Chapter Text
Scars hands got lost in the man infront of him. Lost in his hair, in his waist, in his back, in his neck, in his shoulders. And he was kissing him. Soft lips met chapped scarred ones, he loved the feeling of them. He loved their texture, their taste, and oh gods he just bit the mans lip- he muttered out a quick apology, Mumbo only responded by grabbing at Scars collar and diving back into the kiss. The builder pulled Mumbo towards himself more, their chests touching, barely any space between the two.
„I love you,” the taller, lanky man muttered out through hurried breaths over Scar, and the brunette held him so tightly, “I love you too,”
And then Scar woke up. Panting and staring up at the ceiling overhead, he felt a great sense of shame suddenly course through his body, and he winced.
He whined, dragging his hands over his face, resting them there, clearing his head.
What actually happened, those two nights ago, went down differently. Mumbo didn’t tell Scar he loved him, and their make out session wasn’t exactly- well it wasn’t as heated, it was barely a make out!
He had to remind himself on how it actually happened. Two nights ago, Scar and Mumbo had met up in Treesa. They shared a bottle of wine, and they watched a movie, a romantic movie, very cheesy, nothing that should provoke kissing between the two grown men.
But alas, as the night went on, they made fun of the characters in the movie, and had a great laugh, and it was great, completely normal friend behavior.
„I can kiss much better than that, what are they even doing? They’re just smashing faces together!“ Scar had told Mumbo that night, pointing at the screen in a leisurely motion. „Can you now?“ Mumbo responded, giggling at Scars statement.
Both of them were drunk, neither would’ve even dared suggest what followed if sober.
„What? You don’t believe me?“ Scar quirked his brow, sitting up and daringly glaring at the man, all in good fun, he was grinning. „Mh, just took you more of a messy kisser, is all,“ Mumbo smiled into his wine glass, the corners of his eyes creasing at the motion.
Scar made a, admittedly, overly dramatic gasp, pointing at the man beside him. „Well I bet you’re- even messier! I’m not messy at all! Only when- well, yknow,“ Scar giggled, a bit flustered. The two have never had this subject of conversation before.
Mumbo only agreed, „well I’ll have you know, I’m a very clean kisser,“ „I don’t believe that,“ Scar did believe that, he was just being petty following the redstoners previous statements about the brunettes kissing skills.
„Really now?“ Mumbo made a daring laugh, one of those ‚oh-ho-ho‘ laughs Scar only heard from him when he was being challenged. „Do you need proof?“ Mumbo squinted his eyes at him, setting his glass down on the coffee table.
Scar shouldn’t have,
„And what if I do?“
He was drunk, yes, but that’s no excuse,
Mumbo grinned playfully, and shifted closer to Scar on the plush sofa, and he kissed him. And Scar shuddered, and Scar felt as though his chest would explode, the back of his neck and downwards growing increasingly hot. He shuddered. Mumbo shuddered. The redstoner took the side of Scars face lightly, his cold hands almost helping Scars now scourching face. And Mumbos lips were chapped and scarred, and he loved them. Before he could kiss him back, Mumbo pulled away. „See?“ Scar spluttered, „that was barely anything! You call that a kiss? That was a mere peck,“ he crossed his arms, giggling, somehow not melting into a puddle.
Mumbo hummed, still holding the side of Scars face. His hand slid down a bit, cupping Scars jaw, and he kissed him again, and Scar was in heaven. He didn’t even hesitate before laying his hands on Mumbos hip and waist, he didn’t hesitate before kissing him back, and the redstoner hummed, and he pulled away. „You have surprisingly soft lips,“ the taller commented. Now Scar was growing a bit more nervous, but not less daring. „That one was just as long as the other, Mumbo,“ he teased, and Mumbo sighed, „you’re just trying to score kisses now,“ „maybe so,“ and Mumbo looked at Scar, and suddenly Scar felt more sober than ever.
„Wh uh- just joking, I’m kidding man, calm down-„ Scar couldn’t help but defend himself, even if it was a lie.
Mumbo hesitated, something unreadable crossing his face, before letting out a small laugh, „Of course,“ and then they stopped touching each other and they continued watching the movie. And the air was awkward.
They didn’t talk during the rest of the film, and when it ended, they simply said their goodbyes and Scar left for the wagon. And he felt guilt.
And now two days have passed since that night, and Scar and Mumbo haven’t spoken. And Scar felt terrible.
Today would be their weekly Boatem meeting, today he would see Mumbo again. He sighed, and he got up. He showered, and he got ready for the day, but he stopped.
Mid getting dressed, he noticed something. He noticed a mark on his upper back, right below the back of his neck, above his shoulder blades. He watched it in the mirror, and his heart twisted and turned. A soulmate mark? When- what?
When have any of the hermits made a move on him?
Or did this appear when he was outside of Hermitcraft? Since when was this there?
He watched it and he was disappointed in how he felt. He didn’t feel happy, or giddy, he felt- well he didn’t know how he felt, but it wasn’t a positive feeling. Was that bad? Does that mean he won’t love his soulmate?
He shook his head, and he put his clothes on.
He should probably talk to someone about that. Who was an expert on that stuff anyway? Scar didn’t know, he’d have to get a book on it.
But first, the meeting.
After breakfast, Scar exited The Swaggon and with a heavy heart entered The Boatem Hole. He sat down in his usual spot and Pearl greeted him and he greeted her back. And then Grian flew down into his spot, and then Mumbo and then Impulse.
Mumbo.
He avoided his gaze.
Mumbo avoided his.
It was for the best.
They talked about lag spike and how to reduce it, they talked about if they should make Boatem even more laggy and they talked about shop profits. And then they went their seperate ways. And Scar went to the servers library.
After hours of fruitless searching he finally found a few books on soulmates, and he snagged all five. And he swore someone was watching him, but he couldn’t tell or see who, so he ignored it.
Later, at home, he sat down at his desk and he cracked the first book open. It looked old. It talked about the different ways a soulmate mark could first appear, Scar noted them down.
•First Meeting
•First Touch
•First Move
•First romantic feelings (Will appear when both reciprocate)
•First kiss
So many options. Scar scratched his head, first kiss? What about people who don’t want to kiss? Would that hinder their soulmate experience? He read more on the kissing part, and he found out that the universe will simply give people who do not wish to kiss another way of getting the Soulmate mark. Practical, he thought.
He read on. Multiple marks will appear right next to each other in case of polyamory blah blah blah basic stuff everyone knows.
Scar went over the list again, and one struck out to him.
•First kiss
Could it be?
He inhaled, and he thought of the strong sense he felt when he kissed Mumbo, and he thought of his chapped, scarred lips, and he thought of the way his breath staggered and he thought of his expression when Scar told him he was only joking about wanting to kiss him. He couldn’t read his expression back then, he thought he felt uncomfortable for even suggesting that Scar wanted to kiss him, but now..
He shook his head. He couldn’t be sure.
He cracked open another book, and this one specified symbols alongside the different ways of getting a mark.
First meeting marks resulted in a faint mark of a snowflake on one’s wrist, or above, if said person happens not to have a wrist or arm or so on.
First touch marks were quite simple. They simply left a faint mark of the persons hand or whatever else on where they first touched the other.
First move resulted in a faint mark of a small heart with swirls around it on the persons chest, above the heart.
First romantic feelings resulted in a swirly heart right below the stomach, and finally, first kiss resulted in a faint swirly heart right below the back of the neck.
Scars breath shuddered. He hasn’t kissed someone in a whole while before Mumbo, if it wasn’t Mumbo, then he surely would’ve noticed the mark beforehand. He’s regularly shirtless in the server for gods sakes, if he himself didn’t notice someone else surely would have!
He shook his head. Even if Mumbo was his soulmate, even if this was all true, just because he was his soulmate, wouldn’t mean he’d love him back.
His heart sank at the thought, and his body couldn’t help but well up tears in Scars eyes, they didn’t shed. He rubbed them away.
He cracked open the third book, and it had the same information as the others do. He sniffles and opened another, and he heard a faint knock, but he ignored it, he was busy. The rest of the books had no new information for Scar, and so he held his head in his hands and he sighed deeply, and he cried.
He thought he heard more knocking but he was busy. So whoever wants to have another hat can come back at a later time. He didn’t hear the opening of a door, and he didn’t hear footsteps approaching him.
Only when someone laid their hand on Scars shoulder, did he notice he wasn’t alone in his home.
He almost yelped, and he wiped at his face with his sleeve, „who-„ „are you okay, Scar?“ Grian asked, and Scar cursed underneath his breath. „I’m fine- come back another time, I’m busy, sorry Gri.“
Grian gently squeezed his shoulder, and he leaned down and he hugged him. „What’s wrong?“ Scar leaned back against him, and he frowned down at the books and at his notes. Grian saw them. „I got worried when I saw you picking up any book at the library I’ll be honest, but soulmate books? Have you got your mark? Why are you upset?“ Grian rubbed Scars back, and Scar sniffled. „Grian, I-„ he looked at Grians clawed hands, and he knew that he was Mumbos best friend. And he knew that Grian knew Mumbo more than anyone else on the server.
„Let’s sit down somewhere more comfortable,“ Scar suggested, Grian complied.
They sat down on Scars sofa in the swaggon, it was big and it was comfortable, and Scar felt a bit more at ease. However he was still a nervous wreck.
„Grian I kissed Mumbo.“
Grian barely sat down when Scar said this and he practically fell the rest of the way down onto the blankets and cushions. „I- wha-??“ Grian looked up at Scar bewildered, and Scar averted his gaze. „Two nights ago, I just noticed the mark this morning.“ Grian started saying words but finished none of them. He just looked at Scar wide-eyed. „Give me a moment-„ the bird asked, almost out of breath, and Scar nodded.
Grian sat up, more stiff than relaxed, more tense. Scar couldn’t tell if this was good or not. „You- Mumbo??“ „Yes, Grian-„ „How’d that even occur-„ „We were very drunk-„ „wait did you guys have a party and didn’t invite me-?“ „it was just casual-„
Their voices started overlapping each others and they both shut up and collected themselves. „So why were you crying?“ „I don’t think he loves me back“ Grian inhaled deeply, „you love him?“ „I do“ „since when?“ „I’m not sure, I know I’ve had a crush on him since the mayor competition,,,“ Grian shook his head, amazed, „that long?“ „that long, yes.“ „why do you think he doesn’t love you back?“ „I don’t know- why would I think he’d love me at all?“
Grian stared at him in disbelief. „Have you seen the way he looks at you? I- Scar! You can’t be that oblivious? You’re funny and you’re charming, and, well. Whenever he talks about you he- you can just tell, you know?“ „I don’t know?“ Mumbo talks about Scar? What does he say about him?
Grian sighed. „You amaze him, Scar,“ „I amaze you too, though?“ „because of your stupidity, but Mumbo-„ „I’m not stupid!“ „-your.. obliviousness and carelessness. But Mumbo is amazed by- well by all of you? From what I’ve heard. He talks about your building skills and how amazing they are, and that’s normal for Hermits to talk about one another, but he says so many other things also, like-„ „such as?“ „if you’d let me finish my sentences then maybe you’d get your answers.“ „right, sorry,“
„He talks about your personality, how funny and charming you are, how kind you are, how emotionally present you are. You’re very empathetic, and he adores it.“
Scar just sat there.
„I’ll be honest, I don’t listen a whole lot when you come up in conversation because he’ll just start rambling about, but from what I have heard and listened to, he likes you, a lot.“
Scar opened and closed his mouth a few times, before speaking. „Well- he likes me, sure, but that doesn’t mean he loves me. I mean maybe he just said all those things because he likes me- has he- has he said anything like that in the past two days?“
Grian looked out the window in thought, puckering his lips. „Maybe?“ „What do you mean ‚maybe‘?“ „Look, I’ve been busy with the base a lot lately, he has swung by and talked but- well-„ „You payed little to no attention?“ „yeah“ Scar sighed. „What am I supposed to do?“
Grian made a face that read like he was at first shocked Scar would even ask that and not know the answer himself, but then remembering that he is indeed talking to none other than Goodtimeswithscar himself.
„Talk to him about it!“ „Oh absolutely not-„ „Scar-„