Chapter Text
Sometimes, Aries really wondered why he became a hero. To save the city, obviously, but at times like this, he wondered why he even bothered fighting the villains.
Or more specifically, these two.
Pesky Boys and Hotguy, two of the most infamous villains in L’Manberg. But not for the correct reasons. If they were murderers, or robbed banks, or even blew one thing up, he would be so much happier fighting them.
And while they technically did blow something up, it was the wrong type of explosion.
”Glitter bombs? Thats. New.” He said flatly. He was not happy. He was also covered in glitter. He would never get it all the way out.
It also did not help that the villains were grinning at him.
And Zephyr was too. The traitor.
”Zephyr, this is not funny. I am covered in glitter.” He attempted to get Phil back on his side, to no avail.
”I’m sorry, Aries, but its a little funny mate. That’s never gonna come out though.”
Aries sighed, and glared at the two villains who were still laughing. “I will be taking out my revenge for this.” He then charged forward, startling them into moving.
”Well hold on, I mean, we don’t need to fight do we?” Hotguy protested, still smiling a little.
Aries turned toward him slowly, letting his eyes glow a faint red. “No, we definitely do.”
Hotguy sighed, and flipped around, landing gracefully on his feet, and summoned a vine to go after Aries. In response, Aries charged forward, swinging his sword and slicing through the vine, cutting it cleanly in half. He quickly grabbed Hotguys arm, locking eyes with him and grabbing control of his blood. Hotguy, in response, locked up, completely frozen in place.
Meanwhile, Zephyr was in the sky with Pesky Bird, using his crows to swarm and overwhelm him. The moment Pesky Bird saw Hotguy frozen by Aries, he dived down, forcing his way through the crows towards his partner in crime. He slammed into Arie as hard as he could, breaking his hold on Hotguy, and setting him free. Aries grunted at the impact, but quickly turned to grab Pesky Bird. He was very unhappy about the glitter, and he was going to bring one of them in. He tried to get control of Pesky Birds blood, but right before he could cement control, he vanished, teleporting into the sky. Aries really hated that guys power set. He quickly got up, trying to grab Hotguy again, but Pesky Bird reappeared to grab Hotguy, and vanish, both villains leaving the scene in a flurry of particles.
Aries sighed, standing up, only to see that they had left something behind. He quickly recognized what it was, an idea forming.
”Zephyr, can you come take a look at this? They left something behind.”
Zephyr nodded, and dived down next to him, crouching down next to the object.
”Well mate, if I didn’t know better, I’d say it looks like a-“
The glitter bomb exploded, covering Zephyr in bright yellow and purple glitter.
”-bomb.”
Zephyr sat there for a moment, in silence before slowly breaking into a grin.
”You knew exactly what that was, didn’t you?”
Aries smirked and nodded. “We can’t leave with only one of us covered in glitter Zephyr. And its never fully coming out.”
Zephyr sighed, laughing a little and stood up, attempting to brush off the glitter, which did more to spread it around than actually get it off. “Well then, we better head back to the tower. We also better think of a good excuse as to why we are covered in glitter.”
Aries stood up, starting to walk back towards the tower. “Mm, I think you should be the one to explain it. Or,” He turned back towards Zephyr “Last one to the tower has to.”
Zephyr grinned, spreading his wings. “I’ll take that deal.” He quickly took off into the sky, heading for the tower.
Arie watched him go, sighing and shaking his head. “He never does learn, does he?”
He stepped forward, using one of his powers, and reappeared at the hero tower. Zephyr landed next to him a moment later, laughing.
”Oh mate, I thought it was gonna be a fair race? No Blood God powers?”
They both headed inside, and Aries fixed Zephyr with a very flat stare.
”Zephyr, I didn’t want to explain the glitter. Why would I not use all of my tools to win when I don’t want to lose?”
They headed into the elevator, finally able to take off their masks.
”Still, come on, you couldn’t have given me a better chance? I feel like you would have let Wilbur win.”
Techno sighed, shaking out his hair, and grimacing at all the glitter in it. “Wilbur would probably complain for days if I didn’t, or he would sing me into letting him win. And then he would explain anyways. He’s like that.”
Techno knew exactly what his twin was like. Or well, his whole family, but only him, Phil, and Wilbur were heroes. Phil hadn’t wanted Grian or Parrot to be involved in this life, probably because their only powers were Flight, and that was because of their wings. Most, if not all heroes had at least 2 powers. They were normally related, but sometimes, they were more different. Wilbur, for example, had Siren Song and Phantom, two fairly different powers. One let him sing people into doing what he wanted, and the other let him phase through objects and fly. He was also a cat hybrid, which let him be more dexterous and agile, but even though he technically had the Cat power because of that, nobody really acted like he did, since it was just how he was as a hybrid.
Phil sighed. “That’s true. Still, now I gotta think of a good excuse to tell the rest of the family.”
Techno smirked at him, and the elector dinged as they reached their floor. “Yep. One that Grian, Parrot, Ranboo, and Tommy will believe. And besides,” Techno turned to him, very serious, “Parrot is my genius brother. He would know the moment I lied to him.” Techno turned, heading to his locker and showers, leaving Phil standing there, sighing, before heading to his locker.
* * * * * * *
Grian and Scar landed on the ground of the Hermitcraft hideout, absolutely losing it.
”Scar- Scar- oh the look on their faces-“
They both dissolved into laughter again, both having the time of their lives. They hadn’t expected the bombs to work so well, and seeing Aries, the most serious hero, covered in glitter, was absolutely worth all of the misfires on the bombs.
Mumbo walked in, seeing Grian and Scar laughing on the ground, still in their villain outfits and raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to assume that the bombs I made you worked, and then I’m going to leave.”
True to that, Mumbo immediately left, shaking his head and laughing a little.
Grian and Scar laid there for a while, not really doing anything, when Grian looked at the time.
”Oh shoot! My dad and brothers are supposed to be home in a few minutes, I’ve gotta run!”
He quickly darted out, using his powers to shift out of his Pesky Bird costume into his civilian clothes, teleporting back to his room just as his dad opened the door, letting him and his brothers in.
”Hey guys, we’re home!”
Grian darted down the stairs, slamming into Techno and Wilbur. Parrot, his twin brother, followed him down a moment later, but much more calmly,
”Are you sure you guys aren’t late?” Grian huffed, very annoyed by the fact that his brothers were not home all day, which caused him to go out as Pesky Bird from boredom. But also, it was just incredibly fun to bother the heroes.
”Yes Grian, I’m fairly certain that we are on time.” Wilbur huffed, still smiling. His tabby brown cat ears flicked happily, tail gently curling around Grian’s ankle.
Techno just rolled his eyes, picking Grian up with a stupid amount of ease. “Come on you. You are too excited to see us. It’s been eight hours.”
Grian huffed, crossing his arms. “Eh. Don’t care.” He knew that even if Techno acted all serious and old, he still loved Grian, and missed him too. Techno couldn’t lie to him.
Parrot hugged Phil first, before jumping on Wilbur’s back and clinging there. He glanced over at Techno and Grian, his gaze drifting a little before locking on Techno. Was there a little bit of… glitter in his hair? That didn’t make sense. Techno was a history major, Phil would grab him and Wilbur from college on his way home from work, when would he get covered in glitter? He looked closely, and he could see a little bit of glitter on Phil too.
”Hey, why are you and Phil covered in glitter? I didn’t think there would be glitter in an insurance office or a college.” Parrot asked from his vantage point on Wil.
Grian felt something tickle the back of his mind, that glitter looked very familiar…
”Oh, some teacher wanted to try a new project, which for some reason included glitter, and I was grabbing Techno when he passed, and he spilled some on us.” Phil replied with ease, hanging up his coat. “Wil was safe in the car when it happened, so he was spared from being covered in glitter.”
Techno looked very unhappy about the glitter, which made sense. It was in his hair, and Techno valued his hair greatly. It was a piglin thing, which he got from his hybrid genes. “Oh, well, that teacher seems a little ridiculous.” Parrot sighed, accepting the fact.
Phil laughed, and nodded. “Enough about our boring days, what did you two do all day this we were gone?”
Grian and Parrot both shrugged. “I was in my room all day, working on an assignment for school.” Parrot answered, seeming a little peeved that he hadn’t completed it.
”I was in my room a lot too, but I went out a little bit ago and hung out with Scar.” Grian shrugged as best as he could with Techno holding him by the scruff.
Wilbur paused a moment. “Parrot, your guys’ school hasn’t started yet. That’s next week.”
Parrot nodded, and grinned, resting his head on Wilburs, right in between his ears. “Yup. I was doing the homework they were planning on assigning us for the first week.”
Wilbur laughed, and decided not to ask how Parrot had gotten the homework in the first place. “Although, speaking of people living here, where’s Tommy and Ranboo?”
Grian shrugged again. “Wilbur, where do you think? Tubbo’s, duh. That’s where they always are when they aren’t here or somewhere else.”
Phil laughed, and nodded. “That is true mate. Those three might as well be triplets or something.”
The others laughed too, Techno finally setting Grian down, and heading farther into the house, all continuing their daily tasks and rituals.
This was, more often than not, a common scene in the Craft household. A family, which appeared as normal as possibly could be. A family that is possibly the most abnormal family in this universe.
The family that our journey began with.
More specifically, the children.