It had been a long day. Like, more hours in a day long, because he might've accidentally forgotten to sleep again. Maybe he should get a timer for that? Most people use the placement of the sun, but that clearly wasn't constantly working, so...

Doc had come home a few hours after Etho woke up, and said he had planned to check back in earlier but had stopped by Ren's- or Tango's? Etho wasn't sure- first. He was going back there, to Ren's or Tango's, but wanted to make sure he was ok first. That was nice.

Etho, still tired, but enough to process and respond as he sipped some lukewarm coffee, assured him he was fine.

Doc left. Etho was pretty sure he mentioned video games. Maybe if Etho was more social he would be playing video games with a friend too. Maybe Iskall or Stress would be free? They seemed like the type of people to tell you when they were free though, or offer to hang out first. He didn't want to intrude just because he was bored.

Plus, he had homework to do.

Then, later that night- day? Uh. Whatever time. It didn't really matter. Doc went to sleep, Etho said a "few more minutes with this assignment", maybe he fell asleep for a while, and boom! Morning!

Shit.

---

"Etho, how much sleep did you get?" A gruff morning voice was the first thing Etho heard as he lifted his head from his desk, which had apparently become his temporary bed.

"Uh... two?" Etho said warily. It sounded more like a question than an answer. His hair was in his eyes, and the lamp was still on from where he was reading something about something. Plants maybe? History? Was he even taking a history class?

He got out of the chair, gritting his teeth at how his legs slightly wobbled when they were suddenly moved again. He needed coffee. Coffee would probably give him a headache like this, but he still wanted it.

"Two hours or two minutes?" Doc asked, the sigh escaping his lips before Etho even answered.

"Is either correct?" Etho huffed lightly, his eyes unfocusing without permission as he moved through the house. Muscle memory was keeping him standing.

'No', was the unspoken word hanging in front of them. Etho ignored it. 2 hours of sleep was enough for him for a while anyway, coffee in his blood could last him the rest of his day.

"I'm calling Beef."

"So he can give me a stern talking to?" Etho rolled his eyes.

"Yup. If you refuse to take my advice, at least take his."

"I'll sleep early tonight if it eases your consciousness." Etho tried to bargain.

Doc paused, and considered this over. Etho would normally read his body language to figure out what he was thinking, so he could stop him before the words formed on his tongue, since that normally stopped disagreements before they could happen, but he was simply too tired to.

"9 o'clock." Doc deadpanned, no voice for negotiation.

"What? Seriously?"

"You're either going to sleep at 9 and get into better habits of taking care of yourself, or I'm calling Beef and he will force you to. You getting bad sleep and not eating enough is affecting the rest of us."

"Since when did you care so much?"

"We're your friends Etho! We care about you, and you need to care about you too! Ren's been helping me take better care of myself, and I can't sit back and let you fall into worse and worse habits anymore."

Etho looked up, searching his face for even a sliver of a lie. A split second that showed his cards, ones that just wanted Etho to sleep so he could bother Doc less, surely.

There was none, and Etho let a slight bit of his guard down, letting his shoulders fall as he broke eye contact. His mind was now turning him against his friends, accusing them of seeing him as a bother, and he knew it was too far.

"10:00." He said, slightly mumbling. His cards were face up on the table.

"9:30." Doc negotiated, firmly. This was as far as he was going.

Etho sighed, "Deal."

----

Tree: HALLO G, I got a bet to place.

Moustache: are you sure that's a good idea?

Chicken: Shush mumby

Chicken: *Mumbo

Chicken: mUMBO

Tree: Pfft

Chicken: place away iskall!

Tree: nah, in person. This is a big one

Chicken: Ohhh, Architects meeting at the cafe?

Moustache: uh, i'm not a part of this

Chicken: why, afraid you'll lose?

Moustache: yes.

Chicken: Ha! Well too bad you're still joining us. I'll drag you by your moustache if i have to

Moustache: Noooooooo

Tree: not at the cafe. We need a more secret place. Jevin is doing chem stuff here, so-

Chicken: well my place is a mess, soooooo see you at your apartment Mumbo!

Moustache: what? But Martin brought Jimmy and Joel over!

Chicken: cool, i'll be there in 15 min. hope you have snacks!

Moustache: GRIAN!

Tree: I'll be 20 min, see you!

Moustache: i hate both of you

Chicken: lovingly of course

---

"Alright Iskall, what was such a secret bet we had to do it here?" Grian asked when Iskall arrived at Mumbo's room. "And more importantly, how much are we betting here." His face twisted into a smile as he titled his head towards, the shadow on his face emphasizing his chaotic nature.

"Oh ho, it's a good one G. It's a good one." Iskall chuckled, stepping further into the room. "And I think we can bet a good amount for this. More than money."

"That worries me, Iskall." Mumbo said, worry already in his voice. "You know how bets with Grian are."

"You're just petty because you lost betting against the most obvious couple." Grian chided. "Such an oblivious spoon." Grian teased, while Mumbo just huffed.

They were sitting in Mumbo's room, lounging against different furniture; Iskall on mumbo's swivel chair (that he had on carpet? Why did he have a swivel chair on carpet!?), Grian flopped upside down on the bed, changing positions every few minutes, and Mumbo sitting criss-cross near the head of the bed.

"Hey what's going on in 'ere?" Martin pushed the door open a little more, and Jimmy and Joel trailed behind him.

"Looks like they're summoning demons." Joel said. It really didn't, except maybe the half-dimmed lights and half-ish circle. "Are you guys summoning demons?" He asked in an accusing tone.

"Well you showed up." Grian shrugged, now laying on his stomach, arms hanging off the sides.

"Hey!"

Grian and Iskall snickered while Joel glared at them both.

"They're betting on-" Mumbo started, then paused. "Well actually I don't know what they're betting on, but they're betting something all right."

"Yeah Iskall, you haven't told me yet what this is about." Grian said. "I'm not going in blind, and if it's boring I'm going to be disappointed."

"You know that love-life betting game you started?" Iskall started smoothly with a slight smirk.

Grian's face lit up.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea dude..." Mumbo said slowly.

"Shush! You're still just petty that you lost betting against Jimmy and Scott."

"I'm annoyed you bet on me, G." Jimmy muttered.

"Shut up Tim. I helped you and Scott get together didn't I?"

"And I still think that was cheating.." Mumbo mumbled.

Grian waved him off, and turned his attention back to Iskall. "You here to add more against the RenDoc bet, I'm assuming?"

"Uh- are we allowed to be here?" Martin asked. "Seems a little, uh, private? I'd like the option for deniability if two angry people show up here with pitchforks and torches."

"Stay if you want; we won't say you were included if they ask." Grian shrugged. "This is between me and Iskall, unless you want to add something to the table too?"

Mumbo frantically waved his hands at his neck as he eyes went wide, signaly the others to deny.

"I think we'll stay out of it." Martin answered for all of them. Joel and Jimmy nodded behind him. "But this seems fun to watch. I'm all for watching bad life decisions up close."

"Is that why you invite Timmy over often?"

"HEY!"

That erupted a chorus of laughter as Timmy fumed, sitting angrily criss-crossed on the floor next to the bed so he could slap Grian's arm. Grian deserved that, and he knew it, but he still propped himself up with his elbows so he could keep his arms out of the way of another slap. They were losing feeling draped over the edge of the bed anyways. Joel continued to stand, and Martin pulled a chair towards the really bad circle to sit on backwards.

"Back on topic, no, not the Ren and Doc one." Iskall said. "I still think you're making that one up. Ren's just an affectionate guy; You're reading into it too much."

"Tsk tsk, you just don't see the looks they give each other is all." Grian grinned confidently. "So do you have another one to bet against, or....? I'm not really getting the deal here."

"Oh I'm here to bet with a pairing this time."

Grian looked intrigued, a raised eyebrow and slight pout on his lips.

"Bdubs and Etho."

"Wait but didn't-" Jimmy started.

Grian clamped a hand over Jimmy's mouth quickly, who immediately protested with a very muffled "hmmm!"

"Deal!" Grian exclaimed, reaching over quickly to shake on it. Jimmy shoved Grian's hand off his mouth, but Grian gave him a pointed glare, so he kept quiet anyway.

"Really? Just like that?" Iskall questioned. "You've never gone against a pair before."

"Iskall! It's Etho!" Grian laughed, flipping himself around the bed so he was sitting up. "I've met him a total of one time, but from what uhm- Bdubs has told me, he's pretty quiet and introverted. He doesn't seem like one to fall for someone as talkative and energetic as Bdubs."

Grian might not have been a con-man himself, but learning a thing or two from Scar, letting the opposing side feel overly confident was a good way to seal the deal. White lies were fair in gambling.

"Ha! See? Bdubs is talking about him! And Etho gushed to me for like an hour about Bdubs after they only talked once, so it's fate dude."

"Well if you're so confident," Grian mused. "Lets up the deal."

"I feel like we're intruding?" Jimmy said, looking between the two.

"Shhh I wanna see where this is going." Joel said.

"You two want popcorn? I think we still have some packets from the last movie night." Martin mentioned.

"Want to join Mumbo? If you win, it would probably make up for all the times you lost~"

"I'll pass, I prefer to keep my mustache clean and on my face, your pranks and bets always seem to screw that up."

"You're loss dude!" Iskall said. "You could make big money on my side."

"Nuh-uh!" Grian argued. "I've never lost a bet in this game."

Mumbo raised an eyebrow. "What about Keralis?"

"That was a different gambling game. You know I suck at poker."

"You cheated with 4 jokers."

"How was I supposed to know there's only 2 in a deck?!"

Mumbo sighed. "I'm not joining your little game of matchmaker again. I don't know either of them that well and I don't want to enter another feud between the two of you."

"Another feud?"

"I'll tell you later, Martin."

A phone rang, and everyone looked at each other, pulling out their phones to see who it was.

"Ah one sec, Lizzy's calling me." Joel said, turning to leave the room.

"Now there's someone I should've bet on earlier." Grian sighed.

"Dude, you'd never find someone to bet against. They've been lovestruck for years." Jimmy chuckled.

"I could've swindled this spoon into thinking he could've won. I've done it before." Grian said.

"More like annoyed me until I gave in." Mumbo rolled his eyes.

"You still did!"

Iskall checked the time on their phone.

"It's getting late, I should head back soon to make sure Jev doesn't get whatever chem thing he's doing everywhere. I love slime, but I'm not cleaning it off the ceiling again."

"Fair. You wanna hash out the details later then?"

"Yeah, but I want to go for a level 4 for this one."

"Money, forfeits, and more? I'll take you up on that, if you're that confident."

"Oh I am, G."

"Shake on is to seal the deal?" Grian hopped off the bed and walked a step over to Iskall, holding out his hand in a devil handshake sort of way. Even with Iskall sitting, he wasn't much taller, but the point still came across correctly.

Iskall stood up so they could slightly tower over Grian before accepting the handshake.

"I was slightly worried they were going to burst into flames at that." Jimmy said.

"I was thinking of a blood wager, but yeah. I wouldn't flinch if one of them summoned the devil to play russian roulette at this point."

"Wha'd I miss?" Joel stepped back into the room, pocketing his phone.

"One of them signed a deal with a devil, and I'm not sure who." Mumbo sighed. "Get out of my room."

---

Outside, they set the bets. A dare of the other's choice, 85 bucks(for reasons), and an IOU. It was risky, but both were too stubborn to back down.

"Pleasure doing business with you Iskall Eighty-five."

"Oh, the pleasure will be mine eventually. Etho might be shy, but he can be pulled out of his comfort zone."

"Sure sure, I believe you." Grian said, slowing his walk to a stop, Iskall giving him a confused look as they stopped as well.

"But now that it's engraved in solid stone, I have a little secret to tell you." Grian said slowly. Iskall hummed, waiting patiently.

"Friday eve, Keralis split coffee on Etho's keyboard, and Etho freaking lost it."

Iskall gulped subtly. Grian giggled.

"The sprinklers even went off, and I know because I had to help dry up the floor. To be fair, it made my job for the day a little easier. I guess I should thank Etho for that actually. That is, if he ever shows his face in the cafe again."

Grian stepped a little bit closer, and Iskall could see the evil delight in his eyes.

"Because he knows, and I know, and the rest of all of the cafe knows, that Bdubs hates Etho's guts."

Grian backed up a step, an innocent smile on his face again. "Oh oops! My place is actually this way! See you later, Iskall!" Grian spun in his heel and skipped away, Iskall stuck there dumbstruck.

They gulped. Oh boy.

---------

(2394 words)

Is Grian too evil? I think I made him the right amount of evil. This one was quicker because half of it was written beforehand but the next one doesn't have that luxury(plus AP testing! woooooo...). Honestly this was one of the most fun ones to write and edit, so i hope you liked it too!

Have a great day or night lovely people!