Chapter Text
Joel woke up on a random Wednesday morning, the scent of Cherry Blossoms and lush leaves flooding his senses. It was at that moment that he decided to finally tell Etho that he liked him.
He wasn’t one to usually have crushes on people, he was never the romantic type in high school, just stayed single most of the time. He only had one girlfriend, that of whom was Lizzie, at the end of school they mutually agreed to call it quits for college. But they are still good friends now.
Joel was happy alone, until the life series began.
The games forced him to create new friends and alliances. That was the only good thing about them, he got to make friendships that would last forever. But then, Double Life started.
When Grian announced that everyone would be tied to a soulmate for a whole season, he wasn’t really happy with it at first. In Joel’s head, this just meant that he could be stuck with Jim the whole season. Until he realised he and Etho were soulmates.
Etho wasn’t the same as everyone else in the server. Sure, he had the rage and bloodthirsty need to kill on red life, but he was also gentle and kind. He listened when Joel vented about feeling lonely all the time, especially in these games. He let Joel cry on his shoulder when the ship was burnt down.
And then, they shared that one special moment.
They were both stuck in the lava trap, seconds away from dying. Joel looked at Etho with tears in his eyes, and said, “I love you, Etho.”. It was pretty corny, but then it wasn’t so bad when Etho pulled down his mask, and kissed him, just as they both died.
And then here we are, 3 years after double life ended, and Joel was still yearning for Etho.
Joel was now on Hermitcraft, and he had spent all his time working on his base. But everyone was taking a small break from building to just chill for a whole week. Joel had no idea what to do.
And then he realised it was finally time to write this letter.
Joel started getting paper and a quill out, he decided he was going to be professional about it. He then got a text on the comms.
XisumaVoid: Hey everyone, just letting you all know that we are having a small catch up at Grian’s base tonight, thought it would be fun to see everyone together again :)
Grian: and that means no messes, i know what you people are like…
Skizzleman: No need to be rude!
Shit, that might get in the way, Joel thought. He then decided that he’ll mail the letter to Etho, hoping he would check the mailbox in time before the party. Then they could talk about it in person.
Joel turned off his watch, and took a deep breath. He knew it might be a hard letter to write, but if he did it now, he wouldn’t have to keep holding on to his feelings.
So he started writing…
Dear Etho,
You probably didn’t expect any letters today, who knows. But I'm here instead, because I want to admit my feelings.
It's been over three years since Double Life, and I still can't go a day without thinking about what happened right before our final death. You know what happened, I know what happened, but we still haven’t talked about it.
You see, that one kiss we shared actually meant a lot to me, more than it should have. I think about it every time I see you, that one moment where our lips touched. What I’m trying to say is that, I want to be more than friends.
I mean, would it really hurt? Everyone already ships us, it would make sense really. Unless you don’t want to, which is totally fine.
I just needed to get this off my chest, it was there for too long.
If you want to talk to me further, just come up to me at the catch up tonight and we can have a private talk about it.
Like i said back then,
I love you.
Sincerely,
Joel Smallishbeans
Joel folded up the letter and put it into an envelope. He headed out to the Mail system and grabbed Etho’s stamp.
He thought about what he was doing for a second. Really thought.
Was this the right decision? Will this work out for him?
There was only one way to find out.