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Grian walked through the shopping district towards his truly beloved shop, the barge. This shop had made him more money than he thought he would ever even lay his eyes on, let alone own. He needed to restock the sand in the shop, which seemed to almost always be out. You see, sand can’t be farmed, so it’s a very grindy material to gather, which makes people prefer to buy it than collect it. This was fine with Grian, because he made money off of it. So after his 4 hour sand grinding journey, he finally had about 5 shulker boxes full to the brim with sand. 3 of these boxes would go in the individual stack sale chests for people to buy in specific amounts, and 2 would go in the bulk-buy chests for people to buy larger amounts at a discount. He stocked the bulk boxes first, since they were easier to do, and then flew back downstairs with his elytra to stock the individual chests.
He started stocking, but soon heard a little bell go off, indicating that somebody had walked into his shop. He turned around to see his best friend, Mumbo Jumbo, in the entryway. They waved hi to each other and Mumbo walked over to the gravel chest, presumably to buy some. Grian went back to his work, moving the sand into the chest stack by stack. He was about halfway done when he noticed Mumbo awkwardly standing near him, but not close enough for it to be weird.
“You need something Mumbo?” Grian asked, taking a quick break from his work to ensure customer satisfaction.
“Oh! I just needed to buy sand, I was waiting for you to finish stocking it so I could buy some.” the taller man chuckled as he swayed on his feet slightly, a sign that he, too, thought what he had been doing was awkward.
“Oh, well you could’ve just told me Mumby! How much do you need?” Grian smiled happily at him.
“Um.. Could I get, like, 8 stacks? I’m making a bunch of concrete to upgrade my base with.”
“Of course. That’ll be 8 diamonds!” Grian held out the sand to Mumbo in one hand and held his other hand out to receive the payment.
“Ah, yes. Here you go!” Mumbo pulled 8 diamonds out of his inventory and handed them to the smaller hermit, taking the sand in return.
“Pleasure doing business with you Mumbo! I hope to see you back soon.” Grian put the diamonds in his inventory for temporary keeping and smiled at Mumbo.
“Not like I’d shop anywhere else, no one seems to have as good of deals as you do.” The mustached man chuckled.
“Aw, thanks Mumbo. Sometimes I worry that I set the prices for things too high, so I’m glad to hear that they aren't.”
“Too high? Please, as if. I don’t think anyone could even fathom matching your prices, we’re all too lazy to do the mining for such a low price.”
Grian giggled. He loved how Mumbo could always cheer him up, regardless of how down he was.
After Mumbo left, Grian finished putting the sand in the chest and went to put the diamonds he earned in the hidden chest at the center of the store. He added some of the diamonds to the chest, keeping the rest for himself, as he needed to go to Impulses shop after he was done with his own. He made sure everything that needed to be stocked got stocked before heading out towards the previously mentioned redstoners shop, needing rockets desperately. He went through them so quickly you’d think he was just throwing them out as soon as he bought them, but he just liked to fly really fast. He was actually planning on making an entire elytra course for people to fly in to earn diamonds. He hadn’t fully planned it all out yet though.
Once he was done at the shopping district, Grian started heading back to his base. He was bored, and had nothing to do except for work on the back of the mansion. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. Hermit challenges. At least two of the participating hermits were online, and Grian absolutely loved causing mischief, so why not do just that? He started by thinking of a few ideas, writing them down on a few pieces of paper and stuffing them into his inventory for later. He ended up with six total challenges, three for each hermit he’d be plaguing. He grabbed two dispensers and two buttons before shooting out of his base and towards Iskalls.
He got there rather quickly, considering they were quite close to each other geographically. He flew to the other hermits front door, stealing it before anything else. He placed a block of diorite down and the dispenser on top of it, putting 3 of the papers inside. Most of the papers weren’t specific to either of the two hermits, but he had one specifically for Mumbo, so he made sure to keep that one in his inventory for him. He put down a sign that read, “Press the button at least once! (HC)” to let Iskall know what this was all about. He left a few more cheeky pieces of diorite before flying off towards Mumbos base, which he also reached quite quickly.
Once there, he also took his front door, naturally. He then placed a block of pink concrete down and the dispenser on top, since he was out of normal blocks and he used all his diorite on Iskall. He put in Mumbos 3 challenges and placed the button on the side, along with the sign on the front. He wanted to make a mess, but didn’t know how to with how little he had on him, so he chopped down a couple trees not too far from Mumbos base and turned them into signs. He placed all the signs down with nothing on them, just to be annoying like that. He left the mess and challenges at Mumbos base, flying off to his own so that he could find another way to ignore his problems.
Meanwhile, Mumbo just got done talking with Xisuma. He had intended to go right home to work on his base, but X called him over to test something out quickly and they ended up chatting for a few minutes. Mumbo didn’t mind though, he always loved getting to talk with the other hermits. After he was done conversating, he flew over to his base like he meant to several minutes prior. Once there, however, he saw a suspicious looking dispenser parked on his front step. He read the sign and chuckled a bit, putting away his sand inside before going back out and pressing the button once. Upon getting a redstone signal, the dispenser spat out a slightly crumpled piece of paper that Mumbo picked up and started to read.
“Trick another hermit into going on a fake date with me? What’s that even supposed to mean!” The man laughed at the strange challenge, stowing it away in his inventory before breaking the dispenser and taking a look at the other challenges.
“Shave my mustache?! Boy, am I glad I didn’t get that one.” He breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the last one in his hands.
“Beat Grian in a flying competition? No way I could’ve done that. Maybe I did get the best one…” He wondered out loud as he cleaned up the rest of the mess, including the signs, which he did not appreciate.
Okay, how am I going to do this? He wondered as he went back inside to put away his newfound trash and gather his sand.
I mean, I could always go with something simple, like a picnic? Or is that too simple? He crafted together the sand gravel and dye to make his white concrete powder and went back outside.
Maybe if I did it at sunset, that would be good enough? He continued to plan and think even as he started to build his expansion.
A few hours later and not only had Mumbo finished his expansion, but he had also planned out the entire pretend-date. He had planned to have it in about a week, when he knew a supermoon would be occurring. He figured he would invite somebody over and trick them into having a picnic with him while the sun sets, then he’d point out the supermoon and they would stargaze for a little while. He had everything planned out perfectly! He even felt as though he was going a bit over the top, but isn’t that what hermit challenges are all about?
He started going over his plans one more time to make sure he didn’t forget anything. First, offer them food. Nobody turns down free food. Second, make sure they eat until the sun sets. Third, point out the supermoon. Fourth, stargaze for a little while. Boom, a four step plan to trick… Wait, who am I even tricking?!
The mustached man reached into his inventory to check if the paper said he had to trick anyone in particular. It didn’t, so he started thinking about who to trick. It didn’t take him long at all to come to the conclusion that he should trick Grian, since he’s gullible and probably wouldn’t mind it anyway. It was also an added bonus that Mumbo really liked hanging out with Grian, he never ceased to make the mustached man smile, even if he wasn’t trying. So, why not trick him into going on a fake date with him?
The next week went by quite quickly, and Mumbo felt a feeling of anxiousness creeping into him with every day that passed by. He couldn’t figure out why, either. He figured it might be because of the pretend date he had been planning for that night. Thing is, he never really got this worked up for hermit challenges, so why now? It didn’t make sense to him, and he didn’t like it. But, regardless, he powered through and sent Grian a message asking if he would help detail his base. He quickly got a response of, “Sure!” and made sure he had everything secretly prepared for later that night.
Grian arrived less than 10 minutes later, ready to help Mumbo with all the detailing he needed. Mumbo felt the feeling of anxiousness creep even higher up his throat, suddenly wondering if maybe it wasn’t the challenge itself that was causing him issues, but the person he had chosen to do it with? He chose to ignore his feelings of regret and fear, continuing to power through his feelings like Grian with his rockets. He handed the shorter hermit a few stacks of concrete and explained to him the basics of what he wanted to do. Grian agreed and began building across from Mumbo, who made sure to keep the red-sweatered man busy for at least a few hours while he waited for the sun to go down some more before he mentioned food. Soon enough, that time came, and Mumbo figured he should probably mention the food.
“Hey, I know you said you’d help me for free since we’re buddies and all, but can I repay you in food?” He looked over at Grian with a somewhat sheepish smile.
“Oh, dude, free food? Any time.” Grian put down his blocks and tools and walked over to the tall man, “Whatcha got for me?”
“Oh, I was actually wondering if you'd like to have a picnic with me? If you don't, that's alright, but I enjoy hanging out with you so…” He began to trail off as he completely forgot his plans to confidently ask the man out.
“A picnic sounds nice! Now, I presume?”
“Yeah, if you’re down.”
“Mumbo, I just agreed to the picnic.”
“Oh, right, sorry. You just stay here for a few minutes, I’ll go get everything set up for us.”
“Alrighty!”
And so Mumbo went off to set up the picnic. He already had everything ready in a basket for him to easily grab, so he just had to get it to the destination and get it all set up. He carried it to a pretty area of his base that he had cleared out specifically for this moment. It was fairly small, but not cramped. It provided a sense of privacy without isolation. That was his goal, at least. He set out the blanket and food in the pretty area so that it looked neat enough and, with a deep breath, walked back to Grian.
“Okay! It’s all set up.”
“Awesome, you lead the way.”
“Will do.” he grabbed Grians hand, walking him to their destination. Once there, he subtly looked over to see his eyes light up ever so slightly.
“Woahh… Did you do this yourself?”
“Yeah… Haha… Do you like it?” The sun was starting to set, and they probably had around 30 minutes to at most an hour before it was dark out. Mumbo let go of Grians hand.
“I love it, it's beautiful. And this picnic setup is very eye-catching, the whole scene is almost romantic.”
Little do you know, Grian, but that’s the whole point. Mumbo thought to himself as he walked over to the blanket and sat down on it. “Have a seat, make yourself comfortable.
Grian did as invited, sitting down at an empty spot on the blanket and immediately grabbing some bread, “All this food looks so good, did you make it yourself?”
“Yes, I did. Thank you for noticing. I’m not surprised one bit that you went for the bread first.”
“Of course I did, what do you take me for? Someone who doesn’t eat the bread first?”
“No, that’s why I said it doesn’t surprise me at all.” This got a few chuckles out of the shorter man, making Mumbo smile.
“Well, regardless, thank you. I really wasn’t expecting to get anything out of helping you today other than some good quality time.”
“Well, you got some extra quality time, along with the free food!”
There was some laughter and smiles as they moved on from bread to the real food, enjoying it for a little while as the sun continued to set. Despite his plan going exactly how he wanted it to, Mumbos stomach is still doing flips and tricks inside of him. He's starting to think that maybe, just maybe, this has something more to do with Grian than he thought earlier. He keeps thinking about his stupidly pretty smile, and his weirdly fluffy hair, and how everytime he laughs you can hear the smile behind it. It's breaking him over and over again, chipping away at his mental state and leaving him more confused than he can recall ever feeling. Despite this, he tries to appear fine on the outside and continue on with his plan.
“S-so… Uh, Grian… Do you know what a supermoon is?” Mumbo noticed that it was now pretty noticeably dark out, and the moon could be seen.
“I think I’ve heard of them, but no, I don’t know what it is. Care to tell me?” Grian looked over at Mumbo and made eye contact, smiling curiously.
“W-Well, a supermoon occurs when the moon is closer to earth than usual. It makes the moon look big and it can affect the oceans and wave patterns. Some people believe it can affect a person's mental state, or that it has special powers and stuff. I don’t know much about it, but Scar might, being a wizard and all.”
“Really? That’s actually pretty cool! Where’d you learn all this?”
“I guess I'm just really interested in space. I kinda always have been, I just don't talk about it a lot…” The tall man chuckled a bit as he talked about his interests, not used to voicing them.
“Well, I find it interesting. Tell me more.” Grian moved some of the food so he could lay on his stomach and look towards Mumbo.
“Umm… Did you know that zodiac signs have been a thing since around 409 BC to 398 BC? Obviously, the stars are so much older than that… But the concept of star signs is really old too.”
“Wow, you really are jam-packed with knowledge, huh? Go on then, tell me more.”
“Well, if you look up, you can see the scorpius constellation. The biggest and brightest star in it is Antares, if I remember correctly, and it's about 555 lightyears away from earth.”
“No way you just know all that! That’s crazy. I guess I never knew how much there was to know about space.” Grian looked genuinely intrigued, encouraging Mumbo to continue talking about his interests. This wasn’t supposed to be in the plan, but Mumbo was having fun, so he decided it couldn't hurt to keep going.
“Yeah! Oh, I’m sure you’ve heard of the big dipper, but did you know that the brightest star in it is called Dubhe, and it's about 123 lightyears away from earth?”
“Nope, can’t say I knew that. Do you know anything about the August star sign?”
“Yes, I do. The constellation has the same name as its associated zodiac sign, Leo. The brightest star in it is Regulus, and it's about 78-ish lightyears away from earth.” At this point, Mumbo and Grian were both lying face up next to each other and looking at the stars. Mumbo no longer felt nervous, but instead he felt very content with… whatever he was feeling. He liked this, and that's all that mattered to him.
“That’s fascinating…” Grian didn’t ask him to speak more, so he stopped talking about the stars. The red-clad man let out a long sigh, “Mumbo, why did you do all this?” He didn’t sound pessimistic or upset in any way, but he also didn’t sound particularly happy. He sounded unreadable, and his face was the same way.
“Can’t a guy just spend time with his bud?” Mumbo looked over at Grian, making eye contact.
“Of course, I just think I know what this is about.” This made the younger a tad nervous again, not knowing what Grian might say next.
“O-oh really? Well then… go on, I guess?”
“Is this about a Hermit Challenges note?”
Mumbo froze for a moment, how does he know? I didn’t tell anybody… “How… How did you know?”
“Because I sent you that note, Mumbo.”
The redstoner was thoroughly confused now, it was his turn to ask the questions. “If you knew this was a joke then, why did you stay? ”
“Because, Mumbo… if i'm being totally honest with not only you, but myself, I enjoyed this. A lot. A lot more than I probably should have…”
This. This made Mumbo sure that whatever was causing his anxiety all night was Grian, and how he felt towards the builder. “I did too… It was supposed to just be for the challenge and all, but as the night continued I kept enjoying it more and more…”
There was a rather long pause, and it certainly was not comfortable for either party.
“Mumbo, I think I like you. As more than a friend.” Grian made sure to make eye contact, allowing Mumbo to see the sincerity in his dark brown orbs.
“I have to say, Grian, I think I feel the same way about you. I mean- it never even crossed my mind until just this morning that I might be into dudes, but you make me feel… different. Different in a good way, I mean. Different in a way that makes me never want to leave your side, and I think I’d be willing to try a bit more… romantic relationship with you? If you want to as well, that is!”
It was Grians turn to blush and get nervous now. Who knew Mumbo could be so poetic, and loving? “I… I think I’d like that. Let's give it a shot.”
The two hermits smiled lovingly at each other, both still trying to comprehend what just happened in their heads, and both blushing pinker than Stresses flower crown.
“You do know you’re still gonna have to do a hermit challenge in return, right?”
“Oh shoot, I almost forgot about that part-”
Both hermits broke out into laughter, and thus began a new season of their lives.