𓈊 A Poppy By Any Other Name

Act XXV

This chapter made my heart melt writing it. I cried in joy. I sobbed and weeped because it was so cute.

No, this is not a decoy to make you think there's no angst in this chapter. /lh/hj

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"That'll be..." Scar continued to draw out the word be as he picked up a property card to read off, "One thousand, four hundred bucks."

"Are you kidding me?!" Grian stared down at his small pile of Monopoly money. "How- I- Wha- Huh?!"

Jimmy, who had been out of the game for ages now, nearly fell over onto Scott as he was laughing so hard. Grian didn't have nearly enough to pay off the rent on that space.

Scott snickered. "I think you're out, Grian," he said, peeking over from the other side of the board. "Oh, yeah, you're definitely out."

Grian groaned as he sunk down in his seat. "That's not fair," he whined. "Can't I trade you something? I have railroads!"

Scar hummed, seemingly considering his options before nodding. "Alright, I want all of your railroads," he decided. He held out his hand for Grian to hand him the railroad cards. "Rail me, Grian."

As he was reaching for his cards, Grian froze and his face turned a bright red as he moved to look at Scar. "Excuse me?"

Scar blinked. "Wha- Oh!" He gasped, dark red flushing his face. "Wait, I didn't mean- I- I meant that- your railroads- I-" He covered his face with his hands and slid down in his seat so he was barely visible to everyone else.

Grian, rolling his eyes playfully, opened his mouth to speak, but Lizzie beat him to it, calling Grian's name from the kitchen

"Grian!" she said. "Get your stuff together, Joel's ready!"

Grian gasped in response and tossed to Scar whatever was left of the cards and play money he had. "Okay," he yelled back. Hopping off his seat, he nearly tripped and fell as he darted over to the front door to step into his shoes. He grabbed a bag from off the floor and tossed the strap over his shoulder.

"Someone's excited," Lizzie said, giggling, as she came down the front hallway. She peeped her head around the dividing wall between the foyer and the dining room. "Are you coming with, Scar?"

"I'm good," Scar said, most of the sound muffled into his hands.

Lizzie snickered. "Alright, then."

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"Are your eyes closed?" Joel asked, guiding Grian forward from behind. He'd told Grian to close his eyes as soon as he walked through the front door, saying that he wanted everything to be a surprise.

Grian huffed. "Yes," he said. "They've been closed, Joel."

Laughing, Joel stopped, Grian following suit. "Right, right." Joel's voice moved around to Grian's left side and the latter could hear the creaking of a door opening in front of him before Joel took Grian's hands in his. "Keep 'em closed for just one more second," Joel said slowly, gently pulling Grian forward again. "Aaand, open."

When Grian opened his eyes, he was met with a lot of white so bright that it was nearly blinding with the sun shining through the window and reflecting off of everything.

"I haven't painted much yet," Joel explained. "I thought it'd be a nice thing for the two of us to do together. But, uh... yeah. This is your new room."