Chapter Text
Steven had never really paid much mind to something so mundane as ears before; really, he had paid so little attention to eyes, to hair textures, to all sorts of things if he was honest with himself. He hadn’t consciously thought about those things at all up until well- until he began to coexist with the demon who was currently lounging like a sleepy housecat on his couch, draped over the arm lazily. Herobrine had stretched his far too tall body out, taking in the beam of sunshine which was angled just right. Steven didn’t have to approach to know that he was enjoying the warmth that came with the beam, soaking into his tan skin and dark hair.
Steven sipped on the tea in his mug as he watched the other man carefully. It had been a quiet afternoon and the two were winding down from a rather busy morning. They had spent their time shopping for supplies in the village, only to have to wait in lines and be shoved around by a crowd; he had forgotten about the fur trade expo being held, which had made everything just so busy. He was fortunate that Herobrine hadn’t just ditched him entirely. For as much as he tried to seem cheeky and confident, Brine was far from an extrovert. Steven’s lips quivered in a smile he attempted to shove away, eager to continue sipping on the hot liquid in his mug. Herobrine most certainly thought he was a good actor, but to Steven at least, he really wasn’t.
At first, the demon had been hard to read. He understood that the mask he was portraying wasn’t entirely accurate, but it was hard to understand what he was thinking beyond that. It had almost been uncanny in some ways. Not that he could explicitly point to what was wrong with his acting, it was just that it was wrong. It was only then that Steven had begun to take in the subtleties that were genuine, the little traits that Herobrine didn’t quite consider when it came to his mask. The most obvious of these traits? The demon’s ears. If he had to guess, maybe Herobrine hadn’t caught onto that giveaway because there were so few who had ears like his.
It wasn’t as if pointed ears were nonexistent among other humans, they were about as common as Alex’s green eyes. However, there was one big difference between Brine’s ears and those of other humans though, and that was the length. Steven had never seen anyone with ears as long as Herobrine’s; most of the pointed ears he had come across had been anywhere from the smallest of subtle points to slightly jutted out, nothing like the demon’s. Herobrine’s ears reminded him more of an animal’s or fairy’s ears. They were long and pointed, and the demon could swivel them about, unlike the ones he’d seen in other humans.
This was his greatest tell, Steven’s ultimate guide to how the demon really felt. It had taken him a little while to figure out what different positions meant, but it had been worth learning. He had the animals in the village to thank for that knowledge; it seemed Herobrine’s ears worked similarly to the dogs, the wolves, and of course the cats as well. Once he figured out that it worked the same as animal logic did, Herobrine became a far more open book. The thought had him snort as he thought about it.
“What has you laughing over there?” The demon opened an eye with a squint as he spoke, not bothering to move from his oh so comfy position over the couch’s arm. Steven shook his head slightly as he leaned back in the plush armchair.
“Oh nothing, just thinking about life,” he wasn’t about to admit that Herobrine’s ever expressive ears were the subject of his amusement. After all, he didn’t want to lose that advantage in reading the man, even if he did have other ways of doing so now. Herobrine didn’t seem very convinced, but clearly wasn’t in any mood to argue over it. Instead, he readjusted, flipping over so that the couch’s arm could stretch his upper back. He sighed as his spine made a small popping sound when he leaned back over it. An expression of bliss was easy to observe in his face and in the way his ears drooped.
“Feeling stiff?” Steven guessed aloud. A small “Mm” could be heard from the demon in response.
“Your couch is too small,” Herobrine mumbled as he pulled himself back up, stretching some more. The freckled man rolled his eyes, it had been a more common complaint of Brine’s, after all.
“More like you’re just too tall,” he offered. “It’s perfect size for me,” Steven chuckled to himself, “besides, the couch isn’t really for sleeping on,” he continued. Herobrine scrunched his nose at that, his ears flattening ever so slightly to go with it.
“It’s too early to pull out a sleeping bag, Steven,” the taller man huffed, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the sun is still in the sky,” Herobrine gestured to the sunbeam which had moved some since their conversation had begun. Steven hummed to himself, finishing off his tea.
“Could always nap in some caves if it’s too bright for you,” he pointed out as he set the empty mug on the end table beside his chair. It had been a teasing suggestion, after all, he knew Herobrine was not going to even entertain sleeping in caves in winter. He had made it clear on many occasions, he had even made a habit of coming to stay with Steven if it was cold in the area.
“Not for all the gold in the Nether,” Herobrine spat, his eyes glowing somewhat. That was another way to read the demon, his eyes. Steven had found that the glow changed often; although most of the time such a thing was hard to see during the daytime. It was particularly noticeable when the man was angry or stressed, but Steven had caught it occurring for other strong emotions as well.
There had been a time too, where Steve had lamented to himself that Herobrine’s eyes were simply unreadable. He had struggled to figure out the glowing business back then and had wished that the fallen god had had pupils at the least. It wasn’t until much later that he had learned that Herobrine did indeed have visible pupils, well- kind of anyways. Steven wasn’t one to get up in people’s faces and neither it seemed was the demon; it had been a coincidence that they both went tumbling into each other while exploring an old mansion, a coincidence which had landed them practically nose to nose when a few rotted floorboards gave in.
The miner leaned back in his chair as he recalled the memory, paying Herobrine no mind as he stood up, it seemed he was done with the couch after all. The man mumbled something about water and drifted off into the other room without another word. Steven continued to let his mind wander, remembering the shocked expression on Brine’s face. It had been then that Steven got a second surprise on top of the sudden lack of stability under his feet; his eyes had not met an entirely blank gaze. Instead, when he met the demon’s stare, he was astounded to find the lightest outlines of where irises and pupils should’ve been.
Of course, as Steven felt frozen in shock at the realization, he hadn’t had the reaction time to prevent himself from ramming his forehead directly into the demon’s face. They had gone tumbling to the ground in an instant, Herobrine cursing as he held his bleeding nose. It hadn’t been much of an ideal situation, but thankfully Herobrine’s healing abilities meant the bleeding didn’t last long.
“You’re a bit dazed today, aren’t you,” the shorter man was ripped from his memories as Herobrine spoke. He stood in front of him, ears twitching.
“Ah- yeah. Sorry,” he let out a nervous laugh, he hadn’t realized that Brine was even there.
“Well did you want it?” The voice spoke again, sounding just a bit impatient. Steven blinked, want what? He wondered to himself. The two stared at one another for a long moment. Had Herobrine been talking to him? It seemed he had gotten too caught up in his memories and had missed something. The demon quirked a brow, still waiting for an answer.
“Err- what did I want exactly?” Steven echoed. Herobrine sighed, his lids drooping as if already tired of the conversation.
“I want to cook that meat we got earlier. Do you want that?” He spoke carefully, maintaining eye contact in hopes that Steven wouldn’t simply nod off into his imagination again. They had taken the opportunity to buy some higher quality meat while they were in town earlier, he must’ve been referring to that.
“Ah- yeah. Wait wait! No-“ Steven quickly corrected himself. “We’re saving that ham for when Alex comes over, we can’t make that right now,” he insisted as he stood from the armchair. Herobrine pouted a tiny bit as the mortal waved his hands about. While he was sure the two of them could make quick work of the whole thing, he would’ve felt awful making a mediocre dinner later on when the redhead would trek down to see them. “We can make the steaks, but the ham has to wait,” he continued.
The fallen god sighed, “Fine, the steaks will do…” his eyes returned briefly to the miner before him, “but, you have to make that butter stuff-“ Herobrine looked away, ear tips a bit reddened. Steven couldn’t help but notice the embarrassment, which brought forth a twinge of amusement in his chest. Brine had crossed his arms and kept his head high and to the side, it was so clearly another mask of his. Though Steven felt this mask was a bit more childish, it kind of fit the tall man, funnily enough.
“Pfft, alright you picky eater,” he chuckled. “I’ll make it for you. The garlic herb one right?” Steven passed by the pouting demon, noting that the sun had begun to fall outside. Herobrine followed him to the kitchen, less eager than he had been moments before. Steven knew it was a bit of a jab to the man’s ego, but he simply wouldn’t be letting Herobrine do the cooking. Although meat was one of the few things Brine was capable of cooking, small pieces were not his expertise. The fallen god was used to cooking large amounts of hoglin meat in the nether, not expertly cut slabs of beef. If he let him cook, they would get burnt, no doubt about it.
As the two began busying themselves in the small kitchen, Steven grabbed his skillet and a couple other much needed ingredients from the pantry. “Brine, can you grab the steaks and the butter?” He directed Herobrine as he laid out his own goods on the countertop. The demon crouched as he rummaged through the icebox in search of the steaks. Steven quickly got to work, chopping up pieces of herbs. Usually, he would make this sort of thing in advance so he could chill it, but he figured that Herobrine wouldn’t mind a ton regardless.
As Herobrine stood once again, his dark hair grazed the back of Steven’s arm. He gratefully took the steaks from the demon, but found himself sneaking a small glance at the other’s messy hair. It was yet another thing Steven hadn’t noticed about him until recently, actually, but Herobrine had a very different hair texture. Unlike Steven’s wavy soft curls, Herobrine’s hair was mostly straight; not straight in the same way Alex’s was though, his hair was far thicker. It was peculiar, the demon’s hair almost reminded him of a horse’s mane, just much less rough. Granted, Steven hadn’t exactly touched many people’s hair, but he was still surprised when he had felt it the first time.
It had been an impulsive thought, really, something he didn’t think he should admit to even. Steven had found that the fallen god was often quite the sleepyhead when it came to a warm house in winter; so unsurprisingly, just like today, Herobrine had been napping away on the couch that day. The miner really only intended to wake him from his slumber so that he’d know he was going out to meet with Alex, but the temptation was too strong. His indigo eyes darted back to the demon momentarily as he recalled the event. He had taken the opportunity to lightly touch the strands of hair that rested along Herobrine’s neck. It had frankly been a miracle the other man hadn’t stirred from his slumber in the process too.
Steven shook his head a bit to clear the thoughts; he shouldn’t daydream while cooking. There were many mysteries to the man standing beside him, and as reluctant as he had been to get to know him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit thankful that he had given him the chance. Even though that chance came with some.. rather unusual feelings.
“You know, you’re a pretty odd guy, Herobrine,” the miner hummed as he kept watch over the skillet. His gaze traced over the meat, noting the pops of oil as fat melted off the steaks.
“So are you,” the immortal snorted. The two finished up their cooking before long, winding down from their successful day.
Upon seating themselves at the table, Herobrine offered a small, awkward thanks before digging in. Of course, Herobrine didn’t care how hot the food was; after all, he was unable to be burned. Steven joined him shortly thereafter, once it was less scalding. The day had been long, and yet Steven couldn’t seem to be bothered by it; not bothered by the chaotic suffocation of the village trip, nor by his daydreams, he smiled a soft smile. Perhaps he could get used to this.