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Grian didn’t like people knowing he regressed. Not because he’d be judged, it would most likely be quite the opposite actually, there were quite a few littles and caregivers on the server.
It's just that it was scary. Telling people was scary. And sometimes having someone take care of him was just as scary as it sounded nice.
There were people who knew, people who he couldn't really avoid them knowing. Mumbo and Scar mostly, maybe Pearl and a few others, he couldn’t remember exactly. Mumbo and Scar definitely know though.
Either way, they were only told out of necessity, to avoid big unhappy feelings when he was small. It was the only time he had really talked to them about it. When he was little around them he hadn’t had outright tell them he was. Grian just stealthily pretended he wasn't when he talked to them, he was pretty good at pretending to be big. They didn't seem to notice any ways, so it was fine.
He didn’t need anyone to take care of him anyways. So it was fine really.
As much as Grian would’ve liked everything to stay fine, this season his luck was incredibly low. So of course this season was the season someone found him obviously small.
Grian couldn't exactly be sneaky about it when he was found at his fishing dock with a pacifier, snuggling up to his stuffed animals, Pearl and Maui, while humming and drawing. Completely oblivious to the world around him.
So oblivious he didn't hear a rogue Joel make his way towards him. In his defense, he was very focused on the fish he was drawing.
“ Grian?”
The littles head shot up, staring at a very confused looking joel. He sat up and quickly scrambled to sit in front of all his stuff, hiding him behind his wings. After a second he stealthily threw his pacifier behind him, making it join all the other things he was hoping would just magically disappear behind him.
“ Um, Hi Joel, uhh need… fish?” it took all of Grians concentration to not mess up his words, he already embarrassed himself enough as it is.
While Joel wasn't a little himself, nor a caregiver really. He had watched over a few during his time on the Empire's server. So he kinda knew what to do, Kinda. “ Hey.. buddy, What are you doing?”
Grian looked behind him, “ Uhm.. notin’ really” his wings fluffed up more, like that would make Joel forget everything that was behind him.
“ Uh huh.. G buddy, how old are you ri-”
“ I NOT SHMALL” Grian shrieked, he squeezed his eyes shut and crossed his arms. His entire body tensed, half out of fear and half out of frustration. Joel looked taken back and startled at the sudden shout.
He stayed quiet for a moment, then sighed and sat on the ground. “ Ok.. not small, got it.” Grian’s body relaxed at that, it meant Joel wasn't mad he yelled at him. Ok, weird, but good.
“ Yeah.. not shmall, so, just.. Go aways so I can go back to.. Uhm not shmall things!” He huffed and turned around. Pretending to go back to ‘not small things’ by staring at his small stuff with distain.
“ Hmm, I could, but I did come over here to ask you something.”
“ …relly? Uh wat do yous need?”
“ Actually.. I want to fish with you? To see what all the hype around it was about.”
“ Oh um, i guess yous can fish wit me.. “
Grian quickly shoved his drawing stuff, Pearl, and Maui into his inventory, and rummaged in his barrels until he had a fishing rod for him and Joel. Both got comfy on the dock, Grian perched next to Joel. Grian fumbled with the fishing bobber and line, but got it in the water eventually. Thus starting the boring process of fishing.
It wasn’t even a minute before Grian was starting to get bored. While Big Grian may be able to sit through it, little Grian found it especially boring. Just sitting there, doing nothing for hours. Getting frustrated at chatting nothing but fish. The little bird would much rather be doing something fun right now, like drawing. He had been looking forward to drawing.
Grian managed to sit still for about long enough to fish up a fish and a book. The latter of which Grian was exceptionally excited about, and so was Joel, kinda. This could’ve been it!! THE mending book he’d been looking for.
Maybe Grian was just hoping for the book so he could finally be done, little him definitely wanted to be done. Joel, like the rest of the people on magic mountain, also wanted Grian to be done. Each time the avian spent days doing nothing but fish their concern grew.
Joel was right by the little’s side, fingers crossed, hoping it was mending. Slowly Grian took a peak at the book to see what it was.
The scream of frustration the little bird let out could be heard across the server.
Joel stumbled back as Grian threw the stupid unbreaking book back into the ocean. Grian stumbled back himself, falling back and curling into a tight ball with his wings wrapped around him. He pulled Peal and Maui out and hugged them close.
It took Joel a second to catch up with what was happening, but when he did realize Grian was on the verge of having a full on meltdown he rushed over to him.
His first instinct was to pull Grian in his lap, but he hadn’t even been near little Grian before. The little one's boundaries were completely unknown to Joe, but he had to do something. So he decided to start slow, hesitantly patting his wings to gauge how Grian felt about touch.
When it didn't seem like he was making anything worse, he moved to gently petting Grian’s wings, “ Hey buddy, can I hug you, is that ok?”
Grian’s shaking calmed a little, he peeked through his wings to see Joel sitting in front of him, arms open for a hug, and a comforting smile. The little thought about for a moment, a hug did seem nice right now.
Quickly, before Joel could change his mind, Grian scrambled into his lap. The avian gripped onto Joel’s shirt with one hand, the other still holding onto his stuffed animals. He was squeezed into a tight comforting hug by the mentally older one.
It made Grian feel safe, safe enough to let everything out. The tears he had tried to keep from forming began falling whether he wanted them to or not. He began to wail into Joel’s shirt.
It was ok though, Joel didn’t mind it too much. He simply sat there, slowly rubbing Grian’s back as he cried a river. The feeling of his shirt getting damp with tears did cause Joel to cringe slightly.
It was fine, he could deal with it later. Comforting the little in his arms was much more important than his shirt right now.
When Grian’s cries had subdued and all that was left was soft hiccups and uneven shaky breathing, what felt like hours had passed. In reality it probably wasn't even an hour. The little in Joel’s arms felt exhausted, he probably needed a nap.
Joel had started to rock back and forth at some point, and petting Grian’s hair. It felt nice.
“ Feeling any better?” Joel asked, continuing to rock. Grian couldn’t help but nod. He was tired now but he did feel a little better. Maybe that was the exhaustion. “ Let's leave the dock for a bit, ok? Maybe get something to eat, it’s getting late” Joel continued on even if Grian wasn’t really listening.
Grian just nodded along to whatever words Joel was saying. At some point, Joel stood and scooped Grian into his arm, the little bird quickly clung to him.
It took a bit of adjusting but Joel eventually got a comfortable hold on the little. Pearl and Maui ended up sandwiched between both of them, but Grian didn't mind too much. He was much too tired to care about where they ended as long as it wasn't the floor. Joel resumed gently brushing his wings and hair.
Needless to say, it wasn't lost till the little bird Joel was carrying was fast asleep.
After a bit of consideration Joel decided to take him to his base. Even if it was a bit of a walk aways, it gave him plenty of time to think of a plan for Grian. And to realize people were freaking out in Chat, apparently Grian’s screech of frustration really was heard across the server.
He adjusted his grip on Grian, so he could kinda type an explanation to calm down the other hermits.
>--------------------------------<
Once the two arrived at Joel’s base, the sun was just about to set and Joel himself was pretty tired of walking. He had very much underestimated how long the walk would be, but it didn't matter. The little in his arms was able to sleep for quite a while and he was able to think.
Even if his legs were making him greatly regret building so high up on the mountain.
Grian began squirming when they reached the top of the stairs leading into Joel’s base. Other than wiggling around so he could get a better view of the base around him, the little bird was quite contempt in the others arms. He still had a death grip on Joel’s shirt.
“ Have a nice nap?” Joel ruffled up Grian's hair. The little whined about his hair, but nodded anyways. He was definitely smaller then when Joel had first found him.
It was a little overwhelming to be in Joel’s base, there just so much to look at and see. Everything was so pretty and cool looking, if he had the energy he’d jump out of Joel's arms and run around everywhere to see it all. Maybe another time.
The two passed by Joel's Glow squid building, causing Grian to try and squirm his way of of his arms.
“ FISH-”
“ Wait careful-”
Before Joel knew it, Grian had scrambled onto the floor, and was half sprinting half flying the rest of the way to the building. He smashed his face against the glass to get the best view of the glow squids.
Joel couldn't help but to find him adorable. He went up beside the little, looking at the squids with him. “ You like them?” he earned a very happy nod, “ there's some axolotls in another building nearby.”
This new information amazed Grian a little. He hadn’t seen an axolotl in a while now that he thought about it. Hugging his stuffies for confidence, he quietly asked “ uhm, Cans i see ‘em?” He tried to talk louder but it came out just above a whisper.
Thankfully, Joel could hear him just fine. He knelt down to Grian’s level, “ How about this, you can go look at the axolotls and I'm gonna go make us some food ok?” he explained.
Grian liked the idea, the mention of dinner made him realize how hungry he was. He nodded and added, “ Can yo’s make fish pleash ?”
Joel nodded “ Sure buddy, i’ll make you some fish,”
With that, Grian mumbled out a “tank you” he very quickly made his way into the building he was pointed towards. He nearly squealed when he saw the axolotls and small fish swimming above him. The little bird took a good few minutes just staring and watching them all swim around.
When he was satisfied with his watching, Grian basically dumped his inventory onto the ground. Suddenly he was very thankful for his earlier hastiness to hide all his drawing supplies.
In minutes the area surrounding Grian was as cluttered and messy as Scar’s storage system. He made sure to draw every fish and axolotl he could see and think of, the glow squid got a page to themselves.
He had a nice stack of drawings and his crayons and pencils were considerably smaller when he was interrupted.
Joel peaked in on him, deciding to ignore the mess surrounding Grian, “ Hey birdie, food’s finished, Wanna come eat?” Grian happily nodded, stood up to follow but tripped over the mess he’d created. Joel chuckled and walked over, “ How about I help you clean this up first, ok?” Grian nodded, a little embarrassed.
With both of them, it didn’t take very long to clean up. They ended up having a good bit of it into a shulker box, but left out all the finished drawings plus Maui and Pearl. Grian was very adamant they stayed firmly in his arms.
Joel had ended up making simple fish sticks with potato chips. It was pretty simple, but Grian loved it. Throughout the entire meal Grian excitedly showed off all his art works. Some drawings were of glow squid, some of axolotl, and some of any fish he could remember seeing.
Grian even proudly showed off a drawing he did of him and Joel at his fishing dock. That one ended up on Joel's fridge.
Maybe Grian will come back to Joel next time he’s small. Maybe.