Chapter Text
It was later that night, just after dinner when Cuppy returned to their room to find Cherries just sitting on the floor, doodling as if they hadn’t gotten in trouble a few hours ago.
“Um, hi, sorry for leaving you in there,”
“Oh, it’s fine! We get away with it all the time.” The left one waved a dismissive hand, thankfully neither of them seeming bothered.
“What happened after I left?”
“Oh he just told us not to do it again, said we’d be banned from the art room if we pull another thing like that.”
“Yeah, but only if we get caught next time.” The right cherry giggled, mischievously. It was good to see neither of them seemed too bothered by the prank going wrong. Cup wandered over to their bed, hopping up with just a little bit of struggle, due to their height, but they made it up, flopping over to the side their handle wasn’t on.
“How was hanging out with MePhone? We saw you guys watching tv while we were heading out,”
“Oh! He’s really cool, we were watching that show you were all on!” Cuppy sat up, enthusiastic about it.
“What did you think about our performances?” The right one grinned.
“So cool! How did you manage to send that marshmallow girl to mars? That was so crazy!”
“Oh… haha, yeah, we almost forgot about that, I dunno, honestly, it just kinda happened.” The right one spoke, taking up a sheepish tone.
“We definitely deserved getting eliminated for that one,” The left one spoke again, putting the finishing touches on their drawing, before holding it up in Cuppy’s direction. It was them-- the cherries, and Cuppy, a crayon drawing of the three of them on a grassy hill, silly little flowers lining the grass. Cup gasped at this, utterly impressed;
“That’s so cool! I wish I knew how to draw…”
“We could get Paintbrush to teach you, if you want! They hold art classes and have been able to help other armless objects figure it out too, I’m sure they’d be a good help!”
“Oh, I don’t wanna bother them after trying to prank them, I don’t want them to be mad at me or anything,” Cuppy declined immediately, the idea of possibly getting yelled at not sounding great to them, but the cherries didn’t seem to grasp that;
“Oh come on! They’re not gonna be mad at you, don’t worry about it. If they ask why you were trying to do the canvas thing, we can just say we convinced you to help us out-- which that’s totally what happened.”
“Um… Okay! Sure!” Cuppy wanted to decline, but the idea of learning how to draw outweighed the nervousness. That, and it gave them an excuse to be out of their room tomorrow. They let out a yawn, flopping back down on their bed.
“Are you sleepy?” One of the cherries asked.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go to bed,” Cuppy turned onto their side again, nuzzling into the comfort of their pillow.
“Okay! We’ll turn out the light in a sec, just gotta clean up!”
“Mhm,” Cuppy hummed out, already falling asleep. They felt so grateful that the hotel welcomed them so warmly. They were so glad they didn’t have to deal with their old life anymore. They could really get used to this. The bed they found themself in right now was more comfortable than their old one had ever been.
Though, despite the comfort, that didn't save them from their dreams.
…
The waves were harsh, and horrible, and rocking the boat like it'd break apart at every slosh of water against it. It was a miracle they got this far, really. The rain poured down, soaking both the boat, and them. They kept having to tip themselves over a bit so their cup wouldn't fill with water. It was all so disorienting. Dizzy. It hurt, and they were terrified. They didn't know how they were going to get out of this, they just had to get away. After a particularly huge wave, they didn't have time to think about anything else, as immediate panic set in, the boat tipped over completely, sending them into the harsh, horrible waves below. They remember sinking, and sinking, the waters jostling them around, and they didn't think they'd ever get out of this.
And Cuppy jolted awake, once again gasping for air, though this time they cried. They cried, and cried, and tried so hard to not be so loud, the last thing they wanted to do was wake up their roommate and friend, they quickly shifted in their bed, biting down on the pillow as they sobbed. They were so scared, they didn't even know how they survived all this, they didn't think they should have survived under the circumstances. But they made it out, and that scared them most of all, really. Through their muffled sobs, they couldn't hear the cherries shuffling in their own bed, waking up. They couldn't hear them hopping out of their own bed, stepping over. They didn't notice the cherries until they were wrapping their arms around them, trying to comfort them.
Not a word was said as the cherries comforted them, they didn't need to know, they just needed to be able to calm their roommate, and friend down. Nothing needed to be said, as Cup shivered in their hold.
Eventually though, there were no more tears to cry, and they managed to at least stop that flow. They sniffled, finally opening their eyes again, unable to look at their roommate.
"'m sorry…" they croaked out.
"It's okay, we don't mind. We get bad dreams, too. We get it."
Cuppy sniffled again, slightly nuzzling into the hug, this definitely helping. It really did feel nice being hugged by two sets of arms. It helped them feel secure, really.
"Are you okay now?"
"dunno…" Cuppy was having a hard time forming their words, only able to get out simple things.
"We can stay awake with you if you want, until you fall back asleep?"
"... Okay,"
The cherries just smiled. Though they were also young, they were understanding, and compassionate. They weren't going to let anything hurt their friends, especially Cuppy, while they adjusted, if they could help it. They really did care. Cup really did appreciate it. They thankfully didn't have much trouble falling back into rest, falling this time into a dreamless sleep.
Though they were tired themselves, the cherries didn't separate from the hug until they were sure Cuppy had fallen back asleep, laying them back down, and placing their covers over them again, before returning to their own bed. As the cherries fell back asleep themselves, they couldn't help but wonder what spooked Cup so badly. They felt sad that they had to deal with nightmares too, but they supposed it wasn't very polite to ask about it if it wasn't their business. If Cuppy wanted to tell them, they would. The Cherries could leave it at that for now.
…
Paintbrush, Fan, and TestTube were in the art room today, Paintbrush getting ready for their art class that evening, TestTube having offered to help. Fan wasn't helping, but she was still there, at least providing conversation, talking about whatever interest she had really thrown herself into this time, Paintbrush and TestTube just listening as the two of them set everything up. Eventually, Paintbrush spotted a pair of eyes staring at them from the entryway to the room. They stopped in their tracks, raising an eyebrow, as whoever it was whipped behind the door frame, and out of view. Paintbrush stared at the entryway, almost curious for just a moment, before Cuppy, the new object at the hotel was lightly shoved into view, stumbling a bit, but the moment they fixed their balance, the two of them locked into a bit of awkward eye-contact. There was a sigh, Paintbrush assumed from the other object who had pushed Cup into view, before the Cherries stepped out next to them;
“Hi, we’re here to apologize, or um-- we are, not Cuppy.”
“I- I’m also sorry for being involved though,” Cup quickly clarified. Fan and TestTube looked over now from what they were doing.
“Anyways now that we’ve said we’re sorry, Cuppy wants to join your art class!” The left cherry smiled.
“Okay, as long as you don’t pull anything that damages the resources, anyone’s welcome to participate.” Paintbrush shrugged, not seeming angry at all about what happened yesterday, not even raising their voice, or being annoyed. Cuppy thought this was strange, but as long as they weren’t getting yelled at, they didn’t really mind. “Though, it’s much later tonight, we’re still setting up, just come back this afternoon, okay?”
“Okay!” The cherries answered for the both of them, Cuppy still being a tad bit awkward around several of the residents in the hotel. Thankfully though, with that out of the way, The Cherries led Cuppy away, off to do something else, noticing how nervous they were.
“Are you bad with people?” The left cherry asked, raising an eyebrow, genuinely curious.
“Uh- they didn’t mean that in a mean way,” The right one quickly clarified, as the three of them returned back up to their room.
“Um… Just around people I don’t really know much, I um, it’s complicated.” Cuppy glanced away, not really wanting to clarify.
“Okay, that’s fine! I’m sure you’ll warm up to most of the residents here eventually, I get it takes time for some objects, so don’t worry about it!” The right cherry gave a reassuring pat to Cuppy, who gave a small smile.
“So what now?”
“Well… Hm. Good question! Do you feel like doing something specific, or do we wanna go find someone to bother? Maybe we could introduce you to at least one of the objects we like to hang out with, to make things easier?”
“Hm… Who is it?”
“It’s Trophy! He takes us on walks around the island sometimes, and it’s not raining today, which makes it a good day to not be stuck in this stuffy hotel all day!”
“Hm…” Cuppy thought about it. Really thinking about it, they hadn’t been outside in a total of two days! That was way too long.
“Yeah, okay! As long as he isn’t weird, or mean.”
“Uh… I mean, I’m sure he won’t be mean to you,” The right one shrugged, unsure.
“I saw how mean he was on the show, I just don’t want to be bullied or anything,”
“Oh! He’s not like that anymore! Uh, most of the time! But he wouldn’t be mean to you unless he had a reason-- which he doesn’t! And if he is mean to you, we’ll tell on him!” the left cherry gave a thumbs-up.
“Ummm… Okay! Let’s go outside!” Cuppy smiled, immediately turning back around to leave the room again. They much preferred the idea of getting out and being active, they never had much of a chance to leave their house back where they used to be, so they cherished the option any time they got it. Surely meeting at least one of the residents would be fine for now.
…
“So… What are we going to do about this?” OJ tapped a pen against his desk, glancing up at MePhone, who was spinning around in the chair he was sat in.
“Dunno, not like it’s our problem. Just treat them like the cherries, it’s just another kid, right?” MePhone shrugged.
“Yeah, it’s ‘just another kid’ but I- I don’t mean to be mean by saying this but there’s clearly… um… Y’know.”
MePhone stopped rolling around, looking at OJ; “What do you mean?”
“I know you picked it up too, MePhone. That kid’s troubled or something. Obviously not their attitude, they seem just fine, but… Some of the stuff I’ve heard them say to others has been… Concerning. Not to mention how scared they were when Paintbrush caught them and the Cherries yesterday in the middle of a prank.”
“I’m sure any kid would be scared after running away from home, OJ.” MePhone paused, blinking before realizing what he had said, before clarifying, clearing his throat; “Um, not that I’d know what that’s like-- but that’s not important! I’m sure they’ll be just fine.” MePhone shrugged again, trying to play what he had said off. OJ already knew what had happened with MePhone, the two definitely having talked about it before, being together and all, but that didn’t mean MePhone was any more open about things than he was before. OJ just sighed at this.
“I just think they could use a positive influence, or something. To help them not be so anxious, or scared around the residents here.”
“So what are you suggesting?” MePhone raised an eyebrow, now continuing to spin in the wheely chair.
“Maybe um… Hm… They seemed to enjoy hanging out with you, right?”
“I’m not good around children. They freak me out.”
“You seemed fine the other day,”
“... Crap.” MePhone sighed. He just really didn’t want to be stuck with that task. He also didn’t see himself as a good influence on anyone-- especially a child. He was terrible, and awful, and he was the last person a child needed to be hanging around.
“I really think you and them could get along, MePhone. Just think about it… For me?”
MePhone let out a groan. He couldn’t just say no to OJ when he was asked like this.
“Fine. I’ll think about it.” He just left it at that, continuing to spin, a bit annoyed at how easily he caved.
“I just… Don’t think I’m a good influence. You should know that.”
“I mean… Sure, I would’ve agreed with you at some point in the past, but I think you’ve definitely changed.”
“I’m not getting out of this, am I.”
“Probably not. Listen, if I agree to help you be a positive influence to this kid, will that make it any less worse for you?”
“Probably not, but I’m keeping you to it now, because you said it.” MePhone stopped spinning again, getting a bit too dizzy for his liking, as he grinned at OJ.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” OJ sighed again, this one being more light-hearted.
“So uh… What if this kid ends up hating me? Then what?”
“I’m sure they won’t. They seemed just fine around you yesterday,”
“But wh--”
“Please try not to overthink it. You’re just going to stress yourself out,” OJ softened his tone just a bit. MePhone glanced away.
“I’ll… Try.”
“Thank you. I know this’ll turn out fine.”
“Gods, I hope so.”
…
“So this is the new smallfry?” Trophy raised an eyebrow, looking down at the shorter, gray-ish blue cup, who stared at him with nervous eyes.
“Yeah! This is Cuppy! They’re super cool!” The cherries exclaimed, excited.
“Okay, cool. You’re not lame, right?”
“I don’t think I am,” Cuppy finally glanced away, not being too fond of eye-contact.
“Good enough for me.” Trophy shrugged. “Anyways, you guys wanted to go on a walk?”
“Yeah! That, and we wanted to introduce Cuppy to you! They’re trying to get used to people.”
“Oh, uh… Okay,” The four of them began their walk, already having stepped out into the warm spring weather by the time the conversation started. Trophy was tall, and despite being an object, not having to wear clothes, he wore what looked like a varsity jacket that wrapped around the frame of his body nicely. Cuppy saw plenty of objects that wore clothes around the city they used to live in, but it wasn’t something they had seen at all during the time they were at the hotel-- even if it had only been two days at this point. It wasn’t weird though, just different to see here. Cuppy, despite enjoying the nature, and the nice warm weather, was still incredibly intimidated by Trophy. Watching the beginning half of season two of Inanimate Insanity yesterday with MePhone, they saw he had blackmailed another contestant on the show, and was incredibly rude, and physical towards others on the show. Though he thankfully seemed a lot more mellowed out now, Cuppy was on edge that he could snap at any moment. Most of the walk was filled with the Cherries maintaining a conversation, Cuppy’s involvement in it being brief, and small responses, not really focused much on it. Eventually, the three of them seemed to reach the outskirts of the island, one of the many beaches on it. The waves were calm today, the storm that brought them here having long since passed. As the group made their way to the beach, they stopped, spotting something. The broken apart boat. Or well, it really was more of a raft, but it had been easier for Cuppy to call it a boat. It was cracked, and damaged all by the ocean, and how harshly it had been jostled around. Cuppy could feel the strong, negative emotions swirl in their stomach as Trophy approached the rubble.
“Woah, what is this?”
“Looks like it used to be a boat or something! Maybe there’s a pirate on the island?” The right one suggested, excited.
“Or it just washed up on shore…” The left one added.
Cuppy stood on the line between the sand and grass, not daring to step over. They could feel their posture drop a bit.
“What do you think, Cuppy?” The right cherry turned to look, but by the time they glanced back, Cuppy was walking back in the direction of the hotel.
“Hey! Wait, where are you going?”
“... Back to the hotel, you guys can enjoy the rest of your walk, though.” Their tone was quiet, but loud enough for the Cherries, and Trophy to hear.
Trophy glanced at the raft, then over to Cup, connecting the dots. Quickly, he decided to do some soft damage control, realizing this must’ve been how they had gotten to this island;
“Nah, we can all go back together. It’s fine,” Trophy tool one of the Cherries hands, leading them over to catch up with Cuppy,
“No, you don’t have to do that for me,” Cup gave a soft smile as Trophy didn’t take long at all to catch up.
“It’s fine, really.” Trophy glanced away. Thankfully, the Cherries didn’t question this, or say anything, though Trophy knew they would ask later. “Just don’t worry about it. It’s getting later in the day anyways, and the Cherries said you guys wanted to do that lame art class thing, so I don’t wanna make you miss it.”
Though Cuppy was still definitely nervous, this… Helped a bit. They felt so unhappy seeing their absolutely destroyed raft, especially after their bad dream last night. They were glad neither the Cherries, nor Trophy were making a big deal about it, and that things could just be normal. That’s what Cup needed right now.
…
Thankfully, they were able to shake off most of their nerves by the time they reached the art class. Trophy just waved a simple ‘bye’ wave, before heading off to do his own thing as they all made it back into the hotel, Cherries leading Cup to the art room again. They liked this room a lot. It had a certain smell, and vibe to it that they liked, even if they weren’t too skilled of an artist, on account of them being armless, and it being hard to draw with just their paws.
“Just take any seat that’s available, we’ll get started soon, we’re just waiting for a few more objects to show up.” Paintbrush gestured to a few empty stools, all with canvases at the ready. Cuppy shuffled over to one in the front row of stools, wanting to be able to hear and see clearly. The Cherries moved to take the stools next to them, the three of them waiting, not for long though, as a few more objects showed up. Eventually, Paintbrush started the class, explaining the subject of today, which was… Certainly something? They watched as Paintbrush placed a stool onto the stage in the room, the thing sitting on the stool being a small, red crab.
“Today’s subject is to draw Baxter, but in an abstract way. Something a bit different than usual, I know, but I’m just kinda running out of ideas.” Paintbrush ran a hand through their bristles, sighing sheepishly, as the other objects in the room began to paint, and start their projects. Cuppy glanced at their canvas, then to the crab, who was completely still, the only movements it seemed to make was the way its body slightly bounced as it blinked. Crabs were weird, Cuppy decided. Despite thinking this was weird though, they took the brush in their mouth, dipping it carefully into the paint palette they had set between them and Cherries, who were gleefully painting away, theirs looking… Well, definitely abstract. Cup held the brush in their mouth, really thinking about how they could make this abstract. They wondered if their not-so-great artstyle would count, if they just drew the crab basically, but that would be lazy, wouldn’t it. Maybe they could just… Focus on a certain shape? And go from there. Yeah, that would work. They glanced around the room a bit, seeing all the other objects painting away with varying focus. Paintbrush was busy having a hushed conversation with one of the other objects, a purple candle, so they couldn’t really ask them for assistance right now. They sighed, looking back at their canvas, the idea of squares, and rectangles finally coming to mind for the shape. It wasn’t… Entirely creative, but it would work. They struggled a bit, this being hard to do with their mouth after all, but they eventually found themselves getting used to it.
Their finished piece was nothing to be proud of, but they were happy with it anyways, if not just at the feat of being able to paint something at all.
As the class wrapped up, as it was getting closer to the hotel’s dinner service, Paintbrush was going around checking out all the different paintings, placing them all on display on the stage for everyone to see. Theirs was far from the best, most others being a lot more interesting, and colorful, but the proud feeling lingered. Even if art might not be their thing, this had still definitely been fun. They left the room feeling thankfully much happier than they had felt coming in, knowing they’d definitely enjoy coming back for the next art class, though they had to hope they’d be less nervous so they could actually ask for tips on drawing next time.
Now though, they found themselves on the couch with MePhone, who was fiddling with his hands, trying to explain something that Cuppy hadn’t actually been paying enough attention to listen to-- though they didn’t mean to ignore him, immediately trying to focus again;
“So yeah, um, if it’s okay with you, I’m kinda sorta gonna be looking out for you for a while?” MePhone shrugged, glancing away, unable to explain it any other way. Cuppy raised an eyebrow, a bit confused.
“What?”
“Uh… OJ thought it would be a good idea if someone kept an eye on you.”
“Am I in trouble?” Cuppy immediately worried, shrinking in on themselves a bit, before MePhone quickly clarified;
“No! No, you’re not! Don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble, it’s just… um, crap… Uh… It’s just to make sure nothing bad happens, okay? Not something bad like ‘you caused it’ bad, just like, so nothing bad happens to you. Yeah. Sorry, I’m bad at words today.” MePhone sighed, sliding a hand down his face.
“Oh. Okay. But you promise I’m not in trouble?”
“No? Why would you be? Did you do something bad?”
“No! I didn’t, I just… um, never mind…” Cuppy mumbled out, glancing away too.
MePhone shuffled awkwardly where he sat, feeling like this was going worse than expected. He had already screwed up, hadn’t he?
“It’s fine, okay? Everything’s fine.” MePhone assured, trying to help the nervous kid not feel so bad about this.
“Okay..” Was all they answered, now just neutrally staring down at the carpet.
“Do you want me to grab you some dinner?”
“Sure,” They glanced up, their expression still mostly neutral. Really, Cuppy didn’t know why they felt so bad. They had been assured that this wasn’t a bad thing, that this wasn’t some sort of punishment, but they still felt bad. They didn’t want to feel bad, so they just hoped whatever dinner was would distract them from these feelings.
They hated how hard it was for them to feel normal, really. They just wanted to be a happy, fun kid. The Cherries were like that, so why couldn’t they be like that, too? They didn’t want to say they were jealous, but… Envy was definitely a part of what they felt.
Thankfully though, they were at least distracted as MePhone brought back a plate of whatever had been made for dinner. They didn’t actually know what this was, curiously asking MePhone.
“I think it’s uh…” MePhone paused, taking a bite from his own plate, trying to determine it for himself;
“Tastes like some sort of beef. I dunno.” He shrugged, speaking while mid-chew. “Harmless enough, I think.”
“Oh, okay,” Cuppy proceeded to take a bite of it themselves, thankfully unbothered by the taste, liking it enough to finish it, with a little assistance from MePhone, since eating stuff with a fork was hard with no arms. It was just a little awkward, but it was fine.
This had been a long day, with really a lot of ups and downs, but Cuppy was hoping things wouldn’t stay this weird forever. They were getting used to things just a little bit though, at least. They surely just needed to sleep this sad feeling off, and they’d be fine. That’s what they usually did on days like this, anyways, residing in their room not long after dinner was done, not waiting up for the Cherries today, who were still out of the room. Things here were definitely not as bad as they were back at their old home, but it was still just a little hard mentally. They couldn’t really do much about how they felt though, unfortunately.
Maybe tomorrow will be better.
They hoped it would be.