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Arguably, taking his accident-prone crush to the End was a terrible idea from multiple standpoints. Grian, however, had never claimed to be a particularly practical man. He wasn't exactly swimming in self control, either, judging by the fact that his first thought whenever he set out to do anything these days was, "I should bring Scar." Grian really couldn't be blamed for that, though. They'd done a lot of bonding recently, especially between the various hardcore worlds, and by this point Grian could say with confidence that they were best friends. Every time they met up, they'd end up laughing themselves hoarse, probably dying at least once or twice, and adding another few inside jokes to the growing pile. Plus, even when he was causing a complete disaster, Scar was so unbelievably sincere that Grian couldn't help but forgive him for every creeper hole and lost item. Scar was, above all else, a truly great friend, and spending time with him was always worth the potential chaos. Throw in Scar's undeniable charm, his striking looks, and a healthy dose of flirtatious banter, and how was Grian supposed to resist catching feelings? No, that ship had sailed long ago. All he could do was accept the fact that he was fully infatuated with his best friend, and also hopefully act somewhat normal about it. Not that Grian was great at acting normal. In any case, Grian was well beyond trying to argue with himself about this, so off to the End they went, and damn the consequences.
The consequences, as it turned out, got off to a hasty start.
"I didn't bring any kind of bow," Grian groaned, half amused at himself for making such a rookie mistake. Scar shot him a reassuring grin from across the obsidian platform and brandished his own bow proudly.
"I'll be Bow Man," he announced, and Grian couldn't hold back a fond smile. Scar even went so far as to draw his bow for dramatic effect, pointing it past Grian's shoulder with one eye closed. For a split second, Grian just stared. It was by no means the first time he'd appreciated Scar's new look, of course. He was well aware of how he felt about the long hair falling past Scar's shoulders, the ears poking out from underneath glimmering golden ornaments, and the way his silk robes swayed as he moved. Still, another peek here and there never hurt anyone. Besides, something about the way Scar's diamond pauldrons accentuated his already toned shoulders as he drew his arm up and back... well, it just added a little je ne sais quoi. In the next second, however, Grian was rudely interrupted by Scar shouting, "Hawkeye!" and promptly loosing an arrow right into Grian's chest.
"SCAR, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??" Grian shrieked as he plummeted over the edge. Scar was already squealing in protest and alarm, but within moments, there was a jolt of pain, a flash of black, and Grian had already died. "Scar," Grian sighed, torn as usual between endearment and utter exasperation. Even as he respawned thousands of blocks away, Grian could still hear Scar's whining morph into incredulous, embarrassed laughter. Grian didn't need to see Scar's face to know that he was wearing his signature sheepish smile as he continued to wheeze over the comms.
"Oh my gosh," came Scar's voice at last, pitched up several octaves, and Grian could only manage an affronted,
"Scar!"
"You're safe, it's fine, it's good, everything's here, look, it's happy! All the good stuff's here," Scar rambled, and Grian ran his hands over his face with a sigh. He was going to forgive this man immediately, wasn't he? Typical. As he finally began to make his way back to the End, they continued to banter back and forth. Grian found, however, that his next few indignant outbursts were all for show.
Grian couldn't resist shoving Scar lightly in the chest upon his return, if only to pretend he had any ounce of self-respect left. All he achieved, however, was another grin from Scar that made his stomach flutter, so that was a bust.
"Sorryyyy," Scar drawled, still half laughing. Grian just rolled his eyes.
"This is some crazy role-reversal," he pointed out. "I'm supposed to do that to you!" Grian almost let himself get sidetracked by the recurring thought that he really did watch Scar die a lot, didn't he, and that really wasn't very funny, was it, but Scar's chuckle quickly cut him off.
"I forgot- I-" Scar began incoherently, words devolving into laughter. "I wasn't actually supposed to hit you! I was Hawkeye!" That was enough to shake Grian back into the present, and he let out a laugh of his own.
"Alright," he teased. "Okay, Hawkeye." If the adoration was audible in Grian's voice, Scar didn’t call him on it. Instead, he smiled, bumped their shoulders together, and led the way onward.
"Bro, I have never seen you without pants on," Scar observed as they trudged across the abandoned lair of the Ender Dragon. Grian faltered as his brain scrambled to piece together what on earth that could mean. In a spectacular debunking of the phrase, "first thought best thought," the initial direction Grian's brain took left his cheeks feeling rather warm. Scar trotted up beside him and gestured downward. "You know, the pants. The diamond pants. The ol' aqua trousers!" Grian deflated with a sigh of exhaustion. Right. Apparently, Scar had picked up on his exasperation, for a smirk was slowly creeping across his face. "What'd you think I meant?" He asked innocently, and Grian narrowed his eyes. Two could play at that game.
"Oh, nothing," he dismissed, turning around as if to walk away. After a step or two, he paused in what he sincerely hoped was a flattering position rather than the world's least attractive stance, as was entirely possible. Grian glanced over his shoulder to find Scar looking at him with a slightly puzzled expression. He was teetering into dangerous territory, and a voice that sounded an awful lot like Cleo was yelling "man whore" inside his head, but neither of those things stopped him from cocking an eyebrow and asking, "So what do you think?" Catching on, Scar's smirk returned, before being replaced with a look of mock-appraisal.
"Hm," he considered, and Grian began to sincerely regret his life decisions as Scar's eyes raked over him. After a moment, though, Scar shrugged. "Eh, it's adequate." Grian scoffed, and Scar dropped his deadpan to shoot him another teasing smile. Grian returned the gesture, but not before he noticed a glint in Scar's eyes that made the thin air of the End feel a little denser all of a sudden. Joke-flirting wasn't at all new to either of them, but it was only on rare occasions that Grian began to wonder, against his better judgement, how much of it was really a joke. He knew the danger of getting his hopes up, however, so before he could draw any perilous conclusions, he quipped,
"Well, I guess I didn't do enough squats," and leapt through the nearby portal without another word.
A long while and multiple deaths later, Grian was finally equipped with a bow, an Ender Chest, and a totem of undying- lovingly named "Hawkeye." Grian was deriving a little too much entertainment from spooking Scar with his archery and Ender Pearl antics, though it was a welcome distraction as they painstakingly bridged their way from island to island in search of a city. Scar got him back for it, anyway, and they were both in fits of laughter every few minutes, in spite of the monotonous journey.
"You're really close to me, Grian," Scar warned as he worked backwards on a new bridge. His tone was serious, but it was betrayed by the smile in his voice. Grian giggled as he took a step forward, keeping their toes only inches apart. "You're really freaking close!" Scar's voice quavered as his own giggles entered the mix, and Grian took that as his sign to keep the bit going. It was like a very strange dance- Scar building backwards, and Grian closing the gap again with each step. "This is uncomfortable!" Scar complained half-heartedly. "This is uncomfortable how close you are, I don't know why! I don't trust!" He paused his task to glance up at Grian, half suspicion and half mirth. Grian laughed and inched a little closer.
"Keep going," he said, a hint of a dare in his voice, and Scar fixed him with a challenging look in return. Defiantly, he placed another piece of the bridge without breaking eye contact and took a larger step backwards. Grian only had a moment to be amused before Scar's expression swerved wildly into one of terror, wobbling violently as his heel slipped. Grian lunged forward, heart leaping in tandem, and barely managed to grab Scar by the waist before he fell off the edge entirely. The force with which Grian hauled him back was almost enough to topple him the other direction, but instead they ended up stumbling a few steps and clinging to each other for dear life. Once Grian was sure they were stable, he met Scar's eyes, still wide with shock.
"Oops," Scar said breathlessly, the humor falling a bit flat as they both recovered.
"Sorry," Grian replied, but Scar shook his head.
"We're good. We're ok." Grian nodded dazedly. Scar let out a long, steadying breath, and the movement reminded Grian that his arms were still wound tightly around Scar's torso. Before he could let go in embarrassment, however, he noticed startlingly that Scar's arms were just as tight around his shoulders.
"So much for too close," Grian chuckled nervously, more aware than ever of every inch of distance between the tips of their noses. Something unreadable passed over Scar's face, but then he smiled and shrugged.
"I trust it now."
Grian felt a distinct flash of deja-vu as he found himself, much later, with a smirking Scar creeping toward him along their current bridge. His first clue was a giggle, and his questioning reply was cut short as he glanced up from his building to see Scar making a show of slinking forward threateningly.
"No, stop," he groaned, but they both knew it was an empty complaint. He turned away to hide his full grin as Scar laughed. "Stop!"
"What?" Scar asked slyly. "I didn't do anything! I'm just right here, just enjoying my time." Grian rolled his eyes as he continued building, and Scar chuckled again.
"I don't like it!" Grian whined, turning away again, but this time, the sight of the island ahead gave him an idea. He pulled out an Ender Pearl and hurled it into the air, looking back at Scar with a self-satisfied smile. Scar's eyes followed the pearl's arc as he teased,
"Aww, you can't just bail on me," but then Grian was jumping backward off the edge, and Scar's sentence was instantly derailed by a shriek. As Grian felt the familiar but ever-bizarre yank in his gut and reappeared on solid ground, he felt a twinge of guilt at how genuinely frightened Scar sounded. It didn't last long, however, for he seemed to have angered a group of nearby Endermen, and Scar didn't hesitate to lecture him about karma while he fought them off.
"I can't tell if that was super badass or super dumb," Scar said, half-scolding, as soon as he caught up. Grian grinned, thinking it was probably a bit of both.
"Sorry to startle you," he replied, and Scar let out a low whistle.
"It was very startling," he agreed. "Good payback, though. We're keeping each other on our toes." As if to demonstrate, Scar did a very convoluted little tap dance in place, nearly falling flat on the endstone in the process. If Grian hadn't been in love already, that might have been the final nail in the proverbial coffin.
Grian would have been extremely stressed about letting Scar get lost if he wasn't so suspicious.
"Where'd you go?" he demanded over the comms, to which Scar replied,
"Yeah, I just went around that corner. I wanted to- I thought I saw an End City, so I'll be there in one second." Grian pursed his lips as he worked on his bridge. Scar's voice was impressively casual, but there was no way he was telling the truth. Around the corner? In the End? No, he was up to something for sure. Growing more paranoid by the second, Grian scanned his surroundings before tossing an Ender Pearl at the next island over. His eyes darted about as he waited for it to land, but all he could see was the vastness of the Void and the swaths of greenish endstone suspended within it.
Just as he was beginning to think he might be overreacting, Grian heard a faint sound. Before he could put together where it had come from, however, his stomach made a two-story leap into his throat as the ground was torn out from under him. His gasp soon became a screech as he tumbled into the Void, turning head over heels until he couldn't distinguish up from down. With another thrill of anxiety, he realized too that he was about to leave Scar alone in the endless End, probably entirely lost by now, and it would take him hours to find his way back. Grian closed his eyes in resignation, and when the ground hit his feet again, he just sighed.
But then Scar was laughing.
Grian opened his eyes, and instead of his spawn point back in the Overworld, he was looking out at the End, just as before. Scar was cackling now, and Grian cried out again, more from confusion than anything else. It only took him another half-second to comprehend what had just happened.
"YOU!" He exclaimed. "Are you invisible!?" Scar seemed to be laughing too hard to form any words just yet, but out of the corner of his eye, Grian caught sight of a seemingly levitating chorus fruit at the end of the bridge, followed by a lone Ender Pearl. No further confirmation was needed, it seemed. "You're a monster!" Grian admonished, but in spite of the shock, he was beaming. This was, after all, his influence in action. "I'm so proud," he added, because it was true, regardless of the number it had done on his cardiac system.
Scar took a sweeping bow as he reappeared next to Grian.
"Thank you, thank you," he preened. Grian shook his head and laughed.
"I'm so proud it's disgusting," he repeated, side-checking Scar just enough to make him stumble, but with no real malice to it. Scar just chuckled and bumped him back.
"You've taught me well, G-Man." Grian poked him in the ribs with one finger.
"Scared me half to death, though," he grumbled. "No more of that." Scar smirked.
"Awww, did I get you that good? I thought you were proud!" Grian caught his gaze and found that, alongside the mockery, it held the barest hint of concern. If he didn't know Scar so well, he'd have easily missed it.
"I'll get over it," he joked along, but he hoped the sincerity came across in his eyes. When Scar softened his smile and linked their arms together, Grian knew it had.
They were just starting to feel like certifiable failures when finally, finally, they found an End City that hadn't been cleared out. Of course, it wouldn't have been a genuine Scar And Grian Adventure if Grian hadn't died horribly at Scar's clumsy hand only minutes after acquiring his Elytra. To his slight surprise, Scar handled himself quite well while Grian made the painstaking trek back to him. Upon his return, he was greeted by a smug-looking Scar gliding down from above, and he even stuck the landing.
"Welcome back," he said cordially, as if nothing had happened. Grian snorted and put his hands on his hips.
"Well?" Unfazed, Scar put on his most charming smile, and Grian was suddenly very suspicious that he was about to be swindled out of his most prized possessions somehow. With a flourish, Scar produced a mauve shulker box and, bafflingly, a wink.
"Here's your stuff, beautiful," he said smoothly, and though he gestured invitingly at the box, Grian's jaw was too busy hitting the goddamn floor.
"Excuse me?" Grian asked weakly. Scar raised his eyebrows as if it was obvious.
"A dashing young man such as yourself deserves his things properly organized after a long journey," he explained. "Delighted to offer my services." Grian felt a bit lightheaded.
"Right," he said absently, retrieving his items in a daze. Scar was standing distractingly close, to the degree that Grian only half-registered him saying,
"And all is forgiven, naturally."
"I- yeah, sure," Grian muttered, too focused on trying to reload his bag while Scar made himself at home in Grian's personal space. It didn't help that Scar's words were on insistent repeat in his head, and he had yet to come up with a remotely sensible explanation for them. Suddenly, however, the proximity was severed.
"Splendid!" Scar declared brightly, practically prancing away. Grian's head whipped up to frown at him, trance broken, and then comprehension finally dawned.
"Did you just-" Grian was even more taken aback by this realization than he had been by Scar's even-more-blatant-than-usual flirting, if that was possible. Scar was a known master of persuasion, but if he was adding the power of seduction to his repertoire of manipulation tactics, that was on another level entirely.
"Did I just what?" Scar asked, practically batting his eyes in faux ignorance, and that was confirmation enough. The charismatic bastard knew exactly what he was doing. Grian wasn't sure whether to be offended, impressed, mildly turned on, or all of the above. All of the above seemed to be winning for now, at least. He didn't have much time to ponder the further implications of that interaction, however. Scar swooped off with a cackle only moments later, and though Grian might have been an easy target all things considered, he drew the line at Elytra thievery.
It soon became clear that if Scar wanted his own Elytra, it would be leagues faster for Grian to fly off and get him one. Unfortunately, try as he might, Grian couldn't find a single other End City that hadn't been raided. While Scar stayed behind collecting shulker boxes, Grian glided aimlessly through the Void, griping over the comms every time he found an empty city. Eventually, he came to understand that this endeavor would take him far longer than he had the patience for. Scar couldn't leave empty-handed, though. They'd come too far for that, and Grian was too thoroughly whipped. With a sigh and a wry smile, Grian realized what he'd have to do. As he turned in a wide arc to fly back toward home, the voice in his head (was that Pearl this time?) chanted "Simp! Simp! Simp!" and to be quite honest, there was no refuting that claim.
"Ah, Scar," he exclaimed as the floating Elytra shop came into sight.
"What?" Came Scar's urgent voice, and Grian could see him perking up like Jellie after a nap, even over the comms. Grian smiled to himself and replied,
"I've got one!"
"You finally got one," Scar half-sighed-half-giggled. "Well, you're in luck- I've got shulker boxes. Just nailed another one!" Once again, his proud expression and puffed-out chest were visible in his voice. Grian shook his head fondly as he took an Elytra off the rack and deposited his diamonds, entirely too amused to worry about the price.
"Nice," he commended with a grin. "Now I need to come back and get you, right?" Grian wasn't completely sure why he was putting on an act. Scar would understand him giving up and buying an Elytra, especially after the hours they'd spent just trying to find the first one. Still, something told Grian to keep pretending. Perhaps it was the fact that, if Scar knew, he'd never let Grian pay for it. Pearl's teasing voice in his ear grew a little louder.
"Yes!" Scar was saying. "Yes, do you remember the coords?" His voice grew sheepish as he added, "From where I... killed you?"
"Yep!" Grian answered brightly, slightly distracted by the little lightning strike of another idea. Diving down to land in front of his base, Grian announced, "I'll even enchant it for you."
"Why thank you!" Scar fawned, and that was payment enough for the levels Grian was spending.
"I'll even enchant it and rename it for you," he continued, laying the Elytra on an anvil. Scar was still cooing appreciatively in his ear, and Grian felt his heart warm a few degrees.
His hand paused over the anvil as he considered the name. It had to be something special, and ideally something that would make Scar's face light up with one of those full-body laughs that made Grian's insides all squiggly. Grian filtered through the memories of their End adventure so far, searching for a small treasure to commemorate on Scar's wings. After a moment, it came to him. Grian laughed under his breath as he wrote, ignoring Scar's questioning hum. Once it was complete, Grian held it out appraisingly, staring at the word Hawkeye scrawled as neatly as possible across the Elytra. Something about the fact that it was in his own handwriting made it just that much more perfect.
Void above, Grian had it so bad.
When Grian finally made his way back to Scar, he was greeted with a shout and a face-splitting grin.
"Ayyyyyy," they called out in unison, and Grian returned the smile as he stuck his landing. Scar was practically bouncing up and down.
"There we go," Grian declared, tossing the Elytra over to Scar. "A fresh Elytra."
"Oh, dude!" Scar gushed, looking it over with wide, excited eyes. To Grian's satisfaction, he let out a laugh when he finally noticed the name.
"And," Grian tacked on, because he couldn't help himself, "you can even have the diamonds I picked up from chests and stuff." Scar looked up at him with warm, grateful eyes as Grian chucked the diamonds over as well.
"Thank you," he said sincerely, pocketing them, and Grian's cheeks burned a little.
"Well, let's see it on, then," he deflected, gesturing at the Elytra. Scar shook it out with a flourish and twirled it around fasten it across his shoulders. If Grian had been trying to take the focus off his glaringly obvious crush, this certainly wasn't helping. Scar was an objectively gorgeous man at all times, and Grian was particularly susceptible to his good looks. Seeing him strut about in the Elytra Grian had just bought him, however, deserved a top spot on his list of most attractive moments. Grian got so lost in his bout of staring, in fact, that he didn't notice Scar's thoughtful pause.
"Hey," Scar began, and it took Grian a moment to register what he'd said.
"Huh?" He asked, and the nearly invisible tilt of the scarred corner of Scar's mouth told Grian he might be in trouble.
"Where did you get the enchanting table? Or the anvil?" Grian froze.
"Uh..." he trailed off lamely, and Scar looked like he was fighting back a smirk. "My Ender Chest?" Grian said, but it came out like a question, and it was clear that he had already been caught. Scar stepped closer.
"You don't keep an anvil in your Ender Chest," he pointed out, voice soft in a way that Grian's poor heart simply couldn't withstand.
"I..." Grian didn't really have anything to say to that, and Scar seemed to know it. He took yet another step closer.
"Did you buy me an Elytra?" he asked outright, and the smirk was quickly breaking free of its confines. Grian huffed out a sigh and looked away. There was no use denying it.
"Whatever, fine, yes I did." Chancing a glance back at Scar, his stomach did a stupid little barrel roll as he saw the fond amusement written across his features. Scar inched even closer, and now they were nearly toe-to-toe. Grian felt his whole body tense, as if to run. "Aren't you supposed to be oblivious or something?" he complained weakly, and Scar chuckled.
"Hey, I pride myself on my skills of detective reasoning," he retorted jokingly, and then they were close enough that Grian could almost feel Scar's words brush across his cheeks.
"Deductive," he corrected breathlessly. Scar's smile widened, and Grian followed the movement with his eyes.
"Thanks for the Elytra," Scar was saying, but Grian's brain was too busy short-circuiting as a calloused hand landed on the back of his neck. Their noses were inches apart, and Grian was starting to think he might have hit his head on a portal somewhere.
"What're you..." he whispered, unable to keep his eyes off Scar's mouth and far too dazed to care. Scar tapped their noses together, and that certainly didn't help his mental clarity. There was a long moment during which the anticipation nearly overwhelmed him, but then Scar murmured,
"I'm not that oblivious," and the tension broke like a TNT blast.
Grian scrambled to grab onto something as Scar's lips met his. He felt high, like a shulker had hit him dead in the chest. There was no moment of hesitation before he kissed back, no startled eyes or frozen limbs. Instead, Grian simply melted as the weight of over a year's worth of pining was gently removed from his shoulders. When they pulled apart for air, Grian couldn't possibly think of anything to say, so the far reaches of his subconscious filled in for him. Blinking up at Scar, he blurted,
"I think I owe Mumbo a few diamonds." Scar just tipped his head back and laughed, hugging Grian a little closer.
"Come to think of it, I might too," he said, before dipping back down to kiss Grian again.
"So does this mean-" Grian started to ask as they parted once more, but he was cut off with yet another kiss.
"Yep!" Grian rolled his eyes half-heartedly, but a laugh blew his cover. He couldn't help it, though. Grian was positively giddy as the reality of what they were doing finally began to sink in.
"You're so annoying," he groaned, still grinning. "Can we go now?" Scar swooped in to kiss his nose, then his cheeks, then his jaw, and Grian swatted at him with all the aggression of a butterfly.
"Sick of me already?" Scar teased, stepping away, and he giggled as Grian absent-mindedly made to follow him. Grian glared, knowing his cheeks were probably the color of a mooshroom.
"Just sick of endstone," he grumbled. "And tired." Scar gazed at him for a moment, and at last, Grian could see the shameless adoration in his eyes. It had always been there, he realized. Grian just hadn't let himself notice. Finally, Scar smiled, linking their fingers together loosely.
"We better get you home, then, huh?" Grian's heart melted for the millionth time that day as he replied,
"Lead the way, Hawkeye."
In the end, Grian had to lead the way, but he didn't mind. As it turned out, taking his accident-prone crush to the End had been one of his more genius ideas.