some scott x grian bc i saw it on here and thought it was a cute niche pairing. in this there was a longer time between each life series and certain events like double life and the empires cross over, so like the timings are inaccurate to the real world because basically i wanted them to be
(ordered youngest to oldest) Grian, Jimmy, Martyn, Pearl and Lizzie are all siblings and incredibly protective of each other. When Lizzie first introduced them to Joel, he was genuinely threatened by them all… until he realised they were all massive dorks. Joel became quick friends with Jimmy and Grian and got on well with Pearl and Martyn too, and was easily accepted into the family.
Most other partners are accepted in quickly too. To date, Tango had the worst time simply because Pearl and Grian would follow him around on Hermitcraft for weeks after finding out he was dating Jimmy. Beforehand, no one had started dating the friend of another sibling.
And no one had started to date a friend to every single sibling.
Scott had been a childhood friend to the whole group, growing up closest to Lizzie and Jimmy but staying in contact with everyone. Grian and Scott had never seemed particularly close but it made sense for Grian to invite Scott to be part of the life series, where they often ended up spending a lot of time together (when they allied against Renchanting in third life, or when Scott briefly allied with Grian and Joel on his red life in last life.) After the series would end, all the members would spend some time in a sort of after party world, where Grian and Scott seemed to spend a lot of time in deep conversation. Maybe because they were the first two winners, perhaps they’d bonded over shared trauma, maybe they just had some shared interests.
But eventually, as the pair get closer, they develop feelings for each other. They didn’t act on these feelings until after double life when Grian and other hermits got to visit empires. Grian still hadn’t planned on acting on his feelings, waiting for Scott to be the one to make a move…
but then he saw Tango and Jimmy reunite for the first time since Double Life. Jimmy was so happy, so was Tango. Grian wanted that. Pearl and Gem had each other, Martyn had Ren, Lizzie and Joel were together always and now Jimmy had Tango.
Maybe he was a bit jealous of his siblings, but in that moment he decided he’d had enough of dancing around their feelings. He stormed right to Scott’s door, knocking hard against the wood and desperately trying to ignore the anxiety that was breaking past his resolve to confess.
“Grian, uh, is everything ok?” Scott opened the door with a concerned expression. Grian was never particularly aggressive before, at least not to him.
And at that moment, Grian’s mouth moved faster than his brain and he blurted out, “You like me.”
The emperor frowned and blushed slightly, “Um… yes… Listen, Grian I’m-“
“I like you. We should go on a date.”
“Um. Ok.” Scott was a little dumbfounded but smart enough to know what he was supposed to say.
And before he could embarrass himself anymore, Grian flew off back in the direction of the rift and Hermitopia (honestly hoping for the rift to return just to let him run away from how embarrassed he was.)
But it didn’t. And needless to say the date went well, as he and Scott dated for over six months before the next life series rolled around.
“Hey, starship, I was wondering… um in the next game, should we try and be allies? Or would you rather we just played like usual and make sure we talk to each other?” Grian asked one evening as he lay playing with Scott’s hair with the other’s head resting against his legs.
“Hmm I think I’d rather see what happens and just make sure we communicate properly, rather than being a team and maybe making things more obvious. Is that alright with you, sunshine?”
Grian laughed and nodded, “Yeah, I’m gonna wait a little before we tell them… I love my family but they’re gonna be extra upset since you’ve been our friend since we were wee tots.”
“Yeah…” Scott sighed and moved so as he could lean against Grian fully, wrapping an arm over him. “I love you, I hope your family are ok with us being together.”
Limited Life was a lot of fun. Scott got closer with Martyn which was nice, seeing as the two hadn’t seen each other properly for a while. And Martyn won! Scott was so proud of his teammate!
When they arrived at the after party, Grian was pacing around still in his bad boy attire. Something about your boyfriend being in a death game when you aren’t there is even more terrifying than having a friend or crush down there.
They don't want their relationship to affect the game - for better or worse. Grian is very aware Lizzie and Joel are all cutesy about it, Martyn is... Martyn whilst Jimmy and Tango tend to keep their relationship separate.
It adds an edge to the whole thing, though. Grian doesn't know how the others participate whilst knowing their partner is in there, possibly in danger, and there can't even help. It's awful! He'd pull Scott out, but that wouldn't be fair on either of them.
At least it makes the reunion all the sweeter. Grian knew Scott cared little for winning - he's a dork like that. Always giving others fair chances. But Grian didn't need a winner. He just needs to press his forehead against Scott's, holding him in a tight hug.