” Etho chuckles, “Don’t make me regret this already.”
“Of course not. You’re in capable hands,” Bdubs winks, pulling out his rockets. “Your base or mine?”
Etho’s head rushes with blood, his heart physically reacting to this stupidly confident man in front of him. “I should have supplies at mine. Hopefully,” Etho rubs the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly and equipping his elytra. Keep it cool, Etho.
—----------------------
Etho leans back into the chair, fiddling with his fingernails. “Did you mix the bleach?”
He hears laughter behind him as Bdubs runs his hair through the first section, pulling it into a smaller handful. “I told you I was an expert. Relax and let the master work!”
Etho sighs, leaning into Bdubs’s touch. It was weird how someone else doing his hair made his scalp so sensitive. Kind of like being ticklish.
Taking advantage of this break, Etho closes his eyes and slows his breathing. A warm pit settled in his stomach as Bdubs continued to brush through his hair gently. He isn’t sure how much time passes, surrounded in a weird, warm mush of contentment. Maybe he should get Bdubs to do this every time.
“Sure! I wouldn’t mind at all.”
Etho feels like he’s waking up from a nap as he realizes he might’ve spoken out loud. “Oh. Yeah, thanks Bdubs.”
“No problemo!”
Suddenly, Etho feels a rush of affection for this man. He’s always so willing to help out, accompanied by humor and kindness. His thoughts are interrupted by a sharp tug on a select few strands of hair.
“Ow,” Etho murmurs, wincing and adjusting his position.
Bdubs’s hands immediately leave Etho’s hair, leaving Etho’s head feel a little cold. “Shoot, I’m so sorry.”
Etho smiles. Bdubs is actively proving his point. “It’s fine, Bdubs. Keep going.”
Bdubs sighs, “Still, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful. I’m almost done, anyways.”
Etho feels a little sad about that, not wanting the moment to end. “Take your time,” he mutters under his breath.
Chuckling, Bdubs questions, “Don’t want to go back to work?” Etho feels Bdubs’s hands find their way back to his hair, moving even gentler.
“Maybe I missed spending time with my best friend BdoubleO.”
“We just spent eight sessions teamed together in Wild Life! Don’t tell me you still miss me.”
“So?” Etho admits, blushing.
There’s a silence, where Etho starts to panic. It was rare that he ever talked about mushy stuff, and Bdubs knew it.
Etho can hear the smile in Bdubs’s voice as he casually responds in a familiar cadence, “Aw, flattered I am! Love you too, E.”
Clearing his throat, Bdubs continues, “I still need to get behind your ears, so you should probably take off your mask.”
Oh. Yeah.
“You can do it yourself, I won’t be offended.” Bdubs speaks hesitantly, like he definitely would be a little offended.
Etho is a tad speechless, as he always is whenever Bdubs declares his undying love. It’s a little intimidating, making his brain to mouth signal fail. He’s sure that if he takes his mask off now Bdubs will definitely tease him about his stupid red cheeks.
Unable to trust his words, Etho unhooks the mask from behind his ears, careful to avoid the strands of hair that were already bleached.
It’s not as though Bdubs has never seen his face before. In fact, he would say that Bdubs is the one person that has seen his imperfections and continues to do so without judgement.
It’s just Bdubs, Etho reassures himself, attempting to ignore his racing heart. Paying attention to his surroundings, Etho realizes Bdubs had already continued his work silently. Etho takes a deep breath, relieved. Once he relaxes, Etho falls back into that fuzzy feeling of warmth and closes his eyes.
—----------------------
“Etho..” Etho shivers, feeling fingers poking the back of his neck. He blinks open his eyes, groggy in a way that shows he might’ve fallen asleep for a good amount of time. Etho hums in question, not wanting to put the effort into words.
As Etho rubs a hand across his face, he hears Bdubs walking around behind him. “We need to rinse the bleach out. I was gonna let you keep sleeping but at this rate your hair might fall off!”
“Don’t want that to happen,” Etho smiles, standing from the chair and finding Bdubs turned away, testing the temperature of the water in the water basin. Frowning, Etho decides to test something.
“Dubs.”
“Yeah?” Etho watches Bdubs stand there, his back still turned. He wasn’t even testing the water any more, just standing.
Making a decision, Etho sighs and drags his feet over to Bdubs, throwing his arms across Bdubs’ shoulders, loosely connected, and resting his chin on Bdubs’s hair. He feels Bdubs jump for a second, but relax immediately after.
“I appreciate how considerate you are, but I wouldn’t have taken off my mask if I didn’t want you to see my face.”
Bdubs reaches up to play with Etho’s connected fingers as he starts to ramble. “It’s still a little weird to me. Not weird. Crazy? That’s not what I meant. I just don’t want to overstep.”
Chuckling, Etho steps back, missing Bdubs’s warmth instantly. He gently turns Bdubs by the shoulders, holding him at arm's length. “There. Awkwardness over with.” Etho gets the pleasure of watching a small, but genuine smile lighten Bdubs’s face as he shakes his head in amusement.
“You’re crazy, man.” Bdubs speaks in such an awestruck way that Etho has a feeling he actually meant it. Smug, Etho drags the chair over to the water basin and flops down.
“Well?”
Bdubs rinses out the bleach, quickly applying the toner as well. Once the toner has been in long enough, the two chatting about nothing while they wait, Etho lays back into the basin.
Who doesn’t love this part of the hairdressers? Etho hums in contentment as Bdubs runs his hands and water through Etho’s hair. At some point, Bdubs starts to use his nails, gently scraping through Etho’s scalp.
It takes Etho a second to notice, but he realizes that he’s practically purring, sighing in contentment at this point. Bdubs is starting to giggle behind him. He feels his cheeks and the tips of his ears redden. “Jerk,” he mutters, crossing his arms.
“Aw, c’mon Etho, I wasn’t making fun of you! It’s cute.”
Etho is fidgety as Bdubs finishes, too embarrassed to respond. Bdubs’s voice is noticeably softer as he announces, “Done! You’re all wet, though.”
Etho both hears and sees Bdubs walk around to stand in front of him. He holds up a mirror. Etho is impressed. There is no sign of his dark roots and the tone is perfect, not too yellow.
Etho yawns, suddenly exhausted now that he knew the job was done. Eyeing Bdubs, he could see the man avoiding eye contact, picking at his mossy shirt.
He stands, their chests now only a couple inches apart. Carefully and slowly, Etho cups Bdubs’s cheeks with both gloved hands, leaning his forehead to gently bump Bdubs’s.
Etho smirks as he successfully gets Bdubs flustered, watching his cheeks pinken to match his own and his eyes squeeze shut. “You gonna cut my hair, too?”
“I like it long,” Bdubs protests, opening his eyes and glaring up at Etho, therefore bumping their noses in the process. Etho’s nose tingles like he had just been shocked.
Bdubs in turn wrinkles his nose, pretty cutely if Etho had anything to say about it. “Maybe just a trim then,” Etho compromises after he realizes he had been staring.
“You’re awfully nice today,” Bdubs sighs, leaning slightly into Etho, their foreheads still touching.
“Oh, yeah? My bad,” Etho leans back, watching in amusement as Bdubs falls with him.
They are so close they might as well be hugging. Bdubs gets the idea as Etho feels Bdubs wrap his arms around his shoulders, tucking his face into Etho’s neck and grumbling. In turn, Etho rests his hands on Bdubs’s waist and his chin takes its familiar place atop Bdubs’s curls. He didn’t need his hair cut immediately, and his hair could airdry, right?