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Chapter Text

Grian woke up to his alarm, his way too loud, way too early alarm. With a groan he turned his alarm off, pulling his hand back underneath the warm blanket covering him. He knew that it was time to get out of bed, but God did he not want to leave his warm and comfortable bed.

Getting out of bed in the early morning was one of the worst things ever. When it was still dark outside, it should be illegal to be awake before the sun was. Unfortunately it was time to go back to work today, which meant that Grian didn't choose. Grian forced himself out of the bed, the cold morning air immediately making his wish he hadn't. 

But he knew that he couldn't be late today, or ever again honestly. After he had disappeared for a full week without saying anything he was lucky to still have a job. Grian could still hear the way his boss had yelled at him when he heard that Grian hadn't died. Apparently he had been close to cleaning up his office and giving it away. 

He had screamed harse words at Grian, demanding to know why Grian had suddenly left. But on the other end of the phone Grian had stayed quiet without an excuse. He couldn't exactly tell his boss that he'd been kidnapped, he would have to tell him how he had gotten out. And then he would have to talk and tell them about Scar's mission. 

The police would need to be called, but Grian couldn't tell them about Scar's mission. Scar would be arrested for what he had done. Grian couldn't let that happen, not after everything that Scar had done for him. Instead he needed to come up an excuse. 

And so Grian had told his boss that one of his family members had passed and that Grian needed to travel to where they lived. He told his boss that his phone had broken on his way there and that he went to a place where they didn't have phones so he couldn't buy a new one.

Was it a stupid excuse? Yes definitely. Did Grian's boss buy it? Somehow, also yes. 

He'd told him that his boss had been the first person that he'd called, hoping that that would soften the blow a little. It didn't. Grian's boss had shown zero empathy but at the very least had let Grian keep his job. And so Grian now had to get ready to leave after he'd spent the rest of his free time getting old numbers back and explaining what had happened. 

Grian put his clothes on, he ate breakfast, brushed his teeth and looked at himself in the mirror. "You're home in nine hours, just nine hours. You can do this" Grian said to himself, even thought he knew that those hours would be the longest nine hours ever. 

After hesitating for a few more seconds at the door Grian walked outside. He was back to his normal routine and it was instantly destroying him. Every step felt hard as he dragged his tired body along the sidewalk all the way to the building. He'd tried to get to bed early the night before, but of course his thoughts hadn't allowed him.

Hours he had spent awake thinking about Scar and the mission they had been on. Every single second had been replayed to Grian. When Grian finally stopped himself from thinking about Scar, his brain decided to make things worse. He started thinking about his boss. About the things his boss had yelled at him and about what he would likely yell at him in the future. 

Great motivation to keep himself going. 

At least it was light outside right now, that made Grian's mood a little better. A little. Too soon Grian arrived at the dreaded building. It was weird, nothing about the building had changed and yet everything felt different. He felt different. Unfortunately nothing seemed to have changed about his job or about the little timeloop he'd always felt stuck in. 

"Hey Gregg" Grian greeted the secretary once he was inside. "Brian! Hey you're back. Where have you been this past week?" Greg asked, seemed like he was still pronouncing Grian's name wrong. Lovely. 

"Oh uhm a family member of mine died so I had to go to the funeral. They live quite far away so I couldn't come to work" Grian answered, the day before he'd thought about questions he might get about his excuse. He was prepared for any question anyone could throw at him, he was ready with what he hoped were believable answers. 

It had cost him a few hours of sleep but his thoughts hadn't allowed him to sleep much anyway. He'd figured that he could at least do something useful. Now at the very least he was at least prepared in case anyone asked anything. "Oh, my condolences. Were you close to this family member?" Gregg asked. "Uhm not really, I only saw him on birthdays and holidays. But still, it's weird now that he's not there anymore" Grian replied.

"Yeah, if you need anything let me know. I'm here for you Brian" Gregg said, the statement would have been nice if Gregg hadn't said Grian's name wrong. "Thank you Gregg" Grian replied with a small smile "I appreciate it" he added quickly, Gregg smiled back at him with that big clumsy smile of his. Gregg might always say his name wrong, but he wasn't a bad guy. He was probably Grian's nicest coworker.

"I uhm really need to get to work now. There is a lot I need to catch up on" 

"Yeah I can imagine, good luck," Gregg said, Grian nodded and took some quick steps towards his office, hoping that he wouldn't run into his boss. The building was relatively empty for this hour of the day, some people turned to look at Grian but most ignored him. Nobody asked him anything, nobody asked where he had been or if he was okay. But that was fine, it was better that way.

Soon Grian had found his way to the little office that was his. The office with his desk, about a hundred papers neatly stacked and waiting for him. Everything that had been there before was still there, his old, squeaky, dirty deskchair. The random picture of a sunset on a beach behind him and the big window that  couldn't open with the radiator that didn't work beneath it.

Grian sat down on his deskchair, feeling the legs of the chair bump into the inconveniently placed trashcan beneath the desk. With a sigh Grian grabbed a pen and got to work, muscle memory taking over. As he worked he kept glancing at the stack of paper waiting for him, every time he looked it seemed to be getting bigger.

It was gonna take a while before he was finally done with the whole stack.

For the next few hours Grian worked as fast as he could, hoping that he wasn't messing anything up. Sure, nobody would check his work when he was done. But people would eventually figure it out if something did go wrong. Grian couldn't afford to make mistakes right now, but he also couldn't afford to be slow.

He ended up eating in his office, shoving a sandwich in his mouth with one hand while he wept working on the papers. His boss had never cared for crumbs before, Grian hoped that today wouldn't be an exception. 

Grian was still busy working when his boss knocked on his door, opening it before Grian could answer. "Mr Long, hello" Grian said, turning towards the man. His expression was unreadable, all Grian could really do was hope that he wasn't in a bad mood. Mr Long stared at him "Hmm so you're actually back" Mr Long eventually said.

'Unfortunately yeah' Grian wanted to answer, but he knew that that answer wouldn't be appreciated. "Y-yeah, I'm sorry again about being gone for so long without letting you know first" Grian replied instead, hoping that he sounded at least a little bit genuine. 

"Yeah, you're lucky I'm so nice. Any other boss wouldn't have let you return after the stunt that you pulled. I expect you to work extra hard to make up for the time that you missed" Mr Long said, Grian nodded "Yes, of course sir" he replied, knowing that any other answer wouldn't fly.

Mr Long didn't comment, he just dropped off more papers before turning around and leaving. He didn't close the door, he never did. So Grian had to stand up and do it himself, every nerve in his body wanted to slam the door so hard that it would fly off its hinges. Instead he closed it as quietly as possible, not wanting to draw any attention to him.

Everyone here knew that you were fucked if the boss came knocking on your door. 

Of course Grian couldn't expect any sympathy from Mr Long, he didn't know why he had thought anything else. Grian quickly got back to his desk, looking at the stack of papers that had actually grown this time. He knew that he wasn't the only person in this building that did the paperwork, but God did he feel like he was. 

Grian took a deep breath and started working again, it was going to take him a while before he would be fully done. 

He eventually worked while the sun went down beside him, he had been hoping to be home before it turned dark outside but that clearly wasn't happening. There were still enough papers on his desk to keep him busy for hours. Grian knew that his boss hated him before all of this happepned but now it had even gotten worse. 

Every other person in the building went home, everyone except Grian. Grian stayed behind as usual to work on all the extra papers that he would get. The other people that did paperwork also left, some even left earlier than usual. Grian could think of an idea why. 

He worked on those stupid papers, the words started getting blurry but after hours he was finally done. He pushed himself away from the desk, stretched his arms and stood up. Grian could see how dark it already was outside, he was sure that if someone was looking inside they could see one little lightspot. The one office that still had its lights on. 

Grian let out a sigh and put his coat on to finally go home. His body felt awful after sitting for hours on hours. 

He walked out of his office and to the door outside, there was nobody to say goodbye to him, nobody to lock the door behind him. Stepping outside after hours of having been inside was weird, but it was nice breathing in the fresh air. He started walking down his normal route, trying to think of what he wanted to eat once he finally got home.

But suddenly when he reached the halfway point he froze up. His heartbeat got faster, suddenly it was so loud that Grian was able to hear it. His brain forgot how to breathe, his lungs feeling too small for the amount of air he needed. He stared at the area in front of him.

This had been the place where he had been taken from. 

This was stupid, Grian wouldn't get kidnapped again. The chances of that happening were very low. And there was nobody around now, there were no weird noises of people hidden in the bush. No weird creepy vans that could be used to transport someone who didn't want to be transported. 

And yet, his body refused to take another step. This was stupid, he had been fine walking past this place that morning. Half of his brain was telling Grian that nothing was wrong, that he was in danger. That he would be taken again, but that things wouldn't end as well as they had done before. 

Suddenly Grian heard a sound coming from the bush, he imagined figures coming towards him. He knew that none of this was real, that it was his brain making these things up out of fear. He knew that he had to get over this fear, that he just had to take a few steps past this point. 

The bush moved, Grian took a step back. His hands appeared in front of him in defense but he could see the way they were shaking. What if there was someone in there that was about to kidnap Grian? That was all Grian needed to think before he took off running. He ran, he ran back towards the office. 

He ran as fast as he could, thinking about how he had tried to run when he was being kidnapped. 

In his brain something, someone was following him. He could hear footsteps, his heart beating in his chest, his laboured breathing. He ran all the way back to the office and grabbed his keycard out of his pocket. He was about to scan it, but his shaking hands dropped. The world seemed to slow down as the card fell to the ground.

Breathing became even harder, it felt like someone was chasing but Grian was too scared to look behind him and check. 

His keycard was still on the ground, of course he would drop the one thing that would get him to safety. He ducked down, grabbed the card and quickly scanned it. The door opened with a beep and Grian ran inside, to safety. He closed the door behind him and ran to his office. 

The door closed behind him with a loud bang, scaring the shit out of Grian. He ducked beneath his desk, pulling his knees to his chest. . He sat there for a while, watching his door, waiting for the danger his brain was telling him was coming. 

He tried to calm down, tried to get his breathing and heartbeat back to normal. But nothing seemed to work. 

There were sounds coming from outside Grian's office, tree branches shook in the wind, dogs barked, a hoot came from an owl. But every one of these sounds sounded like a threat. He couldn't stop thinking  that there was another kidnapper out to get him. He somehow needed to find a way to calm down but he didn't know how. 

Grian ended up taking out his phone, he started searching for a distraction. When he managed to turn his phone on he noticed that he had gotten a message, which was weird. He didn't usually get texts, especially not if he was at work. With shaking hands Grian opened the message. 

Scar Goodtimes: Hey Grian, how are you doing? 

Grian stared at the message. The message that Scar had sent him. Scar had been serious about them keeping in touch. Without thinking Grian pressed the call button. He heard the phone go over and was about to hang back up, deciding that this was stupid. But then the phone was picked up. 

"Grian! I'm so glad that you called. How are you? How's normal life?" Scar asked, sounding as friendly as he always did. His voice instantly calmed Grian even just a bit, he felt better knowing that there was someone with him. Even if it was just on the phone.Grian tried to answer but he couldn't get any words out. "Grian?" Scar asked, Grian let out a whimper. 

"Are you okay?" Scar asked, concern in his voice. 

"I- p-anic att-ack" Grian managed to get out. "Where are you?" Scar asked, sounding serious now. "O-ffi-ce" Grian answered. Scar knew where Grian lived, it wouldn't be surprised if he also knew where Grian worked. "I'm on my way" Scar said, then a beep came from the phone and Scar's voice was gone. 

Grian was sitting in silence again, all sounds around him scaring him more.

He didn't know how long he had been in there but it felt like forever. After a while of sitting there Grian heard footsteps coming from outside his office. He tensed up, trying to get even closer to the wall  behind him, trying to disappear into it. The door to his office opened, Grian closed his eyes, scared of what he would see if he kept them open. 

"Grian, hey you can open your eyes. It's just me" Grian heard someone say, he recognized that voice. Slowly he opened his eyes, Scar was kneeling in front of him. "There you go," Scar said, a sweet smile on his face. 

"Scar" Grian managed to say, he instantly felt a huge wave of fear leave him as he saw Scar's face. "Yeah, I'm here. Nice office you've got here" Scar said as he looked around the small space beneath the desk. Grian got a small smile on his face, relief washing over him now that he wasn't alone, now that Scar was here. "Thank you," he said.

"Here, make some space for me" Scar said, Grian moved aside a little so that Scar could sit next to him under the desk. The space was small, but Scar fit himself in there. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder, a constant reminder for Grian that he was safe. "What happened?" Scar asked once he was seated. Grian avoided his gaze as he said "It's stupid, I was walking home and I uhm came across the place that I had been kidnapped from" 

He felt silly saying it out loud, he felt silly feeling the way he did. 

"I- I know that the chances of getting kidnapped again are low, but still. I can't get my stupid head to listen to logic" Grian said frustrated, he hid his face in his hands. "I just- I couldn't get myself to walk past that point. I don't know why I can't do it, I walked past it this morning and I was fine" 

"Grian, you were literally kidnapped. You were taken from the street, not knowing where you would end up. Your freedom was taken in a moment, it's okay to feel fear after a traumatic event like that. It would be concerning if you didn't feel any fear after that" Scar said, he placed a comforting hand on Grian's shoulder making him look up.

"Yeah" He said softly "But I can't even walk home" Grian admitted, he got tears in his eyes. "And that's okay, that's normal. And it's okay to ask for help, come here" Scar said, he held out his arms. Grian gave into the hug, he melted into Scar's arms. 

"T-thank you," Grian said. Grian and Scar stayed like that for a little while until, sitting in a silence that had been so terrifying to Grian. Now it was comforting. "How am I gonna get home now?" He asked as he wiped his tears away and pulled himself out of the hug. Scar placed his hand over Grian's "I can walk you home, would that help?" 

"I- I'm not sure" Grian admitted, he didn't know what could help. Every time he thought about walking past that place, walking past those bushes, it brought fear to him. He couldn't even imagine the place without that fear returning. He didn't want to go anywhere near there anytime soon. 

"I could drive you home too or we could stay here the whole night. Whatever works for you" Scar said, Grian looked at him. He didn't want to stay here all night, he didn't want to force Scar to stay here all night. He wanted to go home, to bed.

 "C-could you drive me home?" He asked, that sounded like the best solution. He would be safe in a car with Scar. 

"Of course I can," Scar said, he stood up, being careful to not hit his head on the desk. He stretched and reached out his hand for Grian to take. Grian took his hand and the man pulled him up, the two of them walked out of Grian's office and outside, their hands never separating. 

A realization came over Grian when he pushed the door that led outside open. "Wait, the doors were locked. How did you get in here?" He asked, you always need a key card to get in. Scar rubbed the back of his neck "I- I uhm found a way. Don't worry about it" Scar said, a smile on his face. Grian didn't know what that was supposed to mean but he decided that he didn't care. 

He was just happy that Scar was there. 

Scar opened his car door for Grian, the same car they had taken to and from the hotel. Carefully Grian got in, Scar closed the door for him but only when Scar got into the car too did he feel safe again. They started driving and it didn't take long before they arrived at Grian's house. Scar got out of his car and walked Grian all the way to his apartment. 

"Thank you Scar, really. And I'm sorry for calling you this late at night" Grian said, he had opened his apartment door but hadn't walked in yet. "No problem, and I really don't care about the time. You can call me whenever you need me. But uhm Grian, do you have work again tomorrow?" Scar asked. 

"I- yeah" Grian answered. "How are you going home tomorrow?" Scar asked, Grian froze. He hadn't even thought about that. He had no idea how he was going to get home "I- I don't know, but I'll figure something out" he said, not sounding very confident. 

He didn't want to ask Scar again, he didn't want to use the man for his car.

"I can pick you up again if you want" Scar offered, Grian looked at him and debated  "You- you really don't have to do that. I can't ask you to do that, I'm sure you have better things to do" Grian argued. He couldn't ask Scar to drive all the way here just to drive him home because he was too scared to walk past a stupid bush.

"You're not asking me, I'm offering. Do you want to stay for a little longer?" He asked, leaving no room for argument. Grian felt bad about the amount of Scar's time he had already wasted. "N-no, I'll be fine" He said, Scar nodded in response. If he was annoyed by Grian in any way he didn't show it. 

"See you tomorrow, text me when I need to pick you up," Scar said, he waved and walked away. "Scar" Grian said, Scar paused and turned around "Thank you" Grian said, genuinely thankful for the man standing in front of him. He would have been lost if Scar hadn't been there today, there was a big chance he would still be hidden beneath that desk. 

"Of course, when I said that you could call me if you needed anything I meant it" He said, for a few seconds they just stared at each other. But then those seconds ended and Scar turned to leave. Grian stared at Scar as he walked away, looking at the empty hallway when Scar walked around the corner. 

After a minute he returned to reality, he walked into his apartment and almost immediately got into bed.

Chapter Text

The next day Grian woke up to his alarm again, ah yes he was back to his normal boring life loop. Today he had gotten even less sleep than the day before, the whole night he had thought about that stupid bush. Even when he had finally fallen asleep he hadn't been able to escape the place.

During the night he had been trapped in a nightmare, the memory of getting kidnapped replaying over and over again. During these dreams Grian tried to imagine how he could have gotten away, every time the dream restarted he tried something new. Unfortunately nothing had worked, no matter what he did the nightmare always ended with him being shoved back into that little room. 

Multiple times Grian had woken up, eventually he had decided to sleep with the lights on. After that he had gotten a few hours of actual sleep. But those few hours didn't feel like enough, unfortunately Grian didn't have much of a choice. He had to get out of bed and to work. 

Eventually Grian managed to push himself out of bed. He quickly made some breakfast before taking a quick shower and putting his normal clothes on. It was getting late already so Grian hurried out his apartment, fumbling with his keys as he tried to lock his door. But then suddenly there were footsteps behind him. 

Grian quickly turned around, holding out his hands as some kind of defense but dropping his keys in the process. "Hello, Grian" Jimmy, Grian realized, said in a happy tone. Way too happy for this early hour if Grian was honest. Jimmy was one of Grian's neighbours, one who often greeted him. The man bent down and grabbed Grian's keys for him before handing them back to Grian. 

"Hi, uhm thank you" Grian said, he made a smile appear on his face and hoped that it looked genuine. Jimmy often said hello to him when they ran into each other, but they weren't friends. "Jimmy, come b- oh Grian hello, were you gone? We didn't see you for like a week" Scott, Jimmy's boyfriend, said as he ran downstairs. 

It very often happened that when Grian ran into Jimmy, Scott would be right besides him. They were annoyingly cute together. They lived right above Grian and left around the same time as Grian had to leave for work. This meant that they saw each other almost every morning, at least if Grian wasn't running late.

"Yeah, uhm a family member of mine died so I had to go to where he lived for a while" Grian replied, using the excuse that he had created. Jimmy and Scott didn't know his boss, but just using one excuse sounded easier. "Oh my condolences. We thought that you had gone on vacation and that you brought back a hot boyfriend" Jimmy replied. 

Scott punched Jimmy "Jimmy!" Scott scolded, he turned to Grian "Sorry, we just happened to see you return home with someone yesterday" Scott said, whenever something in the building happened they knew. It was great at most times, they would tell Grian all the drama that was going on in the apartments. 

But now that the drama included Grian, he didn't like it that much anymore. 

"No, no, he's just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. He just drove me home" Grian answered, he turned around, locked his door and turned back to Jimmy and Scott "I have to get to work, bye" he said, before he walked away from his awkward conversation. He hoped that they wouldn't gossip with the other people in the building too much. 

"Bye" He heard Scott and Jimmy say as he left. 

Grian walked to work, not feeling any fear as he walked past the bushes, not feeling any fear as he walked past the place where he had been kidnapped. It was weird how he had no problem walking by now when he couldn't get himself close to the place the day before. As he walked though the place he scanned the area, now that he could actually see everything it didn't look scary.

And yet when Grian imagined the way that it had looked the night before, the way that it had looked the night he had been kidnapped. It sent shivers over his whole body, it made him want to run even though there was no danger. 

The little side of the sidewalk, the place in between two street lanterns. Enough light to see someone coming but not enough to actually recognize the person. The man that had kidnapped Grian before must have spent some time searching for the perfect place. During the day however you could see anything, it was hard for someone to just walk up to you. 

A lot of cars drove by this point, the chances of being seen were high. It was safer during the day, and Grian could feel that in the way he was able to pass it without as much problem as he had had the night before. It was weird and made Grian only feel stupider.

He was able to walk past it now, but couldn't when it was dark.  

During the rest of Grian's walk he thought about the place but eventually he reached the building. He took a deep breath before walking in, putting all his thoughts aside. Grian greeted Gregg, went into his office already spotting a new stack of papers waiting for him. 

This building was not that big, how did his boss have a new pile of work waiting for him every single day? It only strengthened the way Grian felt like he lived in a timeloop. Currently the only thing that had brought him out of that loop was Scar. But he wasn't here yet and Grian had work to do. He eyed the stack of papers again, a lot of work. 

Not that Grian could complain, maybe one day he would be promoted. Maybe one day he would get less work or something that actually felt important to do. It wasn't that Grian wanted to be in an actual court, that sounded terrifying. He just wanted something more than reading through and signing papers the whole day. 

 Grian quickly got to work, it was a nice thought but the stack of paper in front of him, that was his reality. It was like he hadn't done anything the day before. It felt like his work was useless. 

And yet, Grian sat down behind his desk and got to work. He felt like a robot as he went through the pile of papers. After a while he finally looked up, his head heavy, he stretched his arms above his head and looked at the clock, it was past one o'clock already. 

Time had gone by fast and yet it felt like it had taken forever. Grian stood up and got his lunch out, he didn't feel like eating in his office again. He just felt like walking around for a little bit, and so Grian walked to the cafeteria. It was after the normal lunch time so Grian figured that the cafeteria would be mostly empty. 

Grian walked in, he was right, the cafeteria was mostly empty. A little smile appeared on Grian's face as he walked into the empty, quiet cafeteria. He sat down at a table, it was a bit dirty but Grian couldn't care less at the moment. 

It had been a while since Grian had eaten in the cafeteria, it was nice being out of the office. Grian took out his phone and started going through it, actually taking a break for once. His head had been starting to hurt when he had been hurting, finally that pressure was lessening. Just looking at stupid memes for thirty minutes was great.

After a full thirty minutes was over Grian got back up and walked back to his office. 

He got back to work, when he suddenly saw someone enter his office from the corner of his eyes. Grian flinched away before realizing it was just his boss who had just walked in. "Grian" He began, oh this couldn't be good "I was here a little while ago but you weren't here. I thought you had left again" Mr Long said, maybe his words sounded like a joke to himself but to Grian it was a reminder of how he had failed this company. 

"I- haha, no I was just on my lunch break" Grian said, forcing himself to ignore Mr Long's comment about him leaving. "On your lunch break? Are you sure, you were gone for a very long time" Mr Long said, had he been timing Grian or something? 

"Yeah thirty minutes, you know the normal lunch time that we are required to get by law" Grian responded, he didn't know where he got the courage to say that to his boss but there was no going back now. "Are you talking back to me Mr Moon?" Mr Long asked. 

Grian shrank in on himself at the man's words, he could feel his confidence faltering. "I- of course not. I'm just uhm thirty minutes is how long I am allowed to have lunch so-" Grian said, why had he said that? His boss already hated him enough. 

"Sure, sure, but can you really afford to take a thirty minute break? With how slow you work and how much work you have, we wouldn't want you getting behind on your any more than you already are" Mr Long said.

"No, no, we wouldn't want that" Grian replied, looking down at the ground. But even without looking at Mr Long he knew that the man was smiling. "Good, now get back to work. Oh and" Mr Long said, he grabbed a new stack of papers and dropped them on top of the stack of papers that were already on Grain's desk just like he had done before.

"I need those ready by tomorrow" 

Grian stared at the stack of papers that had just grown triple its size "But I can't-" Grian said, but when he turned back to Mr Long, he was gone. Grian stood up and closed his door, he turned back to the stack of papers, how was he going to finish those? 

He sat back behind his desk and got to work, the light in the room lessened more and more as time went by. People started leaving just as Grian had worked through half the stack. Grian had seen his boss leave hours earlier, it angered him to know that the man was already done. 

Done with what Grian didn't know, it always looked like the man was doing nothing. And yet he kept giving Grian more and more work.

The office became quieter and quieter as more and more people left until the only sound left was the rustle of paper. Grian liked the silence but he really wanted to go home right about now. He worked through more and more of the paper stack until he was finally done. When he was finally done he stood up, Scar had told him to text him when he was done. 

But it was really late, Grian didn't want to make Scar come all the way over again. Grian took out his phone, just like the day before he had gotten a message from Scar. Grian opened them, curious about what Scar had sent him. 

Scar Goodtimes: 

Hey Grian, don't forget to let me know when you're done with work so that I can pick you up. 

Grian, you done working yet?

If you don't respond to me in the next hour I'm coming to get you

Sorry, I was busy.

But I'm done now

Good, I'm on my way 

See you soon :)

See you soon

Grian couldn't help but smile at his phone, Scar had texted him. He had made sure that Grian texted him, giving Grian no choice but to answer. It made Grian happy, he was glad that he could see Scar again. He was glad that Scar was coming to help him. He was happy that he didn't have to walk past the bushes. 

But he didn't want to ask Scar, he didn't want to make Scar come. And now he was coming anyway. Grian walked outside and waited there, his keycard in hand in case he needed to run back inside. The lights from the building lit the road in front of it nicely. Grian would see anyone coming close to him.

Luckily, it didn't take too long before Scar's car pulled up. 

Grian opened the door and saw a smiling Scar "Hello, I was starting to think that you had gone home alone" Scar said, Grian got into the car and closed the door behind him. "No, I wouldn't have done that. But I would have been able to figure something out if you couldn't come" Grian tried to reassure Scar, he didn't want to guiltrip the man.

"Yeah but you don't have to because I can pick you up. Hey, are you always working so late?" Scar asked. "Yeah, most of the time" Grian answered, he leaned his head back against the chair he was sitting in. He was exhausted after working the whole day. 

"What time did you start?" Scar asked, Grian turned his head so that he could look at Scar and still lean against the chair "8am" He answered. "That's more than twelve hours! What time did you start yesterday?" Scar asked, a look of shock on his face.

"Also 8am" Grian answered, his eyes starting to close. "That can not be legal. How many hours a week do you make?" Scar asked, Grian had to think about that for a little while "Uhm I don't know, I work four, sometimes five days a week. eight am until like ten pm is… uhm how many hours?" 

Grian usually stayed until ten, sometimes nine pm, but his boss had been really angry these last two days. Given him even more paper work then he usually had. "14 hours" Grian said, his brain doing the math. "14 times four would be 56? Yeah 56. I work about 56 hours a week"

"That- that is way too much, why don't you work a bit less? You can afford to work at least sixteen less hours" Scar said, Grian shook his head "No, I need the time to finish my work. Officially I work until five, six sometimes. But I can't finish my work in that time" 

"How much work do you get if you can't finish it in eight or nine hours?" Scar asked, Grian didn't know how to answer that. When Grian didn't answer Scar asked "That stack of papers on your desk yesterday, how many days did that take?" 

"Yesterday" Grian answered, his sentences turning into words as exhaustion took over. "Yeah yesterday, do you remember the stack of paper that was on your desk?" Scar asked, Grian shook his head "No, it took me yesterday to finish it" Grian said, Scar's eyes went wide. "Why would you overwork yourself like that?" 

"I have to, it had to be done by today" Grian answered, he was fighting to keep his eyes open. "Says who?" Scar asked, that was an easy question. No math involved there. "My boss" Grian answered, his boss was making him do everything in one day. "How much work did you do today?" Scar asked.

"The stack of paper that you saw yesterday, that but a little bit more" Grian said, he could see Scar gripping the steering wheel tighter "You had to make even more today? When does that have to be done?" Scar asked.

Scar couldn't believe what he was hearing, Grian had to finish stacks of paper? He was working 56 hours a week. He didn't know who Grian's boss was, but he was going to have a word with him. "Before tomorrow" Grian answered Scar's question. 

"You need to tell your boss that that is too much work. He can't give you that much work and then force you to finish it within a day" Scar replied, he knew that normal jobs could be bad but it couldn't be this bad. "Yes he can, I need to keep this job" Grian said.

"He can't fire you, he can't give you this much work, it has to be illegal" Scar replied, Grian didn't respond to that. "Grian?" Scar tried when he didn't receive an answer. "Come on, you gotta say something to the man. He can't treat yo- oh" Scar said, turning his head to face Grian only to see that the man's eyes were closed.

 Scar let out a sigh, he decided to let Grian sleep, the man definitely needed it.

He quickly drove to Grian's apartment, making sure to not jostle the car too much. He parked the car before getting out and making his way to the passenger side and opening the door. Scar reached over and unbuckled Grian's seatbelt for him. Then he leaned down, placing an arm behind Grian's back and the other beneath his knees before getting him out of the car. 

His movements were careful so he wouldn't wake Grian, he kicked the door closed with his foot and locked the car.

Scar managed to open the door and brought Grian inside. Getting Grian into his apartment turned out to be a challenge but he eventually figured it out by placing Grian down a little. With his free hand he got the key to the man's door and opened it. He figured that Grian wouldn't want him to force the door open

The layout in the apartment was pretty obvious and Scar soon found the bedroom. There he laid Grian down on the bed, kneeling down to take the man's shoes off. After that he covered Grian with the blanket, he stared at the man for a couple of seconds before blinking himself out whatever state he was in.

He then walked into the living room and sat down on Grian's couch. He needed to have a word with Grian once the man woke up. He couldn't let Grian keep working from eight to ten, that was way too much. Grian would be burned out in no time if he kept doing that. 

Scar couldn't let that happen and he wouldn't let anyone treat Grian like that.

Chapter Text

The hours of the night had gone by slowly, at first Scar had taken out his phone. But he soon grew bored of that, he stood up and walked around the living room. It was quite a small apartment that Grian lived in, but that might just be because Scar was used to his mansion. From where Scar was sitting he could see the living room, the dining room and the kitchen all at once.

Sure, the dining room was just one round table placed close to the kitchen but that still counted. The living room existed out of the couch Scar was sitting on, a coffee table filled with folders and unopened letters, a tv, a dresser beneath the tv and a bookcase in the corner of the room. It was separated from the rest of the room by a rug on the ground. 

Scar stood up and started walking around, Grian surely wouldn't mind if he started looking around a little. The place was barely decorated, there were no pictures on the walls, no statues or other figurines on the shelves. There was one picture that Scar saw, a picture of someone in a bird costume, Scar assumed that the picture had been taken during halloween. 

Next to the bird person was someone else dressed up as an alien. Unfortunately they were wearing a mask so Scar couldn't see their face. He could see long brown hair falling onto their shoulders, Scar assumed that it was the sibling he knew Grian had. 

Grian's sibling was a big mystery to Scar, no matter how much research he had done he couldn't find their name. The only reason that Scar even knew that he had a sibling was because of a facebook post Grian's mother had done on the siblings birthday years ago, but in that picture the child had been just that, a child. There was no name, no address, no further pictures. 

Maybe Grian's parents had learned the dangers of posting everything online. 

Scar kept walking around, but didn't really find anything interesting. There were three doors in the room, one led to Grian's bedroom, one to the incredibly small bathroom and one to a little washroom. Scar stopped at Grian's bedroom, creepily staring into the room. 

Grian was still asleep, but he had moved to lay on his side since Scar had last seen him. Scar let out a sigh, closed the bedroom door and walked back to the couch. On the coffee table lay a remote, Scar reached out for it and turned the tv on before quickly lowering the volume. It was late at night, nobody else in this apartment building would be happy if they were woken up. 

Scar searched through the channels and eventually found a marathon of a show called full house. He decided to watch that, he remembered watching the show when he was little. The show had subtitles, this meant that Scar could turn the volume down as much as possible but he would still be able to know what was going on. 

Having the subtitles on also meant that Scar was forced to pay attention, it would keep him awake as he waited for Grian to wake up. He had to have a talk with Grian and he wasn't leaving until Grian and him had that talk. The way that Grian was living, the amount of hours that he was working, it just wasn't healthy. 

Hours passed and Grian still didn't wake up. 

Eventually the clock struck nine, Scar assumed that today would be Grian's day off. If it wasn't then the man would already be late. 

It didn't matter though, Scar could wait as long as he wanted. Grian looked like he needed the sleep anyway, Scar was just glad that Grian could get the sleep that he needed unlike Scar. He was far from getting the amount of sleep that he needed. 

He had been worried about a lot of things and those worries were keeping him up at night. His main worry was Jessica coming back, if that was even her real name. Scar and his team had been trying to get some information on her, but they hadn't found anything yet. It was worrisome. 

Scar knew that she would be coming after him, especially after he had killed eight people in her gang. Of course, he was also worried about the gang itself. They wouldn't be too happy with Scar either, if they didn't hate him before this they did now. 

The gang was big, very big. Anyone around Scar could be in the gang, anyone around him could be coming to kill him or his friends. During the past few days Scar had laid awake in bed for hours and hours but he barely ever managed to fall asleep. Most days he just spent working, trying to locate the gang, trying to get information from others about their whereabouts. 

His thoughts weren't the only thing that were keeping him up though. Whenever he did manage to fall asleep he was woken up by nightmares. Nightmares about what had happened back at the hotel, about things he had done in the past. Or about the future, about what could possibly happen in the future. 

Nightmares about the gang killing his friends, about the gang killing him. And his most recent nightmare that had been returned over and over again. A nightmare about them kidnapping, torturing and killing Grian. The last time that Scar had had that nightmare was only a day earlier, hours before he picked Grian up he had fallen asleep on his couch. 

It had terrified him and the second that he had woken up he needed to see Grian, to see that Grian was okay. He knew that Grian was okay, but it still worried him. Unfortunately Grian had been at work when Scar had woken up. Scar couldn't just go see him. It had been quite late already when Scar had woken up, he'd checked his phone and seen that Grian still hadn't asked Scar to come get him.

So instead Scar sent him some messages. 

The messages were supposed to calm Scar, he expected to get an answer. An answer would mean that Grian was alive and that he was okay. But no response had come, hours later Scar had finally given up on waiting. He was already in his car on his way to Grian when Grian finally responded to his texts. 

That made Scar calm down a lot, and the fact that he had been going towards Grian also helped. 

All his worries had melted away the second he had seen Grian. 

Scar was lost in thought when Grian finally walked into the room, still wearing his pajamas. Scar looked in his direction when he heard the squeak of the floorboard. Immediately he had been on edge, but then he had seen that it was Grian, he placed a smile on his face."Good morning!" Scar said, he had missed waking up with Grian. 

"Uhm good morning, what are you doing here?" Grian asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"We need to have a talk about your work life. 56 hours in a week is way too much, you're going to burn yourself out if you continue to work that much" Scar said, cutting right to the chase. Grian sighed and let himself fall onto the couch right next to Scar. "I know, but I can't talk back to my boss" 

"Why not? This isn't fair and you know it" Scar said, he knew that it wasn't that easy but still. "I'll get fired if I do," Grian answered, leaning his head against the back of the couch in defeat. "Then get together with your coworkers, they can't be fine with this. Your boss can't possibly fire all of you" Scar suggested. 

Grian let out a laugh "They won't want to help me, they're definitely not going to risk their job to help me" he replied, that confused Scar. "Wait, but they want to work a job where they have to work for 56 hours a week?" Scar asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Sure, he was a bit out of touch with the 'normal' people. But he knew that a workweek like that was far from normal. He didn't know a single person that would be willing to work that much, at least one person must be willing to stand up against this boss with Grian. 

"What? Oh no, I'm the only one who works that long. My boss just hates me, he's besties with everyone else" Grian answered, he said it as if it was normal. Scar hated the realization that it probably was normal for Grian. "He's playing favorites and making you stay at work for like fourteen hours a day?" Scar asked, shocked. Grian nodded "Why doesn't he like you?" Scar asked. 

"Well right now because I left work for a full week without calling in first" Grian said. Scar felt a pang of guilt at that. "Oh yeah, that can't be too good. Sorry" Scar said, that was partly his fault. He had just taken Grian to a random hotel for a few days when the man didn't even have a phone to call in sick or anything. 

"Not your fault, plus he already didn't like me before that. Now he just has a good reason to not like me. He's always given me more paperwork than the rest, don't worry I'm used to it by now" Grian answered, it didn't make Scar feel any better. 

"But you shouldn't be used to it, what if I go and have a talk with him? I'm sure that I can make him listen" Scar suggested, Grian shot up from his relaxed position. He looked at Scar and started shaking his head "No, no, please don't. Don't worry, I will be fine. I've been dealing with him for the past few years, it's fine" 

"A few years? He's been treating you like that for years?" Scar asked, he could feel his blood burning as he imagined what kind of weapon he would use to kill this person. "Yeah, but as I said it's fine. And I don't have work today anyways, come we can have fun today if you have time?" Grian suggested. 

Scar took a deep breath, he wasn't angry at Grian and he didn't want the man to think he was. Instead he forced a smile onto his face. "Of course I have time, I always have time for you" Scar said, he chucked and stood up "What are we going to do?" he asked excitedly. "Well how about we get some breakfast first?" Grian asked. 

"Oh yeah, that sounds like a good idea" Scar said, he had totally forgotten about breakfast. "What do you wanna eat?" Grian asked as he too stood up too, he walked to his kitchen "Uhm I don't know, just anything is fine" Scar replied. 

He knew that he was used to more than most people were and he didn't want to name something that Grian didn't have. And it wasn't like he cared much for fancy foods anyway. "Is toast okay?" Grian asked as he looked through his cabinets. "Yeah of course, do you need any help with that?" 

"Nope, I'm good. You sit back down and relax" Grian said, Scar smiled and did as he was told. He watched as Grian made toast and eggs. "Uhm are you sure I can't help you?" Scar asked, he didn't want to judge Grian but he had watched the man struggle to break an egg before. 

"Yeah I'm sure" Grian said, Scar forced himself to sit back down. He waited until Grian was done and watched his every move. When Grian was done he put the food on plates and brought it over to Scar "Here you go" he said, he handed a plate to Scar with a big smile on his face. He looked so proud of himself and it warmed Scar's heart.  

But then he looked down at his plate right as Grian sat down next to him. He slowly picked up a piece of toast and inspected it "Take a bite" Grian said, Scar smiled nervously but took a bite as requested. The toast tasted… interesting. Scar forced a smile and turned to Grian, holding a thumb up. 

"Do you like it?" Grian asked, Scar nodded "It tastes like something I've never eaten before" Scar answered. "Uhm could I get some water?" Scar asked, Grian stood up "Oh yeah of course" he said, he walked to the kitchen. 

Scar spit the toast out into his hand, he looked around frantically searching for a place to hide it. Grian was about to turn around and walk back to Scar, Scar panicked and put the toast in his pocket. Grinding at the feeling. "Here you go," Grian said, as he handed a glass of water to Scar. 

"Thank you" Scar said as he took a few sips, he watched as Grian took a bite from his food. Grian ate it without a problem, he looked at Scar and saw him staring "What?" he asked. Scar turned his attention back to his own food "Nothing, nothing" 

They ate, or well Grian ate, in silence as they watched tv. Scar dared to take a few bites, it would be suspicious if he didn't eat at all. He only ate the toast though, he was not touching the egg. No, no, he did not feel like getting salmonella or something. 

When Grian was done, Scar turned to him and asked "Hey, why don't we go shopping or something?" Grian's little apartment was great but Scar needed an excuse to not be in here during lunchtime. Grian nodded "Sounds fun, let me get ready" He said, then he stood up, his eyes fell onto Scar's mostly full plate. "You didn't eat a lot," Grian observed. 

"No, I uhm wasn't very hungry" Scar said, Grian didn't really look like he believed him but he left the room. Scar stood up the second the door to Grian's bedroom closed. He ran to the kitchen and threw the food into the trash can, throwing some stuff above it so Grian wouldn't see the second he opened the thing. 

He then ran back to the couch to make it look like nothing happened. Scar put the plate on the coffee table and got his phone out. He swiped around on his phone going through the pages his apps were placed on as he waited for Grian to come out of his bedroom. When he did, Scar acted as if he didn't notice. 

"You finished the food?" Grian asked, Scar looked at Grian and then at the plate. "Oh yeah I guess I did. I started grabbing some things from the plate while I was going through my phone" Scar lied, he felt a bit guilty about lying but he didn't want to tell Grian that his baking was bad. 

Grian got a smile on his face and Scar's guilt washed away. "Let's go shopping" Grian said, Scar stood up and grabbed his and Grian's plate. He brought the plates over to the kitchen and placed them on the counter before he went to get his jacket. 

The two of them left the apartment and ran into two other people, Grian's neighbours Scar assumed. "Oh hello Grian" One of the people said "Good morning" the other said. Grian put a smile on his face "Hello guys" he said, the two were now looking at Scar. 

"Who's this?" One of the two asked with a grin on his face, Grian turned to Scar. "Oh yeah, Scar these are Jimmy" Grian started, motioned to the blonde man who waved at Scar, Scar smiled at him. "And Scott, they live in the apartment above me" Grian was now motioning to the man with blue hair "Scott, Jimmy, this is Scar. A friend of mine" 

"Nice to meet you" Scott said, a friendly smile on his face. Jimmy was looking between the two "Friends huh" he said, Scott grabbed his hand and pulled him away "It was nice to meet you Scar, we have to get going now" he said as he quickly dragged Jimmy down the stairs.

Scar watched them until they disappeared with an amused look on his face. The two acted a bit odd, but Scar liked odd so he wasn't complaining. He turned back to Grian "They look nice" he said, Grian let out a sigh but nodded "Yeah, they are" Groan responded. The two of them left the apartment and walked outside. 

They walked to Scar's car, got in, and started driving somewhere. 

Scar didn't know that many places in this town but he did know the way to the shops. They drove around for a little bit before Scar parked the car and they got out. Neither of them really knew where they wanted to go, so they walked in and out of a few stores, just looking around. 

Grian stopped somewhere suddenly. "When I was younger me and my sibling would have to wait hours for our parents to finally be done shopping so we played a game. Both of us searched for the most ugly item that we could find, and put it on. Sometimes we would do a little walk in the clothes and vote on which item was the worst. This thing would get me first place" 

He was standing next to a bright orange shirt with neon green stripes. The shirt had a turtle neck that was neon yellow and two random blue zippers on the sides that lead to nowhere. Scar laughed "You're right, put it on" 

"What, no" Grian said, he let the shirt go. Scar laughed "Come on, you gotta try it on now" Grian looked at him and then at the shirt, a smile appeared on his face "Okay, but only if you put on something just as ugly" Scar looked at the shirt "I don't think something as ugly as that exists but okay" Scar replied. 

"Wait seriously?" Grian asked shocked, Scar laughed in response. Grian was really overestimating how much shame Scar had. "Sure, come let's search around" he said. The two of them ended up finding a shirt that was almost as ugly as the shirt. It was a red shirt with purple letters that said 'Dream big' in the ugliest font Scar had ever seen.

Sometimes opposite colours worked very well together, in this case it did not. The shirt for some reason only had one sleeve, at first Scar had thought that it was broken but the others looked the same. Maybe it was fashion Scar didn't understand, maybe someone who couldn't see had designed the shit. 

Maybe the maker accidentally cut off the sleeve, didn't have time to sew it back on and decided to add it to all the other shirts too. He couldn't really think of another reason that someone would do that.

Scar and Grian put the shirts on and looked each other in the eye before they burst out laughing. They took a picture and quickly took the clothes off again. After that they searched for the ugliest items in every store they went into. 

They ended up doing that until it was lunchtime, at that point they found a nice little restaurant and ate some lunch together. Scar paid for both of them, scanning his credit card before Grian could even get his own out. They saw a movie after that and walked around for a little while longer, Grian talked about all the buildings in the city, explaining when they had been made and what he would change about them.

It was nice listening to the man speak and before they knew it was starting to get dark outside.

The two quickly made his way back to Scar's car, Scar felt tired but tired in a good way. He looked over at Grian in his passenger seat and could help but smile at seeing the man happy. Soon they arrived back at Grian's apartment. 

Grian opened his door and invited Scar in "I can make us some dinner" Grian suggested, Scar smiled but quickly said "No, no, you already made breakfast. I can make us some dinner" Luckily Grian agreed and Scar went to work. 

He ignored the way Grian was watching him, making jokes as he worked. They ate dinner while watching tv but eventually it was time for Scar to leave. It was late and he knew that Grian had work the next day. So when dinner was done they said their goodbyes and Scar drove back to his own house.

Once he was there he walked upstairs ignoring the looks that his friends were giving him after he had told them that he had been with Grian the whole day. The previous day he had simply said that he would pick Grian up from work but that he would be right back.

The fact that he ended up spending not just the night but also the whole next day didn't go over his friends heads. Scar just walked to his room, they could think what they wanted to think. In his bedroom he showered and changed into his pajamas before he let himself fall onto his bed. The memories of the day floated over him.

For the first time in a few days he fell asleep without a problem. 

Chapter Text

For the first time since he had returned to his boring life Grian didn't wake up to his alarm. It would have been nice, if he hadn't woken up to a nightmare instead. And not just a nightmare, it was the worst nightmare that he had ever had. A nightmare that made him wake up with labored breathing and covered in a cold sweat. 

A nightmare that caused his heart to speed up even after he realized that none of it had been real. One of those nightmares that would be following him for a long, long time. Of course Grian had had nightmares before, but until now they never were about dying. Sure, he had been kidnapped in his dreams but in those dreams nobody was ever murdered. 

In the nightmare he had been waiting for Scar at his job, his phone in hand. On the phone he could see the last messages that he had sent to Scar, telling the man that he was done with work. Hours passed in the dream but Scar had never arrived. After a while of waiting Grian had started walking home thinking he could do it. 

He ineffably came to the place where he had been kidnapped from, he had closed his eyes and kept walking. He was doing it, he was actually conquering his fears! Dream Grian forgot about his fears for just a second, feeling proud instead. But all of that had come crashing down a second later when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

When he turned around and opened his eyes he was looking directly at the person who had kidnapped him. The person that had brought Grian into this whole mess, the person that was the reason that Grian was too scared to walk passed a part of a stupid sidewalk.  

The man took Grian again, easily taking him by his hands and dragging him along. He didn't care for anything Grian did. Grian kicked, hit, bit and screamed but nothing had worked, nobody came to his rescue. Grian was thrown back into the windowless van and for a few terrifying minutes everything had been completely black.

In the dream the drive was always short, there was no time for Grian to think. Within seconds the doors opened again and Grian was roughly taken out of the van before he was thrown into the room he knew all too well. The room where the kidnapper had taken him the first time that he had been taken. 

That part of the dream had been quite normal, what wasn't normal was that Grian wasn't alone in the room. There was someone else in the room. In the middle of the room stood a chair, someone was sitting in the chair. The person wasn't moving and Grian couldn't see who they were because they had a sheet covering most of their body including their face.

"Hello?" Grian had asked but the person hadn't responded. Grian had taken a few steps towards them and called out again, but just like last time had been given no response. Something inside of him screamed at him to get the hell away from whoever it was. But another part of him wanted him to take the sheet off, wanted to see who it was. 

Grian remembered thinking that the person had also been kidnapped. That he and the person could come up with an escape plan together. Two brains were better than one. Grian remembered imaging himself beneath that sheet, sitting in a room knowing that you weren't alone but not being able to see who else was in the room.

Maybe the person was tied up, maybe they were gagged. 

With those thoughts in mind he had ripped the sheet off the person, only to drop the sheet to the ground in shock when it was revealed who was beneath the sheet. Scar. Scar sitting on the chair in the room, his arms and legs strapped to the chair. But that wasn't what caught Grian's eyes, that wasn't what terrified him most.

What terrified him most was the blood covering the man's whole face. Grian took a step back, seeing that the blood wasn't just on his face. It was everywhere. Scar's whole body was covered in wounds, wounds were the blood was still streaming from. 

His eyes were closed, Grian wanted him to wake up, to get both of them out of here. He tried to call out for the man but no words would leave his mouth. Slowly Grian had checked Scar's pulsepoint, only to discover that there wasn't one. The man's skin had been cold and as motionless as the rest of the man. 

In pure silence Grian had pulled his hand away, the only sound in the room was his own breathing. The horrifying realization made Grian want to throw up. There was no other breathing, Scar was actually dead. Grian looked down at his hand, the hand that he had used to check the man's pulsepoint, the hand that was now covered in blood.

Scar's blood. 

"That's gonna happen to you too if you don't behave. Now you know the process, don't worry I'll make sure that the next person who buys you won't be as nice" The kidnapper had said before closing the door with a loud bang. Grian heard the clear sounds of the door being locked, he was sure that the lock was made to make that much sound.

Even if it was just to make the trapped people learn that they really were trapped. That there truly was no way out. Grian had been left alone in a locked room with Scar's corpse.

Grian had woken up after that, tears streaming down his face as his mind kept replaying the nightmare. The image of Scar's dead body kept returning to his mind. It scared the living shit out of Grian, it made him want to run to Scar's mansion in his pajamas without any shoes.

But knew that he couldn't do that, so instead he dragged his body out of bed and into the living room. He let himself fall onto his couch and checked the time, letting out a sigh when he noticed that it was only five am.  This meant that Grian still had at least an hour until he had to be awake, an hour until he was forced to get ready. 

He had to go to work again today, after his two free days it was time to get back there. He wondered what his boss would have waiting for him today. Those thoughts did not cheer him up in the slightest bit, Grian quickly tried to think about something happier. He eventually settled on the past two days, the past two days that he had gotten to spent with Scar.

After they had left the hotel Grian had been pretty sure that they would never speak again. But that couldn't he further from the truth. Scar and him had spent the last two hanging out. The first day they had gone into the city, they had shopped, gotten lunch at a fancy restaurant, watched a movie and eventually walked around as the sun went down. 

The second day Scar had arrived late in the afternoon, Grian told him that he was planning on cleaning and instead of leaving him alone Scar offered help. They had done some grocery shopping before they got started. It was insane how much dust could gather in a house after not being inside for a week. The day was well spent even if Grian hated the cleaning. 

Grian felt a bit guilty making Scar help maintain his house but the man wouldn't hear it. For a rich guy Scar was a pretty good cleaner, and he had been even better company. Usually Grian hated cleaning, it was exhausting and a day after you did it it was like it never happened. But Scar somehow made it tolerable. 

It had been great.

But it had only been hours ago, it had been hours since Grian had seen Scar. And he already wanted to see the man again. Grian let out a sigh, he felt exhausted but he knew that his brain wouldn't allow him to get back to sleep now. Not after the nightmare he'd just had. 

Grian turned his tv on, he searched for the most childish, mindless show that he could find. He just needed to watch something that didn't make him think too much. Something that would take his mind off that image, that image of Scar covered in blood.

He ended up finding a Disney movie to watch, Grian missed Scar and this was the closest he could be to Scar. Grian ended up turning on the lion king, knowing that there was a character in that movie named Scar. The movie was a good distraction, before Grian knew it it was a reasonable time to get up and he had to start getting ready for work. 

Grian turned the movie off and forced himself to get ready for work. When he was ready he opened the door and started walking, he walked past the bushes, past the place where he had been kidnapped. He could feel his heart rate going up a little as he walked by. 

But he was able to walk past it again, if only he could get by it at night. Grian soon arrived at his work, greeted Gregg once again, got a greeting back that included the word Brian and walked to his office. Just like all the other days, a stack of papers were waiting for him. Grian just sighed and got to work, he had been expecting it. 

He worked for the whole day and eventually texted Scar that he was done late in the evening. He waited outside for Scar to pick him up. Scar drove Grian home and they said their goodbyes. That night Grian had a lot of trouble falling asleep, whenever he closed his eyes he would either see the face of the kidnapper or Scar tied up in that chair.

Both of these images made Grian open his eyes immediately, it filled him with fear.

Grian ended up not falling asleep at all that night, instead he walked back into his living room and turned the tv on just like he had done that morning. He watched tv the whole night, going from watching spongebob to watching bluey. He had not expected to like bluey as much as did, he had just been too lazy to change the channel. 

But he ended up just watching bluey for the rest of the night. Tv shows for children made the middle of the night way less scary. Grian laid on his couch as the sun started to light up his apartment. Eventually his alarm went off and he had to get ready for work.

He put his clothes on, did his hair, put new contacts in, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth and went to work. The day was almost identical to the day that Grian had had before, he walked to work, greeted Gregg, walked to his office and got to work. 

Hours later he was done, texted Scar that he was done and waited outside for Scar. Scar came and brought Grian home, the two chatted as Scar brought Grian home. It made Grian feel better but the second he was alone, his thoughts started being annoying again. 

They started screaming at him about the chances of getting kidnapped. It started screaming at him about the people with the tattoo's in the hotel coming after him. And about Jessica coming after him, Grian had been stupid enough to tell her where he lived. 

She didn't know his exact address but that didn't matter, she knew in what town he lived, the street that he lived in. Grian had no doubt that that was all she needed to find him. He just kept repeating that if she wanted him dead, he would be dead already so that must mean that she didn't want Grian. 

Grian watched some more tv, and then went to bed. But again, he couldn't fall asleep. He hadn't slept the night before so he had to try to sleep now. But his body didn't get that message as it didn't allow him to fall asleep. It was annoying, Grian was tired, he was exhausted but he still couldn't fall asleep. 

He laid in bed for hours, twisting and turning. Whenever he came close to falling asleep his mind would wake him up again. He would immediately feel like he was falling and jump back up, waking himself aggressively. His body felt awful, his eyes hurting from the amount he was rubbing them. 

After hours and hours of trying Grian got up from his bed and walked to the couch, giving up. He let himself fall to the couch and turned the tv on again. He ended up watching tv again until his alarm went off, one more day before Grian had a day off again. 

One more day, he could do one more day.

Grian just had to get through this day he would be free for a few days again. His schedule was now all messed up thanks to the time he had missed. His brain wasn't working either, nothing seemed to make sense anymore. He just knew that on the days that his alarm would go off he had to force himself to work. No matter how bad he felt. 

Taking a sick day now would be useless. It would only result in him getting more work, that was something that Grian couldn't afford. He was pretty sure that if he got more work than he already had that he might as well just start living in his office. At least if he did that he wouldn't have to walk past that spot of the sidewalk ever again.

Grian got ready for work and left. He got there, greeted Gregg with a tired wave and started working. A pile of papers waiting for him just like they always were. Grian worked for hours, but he felt his eyes getting heavy after a while. 

He fought sleep for hours until his head felt too heavy, without realizing it his eyes closed. His head slowly fell to his desk and his whole body relaxed as he let himself fall asleep. It was the first time that he had been able to sleep in days, but it was also the one time he couldn't let himself fall asleep. 

But it seemed like his brain had forgotten that important piece of information. like it had forgotten that he was at work, forgot that he was supposed to be working and forgot that this was definitely not a place for him to be asleep. His brain only seemed to realize this when he was woken up. 

Grian was woken up by a loud sound around him, he jumped up and looked around. He saw his office and remembered where he was. But when he looked around he also saw his boss standing in his doorway. Grian had no idea how much time passed before he woke up again, but his boss was happy to point it out for him.

"2 hours? You think that you can just go to sleep for two hours. What am I even paying you for?" Mr Long yelled, Grian was too tired to respond. He barely even understood what his boss was yelling about. He just stared at his boss as he continued "Are you that bored Mr Moon? If you're bored I can help you with something to do" 

He stormed out of Grian's office, Grian was confused for a second before his brain loaded and the words that his boss had spoken made sense to him. He was going to get Grian even more work. It didn't take long before his boss returned with said paperwork. The man was predictable even to Grian's sleep-deprived brain. 

"Here you go, now don't fall asleep again. If you fall asleep again you can get used to going to sleep on a park bench because you will be fired. Now finish this in the next two days" Mr Long said he dropped the paperwork on Grian's desk. "Sir I- I can't possibly do all of this work in one day" Grian objected. 

"You better figure it out then, I guess you will just have to come in on your day off" Mr Long said, Grian stood up. his whole body seemed to come together to tell him that that was a bad idea. But Grian didn't listen. "Y-you can't ask me to do that" He argued. 

Mr Long turned around "And you can't go to sleep while you're at work Mr Moon. And you can't just disappear from work for a full week. But both of those things happened so you better figure out a way to make this happen too" 

Grian sat back down as Mr Long left the room. Grian rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and went to work again. He was so tired that working was even harder than it usually was. Grian fully zoned out, the only thing that he could do was work. 

He didn't know what time it was, he just knew that he didn't have enough time to finish all of the work. 

Grian eventually was taken out of his trance by someone clearing their throat. Grian turned to face the person, expecting his boss to stand there. He couldn't have been more wrong about that though "Cleo? What are you doing here?" Grian asked as he noticed that it was Cleo standing in his door opening. "Grian, are you okay?" Cleo asked instead of answering Grian's question.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired. But what are you doing here?" he asked. "Grian, it's midnight. Scar got worried when you didn't answer your phone. He couldn't come pick you up so he sent me, come, I'm taking you home" Cleo said, standing next to Grian. Grian looked at his paperwork that still wasn't done. 

"I- I can't yet, there is still work to do. It needs to be done by tomorrow evening, I don't wanna spend my day off here" Grian argued, he tried to get back to work but Cleo literally took the pen out of his hand. They spun him around in his chair and forced him to look at them. "Grian, when was the last time you got any sleep?" 

"I don't know, I haven't been sleeping well. But that doesn't matter, I have work to finish" Grian said, he reached for his pen but Cleo pulled away. "Grian no, it's time to go home. It's time to go to bed. Your work can wait" 

"No, no, I'll get fired, I can't get fired, my parents were so happy when I got this job Cleo. I can't lose this job, I can't disappoint them" Grian said, Cleo looked between Grian's work and Grian "Do you actually think that you'll be able to finish all of this tonight?"  

Grian looked at the pile of work and let out a sigh "N-no, but I have to try" 

"Grian, you did try. You're here at midnight when everyone else has already gone home. You've been working harder than anyone else in this building. But now it's time to go home and rest" Cleo said. Grian got another pen out of his drawer and started working again. Cleo rolled their eyes and picked Grian up like he was a sack of potatoes.

Grian wanted to protest but he was too tired to do so. She carried Grian outside and put him in the car, buckling his seat belt for him. Grian tried to get out of the car but the door was locked "Seriously, child lock?" he asked, frustrated. "If you're gonna act like a child I'm gonna treat you like a child" Cleo responded as she started the car.

"I am not acting like a child" Grian argued as he crossed his arms. Cleo just side eyed him with a smile on her face "Sure, you're not" they said. The rest of the car ride was silent, Grian could feel himself falling asleep. 

The car ride also somehow felt longer than usual, he looked out of the window. "Wait, where are we?" Grian asked, he didn't recognize the area that they were in. "I said that I was taking you home, I didn't tell you to which home I was taking you. You're going to Scar's house" Cleo responded. 

Grian wanted to protest but his brain couldn't come up with a good reason to protest. After a while Grian felt his eyes close and he finally fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Scar sat in a boring meeting, the thing had been going on for what felt like hours. In reality it had only been like thirty minutes. Scar hated the fact that they held these meetings this late at night, he understood why. Hell, he had been one of the people that voted for a late night meeting. They were easier, there were less people that could see them and Scar usually didn't have anything to do at night. 

Neither did the people that he was in a meeting with. Most of them had normal lives outside of all of this, it was easier for them to get here in the middle of the night. But for the first time in a long time Scar actually had something that he needed to do, something that he wanted to do. 

Check up on Grian. 

During this whole meeting that was the only thing Scar could think about, he honestly didn't even know what the rest was talking about. Scar was worried about Grian, it was already past midnight and the man still hadn't texted Scar saying that he was done with work. Right before the meeting had started Scar had quickly sent the man a few messages but Grian hadn't responded.

Scar was scared that something had happened. What if Grian's boss had done something to him? What if Grian's phone was broken and he couldn't contact Scar? What if he was trapped in his office, hidden beneath his desk too scared to go outside just like the first time Scar had gone to pick him up. Or worse what if Grian had walked home and something had happened. 

The only thing Scar wanted at that moment was to see Grian, he needed to know that the man was okay. But right when he was about to leave the meeting had started, for the next few hours Grian would be trapped in his meeting room talking about God knows what. 

Sure, these meetings were important, Scar knew that. But at this moment Grian was more important to him. Fortunately Cleo had offered to go check on Grian for Scar. So now Scar was anxiously waiting for Cleo to return with news about Grian.  He couldn't stop thinking about all the things that could  have happened, about everything that could be wrong. 

Scar attempted to focus back on the meeting, trying to ignore the thoughts that had taken his mind over. It seemed like the conversation was about a possible sighting of a member from black viper. The whole group had been searching for the members, trying to figure out at least one place where they were located. 

But it sounded like none of their attempts had really ended up at something useful. 

Only a few minutes passed before Scat's attention was pulled away from the meeting again. He hadn't been able to forget about Grian in those few minutes but he was actually paying attention. This time it wasn't his fault that he was being distracted though. The thing that distracted him now was Cleo walking into the room. 

Every head in the room turned to face them, the whole room went silent. "Cleo Ombiez, you can not just barge into a meeting like that" Bdubs said, a childish grin on his face. 

Cleo ignored him and turned to Scar instead "I need to talk to you" Cleo said, another person in the meeting turned to Scar, obviously annoyed by this interruption. "You can not just leave Scar, this is a very important meeting" They said, Scar nodded his head. The man was right, this meeting was important. 

Scar turned to Cleo "He's kinda right, I can't just leave. Is it important?" he asked, he wanted to ask what this was about but he knew that this meeting was important. He knew that it was important that he was there. He had screwed up his last mission, he had given black viper a sign that people were after them. 

Black viper had been extra careful since the little incident in the hotel had happened. Scar and the group of people that he worked with, the group of people that had been working quite hard in taking this organisation down, the group of people that he liked to call his friends. They had to fix this, he couldn't walk away from a meeting in which they were trying to fix something that he had caused. 

"It's about him," Cleo said.

Scar looked Cleo in their eyes, no other words were needed. She was talking about Grian, this was about Grian. Scar stood up, already walking towards the door when the sounds of protest came from the other people in the room.

Screw what he had just said about needing to be in this meeting. He was out! "Scar! You can not just leave" Someone called after him, without turning around Scar said "Watch me" he could see the dirty looks and shakes of heads from people at his action. With an annoyed sigh and a roll of his eyes Scar turned around. 

"My apologies, something has come up and I really need to leave" Scar said, not waiting for any responses before quickly leaving the room. Cleo led Scar over the hallway, they were standing right in front of the door now. Far away from the meeting and the people that were most likely quite mad at Scar for leaving.  What's going on with Grian?" Scar asked as they walked. 

"He's kinda asleep in the car" Cleo answered, that- that was not what Scar had expected her to say. "What, why?" Scar asked, confused. He was glad that Grian was there, but why was he there? Cleo was supposed to take him to his house, just like Scar usually did. Had she kidnapped him? 

 "He was still working when I got to his office, his boss had given him piles and piles of work. He didn't want to leave because he wanted to keep working soooo I picked him up and dragged him to the car. Didn't seem like a good idea to leave him home alone so took him here" Cleo responded, motioning to the car. 

Cleo and Scar had been walking while Cleo explained, there parked right in front of the door, Scar could see Grian asleep in the passenger's seat. The man was curled up in the seat, his head at an angle that couldn't be comfortable. A sigh of relief left Scar when he saw Grian, Grian safe and sound in front of him. 

Scar walked closer to the door, before he opened it he turned back to Cleo "Thank you" he said, before he opened the door. From where he was standing he could hear soft snores coming from the man, a smile came to Scar's face when he noticed this. He leaned over and unbuckled Grian's seatbelt, when he did he noticed something else. 

Grian looked exhausted.

Worry floated through Scar at the Grian's pale skin, red ears and the blue beneath his eyes. Of course he had noticed that Grian looked a bit more tired the day before but he didn't realize that it was this bad. The fact that Scar was able to see this in the dim light meant that everyone around Grian must have seen it too, including his boss. The boss that from the sounds of it had only given Grian more work. 

Scar carefully picked Grian up, making sure to not wake the man. Although at the moment it looked like the man could sleep through a canon going off. Scar walked back towards his house where Cleo was holding the door open for him, a smile on their face. But Scar could see that she too was worried about the man in his arms. 

He carefully carried Grian inside and up the stairs before placing him in the bedroom that he had been in before. Cleo walked with him, opening doors whenever it was needed and shushing the people they walked by with just one look. Once Grian was laying down Scar took his shoes off and covered him in a blanket. He smiled, knowing that Grian was safe before he turned back to Cleo. 

"His boss huh?" Scar asked, making fists out of his hands. It was time that Scar was going to have a conversation with that boss of Grian. "Yeah, that guy really doesn't like Grian. He apparently told Grian that he would have to work on his day off to finish his work today. Grian was barely through half of it when I came" Cleo responded. 

"Watch Grian for me, will you? If he wakes up, don't let him leave. He really looks like he needs his sleep" Scar said, once he saw a nod of confirmation from Cleo he started walking out of the room. "What are you going to do?" Cleo asked from the doorway, although it sounded like she knew exactly what he was planning to do.

"I'm gonna have a little talk with Grian's boss" Scar answered, he exited the house, ignoring the questioning looks from the other people in his house as he passed them. He didn't have time to give an explanation. Scar quickly made it to his car, getting in and closing the door a bit more harshly than necessity. 

Soon he was on the road on the way to Mr Long's house. The night that Grian had first fallen asleep in his car he had done some research on the man. Fully prepared to do something about the way he was treating Grian. But Grian had told Scar not to do anything, not to say anything, so he didn't. Until now, now Mr Long had taken things a step too far. 

Scar knew that he had to do something, even if Grian didn't want him to. Someone had to say something, someone had to do something, this couldn't go on like this. Scar drove as fast as he could, and soon he made it to the place that Mr Long called home. The house was pretty big, it looked to have four flours and a pool outside. 

His own house was built to fit a certain number of people, almost all the rooms inside were always filled. Scar had never cared much for space, he didn't like having wasted space. But it looked like Mr Long didn't have that problem, Scar guessed that at least half the rooms in the house would be empty. Such a waste of space. 

He got out of the car, hid his face with a mask and walked towards the house. He moved as a shadow as he made his way to the walls before he climbed up and started looking through the windows in search for the piece of shit that had hurt Scar's- Grian. The person that had hurt Grian.

Eventually Scar found the man, laying on his couch casually watching some tv. 

Scar smiled beneath his mask before climbing through an open window. His footsteps were soundless as he made his way to the man, his eyes on the back of the man's bald head. Only when Scar was a step away from the man did he make himself known, taking a step that made actual sound. Mr Long's reaction was instant, jumping up from the couch and turning around to face Scar.

Who are you?" he asked, sounding more annoyed than scared. Scar didn't answer, instead he just took a few steps towards the man. "What are you doing?" Mr Long asked, taking a few careful steps back. "Do come closer" He commended, but Scar didn't listen. Eventually the man hit the wall behind him, trapping him with Scar right in front of him. 

"U-ah don't come any closer" He said, now there was a tremble in his voice. Fear. Sweet, sweet fear. Scar didn't listen, he used a hand to pick the man up by his collar. Instantly the man's hands tried to get him to let go, tried to push Scar away. But none of his attempts did anything, Scar's smile grew wider. The man might be rich, but couldn't defend himself with that money now. 

Scar pressed the man up against the wall. "I'm just a friend of one of your employee's" Scar answered, he used his other hand to choke the man. The man used his hands to try to remove Scar's, desperation in his eyes. "Oh no, no, no, you're going to listen to me" Scar started.

"I know some things about you, some things that you wouldn't want getting out." Scar lied, he knew that Mr Long was illegally making Grian do all that work. But there was a big chance that Grian would lose his job if that came out. Either because of those useless coworkers of his or because Mr Long could just pay someone to let him go scotchfree. 

"I know, for example, that you have been giving one of your employees way more work than the others. You see I don't like it when people use their power against someone, it makes me kind of mad" Scar said, applying more pressure to the man's neck as he spoke. "Now, you and I are going to have a little problem if you don't quit that. Understood?" Scar asked, he wished that he could actually hurt this guy. 

But seeing the fear in his eyes was also pretty great.

The man nodded frantically, struggling to breath. Scar let out a chuckle "Good, also that one employee that you gave piles and piles of work to finish on his day off" Scar started, the man looked horrified "Oh yes I know about that, I know everything about you. I've been watching you" Again a lie, but Mr Long didn't know that.

"Anyway, that guy, you're gonna give him way longer to work on that. You're gonna stop giving him much more work than the others, you're gonna treat him fairly. You're gonna make sure that he doesn't work a minute longer than that he is scheduled to" 

"Now, if you call the cops on me or don't change your behavior, I will return. And don't think that I won't be able to find you, don't think that you can hide from me, don't think that the police are going to be able to protect you. I will find you and I will kill you" Scar threatened, looking straight into the man's eyes even if the man couldn't see his eyes.

Then Scar dropped the man to the floor and left the room, resisting the urge to kill him. "Oh and that employee is not coming into work tomorrow" Scar said, not turning to face the man. After that Scar left, slowly walking away knowing that Mr Long wouldn't dare to do it. 

Scar enjoyed the sound of Mr Long's trying to catch his breaths, the sounds of him couching as he walked away. Then Scar got back into his car, pulling the mask off. Maybe he wasn't being subtle with what he had said to Mr Long, but at the moment Scar didn't care about that. All he cared for was that Grian would actually be treated fairly. 

Soon Scar was back in his own house, making his way back to the room Grian was in. There he saw Cleo sitting on the couch, looking over Grian just like they had promised. Scar took a seat next to her, his eyes on the still sleeping Grian. 

"Did you kill him?" Cleo asked without looking at Scar, no emotion in their voice. "No, Grian already told me to not talk to him. I don't think he would appreciate it if I killed him" Scar answered, Cleo stayed silent for a second before she said "You should have killed him" before she stood up and walked out of the room. "Nobody should treat someone like this"

She paused in the doorway and turned to Scar for a second  "Take good care of him" she said, motioning to Grian. Scar smiled and nodded "You know I will" 

Cleo fully left, closing the door behind them. Scar turned his attention back to Grian, patiently waiting for him to wake up. Eventually he ended up falling asleep, the fear and worry he had been feeling washing away now that he knew that Grian was safe. Of course Scar couldn't be sure that Mr Long would treat Grian fairly, but he really hoped the man would.

For both Grian's and his own well being. 

The next morning Scar woke up long before Grian, blinking himself away on the couch. It had been a while since he had slept without being woken up by a nightmare, it felt nice to be rested. Scar sat up on the couch, he knew that he should probably change out of his suit now that he had slept in it but the second his eyes fell on Grian he didn't care about that anymore. 

Grian was still deep asleep, Scar didn't want to leave him.

He sat on the couch and scrolled through his phone, it was boring but helped pass the time. Every once in a while Scar would look up at Grian, just to make sure that Grian was still there, that he was still asleep. The only thing that broke Scar out of his little routine of looking at his phone, looking at Grian, looking at his phone was the door opening.

Scar turned to face the door, ready to attack whoever dared entering. But he relaxed when he saw that it was just Impulse. 

"Oh you're awake, Grian's still in the land of dreams I see. Would you want some breakfast?" Impulse asked quietly. Scar only now realized how hungry he was "Yeah, sure. Thank you" Scar answered, Impulse nodded and left the room but returned twenty minutes later with some breakfast for Scar. "Could you-" Scar started. 

But Impulse finished his sentence for him "Bring some breakfast for Grian when he wakes up? Of course" Scar smiled at him, Impulse returned his smile before he left the room. Leaving Scar and Grian alone again. 

It took six more hours before Grian finally opened his eyes, when Scar noticed this he stood up, taking a few steps towards the man. Grian looked around the room before his eyes landed on Scar. He rubbed his eyes "What are- where am- What's going on?" Grian asked, sleep still clearly in his voice. 

"Take it easy, Cleo picked you up from your work yesterday around midnight. You fell asleep on the car ride here" Scar explained, Grian sat up fully "What- What time is it? I have to get to work" Grian said, panic in his voice. He threw his blanket off of him and tried to get out of the bed but Scar stopped him. 

"Don't worry about that, it's your day off" Scar said, he pushed Grian to sit back down on the bed before gently covering him with the blanket again. "No, no, I have to go in today. I have some work that I couldn't finish yesterday, it needs to be done by tonight" Grian said, he tried to get back up but Scar kept his hands on his shoulders. 

"No, don't worry. Today is your day off so you will have your day off. Now, what's going on? you look exhausted" Scar asked, trying to change the subject. Grian avoided Scar's eyes, telling Scar that something was indeed wrong. This exhaustion wasn't just caused by his job. 

"I- I just haven't been sleeping great" Grian answered honestly. Scar sat down on the bed next to Grain "Why's that?" he asked, his voice soft and understanding. Grian was silent for a few seconds before he answered "Just, you know stress" he answered. "Oh, anything I can do to help?" Scar asked, wanting nothing more than to help Grian. 

"You're already doing enough by driving me home after work. Now could you please just take me to work? I really can not miss another day after I left for a week" Grian said, trying to leave the bed again. Scar pulled Grian back before he could leave the bed, he made the man sit back down and wrapped an arm around Grian. Preventing him from leaving the bed. 

"You can't miss a day of work when you're not supposed to be in anyway. Now what do you want for breakfast?" Scar asked, trying to change the topic again. He didn't want to tell Grian that he had talked to his boss after Grian had told him not to. 

"I-" Grian started, but Scar interrupted him "Pancakes? Oh that sounds like a great idea. Here let me just text Impulse that" Scar said, taking his phone out of his pocket and starting to text Impulse. "Scar, I really appreciate you but I have to get to-" Grian started. 

But Scar interrupted him again "Sorry, do you want whipped cream on the pancakes?" Scar asked. "What's that kind of question? Of course I want whipped cream on my pancakes. Who wouldn't want- But, no wait, I really need to get to" Grian protested, Scar hummed in response.

"What about blueberries, do you want blueberries on your pancakes?" Scar asked, there was no way he was letting Grian out of his sight. Even if he had to physically hold the man down. "Scar" Grian said, Scar looked up from his phone "I have to get to work" Grian said, Scar placed his phone down and took his hands in his, he needed Grian to understand this.

"No, no you don't. This is your day off and you better accept that I'm not letting you leave. You look exhausted even after you slept for like fourteen hours. Today you're gonna rest whether you want to or not. Now, do you want blueberries on your pancakes or not?" Scar asked, picking his phone back up. 

Grian let out a defeated sigh "I- yes please" he said, Scar was glad. It looked like Grian was accepting that he wouldn't be going to work today. "It will be right up" Scar informed Grian, placing his phone on the nightstand now that he didn't need it anymore. It didn't take long before Impulse walked into the room with some breakfast for Grian and some lunch for Scar. 

"Here you go, let me know if you want anything else" Impulse said as he handed the plates to Scar and Grian. "Thank you Impulse" Grian and Scar said in unison. "No problem guys" Impulse said to Grian and Scar before he turned to Grian "Get some rest today, you look tired" 

Grian turned to Scar "Do you have something to do with this or do I look really really bad?" he asked, Scar chuckled "You don't look bad, you just look tired.So breakfast and then you're going back to sleep mister" Scar said, taking a bite out of his own food. They were gonna have a lazy day today, Scar was gonna make sure of it. 

Grian took a bite out of his pancake "Okay mom" he said sarcastically. Scar just rolled his eyes in response and continued eating his lunch. "I'm gonna leave you two love birds alone now" Impulse said before he left the room. Grian and Scar ignored him for now, the food was more important 

When they were done eating they watched movies until Grian fell asleep again. Scar felt bad about lying to Grian about talking to his boss behind his back. But one look at Grian's peaceful face made him forget about all his guilt. It felt like he had done the right thing, even if Grian might not agree with that thought.