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Scott’s base offered a warm shelter from the rain. Truthfully, Mumbo didn’t mind in the slightest that they’d been caught in a downpour. In a way, he was just grateful to have the excuse to spend more time with Scott. Void knows he wouldn’t have had the courage to ask otherwise.
Scott pushed the door shut behind them, kicking off his shoes and sitting on his bed. “You can stay however long you want, by the way,” he said. “Might as well get comfortable though.”
“Yeah,” Mumbo agreed. He shed his damp suit jacket, hanging it by the door before running a hand through his wet hair. He must’ve looked like a bit of a mess, but from the way Scott was gazing at him, it seemed he didn’t mind.
Mumbo hesitated for a moment before joining Scott on the bed. He sat with enough distance between them to not feel too close, but not awkwardly apart either. Immediately however, that distance was closed by Scott, who sat on his knees and scooted closer.
“You know, Mumbo,” he said, “your hair looks pretty nice when it’s all wet like that.”
Mumbo felt heat rise to his cheeks. “Oh-”
Scott tilted his head, smiling as he looked at him. “Oh what?”
“I forgot that you just say things like that,” Mumbo said, awkwardly trying to rearrange his hair.
Scott giggled. “Things like what? Compliments?”
“I guess,” said Mumbo. “I never really know what to say.”
Scott reached over, helping Mumbo out by pushing his hair back and rearranging a few damp strands hanging down by his ears. “You can just say thank you, you know,” he teased.
“Right… uh, thank you.”
Scott sat back, his hands dropping to his lap. “Are you usually this bad at taking compliments?”
“Worse, actually,” Mumbo admitted with a laugh.
“That’s got to be your self esteem or something.” Scott sighed, still smiling back at him. “You’ve really got to work on that.”
“Work on what?”
“You know,” Scott prompted. “Come on, let’s practice! You try, just say something nice.”
“Um…” Mumbo hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. His cheeks were hot, and he gazed up at the ceiling as he thought of what to say. “You- you have a really nice voice. Like, genuinely.”
“Mumbo, I-I didn’t-” Scott giggled. “ Mumbo, I meant about yourself! Say something nice about yourself , not me! It’s so you can like… practice positive self talk.”
Mumbo’s whole face turned red. “Oh,” he said, “oh no-”
“But thank you!”
“No, that’s so- agh- that’s so embarrassing!” Mumbo covered his face with his hands, falling back onto Scott’s bed as he laughed.
Scott clutched his stomach as he laughed harder. “It’s a little embarrassing, you’re not wrong.”
“Scott, you have to be more specific about these things!”
“Fine, yeah, I can take the blame for that.” He had to catch his breath from how much he’d been giggling. He leaned one arm back to support his weight, peering down at Mumbo who had brought his arms up to cover his face. “I do still want you to say something nice about yourself though. It’s good for your self-image, and if your self-image is good, it makes taking compliments easier.”
“Like what?” Mumbo asked, glancing up at him.
“I can’t just tell you! You’ve got to come up with something yourself!”
“Okay…” Mumbo said slowly. He dragged his hands back down his face, his skin still warm and red. “Okay I… I guess… hm… I’m, ah, put together? Sometimes?”
“You’re put together sometimes, ” Scott repeated back. “That’s like- barely a compliment! You can do better than that!”
“What?” Mumbo laughed. “Fine, fine, okay- I… I’m good at redstone. Ah, there we go!”
Scott sprawled on his side, propping his chin in one hand as he looked over at Mumbo. “That’s technically true. Not very creative, but true.”
“Woah, woah, since when did it have to be creative?” Mumbo protested. He rolled over to face Scott as well and cracked a grin. “You can’t just make up new rules on me here, Scott.”
“Okay, fine, I guess you just want me to give you some examples and tell you all about how great your sense of style is, and how amazing you are at- ”
“Stop! Please, please stop!”
Scott laughed, and Mumbo laughed with him as he rolled back onto his back.
“What? You don’t want my example?” said Scott.
“No, I don’t want your example, agh, you’re getting in my head.”
“Aw, you’re thinking about me?” Scott cooed.
“Look, I-I’ll give myself a real compliment, just- just stop talking for a second,”
“Rude,” Scott teased.
Mumbo took a deep breath, and let it out while Scott patiently waited.
“Okay,” he said.
“Okay,” Scott repeated.
“I’m really good at choosing the people to surround myself with. I have great taste in friends.”
“Mumbo.”
“Scott?”
“That was just… another compliment to me.” He giggled into his hand.
“Was it that obvious?” Mumbo propped himself back up as he smiled at Scott. “I-I thought I did a pretty good job at hiding that.”
Scott shook his head. “Oh, Mumbo. You’re really funny, you know.”
“Stop complimenting me!”
“Wait, I actually didn’t mean that as part of the bit this time!” Scott protested. “I was actually just calling you funny!”
“Well stop!”
The both of them erupted into laughter, and Mumbo hid his face by lying on his back to stare at the ceiling. He could feel Scott’s affectionate gaze on him, and chanced a glance over to meet his eyes.
“You know what,” said Scott, “we’ll work on it.”
Breathless from laughing, Mumbo nodded. “Yeah… does that mean I’m off the hook for now? You’ll stop complimenting me?”
Beaming, Scott reached over. He tucked a strand of Mumbo’s hair behind his ear, and his fingertips lingered for just a moment. “Not a chance, Mumbo.”