Hiii! Ferret here with his entry!
I had to rush the ending, so sorry about that! But anyway, here's my rushed entry!

TW: I don't know, none I guess?
Theme that I didn't follow at all: Time.
Editing: Light Editing With Grammarly

Lol this is closer to rushed h/c then it is fluff.

--

A Lot had been occurring in hermitcraft.

The resistance and hep were disbanded due to fights that broke out with past friends, Doc and Bdubs had developed a strong friendship, and so had the hermit-challengers, and so much more. But Beef was left with nothing but music discs and ravagers.

The man had been miserable in the server he had made, even if it had changed in a lot of ways, including the admin. Well, either way, he still made this. He made hermitcraft to be a safe space, not an endless maze of loneliness for him.

He had failed somebody, and that someone was himself.

The worst thing was the NHO, every time he looked at, well, close to anything, red stone, wood, clay- or whatever they call it now, and the list goes on, he was reminded of the, and left in sorrow. He missed those guys, a lot.

Actually, a lot was an understatement, Beef missed the bunch more then he had missed hermitcraft.

Beef was on the shopping districts waterside, he stared at it intently, lost in thought. He flicked a stone absentmindedly into the water, it was beautiful when the sun dipped below the horizon and let the moon take view. All the lights reflecting off of the water amazed Beef along with the calming sounds of the ocean waves crashing against the rocky outline scar had made.

Scar was a good mayor, and he was glad he'd won, Beef tried to involve himself in events, but either was left out or left on his own. Even when he was apart them, he always seemed to drift away from focus. Like he was just a side character waiting to be killed off.

Stars, it stung to think about his role in the hermitcraft server now. He knew he was important, but Beef felt left to the side, how did TFC deal with it? Or Stress, because this felt empty— it sucked, loneliness sucked. That's for sure.

Beef stared at the night in dismay, lost in thought, but he felt a tap on his shoulder, and felt water running down his eyes, he hadn't even known he was sobbing, but tears covered his face, and his eyes were puffy and red.

He sighed, turning around slowly, his sight blurry as he looked up to the culprit, he saw a red blur... Grian? He didn't know the man well, but he was his only guess, and Beef couldn't make out his expression, though he guessed it was concerned.

"..G-grian?" His voice was something even he didn't recognize, and it was hard to speak, as whenever he tried it came out as sniffles.

The red-jumpered man nodded. "I was here to offer you something but.. you alright?"
Beef flinched, he didn't even know Grian? So why was he here?

Beef straightened, scooting backwards as he waved his hand to Grian, his movement shaky, but at least it was something.

"Y-yeah! I'm fine—" Beef knew Grian wouldn't believe that, and that showed with the man's concerned expression.

Beef would sigh, his heart almost synced with the surges of the water, he felt in his pockets for music discs, nothing. It was strange that it was the first thing he did, but he didn't question it. After all, he was the explanation.

"No, your not, come on, tell me, I'm here!" Grian pressed, looking to Beef with wide eyes that Beef couldn't help but feeling calm in. As well as his status as a hermit. Still, he barely knew the man.

"Not important." He stated blankly, shaking his head. "More importantly, why are you here?" Beef asked the other, his eyes reflecting in the moonlight as he sat on the ocean shore.

Grian was visibly annoyed, but gave up on trying to get it out of him, and instead put his hand on Beef's shoulder. Looking to the fellow hermit as if he'd known him all his life, which made Beef slightly uncomfortable as he stared at Grian's wide brown eyes.

Grian sat down. "Well,," he paused, and Beef looked to him with both anxiousness and curiosity. "I was gonna offer something else, but I think I've got something better." Beef blinked, looking at Grian.

He paused before speaking. "What is it you offer, Grain?" He decided to play along, and Grian smiled lightly, his gaze bright.

"Well, wanna go out to the jungle? My base? We could go play with the leaves!" Grian offered, his last sentence ending with a lighter tone as his dark brown eyes studied him, and Beef stared, taken aback by it.

Beef had expected him to be wanting something to do with business, maybe some help with barge boxes, or maybe something to do with Beef's beloved discs, not that the other man wanted to spend quality time.

Deep down, Beef wanted to, stars, did he want to go frolicking in the fields and between trees with him. But Beef was scared, that'd he'd either be left out or that they would become best friends just before the NHO's downfall happened for a second time. It hurt, it hurt a lot.

But at the same time— what was he gonna get from moping around? The answer was obvious, nothing.

He stared at the water, in thought, two sides clashing in his mind, harder and louder than two tsunamis crashing into each other. Maybe that was an understatement, really, he could barely even think straight.

He didn't notice he had been stalling until the other man tapped his shoulder. "Uh... Beef? Are you alright? Did I do something wrong?" He asked, concern flooding Grian's gaze.

Beef quickly let his hands fly in front of him. "Nonono! It's not your fault— uh, sure!" He spoke impulsively, but as soon as he thought about it rationally, in which case was now, he realized that it didn't matter that much, it was only hanging out.

Grian's eyes lit up. "Yay!" He squealed, grappling Beef's arm. "Cmon! Let's go!" Beef was confused, the shorter hermit had gone from 1-100 in less than a second. Beef, just slightly, smiled though, the excitement of the hermit making him happy for the strange other.

Grian soon got ready to take off, and let go of Beef, Beef followed as the shorter hermit kicked off the ground, taking off into the air, Beef was much slower, and struggled to catch up.

Grian dived to the streets, close to the pavement as he flew expertly, meanwhile, Beef fell behind, almost jerking into multiple things on the way. Grian soon reached the portal, landing gracefully as Beef plummeted clumsily due to trying to catch up.

He felt the frigid concrete under him, and looked up to Grian. "Uh-- that was-- cool--" He almost stuttered, looking awkwardly to Grian.

"Tell me about it." Grain uttered, sure of himself as he entered the shopping district portal, Beef looking back to the shopping site once, before rushing after Grian.
--

The nether was a blur of sweat and confusion, but soon enough they found Grian's portal. Beef was the first to stagger out of the portal, plopping onto the ground, while Grian remained standing, and Beef looked up to him with an unsteady gaze as he got up.

"wo- how do you fly so good?" Beef asked in surprise, looking to Grian as he regained his footing.

"It's practice, trust me, I used to be the worst flyer on the server, but now? I'm the best there ever was." He bragged light-heartedly, and Beef shook his head, looking around, and spying the other mansion.

"Is that yours, too?" Beef asked, pointing, amazed by the build.

Grian nodded. "if you think that's good, you should see Scar's base!" Grian replied, and Beef nodded.

"I know, that cat-lover makes amazing builds, doesn't he?" Beef patted his back, and Grians eyes lit up.

"Ooo, speaking of which.. Maui! Pearl! Cmere!" Grian called two names, in which Beef didn't recognize, but soon after the man heard rustling in the grass, and whipped around.

A light brown, large cat dart out towards Grian, followed by a white one, which was more small and pristine. They both were spotted, and Grians smile grew.

"These are my cats! Maui," Grian pointed to the light brown one, "and Pearl" he pointed once more to the other.

Beef smiled. "Ooo, nice!" Beef bent down and pet Maui, before he felt leaves on his head, in his hair to be exact. He whipped around, looking to Grian.

"Got you! The shorter man chuckled, running off, Beef smiled.

"Oh no you don't!" He called, taking a moment to look back towards the portal.

Maybe his future wouldn't be so bad after, maybe this was a new time for him, a new place.

..and maybe, in time, he would finally get over the NHO.

--

<333 Thanks for reading
-Ferret