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It’s a day after BFDIA 14, and Needle is exhausted.
She had to complete a duo’s challenge basically solo yesterday, since her teammate—Pencil—was incapacitated. Climbing isn’t easy when you have to lug around ten times your weight (Needle is only 0.7 grams, so how can she be expected to carry around Pencil, who weighs a grand sum of 10 grams ? Guess Needle’s athletic prowess helped her out this time). But , Needle thinks, it was kind of fun, in a challenging sort of way. Pencil did wake up eventually, though, when she’d been revived with the anti-poison at Dora’s island. Then, they were fortunately able to continue the rest of the challenge and actually win; yet, all of that competition leaves a girl pretty tired. And hungry, too.
To rest, Needle flops down on the forest ground, laying her back against a tree. It’s cool against her body, tree bark on her steel skin feeling almost therapeutic with how nice it felt. She plants her feet firmly on the grass, reveling in the nice sensation of grass in between her toes. It’s a needed contrast from the hustle and bustle of BFDIA. Well, Needle can’t complain too much. She was eliminated in the seventh episode of BFDI, and now she has the opportunity to compete for longer. It’s a guarantee that she isn’t getting eliminated next episode with her and Pencil’s immunity, so she’ll be able to compete until BFDIA 15, at the very least. Nonetheless, Needle decides to enjoy the moment. Who knows when she will be expected to make another act of sacrifice, or when she’ll have to make another Dream Island? She closes her eyes, relaxing at once.
The moment doesn’t last very long, because Pencil appears out of seemingly nowhere, her voice booming into Needle’s eardrums. “Hey, Needy! Let’s go for a ride!” she basically shouts, forcing Needle to crack open her eyelids and jump up.
Needle slaps Pencil—that’s what you get, for calling her Needy; everyone knows this—then, she’s momentarily surprised. Pencil’s asking her to hang out? Where are the other FreeSmarters—wouldn’t they rather go with her? She expresses this confusion, saying, “Wait, me? Why?”
Pencil rolls her eyes. “Well, I didn’t really want to go with you in the first place. After all, you aren’t a full FreeSmarter… but, tough times call for tough decisions. Nobody else wanted to go with me for a ride, so you’re the only one left.” She crosses her arms, looking at her arms bored as Needle struggles to make a coherent response.
“Seriously?” is the only word that comes out of her mouth.
“I have the keys to the FreeSmart SuperVan right here. If you don’t want to go, maybe I’ll just demote you to a bember , because you don’t really deserve the role of alternate,” Pencil threatens. Needle can feel her face getting hot. She glares at Pencil, though the latter doesn’t seem to notice, since she continues to kick the ground and disturb the dirt. Pencil has to be kidding , Needle hopes.
Then, she shrugs her shoulders. What choice does she have, really? Maybe this can be her initiation into FreeSmart. Where she can prove to Pencil she’s worth becoming a Full FreeSmarter , or, in other words, a member. She’s already done an act of sacrifice, so what’s another sacrifice to her in the grand scheme of things? Never mind the fact that this is the exact thing she didn’t want to do at all today. It’s for the greater good , she reasons to herself. So, Needle follows Pencil as she unlocks the van, stepping in the fancy car after Pencil does.
Needle realizes she’s never actually been in the FreeSmart SuperVan. The inside’s surprisingly, really good-looking , and the chairs are plush to the touch. Great for relaxing during the ride to God-knows-where, since there’s no way in hell Pencil’s going to convince Needle to drive.
Well… Needle does like driving, sometimes. If it’d help her move up the FreeSmart ‘corporate’ ladder, then, maybe.
Before Needle even sits down, she stops for a minute to just look. Velvety red carpet flooring, yellow seats for the front and grayish-white for the back, black interior walls with a whole lot of disco lights (they are eye-catching at first, then mesmerizing when you look at them for longer than two seconds), stars, for some reason, a working air-conditioner that doesn’t spew hot air out in the middle of summer, an actual recovery center —yes, this is the dream. The FreeSmart SuperVan’s a V.I.P. perk of being in Pencil’s elusive club, and Needle’s ecstatic to have it. This is probably the first time she’s had such a luxurious experience like this, and to share it with people she can call alliance members— friends, too; it’s amazing. Even if Pencil’s the only one, save for Needle herself, that’s in the SuperVan currently.
“Can you stop gawking for a second and sit down? This is getting boring, just waiting for you.” Pencil deadpans from the driver’s seat, hands already placed firmly on the wheel.
“I’ll sit down once you put on your seatbelt.”
“Hmph.” Pencil reluctantly agrees, fastening the belt, hand on the gear shift. Needle sits down as well, pulling the headrest up to lean back on it.
The engine revs, and then they’re off on the road. Pencil navigates out of the forest smoothly, kicking up the dirt on the floor in large dust clouds. Needle watches Pencil drive the van for a minute—examining her moments and the way she drives so expertly—before looking away, cheeks slightly flushed. She directs her attention to the window instead, glancing at the trees that become more and more sparse as they steer closer to the desert. The deep green that’s become so familiar to Needle in the time that the BFDIA contestants have been located in the Evil Forest fades in the blink of an eye, dispersing to let the bright yellow color of the desert’s sand populate the ground in its place.
Only an hour into the ride, it becomes so sweltering that even when Needle opens the window, she’s still sweating the equivalent of what could’ve been all the water in the Goiky Canal. Needle only takes her eyes off of the sand to reach over Pencil to turn on the AC, irritating Pencil for a second. Pencil glares at Needle, but the latter just grins teasingly at Pencil. It was hot, anyway, Needle thinks to herself. Pencil’s eyes soften, then harden. She looks back at the wheel. Needle slumps back in her seat, resuming to looking out the window.
Two hours later, they pass the Burj Khalifa. It stands tall—so tall Needle can’t see the top of it even when she drops down to the carpet to try to look at the tallest floor.
“What the hell are you even doing, Needy?”
“Don’t call me Needy,”—Needle slaps Pencil for the second time of the day—”and, well, I’m just trying to see the top of the Burj Khalifa.” she shrugs.
In a rare moment of kindness, Pencil suggests, “We can literally just take a break to see it, y’know. You don’t gotta do… whatever it was that you were doing right now.” She puts her foot on the brake, waiting until the SuperVan skidded to a stop to take her foot off of it.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I didn’t actually have a plan. Guess this is it, then.”
Needle’s stunned for a second, then she starts to giggle a little. “You didn’t know where we were going? This was just a two hour joyride, without all the recklessness?”
“Didn’t I advertise it as that, like, when I told you we were going on a ride?”
“...No?”
“Are you trying to gaslight me? I literally did,” Pencil starts to unbuckle her seatbelt. Needle’s seatbelt was already off from when she decided she wanted to see the height of the Burj Khalifa, so she doesn’t follow Pencil’s actions. Instead, she pulls her short hair into an equally as small ponytail: they’re still in the desert, after all, and hair produces heat.
“You said ‘let’s go for a ride,’ not ‘let’s go for a joyride’ .” Needle argues.
“Psh, tomato, tomahto. Same difference.” Pencil finally unlocks the car doors, and Needle’s able to walk out to see the huge building that towers over her at once. It’s scary, how big it is.
Pencil moves to her left-hand side after a moment, standing adjacent to Needle. Needle barely notices her, too immersed in staring at the Burj Khalifa. She feels like a tourist, the type that obsesses over marvels that get old pretty fast if you’re a local. Yet, it’s nice being able to let go for a minute; it’s so easy to get swept up in the wonder and forget about her troubles. The building’s huge, and it’s so much larger than anything Needle could think of, and it’s going to have so much more of an impact on the world than Needle’s problems ever could. It’s comforting. This monument of architectural genius will be in the history books. Needle’s struggle with identity wont. She’s so small, compared to this.
Needle smiles.
She notices Pencil looking at Needle oddly from her peripheral vision. Though, it isn’t a hostile expression. Pencil looks weirdly calm, scanning Needle’s face for whatever reason. Needle doesn’t directly look at Pencil, but she can almost feel Pencil’s eyes skirting downer and downer until they shoot up again just to repeat the process all over. Needle has half a mind to ask Pencil to stop, yet, something in her tells her to not say anything about it.
They stand side by side for a little bit longer. Pencil’s hand brushes Needle’s, and wordlessly, they intertwine. Pencil’s hand is warm and soft, whereas Needle’s is a bit more strong from years at the gym. Needle’s hand is a little sweaty, and internally she’s a bit scared if Pencil’s going to care about something like that. Pencil’s a nitpicky person. But, much to Needle’s delight, Pencil just squeezes once and continues to grasp Needle’s hand in hers. Needle squeezes back. If only the moment could last forever…
A tumbleweed rolls by, and Pencil takes her hand out from their embrace. Needle pretends to pay no mind to the action.
The novelty gone from staring at the skyscraper for so long, Needle says to Pencil, “How about we go somewhere else now? Do you have anywhere in mind now, since you didn’t have a plan the first time?”
“Rude. Of course I do.” Pencil scoffs, puffing up like a bird ruffling their feathers. “We’re going to Yoyle City, and then we’ll find someplace fun from there.”
“Yoyle City’s a bit too far. It’s all the way in Yoyleland, and that’ll probably take us the entire day to get to, not counting the trip back. I have plans tomorrow with the rest of W.O.A.H. Bunch, so that’s not possible.” Needle reasons.
“Who cares about W.O.A.H. Bunch? This is your chance to become a FreeSmarter . Pin and Coiny are of no use to you, anyway.” Pencil turns to face Needle, waving her hand in the air dismissively. She takes the car keys to the SuperVan out, unlocking the car as if the decision was already definite. “I’m—We, FreeSmart, we’re more important to you than them .” Pencil sneers, the emphasis on the word ‘them’ making the word feel more of a slur rather than a pronoun .
“Don’t say that. I like W.O.A.H. Bunch. I enjoy hanging out with Pin and Coiny; they’re my friends, too. And if I say no, then it means no.”
“So, what? Do you like Pin and Coiny more than me?” She laughs, a cold sort of laugh.
Needle opens her mouth, then hesitates. Did she like Pencil more than her other alliance mates? How is she supposed to decide, when she’d only known both parties personally for just a little while—barely a few episodes in a season? She weighs both groups in her mind, envisioning a scale that held Pencil (It holds all of FreeSmart, but… she didn’t really know the other people in the alliance better than she did Pencil, so maybe the scale held only Pencil on the FreeSmart side,) on one pan and Pin and Coiny on the other pan. Pencil is nice. FreeSmart is great. She really likes FreeSmart, even if Pencil refuses to see her constant acts of sacrifice. But, on the other hand, she’s known W.O.A.H. Bunch for longer than FreeSmart. So, she’s split down the middle.
Who should she pick?
“...I don’t know,” she says finally.
“If you can’t choose between me or those freaks, then the answer’s clear. You’re going with me to Yoyle City, obviously.” Pencil stalks over to the car, dragging Needle by the wrist along with her.
“They aren’t freaks.” Needle stops dead in her tracks, imprinting her feet into the sand so Pencil wouldn’t be able to take her anywhere.
“Fine. Do you want a little incentive?”
Pencil takes her hand from Needle’s wrist harshly, sharply placing her arms around the midpoint of Needle’s body. Instantaneously, she leans in for a kiss, practically mushing their faces together in what barely counted as a kiss —it was more of Pencil bumping her lips into Needle’s. Needle, shell-shocked, gasps, and in response, Pencil shoves her tongue into Needle’s open mouth. The questions of what is happening right now, what should I do, do I kiss back or what, bounce around in Needle’s head. She is utterly at a loss; this is just all too sudden.
Needle could taste the wood of Pencil’s skin. Pencil’s lips feel warm, but they’re chapped and bitter at the same time. Needle wants to pull back, yet she continues to reciprocate the kiss. She likes Pencil. A lot. But… something’s missing. Is this really what she wants?
She doesn’t get to make a decision for Pencil ends the kiss abruptly, jerking her hands away. “There. I know you like me, and I like you back. We can be a couple together.” Pencil smiles. It doesn’t reach her eyes.
“With Pin and Coiny… well, there’s something going on with them that just doesn’t include you. You’ll only ever be a third-wheel to them. However, you aren’t a third-wheel with me.” She pauses. “You’re special.”
Needle stands silent. She looks at Pencil, then at the floor.
“I don’t know,” she reiterates. Then, she says, “Okay. Let’s go to Yoyle City. Maybe we’ll have fun.”
“We will have fun, that’s for sure!” Pencil grins.
Pencil opens the car door, and they get into the van. Just like before, they put on their seatbelts and Pencil starts the engine. Soon enough, the Burj Khalifa is out of view, and they’re headed towards Yoyleland.
The car ride is eerily silent. The trip from the Evil Forest to the Southern Goiken Desert was fairly quiet too, but this one has an uncomfortable quiet lingering in the air. Needle turns on the radio, letting herself be swayed to sleep by the top 100 pop hits of today.
✎✏✐
Needle awakes when they’re on the block of the Yoyle Needy, Pencil shaking her to bring her back to the present. She swears she had a nightmare, though, about what was forgotten during the nap. Images of pencils and pins and coins come to mind, but they’re jumbled together and hard to discern individually.
“I parked right at the Yoyle Needy. I checked it out when you were sleeping, but there’s nothing cool near here. So, how do you feel about the Yoyle Mall? It’s a bit of climbing to get there, however.” Pencil explains when Needle’s finally come to her senses. Needle barely registers the word ‘needy’, but when she does Pencil gets a slap, even though she wasn’t talking about Needle. Pencil rolls her eyes, used to it at this point.
“Shopping’s boring, and nobody’s here to man the register anyway,” Needle rubs the sleep out of her eyes, sitting upright. “Are there no bowling alleys around here or something like that?”
“I mean, there’s yoyleball. We could play it in the Yoyle Stadium.”
“Sure.” Needle opens the car door, walking out onto the sidewalk. Pencil’s right behind her, carrying a plastic bag with her.
“What’s in the bag?” Needle inquires.
“Duh, a yoyleball. How’re we going to play the game without the special ball?” Pencil takes out the metallic ball gingerly, being careful to avoid the spikes. “I got it way back when I was younger, and I never used it. I just remembered I had it, like right now. It’s a rubber ball painted a metallic purple, just because real yoyle metal’s too annoying to deal with." she clarifies.
Needle hums in lieu of a response. Then, together, they make their way to the Yoyle Stadium—just a few blocks away. Hopping the bar that only moves unless you have a ticket, they reach the fake grass field in almost no time. In the middle of the field, Pencil suggests Water-Sponge-Fire to decide who gets the ball first.
“Water, sponge, fire, say ‘ shoot! ’” the two say in unison.
Pencil reveals her sign, fire, and Needle sighs. “Why’d you pick sponge, anyway? Thinking about Spongy?” Pencil snickers. “Fire burns sponge. You lose!”
“I just thought that you’d pick water.” Needle shrugs. “Also, you’re acting like a complete schoolgirl right now.”
“OK, and?” Pencil takes the ball to her side of the field, standing right in front of the western goal post. Needle takes a stand by the eastern one.
Pencil kicks the ball with her foot, wincing when it catches on a spike. Needle takes this information as the spikes are metal, even if the ball isn’t. Maybe they shouldn’t play this; someone (Pencil, since Needle was a bit more experienced in the field of athletics) could get hurt. Nonetheless, Needle catches the ball, cleverly avoiding the metal spikes by gripping where there isn’t anything but metallic paint. Unfortunately, the spike still hits her palm, and bounces to the floor as Needle accidentally lets go in the pain.
“I don’t think this is going so well,” Pencil shouts from her spot all the way on the opposite side of the stadium.
“Agreed,” Needle shouts back, cradling the injured hand. It’s just red, not bleeding. But, it still hurts like hell.
Pencil limps over to Needle, holding Needle’s red hand in hers when she arrives. “How about we go to a nearby hotel and stay the night there?”
“As long as it’s not the Live Here Hotel. Or, I guess, the Evil Here Hotel. I heard from Team No-Name that it sucks.”
“Alright, Needy.” Pencil simpers, knowing for a fact that Needle’s dominant one is the one she used to slap, and with that one incapacitated, Needle can’t slap her.
“Don’t call me Needy,” Needle responds half-heartedly. She still manages to slap Pencil with her left hand, however.
They stand there for a long while, hands interlocked, yoyleball forgotten on the floor. For a minute, Needle can enjoy herself.