Chapter Text
With a chill that surrounds him, even under the hefty blanket, Grian grumbles in discomfort. Tugging the comforter up and around his head, he shivers and hopes to warm soon. Despite still being tired, his eyes flutter open slowly as nonsensical bits of a dream come to him. A yawn pushes last his lips and he stretches his legs out. As his body wakes up, his mind was not far behind.
That's when he realizes that he was alone in his bed. He definitely remembers falling asleep with Scar under his cheek, floating off into dreamland while listening to his breathing. But the other hermit wasn't there anymore. For some reason, it makes him quite upset to realize this. Sitting up in bed and letting the blanket fall off of him, he sleepily looks around the room, hoping the other was perhaps waiting for him to wake up. But to his disappointment, Scar was no where to be seen.
If Grian had an inkling more of his mind to him this morning, he might realize that he was getting worked up over nothing. The frown that falls to his lips had no real claim to be there. He didn't know that though, instead he felt like a little kid who had lost their parent in a grocery store.
Slipping out of bed, Grian was thankful for the fluffy socks he wore, knowing all too well the wooden floor would be freezing on his feet otherwise. He was still very chilly, his wings hugging around himself in attempt to warm up. With a hint of tears coming to his eyes, he begins to shuffle out of his room and into the hallway. Suddenly he can hear voices, which he continues to get closer to. He peeks out around the wall, noticing three people in his living room. With their backs turned to him on the couch, sat Pearl and Mumbo, and Scar was standing across from them, in front of the table while seemingly rummaging in the shulker sat on top of it. No one notices at first as the little hermit takes a few steps into the room.
First of all, Grian felt much better knowing Scar had not left him. However, he's also very surprised to see his other two caregivers there. After the initial shock, he feels an excited flutter in his belly and toddles further into the room. The wooden floor creaks under him, and the three other hermits all turn their heads to look at him.
Having three pairs of eyes staring at him was slightly overwhelming, and immediately his hands fly up to cover his face and block his own field of view. With his wings still hugged around him for warmth, he shuffles a bit further into the room. After a moment, he spreads his fingers to peek through with one eye, and he's met with three beaming grins.
"Good morning!" Scar says all sing-songy, and Grian realizes what he had been doing. Some of his little gear was spread out on the table, and Scar was organizing it back to how it had been before Grian had put it in the new shulker.
"How are you?" Pearl asks, her eyebrows quirking up as she looks him over.
Grian doesn't have it in him to speak, not yet anyways. So, instead he lets his hands fall away from his face and make his way towards the sofa. He squeezes in between Mumbo and Pearl, pulling his legs up onto the couch and hugging on them. He could have sat to either side of them, there being space for him, but he wanted to be in the middle. Then, he leans against Mumbo, resting his head against his shoulder.
Everyone stares at each other, feeling a slight loss at what to do, until Scar pipes up and asks "Are you still small, birdy?"
To that, Grian nods a bit, giving a yawn and scooting up closer to the hermit he was leaning on. The others, again, look to each other for what to do next. They were all quite surprised at this, given that Grian has only ever woken up after a night's rest still regressed a couple times. Usually the next morning consists of him apologizing a lot, being passive aggressive, and/or not even remembering it. And the times that he had woken up still feeling small, he was always very, very upset about it. So this was completely new to them.
Gently, Mumbo situates an arm around the little hermit, pulling him in close and then giving a shrug towards the others, "I suppose we'll have to change our morning plans a tad." He says with a smile. Pearl agrees and pulls out her communicator, typing some things into the main chat.
The three of them easily slip back into the conversation they had been having, to which Grian only really understands small snippets of. Mumbo mentions something about the vault, apparently explaining the newest trap he had set up in it that was meant to bait Grian into attempting to break in yet again. Grian tries listening to it, but in the end it loses his attention as he finds the ends of his sleeves more fun than that. Fidgeting with the hem of his jumper's sleeves, he notices the clip on his collar. Investigating it, he pulls it up to see the purple pacifier hooked onto it.
He may have woken up regressed with only half his mind to him, but he still felt extremely embarrassed at having it. Quickly he pulls the clip off his collar and puts both the clip and pacifier into Mumbo's lap, dropping them as if they were hot to the touch. His hands come back in front of him, and he pressed his face against the shoulder he had been laying on. When he looks back again, the soother is out of his sight, and he's thankful no one tried giving it back to him.
"I wanted to ask how long it took you to make that portal at the shopping district?" Scar asks Pearl, and Grian automatically tunes the conversation out yet again. He was far too caught up in the buzz of his body to care about such adult matters.
Indeed, he does feel a slight tug towards the part of him that wanted to get right back into his projects, but something about the warmth radiating off of Mumbo is quick to clear his head of that. Before he can cuddle up ever closer, he's stopped by the other shifting in his spot. And then he's pulled in, Mumbo bringing the little's head to lay against his chest. Grian jumps at the opportunity, wrapping his arms around him and resting his cheek against him.
The sound of Mumbo talking vibrates through his chest, and Grian could feel himself becoming tired once more. With his feathers being softly pet down, and the conversation around him from three of the safest-feeling people to him, it was hard not to let sleepiness take hold. Not really fighting it, he nods in and out of what might be considered a nap, lasting for a good half hour.
As soon as Pearl gets up from the sofa, Grian is officially woken back up. After feeling her stand, he sits up, off of Mumbo, and rubs at his eyes with his sweater. The world spins slowly as he yawns, eyes blinking open. Within only moments, a sippy cup is offered to him, and he mumbles something like "Thank you" as he takes it. After a few sips, he notices he feels better rested, even after such a short nap.
"Hey Gri?" Scar asks softly, standing across from him, on the other side of the table. Grian looks up at him, taking one more sip of his drink before setting it down. He watches as Scar scans over his face, looking thoughtful--maybe even pensive.
"Is it alright with you if I tell Mumbo and Pearl what's been going on the past few days?" He questions.
Honestly, Grian didn't care all that much right now. Whatever he had been so mad about, he wasn't mad about anymore, so it doesn't seem like a big deal. But, he does always appreciate knowing his caregivers are thoughtful enough to ask him if he's okay with these things being talked about--maybe it stems from back when no one else knew, and he always made sure Mumbo and Scar promised to never speak a word about what he did or said in his moments of weakness.
After humming an affirmative "Sure," he wiggles his way off the couch and comes round the table, up to Scar. Holding his hands in front of him, he stands a little awkwardly, rocking on his toes and looking down between them.
Murmuring something, his cheeks immediately redden. But, whatever it was he had said, Scar didn't understand.
"What was that, birdy?"
Grian looks over to Mumbo, who looked on at him with an encouraging smile. Maybe he knew what Grian had said, but even if so, he certainly didn't seem to want to help. So, Grian raises his hands up and covers his face, feeling the heat reaching his ears as he gathers his mental strength to say it again.
But, instead of it coming out as a quiet question like he meant it to, he quite loudly exclaims "Wanna be held!" And believe him, he didn't mean for it to be so loud. It only exacerbates his embarrassment, causing his mind to go into a fit of thinking he shouldn't have said anything at all. He very much does not want teased about this right now, yet he's worried that because of how he asked, it was coming.
To his surprise, no one says anything. Scar simply leans down and hooks his arms under him, scooping him up. With a soft gasp, Grian brings his arms to hold around Scar's shoulders, holding on tightly. He's given a few soft bounces, which he doesn't know whether he appreciates or not. But, all in all, no one mentioned it further. Even as Pearl comes back to the room, she doesn't speak a word about it.
And then Scar begins bringing up the events of the past few days, slowly pacing around the living room with Grian held in his arms. He mentions how he saw the little bird all curled up in bed, without a blanket, and stressfully fluttering his wings, pretending to sleep. He talks about how harsh of a slip it had been that night, and how Grian reacted to it in the morning.
Both Mumbo and Pearl agree--because of the way it happened--that it does make sense for Grian to still be regressed. Especially as they get to talking, finding out it had been quite a few months since any of them had seen him feeling small.
Scar goes on to talk about the apology Grian gave him, explaining how badly he himself felt for the things the little hermit was saying. And then how Grian slipped back into a regressed state right there. This happened to be the point that Grian stops listening, instead just relishing in the comfort of being held and the unchanging feeling of each step Scar took. He wasn't quite tired anymore, but the comfortable monotony had him zoning out. Lightly, he picks at his jumper, running his thumbs over the stitched hem. He lets the long sleeves cover his hands, which he then rubs his knuckles together through the fabric, the simplest thing keeping him occupied.
And he stays like that for some time, playing with the ends of his sweater and basking in the feeling of being held. If he lets himself think too much, he'll get a little squirmy, not always so keen on being carried for such a long time. So he tries not to think about it, just keeping his mind focused on the other little things he could feel. That's when he notices the grumbling in his belly, telling him he was hungry.
Now that he thinks about it, he doesn't know what time it is. Perhaps it was time for breakfast, or maybe lunch? A soft huff leaves him as he pulls back to look at Scar, who momentarily stops talking to the others to look at him in return.
"Hung'y." Grian says, using one hand to pat at his stomach for emphasis.
"Ah, of course. Little bird needs his breakfast, doesn't he?" Scar chuckles softly, giving him a quick bounce before looking to Mumbo, "Think you could take him for me?"
To that, Mumbo stands from the sofa and opens his arms, coming over and enveloping Grian with an embrace. After only a moment of hesitation, he lets go of Scar and turns to hug onto his other caregiver instead. As soon as he did, the hermit was picking him out of the other's arms and holding him at his hip easily.
Pearl and Scar both head off to the kitchen, leaving the two alone. Grian situates himself comfortably at his hip, legs wrapped around the tall man's waist. Very promptly, the soother from earlier is popped between his lips. To this, Grian looks at Mumbo with the feeling of betrayal in his eyes, only to get his hair ruffled and a bright grin from the other.
"Little guys like you should keep their pacifiers in." Mumbo tells him, hooking the end of the clip onto the little's collar. Grian instantly hides his face against the other's shoulder, a soft whine coming from him in disagreement.
Although, he doesn't spit it out. Something about the way Mumbo talks to him when he's small makes him feel like jelly. And with the little encouraging pat on his back, if Grian holds ever tighter onto the other's shirt, it's just because he feels betrayed, not at all because the flutter in his stomach crawls up into his limbs and makes him want to be smaller.
His longest-had caregiver seemed to have the magical effect of making his regression pull him in deeper. Every single time, whether he was happy, or numb, or sad, if he was feeling small, Mumbo would make him feel infinitely smaller. It could be because of how long he's been doing this, he knows exactly how far he can push the little bird before it's too much, knows exactly which words will get to him, and frankly, the fact that he can carry Grian way more effortlessly than anyone else is probably a factor too.
"While we wait on breakfast, why don't we pay a quick visit to Xisuma? I've got something I need to give him, I'm sure he'd be happy to say hi to a little birdy like you." Mumbo says, mindlessly petting down Grian's feathers.
It was a shot in the dark, given that Grian was still unpredictable when it came to suggesting they see other people while he was regressed. Sometimes he was fine with it, sometimes absolutely not. Mumbo had been steadily working with him on it ever since he had let the rest of the server know about him. He doesn't push it much though, not wanting Grian to ever go back on the progress they've made.
"Z'uma?" Grian questions softly behind his soother. When he gets a nod in response, he takes a moment of silence to think. It shouldn't be that bad, he supposes, Xisuma has already seen him regressed a few times, and it's not like they're going to bump into everyone on the server on the way there. And maybe it would be nice to see the admin, he can be very entertaining when Grian's feeling small.
"M'kay." He agrees, slightly chewing on the dummy with his front teeth.
Mumbo quickly makes his way towards the kitchen, where Scar and Pearl were working together on breakfast. He lets them know that he's taking Grian out for a bit, and they tell him it sounds like a great idea given they probably won't be done any time soon. With that, Mumbo makes sure to secure his elytra and check that Grian has a tight hold around him. Soon, he was hopping off the platform from outside, gliding up into the air in the direction of Xisuma's base.
Grian was happy to feel the wind on his face, even if it was cold. He watches the ground fly by beneath them, Mumbo zipping quickly through the sky. At one point, he spots who he thinks was Cleo and Impulse chatting, but other than that he saw no one else on the trip over. Grateful for that, Grian felt all more comfortable showing up with Mumbo. As they reach the door, Grian squirms out of the hold he was in and lands on his feet. He certainly did not want Suma to comment on that, especially not when he's got a million other things to tease him for.
However, he does grab for his caregiver's hand, holding onto it tightly. Mumbo reaches up and knocks at the door, softly squeezing the little hermit's hand in return. A few moments pass before the door is opened, X securing the helmet on his head at the last second.
"Perfect time to drop by! I really needed those shulkers right about now." Xisuma says to Mumbo. He put his hands on his hips with a satisfied smile before turning his attention to the other hermit at his door, "Oh? And who is this little guy?" He teases, reaching over and playfully patting Grian on the head. It was quite obvious the other was small, given his attire and his attachment to the hermit next to him.
"Zzz-uma--" Grian promptly drops the pacifier from his mouth, having forgotten he even had it in, "Suma knows me!" He says confidently.
"Do I now? You're not ringing any bells."
"Grian!" He says as he points to himself, giggling. Of course X knows him, who else would he be?
"Still not sure..." X hums, leaning down slightly to look him in the eyes, tapping at the chin of his helmet in mock thought, "What else have ya got?"
Bouncing on his heels, Grian only needed a second to think before his wings shoot out behind him, flapping happily to show the other.
"Ohhh! It's the little bird, of course!" Xisuma ruffles at his hair, grinning wide. To this, Grian leans over and wraps his arms around him in a hug.
Both Mumbo and X share a curious look, though he hugs back, giving him a few pats on the back of his shoulder. That was possibly the first time Grian had initiated a hug with someone other than his caregivers, so it certainly felt a little odd. Even X was excited to see that bit of progress, though.
After pulling back from the hug, Xisuma points to Grian's pyjama pants, "You really kept those, huh?" He questions, a smug smile quirking up one side of his lips. The little hermit looks down at his pants, and presses his index finger against one of the many Hello Kitty heads.
"It got kitties." He says matter of factly, as if that answer was enough context. X just chuckles and nods in agreement, standing up straight and motioning to inside his base.
"You two want to come in?"
"Sorry, we've actually got to head back to his place for breakfast. Just stopped by to drop these off." Mumbo explains, pulling out the shulkers he had promised X some time before. With an understanding nod, he takes the boxes gratefully.
"Right then, have a good one you two."
"You as well." Mumbo replies, opening up his arms for Grian and expectantly waiting for him. The little hermit had jumped up into his arms, hugging around him. As arms are hooked under him, he releases one of his hands to wave goodbye at the admin with a smile. He gets a wave back just before Mumbo jumps into the air, soaring off back to his base.
During the fly back, Grian had begun chewing at the end of his sleeve, only for Mumbo to replace it with the soother while saying something about how he was going to ruin his jumper like that. Humming in content, Grian doesn't mind the pacifier for now. It doesn't even make him feel all fluttery, it just felt right, in a way.
As soon as Mumbo is walking into the living area with Grian still hugged around him, they were met with Pearl and Scar setting up the dinning table.
"Just in time!" Pearl says, setting out a sippy cup, "It's pretty much done, come eat."
And so Mumbo brings Grian over to the table, and leans down to set him in his chair. Except, Grian doesn't let go of him, and infact hugs onto him even tighter.
"Come on buddy, you gotta sit down and eat."
Grian whines softly, shaking his head no. He was so comfy in Mumbo's arms, why would he want to leave them? He's tried to be set down again, but keeps up his stubbornness and doesn't let go. Hearing a sigh from his carer, Grian then feels Mumbo sitting down in a seat instead.
"If you're gonna sit with me you have to remember your table manners, alright?" Mumbo says to him, situating the little so he was sitting comfortably in his lap. Quickly Grian nods in agreement, kicking his feet gently under the table with a cheeky grin. Honestly, Mumbo isn't quite sure it matters if he had said that or not--how many toddlers are going to listen to that kind of thing? He can just be glad he doesn't have to deal with feeding a regressed Tango; oh the horror stories he's heard about that.
"Mumbo's got a baby bird attached to him now, I think." Scar could be heard telling Pearl in the kitchen. They both laugh and come out with the plates of food. Two plates are set in front of Mumbo, which Grian reaches in to grab a piece of toast from one of them.
While Grian is occupied with his toast, Mumbo begins eating fairly quickly. It takes some time before the little hermit has finished his whole piece, but as soon as he was done with it, he reaches over and grabs a waffle directly off his plate. A big bite of it was in his mouth before his caregiver can even stop him.
"Grian..." Mumbo sighs, pulling his plate closer and gently trying to bring his hand down to put the waffle back where it should be, "Put that down, let me cut it for you."
Without too much hassle, Grian drops it back on his plate as he chews up the bite he had taken. Mumbo gets right to cutting it up into pieces, and when Grian reaches over to grab one, he doesn't have it in him to tell him not to. Luckily, by the time Grian had finished every bite of waffle, he apparently knew not to grab handfuls of the diced home fries. At this point, Mumbo had already ate all of his breakfast, so he fully turns his attention to feeding the little spoonfuls of the potatoes.
The rest of the breakfast goes on without a hitch, and afterwards Scar brings the little hermit a warm washcloth to clean his fingers off with. As empty plates are being brought out to the kitchen to be cleaned later on, Pearl's communicator begins pinging with notifications. Checking the messages she received, and replying to them, she comes back out to the table and leans against a wall, looking to Grian.
"Just got asked to babysit Ren, is that okay with you honey?" Pearl asks. There hasn't been too many times this has happened, while she was caring for Grian and being asked to babysit someone else. Usually her little bird doesn't care that much when it did, but sometimes won't interact with the other little either. She'll always ask though, just in case he didn't want to share her time.
While getting his mouth wiped off of the mess he made, he hums a happy little "Yes," to her. And so she gets back onto her comm and types away. After a few moments, she clicks it onto her belt and puts her hands on her hips.
"Well then, we'll meet Bdubs and take that little guy off his hands for the day. Would you like to change before we go?"
To this, Grian nods and shuffles off from Mumbo's lap, who mutters "Oh, so now you want off of me," under his breath.
Back in his room, Grian rummages in his chest for different trousers. He settles on a light grey pair, switching out his pj's for them instead. Also, he pulls on his boots, covering up his fluffy socks. After all was said and done, he toddles back out to the main room. Spotting Mumbo near the door, he comes up to him and reaches his arms out in a silent plea to be carried, only for the hermit to frown sadly down at him.
"Sorry bud, I can't go with you. I need to head out and get some work done," Mumbo tells him, securing his elytra, "I'll catch up with you later though, alright?"
Although Grian is saddened by this, Scar comes up behind him to scoop him up instead. Immediately the frown on his face was replaced with a soft giggle, being bounced a few times in the other's arms. He'll admit, he's quite lucky to have three caregivers. If one needed to be somewhere else, he always has the others. Unlike some other little hermits, who only really had one official carer, or maybe didn't even have one due to not regressing enough to prompt it. To be fair, Grian is a bit of an outlier, given he doesn't regress nearly as much as others, and yet has three caregivers. Take Bdubs for example, he could regress at the drop of a pin, but he only has two people who officially look after him. Then there's Ren, who denies that he regresses--in a joking way--and pretty much only Bdubs watches him, even if he's not really considered his caregiver.
Before he knows it, Grian is in the air, being held up by Scar as him and Pearl soar their way towards where they agreed to meet to get Ren.
"I feel pretty bad having to hand him off to you guys," Bdubs says as soon as they get there, "But I really can't be putting off this meeting."
"It's fine! Believe me, we understand. Plus, I'm sure he'll have a great time hanging out with Grian!" Pearl says, looking over to Ren and giving him a sweet smile. The hermit smiles back at her, his tail swaying back and forth behind him happily.
"Thank you guys, I'll let you know later when I can get him." With that, Bdubs is off, leaving Ren with them.
Immediately, Ren is pulling out a box of chalk, holding it up with an excited bounce, "Grian and me play hopscotch?" He asks, pointing over to a bit of stone on the ground. Both caregivers look to Grian, waiting for an answer.
It didn't need to be waited for though, as Grian quickly hops out of Scar's arms and runs towards the stone, wings flapping excitedly. Ren follows after him, setting the chalk on the ground and opening up the box it was in. They get to drawing out the hopscotch spaces, with Ren being the one to number them since he definitely was the mentally older of the two littles. Grian dutifully searches for a good pebble to use, negating many stones before deciding on one he deemed perfect.
It had been years and years since Grian had played a game of hopscotch, but it certainly came back to him as if the last time was yesterday. Ren and him play their respective turns, passing the stone on to each other each type they complete their round. The first one to make a mistake was Grian, having lost his balance and fallen onto the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see both Pearl and Scar tense, but he didn't feel hurt one bit! Well, maybe a little bit, but not enough to stop playing! Jumping back up, he hands the rock onto Ren.
At some point, both littles got bored of the game and turned their attention to drawing with the chalk instead. They worked together to draw out a pirate ship, and of course pirates to go along with it. They even named the pirates, messily scribbling names that would make no sense to anyone but them. Ren did suggest that they draw themselves as the captains, which Grian agreed was a great idea. Ren drew himself with a big captains hat and a hook for a hand, where Grian drew himself with an eye patch and a parrot on his shoulder.
Over time, their chalk drawings transitioned to sea creatures, then sea monsters specifically, and then, for some reason, birds. But, they do run out of stone to draw on after that. Ren was much sadder about it than Grian, but they both were quickly able to switch their attention towards climbing trees.
It seemed that over time, Grian was starting to feel a bit older, especially given that he flies up to the top of one of the trees, happily declaring himself the winner of the "climbing race".
"You flew up there! Not fair!" Ren tells him, hanging upside down off a branch as he bites down onto one of his chewy bracelets.
"Maybe you just need to get good!" Grian teases, hopping down and hanging on a branch next to him instead. Ren climbs up the rest of the tree, sitting at the top and overlooking some of the smaller trees around them. Grian makes his way to the top as well, not cheating this time, and sits next to him.
Although, they only sit still for a minute, as Ren points to a taller tree and exclaims, "Race you up that one!"
They could only do this so many times before they began to stray a little too far away from Pearl and Scar, who quickly call for them to get down and find something else to do. As soon as Ren had climbed down the tree, his attention was caught by a butterfly, which he promptly sneaks up on and observes as it sits on a flower.
Grian, not all that impressed with it, instead goes over to Scar, who was sitting up against a tree and sketching out some plans for his theme park. Plopping down in the grass next to him, the little hermit leans his head on his caregiver's shoulder and watches him sketch. For some reason it was pretty relaxing, just watching the ideas come to life on paper--especially because he knew they'll look even better when built.
A slightly uncomfortable tightness in his gut sort of pulls him out of the moment. It could be because he didn't feel all that small anymore, his brain was catching up to him again. He does feel thankful, though, that it didn't quite feel like a pit in his stomach currently. It was a bit uncomfortable, yes, but at least it didn't feel like it was trying to eat him whole. A small shiver runs down his spine as he remembers the ungodly sensation in his body from the other night, when it wouldn't go away and he felt plagued by the silence.
Yeah, looking back, that feeling was way worse than just giving into the tug of his mind to be small. Honestly, every single time he tries to push it away, it's way worse than just letting it happen. Although, no matter how many times he's observed this thought already, for some reason it keeps happening. Which is worrying, if you ask him; isn't there some saying about doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results? He wonders if there's a lot of people who do this, too. Maybe not with regression, but other things as well?
Before he knows it, even that uncomfortable feeling in his gut has disappeared. His head feels screwed back in place, not floating off in the distance away from him.
When he almost lets himself feel relieved that it was over, he reminds himself: that is not the right mindset.
"Got something brewing in that noggin' of yours, birdy?" Scar questions, softly knocking his knuckles against his own forehead for affect.
Lifting his head off of the other's shoulder, Grian clears his throat and shifts a bit, scooting just a tad away from the other, "I'm, um, not really small anymore. Sorry."
"Oh," Scar thoughtfully sets his sketch book aside and turns to him, "Don't be sorry. You've been little for quite a while. How're you feeling then?"
Grian looks away, taking a moment to watch Ren. He was holding a butterfly in his hands, showing it off to Pearl, who seemed very impressed by it. They're a bit too far away from him to make out what they're saying to each other, but if the intrigued expression on Ren's face meant anything, Pearl was probably saying some really cool fact about butterflies.
"Odd, I guess. My brain's trying to tell me to be embarrassed or freak out, but," He takes in a slow deep breath, holds it for a second, and then exhales it before continuing, "I don't know, I guess I'm just not letting that happen."
Getting a soft and understanding hum from Scar, he leans back against the tree and his gaze goes into the sky.
"Yesterday, I talked with Bdubs. He told me something like--like I'm not going to get over these issues I have unless I want it to happen. You know, and he said that I have to trust you guys when you tell me things," Grian shrugs his shoulders with a sigh, folding his arms over one another, "And I really want to trust you guys. I mean, I do! But, I think I need to work harder at it. Maybe I've been sabotaging myself a little bit, I won't deny that I haven't had a good relationship with all of this."
"I hope that you get to a spot where you don't feel like you're sabotaging yourself anymore," Scar tells him, "But don't forget, we'll be here for you no matter what. I promise."
Grian chuckles softly, maybe a bit bittersweetly. He notices the pacifier clipped to his shirt, which he slowly unclips and hands over to Scar. Watching the other pocket it, he doesn't feel that usual sense of relief he normally would feel as soon as the item was out of his sight. Maybe he didn't need to feel that relief.
"I really don't understand how the three of you can put up with me. All I do is cause trouble and be a massive pain in the--"
"Alright, alright. Grian, listen--Having friends, caring about other people, and, believe me, especially being a caregiver, is not supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows. The best relationships can take a lot of work, but that's what makes them so special. I can't speak for Pearl or Mumbo, but every single day, whether you are just my friend Grian or my little bird, you give me a million reasons to care about you." Scar gives him a soft smile, "And even if I don't see you for a day or two, I've got a billion reasons in reserve!"
Grain can't help the short snort of laughter that leaves him, putting a hand over his face and shaking his head in disbelief.
"No, seriously, there's definitely like a billion. I'll even start naming them! One, you're an amazing person. Two, you always try your best even when you don't have to. Three, you're always able to make me laugh when I need it. Four--"
"Okay! Enough!" Grian laughs, putting his hands out and slightly shaking Scar by his shoulders, "I get the memo, I get it."
With the giggle that Scar gives at that, Grian doesn't know why he even let that go on for more than one 'reason'. He's very, very sure that the other would have kept going on, and on, and on until he stopped him. Admittedly though, it does make him feel better.
"Thank you. You don't know how much you all mean to me." He tells Scar, letting his hands fall away from his shoulders.
"You mean a lot to us too. We love you, man."
"I love you guys too."
For a moment, the two of them sit quietly together, smiling and content with their conversation. Yet again, Grian wonders how he had gotten so lucky to be part of such an amazing thing. Not just the group he's got going on, but the whole server. It's so massively impacted his life, being around so many amazing people and always having a constant role in other's lives. It really does feel great to belong somewhere.
"Let's go let Pearl know you're feeling back to normal then." Scar says, putting his hands on the ground and getting ready to stand.
"Actually," Grian interjects quickly, to which Scar looks back at him and sits back into his previous position, "Can we just sit here for a bit longer? And, um... Can I lean against you again?" He could definitely feel the redness on his cheeks, which only spreads up to his ears as Scar gives him a cheeky grin.
"Of course, little bird."
And Grian just rolls his eyes at this, scoffing at the statement before a grin of his own takes up on his face. Nonetheless, he scoots back up to him, resting his head on the other hermit's shoulder with a satisfied sigh. He confidently knew that Scar knew he obviously wasn't regressed anymore, but that just meant he had the go ahead to tease him, just a bit.