They don't know about the things we do, they don't know about the I-love-yous

by Ashyknees

Summary:

13 times people noticed Grian and Scar's crushes on each other, and 1 time somebody knew the truth.

 

Or: I got carried away with the scenarios and a 5+1 turned into a 13+1 featuring Married Scarian and their horrendously oblivious friends.

Notes:

Let it be known that some minor details may not be completely canon accurate, for example there was only two people that showed up for the Head Game results, so just go with it. :)

0: 1 week before Season 6

 

"Hey Grian?" Scar spoke up from where he was laid next to his husband, so close to sleep and watching lovingly as Grian's dilated eyes rested upon his own.

"Yeah?" He responded in a whisper, shifting underneath the covers, manoeuvring his legs lightly enough so that he wouldn't disturb the three cats laying on the bottom of their bed.

"You know how you're joining Hermitcraft in a week?"

"Obviously."

"What do we say if they ask how we know each other? Like, I've known some of them for years and none of them know that I'm taken, let alone married."

Grian stared sleepily at his husband, reaching blindly under the covers for Scar's calloused hand. "If you wanna tell them, then I don't mind. If you wanna keep it a secret then so will I. We can do whatever, Scar."

Scar shifted anxiously, looking down at their conjoined hands and swallowing, Grian squeezed his and shuffled closer after a few seconds, letting Scar gather his words together.

"I know, but.. I feel guilty for keeping it from them. I don't want them to think that I've lied to them about this." He squeezed Grian's hand back and looked back up, just to find a soft smile on his lover's face.

"It's not lying if you were never asked about it. But what if we made a bet about it? Like, see how long we can keep it a secret from the others, and then you'll have a genuine reason for not telling them."

Scar giggled at the silliness of the idea, scrunching his nose up so it crinkled lightly, practically teasing Grian with the want to lean in and pepper kisses all over his husband's face. "I like that idea actually, definitely one of your better ones." Scar teased with one of his trademark smirks.

Grian snorted and leaned in, relieving the urges to kiss the lines away from Scar's face, gazing at his beaming smile at the soft pecks. "Shut up you idiot. Now go to sleep, you need your beauty sleep."

"Says you." Scar leaned in a final time to press a solid kiss to Grian's lips, letting his hand wander over to Grian's waist, pulling him chest to chest with him, their shared warmth more than addictive.

 

1: Cleo - Season 6

 

Grian's cackles filled the air as he glanced at the final few bubbles rising to the surface. He'd come over to see Scar properly for the first time of the season, and what he'd found was a body poofing into nothing and leaving behind floating items.

Acting quickly, he gathered them all up in a chest that overhung the small cavern pool and waited on it. He swung his legs back and forth with an amused grin, beaming at his husband's sheepish smile as he stumbled in.

"Warn me before you come and visit me! I was in the middle of something!" He complained lightly, striding over to stand in the water and look up to where Grian was sitting.

Said man laughed. "I did message you Scar" He lightly knocked his knuckles on the forehead of his lover, teasing him of his obliviousness.

"Oh. That makes sense then. Anyway, how's your base going? Futuristic district right?" He recovered, lifting Grian off the top of the chest and plopping him in the water next to him as he rooted through his items.

Grian sat down in the pool, relaxing at the weight of the water. Though he cringed at the thought of getting out with his waterlogged clothes - he held back from voicing this thought as he 100% knew the suggestion Scar would undoubtably make. "Getting there, it's not exactly futuristic right now, but I have a solid plan for it. I'm just focusing on finding more ways to irritate Mumbo."

Scar laughed cheekily as he re-equipped his leg armour. "I can't wait. And next time you try to prank Mumbo, record it and send it to me, I need some blackmail."

They laughed more at the idea and Grian nodded, soon grumbling about the lowering sun and needing to get back to gathering supplies to build.

"Welcome back to the world of survival servers, Gri. But also, if you really don't wanna travel all the way back, I have a single bed that has both your name and mine on it." He winked, causing another laugh to heartily erupt out of Grian's chest.

"I'm good Scar, but I'll keep that in mind. Now, I'll see you soon, so don't go overworking yourself right at the beginning."

"I would never! I'll see you later, G." They exchanged a short kiss before Grian clambered out of the pool and into his boat with a large and bright smile that rivalled the sun, waving to Cleo as she rowed past in her own boat, not seeing the smirk that Cleo was wearing.

And immediately as he got out of earshot, Cleo started a call with Joe. "Yeah, yeah he's definitely got a crush on Scar. Told you it was obvious from spawn... Alright, fine, but give it a few weeks, let him get settled in before you start to plan ways to get them together."

 

2: Xisuma - Season 7

 

After a long day of coding and bug fixing, Xisuma couldn't have been more relieved that he had an excuse to fly around and stretch his limbs. In the last hour, Doc had been pushing the limits of the server before messaging Xisuma about a glitch that kept soft-locking him out of the server. It was fixed quickly, but Xisuma was really beginning to consider assigning a time out every time it happened.

But flying over the warm jungle was the perfect key to all his muscles relaxing, even the shulker that sat heavily in his arms was less strenuous than all the codes that had left him hunched over. What Grian needed a whole shulker box full of - actually, Xisuma couldn't really remember - for? X didn't have a clue. Frowning pitifully, he made a mental note to take a three-day nap after this.

Scanning over the jungle to find a single player was actually easier than it sounds, especially with the fact that recognisable laughter could be heard coming from a large, snail shaped base.

As Xisuma flew down, he noted the presence of Scar sitting across from Grian on the grassy floor. The latter was chatting loudly with a large grin on his face, Scar's own mirroring him. Both of their faces seemed flushed red from laughing, even more evident by their messed up clothing that had probably occurred by rolling around in the foliage in their excitement.

X set off a final rocket to reach their spot on the ground and watched as Grian stood to attention and approached with a grateful smile on his face.

"X! Thank you so much for getting these to me, I was dreading the idea of gathering all these materials by myself." He chuckled at the end, reaching forward and taking the heavy shulker box with ease, not even straining on the weight (part of Xisuma was baffled, but the other simply looked at the avian's muscles and shook off the shock).

"No problem Grian, what are you two up to today?" He asked, the Hermit more than happy to finally have some time to talk to his fellow server mates after being holed up for hours before. He was quite honestly sick of the isolation for one day, despite the irony - their server name rung true at the best of times however.

"Oh, nothing much, this and that, you know how it is." Xisuma chuckled at Grian's deflections, he was well accustomed to Grian's procrastinative nature after almost two whole years of him living as a Hermit with them.

It was only then, when Xisuma turned his eyes towards Scar that he saw the blush that had now faded from Grian's skin was still present on Scar's face, as well as the fact that his eyes were locked directly onto Grian's arms.

Jungle biomes generally tended to be particularly humid, so it was very common to see the Hermits living in said biome in significantly less layers, meaning that Grian had also stripped off his red jumper at some point, leaving only a black tank top in its place.

Xisuma smirked under his helmet at the realisation that Scar was harbouring a little crush on Grian and looked back to Grian who had his head half ducked in the purple box in his solid hold.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to your very important work that you're definitely doing. Be careful with the heat out here and I'll see you in the next meeting probably."

Grian popped his head out and smiled at him, thanking X once more before turning to Scar again as Xisuma took his leave.

And as X flew away, he unfortunately missed looking back at the pair to catch Grian planting a kiss on Scar's cheek, then his neck, and then his mouth, being heatedly pulled back to the position they were in before they had heard fireworks approaching nearby.

They were almost caught right in the middle of a passionate make out session, and so soon into the bet.

Perhaps next time they would need to keep their more mature moments to private areas, lest the fun end too early on.

 

3: False - Season 7

 

False hadn't been expecting such a turnout for the results of the Head Games, not that Cleo didn't deserve the recognition, but more that the winners were clearly set in stone the moment they teamed up. Though she assumed that the party being fuelled by alcohol was also a good bribe of attendance, a smart move.

Her and Impulse had gotten dressed for the occasion, as was recommended by the invitation. The instructions ordered the attendees to be dressed in formal wear for the party that was being held after the results had been announced; a little thank you from Cleo for collecting the hundreds of heads they had been wanting.

All Hermits were welcomed even if they hadn't joined in on the fun, just as long as they dressed for the occasion. So in summary, the night was going to end with a large crowd of gleefully drunk adults, which acted as an incredible source of entertainment for the small percentage of sober Hermits who were there to support the ones who had a particularly long fly home - designated fliers, if you will.

False could see Cleo standing on their tall podium in a long black strapless dress with a thigh slit and various parts of the dress missing to accommodate for her exposed - and expertly bejewelled - ribs. She was decorated with various gold jewellery, complimenting their greenish skin tone and making her eyes shine.

False was sure that Cleo was one of the most impressive people when it came to dressing up, and it certainly inspired people to do the same at her events.

Most of the waiting Hermits had champagne glasses, looking up to Cleo as they began to announce the results, going in reverse order.

With each name read out, the cheers got louder and louder, people crowding around Grian and Scar as they waiting for their pairing to be read out for first place. The final announcement came and Cleo made sure to lead up to in a dramatic fashion that made everyone tense in anticipation even though the winners were blindingly obvious.

As their names were finally announced, the room went wild. The Hermits around laughed and cheered and lifted the two up in celebration of their win. People gathered to pat them on the back before returning to their earlier spot, meeting up with friends and slithering towards the bar, where Joe and some other Hermits were providing the drinks.

False smiled and laughed at the chaos, and said her congratulations to Impulse, who returned it and made his way over to some others, his arrowed tail flicking happily behind him. False's wings fluttered as she was about to make her way to the bar, only to stop short and stare at the two winners, now alone and smiling at one another, relishing in their victory.

Grian was dressed up in a burgundy suit, with a matching waistcoat and trousers to match up, all on top of a white button up. His hair was styled as neatly as it could be, though slightly messy from the flight over and the celebration. He was also wearing golden jewellery, consisting of his eyebrow and lower lip piercing that Grian had had since he joined the server for the very first time. To finish it off, it seemed that the man had added some hair tinsel to make his hair glitter in the evening light.

Scar was wearing along the same thing, in a dark green suit instead of burgundy. His hair was short this season, with the iconic silver streak at the front that he had adorned from the very first time False had met Scar. He wore golden jewellery as well, earrings hanging off of his pointed elven ears that made his eyes glow.

The two were chatting wildly and it somehow escalated to Scar picking up the avian under the thighs and spinning them a bit. Grian's face beamed brighter and his cheeks lit up in a soft red blush, an impossibly soft look that False knew she's never seen him wear for anyone but Scar.

Grian's tricoloured wings fluffed up at the closeness of the two and False felt a thrum of happiness for her fellow flockmate (of which he'd become the day that he'd nervously shuffled his way into their dysfunctional family).

She grinned at the two and hoped that one day they would realise how much they adored each other, as clearly, they were both head over heels, and neither of them seemed to notice. Not wanting to intrude on another moment between the two, she turned and met up with some other Hermits, happily taking a drink being offered out by Joe.

It was just her luck that she'd miss the ruffling of Grian's bright wings as Scar ran a hand through one of his aural wings, a preening opportunity only given to extremely close flock members, and more importantly, mates.

 

4: Bdubs - Season 7

 

Bdubs was still grumbling once he was done gathering his stuff back from the actively hostile hoard of hoglins. Even as he clambered back up to the platform to lay down and breathe, he still didn't stop the complaints. Grian and Scar cackled at him and sat down on the floor as well, taking a well deserved break from all the chaos.

"Was all that really necessary? Those guys are brutes!" Scar whined, rubbing his arm from the phantom pain he was likely experiencing from the respawn.

"I don't doubt that, for sure." Grian mumbled quietly, pouting at the amount of times he had died just in the preparation of the prank. Bdubs laughed knowingly at that. "But that will definitely be the last time we ever do that to you, Scar, don't worry."

"Yeah, as much as that was fun to watch, I'm exhausted from all the setting up we did!" Bdubs yelled, throwing his arms in the air as he sat up with an exaggerative groan. Scar giggled for a moment, and just for that quick moment Bdubs was able to catch sight of Grian's face, a wistful expression staring lovingly at Scar.

God, he might have to throw up from the amount of pining in this already stuffy Nether cavern.

This was certainly not the first time that Bdubs had caught the two pining for one another. In fact, only a week ago, Bdubs was unfortunately privy to Scar's own goo-goo-eyes.

Granted, G had just returned from working on his upside down mansion - which was a beauty that deserved to be admired - and the builder was wearing a sweat soaked tank top. The then pellucid fabric had shown the glistening of his impeccably muscled shoulders that shone in the Nether heat.

And it may have also shown off his impressive pecs - Bdubs had found out that all winged avians had a similar figure due to the weight of their wings. The discovery of this absolutely didn't awaken something in him.

But that was neither here nor there, and Scar certainly didn't have the right to be ogling at a man that he couldn't even approach without bursting into a flustered mess.

In summary, Bdubs was getting pretty sick of these two not being able to communicate their feelings to one another. Like, how difficult could it be for the two to just get married already! They already acted like they were!

With the way that Grian was tilting his head to look at his friend with devoted appreciation, you would think they'd known each other for 10 years, and had been dating since the very beginning. Honestly, the glances directed towards Scar were nothing short of mind-blowingly heart-wrenching - he was this close to smashing their heads together like two Ken dolls.

It was incredible how the two could be so... them, but he supposed only two years of knowing someone could lead you to be hesitant to ruin a good friendship. Still, it was a shame the two didn't have the balls to just fess up and kiss already. It wasn't like either of them would reject the other.

Well, hopefully he'd be invited to their wedding when it eventually happens after 20 more years of pining.

 

5: Etho - Season 7

 

Etho had never had a chance to see what Grian truly was like when in a position of leadership.

Well, there was the Civil War, but Etho hadn't been around during that.

Civil War aside, Grian's leadership wasn't often shown. But as of the start of the Mycelium Resistance, Etho was able to see him in a different light. The Grian that Etho had never met and only seen around was bubbly, energetic, and mischievous. Not to say that he wasn't any of those things now, but the avian had more of a menacing quality to him.

Since being dubbed 'Mother Spore', Grian's skin had somehow grown toadstools to match, greyish purple in colour and occasional spores floating around him. If you asked Etho, he thought it was the coolest outfit addition ever. His wardrobe changed to more neutral and purple tones, and along the way, his behaviour changed too.

He planned strategically, in a way that made Etho see why Grian's team had won during the Civil War. He had plan Bs, Cs, all the way up to J, all right up his sleeve. He had excellent acting skills and didn't collapse when pressuring situations called for his leadership. Being a part of Grian's team was fun.

And when the time came for it, Grian could escape Mayor Scar's clutches, making sure that the other side couldn't catch on.

Of course, all of this was for fun, and at the end of the day, Etho would watch as Grian and Scar talked like they hadn't tried killing each other hours beforehand.

Another thing to mention was that Grian had an eye for fashion. It was something prevalent in all his costume changes in the previous seasons. Even his guinea pig onesie looked, as Doc had said in passing, disturbingly cute.

And this theme remained true to Season 7 as well. Grian's full outfit was a shoulderless mesh bodysuit that was layered over with gothic Victorian ruffles. He wore long gloves with flowery embroidery sewn in and his lower half had a combinations of trousers and skirts that hung so it didn't cover the front, forming a train behind him.

Etho also appreciated the small details such as whenever the train would trail along the ground the dirt would sprout with various toadstools. Grian also always walked barefoot which showed mushroom tattoos, and the commitment had impressed him largely. It helped him to look more entwined with the nature he was either trying to eradicate or spread more of.

Anyway, the main take from this was: Grian dressed hot. The kind of hot that made Mayor Scar stop and stare, having to cartoonishly shake his head to take his eyes off him. Etho wasn't completely sure if he dressed like that to distract Scar or not, but for whatever reason, it worked well.

Which was why Etho was surprised to see the very well dressed Grian making what was essentially goo-goo-eyes - as Bdubs would put it - at the opposition.

The opposition, who was wearing a pair of garishly yellow and black striped trousers, matched with a bright purple suit jacket which contrasted so badly, that Etho had to laugh in order to not cry the first time he saw it. Oh, and a comically large monocle to top it off, because of course Scar would.

Etho sometimes questioned if he was going blind as he saw Grian zoning out while admiring the man's figure. Just like how he was right now.

"Uh, Grian? You there?" He asked, waving a hand until his boss noticed him. Grian started for a second before smiling abashedly.

"Oh, sorry! What's up?"

Etho huffed amusedly behind his mask and rolled his eyes playfully. "I said, you didn't explain it before, why are we at such as large gathering? One of Scar's more specifically."

Grian smirked. "Well, Scar has information about an upcoming plan, obviously since he's the leader, I want to swindle a bit out of him, all sneaky like."

Etho raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him, truly thinking of switching sides (not really; nobody could cook the same quality of lasagna like Grian could). "You're going to get Scar to cough up information that is probably top secret? And not even in disguise? Then what am I here for?"

Grian brushed about one of his many petticoats and smirked. "It's necessary to the plan, trust me. All you need to do it distract Bdubs for a little bit, just until I fetch you." He shrugged at his boss and nodded.

"Good luck." Grian nodded and walked to the side of the room, unsurprised when Scar moved towards him the moment Bdubs' attention was grabbed by Etho.

"Why, hello there Mother Spore, what can I do for you this evening?" Scar purred cheekily, smirking at the sight of his husband's cheeks blooming red at the tone.

Grian had no idea what he was thinking when he thought he'd have even a chance at squirming the answer out when his lover was standing in front of him with tight, smart layers on. Yes, he was aware of what Scar was wearing, and no, he did not care. He didn't care because these particular pair of trousers had shrunk slightly while drying and had now become the world's most publicly indecent slacks.

He specifically remembered telling Scar to throw them out since they had become impossibly taut. Now he was glad that Scar hadn't listened at all. Grian couldn't be blamed for his ogling when his husband's best assets were so easily on display.

He'd always been told that the gods gave their strongest soldiers their strongest battles. Frankly, Grian was failing at the first bloody hurdle.

Etho watched from afar at Grian's immediate blush the moment Scar approached and huffed again, finding hilarity in Grian's enormously obvious crush.

Honestly, Etho didn't even have to do anything, Bdubs' mouth started moving like a motor the minute he came over. This distraction was too easy.

Something in the way that Grian, the best dressed person in the room, looked pliant and enamoured with the man in front of him, dressed in the most horrific colour combination known to man, made Etho want to burst out in hysterics behind his mask.

Grian could plan strategic attacks against Scar from afar, but a single moment in his close proximity and he was a gooey puddle of worship on the floor.

The two were hopeless. Everyone's bets on when they would get together were pointless, the two would dance around one another longer than they could live.

 

6: Scott - 3rd Life

 

It happened out of nowhere. The burst of sound and the delayed explosion that hit his ears a little too late shook Scott down to the core. His chest thudded as his body braced for an impact of shrapnel headed in their direction.

Everyone in the area had covered their heads with their arms, facing away from the admittedly small explosion. There was a deep crater sitting mockingly in front of Dogwarts and for a moment Scott could hear nothing but the ringing in his ears.

That was until Grian's laughter pierced through the sea of gasps like a freshly sharpened arrow. Scott's eyes snapped to the man. He had to do a double take when he saw the colour of his name. Green, so that meant that...

Scott glanced over to Grian's right hand man - no matter how much either of the desert dwellers insisted it was the other way around - expecting to see a face of pride and glee.

And it wasn't to say that that wasn't what was circulating on Scar's face, but more importantly, what was showing as clear as day on the red life's face was surprise.

Scott could tell it wasn't the surprise that the trap had worked. Grian's shrieking was enough to make Scott realise the truth quick enough.

Grian, a green name, had set a trap and killed three people, knocking two out of three down to their red lives.

It wasn't Scar that had set it.

"You're a monster..." Scott heard himself bravely say to the man pillaring his way up to the group, still laughing and chirping excitedly in a way that Scott now wouldn't dare think of as cute lest he admit to insanity.

He watched as Grian spoke excitedly to the rest of the group, all of them clambering towards him, desperately needing to know confirmation on what the hell had just happened. Scott was about to join the conversation when he caught Scar's gaze.

Though, to say Scott was catching it would be inaccurate, more intercepting than anything else.

Scar was looking at Grian as if stuck in a hypnotic trance, his poncho flowing in the wind from the higher altitude of the hill they were all perched on. His hair was swept into his face and Scar didn't even seem to notice, too engaged in a staring contest with one of the biggest grins Scott had ever seen on Grian's face.

His freckles had darkened dramatically in the desert sun, and Scar was wearing a look on his face that said that he would count them all without complaint, that he would drop to his knees to worship the sun god that gifted his presence.

Scott had never seen a man so consumed in another like Scar was.

And that was saying something, considering that Scott looked in the mirror every morning after waking up next to his beloved husband - who was probably seething at the moment and stomping his way around the flower field.

Scott watched as Scar shook himself out of his trance to approach his fellow desert hippie, only for him to melt once again when Grian turned his beaming smile towards his friend. They celebrated a little, running away together with childish giggling right after Scar had almost ended Ren's game for good with just a push off the steep hill.

And as Scott replayed the look of adoration on Scar's face, he almost felt sorry for Grian. That man was bound to be smothered in love the day either one confesses.

Which, according to Scott's infallible predictions, should be within the next few decades.

 

7: Martyn - 3rd Life/Evolution

 

"He jumps around everywhere even after having lost a life already! We've got an enderman hanging about and he just doesn't care for the risk of accidentally catching its eye. Honestly, he's an absolute nightmare to live with." Grian finished exasperatedly as he and Martyn walked along one another in the hot Nether air.

The two had come across each other while on their own individual grinding mission. Scar needed netherite protection, and Ren needed netherite weapons, simple. They shook on a truce while they travelled, not wanting any hostility to come from an encounter in such a barren and already dangerous area.

Not exactly the right place for a dramatic one on one fight. Much too warm.

They had been gossiping with one another for the better part of an hour, content to recreate their days on Evo, the feeling achingly familiar.

"I can't deny the same for Ren, he gets incredibly roped up in his plotting against you 'sand hippies' to eat sometimes. Not too unhealthily, I promise." Martyn reassures after catching a glimpse of Grian's concern. He out of all people knew how protective of an admin Grian could be, especially when it wasn't your everyday respawn server.

Evo and 3rd Life were kind of alike in that sense. Evo's existence was risky with all the version jumping they did, especially since they had to manually make their way into the next updates via unstable portals.

Many of them often got caught in rough bouts of motion sickness that lasted like an elder guardian's effects. Grian was always the one who helped the dizzying feeling subside at least until they reached each of their homes.

Grian was a similar kind of protective with this server, in the sense that he always dropped the bit when he felt the people involved weren't feeling 100% up to scratch.

Anyway, he'd gotten carried away. Basically it had been too long since Martyn and Grian had caught up properly again.

Grian's rambling shook him out of his daydream and he tuned in to hear lighthearted complaints about Scar and how clumsy he was. He spoke suspiciously fondly of the man, a kind of softness that - again - took Martyn back to Evo.

Looking back, Martyn could remember times where Grian would get these soft looks on his face whenever he complained about his other half. Who that other half was, Martyn had no clue. But what he had known was that the way that Grian ranted with a content look in his eyes and a smitten smile felt incredibly similar to the way he currently happened to be ranting about a certain muscled ally.

"-and now he just has a bee on a string that he's dragging along all childlike; I feel like a parent." Grian continued, having not even slightly noticed Martyn's long silence as he spoke.

"But he's a really good fighter and is capable of being really intimidating because of the hits he can make! It baffles me how he's so nonchalant about all this." Grian's critical words were immediately knocked down a peg by the dreamy smile that begun to crawl up his lips.

Martyn smiled too. He hoped that Scar would someday make Grian as happy as that mystery partner once did.

Too bad that Martyn never attempted to look at the communicator name of Grian's partner during Evo. Then he might've seen Scar's name with a heart emoji sitting innocently, waiting for someone to make the connection, but never fully succeeding.

Then he might've thought to listen better when Grian answered Scar's calls with a confident "hi, Scar," only to melt into a pile of goo the instant Scar occasionally pulled out the fond "hi, baby," that sounded like an angel calling down to him.

Martyn might've even caught the shy "I love you"s that looked like they sent Grian into cardiac arrest at the end of every one of their calls.

And maybe, he might've noticed the excitedly anticipated energy of Grian every time he logged out for the holidays to return back home, returning with sappy smiles and an extra high turtleneck jumper.

 

8: Impulse - Season 8

 

The strain of Impulse's back was really starting to annoy him. For many hours now had he been bent down a hole in the floor to access a redstone connection. Something, likely a rogue animal, had snuck down underneath the flooring and disrupted the flow of the redstone. It had shut all the lights in the building off at once and had left him blind in the middle of the night when he had happened to be drawing out plans for future projects.

It would've been fine if it was in an accessible area, but the lost connection was stuffed underneath a shoddily placed foundation beam. Honestly, he was about to call out to Mumbo to use his freakishly gangly fingers to reach in instead.

But to at least give his back a rest, he finally stood up and decided to walk away for a while, hoping that he could fix it later on when he had a lot more patience.

When he stepped outside, he marvelled at the afternoon warmth and shedded his jacket. Oh well, he might as well get some replacement comparators; he had used the last of them on a recent project that he had left half-finished, partly because of the power outage.

So out to the G-train he went, carefully walking around the Boatem Hole and over to the permanently stationary steam train, tucked in next to a station platform.

Though when Impulse was about to climb up onto a train carriage to dig around, he caught the familiar chattering of his neighbour, the owner of the G-train to be exact.

Looking between the carriages, he spotted the conductor filing through one of his shulkers, sitting on the floor in front of it and throwing things all over the place. Impulse internally winced at the man's organisation system.

Moving to another angle, he was able to see Scar laying on top of a nearby carriage, feet in the air and head on his arms. He was stuck with a permanent fond smile on his face, his eyes blown out and his cheeks subtly flushed.

Whether that last one was from the heat or not, Impulse had no idea, but he had a small hunch.

You see, if you hadn't picked it up, the two had crushes on one another.

Neither had noticed three seasons into Hermitcraft, and it was almost unbearable to watch at times.

In Impulse's opinion, this was one of the times where it was the opposite. In fact, it was more serene than anything. Grian's words clearly went right over Scar's head, but somehow he looked more focused than Impulse had ever seen him.

The two always looked more in love when the other wasn't looking, and it had been getting much more obvious over the years.

Impulse was more than confident he would win the bet. There's no way they wouldn't have confessed come the end of the season. That prize pool was his for sure.

Speaking of prize pool, he thought back to other's guesses and considered them. A lot of people had guessed some point in Season 7, a lot more guessed Season 8, and a few people were betting on Season 9.

There were also a couple obscure ones. Doc was counting on it being during Season 14 and Pearl had for some reason guessed Season 4. But she had only joined this season, so she probably didn't know that the two hadn't even interacted by that point.

 

9: Joe - Season 9

 

Joe sighed gratefully as he dropped the heavy shulker box onto the floor. The ninth season of Hermitcraft had just begun and people were making their ways through portals, teleporting in, or logging in like usual. Mostly everyone had arrived, and the last group to meet up was Boatem.

The group had dived into the void for a better way out than being crushed by a meteor. So they had been floating weightlessly in the void for about a month or so by this point.

Xisuma had finally found the right line of code that allowed him to open a gateway to the void, which meant all he had to do was locate five bodies of code in the empty vacuum of space. Luckily, finding them was easy.

Several Hermits, including Joe had been carrying over supplies from the previous season, something they did at the beginning if the transfer over wasn't as stable as it usually would be. For a fresh new start, all supplies would be eradicated from the code, and all would begin without complications and with everyone healed and ready to roll.

An hour later, five bodies had been collected and passed onto the floor to slowly wake up. Another hour later, Grian was the first to awake, groggy and incoherent until he'd been given a regen pot. And a final hour skip later, Grian was up and helping to take care of the still-passed-out Hermits.

The area around them was sheltered with a gazebo type covering, shading their area and preventing heatstroke while in the dead of summer.

Joe watched with interest as Grian fluttered around the other four, lingering on Scar the most, running a gentle hand over Scar's forehead.

Now, let's be clear. People checking up on Scar certainly wasn't unusual considering the health complications the man had, in fact it was expected. But Grian just held his hand in a unique way that made Joe smirk.

It reminded him of the talk he'd had with Cleo at the very beginning of Season 6, back when Grian had barely settled and stood tense and awkward when talking to anyone new.

"So..? Were you right?" Joe started, knowing instantly what Cleo was calling for, they'd made it obvious in the tone of her texts.

"Yeah, yeah he's definitely got a crush on Scar. Told you it was obvious from spawn."

"I knew it- well you knew it, but I was on your side." He justified, leaning against the tree he had paused in chopping. "Cleo, this is my chance to show you my matchmaking skills that you so often judge! You'll look at me in a new light." His southern drawl slipped into his voice and Cleo chuckled.

"Alright, fine, but give it a few weeks, let him get settled in before you start to plan ways to get them together." Joe agreed.

"Is Scar even single?" He asked, realising he'd never heard about anything to do with Scar's love life.

"Mmm..." Cleo pondered thoughtfully, the rustle of her hair travelled through the communicator's microphone. "I think so. I've never seen him wear a ring or get presents, he just goes home for the holidays and comes back happier."

"Pretty sure that's just because Christmas is like, objectively, the best holiday there is. Also he sees his family, everyone does on Christmas. Going months without seeing my parents makes me feel excited about seeing them again." He argued lightly.

"True. Point is. Scar is single, I'm like, 100% sure. We also would've heard about it from how much the man rants."

"Good point. Anyway, I'm gonna plan some more, I have a feeling these two will be difficult, especially with both of their attention spans seeming to go out of the window if it's not slightly interesting. Talk to you later!"

Ultimately, Joe had never ended up using those plans. He had completely forgotten about them after all the games and pranks Grian had started. Hermitcraft had lit up with the energy and fun of a new player once again, and this one was feisty.

But now, as he watched Grian trace Scar's flushed skin with the back of his finger, wincing in sympathy at the temperature, Joe felt determined to restart his plans. He observed for a few moments more before grabbing a wet cloth and handing it to Grian.

The avian took it without question, thanking him quickly. He placed the fabric gently on Scar's forehead, wiping it all the way around his neck, soaking up the sweat and causing a sigh to release from Scar's lips.

Grian relaxed visibly and his eyes lit up as Scar's opened. The two locked gazes for a second and Joe had to look away, the moment feeling a little too much like watching your own parents kiss.

He busied himself with the items on the table, packing up a little before walking away, letting the two have their privacy.

And like a clockwork pattern, just as he turned away, of course the two behind had locked lips as a good morning. They didn't always feel the need to stick together, but the feeling of Grian's delicate touches at this moment made Scar never want to separate from his lover ever again.

 

10: Cub - Season 9

 

"So..." Cub began, "how do you plan on feeding him?" His eyes squinted through the sun rays protruding between the leaves to stare at the large mob. Cub had arrived just after Scar had finished setting up the ravager in its own display enclosure; the man had been bruised and battered to the Nether and back.

"Her, actually. She's a mother. Well, a soon-to-be mother right now actually, but ravager pregnancies take like, 4 years to fully develop, so I'll let her out right before we leave this season behind. I'll need to set an alarm for that actually..." Scar muttered, putting a hand to his chin to think.

Cub raised an eyebrow and stared until Scar remembered that he had asked a question. "Oh yeah! She'll be fed through a dispenser type thing. I'll stock it every week with meat and it'll give her the necessary nutrients she needs! I also won't get maimed this way." He explained proudly.

"It's... it's also got options to..." Scar trailed off, making Cub look back at him from where he was inspecting the mob. Scar was now looking up at the sky, following something with his eyes.

"Scar?" He asked, following Scar's eye-line worriedly. Though immediately that worry was squished into a pile of nothing. Turns out, Scar had distractedly cut himself as he watched a certain avian fly over the large tree.

The man's wings were brightly coloured as they usually were, though looking different to last season's. Grian's wings acted as a beacon to anyone attempting to catch sight of him, which of course meant that Scar's focus was easily hooked.

Cub rolled his eyes fondly at the lovestruck face the vex was making. The man had had a crush on Grian since season 6 and it was horribly obvious. Cub had cashed in on the bet to say that they'd confess this season, and he was still confident in the guess.

His confidence was strengthened even more by the way Scar reached out a scarred hand to expertly catch one of Grian's feathers before it fell to the ground. The dreamy smile on his face lit up the area with the force of a million sea lanterns; it was almost blinding.

Cub smiled as well at his fellow vex's face. Scar had always seemed more introverted in his first two seasons, almost scared to talk to anyone new, but he and Grian had clicked like they'd been friends for years. It was the kind of friendship that others would assume Cub would be jealous of, despite this, Cub didn't doubt Scar.

The phrase wasn't 'bros before hoes' for nothing, and Grian certainly wasn't anything close to one of Scar's 'bros'. Not with the smitten pink cheeks the avian always adorned whenever Scar complimented him.

Cub was broke out of his thoughts when Scar stuck the feather behind his ear like it was meant to be there and spoke. "Sorry, what was I talking about again?"

"The automatic feeding machine for your ravager." Cub chuckled. Scar smiled and continued on.

"Yes! Right, so, the machine will basically be timed to feed her once a day. And I know they only eat like every two days but she's also missing her vitamin D while being in the shade of the tree all the time, so I guess I'm kind of making up for that. It won't overfeed her, hopefully at least, and-"

Cub let the man rant for a bit while he glanced around. He caught sight of Scar's door and saw a shulker box Scar had been using as his pseudo-mailbox while he was still sorting out the area and terraforming.

Right on top of it sat a little envelope with bump on the inside, a small gift being on the inside. It was wrapped in red ribbon and had one of Grian's signature feathers tied in.

Cub looked back at Scar to see him still in his tangent and stared at the matching feather. Yeah. No way that he was losing this bet.

Especially with the small heart drawn on the envelope next to Scar's name, though due to the unfortunate distance, Cub was out of luck.

 

11: Joel - Double Life

 

Joel almost jumped at Grian's volume, the yell echoing throughout the canyon. He bursted out into laughter, quickly being cut short when he began to almost choke on water from floating in the deep water. For more buoyancy, he pushed his axe into a belt loop and swam towards Grian.

The man was kneeling on the shallower areas of the water, the water splashing at his chest. He held his face in his hands, his expression unreadable as he dragged his hands down. "Are you actually linked?" Joel asked, knowing the answer. It was hard to not understand.

Well, maybe not for Scar. Said man happening to be clambering up the cliffside and calling for his allay with one hand grabbing the wall and the other cupped around his mouth for projection.

Every time his hold would slip Joel would catch Grian's dark eyes flinch and widen, preparing himself for the pain of death by falling.

Joel's attention was quickly snatched by Etho. "Oh, I threw my enderpearl! Joel, I might die!"

"What?!" Joel's chest suddenly felt short of breath as Etho disappeared out of sight. Luckily it lessened as Etho began rising to the surface, letting out a breath of relief.

Note to self that even the pressure of being underwater could be felt by the soulmate.

They all giggled at Etho's masked expression (how he wasn't suffocating from the waterlogged fabric was beyond Joel) and Grian sighed again, reminding the others of his predicament.

"Scar- Okay, Joel. Scar hasn't figured it out yet, so let's just keep it a secret for a while." Joel laughed at Grian's exhausted expression. First session, Joel almost reminded him.

"You got your work cut out for you Grian." Etho said, swimming in front of him with a teasing tone.

"I'm just gonna see how long-" Grian cut himself off as he winced at the healing wound on Scar's back. Joel pondered something for a moment and smirked.

"The reason he took a lot of damage, by the way, was 'cause I hit him with my axe to annoy the other person." Grian looked up at his and remembered his panic earlier on with the goats. His face grew urgent as he tensed.

"I nearly died!" He accused, pointing at Joel before slumping back into the water.

"Yeah, he said you were on two hearts..." he trailed off his a breathless giggle. The memory of Scar's panic made his head light with laughter.

They all stared up at Scar for a while, talking amongst themselves and diving down into the water every now and then to swipe at the fish that would dare to stay in their proximity. Though at this point, Joel was starting to feel played with with the amounts of fish he kept missing.

Grian stayed near the edge, sitting on a submerged crafting table and watching the two soulmates struggle for fish. The bastard kept smirking as he chewed on his own cooked salmon as well.

The sounds of falling rocks plopping into the water caught all of their attentions. Scar was skidding down gracelessly with no allay following him. "What is he doing?" Joel questioned quietly, floating easily and furrowing his brows.

"Unbelievable..." Grian groaned as Scar splashed into the water in a canon ball formation. Joel watched, interested as Grian's breath cut short at Scar's lack of oxygen, even for just a few seconds. His head popped above the water moments later.

"Gah! It's unbelievable Grian." Scar mimicked Grian's tone of voice teasing and swam over, resting his arms on Grian's knees. "I lost my allay!" Joel watched as Grian smiled and laughed as the man dramatically fell into the water backwards.

Scar quickly crafted a boat and rowed away immediately, the water flicking up into Joel's face. They all watched as Scar rowed up and down the canyon, getting onto the cliff face again and calling out for his allay.

Joel was only just able to catch sight of Grian's face, and boy was he surprised to say the least.

He had known Grian for years by this point, longer than he could count thanks to Lizzie having met the man in high school in Japan a few times. And Joel could honestly say he'd never seen such a smitten look on his friend's face.

He could recognise it as it was the same one he himself would wear when gazing at Lizzie. Oli had taken many embarrassing pictures throughout their friendship, and the lazy eyelids and warm smile were a common factor with both men.

(Joel also happened to notice the way that Grian's eyes locked onto Scar's chest, where his off-white button up stuck to his skin and went see-through, giving a clear view to anyone with interest.)

Shrugging and rolling his eyes, he looked away. Grian had had a few crushes over the years, or so he'd heard from Lizzie, this was probably another one of them.

Though honestly, Joel could see it working, the two had combative natures and an ability to bounce back banter between one another like a tennis match. Joel had never heard Grian laugh harder than he had around Scar, so for both their sakes, he really hoped they got together at some point.

'Maybe they already have, and we're all just too stupid to notice' he thought then snorted. Yeah right, only someone with a stupidly new crush could smile at someone like that, it faded into something more content along the line.

(He completely ignored the fact that there were photos of him now making that same face, even after 10 years.)

Scar dropped in again minutes later, and Joel couldn't help but roll his eyes again when he saw Grian catch sight of the helmet and not say anything. Joel swore he read that rules were supposed to apply to everyone, even the ones the rule maker had a bias for.

"Have you found your soulmate yet, Scar?" Grian questioned, hanging onto the edge of his own boat, sitting empty on the water's surface.

"No- well yeah, my soulmate just left me up a hill." Joel smirked as Grian snorted quietly at the irony. More like he had left his soulmate down a hill.

They all bantered for a while more, hunting fish as the sun set and laughing as Jimmy and Tango went down a life together, surprisingly at the fault of the latter.

"I can't let my first love get away from me like this." Scar mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear, swimming in backstroke towards the cliffside for the sixth time now, determined to catch his allay.

"Wow." Grian deadpanned and Joel cackled. He watched as Grian stared at Scar scaling up the rocks, well, more specifically at his ass. Semantics. The fond look on the former's face gave away everything anyway.

Yeah, Joel really hoped they ended up together by the end of this game, maybe being intertwined by their souls would bring them closer to the truth.

 

12: Doc - Season 9

 

Doc had a bad feeling. Grian and Scar had held bad reputations over themselves for the past few years. Specifically near anything remotely redstone.

The two were skilled builders, able to create life from just a few stone type blocks, Doc honestly admired the two. However, redstone seemed to be something that just wouldn't click with them.

Doc had once tried to give them a crash course, and it had ended with the two rediscovering the dust's more... recreational uses. Essentially, and every redstoner knew this, in the past, players had found out that the dust could be consumed safely.

Melting and baking it into food, smoking it, eating it, snorting it, all that good stuff. And of course the two had decided to have a lunch break and had ended up with the dust on their food. An hour later, and they were giggling at the clouds and batting at Doc's small tail like lion cubs.

Anyway, the point was that the two had never been too into redstone. In fact Grian specifically tended to avoid it altogether, knowing his bad luck around it.

Which set off red lights in Doc's brain when the two, quite nervously he might add, asked to see his perimeter, to have a tour.

Unfortunately, Doc's internal red lights were proven correct when the three made the lengthy flight through to the tunnel bore.

Though more accurately - what was left of the tunnel bore.

The large machine which stood tall only a week ago, calculated perfectly at such a grand size, was now in pieces on the uneven floor. Destruction that Doc wasn't even aware could occur sat painfully in front of him. Slime chunks were flown onto the walls, gears that were carefully cut and soldered were lodged into the floor and walls, propelled by the force of the TNT, which Doc assumed was the cause of the destruction.

He should've known.

TNT, Scar, and Grian were a horrible combination. To have that even slightly near was a mistake. He should've made traps to keep them out.

No, that wouldn't have even worked. The two had weaselled their way through impossible scenarios in ways that had impressed even Doc sometimes.

Doc put his head in his hands and breathed. He breathed in for five, out for five, and repeated. Over and over again. Until the blood had stopped roaring behind his ears and he could stand without shaking.

He heard rocky shuffling behind him and prepared his voice for a whole 30 minutes of yelling.

However, when he turned to look at the two he couldn't help but slump in resignation. His robotic eye picked up their mannerisms quicker than Doc could blink.

The two men had curled up on themselves, shoulders hiked up and hands to their sides. Their faces were pinched with a grimace as they looked at Doc's feet to avoid eye contact.

Grian's wings were pressed hard against his back, feathers flat and slightly quivering. His knees were pressed together as he tried to keep them from shaking. Scar's elf ears were downturned and his glowing eyes were dulled and shuttering in an attempt to control his anxiety.

Doc sighed when he saw how remorseful they looked, the incident clearly having been an accident. He turned back around, now only able to string off on a long lecture if he was facing away from their upset puppy eyes.

He gestured dramatically and stuttered out frustrate rants for about 42 minutes if his timer was correct, which it was. He sighed for a final time before turning again.

The two had obediently followed behind him when he walked up and down to survey the damage as he ranted, but overall had stayed put. The two were now stood closer, and upon closer inspection, were holding hands tightly.

Doc took a minute to stare them down and analyse them over. Scar's cheeks had flushed completely and Grian's wings had begun to flap every few minutes to calm himself down. Doc almost laughed, the two had gotten so flustered by a simple bit of contact that they'd flustered themselves.

Taking mercy on them both, Doc nodded at them. "Okay, I'm done. Get the hell out of here, both of you. Don't let me see you near here again." They jumped at being directly addressed and squirmed in place, finally gathering their composure and flying through a hole in the ceiling that, somehow throughout this almost 45 minute rant, Doc had managed to miss.

"A hole!? Really?! Ohh..." He groaned and huffed, just standing there for a few moments, listening to the sound of rockets get further and further away.

"Those two are fucking idiots." The image of Scar's blushing face popped into Doc's head and he chuckled before taking a breath and flying out the way he came in. Fuck, he needed to sleep.

Miles away, where the two had escaped and fled to Scarland, they stumbled to the floor of the bathroom Scar had been hiding in days before.

"That sucked. I hated that. Scar, save me. Save me HotGuy..." Grian groaned as he fell to the floor against a wall. Scar frowned sympathetically and scooped the other up, manoeuvring him to wrap all of his limbs around him.

"I hated that too. I hate disappointing people like that." Scar mumbled into his husband's shoulder.

Grian laughed halfheartedly. "I know, I could tell from your cheeks." Scar frowned and pouted.

"I know! They get flushed when I'm anxious, you know this!" He whined and Grian smiled softly, taking a hold of his other half's face. He placed a gentle kiss on each cheek.

"I do. And you look adorable, love." Grian didn't tend to use pet names, but the situation called for it, in his opinion - the eye-bags resting on his husband's face were far too much for him to handle. "Now, that drained me, and I want to sleep for 16 years straight. You coming with?"

Scar smiled tiredly and nodded, letting Grian back down onto the floor and following after him as they flew over to the other's base where there was an actual bed to sleep in.

 

13: Mumbo - Season 9

 

"Do I have to?" Grian deadpans, laying limp on his bed, his head titled just enough to look at his best friend. Mumbo stood amusedly in the entrance of Grian's own tent, which was unbearably barren, as Grian's interiors usually were.

"Well, if we're going to be living over here during the entirety of this bit, then yes. Come on Grian! Decorating isn't as bad as you make it to be. You're just lazy."

Grian smirked and rolled away. "I never said I wasn't, but okay. What kind of stuff do you have?"

Mumbo smiled and put the shulker box down, pressing on the top and watching the top twist open and levitate. He leaned inside the box. "I've got posters, little fairy light things, plants, trinkets, all that good stuff."

Grian finally sat up with a loud stretch and crawled over to the box, leaning against Mumbo with more force than was definitely necessary. "Ugh... Mumbo," he dragged his (basically) brother's name out dramatically "my brand!"

"Yes, yes. Your brand of never doing interiors is iconic to you, but this is a much smaller area and I'm getting flash-banged by neon yellow every time I come over to your tent." Which was quite a lot due to Mumbo's tent having been transformed into a toilet stall.

Grian groaned again but complied. They got to work, planning out where things were would go and how they'd be set out. Grian had to reluctantly admit that it was almost therapeutic, but he internally knew that doing it with his best friend made things much more bearable.

Mumbo pulled out the posters and splayed them out on the floor, snickering at one specific image that he had momentarily forgotten he'd put in the pile. Grian turned to question him before pausing and barking out a laugh.

"Really mumbo!? I truly never thought you'd be able to part with it." The avian teased, smirking up at the other.

The poster that the both of them were staring at was a particular HotGuy image. Grian could remember helping Scar to take the picture vividly and laughing at all the poses that didn't end up as the final result, they had all been a little too suggestive after all.

However, this was one of the few pictures that had gone through to the final product. The archer was tastefully aiming towards something out of frame, his shirt off, which was not a particular rarity, and his muscles glistening in the midday sun.

Scar had gone back and forth with the idea to oil his torso up for the photoshoot but had ultimately decided to go through with it, but just for this one photo. Grian had passively watched the man do so with a smirk on his face, acknowledging yet ignoring how suggestive the scene looked.

The ending shot had turned out absolutely stunning, at least according to Grian, and they had celebrated the photoshoot with an equally stunning evening together. It was certainly a day to remember.

Grian shook himself out of his thoughts and picked up the poster, adjusting it and pinning it to the wall of the tent with Mumbo's help, smirking all the way through.

Mumbo watched Grian carefully as the man stepped back to admire the decorations they had put up. "You outdid yourself, Mumbo. Thanks, but this will not become a common theme, I promise you." Mumbo laughed and brushed away the thanks.

The moustached man glanced at his friend and noted the look he was directing at the poster every time he'd run his eyes across it. After years of pining Mumbo would've hoped that one of them would've made a move on the other, or maybe had an accidental drunk hookup. But throughout all the years, not a single thing had changed.

Ultimately, Mumbo knew that wasn't particularly a bad thing, but he wanted his friends to be as happy as they could be, and after witnessing their heart shaped eyes stare at one another after years, he wanted to make that first step for them, for everyone's sake.

"Grian," he started, looking at the poster again "do you..."

Grian turned to his best friend and blinked, waiting patiently for the questions to be asked. Mumbo hesitated.

Love confessions often had the chances of being reciprocated yet denied, just because they thought the other didn't like them, resulting in things becoming worse. Mumbo cherished both his friends, and to see them in a state worse all because of him?

"Do you..." He looked in Grian's multicoloured eyes, brown and blue, and felt himself deflate.

He couldn't do it. Maybe he was interpreting it wrong. Maybe they didn't want partners. Maybe they were happier like this. "Mumbo?"

He stuck on a tight smile, hopefully enough to be convincing. "Sorry, completely forgot what I was saying for a second. I was gonna ask if you still had the 'Mumbo for Mayor' t-shirt. I wanted to stick it on my wall, like for memory's sake."

Grian brightened up at the question and Mumbo was quickly reminded of why he had kept quiet all these years. If Grian was happy now, and it could definitely stay that way, then Mumbo wasn't about to change a thing as long as his best friends were happy.

 

+1: Everyone

 

"Jimmy!"

Said man paused in the middle of his sentence, leaving Joel to throw a confused glance behind his friend. "Jimmy!" The voice yelled again and the blond was finally able to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from.

A quick moving body was hurtling through the crowds of people, all from different servers such as Hermitcraft, Empires and many more, all having connected to one another in some way. Her chestnut brown hair was waving in the breeze as she sprinted faster and faster towards Jimmy.

"PEARL!" He yelled, even louder. Joel cackled at the volume before bidding a quick goodbye and walking over to his wife.

"My little duckling!" Pearl shrieked, finally meeting the man and smashing into his body, knocking them both to the floor laughing. "Oh my baby brother! So small and tiny!" Jimmy giggled frantically as his sister pinched his cheeks and pulled him around, equally as excited as he was to finally meet up after too long.

"Pearl! Shut up! I literally tower over you by like 10 inches. Maybe 20." The woman cackled and smacked her brother on the back of the head, holding him tight to her body as she hugged the life out of him.

"Bastard. How've you been? How'd the ending of Empires go? Smooth?" She pulled herself up onto her feet before offering a hand down to the blond man still sprawled onto the floor.

Gladly, he took her hand and pulled himself up as well, showing off his clearly superior height, though not by as much as he had teased. "I've been good, and the ending went well, a few hiccups here and there, but nothing too big. How's Hermitcraft? Season 9 just ended right?"

"Yup, longest season we've had since the sixth season. Well, that's what Grian told me anyway." She answered, putting her hands on her hips and stepping back a bit.

"Damn, they were really going for a while then. I remember when he'd come home for holidays while he was in that season and I thought they were just gonna stay in it for good, no more server moving."

"Oh yeah, I remember now."

"Anyway, how's Grian? Where is he?" Jimmy asked, patting down his trousers from where he'd fallen onto the ground. They began walking over to another large group of players sitting on the fresh grass, most of them from Hermitcraft.

"He's doing well, and I have no clue." She shrugged and sat down near Mumbo and a few others, some looking over to smile at Jimmy in greeting.

"He's over by the lake with Scar." Mumbo answered, overhearing Jimmy's question. "Hey, Jimmy."

The blond grinned back. "Of course, who else would be be with?" Pearl teased and the group they had sat by all barked out laughs.

Now, one thing you had to know about Pearl and Jimmy was that they were Grian's siblings. More specifically, Grian and Pearl were fraternal twins with the former being older, and Jimmy being their sweet baby brother. They both knew Grian better than anyone.

This meant that they knew something that everyone on Hermitcraft didn't about Grian. Almost everyone.

You see, if you hadn't gathered the evidence together, Grian and Scar were together. And not just together, but married, legally. Had been for ten brilliant years. The two had gotten hitched when they were 23, four years after meeting and dating one another.

Grian had been on Evo for a whole year by that point, and Scar was coming close to the end of his first season of Hermitcraft, Season 4.

They had organised a small wedding, completely personal and not at all flashy. It wasn't big or exciting, just simple, which was exactly how they wanted it after their crazy lives as teenagers. Settling down officially was something they had looked forward to, and displaying their relationship via a large mass meet wedding didn't feel... them. At least, not then.

Jimmy and Pearl were some of the very few people invited, only Taurtis, Jay, Dom and Atlas, the last being a cousin of Scar that had escaped his server as well before it became too late. Their reunion was emotional and Grian had never seen his partner as happily relieved as he was when they reunited.

Scar had invited her to the small wedding as a goodbye gift before she left for her own server, and the two had been in contact ever since, with Atlas becoming a second sister to him, and even one to Jimmy and Pearl.

Anyway, the point was that Jimmy and Pearl were one of the few people to know of Grian and Scar's relationship, let alone marriage.

And Pearl would never admit it - which was a straight up lie according to Jimmy and Grian - but she liked to hold in the information over people's heads unknowingly and watch them search blindly as she held it enclosed in her tight palm. It was her everyday entertainment.

"You've noticed too?" Bdubs asked. "Well, actually I'm not surprised. You are his sister."

"Bdubs, the whole server has noticed. We have a bet going." Impulse laughed in his face.

"I've known they've had a crush on each other since the beginning. He came out of Scar's Season 6 base with a big fuck off smile on his face. That was the look of 'I've just gotten a crush on my neighbouring himbo' for sure." Cleo cackled and Jimmy and Pearl couldn't help but join in, though for different reasons.

"Not to mention Scar's goo-goo eyes whenever Grian flies over him. Totally smitten, it's been getting worse, I swear." Cub complained, though the smile on his face showed fond exasperation.

"Talk about goo-goo eyes, Grian got them so bad when we were pranking Scar back in Season 7. With the initiation into the Upside Down? Yeah, torture to look at." Bdubs exclaimed, throwing his head back for emphasis.

Etho hummed next to him, leaning back on his elbows. "It's not always torture. Scar is a pretty good distraction for Grian, back in the Turf War days in the same season. The other team must've been getting away with so much with how distracted he kept getting because of Scar's outfit."

Mumbo nods enthusiastically. "Which was horrendous! He has this undeniable attraction to Scar, no matter what he wears. But then! When he looks actively good in photos-"

"Like the HotGuy posters."

"-like the HotGuy posters, yes, he was literally unable to be spoken to."

Jimmy smirked. He knew his brother well enough to know that Grian was never that caught up when appreciating Scar - those days were gone, or were at least rarer - so he had likely just been fucking with Mumbo that day.

"Scar isn't much better though. Like, early days, when they'd properly started bonding, Scar was completely smitten then as well." Xisuma enters the conversation as well, leaning back in a way that expressed he was nothing but amused by the two. "I took over a shulker, a heavy one to be clear, and he picked it up one handed - and surprise, surprise, Scar was reeled in."

"Hi guys, what are we yelling about?" Joel interrupted, having been dragged over via his wrist by Lizzie. Martyn and Scott followed behind.

"Grian and Scar's insatiable and, according to each other, unrequited love for one another. We're all victims to it." Pearl summarised, celebrating when all three men's expressions lit up in recognition, clearly having their own memorable interaction.

"Thank god you noticed, otherwise I was about to get concerned for people's eyes." Scott teased, joining the group on the grass and smiling appreciatively as they shuffled to accommodate the additional people.

"You too?" Impulse asked and Scott nodded. "I've caught the two together alone and they looked like they'd been married for years at this point. Scar was genuinely kicking his feet like a girl writing in a diary."

Jimmy and Pearl cackled at the irony and they imagery, now this was good telly.

"Oh yeah, those two were head over heels for each other in 3rd Life, it was scary." Scott said and Martyn laughs.

"Yes! See, back in Evo SMP, Grian had this partner that he was so smitten with, nobody knew who it was. And back in 3rd Life, during one of the breaks, me and G were just talking and he started ranting about Scar and he was speaking about him the exact same way he did to his partner in Evo."

Jimmy and Pearl had to use all of their might to hold themselves from screaming out in laughter. Every second more of the conversation equalled to the value of gold.

"Wasn't that Taurtis? They were together a lot." BigB spoke up as well, tilting his head in confusion.

"No, Grian told me that his partner was living on another server, no clue which one though, he never said." Martyn answered and Jimmy felt like his lungs were about to collapse.

"Either way, their love for one another is disgusting. Don't even bring up Double Life, honestly, I don't think I've ever seen someone stare at someone else's arse so intensely." Joel complained.

"Oh yeah, back in the ravine, the first session right?" Etho confirmed and Joel nodded with an eye roll.

"How could you forget it?"

"I don't know, I think their crushes are kind of cute." False spoke up, her wings fluffing up behind her. "When they won the Head Games in Season 7, Grian's wings kept flailing, in the way an avian's does when their mate is nearby." She grinned at the memory and Jimmy and Pearl couldn't stop their own wings from fluttering at the mention of their happy flockmate.

"Oh, for sure. The beginning of Season 9, when all you Boatem guys were being brought back from floating in the void, Grian was watching over Scar like a hawk." Joe added.

"He is a hawk." Jimmy deadpanned.

"Well, then it's even more accurate."

"I refute this though. Those two are not cute. They are absolute menaces." Everyone laughs as Doc protests their claims of the two being sweet together. "I Grian-proofed and Scar-proofed the tunnel bore, but somehow didn't think about their combined idiocy together."

"But I heard that you let them off quite easily." Xisuma teased lightheartedly and Doc just scowled, also not meaning the irritated attitude at all.

"Bullshit."

"Really?"

"...those two have the worse combination of puppy eyes I have ever seen two people have. It's diabolical."

"Ha!" Xisuma exclaimed in triumph and Doc just shoved him hard enough to knock him onto his back with an audible thump.

"At this point I think someone should just intervene at this point."

"Post Christmas mistletoe type scenario. Like 'oh we left it up there from December! Well, you know the rules!' wink wink."

"Did you just say 'wink wink' out loud?"

The two siblings looked between themselves and raised an eyebrow at each other. "But wouldn't it ruin the sweetness of them confessing themselves? Also, when they do eventually confess, because it is inevitable" Jimmy held back a smirk, "then you can rub in their faces all the years you suffered, that's like, endless blackmail." The canary hybrid innocently suggested.

"Maybe it's just because Grian's my brother, but I'd kinda want to see it unravel naturally, rather than some meddling." He pulled out his own level of puppy eyes and suddenly all the older players with paternal instincts - and those without - felt compelled to go along with him.

"Jim's right, I mean, it could make it more awkward for them if we intervene, maybe it's better to let it run its course. There's only so long for two people to pine openly for each other before they start dating." Pearl made sure that not a single lie got through, and she wasn't lying, the two had constantly circled around one another for a few weeks before admitting their crushes for each other.

Ironically, they were two of the fastest people Pearl had known to start dating once a crush developed. Personally, it made it a lot easier to accept Scar into their family, not like she had been doubting him, but seeing Grian hold so much love for one person after missing out on all those years of neglect and pain made Pearl's heart titter happily for him.

Her avian soul felt the need to fly over to his brother and scoop him up into a nest - going back for Scar as well. Her protective streak as Grian's sister, despite being separated, had never wavered. Knowing the pain he went through broke her heart, so it made Pearl more happy than words could describe to know that Scar was there, and as far as he was concerned, would always be.

Of course Jimmy felt the same. Scar had become a brother to him, and the Hermits' visit to Empires a year or so back made their relationship strengthen, and Jimmy truly got some time to know his brother's husband after so many years.

Again, not like they weren't close before, but putting on their sheriff personas and playing almost like children made Jimmy feel like he had known Scar since he was a child. Like when your older brother would bring over his friend and suddenly you enjoyed the company of the friend, and before you knew it, you had another brother.

Jimmy often felt a sting of pain when he thinks of all the years that he didn't spend growing up with Grian, with him having been dropped off in Japan when he was seven and Jimmy only five. He had very little memories of a young Grian, and knowing that his time in Japan was essentially mental torture made Jimmy feel even worse for him.

But reconnecting with him had made everything better. Grian's first message to Jimmy and Pearl asking if he had the right contact felt like a miracle, and then meeting him in person had caused all three to bawl their eyes out. Being introduced to Scar only a few weeks later made Jimmy so relieved to know that his brother had someone to look after him, and for a few moments Jimmy felt like the roles of older and younger reversed.

But he digressed, the main point was that Jimmy, and Pearl too of course, felt extremely protective over both of their brothers, blood and not, and they wanted the two to enjoy their 'secret' relationship for as long as possible. So if keeping the bit going and fucking with his friends was the way to go, then Jimmy and Pearl would keep it going for all of eternity.

However.

It was also just really fun to mess with people, especially considering how irritated people got about it, waiting impatiently for a spark of love to snap in their faces and wake them up.

Unfortunately for them, what they didn't know was that that spark had popped years and years ago, and all they were witnessing now was the low, dim burning of their love, a warm campfire rather than a sharp bang of light.

Speaking of the two, both men had finally approached the group and greeted them, the conversation dissipating away like smoke.

Pearl watched the subtle brush of Scar's fingers over Grian's and her smile softened to putty.

Jimmy watched Grian play with the ring hung around a chain on his neck and felt his heart shudder in tranquility.

They were forever grateful that Grian had gotten through to them all those years ago, otherwise they'd both have two less family members, not to mention a lot less happiness.

Notes:

I'm not even fucking with you when I say that writing this took a FUCKING YEAR.

Writing characters other than my favs is surprisingly hard but I wanted, needed to get this out before pride month was over.

This was also not helped as my ass is going 'Hey, what's that, the release of another season of a show I haven't touched in ages? YEAH!!!!!' so yeah. This might (will) become evident if I start posting fics of other fandoms.

But I still love this stupid series and I hope to never get bored of it <3

(Just so you know, one of these sections was written in the middle of my psychology revision session, two days before said subject's A level exam. Like the real and big one. My priorities are great.

Also my carbon monoxide alarm went off during writing one of these. But we keep writing for the boyyysssss. Hearing continuous carbon monoxide beeps in my head now.)

 

Anyway! As always, if you find anything wrong or iffy with this fic then feel free to comment corrections or constructive criticism. :D

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I loved writing it! Thanks for reading!! :))))

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 7 of Sorry, you've been together for HOW LONG?
• Part 11 of We'll find moonlit nights strangely empty