#convexian

This is genuinely so intriguing to me because Scar was a detective for the Ore snatcher case at some point! He threw them off the trail, this man was five steps ahead

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Pulling himself back up, Grian embarks on chowing through the rest of his meal. Warm fingers press between the feathers of his wing, pulling short bursts of song whistles from Grian in between bites.

Gulping down his last bites, Grian looks up to see Scar has positioned his chair halfway behind Grian's, for optimal wing access, while Vex sets out containers.

"Would either of you like a coffee?" The following racket of the espresso machine robs them of any chance to answer.

“Ye-” Scar starts anyway.

“I am not dragging your deadweight ass to a soft surface.” Grian hisses.

“Boo.” Scar presses his thumbs into a wing joint that turns Grian’s muscles briefly wobbly. “Fine. But you can’t have any either.”

Vex soon joins them with his steaming cup that decidedly does not smell like coffee. "Want any more? Or should I pack it up for later?" A tip of his head at the spread.

“Might explode if we have any more.” Scar chuckles.

Grian only waves a hand dismissively at the food.

Setting down his cup, Vex begins packing everything neatly. Fruit into glass containers that apparently vacuum seal, takeout back into its boxes, all of it into the fridge. Of course the bastard is used to this level of indulgence and luxury, not overeating like Grian and Scar.

...at least Scar is well fed, for now.

Scar also apparently desires to burn exactly none of the calories he just consumed, given the way he's reaching for Vex and demanding uppies. Spoiled brat. Not that Grian is any more inclined to move right now, and cuddles do sound nice. He would have taken an espresso, to chase everything down and get back on his feet, plus to evaluate the kinds of coffee he stocked Vex's kitchen with, but if the price is a caffeinated Scar, he'll pass. He doesn't need the big lug snoozing the day away only to get zoomies right when they get to Grian's.

Right. They're going home tonight. Scar promised.

"So, what's on the docket for today? I've been keeping a list." Vex fishes out his phone around the Scar on his lap. The man has to be in management. Regular staff meetings. Something like that. Those words sound way too well worn for him not to be.

“Gross. You would. What’s on your stupid evil list.” Grian’s not going to the effort of figuring out anything if Vex already has a list. Grian’s not on the clock, no one can make him.

“Hm, lotsa cuddling. Very important.” Scar nods sagely, as if he’s ever participated in a business meeting in his life. As if it wouldn’t be wildly inappropriate for Scar to rest his hands on his subordinate’s shoulders like that.

Not that it would be any more appropriate if Scar were the subordinate. But there's just no way Vex is a boss of any kind, that's just absurd. Man hasn't got a leadership bone in his body. Unlike Mr. Fan. Now that man is a superb boss. Firm. Steadfast. Impartial. Sure, he has his flaws, but he does his best to work around them, delegate when necessary, or remove himself from the situation. Vex could take a page out of his book. Or his whole book. Vex needs it.

"Well let's see. On our List of Supreme Listiness™ we have...." Vex taps his phone. "Aha! We have. I wanted to follow up with Ari about nest design, get Neit his pool floatie, check that off. I wanted to run the gym redesign plans by you, Neit, easier if I have you here. Also, Doc sent the results of the tests he did."

"Gy-" Scar perks up.

"Medical results." Grian lays down his words firmly. Scar will put that off forever if he's allowed.

Grian won't allow it.

"Good choice, good choice." Vex taps another few things, then suddenly, Scar jolts upright. He's scrabbling for his phone in his pocket. "Alright so, I've sent them to Neit so you two have them for future reference. They read as if they had been fully done in Doc's clinics, so you can use them wherever. Doc's initial assessment of what we should eat holds firm. I'm on mostly animal protein, and Neit is on animal protein heavy but mixed diet until the changes revert. Aside from that, he found nothing he would call problematic." Flipping his phone, Vex presents Grian with a wall of test results.

Years and years of practice sorting through Scar's medical results and paperwork, on the days when Scar is simply too exhausted to move, or the words just- The days when Grian can tell from the twitch of Scar's hands, that if he's left alone with the frustrating documents, there's good odds Grian will come back to confetti. Years of pitching in when he can, when Scar will let him interpret them, so he can explain them in a way Scar understands, leave Grian confident as he scrolls through the results, eyes darting through text as he confirms Vex's words and takes in the rest of it.

Tracks. All of it looks to be in order. Grian nods to Scar, who flops himself onto Vex's chest again, fussing with his own phone. "Fine."

"Of course, that is all assuming that this transformation is similar enough to regular felinid biology, but if it isn't we wouldn't know what to do anyway." Vex takes back his phone. "Now. Did I hear that right, you wanted to go over the gym, Neit?"

"Mhm." Scar doesn't look up at Vex, still arguing with his phone. "I had. Thoughts. Stuff." Disjointed words.

"Good. I gotta say, I didn't really have the chance to think all too much about it, so if you have ideas that's a great starting point. Really great."

"I want it like this!" Scar jabs his phone's screen in the direction of Vex's face, a familiar sketch pad on the screen, even if Grian can't see the actual lines terribly clearly.

"A good concept, good concept. You are going to have to clarify a few things for me when we are in space, to ensure mutual understanding. I like it." Yeah, that. That's business talk. Grian hears it day in day out. At least Vex seems sincere, and his only point so far had been to ask for clarification. Good. Grian will not be having Vex talk Scar under the table, nor steamroll Scar’s dream designs.

"I got zoomies." Scar says, swiping his pictures. Scar's dick, plump under pale blue lace, fills the screen, captivating Scar himself for a moment- before Scar swipes rapidly back the other direction. Instead, more pages from Scar's sketchbook. One, Grian recognizes as a depiction of a balcony and a high nest.

"A bit unconventional, for a gym." Vex remarks. "What's it for?"

"It's the tallest room you got! For bein' high up, and for watchin' the stuff below." Scar bounces on Vex's lap enthusiastically.

"Alright." Vex forms the word slowly. "How do you plan to get up there?"

Scar taps a bit of the picture. A twisted line punctuated by lumps. "If I needa get up there, there's this ropey bit here."

"Works for me. Shall we head over? Look at the space?" Vex suggests.

"Only if you're offering a ride~" Scar purrs, coy in that way that's covering for something.

"Of course, of course. Hang tight." Vex gathers Scar in his arms, slowly rising up. With a glance back at Grian to make sure he's following, Vex strides from the room.

Grumbling, Grian does, in fact, pick himself up without the help of any powers-cheating villains. Of course he’s going with. Not even a question.

Quick little skipping strides to keep up with Vex. Turns and hallways becoming familiar to Grian, opening out into the gym itself. Much cleaner than last Grian saw it.

"So. Walk me through it. What would you like where." Vex adjusts Scar in his arms so he can better see the whole room.

"My silks would go here." Scar gestures in a long up and down motion to a central location, visible from almost anywhere in the room. "And the nest, up there." Scar points up near the highest punching bag. "A dedicated sparring space here." Back on the ground again, tucked away. "Seating here, here, and here, some padded benches." More points chosen strategically throughout the room.

"The silks would need to be removable. I also need that space for training. How would you attach them?" Vex nods along. "The seating is doable, as is adding a high nest? Balcony? What exactly did you have planned there?"

"Duh, they need to be washed, and to be changeable for different colors." Scar makes gestures, which might be some kind of hardware, if Grian had to guess. "The balcony bit is just to give the nest a bit more room, and some little railings to make it a little safer." Scar shoots Grian a look, a half-rolled eye.

"Sounds good, sounds, good. Mind sending me those sketches? So I have something to work off of?" Vex plops down on one of the thick mats stored off to the side. "Where would you like your pole? I assume that one isn't removable?"

"We can get a removable one, but they feel less sturdy-good." Scar flips back through his pictures, before sending several of them to Vex in an entirely too practiced set of motions. "Over here, with a bit of extra lighting."

"Hm. Yeah, that could work. That could work." Vex nods. "I'll look into what lighting options we have, and get back to you on that."

Scar snuggles contentedly into Vex's chest. Pillow hog.

Not that Grian wants that pillow.

"You and your fancy lighty things." Scar smooches the hollow of Vex's neck.

"I gotta man. I gotta." Vex gives Scar's nape a short scritch.

Scar purrs and melts, tail flip-flopping lazily. One ear swivels loosely in Grian's direction. "Big silly. Big silly softie~" Scar teases.

Vex's only reply is more purring, and more scritches. Nuzzling more into Scar.

"My big silly softie." Scar kneads into Vex's chest, bumping his head into Vex's hand. Nuzzling Vex's cheek. Dumb affectionate idiot.

Both idiot cats become fully absorbed in their purring and cuddling. That won't do. Can't have them forgetting Grian exists too.

"He-hem. I believe you promised me nesting supplies? Where are they, hm?" Crossing his arms, Grian towers above Vex.

"Mmh, they arrived earlier. With the pool floatie. Boxes in the hallway."

Vex blinks slowly up at Grian.

“I see how it is, pool floaty gets personally delivered, but nesting materials don’t.” Grian arches an eyebrow. He can’t let Vex have it too easy, after all.

"Didja really want three boxes of nesting material at the breakfast table?"

"Yes." Scar whispers, before Grian can say anything.

"Clearly there was a need for them." Grian ruffles and re-settles his wings.

"Of course. Silly of me to think otherwise." Vex nods.

"Too much silliness in that big stupid head of yours." Grian flicks Vex's temple. "All that evil addling your brain."

Unsurprisingly, Scar tries to nip at Grian's flicking fingers once they're in his reach. He fails, resting his head on Vex's shoulder to better give Grian big dewy eyes and a wibbly lip over not getting to gnaw on his fingers. Silly cat. Even his ears are drooping. Just for that, Grian smooshes his entire hand into Scar's face. Let him figure that out.

"Well, since we appear to be done here, would you like to go unbox those next Ari?" Vex asks.

What Scar settles on seems to be giving Grian's palm little kitten licks. Tickly little brat.

"Are we planning on building a new nest this early?" Grian tips his head. That's a good way to end up caught up in a nap. Or a preening, if Scar's itchy fingers are anything to go by.

"I do believe the couch nest needs rebuilding." Vex hums. Grian stiffens at the words, at the potential chiding to follow.

"Perhaps you could show me how you prefer to do it." Vex requests instead.

Scar, the unrepentant idiot, hadn't even tensed or paused his licking when Vex mentioned the couch. Trusting bastard.

...then again, the couch can't cost more than breakfast did, could it? For Grian's own sanity, he's going to assume that it didn't.

"I don't expect you'd be very good at it." Grian hedges.

"We won't know until we try." Vex ensures he has a good hold on Scar before simply floating up. landing on his feet.

“Show-off.” Grian mutters, turning to leave. He knows the way to the living room himself, no need to follow Vex around.

Scar’s purring takes the mystery out of whether Vex is following or not.

Just as Vex had said, there are in fact several boxes in the hall. A lot of boxes. Way too many boxes. That can't all be Grian's nesting material.

“What else did you order?” Grian glances at Vex. Who’d said three boxes, just minutes ago, not all this! What else is he splurging on?

"Pillows and a few clothes. Neit requested some thigh highs." Vex shrugs.

“Do you plan to drown him in them?” Grian prods various boxes.

“Yes please!” Of course Scar- Grian just ignores his enthusiasm.

"I got a selection." Vex replies. "Neit, grab that box? It's got nesting supplies." Vex holds Scar right next to one of the boxes.

Scar twists himself around to scoop up the box and hold it aloft. “Nesty box!” He cheers. “For nesty birds~” A wink, thrown in Grian’s direction.

Materials gathered, Vex brings Scar and his ‘nesty box’ into the living room, perching on the couch.

Grian trails the pair this time, shaking his head. The living room is immaculate, as if their fight had never happened. A perfectly matching new sofa in its place, much like when Grian had clawed them up previously. Absurd.

Grian seats himself on the non-nest side of the couch.

"Which one of you wants to unbox them? I can also fetch another if you both want."Vex asks.

“Me! Me!” Scar waves his hand around eagerly. “I’m my own box cutter now.” Why is Scar’s toothy grin so endearing? Unfair, that is.

"Well dig in. You've already got it." Gesturing at the box, Vex gives Scar a bit of space.

With the schlunk of a misused staple remover, Scar sinks his fangs into the cardboard of the box. A couple blinks, before Scar shakes and yanks his head, tearing loose a chunk that he uses his claws to widen. Bits of box fly in every direction.

No reprimand comes for the mess. Not even when Scar gets really into his destruction, shredding the whole carton, despite all the vacuum wrapped supplies the box had held already being scattered about.

Vex is far too soft on Scar. Besotted idiot. How had Scar done that to him? What words had Scar used to get inside the villain and unlock all this?

Grian grabs a vacuum bag, just to have something in his claws. Squeezing the wrinkly compressed mass of pillow.

Firm, with only the slightest bit of give to it. Perfect for squishing and trying to fold.

Digging his own claws into the plastic, Grian rips the packaging open, freeing the pillow. Which fluffs up still half in the package, getting all tangled.

A new shape that can’t fit the old confines. Trapped between becoming and being. Helpless, until Grian rakes his claws through the back half of the plastic to free it. Shoving the pillow back in wouldn’t have returned it to the same nice texture it had while sealed, after all.

And then Grian’s just left with the pillow on his lap, plastic tatters fluttering to the floor.

“...gonna eat good!” What was Scar saying? Grian only tuned back in partway through.

"If you say so man, if you say so." Vex shakes his head.

"They will!" Scar affirms, ripping into another package, shredding apart plastic to be rewarded with a thick woven blanket.

"Of course." Grian pipes in, as if he'd paid attention enough to have any idea what's going on. Mostly he wants to be on whichever side Vex isn't, even if that means agreeing blindly with Scar.

With a hand swish like a long basketball shot, Grian throws the pillow he's holding at Vex's head. After all, Vex is supposed to be doing nestbuilding. He's going to need it.

Vex doesn't catch it, on account of being sappy all over Scar, so the pillow baps him upside the head full-smack. A shame Vex isn't this unaware during fights. They'd have a lot less issues with him then.

Vex fumbles both hands up to catch the pillow. That too fails, the pillow tumbling to the ground where Vex just stares at it, while Grian and Scar both burst out laughing.

"Well that was. Unideal." Vex scoops up the pillow, eyeing Grian.

Clapping mockingly, Grian grins. "Bravo, bravo!" He can't stop his cackling long enough to get any further words out. He does have a wing ready in case Vex gets any ideas, though.

"You're so you." Scar beams, drawing Vex in for a quick kiss.

The pillow does get thrown, but only over to where the nest was. Will be. Not at Grian. Which. Grian can't decide if that's good or not. On one hand, Vex knows his place and is behaving. On the other... well. It's not very... whatever behavior. Not the reaction Grian expected. Vex simply tossing it aside like nothing happened, offering Scar another package to savage, stacking up the others between himself and Grian.

Unfortunately, Grian has been informed that vague dissatisfaction isn't an acceptable reason to slam someone's face into a coffee table. Repeatedly. So Vex survives another day. And keeps his stupid, useful face.

"I've already told you about the bottom layer, so you should be able to figure out that part yourself." Grian comments. Of course he's not making this easy for Vex. Not a chance.

"Structurally yes. What are your aesthetic preferences?" Vex hands Scar another package, opening one himself and fluffing up the newly freed pillow. A nice thick base-layer option. Square. Good for puzzling together a foundation.

"Make me something decadent. Regal, even." Grian changes his mind on a whim. Previously he'd been envisioning something more pastel, more soft curves. But now he's feeling... indulgent.

Flopping back, he nods. Yes. That is what he wants.

"Regal." Vex hums, looking through the materials available. "Let me got get the other boxes." Dropping a kiss on Scar's head and a package into Scar’s hands, Vex heads out.

"All that fancy fruit getting to your head~?" Scar chuckles, giving Grian a sly look.

"He's not seriously going to treat me like a king." Grian dismisses habitually, while Scar savors his package disemboweling.

Granted, Scar pauses that to stare Grian down with a hard look which certainly has nothing squirming in Grian's gut. "Just remember what happened last time you doubted him!" Scar chirps, happily digging into the next package.

"Neit? You want to do the honors?" Vex returns, setting two boxes on the couch table, well within easy Scar-range.

“Of course!” Scar scoops a box onto the couch beside him. Oddly, instead of tearing into it ferally, he uses his claws to slit open the top cleanly.

Whereupon Scar simply upends the box, dumping the whole contents on the ground, before setting the box back down and transferring his own ass into the now-empty container.

“You bring such thoughtful gifts, Vexy~” Scar purrs, fluffy ears bopping amusedly. Even though the idiot may not have use of his legs right now, going by how he's arranging them in the box using his hands.

Grian flicks glances at Vex, on tenterhooks for a reaction from the villain. Sure, Vex has seen Scar on limited mobility, and might even be able to do something to help with it, but no use of his legs at all?

Vex however, is busy slicing open the other box, removing the contents to set them in neat piles, then turning it over to put the upside down box over the giggling Scar's head.

"Box Neit." Vex chuckles. "He lives in a box."

"I live here now! In the box!" Scar giggles right back, twisty-spinning his torso to twirl the upper box around. "All safe in my impenetrable box fortress~"

And like. How is Grian supposed to get a good worry going when they're being like that? Scar folding himself down impossibly small, so the two boxes meet, hiding him entirely? But not muffling his giddy chirps?

Impossible! They're the worst! Grian can't work under these conditions!

"I don't see anyone. Just a bit of debris to sweep up." Grian sweeps his wing at the box loosely.

Scar squawks, scrabbling to hold onto his lid so it's not pushed off him, popping back up to visibility. "My box fortress!"

Draping a pale green blanket over it and handing Scar a pillow, Vex pats the top box. "Better get fortified then."

"Better than forty-cation! Ammunition!" Scar fully yeets his pillow right into Grian's face. Sneaky bastard did it right when Grian's wing was at a bad angle for protecting, too!

Grian reels back, chirping forcefully.

"More! More!" Scar cheers.

Grabby hands reach for more pillows, packaged and compressed in their wrappers. Greedy claws tear in, ready to pelt Grian.

No way can Grian let that go unanswered. Scrabbling for his own ammunition, he grabs and tears into the nearest packaging. A blanket. Knobbly, and great for nesting, but useless in a fight. Toss aside, next. A roll pillow Grian holds aloft. Finally, a worthy weapon!

Grian dives right in, battering the upper box with his mighty rod. Scar shrieks, holding the defense tight with one arm, while the other flails wildly with a compressed pillow at any part of Grian he can reach.

In one of Vex's few smart decisions recently, he stays out of it, doing something on his phone that Grian doesn't have brainspace to care about. Not when Grian's busy with whacking away at Scar!

A tug of war ensues when Scar grabs Grian's mighty weapon, ending with the superior bashing rod abandoned, tossed aside as both scramble for new weapons. Grian claims a pack that reveals itself to be a stack of three flatter pillows all stacked up, after drawing two with unuseable items. When he looks back up, Scar has tucked the edges of the blanket tossed over his upper box into the lower one, and is tearing open another pillow pack to add to the four already stuffed in around him.

A bunching of his legs sends Grian launching into Scar, tearing through one of the defensive pillows in an instant cloud of fluff. Chasing that up, Grian peppers hits into the gap, against Scar's torso and legs.

All's fair in war!

Scar squeaks in an absolutly un-catlike way, battering Grian back and not even making a token effort to block. His upper box sits askew on his head, slid back and hanging on by a single corner.

Buffeting with his wings, Grian takes the place of the precarious box, wrapping Scar up close. Stupid cat. Grian's stupid cat. "Boxes won't save you from me."

"Nooooo! I have been vanquished! Bested! Defeated!" A bap to the noggin has Scar theatricality falling into Grian's arms, wailing in false despair about his defeat. Prime real estate for scooping into a cuddle and preening through his messy hair while Scar laments.

"Slain. Claimed. Suffer your fate." Grian agrees, matter-of-fact. His claws through Scar's hair is familiar and good, even better without any styling cream or spray. Just a little bit rough, but mostly just fluffy. Especially soft where the fur is. Gotta rub the ears, melt down the complaining Scar into purring goo that drapes over Grian bonelessly.

Easy then, to twist and lean back and flop onto the couch in the mess of supplies with Scar now fully on his lap, pulled free of the box. There's some shuffles and a displeased chirr when Scar's removed from said box, but some ear scritches have that settled right back down.

Only once Scar is fully settled as his heavy blanket, does Grian look for where Vex is, what Vex is doing. Which is- Honestly already having an impressive amount of structural framework completed on the nest. A beep of surprise escapes Grian.

Vex might actually have some idea of what he's doing. What Grian can see of the base layers looks properly padded yet structured enough to stand. A skill only time and repetition can teach. Something he knows from experience. Color-wise it's not there yet, though the usual beige and grey tones these nest components are commonly sold in are absent in place of some deeper browns. Gold-greens make up the outer edge, and seem to be what Vex is using for the lip as well. Next to Vex is a pile of colors Grian would consider much more regal, golds and purples and deep reds.

Occasionally, Vex has to readjust a bit, where he keeps starting to make the nest too large. Like his hands get away with him sometimes.

Still, the nest is coming together, steadily. Grian kneads the bottom of Scar's tail, watching Vex work in the vibrant colors where they'll be seen, where they'll be directly laid on. A novice mistake deftly avoided, with Vex not using the main colors too soon, in layers that will be minimally seen.

Grian trills low encouragement, since Vex won't know what it means anyway.

He doesn't even react, which feels weird. Scar at least reacts to Grian's noises.

Before Grian has decided on if that's rude, Vex turns to him, as if to present the nest.

"Do you have any feedback or constructive criticism for me? Any advice? Are the colors and the design to your liking?" Vex gestures at his construction.

"The shape is fine." Grian tips his head, at least able to come up with something decent to open with easily. "These patterns don't go near one another." Grian taps two bits of fabric. The combination feels garish to him, not regal. "But overall it's not bad progress for a first try." And wrap it with something vaguely positive.

"Any particular reason you don't like this combo? Or just plain dislike?" Vex asks, already changing up the parts Grian had criticized. The replacements, once worked into place, look to be better.

"It was trying too hard and wrapped around to tacky. That's better." Grian hums. "And you can tuck edges for the border like this." Grian demonstrates how he prefers it done.

Vex has that look again. Like he's taking fucking notes. Following every twist of Grian's fingers with inquisitive eyes, before trying it himself. To a serviceable result, though not perfect. His technique is off.

Scooting himself and his Scar blanket close enough, Grian takes up Vex's hands and simply forms those cold fingers into the right shapes himself. "Like this, feel the way it comes together."

Again, Vex yields to his touch, his direction. Fingers forming the shapes over and over. Memorizing.

The next attempt looks much better. Curse Vex for picking this up so quickly.

There's no reason for Vex to be trying so hard about this. Really, it doesn't make any sense. But Vex hasn't made sense since Grian stepped in the door days ago. Maybe it's a function of having walked through a door instead of breaking something down. Hm.

That's something to try out later, for now Grian confiscates one of Vex's hands. His now.

Playing with Vex's fingers like Scar sometimes does with Grian’s is a good way to distract himself. Scar must do the same with Vex's as well, Grian recognizes the consistency Scar is so picky about. Firm enough to hold a set shape, loose enough to articulate all the joints. A fun toy.

Good for playing with and for gnawing. Scar might be on to something here. Grian traces lines across Vex's palm. Up his fingers. Callouses for his axe, for writing utensils. Soft skin, otherwise. Speaking to a job with little enough in the way of physical labor.

Speaking of Scar. His purring blanket seems to be coming back to his senses, what with Grian no longer actively working to keep him down. Not that Scar's getting up at any rate, right now. Best he could do is roll off Grian.

Scar is, however, perking up. No longer is his head tucked into Grian's shoulder. Instead, he's watching as Grian toys with Vex's hand, chin boring into Grian's chest in that painful way Grian knows is on purpose.

Good thing Vex’s hand can be used for many things. Like bapping problem Scars right on the nose! Get bapped, idiot.

As expected of Scar, he tries to snap at Vex's fingers the moment they’re in reach. Grian only lets him have them after his successful bapping. Vex can be Scar's chew toy.

"So I take it the nest is now to your satisfaction?" Said chew toy asks.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps a chewing break is a mandated part of nest-building procedure." If anyone asks, Grian's just mimicking back Vex's own overly businesslike register.

"Maybe. Maybe." Vex nods. "Can't go wrong with a good chewing break. Vital to the process, very vital to the process."

Scar nods vigorously. Which shakes Vex's hand around with just as much verve, setting Grian to chuckling. Vex has been Scar's chew toy for a while, hasn't he? In the streets. Someone Scar could reliably turn to, when everything buzzed too much under his skin.

Until Scar suddenly couldn't, for several months. Vex, gone. And now, Vex back, and further entangled-

Vex makes a lot of pretty promises now, growlingly sworn oaths, but. How much does it mean when Grian doesn't understand why he was gone. Does Scar? Or has Scar extended his trust blind?

"Why did you vanish?" The words escape Grian's tongue before he has a chance to rein them in. Maybe it's better that way. Expose Vex. Bring all this crashing to the ground in one spine-tingling fingertip-singeing explosion-

"I was worried. I thought I was giving him brain damage." Vex's tone is quiet. Somber. Withdrawn, almost. As if that fear is still nipping at his heels.

"What, one too many concussions for your taste?" Grian prods sharply. Lizzie does make sure those are treated to the utmost extent of her powers, but Vex doesn't know that. Vex wouldn't know if or what healing Hotguy might have access to at all.

"No. It. It was... something else. Something entirely my fault." Vex, as ever, refuses to be forthcoming with his answers.

"A lot of things are your fault, you're going to have to be more specific." Grian traces a claw along Vex's jawline.

"More things are my fault than you know. Less too." Now the stupid fae is speaking in his stupid riddles again.

"Then change that." Grian claps his open palm against Vex's cheek. Enough to make a noise, but not firmly enough to hurt.

"While we may disagree on who kissed who the first time, the second one was definitely my fault." Vex deadpans. "It's also very much me who ensured we were cuffed together. Unfortunately, I did not know Neit does not carry the key to his cuffs when I did that."

"I am going to laugh in your face if you think kissing causes brain damage." Grian pinches Vex's cheek in his claws, irritated by the topic swerve.

"You asked for things that are my fault." Is all Vex has to say for himself. Not that he looks guilty or repentant in any way. Worse than Scar, that dastardly fae is.

Grabbing Vex's nose, Grian gives the infuriating man a hard shaking. "If you're not willing to treat this like a conversation instead of stupid trick- Ugh." Why had he even wanted to try talking to Vex? Why had Grian for even a moment thought something might come of it?

Grian does need to give Scar a good tongue lashing about loosing his key again. The only kind of lashing Scar doesn't always appreciate.

If Vex isn't saying the things Grian wants to hear, he doesn't get to say anything at all. So Grian has decided. Stuffing his own hand in Vex's mouth might not be the smartest move right now, but it lets him play with that mindblowing infuriating tongue of his.

“Silvery bastards.” Grian mutters.

Far from Grian’s expectation of Vex pulling back, he seems fine with licking Grian’s fingers in a tangle of movement.

So, Vex had cuffed them together? With Scar’s cuffs. Why Vex would steal them to do that is- As inscrutable as why Vex returned at all, really. If he truly thought he was damaging Scar’s brain somehow, then what does that return mean? That Vex just decided he was fine with that?

"Eehih ee eeh ee weeh ee eese eehihieh i eheh heede." Scar's words garble under the fingers propping his mouth open that he refuses to relinquish. Greedy kitty. Usually not an issue, Grian is very good at translating Scar-gibberish. Not right now however.

"Speak clearly." If Grian's hand weren't in Vex's mouth, he'd pull Vex's hand out of Scar's. With how they're sitting, using his other hand would just be too cumbersome, and Grian refuses to relinquish his hold on Vex's tongue.

Scar slides off the fingers with a filthy wet sound. "I said, trying to cuff him is the best decision I've ever made."

"You." Grian levels a flat look at Scar. "You tried to cuff him? You?" Scar never tries to cuff Vex. Well, not for real. Scar makes a grand show of getting his cuffs out, Vex escapes, the chase goes on.

"Yep! Well, not tried, I did! I cuffed him." Scar cheerfully pronounces, as if that weren't going against everything Grian knew.

"Half." Vex slips his tongue from Grian's fingers for just a moment to say. Grian would suspect phasing, if he could detect any hint of extra chill, but he cant. So he just hooks a claw into Vex's tongue and drags it back into his grip.

Regardless, a picture is starting to form for Grian. Scar, hurt by Vex's long absence, actually trying to arrest him for once. Getting a cuff on one of Vex's wrists. Vex, snapping out of their mutual shock just that bit quicker, turning the tides on Scar and locking them together.

What Grian doesn't know is what happened after. How they got out. How them being cuffed together lead to whatever it is they have now.

And it must have led to this, or Scar wouldn't be proclaiming his pride in the action.

Cuffs. No key. Clearly, they had ended up at Vex's place, despite Vex lacking powers to force the issue. That collar had gotten put onto Scar, too. And the cuffs taken off. Non-destructively enough to be returned to Scar.

Grian grumbles low in his throat. Not enough information. Not the right information. "Why did you come back?" Grian asks, rubbing a claw under Vex's tongue and releasing the top of it.

No answer is forthcoming. Vex idly sucks on Grian's fingers, laving them with his stupidly skillful tongue. Like Grian is the chew toy now.

Despite trying to suppress it, a flash of hurt still spills over Grian's expression. Vex could at least dignify him with a proper refusal to answer, if he was gong to take Grian seriously. Whatever. Whatever! Grian doesn't need to keep trying with him!

Wrapping one wing up around Scar, Grian turns his attention to his idiot friend instead.

He steals his hand back from Vex's mouth too, not bothering to dry it before settling in to preening Scar's hair. Not like Scar will care if he gets evil bastard drool all over him.

Preening Scar is always a relaxing treat for Grian, doubly so with the cat ears and the purring. Special care put into them has Scar melting oh so wonderfully.

"I punched him and then he kissed me ya know." Scar smiles loosely up at Grian. "Fell down the stairs and then he was over me and pinning me and kissing me and I had to smoke bomb us out of there. All very dramatic."

"You should have punched him again. And again." Grian informs Scar curtly. Of course Scar is trying to smooth things over with what he knows. Grian wishes he could be more enthusiastic to fill in those blanks than he feels right now. He's mostly upset with himself for believing for a moment- Vex made him a nest.

The stupid fucking mixed signals are getting to Grian's head.

"I bit him." Scar informs Grian, grinning madly. "I bit him and then he was bleeding in the kiss and he bit me and it was all lovely and bloody. Slammed me into a wall and dragged me around and then I made hot cocoa and a shark coochie." Given Scar's usual accuracy of relaying things, that's maybe forty percent of what happened. The forty Scar deems most relevant. He's got that dreamy look on his face. Absolutely smitten. Disgusting.

"Can't let you out of my sight for five minutes." Grian wishes he'd been there. That he'd had Hotguy's back. But their patrols can't always match up, not with Grian's day job and Scar's lack thereof. He tries, as much as he can, but there's always gaps. And Vex had slid himself into one of them.

"Hey! I am a perfectly responsible adult, I'll have you know!" Scar's tail comes up to bap Grian on the nose. "I don't need a babysitter!"

"Responsible and you don't even live in the same zip code." Grian just gives Scar a flat look, not even snapping at his tail. "You got left alone for a nothing amount of time, and you started making out with this- this- this flake."

"Be nice." Scar for a moment looks like he wants to bite Grian's hand, but thinks better of it, nuzzling into the scritches instead. "He's being nice to you."

"Ha!" Grian's sharp bark of laughter rings through the room. "Your standards of nice are too low." Grian presses a kiss to the forehead of Scar's mask. "Can't you care about yourself enough to want better?"

Scar peers at Grian judgingly for a moment, before sliding off his lap and beginning to herd him to the nest. "Rude cranky birds need nest time, mhm." A short tug reaching over to Vex's hand has Vex floating out of the way. Leaving nothing between Grian and the nest.

Grian presses the heel of his palm to his own mask, over the stinging of his eyes. Whatever. At least the tint should obscure that. Of course Scar, Neit, is taking Vex's side. Dismissing Grian's concerns.

Instead of heading for the nest, the thing made by Vex's hands, Grian tries instead to stand, now that he no longer has Scar tethering him in place.

Only to find Scar latching back on to him before he can, pulling him back down. "Hey, no, stay." A perfect, clear chirp of stay. "Stay for me pretty bird, what's wrong? We can talk in that lovely nest right there that Vexy made for you, yes? Come, everything will be better in a nest." Scar is still doing his herding, somehow petting Grian, moving him nestward and moving himself forward all at the same time.

"Apparently we can't talk!" Grian snaps, with the last remnants of anger he can hold onto.

Truly, if he lets himself think about it, there's something overwhelmingly terrifying about how weak Grian can be to Scar's words. His pleas. How Grian's plan to get away simply crumbles under Scar's sweet chirps of flock and stay.

Resigned to his fate, Grian allows himself to be herded, flopping into the new nest.

"What? Why?" Scar seems honestly perplexed. He does follow Grian into the nest. There’s a bit more padding on the bottom than Grian is used to. A flatter inner area. More of a circle with walls instead of a bowl. Thick, even padding under red and gold fleece blankets that look and feel like real wool. Hrmp. Stupid Vex and his stupid high quality nest blankets.

Grian tells himself it's some sort of cat thing, probably, ignoring the clear practice that must have gone into Vex building these skills.

"Fuck if I know." Grian feels like he's the only one who even wants to talk.

Scar ponders this for a while, chewing his lip. New cat fangs threaten to tear it bloody until Grian reaches up to free it.

"You said my standards are too low. That- that I should want better. Is- is that really what you think of me?" Scar seems small, in this moment. Small and fragile and so so vulnerable. Grian can hear the offended noise Vex makes, outside the nest, but Scar holds up a hand to warn him off. Vex, much to Grian's surprise, does not swoop in to play white knight to Scar, instead sitting back outside the nest, the nest he built. For Grian. And waiting.

"If you think what he was doing was being nice to me? Yes! You don't- You don't have to take that, you can want real-nice." Grian cups Scar's cheek. "I want you to have real-nice."

"Well, he wasn't being mean to you. So. Nice. Or almost-nice, if you prefer." Yeah. That. Makes sense, in the Scar-logic way. Calling what he considers to be not mean 'nice'. "What part did you consider less nicey, pretty bird?"

Still, it chafes to just be told that nothing rude occurred, as if asserting that could make it true.

"I'm not giving him almost-nice for spitting in my face with stupid trick-words. For snubbing me." Grian hisses.

"Now now pretty bird, he's a fae, you can't hold his word-trickery nature against him." Scar pats Grian's hand. "However! That does not mean it was very kind of you to not answer our pretty bird, Vixty. Bad Vixty. Tell me, why did you not answer our pretty bird’s question?"

Grian mutters darkly that he can and he will, but at least deigns to not fully interrupt Scar.

Shifting, squirming. Vex shrinks under the doubled attention turned directly on him. “I gave him answers-”

“Bullshit!” Grian digs his claws sharply into a blanket.

"You didn't give him the answers to the questions he asked, Vexy." Scar reproaches.

"I answered one of his questions very precisely, and he didn't like that, why should I answer more?" The muscles around Vex's eyes move so much that it's impossible to ignore the way his eyes must be darting around.

"Vexy." Scar almost growls. "Why did you not tell him why you came back?"

Vex freezes in place. Long seconds of silence stretch again, with Grian certain Vex is going to- To ignore Scar, or leave, or something.

Shockingly, Vex mumbles something. Not that Grian could understand a word of it.

"Vex." Scar's commanding tone leaves no doubt as to his meaning.

"I didn't have a good enough reason!" Vex practically shouts, before flinging himself backward into the couch armrest.

Grian is impacted by the sudden spinning realization that maybe, just maybe, he isn't the only one having strong feelings about this right now.

What is he supposed to do with that?

"What do you mean, no good enough reason? What reason do you have?" Grian has to physically hold himself back from snapping all too harshly. Just a little bit. Just to show Scar he's trying here.

Vex's intolerably long pauses put Grian's teeth on edge. How is he ever supposed to understand if Vex is even going to answer or not?

"It wasn't reason. It wasn't sense. I can't explain it logically; there was no logic." Vex tucks all his limbs in tightly around himself, save for his wings.

That- that was not the reaction Grian was expecting. This whole sequence feels very out of character for the usually calm, sly Vex. Knocking Grian off balance, unsure. Out of his depth.

"Then tell me the illogical reason." He demands. Grian will have his answers.

Vex scrunches his hands together, knuckles straining over one another until blue fades to white. "I saw- I. Wanted. It wasn't helping, you have to understand, it wasn't helping." Words in fits and bursts, a motor refusing to fully turn over. A record jumping tracks.

"Of course it wasn't helping you idiot! You've been his obsession for years! You can't just take his outlet away and expect him to be okay?!" The words tumble out of Grian's mouth before he can stop them, jaw clicking shut behind them.

"Ari!" Scar stares at him with an unreadable expression. Might be betrayal. Or might be whatever last dredges of embarrassment Scar has left.

"What? No. What?" Vex blinks in rapid flutters.

"Ignore him! He's- He doesn't know what he's talking about!" Scar insists. Which really, just, isn't selling his case very well. At all.

"Why the fuck do you think I've let you carry on this little charade for so many years?" Grian plows through anyway, focused in on Vex.

"This isn't- charade? Let? No, I-" Vex stammers. "What. Explain." Then, after a short consideration, "Please."

"You. Doing the same shite, every year. The same location, the same dates, the same method." Grian ticks off his fingers. "Do you think I'm incompetent? That it really takes me a full week to track you down, every year? Do you think that little of me?"

"Ah. That. No. Thank you." Vex with his- with his being a fucking decent person and saying thank you! Why! Why is he like this! Grian absolutely does not like it! Vex is supposed to be an evil evil evil villain!

“So you understand that if this were something as- If you were brain damaging him, this would have been over years ago, you self-absorbed twat.” Grian presses the point, given that Vex doesn’t seem to understand the connection. Perhaps Vex has forgotten that Grian isn’t a hero, isn’t beholden to the same standards Hotguy is. “No shit, trying to fix a problem that isn’t there is just going to cause issues!”

"I wouldn't have gone if he hadn't shown worrying signs!" Vex defends himself.

“Oh I have to hear this.” Grian ignores Scar covering his own face and muffling a whine. “Do tell what these ‘signs’ were.” Full finger-quotes for the word signs.

"I didn't kidnap him last year." Is all Vex says. Which. That can't be true. Grian had come to collect Scar the same as every year. Sure, Vex had taken longer to kidnap him than usual, but surely that can't be what he means?

“Are you trying to sell me that I imagined picking him up? Because I’m not buying. Try again.” Grian rolls his wrist.

Scar doesn’t squirm. His hands slip away from his face, revealing his light smile. “Of course- Don’t you remember?”

"I'm not denying he was here. Just that he did not come to be here through any action of mine." Vex completely ignores Scar, focusing only on Grian. "I did not kidnap him, and I did not collar him. I spent the start of the week in bed with a high fever."

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Ari. The fever-” Scar speaks calmly, sweetly.

Grian doesn’t even let Scar finish his lies. His technically-not-lies. His spin. No, Grian just shoves a whole pillow in Scar’s face to shut him up before Scar can land on something believable.

“Okay. And?” Grian prompts, when Vex just leaves his explanation there.

"Would you not call that worrying? He came here himself, put on the collar, not the dud, the real one, the one that keeps him trapped and non-hostile, and made me believe I succeeded in my fever-drunk attempt to kidnap him." Vex explains.

"Let me get this straight. You don't show up to your yearly appointment with him, so he seeks you out in the place where you always meet. He finds you, feverish and unwell, so much so that you apparently couldn't even leave the building. And then he does anything and tells any stupid little lies he needs to in order to have everything fall back into the perfect smooth order that's been going steady for not quite a decade. Do I have that right?" Laying it out, the whole thing honestly sounds... Well, stupid. But a very specifically Scar kind of stupid. The kind that values his little fantasy of forced vacation, more than he values things like honesty or sense.

"Yes." Vex nods. "Very concerning behavior, indeed."

Laughter. Grian can't stop it bubbling up out of him, harsh. "Oh. My fuck. You are both. So fucking stupid about-" Grian wildly gestures between Vex and Scar, unable to form it into words.

"What? Why?" Vex chirrs out a questioning noise that seems to take him by surprise.

Scar just yanks the pillow off of his face and begins smacking Grian with it repeatedly. "No-good meddling annoying bird-" Scar grumbles, continuing his smacking.

"He wanted-" Grian shrieks a low note, kicking out in Scar's direction. "To be-" Twisting, thumping. More laughter. "Here, you prick!"

"Why." Vex frowns. "He wasn't supposed to want it." Vex is no longer curled around himself, instead turned to the nest, leaning forward on his arms.

Done with having to talk through pillow blows, Grian simply drags Scar bodily deeper into the nest and pins him down. A squirmy pillow, but Grian's used to that. Knows how to manage it.

"Well, it turns out that he wants lots of things." Things Grian wishes were him, but that's not the point right now. "He's very good at shattering expectations, in case you hadn't noticed. But man, I wonder why he'd want to be somewhere he gets to just chill out and bake and be spoiled within an inch of his life? How unreasonable." An eye roll to really drive home Grian's point.

Vex blinks at him. "Can. Can he not chill and bake at home? Do you not spoil him? The time with me should not be anything special."

“You’re an obsessed freak, you know exactly the kind of overtime he tries to take if given even half a chance.” Grian fully ignores Scar’s muffled protesting. “And! No matter how much I spoil him, there’s one thing I simply cannot get for him there.”

"What's that?" Vex tilts his head to the side. He looks so... so utterly baffled by what Grian is saying, unbelievable.

Grian points one unwavering claw at Vex. “You, you dunce.”

"Me? Wh..." Vex trails off, looking deep in thought. "Huh." Things visibly click into place for Vex, in that stupid huge smartypants brain of his. About time. Dropping back against the backrest of the couch, Vex ponders these new revelations at length.

Time that Grian can use to knead into Scar's back under him, preening the fur at the base of Scar's tail. Play stupid games jumping in between Vex and him, win stupid prizes.

Not that Scar seems all that bothered by these prizes, pushing his back and behind up into Grian's hands as much as he can.

The butt massage has Scar purring. Blessedly, this is one of the areas Grian can actually massage for a while without getting bored or irritated, the supple flesh yielding nicely under his fingers. But not as nice as it used to, before Vex's disappearance. Scar had been on the way to becoming a ghost of himself, had lost so much. Weight and nerves and sanity, by the looks of it. Grian sincerely hopes Scar can gain the weight back, gain his self back, now that Vex has returned.

Vex is definitely doing his best on the trying to feed Scar front. With frustrating amounts of success.

Despite Vex’s stupidity in thinking he's harming Scar, Grian can't find any material way Vex is actually harming Scar with his presence. And believe, Grian has been going over every detail with a fine toothed comb for any reason he could justifiably oust Vex from Scar's life.

Getting his wish in the worst way possible with Vex's vanish and Scar's decline was- Grian's not taking a repeat of that. Unacceptable. Vex has to understand that.

If only Vex were less frustratingly able to just- Effortlessly improve Scar's life. Food, relaxation. Things Grian has tried for years to carve out for them, only to watch several people end up nudged out of Scar's life for pushing too hard about- But when it's Vex, Scar listens.

Grian has to suppose it's something about romance. That has to be the difference, doesn't it?

Rustling draws Grian's attention upwards, out of the nest. Vex puttering about, gathering wrappers and the shredded pillow. Setting the unopened packages in a pile. Cleaning up the mess they made with their pillow fight without a comment.

Domestic. The sight is inescapably domestic, despite the mask and everything. Despite Vex's deadly-

Grian hates it. He hates that he doesn't know what to do with it. He hates how comfortable it's becoming. Watching Vex, like this.

Simpler, to put that emotion into renewed kneading of Scar's back, pulling guttural groans out of Scar.

"Better in a nest, not a box." Grian murmurs, mostly to himself. Mostly to not be sitting in all-too-comfortable silence.

"Nest just fancy pillow box." Scar hums, rolling over to better stick his butt out. Which of course Grian has to smack. That's the law, practically.

"Nest is nest! Better! Better in every way!" Grian punctuates his words with multiple smacks to Scar's ass. Not stopping until Scar's expression goes loose and sweet, Scar's chuckles drifting like fluffy seeds on the wind.

"Does Neit have nest critiques now?" Vex asks, a pile of blankets in his arms. The living room actually looks orderly again, with all the trash in one of the boxes, and the unwrapped softs stacked.

“No, he most certainly does not. Right?” Grian runs his hands along the length of Scar’s tail. Soft fur under steady fingers.

Scar simply slow blinks at Vex, then meows.

Vex sputters, bursting out laughing. Full bellied laughs, the kind that knock him clean off his feet. Cheater must be using stabilizing magic. Instead of stumbling to the ground, Vex just dangles mid-air, rocking back and forth. Tail swishing, wings beating, ears folded back, holding his own belly.

After several long moments, Scar’s chatter-chirpy amusement joins Vex’s laughter.

Meanwhile, Grian is caught, fascinated by the visage of Vex in unrestrained mirth. Must be just the shock of seeing it for the first time that’s taking Grian’s breath away. That’s all.