Grian had a dreamless nap, but he woke up when someone gently shook his shoulder. He groggily opened his eyes and saw that he was in the bed inside the shop. Grum stood next to the bed, his hand on his father's arm.

"Wake up, Dad." The robot was smiling. "We set up the little party!"

Grian sat up, noticing the burning sensation on his scars. He tried to ignore it as he looked around at the rest of the family. The inside of the shop was brightly and warmly lit, and the other bots were all sitting around.

Jrum was sitting atop a jukebox, spinning a record on his finger. Amelia and Circuit were sitting on the counter, talking to each other. After a moment, Mumbo walked in the door. He came on over to Grian and hugged him.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked the bird, giving his wing a gentle pet.

Grian cooed happily and nodded. Mumbo pulled him out of the bed and spun him around. He seemed...happy. He also seemed extremely tired.

"When was the last time you slept?" Grian asked as Mumbo stopped him spinning.

"Uh..." The redstoner had to think about it, which wasn't a good sign. "I do not remember."

The bird sighed. "After this, please sleep."

"Alright, alright" Mumbo laughed sweetly.

"Father made more cookies!" Amelia held a peanut butter cookie towards Grian, who hungrily took it. He took a bite and smiled.

"This is really good." He said with his mouth full.

"Thanks!" Mumbo's smile was bright.

He looked over at Jrum with a wink, and the baby giggled and put the record in the jukebox.

Mumbo's favourite music disc, Chirp, started to play. Grian felt strange. It was like he had an involuntary reaction to the music. He started to dance, suddenly remembering what happens when you play music around a parrot.

He felt silly, but Mumbo joined in next to him.

"Haha I can't stop." Grian laughed as him and his best friend vibed.

"What do you mean?" Mumbo looked at him. The song ended and Grian stopped dancing.

"I meant, I couldn't stop when there's music...I guess." The bird chuckled and looked away. Mumbo smiled and glanced over at Jrum again, who removed Chirp and put in Stal in the jukebox.

Mumbo extended his hand to the already toe-tapping bird and smiled. "Care to dance?" He offered.

Grian smiled and rolled his eyes. He took the man's hand, and Mumbo spun him around until he was in his arms. He turned him around and took a more ballroom-dance style position.

The two danced through the song, until at one point when Mumbo stumbled over his own long legs and the two tumbled onto the ground laughing.

Grian stopped laughing and just stared at Mumbo's joyful expression. The man's face was red from dancing and laughing for the past 10 minutes. When Mumbo heard Grian stop laughing, he did as well, and opened his eyes. Grian just stared at him.

Mumbo smiled. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah." Grian awkwardly chirped and stood up, extending his hand to help Mumbo up as well. The redstone man took it gladly and the bird pulled him up.

The rest of the little "party" went pretty much the same way. The men danced together to various music discs, the kids joining it on it too.

Near the end, Mumbo and Grian were getting tired. Jrum took out the last music disc and set it aside.

"Dat's da end!" He giggled and fell backwards off of the jukebox, letting Grum catch him swiftly.

Mumbo hugged Grian tiredly, as he began to sing a final song.

" No, I'm not afraid to die...It's every breath that comes before...Heartache, I've heard, is part of life...And I have broken more and more.

But I can hope how this will end: With every line a comedy. That we could learn to love without demand but with unreserved honesty..."

The two of them swayed back and forth as the redstone man sweetly sang.

The second verse was a duet, and Grian knew that. He joined in on the song, much to the surprise of Mumbo.

" If I'm not afraid to die and you were crouching at my door and suffering, is all to gain in life, then what is all this waiting for?

Cuz I can see how this will end...in all its bitter tragedy. I'll give you all I have to spend.. and you'll give nothing back to me."

Mumbo looked at Grian as he hummed the instrumental part of the song, both of them singing the musical interlude. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that his friend knew one of his favourite songs.

Mumbo sang the last verse quietly next to Grian's ear.

" And I will wait for this to end, the back and forth, the battery.

For you at last to comprehend...the kind of love of which I speak."

"Aww look at 'em." Amelia nudged Circuit's arm. "They're so cute!" 

Circuit looked up and smiled at the sight of their fathers holding one another as they sang.

Jrumbot covered his face and giggled. "Awww!!" He jumped up and ran over to them as the song ended. "You wuv eachuva!"

Grian looked down at the boy. "Yes, we do Jrumbaby." He picked the bot up. "As friends, though."

Mumbo smiled. "Yup, as friends."

He glanced at Grian, and made eye contact with him. The bird quickly looked away.

"Pshh okay weww dat's wame." Jrumbot jokingly rolled his eyes, and then proceeded to give his fathers a kiss on their cheeks.

Grian kissed the baby on the forehead before handing him to Mumbo.

"Do you mind if I head down to the HQ to sleep?" Even though he had just slept for hours, he was still tired. This whole 'becoming a bird thing' was sometimes just a bit much on his energy.

"Not at all, G. I'll tidy up and then sleep in here." Mumbo smiled and kissed Jrumbot's forehead and gave him a good hug.

"Promise?" Grian gave Mumbo a skeptical look as the man went around, kissing the rest of the robots on the forehead.

"I promise." Mumbo rolled his eyes and came over to Grian, giving him a kiss on the forehead as well, the feathers tickling his face."If I don't sleep, I give you permission to kick me."

"I didn't know I needed permission for that." The bird joked, not reacting to the kiss.

Mumbo smiled as Grian waved and made his way outside.

Down in the HQ that night, Grian sat on the bed. He put his hand on his forehead where Mumbo had kissed.

"Goodness, I'm confused." He mumbled and laid down. He hoped for another dreamless sleep, but it seemed like Mr. Sandman had other plans.

Grian made his way through the void. His dream void.

It felt more inviting this time, like an old friend.

Perhaps it was because he saw an old friend.

Standing in the void was a girl. She had purpley-gray skin, and dark purpley-gray hair. Her eyes were yellow and she had glowing blue ram's horns that were transparent, almost holographic. She wore a gray sweater with yellow stars.

Grian's heart lept when he saw her. He rushed over to the girl, towering over her. He realized he was in his hero form.

She looked up when she saw him, and smiled very wide.

"Hey G!" She laughed. "Looks like you've grown up quite a bit!"

Grian smiled, tears of joy filling his eyes. "Well, it's been a few years, Sunshine."

The girl smiled at the old nickname he had given her back in highschool.

"Grian." She held open her arms for a hug. The bird jumped at the chance, wrapping his big arms around her. He picked her up and held her off of the ground, hugging her tightly.

"I missed you." G cried onto her sweater.

She didn't reply.

He heard someone else's voice instead .

"Who are you talking to?"

Grian opened his eyes. His arms were empty except for a gray sweater with yellow stars. He turned to where the voice was.

It was Taurtis.

"I-...I was talking to-"

"No, I know who you were talking to. Face it, Grian. P's gone." Taurtis spoke in a harsh tone, one that did not fit him at all.

"I-"

"Shut up, Grian. You never have anything good to say."

G stumbled back. "W-what?" His voice broke as he started to cry again.

"Look at this crybaby." Taurtis smirked and yanked the sweater out of G's hands. "He misses his girlfwiend." The headphone-clad man laughed and began to tear the sweater up. He threw it on the black ground and spat on it. "Pathetic."

Grian fell back onto the ground. "Taurtis would never do that!"

"How would you know?" T bent down and stared daggers into Grian's frightened eyes.

"Did you ever really know us?" More familiar voices. Out from behind Taurtis walked Pearl and Tom. Both had the same disgusted expression as Taurtis.

"Did you ever really care about us?" More voices. One exactly like his, while another a British text-to-speech. Out from behind the others walked Robot Grian and a normal looking Grian. The bird knew that he had to be NPC. He was covered in blood, and his eyes glowed red.

"We did EXACTLY what you wanted us to do." NPC got in close, grabbing Grian's arm.

"We were your friends, and you abandoned us." Tom glared at Grian.

"I never-...I always...." Robot Grian was having a hard time saying bad things about Grian. That's what Grian programmed him to do. He couldn't say anything negative, only compliments.

"Oh, I love you, Grian." The robot spoke with clenched teeth and gripped Grian's other arm tightly. It hurt. A lot. Even the words, although positive in denotation, burned like acid when spoken by the robot.

"You wanted to get rid of us." Familiar voices. Too familiar.

His robot kids walked out from the void and towards Grian.

"You neva wuved me." Jrum came up to Grian and shook his head.

"N-no! None of that is true! I-" The bird couldn't finish what he was saying. His friends and family closed in on him, until everything became as dark and cold as the void that suffocated his dreams.

He woke up in tears.

Grian cried out into the darkness, shaking and crying. "I'm sorry!" He yelled to no one. He couldn't move, the despair weighed him down too much.

He needed something comforting, but nothing was around. He remembered how calm he felt when Mumbo touched his wings...

Maybe that would work now.

Grian moved his wing over his shoulder and slowly reached over to touch it. As he pet his own wing, he felt even worse. He felt physically ill, and wanted to throw up. He pulled his hand away and cried into his pillow, feeling so empty. So cold. So utterly alone.

He needed someone.

He couldn't remember how long it took him to muster up the energy and the courage to get out of the bed. He felt so scared.

He ran towards the elevator.

The next thing he knew, he was outside of the Jrumbot shop. The lights were off.

Grian opened the door, shivering under the cold night wind, and rushed inside.

Mumbo was asleep on the bed, hugging Jrumbot. Charlie and Gellie sat near the end of the bed, asleep next to each other.

Grian hurried to Mumbo's side.

The man looked so peaceful, but Grian needed his help.

Grian shook Mumbo's shoulder.

"H-hey Mumbo" He tried to whisper, but he ended up just mouthing the words. He tried again, shaking his friend's shoulder harder this time.

"Mumbo. Please I-...I know you're sleeping and you need to sleep, but I really need your help." He spoke louder, and it was obvious that he was crying.

Mumbo opened his eyes slowly. "Hmm?"

"I-..This sounds silly, but I had a nightmare." He felt so childish saying that.

The redstoner didn't seem to notice. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He mumbled in a sleepy daze.

Grian nodded. "I...I also would like a hug...if you want, at least."

Mumbo smiled, his eyes closed. He scooted over and set Jrum on the other side of him. He left a spot open for Grian.

The bird laid down on the bed next to Mumbo, who wrapped his long arms around him. Grian clung to him and tried to hold back tears.

Mumbo pet the bird's wings and Grian felt loads better already.

"A-actually...I don't wanna talk about the dream." It suddenly felt so secretive. So personal. So...unimportant.

"That's alright." Mumbo said quietly, half-asleep.

"Can I-....can I stay here?" Grian asked in a high voice. Mumbo nodded.

The man began to hum as he sleepily stroked the birdie's pretty wings.

" You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...you make me happy when skies are gray...you'll never know, dear, how much I love you...please don't take my sunshine away." The man sang the lullaby softly.

Grian started to cry again.

"W-what's wrong, G?" Mumbo was concerned.

"Nothing...it's just that...That song brings back memories." Grian sniffed and wiped his eyes. Mumbo paused and then nodded again. He understood.

"Actually I gotta go get something..." He slid off the bed.

"Should I come with you?" Mumbo asked, about to sit up.

"N-no...You stay here. I'll be back soon."

Grian ran out the shop door.

The bird had flown to his mansion. The flight was uneventful, and no one spotted him, which was good. He was now in his room, looking in his closet. He pulled out the gray sweater with yellow stars.

Grian wanted so desperately to wear it one more time. But, that would hurt his wings.

Was it worth it?

He decided he couldn't risk it. He needed to fly back to the shop and he didn't have another elytra.

He tied the sweater around his waist and flew back to Mumbo.

He walked into the shop, letting the door close behind him. Mumbo was tracing lines on Jrumbot's face while mumbling to the baby how much he loved him. The father looked up as Grian entered. The bird took the sweater off from around his waist and hugged it like it was a stuffed animal. He climbed back into the bed, clutching the sweater, and waited for Mumbo to face him.

The man gave Jrumbot a final kiss on the cheek and flipped over, his back now towards Jrum and his face towards Grian.

The bird nestled his head up against Mumbo's chest.

"What did you get?" Mumbo asked while resuming his petting of his friend's wings.

"Memories." Grian whispered, although Mumbo heard him loud and clear.

It wasn't long before both men drifted off to sleep