Etho felt great!

Well, maybe "great" was a stretch, but he felt ok! And it was a good ok too, not the "fine" you mutter to someone when the polite "how are you?" comes along. It was genuinely a decent "ok", as a: he was nervous, but he could do this- "ok".

It was presentation day.

He was fine with it, really. Iskall was giving the whole presentation verbally, and all he had to do was stand and click the button at the right time! If he was lucky, they would have a laser pointer too he could wave around a little too!

And he wasn't worried about the presentation, because Iskall was great at them. They had been part of a personal project with Grian and Mumbo (that they bragged about a lot) and were the salesperson for all of the deals they made of- well whatever they did. Something about the desert? Etho wasn't sure.

"Today is going to be ok." He whispered to himself, adjusting his mask in the mirror and adjusting his hair a little more to the side than normal. He didn't have to get ready for it yet, but his hair out of his face was a little more confident than usual, almost to prove to himself he was gonna be just fine!

Etho set up the coffeemaker, waiting for it to brew slowly, and opened his computer on the opposite counter. Few emails, mostly from teachers, but only one caught his eye. An announcement from the Environmental Science professor, about all of the presentations going that day.

Today was not going to be okay.

It really wasn't.

"You're pacing." Doc stated as he walked out of his bedroom, blinking slowly, unamused. "Only I do that. Stop it."

"Yeah well maybe it's rubbed off after all this time." Etho quipped back. Too fast. Too panicked.

"Woah man whats wrong?" Doc woke up a little more, trying to be there for Etho.

"Email."

Doc raised an eyebrow.

"Public speaking." Etho added. "Thing. The earth science thing."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Doc knew about Etho's social anxiety- well everyone that had spent more than a few seconds with him knew; It wasn't much of a secret- but Doc wasn't really sure how to help.

"I thought Iskall was doing all of the presenting?"

"Was. Now-.." Etho's words cut off. "Not."

Doc wasn't sure what to say, especially because things weren't really clear yet. Was Iskall sick or injured? Did the teacher say something? Any sort of fight or argument? Too many possibilities.

"Can you talk to Iskall about it?" Doc offered. It seemed to calm down Etho a little as he slowed his walking, thinking it over.

"Yeah- yeah I can. Thanks." Etho stopped pacing. That was a start.

He pulled out his phone and started typing, probably to Iskall, and a few minutes later, he spoke again.

"Ok Iskall's meeting me at the cafe." Etho said. "I'm gonna get ready and head over before class."

"Do you want me to be there for you? During the presentation in the crowd?"

"Oh please no-" Etho said quickly, before stopping himself to sound a little nicer. "I mean uh, please don't. Knowing I have friends in the crowd would make it worse. We're already combining with the other classes and people I know might be in those."

"Ok. I won't go." Doc said. "Goodluck then."

"Thanks. I'll need it."

And as tho rushed out of the house with his bag computer, and headphones around his neck, Doc noticed a steaming cup of untouched coffee ready on the counter that Etho forgot.

Easier for him then, he supposed.

----

It was a calm morning at the cafe. Bdubs was a little salty that he had to take over the morning shift of Grian because of "last minute business" that Grian would never even try to explain, but other than that, it was nice.

He made himself peach tea, and leaned against the counter, ready for the day ahead. Keralis had promised to be there as soon as he could, but was having car troubles that were taking longer than usual.

The bell rang, and he lifted his head to see who it was. They didn't walk to the counter, instead going to a darker corner of the room with headphones on.

Etho.

He waved and grinned, but Etho with a gaze that was strictly finding a seat, didn't notice him.

"Weird." Bdubs thought, frowning.

Etho was tapping the table with one finger, much too fast to be to the pace of a song. Etho hadn't worn headphones in the cafe since the spill; it was weird he was again so suddenly.

"I wonder what the occasion is."

He looked nervous and fidgety, but he didn't lift his head up from the table.

The bell rang again, and Bdubs saw Iskall walking in. They looked less stressed, giving a polite wave and walking over to the counter.

"Hey Bdubs."

"Oh hey Iskall!"

"No need for the customer service voice with me." They chuckled. Bdubs frowned a little- He wasn't trying to sound fake-nice. "I'll take a mint tea and uh-" They glanced over to Etho. "Shoot I forgot to ask Etho what he wanted." They mumbled under their breath.

"He always orders a white mocha." Bdubs spit out.

"Oh ok, I'll get one of those then."

Bdubs typed it in, and while Iskall was swiping their card, he tried to make small talk.

"Etho looks a little sad, do you know what's up?"

Okay, that wasn't really small talk.

"We're giving a presentation for Environmental Science class." Iskall answered. "I was going to do all of the presenting because of his stage fright, and social anxiety, but the teacher said they're grading individuals on presenting, meaning that all members of the group have to talk."

"Oh."

"It's actually what I'm here to talk about. We have to divide up talking points. Hopefully the free mocha softens the blow."

"I'll put extra whip on it." Bdubs said, and Iskall looked up for a second.

"No charge or anything," He quickly added. "It just-.. might make him feel better?" He didn't mean for it to sound like a question, but Iskall smiled anyway, nodding.

"Thanks dude, that's nice of you."

Bdubs, not sure what else to say, just nodded and turned around to make the drinks. He saw Iskall walk to the table Etho was at from the corner of his eye, and Etho pulled down his headphones to his neck before probably speaking. It was hard to tell with the mask sometimes.

"Dude, I just- can't," Etho whispered, not that quietly. Bdubs didn't want to say he was eavesdropping exactly, but there wasn't much else to listen to while did the orders.

"Etho, I know this is terrifying, but you'll fail if you don't try. A 50% is better than a zero, and that's on the pessimistic scale." Iskall reasoned. "She's not going to give you a D if you stutter."

Etho gulped, eyes glued to the table.

"It's not-..." He struggled to word it, but Iskall was patient.

"It's not about the grade. Well, sort of is, but mostly-" Etho took a breath, and lowered his voice as if was suddenly afraid everyone was watching him. Bdubs looked away, and kept working on the drinks. Iskall's was done now.

"Everyone is going to be staring at me. My heart is beating faster just thinking of standing up there."

"Maybe caffeine isn't the best for you then-"

"No!"

Etho froze, aware how loud he said. Few people even glanced in his direction, and he couldn't see Bdubs look up from where he was sitting, but he curled in on himself even more.

"No, I need coffee. I forgot mine at home."

"Ok, listen, Etho." Iskall started, "We have a few hours until we have to be there. All of the cards of doom are already written, so we will sort out which slides we each do and divide them up, and then practice until our turn. Ok?"

"Ok."

"It's gonna be fine, and the only thing that's going to be a problem is your nerves, and we have hours to get them under control, alright dude?"

"Yeah." Etho breathed out, "Yeah ok."

Bdubs realized he was starting again, and snapped himself out of it, putting extra whipped cream on Etho's. It wasn't exactly "allowed", but Cleo probably wouldn't mind him putting some added chocolate cookie crumbles on top to cheer up a friend.

"Iskall!" He called out, and Iskall walked over to grab them both. They made eye contact for a second, and nodded sympathetically. Iskall mouthed a quick "thanks" and walked back to the counter, where Etho's chest was heaving, he was clearly breathing deeply. Not that Bdubs was staring or anything!

"He still seems stressed." Bdubs thought, but he didn't have time to dwell on it, because the bell rang and his attention was now focused on that.

"Zed, don't you dare even think that phrase during our presentation." The person walking in said, shooting a glare behind himself to the other lagging behind. "The professor will fail us on the spot."

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Tango!" They respond with a laugh. "Mitochon-"

The first person frowned, scrunching their face up in a scowl.

"That phrase-" They reworded, "-is a good science joke! To get the audience engaged!" They argued.

"You can engage the audience in other ways." They fought back, and their friend dropped it with an eye roll.

"Welcome to Cleo's-" Bdubs started, before he got a good look at the blue haired guy up at the counter.

"Tango?"

The guy blinked a few times, before his eyes widening and a huge grin set on his face.

"Bdouble-O! It's really you! Man, I haven't seen you in months!" Tango exclaimed.

"Yeah! And you dyed your hair? Looks cool!"

"Thanks! Impulse said I looked like Hades, but I don't see that as a problem." He grinned and Bbdubs laughed. He saw the similarity too.

"I for sure thought you said you had the afternoon shift this year though? You kept bragging about it over summer." Tango mentioned.

"Yeah, the schedules are just a mess this year so far." Bdubs lamented, waving his hands around.

"Equipment too? Cleo called for help for the caffeine machine a bit ago, is that still giving you trouble? Sorry I was too busy to stop by then."

"Oh no it's fine, we had another friend fix it. Really with my engineering prowess, we would've been fine either way though." Bdubs grinned, putting a hand to his chest to emphasize it.

"Right, right, prowess." Tango agreed sarcastically.

The other guy was standing a little awkwardly there, not sure what to say.

"Oh right I should introduce you two." Tango grinned in realization. "Bdubs, this is Zed, an old friend I'm honestly surprised you haven't met until now. And Zed, this is Bdubs, a big-eyes buddy with Keralis and me for a matching halloween costume thing one year."

"Oh yeah you told me about that," Zed smiled. "Nice to properly meet cha Bdubs!"

"Yeah, it's always nice to make friends around here! Now what can I get you two? Not that I don't love the chit chat but I wanna stay on top of orders before more people show up."

"Oh, you're working alone?"

"Keralis is having car troubles, he'll be here." Bdubs paused, "...eventually."

"Well good luck dude," Tango said. "I'll take an iced latte, to fit my theme right now."

"And I'll have a caramel frap with extra whip, oat milk, and cookie crumbs sprinkled on the top if you could." Zed added.

Bdubs gave a questioning look to Tango, who shook his head with a shrug.

"Yeah I can do that." Bdubs said, typing it all in and spinning it around to make sure it was right.

"Yup, thanks!"

"It'll be right up!" Bdubs said as Tango swiped his card.

Tango waved quickly, and took a seat at the nearest counter casually, ready to jump up when it was finished.

Bdubs got to doing his actual job, but he still couldn't stop thinking about Etho being nervous. It was probably really nerve racking, especially with the anxiety things Iskall had mentioned. He hoped Etho noticed the extra whip and liked it.

Tango's was easy, even if having something iced was a bit odd in the colder months of the year.

Zed on the other hand... Bdubs kept looking back to make sure he got everything right, and had a bit of difficulty figuring out the order to do everything. It took longer, but he hoped it was okay. It was Zed's fault for making it so confusing anyways.

"Oh! I could go to the presentation and root for him in the crowd! That might help the social fear stuff." Bdubs thought happily. "I just have to figure out where and when this is, can't leave the shop unattended if it's during my shift today."

"Hey Tango, do you happen to know anything about an earthy science class presentation thing today?" Bdubs asked, putting the top on his and putting Zed's on the pickup counter.

"Huh? Oh yeah, me, Imp, Zed, and Skizz are doing that today. Why? You wanna learn about cell splitting by 100 something students?"

"That many really?"

"Yeah something like that; It's a few classes combined for presenting."

"Wow, well yeah I might want to uh, support a friend during it, but they forgot to tell me when theirs is."

"Oh well I got the master schedule here, if you want me to send it to you?"

"Yeah thanks!" Bdubs agreed quickly, and Tango scrolled through to send it.

"So which friend is it?" Tango started with a tiny smirk on his lips. "If you're going out of your way just to watch and support from a crowd you must-"

"Oh it's no one you know probably." Bdubs quickly rushed out. He wasn't really sure why he didn't want to tell Tango. Maybe because he'd get the wrong idea, or because he could tell Etho and ruin the surprise.

"Surprise? When did I make it a surprise? I don't even know if I can go!" Bdubs argued with himself.

"I don't even know if I can go, I just want to check, thanks!" He said before Tango could argue anything.

"Ok see you around man! We gotta get the big eyes back together for a guys night or something soon."

"Yeah, I'll tell Keralis about it when he finally makes it here. See ya!"

"Bye Bdubs, nice to meet you!" Zed waved too, trying to take off the lid to get the cookie crumbs on the top. He was doing it while he was walking; that was bound to end in disaster.

Tango and Zed left, and Bdubs looked at the photo again, this time, actually looking for a specific name.

Iskall Eightyfive & Etho Slab: 2:10 p.m.

"Yes! I can make it." He whispered to himself.

---

"Ok, breathe." Iskall instructed. They were standing behind the curtains of the stage where presentations were taking place, and they were up next. Any second now, the first slide of theirs would flicker onto the projected screen, and they would walk up.

Etho made an exaggerated breath, and Iskall chuckled. If only actual presentations were this easy.

He was wearing a suit, and his hair was combed back into a ponytail that kept it all out of his face, something he was not used to. It was supposed to feign confidence, look more professional, and match with Iskall's bamboo green suit, but it only made him feel even more out of his comfort zone than he normally was. 

"Follow me onto the stage, walk carefully, and then I'll start talking. I have the first 3 slides, then you, just like we practiced. This will be omega easy. "

Normally, Etho would hate the babied talk and over detailed steps, but today, right now? He could admit it was a little helpful to be reassured for the thousandth time.

He was okay. He could do this.

"We got this dude." Iskall said, offering a fist bump which Etho silently accepted.

"Would Iskall eightyfive and Emo Slab take the stage?" The announcer called out.

Etho winced.

"Etho. e-TH-o. It's not that hard." He thought to himself. "People are probably already laughing."

Ok. This was fine. Iskall was walking out, and he was following and-

Wait no he wasn't. His feet weren't walking. Shit.

Iskall got to their spot, and shot a worried glance over to where he was standing, slyly motioning their hand for him to follow.

"Come on you bastards, move." Etho thought forcefully, and despite how much it made his heart race and his palms sweat, he walked onto stage stiffly, his eyes refusing to look at the crowd to his side.

The first thing he noticed were that the lights were really fucking bright. Like, oh god. How did people even see up here before? Wouldn't someone have requested to turn them down by now?

Iskall introduced the presentation and their name, and Etho said his name after.

"Did I stutter? I feel like I stuttered."

Etho really wished he could hear what Iskall was saying other than noise, but his hands were sweating and heart was racing, and all he could do was count the cards in his hand until it was his turn to read off the information. Iskall was already doing much better than him, rarely looking at the cards in their hands and looking at the audience more than Etho could make eye contact with someone in a lifetime.

They made it look so easy.

3 slides later, it was Etho's turn to talk.

Oh shit, what was their topic again? He barely could remember what class he was in. Thank goodness they made cards to read off of.

He managed to say the words without stuttering- scratch that, only stuttering when he had to flip the card- and got to the end, and beside the fact that words were deadpan and he wasn't even sure what he was saying, he thought he was almost mediocre!

When Iskall took over again, the relief was almost audible. Good thing he had mastered silent breathing, or the audience probably would've noticed the sigh all the way to the back.

Etho flipped through the next cards, the one's clearly labeled "Iskall" with green pen, so he would know the cues to talk. He flipped through them while Iskall talked smoothly and confidently, trying to mentally prepare for his next line. Not that he ever could fully, but breathing was helping a little more.

His hand relaxed a little too much though, and a card or two or three slipped out of his stack.

"Oh crap." He inhaled quickly, and Iskall clearly heard it with the millisecond pause and a flick of a glance to Etho, and then the ground where the cards were. They did it all without pausing their line. Impressive honestly.

Etho couldn't just pick them up, not in front of everyone like this! Not with the chance that he screwed that up too and dropped more, or that he tripped, or his pants ripped or a multitude of other things that could go horribly wrong if he attempted it.

Clutching the rest of his cards much more firmly he figured out that he lost 2 of Iskall's cards and one of his own, that only meant he had to remember one card of his, and hope Iskall gave a clear cue for when they were done.

They practiced for hours! He could do this! He could remember one card of his.

Remember one card.

In front of a huge crowd of people.

All staring at him.

On the spot.

Without being able to read off the slides next to him that were too slanted to make out words.

"The professor is right there, staring at us. At me." He thought, and gulped.

Iskall, thankfully, did give a clearer cue when they were done, looking at Etho with a slow blink during their last sentence to signal it.

Etho's eyes flicked to the screen above them, seeing what he assumed was the green slide with the plant cell on it. It was hard to tell from this slanted angle.

It was his turn to talk.

"So uh, mitochondria right?" Etho tried, the weak joke hopefully softening his random filler until the next slide. "We've all heard of it from high school, or uh middle school for some of us. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." He chuckled a little bit, and Iskall smiled nervously too.

There were a few polite chuckles, and a full few real ones.

Someone from the crowd cackled, probably at the joke, but Etho felt like it was directed at him, and that absolutely raised the anxiety that was already coursing his veins worse than adrenaline ever did.

His heart was racing too much to be healthy.

"Yeah, so, plant biology is very different from mammals obviously, and throughout our extensive research, we found that fungus actually connects to us more than plants. Yeah weird right? The thing in the middle is more of a cousin than the fruit you hopefully eat."

Oh that was dumb. Really dumb. It wasn't even a joke! And hadn't Iskall already mentioned something like that? Or were they going to mention it later? Why couldn't he remember? DIDN'T HE MAKE THIS SLIDE??

Iskall, maybe out of pity or just the realization that he wasn't going to get anywhere without the cards, switched the slides to the one etho had a card for.

Thank-fucking-god.

The rest of the presentation was-... palatable. Nothing flashy, nothing for an over the top A+, and mostly importantly, no more painful screwups. Etho still stuttered, and still winced internally when he did, but by the end of the presentation, his heart seemed to have given up on raising so fast and he calmed down more. Physically at least.

---

"That was painful."

"Hey, it's done dude." Iskall sighed, offering a weak fist bump in a sad celebration.

Etho returned it, but it felt pathetic and almost made him feel even worse. Great. Pity. Exactly what he needed.

"Hey Etho! Iskall!" A voice called out outside of the auditorium, waving over as they jogged to catch up. It was Tango and a bunch of his friends that Etho mostly forgot the names of. He would just have to avoid using them.

"No, don't tell me you saw all of that." Etho groaned. He tried to make it lighthearted, a joke to feel better, but the chuckle died in his throat and only made him feel worse.

"Hey it wasn't... terrible." The guy with a huge i on his shirt said.

"He used the joke Tango told me not to say. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." The blonde one said. Didn't Tango also used to have blonde hair?

"Yeah, not my best moment." Etho mumbled, and the guy looked a little guilty for mentioning it.

"At least he said it better than you would've, Zed." Tango said. Zed was his name then. Etho should remember that.

"I honestly think it was great." The i-guy said. "Little rough around the edges, but you both had more information than all 4 of us combined!"

"Thanks," Etho said hollowly. "I think I'm just gonna crash at home. I have some homework to catch up on."

"Sorry Iskall, I hope it doesn't bring your grade down too." He mumbled to Iskall, but obviously the others standing right there heard him too.

"Etho..."

"No no it's fine. 50% is still much better than 0, like you said."

Etho turned away from everyone, mostly to just get away. This wasn't the fastest way home for him, nor did he exactly know where he was going, but walking even just around them felt like too big of a task.

He tried to just walk around the building to get to where he knew how to get home, but that led to some unintended consequences.

Including (but not limited to) running into more people he knew.

"Friends, shit."

Right, friends! He could call them that!

"Heya Etho!" Bdubs noticed him first, then Pearl next to him waved. He really only recognized her from the cafe and only knew her name from Grian. They had never talked before. It was clear they were coming from the presentation room though, the very one he had just left.

"Oh hey," Etho tried to smile a little, even though the mask was covering it, just so Bdubs wouldn't pity him. It was embarrassing enough that Bdubs saw any of that.

"Your presentation was amazing!" Bdubs complimented him, and Etho wasn't really sure what to do. Should he flush in embarrassment that Bdubs saw that shitshow at all, run away for making such a mess of himself while Bdubs and Pearl were watching, or just take it politely.

"You're like, really smart. Winging all that stuff must've been hard too, and the mitochondria joke- well I don't really know why more people weren't laughing. They must have no soul." Bdubs kept rambling, and all the compliments Etho wasn't used to kept him from doubting himself too much. It would be rude too of course.

"Oh uh thanks?" Etho said quietly. "I don't think I was that great though, Iskall carried the presentation part."

"Well not to put them down or anything but I think both of you carried it. It wouldn't be the same without either of you. And the presentation is only half the battle! I doubt Iskall did all the research?"

"Yeah it was cool, man." Pearl added. "I only saw the second half, but Bdubs here told me how you held up a section without cards. I could never. Trust me, English class has tried to make me. Fuck that."

He laughed more and smiled. It was really nice to hear that he wasn't such a screwup with this.

It was a bit of relief that she only saw the better half of it, and that Bdubs didn't think he was too horrible before that.

"I think the part about height and genetics was wrong though." Bdubs started.

"Huh?" Etho was confused, and Pearl looked at him a little weird too.

"5' 6" is a perfectly average height!" Bdubs said. "Where'd you get 5' 9" from huh? You tryna undercut me in front of a crowd Etho?"

Etho laughed, "It's hard to cut you shorter than you are."

Bdubs gasped louder than Etho had ever heard a gasp. Just a Bdubs thing, he supposed.

"Maybe just trying to grow a little? I thought I said calcium helps with that somewhere in that." Etho smirked under his mask.

"Yeah, during middle school ya goof!"

"But aren't you a..." Etho trailed off, insinuating Bdubs was in fact a middle schooler

"Oh HA HA!" Bdubs exclaimed loudly. "This giraffe over here thinks he can just look down on everyone around him!" He looked at Pearl, pointing to Etho with his thumb.

"Well, we both look down on you Bdubs. Literally." Pearl added, laughing too. "Because you're so little."

It was funny, because she was barely an inch or two taller than Bdubs. No one pointed it out.

"You both are assholes, you know that?!" Bdubs yelled with a wide grin that gave it away.

"Hey don't start that with the one carrying you through English." Pearl warned with her own smirk.

"You're not even the- Gem's helping with that shit class!"

"Yeah, and I can tell her to stop that anytime."

"Why you-!" Bdubs grumbled.

Etho was still laughing silently a little, smiling under his mask more than he had in a while. It was nice.

----

Bdubs was wandering the campus after Etho broke off to go home and Pearl had to catch up with a friend he saw. He expected it to be a chill walk around, mostly to procrastinate going home himself and doing homework, and did not expect to see Iskall a second time that day.

"Oh, hey Iskall!" Bdubs waved, stopping for a quick conversation as Iskall noticed him.

"Hey dude," Iskall waved.

"I saw your's and Etho's thingy." Bdubs said. "It was really good! Loved the "of doom" part from the start. Can't guess who added that!"

"Oh thanks!" Iskall chuckled. "And hey uh, thanks for snapping Etho out of that mood, dude."

"Huh?"

"Pearl told me you got Etho to smile after the presentation. I think he needed it. Thanks man."

"Uh- yeah! No problem. It was honestly really good. I wasn't joking when I told him."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure he'd believe me if I said the same."

Bdubs wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he mostly just awkwardly smiled and hummed a little to fill the silence.

"Oh I was going to ask a small favor actually." Iskall continued, and Bdubs looked at him quizzically with a questioning hum.

"Do you think you could talk to Etho more before the next presentation in- well whenever it is?" they asked. "I think it really helped to have a close friend reassure him about it, so maybe telling him beforehand could help his onstage nerves. He just seems to relax around you, man, I dunno. It's worth a shot, if you can, that is. No pressure if you're omega busy though."

"Oh uh..." Bdubs was at a little loss for words, he really wasn't expecting that. "Well I am a busy guy," He exaggerated. Iskall raised an eyebrow. "But if you think it would help, then yeah, I could talk to him. Uh, should I meet up with you guys before it or something?"

Bdubs pulled out his phone. "Tell me roughly when it is so I can check my calendar." He started scrolling through, but Iskall stopped him.

"Oh no it's not for at least another month or two, not anytime soon. She hasn't given us the date yet either."

"Oh ok."

"I can give you my number real quick, to text it when we find out."

"Sure." Bdubs handed over his phone and Iskall typed in their number before handing it back.

"Oh, do you want Etho's number too? He usually forgets to share it with friends. Took me months to get it out of him. Here I can give it to you." Iskall said so casually, as if handing out Etho's number was something he did all of the time. For some unknown reason, Bdubs really hoped that wasn't the case.

"Uh.." Bdubs didn't even have a full answer before Iskall grabbed his phone and started typing it in too. As anyone else would argue, it was his fault for leaving his phone open when Iskall grabbed it.

"Oh." He wasn't even sure he was about to say thanks or not, but Iskall took the half-response as one.

"No problem dude." They smiled, waving casually. "And thanks again, he'll probably really appreciate it. And I do too."

"Yeah." Bdubs breathed out. He could even say a "bye" before Iskall waved and walked away, out of earshot.

Bdubs had Etho's number now.

The thing he had spent so long trying to write down on Etho's coffee cup, and failing at it. He now just had Etho's in his hand.

"Huh."

---

He should've been ecstatic.

Bdubs was sitting on his bed on his stomach, with a pillow under his arms, staring at his phone for what felt like an hour now. It was 10 minutes, but it felt like it!

He had Etho's number. Something he had been desperate- no that's a strong word.... Uh.... yeah it's the only one that works actually. Desperate for, a few weeks ago.

Bdubs sighed dramatically. No one was here to tell him to stop it; He could do whatever he wanted living alone.

"What's with me? Come'on, B-Double-O, stuck on a dumb number?"

He frowned, and picked up his phone again, tapping on Etho's number and the empty contact page.

Set name to: Etho (mocha man)<3

Set name to: Etho Slab (Mocha Man)

A really dumb, really small part of his brain wished Etho had given it to him, not Iskall. 

---------

(5282 words! Damn I need to stop pumping out 5k chapters in 4 days. If my teachers knew this is why all my homework late they'd probably flip.)

Iskall was feeling a little OOC so I added some omega's and some of doom's and it fixed that up!

Well, Bdubs has Etho's number now. (took him long enough. Ignore that I'm the author)

That probably won't be important later or anything.

Have a great day or night guys! (but go to sleep if it's night! Don't make me remind you again!)