Chapter Text
Scar wakes up with a groan, eyes immediately aching causing him to nestle further into the pillow in an attempt to hide his face from the sun, tilting so the bridge of his nose is pressing against it instead. It's... surprisingly solid for a pillow. And there are a bunch of small, fluffy strands coming off of it.
...
Oh. Oh, that is not a pillow.
He blinks his eyes open, expecting to see a cat curled up near his head but instead being met with thousands of wavy blonde strands of hair a few inches from his face. His brain is slow, trying to piece together who he's managed to curl up with. It takes him a good minute to cross off all his friends from the list before he remembers even a sliver of before he had shown up to the Christmas party yesterday night.
When Scar does realize what happened the night before he can feel his cheeks flush instantly, blush running over what feels like his entire body as he stares down at the guy he had invited to tag along with him yesterday on a whim. The cute guy that had insisted on kissing him underneath mistletoe that they had accidentally walked under before they passed out. Together. Like- in the same bed.
Well.. passed out was a nice way to put it. More accurately, Scar helped Grian come down from what he's pretty sure was a panic attack before he was kissed. Again.
He can feel the heat burning itself into his face, burying his face into the actual pillow this time and closing his eyes. His movement causes Grian to shift just a bit closer to as he does so, arms clinging just a bit tighter. Scar opens a sliver of his eye to watch him as the other mumbles something. Grian's nose scrunches and he huffs, head tilting into the sunbeam with his eyelids directly catching the golden light.
Scar breathes out a laugh as Grian makes a distressed noise and begins to blink his eyes open only to immediatly regret it. The head thuds into him, burying itself into his chest as it tries to escape to harsh sun. He drags up a hand, gently tugging on the hair as he stares with bleary eyes at the person currently curled into him.
There's a hum, head pressed into his hand, and a fully relaxed look coming over Grian's expression, shoulders down and face slack in contentment. Scar doesn't ever want to get up.
Grian does not seem to share that sentiment, though. He shoots up after a few more minutes causing Scar's hand leaving his hair. His eyes are wide as he looks out the window. He doesn't even flinch at the bright lights, eyes adjusting the best they can before he whips his head back towards Scar.
"W-what... uhm. What time is it?"
Scar blinks, brain slow to process the words as Grian's face grows more nervous and impatient, glancing around for anything to tell time. When it finally registers, Scar sits up and reaches over for his phone, struggling a moment to see the text on the screen.
"It's... uhh- Oh! It's almost ten." He flips his phone around for Grian to see as well, the other glancing at the time before scrambling to get out of bed. Scar stares with wide eyes at the frantic scramble, the other checking his pockets for something before glancing around a little lost.
"Where... do you know where I put my phone?" His brows are furrowed, eyes glancing around frantically as he walks to every flat surface it could have ended up in.
"Did you leave it downstairs? On the counter maybe or like- in the bathroom... uhm... maybe it's on the bed."
He pauses, thinking for a moment as he does a light glance around the room. He gets off the bed carefully, shifting the sheets to check it for the missing phone.
"Maybe I could call it...?"
Grian doesn't respond, searching the bed with Scar after another minute of checking the rest of the room. It's pretty clear he is worried about something but Scar can't figure out what. Maybe he thinks someone is worried about him? Scar doesn't actually know if Grian told anywhere where he was going the night before.
They don't find the phone on the bed or anywhere else in the room. He can tell Grian is starting to panic more and more every time the minutes tick on.
"Hey, Gri?" Grian flinches back at the sound of his voice before glancing up at him with worried eyes. He must be way more concerned about this than Scar thought... "Maybe we check downstairs, yeah? We both pulled out our phones when we were down there."
Grian blinks at him, nodding slowly before glancing down at the floor and walking over to the door. He's slow to open it, glancing back at Scar and waiting as he walks over. Grian doesn't leave the room until after Scar does, following him silently down the staircase as he glances around the house, face filled with nerves as he picks at the sleeve of his sweater.
When they make it to the bottom of the staircase Scar can see Bdubs sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal. He isn't too surprised judging by the fact Bdubs probably went to sleep way before any of them had, giving a wave as he walks up to the counter with Grian. As expected, there is a phone sitting idly on the counter where they had been sitting.
Grian rushes to pick it up, flicking it on and checking his notifications. He still looks stiff, tapping away on his phone and Scar can see he has his messaging app pulled up with a wall of text from another person covering the screen. He doesn't try to read it— not wanting to snoop or anything no matter how curious he is— instead watching Grian's expression as he types out a response.
He pulls out a stool for the other, sitting down himself and lightly tugging on Grian's sleeve to get him to take a seat.
"Want anything to eat? I could get you some eggs or cereal if you want it," Scar offers, watching as Grian reads something else on his screen before he is typing out a response again.
"Yeah, okay Scar." Grian's distraction is clear in his voice and Scar can't tell if he actually registered what was said or not. He sees Bdubs glance up from his peripheral, looking between the two of them where Scar is busying himself in the kitchen to make eggs and Grian who is still typing on his phone.
Scar glances at Grian every few moments, scanning his face for the way his brows furrow, the stiffness in his shoulders, not to mention how he is practically glaring into his screen now. There is a light huff before Grian puts his phone face-down on the counter, resting his head on his arms. It's still buzzing with notifications.
Scar walks over with two plates of eggs, placing one in front of both of their spots before sitting down himself and handing Grian a fork. He watches Grian blink, slowly taking it before glancing between the plates.
"Oh... thank you." It's hushed, quiet words difficult to hear even in the near-silent room.
"No problem, Gri. Wouldn't want you going hungry now!" Scar tries his best to stay chipper. He doesn't know why, but something is upsetting Grian on Christmas and that is not okay. He will not stand for this disponden- uhm... this despondency! Yes. That.
Grian's frown seems to dip further down but his expression is already less annoyed. There's another harsh buzz of the phone with a matching twitch of his brow. Grian takes a bite of his food.
Scar swings his legs a bit, eating his own food as he ignores the possessed phone to the best of his ability. Bdubs cleans up his bowl, rinsing it out in the sink before walking towards the staircase. He is not so subtly eying the phone as he leaves the room.
They both continue to eat, Scar finishing his food a few minutes before Grian and watching as he pushes food around the plate.
"I have to go soon."
The way it's said is devoid of emotion. Not quite monotone, instead just... dull.
"...Alright. Do you want a ride back?" Scar wants to know why but he doesn't want to push. He just met this guy yesterday so it really isn't any of his business what Grian has going on right now that his phone is blowing up like that. Even if he is curious. And a little worried.
Grian nods, not speaking again as he finishes his eggs. Scar gets up and washes their plates off in the sink, warm water running over his hands as he rinses off soap. The pristine white of the plate catches in the sun from the window, reflecting light onto the wall.
He puts the plates into the drying rack when he is done cleaning them. Grian is still sitting on the stool, hair covering his eyes completely with his head tilted down towards the counter. Scar is really out of his depth here.
He doesn't know Grian well enough to understand what will help and what makes things like this worse. For all he knows this might not even be serious, Grian might just not be a morning person and that mixed with him losing his phone and those constant texts might not make the best combo. But... it also might be something else. And it probably won't hurt to check.
"Hey Grian," he starts, walking back over to the stools. "If you... have anything going on and want to talk to someone– It's okay if you don't but I'll listen. Just letting you know."
He watches the other stiffen, head tilting up, eyes peaking through his bangs ever-so-slightly as his hands form fists in his lap. His brows aren't drawn together anymore but there is still a frown formed on his lips. Grian doesn't look angry. Not exactly, at least.
If anything it looks more like he's pouting, not helping his case as he puffs out his cheeks with a light huff and glances away, bringing up his arm to prop his chin up. Scar blinks in surprise. Well that's certainly one way to react.
Grian grumbles something, words barely leaving his lips and becoming indiscernible moments into entering the air.
"What, sorry I couldn't hear you?"
There's a huff and a few more small noises of complaint and then- "I don't want to leave yet." The admission is so quiet Scar could have missed it, if not for how clear each word was spoken.
He hesitates, not wanting to say anything wrong but still having that barier of simply not knowing Grian. He doesn't even know why he cares so much about him, doesn't understand why he feels like he has to know him. Grian's an adult who has made it this far and does not need Scar's help. Probably has plenty of people to talk to. Scar still has that greedy feeling of wanting to know sitting in his chest.
"If you don't want to go then why are you?" He tries his best to keep his tone light enough that Grian won't feel pressured into answering, trying not to pry into this stranger's life in case it would make the other uncomfortable. Wanting to know doesn't mean he has the right to push after all.
For that reason, Scar probably should have expected the shrug he gets in return and watches as Grian picks up his phone— which had gone silent when Scar wasn't paying attention— and put it in his pocket. Grian turns around fully on the stool, looking up at Scar properly and staring into what felt like his soul. It is a surprise when Grian begins speaking.
"My parents are going to text my roommate if I don't go back soon and he doesn't like it when I worry him so... yeah. I think it'll just be better if I head back."
"Oh, I get that. Okay." Scar does not get why Grian's parents would still call his roommate when they know he's fine. It isn't like he can be the judge of what good parents are like though, given his own and all. "I can get a ride for both of us real quick since I should probably get home too. Gotta feed the cat y'know?" He recieves a light nod.
°*•°•*°
They sit in the backseat together, Scar talking about anything that comes to mind while Grian sits attentively. He is watching Scar explain the making of some space action movie he hears people talk about a lot as he swipes a thumb over his own wrist.
"And the way the did the light saber fight was so interesting! They used these fiberglass blades that they could swap out in case they broke, and it had the glowing effect while filming, like the polycarbonate ones they used later had– Oh! Wait hold on, do I have your phone number?" Grian blinks in surprise, glancing up and fumbling for his words. In his defense Scar had been talking for a while, okay?
"Oh, right. Uhm. No I don't think I gave it to you yesterday. Here," he pulls out his phone and opens his contacts, phone number sitting at the top of his screen. He waits as Scar adds his number to his contacts, feeling the vibrate of a message being sent before he checks it.
010-****-**** sent a message:
> Hey ;)
Grian looks back up to Scar, who is grinning at him, shaking his own phone before asking, "You gonna respond to that?" The teasing lilt in his voice is obvious and Grian huffs, rolling his eyes a bit before glancing back down at the screen and squinting in thought.
Sent to 010-****-****
< Hey handsome ( * - з・)/ ~ ♡
(Read)
He glances up to see Scar still staring down at his phone, a smirk growing on his face as he leans closer across the middle seat. "What'cha looking at buddy," he laughs tilting his head as Scar glances up and seems to immediatly take notice of how much closer Grian has gotten.
"Uhm- just my texts. Uh-" Scar laughs nervously. Grian smirks up at him, straightening a bit and trying to look over Scar's shoulder. He shifts a bit closer as he does so.
"Can I see?" He asks innocently, as if he wasn't the one who just sent it. "Just curious what was sent to you that has you staring at your phone like that."
Scar's face is flushed, only growing brighter red as Grian glances back up at him through his lashes. His blinks become carefully calculated after that, two simple flutters while he stares. Scar looks like he is about to melt.
Grian sits back all at once, giggles slipping out of his lips before he devolves into a bursting fit of laughter. His breaths come in sharp as he tries to calm himself down from where he has folded in half in his seat. Scar looks like he's fighting between being breathtaken and mortified. Grian thinks he hears a few huffs of humor from him underneath his own cackling.
They devolve into half-baked jokes and flirtatious banter. Grian because he wants to distract himself from how he is getting closer to his parents' house, and Scar because he wants to see him laugh again.
They pull into a cul-de-sac a few moments later, Grian slowly sobering up as he see the house come into view. His expression feels too happy compared to the place he's about to step in to. Even once it fully slips off his face he can still feel the remaining energy from all the laughing trying to tug his lips back up into a smile.
Cub stops the car in front of the house he has pointed out.
"I am never driving you two anywhere again." Cub states as he parks next to the curb.
"Aww, come on don't be like that Cub! You love driving me and my friends places." Scar does not get a response.
Grian glances at Scar, giving him a quick hug before slipping out of the car. He walks up to his parents' house, forcing himself to look relaxed. Grian waves bye once he is standing on the porch, quickly opening the door and stepping inside. He can hear his parents arguing quiet as the door opens and he steps further inside.
He hopes this won't take long, even though he knows it will. He should have just messaged them last night– or his roommate, or Taurtis, or really even anyone he knows. Not that there's many people on that list...
His parents are standing in the kitchen, matching scowls adorning their face as if being angry at him is the one thing they can agree on right now. He stares at the floor, hiding his wince when they start shouting.
It takes a while for them to be distracted enough arguing with eachother again that he's able to slip back upstairs to his room. Where it was midday before the sun is starting to slip down closer to the horizon line.
He sighs, flopping down onto his bed and wishing he had just walked home last night. Or early that morning. Or done anything else that still would have let him meet Scar without his parents noticing.
He could have done anything different to have stopped this from happening. But he didn't.
He unlocks his phone and tries to focus on anything else.
°*•*•*°
Grian jumps as his phone buzzes, dropping it on himself as he fumbles from where he was doom scrolling in bed. Carefully picking it up again, he glances at who sent him something.
Rooftop guy (Scar) sent a message:
> hey
> you free on new years eve?
Grian blinks at the message, remembering how his parents had said he should at least find the time to be with them for one of the holidays after he had snuck out for Christmas. In his defense, they had been arguing all night and didn't seem to care when he was upstairs in his room. He would rather not spend another holiday this year stuck in his childhood room to avoid being dragged into his parents bickering. So he types out his response.
< Depends, what are we doing?
He waits, watching the three dots appear and bob up and down, up and down, as Scar types a response.
> theres a party I'm going to
> at Cleo's house again, the one you visited last time
> I wanted to see if you would want to come with me? It'll have mostly the same people but a few that couldn't make it last time could show up too
He sighs. He doesn't want to say no and disappoint Scar— and he wants to go!— but he can't really get there easily. There is a chance he could walk, but that would probably take a while. Maybe if he can figure out how far the house is he can plan for that?
< I could walk there if you want me to go with you. I don't actually know how far from my house it is though.
> we could get picked up together again!! maybe meet at the school roof again if you would be ok with that
< Who's gonna be driving?
> Cub probably
> He lives pretty close to the elementry school and I've known him the longest so he usually doesnt mind giving me rides
That gives Grian some pause. While he would love to, he remembers what Cub had said last time he got a ride from him. He doesn't want to waste his time or annoy him, but... he doesn't exactly know where Cleo's house is. Except Cub had even said to Scar it was the last time and he wouldn't drive his friends places again.
He types out his response before rubbing at his wrist.
< Are you sure he won't mind? Wasn't he kind of annoyed last time
> Oh no no! He was just joking about not giving me anymore rides he really doesnt mind much
> I guess you would have a bit of a harder time reading his tone since you met him yesterday but he was actually pretty happy I was trying to make more friends lol
< Alright, if you're sure. I'll message you if I suddenly can't make it, yeah?
> Sounds AMAYZIN!! Meet tou at 9ish?
You**
< See you then
(Read)
Grian feel the faint lines of a smile resting on his face and turns to place his phone on the charger to actually get some sleep. He lays back down after plugging it in, staring out at the night sky from the window and the stars that peek through clouds floating by. He falls asleep staring at the full moon.