Original Publish Date: 12/13/22

Word Count: 2175 words

Pairing:
Grumbo - Mumbo and Grian (Written with the intent of being platonic, though can be interpreted as romantic if you squint hard enough)

Warnings and Disclaimers:
 - Bad Humor
 - Mumbo Swears
 - Grian Swears
 - Most likely OOC
 - Implied/referenced violence

Major Characters:
 - Grian
 - Mumbo
 - Grumbot

Snippet:
[    A calming, silent evening where nothing went wrong was well believed to be a sign that a storm was coming.
It was quiet. Definitely too quiet.

Where is he? Where did he go? He'd usually be here by now.    ]

Short Summary:
[    Solaria's presence in the city was always so bright, engulfing and almost intoxicating to the mad scientist. With those giant wings and that loud attitude, Vaultist is sure in himself that he's easier to see than the sun.
Which is why he gets concerned when all the sudden, it disappeared. The light disappeared.
Solaria has not been seen for almost an entire month.

What happened?    ]
(AKA Villain Mumbo gets worried and decided to break into Hero Grian's apartment just to check on him, y'know, totally just to make sure he's not planning anything. Purely fluff.)

+---+---+

A calming, silent evening where nothing went wrong was well believed to be a sign that a storm was coming.

It was quiet. Definitely too quiet.

Where is he? Where did he go? He'd usually be here by now.
The villain grumbled to himself, walking back and forth the floors of his very evil and very secret lair. The blackstone tiles clashed with his boots, the factory gears clanked together, rotating as everything works exactly the way it should. Everything was fine. Everything was going amazing.

And that's the problem.

Dr. Mumbo K.A.L Jumbo, or by his other name "the Vaultist", paced around the open room, mind going back and forth at itself.
The hermitland villain was waiting for someone. Waiting for him. It's been half an hour. Half an hour. He was obviously oblivious to a lot of things, but one thing he knew about his arch nemesis is that he's a perfectionist. Never late, never satisfied. Never. (If anything, he was the one that's usually late, even when he's the literal house owner. The literal host.)

Solaria would never allow himself be late. He'd rather die!

So why was he late?

Did something happen to him?

---

Okay, something definitely happened to him.

Mumbo noticed that he has not been around the city for 2 weeks. Definitely not a normal occurance. He appreciated the quiet atmosphere (He refused to attack until he sees him back on the streets) but it also added a new noisy voice in his head. One that he couldn't ignore no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't believe it himself.

He was concerned for that troublesome annoyance's disappearance.

And how could he not? That bastard is a flaunter, an actual goddamn show off. There's no way he would stray off the city for this long. There's no way he would've left for so long.

Staring off into the skyline, he frowned, setting a hand on the table. Was the idiot planning something? Is this some sort of trap? Was the guy just sick? Is it worse than that?

"FATHER 2."

The monitor at the corner of the room lighting up snapped him out of his spiral. He totally didn't flinch as an 8-bit face trickled slowly onto the screen. He didn't.

He totally was not waiting for them. He totally didn't immediately turn around quickly with a rare hopeful face. "Oh, good grief, Grumbot. Have you found anything yet?"

---

Grian Crimson Aves, Also known as the city superhero "Solaria", was 'enjoying' one of his limited breaks at home. He laid silently on the couch, exshausted beyond belief. He scrolled through random shit on his phone, nothing really in mind.

These day, he swears he's being worked to death. Not that he blames the commission in particular, the case they assigned him to was in fact a serious one. Also a very deadly one, he learnt a bit too late (disappointed no one told him beforehand, though perhaps he should've thought about it when he saw the written report that stated two of the most wanted villains may or may not be involved in the case).
The commission had given him a long break, not by choice but simply because he was definitely not in any condition to go on any missions. He was currently without his wings, and for good reason. Even if he brought them out they've been temporarily rendered useless by one of the villains he had to face. The fucker (At least he got to retaliate by smacking their ass to prison, though he hasn't caught the boss yet disappointingly). One of his arms were also shot during a raid, so he can't use that either at the moment.

He actually despised the amount of bandages he's in. He looks like a fucking mummy.

Sighing slightly, he dropped his phone to the cushions, flinching a lot as he tried to get himself off the couch. Pearl, his roommate, was the one that took to caring for him in this state, but she wasn't home right now so it's his problem now. He could theoretically just text Jimmy or Martin that's just the room across theirs for help and they probably won't mind, but he's had enough of just laying around as it is. He is also a very impatient man.

So ignore the agonizing crack noise his arm emitted - he needs a snack.

(Well, if he dies while doing this it means that he's not going to have to deal with this shit anymore so that's one plus. The negative was that he'd be dead but he'll cross that bridge when he crosses it, if he needs to cross it.)

He was in the hallway when suddenly, the window in front of him literally shattered. In his moment of shock, a head popped out of the opening. He actually dropped to the floor, instantly cursing his inability to fight at the moment.

"WHAT THE F-" They glared, or supposedly did behind their googles "-FFFFFFFFFizzlesticks??" He blinked, eyebrow scrunched up. Hold on, lab googles? "Vaultist??"

"Afternoon to you too, Solaria." The villain replied calmly, as if he didn't literally just statter the window to pieces and is currently retracting their glass breaker device back into their pocket. (No idea how that fit in that but this is Vaultist we're talking about he's a strange man.)

Grian's eyes narrowed, skeptically but more so confusedly. "What are you doing in my house?????"

They shrugged. "Trust me, if I could avoid making this visit I would," The bastard didn't even wait for him to reply, they're already climbing through the opening, welcoming himself in. "How have you been holding up?"

"You're paying for that-" He murmured, mind still processing. The sight of the city villain - his arch nemesis mind you - in his apartment. Is this the day he dies? "What- Why are you here?" (It's bad enough that this means Vaultist knows wear he lives and can enter at any time he wants. Hell considering that he probably already know his civilian identity, definitely not a good thing for your enemy to know about so casually. How he'd even got here considering his room was on the 7th floor was another thing he's not willing to unpack today.)

"I've noticed that you've been a bit inactive these days," They hummed, dusting their coat. That was definitely just for character effect, considering it was completely pristine as usual and did not have a speck nor a stain on it. He genuinely wonders how he's able to do stuff and still keep his lab coat clean. Engineering machinery and stuff is bound to be a messy job. Does he just wash it regularly or?
He'd realized that the villain had kneeled down to his level. "Did anything happen?"

"Wait a minute-" His confusion and horrify was replaced by curiosity and intrigue, realization overtaking his overthinking. "Were you worried for me?" He sneers, a grin forming on his face. "Was the tatter-tot evil mad scientist concerned over this little hero?"

For a second Vaultist genuinely sputtered, taking a moment before he regained his composure and sighed. "No, though you are little," He pinched his nose bridge, ignoring the hero's protest. "I'm paranoid that you may be planning some sort of scheme. So spit it out, where have you been?"

So he was worried, Grian thought smugly. Well, there's not much harm in telling, so he just shrugs. "The underground."
The villain raised a brow, and he rolled his eyes. "You know, the darkest parts of the city, the ones with the black markets and such - don't give me that look, I know you've been there multiple times. I've seen you." He sighed. "There's this scummy- company? con artists? - I totally have no idea what or who they are, but they've been keeping me busy these days, you've probably heard of them I don't know. Main reason you haven't seen me in a while, I've been working a bit more discreetly over the past two weeks."

"You? Discreet?" They muttered in amusement. "Have pigs flown?"

Ouch. "Oh hush up," He bit back, more playful than angry. "You were the one getting all worried and teary for me because you probably though I was dead or something - which I'm not by the way. I'm completely fine."

Okay, fine. That might've been the worse lie he ever told.

So it's not a wonder the villain scoffed, obviously disbelieving. "You don't look 'completely fine' to me." He pointed to the bandaged wound on his shoulder. "First off, what the fuck happened with that?"

"I..." Contemplating his options, he nervously grinned. "...tripped down the stairs?"

They deadpanned. "You tripped down the stairs."

"What? We're all humans, we all get clumsy sometimes, okay!"

"Solaria you literally have wings. Golden wings." They stated exasperatedly, before their eyes narrowed. "Which now that I'm paying attention, I see that those are damaged as well- crumpets did you go through?!"

"Careful, you're starting to sound like you actually care." He snickered, but it was cut short by the villain roughly grabbing him by the hand. "Hey- it hurts - what are you-"

They analysed him for a second (He reconsiders the theory that they might have some sort of superpower with that), looking him up and down. "Bone fractures- skin tearing- and those eyes under your bags." They spat out each word with a certain distaste, disgust. Not in him. But in whatever caused this, most likely. Flattering. "What the f-"

"Eyes under my bags?" He muttered subconsciously, eyebrow raising.

Vaultist's eyes wet wide. "Fuck- I meant bags under your eyes- Stop laughing! I'm being serious right now-" But it was no use, Grian was floored. Actually cry-laughing. If Vaultist wasn't holding him by the arm, he'd have actually fallen to the floor. They rolled their eyes, cursing in annoyance. "Oh for goodness sake..."

Grian seemed to just be laughing harder at how they seemed severely unamused. "Vaultist- Vaultist- wait-" He practically choked out, wheezing. He was on his knees, literally struggling to breath. (Probably not a good thing considering his condition but he was not thinking about that at the moment.) "Give me a second-"

"Stop laughing!" Vaultist growled, visibly getting embarrassed. With gritted teeth they were strongly resisting the urge to drop just their grip and let him fall to the floor.

"Hey- it's all r-right, we're all humans- we-" He was pushed down onto the floor, gently but still.

"Shut up!" They groaned, putting a gloved hand up to his face to palm their forehead. "I hate you so much."

The laughter didn't die out for a few more minutes, Vaultist was getting ready to leave at this point, but still just waited by the window.

Grian sniffed, giggling. "Thanks, buddy, I feel better all ready."

"So that's all it takes to make you feel better? A bad misspelling?" They muttered exasperatedly. "If that's the case I actually didn't need to break in just to check up on you."

"Aw, so you do care!"

"I do not."

"You do." He smiled, genuinely and warmly. "Thanks, really, I appreciate that you came to check up on me, it means a lot- I'm not kidding. It does."

(For a moment he forgot that he was sitting in front of one of the deadliest villains in the city. Still, oddly enough, he feels warm.)

They didn't answer, watching as Grian got himself up from the floor. "You sure you're alright?"

He shrugged. "I'm fine, really, I have my roommate that usually takes care of me, she's outside buying groceries at the moment though."

"I know, I specifically waited until she was out."

"I'd say you're a stalker but between that and all your theft, property damage, civilian harm, unlicensed improper creation, distribution, and use of extremely dangerous technology charges etc etc, it's probably nothing new."

Vaultist rolled their eyes, but once again didn't answer, skipping to the next question. "Can you at least tell me who did this?"

"Er, no- no, it's fine, really."

They took a moment to analyse his expression (Okay, he had to admit, it's actually very creepy when they do that.) and then everything resembling joy simultaneously dropped. "They did not."

He took a moment to grasp what they meant. "What- oh. No no no- not them- they weren't the ones." (They suspected the commission. They'd seen how harshly he was treated.)

But it was obvious his answer was not satisfactory.
"But something did happen." His eyes went cold for a moment. Grian recognized that glint. "Whatever, I'll find out myself, if you aren't willing to talk. I'm partly intrigued by that underground 'company' you talked about."

"None of your concern, really, it's nothing-" The villain had already readjusted themselves with their back to the window. "Vaultist!"

They waved promptly to the hero, before turning around. "Keep your eyes on the news."

"Vaultist!"

No use, they were gone.

---

The next morning, the hero commissioner center wonders how and why one of the longest running chain of the big scale Vexish Crime Ring suddenly seemed to go entirely quiet after 6 years of non-stop activity.

Solaria decided he needed an long, extended break. Maybe even a vacation.

+---+---+