ok, i want to preface by saying that as much as i tried to get as much research compiled as i could, these people have known each other for over a decade, and it's likely i've entirely missed something!

i did a little bit of rewatching to refresh my memory, and before 3rd Life, there was a consistent gap that both of them were kind of enforcing. Etho would shyly scoot closer and Bdubs would step back. or Bdubs would get in Etho's space and he'd stumble back. its really apparent watching early hermitcraft s5. even in s7, Bdubs was scooting towards Etho and Etho would run full-on circles around him!

(for my analysis, i chose not to take them bumping into each other as purposeful intimacy. they just keep hanging out in small spaces!)

this, of course, isn't to say that they weren't play-fighting. there's this whole scene in Etho's s7 where they're playing the minigames and they're both trying to be the first to sleep, and they end up chasing each other all over the whole shopping district.

when the two of them are spectating dodgeball in that same episode, there's a brief moment where you can see Bdubs going to sit next to Etho, and his shoes are right at the edge of Etho's vision, but he doesn't move to sit closer or even turn to look at Bdubs.

this isn't really that big of a deal if you look at it from how other people interact. but comparing it to now, where we have an insane amount of clips of them colliding with each other in an attempt to sit together, it's definitely off-putting to watch them be so far apart physically in earlier content.

so, the major closeness is suddenly very apparent once Third Life starts. Etho is So close to Bdubs repeatedly. from the meta, it's probably somewhat from getting used to prox chat. but its very interesting to me how when the setting and stakes change, Etho suddenly gets very clingy, and mostly with Bdubs.

but that doesn't tell us why it's Etho that's the physically affectionate one. from everything we know about Bdubs and how big he loves, we'd really assume that he'd be the one to be all over Etho, instead of vice versa.

i think pre-3rd-life, there was a lot of uncertainty and almost shyness? like, they were still goofing off as that is their default state, but sometimes i felt like there was a beat too long in between roasts and jabs.

so once third life enters the picture, something kind of changes. i think, given Etho's track record of being jealous, it could maybe be a bit of insecurity in that way -- Bdubs and Cleo are instantly teamed as soon as the session begins. and he doesn't really say too much about it, but the fact that one of Etho's opening lines in Last Life was "[the first thing you're going to do] is team up with me" feels a little bit like an indicator.

also in 3L, people didn't really seem to register how quickly lives were going to count down until the deaths actually started, but there was a sense of urgency from the start. Etho has multiple freak-outs about his dark oak tree!! i think that the way everybody was coveting resources kind of switched something on in Etho's brain?? i guess??

there's sort of a newfound intimacy in 3L that, once neither of them protested, kind of turned into their new normal. i don't want to just say that 3L was the catalyst for intimacy in their relationship, or that they're intimate out of being too lazy to change, but i think the high-stakes environment led them both to being a little crazier than usual physically.

and Etho, for all of his tentativeness and weird Last Life shit, is protective. he's so very scared of getting hurt himself, so he goes out of his way repeatedly to get Bdubs safe through other means, but he's still trying to protect Bdubs.

i mean, think of the octo-kill in PL! Etho doesn't want Bdubs to die again. as there always is with Etho, it's definitely somewhat self-preservation (Bdubs is known to be just deranged when he's on red), but he still is doing it to protect Bdubs -- i feel as though it wouldn't be too difficult for the rest of cabincore to kick Bdubs out if he had went down to red earlier, thus keeping Etho safe. it's 3v1, after all. but Etho is a) not thinking that far ahead, and b) not letting that even be a possibility.

in Hermitcraft, the stakes are so much lower, so they have fun killing each other all the time. but Etho still goes to defend Bdubs -- it's very much so "me and (sometimes) our couple of besties are allowed to be mean to Bdubs. no one else!". I am not over Etho repeatedly telling everyone to turn down their brightness.

TL;DR, Etho's a jealous, protective, possessive freak.

i might have more on this later, but for right now i'm gonna leave it here.