Chapter Text
Set during season 6
Grian and his boyfriends had this game. Whoever got one of the others to blush in any way, got a point. Zedaph was currently in the lead, his smooth-talking defeating Grian and Scar alike. Grian was in second, using his adorableness to his full advantage to catch his targets (who really should know better) unaware. And Scar. Poor Scar. Not only was he rubbish at flirting, but he was also really susceptible to it. Obviously, that made him dead last. And he wasn’t having that.
Now, who was the flirting expert on Hermitcraft? The undisputed champion was one Rendog. So, Scar headed over to the dragon skeleton in the fantasy district. Sure enough, Ren was adding some extra touches to the make-believe corpse. Scar dodged and weaved past the structure, before faceplanting into the shallow water next to Ren, having misjudged the depth. Ren snickered and helped Scar up.
“What’s up, my dude!” Ren greeted the now soaking wet Scar. Scar stuffed his cowboy hat atop his head, making him look even more drenched then before because it promptly sagged onto his eyes. Ren bit the inside of his cheeks to stop himself from laughing. Attempting to preserve at least some of his dignity, Scar diverted the topic to his current problem. Ren listened closely, nodding his head where a head nod was appropriate.
Finally, when Scar started rambling, Ren put his hands on Scar’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.
“I’ll help you,”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Why not? Now I need to see what I’m going to be working with,” Ren gave Scar his signature suave smile and winked at him. Before he could even tell Scar one of his excellent one-liners, the terraformer blushed a deep crimson red and promptly hid his face in his hat.
Ren lifted his sunglasses and covered his face with his hand, barely containing his chuckles.
“This might be harder than I thought,” he told Scar truthfully, “But no matter! The Ren-diggity-dog will make a charmer out of you, yet!”
A few hours later, Cub was flying over the fantasy district when he spotted two figures near Ren’s dragon skeleton. One of them was obviously Ren, his sunglasses reflecting the sun into Cub’s eyes. But it was the other figure that caught Cub’s attention. His fellow vex was hiding his face in his cowboy hat and his general body language showed discomfort. Cub frowned and did an about-turn. He hid behind a clump of trees and observed what was happening.
“I’m not a photographer, but I can picture you and me together!” Ren gave Scar some finger-guns, while the latter pulled his hat even further over his head. Cub felt his protective instincts towards his partner rise up and he marched out from his hiding place.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing, Rendog! He’s taken!” Cub demanded as he stormed towards the others, causing ripples through the pool. He proceeded to start chewing the very confused Ren out for flirting with someone who was taken and clearly not comfortable with it. He only stopped his tirade when a very timid Scar tugged on his lab coat.
“What?” he asked, his voice significantly softer.
“Please stop. Ren was just trying to help me.”
Cub raised an eyebrow and glanced back at Ren, who had since recovered from his shock was looking more and more amused by the second.
“I’m trying to teach him how to flirt so he can win some game he has going on with his boyfriends.”
“Oh,” Cub rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “Sorry.”
“No harm done!” Ren assured him, “It wasn’t going well anyway. I’m pretty sure Scar is about to eat his hat.” The aforementioned hermit pulled his hat over his ears and groaned. Cub looked from Ren to Scar and a lightbulb appeared over his head.
“I might not know much about flirting,” he began, “But I do know a lot about Scar. Maybe I can help?” He offered. Ren gave him an approving grin. Scar lifted his hat to smile at him.
Grian and Zedaph were sitting against a log, in one of the few places on the server that didn’t have buildings or were made barren in a hunt for resources. They were talking amicably when Scar approached, hat in hand.
“Hey, guys!” He greeted them, “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” Scar grinned winningly and made some finger guns at them. Zed and Grian, caught unaware, both blushed profusely. Which in turn, made Scar blush even worse. He sighed in defeat and plopped himself down on his boyfriends’ laps. Zedaph, who got Scar’s head, chuckled and run his fingers through Scar’s brown hair.
“That was awesome, babe! Who taught you that?”
“Cub and Ren.”
“That was brilliant!” Grian assured, “Now you just got to work on not blushing afterwards!”
“I know,” Scar moaned, “I’m rubbish like that!”
“No, baby,” Zed leaned down and kissed Scar on the nose, “You’re adorable.”
This, of course, caused Scar to turn an even brighter red. Grian and Zedaph laughed at their cute boyfriend. Elsewhere, in the nearby trees, Ren and Cub fist-bumped for a job well done and left quietly.