The A Team

Chapter Seven

So... I know this is two chapters within one day, but I really wanted to keep writing.
Also, this chapter is heavy on the Grian/Mumbo ship/cringe.
I hope you enjoy!

Day 39

"Anything?"
Mumbo sat on a chest in defeat.
"No"
Doc sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair.
"Well I don't know what we're going to do" he said. "I really thought two shulkers of gravel would be enough"
"I mean we could go tomorrow and get some more" Iskall suggested. He had been helping the engineers with collecting materials, and was quickly picking up the technical aspects of red stone machinery.
"No" Doc said covering his eyes with his metal hand. "We've gone every day this week. I need a day off from collection"
Iskall turned to look at Ren and Xisuma who were training with False in the distance.
"We could send the hybrids" he suggested. "They're the fastest"
Mumbo's head whipped up.
"Grian!" He exclaimed. All eyes turned to him, and he blushed.
"I mean, we could ask Grian" Mumbo said lowering his voice. "He's been collecting materials like crazy in his spare time"
"Why?" Doc asked crinkling his eyebrows.
Mumbo shrugged.
"I don't know, but I'm sure he would be willing to give us some"
"That would be best" Doc said gratefully. "Go ask him"
Mumbo nodded and stood up. He brushed off his clothes and straightened his tie as he walked towards the entrance to the bunker.
He'll probably be in his room he thought heading up the stairs. Grian's room was at the very top of the base, directly next to Mumbo's.
When he reached the top of the seven flights of stairs he took a second to catch his breath.
We really need that elevator Mumbo thought, straightening up and pushing his hair back.
As he reached out a hand to knock, he noticed Grian's door. The avian had painted the wood white, and there were gold and red patterns delicately stenciled in. Mumbo ran his fingers lightly along the red band intertwining a pair of golden wings, a clear replication of Grian's most noticeable feature.
Beautiful
Remembering what he was supposed to be doing, he knocked on the door.
"Grian?"
There was no answer. He tried again, a little louder this time.
"Grian! Are you there?"
When no one came to the door, Mumbo took a step back.
It was rude to just walk into someone's personal space.
But then again, he and Grian were friends, and he, Iskall, and Doc really needed more materials.
He cautiously looked around, chewing on his thumb nail. No one was there.
Mumbo took a breath, turned the gold doorknob, and pushed.
The door stuck after an inch, and Mumbo pushed his full weight on the wood. It flew open faster than Mumbo would have liked and he stumbled into the room, falling directly on an open chest filled with white concrete powder.
"Ugch!" He spat, trying to get the grains of the sand and gravel mixture out of his mouth. White powder covered his face and sprinkled through his raven hair making it look grey. He groaned at his now ruined red silk tie, which was utterly unrecognizable.
I'm such a spoon he thought.
Shaking off as much of the powder as he could, he took his first real look around the room. The ceilings were high with large windows placed randomly along the walls. Grian had clearly been working, as Mumbo could see several half finished platforms jutting out from under the windows, undoubtedly so the avian could look outside while he relaxed. The red and gold patterns on the door were also painted on the walls, making the otherwise plain white boards glitter. What was more distracting however was the absolute and total mess of shulkers and chests covering every square inch of floor space. Half open, contents spilling out of them, no organization whatsoever. If Mumbo didn't know better he would have thought a tornado had run through the room.
I suppose you don't need to be able to walk on the floor when you can fly.
His mouth open slightly, Mumbo walked carefully around the room, being extra cautious as to not knock anything over.
Where would gravel be?
He opened a grey shulker box. A bucket of sand, three books, half a loaf of bread and some birch wood sat at the bottom.
Mumbo hung his head. So there truly was no organization to this mess. He stood and rubbed his temples.
"Maybe it would be better to wait for Grian" he mumbled out loud.
"Look no further" said a voice behind him.
Mumbo turned on his heel, catching his cuff on a chest latch. He heard the fabric rip as he fell into the mess, unable to catch the boxes around him which crashed to the ground by his sides.
Grian burst out laughing. He leaned against the doorway gasping and wheezing.
"That... that was utterly brilliant!" He choked out. "You should have seen it!"
Mumbo was thankful for the white concrete powder covering him, because he could tell from his burning skin that his face was redder than Grian's sweater.
"I-I didn't-" he stuttered, scrambling to stand up, tripping, and falling again.
Grian chuckled.
"Do you need some help?"
Mumbo swallowed his pride.
"Yes"
"Sorry didn't catch that"
"Yes! Yes ok? Yes! I need help. Your room has bested me, now help me get out of it!"
Grian fluttered his wings and glided over to Mumbo. He landed softly on top of a chest and stretched out his hand.
Mumbo took it gratefully, letting the smirking avian help him to his feet.
"Now Mumbo."
Even on top of the chest, Grian was barely an inch taller than him.
"Why are you in my room?"
Mumbo pressed his lips together.
"Look I-I wasn't snooping"
Grian raised an eyebrow and glanced at the mess Mumbo had made.
"Ok I was snooping" he admitted, thanking the concrete powder again for its coverage. "But I just needed some gravel! Doc Iskall and I are trying to get some machines going and we need at least two chests full of gravel. We went out everyday this week to collect materials but it's still not enough, so I thought maybe you had some! I came to your room and I knocked, but you weren't here and I couldn't just return empty handed so I came in, and I know I shouldn't have, but I also wasn't expecting all of this!" He gestured to the junkyard of boxes. "And you had a concrete powder box open there and your door opens so quickly so I-"
"Mumbo! Shut up" Grian exclaimed, shaking the babbling man by the shoulders.
Mumbo tensed under the delicate touch on his arms, which had made his heart leap into his throat.
"Look I'm not mad or anything" Grian said with a warm smile.
"You're... really?"
"Of course not" Grian said, releasing Mumbo from his grip and punching him playfully. "We're friends! I can give you guys some materials. Besides-"
He brushed some concrete powder off of Mumbo's head.
"I feel like you got your punishment"
Mumbo smiled bashfully and pushed his hair behind his ear.
"Well uh... thanks. And I promise this won't happen again"
"We'll see" Grian said wiggling his eyebrows.
Mumbo felt his face heat up for the second time as Grian began to flitter around the room looking at the piles of shulker boxes and chests. Finally he stopped and picked up a purple shulker. He peeked inside.
"It was gravel you wanted right?"
"Yeah"
Grian looked around.
"I think I have three boxes of it. Is that enough?"
"More than enough!" Mumbo exclaimed, clumsily making his way over to the avian. He reached for the box but Grian twisted it away from him.
"Perhaps you should wait till you're out of the room before you take this"
Mumbo nodded and sighed.
"Yeah. That's... that's probably a good idea"
He waited in the doorway while Grian brought the three shulkers to him individually.
"Do you want some help?" Grian asked, breathing rather heavily. "These are heavy"
"Yeah that would be great" Mumbo said picking up two of the three boxes and beginning to walk down the stairs.
"What are you doing?"
"What do you... I'm walking down the stairs?" Mumbo said, suddenly questioning his knowledge of stairs.
"Well geez that's boring" Grian replied, hoisting himself onto the banister, holding onto Mumbo's arm for stability with the shulker cradled under his wing.
"You gotta go down like this!"
With that, he let go and flew down the spiral staircase, picking up speed every second.
"Grian!"
Mumbo dropped his boxes and scrambled to the banister, looking down as Grian's laughter echoed off the walls.
"There is no way I'm doing that!" Mumbo yelled after him.
He heard a small thud as Grian landed at the bottom.
"Booooo lame! Come on!" Came the high pitched response.
"I just-" Mumbo picked up the boxes. "I'm not really the most... coordinated"
"Yeah I noticed" Grian yelled making Mumbo's face flush. "But you can do it! Have a little fun for a change!"
"I have fun!"
"Oh yeah? Tell me the last time you had fun"
Mumbo felt the box begin to slip from his hands as his palms started to sweat.
I have fun when I'm with you.
"Mumbo?"
"I... y-you know what, you're-you're right! I don't have... I don't have much fun" he stuttered, struggling to cover the awkward pause.
He was so tall he barely had to stand on his toes to sit on the banister. Carefully balancing a shulker box in each arm, he took a deep breath and unhooked his foot from the ledge.
He began to slide much quicker than he would have liked. Luckily the heavy boxes clasped tightly against his body kept him from falling backwards.
"I'm doing it!" He yelled and heard Grian whoop in approval.
Mumbo let out a loud unconscious laugh which carried him down the next three stories, before his anxiety brought a thought to the front of his mind.
"Grian... how do I stop"
"What?"
"How do I stop!" Mumbo yelled, becoming panicked.
"Just jump off at the end and slow yourself down"
"How do I do that?!"
There was silence for a minute as Mumbo neared the end of the staircase.
"I... use my wings"
"WHAT?! Grian I don't have-"
Too late. It was like it happened in slow motion. Mumbo saw the end of the railing approaching, a shocked Grian standing at the end of it holding out his hands in a stop signal. There was nothing he could do. He just squeezed his eyes shut and accepted his fate.
"Aah Mumbo!"
Mumbo crashed directly into Grian, sending the boxes of gravel flying. They burst open on impact and covered the two men with small grey pebbles.
Upon hearing the commotion, Iskall and Doc ran in. They stood with open mouths at the scene before them.
"What happened?!" Doc exclaimed as Iskall let out a high pitched cackle.
"I-I just..."
Mumbo, struggling to breath after the air had been knocked out of him, shook his head, letting gravel shower onto his jacket. He felt movement below him and looked down in surprise.
"Mumbo you're squishing me!" Grian gasped.
"Oh god!"
Mumbo rolled off of the small avian, his face positively on fire.
"Are you ok?"
Grian gulped down air and began to giggle. His giggle turned into a loud belly laugh, tears rolling down his face in delight
"Yeah" he gasped. "I'm so sorry Mumbo!"
"Ah so this was your doing" Ren said, joining the group.
"No it was mine" Mumbo said quickly. Grabbing Grian's arm to help him up. "I slid down the banister too fast and couldn't stop"
That set Grian and Iskall into another round of laughter.
"Slid down the banister?" Doc said giving Mumbo a dumbfounded look. "Since when do you know how to have fun?"
"Since... since he met me" Grian wheezed hanging onto Mumbo's shirt for dear life as his legs gave out beneath him.
Mumbo grabbed Grian's hands to help him and smiled. If this was what having fun meant...
I could get used to this.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Grian and Mumbo are my favorite characters to write for so this was super fun.
As always, leave a like if you enjoyed it, and leave a comment if you have anything to say. I love feedback!