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Grian placed his bed down against the hard deepslate wall. It was well after midnight, right before Trivia Bot would come and test their knowledge of the world he and his friends were living in. They all decided to sleep in a perfect line, as somewhat of an experiment to see if they could create a giant crater.
Grian started preparing himself for bed, taking off unnecessary items but keeping them generally close in case of emergencies. This left him empty handed without his clunky armour on. He sat on his bed listening to his friends that were on the other side of the thick wall of deepslate they were separated by, the walls allowed privacy to settle in, although anyone could hear most of the things that happened. The long narrow corridor increased the reverberation of sound too, rest would be harder, especially if someone got up to something at night or someone snored way too noisily.
He looked back at Gem and Ren, both were also mining their own small niche in the deepslate corridor. Then, he noticed Scar was mining extra space next to the Grian. The blonde man raised an eyebrow. "Scar? What on Earth are you doing?" He guessed that Scar would put his bed next to Grian's, which seemed a little bit intimate considering they were currently in the Life Series.
Grian rolled to face his right, looking up at Scar with absolute confusion. It was uncommon for Scar or Grian to ever show affection during the games, with the exception of Third Life and a few other occasions, the pair never romantically interacted inside of the Life Series. This was probably due to the violent nature and the need to always keep yourself safe, leaving no time to spend with other people.
He glanced down at Scar's Christmas sweater, poppies and lilacs. Those same flowers. Back in Third Life, when Scar turned red, as a plea towards Grian, he had given him those exact flowers, begging Grian to stay by his side. Grian's vision began to blur at that memory, everything that had happened came flooding back into his mind, the 'prank', pizza, the cactus fight, everything. Grian's face winced at how Scar had looked back when they had fought, tears welling in both of their faces whilst they fought to the death. Trying not to think about it again, Grian wiped off the tears that were forming in his eyes and took a deep breath.
The jolly man beside him faced towards Grian and said, "Oh Grian, we're going to be sleeping next to each other, right?"
Grian was caught off guard, he hesitated so that he could let himself think about it.
Suddenly, messages started pouring in the chat of other lifers saying they were in bed already. Grian knew that they would become more unhinged and impatient the longer they had to wait for everyone to get into bed. Especially since it was the final, he did not want anyone to go crazy or mad during the final battle, which was bound to occur sooner than he thought. It would be rude to shoo Scar away or make him sleep somewhere else anyways. Since he did enjoy the company of the other man, it was better to let him be with Grian rather than making him sleep on top of metres and metres of snow anyways.
He accepted it. The warmth of another person in his bed might ease the stress (more like distract) of having to deal with the insurmountable amount of trivia that would soon come. Grian chuckled awkwardly for a bit, then nodded his head. "Sure, whatever is fine with you, I guess."
Oh yeah. There still was Trivia Bot. After appearing back in Nice Life, following its first introduction during Wild Life. Scar had always dreaded the irritating trivia that he was given by the robot. He would often make violent threats towards Trivia Bot when he had gotten the question wrong.
Scar placed his bed down, directly next to Grian's, the dark black of Scar's bed contrasting with Grian's white bed. Scar prepared himself for bed as well, stretching his limbs and then falling into the soft mattress. By then, Grian's face was turning a bright shade of deep red. The closeness of it all felt overwhelming for Grian. He had not done this in a while. The pair pulled up their own blankets just under their chest and tucked themselves in.
A few moments passed without much happening, clearly there was still some time left before Trivia Bot came to haunt them with its strange questions—someone was probably having trouble finding a bed. Scar began closing the gap between him and Grian, inviting Grian to sleepily huddle with him between their shared bed. Scar placed his arm over his partner beside him. Grian inched closer, feeling Scar's warm breath sticking to his skin. It felt nicer and more comfortable like this, the cool air of the underground and Winter seemingly disappearing with every long second that passed.
Scar and Grian looked directly into each other, Grian studied Scar's complex face, his emerald eyes, his imperfect nose, his scarred skin and particularly his mouth. Scar on the other hand, stared deeply back at Grian with nothing but pure love. Grian's arms wrapped around Scar's neck, and he closed the empty space between them, pulling himself up and onto Scar's left side. He pressed his lips on Scar's dry lips softly. A warm feeling of passion, love and connection spread between the two, making Grian's whole body ache with desperation, for more of Scar's love. Scar's hand stroked the blonde's loose and messy curls as their mouths parted from each other.
"Jeez...you're really good at this," Scar whispered in a low voice. Grian nodded and grinned at the compliment, rubbing the top of Scar's head in deep appreciation.
It had not been a few mere seconds since they had stopped kissing when Scar went in for another kiss, the pair continuing to indulge in each other's intense feelings that they mutually shared. This time, it went deeper, their lips sinking in further. Grian slightly nibbled on the other's bottom lip and looked intensely back at Scar, whose eyes desperate and tired, just like Grian's. Scar continued to fiddle with Grian's messy pile of hair whilst Grian held Scar firmly in his arms. As Grian caressed Scar, the contact between the both of their lips got messier and careless.
Once they had finished, Grian's head nestled into Scar's neck, sitting snugly under the other's chin. Grian occasionally peppered the side of Scar's neck and collarbone with kisses, keeping his hands wrapped around Scar's upper torso. Scar played with Grian's hair and Christmas sweater, whispering small strung words of affection and praise in Grian's ear.
"I love you," Scar muttered under his breath.
Grian smiled, "Mhm..."
Scar pecked Grian on the forehead with his mouth and closed his eyes, exhausted. Grian shifted his hand to rest on Scar's chest and shut his eyes too.
Nevermind. A cheerful theme song echoed through the deepslate corridor, obviously marking Trivia Bot's arrival for the night. Grian kissed Scar's cheek then parted from the other, leaving Scar between the two beds. Scar wearily rolled away from the middle, still almost fully asleep and onto his side, making sure that the incoming Trivia Bots do not collide. (Who knows what would happen?) Grian immediately sat up soon after, clearly startled and shaken by the loud noise.
He quickly shook Scar in an attempt to keep him awake and alert. Scar's eyes fluttered open to discover Trivia Bot hovering in front of him. The trivia question soon came after.
Is it possible to spawn a Snow Golem by placing the blocks upside down?
Grian scratched his head, desperately searching through his brain to find anything that could pose as an answer. He never tried it, he did not really know much about snow golem mechanics, especially block-placing orientation. With a sigh of defeat, he picked 'no'. Surely it was impossible, right? He remembered Gem telling him about how block placement was so specific but could not put a finger on what she was particularly talking about. Grian frowned upon the result. Clearly he had underestimated the amount of possible ways to summon one of those icy creatures.
Scar rubbed his eyes as he thought about the question. He was already sleep deprived, and the only thing he wanted to do now was resume cuddling Grian and sleeping in peace and tranquility before god knows what would come rushing at him. The question echoed in his mind. He looked at Grian, who had already answered, incorrectly of course, as Scar watched a mad Trivia Bot throwing lumps of ashy coal at Grian's face. Scar wiped off a droplet of sweat from the stress of having the need to get the question right. It was a 50/50, surely he could do this. Scar gravitated towards the 'no' button, also thinking that it was highly unlikely that those snowmen did really spawn with pumpkins on their bottoms.
When Trivia Bot computed his answer, anyone could sense Scar's shock and frustration at getting the question wrong. He tensed up, eyebrows furrowing into a shape that somewhat resembled the letter 'v'. He heard Grian pushing himself into Scar's side. Scar's face reddened, as blood rushed into his cheeks. He wrapped an arm around Grian's neck and interlocked fingers with his free hand and Grian's before one last goodnight kiss for them until the sun rose again.
They quickly fell asleep, Scar dreamt of Grian, all the good times they have had together, in Hermitcraft and the Life Series particularly. He thought of how good it felt to have him by his side again, not leaving immediately after they did anything remotely affectionate. The warmth of another person was nice and comforting, away from all the crazy shenanigans of what tomorrow would hold. He hoped that if he survived, the trivia would be easier and that he would get more time to spend with Grian and others.
Grian thought about Scar too, not in the same way that Scar did of him though. After all they had been through, their relationship and connection between each other strained. Grian sighed, remembering the horrible events that happened between the two in the past. At least Scar was here by his side now, but Grian knew deep down that it could not stay this way. They would eventually be forced to get up, say goodbye and depart from one another. It was hard, difficult to think about, even harder to face. He tightened his grip on Scars hand further, he did not want to leave him ever again.
Grian opened his eyes to find Gem standing at the end of his bed, arms crossed and seemingly mildly angry. "You guys need to get a proper room, I and Ren could hear you from the other side," Gem scolded the pair, "I could not rest a bit because I kept on hearing you guys kiss and cuddle."
"These walls are thick Gem, you must be hearing things." Grian sighed.
"Clearly not if you two are holding each other close, god, you could've done this anywhere else. The wall between you and me has holes in it, Grian, the cave echoes." Gem continued to rant on about how noisy they had been. Grian's eyes peered to the right, all that bickering had awoken Scar. "Just get ready, it's probably going to be a long day ahead, but next time, I better not hear you guys again!" Grian pecked Scar on the cheek before rolling out, still allowing Scar to sleep some more.
The corners of Scar's mouth perked up, then he closed his eyes again, allowing himself to rest for just a little bit.