"You know, I've always wondered, what's up with this whole situation?" He asked out of the blue while they were on yet another trip to find diamonds.
They were in strip mines next to each other, close enough to be heard, but far enough they weren't overlapping on their search.
"Hm?"
"The mask, you got like, really bad scars or..?"
"Everyone always wants to know." Etho commented wryly.
"You don't have to tell me, it just invites questions you know." Joel threw back from the other side of the wall.
"Yeah, yeah. Wanna know the real reason?"
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Course."
"I have a terrible poker face, no one would take me seriously if I stopped wearing it."
"Seriously?" Joel laughed.
"Hehe, yeah."
"Pff, man you know you coulda said you had really sick scars or something and I would have believed you." Etho could hear his grin.
"Who's to say I don't?"
"You."
"You have no way of knowing if I was telling the truth."
A pause.
"Actually, I do." Joel sounded so proud of whatever knowledge he had acquired.
"Hm?"
"I can feel it, apparently the soulbound thing is like a really good lie detector."
"Hm." He paused in his mining. "Tell me a lie."
"The streak in my hair is natural."
Etho felt a strange sense of wrongness through their bond, huh. So it was true then.
"Weird."
He went back to mining silently for a bit before Joel interrupted the silence again.
"Can I see?"
"See what?" He had a suspicion he knew what.
"Under the mask," came the expected response. "You've got me curious now."
"Hmm." He couldn't think of a single person he'd ever taken off his mask around, it's not that he was actively hiding his face, it just never really happened. Bdubs had been begging for years now, and he'd made a point to never show him because he thought it was funny..but? Hm, well. Joel was definitely the bragging type, but it would be funny to see Bdubs pouting when he found out he'd missed his opportunity.
"I don't see why not."
It took Joel a second to process before, "Wait- Seriously?"
"Yeah, sure."
Etho turned to the wall of the strip mine separating the two, opening it up with his pick.
His wide eyed soulmate was standing on the other side.
Seeing him seemed to snap Joel out of it, because suddenly he was eager, watching intently.
"How bad can your poker face even be that you'd hide it all these years?"
Despite himself he could feel a smile creeping up that he tried his hardest to stop. "Pretty darn bad."
"Pff, lemme see then."
Etho reached up a hand towards his face, set it on the rim of his mask and took a deep breath. He hadn't been trying to hide anything, but it had still been so long since anyone else had seen his face, it felt important somehow.
Slowly he tugged down the edge until gravity left it hanging around his neck, then he looked back up towards Joel.
His soulmate was strangly silent. He'd expected a quip, a comment, anything. Instead..
-
Joel couldn't help but stare.
Etho was standing in front of him, mask down and-
And-
He was strangely adorable???
It felt weird to say about his soulmate, he knew the guy was a massive dork, but the freckles and the little smile that was showing off a gap in his teeth really drove the point home.
This was the guy everyone was so afraid of??
He'd felt the threatening aura himself, but right now he couldn't picture this guy doing half the things he'd done in previous games.
As he stared a nervous smile grew on his soulmate's face and he looked away.
He should probably say something right?
But- But he couldn't think of anything to say??
How should he articulate that he thought he would look like just some guy under the mask, not like this?
The scar from his eye drew past where the mask had left the lower half of his face slightly paler, marking about halfway down his cheek with a pink line.
Sparse freckles decorated his nose and cheeks, clear against his pale skin.
And of course, the off center gap in his teeth, that both fit and clashed against his image of the man.
"Who gave you the right to be adorable!?" He was almost offended, how dare he be feared while looking like this??
Joel had to work for his threatening aura with unhinged behavior, meanwhile this guy could giggle like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar around someone and have them still cowering when he wanted them to.
How? Was it just the mask? Was it his reputation?
And oh! He was cute when he blushed too, this is just unfair! How did he get landed with someone this cute?
"A-ADorable??" His soulmate stammered, caught by surprise, and oh yes, he was right about his poker face.
It was almost impressive how expressive his face was when not covered by a mask, what was usually college textbook level was more like a children's picture book in how easy it was to read.
"Definitely, you are unfairly cute." The blush across his soulmate's face only grew, it was fascinating to watch. He saw the exact moment it reached the point it would be visible if his mask was on.
"I- I don't- Am I?!" He looked oh so confused, "I never-??"
He couldn't help but laugh at the pure bewilderment he was witnessing, which set off Etho until they were both giggling in a strip mine deep deep underground, absolutely zero diamonds richer and several hours down on time.
Later when he inevitably bragged about it to Bdubs, he was frantically asked what his soulmate's face looked like, to which he responded it was very "cool and tough-looking" a lie that was so see through that Bdubs just pouted angrily at him, grumbling about how he missed his chance.
