"I Will Smile Right Through it and I'll Scream when No One's Around."

It's too hard to tell if anything's real or not.

(Big trigger warning, this talks about death injury and everything in between. A lot of this is canon divergence and stuff like that. )

scott entered this server knowing what he was in for.

he knew that he had to stay alive three times and then the last would be permanent on this server. it seemed simple enough.

instead, he met a dumb man with lovable golden retriever vibes. his smile was wide and never ending. his words were sweet as honey and careful as if he didn't even want to hurt a fly. his dumb chaotic nature harmonized with scott's intelligent order. he acted so stupid and blissful but it was charming.

scott doesn't know how he could have landed on this server another way.

he met jimmy in the forest. they decided to team up temporarily, promising to leave once they split enough resources between each other. scott wouldn't allow himself to get attached no matter what.

jimmy had other plans.

sometimes, they would have to pause their mining as the blond man would show a fancy rock he found on the ground to scott. he found himself stuffing the rocks into his already full pockets. sometimes, jimmy would be skipping ahead of scott as they walked and would pause to point out a gecko that ran across their path.

"i think her name would be bell but without the 'e.'" jimmy would explain as scott would laugh.

"why without the 'e' specifically?" he would ask. jimmy would pause, slightly wrinkling his nose in thought.

"i don't know. she just seems like it." is how he would respond.

soon, they found a flower valley and decided they were going to live there.

"this is so cute, just the place i would love to live!" scott exclaimed. he caught jimmy staring from the corner of his eye. when confronted, jimmy just laughed and gave him that charming smile.

"you are so cute when your mind is set to something." scott blew a raspberry his way and punched him in the arm. jimmy laughed again and rubbed the spot like it was sore.

it was perfect.

scott watched as the area grew, trees sprouting from the ground and their houses expanding (although scott just had to go over and fix jimmy's.) days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months that eventually led to years. barely anyone had died and from their bubble in the world, they were oblivious.

until death hit them.

jimmy was eager to try a challenge. he begged scott to let him play and after hours, it worked. the two stood at the building, scott taking his things in an extra bag in case, and a few of the other server members watching. scott was only focused on jimmy.

jimmy inched himself through the trails of lava, being careful to not get burned but one false move by getting distracted, and he was melting.

"jimmy!" scott shouted as the machines shut off. "is it safe to cross?" he turned to yhe operator, that he quickly identified as tango, with a worried look.

"it should be fine-" scott barely listened as he ran across the stone bricks.

sliding to the ground, he caught jimmy just as he started to collapse.

"s-scott?" jimmy asked as he gripped scott's jacket with his charred fingers.

"shh, i'm right here with you." scott tried to smile but a tear escaped and ran down his cheek. jimmy lifted his hand up and used his thumb to wipe the tear away with a pained smile.