A mole's behind

9. Guardians and other guards

[The last chapter was Iskall and Grian having dinner, then arguing for some reason Iskall doesn't understand, which ends in Grian leaving. Alone in his base he regrets his behaviour and decides to overcome his insecurities by *cough* 'experimenting' on his own with partial success. He shows a lot of nervousness]

TW: Dark humor, unreal scenes, insecurity;
hot!gay kisses, warnings will be provided as usual

POV Iskall

Hmm.. How could he link up this redstone signal to the other side of the contraption? "Baby seal, what do you think?" His tiny, white and fluffy friend raised their head. "Squeak, squeak, squeak." "You're absolutely right, this should make a giant, perfectly round loop over the whole thing. Baby seal, you never disappoint me." Baby seal flapped their tail happily. Iskall turned around to grab some observers. His ice base lab was at the other side of this mountain of cookies, so he went into the blue swirls of a nether portal only to stroll over a field of purple tulips and into another portal. He plopped from the ceiling and bounced on the floor of his lab that was made of beautiful iskallium blocks. He steered his continuing bounces towards a shulker box that was hung from the wall at two thirds of the rooms height. He opened it to grab the observers, when a shrill ringing filled the room. It seemed to be fixed in thin air, just two blocks north of his head. He stared at the empty, ringing space, as the room dissolved in red darkness...

His arms felt as if they were filled with lead, but he still managed to throw one of them towards his annoying phone. His room was still mostly dark, the sun wouldn't rise for quite some time. Shuffling steps dragged his body into the bathroom, where he was greeted by dark shadows under his eyes. He splashed cold water in his face, then gave up and took an ice-cold shower. He stuffed some stale cookies in his inventory and swam through the enchanted water to the ice biome's surface.

Soon he was gliding over huge stretches of ocean, looking for the thing that would probably be his doom..

*Timeskip of doom*

Iskall landed smoothly, his eye caught by Grian's chestmonsters. He was glad they didn't share storage, what an absolute mess!

"Grian?" He called. "Grian, where are you?" No one answered. He shrugged, then carefully entered the private rooms. "Grian, I'm coming in. Can you hear me?"

He heard some hurried steps in the bedroom.
"I'm here. But don't come in!" The door said. A short pause. "What are you here for?"

Iskall chuckled. "What are you hiding, a body? Anyway, you said we were gonna catch an elder guardian today, so I've come to pick you up. Don't tell me you already forgot, it was your crazy plan!"

"Uhm... no I didn't, I just didn't think... I mean I didn't expect you to be here right now. Gosh! Normally you aren't even awake at this time of day!"

He sounded embarrassed, but in a cute way. Come to think of it, how was Grian not already up? Iskall made a mental note to ask him later.
"I've been a busy bee. How long until you're ready?"

There was some silence as Grian seemed to do some guesswork.
"About ten minutes, if I hurry."

"Alright."

"Uhm... Iskall...would you mind turning around? I kind of need to get to the shower,"
Grian chuckled nervously.

Goodness me, he thought. He is one shy guy.
"All clear. You can come through." The sound of light steps on wooden planks passed behind him.

"Doesn't sound like your dragging a body. Did you leave it in your bedroom?"

A door opened and even more hushed steps. He was waiting for the door to close.
"Well I wouldn't want you to hear me dragging the body, that would be a dead giveaway," Grian played along, then added, "You can wait on the couch, if you want to."