Just The Two Of Us- A Hermitcraft/Ethubs Fantasy AU

Chapter Eight

Etho brightened slightly as BDubs walked into the room. "Oh- BDubs! Did you find your friend?"

"Yep. He was training a squire. Fun to watch." BDubs added brightly.

"Cool! Oh, by the way- I'm being forced to go to this thing tonight- a ball- by my mother and I was wondering if you'd come with me to make it more bearable? Stress will be there as well." Etho added hopefully.

BDubs blinked. "A ball?"

"Like- a dance." BDubs raised both eyebrows at Etho's words.

"Ohhh, I know what you mean. Sure! I mean I don't- have anything to wear. Aren't they normally pretty formal?" The brunette added uncertainly.

Etho paused thoughtfully. "Well- I have some spare outfits in my wardrobe next door. You can look through them if you want, I already have my outfit picked out." He gestured to the neatly folded outfit on his bed.

"Oh- are you sure?" BDubs asked, frowning slightly and glancing at the door.

"Yeah, go ahead." Etho said with a shrug.

"Oh, okay. But... wasn't the Autumn Festival a week ago?" The what?

"What's that?" He queried, frowning slightly. We only have the celebration of when the kingdom was founded.

"You know, one of the season celebrations." The brunette said incredulously, as if Etho was plain stupid.

"I'm... afraid I don't." Etho said, confused.

"Well, there's the Autumn Festival, the Winter Celebrations, the Spring Dance and the Summer Festivities. The beginning of seasons is a time to celebrate- new life, new ways of doing things... they're very important." BDubs said, smiling.

"Wow, that sounds- really cool." Etho said, both eyebrows raised. He's so cool, he knows so much about a lot of stuff.

"Yeah. I could tell you about it later, but- when does the ball start by the way?" BDubs added, frowning slightly.

"Uh... in an hour and a half. Maybe two hours. Whenever it gets dark, really. In the ballroom near the throne room." Etho said with a shrug.

"Oh, I better go- find an outfit and get changed then." BDubs said with an awkward laugh, waving as he walked towards the door. "Let me know when you're ready- I don't want to accidentally walk in on you changing."

——

Etho looked in the mirror, frowning slightly. Is this formal enough for Mother? He adjusted the collar of his blazer, sighing. I'll have to hope so. He was wearing a white blouse along with a dark midnight blue blazer (almost black) with gold trimmings and black pants. He also had an oxeye daisy tucked into the blazer pocket.

He fixed the collar of his blazer again, brightening as he heard the door open. "Well? Do I look okay?"

Etho smiled as he turned around. "BDubs! You're back! And you're-" He blinked, mildly surprised. "Wearing a dress?"

"Yep. You got a problem with that?" BDubs retorted sharply.

"No, not at all. You look... great." The prince finished breathlessly.

The boy was wearing a dress that Stress and Etho had made for Pearl (well- Etho had helped Stress make it) before realising that Pearl much preferred wearing suits to dresses. Etho had then thrown the dress at the back of his wardrobe and forgotten about it until now. It was made of forest green silk and it had golden trimmings and embroidery in swirls that reminded Etho of flowers. The skirt was long and flowing, perfect for dancing in, and it had short sleeves as well.

BDubs' frown faded slightly as he smiled. "Really? You think?" The Floran hybrid queried, meeting Etho's gaze.

"Really. Now come on- I need to do some stuff really quick, and then we should proooobably head down to the ballroom."

——

Etho glanced around with a slightly nervous expression as they walked into the ballroom, looking around again.

He could see a few people dancing already- Ren and the one he believed was called Doc, Commander Wels and a blue Slimecian hybrid, and Mumbo and Grian, for example- but he could also see people just talking amongst themselves (at least there were other hybrids- the pair would have gotten some odd looks if BDubs was the only hybrid there).

Scar and a squire called Cub were chattering excitedly about something Etho couldn't make out, and Commander Symmetry was having a conversation with Etho's mother, who looked mildly irritated for some reason.

Etho bit back an awkward laugh as multiple heads turned their way, and BDubs glanced at him with a slight frown. "You okay?" He whispered, and Etho nodded, mildly surprised by the question.

He paused, glancing at the boy next to him. "Would you like to dance?" Etho asked quietly. With me? He added silently, as the music currently playing drew to a halt in preparation for a different tune.

BDubs paused, clearly slightly surprised by the question as well. "Uh... sure. Why not?" The corner of the Floran hybrid's lips twitched into a slight smile.

Both Etho and BDubs took their places and waited for the soft flow of music to begin. Once it started the two took a step forward and bowed. They circled each other, their gaze remaining locked. Etho placed his hand on BDubs' back, the brunette's hand on his shoulder, and their free hands finally met.

Together, they danced to the music, their feet in perfect sync to the beating of his heart. As the song progressed Etho relaxed slightly, and allowed a small smile to form on his lips even though nobody could see it.

He was fully aware of his mother's dark mutterings, fully aware of all the judgemental stares in their direction, fully aware of all of the whispered scornful comments being made about them- but the prince didn't care.

The only thing he cared about at that moment was the boy in front of him.

As he watched BDubs quietly throughout the dance, he began to notice a few things- the way BDubs did a little hop every fifth step, the way the Floran hybrid's beautiful heterochromic eyes were glowing with a mix of excitement and something Etho couldn't quite decipher, the fact that the brunette was humming quietly to himself- and Etho paused slightly as he came to a realisation (well- it wasn't exactly a realisation, but it was more that Etho could finally admit it to himself).

Oh my god, I'm in love with BDubs.

And so the plot thickens (aka Etho isn't oblivious)

Also I used something on the internet to help me write the dancing part because oh my god that was so, so confusing but it's over now lmao

Hope you guys all enjoyed :)

Also also, yes BDubs is wearing a dress because he's cool and screw gender roles amirightchat