Chapter Text
Loud pixel noises emitted from the twin screens sat in front of Grian and Pearl, both equally focused on not dying in the mines of what should be the calm game of Stardew Valley. As usual, Grian's pure chaos was radiating and infecting the peace of their play session. The avian in question was slowly losing his attention on the game, fingers slowing against the constant button mashing that he liked to call gaming. Pearl let out a shout as a skeleton started attacking Grian’s sprite, in turn breaking her focus.
“Griba, watch out!! If I die because of you, I’m gonna kill you!” She cried out, clicking the buttons of her Switch faster, growing frantic as the monsters in the mines surrounded the two characters. Grian stared at his screen, letting out a small hum. Breaking her intense stare at the screen, Pearl glanced at Grian with what started as annoyance, and quickly turned into worry. Grian wasn’t smiling - granted, he wasn’t frowning - but the neutral stare was more uncanny than his usual cheery features, and Pearl immediately recognised the empty eyes of a dissociated bird.
“Griba, you with me..?”
His half-hearted nod and the smile that didn't reach his eyes at all did nothing to lessen her concern, but she decided not to press the issue and instead kept one eye on her brother while they tried vainly to fight off the monsters.
Both screens blurted out the lilted game over sound effects as the sprites died and got teleported to the valley’s hospital, ending their game a lot faster than either of them would have usually liked. Pearl pouted, tossing her switch down and lying down. Grian set his device down, letting out a sigh.
“Welp- we tried. Guess we weren’t ready to tackle the harder levels of the mines.” He chuckled dryly, which freaked Pearl out more than if his tone were angry or upset. Still, she had learned that the best way to approach and cheer up her brother was to keep her tone light and just be blunt so he couldn't avoid or escape the situation (unless he actually wanted to or fell into a panic, in which case she would drop it immediately in lieu of a distraction).
“Dude, that wasn’t particularly a hard level, barely that low. What’s wrong with you, Griba? You’ve been acting totally weird and I can hardly enjoy this hangout if you’re going to be all distant and odd.” Pearl rolled onto her front, propping herself up with her arms to look at her brother. Grian’s face twisted to look somewhat more apologetic as he laid down beside Pearl, exhaling deeply.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ve just- I was with Mumbo earlier and we were meant to- you know- meet up with Scar to do the thing-”
“YOU PROPOSED TO HIM?” Pearl shrieked excitedly and dives onto Grian, grabbing his shoulders and practically hauling him up and shaking him. Shocked noises escaped the avian, wings fluttering instinctually at the heavy movements, immediately trying to pry Pearl off him.
“Woah- woah- no no we didn’t- well. I tried- we tried- it didn’t-” Slinking away, Grian sat with his knees to his chest, wings curling around his body, a colourful shield against the events he’d have to recount to Pearl. Pearl, surprisingly, let up her attack of excitement, sensing the worst outcome of the situation and switching into Comfort And Revenge Mode.
“Oh, he didn’t say no did he?” Her hands fly up to cover her mouth. “Oh Griba… If you want me to kill him I will.” She continued completely seriously.
“No, no. I mean- not exactly?” Sighs Grian, hugging his knees closer. “We were going to-”
~~~
Mumbo flitted about the kitchen delightedly, his sleeves rolled up to his forearms and clatters following him wherever he went. He was working on arguably his greatest project in a while - Scar’s favourite crème brûlée. Grian and Scar sat at the breakfast bar, both watching Mumbo in devoted adoration. Both of their cheeks were slightly flushed from sharing a bottle of wine during the main course of the meal, and they watched as Mumbo flaunted his powers, palms flexing towards the dessert and lighting it aflame, his partners clapping (and Grian wolf-whistling, causing Mumbo to join in the others’ faces in flushing red) at the show. The evening had played out exactly as Mumbo and Grian had planned, and the former couldn’t have been happier with the comforting setting laid out before him, the romantically lit kitchen with his two wonderful boyfriends chatting and enjoying themselves. Soon to be fiancés, if they were able to ask Scar. A small wooden box with the ring he had crafted himself sat snugly in his jacket pocket, draped over the couch in the other room.
He brought the desserts over to his lovers, taking his seat again at the kitchen bar. Scar grinned at Mumbo, seeming appreciative, but Grian felt that something was wrong. That his smile wasn't quite as joyful as it had been at the start of their date. The evening had been going very well, but Scar seemed dismissive in small ways. Checking his phone, dismissing himself to the bathroom frequently, and listening to conversation more than participating - the most confusing difference to their regular dynamic. Mumbo hadn’t seemed to notice much change, so Grian brushed it off as paranoia - nerves mixing up his perception. Tonight was the night that the pair would propose to Scar and hopefully make love for the first time as fiancés, something they’d been planning for quite a while.
“Finally! Sit down, love, you’ve been doing too much work. If I’d have known you would have been working your socks off I would have suggested we go to a restaurant or something.. Maybe a McDonalds?” Smirked Grian, joking - he knew that Mumbo wouldn’t have wanted to propose to Scar in public.
“It puts too much stress on the person being proposed to,” He had explained when they had seen another couple embarrass themselves in a McDonald’s, ‘It sucks to reject people in public so people feel the need to agree to this big decision that they don’t actually want to agree to. Plus, a Maccies?!”
Mumbo met Grian’s eyes and grinned, resting his hands on his partners’.
“I get to see you both enjoy my cooking, what else could I possibly want from this evening?”
Grian pecked his soon-to-be-fiancé on the lips and then pulled back to start digging into his dessert. Mumbo smiled warmly, which Grian returned with a mouthful of strategically burnt custard, and Scar joined in before his smile faltered.
Scar wasn’t a fast reader by any means, largely due to his dyslexia, but he was very sure he had read the notification on Mumbo’s phone correctly.
New Message from Iskall - So?? Did you propose yet?? Did he say yes???
Quite suddenly, Scar cleared his throat and slid his hand out from under Mumbo’s.
“Oh shoot- Cub’s calling.” Scar gasped dramatically and immediately grabbed his own phone. He waved it around slightly. An unnecessary flourish, Grian thought, as he was certain that the screen was black. The avian man frowned and cocked his head to the side curiously.
“Do you think it's important-?” Started Grian, but Scar was already out of his seat.
“Definitely yeah uh huh yuh why would he call if it wasn’t important?” Rambled Scar as he walked out of the kitchen, uttering a final, “I'll see you both in a minute unless he needs me there, sorry-”
Grian stood up as well, wobbling slightly from the wine, prompting Mumbo to instinctively reach out and gently grab his hand to help steady him.
“What? But you haven't even finished your dessert yet- I could see your phone, it was blank!” The avian’s voice slowly got louder, not anything close to a shout, but clearly annoyed. He realised Scar was gone and turned to Mumbo, both frowning and feeling the ruined mood of the evening.
“Well, that’s completely pants..” Mumbo sighed. The other nodded empathetically, and sat back down to finish eating in silent disappointment.