Bdubs is half-buried in the couch cushions, knees to his chest, eyes glued to the television screen. It takes him a moment to answer Etho's question as he writhes his way into a sitting position to meet his gaze.
"What the heck? You want me to leave, then just say so," Bdubs pouts, glaring.
That surprises a high-pitched chuckle from Etho. "Not what I meant. I worded that wrong," he placates Bdubs with a pat to the knee, fingers briefly touching bare skin through the ripped denim. "I mean - don't you have something you'd rather be doing on a Friday night?"
Bdubs snorts. "What, you think I oughta be out partying it up? Boozing with my bros?"
Etho laughs, then shrugs, tilting his head to the side. "Well..."
"Puh-lease. I'm way too tired for that. You know how many freakin' landscapes I painted this week? I been knee-deep in brown pigment and regret."
"Aw, Bdubs. The happy little trees giving you trouble?"
"Laugh it up," Bdubs grumbles as Etho giggles at his own quip. "Yeah, some of us have to do actual art around here. What have you accomplished lately, huh? Didja code a really good cube? Run 'Doom' on a tamagotchi?"
Etho's giggle grows into full-chested laughs, his grin obvious behind his mask. "Uh huh, you nailed it. I got a repetitive stress injury from clicking and dragging."
"Poor baby," Bdubs coos sarcastically, taking Etho by the hand to inspect his wrist. "Yep. Classic copy paste carpal tunnel. Your career as a basement dweller is over," he shakes his head grimly, his thumb resting just over Etho's pulse point.
Etho pulls his arm back, draping it over his middle as his laughs trail off. He pretends to focus on the movie they're watching, hyper aware of the absent warmth when Bdubs moves back, lounging into the cushions.
They sit in silence then, watching the rest of their movie, Bdubs drumming his fingers on his folded knees. Etho catches himself stroking the skin on the inside of his own wrist and tucks his hands against his sides.
When Bdubs comes back from a trip to the kitchen for more soda, he sits a little closer than he did before. Etho drops an arm along the back of the couch and hopes his heartbeat isn't as loud as it feels.
Ethubs, modern AU, 1074 words. No sensitive content.
(a/n: I don't have a description for this yet, but boy do I like it, and I'd so appreciate you reading and giving me your thoughts.)
---
The safehouse would have been hard enough to get to even with GPS. Etho understood that was the point, but it didn't ease his death grip on the steering wheel, or unclench his aching jaw. Between the Albuquerque traffic and the New Mexican sun, he was seconds away from taking his sedan down the arroyo instead.
A few tight turns in what he was pretty sure was the right neighborhood, and there was the edge of the bosque, there was the faded yellow flag at the end of a gravel drive, the chain link fence around a lot obscured by cottonwood trees and massive willows. He slammed on his brakes for no good reason, and rolled up to the gate.
He'd just tapped the steering wheel for the 108th second when a golf cart came into view, kicking up dust as it rocked over the gravel to meet him. The forward charge - that would be someone like Skizz, or if he were unlucky, Impulse. He was no doubt being watched by someone in the trees, or maybe even further back - Grian or Pearl, most likely. They'd see it was him but stand guard anyway, just in case. In case he wasn't alone, or he'd been followed.
As if.
The cart got closer, and Etho could make out broad shoulders under a dark shirt. Impulse wheeled up to the gate with a death mask grin on his face. He stepped out and nodded at Etho, who finally popped open his own door.
"Hey, man. Good to see you!"
Etho tucked his hands in his pockets and nodded himself, humming. "Everything okay?"
"Oh yeah, yeah. Any trouble on your end?" Impulse fiddled with the chain at the gate, not unlocking it yet. "I heard Gallup was -"
"Everything's just peachy," Etho said, pitch tilting upward. "Been a long trip, though."
Impulse's smile didn't give a centimeter, though his eyes were shaded by sunglasses, so who knew what he was really thinking. "I'm sure," he murmured, unlocking the chain and pulling the gate open at last. "Follow me, I'll show you where to leave the hoopty."
Etho suddenly felt very defensive of his Grand Marquis, with its missing backseat door handles and drooping headliner. He said nothing, climbing back inside and beginning the slow crawl down the drive, parking alongside a hodge-podge of similarly discreet vehicles, all packed beneath a large detached garage.
Scar was waiting for him at the garage door, absurd in a wide brimmed cowboy hat and leather flight jacket with no shirt underneath. He shouted Etho's name like a kid on Christmas, tripping on his own feet as he walked backward toward the house, waving his arms. "It's great to have everyone here, even if it's not great that we're all here, y'know? But it's still good, I'm glad you made it. And jeez, not a second too late, either."
Before he could ask what he meant by that, the front door opened, and oh, oh. Oh -
There. The rotten-egg lump of anxiety in the center of Etho's chest disappeared, the corded line of wired muscle in his back released. His shoulders dropped and his stomach relaxed so suddenly he felt a little woozy. Then Bdubs came more fully into view, opening the screen door and propping a crutch onto the porch step. He started to lean his way down, preparing to meet them. But Etho zipped forward so fast that Scar jumped aside with a shriek.
Bdubs giggled at him, giggled, brown-Bambi eyed and caramel-sweet, forehead knocking into Etho's as he leaned down from the top step, leaned into Etho's ready hands on his face -
"You're both so gross," Scar sighed behind them. "Just let me get inside first, at least."
They shuffled aside to give Scar space to pass, and Etho hopped the few steps up after, hands and eyes on Bdubs still. "What did you do now, huh? Can't go two weeks without breaking something."
Bdubs mock-glared at him as he tried to drag him inside, nearly dropping a crutch in the process. "It's too hot out here. C'mon, you hungry? You need a nap? We got carne abodabo -"
"Carne adovada, Bdubs. Hi," Cleo greeted, not moving from their place on the couch. "Don't start with me, Etho," she said, not looking in their direction. "He did that to himself."
"I wasn't going to -"
"Oh, you were absolutely going to -"
"It's not my fault!" Bdubs squawked, propping himself onto the back of the couch. It was late afternoon, but the window shades were all down. In the dim yellow light from the ceiling bulb, Etho took stock of him - his tangled hair, the familiar shape of his mouth as he smiled at him, the dark warmth of his eyes as he watched him watching him. His rumpled t-shirt over basketball shorts, low on his hips. Two bare hairy legs, one foot in a brace.
"That snake came outta nowhere," Bdubs said, eyes wide and playful. "I very bravely stepped in to save my dear friend Scar, and bravely stepped on some rocks for my trouble. I'm lucky to be alive."
"He sprained his ankle," Cleo explained. Etho realized, belatedly, that she was looking in his direction. He stopped staring at Bdubs to meet her amused eyes. "Show him to your room, B. Before he starts undressing you here."
As Bdubs reacted just like they wanted, Cleo returned to stringing together jewelry peacefully, ignoring the blustering man as he dutifully led the way down the hall, Etho at his heels.
---
"They're gone?" Scar asked, poking his head through the folding kitchen doors.
"Mhm," Cleo confirmed. Beads clicked softly onto cord in a repeating pattern as she formed a loop. "We may have to join the other's outside, though. Or at least turn on some music."
Scar groaned. "Oh my god."
Cleo just chuckled. She passed Scar the half-finished bracelet he'd been working on, and they worked together in peaceful silence, the swamp cooler kicking on above. Outside, the afternoon was giving way to evening, their companions busy with their own distractions and tasks, or hypervigilantly stalking the perimeter of the safehouse lot.
"Are you going to tell him what really happened?" Scar asked quietly, tying off the bracelet and holding it up so the bright red beads caught the light.
Cleo's hands paused. She held up a bead herself, frowning as she saw that it was broken.
Ethubs tree parallel + "we're talking about the trees" (2min)
Clipped from Bdubs' recent stream "Bdubs Hungry!" (1:55:37) and Etho's 2012 episode "Etho MindCrack SMP - Episode 49: BdoubleO" (9:32)
Transcript:
[Bdubs] Do you remember how to make tall trees
~~
[Lil Bdubs] So… do you know how to build- how to do big trees? Do you need me to teach you somethin' here?
[Lil Etho] Yeah I know how
[Lil Bdubs] Okay, let's see you try
[Lil Etho] Okay
~~
[Etho] How to make tall trees?
[Bdubs] Yeah
[Etho] Uhh, like- the stone trick? The cobblestone trick?
[Bdubs] It is cobblestone, isn't it?
[Etho] You put it next to cobblestone… pillar?
[Bdubs] Yeah
~~
[Lil Bdubs] *watching Etho* It's great. M'kay. Oh. I like those. *tree grows* Ohh, look at that!
[Lil Etho] Woohoo
[Lil Bdubs] That's so much easier than what I do!
[Lil Etho] What have you been doin'?
[Lil Bdubs] I've been doing this... Uh one, two, three, four. mkay. This is what people show me to do
[Lil Etho] Mhm
~~
[Bdubs] This is what we used to do. One, two, three, four, five, six. And then
~~
[Lil Bdubs] And then I go: oi aei boi boinkh. Like that
~~
[Etho] Mmm
[Bdubs] Then torches
[Etho] You had a science to it cuz if you- if you just did it like cobblestone, I think it would turn into wonky trees usually
~~
[Lil Etho] Sometimes though, it just makes a really strange lookin' tree
[Lil Bdubs] Strange is good
[Lil Etho] It looks like a regular tree but, really long
[Lil Bdubs] Oh *laughs*
[Lil Etho] *chuckles*
~~
[Bdubs] Alright I'm gonna just bonemeal this, see what hap- Boh! Ohh!!
[Etho] Uhhh yeah yeah. That's not terrible
[Bdubs] Euugh! Eugh, no
[Etho] Not great
[Bdubs] Nope. That's not it
~~
[Lil Etho] Oh I see
[Lil Bdubs] That did somethin'
[Lil Etho] That works too, yeah
[Lil Bdubs] It's not as great as yours. Yours is bigger
[Lil Etho] Mine's a little bigger, yeah. *laughs*
[Lil Bdubs] Look at the trunk right here! (*Etho laughing*) Holy cow man! Massive
[Lil Etho] Yup
[Lil Bdubs] I love it
[Lil Etho] We're talking about the trees
[Lil Bdubs]
[Lil Etho] Yeah
[Lil Bdubs] Oh right! Right yeah. Talking 'bout trees… *giggles*
[Lil Etho] *chuckles*
what are your thoughts on bdubs and etho working on the game together……. on tangos stream etho was so quick to mention that bdubs would also be working on it arghhh it reminds me of the mindcrack nether hub and boiling frogs
i mean needless to say im deeply enthralled by it. fascinatingly on tango's stream etho mentioned that he and bdubs were talking about it last season so it's cute that this is like a long term plan of theirs to work on it together. they are so. so.
actually there's also this crazy moment from bdubs's stream yesterday where they're talking about it
bdubs: you're not going to have a forest dimension, are you?
etho: we could have a forest
bdubs deferring to etho - after all it is his game - and etho deferring back to bdubs - because it's a project they're working on together
anway whateverrrrr i don't even care. i love when they do projects together i just hope this doesn't fall victim to their curse where shared projects don't get finished because the season ends too soon :(