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Grian felt more relaxed than he had in a long time.
Sunlight gently poured into the house through the windows. Even the dragon egg, usually sucking in all the light that touched it, seemed to glow softly in the ray of sunlight that had reached it.
The others were still sleeping, their quiet snoring interrupting the silence. Instead of ruining the peace, though, it merely reminded him he wasn’t alone.
And he was content to stay there and enjoy it. It felt so nice to just live in the moment. His bed was so comfy and warm and he’s never wished more for something to never end.
It was almost a foreign feeling, being content with such a sluggish morning. Normally he would have his whole day planned out by now, always eager to cause ripples in the calm, stagnant water that was the Hermitcraft server.
But something about this morning felt special. Like it was meant to be enjoyed. It would be wasteful to ruin such a rare occasion.
So there he layed, with sleepy eyes and a warm smile stuck to his face.
He was close to falling back asleep, until he heard a sudden groan from across the room. He reluctantly sat up to see Scar shifting in his own temporary bed before sitting up and stretching.
Grian, still feeling too relaxed to speak, opted to stay quiet until Scar said something. And said something he did, when he noticed Grian was awake and staring at him.
“Good morning,” Scar greeted, smiling softly at his friend.
Grian rubbed his sleepy eyes and replied.
“Good morning, Scar.”
Scar seemed to get lost in his thoughts for a second, staring at Grian as if he was contemplating something, before snapping out of it and continuing the conversation.
The two spoke for no more than a few minutes before the others started waking up.
They all shared their “good mornings'' as they allowed their bodies to wake up, proceeding to make small talk about plans for the day. Laughter occasionally bubbled up into the room, the atmosphere grew less and less quiet. The sound of laughter had never made Grian happier.
These were the same people who saw how bad things were for him yesterday and stayed by his side. They spent the night at his place to make sure he was alright, instead of just taking him to bed and leaving him there for the rest of the day.
His heart grew warm and he physically couldn’t hold back a smile.
Sometimes he wondered how he had gotten lucky enough to find the hermits. These talented, sweet people that had waltzed straight into his heart, each and every one of them making enough room to be comfortable, making his heart larger than it had ever been.
Joining Hermitcraft really had to be one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
“What’s got you smiling, G?” Impulse asked, eyes crinkling up in a smile of his own from Grian’s contagious joy.
“I just…really wanna thank you guys for staying the night here. And making sure I was alright after, well, you know.” He ended his sentence awkwardly.
That’s when Grian noticed everyone in the room suddenly looking nervous. His smile quickly shifted to a frown.
“Is something wrong?”
Impulse bit his lip.
“Well, actually we…kind of wanted to talk to you about that. About what happened yesterday.”
There were a few moments of silence.
“No ones gonna force you to talk about it or anything, but it might help if you do,” Mumbo said hesitantly, “we just wanna make sure you’re okay, is all.”
“No, I get it,” Grian ran a hand through his hair, “you all deserve an explanation anyways, I suppose.”
He took a deep breath.
“It has to do with high school, uhm,” he stuttered over his words before chuckling nervously, “I actually don’t really know where to start.”
Pearl frowned. She didn’t know much about what happened to Grian necessarily—he never spoke about it with anyone as far as she knew—but Taurtis had vented to her a few times about high school. And Taurtis had mentioned in passing that Grian wasn’t treated right either. She knew enough to know that whatever happened probably left a lot of mental scars.
“Well, what happened yesterday…I don’t really know how it happened. Maybe it was the rotten flesh that I saw Scar holding? I’m not so sure. But either way, I was…reminded of something.” He spoke, trying to be careful with his wording.
Everyone stayed silent, but they couldn’t help but lean forward in anticipation.
“You see, before I was here, before I was in Evo, I was friends with this guy. He was a bunny hybrid Taurtis and I knew since we were kids.”
He looked down, reminiscing.
“He was always a little bit off, but so was everyone in that town, at least to me. If anything, I was the weird one to them. So I never really thought anything was wrong with him but,” he paused.
I should’ve left before I even stepped foot out of the bus.
“I left Japan to go back to Britain for a while, and when I came back everything seemed the same. Something changed though. I don’t know how or why, but something changed. Sam was more reckless, especially when it came to getting things he wanted.”
He really hated it when things didn’t go his way, didn’t he?
“He dated this girl named Yuki, just to make this other girl he was obsessed with jealous. He didn’t even have the subtlety to not say that in front of the girl he was already dating. He never even really pretended to like her. All and all, he wasn’t a very stable person.”
He made me dress up as my own friend while he was in the hospital. Tried to convince me I was always Taurtis, that Grian never existed.
“Yesterday, I had a memory? A flashback? One time I forgot to buy lunch before school.” He found himself shaking slightly, knowing this wasn’t a story about a good friend who shared his lunch with him.
“I was willing to just not eat lunch that day, but Sam told me he had something extra on him for me to eat. He guilt tripped me into eating something he said was beef jerky. It wasn’t. I realized what I was really eating after just a couple bites.”
Grian had to take a moment to calm down. He didn’t really want to finish the story, but he couldn’t hide the truth forever. That’s why he was telling them in the first place.
The others waited patiently for him to compose himself, growing more concerned. Grian wasn’t known for being uncertain. He was usually very confident, even when the odds were against him. It was always unsettling to see him get nervous on the rare occasion, it never felt right.
He opened his mouth to speak.
“I was eating Taurtis’ dead girlfriend.” He spoke quickly, closing his eyes tightly.
He really hoped they wouldn’t judge him for something he didn’t do on purpose. That they wouldn’t look at him differently after this, whether it be out of pity or disgust.
The Boatem hermits were horrified to say the least.
Their friend was forced to eat someone who had permanently died? For what reason? For his toxic friend’s own selfish amusement? What did you even get out of doing something so awful?
If they ever found this Sam person, they would most certainly be having a “talk” with him. It didn’t matter if the Hermits had a reputation of being kind, they weren’t push-overs. Reputation meant absolutely nothing when you crossed the line and hurt one of their own.
“Grian,” Pearl started, only to be interrupted.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Grian said quickly, “if I had known I never would’ve even touched it. I swear.”
“Grian.”
He looked up to see Pearl looking at him with concerned eyes.
“We know. We know that you would never do something like that willingly. We don’t think of you any differently for this.” She said in a soft voice.
Grian looked slightly relieved, but still looked over at the others hopefully.
Seeing their friend look to them for confirmation, they immediately rushed to reassure him.
“Of course! We would never, ever blame you for something like that.” Scar said.
“I hope you realize that it wasn’t your fault,” said Mumbo, feeling upset for the shorter hermit “no part of that was your fault.”
“Yeah, how could you even expect something like that? From someone who’s supposed to be your friend?” Impulse said incredulously.
Grian finally fully relaxed and leaned back into his pillows, relieved that he had gotten that over with.
“Yeah, like I said, Sam definitely had a few screws loose. I feel like he just liked watching bad things happen to people.”
“You know, Grian, if you ever have anything else you need to talk about, we’re here for you.” Mumbo said in a serious tone, “if anything like this ever bothers you again, don’t be afraid to talk to us. We’re your friends and we want to make sure you’re okay.”
Grian blinked.
He was right. It was hard keeping this kind of stuff to himself all the time. As much as he preferred to ignore it, he couldn’t deny the slight cautiousness he has towards rabbits—especially white ones. And the cold shock of fear that often ran through him in the split second he realized he was about to die. Even knowing he would respawn, it was still a little hard to shake off growing up in a permadeath world.
“Gri? You do know you can talk to us, right?” Scar said, starting to his friend’s silence as a no.
“I do,” he responded, “I trust you guys. I just never thought about talking to anyone about that kind of stuff. I usually keep it to myself.”
“Well, you don’t have to keep it to yourself anymore.” Pearl said, “it’s unhealthy and you should let it all out.”
“Well, I do have other stuff I would like to get off my chest, but,” he looked off to the side, “I don’t think I can talk about it right now. I feel like I had enough serious talk for today.”
“That’s fine.” Pearl smiled, “no ones gonna make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with. We only want to make sure you’ll come to us whenever something’s bothering you from now on.”
“Yeah,” Grian looked back to her, “I think I can do that.” He said with a smile of his own.
It would take some getting used to, talking to people about his problems. But, as exhausting as it was, it helped. He felt like a weight had been removed from his chest. Like he was no longer keeping secrets.
There was probably a lot more he would have to tell them. This was only one small thing compared to the mountain of insanity his entire high school experience was.
But he knew he didn’t have to hide it. Not after he already gave them a good look at what he had been hiding this whole time. He could talk about it with them freely without it being a shock. And that was more than enough of a relief to him.
———————
After checking once more that Grian was alright, the group of Hermits finally left to get a late start on their day. Scar, though, had one more question to ask.
“So, weren’t those pictures I saw of you that one time from high school?” Scar asked, remembering the time he snooped around in Grian’s bag.
“Oh yeah,” Grian said smiling, “those weren’t from bad times though! Well, most of them. Depending on how far you looked, there’s some nice moments mixed in there.”
“Oh?”
“If you’d like, maybe one day I could show you guys the rest of the photos in that scrapbook? Could be fun.”
“Really? Even after this?”
Grian nodded,
“I mean, I'm not lying when I say most of those photos are from good memories. Taurtis mostly filled it with things he looked back on fondly anyways. Though the things he finds nostalgic might be a little bit questionable.”
“Well, in that case, I’d love to see those pictures if you’re willing to show me.”
“Sounds good. Maybe not today though. I had some plans for that dragon egg that I still have yet to start. And I also still have to find wherever I left the scrapbook,” Grian said, “Some other day will just have to do.”
He sighed.
“Well, we should both actually go and do what we planned to do today.”
“Oh, right!” Scar exclaimed, realizing it was already almost midday.
He quickly stood up and made his way to the entrance, glancing back at Grian, who was finally getting out of bed.
“See you later, Grian!” He waved while stepping out the door.
“Bye, Scar.” He said back with a grin.
He watched in amusement as the small-hat wearing man propelled off the ground using several rockets.
“Now,” he muttered to himself, staring at the other side of the room, “about that egg.”