Chapter Text
“And in other news, recently a strange tragedy has occurred. A car crash just on the outskirts of town has resulted in the death of one man and the injury of another. Neither seemed to be harmed by the crash itself, but the injured man has reported not knowing what else could’ve caused them. Remember everyone, stay safe out there and-”
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Scar leaned back on his couch, staring at the news report. He’d heard it far too many times in the past week, and honestly he was getting sick of it. At least in the hospital room, they had the sense to make it so that he couldn’t watch the news, but here at home? He was the only one in control of his television, and the news never changed for long. There weren’t enough things happening in this town for them to have much else to talk about, so he couldn’t really blame them for bringing it up so much. He could, however, find it distasteful.
Maybe he should write an email to the news station complaining about it. He is one of the victims they keep talking about, after all, he’s sure they’d listen to him at least a little bit. Yeah, that’s what he’ll do. He grabbed the remote to change the channel to a random cartoon before standing up. Sure, no one was really talking to him much since the accident, and sure he was having a very hard time trying to ignore it all, but maybe writing an email would help. A new thing to do, a wonderful distraction.
Even if it was an incredibly boring one. He could ask someone to proofread it once he had it drafted, then they’d have to talk to him. If his friends didn’t want to make plans because they were too busy mourning Mumbo, too busy pitying him as well, then he’d force one of them to talk to him with this email. It was a great plan. A brilliant plan.
He stood up from the couch and nodded to himself. He just needed to find his laptop and he could get right to work, the last time he had it was at the dining room table, right? He made his way over there and hummed to himself as he went, wincing a bit when he stumbled. He wasn’t completely healed, but that didn’t mean he was going to let it stop him. They’d said he was pretty lucky to be alive.
They’d said a lot of things to him.
Scar walked into the dining room and sighed when he realized the laptop wasn’t there. Shoot, that meant he didn’t actually know where he’d left it. Maybe it was in the office? That seemed like a good guess. Yeah, he could go to the office and write his email there. He could tell the news station to stop talking about him, and to stop emailing him for answers. He’d already told them everything he knew, that he didn’t remember why they were on the outskirts of town, that he didn’t know what had happened to Mumbo. He couldn’t remember anything other than that they were watching movies, and decided to head over to their friend’s house. Then, he crashed the car after getting lost.
That’s all he could remember, and they needed to stop asking him questions, and stop talking about it. It was rude.
Scar shook his head and patted his cheeks as he kept walking. Now, now! He didn’t have time to dwell on things too much, he needed to find his laptop to write the email. Just as he passed the hallway entrance of his house, a knock came at the door. He froze in place at the sound, midstep as he realized what he’d heard.
No one had really visited him since he’d been released from the hospital and he couldn’t really blame them. This was a first, and it was an unannounced one at that. After weeks, someone finally wanted to see him in person for more than just giving him some flowers and sad looks. At least, he hoped they weren’t here for that. He wouldn’t know how to feel if they were just planning on doing that. Probably feel the same way he felt about the news station.
He hesitated as he turned towards the door. Part of him felt like he really shouldn’t go to it, and he wasn’t sure why. It’s not like he didn’t want to speak to anyone, it’s just that it…felt off. Like a song you don’t quite remember, but it still feels familiar. You don’t know if it’s because you’ve heard it before, or because you heard something similar.
He took a deep breath and shook his head, making his way to the door. Now wasn’t the time to overthink things. He could do that later, when he was writing an email, but for now this was something different to do. Hopefully, something nicer.
Scar opened the door, smiling as he did so. “Well, hello there. What brings…” He paused as he stared at the person on the other side of his door.
Grian stood there, holding a bouquet of peace lilies in hand. His smile was awkward and a little bit sad, and honestly Scar was a bit disappointed that he’d come bearing the same sad look and flowers he had hoped he wouldn’t have, “Hey. How are you feeling?”
“I…” He blinked a few times, “Sorry, I thought…you’d be the last person showing up here.”
There was a long moment as the two of them stared at each other, the feeling of something being wrong felt like electricity in the air. Grian almost looked like he understood for a moment, but that could’ve just been Scar’s imagination, as the understanding disappeared just as quickly. Scar wasn’t even sure what he thought Grian should know. The tension cracked as Grian glanced to the side, why was Scar even tense in the first place?
“I had a feeling. I’m sorry, I would have stopped by sooner but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me.” He sighed and held out the flowers, “I know it must be awkward, seeing as Mumbo and I had plans for the day after, and you were heading to my place…I can go if you want.”
“No, no!” Scar took the flowers and stood up straight, “Please. Don’t go. We can…how about we go out to eat? We could go to the diner.”
“Oh, are you sure? We normally go for breakfast, but it’s practically dinner time right now.”
“Who cares? We can have waffles for dinner!” He laughed a bit, “It’ll be nice. I could…really use it right now.”
Grian smiled a bit and nodded, “Waffles for dinner it is, then.”
Scar smiled back, “I’ll go put these in a vase then, and we can head out after, so stay right there!” He started to walk off, pausing to turn back for a moment, “Grian?”
“Yeah, Scar?”
Scar stared at him for a moment. He felt like he had something he needed to tell him, but he couldn’t really think of what it was. It felt like walking into a room and forgetting why you’d gone in there in the first place.
“Nevermind,” He smiled, “I’m sure I’ll think of whatever I was going to say later.”
Grian rolled his eyes fondly and the two laughed before Scar hurried off to find a vase for the flowers. He was sure that Grian had questions, and he would probably have to answer them eventually, but for now he could enjoy the moment. As he jogged back and shut the front door behind him, he couldn’t help but pause a bit. It felt like he’d done this before, or at least something similar, but he couldn’t really remember when that would’ve been.
He shook his head and walked with Grian. It was probably nothing, he could worry about it later. He didn’t need to be the one to dig in the lawn for questions, so for now they could settle under the grass with the rest of the dirt they walked across while he enjoyed himself. He knew it wouldn’t last but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy it for now. Grian was here to spend time with him, probably to even help him in a way.
He was very grateful for that.
