Chapter Text
Mob had spent the last several minutes trying to figure out why Verity kept staring at him.
It was particularly uncomfortable considering Verity had pretty much the same expression all the time. Two eyes, a simple smile, and a yellow sphere for an entire body. Still, Mob had spent enough time around him to tell the difference between Verity simply being nearby and Verity watching him because he had some idea bouncing around inside his head.
This was definitely the latter.
Mob opened one of the chests in his house and put away the iron he had collected that afternoon. He closed the interface, took a couple of steps toward the next chest, and opened that one instead.
Verity remained beside him.
Mob put away some torches.
Verity was still there.
Okay.
He moved the coal.
Nothing.
Dude.
“Do you need something?”
“No.”
Mob waited a few seconds, convinced there would be more.
There wasn’t.
“Okay.”
He went back to his inventory.
“Twixxel gave you a sword yesterday.”
Mob stopped moving his cursor.
...What?
He turned toward Verity, who was still exactly where he had been for the past several minutes.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because mine was about to break.”
“You could’ve made another one.”
“Yeah.”
“You had iron.”
Mob narrowed his eyes.
“Are you auditing my resources?”
“I’m asking a question.”
“You stared at me for five minutes before asking it.”
“I wanted to build tension.”
A short laugh escaped Mob before he could stop it.
“Fuck you.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment either.”
“I know.”
There he is.
Mob went back to the chest, still smiling slightly.
“Twixxel had an extra sword and gave it to me. Mystery solved.”
“And what did he get?”
“Nothing.”
“Bad deal.”
“It was a gift.”
A few seconds passed.
Mob finished putting his things away before realizing Verity hadn’t answered.
“Do you know what a gift is?”
“I know many things.”
“That answer always means you don’t want to admit something.”
“How observant.”
Mob closed the chest.
“Verity.”
“I know what a gift is.”
“Then what the hell have we been arguing about?”
“I wanted to know why Twixxel gave you one.”
Mob raised an eyebrow.
Ah.
There it is.
“Because we’re friends.”
“Unfortunate.”
“Bro.”
Verity maintained his permanent smile.
“I’m glad you have friends, Mob.”
“You sounded very convincing.”
“Thank you.”
Mob exhaled through his nose. Arguing with Verity was exhausting when the little shit knew exactly what he was doing.
“Well, there’s your answer.”
“I want to give you one.”
It took Mob a second to process the change in subject.
“A what?”
“A gift.”
“Oh.”
Verity continued staring at him.
Mob felt like he should probably say something else.
“Okay. That’s... nice.”
“What do you want?”
“No, you can’t ask me.”
“You just said people can tell you.”
“Yeah, but if I tell you exactly what to give me, it takes some of the fun out of it.”
“So you want something specific, but you want me to figure out what it is without asking you.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“That sounds unnecessarily complicated.”
Mob laughed.
“You’re getting that part too.”
Verity remained thoughtful for a few seconds.
“Fine.”
“Fine what?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
Mob watched him leave and slowly turned back toward the chest.
This could go horribly wrong.
On second thought, it was almost certainly going to go horribly wrong.
-------------
The next morning, there was a chest in front of his house.
Mob had barely finished loading into the server when he found it blocking part of the entrance, accompanied by a sign.
𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓶𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓜𝓸𝓫 ♡
He stared at it for a few seconds.
Oh god.
He had completely forgotten about the conversation.
“Verity?”
No response.
Mob opened the chest.
Dirt.
His first thought was that Verity had put a few stacks inside as a joke.
Then he started counting.
“What the fuck.”
Forty-seven.
Forty-seven stacks of dirt.
Mob moved his cursor across several slots, searching for something different hidden among them. A tool. A diamond. A second sign telling him he was an idiot for checking.
Nothing.
“VERITY.”
The yellow sphere appeared shortly afterward, coming around from behind the house.
“Good morning.”
“What is this?”
“Dirt.”
Mob turned toward him.
“Thank you, Verity.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You know perfectly well that wasn’t what I was asking.”
“I also know there are forty-seven stacks, if you need more information.”
Mob stared at him.
That smile.
That stupid permanent smile made it impossible to tell exactly how much he was enjoying this.
“Why did you give me three thousand blocks of dirt?”
“Two thousand nine hundred and forty-four.”
“I’m going to hit you.”
“That would be a strange reaction to a gift.”
Mob had to look away because he was starting to laugh.
“Just answer me.”
“Two days ago, you were filling holes around your house. You ran out of dirt and said you could never have enough.”
Mob immediately remembered the full sentence.
Oh my god.
“I said, ‘I can never have enough of this shit.’”
“Exactly.”
“That was an expression.”
“I know.”
Mob paused.
“...So you did this just to fuck with me.”
“I did it because I thought you’d like it.”
“Forty-seven stacks?”
“It could’ve been forty-eight.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Depends on your reaction.”
Mob looked back at the chest.
It was absurd. Completely useless. He probably had enough dirt to last him for the rest of his life in this world.
It also meant Verity had remembered some stupid comment Mob had made days ago and decided to turn it into an elaborate joke specifically for him.
Mob picked up one of the stacks.
“This is the dumbest gift I’ve ever gotten.”
“I can take it back.”
“No.”
The answer came out so quickly that Verity let out a small laugh.
Mob frowned.
“Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I heard you laugh.”
“That proves nothing.”
“It’s mine now.”
“Ten seconds ago, it was stupid.”
“It’s still stupid. It’s also mine.”
“Humans are very easy to please.”
“You gave me dirt.”
“And it worked.”
Mob wanted to argue with that.
He looked at the stack he was still holding.
Goddammit.
“Whatever.”
He picked up the chest.
Verity waited until Mob started carrying it inside.
“I gave Twixxel something too.”
Mob stopped.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
That was unexpected.
Verity and Twixxel could tolerate each other perfectly well, although tolerate was a rather generous description of a relationship where Twixxel found it extremely entertaining to annoy him and Verity appeared to keep a mental record of every single occasion.
Mob set the chest down.
“What did you give him?”
“Gravel.”
There was a pause.
“...Gravel?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-two stacks.”
Mob looked at his own chest.
Then at Verity.
“You gave me something based on a conversation we had two days ago.”
“Yes.”
“You remembered exactly what I said.”
“I did.”
“And for Twixxel, you chose gravel?”
“It seemed appropriate.”
Mob started smiling.
“Why?”
“It’s useful.”
“Uh-huh.”
“He can build with it.”
“Sure.”
“He can get flint.”
“Obviously.”
Verity went quiet.
Mob leaned slightly toward him.
“You don’t like him.”
“I like him perfectly fine.”
“You gave him thirty-two stacks of gravel.”
“Thirty-two more stacks than he had before.”
“Verity.”
“Mob.”
Mob’s phone vibrated on his desk.
He didn’t even need to check who it was.
Twixxel: mob
Twixxel: i need you to be honest with me
Twixxel: does verity hate me
Mob burst out laughing.
“Perfect timing.”
Mob: why
Twixxel: HE GAVE ME GRAVEL
Twixxel: 32 STACKS
Twixxel: what does this mean
Mob looked at Verity.
“He wants to know what it means.”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s a gift.”
Mob typed exactly that.
Mob: he says its a gift
The three dots appeared almost immediately.
Twixxel: oh
Twixxel: tell him thank you <3
Verity looked at the screen.
“No.”
Mob laughed.
“No what?”
“Don’t tell him anything.”
Twixxel: actually you know what
Twixxel: i love it
Twixxel: ive always wanted gravel
Mob read it aloud.
Verity remained silent.
“I think he liked your gift.”
“How unfortunate.”
“VERITY.”
“I’m happy for him.”
Mob was laughing too hard to take him seriously anymore.
Another message appeared.
Twixxel: now were best friends
Verity stopped laughing.
Mob noticed.
Oh, this is going to be good.
Twixxel: ask him what hes getting me tomorrow
“Nothing.”
Mob: he says nothing
Twixxel: impossible
Twixxel: best friends give each other gifts
“We are not best friends.”
Mob: he says youre not best friends
Twixxel: tell him to stop playing hard to get
Verity remained perfectly still.
Mob waited.
“Nothing?”
“I’m considering my options.”
That made Mob look up from his phone.
“That sounded threatening.”
“I’m learning about gifts.”
“I don’t think you want to tell someone that in that tone.”
A Minecraft notification interrupted the conversation.
Twixxel joined the game.
Mob started laughing.
“Oh, perfect.”
Twixxel appeared near the house a few seconds later. He was carrying a block of gravel.
“VERITY!”
“Hello, Twixxel.”
“My best friend.”
“No.”
“I came to thank you personally.”
Twixxel placed the block in front of Verity.
The gravel immediately fell.
Mob covered his mouth.
Twixxel admired his work.
“Beautiful.”
“Fascinating.”
“You really captured my essence.”
“That was the idea.”
Mob lost the battle and started laughing.
Twixxel pointed at Verity.
“I knew deep down you appreciated me.”
“I don’t remember saying that.”
“Actions speak louder than words.”
“I gave you gravel.”
“Exactly. Our gravel.”
“Your gravel.”
“Our friendship.”
“Your gravel.”
Mob was enjoying this far too much.
“I think you should accept it, Verity. You’re best friends now.”
The yellow sphere turned toward him.
“Mob.”
“Hm?”
“Don’t help.”
Twixxel moved closer.
“Verity, as the next step in our friendship, I was thinking you could give me something a little more personal.”
“No.”
“A keepsake.”
“No.”
“Diamonds.”
“Definitely not.”
“A stack.”
“Twixxel,” Mob cut in between laughs, “I think you should stop.”
“I’m strengthening our bond.”
“You’re trying to rob him.”
“You can’t steal something you’re given.”
Verity became completely still.
Mob knew that stillness.
Apparently, Twixxel did too.
“Oh,” he said.
Mob looked at Verity.
“Don’t.”
The yellow ball disappeared.
In its place, the enormous creature rose in front of them.
Twixxel stared up at the transformation with admirable calm for someone who had personally caused the situation.
“Okay, first of all, this seems like an overreaction—”
Verity lunged at him.
Twixxel disappeared.
Twixxel was slain by Verity.
Mob stared at the message in chat.
Then he looked at Verity, who was still in his monstrous form.
“Dude.”
The creature turned toward him.
“It was a stack.”
Verity continued staring.
Mob sighed.
“Yeah, okay. He kind of had that coming.”
A few seconds later, Mob heard footsteps approaching again from the direction of spawn.
Twixxel emerged from between the trees.
“Oh?”
Mob raised a hand in greeting.
“Hey.”
Twixxel looked at Verity.
Then he checked his inventory.
“I dropped the gravel.”
Verity moved toward him.
“WAIT, WAIT, I CAN GET IT BACK—”
Mob burst out laughing as Twixxel took off running.
“STOP ANNOYING HIM!”
“I’M TRYING TO SAVE OUR FRIENDSHIP!”
Verity started chasing him.
“THERE’S NO FRIENDSHIP TO SAVE!”
“SEE, MOB?! HE’S SPEAKING OUT OF ANGER!”
Mob sat down in front of his house as the two of them disappeared between the trees.
A few seconds later, another message appeared.
Twixxel was slain by Verity.
Mob opened his chest of dirt and pulled out a stack.
Maybe he could use it to fill in whatever crater they were probably going to leave behind.
From the direction of spawn, Twixxel’s voice could be heard once again.
“Oh?”
Mob smiled.
Yeah.
He was definitely going to need all forty-seven stacks.