Chapter Text
Martyn never understood what Scott saw in Jimmy. He definitely wasn't going to survive long in these games, he was flighty, reckless, and frankly nowhere near strong enough to win. Scott had spent his time redesigning the front of the canary's house when he could have been doing more productive things. They were all trapped in a death game for voids sake, surely, he had more pressing matters at hand than his "husband's" architecture.
"Husband.." Martyn grumbled to himself, walking into the flower valley and up to Scott's hobbit hole. These two had known each other for a little over a week at most and decided they were married. He didn't understand why he was so upset by the idea. (Quite frankly, he had only met the blue-haired elf just over a week ago himself, there wasn’t any reason this should get to him on any account... So why did it?) He raised his hand and knocked on the wooden door, the elf opening it from the inside soon after.
"What do you think about going to the Nether with me?" Martyn asked, not wasting any time.
Scott crossed his arms and leaned against the oak doorframe, smirking at the mimic. "That depends, are you planning to make ghast sounds the whole time?"
Martyn scoffed out a laugh. Slapping his hand against his chest in feigned offence, "I have no idea what you're on about, I'd never do such a thing to you."
Scott smiled, "Because you know the creeper didn't get me the first time?" A smug voice overtook his usual cool tone as he spoke.
Martyn barked out a laugh, "You can't blame me, I had to try it on everyone!"
Scott shook his head as he chuckled, "I guess that's true, can't leave anything half done, can you?"
"Exactly! But for real though, Nether trip, take it or leave it." Martyn grinned ear to ear, having a guess at what the answer would (hopefully) be.
Scott smiled, bringing his inventory up to make sure he had enough space, and nodded. "I don't see why not, could use some nether wart anyways." The elf stood upright and shut the door behind him. The two of them walked down the short path to the lake, jumped across the stones poking out of the water (one of them jumping across much more gracefully than the other), and traveled through the swirling purple portal.
-
A wave of hot air enveloped them as they emerged from the frame of obsidian. Not exactly having a plan of where to go, Martyn suggested going south to which Scott agreed with a teasing, “After you Martyn,” the two walking along the edge of the netherack cliffs and grabbing any gold nuggets they could find along the way. “There's a fortress over there!” Scott called over his shoulder.
“How far we talking?” The mimic questioned over a crafting table a few blocks behind the elf, as he finished making the second pair of gold boots from the scraps they had collected.
“Across the giant pit..” He sighed, walking over to Martyn to take the armor from him with one hand and gesturing to the large expanse of lava beneath them.
“Oh jeez…” Martyn puts a hand on his hip, and another one just above his eyes to protect them from the ever-present nether glare. “Yeah... I don't know about you, but I think burning in lava is my least favorite way to die.” he looks back to Scott as if to say, ‘What about you?’
“We’d probably be safer just building a bridge.” Scott mused to himself, walking to the edge as he spoke. Before Martyn could say anything in response, the elf was already crouched over the edge, beginning to place basalt blocks.
“A single block? Ok sure.” Martyn carefully walked foreword as the elf in front of him built. He wasn’t clumsy by any means, but it’d be just his luck to trip into a lava lake. Either way, he trusted Scott’s bridging more than his own, and he could watch their backs better from this position anyways. Scott surely realized the amount of trust he was putting in him, right? His back was turned over one of the biggest drops over lava that Martyn had ever seen, and he didn’t seem to care. Martyn would have never done the same with anyone else. The others would have given into the opportunity of pushing him over without a second thought! He shook away the thoughts and crouched down as well, flushing out the bridge with cobblestone so they would have more room to maneuver.
Looking up from his building for a moment, Scott had paused his bridging, apparently having spotted something standing on the fortress. It was difficult to see but he managed to spot the black bones gripping a stone sword. “There’s a wither skeleton.” Scott warned, moving to continue building again.
“Is there? I was thinking it could be a fun end game play to get a wither set up..”
Scott barked out a laugh at the idea, already figuring out Martyn’s plan without the blonde needing to elaborate further. “You’d release a wither on your last life?”
“That’s my thinking..” Martyn shrugged, continuing to thicken the bridge as Scott moved forward.
“This is why I’m glad you and I have been friendly.”
’Friendly.’ Martyn would have thought they were on pretty good terms. ’Certainly, better than just friendly.’ He wanted them to be closer than friendly, sure but he guessed that spot was already taken; a seat reserved for a canary. He faltered at the thought. Since when had he started imagining himself in that place instead of Jimmy? The world where it was the mimic taking naps with him under a shady tree and not the canary. The world where it was Martyn fighting by Scott's side. Martyn could protect him better; he would prove the elf that he was better.
The mimic quickly pulled himself away from his thoughts, falling back into his confident persona. "You almost fell out of favor when you wouldn't do the raid with me but I'm willing to overlook it."
"You'd do that for me? I'm flattered."
Martyn didn't have a chance to respond before the bridge finally connected to the nether brick wall of the looming fortress. They broke up and through the wall, placing cobblestone at the exit and leaving a trail behind them so they could find their way back. They wandered the empty halls aimlessly, checking the scattered chests for items. (Unfortunately, they only found the occasional scraps of gold and sets of horse armor) Descending down a flight of steps, the green names found what they were looking for growing in a patch of soil next to the stairs.
Scott swiftly knelt down in one of the soul sand patches and collected the nether wart while Martyn scouted ahead. The two of them moved like they've done this a thousand times, a well-oiled machine if he does say so himself. His footsteps echoed around the empty corridor as he reached the small crossroads. the nether brick surrounded them, the non- flammable material sounding more like obsidian under his shoes than brick. Looking to the left and then looking to the right, Martyn sighed in relief as he found the hallways were completely empty.
"We're all clear up here." He called to Scott, returning to where the elf had been collecting the potion materials. He had already finished collecting the nether wart and soul sand, the elf smiled at Martyn, opening his inventory to split the wealth Martyn grins looking from the hallway and back to Scott "Do you think we'll find any- Scott behind you!"
Scott turned and looked up, his pointed ears pinned back and his eyes widened in fear when he saw the wither skeleton quickly approaching. The black bones traveled down the stairs with an eerie mix of stumbling and precision. He barely had time to stand and draw his axe before the dark figure's sword had slashed down striking the elf just below the shoulder. Scott cried out in pain but hit the skeleton away with his axe leaving an opportunity for Martyn to run in from behind and stab into the creature twisting his sword in anger. The bones fell limp to the ground as he removed his sword, but Martyn didn't care. He ran to Scott's side who was already covering the wound on his upper arm with his hand. His eyes were dilated and filled with tears as his breathing had picked up much more.
Martyn slowly raised one of his hands and rested it on Scott's back, gently rubbing back and forth. "It's ok, just breathe with me. Deep breath in, deep breath out." Martyn slowed and exaugurated his own breathing and feeling relived when Scott slowly began to copy him. Occasionally the rhythm would be broken by Scott's wincing, the withering effect slowly leaving his body.
"There's nothing else here, it's just us. Nothing else is going to hurt you." Martyn of course couldn't promise that. They were on opposite sides in a game where only one person could be left alive. Despite how much he longed to protect Scott, he knew in the end there was nothing he could do for them both to make it out alive. Martyn's overthinking was cut off as he realized Scott's panic attack had subsided. His breathing was finally slower and he slowly pulled his hand away from the wound. The cut from the sword still remained and the typical dark discoloration from the wither was mostly faded by now.
"Thank you. I didn't expect it to scare me so much." Despite having stopped crying, Scott's voice was still shaky and softer than before. "You're welcome." Martyn responded quietly, one hand still on Scott's back and the other now resting on the elf's cheek, brushing away the remaining tears. He only just noticed now how close his face was to Scott's. He could easily imagine leaning forward and pressing their lips together, his hand moving up to run through his cyan hair...
Martyn broke off his thoughts. The elf had just gotten attacked and had a panic attack, now was absolutely not the time to think about kissing Scott (despite how much he definitely wanted to.) If Scott wanted someone to kiss him, he could go to Jimmy once he got back to the flower valley.
"We've spent enough time in the nether I think." Scott said, breaking their momentary silence. Martyn nodded in agreement and reluctantly backed away. The two finished collecting the remaining nether wart and began to retrace their steps. As they exited the fortress Scott stopped walking, causing Martyn to turn and look back at him. "I didn't realize we were so close to the border." The elf remarked.
"What do you think, you up to get a picture? We could show it off to the others." Martyn smiled at him and Scott sighed.
"Let's make it quick then." The two made their way back on top of the fortress. After a short walk -- and dodging multiple blaze fireballs -- they made it to a portion of the structure that was cut in half by the transparent wall keeping them locked inside the game. When the mimic stopped in front of the border and put his hand on the surface, the see-through wall rippled but held strong against his touch. He knew nothing would happen but he still needed to test. He pulled out his communicator and turned back to Scott. They stood next to each other as he held the camera to keep himself, Scott, and the wall behind them in frame. As Martyn clicked the button to take the picture, Scott leaned in and placed his lips against Martyn's cheek.
Martyn's face flushed a bright red as he put the communicator away. "What was that for?!"
"It's a thank you." Scott responded smugly. How could he act so calm after kissing him? Sure it was just on Martyn's cheek but that was more than he had gotten from the elf before.
"Well.. It was nothing! I couldn't leave you like that, could I?" Martyn answered quickly, attempting to compose himself. Never mind the fact they're in a death game. "We got the picture; we should be getting back now."
Scott nodded in agreement and the two retraced their steps through the nether. Fortunately, the two green names hadn't run into many hostile mobs on the way back. The less chance they had to get pushed into lava, the better.
-
The cool air of the flower valley was a welcoming change from the harsh heat of the nether. They were standing in front of Scott's house splitting the spoils of their adventure when a new voice interrupted them. Martyn turned in time to see Jimmy run into Scott's arms, hugging him tightly and wrapping his bright yellow wings around his husband.
"Scott, I've been looking all over for you! I've found the only cow in the world!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"Seriously? I didn't think you could do it." Scott smiled at the canary before leaning forward and kissing him.
A pang of jealousy and longing hit Martyn's heart as he watched the display before him. He scoffed quietly to himself and began to walk towards the gate of the wooden walls. He had to get the potion materials back to Ren, he didn't have time to stare at Scott anymore. He would probably be more distracted by Jimmy now anyways. His theory was made correct when there was no objection from the elf as he left.