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Every twenty hours, Joel promised himself that he’d get one step closer to confessing to Grian and Scar. He had a bit of a crush on them since the life games, but more so in the “loving from afar” way. Maybe even in a “loving them from af-aha-r” way if he was talking about the second round. He told Lizzie about it, and they talked about their boundaries for a while, before coming to the conclusion that he could go after them, if he still wanted to.
While joining this hardcore series would be taxing, since anyone could die any minute, it’d be worth it to get to know the two of them better.
Once he stepped into the multiplayer portal, he went through the motions of playing the game normally. Chopping trees, getting iron tools and armor, naming his shield Lizzie, so she would always be protecting him… And then he saw Grian. He tried to mess with him, but quickly realized that he couldn’t hit anyone, which was… probably for the best.
The first ten hours were quiet, but by the twenty hour mark, he would be sure to enact his four step plan.
The first three steps were simple enough. Drop some hints here and there, just don’t be too suspicious. And if all went well, at the one hundred hour mark, he would tell them he likes them. The only problem was that it rode on the fact that no one would die, and nothing changed between the three of them.
So, he waited, bantered and bartered with Grian, and End-busted together. Thankfully, Scar wasn’t there so he couldn’t fall, but it did feel like there was a piece of the group missing. Maybe that was just his hearts talking.
Twenty hours in, Grian and Joel decided to make a giant bed for Scar, in case he fell off the cliff. After crafting an obscene amount of beds, they began placing them under the overhang, and a bit farther beyond that.
“Hello everyone! Is that a giant bed I see?” Scar’s voice startled the two, and they looked up to see Scar herding some sheep.
“Yeah. What are you doing with those sheep?” Joel asked.
He placed some fences around the sheep for the time being. “I’m glad you asked! This is going to be a sheep pen!”
“A what ,” Grian facepalmed. “Of all the places to make a buffer for Scar, we had to choose a sheep pen.”
“At least my sheep will be safe?” Scar said, a bit of mirth being hidden away by fake confusion.
“I mean, I’m not sure if it’ll work for mobs. Maybe we should test this out?” Joel offered.
“No, no, that’ll be quite alright!” he rushed out. “Is it safe for me to jump down?”
“Uh… probably.”
“Great!” Scar leaped from the overhang and onto the beds, taking slightly less damage than normal. Hopefully. “Oh yeah, only a few hearts.”
Good. He didn’t want Scar dying that early in the series.
The sky had already started to fade to pink, and Joel watched as the sun set beyond the horizon. He asked the group, “Wait, it’s night, you have a bed?”
“Yeah, let me just—“ Scar plopped down on the giant bed pile below him, and slept through the night. Fits of laughter erupted from Grian and Joel, who plopped down as well, just for fun.
“You know,” Grian started. “This is the embodiment of that meme where it’s like— we place our Minecraft beds next to each other.”
“Actually yeah. I’m gonna be honest, I haven’t slept with anyone in a while— that came out wrong. Ignore that.” Joel said.
“I will.”
“Good to know your priorities are straight.”
“Well, at least one thing is straight about me.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“I’m gay!” Scar said. Two pairs of eyes turned to him. “We’re talking about our romantic preferences, right?”
Grian laughed, “Yeah. I’d tell you mine, but it’s a bit… up in the air? And I can’t seem to grasp exactly what I am.”
Joel sat up. “Don’t worry, I went through something similar. I think I get what you mean.”
“Really? I honestly thought you were straight.”
“Bi’s probably the closest thing that fits.” Joel shrugged. “And poly I guess, but that’s more… up in the air, like you said.”
Grian perked up at this slightly, as well as Scar in his peripheral vision, but they didn’t comment on it. They just listened, and nodded at the end.
Scar cut the silence that followed, “Well, I’m going to go work on my base some more, thanks for the beds guys! Just let me know beforehand if we’re going to have a sleepover. Maybe I’ll bring my pajamas then.”
“We will, Scar. I’ll let you know if anything fun comes up!” Grian said.
They all said their goodbyes, and sped off to work on their bases once again. After all, they really only had one hundred hours to build something mega.
While they didn’t… exactly end up working on their bases, they did fight an entire raid in hardcore. And by the thirty hour mark, Grian suggested using Jimmy as a sacrifice to storm a woodland mansion. So that was fun, he supposed.
However, by the time they got to the map room, one of the Vindicators had sliced through Grian in two fell swipes. That was undoubtedly much less fun.
Joel realized then, Grian was gone. Unless he could perform a miracle, he wouldn’t be coming back. There wasn’t any respawning in a hardcore world.
“Jimmy…” Joel started, with a hitch in his voice. “He’s gone, right? There isn’t a way for him to come back, is there?”
“Ah, no? I don’t think so,” Jimmy’s movements seemed stilted at this revelation. “I mean, unless he can find some… lost soul or something, I don’t think he’ll be able to.”
Joel sighed, “It’s not your fault he didn’t use a chestplate, but I swear if you joke around about this, I’ll have your head.”
“Got it. No jokes.”
“Thanks.”
“You wanna… talk?” Jimmy prompted. “Lizzie said something about—”
“No she didn’t.”
“What?” he said, offended. “We’re seablings. We tell each other everything. But don’t worry, I didn’t tell Scott.”
“Fine… Whatever,” Joel sighed. “I’ll talk.”
The two of them sat in silence for a minute. “Okay?”
“You’re not helping.”
“You’re taking too long,” Jimmy shrugged.
He sighed, “Let’s just burn this mansion to the ground. We can talk while we walk.”
“Sounds good. You have a flint and steel?” Joel tossed the item to him. “Thanks.”
Joel nodded, and started to go ham on the building. Soon, the building became too smoky to stay in it, so they watched it burn outside from the top of a dark oak tree.
“I was planning on telling them. If we all survived that is. But now Scar’s resting at his base, and I’m not sure when he’ll be back, and well… Grian’s dead. Probably won’t see him until the next life game.”
“I… Yeah. And the life games are rough. I really missed Scott in the second season, but before that, I felt like my soul was being ripped in two.”
“Wait. Ripped in two? You can do that?” Joel sat up straight.
“Metaphorically ripped in two,” Jimmy made a vague motion with his hand. “I wouldn’t try ripping your soul in half without the ability to respawn.”
“Oh. Okay. Well I guess this is it, huh?” he sighed. “It isn’t really an SMP without multiple players.”
“Right. I’d join you, but I have other things to—”
A message popped up on their Smarter Watches. Grian joined the game .
“Wait what?”
“Grian!” Joel yelled. “You’re back?”
“No… Grian was my past life. I’m Grien now!” Grian said, sneaking up behind them.
“I thought you were gone!” Joel laughed. “Whose soul did you steal?”
“Uh, based on the mustache, probably Mumbo.”
“Ah. You’d better thank Mumbo for me then.”
Grian shrugged, “It was mutually beneficial. He didn’t have to look like a pig, I didn’t have to die. Win win.”
“He— alright, yeah, checks out,” he shook his head. “I’m glad to have you back. I’m sure Scar is too, although… he doesn’t know you died?”
“And he doesn’t have to!” Grian winked.
“You’re saying we keep that from him?”
“Exactly.”
Joel was all in for shenanigans, but only if he could get some rest, stat. “Yeah. I’m in. I just need to sleep or something, because that was a lot of adrenaline right then.”
“I can get some wool, I’ll be right back,” Jimmy said, hopping off the tree branch.
“Thanks Jimmy!” Grian called, chipper as ever, and Joel grumbled his agreement. “You can lay down for a bit here if you’d like.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know, on my lap? Or if you’d rather a branch, I can spot you.”
“I— yeah, your lap sounds good,” Joel rested his head on Grian’s thigh. But before he could drift off, he felt something brush through the lime streak in his hair. He hoped it was a hand, no matter how unlikely that was. It was probably just the wind.
Forty hours in, Lizzie got to join the server, albeit mostly just to kill the Wither. Joel gave her things to build her room, and basic diamond gear, so by the time that Scar and Grian called them down to the mines, she had already settled in. It was really too bad that she probably wouldn’t survive. But he would see her again in a different world, and she didn’t want to stay for too long. Probably because of his “lovesick expression” whenever he sees Grian or Scar. Lizzie’s words, not his.
“Come on, I don’t make heart eyes at them!” Joel countered as they made their way down the cave. “Just normal eyes. With normal pupils.”
“Mhm…”
“Lizzie! I like them a normal amount—” he could start to hear the two other members' voices, so he quickly switched topics. “Y’know, golden carrots are overrated. Why have golden carrots when you can have stacks upon stacks of beef?”
“What are you— Okay, I’m going to proceed to ignore that,” Grian said.
“Grien!” Scar nudged him. “Beef is an alright food source. Surely it’s not the best but it’s better than most.”
Grian raised an eyebrow and twirled his mustache. “Maybe. I’m still sticking with my golden carrots.”
“Fine by me. Can we fight the Wither now?” Joel asked, but Lizzie must’ve noticed his eyes trailing Grian’s fingers, because she started snickering. “It’s not funny!”
“What’s not funny?” Grian dropped his hand, which only made Lizzie laugh harder. “Man… I wish I were married. Being able to tell what someone’s thinking, just like that, is quite honestly a superpower.”
“Nah, it just takes time,” Lizzie shrugged. “And a lot of trust. I remember when I first got with Joel, I never knew what was going on with him. But now I do, and I’m free to tease him about all his past crushes—”
“Lizzie,” Joel whined. “Please spare me.”
“And current ones!” Joel froze at her comment. While this was a step forwards in his plan, this was a really big one.
“Wait, aren’t you two together?” Scar asked.
“Yeah, we’ve discussed it super in depth, and as long as we’re in agreement that they’re a good match, he can pursue a relationship with them.”
“Oh… I see,” Scar said, deep in thought.
“Mhm, well, I need to go kill a wither. Be right back!”
At that, Lizzie bounded off towards the end of the tunnel. She tried to set up an iron golem, but forgot to carve the pumpkin, so the blast from the Wither exploded it.
“I actually feel quite safe right now…” Joel said. “Let’s just hope none of us die again.”
Scar had a concerned look on his face, almost immediately. “Again?”
“Whoops—“
“Joel!” Grian chastised. “This isn’t the right time.”
“No, Grien, you died? Is that why you have a mustache now? And a new name?” Scar sniffed. “How’d you die?”
“To a Vindicator. It two-shot me, mostly because I gave my chestplate up for my wings,” Grian waved his hand around in a vague motion. “Not a big deal.”
“What— yes it is! You need these totems more than me,” Scar threw down the few totems he was gifted.
Joel picked up the totems and gave them back to Scar. “Nope, he should have two right now. You should have two right now. I made sure he got some, don’t worry Scar.”
“And you have two?”
“Yeah. I’m safe—“
“—While I appreciate the moment you’re having, I’m literally about to die!” Lizzie yelled from a few dozen blocks away.
“Oh shoot.”
Her death message popped on their Smarter Watches, so the three of them rushed to finish the Wither off. It only took three strikes, and everyone got a hit in before it withered away itself.
They made a plan to share the beacon, and to gather the materials needed to craft it, but for now, the star was theirs.
“Are you going to tell me how you died, Grien?” Scar said as they walked towards the mouth of the cave.
“Yeah uh… I’ll tell you later?”
He paused, and thought it over. “Sure. Don’t feel pressured to! I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
Grian made a noise of agreement, and the conversation died. It was easy to tell that they had the most history together, but Joel wasn’t jealous, definitely not. And if he sent Lizzie a whispered message through his Smarter Watch, asking if she was alright and asking for a distraction, that was between the two of them.
Sixty hours in, Joel and Grian decided to participate in a minigame challenge with Scar as the moderator. He made the basic rules, but created no guidelines for what they could make. So of course, Joel made a death game.
Now, it wasn’t supposed to be a death game, but it was supposed to be near impossible. Besides, he didn’t want Grian’s tribute to win, and then be forced to wear Curse of Binding armor. He was sure Grian would be playing just as dirty anyways, if not dirtier.
He set up his game, and brought Scott into the world once the two of them were ready. Then, the games began.
Big B, Grian’s tribute, was up first. While he did the parkour well, he wasn’t so lucky at the dropper. They then traveled to Grian’s place, and well… Scott died too. So in the end, they both had to bite the bullet, and replaced their hard earned netherite armor with iron.
“It’s kind of symbolic in a way!” Scar said once the games were over, trying to cheer them up. “You have to get through the hard stuff to reach the reward.”
Joel sighed, “It kinda sucks. One creeper blast, and I’ll be gone. Thanks for the optimism though, I’ll need it.”
“No problem!” Scar winked, and started to walk away.
“We did this to ourselves, didn’t we?” Grian muttered.
“Yeah… yeah we kinda did.”
A lull in conversation followed, so when Grian’s eyes brightened, he knew mischief was about to follow. “Well, we could make the most of it, while we’re here…” he said, quite ominously. “Scar! Come back!”
“What!?” his voice seemed far off, but it eventually got closer.
Joel flushed a bit, “What do you mean, Grien?”
“We could make a pact. An… Oath of Binding if you will?” he could almost see Grian’s cogs turning in his head. “We could even get Scar in on this.”
“What’s ‘this’?”
“If one of us dies, we all die. But if we survive this armor, we can revive one person of our choosing.”
Joel thought back to Lizzie, and barely considered the consequences of having Scar in this pact. “Deal.”
“Shake on it?” Grain extended his hand, and Joel met his with a firm shake. “Scar, what about you?”
“Oh, it sounds like an amayzin’ plan! I’m in.”
“Fun! Don’t die, don’t forget to put your armor back on once it breaks, and seriously, don’t die. I can’t stress that enough. We’re so close.”
“Yeah…” Joel could feel his hearts beating in his chest, but they calmed down slightly when he heard Scar singing part of “Livin’ on a Prayer”.
“We’re half way there—” Scar flew away with his elytra into the sky, leaving Grian and Joel behind.
“I mean, we're at least sixty hours in, right?” Grian asked.
“Yeah, I’m not so sure about Scar though. I’m sure he’ll catch up.”
“Probably. See you soon! Hopefully,” Grian winked, and jumped off the hill. He probably meant to activate his non-existent elytra.
Joel had to laugh at that, even though he’d probably manage to do something like that himself.
Eighty hours in, Joel realized that the previous step in his plan didn’t get him much further. But now, with the excuse to team up on things more, he wanted to have some fun. After all, if they died, they’d all have to die together, so why not spend those fleeting moments with the people he’d grown so attached to?
They all seemed to have a similar idea, because they ended up with a plan to meet for a game night. Scar offered his base, so Grian and Joel had to boat over, while he flew overhead.
“It’s times like these, where I wish he joined the minigame challenge,” Joel said.
“Yeah… at least there’s less of a chance of him dying?”
“I guess.”
They arrived at Scar’s base before the sun set and the mobs came out, and knocked on the door. “Come in, come in!” a muffled voice called.
Joel opened the door to find a cave sprawling underneath the tree he’d constructed. The roots dangled down, and crystals, both natural and constructed, protruded from the walls. It was definitely one of the prettiest caves that Joel had ever seen.
“Wow, how many hours are you on, Scar? This must’ve taken a while,” Joel said while looking around.
“Um…” Scar looked down at his wrist. “I’m at seventy five hours! No making fun of me, you’re in my base!”
“I wasn’t going to. It looks really nice.”
Joel had to keep himself from saying you look really nice to Scar’s face. Thankfully, Grian cut in before he could say anything. “It really is a work of art… Oh look! You even have a stained glass window.”
“Yeah!” Scar smiled. “I was getting inspired by a… a bunch of different things, and thought, well, a stained glass window would be fun!”
“What’s it of?” Joel asked.
“Oh um… things! It’s of things.”
Joel raised an eyebrow at this, but ultimately ignored it. He decided to look at the different shades of green and red scattered across the window instead. He looked back at the two of them, seeing both green and red in their outfits. It was kind of cute, he supposed.
“Will we be starting the games soon?”
“Oh, yes, of course! Come right this way,” Scar led them to a mossy carpet in front of the window. “I have a deck of cards, so we could play any card game you can think of, or I guess we could play something like truth or dare?”
“Truth or dare!” Grian exclaimed.
Joel sweated under his collar for a moment. He had a few too many secrets. They knew that, and wanted to get that information out of him. “Uh… Poker?”
“Grien was the more enthusiastic one, so I think we’ll go with truth or dare!” Scar clapped. “I’ll go first. Truth or dare, Grien?”
“Dare. Hit me with your worst.”
“Uh, I don’t think you want my worst!” Scar coughed. “How about this… break at least one piece of armor without our help?”
“Great. Amazing dare, thank you Scar, I’ll be back.”
“Wait, Grien, can you ask one of us first?”
“Yeah. Joel, truth or dare?”
Joel didn’t want to pick truth, because once again, Lizzie had said too much. So therefore, “I’ll pick dare.”
“Great! I dare you to tell Scar about what Lizzie said. The thing about crushes. Okay bye!” Grian ran out the door, probably to get hit by mobs for a good few minutes. Scar smiled, with a hint of… something else in his eyes. Fear maybe?
“Uh, well… I guess I can’t yell at him for giving me a truth disguised as a dare anymore… What do you want to know?” Saying that may’ve been a bad idea, but Scar didn’t end up asking anything too direct.
“Does she make fun of your crushes? Or is it more of a… lighthearted teasing?”
Joel let out a quiet sigh of relief, but loud enough that Scar must’ve noticed. “It’s really lighthearted. Like she said, we’ve discussed everything in depth, and we’re both on the same page.”
“And uh… how many crushes do you have?”
Joel thought for a moment. “Serious ones?”
“Either.”
“Well, there’s two fictional characters I like, and three more serious ones.”
Scar spluttered, “Serious crushes on fictional characters?”
“Wait, no, three serious crushes on people. Including Lizzie.”
“Oh okay! I wasn’t going to judge!” Scar rushed out. “I quite like Ariana Grande.”
“Ariana Grande is real, Scar.”
Scar sat in the quiet for a moment, thinking about how to proceed. “Not if you believe hard enough.”
Joel laughed, “What does that even—”
“—I’m back!” Grian yelled into the cave, and came in with a shiny set of netherite armor.
“Oh wow, that was quick.”
“Yeah, my armor was pretty low to begin with,” Grian shrugged.
“Wait, let me get this straight. You enchanted some already damaged iron armor? For yourself?”
“I never asked for a truth! And I just did my dare. Joel, it's your turn,” Grian said, dodging the question.
“Okay, fine. Scar, truth or dare?” Joel smirked.
“Truth!”
Scar fell right into his trap. “Is sneaking in an advantage against the rules for losing the minigames?”
“Oh, most definitely. Grien and I will be having a long talk about that,” Scar tutted, and shot a look at Grian. “Grian, truth or dare?”
And the game continued long into the night after that. They ended up sleeping under the stars, or well, sheep pen, in the gigantic bed they constructed, and slept surprisingly well. They were so close to winning. Only twenty hours to go.
One hundred hours in, Grian brought Scar over to Joel’s house to celebrate. Since it was supposed to be a surprise, the two of them hid in one of the siderooms, with the plan to jump out and scare him. Sure, he’d probably be a bit surprised, but he’d laugh it off. Hopefully.
While they waited for Joel to arrive, the two of them decided to catch up a bit.
“So, Scar… how’s Jellie?” Grian asked.
“She’s doing wonderfully! I actually managed to find a wild Jellie and tame her. She’s at my starter base.”
He grimaced, “The tree base? With the trapdoors?”
“Oh, of course not! She’s safe on the roots of the tree,” Scar dismissed his worries. “Speaking of safety, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you, dear Grien.”
“Anything.”
Scar blinked, “Has this world been getting to you? I know we’re not on Third Life anymore. We’re on… one or maybe two life. But still, somethings’s off.”
“Maybe,” Grian admitted. “It’s not like I’m able to kill you, or you kill me. But what’s up?”
“I think everyone here still has a sort of bloodlust. I can’t really describe it… it’s like whenever I see you, or Joel even, I get really worked up.”
“Worked up how?”
“Well,” Scar started. “I get really warm, I feel like there’s squids in my stomach, and sometimes I feel like I want to punch you, but not… not all the time?”
“What’s the rest of the time?”
“I mean, sometimes I want to just be close to you,” he shrugged. “Like hugging distance close.”
Grian smirked, and spread his arms out. “Oh, we can arrange that. Get over here!”
Scar walked into Grian’s arms, and they swayed for a moment. The shared body heat probably didn’t help Scar’s warmth problem, but it was worth it. Grian had been waiting to hug Scar again for a while. As he leaned into the crook of Scar’s neck, he thought to himself, that this is what he wanted. Joel may not be able to join in, but before he brought up that can of worms, he needed to confess to Scar himself.
“I, um…” Grian pulled away from the hug. “I should probably tell you this. Before this series ends…”
“Go on?”
“I really like you.” Grian waited in bated breath for Scar to say something, but when he didn’t, he continued, “I just wanted to tell you before the end of the series. Especially with no pesky hermits sneaking around.”
“I’m going to be honest, I thought you liked Joel, so I didn’t get my hopes up,” Scar laughed. “And since I like both you and Joel, I was really expecting my hearts to be broken.”
“You do?”
Scar smiled softly, “Yeah.”
“That’s… that’s really good to hear, because I like Joel too.”
He chuckled, “Too bad he isn’t here yet, or else he’d be able to watch me kiss you first… I mean, if you’re okay with that?”
“Oh, definitely.”
Grian reached up a bit to cup Scar’s chin in his hands, and used his cravat to pull him down to his height. Their lips met briefly, before Scar decided to deepen the kiss. There was a small scar on his lip, which Grian had noticed before, but now was able to nibble on.
He was about to move away, but he froze at Joel’s voice mumbling, “Looks like no one’s here yet?”
Soon after he said that, Joel walked into the sideroom, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the two of them parting.
“Surprise?” Grian said, laughing, and Scar laughed a bit nervously too. Instead of joining their borderline hysterical laughter, Joel bit his lip and left the room. “Hey— hey, Joel! Are you going to join us?”
“What do you mean?” Joel’s tired voice echoed from the castle walls.
“We planned a whole day for just the three of us! No Jimmy, no Lizzie— or if you want Lizzie here, I can revive her. We baked a cake and everything!”
“It tastes really good!”
“Scar, you ate some already?” Grian sighed, and snapped his fingers. “So that’s why you tasted so sweet.”
“Guilty as charged!” Scar said, and the two of them burst into laughter.
Joel came back into the room, with his eyes looking suspiciously red. “If you’re going to be doing annoying coupley things, I think we should get Lizzie on here,” and then in a lower voice, he muttered, “The dragon herself knows I’ll need her.”
“Oh yeah, totally, totally.” Grian rushed out. “I’ll do some admin stuff real quick so she can come back on, and you can message her? And Scar, do you have any extra armor?”
“Yeah, let me get some.” Scar ran out of the sideroom, and the creak of chests could be heard, echoing into the room.
Joel finally laughed at this, “Scar… I’d say don’t steal my things, but I know we won’t be playing for much longer. Feel free to take what you need.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Sweet!” Grian heard Scar run to another room, as well as the sound of an item dropped from an item frame. “Thank you Joel!”
“Is that my enchanted golden apple?” Joel groaned.
Scar placed it back into his inventory. “Whatever do you mean, dear Joel? I never stole anything that precious.”
“Wait, you’ve stolen from my chests before?”
Scar was silent, and that was enough of an answer for him. Grian giggled, and removed his hand from the command box. Everything was set up for Lizzie to join. “Alright, Lizzie can join now. You have the armor, Scar?”
Scar held up all the diamond armor, plus the apple by accident, but that was quickly swapped back into his inventory. “All here!”
A message popped up on their Smarter Watches, saying that Lizzie joined the game. “Shoot, wait, I need to teleport her.” Grian rushed back to his command box and teleported Lizzie into the castle.
“Oops— Oh, hi everyone! Lovely to see you all here today,” she nudged Joel in the side. “Someone told me that you guys got together, congrats! Just don’t make us feel like third wheels, and I won’t try and kill you.”
“I probably should’ve fixed that setting…”
“Too late now!”
“...And aren’t you two literally married? Shouldn’t we be feeling more like the third wheels?”
Lizzie shrugged. “Joel here can get a bit jealous sometimes.”
“Lizzie—” Joel hissed.
“See! He’s just like Farquaad, but if the two of you were Fiona and Shrek. I guess minus the creepy stuff, but including being short? Actually, that’s a really bad analogy, nevermind that.”
“I love you, and I know you love me, but I cosplayed as Shrek for the longest time. Also I’m not short.” Grian snickered at that, which made Joel huff in annoyance. “You’re like, a pixel taller than me dude.”
“Exactly! It still makes me taller.”
“Boys, boys,” Scar said, placating for the time being. “We all know who’s the tallest one here.”
“Lizzie?”
“My wife?”
“Ah,” Scar blinked, and pulled out his sword. “If Lizzie wasn’t here, it’d be me.”
“Scar, no,” Joel said. “We still have to go… do the things you planned.”
“Oh, right! Let me grab the cake, and we can set up a picnic under my tree,” he put his weapon away, and rocketed out of the window… only crashing into a few support beams. “I’m alright!”
“See you there slowpokes!” Grian laughed, and flew out the window as well, leaving Joel and Lizzie to fend for themselves.
One hundred and one hours in, and with Joel still not having access to his wings due to the Curse of Binding chestplate, he had to walk the entire trip with Lizzie. She seemed concerned, but ultimately waited in the slightly awkward silence for him to bring it up.
As they made a boat together, Joel finally said something. “They really like each other, don’t they?”
“Yeah. They do,” she hummed. “And I can tell you really like them too.”
“Well, yeah? I’ve already told you I like them.”
“Right. You’ve told me. You just haven’t told them yet.”
Joel spluttered, “Yet? There isn’t a yet. They just got together, they live in the same world most of the time, and this world is going to be deleted soon.”
“All the reason to tell them sooner!” Lizzie reasoned, and placed the boat in the river. “You have my blessing to tell them during the picnic.”
“Thanks. I… I might.”
“I mean, if it doesn’t go well, you don’t have to talk to them again, right?”
He grimaced, “I don’t think I can handle the what-ifs right now.”
“Sorry! We’ll only focus on the whens then,” Lizzie said with her hands, almost letting go of the oar. “Whoops— well, it’s getting dark out, we can place these candles around the blanket, get the atmosphere exactly where it needs to be…”
“Did you steal my candles?”
“...Maybe. And you can tell them then!” she clapped her hands together, successfully dropping the oars into the water, and having them get whisked away by the current. “Good news and bad news, we’re going to have to swim, but I know how good you look with a wet shirt.”
Joel sighed, “I’ll take the compliment. Let’s go.”
The two of them swam to shore, and dried off in the short hike up the hill with the setting sun on their backs. By the time they reached the crest of the mountain, it had become fully dark out, with only a few torches scattered around to provide light.
“We brought candles!” Lizzie yelled, punching torches as she went. “You turned off mobs, right Grien?”
“Yep!”
“Good, good…” she placed each set of candles onto the ground, some containing three, some containing four, and a few containing two.
“I love the colors you picked!” Scar commented. “Do they have a meaning to them, or are they just pretty? Because they do look pretty.”
Lizzie made a noise of agreement, “They’re us! Or well, I guess they should just be you, but I wanted to add myself in.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, you probably would’ve survived that wither if everything went right,” Joel said. “And you got it down to three hits, which was convenient for us.”
Grian laughed, “It really was. I’m assuming the pink one’s you, the lime one’s Joel, the green one’s Scar, and the red one’s mine?”
“Yeah.”
Scar blurted out, “Let’s put a few on the cake then, and then we can all make a wish on them together!”
“Sounds good to me,” Joel smiled.
He knew exactly what his wish would be.
Lizzie set up the candles on the cake, carefully placing them into the uneaten chunks, while Joel got out the flint and steel from his inventory. After lighting them quickly, not wanting the wind to get to them, the four of them huddled around the cake as a makeshift wind breaker.
“Ready? On the count of three,” Scar started. “Three…”
“Two…” Grian chimed in.
“One…” Joel said.
“Blow!” Lizzie heaved in a big breath, and everyone blew out their respectful candles with their own wishes.
Joel thought to himself, about how he wished that he had told Grian and Scar sooner. About how he wished he could’ve arrived at his castle, just a few minutes earlier, to confess alongside the two of them. And about how he wished he could just… stop muddling in his own thoughts so much, and just tell them.
The universe was merciful that night, and granted one of his wishes. As he dragged his eyes towards Scar and then Grian, he saw the two of them staring back at him, with a soft look in their eyes. A bit of melancholy shattered their otherwise happy expressions, and set something off, deep inside himself.
“I should really tell you something, before we have to leave.”
“What is it?” Scar asked. He looked a bit like a deer in the headlights, but cautiously optimistic at the same time.
“I, uh…”
“You can do it,” Lizzie whispered, and kissed him on the cheek.
“I like the two of you,” Joel breathed out. “More than just friends or neighbors.”
“Oh! You do?” Grian said, smiling wide.
“Y-yeah, um…”
“So, if I’m hearing this right, we’d be valentines rather than pal-entines?” Joel could hear the mirth in Scar’s voice, so he rolled with it. Banter he could do.
“Definitely. I would’ve gotten you valentines this year, but my idea bank was short circuiting, and I couldn’t access the money to get any.”
“Happens to the best of us,” Grian nodded. “I totally would’ve gotten you one if we were together then.”
“Are we… together now?” Joel looked to Scar, to Grian, to Scar again, and then to Lizzie, who ended up laughing.
“You already have my blessing.”
“Right, right.”
Grian and Scar had a silent conversation for a moment, which was a moment longer than Joel thought they could stay quiet. “Yeah, uh,” Grian looked to Scar, who nodded. “If you want to be together, we can be together.”
“I’d like that a lot.”
Scar smiled, “Then consider it a done deal! Can I kiss you?”
Joel startled at Scar’s question, and his face flushed red. “Yeah. Of course—”
Scar leaned over the cake to press a soft peck on his lips, and pulled away just as quickly. Grian looked towards Joel expectantly, so he leaned over the cake, and placed a kiss on the corner of Grian’s lips. Leaning back, he lost his balance a bit, and slammed his hand into the cake.
“Whoops.”
“You have a bit of frosting on you. Need a hand?” Grian commented. Joel didn’t know where Grian was going to take it, but he nodded anyway. Taking his hand into his own, Grian licked a broad stripe up his palm, which made everyone in the circle burst out into laughter. Grian hummed, “Tastes good. I think it’s still salvageable?”
“I’d sure hope so. It looks like a really good cake.” Joel grabbed a woolen cloth out from his inventory, and wiped up most of the frosting, but licked the dried sugar off himself. Lizzie leaned in to kiss him on the mouth this time.
“You’re sweet again! It’s almost like you were never bitter before,” she smirked.
“I wasn’t—”
“You were.”
“Okay fine, maybe I was a bit bitter. But I was happy for you two,” Joel shrugged. “And uh… I’d really like to do a series like this again sometime, if you’d have me.”
Scar looked to Grian, and Grian looked to Scar, both blurting out something along the lines of “Hermits” and “tell Xisuma”. They giggled for a little bit, before Scar said, “We’d love to have you on Hermitcraft. It might be too soon to join Season 9, but if we can convince the group and Xisuma, I’m sure you’d fit right in.”
“Oh. Oh wow,” Joel stumbled on his words for a moment. “What about Lizzie?”
“Same goes with her,” Grian said.
“Seriously!?” she smiled, and then went pensive again. “I mean, I’d have to talk to the other empires from my past world, but I’d love to come.”
“You can take as much time as you need,” Grian looked down at his Smarter Watch, and breathed in through his nose. “But this server’s time is running out. It’s going to end when the last one of us reaches one hundred hours. Scar?”
“I’m at ninety nine hours, fifty nine minutes,” Scar said in a rush. “Can we do like a… group hug? To send this world off?”
“Totally!” Lizzie grinned. “Let’s stand up though, so we don’t smush the cake any more than we already have.”
Everyone gave noises of agreement, and stood up to meet Joel in a four way hug with him in the middle. Joel felt Lizzie on his back, and Grian and Scar to his left and right, all of their warmth collecting into his hearts.
Their arms surrounded him like a knot, tying the four of them together in ways that marriage couldn’t. While they might be apart for a while, they would come back together eventually. They survived in this world, and they’d survive again in a different one, just as well as the first.
Joel gave a kiss to each of their heads as Scar’s timer ticked over to one hundred hours. And then everything went black.
He was disconnected from the world, but after a while, he found a portal to a new one in the void. As he stepped into it, the light and warmth overwhelmed him, and Lizzie, Scar, and Grian were all there waiting for him on the other side. The faint sound of a music disk was being played, and the smell of the wilderness filled his head with many new ideas for buildings. Was this what home felt like?
Yeah. With the arms of his lovers around him again, that seemed exactly right.