Requested by Jacrin
Word Count: 1,278 words.

»»———✧✦———««

Very much lost in his thoughts, Grian smiled. He was taking a break from life and was now lying on the patches of grass that were in front of his hobbit hole. A sudden loud noise behind though snapped him out of his thoughts.

Ding Ding Ding

Grian tilted his head before his eyes lit up, realising that the ding was, in fact, the sound of his mail. "Maybe Mumbo sent me a message," Grian thought to himself. Standing up, he quickly headed back inside.

"A minecart," Grian gasped thinking it was actually from Mumbo. His elytra dragged behind him, as he walked-fly towards it. Once he was next to it, Grian quickly broke the minecart. Sighs, unfortunately, that was a mistake because as soon as he broke it. It exploded, killing him.

"It wasn't from Mumbo..." Grian sadly murmured, once he respawned. He glanced around. Multiple dings came from his commutator, and he shook his head, ignoring them. A sad sigh left Grian's mouth, as he slowly trudged back inside.

Iskall was kneeling, holding the tag in their hands. They lifted his head, hearing footsteps. "Gri-" Iskall slowly began, as they got up.

"The message wasn't from Mumbo?" Grian quietly asked. His voice quivered slightly, interrupting whatever Iskall was going to say

"Uh, no?" Iskall replied, confused.

"Ah well, anyway, well played," Grian quickly added. He gave Iskall a false smile, putting on a fake act of happiness. He chuckled though it was a dry, hollow one as he collected his items. "Well played indeed..."

"Haha, yeah. Dude, I waited so long, thought you'd never come." Iskall said, somewhat cheerful, completely oblivious as they helped place the blocks back to repair the damage the explosion had caused.

"It was a good prank...well played..."

Both of them worked in silence, as they finished repairing everything. Taking a step back Iskall gave a small nod. "Well anyway, I'll be off then," Iskall said, seeing that the damage had been repaired. They glanced at Grian, before heading out of Grian's hobbit hole.

Grian waited a couple of minutes, hearing the rockets fire off before they calmed down. Iskall was mostly likely off to...well actually who knows where.

Seeing that Iskall left, Grian sat down, cross-legged on the wooden floor. He needed to have some thoughts on what had just happened.

"Let's see...I've lost the tag [Tag 2 Electric Boogaloo]."

"Iskall was clever."

"Oh, Mumbo also didn't send me a message, great..."

He knew he was probably overreacting but he couldn't help but be upset by the fact the message wasn't from Mumbo. Maybe he was too annoying, too much of a bother, too much of a useless person to receive a message from him. A tear made his way down made its way down his face.

Using the back of his hand, Grian wiped the tear-off. He stared at his hand and softly murmured, "Well there's no point in crying over spilled milk as they say. It'll be best if I go back to work."

Getting up, Grian sighed. He knew that there was a strong possibility that he wouldn't be doing much today, as his mood had dampened. "Well, I must as well try."

꒰ A couple of days time skip brought to you by a sad Grian ꒱

Iskall flew around their tree [of doom-] admiring the progress they had made so far. They landed on one of the jungle's numerous trees. "Not bad progress, even if I do say so myself," Iskall chuckled. They sat down letting their legs dangle over the edge. Allowing their mind to wander about, they let out a long sigh, reflecting on some previous events.

It was a couple of days now since he had taken the tag [Tag 2 Electric Boogaloo] from Grian and by now they were starting to feel a little guilty as they had realised the truth. "Still can't believe I was that oblivious," Iskall grumbled.

"I should probably make it to him somehow," Iskall thought to himself. "But how is the question...?"

A couple of minutes passed before Iskall gave an excited nod. "Hmm, wait never mind, I have an idea now. Let's see if I can pull this off successfully."

Reaching into their pockets, they grabbed their commutator and typed in a message to Stress, before putting it away. They spammed once again some rockets and launched themselves into the air. They were off to make their plan somehow work.

꒰ A small time skip brought to you this time by an excited Iskall ꒱

Grian stared at the paper in his hand rather doubtfully, "So Iskall wants me to meet him here at these cords, huh."

"Yep!" Ren replied.

"But why he'd send you? Why didn't he just tell me himself?" Grian curiously asked.

"Frankly cause I wanted to be paid for helping them-" Ren awkwardly mumbled.

Grian chuckled at Ren's response. He stared at the paper in his hand again and sighed, "Alright, then if you insist."

"It'll be probably best if I get going, so cya Ren!" Using a couple of rockets, Grian threw himself into the air and started to head in the direction he was supposed to go.

Ren gave a small wave seeing Grian leave. "Wonderful...Iskall better pay me," He mumbled.

After heading a couple of hundred blocks, Grian started to head back down and managed to land very inelegantly on the ground. Getting up, he passed a hand over his clothes and reached into his pocket again. Looking at the paper, he realised he was quite close now. He glanced around him, he was currently at the edge of an oak forest.

Heading north, Grian hummed a tune as the cords led him into a small plain clearing that was surrounded by some flowers. Grian gasped, suddenly realising what he was seeing. A bright red blanket was laid on the grass with a basket next to him. A couple of lanterns were also spaced around it. Which could only mean one thing, a picnic?

If there was one thing was thing Grian loved, it was spending time with his friends. And what better way to do that, than with a picnic!

"Do you like it?" A voice asked from behind him.

Turning around, Grian gave a small smile, realising it was Iskall that spoken. His mood was much brighter than before and this time it was genuine pure happiness. "I- Yes. How...why?"

"Surprise," Iskall chuckled, their eyes twinkling. Grabbing Grian gently by the arm, they dragged over to the picnic area. Both of them sat down.

Grian peered at the basket that was next to him, curiously. "What's in the basket, Iskall?"

"Food," Iskall answered. "Food that was hard to get, cause Stress didn't trust me enough with the cooking apparently," He half-complained, shaking his head. They opened it, revealing its content to Grian which was just the usual picnic food and more.

Grian giggled at Iskall's reply, "Of course."

"But anyway, do you like it?" Iskall asked, rather nervously.

"Why wouldn't I like it? Of course, I like it! It's a picnic, Iskall."

Iskall shook his head, smiling. "Thank goodness for that. I was half afraid you wouldn't."

"It's great, thank you. You are forgiven," Grian said, trying to be slightly more serious for the occasion. Failing of course. He was far too happy now and this time it was real happiness.

"Lovely," Iskall mumbled, wrapping his arm around him. Grian leaned into his touch. And so both of them spend the rest of the evening, just enjoying their company together.  And for now, the tag [Tag 2 Electric Boogaloo] was forgotten as they both enjoyed the picnic.

-♡