Rendog was blown up by Docm77.
Docm77 blew up.
Hm. Joe thought to himself, pulling at the weeds in the HHH garden. Cleo lingered nearby, inspecting their own chat to read the latest death messages for themself. Ren must have been helping Doc with his worldeater. Hopefully the damage wouldn’t be too difficult to repair. Joe was no redstone expert, but he knew how finicky those machines could be-
Docm77 blew up.
Oh. Now that was bizarre. And probably not good - did that mean that there was possibly a rampaging worldeater loose somewhere? Or stray infinite TNT shooting itself across Doc’s perimeter? Perhaps it was best to avoid that area for a little while.
Doc respawned a little ways nearby, his bed likely destroyed in whatever chaos of explosions was rampaging his megabase. He glanced around the spawn plateau, puffed up beyond what Joe had ever seen from him before. Joe couldn’t blame him - a potentially loose worldeater destroying your bed was more than enough to get anyone worried. Why, if Joe was a creeper he’d imagine he’d be pretty puffed-up too just thinking about the whole ordeal.
Ren glided in from GigaPies™, throwing off his elytra as soon as he hit the ground. He immediately hurried towards Doc, hands up placatingly.
“Hey, man,'' he began, shakily. “You feelin’ okay now-?”
Doc hissed.
Doc hissed.
It was low and gravely and gruff, like it emanated from some back corner of his throat that hadn’t been used in a long time. He puffed up even more, shaking and stalking slowly towards Ren.
Oh. Doc had been the one blowing up.
That made slightly more and even less sense.
Rendog was blown up by Docm77.
Docm77 blew up.
Well that certainly wasn’t good.
Doc respawned again, looking even more distressed than before. Immediately he was puffed up, stalking in a circle and making a low growl. Joe was suddenly thankful to be a little ways away, out of Doc’s sight and apparent blast radius.
But now Ren’s elytra was lying on the ground. And spawn was laggy enough without stray items just floating around! And here Doc was, blowing up and creating new entities everywhere. It simply wouldn’t do.
But the elytra was at the other end of spawn.
And Doc stood between Joe and it.
Joe cast a glance to Cleo, who met his stare with wide, concerned eyes.
Should I go pick up the elytra? Joe tried to communicate through facial features. Somehow he doubted it was effective.
What in the world is going on with Doc? Cleo’s expression read. Or maybe it was What is wrong with your face? Joe, however, chose to take it as Joe, you are an idiot and a madman, which is probably equally something Cleo would say.
Taking her definitely not purposefully misinterpreted nonverbal communication as approval, Joe dusted the dirt from his jeans and hurried across the plateau. Behind him, Cleo made a strangled noise a bit like she wanted to strangle him, and all her snakes hissed at once in a sound quite unlike Doc’s. Huh! Isn’t nature fascinating?
Sure enough, despite Joe’s attempt to give the creeper a wide berth, his presence caught Doc’s attention. Joe scurried faster, scooping up the elytra just in time to see Ren paddling over to spawn once more. Excellent timing! Though that did not stop the fact that Doc was now hissing again, swaying in place like a very very tall, explosive, centaur-esque cobra about to strike.
Helpfully, yet another party decided to crash in. Zedaph landed, skidding across the stone as he skillfully unequipped his elytra, and then even more skillfully and definitely intentionally slipped into a roll across the ground, making an assortment of only slightly distressed bleats.
“Doc!” Zedaph announced, finally righting himself across from the creeper. He stood in what appeared to be a fighting stance, lowering his head into a bow as soon as he caught Doc’s attention. Doc watched this silently, turning to face Zedaph. Slowly, he approached.
Rather than exploding, Doc reared.
Poor Zedaph barely stood a chance. Doc, well over at least twice his size, butted head-first into Zedaph’s own comparatively tiny nubs of horns, sending him rolling across the stone once again. Zedaph seemed only momentarily shaken by this, standing once again to charge back. His momentum didn’t even budge Doc, but had allowed him to at least lock horns this time. Doc considered this, and slowly stood upright, lifting Zedaph with ease from the ground. Somehow, Zedaph maneuvered himself into a half-headstand on top of Doc’s own head, awkwardly struggling to hold onto Doc’s horns like some strange cyborg-creeper-caprine-man unicorn.
Back at the HHH garden, behind Joe, Cleo struggled to suppress a fit of giggles at the sight. Joe sympathized, a few chuckles of his own escaping despite his best efforts.
From his bizarre perspective, Zedaph cheered amicably, unhooking his horns from Doc’s and tumbling back to the ground. Doc, seeming much calmer, settled into a seated loaf beside him and rumbled lowly. Joe decided to take that as a sign that it was safe to approach now.
“Howdy,” He greeted the collected Hermits. “What in the world is goin’ on?”
Ren rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m not sure. I went to go talk to Doc at his perimeter and the guy just totally combusted.”
“I have a theory.” Zedaph said, reclining against Doc’s second torso. “You see, when I woke up this morning I noticed I was feeling more… sheepish, if you will. In the sheep way, mind you. It was the most bizarre thing. I just had this urge to climb into my animal pen to join my flock, maybe start shoveling grass into my mouth. I almost did - it was very tempting, and the grass looked very good. But! I did not. Though the feeling is still quite present - part of my brain is unusually unnerved by Ren’s wolfy presence at the moment.”
“I’m more of a dog, really.”
“Wolf, dog, whatever. When I saw the death messages that Doc had exploded I suspected he may be having a similar experience,” Zedaph waggled a hoof. “And I believe I may be correct, given our combustible compadre’s bizarre behavior.” Zedaph gave a firm pat-pat to Doc’s back, like one might a car. Doc simply stared at him and continued rumbling, also somewhat like a car.
Ren hummed. “That’s strange though - I haven’t noticed anything off myself. I’m usually pretty attuned to when the were-brain is kickin’ in.”
“Cleo?” Joe asked. “Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?”
“I did feel more tempted than usual this morning to turn Joe into stone. Still kind of am. But then again, that’s a relatively normal feeling for me, so not sure.”
“The three of us are on the more humanoid end of the server’s scale of mobs and hybrids,” Zedaph mused. “Presuming Doc’s condition is as I suspect, I would have thought myself and Ren to be more impacted by this than we are; perhaps it’s affecting mobs more intensely?”
“Should we go check on more of the others, then?” Cleo jerked a thumb towards the bases across the river. “We’ve kind of got more creatures than usual this season.”
Zedaph nodded. “We should make a list in order of concern, I think. If this is disproportionately impacting mobs, I’m a bit concerned for Jevin, given… well, he’s a slime.” The others made various noises of agreement.
“If our mob compatriots are behaving particularly more mobbish at the moment, should we be concerned at all about despawning?” Joe inquired. “Should we nametag Doc before we go?”
“He’s already named.” Cleo said.
Zedaph stood, placing a boat in his wake and rocking it gently against Doc, who eyed it for a moment before shuffling over to lay inside. Zedaph then grabbed a pumpkin from the garden, fiddling with it in his inventory before producing it once again. He held it aloft like one of his trophies, now transformed into one of Jevin’s easter eggs and decorated in Doc’s likeness. He handed it to Doc, who took it gingerly and cradled it close, rumbling louder.
“Alright, Doc,” Zedaph stood back, “You stay here for now, okay? We’ll be back as soon as we figure out what’s going on, and hopefully assure that Jevin is not currently a pile of goo.”
“Or at least, a less bipedal pile of goo than normal.” Cleo added.
“Yes, that. Stay safe, okay Doc?”
Doc rumbled once again, seeming satisfied with his egg and his boat, and the collected Hermits headed off across the river.
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would steve ever insist that eddie comes to basketball games with him just so they have an excuse to get those good seats right at the court that famous people and celebrities usually get?
Eddie is not Steve’s go-to person if he wants basketball tickets.
He goes to Lucas because every doctor knows a doctor that knows someone with season tickets they never use. And also, Steve kinda wants to go to the game with someone who, you know, will actually enjoy being there.
Eddie’s undying hatred of all things sports is, well…undying.
But Steve’s been a Pacers’ fan since the first time his dad shoved a basketball in his hands and taught him how to shoot. He has watched them lose in the playoffs every year that they make it to it, but he’s convinced. 2014 was going to be different.
He just can’t get tickets. He spent all day trying to buy them online and failed, and all the resale tickets are for seats that suck or way over his paygrade. Him and Eddie pay for their own hobbies out of their separate bank accounts, and Steve can’t afford the absolutely ridiculous price that’s being asked so…
“Please?” Steve asked, big puppy eyes and adorable little pout. He knew what he was doing and so did Eddie. “Pretty please? I never ask you for anything, Ed…Okay, fine, except for all the stuff I ask you for, but this is different. It’s a small price to pay to see my team win.”
“Your team that has literally never won in the history of all time?”
“How many championships does Leg-less the loser elf have?” Steve asked.
“…It’s Legolas,” Eddie said. “And he was a part of the fellowship that kinda saved the world.”
“So was I,” Steve pointed out. “And I deserve this.”
Steve didn’t ask for courtside seats. He didn’t ask to be sat among the rich and famous. Hell, he didn’t even ask Eddie to go with him. He just wanted to see if Eddie had a connection that could get him a ticket for a seat that wasn’t in the nosebleeds.
Steve doesn’t really believe that the tickets Eddie showed him are real until they are sitting in their seats – their seats that are courtside and five feet away from Paul George warming up. Steve is so excited to be there that he pretty much misses Eddie shaking someone’s hand right in front of him until he’s nudged in the shoulder, “Babe, you know, Sandy, right?”
“Yeah, totally,” Steve says absently, sparing a glance in the direction Eddie was gesturing before looking back out at the court. It takes him a second for his brain to register who he was just looking at and then, “Holy shit, you’re Sandra Bullock.”
She is just as beautiful and as nice as Steve has always thought she was, and she’s amused by him which makes Steve blush. She holds out her hand to him, “And you are…”
“I’m…” Steve trails off, only picking back up his train of thought when Eddie laughs loudly beside him. “Steve. I’m Steve. Uh, Harrington. Eddie’s – I’m – we’re together, by law.”
“We’re married,” Eddie grinned, throwing his arm over Steve’s shoulder, and wiggling his wedding ring at her. “Still working on how to tell people, obviously.”
She congratulates them and talks to them a bit about the game (bring Steve out of his starstruck stupor), and even buys them champagne as a late little wedding gift. It’s a blast.
Eddie spends half the game flinching every time the ball bounces a little too close or a player nearly ends up in their lap, but Steve is loving all of it. The other half of the time, Eddie is having Steve explain what’s going on and who the players are, or he’s talking to the guy next to him.
It’s some square jawed model type that Steve doesn’t recognize and also, doesn’t like. He’s a little too friendly with his husband, especially when he curled a piece of Eddie’s hair around his finger. When the two of them end up on the kiss cam together, Eddie doesn’t even get a chance to register it before Steve pulls him nearly out of the camera frame and kisses him.
Later, fans will make jokes about the pictures of that night because it’s very clear that Steve and Eddie switched seats.
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