Hermitcraft Stuff - S6 Oneshots

Holiday Hater || CtC 5

(Word count: 1152

Convex fluff and Grian angst amirite—I am so sorry Grian)

The Sahara room was decorated festively. Lights were strung over the overly large chairs, fake snow was piled around, and a small Christmas tree was decorated and placed in the corner.

And Grian had done nothing to contribute. Because he was missing.

Mumbo collapsed on the floor, since he was still missing his chair after exploding the ceiling and bailing out of a meeting. He sighed audibly. "Where's Grian?"

Iskall lounged on his own chair. "That's the question you've been asking for the past hour. I told you, I don't know."

"But I'm concerned," Mumbo fretted. "Grian loves Christmas. He wouldn't have skipped out of this."

"If you're so concerned about him, then why don't you just look for him?"

"I don't see you doing anything," Mumbo retorted before his brain could catch up with his mouth. He quickly corrected his flub. "Sorry, I'm just...worried for him. This isn't like him."

Iskall's tone softened. "Hey. Go ahead. I'll finish up the decorating and restocking."

Mumbo was still skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"I'll leave some ornaments for you two lovebirds when you get back."

"Okay, shut up. I'll be back in a bit." Mumbo flew out of the hole in the window. "And we're not lovebirds!" He called behind his back.

"If you say so, lovebird!" Iskall shouted after him. "Go find your mate now!"

—————

There were only a few places where Mumbo knew Grian would be. The poultry cave. His old pickle shop. Any one of his bases. Either of his infinity rooms.

He wasn't in any of them.

Mumbo was about to scour every single block of Hermitcraft to find Grian. If he had another secret base somewhere else, Mumbo was going to—

Nevermind. The main thing was, Grian was nowhere.

Mumbo sighed and started flying back towards Sahara. He decided to take the scenic route and fly the long way back, trying to calm himself down. For all he and Iskall knew, Grian could be trying to get a new Dragon Bro or setting some sort of TNT trap up. He could have easily forgotten about decorating Sahara.

As he was flying, Mumbo flew right over the Christmas District. It looked so festive, and only reminded Mumbo further of Grian missing out on the celebrations.

Then he saw a flash of red.

"Grian?" Mumbo muttered to himself. He immediately landed.

It was the builder. He was sitting on a small ledge, where he had a perfect view of the entire Christmas area. But why would he be here, of all places?

Mumbo did a small crash-landing on the area behind the ledge, then ran up to Grian. "Grian! Oh, thank goodness you're here. I've been looking everywhere for you! You missed the Sahara decorating, Iskall and I had to do it all." He was about to say more, but faltered at the look on his friend's face. "Grian...are you okay?"

He turned away. "I'm fine."

Mumbo sighed. "No, you're not. I know that look anywhere. You're thinking about Evo, aren't you?"

Grian glanced up in surprise, then must have remembered the countless times he's confided in Mumbo about his old world. He was always Grian's go-to to talk about this kind of stuff. He trusted him, more than anyone else.

Mumbo sat down next to Grian. "What is it?"

Grian looked down at his snow-covered shoes. "Two years ago, around this time, Evo was having a Christmas celebration, too. I think I wanted to skip out because I knew it would trigger those old memories, memories I didn't really want to visit quite yet. Then I flew over here, and they resurfaced anyway."

Mumbo knew little about Evo. He knew that Grian was very close friends with its inhabitants. Then, a group called the Watchers took him away and transported him here, to Hermitcraft. It had almost been two years. 

Grian took a deep breath and continued. "I'm sorry if you and Iskall had to do all the work yourselves. I just miss them. Like usual."

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Mumbo said, placing a hand on Grian's shoulder. "You were really close. It's natural that you miss them."

"Maybe I thought, after two years, it would lessen. But it didn't. If possible, I miss them more."

Mumbo scooted closer to Grian and embraced him in a big hug. "If you want to talk, I'm here. Iskall's here, too, if you want to talk to someone else. Just...don't hide your feelings, okay?"

Grian let out a muffled "Okay." Mumbo quickly let go. He thought he was suffocating Grian. The two of them shared a small smile. 

"I should probably head back to Sahara," Mumbo said, prepping a rocket. "Do you want to come?"

Grian got up, too. "Yeah. I think I'm ready."

"Whatever Iskall asks, just ignore him," Mumbo said, taking off.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing!"

----------

Iskall was making his chair more impressive when Mumbo and Grian returned. He turned around and grinned. "About time you two showed up. I was about to put the last ornaments on the tree."

"Don't you dare!" Grian leaped for the ornaments in Iskall's hand. Iskall raised it above Grian's head. Grian laughed and tried to jump high enough to reach the baubles.

Mumbo laughed a little and walked over to Iskall, easily taking the ornaments out of his hand, without even standing on his toes. Iskall gave Mumbo a mock pouty face. "You're no fun."

"No. No, no, no." Grian said, looking around the room. "This is all wrong! The tree was supposed to go there, and the snow was to be piled around the chairs! The festive side always faces out on the tree. Is that the festive side? No!" Grian went on to babble about every single thing Mumbo and Iskall had spent hours decorating. "We have to redo this. This is all wrong."

He began to take down all the decorations. "We're starting over!" He called to the other Architects, as if they haven't heard him the first ten times. He stopped in the middle of throwing down ornaments. "Well? I could use some help here!"

"I don't know what you did, but I am both glad that this happened and severely mad at you," Iskall said, walking over to help Grian. "I spent hours farming the sugar cane needed to make the paper, then ripping that paper. HOURS! And I got multiple paper cuts!"

"We all appreciate your paper-ripping skills, Iskall," Mumbo said. "And, hmm, let's see, wasn't it me who spent hours as well trying to fit in the Redstone wiring needed for the Christmas lights?"

"The lights are fine. The snow isn't. Now, come help me!" Grian called.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Iskall grudgingly moved the snow he spent hours on.

Mumbo sat back in Grian's chair and watched his friends do all the labor.

"Oh, so now you won't even make Mumbo do anything??" Iskall asked Grian.

"Were you the one flying around for hours trying to find me?" Grian responded, making an exaggerated wink at Mumbo. 

"Don't you double-team me."