#nebtho

Fic: Once Bitten // Etho x Nebris // E-rated, 18+ // pwp // 27.7k words

Etho crosses paths with a vampire while out on a hunt. He expects a fight to the death, but what he gets is something much different.

Set many years before the events of This Is The End. This work can be read on its own.

Nebris- the name was etched on the silver sword when Etho had gone to check the status of the Death Games'. It had been a while- the last times Nebris had popped up, Etho hadn't been around for it, and he hadn't yet heard of anyone succeeding with a kill on him either. He wanted to change that.

A different tactic could work. The armor and weapons had to be used, but it didn't have to be on until he started attacking, right? He wanted to play it casual. With the hub still under construction, Etho could probably give off the idea that he was casually chipping away at the build, while being able to hold a casual conversation with Nebris. Letting his guard down would certainly help.

After sitting around and making himself busy with nothing, it was only a matter of time before Nebris walked through the portal by chance- and he did. Peeking from around the corner where he chiseled away at the quartz walls, Etho watched Nebris step out into the center of the hub. He wasn't trying to hide- not yet- and caught the other's gaze.

“Oh, hey!” Nebris gave a short wave as he approached Etho, heading up the steps of the east wing. “I was just coming to see if I could like... claim a spot in here.”

“Yeah- yeah, it's not done yet but a few guys already took some spots.” Etho nodded to the area behind him. “Go pick whatever spot, Bdubs will fit it with the system we're planning.”

It was only a few moments after Nebris has placed down a chest to store his materials that Etho heard a sigh.

“...Uh, hold on- I need to get rails. I'll be back.” Etho didn't respond as he saw Nebris head back down the stairs and through the Nether portal to spawn.

His tone was stiff and Etho wondered if he was able to tell why Etho was linger around. Nebris always liked playing along though- so he'd be back. Etho knew he would be.

Etho got up from his spot, tucking himself around the inner corner of the Nether portal. He took the assumed Death Games armor and weapons, prepared for the fair fight. There could have been a better chance to get it done before this, as Nebris could easily return with better armor... but this was better than missing entirely. As Etho waited, he eyed the area. The storage room was not far off, and if Etho could direct Nebris over there, he had a good chance of making it hard for him to fight regardless of his gear.

His heart was beating in his chest as he waited for the sounds of the portal again. In the corner of his eye Etho saw it- on the right, he could see Nebris stepping through the portal. He undoubetly knew Etho was behind him, but couldn't react fast enough when Etho stepped forward with his sword extended. The feeling of something sharp prodded at Nebris' back, making him look over his shoulder at his perpetrator.

“Vyou're always so forward.” Nebris said as he stood there, looking back at Etho.

Etho kept the sword in place. “You didn't come back with armor. Did you not expect me?”

“Oh, I did. I just thought it'd be more fun if I came unprepared.” Nebris grinned, giving a short shrug.

“More fun more me or...?” Etho chuckled. “Cuz I don't think you're going to have lots of fun dying.”

Nebris scoffed, “Of course I want to make sure you enjoy yourself.. But I'm not dying today.”

With that, Nebris quickly turned around and tried to side step, but was blocked as Etho jabbed his sword to where he tried to slip out. It clanked against the netherbrick door frame of the storage room, making Nebris stop once more to consider his moves. This corner of the hub was a tight squeeze, and he knew that was why Etho nudged him this direction.

He glanced from the sword then back up to Etho. Within seconds Etho pulled the sword back again and gave Nebris no time to think as he rushed forward, forcing him through the narrow entrance of the cluttered storage room.

“Oh, you son of a-” Nebris was cut off as he focused again on not meeting the blade of that sword, sliding against one wall of chests. Even as he came unprepared on purpose, Nebris was confident he could make his way out of this.

Etho was silent still as he went for Nebris, this time the blade grazed the top of his shoulder before Nebris could be fast enough to avoid it entirely. There was a wince, and Nebris quickly tried to duck out of the way again, trying to slip past Etho and get behind him. But following that poor decision, Etho was able to trip him with ease, the tight quarters allowing Nebris no room to recover. He put out his hands to stop himself from face-planting against the wall, grunting as his breath was knocked out of him.

In no time at all Etho approached him from behind, slipping the sword under Nebris' chin. The flat side of the blade was cold as Nebris felt his chin tilt up, Etho using the rest of his body weight to keep him in place.

“Shit-” Nebris hissed under his breath. When he swallowed, he could feel the blade against his skin. “Okay, I know I didn't come prepared on purpose but come on- you're going too fast.. Slow down a little.”

Etho tilted the blade slightly, his free hand pressed against Nebris's back to keep him there. “Well I'll admit I feel like you're going easy on me..” He leaned in. “No one else has killed you recently, Nebris. Being clumsy, no armor...”

Nebris chuckled, turning ever so carefully against the sword to look at Etho. “Yeah, I would've ended this in minutes if I had my gear. Can't I savor the moment of being actually at risk of dying by your hand?”

Etho rolled his eyes, pressing his weight against Nebris again. “Maybe I should just finish this...”

Nebris' eyes widened slightly as Etho tapped his chin with the sword, leaning his head back to avoid it further. His hands scuffed against the wall as he felt the pressure of Etho holding him against it.

“Whoa, I said slow down.” Nebris cleared his throat. “It's not gonna be satisfying if you rush things, you know.”

Even though Nebris was quite sure he had no chance in this fight now, he was going to delay his death in whatever way he could. Etho was very straightforward and to the point and he was easily flustered by Nebris' antics. It was the one thing that could buy him some time.

He shifted against Etho, tilting his hips slightly. Each movement had him dangerously closer to the sharp side of the blade, but all he was doing was trying to wiggle free from Etho's grasp, even if that means rubbing up against him in all the wrong ways.... or just the right ways to fluster Etho.

Nebris could feel Etho keeping himself still in order to stop him as much as possible, but when Nebris wriggled against him again he felt Etho flinch. For a moment the weight against Nebris lightened, and he took that as a good sign. Etho could only handle the contact for so long if Nebris managed to irritate him enough. Yes, irritate. It totally had to do with irritating him.

“Stop-” Etho hissed under his breath. “Stop moving.”

Nebris held his breath as the sword got close again, Etho pushing back against him the moment he realized he almost gave Nebris room to escape.

“Hey, hey- Just tryin' to get comfortable.” Nebris said, breathlessly as he tried to avoid the sharp blade.

His snarky response didn't help, as Etho immediately pushed the blade closer to his neck. “You are- you are such an ass.” Nebris clenched his teeth, instinctively recoiling and pressing back up against Etho.

The struggle began again, this time with more force as Nebris was more keen on actually wiggling free. Their clothes scuffed against each other, short breaths echoing in the small storage room. Nebris was desperately trying to turn himself around, grabbing back at Etho to pull that sword away just enough for some freedom. With one hand he gripped Etho's sword wielding arm, pushing back against him as he awkwardly tried to shimmy out.

“Etho, please-” Nebris' voice came out quiet, feigning innocence in his tone. “Etho-”

Etho lost his footing ever so slightly, allowing Nebris the smallest of openings. Nebris ducked out of the way, turning to face Etho. Still between him and the wall, Nebris wasn't offered much more safety, but he could have a bit more control at least.

Or so he thought- glancing back up to Etho, Nebris' eyes widened when he felt a hand grip his shirt, and the sword wielding one pull back for a strike once again.

“Okay, I think we're done here.” Etho said with a huff, glaring down at Nebris.

Panic was quick to strike Nebris as he put his hands against Etho, back in the struggle. Nebris didn't exactly have the upper hand, but he'd gained the advantage by turning himself around. No longer pinned down, he was able to push Etho back, disrupting his attempt to kill him. The two were locked in a back and forth until Nebris managed to get out of Etho's grasp, stepping away from the wall. But Etho bounded towards him with quick intent.

Nebris felt his feet slide out from under him, stumbling on his way towards the exit, as Etho managed to knock him down. Nebris kept his grip and Etho came down with him, their bodies thumping against the floor. Even with the wind knocked out of him, Etho did not forget his goal. Straddling Nebris and keeping his weight on top, Etho straightened up and steadied the sword in his grip.

It took Nebris a moment to recover, as the pain from the fall radiated in his skull. He could feel the pressure of Etho on top on him, and blinking his eyes open he was greeted to the same glare.

In just that moment, the glint of the sliver sword flashed as Etho brought it down. With little thought, Nebris put his hands out in front of him. With searing, burning pain, his hands wrapped around the blade as he attempted to stop it from slicing his throat. Red budded from the cut on his palms, seeping up from under the silver. It moved so smoothly against his skin, cutting deeper with each slight shift.

“Agh- shit, shit..” Nebris winced, fingers wrapped around the blade. He tried not to blatantly clench his teeth when he looked back up to Etho.

Etho leaned in closer, pressing the blade down with both gloved hands. “What are you doing?”

He could swear there was a grin of amusement under that mask. Nebris was just making this more painful than he needed to.

“Uh.. I- I'm.. trying to not die?” His voice came out strained, even as he chuckled. Each push Etho gave made the blood run a little quicker, and make Nebris bite his lip a little harder.

“I thought you were excited for me to kill you?”

“Try- try to kill me- try.”

He was holding back, a lot. Pained sounds were caught in his throat.

“No try, Nebris. I'm going to.”

Etho pushed the blade closer, only an inch away from Nebris' neck as he continued to hold it back. Their bodies were pressed together, with no intent to widen the gap now as Etho remained on top of him. He was going to get this kill, and if he needed Nebris to hurt enough that he begged for it, then so be it.

“Nebris...” Etho hummed, watching as the red spill down Nebris' wrist, staining the sleeves of his shirt. “If it hurts so bad, you should really just let me kill you now.”

Nebris' face was pained, even as he tried to fight through it. “Oh its fine, I can wait this out.”

Etho used his weight to push down again, receiving a gasp in response and a mutter under Nebris' breath.

“Hm? What was that?” Etho looked down at him. Nebris' hands were trembling.

“God-” Nabris hissed in pain, “Fuck you.”

“Is it too much?” Etho chuckled.

Nebris nodded lightly as he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, breathing hard.

“So...”

“Kill me- you can kill me.” He was trying so hard to not sound like he was whining- begging for it.

“Can I hear a 'please'?”

Nebris groaned, each second longer doing nothing to help his situation. “Dammit Etho-- kill me, please- please kill me.”

Hands released, the sword met Nebris' throat with ease. Right across the center, the kill was made. The moment his body faded, Nebris found himself shaking his hands in irritation, stinging against his skin ever present even when he respawned back in his base. The moment he gripped that blade in defense, he knew it was going to leave a nasty scar, and it wasn't going to end in his favor...

Ever since Nebris had known Etho, Etho had been wearing a black ring on his middle finger on his right hand. Normally, this wouldn’t be something Nebris noticed, but well, it was Etho and he noticed everything about Etho.

The two had had a rocky start to their friendship, what with Nebris’s highly competitive nature and Etho’s pure skill in UHC. Etho’s defeat of Nebris in UHC Season 8, although disappointing, really made Nebris admire Etho. Their first “real” conversation went a little something like this:

“Etho?” Nebris asked nervously.

“Yes, Nebris?”

“I just wanted to say that was a really good game and I’m impressed by your skill set.”

“Well, thank you, Nebris. You did really well also.”

“Yeah, but I could be better, could you coach me?”

And that’s really where their friendship started. As Nebris continued to “take lessons” from Etho, they began to talk more and then suddenly instead of solely seeing each other during coaching sessions, they started to hang out just for fun and became best friends. They knew everything about each other. Well, Nebris thought about the ring he still didn’t know the significance of, not everything.

He felt stupid for being nervous; Etho was his best friend after all. He could ask him anything, right?

They were at Etho’s house hanging out as they were wont to do when it just sort of slipped out,

“Etho, what does your ring mean?”

Etho looked slightly taken aback.

“Mean? Why does it have to mean anything? I saw it online; I liked it; I bought it. That’s it.”

Nebris wasn’t convinced though. Etho had appeared nervous when Nebris had asked him about the ring and then had quickly moved on from the topic.

He should just let it go. Whatever it was, Etho obviously didn’t want to talk about it. But that didn’t stop Nebris from wondering about it.

A few days passed and Nebris’s curiosity was eating away at him. He knew he had decided to drop it and he was doing that: he never brought it up to Etho again. But bringing it up to Google...that he did.

The first thing Nebris typed into Google was the question “what does it mean to wear a black ring on your middle finger?”. He hit search and upon scanning the first few items that popped up, he could see they all had one thing in common: asexuality.

Nebris had to admit he knew little to nothing about asexuality and so he clicked the first article and read it. What he found out was asexuality was defined as a lack of sexual attraction to people. He also found out that ace people wore black rings on their middle finger to show other ace people that they were ace. Nebris found all of this information incredibly fascinating. Here was a whole spectrum of people he had never even heard about. Nebris knew one thing-if his best friend was indeed asexual, he had to show him he supported him.

The next day, while hanging out, Nebris was about to subtly bring up asexuality, when Etho began to speak.

“Nebris, there’s something I want to tell you.”

Is this it? Is Etho going to tell him all about his asexuality?

“What is it, Etho?”

“I, I,” Etho paused and took a deep breath. “IreallylikeyouNebris.”

Wait, what? Had he heard that correctly?

“What did you just say?”

“I said that I really like you, Nebris.”

Nebris had so many questions and so much swimming through his mind. Unfortunately, the first thing he said was,

“But I thought you were asexual?”

Etho froze.

“How did you-?” Why do you say that? Even if I was, that doesn’t mean I don’t get crushes.”

Nebris knew he had went about admitting he knew in an extremely wrong way. Etho looked very pale and kind of upset. Nebris didn’t know how to fix this.

“I, uh, wanted to know if your ring really did mean something so I googled it. I read all about asexuality. I actually wanted to tell you I support you, but if you’re not ace, I’m sorry. I must’ve jumped to conclusions like always.”

Etho paused, sighed, and then said,

“I am ace. You were right. I didn’t really want to tell you this way, but yeah. That’s me. But I’m kind of hurt and freaking out internally that you haven’t addressed what I admitted to you.”

Oh. That. Right.

“Umm, well, I don’t really feel the same way about you, I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay. People can’t help how they feel. I hope this didn’t ruin our friendship.”

“Of course not,” Nebris said.

But he lied. It kind of did. But it wasn’t for his lack of trying. He was just afraid everything he did made Etho miserable. They hung out less frequently and then somehow, they just lost all contact.

*6 Months Later*

Nebris and his good friend(Nebris’s heart still considered Etho his best friend although they hadn’t spoken in months) MC were at the mall in the food court eating a snack when MC said,

“I think we should go.”

“What? Why? We haven’t been here that long!”

“Yeah, I know, but I have something really cool at my house that I need to show you!”

“Okay, well let me just throw my trash aw-,”

“No! Let me get it! You just stay here!”

“Okay…”said Nebris.

Why was MC acting so weird? He watched MC throw his trash away all the while wondering what the heck was wrong with him when he saw something that made him gasp. Presumably, this was why MC had been acting strangely. MC, bless his heart, had been trying to keep Nebris from spotting what, rather, who, he had seen: Etho.

But just seeing Etho by himself wasn’t bad. Nebris had run into him countless times and although it was always awkward, he had gotten through them. No, the reason he had gasped was because Etho was with some guy and the two seemed very intimate.

“I didn’t want you seeing them, but it looks like you did,” said MC. “Damn it.”

“It’s okay,MC. I rejected him. He’s allowed to see other people.”

“Why didn’t you just tell him you like him back when you had the chance? That could be you over there.”

“I didn’t know. Sure, I’ve always really liked  hanging out with Etho and sure, I pictured us kissing at times, but I thought that was just normal best friend behavior.”

MC stared at Nebris with an amused look on his face.

“Wow. Why would you think that’s normal best friend stuff?”

“I don’t know,MC. Maybe I knew, deep, deep down, and didn’t want to admit it. Maybe I was scared.”

“But he felt the same!”

“Yeah, well, NOW I know that, but I didn’t at the time. It’s hard to tell someone to their face you like them. It’s hard not knowing how they’ll react or what they’ll say.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll let it go now.”

“Thank you.”

Nebris and MC parted ways then because MC had dinner plans with his man and Nebris just headed home, thinking of what could have been, wishing he had realized how he felt before now, before Etho had found someone who was probably so much better than him.

The next few weeks, Nebris ran into Etho quite a bit. Sometimes he was alone, but sometimes he was with that guy Nebris saw him with at the mall. Occasionally, he would make eye contact with Etho, but that was the extent of their interactions until one day, Etho approached Nebris.

“I can’t take this anymore. Why aren’t we friends anymore?”

“It, it’s complicated, Etho.”

“Is it because you found out I’m ace?”

“No, oh god no, Etho! It’s not that!”

“Then what is it? Tell me, please.”

“Okay, the truth is,-” but Nebris couldn’t finish that statement even if he had wanted to because Etho’s guy friend or whatever he was interrupted.

“Etho, ready to go? Who’s your friend?”

“Umm, we’re not friends actually and yeah, I’m ready to go.”

When he walked away hand-in-hand with that guy, he didn’t turn back, like Nebris was hoping he would, and that broke Nebris’s heart for good.

If you asked Nebris what day it was, he wouldn’t know. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He now officially had lost his best friend and the love of his life and he had no hope of them being friends again. It hurt the most that Etho had thought Nebris had started to avoid him because he was asexual. Nebris would never do that. He had wanted Etho to know how much he supported him before everything had changed so rapidly.

One day, there was a knock on his door.

Thinking it was MC, trying to cheer him up again, he  yelled,

“Go away, MC!”, but the voice he heard shocked him.

“Nebs? Can I please come in?”

It was Etho. He couldn’t believe it. The last time they had spoken had been so long ago and Etho had firmly declared that they were not friends. What could he possibly want now?

“Yeah, come in, Etho.”

Etho walked into the house and stared blankly off into the distance, but didn’t sit down, nor did he say anything.

“Etho? Is everything alright?”

“Hmm?” asked Etho, sounding as if he had not understood what Nebris had just asked him.

“Etho?” Nebris asked, getting concerned.

“Yes?” asked Etho softly.

“Are you okay?”

Etho only shook his head and Nebris noticed that tears were starting to form in his eyes.

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but I’m here, okay? We can just sit quietly for a while if that’s what you want, but whenever you want to talk, I’ll be ready to listen.”

It was far too quiet for Nebris’s liking, but he had promised Etho he would sit here with him and that’s what he did. They sat in silence for half an hour before Etho said,

“Being ace sucks.”

“What? Why do you say that?”

“Because no one will want me because I’m ace. Charlie didn’t.”

Oh. So that’s what this was about.

“He kept insisting I just needed to try sex and that would “fix” me.

Nebris was starting to get angry, but somehow managed to keep his cool while listening.

“When I still said I didn’t want to have sex, he dumped me. That’s how anyone who even has a remote interest in me, not that there will be many, will react when they find out.”

“That’s not true,” said Nebris quietly.

“What?”

“When I found out, I was going to tell you how much I support you, but I kind of screwed that one up. I screwed up a lot of things that day.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. I didn’t realize how much I love you until it was too late.”

“Wait, what did you say?”

“I love you, Etho. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it before.”

“I still love you too, Nebris. And are you sure me being ace won’t get in the way?”

“Etho, that’s who you are, and I love who you are. No, it won’t get in the way.”

Etho smiled and hugged Nebris. Nebris was really happy to see Etho’s smile after not having seen it for so long.

“I’m so glad you told me that, Nebris.”

“I’m glad I did too. May I kiss you?”

“Yes you may.”

Nebris leaned in to kiss Etho and it was incredible. He was in Etho’s arms and nothing else mattered.

“Well it took you guys long enough!” said MC who was standing in the doorway.