Chapter Text
“I still can’t believe you kept this secret from me,” Scar said.
Grian barely glanced over his shoulder to give Scar a raised eyebrow, “Yeah?”
Adjusting so not only the heating pad didn’t slip off his lower back when he sat up but also so he didn’t upset Grian’s tan cat who he was currently petting in his lap, Scar leaned back in Grian’s creaky lounge chair and held his arm not currently doing any petting out at the room because it was obvious what he was getting at. “The fact that you’re also a cat papa like I am! If you kept me from these furbabies much longer, there might not have been a chance to salvage this relationship.”
Grian rolled his eyes with a grin before turning back around when his other cat began to tug on the cat wand he was using to play with. Grian said that one had become their new favorite toy after they knocked the little bell off the last one. He mentioned he had been careful to only use it during special occasions, though, because his other toys didn’t have a bell, and his cats were in a phase where if a toy didn’t make silly noises, it was as interesting as a rock to them.
What exactly was the special occasion?
Scar was over at Grian’s apartment for the first time. It was almost a studio apartment with how small it was, saved from that descriptor purely due to the fact that the bedroom managed to squeak out its own room from the kitchen slash main living area. Not that it saved the bathroom from nearly being smaller than the closet near the front door, however; Grian reassured Scar that it was better than the first squallor Grian found himself in when he originally… moved, but that confession just hurt Scar’s heart even more. The expression he made must not have been as subtle as he had hoped, because it felt like Grian changed topics a bit too quickly, like he did so solely for the sake of Scar’s feelings and not anything to do with how awful it must have been to live like that.
Scar would intimately know after some of the rundown trash piles he managed to stay in after he got kicked out.
Their original plans for the day involved giving Scar a brief tour despite him still being kind of sore, but they figured with how tiny the place was, it would take less than ten minutes to get through everything. But then Scar stepped through the door and was met with growls and hisses from the fourth and fifth most adorable beings on the planet, and his immediate response was to coo at them and try to pet them despite their obvious attempts at mauling him where he stood. Grian did his best to calm them down, acknowledging that they didn’t have the best track record with strangers in their home using that cutesy-wootsy tone of voice you tended to use with cats—which, yikes, Scar didn’t even want to imagine what that meant considering Grian’s history.
Scar didn’t get far in life being a cat owner without being able to speak the language of kitties, though, because it was ironically ten minutes later when they were all chilling in the living area, the idea of the tour largely forgotten about. Scar could see in the way Grian’s shoulders slowly lost some tension how he was a little relieved about not having to open himself up completely to Scar just yet, so Scar would take the butterfly bandages on his fingers and palms as a win. Besides, even if they did have the tour, they would eventually need to come up with another activity to pass the time somehow, considering they weren’t going to be back at work for at least another week.
Upper Management wasn’t as pissed at them as they could have been. It felt like if it weren’t for the paperwork they needed to file from the cover-ups they performed to hide their workers’ oopsies, such as a little mishap involving some arson, then they actually wouldn’t mind doing more cover-up jobs. Also, Grian and Scar were still various levels of injured, so benching them with the excuse that they totally were in very serious trouble and they needed to be sent to a time-out probably did a better job to convince them to take their health seriously than any kind of sincere “please take a moment to rest” declaration could have.
Considering Scar watched Impulse form grey hairs in real-time when Grian asked Upper Management when the earliest day they could come back was, that made sense.
“This does explain why you were able to butter up my cats so quickly when you met them,” Scar decided to break the silence, applying his earlier train of thought of himself to Grian. “I’m imagining you’ve had several spectacular conversations with these guys over the years. You probably speak cat nearly as well as I do at this point!”
Grian laughed, “I mean, not exactly as if I had anyone else to talk to, so I had plenty of time to learn.”
And Scar could pick up on the light tone behind Grian’s words and how it was meant to be a funny, haha joke. It would be very easy to treat it like a hashtag relatable moment if he wanted; look at me, I’m so anti-social, the only living things I can interact with without making a fool of myself are cats! It was a joke that Scar would probably make himself if it were any other day.
But all it did right then was remind Scar of how Grian lost everything. For years, Grian was on the run with nothing but the clothes on his back and fear in his heart. Despite technically being settled down in a stable environment for a decent chunk of time at this point, Scar can still feel in his bones every aching second he was abandoned and left to fend for himself; Grian was only just now coming down off that terror.
Scar can’t help but wonder how much Grian was originally a Cat Person. If getting his kitties was all because he genuinely loved the animal, or if part of it was because he was going stir-crazy alone and needed some kind of company. The idea was so depressing that Scar didn’t even try to subdue whatever look his face conjured up in that moment.
“Hey, I know I made a big deal about showing off my place and stuff,” Grian suddenly suggested, catching Scar’s full attention. The expression on Grian’s face could only be described as displeased, “but we can take our visit someplace else if you don’t like it here.”
Scar blinked at that, taking a second to register what Grian was offering. “What? No, no, I’m having a great time! I mean, if you want to get out of the house and go somewhere more lively, then that’s a different discussion, but all I care about is spending time with you, so I’m good with whatever.”
Grian pursed his lips, clearly not happy with that answer. “You don’t have to lie to spare my feelings, you know. I can tell it bothers you when I-”
“That’s not why I’m getting upset!” It just occurred to Scar the reason as to why Grian was getting so dodgy when Scar showcased any kind of negative emotion, and he felt a little stupid for not picking up on it sooner. “Grian, it sucks when you talk about your past because it sucks to hear how much your life sucked. You deserved so much more than what most of the people in your life gave you, but that doesn’t mean talking about this stuff is off limits. I don’t want your life to suck anymore, so I’ll gladly listen to a million upsetting stories if it helps you.”
Grian stayed quiet at Scar’s declaration, keeping his back to Scar as he stared at his cat playing with the wand. Scar was worried he had taken it a step too far when Grian finally turned around with a gentle smile on his face, as if Scar’s words were a key to unlocking a door that allowed him another level of peace of mind that he didn’t let himself have before. “You can talk to me, too, you know. You deserved a lot more than what life gave you as well, and even if I can’t do anything to make you physically feel better, I still want to be there for you.”
Scar’s hand froze in its petting motions on the back of the tan cat as he absorbed Grian’s assertion. “O-Of course. I appreciate you saying that.”
“Besides,” Grian said, his smirk turning more mischievous, “I think you’re lowballing the amount of upsetting stories we can tell each other there.”
Before Scar could let out a hearty laugh at that, the wand Grian was using was yoinked from his hand, causing him to abruptly look back at his white cat, who was already scampering to hide behind the couch. Grian let out an offended noise before he made his way to his hands and knees to chase after the feline thief. Honestly, the sight of Grian desperately reaching behind the couch was enough to make Scar laugh harder, as well as make him forget to chastise Grian about putting pressure on his injuries.
Scar giggled as he watched Grian do his best to try and reclaim access to the wand, but alas, the cats must take after the conniving-ness of their dad. Grian eventually leaned back to sit on his ankles with a sigh, ultimately unvictorious in his quest, and his glasses skewed diagonally on his face, his ruffled hair not appearing much better. Every inch of his shoulders and above them was covered in various dust bunnies and dark smudges.
He was an absolute mess, but he was Scar’s mess. Scar wouldn’t have it any other way. “Oh, G, I love you so much.”
Grian slightly jumped at that, like he wasn’t prepared for Scar so easily to proclaim how much he cared for someone like Grian. “Y-Yeah, love you too, Scar.”
Scar’s giggles cut off at that. Ah, now he sees why Grian was so shocked at Scar’s words. Before the blush could overtake his face, though, both his phone and Grian’s phone dinged with notifications loud enough to get the cat on Scar’s lap to jump off him and run to the bedroom. Scar briefly mourned the loss of his new furry companion before grabbing his phone from the side table, opening his notification slightly after Grian opened his.
The way they glanced at each other showed that they instantly knew they were looking at the same message.
#GhostHunters4Life
i 2 the m 2 the p: Hey gang, the latest expansion pack for Cards Against Humanity finally arrived in the mail. Would you like me to bring it to our next unloading day?
god’s favorite princess: do we hunt ghosts for a living??? OBVIOUSLY!!!
Grian and Scar shared a chuckle at Gem’s dramatic display before responding themselves.
part-nerd-part-elf: That sounds like a great idea! We haven’t played that game in forever
bread(TM): what they said, I still need my weekly dose of gaslighting Scar over what cards he drew
“I KNEW IT!” Scar pointed at Grian, a playful smile on his face at being told he had been right. His smile only got wider when Grian began cackling like a witch on steroids. Scar opened his mouth to make some empty threats, but interrupting their roleplay of betrayer and betrayee was the white cat suddenly making a reappearance by sprinting out from its safe space and booking it to the bedroom like the other cat first did.
It was probably waiting for Grian to let his guard down so it could sneak off to share the spoils of its labor with its sibling. Unfortunately for the furbabies, their dad was too smart for their own good, and as soon as Grian caught a blur of white in the corner of his peripheral vision, he set his phone down on the floor and stood up. “Hey! Get back here, you little-”
Scar watched as Grian dipped into his bedroom, no doubt doing his best to corner his cats and probably failing as most cat owners do. Meanwhile, Scar fondly shook his head and sank into his heating pad a bit more, getting extra comfy. He looked back at his phone to notice there were new texts containing questions for him and Grian.
i 2 the m 2 the p: How are you two holding up by the way? Scar mentioned that you invited him to your apartment recently and I’m wondering how it went.
god’s favorite princess: alrEAdy? good lORd you two
Scar huffed a laugh, getting his thumbs on the phone screen to type back an answer.
part-nerd-part-elf: It’s going great!
part-nerd-part-elf: Grian introduced me to his kitties who have been absolute sweethearts
part-nerd-part-elf: At least to me l o l
part-nerd-part-elf:They’re treating him like moody teenagers treat their parents
part-nerd-part-elf: He’ll probably tell you all about it when he gets back to his phone and sees these messages
part-nerd-part-elf: I’ll try and send pics in the meantime!
i 2 the m 2 the p: Awesome! And what about you guys specifically?
i 2 the m 2 the p: Anything new with your injuries? Any flare-ups?
Scar found his hands shaking somewhat at the start as he typed out and deleted two different messages, but once he figured out what he wanted to say, his hands steadied, as if he were never more sure of any fact he had ever had in his life.
part-nerd-part-elf: Some stuff has been kind of rocky, but generally speaking?
part-nerd-part-elf: We’re gonna be just fine