Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Grian had already heard from a few other hermits that Mumbo had been behaving strangely for a while since they entered the new world. He was more dishevelled, his suit had tears and holes. Most of the time he wasn’t even wearing his tie and had his jacket unbuttoned. Grian wasn’t worried, not really, but he was a little curious. Mumbo’s craziest ideas were always the most fascinating. He loved it when the redstoner let himself go. And he loved a little mystery. The longer it took for him to get to the coordinates the more his excitement grew.

He just dove under the last vines before reaching something that looked like an ancient destroyed temple. It was a rather simple build, but kind of cute and like Mumbo in a way. Grian whistled to himself, looking at what blocks had been used.

“Not bad, Mumbo, not bad”, he said to no one in particular before finally rounding the corner, looking at the chests and machinery around. What was he supposed to do here without any instructions lying around? It was getting late and Mumbo wasn’t here yet to explain anything. It took him ringing a bell, eating some cookies and lighting a fire to see something for Mumbo to finally react to his messages.

“HERMITCRAFT CHALLENGES!”

Grian’s head snapped up to see Mumbo sliding down a vine, landing elegantly in front of him.

“What?”, Grian laughed nervously. “What are you even talking about?”

“You are initiated! You accepted!”

“I did what now?” He was so confused. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so excited for a crazy Mumbo after all.

“It’s like a game. You need to write down challenges for me, I write down challenges for you, we both get one random challenge and have to do it. Hermit Challenges!” Mumbo looked at him excitedly, almost jumping up and down, apparently not able to stand still.

“So I can write down anything?”

“Yeah sure. Get busy.”

Grian looked at the paper, still in confusion. What was he supposed to write. This was all too strange. He didn’t even know if he should take this serious or not. In the end he wrote down whatever came to his mind. There was no bad challenge after all.

They both put the paper in a Dropper and simultaneously pushed their buttons.

Mumbo took one look at the paper and started laughing. “Get good lol? What is that even supposed to mean.”

“I don’t know! I was in a hurry and I didn’t have any ideas… Just… Get good.”, he defended himself and swallowed. Why was he so nervous all of the sudden. He had been all giddy earlier. And this was Mumbo. He wouldn’t write down anything too bad. Taking one last deep breath, Grian looked at his paper and froze.

/Steal kisses from everyone for the entire season./

What…?

What?

WHAT?!

No way!

There was no way Mumbo could be serious about this!

“Grian? What did you get?”

Mumbo was still smiling. This must have been a mistake. There was no way someone as innocent looking as Mumbo would have written down something like that. He must have meant something else instead of kisses. Keys maybe? Yeah that would make more sense.

“I think you made a mistake”, he finally said, handing the paper of to Mumbo with a smile. Yeah, Mumbo would be pretty embarrassed to have written down something like that.

Mumbo looked at the paper and then back to Grian in confusion. “There is nothing wrong with it. That is your challenge. Stealing kisses.”

Grian’s smile dropped.

“You expect me to just randomly go up to people and kiss them?”

Mumbo nodded, smiling brightly-

“Seriously? And why should I do that?”

“Well”, Mumbo looked at him with a mischievous smile. “You are allowed to announce the kisses before you do it. You just can’t tell them what it’s all about. But you know, you don’t have to do it. If you decline the challenge, you have to declare yourself the loser of Hermitcraft Challenges. I will get bragging rights for the rest of the season. Nothing much.”

Grian looked at Mumbo in annoyance. “Whatever. I won’t do it. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Whatever you say… chicken.”

Grian knew Mumbo was just saying that to get a rise out of him. He just needed to calm down. He could walk away and ignore this childish bet. He’d just ignore Mumbo every time he talked about this whole Challenge thing… He’d just…

“Damn you!” He grabbed Mumbo’s shirt and pulled him forward, pressing their lips together for a second before letting go again and stepping back a little red around the nose. At least Mumbo seemed to be honestly shocked, eyes wide and hand up to his lips.

“Should have expected this, shouldn’t I? Well… I’ll… go and.. ehm, go and… uhm… get good? Yeah, I’ll get good.”

Grian snickered a little at Mumbo’s change in attitude. “Us two we are going to have so much fun the rest of the season, Mumbi Jumbi”, he teased, blowing Mumbo a kiss, who hurried off into the distance as fast as his legs would carry him through the thicket.
Well… Maybe this Challenge would be fun after all. He was a prankster at heart and seeing the confusion he had caused with Mumbo who had known all about the challenges made him think about the possible mayhem he could cause with everyone else.
Also the paper hadn’t specified what kind of kisses he was supposed to give people. So while Mumbo had definitely deserved that kiss on the lips, some of the other Hermits would get away with less.

He turned to go back to his base, already thinking of ways to annoy everyone. This could be so much fun. He ducked under another leaf, when he spotted Scar’s rather impressive snail and his grin widened. Oh yeah, Scar, his lovely neighbour. The neighbour he saw almost every day. Well, he already knew who’d be affected the most.
As if fate was on his side, Scar was just outside, tending his fields. It didn’t take long for him to spot Grian.

“Jungler! Are you back to steal my crops? Not today!”

Grian shrugged and sauntered over, keeping his eyes on Scar. “I’m not the Jungler, you know. The Jungler wears a mask. I don’t know why you guys always confuse me with every masked person running around.”

Scar rolled his eyes, but his smile showed that he was rather amused by the denial. “Yeah, sure. There is no resemblance at all. But I am glad my crops are safe.”

Grian was now standing in front of Scar, looking up to him. “Yeah, I promise they are totally safe. I’m here to steal something else.”

Scar looked utterly confused, but before he could voice said confusion Grian had reached up and planted a kiss in the corner of Scar’s mouth. “There you go. Thievery done.”

Scar shuddered, his eyes widening and a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks. “Wh-Wh-What now?”

Grian only winked at him, licking his lips and then casually strolling past him towards his base. “That look suits you, Scar. I think I need to come and steal from you more often”, he called over his shoulder before jumping into the lake, giggling to himself.

He needed to do this more often. Damn, he needed to get an Elytra. How was he supposed to reach the rest of the Hermits otherwise? He needed to go to the end soon and maybe, just maybe he could get Scar to go with him and steal one or two more kisses.

As he arrived in his base he fished out an empty book out of one of his chests and looked at the clock, before writing down the time and date and Scar’s name next to it. He made another entry for the kiss with Mumbo and looked at the rest of the page lost in thoughts. Who should he get to next?

Stress and Iskall were also living close by. He wasn’t really sure were exactly, but if he walked around the jungle he might get lucky and find someone soon enough. And he was open to all possibilities that would present themselves along the way.

The next morning Grian was travelling through the jungle in search of some building materials. He needed a lot of wood for his first real base. But Jungle Wood? Now way. He just needed to find a way out of here and get some spruce. And maybe pick up some other resources along the way. There was so much he needed to collect before he could even begin building. He walked along the water, enjoying the early morning sun, when he heard laughter up ahead the stream. He followed the sound until he reached a small lake with an island in the middle. Stress and Iskall were standing there, talking to each other and Stress was doubled over in laughter. Iskall’s face was tinted slightly red, but he was smiling as well.

Well wasn’t that nice? Grian jumped over a few stepping stones until he was at the island. Both of the other Hermits looked to him with smiles.

“Grian! So nice to see you”, Stress exclaimed, a hand reaching forward, probably to pull him into a hug. Instead Grian took the hand, kept his eyes on Stress and bowed down to plant a small kiss on the back of her hand.

“The pleasure is mine, Miss Stress.”

Stress blinked a few times in confusion and then dissolved into a fit of giggles. He let go of her hand and turned to Iskall. “And let’s not forget my dear friend Iskall!”

Iskall looked at him with raised eyebrows. “There is no need to slobber all over my hand to greet me, my man.”

“No way. That isn’t a proper greeting for a gentleman like you.” Grian grinned, walked up to Iskall and pressed a smack right onto his cheek. Iskall looked at him with wide eyes, hand flying up to his cheek. Stress behind him started to giggle even more at the look on her boyfriend’s face.

It was only when Grian had already made his way down the river and was almost around the bend when he heard Iskall’s shocked “What was that all about?”

Chapter Text

Grian was working in his starter base, cutting the bark off the wood to finally finish building his little Hobbit hole. He was almost done with the last touches and then he could start the work on his actual base. He had been working for hours, his red sweater had long been discarded due to the hot and humid air of the jungle. He really needed to exchange it for a red shirt or something like that. Seeing as he hadn’t been clever enough to bring enough shirts with him, he had opted to go topless.

“Hey Grian, you there?!” A voice echoed through the tunnels. Grian raised his head from his working station, putting his ace down into the pile of wood still sitting there.

“Yeah! Coming.”

He wiped the sweat from his face and then walked up to the open front door, smiling brightly when he saw Scar standing there. And from the way he looked, clothing dusty and hands covered with dirt, he must have come straight out of the mines. They were all busy this early in the season with all the physical work to be done.

When he stepped up, Scar looked at him, appearing to be shocked at seeing him. Grian waited for him to say anything, to explain why he had come over, but Scar’s eyes were fixated onto his chest.

“Scar?” Grian tilted his head sideways, bending down a little, trying to catch the other’s eyes. It took a few seconds but then Scar’s eyes finally snapped up.

“Sorry… Kinda… Spaced out there. I had a long day”, Scar hurriedly replied, a shy smile on his face. “I didn’t want to bother you during building, but… Well you see, someone keeps stealing my crops and I think that means that someone – whoever that might be – owes me some favours.”

Grian grinned in amusement, trying his best to look innocent. He knew he couldn’t fool anyone. Scar had seen him often enough and even if he was wearing a parrot mask, it was kind of obvious. But he liked their little game were they sometimes pretended that it really was all a big mystery who the Jungle Bandit was. “Well if you get a hold of him, he might help you out. Good luck with that. I haven’t seen him around here.”

“U-huh.” Scar rolled his eyes, but looked at Grian with a fond smile that made Grian feel sort of warm and tingly inside, but he pushed that feeling aside. “Sure. Well maybe I could still get something from you and you get it from the Jungle Bandit. I just need a bit of green dye and I heard you had more than you’d ever need.”

Grian glanced over at the area were his cactus farm was running and nodded. Scar could take a few chests of dye for all he cared. That stuff was just a biproduct and even if he build the rest of the season only in green and lime colours he wouldn’t be able to use all of it. Just as he was about to tell Scar to get as much as he wanted an idea hit him and he knew he simply couldn’t pass up on this opportunity.

“No problem. Everything for my favourite neighbour. I’ll even make you a really good price for the dye. Nothing much. Just per stack… Let’s say five seconds of kissing.” It was hilarious how he could pinpoint the exact second of when Scar realised what he had just proposed. He looked just as flustered as the first time Grian had first kissed him. Who would have thought Scar was so innocent that the thought of a tiny kiss could get that reaction? “So how much do you need?”

Grian had been so sure that Scar would either protest or just take the one stack he most likely needed and bear the stupid payment. He hadn’t expected Scar to look at him for a while and then mutter with a blush: “I’ll take a shulkerbox full.”

Grian started calculating. Three rows, times nine, multiplicate that by 5 seconds, divided by 60… Well that was certainly a lot. “I’ll give you a discount… Let’s say two minutes? Think you can manage?”

Scar only nodded and stepped up to Grian, closing his eyes. And then he just waited. Grian chuckled a little at that, but took the job of initiating the kiss. He didn’t really have a timer set or a clock to look at. And it wasn’t really that important. The moment Scar seemed uncomfortable he’d just stop and pretend that it had been two minutes, no matter how long it had been.

Grian closed the short distance between there lips. He could feel Scar shiver at the touch and it made him want to go even further. He didn’t even know were that desire suddenly came from. He just… Their lips were moving against one another and he felt Scar’s hands all over his back, trying to grab at him.

When they parted, their lips were only a few millimetres apart and the way he could still feel Scar’s breath made his lips tingle. “I think that was more than two minutes…”, Grian whispered against the other’s lips and enjoyed the shudder that went through Scar at Grian’s breath ghosting over his lips.

“Yeah… Maybe I just needed a little more dye than I thought. Maybe I need even…”

“Grian?! You there buddy?” A voice calling from outside made them jump apart as if they had been shocked. Both of them going red and trying to put themselves back together.

“I… I need to go. Keep working… yeah. I’ll see you around Grian.”, Scar hurriedly said before practically fleeing from the base, just as Mumbo came in, looking after Scar with one raised eyebrow.

“Oh no… You didn’t just plant a kiss on poor innocent Scar, did you?”

Grian just shrugged helplessly, not really getting the impression that Scar was that innocent. “He didn’t really complain. And it’s your fault for challenging me.” Grian replied, slowly gaining his composure back and grinning again. “It’s all just a game, you know? I think Scar was just a little surprised that’s all.”

And as Grian got into a discussion about some future project with Mumbo somewhere in the back of his mind he realised that Scar never even took the green dye he had come to get.

~

A few days later, Grian rowed away from the shopping district, quietly grumbling to himself about not having an Elytra. His arms got more than enough exercise during heavy building sessions. He didn’t need the rowing added to the strain on his muscles.

He had wanted to start building a shop and hadn’t known about the new fees that would have to be paid. And well… He was an absolute idiot and had forgotten to put his diamonds into an Enderchest. Now he needed to row two more times to get everything done. He would have postponed it to a different day, but he didn’t want anybody else to steal the spot he had planned to build on. And he knew himself well enough. If he wouldn’t buy it now, he’d forget about it for a few weeks and then it might be to late. He knew how crazy his fellow Hermits got when it came to building shopping districts.

As he was rowing through the ocean he suddenly noticed the shape of a building on the horizon and grinned. It was Ren’s place and from what he had heard last, Ren did have quite a few diamonds. Maybe he could strike a deal and just burrow some to return them later. That way he didn’t have to go all the way back. And Ren was around his area often enough to visit Iskall. There was enough opportunity to pay him back. Also – Grian had to grin at the thought – he might be able to steal a small kiss and add Ren’s name to his ever growing list.

He stopped at a little pier, tying his boat to one of its pillars and stepping off. Ren’s starter base did look kind of cute. Just like a summer vacation house. He wouldn’t mind just lying on the beach here and getting a little sun.

Looking around Grian went over to a boat containing a single Cow and walked up to it. “Hello there, little Mooshroom. You don’t happen to know where my buddy Ren is, do you?”, he asked, gently petting the cow’s head. It leaned into his touch, giving him the opportunity to look at the name tag around its neck. “Pamela, huh?” His answer was an enthusiastic moo and a long tongue that suddenly darted out, licking him all over the face.

He dissolved into giggles, trying to shove the cow’s tongue back to stop the tickling sensation. “Well thanks. Now I can add you to my list as well. Mumbo will be so proud of me.” He was still laughing when he heard a whistle and Pamela stopped her ministrations, looking to the house, tongue still sticking slightly out of her mouth.

“Could ya stop slobbering all over our guests, Pam? I know he is one attractive looking guy, but that is no way to ask for a date. You need to get to know him better first”, Ren reprimanded his cow, but his voice was soft and sounded amused. He was just walking out of the little house, pickaxe swung loosely over his shoulder. “And hello there, Grian. I see you already met my new companion! I think she likes you, mate.”

Grian snickered and turned back to Ren, still keeping a hand on Pamela’s head to scratch her softly behind the ear. “Were you just trying to give your cow tips on how to ask me out on a date? I mean, I bet Pamela is a nice… girl. But I’m not really into that.”

“Oooh.”, Ren drawled out the word, winking at Grian, a suggestive grin on his face. “So you are into bad boys? I’m gonna let you know that I am one hell of a bad boy. I am no longer a peaceful Hippie.”

And yeah, this might be a new season and Ren had changed his look a little, but he was still the same old Ren he’d been in the last world. Sometimes Grian wondered if he really flirted with everyone on the server or if the honour only fell upon him and Impulse.

“Oh but you know how much I liked you as a Hippie. I think I showed my appreciation often enough back then”, Grian just fired back, not one to be ‘outflirted’ by Ren. The only thing missing now was Impulse, who’d groan at their stupidity, but then join in and make them both blush.

Ren laughed and then pulled him into a hug, patting his back softly. “It’s good to see you, man. I’ve been a little lonely out here. Not many visitors come by to my little island. I maybe should have settled down a little closer to everybody else. But you know… I was stranded here and I kind of like the place. I can’t just leave now.” They let go of each other, still standing comfortably close to one another. “So what brings you here to my humble abode? Did you get lost at sea? I can point you in the right direction… I think. I at least know the way back to Pamela’s home land.”

“Oh come on, Ren. Can’t I just visit my old buddy because I feel like it? Just a friendly visit.”

Ren snorted, shaking his head. “I don’t believe you for a second. You never show up for a friendly visit. You either need something or you wanted to prank me. Since I don’t see any prankage going on around here, I’m assuming you want something from good old Ren diggidy dog. So what can I do for you?”

“Damn you got me. I just need a small favour.”, Grian admitted.

There was now hiding when Ren was involved. Next to Mumbo and Iskall he had spend the most time with Ren last season and they had gotten to know each other pretty well during their time as Hippies.

“I might have forgotten my diamonds and was wondering if you could help me out. I’ll pay you back of course. I just don’t want to travel all the way back to my base. It would take all day!” Grian knew he was whining, but sometimes it helped getting what he wanted. He even did his puppy-dog eyes and pouted a little.

His face just got a laugh out of Ren who stepped up and ruffled his hair. “I got your back. No need to make that face. That’s what a bro is for. How much do ya need?”

“I just need nine. Just enough to buy a little plot for a shop I’m making.”

Ren smiled and walked over to his own chest, taking out a shining diamond block. “So… I’m curious. What shop are you going to open over there? Maybe I can get a discount on my first purchase for helping you out…”

“A kissing booth”, Grian lied in all seriousness without missing a beat. It amused him to no end that Ren almost dropped the diamond block on the ground, just barely catching it, when it slipped out of his hand. “And you know what? You are right. You should get a discount for helping me out. The first one is on the house.”

Grian walked over, taking the diamond block out of Ren’s hand, before planting a short kiss onto his lips, grinning wickedly as he did.

“Thanks for the diamonds.”

Ren stayed quiet for a few more seconds, but then burst out laughing at Grian’s antics. “Well. If you want to charge, you might want to do better than that little peck. I wouldn’t mind helping you practise a little. You are welcome to drop by any time. It’ll be like the good old times in the Hippie Camp.”

Grian felt his cheeks redden a little when memories of their Hippie time surfaced. Those free spirited days really had been something else. And while it had been nice, he didn’t plan on reliving those times anytime soon.

“As much as it pains me, I’ll have to leave now if I want to get some building done today. But I’ll keep the offer in mind. Maybe we can get together some time these days.” He waved at Ren, petted Pamela’s head one final time and then jumped into his boat to hurry off.

Chapter Text

Grian got off his little boat and walked up to Cleo’s zoo, looking around in astonishment. That women really knew how to work her magic on armour stands. It was so impressive and a talent he’d probably never pick up.

He stopped in front of the figure of a little child and stared at it for a while. He never got how people could think a Cod Mask could resemble his face. The colours didn’t even match! And those soulless fish eyes were nothing compared to him.

“Grian! Fancy meeting you here, old friend.”

Grian turned around to be faced with Joe, Cleo only a few steps behind him. She looked kind of annoyed and he wondered why, searching for some hints. He turned his eyes back to Joe, whose clothes were a little dishevelled, a bright red mark on his neck and as he lowered his eyes a little his eyebrows shot up. Yeah the button on Joe’s pants was definitely opened.

Grian snickered in amusement, putting one and one together. While it wasn’t really unexpected to see something going on between those guys he hadn’t expected them to be the outdoor type, especially not Joe.
Grian was probably lucky he had stopped to admire the figure or he might have walked right into them.

“What do you want, Gremlin?”

“Nice to see you too, Zombie. I just wanted to see your lovely face on this fine day, so I came over. And oh it is indeed so lovely. I’ve never seen a frown that attractive.”

Joe let out a snort at his words and Cleo’s frown only deepened. “Keep joking around and I’ll add your head to my collection.”

Grian held up his hands in front of him defensively. He knew when to stop and Cleo probably wanted him gone as soon as possible. “I didn’t want to disturb yours and Joe’s kinky little playtime. I just needed some help to get this armour stand book working and Xisuma isn’t at his base right now.” Cleo sighed, while a blush crept onto Joe’s face at being called out like that. He looked kind of cute all embarrassed and Grian couldn’t help it, he wanted to take it one step further. “Oh and I wanted to steel a kiss from both of you guys, if you wouldn’t mind. I mean you already started without me, but that’s okay.”

“Wha-Why?” Joe began stuttering, looking adorably confused. Cleo just shot him a calculating glance and then turned back to Joe with the same look in her eyes before she shrugged.

“Sure.”

Both Grian and Joe turned to her not having expected that answer. Cleo rolled her eyes, went over to Joe and put an arm over his shoulders. “You know, babe… It would be kind of hot seeing you two make out. I’m a simple girl and I do like the idea… If you are comfortable with it. Otherwise I’ll just chase the gremlin off for daring to hurt your honour.”

Joe looked at her, searching for something. Grian felt a little jealous at the way they seemed to be communicating without any words needed. Those two always seemed to be in sync and always knew what was going on in the others head.

Whatever non-verbal discussion they had, it came to an end rather soon, when Cleo gave Joe a little shove in Grian’s direction with a cheerful “Go get him, tiger.”

Joe still seemed a little flustered, but more self confident as he stepped up to Grian, glancing back at Cleo one last time. Grian had expected a quick and soft peck onto his lips but he had certainly underestimated Joe. He had deemed that guy innocent too soon. And he should have known before. Who would have a kinky make out session where everyone could see them and then be shy about a little kissing?

Joe’s lips were moving softly against his and Grian basically melted into the kiss. Joe ended the kiss and smiled softly at Grian, giving him another soft kiss onto his cheek. “So I heard you wanted to kiss both of us…”, Joe growled in a low voice growled into his ear and Grian shuddered, glancing over Joe’s shoulder at Cleo, who was watching them like a hawk, a satisfied grin on her face.

“I’m not sure I’d survive it…”, he whispered back, making Joe’s chest rumble with silent laughter.

“Where is the brave hero who announced his intentions just a few minutes ago. Cleo isn’t that scary…” Joe raised his voice, turning to look at his girlfriend. “Hey Cleo, maybe you should show him your fancy kissing skills as well. Make his trip over here worthwhile? I’m sure you could do it far far better than me.”

Grian snickered but quieted down when a glare from Cleo was directed at him. Yep. Even after kissing her boyfriend to give her a show, Cleo was still kind of scary.

She sighed, but then went over, walking up right behind Joe, body pressed flush against her boyfriend’s. She reached over, hand surprisingly softly caressing Grian’s hair. “You really are weird. I never know what you are planning next. I have to admit this new side of you is a little exciting though.”

Grian grinned at her, but a tiny gasp left his mouth when Joe started kissing his neck. Well look at that. Being with two people at once it was really hard to keep track of who was doing what. He never thought he’d get to experience something like that.

Once Cleo noticed his distraction she bend over, claiming his lips. He felt helpless under their touches, closing his eyes and letting himself lose control. This really wasn’t half as bad. He liked the contrast of Joe’s rough lips and beard scratching him opposed to Cleo’s full and soft lips.
There were hands on his back, hands on his hair, hands on his hip and on his chest. He didn’t know any more whose hand was whose and he honestly didn’t care that much.

A little whimper escaped his mouth when Cleo’s lips left his and he heard her snicker in amusement. “Any more than that and we’d have to take you to our bed, Gremlin and I’m not really sure you are up to handle that much yet.”

Grian slowly opened his eyes and looked from Joe to Cleo, noticing how both of them seemed to look at him hungrily. He hesitated. A part of him just wanted to give in to them and let them do whatever kinky stuff they were up to behind closed doors. But something held him back. It was just for the challenge after all and maybe having sex really wasn’t a thing you should do because of some stupid game gone to far.
So he finally shook his head, still a little dazed, earning a chuckle from Joe as he and Cleo stepped back, giving him a little room to think straight again. “I’m… Thanks… Yeah. Maybe another time”, he answered, grinning slightly at them. Oh how the tables had turned. Now he was the blushing mess.

“Well you are always welcome to join in.”, Cleo answered and pointedly looked at Joe who nodded and then turned to go away, returning shortly after with a book in hand. “This is one of my armour stand books. You can have it. Everything’s in there on how to handle those things. If you need any more help you can come over… But if you don’t want to join in now would be the time to leave.”

Grian took the book, face still red and nodded, taking a few hurried steps back before jumping in his boat and rowing off towards his base. And until he arrived back at his place he was still debating whether he should have just joined in to have some fun. It wouldn’t have meant anything… Maybe he could go back there and still join for another round. He got off his boat and looked over the lake, gaze landing on the giant snail and smiled. No. It had been the right choice. He shouldn’t let himself get carried away by a little kiss, no matter how good it was.

And he had more kisses to hand out. Maybe he could plant one more on Scar before leaving to work in the shopping district.

~

Grian was humming to himself softly as he looked at the small shop that he had started constructing on the tiny lake in the shopping district. He really wished he could build something bigger, but he didn’t have that many diamonds left and he still had so many materials he wanted to buy. He couldn’t waste his few diamonds on land he didn’t need that badly.

“Heeey! Lookie, lookie! Grian, do you want to buy a bookie?”, a voice called to him. Grian looked up from his shop in confusion to see Keralis waving to him from the shore of the lake. “Come on! I have all the books! You wanna buy a book?”

Grian laughed and jumped of the unfinished building, making his way through the water and stopping next to the hyper Hermit. “I already got most of the books I need, Keralis. I have my own villagers, you know.”

“But… But…” Keralis’ huge eyes only got bigger as he looked at Grian pleadingly. “I am the Villager guy! I need to sell books.”

Grian almost felt bad. Almost. He had heard about Keralis’ methods of selling books. He had tricked quite a few Hermits now with those huge puppy dog eyes now. He wouldn’t fall for it. He had all the books he needed and he didn’t have that many diamonds on him after buying the ground for his newest shop.

“Look into my eyes!” Keralis grabbed Grian’s shoulders to keep him in place and was now so close that Grian couldn’t really avert his eyes. “Buy one of my books. I can even think of some good deal. Something to spice it up. Maybe there is something else you need!”

Grian’s eyes travelled from Keralis’ huge eyes to his lips and he smirked. “Alright you got me. There is one thing I really need and then I’ll buy one of your books.”

Keralis cheered loudly and then looked expectantly at Grian. “So what is it you want?”

“Oh I’ll get it myself, don’t you worry”, he said in a low voice and then closed the gap between them, planting a soft kiss to Keralis’ lips. He felt the shudder that went through the other’s body and smirked against his lips. He ended the chaste kiss after only a few seconds, pulling back with a smile. “Thanks a lot. Pleasure to do business with you. Oh and maybe tell Xisuma I’m sorry. I don’t want him to kill me for defiling his precious little boy.”

And while Keralis had only been shocked and not to flustered during the kiss his whole face turned bright red now. “Me and Shashwamy? No, no, no, no, no. There is nothing going on there.”

“U hu…”, Grian replied simply and shrugged. “Well I guess then you won’t mind if I go and kiss him next, won’t you?”

Keralis huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Whatever. Like I care”, he murmured, but the pout on his face was all the answer Grian needed. A blind person could see that those two were deeply in love. If only they’d admit it. But Grian wasn’t here to play matchmaker. His job was to kiss and not to tell. He’d leave that to someone more mature.

Keralis took a deep breath and some of the colour left his face. “I think you owe me something after that sudden attack.”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll buy a book. I promised after all.”

“Nuh uh! That was worth at least two books, Mister Grian! You really attacked poor innocent me! I mean look into my eyes and nothing but my eyes!”

Those huge eyes were now looking pleadingly at him.

“I think the only way I can get better is if you buy at least three books.”

“Oh damn, alright”, Grian answered feeling a little guilty. And if he wouldn’t agree Keralis would probably raise the price for the kiss even more. So what was he supposed to do.

“Deal?”

“Yeah, sure. Deal.”

The pleading look disappeared at once and Keralis was grinning now, back to his business attitude. “Good, good. That’s 34 diamonds.”

Grian stopped looking through his inventory and turned to Keralis. “What? I thought one book was eight diamonds…”

Keralis smile suddenly turned into a grin and there was a calculating gleam in his eyes. “Well yeah. It’s 24 diamonds for the books and another ten diamonds to keep me from blabbing on to Xisuma, you know. It’s up to you.”

Well, Grian guessed it was his own fault for teasing Keralis and going around kissing people. Damn Mumbo and his stupid Challenge. The next time he saw him, he’d make him pay.

Grumbling a little he got out the diamonds and threw them to Keralis, who caught them with ease. “Pleasure doing business with you! Please shop at Lookie Lookie at my Bookie again, honoured customer.”

Grian just waved at him and trotted to the giant bookshelf to pick out some books he didn’t really need. He hoped his next kiss wouldn’t end like that or he’d be in debt soon. Well at least he’d be able to put Keralis’ name on his list as well. And never kiss him again.

Chapter Text

Grian was in an annoyed discussion with one of the villagers, who refused to sell him any mending books when Scar stepped up behind him. He threw one last deathly glare at the villager before turning around. Scar was smiling brightly, his cheeks slightly flushed, probably from rowing over the lake, even if they really weren’t that far apart, but Grian didn’t linger on that thought for too long.

“Scar! What’s up?”, Grian exclaimed cheerfully. Not passing up this opportunity he walked up and pressed a kiss onto Scar’s cheek as a way of greeting. Scar smiled at him so brightly that it was contagious.

“I think it’s about time we two take to the skies. I still need an end-busting buddy and I thought you might want to be my wingman.”

Grian nodded, eyes filled with excitement at the thought of being able to fly again. There was no better feeling in the world than the wind caressing his hair as he was soaring through the air.

“Sure! Just give me a few minutes and then we can leave!”

When they jumped into the end, Grian could already feel a rush of adrenalin. He rarely went to the end. If he was honest, the dark and endless void below freaked him out a little. Everywhere else it didn’t matter too much if you fell. Sure, it hurt like hell, especially when he fell into lava. But it wouldn’t last that long and he always woke up back in his bed. Being able to respawn truly was a blessing. But if you fell into the void… That was it. The void swallowed everything. Nobody had ever returned from down there. So they had to be careful where they stepped. Especially now when they didn’t have an Elytra to save them if he fell. But that was the whole point of being here. Getting an Elytra.

“So… I think we should head into that direction and just keep going until we find something. There must be some unlooted end cities nearby.”, Grian suggested and with a nod from Scar they started their journey.

It took far longer than both of them had expected. They came to one end city after the other, sure, but most of them had already been raided with nothing left for them. It was a little annoying that the other Hermits were so efficient in their end-busting.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find one. As long as we have our good luck crystals with us”, Scar told him while carefully constructing another bridge. Grian just rolled his eyes, taking said ‘crystal’ out of his pocket to look at it. That thing was just plain glass and as useful as that. He couldn’t even bring himself to pretend that it was magical to make Scar happy. With a shrug Grian just tossed it as far as he possibly could and watched it fall down into the endless void in mild fascination. Well at least the sparkling glass looked good while falling.

Unfortunately Scar had noticed and made an indignant noise, looking at him in shock. “The… The Crystal… But we need the luck!”

Grian just shrugged, walking up to Scar and grabbing the hem of his jacket. “Here, take this as a good luck charm then. Should work way better anyway”, he insisted cheekily and planted a soft kiss onto Scar’s lips, lingering for a few seconds. There was an endless void below them, cold wind blowing past them, but in that moment everything around them seemed to disappear. Grian broke away after a few seconds, smiling. “Feel the good luck already?”

Scar hastily nodded, his face glowing red as he turned around, muttering something under his breath as he tried to calm himself enough to keep on building their narrow path. Grian smiled fondly at him. It was kind of cute how Scar still hadn’t gotten used to this. It was far from the first time, them being neighbours and all that. And he must have heard from other Hermits what was going on by now.

They finally reached an end city that hadn’t been raided, both of them tired from the seemingly endless walking and bridge building. And it even had a ship hovering next to it.

“Well, it looks like your good luck charm worked after all. Maybe I’ll need it more often…” Scar glanced at him a smile on his lips and Grian just nodded, not really paying much attention. He was too focused on the task ahead.

“Yeah sure, why not. But first, let me get that Elytra”, he called out as he was already running towards the ship. He was honestly excited to be flying again. Nothing could come between him and his wings now. Not even the Shulker who landed a shot on him was able to deter him. He just kept building up until he was able to board the ship.

And there it sat right in the middle of the room, hanging on the wall and beckoning to him. He brushed his hand gently over the material, a small smile appearing on his face. Had it really been that long since he had last flown? It sure felt like it.

Carefully he took the Elytra off the wall and strapped it around his neck and onto his shoulders, when he heard a blood-curdling scream.

“SCAR?!”, he called out as he stormed up the stairs, looking around in search for his partner. And then his gaze landed on Scar. Scar who was hovering outside of the building over the endless void, trying to move back to safe ground while he wasn’t affected by gravity.

Grian didn’t think. He ran up to the railing and jumped, activating his Elytra seconds before he could hit the ground, rockets already in hand. He fired one after the other. Faster. He needed to fly faster. He needed more speed.

He was almost there. He’d make it to Scar in time. He reached out and then had to abruptly turn, when the blast of a Shulker flew right in front of him. He hurriedly turned back to Scar. For a second their eyes met and then the floating effect on Scar stopped and he started falling, his hands still outstretched, trying to reach Grian.

“SCAR!” A guttural shout tore itself from Grian’s mouth and he changed directions instantly. He was starting to get low on rockets, but he didn’t care. He needed to make it. The wind was whipping against his face and as he dove down the air got thinner and thinner, making it harder to breath.

“Grian! Turn around!”

He was so close. He could see the fear in Scar’s eyes as he looked at him pleadingly.

No.

He would not turn around. He would make it. They’d both get out of here alive. He wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. The wind started to become painful now and he saw cuts forming on Scar’s arm and face. He wasn’t off any better, but he ignored the pain and pushed on. Only a little more. Only a little further.

He saw Scar’s eyes getting cloudy and felt the dizziness getting to himself as well. But he persisted. He fired another rocket and felt his fingers brush against Scar’s arm. The wind carried debris, one of them scraping along his forehead. Blood was running over his face, getting in his eyes, but he didn’t stop. Just a little more.

Another rocket blast and he was able to grab Scar’s arm. He felt Scar trying to hold on as well, but his grip was already weak. He pulled Scar towards him and pushed him against his body. “Hold on, okay? I’ll get you out of here.” He felt Scar nod against his shoulder as he turned around to face the end islands again. They had fallen a long way and he wasn’t sure if he had enough rockets to make it back up again.

He felt the pull of the void below them. The wind was trying to tear him apart. But he kept pushing. He couldn’t stop now. He could barely see anything through a haze of blood and sweat and blindly flew upwards.

He could feel the air getting less and less thin. It was easier to breath now and Scar’s hold on his arms became a little stronger again. Only a few more rockets were left. This would be a close call. He could already see the land. It was so close.

Grian fired his last rocket and prayed. He angled his body to take the impact of what would be a very ungraceful landing. And then they both crashed down on the floor right next to the edge of the island. They had made it.

Scar was laying right on top of him, safe and alive. Grian was breathing heavily and when he regained a little control of his body again he just put his arms tighter around Scar, pressing him against his upper body. He could feel Scar’s heart beating and he felt warm breath on his neck.

“You alright there?”, Grian asked quietly and he felt a nod against his chest. “You able to get up yet?” Scar shook his head and Grian just sighed. “Yeah, me neither. Let’s just stay here for a second. I don’t see any Enderman or Shulker nearby.

Grian let his hand wander over Scar’s back until it rested on the other’s head, were he left it, absent-mindedly stroking the soft hair. It took another minute of soft breathing until Scar finally raised his head from Grian’s chest, to look at him.

“Thank you… I… Thanks.”

Grian smiled, the hand slipping from Scar’s hand to his cheek. Scar leaned into the touch, closing his eyes for a moment.

“I’m glad I made it. You had me worried. I thought I’d lose you. The two of us really shouldn’t go into the end.”

“You mean, I shouldn’t go. You were… You were amazing. The way you were flying was… It was beautiful”, Scar gushed, pushing himself up. Grian tried not to think about how the loss of the other’s body heat made him feel. Scar was leaning over him now and Grian did the only thing that seemed right at the moment. He pulled Scar’s face down to himself and just smashed their lips together. He was still running high on adrenaline, he knew that. He just needed… He had to feel Scar and that way seemed absolutely logical to him at that moment. And the way Scar leaned back against him, lips moving against his, showed him that Scar probably felt the same.

They only broke apart when they heard the sound of an Enderman nearby. This was still the end and definitely no place for a long make out session. Scar hurriedly stood up, offering Grian his hand to help him up. One short glance around revealed that they were luckily close to one of the End’s portals.

“You still got some rockets left? I spend all of mine on that nose dive into the void…”

Scar looked at him in confusion, but nodded as he got out a few stacks of rockets, handing them over to Grian. “But the portal is right over there. We don’t need to fly. You shouldn’t fly again after that. You are hurt”, Scar protested, looking at him, eyes filled with worry.

Grian just smiled reassuringly and put a single Enderpearl into Scar’s hand.

“There is something I need to get to make sure you won’t fall into the void again. Just… Wait for me at the Portal home. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

He could see it in the way Scar looked at him that he wanted to argue, but Grian left no room for that, hurriedly taking off into the air. He had promised Scar earlier that he would get an Elytra out of their trip. Him falling didn’t change that. It showed Grian even more how important it was to own an Elytra. He couldn’t risk Scar visiting the End again. Maybe he was getting a little over protective, but the way he had felt when he had seen Scar falling… He never wanted to feel like that ever again.

It didn’t take long finding another Elytra now and Grian was already on his way back, already seeing the island in the distance. And then, he miscalculated. He had planned to land smoothly next to Scar, but he had used far too many rockets and was racing towards the ground with a speed that would certainly wound him badly, if not kill him. He screamed in fear of the impact, still trying to change his course. He looked for any way out, when he spotted the portal. If he managed to land in it, he would be fine. Luckily he changed direction right on time, but just as he hit the portal he heard another voice, filled with panic and dread shouting his name. Then everything turned black.

He woke up with a start in his bed in the little Hobbit Hole. He hated the way the portal ripped you from the end. It always felt weird, but it was far better then dying. There were about a dozen beeps coming from his communicator.

Scar! Had he seen Grian falling? His scream had sounded so panicked.

Opening his communicator his heart sank at the first message he read.

<GoodTimesWithScar> I need help. I think Grian just fell into the void.

<GoodTimesWithScar> Teleport him Xisuma! Maybe he’s still alive!

<GoodTimesWithScar> Xisuma, please.

Grian’s eyes widened. Had Scar only heard his scream but not seen him land? He hastily typed back a message, before he could be teleported to wherever Xisuma was at the moment.

<Grian> I’m fine!

<Grian> I’m back home. I fell into the portal.

<GoodTimesWithScar> Stay right there. I’m coming! Don’t move.

Grian couldn’t help but smile a little at that message. He put some of his stuff away and then headed for the front door to meet Scar in the middle. There was no way they’d miss each other after all. He had just taken a few steps out of the door, when he could hear someone running. A second later he was almost tackled to the floor by Scar, who held him in a bone crushing hug, breathing hard into his shoulder.

“You are okay. You are alive.”

“Yeah, I am. Almost dying once was enough excitement for us today I think”, Grian replied. He gently put his arms around Scar, reassuringly patting his back. “I’m sorry for making you worry. That was not my intention. I just miscalculated the landing a little. I might have been a bit tired.”

Scar finally let go of him, but only to softly hit him into the shoulder and looking at him annoyed. “That’s why you shouldn’t have flown off like that on your own! Your life should be more important than anything else.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Grian muttered, rubbing the spot were Scar had hit him. “It is. But your life is also very important to me. And I don’t… Seeing you fall like that…”

They both had the same haunted expression on their faces at the mention of their near-death experience.

Grian took out the Elytra he had gotten and handed it over to Scar. “I got you one. We had a deal after all. And now… Now you won’t have to fall ever again.”

Scar’s eyes widened and he carefully took the Elytra from Grian, before putting it around his neck, looking at his new wings with a mixture of gratitude and amazement.

“See. You can’t possibly be mad a-”

Before Grian could finish his sentence he was stopped by the feeling of Scar’s soft lips on his. Scar’s arms wrapped around him and pulled him so close as if he was scared Grian would disappear again. The kiss didn’t last long, but Scar kept his arms around Grian, resting his head on Grian’s shoulder.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again”, Scar mumbled and finally raised his head again, looking Grian straight in the eyes, a fond look on his face. He gently caressed Grian’s cheek and then let go, cheeks looking slightly rosy.

“Right back at you, Scar. That was one hell of a trip.”

Scar shrugged, still smiling and finally stepped away from Grian.

“I still had a great time. Let’s do something less dangerous together soon”, Scar suggested, before grinning at Grian, taking out a rocket and with an ecstatic yell he flew off into the skies.

Grian looked after Scar, a thoughtful expression on his face. Something was going wrong here… But before he could think to hard on what had happened, the bell of his messaging system started to ring, the never ending sound leaving no room for any more pondering.

Chapter Text

Grian landed on the peak of a mountain wearing some sort of mask and looked down at his own building. It was a little strange and he had no clue why Doc and Bdubs had been so adamant on buying it at the end of last season only to have to rebuild it block by block in this world.

But he had to admit it looked kind of funny with the fence in the middle, being split apart. He carefully climbed down the mountain and searched for any movement, but nobody appeared to be around. He would be gone in a second, he just needed to trade with Doc’s villagers. Sure, he could have asked, but Doc would have wanted payment and he was getting a little short on diamonds at the moment. And Doc would not even notice anything amiss until it was too late and Grian would be gone by then.

As he crept down the mountain and reached the front lawn he noticed movement behind the house and sure enough, Doc was busy building something in the back. Well that made his plan a little more risky, but not impossible. Grian stayed hidden behind a few chests for a while, but Doc seemed to be fully immersed into his work. And he knew Doc good enough by now. If that guy was busy working on something it was almost as if he was in a different world. There would be no better time than now to pull off his plan.

He slipped through the iron doors and was welcomed by wild mumbling. Those villagers had always been way too noisy. The only good thing was, that they were constantly talking, so any noise he might make should go unnoticed. Now for the trading…

Grian put down a few Shulkerboxes, glancing at the door one last time before getting his first items out. Not a second later he was swarmed by a villagers, all holding up emeralds to trade with him. And trading he did. He pulled out one item after the other, storing the emeralds in his chest, looking at the growing number with a satisfied grin. He was just getting out the last stack of paper to trade for emeralds, when he felt hot breath ghosting over his neck, making him freeze up.

“Nobody touches my villagers”, a low and threatening voice whispered into his ear. He startled and turned around so fast he almost fell down.

Doc was standing right there, one eyebrow raised and just staring at him. Damn, with all the villagers talking he’d never heard the sound of the iron door. And he had been so close to finishing and getting away without being discovered. How was he supposed to talk his way out of this? He had been caught red handed after all.

“So Grian… I think a little payment is due. I can’t trade with them today after all. Or rather a little punishment. You wouldn’t want to start another Civil War now, would you?”

Grian swallowed and shook his head. He always felt so nervous around Doc. They had been on opposing teams constantly last season after all.

“Yeah, thought so. Now what can you offer me? How should we proceed?” Doc’s voice was still dangerously low and he was looking at him with a calculating grin.

“I could… Give you half the Emeralds I just got?”, he suggested slowly, but soon caved in when Doc shook his head. “Or you can have all of them. I don’t really need them that badly. You can have them.” Doc was still silently watching him and each second that went by without any answer made him even more nervous. Of all the Hermits only Doc had that affect on him. “Alright. Name your price. What can I pay to make it up? I got like… 15 diamonds left.”

And finally Doc decided to break his silence. “That’s a nice start. I’ll take those 15 diamonds… Oh and I’ll also take you.”

Grian’s eyes widened and he blushed at the last demand. He didn’t even know what Doc meant by that but his mind was already working in overdrive. His brain conjuring up images he’d never ever forget.

Doc chuckled, clearly amused by his state. “You’d think, someone running around the server kissing people would be a little less innocent. It’s nice to know you haven’t changed.”

“So you just said that to tease me?”, Grian whined, crossing his arms in front of his chest, feeling a little vulnerable under Doc’s intense stare.

“Oh no. I meant what I said. I’ll take you…”, he paused for a second, walking up to Grian and putting one of his fingers underneath Grian’s chin, so he was forced to look up at Doc, “on as a personal assistant for the prank I planned on good old Bdubs.”

“Oh…”

“Well what were you thinking? Expected me to do some dirty things to poor innocent Grian? I think Mumbo would kill me if I laid a finger on you.”

“Mumbo’s not my dad”, Grian grumbled, not even trying to deny that Doc was right about the other part. He needed to change the topic and he needed to change it fast, before he could be teased any more. “So a prank on your neighbour, right? Got anything in mind or do I have to plan it as well?”

“I got a little plan. I just needed someone to play a part in it. You happened to drop by at the right moment. I already prepared everything. You just need to lure Bdubs into my trap. He wouldn’t trust me enough to follow any instructions. And while everyone knows you are a prankster, you haven’t interacted with him enough to raise suspicion.”

~

Half an hour later, Grian regretted everything that had led him up to this moment in his life. “Is this really necessary for your big plan or are you just doing it to punish me?”

“Both. It is the best way to get his attention I think… And I also enjoy seeing you like that.” Doc chuckled darkly, looking Grian up and down. Grian was wearing a red and white dress that Doc had told him was apparently called a ‘Dirndl’. He also wore matching High Heels and bright red lipstick. Doc had even put a flower crown on Grian’s head that reminded him a little of his time as a Hippie.

Grian felt his face light up almost as bright as the dress he was wearing. Sure, he had worn a dress before when he dressed up to do an advert for Sahara. But this? This wasn’t what he had in mind when he left his base today.

“I hate you...”

Doc only laughed with his deep rumbling voice, giving Grian a few pats on the shoulder.

“You’ll do fine. Just, you know… Go over there and lure him into the trap and that’s that.”

Grian sighed in annoyance.

“Yeah. I get that. But why the hell am I wearing this freaking dress and those heels? Like it is obvious it’s me. I can’t pretend I’m anyone else. He’ll know as soon as he sees me.”

“Sure,” Doc just shrugged, “But that’s not the point. The point is to get his attention and to make him curious, you know. Bdubs can’t resist. And I enjoy seeing you suffer like that.”

Grian groaned, throwing one last dirty look at Doc before walking around the fence to Bdubs’ side of the house. He regretted the moment he had decided to sneak onto Doc’s property. He really shouldn’t have done that. But it was too late now and he would have to suffer the consequences.

Bdubs was lying at the side of his little pool on a chair, sun glasses on, simply relaxing. He hadn’t noticed Grian yet, despite the noises his shoes must have made.

Alright. He could do this. Sure, it was ridiculous, but he’d show Doc. If he looked like he felt uncomfortable, Doc would be even happier. So he would just rock this.

Without hesitation Grian swung one leg over Bdubs and just sat down on his waist, legs spread, putting his hands onto the other’s chest.

“Hey there, pretty.”

Grian could feel the way Bdubs startled, trying to jump up, but unable to do so because of the added weight on his lap. So he settled for simply sitting up, which only put him closer to Grian.

“Wha- What? Grian, dude? What’s going on?”

Grian grinned, raising one hand to caress Bdubs cheek, looking at him from bellow his eyelashes.

“Well, you know… I was just passing by and couldn’t resist such a good looking man...”

Bdubs looked utterly confused and Grian really couldn’t blame him for it. Weird things tended to happen quiet often when the Hermits were concerned, but that didn’t make them any less weird. And Grian walking around in a dress making his moves on someone? That was definitely not a common occurrence.

Grian slowly leaned forward, his breath already ghosting over Bdubs lips.

“We could have a little fun, if you are interested. Go somewhere nice and cosy. Just me and you.”, Grian whispered, before he leaned in for the kiss.

And then he looked at Bdubs, blinking a few times in confusion. His lips had only met a book that Bdubs had held up right between them.

“What is Doc planning this time?”, Bdubs voice came from the other side of the book and Grian’s eyes widened even more before he laughed nervously.

“Why would you think Doc has anything to do with it?”

Bdubs raised an eyebrow, looking at Grian as if he had just asked him why water was wet. “I’ve been his neighbour for a while. I know how he ticks. I mean, I heard you were running around kissing people lately, but this? This is a little over the top for that little game. I also saw you sneaking around Doc’s side of the fence about an hour ago. I might pretend to be stupid sometimes, but I can put two and two together. So what does he want you to do? Seduce me?” Bdubs snorted in amusement at his own question and slowly lowered the book still between them, his eyes looking Grian up and down. “No offence, but I don’t really swing that way, even if you are looking really pretty in that dress. And Doc should know that.”

Grian groaned. This wasn’t working out the way he had planned. Not at all. And he didn’t even want to think what else Doc had in store for him as a punishment now that this stupid plan had failed.

“Okay, okay. You got me. You are right. Doc wants me to lure you into his trap. I don’t know much about it. I guess it will probably end with you respawning in your bed though.”, Grian replied after a little hesitation. Surely Doc wouldn’t hear him. He was already at their agreed rendezvous point

"So you are helping him because...?" Bdubs looked at him in mild curiosity, eyes drifting over the dress once more. "Just for fun? Or does Doc have some dirt on you? I know he likes to collect dirt to get people to agree to his plans, the nasty goat."

"I broke into his villager trader..."

Bdubs laughed, a loud bellowing laugh that made Grian want to pout. He didn't enjoy being laughed at, especially not in the get up he was in right now. This was already embarrassing enough as it was.

"Not funny...", he murmured, holding up his hand and flicking Bdubs forehead softly.

"Well, it is kind of funny, you've got to admit. And rather interesting", Bdubs replied and Grian shuddered as he could feel a hand caressing his back, slowly wandering down, but just stopping above his butt. "I've been trading with his villagers as well. I bet I stole far more than you by now, but he never put me into make-up and a little dress. Not that I would look as good in it as you, but I think you need to consider that he's telling you something by that."

"Like what? That I look like a girl?" Grian snorted and rolled his eyes. He knew he was slender and not that tall and maybe had soft features, but he would not really pass as a girl and to call him girly would really be a far stretch.

"No. More like, he thinks you look hot."

Grian’s brain seemed to short circuit at that. He could feel heat rising to his face, sputtering a few times, unable to form words. The thought that Doc – stoic, cold, emotionless Doc could look at him and feel any sort of thing was unbelievable.

"Listen, Grian. I've been his neighbour for a while now. And we don't exactly have walls thanks to splitting this mansion down the middle. I have a pretty good view of his bedroom. And boys like you? Well considering who he had in his bedroom so far I'd say you'd fit right in to that. And I guess he's pretty good going by the sounds his partners make. So if you are interested in some no-strings-attached sex, I'd say go for it." Bdubs had a broad grin on his face and even though his tone was teasing, he sounded like he was telling the truth.

Grian glanced over his shoulder at the other half of the mansion. Above the fence he could see Doc's rather pink bedroom. An image popped into his mind of himself lying on top of that bed. Doc looming above him, looking down with that unreadable stoic expression of his. Would he like that? It had been a while since he had gotten some action – besides kissing that is. Maybe... Maybe having some fun would be a nice change of pace. Make him lose some of the stress that came with starting so many projects at the beginning of a new world.

His train of thought was interrupted by Bdubs laughing and Grian's head snapped back around.

"You are thinking about it, so it's probably already a done deal. Let's go then. You shouldn't leave Doc waiting. His ego couldn't bare it."

"Go...?", Grian echoed, looking at Bdubs in confusion. Hadn't he already said, that Doc was waiting with a deadly trap for Bdubs? Why would anyone walk into that? Or did Bdubs have some secret ace up his sleeve that would end in even more prankage?

"Yeah, go. I'm taking pity on you, dude. So I'm gonna be your wingman in this. A dead wingman, but a wingman nonetheless. And I rather like the thought of such an amazing builder and prankster to be indebted to me. You owe me a big one after this is over, Grian."

An enthusiastic smile spread on Grian's face and if he wasn't still sitting in Bdubs lap he would have jumped into his arms then and there. He settled for simply throwing his arms around Bdubs and planting a sloppy kiss onto his cheek, leaving a deep red lipstick mark on it. "Bdubs! You are the best! I'm gonna build you the most amazing thing you can imagine for this!" Bdubs just half heartedly patted his back until Grian scrambled backwards to stand up so they'd be able to get started.

"Lead the way, little miss."

Grian couldn't even muster up the energy to throw a glare at the name, he was just too delighted at the moment. This might not be going to plan, but Doc didn't need to know. As long as Bdubs walked into his trap, he could celebrate victory and Grian's punishment would end. And then – Grian bit his lower lip, throwing one last glance at the upper level of the mansion – well, he'd see what happened when the time came.

Grian slowly ascended the stairs to the shared mine below the mansion, stepping down carefully, not to stumble in the high heels. After only a few shaking steps, Bdubs sighed and stepped up next to him, holding out one arm to steady him. Grian looked at him with a thankful smile, took a few more steps and then stopped, earning a confused glance from Bdubs.

"I can't do this.", he whispered, looking at Bdubs arm that held him, "I know you'll respawn, but still... You never did anything mean to me."

"I can decide on my own, Grian. I'm a grown ass man. And right now I want to help out my good friend get rid of his debt and maybe get laid. No backing out now. I'm ready to go off with a bang... Or whatever other nasty method Doc chose. And I sure as hell will get him back for it so don't you worry your pretty head over it."

Bdubs gave him a reassuring smile and kept walking, half pulling Grian with him, who had to fall in step not to fall down. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Grian took a deep breath. Well, it was too late now to turn around and he wouldn't hesitate again. He'd much rather be indebted to Bdubs than to Doc, seeing what that maniac made him go through. After calming down a little Grian put a smile on his face and trying to pretend that everything was alright and going according to plan. Doc should be close by now after all.

"Just around the corner there! I prepared a nice little surprise for you. You just need to get it", Grian said and giggled a little, pretending that he had been able to convince Bdubs to come down here without knowing about the prank. As he looked at Bdubs stupid grin, Grian had to keep himself from looking too fondly at his friend.

"Wow, that is so nice! It is really amazing to have so many friends on this server! I can't wait to see the surprise!"

Bdubs let go of Grian's arm, throwing him one last smile. He jogged up to the corner and then turned to Grian, throwing him one last wink before walking on. A second later there was a deafening boom and hot wind and dust blew through the mine, making Grian's skirt flutter up.

"Well done." Doc stepped out of a side mine and Grian hurriedly pushed the fabric of his skirt down, throwing a glare in Doc's direction.

Doc didn't seem all to impressed by his glare and just kept walking over as Grian slowly stepped back. It only took a few steps for Grian's back to hit one of the walls and Doc's grin widened. He was looming over Grian, one hand pushed against the wall, the other gently resting under Grian's chin, making him look upwards. "Such a good boy, Grian. I feel like offering you something in return for your hard work."

"You are gonna let me keep my diamonds and the emeralds I traded."

An amused laugh left Doc's mouth as he shook his head. "No way. My villagers, my emeralds and my compensation. But you know I heard the rumours... Little Grian walking around and collecting kisses for some challenge. I'd be inclined to give you one more for your collection from the goat himself", Doc whispered in a low, promising voice. His thumb was gently caressing Grian's lower lip and Grian could feel his heart racing.

"Yeah...", he breathed out quietly, not sure what else to say below Doc's looming presence. The moment he answered Doc's lips were on his. It wasn't gentle and he knew his lips might be bruised and swollen later, but he didn't care. He put his arms around Doc, pulling him closer. And then he could feel a hand travelling up his leg, making his way under his skirt. Grian let out a little moan into the kiss, pressing his body even closer to Doc.

He needed to feel more. He needed... He wanted...

Suddenly an image sprang into his mind. Scar standing in front of his door, smiling at him, cheeks red and waving.

Grian pressed his eyes shut, trying to get rid of that thought. He didn't even know why he was thinking about that all of the sudden. He was about to get it on with one of the hottest guys on the server. This was no time to be distracted. He needed do savour this moment. It had been so long since he had any fun. He didn't even know why he had stopped going around the server looking for some fun... He had done it so often last season. And he couldn't even say that he was too busy getting started any more.

A hand grabbing his ass hard brought him out of his thoughts and back into the present. The tongue in his mouth was completely dominating him and he loved every second of it. They separated for a second and Grian opened his eyes again to look at Doc. Doc, who looked at him with such a hungry expression it send shivers through his whole body.

"How about we take this somewhere more comfortable? Not that I wouldn't just take you against this wall, but you don't seem like the type to do it outside."

Grian licked his lips, his heart beating so incredibly fast. He was trying to compose himself to give an answer, but words seemed to fail him at the moment. He hadn't expected for this to head in this direction, no matter what Bdubs had said. He finally settled to simply nod, earning himself a dark chuckle from Doc.

"Well then..."

Grian squeaked when he suddenly felt his feet lifting of the ground. Everything around him was shifting and suddenly he was lying atop of Doc's shoulder, like he weighed nothing and was just a sack to carry around. And he found himself kind of liking it...

The way up the stairs seemed to pass way too fast and it was as if only a few seconds had passed when he was thrown onto the pink sheets of Doc's bed. He looked up at Doc looming over him and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"I wanted to do this since I put you into this dress, you know? You look so fucking sexy in it.", Doc growled out, climbing on top of Grian, his hand caressing Grian's hip softly. "So fucking pretty."

And then his lips were on Grian's again and Grian could only whimper at the touch.

Doc was slowly unzipping the side of Grian's dress, pulling the fabric down.

Grian was about to get lost in the sensation, his hips bucking upwards on their own accord. And suddenly he froze. His mind going back to the desperate kiss he had shared with Scar in the End. The way Scar had looked at him. The way his heart had started beating faster. Oh damn it. Why was he thinking of that now?

Doc stopped suddenly, looking at Grian in question. He had probably noticed the way he had tensed up. "You alright?"

“Yeah. Yeah, keep going… Your hand was a little cold. That’s all”,he lied and smiled, letting his own hands wander over Doc’s back.

Doc looked at him as if searching for something, but then shrugged and bend down again, his lips going for Grian’s neck, gently nibbling the skin there. His mouth kept trailing down, leaving a burning hot trail on Grian’s skin.

Grian felt a wave of pleasure running through him, closing his eyes again as he threw his head back, only for his mind to go back to the time when he had made out with Scar in his base. Suddenly this felt so wrong and he didn’t even understand why. He just knew that he didn’t want to do it any more. He put his hands onto Doc’s chest and with gentle force he pushed the other away a little.

"I... Sorry, I can't. I'm just... I don't know. You are a fucking attractive guy but I'm... I guess I'm not in the mood. I keep getting distracted."

Doc heaved a sigh, but without Grian needing to say anything else he pulled the dress back up, patting his head and then standing up again. "Your clothes are in the closet around the corner. Take your time. I'm gonna go work off some steam."

“I am really sorry, Doc”, Grian mumbled, lowering his gaze. He honestly did feel bad for stopping, even if he hadn’t wanted to go on.

“No need to apologize or explain. It’s alright.” When Doc had almost reached the stairs down, he turned around again to look at Grian. "If you ever change your mind about this, you know where to find me. No pressure though. I prefer my partners to enjoy themselves…"

Grian stayed in the bed for a few more seconds, starring up at the ceiling. Damn. What had just happened? He must be really tired or something like that. Maybe he had been going around kissing too many people that his brain started mixing everything up… Yeah that sounded about right. Maybe he just needed to spend a few days without kissing anybody and then he would be focused on the task again…

It couldn’t have anything to do with Scar. All of this was just a game after all.

Chapter Text

Grian stepped out of his little hobbit hole, breathing in the fresh air and stretching his arms. He had been so productive these last few days, gathering materials from all over the world for his mansion and building up the whole front. His gaze wondered over the lake to Scar's snail. He could see Scar there, feeding the snail and gently petting its head. It made Grian think back to the confusion he had felt when he’d been with Doc, but he could feel none of it now. It must have really been the Challenge messing with his brain. Nothing more. Scar turned a little and, noticing Grian, began to wave, whispering something to his snail, that now also turned to look at Grian, its eyes seeming to judge him even from this far away. It never really had looked at him like that. Weird. But Grian would never understand the magic going on at Scar's side of the lake. Some of it was plain make-belief, like those Crystals, but some things were going against the laws of physics.

Scar laughed at the snail’s glare, saying something else to it before taking out a purple fruit and biting into it. Suddenly Scar appeared right in front of him, purple particles floating around bot of them. Grian wondered how Scar always managed to appear right where he wanted to when he ate a Chorus Fruit. It never worked for Grian.

“Hi there, neighbour”, Scar greeted him with a bright smile, looking overly excited, as he always seemed to be lately. Grian couldn’t help but smile as well, looking up into those sparkling eyes. Before he even thought about it, his body moved on his own. He stretched, standing on his toes and planted a soft kiss onto Scar’s lips, earning himself a delighted giggle.

“So… What are you up to, Scar?”

“Just… Building a few houses behind Larry. Oh, and I just told Larry about you! I think he likes you!”

“Scar… Larry already knows me. You don’t have to tell him about me. I see him every day. I’ve been inside your house as well.”

Scar’s cheeks turned slightly red, maybe in embarrassment at Grian pointing out his mistake. “No. That’s not what I- I meant something else. I know he knows you, but he doesn’t know about you, do you know what I mean?”

Grian just chuckled at Scar’s flustered rambling, shaking his head with a fond expression. “You’re really cute sometimes, you know that Scar? I would have never thought you had that side to you before we became neighbours. It’s so different from the businessman you were last season. Not to think about your time spend in Area 77.”

Grian could have sworn the blush on Scar’s cheeks had deepened, but that might have been his imagination.

“I… I mean it’s a new season. Things change. I like to do new things. I like change”, Scar started, lowering his gaze and suddenly he had Grian’s hand in his, gently caressing it. “I like change”, he repeated once more, looking back up to Grian, but leaving his hand were it was. “I really love…”, Scar stopped and Grian tilted his head to the side, looking at Scar in confusion. “… being your neighbour.”

Grian grinned, pulling Scar’s hand towards him to give him a hug. “You are a great neighbour Scar.”

Grian let go after a few seconds, stepping back from Scar, their hands sliding apart a moment later.

“No, Grian, I…”

A loud roaring sound came from the lake and both of them startled, heads whipping towards the snail. Grian would never get used to how loud a snail could be if it was a magical giant.

“I think Larry is calling for me, sorry. He is a little high maintenance sometimes. But don’t tell him, I said that. Can we continue this another time? Maybe you want to drop by at my place next week. Have dinner together and… talk.”

Grian’s face lighted up at the idea, nodding vehemently. “Oh, It’s a date!”

Scar’s expression shifted, no longer looking nervous, but full of unbelievable joy. He moved forward, stopped abruptly for a second a few centimetres from Grian’s face and then continued on, pressing a gentle kiss onto Grian’s cheek.  “See you next week!”

The purple fruit was back in Scar’s hand and a second later the wizard was standing by his snail again, waving excitedly to Grian, before turning to his animal companion. Larry on the other hand had its eyes still on Grian, its glare practically piercing into him.

He started to feel uncomfortable under the snail's glare and with a wave he jumped from the ground, firing his rockets and flying off into the sky. He needed to get his head back into the game now. If he didn't get going Mumbo would win the challenge. Now that he thought about it, was there really any way for Grian to win this challenge? The challenge had been for the whole season after all. Maybe he needed to give Mumbo a few more kisses so he'd decide that Grian was indeed done with the challenge out of sheer annoyance. That might work, but it felt like cheating and Grian wanted to win fair and square, even if that meant he needed to keep kissing people until they jumped worlds again. It would really be hard to get rid of this habit. Especially with... Grian shook his head. No he wasn't thinking about that again. It was a game. They all knew that and if he were to develop any emotions he would end up getting hurt. But he wasn't developing anything. He really wasn’t. He'd be fine. Nothing to worry about.

He'd look for someone else to kiss today, just to prove to himself that he could still do it. Still mid flight, he took out the little notebook he always kept with him that was taking track of his progress. As he skimmed through the pages he pointedly ignored the amount of times he had written down Scar's name, not even counting earlier They were neighbours. Nothing more. Doc's name seemed to glare at him from the end of the list and he blushed a little thinking back to their encounter.

There were still a few people he hadn't kissed even once yet. He wasn't sure about the people who had just rejoined them in this world. They were probably nice, but it was hard for Grian to tell if they'd be okay with being kissed. And he'd rather not make anyone too uncomfortable. He'd leave those until later in the season, when they got acquainted a little more. So far they all seemed to be nice.

Going over the list a few times, he suddenly realised someone very important he hadn't kissed yet. It had been the first hermit he had interacted with next to Mumbo: Xisuma! Of course!

Grian giggled in delight at the thought of going up to X and trying to kiss him. The helmet did indeed make it a little harder, but Grian liked to be challenged. He bet even Mumbo would be impressed seeing their Admin's name on the list. Xisuma wasn't really going for much physical contact with all of them, except for maybe Keralis. But Grian knew for a fact that he at least didn't mind the occasional hug. Maybe a kiss on the cheek then? Or just the tiniest peck on the lips if Xisuma appeared to be comfortable enough with the hugging. That did sound like a good plan. Now he only needed to find him. He knew where Xisuma's base was, and next to his honey farm or the shopping district that was his best bet.

After a few more minutes Grian landed in front of Xisuma's base, taking his time to look around the area. It was really pretty and made him realise, he visited Xisuma far too rarely to gaze at those amazing buildings. He should do it more often this season. Well, thanks to his Hermitcraft Challenge he did have more of a reason to tour around the server.

"Xisuma? You there?", Grian called out, knocking at the door, but there was no answer. He waited and knocked a few more times, only for the door to open on its own. Had Xisuma forgotten to properly lock the door? How could that happen? Their admin should know how important it was to have a door that was properly closed. Mobs could sneak up on you any time if you weren't careful.

Damn... Now he needed to make sure that everything was alright inside. Maybe Xisuma had forgotten the door when he left and some Mobs had already found their way inside.

Grian opened the door and stepped inside of Xisuma's base, looking around carefully. He couldn't see any Mobs, but there was a light coming from one of the rooms and after taking a few steps in the direction Grian could hear the unmistakable sound of cursing. While cursing – and really crude words – weren't a rarity in this world, hearing them in Xisuma's voice was something new. Their admin was usually so calm and soft spoken, always minding his manners, but now…

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why won't this damn thing work?", his voice echoed through the hallway and Grian had to suppress a chuckle as he stepped through the door.

Xisuma was sitting hunched over the desk. In front of him was a floating screen. Grian recognized it as their admin's command panel. In the endless amount of scrolling words lay all the secrets to their world and Xisuma was intelligent enough to understand that weird language. Grian vaguely remembered having admin powers as well, but those memories had gotten foggy over time since he joined the Hermits. He only knew that he had never been as talented with that console as Xisuma was.

"You alright there?", Grian asked, his voice softly. Xisuma was still startled, turning around hurriedly and looking at Grian with wide eyes through his helmet.

"Grian? Wha-What are you doing here. How did you get inside? Has something else happened?"

Grian shook his head, walking up to Xisuma, tilting his head to the side and searching the other's face. Even through the tinted visor Grian noticed how tired Xisuma looked. He was constantly blinking and there were large bags under his eyes. If Grian had to guess he'd say it had been maybe two days since Xisuma had last slept.

"Your door wasn't closed. I wanted to check up on you, see if everything was alright. This isn't like you", Grian replied and then hesitated for a second, before continuing, "It's no wonder in the state you seem to be in. When was the last time you slept? You don't look like you even have the energy to properly close a door if you wanted to."

Xisuma heaved a deep sigh and turned his back to Grian again, looking at the scrolling wall of green text in the air in front of him.

"I'm going to sleep once I'm done. There are just so many bugs in the system at the moment. I'm afraid something will happen if I don't take care of it now."

Grian scrunched his forehead in confusion. Bugs? He hadn't noticed any odd things happen like the last time they had encountered problems with the world's code, when the torches had stopped glowing and endless raids had been going on.

"What's the problem?"

It took Xisuma a few seconds to answer, just waving helplessly at some of the numbers. Grian looked at them and tried to understand. But he just couldn't remember enough to understand the admin language properly.

"It's just... Doc told me that iron golems keep spawning constantly on his island. There should be a limit to that. And Mumbo's farm isn't working at full efficiency. He said it's okay, but I don't get why it's only at 85%... There has to be something in the code. Maybe those problems are linked and…"

Grian groaned and just grabbed Xisuma's chair to turn him away from the monitors to face him instead. "X, let me ask you again. When was the last time you slept?"

Xisuma blinked a few times, looking up and thinking.

"Well... Yesterday I... Wait no, I didn't because I needed to... But the day before... No I stayed up late to calculate those equations and then", Xisuma stopped, furrowing his forehead and looking a little guilty, when he finally came to an answer. "Well. That would be four days ago. So three nights without sleep, I think."

"You think?!"

Xisuma at least had the audacity to look ashamed at his outburst, but the words leaving his mouth next showed Grian that he really wasn't feeling bad enough about it.

"But I really needed to fix those problems. I'm the one in charge. If I delay those things they might turn into a bigger problem."
Grian shook his head in disappo
intment. He had known that Xisuma had quite a few bad habits when it came to his working attitude, but he had never caught him first hand. "You need to go to sleep first. You can't fix problems in the state you are in right now. You'll only mess up even worse."

"But-"

"No! And if I can't get you to bed, I'll get Keralis to do it." Grian could see Xisuma's eyes widen and he grinned. It was good to know that there was at least one way to get Xisuma to listen to him. "He would be so disappointed seeing you like this, wouldn't he? Do you want to make him go mad with worry? You know he gets rea~ally emotional. Seeing you like that... It would break his poor heart." Grian knew he was being a little manipulative right now, but he was honestly worried about the state in which Xisuma was in right now. If he wasn't forced to sleep he'd work himself to death.

"No... Don't. I just need to...", Xisuma turned his chair around once more to look back at the displays, making Grian growl. Well, if that was how Xisuma wanted to play... Grian walked around the chair, hopping up to plant his butt right into the middle of the table, his legs dangling down, looking Xisuma straight into the eyes. "Grian. I really need to-"

"No, you don't. You really don't. We can ask Mumbo and Doc if they need their problems fixes so badly that you shouldn't sleep. No wait, we don't have to. I already know the answer... They don't."

Xisuma heaved a sigh and let his head hang and Grian got the feeling that he was finally getting through that thick skull of his. He leaned closer to Xisuma, his forehead almost touching the helmet. He hated seeing Xisuma like that. He looked utterly miserable and it hurt Grian to see one of his friends like that.

His warm breath was fogging up the outer side of the visor, hiding Xisuma's eyes again. Grian slowly raised his fingers and drew a small smiley face onto the visor, smiling sadly at Xisuma.

"I just want you to be happy and healthy, you know? We all want you to. Don't overwork yourself."

Xisuma let out a weak chuckle and pulled back a little, taking off his helmet, casting a fond smile at the little face Grian drew that was starting to fade again.

"You are right. Could you tell Doc and Mumbo that I'm going to take a break? I'll be back to work in two hours" Grian sent him a withering glare. "Three... four Hours? Okay, Okay. I'm gonna do a full eight hours of sleep. With a hand gesture from Xisuma the screens behind Grian dissolved and he let the glare fade from his face.

Grian hoped off the table, standing in front of Xisuma who was still sitting on his chair. He gently took Xisuma's head into his hands, earning himself a confused look. Grian bend forward and planted a soft kiss onto Xisuma's forehead, as if he was a child, he needed to take care of. He might as well be at the moment with how their admin behaved. "And now go to sleep."

Xisuma slowly nodded, but before he even got up he suddenly grabbed Grian's arm, pulling him forward into a crushing embrace. Grian's surprise faded soon and he returned the hug, gently caressing Xisuma's back. He could feel the tension gradually fading from the body in his arms, Xisuma's breathing slowly getting slower and more even. "Thanks, Grian…"

"You're welcome. You should really lie down now. I don't think I'd be able to carry you, if you fell asleep on me now."

Xisuma snorted in amusement, letting go of Grian and getting to his feet. The way he swayed slightly worried Grian and he stayed by his side, not daring to leave, until he was finally lying in his bed.

Grian could see the way he tried to keep his eyes open. He gently brushed a strand out of Xisuma's face and bend down a little, planting a soft kiss onto Xisuma's cheek. "Sleep now. I'll lock the door. And I'll b e back in eight hours with something to eat. Don't you dare get out of that bed before I'm back."

Xisuma let out a small chuckle, as his eyes drifted shut. Before Grian had even taken one step away from the bed, the admin was already asleep. He was glad he had decided to drop by. He didn't want to imagine what could have happened otherwise.

~

When Grian left Xisuma’s base once more the day after, he was smiling to himself. Xisuma seemed to be better already, His face didn’t look like a Zombie’s anymore. Having taken care of his duties, Grian made his way over to the shopping district, landing right in the middle. He looked up at the floating particles next to him in fascination. He had seen the Hermits build a lot of incredible things, but this one was new to him. It sat right in the centre of the shopping district and it looked absolutely stunning. He wondered what kind of magic was used to construct something like this. It probably had some redstone shenanigans involved.

“Going by your open mouth I’d say you either got a cramp in your face our you are seriously impressed.”

Grian turned around to look at Cub, finally closing his mouth and grinning. “I’m impressed. I’ve never seen something like that. I knew you were an amazing builder, but that is something else.”

Cub smiled and then walked up to the centre of the build, putting down a few shulker boxes and unloading huge amounts of Quartz into the barrels sitting there. “Say Grian… I heard you went for a little adventure to the end with Scar… Did ya have fun?”

“Huh? Yeah it was nice. We got ourselves some Elytra. Now all I need is an ungodly amount of rockets and I can go back to my unhealthy flying habits.”

Cub looked at him for a few seconds as if searching for something, before turning back to his barrels. “So… You like Scar?”

“Oh he is the best neighbour. I mean no offence to Mumbo and all that, but his redstone machines could get quiet noisy if he forgot to turn some of them off. Scar is…” Grian smiled and Cub seemed to take a glance at him out of the corner of his eye. “Scar is so freaking talented. The way he builds is so unique and everything he touches turns to pure gold, you know?”

Cub hummed in agreement and kept stocking up his barrels. Grian kept eyeing the Quartz. He had a few diamonds, but did he really need the Quartz? He had an Elytra now and could go farming in the Nether, but without using too many rockets it would be a tedious task.

“So… What are you selling those for?”, Grian inquired curiously. And the moment the question left his mouth he already knew that he would be buying them. He already had visions in his mind what he would be building with those blocks.

“Well… I’ll make you a good price this once. As your future in-law”, Cub snorted as he said that and Grian raised his eyebrows in confusion. That joke – or whatever it was supposed to be – went right over his head. But if it meant he got a discount on some nice Quartz he wouldn’t say no. “It’s a diamond for a stack of Nether Quartz. Take it or leave it.”

“Deal! I’ll take five.” Grian was already getting out some diamonds and one of his own shulkers. Cub smiled at him and then began loading the Quartz into the chest.

“So that’s five diamonds then.”

Grian smirked and as he handed over the diamonds he grabbed Cub’s arm and pulled him towards him. “Thanks for the discount again…”, he whispered into Cub’s ear, before planting a soft kiss onto his mouth. When he stepped back he saw an irritated frown crossing Cub’s face. Okay maybe he had overstepped a boundary there. Cub had never been the touchy feely kind of guy.

“Ah… Sorry. I didn’t want to get to close to you. It’s just… A little game me and Mr. Mumbo Jumbo are playing.”, he apologized with a kind smile, feeling the need to explain himself to resolve the tension, as he was raising his hands in front of him defensively. He had thought everybody was aware their game by now. But Cub didn’t seem like the type to gossip, so maybe that’s why he hadn’t known.

The irritated look disappeared from Cub’s face, only to be replaced first with sad and then with a determined expression. “Yeah, whatever. You can leave now… I have a meeting with Scar soon and there are some very urgent things I need to discuss with him.”

“Oh? If Concorp is already making a comeback I might need to talk to the Sahara team, so we can win this time. Thanks for the information.” Grian hurriedly grabbed his shulker and took off, his mind already filling with business ideas.

Chapter Text

Grian grinned happily as he landed in the Hermitcraft Challenges area next to Mumbo. Apparently Mumbo had finished his challenge, which meant that Grian was also done with his, didn’t it? He’d be done with all the kissing… Not that it was that bad. He’d really gotten used to it and most of the other Hermit’s seemed to be more amused than annoyed by his new behaviour. He also didn’t know how he felt about suddenly stopping. It would mean he wouldn’t get to kiss...

“So I need to show you what I got”, Mumbo greeted him and then pulled out item after item from his shulker box. Grian wouldn’t admit it, but he was slightly impressed at how fast Mumbo had acquired all those things. Well… All those things except the bell maybe. That was rather unimpressive.

“I also brought something to show my progress”, Grian replied proudly once Mumbo was done and pulled out his book to throw it at his friend who barely managed to catch it. Turning the pages, a tiny blush began to appear on Mumbo’s cheek. Whether that was because he saw his own name or because of how many names were in there, Grian wasn’t sure.
“Well, I see Scar’s name in there quite a lot. Any Explanation?” Mumbo looked at him curiously, but Grian just shrugged.

“He is my neighbour, you know? I see him more often than the rest of you guys. And I don’t like to pass up any opportunity to make you happy.”

Mumbo raised an eyebrow, looking at him doubtfully, but he didn’t say anything else on that matter and Grian was thankful for it. He didn’t want to think about any of those kisses meaning anything. It was just a prank after all.

He took the book back after Mumbo had read all the pages.

“Now that that is done, I think I won my challenge, right? You need to ring the bell!”, Mumbo finally concluded, a bright smile lighting up his face again.

Grian grumbled a little, looking at the bell like it had personally offended him. But he still punched against the metal. Mumbo laughed and then hit the bell as well. This whole thing was so absurd. “Congratulations Mumbo, you won. You got good. Now that this is over, I can stop with the kisses as well, right? You won, I didn’t.”

Mumbo only shook his head. “Oh no. Hermit Challenges is not about winning. It’s about the challenge. And I did challenge you for the whole season, didn’t I?”

“But you rang the bell!”

“Oh yeah I did… To tell you, good job so far, keep going!”

Grian frowned, but then a wicked grin appeared on his face. “Well you see Mumbo, if I’m not finished yet, that means I still have to keep going, right?”

Mumbo looked at him in confusion, but as he nodded something dawned on him and he shook his head. “Don’t you dare.”

“Oh but Mumbo… You said it yourself. I need to keep going.” Grian walked up to Mumbo, who was standing with his back to one of the pillars now. “So I’ll keep going until you ring that bell announcing my victory”, he finished, grabbing Mumbo’s tie to pull him down. “And until then I think I need to visit you more often.” Grian pressed his lips onto Mumbo’s and enjoyed the blush that appeared on the other’s face. He kept the kiss short and chaste, but it was still enough to get Mumbo pretty flustered.

~

Grian was whistling a cheerful tune on his way back, walking through the forest instead of flying, just enjoying the soft breeze blowing through the trees. Sure, he had to continue that stupid challenge, but somehow he didn’t mind. He had fun and he hadn’t even gotten to all of the Hermits yet. He really wanted to put all of their names into his notebook at least once before the season was over. If he did something, he always did it right.

A beep came from his communicator and Grian looked at it, a pained grimace appearing on his face. So Scar was fighting the Wither, huh? Why would he do something like that now? Guys like them were supposed to buy their beacons. They weren’t good enough at the whole fighting thing… But well, maybe Cub was helping him. They usually partnered up for stuff like that.
Grian couldn’t help but grumble a little at the thought. Cub should really be more careful at protecting Scar if they were really fighting together.

Grian kept walking and another death message popped up on his screen, making him wince.

You alright? Need any help?

Grian kept walking into the direction of their bases, mentally already planning what he would need to gather to join in on the fight. A few minutes passed without a reply, but there had been two more death messages and it made Grian worry a little. Tango had now also send a message, offering his help.

Scar? Tell me where you are! I’m coming over to help. Respawning so often can’t be good for you.

And finally – finally – there was an answer. Just the coordinates and a short thank you, but that was enough. Grian flew off towards his base, gathering his stuff and almost crashing through his door in a hurry to get to the mine Scar must be in.

He jogged through a long tunnel and the sounds of fighting and a Wither on the lose grew louder.

“FUCK!” Scar’s voice echoed through the tunnel and Grian’s communicator beeped once more. He didn’t have to look at it to know that Scar had respawned again. Grian reached him a minute later, next to a makeshift quarter.

“You alright Scar?”, he asked, startling the other a little.

“Yeah sure...”, Scar replied, slowly turning away from the chest and looking at Grian with a weird look in his eyes, looking him up and down, as if he was searching for something. “You came to help me?”

“Of course I did! I can’t have you dying here! You had me really worried. And we still have a dinner date to get to this week after all. Can’t have you miss that.”

Scar’s eyes widened and whatever had bothered him seemed to disappear, as he smiled again. He gently grabbed Grian’s arm and pulled him into a hug, resting his head on Grian’s shoulder. “I knew he was wrong...”, Scar murmured so quiet, that Grian wasn’t sure, he had even understood that right, but before he could reply, Scar had raised his head and pressed a soft kiss onto Grian’s cheek.

“Scar… Why are you even fighting that thing alone? You know it’s dangerous.”

Scar looked a little guilty at that, but he simply shrugged. “I just I needed to get some steam out of my system, you know?”

“Couldn’t you have gotten Cub to help you?”, Grian asked.

Scar’s face hardened after that, turning into a scowl. “We… No, he’s the reason for this. We had a fight. Just… some differing opinions on,” Scar took a deep breath. “things. He’ll come around and see how wrong he was. I don’t really want to talk about that now. I know I’m right and everything will turn out fine. I just… I… Let’s go and kick that Wither’s ass. And after that… Maybe we could celebrate together.” Grian smiled at the pleading look Scar gave him and nodded, leaving Scar’s embrace reluctantly.

Grian stood in the destroyed cave, trying to catch his breath. He hadn't thought battling a Wither would be this hard. They had managed, but it had cost him a lot. His armour had been blown to pieces and he had to retreat more than once to get suited up again. Not to mention the trouble Scar’s ridiculous bed placement skills had given him.
Just as the dust of the Wither blew away he could hear loud footsteps and Tango came rushing into the cave, all decked out in shining diamond armour, sword ready in his hands, looking like a dashing hero right out of a fairytale.

“I’m here. I’m…” He looked at Grian, then at Scar and then to the Nether Star in Scar’s hands. “Oh…”

Grian laughed a little and pushed one singed strand of hair out of his face, before walking up to Tango. “Thank god, Tango. You saved us all. You are my saviour”, he said and pretended to faint right into Tango’s arms, putting one of his own arms around Tango’s shoulders.

Tango looked at him in confusion and then to Scar, who just shrugged, and giggled. “You are welcome?”

Grian grinned and put his free hand onto Tango’s cheek. “Let me give you a token of my gratitude, dear knight”, he whispered in a low voice and then put his lips onto Tango’s. He had planned to make it a chaste kiss. Nothing special. He wasn’t sure if it would make Tango uncomfortable. But Tango seemed to have other plans. Confused, Grian noticed, that Tango’s eyes were still on Scar for a few more seconds, before he buried his hands in Grian’s hair and pulled him flush against his body.

Grian gasped in surprise and a tongue entered his mouth. Well… That was unexpected. Unexpected, but not unwelcome. He’d just never thought Tango to be up to a spontaneous Make-out session. He felt his heart beating faster, pressing his mouth harder against Tango’s, their tongues moving against each other. He could taste Tango in his own mouth and it was exhilarating. All thoughts left his head as he just tried to get even closer to the other body. He felt one hand wandering under his jumper and he let out a tiny moan into the kiss. Oh god… This was good. This was…

“Guys?”

Oh damn. Scar!
Grian broke the kiss a little abruptly, completely out of breath. Tango seemed unaffected, still grinning happily, his eyes wandering from Grian to Scar and back again.

“Well that was nice. I need to save you more often, Grian”, he said mockingly, planted another soft kiss onto Grian’s lips and laughed. “I’ll leave you two to it then. I bet you have a lot to talk about. Call me when there’s another Wither to fight, alright?” Grian was still slightly dazed as Tango looked past him at Scar, his grin becoming almost demonic, before he turned around and left them.

Grian’s heart was still beating unbelievably fast. But no longer because of Tango. He suddenly dreaded turning around and facing Scar. And he didn’t even understand why he reacted like that. He surely must have kissed someone in front of Scar again. They were neighbours after all and if visitors dropped by he never passed up the opportunity for a kiss. And why would he care about how Scar reacted anyways? Why would Scar care?
Grian took a deep breath. He was no coward. He had no reason to be scared. Slowly he turned around and for a second there was an absolutely devastated look on Scar’s face, but it disappeared so fast Grian almost thought he must have imagined it.

They stood there in an uncomfortable silence for about a minute, uncertain what to say or how to proceed. That was until Scar finally spoke up.

“So Cub was right, huh? You really do go around the server kissing everybody just for fun?”

Grian looked at Scar in confusion, but then shrugged. “It’s just a joke. I mean you must have known about Mumbo’s challenge. Almost everybody does. But don’t worry, I try to keep it all in fun. I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable. Tango was a little unexpected though”, Grian replied, feeling even more heat rush to his face thinking about what had just happened.

“I see. Well… It’s all good then. Just some fun…” Scar smiled at him, but for some reason it felt off to Grian. He just couldn’t put his fingers onto it though. Maybe he was just tired after they fought the Wither together.

“Scar…?”

“Let’s go, Grian. We still have to talk payment for helping me with the Wither.”

Grian looked at Scar’s retreating back in confusion, but then shrugged it off. He was probably reading too much into it. Scar would have told him if something was wrong, wouldn’t he?

~

Grian slowly crept into the Guardian Shop. He needed Dark Prismarine. Again. It felt like the moment he had some of the materials he needed, there were already gone again. And the building of his mansion didn’t progress as fast as he had hoped. Impulse probably earned all of his diamonds from him. The problem was, Grian was almost out of diamonds. Between the building and planning he barely had time to go mining any more. And because his own shop wasn’t done yet he had no other real source of income. He was willing to sacrifice a lot for his base to look just like he wanted it to.

As he opened the chest an impressed whistle left his mouth. He was lucky. Impulse had restocked and nobody else had raided the shop yet. If he got all of the blocks, he might be able to finish the front. Then it would at least look finished from one angle.

In a rush, Grian took all of his diamonds from his Enderchest to switch them out for a few stacks of Dark Prismarine. He didn’t even get half of what Impulse had in stock. Maybe… Maybe he could take a little more. Maybe he’d just write an ‘I owe you’ note and get away with it. Such a note could be far more valuable than diamonds sometimes. Impulse could get almost anything from him with that note.

Having made up his mind, Grian put a paper onto the shulker box, bending over it to write. Just as he was finished he felt the warmth of a body against his as someone was leaning over him to read the note.

“‘I needed some more Dark Prismarine. I owe you, G.’… Well look at that. So early in the season and you are already getting into debt? That isn’t healthy at all, Grian. I can’t support that bad habit of yours.”

Grian hurriedly turned around, looking straight at Impulse, who smirked at him just like he always did, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“You could have just asked, you know. I’m sure I would have come up with a really creative payment method. Just like old times, when I helped you with your redstone and you got down onto your knees and…”

Grian hurriedly shut up Impulse by pressing one of his hands over the other’s mouth. He didn’t need to hear anything about that time. It had been just once and they had both been high on some stuff Ren had smoked with them.

“That was just once! You agreed that we wouldn’t talk about that again! I won’t ever pay you like that again. ‘m not that easy…”

Impulse eyes still looked amused and suddenly a tongue darted out of his mouth, licking over Grian’s hand. He pulled it away as fast as he could, stumbling back and landing in a sitting position on the barrel he had just emptied.

“We only agreed to never talk about it again in company. I don’t see anybody around here. But it’s fine with me. I only have fun with those who want to have fun. Not even an ‘I Owe you’ note changes that. I’m just wondering, what you are willing to do if I offer you a Shulker filled with Dark Prismarine for free… What is it worth to you, Grian? How badly do you need it?”, Impulse asked in a low voice, leaning against the wall, basically looming over Grian.

“I mean...” Grian felt heat rise into his cheek, as he averted his eyes. He had meant what he said, about no longer paying Impulse like that, but he couldn’t get the memory out of his mind. But that still left the question: What was he willing to offer? “What would you give me for a kiss?”, he finally made his offer, not sure if Impulse would really be satisfied with that. But hey, it would help Grian with his challenge… And he’d rather not repeat the failure that had been his experience with Doc… Though he was still pretty sure, that it had just been the stress getting to his head that time.

“Well if we talking of a peck I’d give you a stack. I’d say half a barrel for-”

Grian didn’t let Impulse finish, pulling him down by his shirt to smash their mouths together. He could hear Impulse chuckle against his lips and then Impulse pressed back with even more enthusiasm. They separated a few times only for their lips to meet again. Somewhere in between kisses Impulse had moved from his looming position to sitting in Grian’s lap, the barrel creaking below their combined weight, but none of them cared enough to notice.

Suddenly there was a hand on Grian’s back, moving lower and lower and making its way under his waistband. And Grian just froze. He didn’t even know why. It was like back at Doc’s mansion. It felt like he was doing something utterly wrong here and it all came crashing down on him.
Impulse’s hand retreated at once and he broke the kiss to look at Grian in worry.

“Sorry. I guess I misinterpreted the mood there. You alright, little guy?”

Grian shrugged helplessly. Was he okay? He didn’t know. He had always done these casual hookups before. Why wouldn’t they work for him anymore? A thought tried to come to the forefront of his mind, but Grian pushed it down as hard as he could. He was alright. He was just a little off, that’s all. He had been losing too much sleep over building. It had nothing to do with...

“It’s alright, Impulse. I’m… just not… I don’t know… feeling it?”

“You wanna talk about it?”

Grian opened his mouth, so close to spilling all of those things that had been on his mind lately. He really needed someone to talk about it and a sudden burst of courage overcame him to say aloud what he hadn’t even dared to think about before.

“I think I might be fall-”, Grian started, when someone slammed open the door to Impulse’s shop and froze. Etho stood in the door frame, with wide eyes, taking in the scene before him. The way Impulse still sat on Grian, both of them out of breath, their lips an angry red.

“Oh… Well that is interesting now isn’t it? Not the place I’d pick to get into the mood for a quick-”

“Etho!”, both Impulse and Grian interrupted in unison, looking at Etho, who just shrugged, grinning at them.

“Hey, you fuck in the shopping district, you gotta live with the audience… Gotta admit, it’s a nice way to draw attention to your business, Impulse. Will that be the new add campaign? Buy this Prismarine and the hot guys will be falling for you?”, Etho kept on teasing, the smirk clearly visible below his mask. “I wouldn’t mind to have you sit on my lap as part of a business deal.”

Impulse groaned and finally stood up, turning his back onto Grian. “You are an idiot! I swear the next time you buy something here I’ll double the price!”

“Ooooh, so I get double the amount of kisses? Done! You got a deal, sir. No take-backs now!”

The two kept on bickering and Grian used the opportunity to compose himself, standing up slowly and taking a deep breath.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I’ll leave now. I’ll just pick up the Prismarine next time I’m here.”

“Grian, wait...” Impulse tried to stop him, but Grian pressed past him and Etho, hurrying to get out of the shopping district. “Grian, please. We should talk. You’re not okay. I’m sorry, I...”
But Grian shook his head, fumbling to get his rockets out and soaring into the sky. The small moment in which he had almost been ready to talk about his feelings, or whatever was going on with him, had been long gone. Now all he wanted to do was throw himself head first into some more building.

Flying high over the island, he suddenly noticed a huge stage that hadn’t been there before and it caught his interest. Turning around once more to make sure Impulse had stayed back, Grian landed in the middle of the stage, looking at the signs. A head hunting game? Well that sounded like something that would help him relax a little. Nothing better than an opportunity to cause some chaos.

~

Grian smiled to himself as he put Zedaph’s head onto the board at Cleo’s minigame. He felt pretty good about his little stunt there. Nobody had expected him to interfere. He wasn’t that good at fighting after all. But being sneaky was probably the only way he could win this game at the moment. He wasn’t a total asshole, though.

He finished putting Zedaph’s stuff into a shulkerbox, intending to just leave it here for him to find. He didn’t want to be hit for being a nice guy after all. The only thing he had miscalculated was Zedaph’s spawn point. Apparently it hadn’t been in his base but right here in the shopping district.

The blonde was running up to him and Grian readied himself for another fight. That was until he saw the broad grin on Zedaph’s face. He also wasn’t armed at all. If Grian wanted to be mean, he could kill him all over again and get a few more points for a second head.

Well, it looked like both he and Zedaph knew he wouldn’t stoop so low.

“I collected your stuff”, he simply said, gesturing vaguely to the shulkerbox next to him.

“Thanks, mate! It would have been annoying to lose everything.”

Grian had never really interacted with Zedaph much last season and seeing him up close like that. Well he was nice on the eyes… And still missing for his challenge. Some small voice inside him, tried to hold back Grian, reminding him of his encounter with Impulse the day before, but he decided to ignore it.

“Hey how about a little thank you.”

“… For killing me?”

Grian blushed a little. Yeah, that might have sounded utterly stupid. “No for sticking around to get your stuff and risking being killed by you, Cleo or Keralis. I mean I am a good guy and do it out of the kindness of my heart, but if you were to give me a little thank you kiss, I wouldn’t say no to that.”

Zedaph stopped rummaging through the shulker, apparently frozen at such a blunt request. “What?!”

“Well you don’t have to, if you are scared…” Grian’s grin widened and he tried to look as innocent as possible. I just thought it would be nice to find out who’s the best kisser of Team ZIT. Tango and Impulse weren’t as reserved as you. Amazing kissers those two. But if you aren’t as brave as…”

Grian never got to finish that sentence as soft lips pressed onto his. And while Zedaph wasn’t as aggressive as Tango or Impulse had been, he wasn’t shy by any means. It only took a few seconds for a tongue to enter his mouth and hands to land on his butt.

When they separated, they both were a little out of breath, lips red and wet.

“So… Who is the best kisser of Team Zit, huh?” Zedaph looked at him in amusement before stepping back, a cheeky grin on his lips.

Grian couldn’t help but grin as well. Zedaph’s good mood was really infectious. “Would you let me kill you once more if I said you’re the best I ever had?”

Zedaph just laughed, shaking his head. “You probably say that to all the guys you kiss.”

Chapter Text

Grian walked up to Scar’s snail a few days later, a bright smile on his face. He had been looking forward to this dinner the whole week. He’d even exchanged his usual attire for a button up shirt and some nice pants he had usually worn to Sahara business meetings. He was still a little early, but he hadn’t been able to keep his excitement contained and Scar surely wouldn’t mind having him over for company a little earlier! Maybe Grian could help with preparing dinner. They’d cook together, have a nice dinner and then… Grian shook his head, a light brush creeping onto his face. He really needed to stop that train of thinking. Scar was his friend. Even with all the kissing there was nothing else to it and they both knew that.

Grian noticed the open door on the snail, looked around in confusion and smiled as he saw Scar just resting in the sun, laying on the grass with his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful and relaxed, unlike the last time they had walked past each other in the shopping district. Back then Scar had all but fled before Grian even had the opportunity to ask. Cub had been with him and had looked about ready to jump Grian but had been pulled along by Scar. He had no clue what that had been all about. Maybe it had something to do with some competing businesses in the shopping district.

But now… Now everything seemed to be alright. He just watched for a few minutes and had to let out a small chuckle, when a butterfly landed on top of Scar’s head. This was like a picture of serenity.

He almost felt bad for destroying it… Almost.

Grian walked quietly up to Scar, bending over him and pressed his lips in a chaste kiss onto his lips.

“Hn… Grian…” Scar made a tiny sound in his throat and a hand grabbed Grian’s hair, pulling him closer.

Well that was new. He wasn’t really used to Scar being an aggressive kisser. Usually he would be all flustered by just a tiny peck on the lips. He was probably still half asleep.

Grian tried to deepen the kiss, his tongue entering Scar’s mouth. He earned a tiny moan for that and felt his heart beating faster. Oh god. This was far better than all of the other kisses he had shared before. He didn’t even know why he felt like that. It just… It was perfect. His heart was racing in excitement. And then Scar’s eyes finally fluttered open and widened at once.

Grian was pushed off so fast he couldn’t even react and he landed on the ground next to Scar. Scar’s eyes were furious as he stood up and looked down at Grian. “Stop it. Just… What is even wrong with you?”

“Scar?” Grian slowly got up and started reaching out, but Scar hit his hand before it could reach him.

“No!” Scar looked so furious. Grian had never seen him like that. Not even during his time with Area 77. But beneath all the anger Grian thought he saw a deep sadness.

“What is going on Scar?”

Scar laughed, but it wasn’t his usual joyful and infectious laughter. It sounded so hollow.

“You are asking what’s wrong? You?! Have you ever stopped to consider your actions have consequences?”

Grian tried to look into Scar’s eyes, but the anger made him avert his gaze to the ground. “I’m… sorry?”

Scar snorted and shook his head. “You don’t even know what you are apologizing for, do you? And have the fucking decency to look at me!”

Grian’s head snapped up and he saw that there were tears in the corner of Scar’s eyes now.

“This is all your fault. You and your stupid pranks. You running around and kissing everyone around the server!”

Grian was taken aback. Scar had never once complained about any of their kisses. And they had shared quite a lot of them. If he thought back to it, these past few weeks their shared moments had become more and more intimate. A lot of those kisses had been initiated by Scar and… Oh… Oh! Fuck. “No. Don’t tell me. You… You thought…”

There was a grim smile on Scar’s face, his eyes cold as ice, but still filled with tears he was unwilling to shed. “Well isn’t that a stupid thing to assume? The guy who comes by to kiss you on an almost daily basis could have feelings for you? Is it that far fetched? And I was dumb enough to… I thought…” Scar’s voice broke and he took a few shuddering breaths. Grian noticed a wetness in Scar’s eyes, but the cold look never left. “I thought we could be together. I thought I liked this change. And my stupid heart fell so hard for you. I fell so hard. And now I regret the moment I decided to build next to you. Because now I have to be reminded of my stupidity every time I leave my base and look at yours.”

Grian wanted to say something. To make it better. He wanted to do something that would stop Scar from looking so heartbroken. No word left his mouth. He was frozen. What could he even say that would make this better? An apology wouldn’t change anything. He had never even thought about the possibility of someone developing feelings because of a stupid prank. There had been no contingency plan made in case something like this happened.

Scar just stared at him and, after a minute passed without any word being spoken, simply nodded. It was as if he took Grian’s silence as the answer to some unspoken question. “I’ll spend a few days at Cub’s place. Don’t show up there or I’m sure he’ll have your head. I just can’t stand to stay here.”, Scar stated coldly and turned away.

A voice inside of him wanted him to stop Scar and just tell him what he wanted to hear. Just pretend it hadn’t been fake at all. Just tell him that he had fallen in love during that whole stupid challenge… But had he really? Or would he just say that to see Scar happy again? He really didn’t know any more…

And so he stayed silent and watched as Scar lifted off and flew into the distance. He stayed there, staring at the empty sky for what felt like an eternity and he would have probably stayed there far longer if the sound of an angry snail trying to snap at him hadn’t broken him from his trance.

A few days passed and Grian had worked himself to the bone. He just didn’t want to think about anything that had happened. If he was building and digging the whole day until he passed out from exhaustion somewhere, he didn’t need to think about those things. But the mansion he was building had a perfect view over the area. Every time his eyes landed on Scar’s home he felt a deep pain in his chest. And after the fourth day of waking up in the dust of his construction site, having passed out the night before, he knew he had to do something. Scar still hadn’t returned yet and neither he nor Cub had written any messages into their group chat in the last days.

He needed to put an end to this. The Challenge had seemed like such a funny idea when it all started. He wasn’t having fun any more. He took out his communicator, sending a message to Mumbo before turning to make his way through the jungle.

His mind was going in circles and he didn’t even really pay attention to where he was going, but through sheer luck he reached Mumbo’s build. He glared at the whole thing as if its mere existence was somehow to blame for his current situation.

He didn’t have to wait for too long. Mumbo landed after only a few minutes, looking at him, head tilted to the side in confusion. “Grian? What’s going on? You said you needed to talk to me? It sounded urgent.”

Grian just huffed and walked past Mumbo towards the bell. He pulled back, hand balled to a fist and hit the bell as hard as he could. The bell rang, pain shot up his arm and as he pulled back he saw with grim satisfaction that he had left a dent in the metal.

“I’m done. The challenge is over.”

Mumbo’s eyes darted in a panic between the bell, Grian and his bloody hand.

“Oh my word, you idiot! Let me see your hand! Why did you even do that?!”

Grian shrugged helplessly and held his hand up. Deep down he thought that it was the least he deserved. He thought back to the way Scar had looked at him. Scar must have hurt far worse than he did now. He could barely feel anything.

“Grian… Look at me. Tell me what’s going on. Did something happen?”

“Hermitcraft Challenges happened. I fucked everything up. I hurt him, Mumbo. He’s hurting and there is nothing I can do.” He knew he sounded like a lunatic, but he didn’t care. All he could think about was Scar.

“You need to calm down. Here, sit down.” Mumbo gently pushed Grian onto one of the chests and took his hand to look at it. “Now who did you hurt so much that it made you react this way?”

“Scar.” His voice was nothing more than a whisper, but Mumbo had heard him and understanding seemed to bloom on his face.

“Oh, Grian. Oh dear… Did you guys break up?”

“No. We did… Wait what did you say?” Grian frowned as he repeated Mumbo’s word inside his mind. “We never dated, Mumbo.”

Mumbo stared at him, mouth agape, forehead furrowed. He looked so taken aback by that statement. “But the kissing… ”

Grian laughed at that and shook his head. “Mumbo. It was only because of the challenge. It was all just a joke. I kissed almost every Hermit. That doesn’t mean I’m in love with them. None of them thought it meant anything.” He stopped and buried his face in his hands. “Why did it turn into such a mess with Scar?”

“I saw your notes. God, you kissed him on a daily basis. And then you told me you were going to have dinner with him. I thought you had started dating. What was he supposed to think? No Joke or prank goes on for that long… Same goes for you. You can’t tell me that you were kissing him just for this Challenge. You must have felt something.” Mumbo’s answer sounded so sure as if it was a fact.

Grian lowered his hands again to look back at Mumbo and shook his head in denial. “He’s my neighbour… That’s all. It felt nice, okay? Nothing going on there. I just… When I kissed him I felt good. I felt all warm and safe and I could forget the world around me for a while. That’s all. There were no feelings involved.”

Mumbo looked at him in annoyance, then closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before opening them again. “You! You are the biggest fool I have ever met. How can you not know what it feels like to be in love?”

“I’m not… I can’t be...”

“Yes you are and yes you can. Simple as that. What you just explained? That is what being in love feels like.”

Grian quieted down, looking back to the ground. What if Mumbo was right? What if he really had feelings for Scar? But if he did, he wouldn’t be running around kissing other people, would he?

“Okay… Alright”, Mumbo muttered, sounding as exhausted as Grian felt at the moment. “We’ll try something else. Give me your notebook.”

Grian handed the book over without any hesitation. He didn’t need it any longer. He was done with this game. Mumbo looked over the pages and sighed. “So… I was the first one you kissed, right?”

Grian only nodded, not sure where Mumbo was going with this.

“How did you feel about kissing me. I mean I am your friend after all and we were neighbours last season.”

“I dunno… It was funny.”

“And after the kiss?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you feel any desire to kiss me again?”

“Well it wasn’t bad or anything if that’s what you mean… But I didn’t think much about the kiss afterwards. I thought about the next person I could target.”

“The next person being Scar.”

Grian looked pained and nodded. Just hearing the name made him feel so completely ridden with guilt. “I… It wasn’t any different to kissing you to be honest. It was just a joke.”

Mumbo just nodded and his finger went down on the page. “Then Stress and Iskall, back to Scar, then Ren, Scar again… three times.” Mumbo glanced up from the book at him. “Why did you do that?”

Grian shrugged helplessly. “I just… I don’t even know anymore. It seemed like a good idea at that moment. He looked cute as hell. And then he was in danger and I was high on adrenaline and then…” Grian stopped, images of their time in the end flooding back to him. The way Scar had clung on to him. The way he thought his heart would break when he saw Scar falling down. The way he felt when Scar had initiated the last kiss... “You win Mumbo.”

“This is not a game, Grian.”

“I know. It is not and I am going to make sure not to treat it that way again.” He grabbed the book out of Mumbo’s hand and tossed it into the flame that was still burning next to the bell. It gave him a grim satisfaction to watch the pages catch on fire and crumble up, erasing everything he had done to win this stupid challenge.

Grian had the urge to talk to Scar. He needed to admit, that he had fucked up. He needed to tell Scar that he had been wrong all along and that he had been an ass. He needed Scar to know that he felt sorry for all he had done and that while he regretted taking part in the challenge he didn’t regret even one of the kisses the two of them had shared. All those other kisses had been meaningless.

Grian took out his rockets and lifted off into the sky, leaving Mumbo standing there as he made his way over to the place where he knew Scar would still be: Cub’s base. It didn’t take him long, thanks to his reckless flying and an unhealthy amount of rockets. He crashed down in the sand in front of Cub’s pyramid a little harder than he intended.

The loud sound must have alerted someone to his presence. He wasn’t even at the door when it swung open. Cub stood there, looking worried for another second, before he realised who had dropped by. His eyes turned cold, he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”

“I think both of us know why I’m here. I need to talk to him, Cub.”

Cub shook his head, arms crossed in front of his body. “I won’t let you. You already hurt him enough. He barely smiles anymore since you broke him. I won’t let you undo all the progress I made in these last few days. Go and play those disgusting games somewhere else.”

Grian knew where Cub was coming from and that he was doing his best protecting Scar, but at the moment he didn’t want to deal with that. He needed to see Scar. He needed to try and fix the damage he had caused. If he would just get the chance, he could make everything better.

“Cub. I promise I won’t hurt him anymore. I was a stupid idiot, but I really need to talk to him.”

“No, you…”

“Try more like selfish asshole.”, a voice interrupted Cub from inside the building as Scar stepped up next to Cub, staring at Grian with empty eyes.

“Scar. I said I’d deal with him if he dropped by. Go back inside. I’ll make him leave.”

Scar put a hand onto Cub’s shoulder and shook his head, offering his friend a small, tight-lipped smile. “I can take care of my own business. I knew I had to talk sooner or later. I’d rather do it now when I’m still here with you. Just… give us a few minutes.”

Cub looked at Scar for a while, worry written all over his face, but he nodded and turned back to Grian. His eyes were colder than Grian had ever seen them. “You hurt him one more time and you are gonna wish for a quick death, are we clear?”

Grian swallowed hard and nodded. He sure as hell didn’t want to get on Cub’s bad side any more. That guy was scary as hell. He was still a little glad Scar had someone like Cub at his side.

“So…?” Scar raised his eyebrows at him when Cub had been gone, the door closed and both of them left outside. Grian still hadn’t gotten any word out. How was he supposed to start. Sorry I prank-kissed you and everyone else on this server and even though I liked all the kisses, I only want to kiss you from now on? Yeah that would magically make everything alright between them.

“If you don’t have to say anything, why did you come?” Scar asked again when Grian had remained silent.

“I… I don’t know. I honestly hadn’t planned this far ahead. I didn’t think you’d speak to me”, he finally admitted a little embarrassed at how stupid he sounded. But well, at least he was honest. “I just… I wanted to apologize for what I did. It wasn’t okay. I hurt you and I really regret that. It was never my intention.”

Scar’s eyes seemed to look even more pained and it broke Grian’s heart. He wanted to make everything be alright again.

“Did you really...” Scar’s voice broke and he had to take a deep breath to collect himself again. “Did you really never notice? How could you not realise… I thought...”Scar stopped and shook his head, pressing his lips into a thin line. He didn't continue, his whole body shaking a little.

Grian could feel a wave of icy cold washing over him. To know that he had been the one to hurt Scar like this. Scar, who was always so cheerful. Scar whose smile could make all his troubles go away. And now he was... so broken. And Grian was the one to blame for it all.

"Grian..." Scar's voice brought Grian's thoughts to a halt. "Why?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Scar laughed, but it wasn't cheerful. It sounded hollow and desperate and Grian startled as he noticed tears forming in the corner of Scar's eyes. "I am sorry too. Sorry that I fell for that. I just wanted things to change between us so badly. Guess you were right after all. My good luck crystals never worked. And neither did your dumb good luck kiss. Maybe you should have just let me fall that day. Would have saved me a lot of pain now."

"Scar... You can't mean that."

"No... Not really."

There was a pause, both of them not saying anything. Grian didn’t know what to do anymore. Should he keep on apologising? He was about to do just that, when Scar spoke up, his voice stern and unfaltering.

"I'll forgive you Grian... On one condition."

Grian felt hope rising up in his chest and he looked at Scar out of desperate eyes. "Anything. I could move my base away, I could-"

"After today... Please never talk to me again."

The hope that he had just felt burned up in a second, replaced by sorrow. "W-what?"

"I said I don't want to speak to you anymore. It's done, Grian. Things have changed. And you can't just expect to apologise and make everything turn out to be magically okay again."

Grian let his head hang in shame. Scar was right. What had he expected? Waltz in here, apologize and he'd be forgiven? His stupidity didn't excuse his actions. "If that is what you want, then I will oblige", he whispered, swallowing hard, but the knot forming in his throat wouldn't disappear. This was only a fitting punishment for him.

Scar nodded. He still looked so hurt. And even though he had been the one to set the boundaries he didn't seem satisfied at all that Grian had accepted them. And if today was the last time he'd speak to Scar... Maybe he should make it count.

"I love you."

Scar froze, back still turned to Grian, all his muscles tensing, but not turning around.

"I... It's alright if we never talk again. I get it. And this won't change anything. But I just needed you to know. It wasn't all a game. I just realised it too late. All those kisses. All those moments with the others. It meant nothing. It was just a prank. But with you... I wish I had realised it sooner. I liked when things changed between us... Scar, I really lo-"

"Shut up!" Scar whirled around, tears running down his face, looking at Grian in anger. "Just shut up! You don't get to do this! You can't just do this to me! I was almost over you! You can't just come back and make me feel hopeful again. I don't want to be disappointed and hurt again by the games you are playing. Wasn't once enough? Is this another game? Some new challenge? Are you running around confessing your love to everyone now? Should I get Cub so you can proclaim your love for him next? I’m so fucking done with this."

Grian hung his head. He deserved this. But it still hurt, knowing Scar had so little trust left in him. "No. The games are done and I am so sorry... I just want you to know... Ever since the end, not one of those kisses was meaningless. I just wish I had realised it sooner. And if I never get to speak with you again I wanted you to know that what we had – it wasn't just a game. Not with you."

Scar stared at him for a while, then stepped forward, grabbed him by the hem of his shirt and a fist hit Grian straight in the face. He tumbled back with a whimper, holding his hands up to his face that was now throbbing painfully. "That was for breaking my heart", Scar spat as he pulled Grian back again by his shirt. Grian flinched, ready for a second punch. But it never came. Instead Scar's lips were suddenly on his, moving in desperation, as arms wrapped around Grian. Grian felt his eyes fall shut and he clung onto Scar as if his life depended on it,

They broke apart, both out of breath. Scar still had tears running down his face, but the anger seemed to have faded from his face. The corners of his mouth raised a little for the first time in what was almost a true smile.

"And this was for trying to fix it again…"

Grian took in a shaking breath and then smiled at Scar, his eyes full of love and adoration. “I love you.”

Scar let out a small hiccup, tears continuing to roll down his cheeks, but he no longer looked sad.

“Say it again, please...”, he whispered, his voice breathless and filled with hope.

“I love you, Scar. And I will never stop loving you.”