Work Text:
"I'll see you guys later!"
As he stopped recording, he leaned back in his chair. Through his headset, he could hear his friends chatting away about some random topic. He heard snippets of redstone talk, and that made him zone out. He double checked to see if he had stopped recording, which he had.
"Bdubs!" Someone yelled into his ear, making him jump up.
"Argh! What!" He asked, he moved his mouse around to find whoever scared him, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, hello, Etho."
"You tired?" Etho asked, his avatar sneaking in front of him, up close. He was laughing a bit, his own voice an octave lower. A sign of tiredness from the Canadian.
He yawned, "Not at all, I gotta edit my video tonight too."
"Awh, you need motivation?" Etho asked, punching him in the game, "I'll be your earworm."
"Thanks, you are a sweetheart."
"Yeah, I'll go take a quick washroom break, be right back."
"...Washroom." He mumbled, "Crazy man." He couldn't help but smile; he never could stop smiling when talking to him.
Someone walked into the room, hovering above him while wrapping their arms around his shoulders, "I'm headed to bed, the girls are asleep."
He turned his head to kiss his wife, "I'll finish up my editing and join ya', honey."
She closed the door behind her, smiling before closing it all the way.
He turned in his chair, opening up Discord to check when the next hermit meeting would be. He saw Etho in the voice channel and joined, knowing that Etho liked to listen to music through Mee6. A big picture of a room showed up suddenly, and his heart dropped.
Should he tell him? How would he even tell him he was pissing right now! No use in calling for him.
He should have turned a blind eye, gone out of the voice group, but he was a tad too nosy for his own good.
His friend for over a decade, his faceless friend whom he had never met. An internet friend whom he had spent countless hours talking to.
They had talked about meeting up 5 years ago, and then again yearly since then, but then Covid spread around right as they finally started making realistic plans. Everything got cancelled, and they stopped talking about it. Etho stayed in his apartment alone, and he had his family to take care of.
So as he watched, silently, and listened to every sound, a door closing made him jump. Footsteps.
First, comfortable black pants, then the bottom of a black hoodie, "Bdubs, I'm back."
He felt his heart speed up; the anticipation, not even Beef knew about this. He felt guilty already; he had seen more than enough, "Etho!"
A face became visible on the screen, a head full of brownish blackish hair, a quite skinny face, clean-shaven. His eyes were tired, but nonetheless, he was handsome. He gulped, "Uh, uhm."
"What did you do, silly?" He heard Minecraft sounds, forgetting all about the game. Etho was probably wondering why he was standing so still, listening to him through the game and not through Discord.
He couldn't stop staring; he felt like a sinner. Like this was more embarrassing to admit than when his parents had walked in on him as a teen, than his first kiss with a girl, and with that boy in elementary.
An embarrassed blush crept up on him, "Bdubs, are you okay?"
Ethos mouth moved while he talked, of course, but seeing a face to a voice he wasn't even supposed to see made him speechless. The way he said his name made his heart skip in a way he hadn't felt in a long time, maybe because he could see every syllable from Etho now.
"I- uh, ugh, your-" He coughed, watching how confusion spread across Ethos face. He noticed how Ethos' posture was quite poor, "You should check your posture."
"Oh, thank you."
There was a moment of silence, "Hold on."
"Bdubs!!!" Etho's camera was quickly turned off, "You! What! You should have told me!! I- I don't know what to say!"
"Well!" He started, "I mean! You're handsome! Pretty! I mean, you're very- what I mean- I'm sorry!" He stumbled over his words, not knowing how to react. "I'll turn- I'm gonna turn on my face cam!"
He turned it on, forgetting how his face was completely red in embarrassment, "Oh god," he noticed, "It's the lighting!"
He let his words die out. Should he hide away?
"Are you angry?" He asked in a small voice.
"Angry? I- I don't know... A bit, I guess. I trust you, of course, but this has become a big deal for me, my face. I mean, you were gonna see it one day, I wanted that time to be special." Etho said, his voice became weary. "Be happy I actually wore clothes."
"I wouldn't be unhappy so to say."
"You- You're something else, man!"
Bdubs eased up, "I know, baby."
Etho took a long breath; he could hear the gears turning in his head, not knowing what he was planning. Who knew what that man was thinking anyway?
"You get ONE time of FaceTime, okay?"
He hadn't expected a sudden meet and greet, "Really?"
"Just make a private call, I don't want any of the other hermits joining, Gem will be so mad at you, by the way." Ethos voice quieted down.
All hope of a session of editing went out the window, as he pulled up his private chat on Discord with Etho, the last message read, 'U up for mc?'
He clicked the call button, "I'm calling! Okay! It's happening!"
Etho chuckled once, "Well, you already saw my face, WITHOUT me knowing, stalker."
"I'm sorry, okay?"
The call was picked up, eyes staring directly at him, while his mind blanked out, "Uh- hi."
"You're so RED, man!" Etho laughed at him, his whole face full of laughter, a mix of nervousness and excitement.
"I am?" He felt his face, "Well, don't blame me! You're pretty handsome, not more than me, though." He lied, of course, Etho would be good looking, he could feel it in his guts from the moment he met him. Beauty followed the soul.
"Don't sell yourself short... Literally." Etho began cracking up again, going off-screen to laugh.
"Oh, FREAKING funny, huh! I can prove I'm 5'10!"
"Stand up for me, then," Etho said, showing back on screen to stare directly at him. Making him nervous.
He halted in his action to stand up, "I don't take commands from you! You should trust my words."
"Oh, so now you don't wanna do what I say? Sounds like someone isn't as tall as they say they are, hmm, Bdubs?"
His heart skipped a bit, "I- I uh, I am." His voice more quiet now.
"You okay?"
He had to look away, "Nothing! I'm fine! Can you uh, say my name again?" He spoke the last part quickly, too embarrassed to say it out loud.
Ethos' face scrunched, "What?-" His voice high, but then he spoke, "Bdubs? BdoubleO? John? Which one?"
He coughed, "Uh! Thank you! That's all, I wanted you to look stupid! Okay, Ha! Yeah.." Hearing his name from Etho was always something he enjoyed, but from Etho AND his face was something else entirely. He was comfortable with his sexuality, of course. He had always been open to girls and boys, and he fell in love with his wife the first time they met.
When he met Etho, he started wondering how his life would be if he had married a man. A thought for the dreamers, a thought he wouldn't make a reality, because he loved his life. He loved his children, his wife, and his job.
He loved Etho as much as he could.
"You like it when I say your name?"
As much as a friend could love him, perhaps he never saw them as only friends, but also not as lovers. His wife knew about Etho; how could she not? And she adored him as well. They would frequently put an Etho Let's Play in the background when making dinner, laughing at the commentary. His wife never had any problems with what Cleo would call his obsession.
"You do, you weirdo." Etho said, leaning back, "Can you say my name?"
"Etho." His eyes scanned the screen for any reaction.
A smile spread across Ethos' face. He scuffed, "Yeah, okay."
A small pause between them, and then a strange question, "Should I buy a better webcam for you?"
"For me?"
"You're the only one who gets to see me, mind you, maybe HD is better for you." Etho said with a slight smile in his tone, "Anything for you."
In their years together, Etho had picked up on his adoration for him, and he had never said anything about it. Slowly, after a long time, it became their norm.
"You should get some rest, Bdubs."
"I should."
His head was tilted while the two men stared at each other. Etho said in a low voice, "This is kinda nice."
"Yeah, it really is."