Chapter Text
In the distance leaves rustled, branches shifted, a bird shuffled, took off, landed, croaked. Some of them he was even familiar with.
Not that he was a bird watcher, the birds just tended to like him more than other hermits. Void knew why, Grian thought if he saw a being fifty times his size he wouldn’t attempt to befriend them just because they had wings.
He leaned back against the Entity, tucking his pencil back behind his ear as he squinted at the plans tabled on his lap.
The Entity rumbled beneath him, warm.
Yeah, Grian would never just try to befriend something so much stronger than him just because of a similarity. It seemed like the stupidest thing he could possibly do. Just asking for trouble, to put your trust in something you didn’t even share a language with, he thought.
He held his plans up to the light, and the Entity rumbled again, as if in agreement. Grian could never be sure, most of the rumbles sounded the same.
“That’s what I thought.” Grian nodded, cocking his head to look at the paper from another angle. He tilted the paper back.
A bird flew down and landed a few feet in front of him, tilting its own head curiously.
Grian stared at it until it flew off. Though that was probably more due to the Entity making the ground beneath him shake.
Just a bit, could barely be considered an earthquake, really.
What a silly bird.
Didn’t it know something could hurt it if it wasn’t careful?
Bzt.
Lazily, he dropped the paper to the grass. It was a poor sketch anyhow, and he was already planning how to make it better.
His comm came to life in his hands, his bio metrics logging him on automatically. He scrolled through his contacts until he found the active chat.
<Taurtis> has sent <One> message.
He was clicking before he actively made the choice, grinning at the blurry photo sent.
A line of dots showed Taurtis was typing, and Grian took the time to click on the picture, making it bigger. It didn’t help with the blurriness. Taurtis was horrible at taking pictures, so it wasn’t exactly new.
It was a small cabin, smoke billowing from a chimney that leaned a bit to the left. There was a well worn path through the snow, and Grian could guess the grey in the background might just be mountains.
He remembered the cabin, obviously.
Bzt.
Taurtis-
found this today! void it looks like shit
Grian-
I mean I don’t want to agree with you so quickly…
Yeah, it’s not the prettiest
Taurtis-
oh fuck off with your mansions and horrifying rock things
Grian-
The Entity is not horrifying, he’s a very good listener.
Tuartis-
when you sent me a picture of it, its eyes glowed
grian it doesnt have eyes
Grian-
He’s sensitive about that, man, come on!
Taurtis-
right anyway thought youd get a kick outta the cabin
good luck with your next whole city or whatever it is you do now
And usually that’s where the conversations ended for them.
Every few months Taurtis would send something, they’d talk for a minute, and they’d move on with their lives.
Now that he thought it, that was kind of bad on his part. Taurtis was always reaching out, always sending pictures, or short videos, or even telling him gossip Grian had no context for.
For Grian’s part, he…
He hadn’t texted Taurtis first since Evo.
He texted Mumbo everyday, even when he saw him in person. Scar was subjected to Grian calling him whenever he was bored. Even the Hermits he wasn’t as close to got a text from Grian every so often.
But Taurtis?
Oh. Grian was a horrible friend.
Beneath him, the Entity warmed up further, he patted the side absentmindedly in thanks, biting his lip in thought.
Grian-
I feel like we haven’t talk talked in ages, do you want to get a cuppa?
Dots appeared, disappeared, then appeared again a few times before his phone gave another short bzt, not that Grian needed the notification. He hadn’t looked away from the chat.
Taurtis-
when and where? im free anytime this week or next
Grian gave a short cheer, even as he replied. It really had been ages. The last time hadn’t been Evo, but it also hadn’t been that long after Evo.
Grian-
Day after tomorrow at noon?
There’s a great tea shop at the hub called To Tea or Not To Tea
Taurtis-
thats the worst name ive ever heard
see you there :)
Grian felt like he should be nervous.
He was meeting up with his oldest friend after neglecting their friendship for ages, he should be sweating or something.
Instead, he was just excited. Bouncing on the balls of his feet as he made his way to the booth in the corner with two travel cups of tea. He remembered Taurtis’ favorite, of course. He may not have been talking to him much, but he still remembered Taurtis refusing to drink anything else back in high school
He usually drank coffee, so Grian had expected him to like black tea, earl grey, or English breakfast, something like that. Instead Taurtis had fixated on this peach green tea that Grian despised, because of course he did.
It wasn’t something Grian would easily forget, really.
He tried to get comfortable in the booth, but his wings were all bunched up and awkward. All the tables were full though, so he sucked it up. He’d have to deal with the pins and needles like every other avian, he supposed.
The bell above the door chimed, and Grian shot up, waving a hand over his head to catch Taurtis’ attention. With his other hand, he held up Taurtis’ tea, grinning.
When Taurtis’ gaze fell on him, Grian couldn’t help but feel like the world clicked back into place. He hadn’t even known how much he’d missed the other until he’d been right in front of him.
He shimmied out of the booth, set the tea down, and accepted the hug Taurtis dragged him into. When he pulled away, Taurtis look bemusedly at the booth, then at Grian’s wings.
“Do you wanna walk?”
Grian breathed in relief, depositing Taurtis’ tea into his waiting hand and scooping his own from the table. “Absolutely, I can already feel my wings going numb.”
The Hub was always crowded, though slightly less so in the middle of a week day. They made it about a block before something shifted and Taurtis complained about an Admin he’d had to work with recently.
From there, the conversation never so much as paused. Catching up came easy, even if there were topics they danced around, people they avoided bringing up, things-
“I guess he thought I was new,” Taurtis was saying, about to step into the crosswalk as a cart was going through. Grian grabbed his free hand to keep him from getting run over, Taurtis blinked, then smiled in thanks. “Since, Grian, he tried to tell me a AP1X9 form was all he needed to open a level seven server.” Grian’s mouth dropped in horror at the audacity. “That’s what I thought!” Taurtis laughed. “I told him ‘buddy, my best friend Admin-ed a level nine server, I think I know what I’m talking about.’ He was not happy with that, though-”
Best friend.
Grian was still the best friend.
There was so much to catch up on, Grian wanted to know all about Taurtis’ job approving servers, and Taurtis was happy enough to tell him, describing in mind-numbing detail exactly how he had to process each server-request. Grian loved every moment of it.
He didn’t even realize he was still holding Taurtis’ hand until some kid ran between them, cutting a path for himself while shouting a quick insincere apology back at them. He was carrying a comm that, and this was nothing against the kid, but it didn’t look like anything he could afford.
A Moderator for the Hob reached them just as the kid turned the corner, barely taking his golden wings with him in time to hide himself from the Mod.
“Some shit-heel kid stole my comm.” He was heaving for breath. “You wouldn’t have happened to see him come through, would you? He had wings like you, sir.” The Mod was one Grian was sure everyone in the Hob knew for literally never doing anything.
Taurtis took his hand again to get his attention.
A look passed between the two of them before they were both facing the Mod.
“No, I didn’t see anything.” Taurtis said easily, his hand not holding Grian’s tucked in his trouser pocket. “Did you, Gri?”
“I might’ve seen someone with wings go that way?” He gestured vaguely in the direction the kid had come from. “Gold-ish wings, was it?” He scratched his chin as if in thought as the Mod brightened.
“Yes!” He finally looked at them, seeming to have caught his breath. He eyes caught on their hands. “Sorry to interrupt date night, take care.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Grian waved it off. “Hope you find that kid, man.”
The Mod nodded in thanks and took off the opposite direction from the kid.
Grian watched, amusement bubbling up in him. He turned to Taurtis to crack a joke, but his friend was staring down at their hands, a thoughtful expression on his face. Written in the way his brow furrowed just slightly, his head tilted, the way he seemed to be chewing on the inside of his cheek.
In turn, Grian found himself frowning. “You alright? You don’t feel bad for him, do you? It was your idea to lie, but I could-”
Taurtis looked up, and the furrow in his brow smoothed as he squeezed Grian’s hand. “Oh, the kid probably needed it way more.” He dismissed, amusement coloring his own eyes as he turned to watch the Mod disappear into the Hob.
“Looked like he needed a preening too.” Grian’s back itched at the thought of the kids feathers, not a single one neat.
Taurtis’ head leaned back as he laughed, pulling Grian down the sidewalk with him, leaning a bit into his side as they started walking again.
Grian would have to invite Taurtis to hang out more often.