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Both Doc and Grian definitely did not expect Grian’s simple prank to snowball into a war. Sure, they expected it to escalate a little, perhaps to a few more pranks involving several more hermits. Instead, in a blink of an eye, all pranks were forgotten and replaced with a war. Team STAR looked to Doc for leadership, and likewise, the G Team looked to Grian for direction. They couldn’t back out now, not with all their teammates depending on them.
Doc and Grian never really exposed their relationship to the other hermits. Ren didn’t know, and neither did Mumbo, and that says a whole lot. They never really denied their relationship, just never showed affection where the other hermits would see, never openly claimed to be in a relationship. They resolved to not deny it if another hermit were to ask. However, the hermits being hermits, never noticed the fond looks Doc would give Grian, or how much more Grian smiled if Doc were in the room.
And now, with the war happening, and the two of them being commanders of the opposition teams, they couldn’t just reveal their relationship. They just couldn’t.
The moon hung high in the sky. It was nearly midnight, and the soft hues of the moon shone on the two hermit’s faces. The final battle was scheduled to happen in the morning, and they both had to clear their heads. So here Doc and Grian were, in the darkness of the night, walking together in the shopping district.
A silence hung over the two of their heads, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. The two of them just needed time to bask in the other’s presence, before the fearful unknown hits them in the morning.
As they walked past the Stock Exchange, Grian extended his arm and intertwined his fingers with Doc’s robotic ones. Despite the cool air already surrounding them, the familiar coldness of Doc’s robotic hand comforted him.
“I’m sorry.” Grian whispered, just loud enough for the two of them to hear. “For stealing your diamonds that is. I swear I left it in the Stock Exchange, I really did. I just don’t know who took them.”
Doc smiled down at Grian.
“Hey.” Doc said, his voice soft and comforting. He pulled the two of them to a halt, his other arm caressing Grian’s face. “I already said, it’s okay. I can always earn back the diamonds. I know it wasn’t your fault. You just wanted to play a harmless prank, which happened to have some unfortunate interference.”
“B-But that led to another thing, which led to another thing, and then there’s the war tomorrow and-”
“Hey, hey, Grian. It’s fine. What happens later, happens later.” Doc smiled at Grian again, love for the smaller man swimming in his non-cyborg eye. “Right now, I just want to spend time with you, free of worries of tomorrow, alright?”
Smiling back, Grian nodded and pulled Doc along to continue their walk.
The pair walked for a long time, through and around the shopping district a couple of times, eventually ending up at the Lazy Sod shop. From there, Grian decided his legs were getting tired, and sat down on the cart, and Doc followed suit, sitting down next to Grian.
Grian lay his head on Doc’s shoulder, the cold of Doc’s metal on his temple giving him shivers. Soon, he got used to it and melted into Doc’s side as Doc put his head on Grian’s.
“This is nice.” Grian said, Doc humming in response. The two lovers sat there, on the warm wood of the cart, looking at the full moon overhead and relishing in the other’s presence.
They have problems, teammates to deal with, a war to win. But all that mattered in that moment was their love and their warmth in one another.
Doc opened his eyes. When did he fall asleep? He didn’t know. He looked to his right slightly, not wanting to wake his partner up. At his angle, he could see Grian’s quiet, sleeping face, so different from the loud and noisy Grian he usually knew. A small smile crept onto his face, taking in the beautiful image.
“Hey, Grian.” Doc whispered as he shook Grian’s thigh.
“H-huh?” Grian mumbled, still half asleep. “When did I fall asleep?” Doc let out a small chuckle in response.
“I’m not sure, but I think we should head back to our bases to get actual rest before tomorrow.” Grian nodded, agreeing. They hopped off the cart, and Grian swooped in, giving Doc a hug, smiling into his chest. Doc brought his arms up too, hugging Grian back softly, whispering a small ‘I love you’ into the blond hair.
Letting go of Doc, Grian waved Doc goodbye, and Doc mirrored the gesture, before turning around to fly back to his base.
“W-wait! Doc!” The man turned back around and tilted his head slightly. “Despite what happens, promise me that there will be no hard feelings?” Grian raised his pinky finger.
Doc raised his own pinky finger and intertwined it with Grian’s.
“Promise.”
The war had barely started and it already was a mess. Fireballs were flying everywhere, PVP was happening all over the battlefield, and ConCorp was borrowing people every chance they had for an interview.
Doc and Ren, however, were completely in an entirely different battle. That is, getting the llamas into the TNT machine. More of, Ren was trying to get the llamas into the TNT machine.
Doc, on the other hand, couldn’t stop turning his head to look at the freckle of red and silver running around the fiery battlefield. Ghast balls from Impulse exploded all around that tiny spot of red, and Doc couldn’t stop his heart from palpitating in his chest. Sure, if Grian died, he would always respawn, but respawning was never a nice feeling. Fireballs were one of the worst ways to die. The feeling of the fireball sending you flying while the fire burnt your skin to a crisp in mere seconds was definitely not a nice feeling. But while death by a fireball was a terrible way to die, the worst was getting impaled. Feeling the sword strike through you as your body lurches forward and your vital organs shut down, ooh, that was a horrendous feeling. Thinking about Grian dying by being stabbed or impaled made a shiver run down Doc’s spine.
Grian’s not even that good of a PVPer, what’s he doing out there? Doc thought to himself before being rudely interrupted by the one and only Ren.
“You okay back there? You seem quite distracted.”
“Huh?” He’ll be fine , Doc, he’s strong, he’ll get through this. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go man.”
“Doc, man, stop getting distracted by the war out there. You can see that later when we’re flying on of our coolass llamas.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure. Let’s go.” With that, Doc and Ren climbed onto their llamas, and suddenly, they were up in the sky, far away from the chaos below them. As the sounds of explosions suddenly became softer, as the gigantic Team STAR base became a speck in the distance, Doc felt himself relax a little.
It took some time, but the G Team base was finally in sight. It was an understatement to say that Doc and Ren were surprised that only Stress was guarding the G Team base. Considering it a blessing, they silently landed behind her, wielding their weapons and getting ready to attack. But of course, just their luck, Stress just had to turn around right before Ren was about to strike.
The G Team member jumped and shrieked, leaping down the water elevator in an attempt to escape. Not wasting any time, Doc and Ren followed suit, and followed her down the elevator. The hyper girl hopped around the G Team base, not attacking them, just running around the base. The Team STAR members, unfortunately, were too busy entertaining the idea that they were about to catch her to find her actions odd. She ended up leading her into a plain room, still skipping around the room while Ren entered behind Doc.
“We got her cornered now!” Ren laughed, holding his sword in front of him, ready to attack.
“Do you really, boys?” Stress chuckled back, hitting a button behind her before running out of a door that wasn’t there before.
The ceiling suddenly opened, and dozens of zombie pigmen fell out of it, their golden swords glimmering in the light.
And suddenly, all Doc and Ren could see was black.
Grian was going through a much quieter situation. Alone, he entered the gigantic maze of stairs situated in the heart of Team STAR’s base. The darkness engulfed him and his only source of light were the many, many vaults belonging to Team STAR.
He had made it through by drinking an invisibility potion, and perhaps every other potion along with it, and Team STAR hadn’t suspected a thing. He had found it quite odd that neither Ren nor Doc were defending the base, the only person he had visibly seen defending it was Wels. Shrugging it off, he had walked right through Team STAR’s entrance and into their, as Iskall would call it, Staircase Room of Doom.
Skillfully piercing his sword through the body of a phantom, (man, did the phantom killing game help) Grian mentally eliminated a few of the vaults surrounding him. There were five in total, 2 of which he and Mumbo had already entered to try and look for Team STAR’s flags, and 2 others where Iskall and Stress attempted the same. That left one vault, and of course it had to be the most secluded and dimly lit vault.
Sighing, Grian took a step forward, then another, then another, until he broke out in a run, his legs bringing him wherever they saw fit. He jumped across staircases, following the faint glow from the vault. He only stopped when the armorstand with Mumbo’s face on it startled him, where, after the shock wore off, he took a moment to laugh at it.
He eventually made it to the vault, his breath ragged and his chest hurting. He could see the flag right there, it was right there, just one more step. But of course, life would never be this easy, not with redstone geniuses like Doc or Impulse on the opposing side, and Grian was met with lava enveloping him, until his skin burned, and he could breathe no longer.
Grian woke up right outside the door to Team STAR’s staircase maze. He smacked his head against his hand as he checked his inventory; he had lost all his potions, all his gear in the lava. Sighing yet again, he dug down near the door, where he and Mumbo had left some emergency gear just in case. Without even a simple shovel in hand, digging down two dirt blocks felt like an eternity in this tense situation. Finally spotting the chest, his usual smile appeared, glad that Team STAR hadn’t found it or taken it away.
His smile disappeared just as fast as it appeared. He opened the chest, and all was left in that pathetic wooden chest was nothing but a set of leather armour and a guardian head. Grumbling, Grian resigned to his fate, cursing at Iskall for taking all the armour (there were like four sets in there, how much armour did Iskall need anyway?), and taking all that he could. Equipping himself in the pathetic armour, he put the guardian head on, and took a deep breath, before plunging back into the darkness of the maze.
This time, he knew where to go. He knew where to run, he knew which side to turn, and he definitely knew where another Mumbo armorstand would try and jump scare him. Not long passed before he reached the entrance of the last remaining flag. He crouched as he entered the room, carefully observing his surroundings this time. Redstone was littered all over the floor, and a ring of redstone ore surrounded the flag.
What had Mumbo said the last time they tried to capture a flag? The redstone ore activates something? It definitely wasn’t the most precise memory, but his brain had served its purpose, and now Grian knew not to walk over the ore. Jumping over it instead, Grian instantly started punching away at the flag, ecstatic that he had retrieved the final flag.
Jumping back over the redstone ore again, a smile spread across his face, eager to bring the winning flag back to G Team base.
That was, until he heard Ren’s voice come from behind him.
Ren and Doc awoke back in the Team STAR bunkers. Frustrated that Stress had led them into such a simple yet deadly trap, the two men grudgingly pushed themselves out of the beds to reequip themselves with armour.
As Ren walked over to get food, he saw a blinking light in his peripheral vision.
“Yo, Doc. The light’s blinking. Does that mean anything?”
“What light?” Doc creeped around the corner, before his eyes landed on the blinking light, his face morphing into one of anger and fear at the same time. “Someone’s in our vault. Let’s go.”
Honestly, the two members of Team STAR expected a fair confrontation, a fully geared G Team member ready to take on the owners of the vault they were raiding. What they were not expecting was a man in unenchanted leather armour, and a guardian head snooping around.
“Stop, thief!” Ren shouted, as he signaled to Doc to get to the other side of the invader, allowing Team STAR to surround the guardian head.
Doc wordlessly climbed above and around the staircases, before landing onto the same platform the invader and Ren were with a loud thump. The invader turned around to look at Doc, giving Ren the perfect opportunity to rip the guardian head off the invader.
It’s not that Doc didn’t have faith in his boyfriend’s skills, but Team STAR’s defenses were excellent and his vault was hooked up to many redstone contraptions.
Which was why, when Ren lifted up the mask to reveal Grian’s face, Doc’s jaw almost dropped in shock. His brain almost couldn’t comprehend Ren’s nasty jabs at Grian, about how Grian was surrounded, about how Grian had nowhere to go. How could he? His boyfriend, his enemy , was standing there, vulnerable and hopeless, and Doc didn’t know what to do .
“You have the honours, Doc.” Ren pretended to bow to Doc from behind Grian’s back, but Doc barely noticed. His one eye was shaking in confusion, and in fear, but just enough to only Grian to see. He knew Grian saw it, and for just a fraction of a second, Grian let go of his apathetic mask, and fear overtook his features, before Grian shoved his unemotional mask back down.
Doc’s heart broke. Grian, Grian, his boyfriend , was scared of him . He was scared of what Doc would do to him, and Doc heard his heart shatter into pieces. He wanted nothing more than to pull Grian into a tight hug, to tell him that everything will be alright, that he would never do anything to hurt Grian. But alas, he couldn’t, for Ren was there , and Ren was watching .
“Why are you hesitating man? G Team has two more lives left, kill him, and they have only one more. For goodness sake, he has our flag .” Grian looked at Doc in the eye, face stoic and void of emotion. What did he want Doc to do ? Kill him? Let him go ? Doc didn’t know.
Seconds passed as Doc contemplated his choices in his head. Ren started getting impatient.
Doc felt his mind tear into two. One side screamed at him to just kill Grian, he’s right there, but the other side begged him to let Grian go .
“Doc, man, come on. What happened to you? He’s right there! Just throw the goddamn trident.” Ren instigated. “Look man, if you’re such a coward, I’m gonna do it.” For a split second there, his left brain won over his right. It wasn’t long, but it was enough. Doc closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If Doc didn’t kill Grian, Ren would; what other choice did he have?
Doc grasped his trident and raised it high. He mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’ to Grian, before bringing the trident down onto Grian’s body.
Grian was impaled by Docm77
Doc ran into Grian’s arms that night. The war was over, and The G Team had won. The war was over, and Team STAR had lost. And yet, the guilt clung on to him and refused to go away.
“G, Grian, I’m so, so sorry.” Doc buried his head into Grian’s hair, inhaling the familiar scent of vanilla with a hint of sweat. “I didn’t… I didn’t know what to do.”
Grian just smiled into Doc’s chest, and why was he smiling, don’t his injuries hurt, he got stabbed, he shouldn’t be smiling, why are you smiling?
“I missed you.” Grian mumbled. But why? Did the injury get to his head? Did the respawn mess with him?
“Gri, are you okay?” Doc held Grian by his shoulders, checking Grian’s face and arms for any external injuries - there were none.
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be? We won the war.” Grian stuck his tongue out and mocked Doc, and that softened Doc’s heart a little, but the guilt outweighed it.
“But I- But you- But I stabbed you, Gri. I killed you.” Doc let his head fall into his hands, not wanting to look Grian in the eye.
“Didn’t we make a promise that there would be no hard feelings despite whatever happened today?” Grian gave Doc a soft smile.
“Yeah, but-”
“No buts. You didn’t have a choice anyway.” Grian dropped his hands into Doc’s. “Are you saying you would have hated me if I killed you?”
“No, no! Definitely not!”
“Then?”
“But- Yeah, okay. Okay. I get it, now stop making that face at me.” Doc chuckled, and Grian laughed, causing Doc to laugh too. Soon, both of them were doubling over in laughter, the stress of the war, the guilt of the war all gone and vanished.
And as the soft moonlight shone on the two men, now carefree and happy, the love for one another multiplied as they laughed in together. Guilt was washed away as all was forgiven, and all was forgotten.
“I missed this.” Grian managed out once he contained himself.
“This could be us everyday, if you want it to be.” Doc smiled a small smile at Grian.
“Of course I do.” Grian smiled back, holding Doc’s hand once again. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”