Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Being a watcher, Exae could do whatever they pleased, when they pleased. And tonight, Exae felt like being cruel. They teleported to a random server, and chose a random person. Exae didn't care who it was or where they were, only for what they would do to their target. With a flick of their wrist, Exae had whisked their target somewhere else. Again, they didn't care where. It could be a few hundred blocks a away, a few thousand, or even a different server completely. All Exae knew was that they had done what they had set out to do. Which was to do something cruel. With a smirk on their face, and once again bored, Exae teleported back home, looking for something else to do.

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"Your friend,
Grian"

Taurtis sighed as he finished reading the last letter Grian had sent him. He normally recieved one about a week after sending his. it had been three, and he still hadn't gotten a response. The letter Taurtis was reading now had been sent just as Grian was about to move to season seven with the hermits. At first, the plan had been for Grian to only stay for season six, but he had made the last minute decision to move to season seven, and then he would return to EVO.

Even though they were on different servers, Taurtis and Grian had found a way to send letters to each other. It's what gave Taurtis hope that he would actually see Grian again. That their admin would return home and Taurtis would be demoted back to co-admin, and he would be working at his side again. But now Taurtis was starting to lose that hope. With Grian still not having replied to Taurtis' letter, and the way he spoke of Hermitcraft in his previous ones, Taurtis wouldn't be surprised if Grian decided to stay permanently.

But he would be very sad though.

You see, this was a realization Taurtis had come to only a few months before Grian had gotten the invitation to Hermitcraft, Taurtis had a very major crush on Grian(he wasn't ready to admit it yet, but he was actually very much in love with him). It would have killed Taurtis if Grian never came back home, especially if he hadn't even said goodbye first.

Taurtis thought back to all the fun adventures Grian had told him about. And the people he met. One Mumbo Jumbo popped into his mind. The way(and frequency) that Grian spoke about him made Taurtis think he had no chance of ever being with his crush, even if he did decide to come back. With one final glance at the letter, and a long look out the window, Taurtis sighed and put the letter in a folder with the others, and crawled into bed, tears just barely forming at his eyes. As he curled up under the blankets and began drifting off to sleep, Taurtis had one final thought. He was probably never going to see Grian again.

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When Taurtis woke up, he was very confused. Rather than his bed, underneath him was grass. He could hear waves lapping at the shore, and a hot morning sun beating down on him. It appeared that he was on a small island. In the distance was a much larger one with a few buildings on it. Right in front of him was a barrel and a sign.

"Welcome to Season Seven! Have a boat.
-Joe"

'It couldn't hurt.' Taurtis thought. Giving silent thanks to Joe, he grabbed a boat and sailed off in a random direction. On his way to wherever it was he would end up, Taurtis made a plan. Find this server's admin, and hopefully they would be able to help him get back to EVO. Taurtis didn't want to think about what would happen if he didn't get home soon enough.

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After what felt like ages, Taurtis finally saw land. As quickly as he could, with how tired his arms were, he landed on the shore, and more or less fell out of the boat. He couldn't linger on the sand for too long though, he had a mission. On the beach in front of him was a fairly small structure made of stripped oak and cobblestone. He realized this must have been a starter base, but decided to see if someone was there nonetheless. He walked into the base and took notice of two holes, one with a soul sand bubble column, and the other leading down to a single water source.

"Hello!? Is anyone down there!?" Taurtis called down the hole.

"One sec," A voice responded. And soon enough, someone popped out of the bubble column. He wore a green sweatshirt with a vest over it. One of his eyes was replaced by a robotic looking one. "Hallo there, person I've never met before. Who are you,and what are you doing in my base?" He sounded very confused, and of course he had every right to be. But he didn't seem to be hostile.

"Hi. My name is Taurtis, and I'm not from this server. I have no idea how I got here, and no Idea how to get back. You wouldn't happen to be this server's admin by any chance would you? I was hoping to find them so they could help me get back to my own. As a server admin myself, I can't be away for too long or else things will get very bad. So do you think you could help me. Sorry, this is probably a lot to-" Taurtis was cut off by the stranger.

"Whoa, slow down there. First off, nice to meet you, I'm Iskall. And second, no, I'm not the admin. That would be Xisuma." He said. The name sounded familiar to Taurtis, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Do you know where he lives?" Taurtis asked him.

"No," Iskall said back apologetically. But then his tone picked up. "But I know someone who does. Come on." Iskall began walking out of the base, and waved for Taurtis to follow him. Taurtis eagerly trailed behind Iskall. The sooner they found Xisuma, the sooner Taurtis could get home.

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They had been trekking through the jungle for a couple hours now. It was hot, and humid, and Taurtis was sure he had like, 500 mosquito bites by now. Needless to say, the walk to Scar's place was not an enjoyable one. But he was finally able to see the place he and Iskall were looking for. Just as Iskall had described it, in front of them was a house shaped like a snail. A bit of an odd choice, but Taurtis wasn't one to judge.

Together, He and iskall climbed the ladder up to the door, and as loudly as he possible could Iskall yelled out "SCAR! YOU HOME!?"

"Could you please not yell so loudly? You're gonna make me go deaf." Taurtis said, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry, dude," Iskall replied wirh a chuckle. A couple moments later, he spoke again. "Hm. He would have answered by now. He must be in the shopping district or something."

"Is there anyone close by who knows where Xisuma lives?" Taurtis asked. He really didn't want to have to wait for Scar to come back.

"As a matter of fact, there is." And at that, Taurtis was more or less dragged down the ladder and to the other side of the lake to what appeared to be a hobbit hole. A very nice looking one at that. Whoever built it was very talented. It reminded Taurtis of Grian, and he had to fight a blush rising to his face as he thought of his crush. When they got to the door, Iskall actually knocked this time, and much more quietly than at Scar's place yelled, "Yo G! Are you here!?" and a few minutes later, the door was open.

Taurtis couldn't believe what he was seeing. Standing right in front of him, was a familiar red-sweater-wearing, fringe-haired man. He had the same expression as Taurtis(minus the small blush), and seemed to be having the same thoughts as him at the moment.

"Taurtis?" Grian asked, sounding hopeful, like he didn't really believe Taurtis was there.

"Grian." Taurtis simply replied back.

"TAURTIS!," Grian exclaimed, much more excited. He very quickly enveloped Taurtis in a very tight hug, which Taurtis instantly returned, his face getting slightly more red. Both of them had beaming smiles on their faces, both overjoyed to see the other. "You're here. How? Why? You know what it doesn't matter. I'm just so happy to see you. I missed you so much, Taurtis. You have no idea." Grian tightened his hug a little bit before letting go. However, he still kept an arm wrapped around Taurtis' waist. Not that Taurtis was complaining.

"I take it you two know each other." Iskall said with a small laugh.

"Oh yeah. Taurtis is my co-admin and best friend back on EVO. Right now, he's a full admin because I'm not there. But I'm going to go back after season seven."

"Yep. And now I need to find Xisuma to try and help me get back. You know what will happen if I'm gone for too long." Taurtis explained.

"If you don't mind me asking," Iskall said. "What happens if you're gone for too long?"

"The server crashes. Everyone and everything there dies, and there's no recovering it. So I probably should get Taurtis to X as soon as possible. Thanks for bringing him here Iskall." Grian responded. Iskall, with a slightly disturbed look on his face, replied "No problem, dude. And good luck getting home Taurtis. I wouldn't want that to happen to you guys' server." and walked away.

"Alright Taurtis. Lets get you to Xisuma. But first, there's someone you need to meet." Grian said as he led Taurtis into the hobbit hole, and to a minecart track. Taurtis had no clue as to where Grian was taking him, but he hopped it would be quick.

Chapter Text

Taurtis had a lot of questions he wanted to ask as he rode the minecart track behind Grian. He decided to start with something simple.

"So, how has season seven been so far?" he asked.

"It's been good. We've only just started, so nothing much has really happened. I told you everything in the letter I sent. Did you not read it? You still haven't responded." Grian replied, sounding very hurt at that last bit.

"I would have, but I never got the letter. I thought you just didn't send one." Taurtis explained.

"No, I sent it. Hm. It must have gotten lost somehow. Maybe something to do with 1.15," Grian said back. Taurtis was relieved. Grian really hadn't left him and the rest of EVO behind. "I'm really sorry Taurtis. You must have felt so hurt, or thought I forgot about you, or that I wasn't ever coming home. I swear that was never my intention." Taurtis started to well up at Grian's apology. 

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. Just some bugs." Taurtis said with a small laugh at the end, wiping the tears that had yet to fall from his eyes.

"Well that's good. And I promise, no matter what, I'm coming back after season seven. I miss you too much not too come back anyways," Grian replied reassuringly. The minecarts were close enough for them to hold hands, and that's what they did for the rest of the ride. "So how's life on EVO been?"

"Things have been really great actually. Zee has been showing some real promise for being co-admin. I was considering promoting him before I woke up here. And we were just about to update to 1.15."

"That's great to hear. Hopefully once you get back and update, we can start writing again. Oh look, we're almost there!" Grian said cheerfully. And he was right. They were approaching the end of the tunnel.

"So who is it we're going to see anyways?" Taurtis asked. Grian still hadn't told him.

"Oh I'm sure you'll recognize him." Grian said, sounding very vague. Taurtis just shrugged and decided to trust him.

They exited the minecarts and walked into what looked like another hobbit hole through the back of a nether portal. The place was fairly small, with a large octagonal window at the front. And standing in the middle of the room, looking through a chest, was someone Taurtis very much did recognize. That suit and mustache had been mentioned multiple times in Grian's letters.

Mumbo Jumbo.

"Hey Mumbo!" Grian called to him. This very much startled Mumbo, who fell over with a small yelp.

"Grian, don't scare me like that!," The mustached man said. Then he seemed to notice Taurtis. "Who's this?" he asked.

"This is my co-admin, and best friend, Taurtis." Grian told him, wrapping an arm around Taurtis' shoulder in the process, which made Taurtis' heart do little flips in his chest. Mumbo looked like he had realized something, and had a small knowing look on his face.

"Well it's very nice to finally meet you, Taurtis," Mimbo said as he extended his hand for Taurtis to shake, which he did. "Grian has told us a lot of great things about you. I believe a couple times I heard him mention something about you being his favorite person." Mumbo finished, making both his and Grian's face go red.

"Aww. Am I really your favorite?" Taurtis asked, giving Grian a playful nudge in the side, which seemed to make Grian's face even redder.

"I may have said said it once or twice," Grian answered, sounding rather embarrassed. He looked away from Taurtis a little bit too. But Taurtis could only think about how cute Grian looked right now. "Anyways, we just stopped to say hi. I need to get Taurtis to X to see about getting him home. If he's gone too long, the server will crash." Grian told Mumbo.

"Well you better get on that then. I'll see you later I guess. It was nice meeting you Taurtis." Mumbo said.

"Nice meeting you too." Taurtis replied.

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Xisuma wasn't that hard to find. He was in a different section of jungle Grian was in, not super far from Mumbo's hobbit hole. When they found him, he looked like he was working at a farm. Though Taurtis wasn't sure what it was for.

"Hey, X! Got a minute?" Grian asked the yellow-clad man, who made his way over at his call.

"Sure, what's- Who is this?" The admin questioned, very confused as to why a stranger was on his server.

"That's exactly what I came to talk to you about. This is Taurtis. He's the acting admin on EVO since I'm here. We have no idea how he got here, but we were hoping you could help get him back to EVO." Grian explained the situation to Xisuma.

"Well that certainly is a pickle. But I do think I know a solution. Have the two of you always wondered how you were able to send letters between servers?"

"How did you know we were sending letters?" Taurtis asked.

"Because I was the one sending them. You see, I was able to create a small portal for them to pass between worlds. It took a few days to open enough, but once it did, the letter was able to slip through to the other side." X explained to them. Taurtis was shocked.

"How did I not notice them? I'm the admin. Shouldn't I notice things like this?" Taurtis asked, having a mini freak out.

"Relax. You didn't notice because they were just that small and insignificant. They posed no threat to the server, so you were never alerted to them." X replied. It seemed to work in calming Taurtis down.

"So what you're saying X, is that you need to create a portal big enough for Taurtis to get through? Well how long is that going to take? You said the small one took a few days." Grian told X.

"Around three months at the quickest." was Xisuma's answer. This very quickly sent Taurtis back into freak-out mode.

"Three months!?" Taurtis exclaimed. He started frantically pacing as well. "What if it's too late by then? What if the server's crashed? What if-"

"Taurtis," Grian said calmly. He took hold of Taurtis' hands and looked him straight in the eyes, which immediately brought Taurtis out of his small panic. "I promise you, EVO will be fine. It's only three months. Maybe just a little bit longer. But they'll be okay. Alright? They're going to be fine." Grian's calm tone soothed Taurtis as he spoke, and Grian embracing Taurtis in a hug finally got him to fully calm down. Taurtis melted into the hug, letting the last of his worries go. Taurtis felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned around to see Xisuma smiling warmly at him. It was hard to tell through the helmet, but Taurtis could see it in the admin's eyes.

"Don't worry Taurtis. I'll get this figured out as soon as possible. Until then, consider yourself a hermit."

"Thank you." was all Taurtis managed to say.

"Of course." The admin said with a nod. "Alright. You two should get going. I got some serious work to do, and I'm sure you want to spend some time together."

"Ok, ok. We'll get out of your hair, X." Grian said. "Come on, Taurtis. Let's head back to the hobbit hole." Grian grabbed his hand and started leading Taurtis back through the jungle.

This was going to be a very interesting three months.

Chapter Text

Taurtis was really enjoying his time on Hermitcraft so far. Grian had introduced him to all the other hermits, and they were all very kind to him. He had gone with Grian and Scar to get elytra, participated in Mumbo's "Hermit Challenges"(he had to help Grian steal everyone's doors), and had helped Grian with stocking his barge and building his mansion. He didn't actively participate in the head games, but if he had any heads lying around he was happy to give them to Grian to use. Taurtis had also acted as Grian's body gaurd when he had the tag. Long story short, Grian and Taurtis spent every waking moment together.

Keyword, waking.

Taurtis had been staying with Grian in his hobbit hole, but they slept in different rooms, much to Taurtis' disappointment. Granted, the rooms were right next to each other, and the walls were thin enough that they could talk to each other as if they were in the same room, but they were separate nonetheless. Until tonight.

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All around Taurtis, everything was glitching out. The world was crashing, and he could hear the screams of everyone as they crashed with it. Blocks were slowly crumbling, until they were nothing but void.

In front of him, were the glitching forms of his server mates, on the floor in agony and pain, crying out to Taurtis to make it stop. But Taurtis couldn't even move, couldn't even speak. He could only watch as one by one, they vanished. The last thing he heard was Netty's voice.

"You let us down, Taurtis. How could you?" She whimpered. And then she was gone, and Taurtis was left floating in the empty void that used to be EVO. He started to cry.

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"I'm sorry!" Taurtis yelled out as he shot awake, sobbing. Not too much later did Grian come crashing into the room, concern plastered all over bis face.

"Taurtis? Are you okay? I heard you shouting." Grian questioned as he made his way over to sit beside Taurtis on the bed. As soon as he did so, Taurtis very quickly enveloped his friend in a hug, and shook his head. "What's wrong?" Grians voice was calm and gentle. He was rubbing soothing circles on Taurtis' back, and had his head on Taurtis' own. Having Grian hold him like this allowed Taurtis to relax, and his crying slowwed down, even if just a tiny bit.

"I- I had a n- nightmare." Taurtis said weakly. It sounded like such a stupid problem when voiced out loud. Definitely not one that required Grian to be here comforting him, and he expected grian to say as much. But he didn't. He only continued to hold Taurtis, and his voice was just as gentle and kind when he spoke again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Grian asked. Taurtis nodded, though it took him couple moments to find the words. But Grian never rushed him.

"I- I saw EVO cr- crashing. Everything w- was glitching out. I had le- let everyone down. I failed them." Taurtis told Grian through his tears.

"Shh. Don't worry, Taurtis. It was just a dream. Okay? Just a dream. I'm sure they're all fine. Sure, they're most likely confused and worried about you, but other than that, everyone's okay." Grian replied. "EVO isn't going to crash." Taurtis just nodded in response.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Of course, Taurtis. And you have nothing to be sorry for. I'll always be here for you." Grian said. After a short pause, he spoke up again. "Would you like me to stay with you?" he asked. Taurtis nodded.

Soon enough, Grian was laying in bed next to Taurtis. He had one arm under his back, and the other over his chest. Taurtis was curled into Grian's side, his arms wrapped around Grian's waist, and his face pressed into the crook of his neck. 

"Good night, Taurtis." Grian said.

"Good night." Taurtis mumbled back.

After that night, Taurtis and Grian had stopped sleeping in separate rooms. Something that Taurtis definitely wasn't upset about.

Chapter Text

Why did the Nether have to be so hot? Grian and Taurtis had been spending the day collecting stock for the barge, and the last thing on the list was quartz. Grian's villagers had sold out for the day, so it was back to collecting it the old fashioned way: Mining it in the Nether.

Taurtis had officially been in Hermitcraft for two months now. According to Xisuma, the portal home was coming along nicely, and should be open in the time they predicted, which meant Taurtis only had one month left before he had to go home. So he was going to try and spend as much time with Grian as possible, and unfortunately, that meant coming to the very hot, and very dangerous Nether.

"So how much do we have left to collect again?" Taurtis asked. He made it a point to sound like he was dying from the heat.

"Around half a shulker." Grian said, laughing at his dramatics.

"Can't we just take what we have and go? I don't like being here." 

"I promise, it won't take that long."

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It really hadn't taken that long. After about an hour, they had filled the rest of the box, and even had a little bit extra, so they started making their way back home. The whole way back to the portal, Taurtis was looking at Grian. He couldn't help it. Every thing about him was just beautiful. From the way his fringe swayed gently over his forehead as he walked, to the way his eyes seemed to always sparkle, even in the dark environment of the Nether. Taurtis' musings were cut short however, when he heard a familiar cry that belonged to a creature that had caused more than one of his deaths and multiple other injuries.

"Ghast!" Grian yelled, and grabbed Taurtis' had to pull him out of the way from an incoming fireball. Immediately after, he took out his bow and killed the ghast in a single shot. The whole thing was very impressive to Taurtis. He didn't have long to think about that though, as another ghast came out of nowhere and shot another fireball in their direction. However, instead of hitting him or Grian, it hit the ground right below Taurtis, causing him to fall off the edge. Well, scratch that, it did hit Taurtis' leg.

"Grian! Help me!" Taurtis cried to his friend. He was just barely hanging on. Grian was instantly grabbing Taurtis to pull him up. Now, Taurtis knew Grian was strong, despite his small size, but it still surprised him just how easily Grian was able to lift him up.

"Taurtis, are you okay?" Grian asked, concern laced throughout his voice. "It looks like it hit your leg." Grian looked down at Taurtis' burnt leg.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Taurtis said, sounding very much not fine. He tried to keep walking towards the portal, but tripped on his first step. He winced as he fell down.

"Taurtis you can barely walk. You're not fine," Grian said very sternly. But that was very quickly replaced by care as he leaned down to pick Taurtis up. "Come one. Lets get you somewhere safe so we can get these injuries patched up." And then he helped him over to a small cave in the netherrack.

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It turns out, trying to wash out a wound in the Nether doesn't work out so well when all the water evaporates from the bucket. So Grian had to make a new portal in the small Nether cave, since Taurtis was in no condition to get to the Nether roof or to a closer portal. And of course said portal spit them out around 8,000 blocks away from almost everyone else. The keyword there being almost.

There was one hermit who had decided to settle out that far, and that hermit was xB. And by some stroke of luck, they managed to end up right by his commandeered savanna village which he had dubbed "Casa". Soon enough, Grian had Taurtis safely tucked away in one of the houses, and was off to find xB. A very painful ten minutes later, Grian had returned with him.

"Holy- hold on, I'll be right back with some potions." xB said upon seeing Taurtis' injuries, and then promptly left to do just that.

"Ah!" Taurtis winced in pain as he tried to shift onto his back. Grian quickly made his way over to the bed, and knelt beside it.

"Hey, hey. It's alright. Don't try to move, okay? xB's going to be back here soon with some healing potions, and we'll get you all fixed up alright? Just relax." Grian soothed, stroking his hand through Taurtis' hair, and giving him an affectionate look. He almost fell asleep like that, but before Taurtis could fully doze off, xB returned.

"Alright, I'm back with the stuff." He said, and got to work on Taurtis' burns. He poured a little bit of the potion onto a towel, and rubbed it over the burns. It stung at first, but very soon, the wound stopped hurting, and it already seemed to be repairing itself. xB finished by wrapping it in gauze. The whole time, Grian was holding Taurtis's hand, and was continuing to stroke his hair(which Taurtis wasn't complaining about). "There we go. All finished. Are you guys gonna be okay here? You can stay here for the night if you need to."

"Yeah, don't worry about us, we'll be fine." Grian told him. Taurtis just nodded, too tired to do much else. With that, xB nodded, turned off the light, and left the small house. Not much later, Taurtis fell asleep.

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When he woke, the pain in Taurtis' leg had completely disappeared. That wasn't the only thing he took note of however. Sitting next to the bed, with his arms over Taurtis' chest, using his stomach as a pillow, was a very asleep Grian. It was a very cute sight for Taurtis to behold, and he couldn't help the small sigh that escaped him as he took it in. Although it came out a little louder than he intended, as it appeared to wake the sleeping hermit up. 

"Morning Taurtis." He grumbled. "How'd you sleep last night? Your leg give you any trouble?"

"Good morning, Grian. I slept pretty well. My leg has actually stopped hurting. I can't imagine you slept too well though. The floor doesn't seem very comfortable." Taurtis replied.

"No, not really." Grian said. "But you make a good enough pillow that it doesn't really matter." This made Taurtis flustered.

"O- okay then. Lets um.. get the stuff back to the barge and get it stocked, shall we?" He stammered. And he could feel the heat rising to his face. Grian chuckled at this.

"Yeah. Let's go."

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The worst part about the trip to the shopping district was only how long it took. The healing potion had worked on Taurtis' leg, so there were no problems there. Grian had asked him if he wanted to go back to the mansion while he stocked the barge, but Taurtis had replied saying that they started this together, and they were going to finish it together.

"And... done!" Grian said as he put the last of the quartz in the chest.

"It feels like it was a lot more trouble than it was worth." Taurtis said.

"Yeah, well at least it's done now. And we can finally get home."

On their way to the portal, Grian looked like he had something on his mind, so Taurtis decided to ask him about it.

"Hey, is everything good. You look like you got something on your mind."

"Yeah. I'm fine. Is it just me, or does this place feel really unorganized?" Grian replied. Taurtis nodded in agreement.

"Mhm. I know what you mean." Taurtis answered. Grian still looked like he was pondering something. Then his face lit up.

"I have an idea." he said. This made Taurtis stop dead in his tracks and give Grian a look that said "Please, no more. I just want to go home." Upon seeing this, Grian said, "But it can wait for tomorrow." and they promptly made their way back to the hobbit hole, and spent the rest of the day curled up together on the couch watching movies.

Chapter Text

It wasn't all that often that EVO had to deal with bugs. When they did, it was usually only Grian and Taurtis who were alerted of it, and it was fixed in a few hours, maybe a day, two at the latest. But on rare occasion, EVO had huge bug spikes, that took multiple days, or even weeks to fix. When this happened, everyone on the server could feel it. Their heads would start hurting, and an overall feeling of dread would come over them. The sky would always turn grey and glitchy as well.

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Zee was doing some base repairs where a creeper had blown it up. He thought he had lit it up enough, but apparently not. As he was placing the last blocks, he heard footsteps behind him.

"Hey, Netty." Zee greeted his friend as she approached, looking quite disappointed. "Still no sign of him, huh?" They had been doing regular checks at Taurtis' base to see if he had returned, but always to no avail.

"Nope." She answered, and let out a small sigh. "It's been three months, Zee. You'd think he'd be back by now. And what ever that thing in his base is keeps getting bigger. It's really starting to worry me. This whole situation is worrying me."

"I know." Zee said, giving Netty a comforting hug. "We just have to keep holding out for him." And then he felt it. By the looks of things, Netty did too. They both looked up to the sky to see it turning grey, and the clouds begin to glitch in and out of existence.

"Oh no." Netty said upon seeing this. "Taurtis, wherever you are, please hurry back."

Chapter Text

Grian and Taurtis were at Xisuma's base. He had messaged them, saying it was about the portal. Both were worried, knowing that this might not be good.

"Good. You two are here." X said as they touched down at one of his towers. "So, the portal has slowed down."

"What do you mean, 'slowed down'?" Taurtis asked. "Like, it's not ready?"

"No. And it won't be for a couple..." X trailed off. He started nervously fidgeting with his hands.

"Couple what, X. Days, weeks?" Grian questioned the admin.

"...Months." Xisuma finally said after a short pause. "Here, I'll show you." He took them over to where the portal was. Pulled up next to it, were some screens, the code on one of them going haywire and being nearly unreadable, the other having a clock counting down from two months, and both of them were glitching. As Taurtis and Grian approached to get a better look, they could feel it. It was faint, but it was there. They both looked at each other, even more worried than before. Xisuma could tell this. "What is it?"

"EVO's having a bug spike." Grian whispered, then much louder he exclaimed, "EVO's having a bug spike, and none of us are there to fix it! Oh man this is really bad." Grian was holding his head, hunched over, frantically pacing across the floor. He was a nervous wreck, that, at this point, you would have expected Taurtis to be in.

"What do you mean by 'bug spike'?" X asked. Grian was still freaking out, so Taurtis was the one to answer.

"On very rare occasion, EVO will have an unusually large spike in bugs, and it takes anywhere from a few days, to a few weeks for us to fix them. And of course it had to happen while there wasn't an admin around." he explained. Then he turned to Grian. He grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him, looked him dead in the eyes, and told him, "Grian? Grian listen to me. The server is going to be fine. Everyone is going to be fine. Okay? Am I worried too? Yes. But I have full hope that they are all going to survive." Then he pulled Grian into a hug."Just try to copy my breathing. In... Out..." He breathed slowly, and could feel Grian trying to copy him. It took a few minutes, but he finally settled down. "There. Feeling better?" Taurtis asked. Grian nodded. Nither of them could see it, but Xisuma was smiling softly at the scene in front of him.

After another short while, Grian pulled away.

"Thank you." He said.

"Of course, Grian." Taurtis replied lovingly. "You ready to go home?"

"Yeah. And thanks for the update, X."

"No problem. I'll see if there's anything I can do to speed it up." X replied. Taurtis and Grian both gave their thanks to the admin, and began the flight back to the mansion.

Chapter Text

Taurtis felt content as the fire he was sitting at partly warmed him against the cool night air. The other part of the warmth came from Grian, who was sitting as close to Taurtis as he possibly could be. Something Taurtis was not going to complain about. They were just sitting in silence, enjoying each other's company after watching mumbo lose the mayoral race. While they weren't too upset by it, it still kind of hurt.

This all reminded Taurtis of of similar night they had on EVO.

--------

"Oh come on!" Taurtis screamed as the concrete converter he was trying to make blew up for the millionth time. "Why won't this thing work?!" And as if his luck couldn't get any worse, it started raining. And of course he hadn't thought to put any kind of cover over his work area, so all of the redstone washed away, further ruining the machine. It was at that point, Taurtis was just done. He laid down on his back in the rain, frustrated with himself, for a whole forty-five minutes. That was until a very curious Grian found him.

"Taurtis? What are you doing lying in the rain? Are you okay?" Grian asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just frustrated. This stupid concrete converter wouldn't stop blowing up, and then it started raining, and I was just done with it all." Then, Grian knelt down, hoisted Taurtis off the ground, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder as he led him to a warmer and dryer area.

"Well staying out here will do you no good. Come on." Soon, they were out of the rain under some trees, and Taurtis could just now feel how cold he was. Grian set him down on the floor next to a tree and got a fire going. Once it was big enough, Grian brought Taurtis over and huddled next to him, which worked very well in warming Taurtis up. "Feeling better?" Grian asked him when he finally stopped shivering.

"A little." Taurtis answered. Then he noticed Grian look down at his communicator and then begin typing and tapping away at it. "What is it?" He questioned the admin.

"Oh just a bug that needs fixing. It's a real quick fix though." He said. And in a few minutes, he was done. Taurtis was in awe. Despite it being something that was most likely very easy, it was amazing to watch Grian work with the code. Grian seemed to notice him staring. "What is it?"

"You just make working with the code look so easy. It's kinda cool to be honest." Taurtis replied. Grian gave him a soft smile.

"Thanks. I can teach you if you want." He offered, much to the shock of Taurtis.

"Wait. Are you serious?"

"Yeah. You're interested. And I think it's way past time for me to be looking for a co-admin. Plus, I like hanging out with you. So. You up for it?"

"Of course!" Taurtis beamed. "Can we stay here for a while longer though? It's really nice."

"Sure."

--------

Taurtis smiled at the memory. Not only was that the night he(sort of) became co-admin(it wasn't official yet), but now he realized it was the night he first started to fall for Grian. He let out a small sigh, which caught Grian's attention. The shorter man looked up towards him.

"What is it." He asked.

"Just remembering the night you offered me the co-admin position." Grian hummed in response, and they lapsed into silence once more. Around ten minutes later, Grian was yawning, and he looked like he could have crashed right then and there. "You tired?"

"Mhm." Grian nodded sleepily.

With a yawn of his own, Taurtis replied, "Yeah, me too." He also felt like he could have slept right there. And soon, they were laying in the grass, curled into each other, with Grian fast asleep. Taurtis took the opportunity to place a small kiss on the top of his head before drifting off to sleep with him.

Chapter Text

Taurtis and Grian were sitting on the roof of the mansion, watching the sun set after a long day of ancient debris mining. It hadn't gone nearly as bad as the last time. In fact it hadn't gone wrong at all. This was due to how many precautions Grian had them take before going through the portal.

----

"Okay. Fire resistance potions?"

"Check."

"Blast protection armor? "

"Check."

Grian made his way through the long checklist he had made.

"Grian, I think you may have over prepared a little." Taurtis remarked.

"Yeah but.. I just don't want either of us to get hurt, you know? Especially you, after what happened last time. I don't want to see you like that again." Grian told him, taking Taurtis' hands in his own, and looking at him with great affection. Taurtis felt his heart jump in his chest and his face go red.

"I- Uh... Thank you." Taurtis stammered.

"Of course"

----

"We did good today." Taurtis said as he and Grian made their way back through the long tunnels to the portal, about half of each of their inventories filled with ancient debris. Then, Grian tripped. His face going straight for a pool of flowing lava. Taurtis had nothing to be scared about. They both still had their fire resistance on. But it still didn't stop him from grabbing Grians hand to keep him from faceplanting into the hot orange puddle.

From the looks of it, Grian had panicked too. When he looked at Taurtis after being pulled up, his face was as red as the netherrack, and had an expression that Taurtis couldn't quite place.

"Th- thanks." he stuttered. "But, you know I had fire resistance still right? I would have been fine." He placed a hand reassuringly on his forearm. Now it was Taurtis' turn to go red in the face.

"Yeah. I guess I just panicked." Taurtis replied. Grian chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"You spoon."

----

Taurtis smiled as he recalled the highlights from their expedition. It had been a very good day. He found his gaze wandering over towards Grian, who was leaning on his shoulder, one arm wrapped around Taurtis' back, the other holding his hand, their fingers laced together. The sunlight was hitting his face just right, making him look like he was glowing. It made him look all the more beautiful to Taurtis. Grian noticed his staring, and turned his head to face Taurtis.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

Taurtis was exhausted, and not really thinking. So he didn't catch himself before he could stop the reply that came out of his mouth.

"Your beautiful face." he said. When Grian blushed, Taurtis realized what he had told him. "Uh- I- I- er..." Taurtis tried to form some kind of coherent sentence, but his brain was completely frying. He looked away, his face getting hotter with each passing second. He was not expecting what came next. Grian moved the arm behind Taurtis' back to cup his cheek, and turn Taurtis back to face him. The touch was gentle, and Taurtis melted into it.

"It's okay, Taurtis. I think you're beautiful too." he told him, squeezing his hand just a little bit tighter. It was then Taurtis noticed just how close their faces were, their breath ghosting each other's lips. Taurtis suddenly felt a surge of confidence.

"Grian....   Can I-" he didn't get to finish that question, because Grian had already closed the distance. 

Taurtis had imagined kissing Grian many, many times. But nothing his imagination could conjure up could ever compare to this. Grian's lips were soft and sweet against Taurtis', but at the same time filled with so much passion and love. Taurtis was wasting no time returning the kiss with just as much love. It lasted until they had to inevitably pull away for air, which was too soon for both of them. They pulled away, both breathless. They kept their foreheads pressed together, and stared lovingly into each other's eyes.

"I love you, Taurtis." Grian whispered. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." Taurtis said back, leaning in for another kiss, which Grian happily gave. It was cut short however when Grian felt his communicator buzz, causing him to pull away. Taurtis let out a small whine, a sound that melted Grian's heart. He checked the message to see that it was from Xisuma.

"Come to my base. Bring Taurtis. The portal's ready."

Chapter Text

As soon as Taurtis stepped through the portal with Grian, both of their communicators started buzzing like crazy. They had made an agreement for Grian to come through to help fix the bugs, and then return to Hermitcraft for the rest of the season. They made their way to Taurtis' bedroom where he had his admin set-up. They walked in, ready to get to work, only to see Netty sitting on the bed.

"Netty? What are you doing here?" Taurtis asked. Netty turned to him, and her face lit up.

"Taurtis! You're back. Thank goodness. We had no idea where you went. And then we got a bug spike and got even more worried. I'm so glad to see you." Then she noticed who was with him. "Wait, Grian? I thought you were in Hermitcraft."

"It's a long story. We'll tell you later, but right now, we have work to do." Grin told her. Netty nodded and went back to sit on the bed, silently letting the admins get to work. After only a few minutes, Grian and Taurtis looked at each other, the same expression of sorrow on both of their faces.

"We're too late." Taurtis said. He couldn't believe it.

"What do you mean 'too late'?" Netty asked, her voice edged with worry. 

"There are too many bugs. We wouldn't be able to fix them before the server crashed." Grian explained.

"Oh..."

"Yeah." Taurtis said. Then he got an idea. He turned to Grian, a small smile pulling on his lips. "Go get X." Grian seemed to immediately understand. He took off back towards the portal. "Netty, call everyone to my base. We're getting out of here."

--------

By the time everyone had gotten to Taurtis' base, Grian had returned with X, who had agreed to help after having the situation explained to him. Everyone was standing around by the portal, confused as to what exactly was happening. Then X stood in front  of them and adressed them.

"Hello everyone. My name is Xisuma, I'm the admin of Hermitcraft, which is where that portal right there leads." He gestured to the portal. Then Grian stepped forward.

"The server is going to crash. The safest thing to do right now is to get everyone through to the other side."

"So, we're leaving EVO behind?" Salem asked.

"Yes. It's the only way to keep you all safe." Taurtis said. X spoke up again.

"Okay. Leave all your items here, and head on through." They all did as they were told, and soon were all safe on the other side.

X closed the portal, solidifying EVO's fate.

"So, what do we do now? Our home is gone." Tomohawk asked.

"If you want, you are all free to live here as hermits." Xisuma offered. They were all surprised at X's offer, but accepted it nonetheless. "Alright. I'll arrange a meeting tomorrow at town hall to discuss this with the rest of the hermits. You'll all probably need a place to stay for the night."

"Don't worry about that X. They can stay with me and Taurtis at the mansion." Grian said, wrapping an arm around Taurtis and pulling him in close.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. We have plenty of room. Plus, they're our friends." Taurtis said.

"Alright then. Well, I'll let you all get situated. If anyone needs anything, feel free to ask."

--------

It was late night. All the EVO smp'ers were settled in the mansion. Grian and Taurtis were snuggled up together in the main bedroom, neither one saying anything. Then Taurtis finally spoke.

"So...  " He started.

"So.." Grian repeated, urging him to continue.

"Earlier, when you said you loved me, did you really mean it?" Taurtis was so scared that Grian would say no, that it was all a joke, despite knowing that there was no evidence for that being the case. Grian looked at him, shocked that he would ask such a question. His face quickly turned to one of amusement, then affection as he leaned in for a kiss. When he pulled away, he answered the question.

"Of course I meant it. Taurtis, you mean so much to me. I couldn't even begin to imagine my life without you in it. You make me so, so, so incredibly happy. I would list all the other reasons why I love you, but we'd be awake all night. So, yes, I meant it. I love you Taurtis."

Taurtis didn't know how to respond. He settled for simply curling further into Grian, and giving him a small kiss on the cheek.

"I love you too." With that, Grian pulled him into a proper kiss, which Taurtis melted into. It was cut short when Zee knocked on the door. They turned to look at him, both of their faces bright red. Zee gave a small laugh.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked.

"No, no. You're fine. One question though, How long were you standing there?" Grian replied. His voice was a couple octaves higher. It was obvious he was nervous about being caught.

"I just got here. And don't worry, I'm happy for you two. I was just wondering where the bathroom was."

"Down the hall and to the right." Grian replied, relieved. 

"Thanks. Oh, do you want me to close the door for you?" Zee said.

"That would be great." Taurtis answered. Zee did that, and left. "Now uh, where were we?" he asked. They leaned back in.

Taurtis had, and never would figure out how he had even gotten to Hermitcraft in the first place. But he was thanking whatever force had brought him there. And one thing was for sure.

Taurtis wouldn't have it any other way.