Work Text:
It’s evening. Scar is curled up on one of Cub’s light blue beds. They’d had a minor scuffle about the fact that Cub hadn’t built an actual bedroom in his base, but the map room or his storage room were perfectly safe bedrooms. Also, it was normally easier to just sleep in whichever cave Cub was working on at the moment. Also, Scar, who hadn’t built a door he could access for his own base, probably couldn’t talk -
Regardless. Scar was asleep now, and Cub’s own bed is in the room as well. Scar’s overcoat is thrown over a chair in the back of the map room. His hat’s hung with it. Jellie has somehow found her way into the room and is curled on top of Scar. She’s purring intently, which, while cute, is also a sign that Jellie is just as worried about Scar as Cubfan is.
…they haven’t stayed in the same base in a while, but Cub still knows Scar well enough to know when he’s avoiding things, and to know that if Scar’s conceded to staying the night, he is far, far worse than he’s trying to let on.
Cub knows Scar well enough to know that some of those burn scars are new.
Cub knows Scar well enough that -
Alas, he’s about to have to be the responsible friend, isn’t he? Chaos, mayhem - those are more his style. He picks up his phone to text Bdubs and tell him that Scar’s staying in Cub’s base, so whatever prank he needed to get to Scar’s base for, the man’s out. He pauses and considers the new burn scars, the way Scar had been resolutely avoiding talking about whatever is going on, and the amount of cake that the two of them had gone through, and the amount of soft blue chaos that had been curling in Scar’s eyes.
He clarifies to Bdubs:
cubfan135: no explosions, or things that will kill him.
bdoubleo100: things that won’t kill SCAR? THAT’S NOT MANY OPTIONS!
cubfan135: nothing that could reasonably be considered a murder attempt if you’re using my tunnel
bdoubleo100: what has mister ENFORCER out today, HUH? MURDER? i’d NEVER!
Cubfan just waits. Bdubs is more perceptive than he acts like he is, and he and Scar got very close last season. In the meantime, Cub looks over his canyon. If Scar wants to avoid his problems, then Cub isn’t exactly one to judge. He can make sure there’s something in the canyon that could use terraforming. Actually, convincing Scar to help him terraform for free? Priceless, really. If it helps Scar avoid talking about his problems in a place Cubfan can watch him and finish figuring out what those problems are, well, all the better.
Ah. A response.
bdoubleo100: THAT BAD???
cubfan135: he isn’t talking about it.
bdoubleo100: WELL I’M NOT GONNA BLOW HIM UP NOW I’M NOT CRUEL
There are large sections of the enchanted desert clear on the other side of the server from Boatem, Cub thinks. They’ll work on those together. Cub’s a little curious what Scar will do with it. As much practice as Cub has with terraforming and landscapes, and as many tips as he’s picked up over the year with realistic surroundings, there’s something about the level of story Scar can weave into everything he builds that Cub’s never been able to reach. Cub’s always been more the go-with-the-flow type. He has the sorts of things he takes charge on, like his base, or minigames, or total economic devastation and control of a server via war profiteering, unethical capitalism, and pranks. But that’s not the same thing as Scar. Scar starts stories. Cub ends them.
…Scar’s started something now, Cub thinks.
Cub is going to end it.
cubfan135: he might not see your prank for a bit. he’s avoiding boatem.
bdoubleo100: WELL I AVOID THAT LAG TOO
cubfan135: lol
cubfan135: true
To end it, Cub is going to make a plan. First, he’s going to work on making Scar calm down from whatever he’s upset about. Next, he’s going to get names, other than that Boatem is the cause. Beyond that, who knows? Cubfan likes to go with the flow. He may make plans fairly often otherwise, but given he doesn’t know why, exactly, Scar’s acting like he is, he’s probably just going to figure it out as he goes. Eh, that’s how some of his best plans have gone.
bdoubleo100: i have SO MUCH EXTRA CONCRETE i am going to do TERRIBLE THINGS
bdoubleo100: that he will SEE FROM A DISTANCE AND CHECK OUT
cubfan135: oooh terrible things
cubfan135: i appreciate proper chaos
bdoubleo100: HA.
Cubfan fiddles with his shulkers to see what he needs to grind for. If they run out of terraforming, there’s always resource gathering. His phone buzzes again.
bdoubleo100: and tell me when you figure out why he’s hiding in your base
cubfan135: kk
cubfan135: you know this is late for you to be awake
bdoubleo100: YOU NEED TO SLEEP TOO
bdoubleo100: take care of him, okay?
Cub shrugs to himself.
cubfan135: i always have
He sighs. Tomorrow, he’ll convince the other Convex to explain why he has new burn scars and shadows under his eyes and an unwillingness to talk to any of his base-mates. Tomorrow. But right now - right now, Scar is asleep in a bed Cub had pitched in the middle of his display room, and his cat his purring on his stomach, and he at least doesn’t look as distressed in his sleep as he’d looked awake. At least, in his sleep, Scar isn’t hiding.
That’s… something, at least.
Cub’s going to have to talk to Grian too, isn’t he? Because if Scar is this upset (and avoiding Grian entirely in the process), the odds that it has nothing to do with him are low. And if Bdubs hadn’t mentioned why Scar had been flinching at his name too (and Scar’s good at hiding those things but his fellow Convex has known him too long to buy it), then. Hm. There’s something very strange going on. And, normally, Cub would watch it with bemusement, but…
…no, not now.
He hears someone firing rockets over his base and snorts. Yeah, Bdubs is absolutely taking the prank opportunity. Good, clean chaos. What more could he want? (He wants to know what’s wrong with his friend.)
“Gonna be an interesting morning,” he says, half-cheerful and half-resigned, before going to bed himself.