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“So,” Bdubs says to him over the breakfast table, with that haughty, cool expression he gets sometimes. “I watched that video you made with Jojo the other day.”
It’s - kind of a non sequitur. Ethos had mentioned it to him beforehand - that he’d be off-server recording with some of the older players -
And Bdubs isn’t territorial, usually, no matter how he likes to bluster, so this is something else.
“Yeah?” Ethos agrees, because that feels like the path of least resistance here.
“Sure did!” Bdubs says. “Yup. Lots of stuff going on in that video, huh? Hangin’ out with some of our old friends.”
“... Right.”
He can feel the pit under him, but there are a lot of pressure plates, and he has no idea which one is going to set off the TNT.
“Ant and the Captain did pretty good, solvin’ all those puzzles.” A long, pointed pause. “You did too. ‘Specially the second one - you were pretty quick about it.”
“Thanks?” Ethos says, knowing it’s probably not the right thing to say.
“Couldn’t help but notice, though,” Bdubs continues blithely, with that mellow tone that doesn’t reach his eyes, “That neither of them had any little casualties while trying to figure it out. No little… incidents.”
It takes Ethos - too long to connect the dots, trying to remember if he’d respawned during the puzzle -
“Oh,” he says, after a damning conversational gap. “You’re talking about the horse.”
“I’m talking about the horse?” Bdubs echoes faintly. “No, what do you - OF COURSE I’m talking about the horse!”
“I didn’t mean to kill it!” Ethos protests, hands rising defensively. “It just - bashed its head into the ceiling -”
“Bashed its head into the ceiling twice?” Bdubs demands accusingly. “Just - happened to give its head a good slam up there while you were on its back, no reason?”
“I mean -” Because the thing is, he had definitely gotten that horse killed, but - “I didn’t realize it was going to die, I just wanted to clip out of there -”
“And you didn’t even care!” Bdubs is definitely shouting a little, now. “That poor animal didn’t know an ounce of compassion before it died, and you and Jojo just kept - messing around with fireflies, or whatever -”
“I was being timed!” Ethos protests.
“- didn’t even give it the dignity of a little gravestone, or apologize, or nothing,” Bdubs continues, undaunted. “And it was a beautiful animal, really -”
“I can make it a little grave out back if you want!” Ethos cuts him off, feeling only slightly ridiculous at the thought, because - well, it was an animal, and Ethos has a soft spot for Bdubs.
“That would be very nice,” Bdubs says, deflating in the way he always does when he’s given what he wants. “You can put a little flower garden out behind my stable, yes, yes. So he’s around other horses.”
“Right,” Ethos agrees, and it only sounds a little desperate. Bdubs pats his knee. “I’ll - do that.”
“That’s all I’m asking,” Bdubs cedes, setting back in his own chair like nothing had ever happened. “A little consideration. Anyways -”
And he’s back to talking about Scar’s latest build like there’s nothing he cares about more in the world, leaving Ethos, as always, feeling slightly like he’s just been flattened by a minecart.
---
Three hours later, he’s digging a grave for a dead horse.
It’s empty, obviously - he’s just putting in some flowers, really, and a little headstone, while Bdubs takes care of his own herd in the stables.
He’s got a couple moments of warning when Joel arrives - the blast of rockets overhead, and then Joel is there, obsessed as always. Smirking, a look Ethos knows too well - usually, a look that’s trying to get him killed.
“Hey Eefo,” Joel drawls, leaning up against the side of the stable.
“Good morning,” Ethos answers back, and there’s no missing the languid glance Joel gives the stables, or the shit-eating twitch of his lips -
“So,” Joel says, a little too loud. “I thought it was pretty sexy, how you killed that horse -”