#Courier Six: Ethan Faust

[wander-over-the-words]

for the fanfic game: "Benny always loved the sound of the roulette wheel spinning—the clickety sound of luck coming his way"

Send me an ask with the first sentence of a fanfic and I’ll write the next five. (AAAAAHHHH THANK YOU FOR SENDING A BENNY PROMPT <33)

Now, if only his baby could share that feeling…

“I’m gonna lose again,” Ethan says, sitting sideways across Benny’s lap and staring glumly at the spinning wheel, then adds, “I told you: I’m unlucky.”

Staring at Ethan’s disappointed face, Benny hums once in reply, then his gaze slides over to his right before his head is quickly turning in that direction and he’s pointing and exclaiming, “Geez Louise, baby - look at that!”

With a confused “Huh?”, Ethan does so, looking over his shoulder, entirely distracted as Benny nods at the wheel and fixes a stern look upon the croupier, who’s quick to catch the rattling ball skimming the edge of the wheel and deposit it into the slot of one of Ethan’s desired numbers.

When Ethan turns back around, his gaze drifts briefly over the wheel, he double-takes, and when he gasps and excitedly exclaims, “I won!”, Benny can only smile and reply, “See, baby - your luck’s turnin’ around.”

[wander-over-the-words]

Hi! I don't know if you already received a ton of those asks for this but for the sleeping ask: deltaclair or Ethan/Benny?

Send me a ship and I will tell you: (Sleeping!) Gonna go with Benny/Ethan :3

Who is a night owl:

Benny. He’s very much used to the Vegas lifestyle by now.

Ethan had a strict routine as a courier, which involved sleeping soon after the sun went down. Now that he lives on the Strip and has chilled the fuck out a bit, he doesn’t sleep quite so early, but it’s still a good few hours before Benny sleeps. At the earliest, Benny will go to bed at like one in the morning, while Ethan’s bedtime is anywhere between ten and eleven

(and on a more serious note: Ethan kinda has to sleep once his body decides it’s time to cause the seizures he has due to his brain damage are often triggered by tiredness so he can’t risk staying up too late. People have never looked more nervous at the sight of someone yawning than when Ethan does it.)

Who is a morning person:

ETHAN.

Par his routine, Ethan would wake up at the crack of dawn. That bothered the fuck out of Benny when they were travel buddies post-The Fort cause Benny is NOT a morning person. Caused many arguments when Ethan was all “we gotta go!! Get up!!!” “it’s six am!!” “exactly!! We’re burnin’ daylight!!”

Ethan no longer wakes up quite so early, but he still wakes up a good one or two hours before Benny will, and he doesn’t really have a ‘waking up’ period, he’s still very “I’m awake now, time to live life”. If he slept on his own the night before, he’ll immediately get up and go; if he shared a bed with Benny (either at the Lucky 38 or Benny’s suite; they don’t live together right away but they sleep around each other’s places often), he’ll lay there for a while and either wait for Benny to wake up naturally or wake him up himself like “morning!!” :D 

Benny. Does not like mornings nrngnrg He’s very slow to wake up so often ends up sitting there with his eyes shut while breakfast is getting cold right in front of him. Borderline falls asleep leaning against the wall of his shower. Doesn’t wanna talk to people. Morning Benny is Grumpy Benny. 

Ethan’s also the only person who gets away with waking Benny up in the mornings cause Benny’s not above throwing pillows or threatening to cut anybody’s pay if Swank or the other Chairmen come to try and wake him up. Ethan gets blank staring, pitiful little sighs like how dogs do it and then stuff like “why’re you doing this to me, baby? I thought we were cool now? I thought you forgave me? But OBVIOUSLY you still HATE ME.”

“Don’t be dramatic.”

Are they cuddlers:

Yup!

Ethan is hella touchstarved from his solitary lifestyle; he ends up rolling over and cuddling whoever’s nearest in his sleep without even realising ‘til he wakes up. Used to do it to the companions if they slept too close to him, even ended up doing it to Benny whilst they were travelling together and still hated each other (one of the few times Benny’s ever woken up before Ethan cause he was NOT gonna miss Ethan’s reaction to learning he used Benny as a pillow last night). Obviously, now that he and Benny are together, the cuddles are deliberate 

Benny’s pretty much canonically a cuddler (“Hold me, will ya? I swear, you wore me out…” - and listen I know his sex dialogue is ridiculous and a meme at this point but I always thought that particular line was cute as hell, especially since the script notes for it are ‘unexpectedly vulnerable’ like 🥺 my boy out here just wanting to be held). He’s a very touchy partner in general, always has a hand on Ethan when they’re together, which is chill cause Ethan’s like that too; they’re the kind of couple who are always within arm’s reach of each other once they’re in the same room (which is hilarious cause whilst they hated each other they were very “don’t fuckin touch me” at each other)

In terms of sleeping, Benny’s that level of cuddler where he can tell Ethan isn’t beside him. Like Ethan will get up in the middle of the night and after a couple of minutes, Benny starts patting at his spot on the bed, then sleepily lifts his head and looks around. If the bathroom light is on, then he just “oh” and lays back down. If the living room light is on, then he’ll go investigate cause it probably means Something’s Up and he’s needed. Soon as Ethan’s back, Benny’s pulling him in again to resume the snuggle.

Benny being like that is the reason Ethan lays beside him and waits for him to wake up in the morning: Benny won’t let go and Ethan doesn’t wanna wake him up too early. One of the things that surprised Ethan the most when they officially got together: Big Bad Benny’s a real cuddler :3

Who is the big spoon and who is the little spoon:

Depends on who reached for the other in their sleep :3

What is their favourite sleeping position:

When sleeping alone, Benny tends to sleep on his belly, with his arms under his pillow to hug it to his head, while Ethan tends to curl up into a ball on his side while clutching his blanket in his fist so that it’s pulled up to his chin, all nice and snug (nowadays anyway; back before he lived on the Strip, he’d sleep like a dead person and he taught himself not to move much in his sleep to avoid making noise, since he often had to camp out in the dirt).

When sleeping together, both favour sleeping on their sides because by default, they tend to either cuddle or at least huddle together. Their favourites in that regard are Benny holding Ethan to his chest, with Ethan’s head tucked under his chin, or Benny laying on his back with Ethan half on top of him, head on his chest (which tends to be their go-to post sex)

Who steals all the blankets:

Neither really do; they’re both pretty warm people and they end up huddling when in bed together anyways, so if anything the blankets probably end up kicked off

What they wear to bed:

I’ve always headcanoned that Benny sleeps in the nude so he just drops his clothes and climbs into bed. He owns pyjamas but he only really wears them if he gets sick and wants to lounge around in comfort. Obviously, he didn’t/wouldn’t go nude when sleeping outside so luckily for the Khans, they never experienced him going “well goodnight” and immediately whipping his kit off like

He’s also very unapologetic about not getting dressed immediately in the mornings and thus wandering around his suite fuckin butt ass naked. If any of the Chairmen see him like that (which I’m sure some have), he remains uncaring cause well “if ya don’t wanna see the package you shouldn’t open the mailbox, dig? As in: knock first, you animals, we ain’t tribal anymore.” and if he overhears the bloke telling someone else about what they just saw, he tells ‘em “pft you’re welcome” because that boy’s body image issues don’t exist. And it’s his suite so he’ll walk around with Benny Jr. out if he damn well wants to

(and then Ethan walks in like "oh goddammit Benny are you walking around with your dick out again?")

Only time Ethan ever sleeps naked is after le sexy times, though he’s equally likely to put on Benny’s shirt too cause he’s into it. His usual sleepwear depends on where he’s sleeping: if he sleeps at the Lucky 38 - ie. his actual home - then he puts on the pyjamas he acquired once he moved to the Strip full time; if he sleeps at Benny’s, he just wears his undershirt and boxers. 

Who likes seeing the other wearing their t-shirt:

BENNY.

(I mean it’s gotta be him cause he can’t fit into Ethan’s clothes; height difference is too much)

Ethan does very much have the habit of wearing Benny’s shirt to go to sleep post le sexy times (and hell, sometimes without that, sometimes he just wants to). But more than that, he’s in the habit of stealing The Coat during daily life; Benny can’t expect his coat to still be where he put it if Ethan’s chilling in his suite with him. 

They got eight inches of height difference between em too so you know that coat and that shirt are both big on him when he wears em

Who falls asleep mid-conversation:

Ethan might, if Benny tries talking to him at too late an hour. 

Benny might, if Ethan tries talking to him at too early an hour.

Who wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares:

I mean they both might, as is just the normal human experience

Ethan’s more likely to have the ‘catapult nightmare’ where he flies up into a sitting position and gets rly freaked out upon waking up and everything. He’s seen some shit that sticks with him (the Dead Money DLC, in particular, FUCKS Ethan UP) and that can make him take a while to get back to sleep. He’s prone to getting out of bed and leaving the room to deal with it; like mentioned above, Benny will eventually realise he isn’t there and go find him. 

Benny doesn’t have many nightmares, but he also isn’t as..chill after getting tortured by the Legion as he lets on. He’s still covered in scars from what they did to him and still remembers how he got them all not-so-fondly. But he’s a Manly Man Who Has No Trauma, so he doesn’t talk about it and he doesn’t want Ethan to talk about it.

Who accidentally punched the other in their sleep:

Oh, I’m sure Ethan has. Either due to the nightmare situation above or cause well

Ethan was largely on his own since he was fourteen, and he’s thirty-one by the time of canon, so by virtue of having to protect himself, he pretty much trained himself to ‘hear’ things when he’s asleep and like. detect what’s going on around him (cause y’know. raiders and other stuff out there in the wasteland). And so when he detects that something is nearby, his first instinct is to lash out (which the companions probably learned the hard way too)

So for a while when he first starts sharing a bed with Benny on and off, there comes the problem where Benny goes to bed later than he does, which results in him detecting what is actually just Benny coming to bed and his mind being all “DANGER” and him suddenly half-waking up and lashing out in response. Which either culminates in him feeling Benny laying down next to him and flipping over and pinning him down, or, say, Benny stands a little too close to his side of the bed while taking off his clothes or whatever and Ethan ends up punching Benny in the nuts, then fully waking up to Benny in a foetal position on the floor like “BABY WHY”

If Benny happens to go to bed at the same time as him, then yeah, it’s fine, Ethan’s brain is all “it’s cool that’s just Benny c:” but otherwise it’s “WHO THE FUCK IS THAT” and Benny gets whacked by accident 

Most of the time, Benny’s good at either dodging or catching the fist that’s thrown at him, so it’s not too much of an issue and obviously, Ethan always feels terrible if he manages to strike him; they’re way passed that point in their relationship where he’d go “haha” if Benny got hurt. 

Though, thankfully, it’s something Ethan unlearns rather quickly, at least as far as Benny’s concerned. If someone else came into the room, I’m sure Ethan’s brain would go “well Benny’s here so WHO THE FUCK IS THAT” and still lash out, but, hey, that’d be their fault for coming in. and Benny sits there all smug cause haha his baby comes with his own security system

Who can’t keep their hands to themself:

Oh, come now, y’all know who it is. I’m sure “not tonight, hon, I’m tired” is a phrase that has oft left Ethan’s mouth. or a disgruntled “hands above the waist”, to which Benny replies “you got it” and then just immediately grabs his pecs in both hands

“*sighs*...Well, at least your hands are warm.”

“I keep ‘em that way for ya~”

“Wow. What a gentleman.”

[wander-over-the-words]

23 and 28 from the ask game for Ethan? :]

ahhh thank you for asking about my boy!! :D oc ask game 😋 23. how would you describe their voice? can they sing?

I am. absolutely rubbish at describing voices so I don’t know how exactly to say what Ethan sounds like ngrnngn besides the fact that he speaks in monotone like 90% of the time, as a symptom of his autism. He’d be voiced by Yuri Lowenthal (and that’s absolutely because Yuri does legit voice the male Courier and I’m too lazy/inexperienced with voice actors to pick someone else for him), but I’ve yet to decide which of Yuri’s roles is closest to what Ethan sounds like

For now, I just have fun imagining Ethan walking up to like half the people in this game like “Hello, Person Who Sounds Like Me If I Changed My Voice To Suit a Different Personality.”

Somebody call up Yuri and ask if he can sing rnnrgn I think Ethan’s probably…decent at singing. Not good enough to get on stage but good enough that you don’t mind hearing him. He’d mind if you heard him tho nrnrgnrgn

28. how do they show that they care about someone? how do they express that they don't like someone?

I don’t wanna make Ethan sound like a saint (because he isn’t) but he. cares about people in general. by default. Granted, some people, he’ll pass on caring about, for whatever reason he might find in advance (*cough*membersoftheLegion*cough*), but when it comes to the regular joes of the wasteland…He has a very high level of empathy that he just *clenches fist* hates because when someone needs help, he’s compelled to help. He finds it annoying because either he’s trying to get on with the main quest or whatever else he’s doing at that point or it’s a task that he’d just. Really rather not do nrngrgn

Best example I can think of is the fact that he did Rex’s personal quest even though a) he was about five minutes away from finally getting onto the Strip to confront Benny and b) he is TERRIFIED of dogs. He still did it tho because “Look at him, he’s in pain. Why should he suffer just because I have a phobia?” 

He just. spent half that quest hiding behind Boone ngrngn but now Rex is the only pupper he’s not scared of! so! progress! 

Obviously, some quests he was happy to do and got invested in, like defending Goodsprings and Joana and Carlitos’s stuff, but some stuff he approached with a “okay fine but let’s make it quick” mentality.

On a more personal level: you know Ethan likes you/is comfortable around you when he drops his Resting Bitch Face and monotone voice. The companions knew they were In with him when he first cracked a genuine smile at them; he’s actually quite a bubbly guy, you just haven’t Unlocked his Real Personality until you’re a Level Two Friend. But to be honest, Ethan’s not shy about just calling somebody a friend when he himself would classify them as such.

When he dislikes someone, his Resting Bitch Face just becomes Bitch Face. His frown and half-lidded, dead eyes turn into a heavy frown with a slightly curled lip and narrowed, annoyed eyes. Because it’s not very different to his default expression, it’s not always easy to tell when Ethan doesn’t like someone. His tone gives it away a little more, in that his monotone-ness inches towards exasperation (the likes of Fantastic at HELIOS One) or a certain tension that lets that person know that he ain’t fuckin around so don’t try anything (Cachino at Gomorrah), and his body language becomes more stiff because of how uncomfortable he is. He’ll also make use of his Terrifying Presence Perk more; someone he doesn’t like touches his shoulder and Ethan will look at their hand, look at them, then slooowly raise his eyebrow while glaring at them as a silent warning to remove their hand

In the specific case of Benny: Ethan’s a deadpan snarker anyways, but he’s never snarkier than during that Enemies phase of he and Benny’s Enemies to Friends to Lovers relationship. With other people he dislikes, he’ll generally keep his opinion and any insults to himself until he’s out of their earshot; with Benny, he wasn’t afraid to let Benny know what he thought of him, and insult him and clap back at him during their conversations while they were companions. Benny touched his shoulder and Ethan would threaten to break his fingers. Insulted Benny’s intelligence and called him a dumbass a lot.

Benny knew something was changing between them when he had the realisation that Ethan hadn’t told him to go fuck himself in a while, and especially knew it when Ethan started smiling at him, laughed at things he said, and called him stupidhead instead of dumbass c:

[wander-over-the-words]

Putting em under read more cause Ethan is my fave OC rn so I took a lot of pics and I like talking and stuff

Anyways BA BAM ETHAN:

^ Character creation/editing screen (technically it's the one from the DLC but meh)

It's hard to tell, but Ethan's eyes are green c: Green eyes, black hair, swashbuckler style moustache and Tunnel Snake hairstyle, that's him! (and there's a confirmation in-universe that he's met Butch when he went to the Capital Wasteland, so he knows what the 'do is called ;3)

^ Full body shots of his canon outfit (the lightweight metal armour from the Courier's Stash DLC and Biker Goggles). It's easier to see if he's in motion but his ass looks fanTASTIC in that leather suit nrgnrngn

^ Closer shots c:

^ Ethan's canon weapons: weathered 10mm pistol (also from the Courier's Stash DLC), combat knife, power fist (specifically, the one from the Gun Runners's Arsenal add-on), switchblade and his bare fists because Ethan specialises in unarmed combat

^ outfit he canonically wears from Goodsprings to Novac ie. just the Vault Suit. He changes into his armour after purchasing a room at the motel and wears it for the rest of the game, with the small exception of putting on Arcade's dad's power armour to battle at Hoover Dam

^ aaaaand some pics for funsies nngnrgn Ethan w/ his future bf and his favourite robots <3

some funny stuff from me trying to take these pics: Victor continuously turned to Ethan to say “HOWDY PARDNER” :D and I just. Victor I’m happy to see you too but PLEASE stay still nrngng

and Benny was NOT happy about me taking those pics downstairs at the Tops because if you have the courier stare at Benny for long enough, he’ll eventually start telling them off for it cause he doesn’t like it nrngnr X3 (“Don’t just stare in dumb admiration!” “Don’t just stand there looking stupid!” “Got something to say…?” “Mind where you point those dimmers.”). One of the shots I got just has his fuckin subtitles covering them both cause he told Ethan off JUST as I snapped the pic like. BENNY!! SHUT UP!! And randomly he would decide to stop looking Ethan’s way and I had to fuckin. Shove him a bunch like Benny. Benny. Benny please. Benny baby please look at me. BENNY PLEASE LOOK AT ME.

And that's it! That's what Ethan looks like in-game c:

it is. probably 98% accurate to what he actually looks like. the missing/"wrong" stuff are the scars on his forehead from where Benny shot him [got two of them, vaguely seven-point star-shaped; one is off-centre of his forehead, on the left side (his left, our right), and one nearer to his left temple from where he fell after the first shot (again, his left, our right)]

the other thing is. nrngn he is NOT that fuckin tall in-universe NRNGRNG

Ethan is 5'2" - apparently, the courier's model (and the general height of models in game, with the exception of a few characters like Arcade, the King etc.) is supposed to reflect about 5'10" at minimum (don't quote me it's just what I've seen discussed online). and I do headcanon Benny at 5'10" in universe so.

in the game he and Ethan look eye-to-eye, in the actual canon Ethan comes up to Benny's mouth, not counting lifts like hair or shoes or whatever. and lemme tell y'all it's weird as fuck for me to see them being the same height like Ethan baby who stretched you out nrngnrgn

[and hey fun fact: Ethan is the only Fallout protag of mine who is shorter than his partner c: Nate has two inches over Nick and Abraham is a single inch taller than Butch. Ethan is a whole eight inches shorter than Benny. Benny's just tall enough to pop his chin on top of Ethan's head (and is the only person who gets away with doing that) :3]

in universe, that Vault suit does NOT fit him in the slightest. to the point that he had to keep pulling up the sleeves and trouser legs, and in general it's stupidly baggy on him (the suits in NV and 3 are baggier than the recent games's suits anyways but on Ethan it was just ridiculous). Doc Mitchell offered him his late wife's suit since it's a smaller size but Ethan declined cause he didn't wanna wear women's clothing. cause dysphoria and junk. and I mean to be fair, the quests before Novac aren't exactly the hardest so he made do pretty easily until he got his motel room and could change. in the game, he has his armour from the beginning, in universe, he got it along the way.

I can't show y'all his post-canon get up cause it doesn't exist in game hehe. it's a suit that was made specifically for him, by the Strip's tailor (headcanon they got one of those cause ffs SOMEBODY is keeping the Three Families's clothes looking pristine, especially in Benny's case) on Benny's orders cause he knew none of the Chairmen's suits would fit since Ethan is. ahem. vertically challenged. plus it's nice for Ethan to have something unique, as the Strip's co-runner

it's black with gold pinstripes, blazer and slacks matching c: white shirt, black tie, belt and two-tone (black and white) shoes. still wears his Pip Boy and the fingerless glove that comes with it. he only wears the armour & biker goggles if he's going off into the Mojave for some reason from that point onwards; the suit is what you'll usually see him in ;3 (and ofc there're the times where he'll nick Benny's coat and wear that instead of his own hehehe <333)

And that's it! That's Ethan :3

The annoying things about playing New Vegas on Xbox is that to show y'all what Ethan looks like I have to fuckin take pictures of my TV cause I don't have the means to take screenshots, and the in-game camera can't move as freely as the PC version so the pics aren't great anyway

but fuck it I mean I got pics of Ethan now