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jadienjaystoriesandart · 2 years

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A Father of Spores

Summary: Grian hasn’t been feeling himself since coming out of the decontamination room. Though he has a clean health, and no more shrooms are growing on or out of him, he still feels weird all over. He keeps hearing Scar’s voice too, but the man isn’t any where to be seen. And Mumbo has him staying away from the main areas where the resistance has been hitting, as par for the course after exposure. But, that didn’t stop Cub from paying him a visit.

Warnings: Mentions of Body Modification, Brainwashing, Body Horror, Corruption, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Cannibalism, and Altered Reality.

No Beta lol, give into the spores please.

The usual after decontamination was a period of which one had to quarantine away from any and all forms of the mycelium. Which meant Grian was stuck in his simple house away from the main area of infection, which was mostly the outskirts and inner city. Luckily his area was mostly untouched, and made for some time he could gather his thoughts. Truth be told he didn’t remember alot of it. Mumbo was being vague on purpose, so he could only guess it was bad. His arms and back were healing up fine at least, no more shrooms growing out of them. And he was taking it slow for the time until the week was up to head back to work, once they were sure all signs of infection were gone.

It was... dull, boring, going on day 3 with Grian doing a movie marathon of the Scooby Doo films... they were bad but in a cringy good way. He was also was watching Mystery Incorporated, and trying to keep his mind off things as he petted his cats. Lately it’s been.. odd, he swears he hears Scar’s voice in his house. But, each time he turns around, no one is there, and not a sign of spores in sight.

Maybe he really is starting to lose it? Maybe it’s a prolonged effect of after exposure? He had heard altered state of mind was a common side effect for a few days, so... he tried not to let it get to him.

He finished peeling the potatoes for a pot roast he was making, getting started on cutting them into 4′s when there was a knock at his door.

“Hm?” Grian looked up confused, could that be Mumbo? Maybe even Impulse or Doc coming to check on him? The latter was more likely as Mumbo knew better than to go to someone during quarantine period, he was target number one after all. Washing his hands quickly, as another knock was heard, he walked over to the door.

Opening the door after turning the lock, Grian looked outside, and felt his inside turn cold at the sight before him.

Green and black fugus like stuff ran up the side of his face, creating these horns that poked out from black hair. The eyes were pure black with blue orbs looking at Grian, glowing blue shrooms grew out the side of the face as well and along his shoulders. Cub smiled brightly at Grian, “Helloooo Grian.” he said cheerfully to him, the horns flicking a bit like cat ears.

SLAM!

Grian had his back to the door his heart rate rising as he looked startled a bit in disbelief. He stood there in shock, staring at the ground. For a second, he wondered if he had imagined it.

More knocking behind him as it vibrated through his back. “Grian.” Cub’s voice said, “I promise I won’t make more shrooms grow in your walls or couch. I just came to talk.” his tone almost a slight whine to it, playful and teasing.

Rubbing a hand over his face, Grian groaned in annoyance as he stood up again and opened the door again peering at Cub around the corner. Cub was smiling brightly at him still, despite the stuff growing out of his skin and face, the smile was the same as Grian remembered it. Opening the door fully Grian sighed, “... Don’t try anything.” he grumbled before allowing Cub inside. He was an idiot, but frankly he knew Cub could force his way in if he wanted. So, civil was the best course of action, and calling the cops wouldn’t do shit, as that last time the happen Scar infected them all.

Cub walked in and did take off his muddy shoes in the mud room, Grian closed the door again, but didn’t lock it just in case. He looked at Cub who was petting on his cat, she didn’t seem to mind purring away happy to see him again. Cub smiled at Grian, “I’ve missed you.” he told him, “Didn’t mean to be gone so long, or cause you to get a new couch before then.” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with a fanged smile.

Shifted a bit Grian made a face, “Darn well better be, that was a good leather couch.” he grumbled a bit as Cub did laugh, it... sounded off, it was Cub’s voice but also distorted a bit. He looked at the other and sighed heavily, “Hungry?” he asked him curiously, trying to keep calm and even voice.

The horns flicked as Cub perked up, “A bit, any meats will work, or anything mushroom and vegetable related.” he said walking with Grian to the kitchen taking a seat at one of the bar stools.

“Mushroom related?’ Grian asked confused as he put the potatoes into the pot.

Shrugging, Cub leaned on the counter, Grian was gonna have to disinfect things again. “I mean, fungus is cannibalistic by nature, we eat dead things, even other dead shrooms.” he explained. “well, it’s not really ‘cannibalism’ as we don’t have the same moral standing as most humans. Just a way of life really.”

Grian hummed at that looking intrigued as he put the pot on high and sat across from Cub. This felt painfully familiar, days and nights they spent together when dating just chatting and laughing. Before Cub got infected, before he fell off the face of the earth for 6 months and came back... looking like this.

“Been a long time, huh?” Cub smiled at him calmly, “I’ve missed our nights together, Scar likes hearing me talk about you. He really likes you.” he chuckled faintly as Grian looked at Cub with sad yet curious brown eyes. His feathers shifted a bit as the faint sound of chuckling was in his head, but it was gone as quick as he heard it.

A pause in the air as Cub hummed faintly, “he wants to see you again,” he said slowly, “the father I mean, Scar, he wants to get to know you on a personal bases, as I talk to highly of you.”

Grian said nothing as Cub watched him without blinking, in fact the other didn’t see to blink at all. A moment, before Cub continued, a sad, and quiet sigh escaping his mouth. “I wasn’t forced like this Grian.” he said, as it shattered the silence like glass, and Grian was now looking at him with wide eyes. Cub gave a sad smile, “I was very willing.”

Wide, and shocked brown eyes looked at Cub, that... that couldn’t be true! He remembered Cub being among the ones that went missing when the Father Spore had made his appearance, after he infected the building Cub had been working in. The day he came back, stumbling and a bit dazed in Grian’s door and near contaminated the whole house beyond repair... before vanishing again.

“I know, hard to believe.” Cub said calmly with a shrug, “but I’m not lying, i have no real reason to lie like this. Trust me, the brainwashed ones are obvious compared to ones like me. We are gifted with more freedom of will, our thoughts are more our own, but we are still connected to The Father.” he explained to Grian messing with one of the shrooms on his arm. As he did so it did spew out some blue powder, which Cub cleaned up from the counter.

Ones like Cub couldn’t produced heavily spore pollen like Scar, but he was still contagious through contact. Even more so than some of the others infected, but Sculk was a very advance form of fungus that grew in the darkest parts of the world.

Chewing on his lower lip for a moment, Grian narrowed his eyes at the table, the silence stretched as this info sank in. “Why?” he finally asked after a long moment of his thoughts swirling around, taking in the fact Cub, his Cub, became this monster like creature.

Another shrug, Cub sat up a it, “The Father isn’t just some guy infected with overgrown mushrooms Grian... he’s something much more powerful and more than a mere man now. He’s the new age coming, of which all will be either connected or food.” he said in a matter of fact tone. Then a grin, “I know sounds very ‘Cultish’ doesn’t it? But it’s the honest truth, Scar speaks often of his plans to me, of how not all will be infected, but used to spread the spores with their decaying bodies.”

Another round of insides being dunked in cold water, Grian swallowed hard at that. They had.. suspected that was the plan, given some were killed by Scar and found with lots of mycelium and shrooms growing out of their dead bodies. But, to hear it from a source, it just made it all the more scary.

“I was tired Grian,” Cub looks out the nearby window in thought, “I loved you so much, but other parts of my life were just so dull. I felt like I was doing things on a loop, and felt empty without you or other connections.” He seemed lost in thought for a moment then a faint smile, “Then I met Scar, he broke into the building, and spoke in a charming voice. He was cunning, threatening, but gentle and so calm. The building was over run with spores, mycelium, and Scar gave all us a choice. To accept his gift, or be the example.”

Grian stared at that as Cub stared outside at the darkness, there were many bodies that day, all taken over by mushrooms, that area was still under heavy rules, no one was allowed inside it. It was a prime area to be infected, and the process to get rid of it was slow and with little fruition. Thus it was blocked off from the general public.

“I accepted to go with him, me a very few others. I was actually the first to speak up that I’d go. On the promise of a new start, something more...” Cub spoke again catching Grian’s attention again. “He was so... gentle Gri, he cupped my face, smiled at me so lovingly, and promised all that and more.” a near whisper, reverently, and in so much awe.

Cub looked back at Grian, “He took me to his home, the resistance base as you know it, and carefully helped me through the process. It was scary at first, I won’t lie, but the results are worth it.” his eyes almost glowed, “We are a part of him, and he of us. We are his children, Grian...” he reached out, but paused looking at up Grian with longing, loving, and pleading eyes. “I want you a part of us too, Gri, to feel like this. Loved, cherished, wanted.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, before there was a hissing sound, Grian turned and swore rushing to the stove as he turned it down before it could mess up the burner. Once he was sure it wasn’t going to boil over, Grian looked at the contents in the pot, eyes narrowed a bit as Cub’s words rang in his head over and over again.

Cub was clearly infected badly, but, he spoke so highly of how he was now. The idea of what Scar wanted in the end was terrifying. Though he could picture it clearly, the grass gone, now a soft purplish grey, perhaps a few more trees here and there, tall shrooms also that grew, the air cleaner and clearer than it ever had been.

‘What a beautiful imagine, no?’

Scar’s voice in his head as Grian gripped the handles of the pot tighter. He frowned a bit, before getting out some food for him and Cub. Placing the bowl in front of his old flame, who didn’t take his eyes off him once.

For a while they ate in silence, Grian messing with the food and Cub adding a mushroom to his happily. Then he spoke up, “I don’t know Cub,” he admits after a long moment, “I... just don’t know.”

His thoughts were jumbled, a mess, and he just wasn’t sure. He was afraid, scared of what he’d become, repulsed by the idea of letting mushrooms grow out of him. But the way Cub spoke of it, a painful longing. What would being loved like that taste like? What would it feel like? To be cherished so easily? he had felt that with Cub, and in that moment in the office with Scar. And, Grian would be a liar if he said he didn’t want that.

‘I could give you all that and more, my song bird.’

Cub finished eating and smiled at him, “you don’t need to answer right now Grian.” he said gently to him, “The Father can wait, even though you might see him later.” he smiled, then paused, “Oh... wasn’t suppose to say that.” he said.

“What?’ Grian looked at cub, “What do you mean? What is he planning?’

Shaking his head, Cub stood, “Can’t say Grian, secret and all,” a teasing wink, “if you joined us though, I could tell you so much more. All I’ve found out about what we are.”

A glared from Grian, as Cub smirked at him, “But for now,” his eyes gleamed over green and his voice changed, “tell no one you saw us here, little bird.”

Grian froze at that, eyes widening... he felt like something fogged over his mind and he nodded to Cub. Cub smiled at that, eyes turning back to blue, he bent down for a moment, “Until then my flower.” he ghosted his lips over Grian, but didn’t touch them. And slowly pulled back from the dazed bird turning and leaving.

It wasn’t until the door clicked shut did Grian blink back into awareness. He looked around at the empty bowl, and some of the sculk on his counter. He felt... sad that Cub was gone, and he was alone again.

Sighing after a moment, Grian got up to start disinfecting the counters and bleaching the bowl. His mind lost in thought as he went through the motions.

Maybe if he wasn’t distracted by his thoughts, he might have noticed when he moved, his body who puff out these faint purple spores. Or might have also noticed that the blue of his feathers was turning a bit purple as well.

#tw body horror #tw body modification #tw corruption #tw cannibalism #tw mentions of death #Grian #cubfan135 #Sculk Cub #cub/grian #goodtimeswithscar #The Mushroom Man AU #hermitcraft #hermitshipping

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