Chapter Text
Grian shifts in his seat. The nerves didn’t really get to him during the test, but now, just waiting for results, the anxiety is really starting to kick in.
Some of the other recruits are looking. Grian’s no stranger to stares, how could he not be with the largest and brightest wings to ever exist? You’d think everyone’s mature here, but nope.
A firehair girl starts to whisper things to their seat neighbor, and then calls out. “Hey dodo, I think you got lost. This is hero tryouts, not circus applications!” Nobody even bats an eye. Not for an avian.
A few heroes walk in. Most of the recruits jump up to talk and fawn over them, especially Hotguy. They were almost immediately crowded, and whatever suspense there was got destroyed.
Hotguy makes his way over to the still-seated people, before scanning the crowd. He walks right up to Grian, and says the words that Grian never expected to hear in his entire life. “Hey there sidekick.”
Every last bit of noise immediately died down, or was that just the minor delusions Grian was apparently having. Jeez, was he really that stressed about the test scores? There’s no way Hotguy himself, the man from Mumbo Jumbolio’s apartment walls, just chose HIM to be his sidekick. It’s probably a hallucination. Or he was looking at someone else. One of the two. Either way, Hotguy’s not looking for him.
Grian looks up, not quite realizing he looked down, to see Hotguy’s stare directly on him. Not to the left. Not the the right. Not up, down, diagonal or backwards! Him. HIM.
He’s is so glad he missed breakfast.
This is your chance. Tell him how great he is, and how much you look up to him. Tell him how much of an idol he is to you!
Grian takes a breath, opens his mouth, and so very intelligently, stares at him like a fish in a bowl. Words just didn’t seem to appear. Well great.
“A little shy? No problem. You’ll get used to it.” Hotguy reaches out for Grian’s hand, and he takes it. In an instant, he’s aware that everyone is watching. Just watching. It’s completely silent, and all eyes are turned one way. Grian’s feathers start to poof up on instinct, but he forces them flat. “We’ll have to get you a better costume, one that matches mine, because that just won’t do, but that’s for later. Follow me, to our room.”
G isn’t the best at outfit management, but he isn’t bad. It may look like a ten year olds Halloween costume, but it doesn’t need to be super special. At least it didn’t.. Just a purple sweater with dark purple tights, and a really weird plastic mask he left on the side of his head. It’s not the best, but he didn’t have to call him out like that! How rude. Never meet your heroes, or they’ll criticize your wardrobe choices.
Symmetry spots Grian’s face and starts laughing like a maniac. He quickly looks to the ground while being lead by the hand. She tries to stop laughing to say something that sounds like a “No, wait I didn’t mean it like that.” but was entirely unable to. Grian almost never blushes, but for some reason, right now, he is bright red.
A moment later, they turn the corner, away from the hundreds of watching eyes, when he starts thinking with more than a ball of cat fuzz. “Wait- I didn’t even get my scores yet?”
”I have them already, you did great! Although your redstone skills are kind of lacking. Don’t worry, mine are too.” He presses the button for the top floor, which is so very classified that you need to scan your eyeball to get up. Your eyeball! That’s an insane and terrifying thing to scan! “You’ll be added to this soon, but just stick with me for now.”
”How’d you get my-?”
”Top hero has it perks!” The elevator arrives to show a large room, with a bunch of doors scattered around. One of them in particular has a massive doorframe, one side blue, one side orange, and an intricate bow carving etched into the door, with a neon light sign above it saying ‘Hotguy’. Grian could only guess which room was his, and he had the feeling he guessed right.
”Do you even know my name?” Grian tries. He’s not sure why he’s objecting to this, he’s had dreams of being Hotguy’s sidekick! Granted, that dream had a giant evil goat, he was a chicken, Mumbo was there, and they called themselves the buttercups, but that doesn’t matter! A dream is a dream.
At this, Hotguy laughs, stopping in front of the door. “Of course I do Grian!” Grian. It’s ringing in his head. Hotguy said his name. Hotguy chose him to be his sidekick. Out of everyone. Everyone there. Him. Grian. This is a good thing, stop panicking. It’s great, stop panicking, why are you panicking, stop panicking, stop panicking-
“Uh, hey, are you okay?” He says, a little concerned. Oh. The only sign Grian’s anxious are his wings, which are so fluffed up that anyone who knows what an avian is would know he’s kind of freaking out.
”Yeah, all good.” He gives a little thumbs up and a small smile.
”That was cute. Cuteguy it is.” He enters the room. It has a window for one wall, looking out over the city. There’s a beanbag pointed at a large TV next to a shelf with an honestly concerning amount of Scarland merchandise. Does he spend his entire paycheck on that place or something? Because that’s a little insane. There’s a rack of bows, arrows, and a few blades. An open door leads into a walk in closet with enough costumes to rival the Scarland collection. A few plants liven up the room, but they aren’t doing much considering they aren’t alive all that much. Wait, did he call him cute?
“Stay here, I’m gonna get you a costume made. You like pink?” Hotguy stands in the door.
”Uh-yeah?” Grian stutters.
”Perfect! Be right back cuteguy!” And with that, he left, leaving Grian confused, excited, and impossibly nervous. He quickly finds the nearest seating, and upon finding there was only the previously mentioned beanbag, Grian sits down, legs shaking a little too much. This can’t be real.
The Mumbo Mustache song interrupts any trains of thoughts before they left the station, which Grian is very grateful for. He made it and posted it to Spotify as a joke, and it got 300,000 veiws somehow, so he just saved it as Mumbo’s ringtone. He picks up, expecting Mumbo to say hello.
”Heyy, Grian!” The voice kind of shocks Grian out of his earlier haze.
”Joel? Why do you have Mumbo’s phone?”
Mumbo quickly chimes in, ”I’m here too.”
Grian chuckles. Did they all get together for the results of his test? That is awfully sweet of them if he’s being honest.
”Sooo, how’d ya dooo.” Pearl asks.
Oh. Right. That’s a conversation. “Well, Hotguy chose me as his sidekick, so that was pretty coo-.”
Jimmy interrupts oh so very rudely, “Come on, just tell us!”
”I am.” Grian goes out of the room and takes a selfie in front of the door, and a picture of the skyline, then sends them to Pearl. “I got chosen to be Hotguy’s sidekick.
The sounds that came next could only be described as an absolute mess. Mumbo’s screaming like a fan girl, Jimmy’s asking if Grian’s serious, Joel is screaming “That’s my boy!” while Pearl is either completely silent or simply can’t be heard. Lizzie in the background is yelling for everyone to shut up. Lizzie gets ignored.
”That’s great.” Pearl says. Something sounds off, but it’s probably the screaming going on in the back.
Footsteps outside tell him Hotguy’s coming. “He’s here, I gotta go.” Grian hangs up immediately, not wanting to subject Hotguy to Mumbo’s fan squeal. It’s like a fan girl mixed with a rusted door hinge, and not very fun to listen to, especially not with static. That was a lesson learned the hard way.
The door opens, and he comes in, with an almost identical suit to his, except it’s white with pink and red details. Lovely. “Uh-“
”Here, try this on.” He almost shoves Grian into the closet. He obliges, having a slightly difficult time putting it on, but he didn’t dare ask for help. How can you fight crime if you lose to a zipper?
Maybe the fact that the measurements were exactly correct should concern him but oh well. The fact that it took him less than two minutes to have a costume made is kind of suspicious but Grian is just lucid enough to notice but too floaty to care. Too late to turn back.
He exits, and Hotguy give an impressed clap. “Gotta admit, looks good on you. You might be as good looking at me.” For added effect, he turns to the side and poses, flexing his arms. Grian had to admit, he looks amazing. The dude could rival any supermodel, anytime, anyday. Now that Grian’s admitted it to himself, why should he admit that to Hotguy?
“I guess you look cool.” At that, he sputters.
”You guess? I am the mighty Hotguy, defeater of villains, champion of hearts! I look more than just cool!” He tries to puff himself up. Now that Grian’s over the initial shock, he might as well have fun. Besides, telling this to Mumbo is gonna be great.
”Sure.”
Hotguy stares holes into Grian’s eyes. “No matter, I’ll win your adoration soon, for we are going out on patrol!”
At this, Grian just looks at him confused. “You just got back from a patrol though? And I’m not even a hero yet?”
”Ah, semantics, my old friend. It’ll be fine. Let’s go!” With that, Hotguy opens his window, and jumps out. Wait, WAIT-
Instincts take over and Grian divebombs out like his life depended on it, which is close to the truth. Falling down at speeds so fast, he had to close his eyes. Judging blindly, Hotguy should be right here, so he grabs, and finds his target, and swoops into a glide. He drops him on a nearby roof and suddenly, Grian was back in his human mind again, and realizes-He probably had a way down safely… oops?
Expecting Hotguy to be mad, but instead, he looks just impressed. “You managed to catch me at that speed from that short a fall?”
”Well, yeah?” Grian’s always been a great flier. It’s just in his nature.
Hotguy puts his hand on his shoulder. “I see some great potential in you. Follow me.” With that, Hotguy jumps off a second roof. Are you kidding me!?
Instead of freaking out, Grian throws his instincts into a chokehold and follows him, sharp eyes locating him safely on the ground. “First things first. Let them know you’re around. Criminals are less likely to commit crimes when a hero is near, and that’s exactly what we want. When we’re trying to bust someone, we’ll be inscon- incom- inconspapulous, but for now, we want to be seen.”
”Inconspapulous?”
”Shut up.” Hotguy clears his throat and steps into the sunlight. “Hello citizens!”
One by one, people turn to look, and like a swarm of ants, the entire market fills with fans. Everyone’s asking for an autograph, sometimes on their body, and one person even asked for his phone number, that crazy girl! It’s honestly quite entertaining to watch. The ants found their prey, but their prey is strong, and isn’t going down without a fight. To his credit, Hotguy looks right at home in all that attention.
But then, something so horrific, so unbelievably terrifying happens that it shakes him right down to his very core!
They turn to see Grian.
As quickly as they swarm Hotguy, they swarm him. The once loud and clear requests turn into a buzz of a jumbled mess of words. As fast as the free fall, Grian’s heart came crashing down. Suddenly, the entertaining show is a horrifying reality. I don’t like this anymore. Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, it’s just eyes, please don’t panic, don’t panic, just breath-
“Hey! Anyone want a signed Hotguy TCG card?” Once again, the mob switched heroes, leaving Grian dazed and confused. Hotguy handed it to someone in the crowd, ducks down, and disappears. He reappears besides Grian, and pulls him back into the shade. They wait for the crown to disperse, looking for them on the first floor of the market instead, before exiting the hiding spot.
”I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I forgot it was your first hour.” Hotguy apologizes after they determined it was safe to make noise. “If you need a minute, we can wait here.” He looks around. “Maybe not in the open though.”
Grian’s head is reeling from the voices, the grabbing hands, the eyes. Waiting a while before trying to do anything crazy might be the best idea. But they’re out in the open, exposed, what if the crowd finds them again? What if they can’t slip away this time? What if-
Grian’s thoughts are interrupted when he spots a bakery on the market bridge.
”I have an idea where we can hide.”