WC: 1598
Warnings: None

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"The thing you need to remember when flying with an elytra is to just keep going," Grian explained. "If you pause, your wings will close and you'll plummet towards the ground. But, y'know, don't go too fast. Then you'll slam into the wall."

"Right." Ranboo felt a little dizzy from the explanation alone, and he hadn't even started flying yet. He was starting to regret asking Grian to teach him how to fly so soon.

The two of them stood in front of Grian's base. If they were here under different circumstances, Ranboo would have probably taken a good 10 minutes just admiring the sheer scale of the build. It was massive, spanning from close to Scar's starter base to nearly out of the jungle. But they weren't here for the mansion itself—they were here for its front garden.

"Do we really have to do it here?" Ranboo attempted to protest. "Why not start, I dunno, from a nice short tree or something?"

"Nope. You just sort of...have to take the plunge when it comes to elytra, literally. You'll learn better if you just jump straight into it."

Grian leaned against the anvil railway—anvils for railing, honestly, Ranboo couldn't imagine how much iron that must have taken—and pointed down to what was behind him. "That's why we're starting here."

The mansion had two massive holes on either side of its staircase entrance, each dug down maybe a hundred or so blocks. The left side was minimally decorated to look like a lush cliffside and held an automatic sugar cane farm.

That was all nice and fine, but Ranboo was more concerned about the height he would fall from if he failed with the elytra, which was probably going to happen.

Grian pulled the aviator goggles he wore on his head down over his eyes. "It'll be fine, honestly. I feel like I'm overcomplicating things for you. You'll see—once you start gliding it'll automatically come to you."

Ranboo doubted that, but he didn't say that out loud. He was pretty sure the nervousness was written clearly on his face, anyway.

"Here, I'll go first so you know where to go," Grian volunteered.

"The whole flying thing is up to me, though," Ranboo noted. "Your wings flap. The elytra is made for gliding."

"It's honestly gonna be easier for you than it is for me."

When Ranboo gave him a doubting expression, he pressed on. "I have to use up extra energy flapping my wings every time. The rockets do that for you. All you have to focus on is controlling where you're gliding."

Despite Grian's reassurances, Ranboo was still nervous. He wasn't really scared of heights, per se. He was more afraid of smashing into the ground or walls. And knowing he'd respawn if he died didn't help, either.

Plus, anyone who had common sense would avoid death if they could—it had a lasting impact on you, even after you respawned.

Ranboo watched as Grian dove straight off the railing, plummeting for a few seconds before spreading his wings and flapping gently down to the ground safely. He glanced up at Ranboo and waved.

"Your wings will spread on their own once they've caught the air!" he yelled, pulling his goggles back up.

Ranboo inhaled sharply, then jumped in after Grian before he could talk himself out of it.

The first few seconds were the worst. His wings didn't catch the air immediately, and for a few heart-pounding moments, it felt like he was in free fall. Then, he felt the wings spread on his back, and he tried to angle himself into a horizontal position so they could catch the air easier.

Calling his descent down to the ground flying was generous. It was more like a wobbly, slow fall down. He could barely control his elytra, much less steer, so most of the time he was trying to stay afloat while simultaneously trying not to crash into the ground too hard.

At least he managed to upright himself once he got close to the ground, making it so he landed on his feet rather than bellyflopping onto the grass.

Grian helped him up. "That wasn't bad for a first try!"

"I can't tell if you're being serious or not," Ranboo said.

"Nah. Scar told me that when he first tried to fly with an elytra he was smashing into walls for a week."

"Yeah, but that's Scar."

"True."

Ranboo glanced up and then frowned. "Wait...how are we gonna get up back to the top?"

"Time for your second lesson in elytra flying!" Grian said cheerfully. "Using the rockets."

"Wait, wait, aren't we taking this a bit too fast—"

"So when using rockets, you need to remember to have a balance with how many you're using." Grian barreled on, pretending not to hear Ranboo's protests. "Too many, and you'll lose control and go speeding off in one direction. Too little, and your elytra will lose hold on the wind and you'll go plummeting."

"I'm gonna crash into your mansion roof," Ranboo muttered, feeling a bit sick at the thought.

"Nah, you'll be fine."

"You've seen my flying!" he protested, starting to panic a little.

Grian grabbed Ranboo's arms and shook him a little.

"Listen, man, you've got to stop overthinking things. You're just making the situation more complicated for yourself. Sometimes you just need to take the plunge and learn as you go."

He shook Ranboo a few more times as if trying to rattle the message into him. "Okay? I would shake your shoulders, but you're way too tall."

Ranboo snorted a little bit at that, then glanced up again.

"Got it?" Grian asked.

"I hope so."

"Alright. Then you're going first."

Goddammit.

"If I die, it's all your fault."

"Just take the plunge," Grian repeated in a sing-song voice.

Ranboo sighed under his breath, then pulled out two rockets. That should be enough to reach the top, right?

...Okay, maybe three.

No, four.

"C'mon!" Grian encouraged him. "I can tell you're overthinking things again. What did I say?"

"...Just take the plunge."

Grian rolled his hand in a go-on gesture.

Ranboo prepared to take off, but then realized he had no idea how to do that. "Grian, how the hell do I take off?"

He was expecting Grian to say some half-assed answer like Figure it out yourself, but the avian actually gave him a useful response.

"You need to jump up a little, let the elytra catch the air as you're falling. Then, before you touch the ground, you need to boost yourself up using the rockets."

Right. Not complicated at all.

Before he could overcomplicate things for himself any further, he jumped up as high as he could, feeling his elytra open. Before he could land on the ground again, he used one of the rockets in his hand and soared straight up into the air.

It wasn't enough. Around halfway out of the hole, Ranboo felt himself lose momentum and start falling. Before panic really set in, he used up two more rockets in an attempt to make it out.

He overshot the anvil railing and was nearly at the height of the mansion's upper entrance before he started falling. Grian's advice on how to slowly glide down came back to him, and he landed on the ground a little smoother than he had had on his first attempt.

Grian landed on the grass next to him and grinned in satisfaction. "See? What did I say? That was much better than your first try!"

"I hate to say this because I can tell you're going to be insufferable about it, but...you were right," Ranboo said, tucking his last rocket into his sweater vest pocket. "I wasn't really thinking as much this time, I was sort of...doing what felt right."

"I'll try not to brag about this too much if that makes you feel any better."

"That would be greatly appreciated."

"But, on a more serious tone..." Grian stared at him. "I wasn't kidding when I said you need to stop overthinking things. I saw your face when you were talking with Xisuma when you first arrived; you were trying to make sense of the situation when there wasn't enough to really make sense of yet."

Ranboo remembered the panic attack he'd had when he'd tried to figure out a solution to whatever was going on but couldn't.

"...I'll try. But, honestly, I do it out of habit nowadays. I don't think it's gonna be that easy to stop."

"That's alright." To Ranboo's surprise, Grian actually sounded sincere. "No one's expecting you to suddenly get better."

"Um, thanks. That's...really appreciated."

Grian frowned, apparently not sure if Ranboo was supposed to sound sarcastic or not.

"No, no, I mean it. I just...words. Words are hard. But thank you, really."

"Yeah, of course." Grian's smile seemed much more genuine this time, which Ranboo liked on him a lot better than the self-satisfied grin he always seemed to wear. "Do you want to try again, or do you want to do something else?"

"I think I might try flying around the jungle a bit just to practice," Ranboo said.

"Cool. Hey, whenever you think you're up to it, want to go flying around the whole server? I can give you a little tour."

"Yeah, that'd be awesome. I'll let you know once I'm ready, alright?"

"Sounds great." Grian gave him a playful farewell salute, then flapped his wings and took off into the air over to his nether portal.

Ranboo spent a few more seconds staring in the direction Grian had gone, then dug into his inventory and pulled out a handful of rockets. Then he took off into the sky, just enjoying the thrill of flying, with the wind in his face and his wings spread out behind him. For a moment, he felt almost free of the worries that had been plaguing him ever since he joined Hermitcraft.

Almost. 

-

I love how the main friendship in this story is Cleo and Ranboo yet I still managed to weasel Grian in there somewhere

Fun fact that I haven't told AO3; ch6 is actually done as I'm writing this :D I write one chapter ahead of time so there's not huge gaps between posting, just in case

As always, thanks for reading :DD