Chapter Text
Bdubs' chest rose and fell with harsh, ragged breaths. Still, his lips curled into a victorious grin, and his eyes sparkled with pride.
"Feeling better?" Etho asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Way better!" Bdubs joyfully responded, and the brightness of his attitude was almost enough to ignore the streaks of fresh blood on his clothes.
Etho shivered at the sight, finding it off-putting, but not enough to abandon the other. No, not after this. He'd already spent hours side-by-side with the other, unknowingly isolated and shepherded by him, yet Bdubs had put off the mounting bloodlust until he could sate himself elsewhere. His heart twisted in his chest, and at a point unknown to even himself, Etho found that such an act of devotion was endearing to him, no matter if those actions had ended another.
"That's good," Etho mustered up, and he found that he meant it—he just didn't know in what way he meant it.
"Sure is! That boogeyman curse can't take down ol' Bdubs!"
Blissfully ignorant of every thought swirling around Etho's head, Bdubs plopped down onto one of the logs of the trees that Etho had felled with a happy hum. His tune alternated between an open-mouthed song, a whistle, and a close-mouthed hum, and he chose to busy himself with wiping down his newly enchanted sword.
"Gosh, what do I have to do to have a normal music disc?" Bdubs lightheartedly complained, and that was enough to pull Etho's thoughts out of their spiral.
"Go mining again?" Etho suggested, but in truth, he himself was too tired to return to such a strenuous task, and he hardly wanted to explore by himself.
Bdubs groaned at the suggestion, and underneath Etho's mask, his lips quirked into a gentle smile at the familiar action. He'd already heard enough of Bdubs' complaining about how difficult it was to find diamonds (not that it'd helped when Etho had thrown his gifted diamond straight into lava), and Etho knew how much Bdubs hated being underground. Etho himself didn't mind it, but sometimes it felt safer to him to be underground than to be in the open fields and forests.
"We could..." Etho trailed off for a moment, "...ask around to see if anyone else has a music disc?"
Bdubs snorted; "Like anyone's gonna wanna be around me after that."
Etho shrugged, and after briefly glancing around the area, he sat down on the ground next to Bdubs. As much as his knees hated the action, he'd rather that than sitting on a log that he didn't doubt would leave him with splinters. Besides, he wasn't a fan of the texture aside from what was strictly necessary to touch.
"Maybe there's a village around here," he halfheartedly suggested, no longer truly looking for a realistic solution. It was just a music disc, after all.
Bdubs shook his head and finished his cleaning, setting aside the sword and instead crossing his arms on top of his knees.
"Those villagers would have me broke in two seconds flat," Bdubs sighed.
Etho snorted, and from his spot on the ground, he realized he was looking up at Bdubs instead of down. That tickled him to think about—constantly used to being taller, Etho was always so used to seeing Bdubs being the one to tilt his head up to catch his gaze. Now, though, it was him looking up, and it occurred to him how lovely the sight was. The night sky glittered with stars and planets that were so distant they seemed like color-tinted stars themselves, and the waxing crescent sliver of the moon behind Bdubs curled around his head like an odd hint of a halo.
"Do I got something on my face or are you just happy to see me?" Bdubs teased, his tone just as bright as the moon above him.
"Just thinking," Etho languidly replied with another shrug.
Bdubs huffed, and Etho thought about how warm the sound of his laughter was. Sure, the night air was cool enough to make him shiver, and he figured that they were on the cusp of winter, but Bdubs alone could act as a furnace for them both. He always seemed to run hot and used that to his advantage when Etho failed to mention how cold he was. There were many times when Etho's cold, trembling hands had been cupped by Bdubs' much warmer hands, and he'd been allowed countless times to press his cold feet against the backs of Bdubs' legs when they'd laid together at night. His laughter warmed Etho from the inside out, and sometimes he swore that one smile from Bdubs could melt snow.
Brilliant, bright, burning Bdubs.
"Still thinking?" Bdubs asked, his voice and gaze softer—fonder—just from looking down at him.
"Yeah," Etho mumbled.
Just like a star.
Bdubs slowly reached a hand to Etho's mask, hooking a thumb underneath the fabric and pulling it down with an unhurried pace. Etho slowly blinked up at him, almost feeling the prickling of anxiety at such an action, but he'd never had to worry about judgement from Bdubs. Not with this, at least.
"Beautiful," Bdubs murmured.
Etho let his eyes fall shut, and Bdubs' hand moved to cup his face. A rough thumb caressed the messy patch of scars underneath his eye, trailing from the bottom of his eye down to where the jagged scars cut into his lip and ended at his chin. Etho could smell the leather of the sword handle on Bdubs' skin, and of course, that meant that he could smell the clashing stench of freshly smelted iron and freshly spilled blood.
"Don't gotta overthink anything."
Etho hummed and leaned into the touch. It should've been dangerous, and maybe to anyone else, it would've been, but not for him. He was no rabbit, and Bdubs was no wolf.
"I promise I'll keep you safe 'til the end."
He was merely a fox lying in the den of a well-trained dog, but no amount of training could prevent his tricks, and no number of tricks could take the loyalty out of the dog.
"I love you," Etho finally said, and with one simple smile from Bdubs, he was kept warm.
He just hoped Bdubs would be able to forgive him after everything ended.