Chapter Text
It was finally another day at the hotel, after last night, Four decided to have a talk with Two. Their strange behaviour genuinely pissed him off, and clearly that was the only reason and he wasnt feeling anything else towards this. Anyway, he got off their bed, went to the bathroom so they could look at himself at the mirror and..
‘’Wait, why am i doing that?’’ Four thought out loud, he didn’t even think of an answer himself before leaving the bathroom and his room respectively. They were walking through the hallways until he was met with X, who was surprised to see Four out of his room so early.
‘’Four, good morning! What’s the-’’
‘’Do you know where Two is?’’ He interfered.
‘’Huh, Two? Since when you go out looking for them?’’
‘’IT DOESNT MATTER. Have you seem them or not???’’
‘’Uhhh... Well at this time in the morning i think they are talking with the constestants on the kitchen, i don’t know if they changed that habit after One’s doing around here.’’ While talking, they was pointing towards the kitchen, who was just down the hallway were he came from. Four didn’t even say thanks or anything before going straight into the kitchen.
And then there was X, alone, just thinking what has gotten into Four.. Either way, he decided he can just ask later since they were so focused on talking with Two.
At the kitchen, there were a plenty of constestants talking with eachother, Four looked around, trying to see if Two was anywhere to be seen, but nothing. Nothing of their loud laughter or their annoying voice. They clearly wasnt here.
‘’Soo.. Are you going to move out of the door or not?’’ A familiar voice spoke behind him, which he quickly turned his head. It was Gaty, the last time he seem her was.. Wait, Gaty is one of Two’s close friends! Four unconsciously put their hands on both of her shoulders and did the same question.
‘’Have you seen Two anywhere??’’
‘’Why are- huh? Two?’’ She looked at Four’s face, obviously startled by their query. ‘’Uh. Well, i’m pretty sure i would’ve seen them by now. They always wake up early and always goes to the kitchen first but.. I guess today isn’t the day, so, no i haven’t seem them which is kinda of weird. Why do you ask tho?’’
Four only got more stressed, how come Gaty hasn’t seem Two?? What has gotten into them that the moment he needs them, they are nowhere to be seen?
‘’.. It’s none of your business, you can pass now.’’ He took of his hands of her shoulders and left. Gaty was dumbfounded by what just happened. And it was only nine in the morning!
Ok. Maybe Four was just really unlucky, perhaps Two is still sleeping at their room. Should he check on it just to be sure they havent gone missing? Nahh, there is no point at looking at that!
The next second, Four found themselves in front of Two’s room.. Again. For the second day in a row. Seriously? What the hell has gotten into them?
Well, that doesnt really matter now. He will just knock on the door, if Two is in there they will probably answer, and if they are sleeping, they will wake up and answer, they wake up pretty easily.
So that’s Four did, they knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
No one answered the first time.
To be sure, they knocked for the second time.
No one answered again.
He was getting more nervous then they already were. But instead of thinking ‘’oh they are probably somewhere else!’’ like any normal being would, Four trying opening the door and it was.. Unlocked?
He looked to the left, looked to the right, didnt see any witnesses.. He entered Two’s room, quickly closing the door behind them.
And.. Yea, Two wasnt there either. Ok. But he noticed something.
X sometimes visits Two’s room just to hang out, he always commented that Two’s room was one of the most tidy rooms around the hotel, and they have never seem it messy, only when Gaty went missing and Two didn’t get out of bed, but that’s another case.
But now, his eyes are seeing a similiar messy room to what they just mentioned. The bed is all untidy, the floor has some crumpled paper balls.. If their memory doesnt fail them, he was sure this room was clean, the same day Gaty came back, especifically. So, why is it like that again?..
This made Four even more furious, first, they still havent found Two, second, apparently they arent in the places they are supposed to be, and lastly, their room is horrible. What is going on?
Well, Four wasn’t really a fan of messy rooms, but he had to focus on looking for Two, so-
They cleaned up their entire room. Genuinely, can he focus on his own goal?
———
Meanwhile, Two was sitting under a tree, their knees close to their chest. They sighed and hugged their own legs. They were having the same thoughts they were having yesterday before Four came in. Honestly, it wasnt that bad as it was before, but they still wished they could talk to someone about this. But who could hear them?
Gaty was one of the reasons they were thinking about this, and also, she just came back! They dont want to burden her with their feelings again.
X feels sick with just the mention of what happened that day. They dont blame him for feeling like that, a value must mean everything for someone who isnt sure of their own.
The other algebraliens arent that close to them either, only Eight, but... It wasnt worth bothering him with their feelings.
And Four... Why would Four ever want to listen to Two anyway? Why were they thinking that? Well, of course Four apologized yesterday about the way he acted but, that was yesterday! They can’t just go up to him and say ‘’heyyy can i talk about my feelings to you or no??” that would be so weird.
Two sighed again. It seems they are on their own in this case. Which is awful, they had this terrible habit to ignore their own feelings until they can talk about them, but if there is no one to talk to, what can they do?? Talk to themselves? Well, they did that multiple times before arriving here, but that never worked, so why would it work now?
‘’This is hopeless..’’ Two said to themselves, laying their head on their knees.
In contrast to their thought, the place they were on was really comfortable, so they decided they would be there until their thoughts go away or something.
‘’I am going to stay here for the whole day aren’t i...’’
———
It’s been hours, and Two was nowhere to be seen.
Four asked for multiple contestants, and all of them gave the same lame answer.
‘’If they aren’t in certain place, then i don’t know where they are.’’
Why is this happening the only time Four genuinely wants to have a normal chat with Two?? This is stressing them out.
Well, it was late afternoon, the last place he is going to check before considering Two has gone missing is the one with a single tree. They’ve known about this place because X is much of an explorer than he is, so when they found out about that place, they immediately showed it to Four, and well, it was pretty, but he only went there that one time and that’s it.
Four was getting tired himself, with his powers, he would go teleporting or flying around looking for them easily! But noo... They had to let him stay without it for a while.
Anyways, arriving there, they saw someone sitting down, looking towards the sun, and after some good seconds of looking, they finally realized it was Two. Atleast he didnt overreact when he saw them!
‘’OH MY MATH I FINALLY FOUND YOU!’’ Four ran toward Two, almost falling on them. but he leaned towards the tree before the worst happened.
Two was obviously astonished by, well, Four yelling at them. ‘’... Four?’’
‘’Where. Have. You. BEEN?! I looked for you the entire day! You weren’t in the kitchen, you weren’t in your room, you weren’t in your stupid pool... Wait. Don’t tell me you’ve been here the whole time.’’
Two looked at Four, staring at them for a while. Processing about what he just said. Four? Looking for Two? This should be on the news! Either way, they needed to answer, Four is getting more irritated by the second, but Two’s answer would probably stress them out even more.
‘’I have horrible news.’’ That was all that Two said.
‘’Huh? What news- oh.’’
They both stared at eachother again. And that’s when Four really lost it
‘’Are you SERIOUS?? You spent the whole day HERE??? What has gotten into you?? First, you look awfully weird yesterday, then your room is looking like X trying to solve math equations for the first time, and now you stay the whole day HERE? Have you even moved at all??’’
Two was about to laugh about Four’s crash out, until they realized he wasnt wrong, they were acting weird. Their face even looked a little sadder after realizing that.
‘’No, i haven’t.’’ They replied. They expected Four to get more irritated but.. He didn’t
Instead, his expression slowly became more neutral with a tiny bit of.. Worry? He looked straight into Two’s eyes, and sat down next to them, staying silent. Two felt their face warm up a little.
This was the first time Four and Two were so close and without any of them fighting with eachother, it was rather nice, to say atleast.
At some point, they were watching the sun set. It was a beautiful sight, both of them appreciating the view. With that, Four decided to break the silence.
‘’I’ve noticed you were acting strange.’’ He started, he turned his face towards Two, which they looked back. ‘’Like i’ve mentioned before, you don’t usually sound anxious and you prefer being organized all the time. So.. okidontbelieveimaskingyouthis. But are you.. Ok?’’
Two was stunned. Four apologizing yesterday wasn’t good enough, they came all the way to them to ask if they were fine??? Are they dreaming? Either way, Two started their words, they don’t to sound like they are joking or anything, if Four understands them the wrong way, this moment will be ruined, and that’s the last thing they want to happen.
‘’Don’t lie to me.’’ Four added, Two was taking too long to his temper to bear
‘’I wasn’t going to!’’ They responded. ‘’... Look, are you willing to listen to me right now? Like, you don’t have anything else to do?’’
‘’Why do you think i’m here?’’
‘’Right. Sorry.’’ Two stopped for some more seconds, they turned the face towards the view before finally beginning to actually talk. ‘’It’s just that i have been feeling... Selfish, really selfish.’’
‘’Hm?’’ Four’s expression quickly changed to a shocked one. But they remained silent.
‘’Everytime that i’m on a situation that makes me anxious, nervous or anything like that, i just think about myself, like, one of the challenges was about surviving an apocalypse, that wasn’t even in my plans! I just made it on the moment because i didn’t know what to do. And there’s the incident with... Three. I couldn’t even look at her properly. I just gave her a blanket and food and.. Went back to chill on the grass. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous to you?.. No, of course it does right everything i do to you is-’’
‘’I think that is your way to cope.’’ Four interrupted
‘’What?’’
‘’... X told me that everyone has a way to cope. Maybe that’s just yours. I mean, i’m pretty sure nothing else that bad has happened before... Three’s value got.. You know. That was kinda the first time all of us dealed with that much stress. So we all had different ways to react.’’
For the first time ever, Four actually sounded that he knew how to respond to someone in distress, like they... Understood.
‘’Still,’’ They continued ‘’That doesn’t mean it is like, ‘correct’ to act this way. Why do you think i apologized yesterday? If anything, just apologize to whoever you feel you have treated wrong, even if that means apologizing to all of the contestants. Although if i were you, i wouldn’t care about making some challenge on spot.’’
Two eyes’ seemed that they were sparking in awe. They didn’t know Four could be a good listener, or even a good adviser. Those words meant so much to them they started crying, plenty of tears falling down their eyes
Four looked confused and stressed ‘’ok why are you crying again i did NOT say anything bad... Right?’’
‘’Of course not, silly! That was everything that i wanted to hear!’’ Two jumped on Four to give them a hug. Completely forgetting that Four wasn’t a big fan of hugs, except that this time.. Four actually let Two hug them. He even retributed it.
Both of them stayed on that hug for a while, Two was sobbing like there was no tomorrow and Four was akwardly accepting the fact he will have to endure this hug until Two felt like it. But it wasn’t that bad.. Honestly, it wasnt bad at all. It was good. Really good.
Two finally decided to release from the embrace. Wiping away their own tears. ‘’Thank you so much, Four.. Like, seriously, thank you. I didn’t expect you to-’’
‘’Yeaaa ok that’s enough no problem no need to continue on this.’’ Four cutted in Two’s words, trying to sound like they didn’t care but his face was blushing so much that it was impossible to hide his embarresement, Two even giggled a little.
‘’Alright then.’’ Now they are both in silent, again, except this time is kinda of akward, then Four realized something.
‘’Have you eaten today?’’
‘’Have i- oh.’’ Two made a nervous look.
‘’I cannot believe this. You are going to eat RIGHT. NOW.’’ Four got up and grasped one of Two’s hands, forcing them to get up too, except they are almost falling every single moment due to lack of powers but he doesn’t care.
Two tried stopping him saying they could just teleport, but Four insisted on taking them there walking, because that’s all he had done the entire day. Two just had no choice but accept it.
Although, they are glad that atleast Four is showing some care for them, even if they don’t want to admit it. They are glad someone is there to look after them.
Someone that understands them, too.