He was furious.

For you to ghost him out of nowhere? No signs, no maps, no book detailing what might’ve happened. That wasn’t like you, no, you've always made a point to send a signal of where you were. He'd grown to tolerate and even look forward to your messages, so to suddenly stop immediately got his attention.

His shoulders moved in sync as he rowed to the coordinates of your last known house in a hurriedly-made boat.

Herobrine fell into repetition as his mind wandered through different possibilities and explanations of why you started cold shouldering him again, but he shied away from one blaring possibility he refused to accept.

A row of oak trunks loomed into view and Herobrine’s vision zoomed in on it. It was a farm and a house appeared behind it, surrounded by a few coups for cows, sheep, and chickens. Your door was wide opened and Herobrine jumped out of his boat, hurrying inside for fear something had happened.

“Hello?” He called out. Your space was dimly lit by your half tainted glass and your furnace was cold, suggesting you hadn’t cooked anything in while. Herobrine’s eyes swept the room, “Where are you?” It was clean, unusually so. You always had a few things lying out at all times as you whirled from one thing to another, claiming there was a usage for everything.

Some remains of netherwart were scattered, but led upstairs. He took the stairs two at a time and rounded the corner to your room. He stepped inside, opening his mouth to ask, “Are you oka-” before he stopped.

The sight of you lounging halfway off your bed upside down greeted him. A dopey smile sat on your face as you drawled out, “Heyyy.”

Herobrine stared at you in disbelief and blinked, “What are you doing?”

Your grin grew sharper as you swung your legs to the side, falling onto the floor and sitting up. ”My head hurts.”

His eyebrow raised, “And hanging upside down was supposed to help?”

You shrugged and stood up, I thought it would, but now my head hurts worse.” “Be careful getting up.” Herobrine sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head and turning around.

A mass smashed into his back and he stumbled forward, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

He was met with the sight of your legs wrapping around his neck and he looked down, your face was swinging by his legs, your lips curling into laughter as you failed to stifle your giggles. “I wanted to body slam you.”

His hands gripped your ankles and tried to pry them apart, “GET OFF ME!” He demanded, your uncomfortably warm skin was radiating and sinking into him. You shook your head in stubbornness and mumbled against his calves, “You’re cold, feels nice.”

Your breath tickled his hairs and you let go of him. He whipped around to you already standing up and demanded, “What did you eat?”

You looked away from him and your smile slid off your face, somberly admitting you’d been brewing and used the netherwarts he gave you half a season ago. “I think I left them out too long and they fermented in the basement.”

“Don’t give me that look.” You snapped. Herobrine grinned softly, but that soon disappeared as you sprinted past him. Herobrine straightened and turned around quickly, able to catch your fleeting form disappearing over the banister.

Herobrine lunged to reach your ankles but he missed and tumbled over the edge. He tucked his legs in and braced. Rolling and jumping up to continue chasing you. He raced out the door and slammed into your back, causing both of you to fall over.

The dark haired man recovered quickly and locked his arms around your torso, wrapping his legs around yours in tandem. You blinked, dazed and dizzy from the fall before you shook your head to clear it.

“Why did you run?” He sighed, breathing heavy to catch his breath.

Catching your look at his arms he warned, “Don’t you even try.”

“Rookie mistake babes.” Those were your famous last words before you proceeded to unabashedly grab his forearms and push down while simultaneously kicking your legs.

“StOP STrugGLing” His voice cracked as he tried to restrain your attempts to escape.

Your right arm came free and you nailed his chin with your elbow. That was enough for him to loosen his grip in shock and you took the advantage, managing to wiggle your way out of his grasp and scramble up.

You inhaled sharply before sprinting away from him towards a tall acacia tree. You barely made it two steps before a shadow loomed behind and you were tackled to the ground. Your neck was tilted up by Herobrine’s elbow and your legs once again, were trapped by his.

A good ol’ rear-naked chokehold. You never should’ve told him about it.

Your arms flopped to the side and you sighed, giving up and relaxing into the grip. “You given up yet?” “Yes.”

A few seconds of silence passed before you inhaled and asked, “Have you seen the void?”

Herobrine sighed in relief, “Yes, why?”

“Have you seen beyond the void?”

He shifted a bit, loosening his grip on your head, “What do you mean?”

“I….I die, you know that, you’ve seen it. I- I find myself floating in a pool of nothing afterwards. Nothing above, behind, or around me. There isn’t even a ground below me to stand or sit on. It’s….disorentating and…why I don’t like being…around people, it’s..overstimulating I guess.”

The sun was already setting, painting the sky in a striking ombre of orange and blue. It was a kind of peace neither of you had felt in a bit, nothing disrupting you two but the sheep bleating.

The sun slowly sank beneath the waves and you waited until the silence grew thick. Clearing your throat, “You know Zion?”

Herobrine took his time before answering with a hesitant, “....No?”

You groaned in relief and burrowed impossibly deeper into his chest. “Good, he’s being a pain.” He tilted his head to the side and asked, “Who is he?”

“A Drowned who has it out for me, I swear to the void below.”

He murmured in your ear, “Right. The potion wear off yet?” And your head snapped to face him, “Don’t you even start.” You warned. Herobrine grinned sharply before rolling over, tucking you under him and you bit his arm.

He let out a loud, “OW!” and his full weight crushed you.

“I can’t breathe.” You wheezed. “Why’d you bite me?”

“Why not?” Herobrine let go of you and pushed himself up into a plank position. “There is something wrong with you.”

“Then there must be something worse with you for sticking around.” You teased, flicking his nose. He hummed in content and you continued, “Admit it, you missed me.”

He sighed, “Am I not obvious enough?”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He lowered himself to the ground and flopped on you, mumbling into your shoulder, “Why have you been avoiding me?”

You glanced to the side, your eyes zeroing on the shadowy, moving objects moving in the dark. The moon broke from the clouds and light shone down, revealing the rotting corpses of the shumbling zombies and the empty husks of the skeletons.

A few seconds passed and you realized something, all of the mobs were staying away from you two. Your eyes slid to his face, his eyes already staring at you, waiting and watching for your response.

You sucked in a quick breath as you stumbled your way through explaining, “Well, I just- I thought it would be a lot more difficult? per say to talk to you if I…told you about the err, abyss and I thought avoiding you would..help me..pull myself…together.” You finished, uncertainty in your tone.

Herobrine’s feet dug into the grass as he pushed himself up a bit, his face leveling with yours, “We didn’t have to talk about it right you know.”

You chuckled softly, “I do now, pickleman, tad late with that announcement.” He groaned and rolled his eyes, “Aether, I hate that nickname.”

“I know that too.” You poked his forehead and he huffed in tandem.

You rolled your head to look at the dark sky, watching the stars slowly move past and listening to Herobrine’s breath even out.

.

.

.

The moon had reached its peak in the vast space above before you spoke again.

“I made a new friend, he’s such a diva.”

Herobrine surprised you with a hum, prompting you to continue and letting you know he was still awake. “He’s an admin in another server, acts like a bit of a brat, but honestly, he’s kinda chill at times.”

You looked at him and mumbled, "I’m sorry for avoiding you.”

He cracked an eye open and whispered back, “Just talk to me next time.” Tilting his head down to burrow into the crook of your neck. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion before a sharp pain jabbed you in the same spot.

His head raised from the spot and your hand replaced it, feeling indents that hurt just to graze. You could already imagine the bruises that would form the next day, “What the nether dude?!”

“Payback, carpet-tile.” He shot back, fire in his voice but he was already pushing your hand out of the way and slotting his nose in the same spot. His breath tickled his inflicted injury but his cold skin helped soothe your already inflaming skin.

“We’re talking tomorrow and finding you a better place to live.” He mumbled, his voice cracking. “Or…” You pushed yourself out from under him slightly, “You could move in with me?” His sleep-addled brain took a few seconds to catch up before his eyes shot open and he sat up quickly, leaning on the back of his heels, “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying maybe you could move in with me? Like, having a permanent home. I have a spare room and we wouldn’t need to worry about where the others is if we both have a checkpoint to start with. And it’s an island, not a lot of people visit so it could be a nice refuge of peace for you and I-” You stopped your rambling and stared at Herobrine.

He was staying quiet and just watching you, like he was searching for something past your skin, hoping to steal a glance into your soul. You turned your head to the side, but kept your gaze on him, “Are…you okay?”

He shuffled forwards on his knees a bit silently and before you could start laughing at him, he stood up and grabbed you, hoisting you up by your armpits and spinning you around in a circle. He laughed loudly with complete happiness etched on his face, “YES! I would love to move in with you!”

You braced your hands on his arms and pleaded, “Put me down you freak, I’m getting dizzy!”

He stopped immediately and set you down, dragging you into your house. He ignored the stairs and went straight for your couch, whirling you in front of him to fall down first before he followed suit and squished you against the cushiony back.

You let out an, “Oompf!” as his arms dug under you to entrap you and press himself further into you. “We’re talking about this later but now, we’re sleeping. I wanna keep this feeling going as long as possible.”

“You’re a simp.” But even as you chuckled nervously in bewilderment, one hand freed itself and slid into his hair. Threading through his locks in calm repetition and he sighed in contentment. You look up at the ceiling, your tired eyes blinked ever so slowly before they finally closed, your hand stopping its movement and you breathing evening out.

You felt one last squeeze from his arms as your mind drifted to dreamland.

Bonus scene cause I’m a fucking whore

Le next morning

Herobrine woke up on the floor, his eyes blinking in repetition as his mind started clearing away the cobwebs. He looked up to the couch and you weren’t there. He shot up and glanced around wildly, “Relax babes, in the kitchen.” Your voice floated out and his head snapped to the source.

You were smiling softly with a plate of eggs and pork chops in hand. He shuffled his way over to you and leaned over your shoulder. You stabbed a piece of chop and lifted it to his face. He stared at it for a bit before connecting the dots and tearing it off the stone utensil.

“We should just get married.” He mumbled through chewing and you snorted, “Yeah, we’d make a great couple, pumpkin.” You patted his cheek and continued eating. Herobrine slunked away from your chair to sit across from you.

Silence filled the gap comfortably and you looked up, staring at Herobrine slightly hunched over his food and you smiled.