Chapter Text
Grian had been weird lately, after the talk about marrying he was… different . Mumbo didn’t quite know how to explain it. Grian had been more clingy but also took more distance from him. Mumbo hoped he hadn’t said or done anything wrong.
He knew he should talk to Grian about it, but he was scared. Grian hadn’t talked to anybody except Mumbo for 3 days. He was mostly in his office, sometimes on the couch scrolling on his phone. Mumbo hoped he was okay.
Mumbo sighed. Now was a time where Grian was in the living room, scrolling.
He wanted to talk, but didn’t make a move from the kitchen where he was making lunch.
He looked at Grian once more, he looked fine , but that doesn’t mean anything. He hoped he hadn’t triggered anything with the proposal. After all, Grian and Taurtis had gotten married and… it didn’t end so well.
Then a phone ring, Grian looked surprised but quickly took the call.
Mumbo decided that this was the time to walk over to Grian, he was close enough now that he could see who was calling, Scar . The owner of the honey shop called Honey for you hun, who Grian had quickly gotten friends with. Mumbo himself had never seen Scar or talked with him, he was Grian’s friend, not Mumbo’s. And that was rare. They always introduced their friends to each other, that’s also how they had gotten a big friend group, some closer than others.
It seemed that Scar was now talking. Grian had a small smile on his face, that had gotten rare these days. What was so special about Scar to make Grian smile again? Was it because Mumbo wasn’t friends with him? Did Grian not like Mumbo anymore? No Mumbo! Don’t think like that! Grian’s probably just happy to talk to somebody else again. Still, Mumbo couldn’t shake of the feeling something was wrong.
Grian looked up at Mumbo, “can you go to the honey shop please, I don’t really want to talk to anybody else.”
Mumbo smiled softly, see, Grian loves me, he always comes to me when he’s sad. He’s only vulnerable with me. He trusts me. “Of course, G. But can I know where the place is?” Mumbo asked awkwardly, ashamed he needed to ask such a simple thing.
Grian looked like he was laughing, but there was no sound. That concerned Mumbo even more. Grian was like this when he was stressed or overwhelmed, Mumbo knew that from when Grian would perform as Ariana. It was still crazy to think Grian was a former popstar.
“It’s at [adress]. I’ll write it on a paper even; you’ll easily find it.” Grian stood up, before that saying something to Scar, Mumbo wasn’t really paying attention.
Mumbo followed Grian to where they kept easy access paper and pen for when they quickly needed to write something down -which happened a lot, both were scatter brains, even if Mumbo was more organised then Grian.
Grian quickly wrote the address down and gave it to Mumbo, “here, you should know where that is. Otherwise use GPS. Scar knows you’re coming so he has the honey ready. You just need to state your name and pay.”
Alright, this is going to be awkward. Hopefully Grian hasn’t said anything bad about me, well he wouldn’t, but it’s still going to be weird. “Okay, but why is this necessary?” Mumbo had more questions but decided that this was the most important one.
“Because otherwise we don't have honey.” Grian said with a shrug, but Mumbo knew it was more important than that, he just didn't know what.
“But you went to get groceries 5 days ago?” Mumbo was a bit confused.
Grian scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, oh so he probably forgot . “Uhmm, yeahhh, I forgot.”
Mumbo grabbed Grian's hands, “it's okay, I- I do want to talk to you later, but if you don't want to, I will wait.” He reassured.
Grian didn't look Mumbo in the eye, he kept staring down, “I guess we can talk.”
Mumbo smiled once more, “I'll go now.” He let Grian's hand go and walked to the door, looking behind him at Grian before he opened the door. “Think about what you want to say.” He hoped Grian knew it wasn't meant in a commanding way; I really am not good at this.
--|~|--
Mumbo sighed as he walked through streets and streets. He had only heard positive things about Scar from Grian, that wasn't what he was nervous for, more the talk he and Grian were going to have.
He was afraid everything would go wrong, what if they broke up? Is Grian bored of me? It’s going to be fine, you stupid.
Eventually Mumbo arrived at the honey shop, he wondered why there was a shop made to sell honey and honey only. It was quite weird he would say.
He pushed open the door which made a bell ring. He looked through the shop his eyes falling on the bored looking man behind the counter, that must be Scar .
Mumbo walked up to the counter, Scar perked up a bit.
“Hello, how can I help you?”
“Uhh, I’m here for the honey Grian left?” Mumbo said awkwardly.
Scar seemed to deflate, you’re just seeing things . “Oh, so you must be Mumbo.” There was a tinge of… something in his voice.
Mumbo heard Scar murmur something, “what did you say?”
Scar looked like he got caught stealing a candy out of a candy jar. “N- nothing much, just some notes to myself.” He hastily said. “Uhm, so the honey?”
Why is he so awkward? Was he caught off guard? Grian said he was a ray of sunshine, well he isn't the best observer in the world, so it could be wrong. “Yes, do you know which honey we want?”
“Of course I do!” Scar turned away while saying: “I'll go and grab it.” Didn't Grian say Scar would have the honey ready? Scar sounded happy, but Mumbo knew it was fake, did Grian not notice how fake he is? Grian would never become friends with a fake person, though.
Mumbo kept standing there just thinking about the whole situation, eventually he came to the conclusion –right before Scar came back- that Scar only acts so weird around people he doesn't know or Grian had accidently –Mumbo hoped not so- befriended a fake.
But back to his and Scar's conversation “here’s the honey. That’s going to be 2,50, please.”
“Okay,” Mumbo took his wallet out of his pocket and grabbed his debit card. He paid and took the honey of the counter. “Bye, it was nice meeting you!” Mumbo said as he walked out.
He could vaguely hear a bye coming from behind him. Well, that was a weird interaction , Mumbo reflected.
---Scar's pov---
Scar waited until Mumbo was out of sight before closing the shop -it was midday- he needed some time to think.
He walked into the small area behind the shop where he could chill. He really didn't know what to think of his feelings. Maybe he should talk to Cub, that always clears his mind up.
Scar sighed, I guess I'll call Cub then . Scar grabbed his phone and called Cub.
“Hello, is there something Scar? You normally don't call under work time?”
Well, Cub was right, there was something wrong, he just didn't know what. “Yeah...” Scar leaned against the wall, “I don't know, it's just- ughh.”
“Start at the beginning, what happened?”
“So, I did call Grian about the honey, but then he said that Mumbo -his boyfriend- would come instead.” Scar decided it would be better to go and sit, but since there was no chair –no comfortable chair- he sat on the ground.
“Alright, go further.”
“I met Mumbo, and- I- I don't know how to describe it, I just- felt weird?” Scar groaned, why is this so hard?
“It seems like you are jealous, Scar.” Cub teased.
“No! Cub! I do not have a crush on Grian! Also, this is supposed to be a serious conversation.”
“Okay, I'll stop the teasing, but you sure you don't like Grian? Can you describe what you feel when you think of Grian?”
That was a good question, how did he feel when Grian was around? Happy that's for sure, a bit nervous. “Uh, happy and a bit nervous I guess?”
“Now think about how it would be kissing him and then how it would be kissing me or someone else you know you don't have feelings for.”
“Okay.” Scar imagined Grian and him, here in the honey shop. Grian looked at him lovingly. They were close, very close. Scar cupped Grian's cheek, Grian leaned into the touch. Scar brought him closer to him.
Grian closed his eyes and they both leaned in, their lips met. It felt euphoric, if felt right, it made him feel giddy.
“Wow,” Scar whispered.
He heard laughing coming from his phone, “so, how did it feel?”
“Good...” Scar was out of words right now.
More laughing, “I guess the answers here, you are in love with Grian.”
Love? I'm in love? With Grian? “But Mumbo?” Now Scar knows what that feeling is, Cub was right, it was jealousy.
“Well, I don’t know? Does it seem like Grian likes you more than Mumbo?”
“I’ve never seen them interact before...” He doesn’t really know what to do now, he feels happy because he realised his feelings, but he also feels heartbreak because Grian already had a boyfriend.
“I can’t really help you further with this, you’ll need to figure this out yourself.” Cub said after some time had passed.
Scar stood up again, “thank you, Cub for... this .”
There was a light chuckle from Cub, “bye, I hope I’ll hear from you soon!”
“Bye Cub!”
He waited for Cub to end the call, but before he almost clicked on it, Cub said: “Also Scar, don’t focus too much on the sad feelings. I -and probably Grian- don’t want you to be upset.”
Scar smiled, “I’ll do my best.”
The call ended, Scar sank to the floor again. That was a conversation with way too many things unravelled, Scar needed to take his mind off of that.
What can I do? I'll go and listen to music! He opened Spotify and clicked on liked songs; the playlist he listened most of the time to.
The song that came up was Pesky Bird, why precisely Grian's favourite song?! Now he's thinking of Grian again, it was kind of weird that he had the same small habits as Ariana, just a bit different. How does Scar know Ariana's small habits, you may ask, well that's because he once was her personal bodyguard.
It was an interesting job to say the least; he has mostly good memories from it. Except the times Ariana was really in danger, those could be scary, but Scar was trained for it. He really had taken a downgrade by going into gardening, hadn't he? Speaking of, he hadn't gotten a request in a long time, which was weird. But that can happen, he guesses.
Then he sees he has a missed call, from Grian? Scar can't really talk to Grian now, can he? But then Grian calls again, and Scar accidently clicks on the accept call button.
"Hello Scar, did everything go well?”
What went well? What is he talking about? Scar panicked, “U-uhm, yes, yes. It was great.”
A half-laugh came from Grian, it sounded weird, Scar couldn't place what is was. “Why are you stuttering so much? Did Mumbo do something?”
Now Scar realised what Grian was talking about, “no, no, Mumbo did nothing wrong,” well he did, but- “just distracted.”
“Alright if you say so. But that was actually the only thing I called for, so-” There was a small hiss of pain Scar almost didn't hear.
“What was that? Grian, are you hurt?” Scar was very concerned for the man he had fallen in love with.
“Oh- t-that was nothing, just a bit uncomfortable, but uhh as I was saying, I need to go, bye.” Grian ended the call.
That was confusing , Scar didn't really know what to make of that, what happened at the end there? Wait, no Scar, you shouldn't be thinking anymore about Grian, it will only make you jealous of Mumbo and that's not what you want!