Scar's Perspective-

Scar walked up to Grian's door one fine July afternoon and knocked on the door.

"Hello Scar!" Grian's mother answered the door cheerfully.

"Jimmy and Mumbo should be here later."

"Thanks!" Scar smiled as he stepped inside.

Grian's mother closed the door behind him.

"Grian's cleaning his room right now, but you can go in and help. I think he's just organizing his bookshelf."

Scar nodded and walked down the hall towards Grian's bedroom.

As he drew nearer, he heard...singing?

He poked his head in and saw Grian who had Bluetooth headphones on.

He was dancing and singing.

He had his back towards the door, so he didn't notice his friend.

As Scar watched his friend cheerfully clean, he recognized the song to be 'As It Was' by Harry Styles.

He couldn't help but smile as Grian drummed his fingers along with the beat while bopping his head.

Grian continued to sing.

He was lost in his own world.

Eventually, he did a little spin and got into dancing.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Scar and turned red.

"Scar!" Grian said, taking off his headphones, "I-I didn't see you!"

Grian laughed nervously as Scar smiled.

"I liked your moves." Scar said, messing with Grian's hair.

Grian swatted his hands away as he shook his head, fixing his hair.

"How much did you see?"

"A bit before you stared drumming your fingers."

Grian groaned into his hands, his face bright red.

Scar laughed, "You're turning so red!"

"Can you blame me?! You just heard my cringe singing!"

"The only thing that was cringe was your taste in music." Scar said before fake gagging, "I mean, come on, Harry Styles?"

"Shut up!" Grian shouted.

Scar laughed again.

Grian fake pouted as he folded his arms, "Well I'm sure you have terrible taste in music."

Scar shrugged, "Most people say I do. But that's only because they say I listen to music that their parents enjoy."

"What?"

Scar smiled and pulled out his phone.

He opened the music app and showed it to Grian, who scrolled through his playlist.

"Ew." Grian said, looking at all the rock/metal music Scar had downloaded.

"You listen to Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie?"

Scar shrugged as he pocketed his phone.

"My dad introduced me to their music as a kid, so it's stuck with me."

"I guess that makes sense. I mean, my mom always plays pop music, so I got attached to it."

Just then, Jimmy and Mumbo walked in.

"What's this I hear?" Mumbo asked, a playful smirk on his face, "Did Scar just find out about your terrible taste in music?"

"It's not that bad." Jimmy shrugged.

"Oh cod my taste in music is bad!"

"Why?!" Jimmy asked.

"Because you like it!"

"Wow." Jimmy said though he was smiling, "Thanks, G."

"Always." Grian gave his friend a little bow.

His friend's laughed and Mumbo then said, "Now come on. Let's head to that arcade that just opened."

Time Skip (One month later; August 23)

"Griannnnnnnnnn." Scar knocked on Grian's door.

Not a second later, Grian opened the door.

Give me a sec!" He shouted, "My mom still needs to give me money for the school supplies!"

Scar rolled his eyes as he entered the Gott's home.

"Mom! We gotta go!" Grian shouted.

"Coming!"

Grian's mother walked over, she was putting her hair up into a ponytail.

She jerked her head towards the open front door and Grian and Scar walked out to her car.

-

"Okay, Grian. Here's some money to buy school supplies." She shot Grian and Scar a look.

"I'm fine with you buying some stuff for yourself, but the money from me is for school stuff only."

"Okay, got it." Grian said, exiting the car.

"Text me when you're done!" She shouted as she drove off.

As she turned the corner, Grian looked at Scar with an excited smile on his face.

"What?" Scar asked, raising an eyebrow though he already guessed what Grian had wanted.

"Cart?"

Scar rolled his eyes, a smile still on his face.

"Alright," He said, "I can push you in the cart."

"Yay!"

Grian ran up and grabbed a cart.

They walked into the store and got into a place that didn't have a lot of people to run into.

Grian jumped into the cart and Scar started running.

Scar smiled and his heart fluttered at hearing Grian's laugh.

Eventually, they slowed down and started filling the cart with notebooks and pencils.

-

"Oop, Grian it's your song."

Grian gave Scar a confused look but then turned red from embarrassment as he heard the song 'As It Was' start playing in Target.

"Oh, shut up."

Scar started singing, but since he didn't know the song well, he messed up all of the lyrics.

"Just stop!" Grian shouted after a bit, "You sound terrible."

"Well then help me!" Scar said, a playful smile on his face, "Help me get the words right! You do know this songgggg."

Scar started elbowing Grian.

Grian then groaned and started pushing the cart away.

"No! Get back here!"

Scar ran up to Grian and caught a few words of the song.

"You can sing louder." Scar said.

Grian smiled and shook his head, still singing under his breath, bopping his head to the beat.

"Come onnnnnn. I know you want to."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I hear you!"

"So?! Doesn't mean I have to torment everyone else in this store by my singing."

"Come on, please? Just the last couple seconds of the song?"

"No."

The song ended and Scar folded his arms.

"You're mean."

Grian laughed, "Just because I didn't sing a song?"

"I don't know why you're so embarrassed about that!"

"And I don't know how you're okay with embarrassing yourself like that!"

"I don't care what these people think of me." Scar said, shrugging, "It doesn't matter. Just live your life to the fullest!"

Scar put his hands behind his head as he walked in front of Grian, who was pushing the cart.

After a couple of minutes, Scar didn't hear the wheels of the cart moving and he stopped and turned around.

He saw Grian staring at a red sweater that was on a mannequin.

Scar walked over and looked at the plain sweater with his friend.

"Ah! Sorry." Grian said, turning his attention to Scar.

"No! It's fine! Er- do you want the sweater?"

Grian picked up the sweater that was on the hanger.

Grian gasped and a smile formed on his face.

"Ooo, that feels nice." He said under his breath.

Scar chuckled.

"What?!"

"Come on." Scar took the cart from Grian.

"Let's go try it on!"

-

Scar heard Grian groan.

"Ugh, I don't know if this works."

"What do you mean?" Scar asked from outside Grian's changing room.

"I mean...I think I look to feminine."

"G, I'm sure you look fine."

"Ehh."

"Just come out and show me."

There was a second of hesitation until Grian opened the door.

Scar blushed a bit as he saw Grian the oversized red sweater.

He was brushing some of his hair out of his eyes.

"I'm not sure..." Grian said.

"I- it looks fine."

"Fine?"

"I mean...I really like it."

Grian blinked before smiling.

"How does it feel?" Scar asked.

"Nice. Super comfortable."

"Great! Then I'll get it for you."

"What?! No! I can pay for it!"

"I still owe you."

"You already paid me back!"

"Not for that lunch we got together I didn't."

"I told you; you don't need to pay me back."

"Yeah, but if I buy you this then you owe me one in the future." Scar winked.

Grian laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Now change out of it and we can go check out."

Grian closed the door and about a minute later he stepped out, back in his red hoodie that had a parrot on it.

They got in the checkout lane and Scar started drumming his fingers to a Led Zeppelin song, muttering the lyrics.

"I thought you weren't embarrassed by singing songs in public." Grian said, smirking.

Scar shook his head.

"Well, right now they're playing a different song, so it'd be weird for me to start belting out Kashmir."

"Why do I not believe you?"

Scar sighed, "Fine. You asked for it."

He took a deep breath and started shouting the first lyric.

The cashier gave Scar a worried look before shaking her head and continuing to scan their items.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Grian covered Scar's mouth, making him shut up.

"See?" Scar smirked, "I'm not embarrassed at all."

Grian folded his arms, "You clearly don't understand the worries I have."

"The worries about being quote unquote, 'normal'?" Scar used air quotes when saying normal.

"Oh, shut it."

"Er- are you two done so you can pay?"

-

As they got back to Grian's place, they dumped all their stuff out to organize it.

"This is yours, mine, yours." Grian muttered, sorting the notebooks.

"And this," Scar cut off the price tag, "Is yours."

He threw Grian the sweater he bought him.

Grian caught it and smiled, "Thanks!"

"Course!"

Grian put on the sweater and smiled.

He looked at himself in his vanity mirror.

"I mean," He said, turning around, "I do think I look a bit feminine. Is that just me?"

"Are you asking this question because you're worrying about what people think of you or...?"

"I'm asking it to see if I'm not going insane."

"Oh. Then yeah, you do look a bit feminine."
Scar shrugged, "But I honestly think it's fine. I don't know why you're so worried about what other people think of you. No one cares."

"I mean..." Grian sighed as he sat down next to his friend, "I used to get bullied a lot."

"What?!"

Grian nodded sadly, "I was- well am, the nerd. The smart, weak kid who's questioning their sexuality. I once had pink shoes on and all the guys and girls bullied me for being feminine and cringe. Once a guy found out I liked listening to Harry Styles and he told all of his friends. The news spread fast and soon everyone started wondering whether I was a trans male."

"Constantly getting asked whether I liked girls or boys. Constantly getting called the f slur. Constantly getting asked if I was a boy or a girl."

Grian sighed, "It all sucked. I just...I just wanna be accepted."

"But those people bullied you. Why would you wanna be accepted by them?" Scar asked.

"I just wanna be normal. I want them to forget about me. Hopefully high school will be different though."

Grian smiled at Scar, but Scar didn't return the gesture.

"G...do Mumbo and Jimmy know about this?"

"Yeah, they helped me. But they ended up getting bullied for being a nerd and being gay since they hung out with me who's supposedly gay."

Grian rolled his eyes bitterly.

"Well if anyone makes fun of you or bullies you, tell me and I'll kick their ass." Scar said.

Grian laughed, "Thanks; but you really don't need to. I'm sure things will get better."

Grian then changed the subject as he packed his bag, getting ready for next week.

"I'll knock on your door and come get you when I'm walking to the bus stop." Grian told Scar as he left.

"'Kay, thanks."

"Oh, and I'm gonna hang out with Mumbo a bit before school starts. If you wanna hang out, that's fine."

"I'm good. I'll let you hang out with your childhood friend."

Grian smiled, "Thanks."