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The sound of gently running greeted Skizz as he awoke. His mind was foggy from sleep and his body was heavy with the extra weight of one of his teammates. The sculk under him did little to mitigate the pain from lying on his wings. The bones dug uncomfortably in his back. His eyes adjusted to the semi-dark room, sunlight was beginning to peek through the poorly covered hole in the wall. Skizz shifted slightly, trying to relieve the discomfort of his trapped wings. Grian didn't stir surprisingly. Skizz had never seen the avian more relaxed in his life. The past worlds were a blur, but from what he could remember, Grian was always high strung, even when laughing and goofing around there was an air of tension around him.
Faintly he could hear Scar and Jimmy talking about their theme park ideas, yelling excitedly about what they could add before the next wild card was activated the following week.
They gradually got louder until they were right outside The Spanner's base. Scar falls silent and shushes Jimmy. Skizz can see Scar's shadow through the makeshift doorway, Jimmy's slowly overlapping his as they continue to get closer. Skizz fully freed his wings and wrapped them over Grian.
"What are you two doing?"
Scar and Jimmy scream in fear, waking Grian, causing him to headbutt Skizz. Grian was about to apologize when Skizz put a hand over his mouth. Grian gives him an incredulous look, obviously about to say something rude when Scar started to blabber.
"We- we weren't doing anything, Mumbo!" Scar said in a high pitched voice.
"Right, you were just doin' nothin'! I definitely believe that."
"I knew you would understand, Mumbo," Scar replied. He patted Mumbo, whatever he had in his hand dinged off Mumbo's armor. Mumbo huffed loudly, her armor likely had a dent of some sort in it due to Scar.
Grian's brows shot up and he untangles himself from Skizz. They both clumsily make their way closer to the doorway, their movements greatly muffled by the cushy sculk under them. They both peek past the hole, getting a good view of the trio's legs. Grian's face scrunched in annoyance. Skizz held back a laugh, knowing it would give away the fact they were spying.
"I don't know what in my tone gave you that idea, but I do not believe a word you said just now."
"Aw come on Mumbo! We're friends!"
"No we're not, Jimmy killed me."
"It was meant to get Grian!" Jimmy defended.
"That's not any better, he's my team mate!"
"This back and forth is going nowhere dude, should we step in?" Grian whispered. He leaned closer still, encroaching on Skizz's personal space.
"This is much more entertaining," Skizz mumbled. He tried not to act flustered by the proximity, but subtly was never his strong suit.
"-all I'm saying is you are the one causing the problems here, Mumbo," Jimmy grumbled.
"You are trying to pull a fast one on my teammates! I'm just protecting them. You two should really be going now."
"Fine, we will leave." Scar assured softly. His footsteps trail off towards his mountain of the series. Jimmy's footsteps follow close behind him. The blonde grumbled the whole way up, annoyed with how their prank fell through.
Mumbo huffed loudly before she enters the base. Skizz and Grian scramble back to where they last were when Mumbo had first left and greet her with warm smiles.
"Sooooo," Grian says, leaning against Skizz fully, a knowing smirk on his face.
"So?" Mumbo said, looking between the two with a suspicious expression.
"What was all that, buddy?" Skizz asked, a stupid smirk on his face.
"Nothing, it was nothing."
Skizz and Grian share a look and Mumbo suddenly felt the urge to kill them both.
"Is this how it's going to be then?"
"Come on Mumbo, we're just teasing!" Skizz exclaimed. He shot up from his position on the floor and pulled Mumbo into a big hug. He wrapped his wings around the both of them for maximum huggage. Grian joined in, tucking both of them in his own multi-colored wings.
"I still hate the both of you," Mumbo frowned. She spat out a feather and relaxed into the hug.
"Blah, blah, blah," Grian said, the grin evident in his voice.
"Instead of getting kills we could just leave you with Scar, see how it goes," Skizz waggled his brows and Grian giggled behind him.
"Oh give it a rest!" Mumbo shouted. "I am not doing anything of the sort! Besides, Grian hates him!! Remember that!"
"Oh please, that's never stopped you before."
"What does that even mean?" Mumbo scowled.
Grian fell silent, "I don't know. It just felt right."
Mumbo wiggled out of the wing sandwich and stood on the far wall opposite her teammates. "I am not 'going for it' with Scar, end of discussion."
"Oh come on Mumbo. Live a little, Gem and Pearl definitely have something going on! " Grian encouraged loudly. "And they hate each other," Grian added, as if that would sweeten the deal.
Skizz nodded along enthusiastically. Mumbo looked between their eager faces. Grian's face blanked, as if he had his first thought ever and he pulled out the most pathetic expression Mumbo had ever seen on him, more pathetic than Jimmy had ever pulled in Last Life. Mumbo's mind blanked at that, the backs of his eyes itching, and the thought was quickly discarded.
Mumbo groaned in defeat. Grian and Skizz cheered, jumping around together like idiots. Mumbo hated the two of them together, somehow they collectively had a sway over his judgment. He couldn't wait till Grian came to his senses later, but for now he had an impromptu date on top of BAM Mountain.
Mumbo got a few hours of peace as Grian and Skizz brainstormed how they would pull off whatever it is they hoped to accomplish. She enjoyed the silence, staring out at the server from the topmost bridge. He sighed, laying his head against the railing.
Her peace is broken by an excited Grian who had snuck up on Mumbo.
"Me and Skizz'll distract Timmy and Lizzie while you swoop in for the kill- er that's not right, well-"
"Let's just go."
"Don't sound too excited now Mumbo, you'll make this less fun." Skizz giggled. When he had appeared, Mumbo had no clue, but she decided it did not matter.
Mumbo rolled his eyes, but stayed behind as Grian and Skizz led the way down their bridges and onto the mountain. He crept along behind them as non-creepily as he could, suddenly his nerves were tense and his face was heating up. He couldn't believe his rotten luck, of course his teammates had to overhear his conversation with Jimmy and Scar, and instead of being happy he had saved them from being scared out of their wits, they were torturing her.
He could kill them both and make a run for it, hope another team would take him in and ignore his crush supposedly obvious on Scar. He knew that wasn't truly an option though, he loved his friends, no matter how annoying they were. He had half the mind to tease them about whatever the hell was up with them, but he was going to be the bigger person. For now.
When Mumbo finally reached the top of the mountain, he spotted Grian and Skizz, who had the other two bamboozlers distracted, meaning Mumbo had to make his move now or he could wait and do it on his own time... who was he kidding that would never happen! He sucked it up and made his way over to Scar, who was distracted by his reputation board.
"Hey, Scar," Mumbo greeted shyly. He mentally kicked himself, but was determined to get through this.
Scar yelped, jumping a few feet off the ground.
"You can't just scare a man when he's tending to his board!"
"Sorry, I just wanted to apologize for earlier... and last week when i was antagonizing you in my base..."
"No hard feelings, sweet potato."
"Sweet potato?"
"Uuhm, pretend I never said that."
"Ok?"
Awkward silence fell between them. Mumbo giggled nervously and began walking away, Scar snapped out of his stupor and cleared his throat.
"How about we go on a tour around the server, just the two of us."
"That would be nice."
Scar grinned broadly and extended his arm, which Mumbo took happily. The back of her neck tingled and on a whim, she turned her head slightly and spotted Grian smiling brightly at them. The avian shot her two thumbs up before turning back to the conversation at hand. Mumbo smiled faintly, rolling his eyes fondly.
They walked around almost aimlessly. Scar pointed to things along the way. They made up stories on bases and the teams living there, leaving the prospect of death and betrayal in the dust of their shy adventure.
"How did it go?" Grian asked as soon as Mumbo returned to the base.
"It was fine. We talked and... stuff."
"Well ain't that sweet, G?" Skizz grinned cheekily.
"The sweetest."
Mumbo threw his arms up, mindful of how close she was to the ceiling.
"We need a better base!" Mumbo exclaimed before storming out. Grian and Skizz burst out laughing, delighted in Mumbo's annoyance. They collapsed into each other, giggling all the while. Mumbo inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming himself down. She walked back into their terrible little base and found she really couldn't stay mad at her teammates.
Mumbo understood how Grian put up with her now, and she hated and loved every second of it.
"Should I leave the two of you alone?" Mumbo asked. He hoped his teasing had a semblance of the effect theirs had on him.
Skizz stopped laughing, it turned to more of a nervous chuckle. Grian hadn't noticed, too caught up in his joy. Gotcha. Mumbo was all but giddy! Now she would have to play this carefully, go the longish way around, unlike the two buffoons in front of him. He knows she was just in their boat, but come on! Well, it's more like they are now on a boat ride with her and Scar, but that was unimportant. What was important is he annoyed the both of them.
Once Grian's finally finished laughing Mumbo moves in for the attack.
"So, I was thinking you guys could come with when me and Scar hang out again."
"Why would we do that? That'd ruin the moment, now wouldn't it?"
"Don't be silly, Grian, I'd be nice to have a diversion when things get awkward, and you guys are normally right behind me anyways, it won't be weird."
Grian deliberated it carefully, the cogs turning in his head loud enough for the whole server to hear them. Mumbo worried for the two brain cells being overworked in Grian's waffle head. Skizz stared Mumbo down, a loud 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING' clearly written on his face.
"I guess it wouldn't be too weird... If you wanted like a double date you should have gotten Lizzie and Joel or literally anyone else."
The look on Skizz's face was worth whatever happened the next few weeks, hell, he could die right now and be satisfied knowing that he caused such pure horror and dismay to cross Skizz's face. Who was laughing now?
Well no one was actually laughing because that would make no sense in this conversation, but that was irrelevant.
A few days Mumbo found himself impatiently waiting for Scar to show up. Grian was going over the best traps with Skizz while they stood idly at the bottom of Lizzie's staircase. It was quite a nice staircase if Mumbo was being honest. Grian groaned loudly. He took Skizz by his upper arms, as that was all the shorter man could reach, and began to shake him. Mumbo was sure she saw a lovesick smile grace Skizz's lips, but he wasn't completely sure.
Scar came down the steps, Lizzie and Jimmy close behind him. Damn. She hoped they were just seeing him off and weren't also joining the double date.
To his horror they had a third couple... or more like Scar was bringing his two partners to evaluate if they should add more to their throuple. Well maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Grian didn't have it out for Jimmy, which also meant Skizz hated him and that Skizz had made an attempt on Lizzie's life.
Void this was awkward. She hated to say it (especially to himself), but Grian had been right, she made a mistake thinking he could just force Grian and Skizz to see that their weird feelings were mutual by hanging around him and Scar. There was a reason he was also in the team after all.
"Well this is a strange team up," Lizzie said, breaking the silence. Jimmy nodded along, side eyeing Grian, who glared at him from his spot next to Scar. Mumbo wondered if anyone on the server was a good couple's therapist.
"Well I would like to say that it's so nice we are all putting aside our differences to hang out together!" Scar said cheerfully. Skizz voiced his agreement enthusiastically.
"Sure is, Scarface! We truly are the best of buddies." Skizz smacked Jimmy hard on the back, Mumbo winched in pain for the poor man.
"Yeah... great," Jimmy warbled. He smiled as best as he could with the full force of Grian's obvious disdain. Mumbo wished he could just stop being so... vengeful. Jimmy had a good idea of moving to stand much closer to Lizzie, which protected him from most of the weird vibes coming off of Mumbo's teammates.
"I'd be careful, Skizz, it's pretty dangerous in these parts, wouldn't want you to get hurt by a mob or a player out for vengeance," Lizzie said, whistling as she walked ahead of their group. Mumbo would care more if not for the gentle pressure of Scar's hand against her's. It was lovely, everything around him and Scar melted away.
The tension thankfully fizzled out when Skizz got distracted and wondered off, meaning Grian went off after him, mostly due to what happened when Skizz was off by himself without some sort of idea where other people were.
All in all it was going terribly. Lizzie and Jimmy definitely wouldn't be up to adding Grian and Skizz, but hopefully Scar could talk them into it, honestly all they needed was to kiss and make up. As they walked and talked he slowly felt memories slipping back into his mind, mostly of Last Life, but he remembered some of Secret Life as well. It was nice being able to remember people who he had once called a friend, or something more.
His mind was fuzzy, and hurt something fierce, but he didn't care. It was important that he remembered the people he knew he cared for deep down inside.
--
How Skizz had gotten lost so quickly, even with constant eyes on him, Grian had now idea, but he hoped he'd find the red life quickly. It was dangerous as a dark green name to wonder around when there were yellows lurking about, but Grian would rather like to keep his group as a trio to the end.
Eventually he did find Skizz, and he wasn't alone. Tango was there, as he normally was at the scene of Skizz's deaths. It put Grian on edge seeing the two of them together. Grian hurriedly reached them and grabbed Skizz's wrist, tugging on the angel hybrid. Skizz followed after him quickly, obviously happy to be leaving Tango behind.
"I was looking for you G, I lost sight of your little waffle."
He ran a hand through Grian's hair for emphasis. The avain waved his hands, shooing Skizz's hand away.
"Lost me? You weren't looking very hard, man, I was right behind you."
"Ah, I knew that."
"Sure." Grian sighed fondly. He tightened his grip on Skizz's wrist and dragged him back through the forest until he found the weird quartet. Mumbo and Scar were fully enveloped in their on little love world, and Lizzie was obviously waiting for Skizz to come back to taunt him some more.
It would be fun to have a back and forth, but Grian had a plan for a trap that Skizz couldn't possibly fumble... now that he said that part to himself he severely doubted it, Skizz was a notorious fumbler at this point, but that didn't mean he would give up on the idiot, sadly he knew he could never truly be mad at Skizz, especially since he was a literal angel.
Grian bid them farewell not without telling Jimmy he would be the first to die of course, but that was a given now.
"Not if we get you out first, Grian!" Lizzie yelled after them, which was just silly, but it was a cute sentiment. Skizz was all but humming outside of his skin. Obviously excited to hear what Grian had planned. He felt bad not including Mumbo, but she seemed pretty busy at the moment.
---
Mumbo happily made her way back to the Spanner's base. He was quite happy with how her second date with Scar had went, even though they could have been killed at anytime, or the strange energy between her team and Scar's. It was exhilarating but exhausting.
All Mumbo would like to do was snuggle up with her teammates, the comforting weight of two different wings draped over his body, lulling him to sleep.
Mumbo wasn't expecting much when he went home, just two tired teammates and a cozy nest. What she found inside instead was Skizz and Grian making out in their base. It was quite the shock and Mumbo couldn't help the gasp she let out. The escalation was fast, but in hindsight Mumbo didn't know how else those two would go about their relationship.
It was insulting that they were so wrapped up in themselves, they didn't even notice the guy who had pushed them together, yeah, it had only been a couple days, but they didn't have much time as it was. It was best they got it over with now anyways.
"Am I interrupting something?" Mumbo asked impatiently. He tapped her foot in annoyance to really get to them. They shot apart, faces bright red.
"We were just going over a trap plan." Skizz rushed out, obviously hoping Mumbo would just ignore them sucking faces. Grian nodded feebly.
"A plan to trap what, your lips together?"
Grian somehow went redder and Skizz squawked indigently. What was wrong with them?
"Congratulations... I guess."
Grian smoothed out his rumpled sweater. He briskly nodded and grabbed Skizz, dragging him out of the base.
"Thanks, Mumbo!" Skizz called.
Mumbo exhaled heavily. They were idiots, but they were his idiots.