Xisuma woke up the next morning on the beanbag chair. Grian was asleep on the chair next to him, curled up in a ball, using his wings as a blanket. He looked peaceful. X stood up and stretched. He better talk to Mumbo like Grian asked him to.

X turned off the TV (it had been on all night), and rubbed his eyes. He never slept, but recently he had been sleeping more and more. He wasn't sure if that was good or not. He definitely felt better after he slept, but at the same time he was always disoriented.

Xisuma picked up Grian off of the chair and set him softly down on his bed. He tucked him into the bed and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Maybe it was because he saved this boy's life, but he always felt protective of him. He felt that way of all the hermits. He wanted them to feel like a family in this community. Being the Admin, sort of made him the head of the house. It made him feel a bit fatherly, and he liked that. It made him feel more like his dad.

As he thought this, X looked up at the Doom poster above the bed. He smiled at the sight of it.

"Love you, Dad. I'll be back soon." Xisuma said out loud to the poster. He exited the bedroom, taking his suit with him. He changed out of his casual clothes and into his armour in the bathroom.

He took a look at himself in the mirror and smiled again. He was finally going to show Mumbo his face, and he felt good about that. In truth, this was something that he felt like he should have done long ago. He just...never did.

With a shrug, he walked out.

7 years ago

Xisuma was walking by himself, talking to no one, and not really paying attention. He walked right into the wall of someone's build. He looked up, rubbing his helmet, and stared in awe at the redstone machine.

He himself was decent at redstone, but this machine looked complicated. Xisuma started inspecting it. A voice called down to him.

"'Ello there!"

X looked up. Coming down a ladder was a tall man. He jumped from a few rungs up and landed in front of the Admin. The man had on a pinkish-red polo shirt, covered in redstone, and he had dark hair. He wore a pair of round glasses, and his eyes sparkled like the dust.

"Oh, 'ello!" Xisuma waved. He smiled too, but the man couldn't see it. "I like your contraption! I could never do something like this! Did you design it?"

The tall man nodded. "Yup!" He smiled, and X noticed that his teeth were a bit crooked. "The name's Mumbo Jumbo!"

"Name's Void, Xisuma Void." X held out his hand for the builder to shake. He gladly did.

"Say...do you make stuff like this a lot?" The admin asked, thinking of an idea

"All the time! Redstone is my forte!" Mumbo shook his head to let the spicy dust fall out of his hair.

Xisuma chuckled, and then smiled beneath the mask. "Hm, I've been meaning to find another Redstone builder for our server."

Mumbo looked down at the Doomguy with intrigue. "Oh?"

Xisuma decided that he seemed like a great choice. "How would you like to be a part of Hermitcraft? It's this community of creators and builders and we all just build together and make shops and bases and such. It's really fun, and I think you'd like it."

Mumbo's face filled with joy. "Really! Dude, that would be so cool! I'd love to join! I just gotta ask my parents first."

X faltered. "Wait-..." He looked the tall man up and down. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen!" The boy smiled.

Xisuma blinked. "You are much younger than I thought-...although, now that I look at you, you do look around that age....but, no matter! My offer still stands!"

The redstoner grinned. "Sweet! You should come with me so you can meet my mum and dad. I'm sure they'll love you!"

Present Day

Xisuma arrived outside of Mumbo's base and knocked on the door. He waited. And waited. And waited.

Grian had told him the previous night that he and Mumbo started spending more time at their mayoral campaign building/superhero headquarters recently. He decided to check there.

Xisuma flew up into the air with his little bee wings. Well, they only looked like bee wings. Part of the perks of being an Admin was not needing an elytra, although he usually waited until most of the hermits got an elytra before flying. It was only fair.

He was glad that he could camouflage his wings too. Purple wings would not match his bee vibe. Plus, that would just draw more attention to himself.

The Admin buzzed over to the base and landed outside of a shop shaped like a robot. It was wearing sandals.

He peeked inside. Mumbo and four robots were sitting around talking. They looked a bit worried.

The littlest robot saw X first. He gasped and jumped up, running over to the door.

"Hewwo! Wewcome to da Jwumbot Shop! I'm da managa, Jwumbot! How may I hewp you today siwr?"

The little boy was so cute, Xisuma couldn't help but smile.

"Well hello there Jrumbot! My name's Xisuma! I need to talk to...uh, your dad." X looked up at Mumbo, who was watching the two.

"Cmon in!" The little boy bot stepped aside, letting the Admin through.

Xisuma walked over to Mumbo. "Good morning!"

Mumbo looked up from the ground he was sitting on. "Hi." He looked tired. Very tired. "Have you...have you seen Grian?"

"Don't worry, Mumbo, he's at my house. He-...he had a bad dream last night and wanted to talk to me. We played some Animal Crossing and he passed right out."

Mumbo let out a comically large sigh of relief. "Oh good. We couldn't find him, and I was starting to freak out." His eye twitched a little.

"Speaking of my house," Xisuma changed the subject. "I need to talk to you.

"What does that have to do with your house?" Mumbo cocked his head to the side.

"Well, we need to do it at my house. It's important." Xisuma took Mumbo's hand and pulled him up. The man stood and looked around.

"I can't leave my kids here alone. Sure, they're responsible, but they're also Grian's kids." Mumbo chuckled, but he looked very worried.

Xisuma thought for a moment, and stepped outside. Mumbo followed. They looked out at the shopping district.

The Admin zoomed in on the district with his helmet. The first person he spotted was Ren.

"Ren could do it." X offered.

When Xisuma said the diggity dog's name, his ears perked up. Dog ears meant dog hearing too. He looked over at the Admin and the roboticist. He hopped on over to them when X waved to him.

"What can I do for you?" He lowered his sunglasses a bit. His tail was wagging.

"Could you maybe watch my 4 robot kids for me while Xisuma and I are at his base?" Mumbo asked, fully expecting his friend to say no.

"Of course!" Ren smiled. "It'll be no problem." The dogman did finger guns at the Redstoner.

"Oh my goodness, thank you so much, you are a lifesaver." Mumbo threw his arms around Ren and hugged him very tightly.

"Yo, it's all chill." He laughed and pat Mumbo's arm, waiting for the taller man to let go. He did, and motioned for Ren to enter the shop.

As the dogman walked through the door, Jrum looked up and gasped. "It's da ponytaiw puppy man!" He jumped up and ran over to Ren. "Hewwo!!"
Ren looked down and smiled. "Heyo, little man, name's RenDiggityDog." He crouched down and picked up the little boy bot.

"I'm Jwum!!" The baby giggled and looked up at Ren's ears. "You wook wike dat puppy man dat Scaw showed us!"

Ren looked over at Mumbo, confused.

"Oh, Scar was explaining a bit of werewolf logic to us, and the little figure he made out of magic was just you." Mr. Jumbo explained.

Ren chuckled. "I see." He looked back down at the little boy in his arms, who was reaching up towards his face. Jrum grabbed his sunglasses and put them on his own face.

The dogman smiled. "Ayy you look rad." He walked towards the other robots.

Grum looked up and smiled. "I'm Grumbot!"

"I'm Amelia, and this is my twin, Circuit!" The only daughter of the group introduced herself. Her brother waved with a smile.

"Great, great, great. You're all gonna be fine." Mumbo was making his way outside. 'I'll be back...soon? I think? Be good for Uncle Ren!"

Ren waved goodbye to Mumbo.

"Bye Papa!" Jrum called out. The other bots said bye to their father as well.

The diggity dog sat down on the floor with the robots. He set Jrum down in his lap.

"Can I pet youw eaws?" Jrum looked up at Ren with big sparkly eyes.

Ren laughed and bent his head down. The little baby pet his dog ears and laughed happily. Jrum saw that Ren also had a tail and giggled as it wagged.

Outside, Mumbo equipped his elytra.

"Where's yours?" He asked Xisuma, noticing that he didn't have one equipped.

"Oh, mine? I don't need it." X demonstrated by hovering a few inches in the air with his bee wings. Mumbo looked a bit surprised. Xisuma flew higher, waving for the redstone man to follow. Mr. Jumbo launched himself into the air with a rocket and flew after the Admin, who was speeding towards his base.

"So why do we need to do this at your house specifically?" Mumbo asked as he sped up next to X.

"You'll see."

Xisuma was being a tad cryptic, but that was kind of the norm for the mysterious Doomguy.

They arrived at X's bee base and landed in front of the door. Xisuma unlocked it and stepped aside. He let Mumbo go in before him, then entered and closed the door. X walked over to the couch and sat down. He looked over at Mumbo, waiting for him.

Mumbo came over and sat next to X, looking at him.

"So...is there something wrong?" he asked, still confused on why this was kind of secretive.

"Not really...but I need to do something that I should have done years ago."

The redstone man watched in awe as the Admin removed his bee helmet. He had seen a glimpse of his face around a week earlier, but that was unwillingly.

Xisuma shook out his hair and looked up at Mumbo. "I've known you for seven years. Haven't shown you my face. Grian pointed that out to me, and well, I thought that it was time you got to see the guy who's been your Admin for a good number of years."

Mumbo studied the Admin's face. He had purple freckles, similar to Grian's, but more glittery and star-like. His eyes were a shimmery purple as well, and they contrasted against his tanned skin and dark brown hair. He had a bit of facial hair that suit him quite well, and his features were well-defined. His eyes looked tired, but they also showed that he laughed and smiled a lot. Xisuma didn't look how Mumbo expected. To be honest, Mumbo wasn't sure what he was expecting, but the reality fit perfectly, so that didn't matter.

"The reason we had to do it here was because I can't breathe the Overworld air. My house was designed to allow me to be able to breathe, while still allowing Overworldians their breathing rights." Xisuma explained.

Mumbo blinked and nodded, the words setting in after a moment. "Wait, you're...you're not from here?"

"From the End, my dear friend."

"Oh! That makes loads more sense now...." Mumbo recalled the Galactic lessons.

Xisuma looked at his friend. He was only six years older than him, but he again felt that semi-fatherly con nection. He got to watch this kid grow into the amazing man that he was. X was one of the only hermits who got to see Mumbo with glasses and without his iconic mustache. Now the boy was a father. Even though they were robot kids, there was still a new responsible feeling about him. Xisuma was proud.

His smile faded as he thought of what Grian asked him to say to Mumbo.

"Is...Is everything alright?" Mumbo asked when X's smile disappeared.

"Grian asked me to talk to you about your...robot obsession. His words, not mine." X sighed.

Mumbo's posture became tense. "What do you mean?"

"We're worried about you, Mumbo. Grian told me about the anxious way you act when you haven't made something in a bit. He told me how you aren't sleeping, how you look kind of...crazy when you're working."
The roboticist looked a tad offended. He was about to interject, but X kept going.

"And he...he feels like he can't get through to you, so that's why he asked me to talk to you. Of course, this is something that you two need to work out amongst yourselves, but..." Xisuma trailed off before continuing once more. "Grian told me how you sort of forced the responsibility of being a father onto him without even asking him. I know that it was unintentional, but I think that's another thing you two should discuss."

Mumbo stood up. "I don't know, I just needed someone to be there for me since Grian couldn't." He was being defensive.

Xisuma stood up as well. "I know, I know. I understand." He took Mumbo's hands. "I'm not accusing you of anything. Grian just wants to talk to you about this, but didn't know how to bring it up."

The tall Englishman looked down at the Admin. "I-...Alright." He sighed.

X smiled. "Grian's upstairs if you want to talk to him. I need to go meet up with my brother for a moment, but I trust you two won't blow up my home."

The Admin let go of Mumbo's hands and put his arms around him. Mumbo looked like he needed a hug.

X was right.

Mumbo hugged back and sat down on the couch while still holding X.

"I'm just...so tired...but I can't sleep." The redstoner said, burying his face in Xisuma's shoulder.

"I understand that completely."

Mumbo knew that X understood.

They hugged for a minute or two longer before Xisuma let go.

"I'm gonna be late." He smiled and picked up his helmet. He slipped it on and started walking over to the front door.

"My room is the one with the open door. You'll see it if you walk up the stairs. I set Grian down on the bed before I left to get you because he'd fallen asleep on a beanbag chair. I'll be back soon!" Xisuma waved to Mumbo as he exited. He waved back.

Mr. Jumbo stood up again, wiping his teary eyes, and made his way over to the staircase. He climbed the flight of stairs and saw the room that X was talking about.

He stepped inside quietly, the carpet muffling the sound of his high tops. The lights were off, but there was some natural sunlight coming through the closed blinds. Mumbo's attention was drawn to the bed, where Grian was still sleeping. It was almost noon, so he should be awake.

Mumbo went over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Grian. He rested his hand on the bird's arm and gently shook him to wake him up.

It didn't work the first time, but that was normal for Grian. Mumbo did it again while softly telling him to get up. Grian groaned and turned over, his back to his friend.

"Wake up, Grian." Mumbo leaned over and spoke next to his ear. Grian shot up, slamming the side of his head into Mumbo's on accident. Both put a hand to the collision area in pain.

"Oh gosh-" Mumbo rubbed his nose.

Grian rubbed a spot above his ear that hit Mumbo's face as he laid himself back down. "Ow!" He turned to look at his buddy. "Oh! Sorry!"

"No, no, it's my fault." Mumbo chuckled. He was still leaning over Grian. "At least you woke up."

Grian nodded, and then looked around. He was in Xisuma's bed, but he remembered falling asleep in front of the telly.

"Xisuma told me he put you here this morning." Mumbo explained as Grian looked around.

"Ah." Grian nodded.

A moment of silence.

"Sit up." Mumbo told his friend. Grian did so. The tall Englishman stood up from his crouched position and sat down right next to the bird. "You wanted to talk?"

Grian let out a startled coo. X must have already talked to Mumbo for him. Now it was his turn, and he was...he was scared.

"Y-yeah." Grian pulled his knees to his chest. "You scare me when you build stuff."

Mumbo turned so that he was facing Grian. "I heard..." He paused. "I should've asked you. It was...wrong of me to just make you their dad like that."

The bird turned so that he was facing Mumbo. "You didn't program Grum to say that. His AI evolved, like you told me....right?"

Mumbo nodded. "But with the other 3...I kind of built that into them since I made them with the intention of being their father. For Jrum, I made you his dad since Grum already saw you as his. For the twins, I didn't program you as their father, but they sort of adopted you as that because you were already Grum and Jrum's..."

Grian stayed silent, hugging his knees tighter and avoiding eye contact.

"I didn't realize it made you uncomfortable....I can reprogram them so that they won't consider you their dad." Mumbo offered, rubbing Grian's arm.

The bird looked up finally. "No, don't-...don't do that please." His words were quiet and his face was red.

"But I thought you didn't want the responsibility."

"Well, I-...I already have it...and I love them." Grian looked down again.

Mumbo moved his hand down G's arm and took his friend's hand in his own. "And they love you so much, and I do too." He smiled.

Grian looked up as Mumbo said this, and smiled in reply. "I love you too, bro." His wings fluttered happily as his friend smiled. Grian scooted closer and threw his arms around the roboticist, hugging him tightly and wrapping his wings around the hug.

Mumbo was caught off guard, but he regained his composure and hugged back. The hug was good.

"I should ask you this before I do it, but...do you want another kid?"

Grian tensed up and pushed away from the hug. "W-what?!" His face was flustered.

Mumbo realized that he shouldn't have said that, but he did anyway, so it was too late. "I found the plans to one of our old robot designs, and I thought I could build her..." He trailed off as he saw the rattled expression on his friend's face. "N-nevermind! I won't build another robot! It's all good!"

Grian saw the disappointment on Mumbo's face, but it felt nice to be respected. "Sorry, I just-...Well, don't you think five is a lot?"

"They're not human children, so there's less complications. And they're really just computers programmed to have the personality of children-" Mumbo stopped as he said this. He didn't know why, but referring to his kids that way made him feel distant and cold. It sort of destroyed that illusion that they were real kids. Mumbo shook that thought away, but it still sat in the back of his mind. "But you're right. Five is a lot."

"M-maybe someday." Grian sat up.

Mumbo sat up as well and looked at Grian. He was avoiding eye contact, and his face was red. It looked like he was going to cry any second.

"Hey, G. I-...I'm sorry." Mumbo scooted in next to his friend, and tried to give him a comforting hug.

Grian stood up off of the bed as Mumbo was setting his arms around him. The redstoner  fell onto the spot where G had just been. "It's okay." Grian wiped his eyes. "It's not your fault. There's just too much going on right now with me and I don't wanna be an absent father, y'know?"

Mumbo nodded and got up. "I understand, dude, it's okay." He watched as Grian went over to the beanbag chair and picked up a picture frame and ocarina.

"Let's just go home. Scar has something for me today." The bird held the items tightly. Mumbo agreed with a whistle.

G paused and turned to face his friend. "What?"

Mumbo focused and made a different whistle.

Grian understood it as words. Mumbo had whistled, " Is this right? "

The bird chirped back in the bird language. " Yes "

Mumbo grinned. "Great!" He spoke in English. "I've started to study birdspeak so that I can still be able to talk to you, even when you-...." His smile disappeared, and Grian looked sad.

"That's...very nice of you." Grian smiled a bit and started to exit the bedroom.

Mumbo whistled again as he followed his friend. " You are very nice ."

G chuckled as he hopped down the stairs. "Oi, be quiet, I'm still not gonna say yes to another kid just yet." He joked.

Mumbo kiddingly rolled his eyes. They reached the front door and went outside. The redstoner paused and pulled out a pad of post-it notes and wrote a quick note. It read "Hey X! Grian and I headed back home! - MJ"

He stuck it on the outside of the door as he closed it behind him. "There we go!"

Grian waited for Mumbo. "If we're both here...who's watching the kids?"

"Oh don't worry, we got Ren to do it. Jrum loved him immediately." Mumbo equipped his elytra. He looked at Grian, who wasn't wearing his cloak.

"Do you want to shrink down and I can carry you again?" He offered.

The bird nodded and willed himself down to hummingbird size. Mumbo picked the tiny birdie up, as well as the picture frame and ocarina. He set those two things in his inventory for Grian and held his friend in his hand before launching into the sky with a rocket.

They were on their way home.