a lump in the throat

Chapter 4

Ex spent the next day at Joe's hermitage. He mostly stopped being skittish when it finally started to sink in that this was real. At first he'd remained apprehensive of Xisuma finding him out, but it turned out that when Xisuma built new farms, he did not joke around with the AFKing.

"I could never go AFK for that long," said Ex. "I would be so bored."

"Xisuma's been working super hard lately," said Joe. "Lots of chunk errors lately. He needs the rest."

As Ex was getting ready to leave, Joe stopped him and asked him a question.

"Would you be okay with meeting Cleo the next time you come over?"

A month ago, his answer would have been a solid no. But Joe had never done anything to put him in danger as long as they'd known each other. And Cleo and Joe were close friends, and Cleo was likely to listen to Joe. But...

"I don't know. I..." He looked down. "I'll have to think about it."

"That's okay. I don't want to pressure you."

By the end of the next day, he made up his mind and messaged Joe. [Evil_Xisuma whispered to joehillssays: Is it okay if I hold off on meeting Cleo for a few days?]

[joehillssays whispered to Evil_Xisuma: Of course!]

[joehillssays whispered to Evil_Xisuma: Whatever makes you comfortable.]

He visited twice more before he asked if he could meet Cleo. As anxious as he was, it was worth it just to see Joe's face light up.

"Yeah! Does tomorrow work? Xisuma's going to be doing admin stuff in Hermitville all day."

"Do you really think I have anything else going on?"

Joe inclined his head slightly. "Fair point."

The next morning, he waited by the portal for Joe to tell him the coast was clear. He had his own portal at his fortress now, so he didn't have to risk going through the often-busy Nether hub.

Joe arrived and he explained that Cleo was going to meet them at the hermitage. "I let her know you're coming. She's a little suspicious, but I'm sure everything will be fine once she gets to know you."

Cleo was waiting outside the hermitage with her arms crossed. She was almost the same height as him, which was intimidating by itself - TFC, Doc, and Mumbo were the only other hermits who came close to Ex and Xisuma in height. She carried no weapon, but her expression was guarded.

"Howdy, Cleo!"

"Howdy, Joe." She turned her gaze on Ex. "Hi."

Ex shifted uncomfortably. "Hi."

"I'm going to go get some food so we can go on a picnic," said Joe, breezing past the two of them. "I'll be back in a few minutes!"

Ex eyed Joe's retreating back with a mixture of murder and desperation. Had he seriously just left him alone with Cleo?

Cleo seemed to be having the same thoughts. She cleared her throat. "So."

"So?"

"Joe trusts you."

"I guess so. I hope so."

"Why?"

Ex shrugged, unconsciously hunching in on himself. "I don't know."

Cleo's mouth twisted - he clearly hadn't given a satisfactory answer. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Um. I can't promise that I'll answer it, but you can ask."

"Why did Xisuma ban you?"

Ex closed his eyes. "I don't know."

Cleo raised her eyebrows. "You don't know."

Ex cringed. "Listen, I know that sounds like I'm hiding something or - or I'm not being honest, but it's the truth."

"Elaborate."

Elaborate? What was there to elaborate? "Umm. I wasn't doing anything, really. I was in the fields by the movie studios and he banned me."

"What were you doing by the movie studios?"

"Nothing, okay? I was picking flowers to get dye because I wanted to make a banner to put on my shield. I don't know why Xisuma banned me. I thought we were on good terms since the end of season five. He hasn't told me and I haven't asked him, alright?" He ignored the hot sting of tears threatening to spill out at the corners of his eyes and crossed his arms.

Cleo's gaze softened and she uncrossed her arms. "Why haven't you talked to him?"

"Would you want to talk to the person who banned you?" It wasn't like Xisuma was jumping at the bit to have a chat over tea with him.

"Okay. Fair enough. I'll hold on passing judgement for now." She stepped forward and held out her hand. "Truce?"

Ex shook it gratefully. "Truce."

Conveniently (a little too conveniently, if you asked Ex), Joe came out of the hermitage with a shulker box in hand. "I've got the food!"

They had a lovely little picnic on top of the mountain next to the hermitage, and Joe and Cleo filled him in on all the goings-on of the Overworld. There were a few world glitches going on in Hermitville, which was why Xisuma was spending so much time there lately. Joe was planning to add some tide pools around the hermitage. Ren had bought a storage locker at Mumbo's Storage Wars and been supremely disappointed when it just turned out to be redstone.

Before long, they'd eaten all the food and the sun was setting.

Joe clapped his hands. "We should do this again sometime."

"How about next week?" Cleo suggested.

"Sounds good to me," said Joe.

"I'm up for it."

"Cool. Maybe we can make a party of it, do some stargazing or something."

Ex hadn't seen the stars in ages. "That would be nice."

"Sounds like a plan," said Joe. "We'll have to find a day when Xisuma's occupied. We can figure out the details later."

They shook out the picnic blanket and packed up the shulker box. Ex lingered behind a little bit and waited for Cleo while Joe went ahead.

"I just want to say thank you," he said quietly, "for giving me a chance."

"You should thank Joe," she said. "He's the one who convinced me to give it a go." She tilted her head. "He really trusts you, y'know. Don't give him a reason not to."

"I won't."