>>Pairings:
-Tango & Evil X
-Xisuma & Evil X

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>>Content/Trigger Warnings:
-Angst
-Hurt/Comfort

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>>Word Count: 1.2k

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>>Other Information:
-Just a little somethin since I'm trying to not burnout while writing One Last Chance. I already have artblock and burnout in art so that's great.

-I gave Iskall they/them pronouns again because Fuck Notch

-Tango is a good friend UvU

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If there was one thing Ex never spoke about, it was
the mental and physical effects the void had on him from being stuck in its grasp for so long

Sure, he had an issue with people leaving him alone for a while, but that was something he could work on fixing. The scars that littered his body from the harsh treatment of the void were only scars now, they held no more power over him.

The void was never nice to the players who were banned there, it was harsh, and in all the cases outside of Hermitcraft. The void would get players in it killed, permanently. Ex was the only person to be banished to the void in Hermitcraft, so he would be the only case known to survive it.

This didn't have any power over Ex after the first few months. He wasn't afraid of dying in there, because he believed there was no chance of ever coming back.

Even after being unbanned, welcomed, and /almost/ forgiven; death was no longer something he was scared of, even if he would not respawn.

The only thing that really affected Ex was the fact that throughout the two years of being in the void, his hearing had faded to the point where he was almost fully deaf.

The void was always filled with mind-numbing silence, if you were in the void your ears would be constantly ringing with no end to it in sight.

So after years of enduring it, the ringing slowly began to fade. One "day" it was loud and painful as usual and the next it was dying down.

He didn't realize the effects it had on him until he was unbanned, when he looked up and could see the happy and excited faces of Tango and Stress, but as their mouths moved he couldn't hear them.

It was really hard to adjust to being unable to hear the people who were ready to forgive you. He learned to read the other hermits lips, though the only issue was going to realize they were talking to him without physically looking at or being by him.

The first person he let know about it was Xisuma, the admin was annoyed that Ex was 'ignoring' him; and through a painful moment of silence, Ex had begrudgingly admitted that he couldn't hear his twin, and that he hadn't been able to hear him in months.

It broke Ex's heart to see Xisuma's expression fall from annoyed to a mix of so many others that just weren't good.

-

It took a while, but the two began to learn sign language and in a matter of a few weeks Ex knew everything he'd need to know to communicate with Xisuma.

The issue was, it was just Xisuma he could communicate with. Nobody else knew he couldn't hear them when they spoke. The only people he willingly told were X and Stress.

That wasn't going to last very long.

Over time, the others were beginning to find out, whether it was an accident or on purpose, everyone began to grasp the concept that Ex was deaf.

Some people were able to adjust to speaking clearly straight away, while others still couldn't get used to changing their fast-paced speaking ways, but were trying their hardest.

Ex was so grateful for all of them trying, but hated that he had to tell them in the first place.

Tango was, surprisingly, the last of the others to find out, but the first to make the effort to find a way to move past it.

-

The red cladded male was helping Iskall with the leaves on their tree. Iskall was the hardest of all the hermits to at-least convince he had changed, so whenever the opportunity came up to help them, he gladly took it.

The server communicator buzzed and Iskall took it out, squinting to read the message that popped up.

[Tango: If anyone's with Ex, can ya tell him to meet up with me at the shopping district?]

"Hey, Ex-" Iskall called out, looking at the communicator while the other continued to do what he was working on.

"Ex?" Iskall turned around and narrowed their eyes, annoyance flashing across their face before they remembered the other was deaf.

A soft huff left the enby and they walked over to Ex, tapping him on the shoulder. Ex flinched before turning around, tilting his head slightly as he raised a brow.

"Tango wants to meet up with you at the shopping district."

A look of confusion flashed across Ex's face before he nodded slightly, slipping on his elytra as he took out a few rockets. He gave a small gesture that he'd be back after finishing up before hopping off the tree and flying down to Iskall's portal.

He slipped through it and headed to the shopping district portal, glancing over at the button and all the chaos happening around it before stepping through the portal.

Ex dusted himself off and looked around, gliding down to the ground as he walked around looking for Tango

The downside to not having the same player coding is that he didn't have a server communicator, there wasn't any way for him to tell Tango he was there.

He flew up on top of the Town Hall and sat down, taking off his helmet and rubbing a hand through his hair as he glanced around again.

-

Night was beginning to hit and Ex was getting impatient, shutting his eyes with a soft huff as he watched the sun slowly set past the water.

A soft thud hit the roof next to him and he glanced over from the vibration of it, eyes moving up and locking onto the blonde's red eyes.

"Sorry I was late! Uh-" Tango hesitantly sat down next to him and paused. Ex watched him curiously before moving his hands.

Ex watched, eyes wide as he realized /what/ Tango was doing.

'I was trying to remember how to do this.' Tango slowly signed, a smile growing on his face as he mentally went through what he signed and realized he did it right.

Ex stayed silent and speechless, staring at the other as tears slowly began to well up in his eyes, getting a look of worry from Tango.

The male began to sign shakily. 'You learned to sign, just for me?'

Tango took a moment to process it before nodding. "Duh, you- wait." He cut off and began signing again. 'You're one of my closest friends, of course I was going to learn it for you." His worried expression turned to a nervous grin.

A surprised squeak left the blonde as he quickly found himself being hugged by Ex, which in itself was already surprising enough, but Ex stayed there; hugging the other tightly as Tango slowly hugged back.

"Thank you" Ex muttered softly, face pressed against the other's shoulder as Tango smiled, hugging back just as tight.

"You're welcome." Tango said back, but paused and pulled out of the hug to sign it instead. Ex laughed slightly and smiled, wiping his eyes as he moved back from the hug.

Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.