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Climate of the island (did it even have a name?) is something Ewron cannot fully understand. The sun is shining, but it's not unbearable. The temperature stays almost the same every day, with the same amount of light breeze from time to time. He's sure the nights are the same, but he isn't certain. He's trying to sleep through every single one.
So imagine his surprise when he wakes up in a Polish Cave covered in sweat from head to toes.
They have been on the island for barely a week, yet after talking about it with his polish companions he comes to the conclusion that it is a weird thing to happen. And judging the reactions of everyone else, the sudden heatwave had hit them just as much. Ewron sees the messages of people freaking out. Thankfully, their cave quickly cools down, but that also means that they have to keep mining out for more space.
"Unless you want to go out in this weather anomaly," Graf looks with amusement in his eyes at both Ewron and Nexe. He knows both of them are not willing to get out and throws a few pickaxes at the men.
"Ugh kurwa, whatever," Ewron rolls his eyes, "psiarz, chodź" dog-guy, come on he says to his friend. Not wanting to be alone in misery. Nexe mutters something under his breath, but the panda hybrid doesn't really care.
But before they can start, someone else teleports to the cave enterence. It is none other than Ashswag, Supreme Leader of the Regime.
Ewron doesn't know what to think of the man. Yes, they have a Secret Plan together and he's heard of the Regime's actions. About their big factories, about how quickly they grew in power and people. At the same time, Ash acts like he has a huge stick up his ass. During conversations with others his demeanor feels... off. Like he is trying to be intimidating for no reason. Like it is all a performance the man isn't very good at, at least in Ewron's eyes. Which is a very weird thing to say about someone you've known for just seven days, but Ewron decides to ignore that thought for now.
He was observing the man, who immedately went over to talk to Graf. There is something... different about Ash today. What is different than usual?
"Stop looking at him like that, eugh," he hears the dog say.
"Okej, słuchaj, kurwo-" Okay, listen here, fucker- Ewron turns around and that's when it hit him. Ash's hair wasn't in his usual long, well kept braid. He has his hair in a high ponytail. Ewron looks at the purple man again, ignoring the next words coming out of his friend's mouth.
He supposes the hairstyle makes sense – after all the weather was unbearable and having a lot of hair must make it only more miserable. But he looks good like that. Unbelievably good. The panda hybrid can't not look away, even if he wanted to. He kept observing the other man's profile. The hairstyle fits him so well.
Ash must have noticed his oogling– staring, because he looks over at Ewron without moving away from Graf and Multi (when did that guy show up?) and quickly nods his head. To others, it was maybe a greeting. To him, it was a sign that Ash remembered thier plans.
At that, he looks away, trying to ignore Multi's questioning gaze.
"Not a word," he says to Nexe, who is looking at him the same way Multi was. Yet, there seems to be more depth (understanding?) to it. Whatever. He doesn't want to hear it. "Let's go."
"Okay brother, okay..." Nexe replies, and Ewron is fighting the urge to punch the other for the weird, accusatory tone of voice.
-
Ashswag is late for their boat meeting.
It shouldn't piss Ewron off as much as it does. He knows the other man is busy, especially now with Tubbo being back again. However, he is also impatient and has plans for the rest of the day. It doesn't matter that the plans include new TCG packs and a certain cafe in Holland. Not at all. Besides, they agreed to meet. That alone should be enough for anyone to arrive at the meeting place on time.
He huffed once again when he saw the other man arriving on his own boat. It was pure white this time. Why did he notice such small details? But because he is still angry at being so disrespected, he turns his back to him.
"Ewron, I am so sorry," Ash starts. "I had to help out with air conditioning in the factory. It was getting unbelievably hot in there–" Ewron takes a breath in and makes a face.
"Yeah, I can tell." Ewron cuts him off. "You smell like shit." He hears Ash take a breath, probably offended. "Didn't think of taking a shower before coming here?"
"First of all, it's not THAT bad," Ash argues, "don't be so dramatic." Ewron huffs under his nose. "Second of all, how do you even smell that? We are in the middle of the ocean."
"Red panda nose will smell everything."
"Oh," that stops Ash in his tracks. "Well, I apologise then. I didn't want to keep you waiting for longer than I already have," hearing that, Ewron smiles a little and finally turns around to face the man. "My communicator is not in the best shape recently, so I had no means of..."
Ewron tunes out whatever the other man is saying, because he sees Ash wearing a ponytail. Again. And once again his brain stops functioning because of that.
Ashswag goes into a tale about the communicator, something about what happened with the factory, but Ewron isn't listening. He's focused on the hairstyle and how good Ash looks. How there are a few pieces of curly hair flowing freely around his face. How there is a small braid kind of going towards the whole ponytail. How his neck is visible for the first time, at least for Ewron. He feels like he's seeing something he's not supposed to.
After what feels like forever, Ewron gets out of this weird trance. He swallows nervously and looks away, hoping he didn't miss out on much. Speaking of–
"Dude, are you even listening?" He's asked, tone of voice a bit accusatory, but less than he expected.
"Yes yes, Ash," he quickly lies. He decides to not look directly into the man's face (if one could even call it that. Ash's glitched out facial structure, especially around his eyes, makes it hard to really make some eye contact) and instead focus his gaze slightly above Ash's shoulder. "But this isn't why we have to talk."
"Ah yes. Of course," Ash makes himself more comfortable in his boat and makes a gesture for the panda hybrid to start.
They talk for a while, but Ewron can't say he's very focused on the topic at hand. Even when he's doing most of the talking, with Ash's occasional jabs here and there. It's nice. Talking with Ash feels easy, light. In a way Ewron doesn't feel with his polish family anymore. The thought of going back to them after that feels a bit heavy on his heart.
When they decide to part ways, Ash sends him one last look. It's... weird. Unusually kind. A little bit like laughter? It doesn't last for long and Ewron doesn't really have a mind to overanalyse it for any longer. He does, however, have a mind to think how great Ash looks with That Specific look. Asshole.
-
The wedding preparations are crazy. Insane. Absolutely going wrong. Although Ewron has been a priest for a good while now and it is not his first time officiating a wedding, this one is somehow the most chaotic one in his career. It fits the vibe of the whole island.
However. He needs to get out of the church now or his whole fucking head is going to explode.
Nothing personal to the Dutch. Truly. A group of wonderful people. A bit confused about things happening at times, but with good spirits only. However, he needs to get some fresh air before his mind goes ¡Mi bombo kurwa!. He excuses himself from Jeremy, Duncan and Don and quickly goes outside.
Breathing in and out is very helpful. Not only his bestie/biggest-enemy getting married, but she is getting married to a Fed at that. Ewron doesn't like the Federation. Well, like is a wrong word here. He doesn't trust them, which is potentially even worse. He won't stay in the way of true love of course, but after somewhat helping them get together he feels a bit of an ick. Like he's about to lose a friend.
Not wanting to go down that path of thoughts he looks around and sees a familiar hair color and– you have to be fucking kidding him.
A few meters in front of him stands Ashswag. His wedding outfit is a purple suit, alongside his purple one-shoulder cape. And– and he has his hair up in a ponytail.
Ewron is not going to survive the wedding in these conditions.
Look, Ewron is not stupid. He has realised that whatever he has going on with the Regime Leader is more than just platonic friendship. He knows himself well enough to not try and act like thats not what's happening. He also likes to lie to himself that it all could mean nothing. With everything they have been through, he'd rather act like nothing weird is happening between them. Even if at times they stand way too close to each other. Even if they meet up almost daily, just to talk. Even if their plans transcended into something beautiful and worth working towards. Even if he's ready to give more of his soul to make up for his sins to Ash–
And this man has the audacity to show up to the wedding with this look. It's kind of Ewron's fault he didn't notice it earlier. He saw Ash and Philza enter the church with the corner of his eye. He should have looked back then, instead of giving himself a mental breakdown over it while feeling extremely overwhelmed.
Yet, he can't pass on the oppurtunity to talk with a man. He wants to see Ash's reaction to the priest outfit again, because it's endearing every single time.
So after taking two not-deep-enough breathes, he approaches the man from behind.
"Ash, ash, ash–"
"Oh my god, Ewron," Ash jumps up. "I didn't notice you at all, man." Ewron sees his head look up and down, like he's being checked out.
"Well, that's unfortunate for you," the priest replies, shrugging his shoulders. Trying to act nonchalant, like there isn't an internal war happening inside of him as well. And not only because of the wedding. "Should have been more aware of your surroundings."
"Says someone whose hands are shaking," he hears and oh. He didn't notice that. Just like he's trying to Not Notice that ominous hairstyle.
Ah, fuck nonchalance.
"Of course they are kurwa shaking," Ewron blows up, "have you seen the state we are in?!" He starts pacing around the circle a little. "The flower delivery is delayed. Katie is chuj-wie-gdzie, Tomate is also chuj wie gdzie," fuck-knows-where, "the Dutch are planning to actually fake the wedding. Why, you might ask? So that Katie doesn't actually marry into the feds! The best man is actually also missing– And you're standing here looking like that and kurwa laughing at me!" He throws his arms up in the air, seeing Ash's reaction to his rant.
"Excuse me? Looking how?" Ash asks, still through laughter. That causes Ewron to pause, because he didn't mean to say that. It was a geniuene slip up. Okay, time for a cockroach play.
"Dressed up all fancy for a federation wedding, Mister Supreme Regime Leader," his tone turns playful. He pokes the flower on his head with his finger and lets his hand stay in that place. "You're the flower girl?"
Ash shakes his head, although his cheeks (or what's visible of them) get a little more red.
"You're telling me a man can't dress nicely for an occassion?" He ignores the jabs directed at him and instead looks Ewron in the eye. Then notices the hand – or rather that it slowly moved from the flower to his hair.
"Sure can," Ewron replies, hand touching the fucking ponytail. He wonders why the other man didn't move away from his touch or tell him to fuck off already.
"Then why are you making fun of me? Is it the hair?"
"Whaaaaaaaaat? No, no, no, no, no–" Ewron starts to argue, knowing the was caught. Shit. He pushed his luck a bit too far.
Thankfully, the luck was on his side as he heard and saw in the corner of his eye an ender pearl being thrown in their direction.
Ash was not so observant, which is also really unusual for him, and jumps away from the panda hybrid the second someone else appears right next to them. He drops the hand hanging in the air.
"What are we talking about, gentlemen?" Don asks. Ewron can swear his eyes have a suspicious glint in them. "Ready for the wedding?"
"Sure am," Ewron replies, trying to appear nonchalant again. He looks over at Ash, whose whole demeanor changed. He no longer had this soft look to his face and relaxed body posture. The Supreme Leader mode was back. However, his eyes are still glued to Ewron's face, like he is searching for something in it.
Ewron looks away.
The conversation somehow moves on, for which he is more than glad for. The nerves come back to him ten times stronger. The ceremony went without a hitch. He is only glad that Ash was behind his back almost the entire time. He embarrassed himself in front of the other man enough.
-
Ewron is chilling at Prawdziwa Polska 2. The glade, or more like a purple flower field, is just too beautiful to not spend time looking over at it. He kind of can't believe Mango and him found this place by accident. He should – the cockroach life means no one can ever get rid of him and that includes his home.
But still. The terrain is simply breathtaking.
It's way bigger than original Prawdziwa Polska too, which brings him more ideas about how to make the space his own. For the past at least two months that little island became his real home, a place where his first son laid, a place where his usual bed stood. No one besides him (and occasionally Ash) spent time there. No one from his polish family spent time there.
Not anymore, at least.
There was once a time where they all gathered in a circle around a makeshift bonfire. Shared stories, drank alcohol, laughed at each other and with each other. Times where he joked around with Nexe about their super sexual love affair. Times where he made mechanisms alongside Graf, or more like let Graf do his thing. Times where he stood alongside Multi, nodding along to his crazy, but not Insane Crazy, ideas. Times where their armour was made from simple, non-enchanted iron, because that's what they had the most of. When Polski Cave was just them four fucking around and finding out.
Memories like these feel bittersweet on his tounge.
Ewron doesn't like to think about how it is now. He is painfully aware of the current dynamics. He's not pretending when he says he doesn't care anymore, because he doesn't. He knows when he isn't welcome in a space anymore. That doesn't stop him from missing what used to be.
The hybrid looks away, in a different direction.
After what happened with Ghosty he promised himself he would never take anyone as his child anymore... However, he did hear a conversation (or more like see the signs placed down) between new Federation workers – Funny News Guy and Funny Dance Guy. He specifically heard about something called Godzilla. And his curiosity completely took over.
He wants to have a Godzilla. Maybe even two, so one of them isn't alone. He could make an aquarium, with the best looking fish he can find. He's seen some weird looking roaches and bugs once, maybe he'll take some here? If his current, broken family doesn't accept him, he'll just find himself another one. Talking to voices will be more interesting if he can pretend they come from animals instead of the dead.
Being so lost in his thoughts, Ewron doesn't notice the sound of footsteps behind his back.
"It's really beautiful here," he hears from behind, making him jump up a little from where he is standing.
Right. Ashswag was the only other person who had the waystone unlocked. Thay decision just felt right.
"Kurwa Ash," he huffs, turning around to face the said man, "never do that again." He looks other man in the face, faking a look of a heart attack.
"Hey, you're the one who wanted me to come here," Ash replies. That could be true if Ewron thinks about it a bit more. "I don't blame you for ignoring my messages, though," he looks around. "This place is truly... breathtaking"
"It is, right?" Excitement is heard Ewron's voice. He doesn't remember what he needed Ash for. There was probably something meaningful they needed to discuss, but he finds that in this particular moment he doesn't care. Not when one of the most beautiful men he's ever laid his eyes on stands between a sea of purple flowers and looks like he simply belongs.
"It took me a while to find you. This place is big," he steps right in front of Ewron. Big enough for both of us is left unsaid in the air.
"Not big enough for your ego, Supreme Leader," Ewron puts his tounge out, like a child. He supposes that the nostalgia of the place brings out his playful side way easier than any place on this godforsaken, nameless Island. He sees Ash huff at that.
"Sure, sure," the man rolls his visible eye. "Wanna sit down?"
"Oh yeah," Ewron sits down and feels the grass inbetween his fingers. He looks at Ash, who after a second sits down next to him. Who keeps looking around with the same joy in his eyes Ewron feels inside. He isn't focused on the surroundings anymore.
"You could build a house over here," Ash says after a second. "You know, a proper one." Ewron rolls his eyes just a little. He's already moved Grzegorz's grave, what else could he need?
"Put it up a hill, so it overlooks the whole thing," Ash continues, "or maybe hide it inbetween trees, so only surrounding lights would show the way to it in the middle of the night." He stops, locking eyes with Ewron for a second. "You have many possibilities."
"And who is going to build that, huh?" Ewron's body still remembers the pain of the Altar and the hours he spent on building and decorating the whole thing. His body still aches in some places. Never again. "And don't say you–" he points a finger at the other man, "because The Pantheon's decorations are hideous."
"Hey!" Ash gives him a side eye, "they're not that bad..." There is a bit of silence. "Okay, maybe they are," and both of them start laughing.
There is some truth to Ash's words, Ewron realises. Since there is way more space avaliable than on the original Prawdziwa Polska, he could actually build himself a shelter here. He could share that space alongside his future animals he plans to bring.
The finger he was pointing at Ash mindlessly starts playing with Ash's braid, which was by some crazy coincidence right next to his hand.
His mind is slowly picturing how Prawdziwa Polska 2 could look like. He can see a house – nothing too big, just enough for his own storage unit, similar to the one they have in Polish Cave. Maybe he could utilise the lake nearby for some nice scenery. He can see the house be big enough for two, maybe three people. He can see Ash having his own little space alongside him, if the other would like. If not in this house, maybe he'd build himself an ugly one far enough so it's not visible from his home, but still close enough so that they don't have to move the waystone placement.
He can see them both enjoying their free time here and the thought doesn't scare him as much anymore.
"Hey, Ewron, can you help me with something?" Ash's voice brings him back from his thoughts.
"As long as it's not ressurecting your other daughter or building another altar–" Ewron starts.
"Oh my god, no–"
"Then I'm listening," he said a small smile.
"Can you help me put my hair up in a ponytail?"
What.
What?
"What?" Ewron looks at Ash like he has grown a second head. What kind of request is that? Where did it come from?
Ash looks at him with a straight face. "I asked if you could help me put my hair in a ponytail," and before Ewron can react, he turns his back to the panda hybrid and starts untangling the braid.
"...sure," is all Ewron can say, looking at Ash's long hair. He's not sure if he can do it. He slowly swallows and manages to make his hands move.
He works in silence, because what does one even say during that? The hair is soft to the touch. Clearly cared for. It doesn't tangle between Ewron's fingerless gloves. He tries his best to put all the hair rather up without touching Ash's skin at all. No matter how close and up personal they get on day-to-day basis, there is a huge chance his brain might malfunction if he touched the others neck.
"You have the uhhh... hair tie thing?" Ewron asks after a few minutes of perfecting the ponytail. Ash hums and showes one on his hand, easy for Ewron to grab. He does and quickly finishes his job. He wishes his thoughts about the subject could end as well.
"How do I look?" Ash turns around, swaying his hair around a little. Ewron looks at him and sees a satisfied look on the other's face. "That bad that I got the server's loudest person to shut up? Woooooooooow."
"Dude, come on," Ewron chuckles, "you know you look good."
"I know," Ash replies. "I noticed you like this hairstyle." And oh. Ewron doesn't feel embarassed often, but it is one of those moments. He just hopes it's not very visible, but he knows Ash and he knows Ash knows.
"I do," he sounds more honest than he would like, but underneath the sunny sky and between the sound of bugs and a smell vaguely similar to lavender he realises he doesn’t feel like hiding. Or lying. "You look really good in it," and this time it's Ash's turn to look bashful.
They look at each other in silence for a moment. There is something in the air, like an unsaid awknowledgment of sort. It sets Ewron's chest on fire, but not in a bad way. The gentle warmth spreads across his body. He knows Ash knows. Ash accepts whatever he brings to this relationship and it's more than Ewron could have asked for in his life.
"I think I'll build that house," Ewron breaks the silence and looks away.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."