Note: So far, we're keeping HV!Iskall's name. They've been looking for a new one, but they can't find one that fits and makes them happy yet, so we're sticking to Iskall. That may change as time goes on, but for now, just please acknowledge them as a separate character/person from... yeah.

Hope you enjoy, and thank you so much for the support! <3 - Venenifer/Alex

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Last time on Project HermitVengers:

We have a pesky bird! (Meep meep)

The gang is all together, having shenanigans! And it is... *checks HV calendar/timeline* February for them!

Ooooooh-

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Grian had been feeling homesick. As much as he liked meeting new people... He missed his other friends. He missed teasing Jimmy (coughTimmycough), he missed watching Joel and Lizzie's stupid weird mating dance to avoid getting together, and... he missed Taurtis. He missed his best friend.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a tap on the head.

"Hey. Earth to Gr-eeeeeeee-i-n!" Alex teased.

The speedster jumped, eyes wide and alert before he relaxed and smiled awkwardly. "Hey- Sorry."

"Hi- You okay?" Alex asked, sitting down next to him. "Didn't mean to startle you that much."

"Yeah- Yeah, no I'm fine." Grian tried to assure, pulling a knee to his chest.

"... you don't look fine." Alex didn't know Grian too well yet, but he knew by now the general look of someone in this group who wasn't okay. "You don't have to explain, just... don't do this alone. Okay? It's worse when you're alone."

Grian paused, thinking. "Thanks... but really, I'm okay."

'At least I will be...'

The sorcerer didn't look too convinced. Alex stared at him like he was trying to read a book in a language he'd just tried learning, and it both was kinda unnerving and comforting at the same time.

"... hey, how about we go try a scam I've been thinking about?"

"Oh? Yeah- what you have in mind?" Grian's face instantly lit up a bit. Alex seemed to grin, helping the speedster up and starting to explain the plan.

How did they get so many glitter bombs? Who knows. Did Grian actually care? Nope, as long as he got to use all of them.

"Remember- I do my act, keep them focused on me. The glitter goes everywhere, you zip in and take what you can from those who can afford it, and get out. Don't get more than we might need, don't wanna draw too much attention."

Yeah, like the five kilograms worth of glitter wouldn't do that already. But Grian didn't complain, it meant dousing people in glitter AND taking their money for later treats. And running away, he was good at running away.

Iskall just tripped- That's all they did, and it ended up with an old lady trying to sue them all. They'd just been checking out some furniture and vases, and a bit of the rug was sticking up, and Iskall wasn't paying attention to the rug... you can guess what happened.

"I'm sorry!" Iskall shouted behind them as they ran out of the little shop, the pissed old lady clearly ready to beat the life out of them with her purse. So much for being quiet-

'X is gonna kill me for this...'

Surprisingly, Xisuma didn't. Maybe because he was too busy berating his brother for something else he did that was (in X's eyes) far worse.

"Oh, come on! It was an honest mistake, get over it." Alex grumbled, starting to walk off. Iskall held back a sigh of relief at watching Xisuma run after Alex as he added, "You mess up ONE scam-"

"YOU GLITTER BOMBED- ALEXANDER GET BACK HERE!"

Barely escaped by a hair.

"You're lucky both of them are distracted." Ren remarked with a chuckle, moving to lean against Iskall.

"For real. I thought I was about to end up cleaning the apartment for who-knows-how long. Though, seems like Alex beat me to it, with all the glitter he's trailing around." the Swede snorted, and they couldn't help but lean against Ren in return. He was always so friendly and cheerful and warm, it was hard to not return the attitude. They'd made sure he was okay with the returned touch a while ago, just in case.

"So! Wanna get some stuff to eat? Maybe some candy since it's close to Valentines?" Ren offered.

"Sure- Wait. You're part... dog, right?"

"Yeah?"

"... isn't chocolate toxic to dogs? And wolves?"

"Oh. Uhh... didn't really think about that." Ren paused with an awkward and panicked smile, ears visibly flattening under his hood. Had he even had much chocolate since getting his powers? Maybe some in a donut? Was that enough to do any harm though?

"I'll see if I can find some dog-friendly treats just in case." Iskall assured half-jokingly at seeing Ren's expression. "C'mon, we don't know how much longer X will consider Alex's offense to be worse than mine."

The werewolf couldn't hold back a laugh at that. "Okay, okay-"

Thankfully the cashier didn't give them too much of a weird look when they asked about dog-friendly Valentine's treats.

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Mumbo had been trying to work up some courage for a while. He hadn't felt like this specifically... ever? Especially not towards another boy, not for this long. Maybe because he didn't let himself, not around his parents...

But now he was safe. He may as well try, after hearing how much the others were open about who they were and figuring out who they liked. If Bdubs could be confident in his bisexuality, why couldn't Mumbo? If... he was bi anyway. He knew he liked Grian, and a girl who'd been nice to him, but that's... about it?

Anyway... if there was any day to try, it was Valentine's Day.

He could do this. This was fine.

He heard Grian's footsteps (yes he knew those were his, they were faster than most of the others, and lighter than Doc's... when he could be heard) and jumped a bit, trying to make sure he looked (or at least felt) presentable.

"Hey-? You said to meet here? What's up?" Grian asked, visibly a bit confused. Mumbo didn't usually try to talk with people alone, right?

The taller Brit stuttered a bit for a minute, trying to look Grian in the eyes and failing to do so for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Well- Uhm, well- it's Valentine's Day- and, uh- hehe-" Mumbo internally died over and over as he tried to get his mouth and brain to communicate properly. "I- I really think I like you, but I've never really done this before, especially not with another boy, but- you've been really nice to me, and-"

Grian looked at him shocked before starting to laugh. Mumbo's heart sank for a moment before the speedster hug-tackled him. "Mumbo! You do know I'm gay, right?"

"Oh- oh!" Well, at least that bit wouldn't be as embarrassing, even if Grian didn't feel the same. Maybe.

"And I like you too."

Mumbo's brain blue-screened at that. His face had to either be on fire or red as a tomato. The blond pulled back and grabbed his hands, hopping up and down in excitement so fast he was almost a blur until he remembered they were in public and he needed to hold back his speed.

"So! Whatcha wanna do!"

The radiant grin on Grian's face burned away most of Mumbo's nerves. "Uh, well... I have some spare cash I've been trying to save up, maybe we could get something to eat? We'd probably have to share, but-"

"Then let's go!"

Both of them stumbled towards the nearest place they could think of, giggling with giddy smiles on their faces. As is with new love, with so much ahead of them and so little complications behind.

Alex had been wanting to pick up a bit of Spanish. Not only because New York was a pretty mixed-culture place, but also because Bdubs spoke it so fluently. So when the two had some time, they'd practice.

"Okay, so if I asked you, ¿dónde esta la biblioteca? ¿Dirías?"

Alex took a second to mentally translate what Bdubs said, the last word tripping him up a little until he realized it was a separate question from the scenario. "La biblioteca está... en la calle 42 y... y la Quinta Avenida. The library is at- or on, I think- 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue."

"Great!" Bdubs chuckled a bit, moving to be right next to the sorcerer rather than in front of him.

"Gah, my brain hurts from Spanish grammar." Alex sighed, still smiling though. He could see how much Bdubs' face lit up when he got the chance to speak Spanish again, despite his connection with his family now being... bittersweet at best, like honey being used to cover up the bitter taste of the medicinal herb beneath.

"Imagine how I feel," Bdubs teased, "I'll be in the middle of talking with someone, mention something in Spanish, and next thing I know I'm speaking in Spanglish."

The sorcerer chuckled. "Glad I'm not at that point yet. I used to do that when I spoke a different language more frequently."

"Yeah- I think I remember you speaking it before one time? What language is it?"

"Galactic. You wouldn't know it." Alex shrugged a bit, moving to stand and help Bdubs up. "It's a language that sorcerers picked up from... well, we don't really know."

"Huh- neat."

Ren had quickly become Doc's favorite person. Was it the shared terrible experience? Maybe. Or maybe it was just Ren being an endless source of optimism that Doc never had before. His smile easily lit up the room, his laugh was contagious, he almost always saw the best of bad situations.

He gladly agreed to having him as a best friend. Key word being friend, since Cleo teased him and Ren about seeming gay and romantic and shit. He loved Ren, but not like that (despite some of the jokes Ren made... that Doc would sometimes lean too much into).

Since neither of them had a romantic partner, they (well, Ren) decided to go out and treat themselves. It took some pickpocketing, but it was worth it.

"I'm just sayin', if X complains, we'll tell him about the cheating asshole we took most of this from." Ren snickered, fist-bumping with the cyborg as he nodded.

"That poor woman didn't deserve that guy, hope she gets someone better."

"Yeah! I'm sure she will, she seemed nice." Ren pulled off his sunglasses to clean them with his shirt. Doc watched for a moment, then held back a chuckle and yoinked them out of the South African's hand, slipping them on his own face.

"How do I look?"

"Pfft- great! Maybe we should get you your own shades, dude!" Ren laughed in a bit of surprise, not bothering to try getting his glasses back. "Might help with the disguise."

"Or make me look even more suspicious."

"Maybe." Ren admitted, still laughing.

Xisuma did his best to make sure every Hermit felt welcomed and comfortable, especially with him. So when he saw Iskall alone today, he decided to go over and talk to them.

"Hey. You alright, man?"

Iskall barely looked up. "Yeah. Just thinking."

"'Bout what?"

The Swede went to talk, then paused. "... just... saw something that made me uncomfortable. Some guy wouldn't leave a girl alone, even when she nearly punched him to make him go away. Reminded me of some kids at my school that I still hate. The jokes I still hate."

It was quiet for a moment.

"Ah. Well, as long as nobody was hurt, then it's alright, right? And you aren't around those people anymore, fortunately."

Iskall chuckled. "Yeah, thank god. But still, just makes me sick that some people don't know how to take no for an answer."

"I don't get it either. Seems pretty simple." Xisuma nodded, resting a hand on their shoulder. "But we can't do much to change the minds of everyone who doesn't understand that. We can just control what we do."

"Yeah... thanks. Sorry- that just kinda bummed me out a bit." Iskall admitted, leaning against X.

"Nah, it's alright. I get it."

Despite everyone having agreed platonic love was to be celebrated as well, Bdubs was trying to not have flashbacks to every time he'd tried to be nice to his friends (or gods forbid his few male crushes) at school.... He and Keralis were particularly susceptible to the... choice words many of their classmates had for them.

But this would be different. Doc wasn't like that. His friends weren't like that.

And Doc liked knives. Bdubs carefully messed with the pocket knife he'd bought for him. It wasn't a cheap one either: it was a beautifully crafted one with a dragon design on the handle and blade. He'd spent a lot of time trying to get this...

He knew the others would likely be out by now, and he'd made sure he knew Doc would be home... hopefully alone. If he wasn't, that was fine! This wasn't something that needed to be private!

Besides, at least if he was made fun of this time, he wouldn't get in trouble for beating someone up. He could take Doc, right? In a fight-

Bdubs took a breath, put the knife back into its box, and climbed up the fire escape to make his way inside. Just- Just give it to him. It's not a big deal! Just a gift for a friend.

He made his way inside the empty apartment, a bit relieved and almost hoping Doc wasn't home yet. But he was, in one of the bedrooms. "Oh- Uhm- Hey, I got something for you."

The cyborg looked a bit startled at first, then gave a bit of a soft, crooked smile. "Alright?"

Bdubs shuffled over and shoved the small box into the German's human hand. "Since you're always paranoid about everything, I figured having something that's a bit more.... ¿Que es la palabra-? Uh, durable to fight with would be a good idea."

Thanks to Doc's powers, damn near everything he tried using to defend himself could explode, as he'd demonstrated one night when he was particularly annoyed with Iskall. The problem was, well... not everything could handle being filled with kinetic energy and then being thrown by a super soldier.

Doc looked at him with slightly wide eyes before slowly opening the box. He handled the knife like it was made of glass, looking over every detail with a growing smile.

"I... thank you."

"Yeah- you're welcome-" Bdubs smiled awkwardly. Gods, how the hell are you supposed to respond to something like that? He really wasn't good at this.

Doc opened the knife up and continued looking it over, and Bdubs could swear he was trying to not cry.

Everyone regrouped back home, many with gifts that had been exchanged. It wasn't reasonable to expect everyone to get a gift for everyone else, but somehow everyone had ended up with at least one gift.... Of one kind or another.

Grian and Mumbo hadn't stopped holding hands since they'd gotten back. Doc was still holding the gifted weapon (he was considering storing in the new pocket Joe had sewn into his second pair of pants), with Bdubs leaning against him while cheerfully talking to the young poet. Cleo had a little skull necklace from him and Tango, which she fidgeted with while exchanging ideas with Zed and Impulse. Iskall and Ren were messing around, roughhousing and laughing while trying to take little scraps of spare cloth they'd declared to be flags.

Alex was asleep on the couch, Scar laying near him and just watching different people. They could all hear it raining outside, and it was likely going to end up as snow by tonight. Tango was shoving some stolen bits of scrap wood into the oven to use as a fireplace, with Xisuma supervising just in case.

It had been a nice day for all of them.

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Might write some oneshots for the inbetweens, because while we like the build up... we really wanna get to the exciting parts soon lol

Hope this was fun! Have an amazin' day, evening, and night everyone. Goodbye <3

- CinnabonSys (*screams into the void because JESUS FUCK THIS YEAR OF 2024 WAS/IS A LOT*)