An alternate perspective :3

"How's it look?" Grian stood back and admired his handiwork.

"Wow... And you built this in one afternoon? Amazing!" Mumbo praised the humble rustic house Grian had made. It was single-story, but spacious, with a friendly flower garden out front and animals out back.

"Aw shucks! Now that I'm done, we can start on the real work!" Grian rubbed his hands together.

"Ah, about that Gri. I thought maybe Xisuma could help me with the redstone, since you built the whole house." Mumbo smoothed his tie nervously.

"I don't mind! The house was easy, and I wanna help you!"

X soared down between the two with two shulker boxes and a grin. "Let's get started!"

"Yeah!" Without hesitation Grian grabbed big handfuls of supplies and ran into the house.

"I thought you said he wasn't helping?" X turned nervously to Mumbo, who returned the stare.

"He won't help, but he's gonna try," Mumbo whispered.

"Oh boy..." X laughed and shook his head. The pair picked up the shulker boxes and headed to the front door, which suddenly started flicking open and closed rapidly. When Mumbo reached for the doorknob it flicked his hand away.

"Grian! Did you do this?!" Mumbo yelled over the loud door.

"Yeah! I'm so good at redstone, Npg will never get out of here!" Grian shouted from inside.

"Then how will you get out?" X asked with a smirk.

A pause. "...oh yeah. Don't worry I'll fix it!"

There was some shuffling, and the door thankfully held still. X and Mumbo hurried inside, before the door flicked again. "I thought you turned it off!"

"I turned the tick waaay down, so it won't be as loud!" Grian smiled as the door flicked again.

Mumbo just shook his head. "Alright X, let's start in the closet." Mumbo led X to the back room, and Grian trailed after them. "Do you think we could hook up a camera in the corner, like ConCorp?"

X nodded, poking his head into the closet. "Yeah, there would be enough room for wiring behind this wall, as long as you're alright sending the feed to your base."

"That's fine, I doubt we'll have much trouble if he can't open doors."

"Perfect. I'll start hooking up the dish outside, you poke some holes in the wall for us." X snatched a box of redstone on his way out, and Mumbo set to work.

"What can I do?"

Mumbo jumped a mile. "Grian! I forgot you were here! Ah, I think me and X have it covered, you can go home." Mumbo smiled as wide as he could.

"Oh. I thought we could do a project together, but if you and X have it covered I can go..." Grian dropped his head and slowly shuffled his feet to the door.

"...Fine! Fine. How about... Getting us lunch?"

"Yes! I won't let you down!" Grian, thrilled to be a help, bolted out the door, slipping on the hallway rug.

Mumbo heaved a sigh. "And now, I can redstone."

Not five minutes later, Grian sprinted into the room, panting. "Got it! I got you some carrots, some milk, and some cookies from Stress, since I know they're your favorite!" Grian beamed as he showed off the lunch he made.

"Wow, thank you Gri! This is fantastic! Let me just finish threading this cord real quick..." Mumbo stuck his tongue out slightly as he turned back to his work.

"Let me help!" Grian peeked over Mumbo's shoulder, grabbing at the wire.

"Gack! Grian, get off!" Mumbo tried to elbow Grian away, but dropped the wire in the process, losing it in the wall. "Gah!"

"Oh no! I'm sorry Mum, can I help you get it back?"

X poked his head in. "Are you about done Mumbo? I'm all set on my end."

Mumbo could feel the prickle of tears coming, but didn't want to cry because it would make Grian feel bad. "I need to step out for a bit." He ducked his head and hurried out of the room, leaving X and Grian concerned.

"Want me to go check on him?"

"No Grian, I think I'd better." X caught on to the issue and rushed out to find Mumbo, who was curled up on the front porch.

"I feel so bad..."

X sat down next to him, putting his arm around his shoulders. "Is it Grian?"

"Yes! You see the problem, right?" Mumbo lifted his head, his eyes watering.

"Yeah. You know, the best way to deal with this is-"

"-is to talk to him about it, I know! But it's so hard when he looks up with those big eyes, and- will you tell him?" Mumbo begged.

"What, me? Oh, I'm not sure, I think you need to, he'll listen to you over me."

"What're we talking about?" Grian bursted out the front door, oblivious to the heavy mood.

"Ah, Grian, can we talk?" Mumbo flicked his nervous lever quickly.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Grian sat on the step.

"Uhhhh..... you see..." Mumbo turned to X for support, but X busied him on his phone, ignoring Mumbo. "Well..."

"Ah! Buzz!" Grian pulled out his phone. "Oh! Iskall needs me for Sahara, apparently it's urgent! Sorry Mumbo, gotta go!" Grian launched into the sky from his seat, the gust from his elytra mussing up Mumbo's hair.

"Welp. That was easy." X commented.

"Yeah. Let's finish before he gets back."

The door smacked them on the way in.

—

We are so close...." Mumbo sighed.

"We were close after two days, and then-"

"-and then Grian helps." Mumbo chuckled. "He's so sweet I can't say no, but he just undos everything we finish."

"Thankfully, it's all done though. Now we don't have to come back ever again." X shook his head. "This was the most tedious project I've ever had."

"I'm heading to Exy's right now, before anything can go wrong." Mumbo pried himself out of his seat, and slowly made his way outside.

"No answer..." Mumbo stood impatiently on the doorstep. "I'm not going back."

"Schrodingers house- it's fine as long as we're not there." X laughed.

"Ah! He texted, he's on his way!"

There was stomping inside, and then the door flew open. "Freedom!"

Mumbo and Xisuma waved, but Ex didn't notice. He breathed in the air, damp and fresh from the rain. "Ah, I missed nature, it's been too long."

"Ehehe, sorry about that! You know how it goes working with Grian! Progress was a little slow when he helped." Mumbo laughed painfully. "It's all done now, though! Where's Npc Grian, let's take him over!"

"NPG!" Ex called up the stairs and Npg flew down, seemingly excited by the fresh air as well. "Let's go to your new rustic house!"

"RUSTIC HOUSE TELLS NPC GRIAN TO COME" he bolted off, Ex and X hot on his tail. Mumbo followed after, yelling about Schrodinger and cats.

"Well, it's been good, buddy." Ex kicked a pebble. "I never thought it was possible to be friends with you, but I guess I was wrong. I hope rustic house keeps you company, I'll miss you."

X and Mumbo stood to the side watching quietly, not wanting to disturb the moment. Evidently the experience had changed something in Ex.

Npg walked jerkily into the house, and Mumbo sighed in relief when the light above the door activated. Before Mumbo could even congratulate Xisuma, Npg darted out the door, stopping just behind Ex.

"Hey! Come back! You can't just leave!" Mumbo cried. "The defenses didn't work, please come back!" He started running after the escaped captive, X following.

"I can't do redstone, stop yell-!" Ex spun around to yell back at Mumbo, but his visor bumped into Npg's nose. "Oh."

"THAT BUILDING IS FILLED WITH REDSTONE AND LIES"

Ex snorted. "Do you wanna stay with me, then?"

Mumbo slid to a stop, X stopping beside him with a grin.

"RUSTIC HOUSE IS BETTER WITH YOU"

"Aw, shaddup, ya big nerd. Cmon kid, let's go." Ex led the way as Npg followed happily.

"Exy's really lightened up, huh?" Mumbo grinned.

"I guess so! Npc Grian probably helped. I'm just glad to see him happy." X folded his arms, smiling wistfully at Ex as he walked away.

"I can still hear you! Helmet audio!" He called over his shoulder, causing X and Mumbo to collapse in a fit of laughter.

The part two that everyone asked for!

Love you, my little stars!
-RaeTheStar