(idk if this needs a warning but lots of alcohol, implied smut, listen they're all drunk okay- )

"Is this really the smartest idea Xisuma?" Mumbo asked. "I don't think alcohol is the safest thing..."

"Yeah it's fine!" the already tipsy admin replied, grinning stupidly. "Stop worrying Mumbo! It'll be fine!"

"Sorry 'bout him," Joe interrupted, shoving his boyfriend aside. "No, it's definitely not the smartest nor safest idea, but I don't think we can stop them from drinking." He pointed to Xisuma who was already downing some wine.

The noirette sighed. "Guess you're right," he replied, combing a hand through his hair. "I'm just gonna make sure Iskall and Grian don't do something stupid. You should probably do the same for EX and Xisuma."

Joe nodded and was going to verbally respond, but a drunk Ren barged through them. "Anybody up for a drinking contest?!" he yelled, face red from the alcohol.

"Oooh I'll join!" Stress exclaimed, raising her hand. False shrugged, nearly spilling the wine she was holding. "Why not?"

"Hell yeah, let's go Ren!" Iskall laughed, already drinking a glass of beer.

"Take it up a notch, why don't cha?" Doc suggested, raising an eyebrow cockily. "Shot contest!"

Grian laughed and downed some wine. "Nice, I'm up for it!"

Mumbo sighed, looking around. "Oh my god it's such a mess already."

"I'll join!" Python exclaimed, waving his hand in the hair while balancing some wine in the other. Jevin wasn't even bothered, he just shrugged and went back to drinking. Wels rolled his eyes and took another sip of his drink. "Sure, I've got nothing better to do."

"I'll pour the shots," Impulse chuckled, grabbing for the whiskey.

"Aw c'mon, join in Impy!" Zed slurred, nudging the taller. "Yeah! It'll be fun," Tango encouraged, smirking.

"I think I'll pass on dying of alcohol," the brunette replied, beginning to pour some shots. "Alright, who's going first?"

Scar rushed forward and eagerly grabbed one, downing it like it was nothing. "I'm liking this already!" he exclaimed, only wincing slightly from the taste.

Beside him, Cub snatched up a shot and swiftly chugged it. "Oh this'll be fun!" he cackled, sliding the glass back to Impulse.

Seeing Xisuma grab a shot as well, Joe groaned. This was going to be a long night.

The shot contest continued and people slowly started backing out. First out was Ren, but only because Cleo pulled him out because of his low alcohol tolerance. "No fair!" he whined. Cleo chuckled. "Listen I might not be that sober, but I know you're gonna thank me in the morning!"

Next out was Stress, then Zed, and so on.

"Whoo go Cleo!" a very drunk Stress cheered, face flushed red from all the alcohol. Cleo laughed heartily and took another shot. "Bet I'll win this Doc!" she challenged, setting down the empty glass with a loud clatter.

"You're on girlie!" the creeper hybrid grinned, taking another shot.

EX watched on from the corner, a warm smile tugging at his lips. He was just glad they were having fun.

"Hey EX," said a surprisingly calm voice. He glanced up to see False walking towards him. "Wine?" she offered, holding out a cup.

He shook his head. "Nah I'm good, not really a fan of alcohol. Besides, everyone here's already drunk so someone needs to help watch them." The two chuckled at the thought before settling down to chat and drink a bit (but that was mainly False).

"Iskall maybe you should stop...?" Mumbo suggested to the swede. Grian had fallen a while ago and was currently slurring out random sentences.

"I know you're worried 'bout me Mumbo." The brunette chugged another shot, sliding the empty glass back to Impulse. "But I'm playin' to win!"

Mumbo shook his head, but didn't try to protest anymore, opting to try and stop Grian from shoving more alcohol down his throat.

Joe jumped as his communicator suddenly buzzed in his pocket. He took it out to see that Impulse had texted him.

I'm texting you because I don't want the others to hear. Ah, that made sense. When should we get out fireworks? Also when should we stop this contest because I feel like it's getting out of hand...

Joe glanced up and saw that only Iskall, Doc, Tango, Cleo, and surprisingly Wels were left. I think we should stop it soon, he texted back. Maybe once two or three people are left? Otherwise it'll go on forever.

Impulse made quick eye contact with him and nodded, his hands busy with pouring shots.

The people who were out were just drinking and talking, or fooling around. Zed had stopped drinking and was just eating, but that was only because Impulse had stopped him since he didn't have a very high alcohol tolerance.

Mumbo nervously watched Iskall all the while trying to keep Grian away from more alcohol. EX had continued his conversation with False who, despite all the alcohol in her system, was holding up fairly well (at least better than Ren).

Tango had dropped from the contest after Impulse dragged him away, leaving the shot pouring to someone else. Zed was sloppily making out with Python, but Impulse didn't really mind since he knew his boyfriend was drunk.

Wels finally dropped from the contest. Literally, since he ended up passing out from all the alcohol. Joe sighed and managed to convince BDubs to put him on a couch. BDubs and Keralis were just chilling, talking and drinking. Keralis kept on blabbering about going to Run, but BDubs managed to convince him to stay via hickies.

Iskall and Ren had abandoned the main room, probably to go fuck as Impulse speculated. Things started getting... even more chaotic than they were before.

Doc and Cleo were the last ones left in the contest, and at this point Joe just took away the alcohol and hid it. Cleo was definitely holding up better than Doc, who was just rambling on about some shit and taking sips of beer.

Cub and Scar had started a make out session which got heated enough that Mumbo quickly ushered them into a bedroom. Though, the walls didn't help much as he could still hear their moans and pants.

Keralis, Zed, and Python had started doing parkour, jumping from whatever platforms they could to get to another (whether that platform was higher or lower they didn't care).

"Ya think it's time for fireworks?" Joe muttered to Impulse, said brunette stroking Tango's hair as he lay curled up in his lap.

Impulse shrugged. "Better to do it sooner than later. Too late into the night and we miss the opportunity to even call it New Years."

"Good point. I'll go grab some."

Joe grabbed some of the bland fireworks in his pocket and rocketed over to Tango's firework shop, where he could buy and improve a ton of fireworks.

"Hey Joe," a voice greeted. The brunette spun to see a familiar slime man leaning against the entrance of the shop. Joe immediately noticed his flushed face and mildly hazy eyes.

"Jevin," he returned, nodding curtly. "How'd you even get here? You're obviously drunk."

"Apparently not drunk enough," his friend sighed. "Say, why're you getting fireworks? I might not be very sober, but I know well enough that a bunch of drunk as fuck hermits and fireworks isn't a good combination. Not to mention it's pretty dark out." He gestured to the glittering moon which was nearly overhead.

Joe sighed, continuing to craft and design fireworks. Why had he expected an obviously drunk Jevin to remember? "It's New Years remember?" The slime man nodded slowly. "Me and Impulse agreed to get some fireworks to launch at midnight. It's tradition."

"Still don't think it's the smartest idea-"

"That doesn't matter!" he snapped. Jevin raised an eyebrow curiously and almost immediately Joe realized his mistake. "Er, sorry 'bout that."

Jevin shook his head (sorry but i keep imagining him with like a cigar wtf). "I get it. You're probably the only sober person watching out for everyone else who's drunk."

"W-well there's Impulse- actually he's tipsy, and Mumbo, but he's not the um, best at looking out for everyone, and EX- well he's just in the corner with False..." Joe trailed off. Guess he really was the only person watching out for everyone.

"Hey, it's alright." Jevin grabbed some of the custom fireworks and shoved them into a shulker box. "I'll help you carry them back, if that's alright."

Joe smiled softly. "Yeah, actually I'd really appreciate it. Thank you Jevin." The slime man nodded in return, smiling back.

Then they headed back to chaotic mess called the hermits on New Years.

"Ayy fireworks!" Zed cheered. He swiftly jumped down from the platform he had climbed up to, and grabbed two.

"Outside!" Joe ordered, shoving him aside before he could grab more. "Fire 'em outside! EX! Mumbo! Impulse! Little help?"

EX perked up from his conversation with False and nodded, quietly excusing himself from the drunk blonde. Mumbo took one last nervous glance at Grian before rushing over to help urge people outside. Impulse gently nudged Tango off his lap and began to help guide the other hermits to outside for fireworks.

Once outside, Jevin put down his box of fireworks and took out a few, swiftly lighting them and shooting them into the dark night sky. They exploded into brilliant colors, cascading wonderful sparks across the near black sky. At that signal, Zed laughed and eagerly shot up his, sending more beautiful sparks flying through the air.

EX reluctantly went back inside to collect Cub, Scar, Iskall, and Ren. "Guys!" he called, knocking on their doors but not daring to enter. "Get dressed and come on out! We're doing fireworks!"

To his surprise, Scar actually opened the door, looking messy but otherwise clean. "Fireworks?!" he exclaimed. "Alright, be out in a minute!" Then he shut the door.

Iskall and Ren, well... they took a bit longer (just as EX had suspected), but they did come out eventually.

EX came back outside to see people flying around and rocketing up fireworks. Keralis had grabbed a handful and was firing them as he flew circles around people, loving the excitement of it all. Cleo was up there as well, having fun as she swerved between the bursting sparks with great agility.

The drinks had been given up as everyone burst fireworks into the dark night, watching the colors paint the sky like spilled paint on a canvas.

Joe quickly stole a glance at the clock. Oh shit, it was nearly midnight! "Guys!" he yelled, but no one heard him over the noise.

"We've got this Joe," Mumbo assured, the noirette stepping beside him. EX and Impulse stepped next to him, smiling. "We'll get everyone rounded up for midnight." Then they sped off.

Joe smiled to himself, finally getting a chance to just sit back and relax. God how luck he was to have such amazing friends.

The three managed to kind of round up the hermits, or the very least get them all paying attention to Joe's countdown.

"5!" Out of the corner of his eye he could see couples sitting with each other.

"4!" Some people were gathering fireworks to launch.

"3!" Drinks forgotten, everyone was excitedly watching the clock.

"2!" The last second coming up.

"1!" All they could do was wait.

"Happy New Year!" False's clock rang in the distant, couples kissed, fireworks exploded into the sky.

Overall, it was a pretty good night.

Until someone pointed the distant high pitched screeches of...

"PHANTOMS!"

   ~*~

Happy New Year guys! it's not technically New Years where im at, but i wanted to post this chapter quick as i could! no more stalling! (ahahaa, this is about 2000 words :'))

i hope you guys enjoyed this second book of Hermitcraft stuff! I'm enjoying it that's for sure xD yes i am going to make a third book as soon as i dig up a cover for it!

alright then, bye for now! and Happy New Year to all!

<3