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“God, this is so annoying,” Ether groaned, glaring at the command block he had missed the jump on. Again.
“Come on, it’s so easy!”
Ether now turned his glare to Evbo, who stood a few blocks away.
“You’re not helping.”
Evbo’s smile transitioned from his usual playful grin to a smaller, slightly more sympathetic one.
“Maybe it’s just ‘cause you’re tired? We have been at it all day.”
“And I’ve accomplished three more skyscrapers? Something you could have done in, what, a few minutes?” Ether grumbled as he walked to the edge of the temple. Evbo watched him quietly, which was not at all like him. That quietness felt like held-back energy, and Ether gathered why when he flopped onto the edge, his legs dangling down. He had actually managed five, and three of them were actually in the right spot.
Once Ether noticed it, Evbo’s silence was done with. He laughed happily, bounding over and sitting next to Ether. Nudging his arm, Evbo pointed down at one of the skyscrapers.
“One of them is even purple! Or like, more purple than the other ones, at least.”
Ether chuckled and knocked his left foot against Evbo’s right. Their boots made a small clang.
“You’re getting better, like I said you would.”
“Yeah, you just always have to be right, don’t you?”
“Can’t help it, I’m just too awesome.”
That pulled another chuckle from Ether, and he watched Evbo’s feet swing. Ether looked out into the sky. The sun was almost done setting, and if he looked up further, he could see some stars peeking out. It was still nice to see, even though it had been almost a month since he could see them again. More appeared as the sun dipped lower. He turned his gaze to Evbo again, noticing that he was mumbling to himself as he stared down below.
He’d always done that, talking to himself. Ether noticed that almost immediately when they met, but after becoming Parkour God, it seemed he had started doing it more. Not really looking at anything while he did it, just staring off as he talked. Ether wondered where he was going when he did that. He carefully nudged him, and Evbo’s attention snapped to Ether as it always did. It still shook him a bit to have that intense gaze focused at him, at his eyes. It had been that way since Evbo became a master, but Ether chose to believe it was because of him being the literal Parkour God now. That was definitely why.
“I have a question.”
“Oh. Well, ask away!”
Ether tilted his head.
“Why did you choose me? To be your champion? You know I’m not that good, especially compared to you. There’s plenty of other masters you could have chosen, I’m sure. So, like.. why?”
“‘Why’?” Evbo seemed to stop to think, which Ether was glad for. He was genuinely curious. He liked to be cocky about his skills and all, but he knew he wasn’t good enough to be champ- “Because you’re my friend!” Evbo cut off his thoughts, startling him with the shout.
But even more startling than the shout was the genuity with which it was said. Ether, leaned a bit back from Evbo, stared at him, tail flicking behind him. Evbo stared back, a smile on his face, so earnest. Ether ignored the way his cheeks got warmer and regained his composure.
“Uh- Really? Just because we’re friends?”
“Yeah! I mean, mostly.” Evbo nodded to himself. “You’re my friend. My best friend, really. And, you know, I believe in you. I think you need an outside push to improve your skills.” Evbo looked ahead now, gesturing happily with his hands as he continued. “I mean, you could never do a 360° before, but you did it when you had to! And you couldn’t do a four block before, but you’ve really been improving! And you did that whole parkour course to get up here! You’re really talented and cool, you just needed a push, right? To do all that stuff.”
Ether really did not know what to say to that. He couldn’t ignore his warm cheeks anymore. He was glad there was no noticeable change to anyone else, and was extra glad Evbo wasn’t looking at him. His tail swished back and forth, and Ether was tempted to grab it before Evbo noticed it. Instead, he decided to pull his eyes away from Evbo’s side profile and look ahead as well. He adjusted his crown a few times, even though he definitely didn’t have to.
In his speechlessness, Ether searched for another topic that would hopefully not give reason for Evbo to compliment him like that. The sun had fully set now, and all the stars were out. Looking just a bit further up above them, there were swirling colours across the sky. Green, blue, purple, some pink.
He found his new topic.
“Isn’t it sad? We missed out on all of this for so long. People down there are still missing out on it.”
Evbo followed Ether’s gaze, looking up to the sky too. He sighed, leaning back on his right hand, letting his left sit in his lap.
“Yeah, it is. It’s like, right now, it’s just us that can see the whole world. It’s sad, but kinda cool right? That we can just.. share it? Between us. For right now.”
Ether glanced at Evbo and caught his eyes just as he was looking away. Ether nodded.
“Yeah. It’s like, our own thing.”
Evbo smiled.
“And you can see those right? All the colours, moving around?”
Ether smiled now too.
“Yup. It’s really cool.”
“Super cool. I’m glad it’s not just a Parkour God thing. Otherwise I might have to make you like, Co-Parkour God, and I don’t think there could be two at a time.” Evbo laughed, and he said it like a joke, but Ether couldn’t ignore the implications of it.
Evbo wasn’t kidding when he said he made Ether champion because they were friends. He wanted to share it, the privileges and experiences and he chose Ether because he’s who he wanted to share it with. Ether looked at Evbo as he stared at the colours and stars in the sky. There was the indication of loneliness too, though Ether wouldn’t bring it up.
A soft smile on his face, Ether looked back at the sky.
“You know, it got pretty lonely up here before, when I was champion.” Ether furrowed his brows and began to wonder if, now that he was God, Evbo might be able to read minds. At least, his mind. “I was the only one who could get up here, and the old Parkour God was not that involved. He didn’t visit or anything. I’m not gonna be like that. I don’t want you to get lonely too. And I like hanging out with you.”
“I like hanging out with you too, Evbo. And it’s a good thing you’ll be around, because I’m gonna need your help with getting all this together,” Ether gestured down below, and Evbo laughed. He leaned over to nudge Ether’s side.
“You won’t need me too much. At least after a bit. But I’ll still be around! Not having too many responsibilities, at least not having to save the world, is the best. I can finally just chill with my friends and do parkour.” Ether watched as Evbo kicked his feet up and laid back, summoning a pillow out of thin air to put under his head. He stretched out his back and arms with a grunt, careful of his left shoulder. He let out a small huff, blowing some of his golden-yellow hair out of his eyes. It mostly fell right back in place, and Ether snickered.
Evbo patted next to him.
“Come on, you’re gonna hurt your neck if you keep looking up like that.”
“I’m gonna hurt my neck if I lay on concrete without a cushion,” he gestured to the pillow he was using, and Evbo’s eyes went up. He let out an “oh!”, and moved the pillow so his head was only taking up one side.
“There. Lay down dude!”
Ether had assumed Evbo would just summon another pillow, but of course, why would he do that?
Ether sighed and turned forward again, feeling his tail swish behind him slightly faster as he took off his crown and set it down next to him. He ran his hands over his hair, then lifted it as he laid down, letting it splay out behind him as he got more comfortable. Their sides were completely touching, and now Ether grabbed his tail, absently combing through the fur on the end of it.
It was more comfortable looking at the sky this way, he had to admit.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. I also want to thank you for something.”
Ether would have looked at him if their heads weren’t already so close. As it was, he kept looking up but just slightly tilted his head. Evbo probably felt it.
“For what?”
“For being my friend. I don’t think I ever really had one before, and I’m glad you were my first.”
“Oh, um, yeah, dude. Of course. I mean, you were pretty special. Like- cool, I mean. Good. So, yeah.” Ether could just feel the grin on Evbo’s face because of his stumbling response. “You’re being really sappy tonight.”
“Well hey, tons of near death experiences, ascending to godhood, and finally having a chill minute to stargaze just does that to a guy, you know?”
“Not really man,” Ether laughed, and so did Evbo.
“It’s not, like, weird, is it?”
“No, it’s chill. I’m not really great at being sappy though, so I can’t pay you back.”
“Eh, that’s fine. Hanging together is payment enough.”
Ether didn’t know how long they laid there together, watching the sky, before Evbo spoke again.
“You’re really starry.”
“Huh?”
“I can see the stars in you. I saw it before a little bit, but I think now that I’m Parkour God, I can really see them. Like shining.”
Ether couldn’t help it now. He shifted away just enough so he could turn to look at Evbo. Evbo was already looking at him, and for some reason, Ether felt like he had been for a while.
“You-“
“They’re really pretty. There’s so many, and they’re different colours, and they’re really nice to look at.”
Ether felt his cheeks warming again, and by the smile that appeared on Evbo’s face, he could definitely tell. Meaning he could tell every other time. Great.
“T-Thank you. Dude. I uh, I didn’t know I had stars. At least, that many.”
“So many.” They were too close, Evbo could only scan over his face, but Ether could feel that he wanted to look at his whole body. He tried not to think too hard about that.
“Well, I’m.. glad you like them. You’re complimenting me a lot.”
“I could tease you instead if you want? I still remember watching you fail your first jump in Parkour Civilization,” Evbo stated with a laugh. Ether rolled his eyes and looked to his other side to hide his smile from Evbo. He lightly smacked him with the back of his hand, the best he could manage in their current position.
“No? I also remember totally beating your ass in my very first parkour battle,” Evbo laughed harder, causing Ether to laugh too.
“Bro, shut up!” Ether turned back to Evbo, and their faces were about as close as they could get without touching. His first instinct was to jump away, not be too close, but any action he would have taken was completely overridden by him noticing Evbo’s eyes.
They were creased at the corners from his laughing, but his pupils were wide as he stared at Ether. Ether couldn’t see himself with the lack of lightsource, but he could see the stars. Whether they were the ones Evbo supposedly saw in him, or the ones in the sky, he wasn’t totally sure. But they were beautiful.
“I think I can see the stars in you too.”
Evbo smiled. Ether did too. And after about one-too-many seconds, Evbo groaned, looking up at the sky. Ether got confused. Had he done something wrong, or did Evbo just remember something he forgot to do earlier? It was a little hard to tell with him sometimes.
“I’m tired of this,” Evbo sat up, and Ether’s confusion became mixed with disappointment. He sat up as well.
“Of.. what?”
“All this jumping around it!” Evbo looked at him, and there was that intense, a little overwhelming feeling again. “It’s bothering me, and I’m tired of it. Can I kiss you?”
Ether must have misheard that somehow.
“What?”
“Sorry. Crazy switch.” He shook his head a bit and looked back at Ether, much less intense this time. “We like each other, right?”
“Uh. Yeah, we do.”
“Okay. Can I kiss you?”
Okay, definitely didn’t mishear that. It was very clear and very full of intent and Ether’s cheeks were growing warm again. Evbo glanced, but didn’t say anything. Ether nodded.
“Yeah, man.”
Evbo grinned and Ether took a moment to prepare himself to be kissed. With a calming breath, he looked softly at Evbo, and noticed his eyes darting around Ether’s face. Is he nervous?
Evbo squinted.
“Um. Where’s.. you know. Where do I..?”
Ether’s face fell into an unimpressed expression.
“Are you trying to ask where my mouth is?”
“Uh- yeah. I totally can’t see it,” Evbo laughed nervously and scratched his neck. Ether rolled his eyes and tucked his hair behind his ear. Leaning closer to Evbo, he rested his hand on the side of his neck.
“How about I kiss you then?”
Evbo’s eyes widened and he nodded.
“Yeah. That’s cool.”
“Okay.”
So, after taking another second, Ether kissed Evbo. It was a soft one, quiet, and he thought it matched the moment. Evbo leaned forward and kissed him back. It was nice. It felt natural. Ether felt a bit like he was made just for Evbo, and he was happy for it.
After a few seconds, they separated. Staying close for a moment, Evbo then pulled back and pumped his fist in the air.
“Let’s go, dude!”
Ether laughed, and smiled as he watched his God celebrate. His tail flicked behind him, the end hitting the floor, in a way that maybe could have resembled wagging. He wouldn't mind if Evbo noticed this time.