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Oli knew he was probably the last person on Hermitcraft that people would expect to dive into the fandom. Well, maybe there were a few of hermits who people assumed would never enter the fandom space but he was sure he was on the list. Maybe not so much anymore, with fans picking up things he says off the top of his head, but him looking through secret and redacted tags created as to not fill up offical ones.
That is to say, Oli's tumblr page had slowly become filled not only with art but also with fics, including links to ao3.
He had created an account a few months ago after being a guest for a while and dipping in and out of the site, taking longer than he wants to admit coming up with a username and then also trying to get a profile pic—because the blank one staring at him when he looked at his profile felt weird and empty—that didn't feel weird to him, being to used to having something Mumbo related as his profile for years. In the end, he will admit he was hardly imaginative with it, but it worked and he liked it. The whole reason—for the account making, he means—is because he saw a snippet of a piece of writing, tried to click on the link for the full thing, and got hit with the page telling him the fic was locked and he had to have an account to read it.
He had gone with "jumbolistofbookmarks", as not only was that correct, but he also assumes that nobody would think that the real Mumbo K. Jumbo wouldn't have his own name as a username if he was going undercover. It was a foolproof plan! His profile was an out-of-focus long-distance screenshot of Grian from one of his older videos, season six, probably, if her being killed by a golem was anything to go by, chosen simply because it made him laugh.
He went in phases of what he read, and currently it was fanfiction of his friends—and himself, which was an experience. It felt a little weird; he knew these people, and there were obvious things he excluded when searching, but it was mildly addictive. The long fic he read about Etho realising he was transfem via MCC Minecraft skin changes was probably the best 30k words he had read that week. It was oddly familiar to how Charles' own realisation, from what Oli knows about it anyway. She had talked about it briefly, but it wasn't a moment she tended to bring up, especially since she was only out to her wife, Oli, and Vicky.
Currently, his ao3 history was full of Joel-centric fics, which, considering his not-exactly-secret fanboying over the man even before they were friends, was not surprising, and he had landed on a romantic one between the both of them going on a date to the museum that was built during season ten, which… was good. It was really good, actually. He didn't expect to like it so much, thinking that logically he should probably like the ones where he and Grian were dating since they were actually dating—not that anyone outside their friend group knew that. Especially considering Charles was married and Oli was dating Vicky (of course, both women knew, but the internet would spread things).
And, honestly, it wasn't exactly a secret that he found Joel attractive. He had been a fan of him for so long that it was as simple of a fact as him not being able to grow a moustache was. It was something he had talked to Charles about, albeit briefly, and the other had been fine with it; she hadn't wanted anything from her side, but she had told Oli she was fine with whatever he decided (Vicky was also okay with it; she'd known about his crush on Joel since before he knew for himself).
However, despite all this, he had never actually said anything to Joel about it. For one thing, the man had, very explictly, said he was straight multiple times plus he was married—seeing that Oli's boyfriend was also married, that didn't mean that much, but it was the principle of the matter. Said principle meaning that it was generally not encouraged to have a crush on your married friend, especially when his wife was also your friend, because even though you might be fine with multiple relationships, they might not be.
It didn't upset him per se, even if Vicky and Charles would say otherwise, but his heart stumbled over itself every time he spoke to him (a problem back in season ten when they were neighbours), and it had been for years now. The longing ache that at times made him feel nauseous was a constant friend of his now, something that tickled the back of his brain and came into focus at the worst times.
All of it was something he could deal with, had been dealing with, and that wasn't about to change now just because he had read a fictional scenario where it was real.