Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gelatin had gotten the remaining contestants that hadn't gone off to bfb, Firey and Leafy who went off on a boat, and wherever Loser was, and gathered them all for a quote on quote.

“Road trip!” Gelatin exclaimed to the others which included: Lollipop, Taco, Flower, Spongy, Blocky, Woody and Ruby. “And where are we going?” Taco had to get off of work for this (well if work was just sitting around and reading) so it better be important. Taco notices Lollipop stepping forward to the right of her at the corner of her eye. “And where are we even going?” The Lollipop questioned and everyone joined in with harmonious whispered questions.

“Ya! Me and my buddy woody here was planning to go hang out” Taco turned her eyes from Lollipop taller figure and focused to the opposing side to see Blocky hook an arm around Woodys body as he gave a whiny “aeh” of agreement. ‘Ya right! Planning to make out more like’ Taco thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. “Well I was planning to see whats happening with our friends in… TPOT!! It will be so exciting!!” Gelatin squealed, motioning to the bus. If Taco were to be honest that did sound appealing. It would be nice to catch up with old friends.. Maybe talk to book, after all that happened it would be nice for a fresh start- her thoughts were inturpted by Lollipop prodding at her shell.

“First of all we are headed into the bus.” Taco quickly noticed the moveing crowd and followed suit with Lollipop who was taking smaller steps beside her, most likely from the leg length difference. “Sooo, thinking of attempting to apologize to bell agian” Taco immediately felt here hardshell heating up, she stumbled, she probably looked so stupidly flustered. “what, what do you mean? How do you know about that…?” her voice cracked as she spoke timidly, twiddling with her fingers as she struggled up the steep bus stairs. Annoyance rising as she watches Lollipop step up them with ease past her. Sure does suck being the shortest contestant… “I saw your arguement with her, you know, I never did really know the context of it, it would be kind to tell.” Lollipop said with a teasing smirk as she watched taco follow her up to two seats near the back of the bus, making there way through the slim walkway. lollipop took the anishative sitting on the walkway side seat whilst Taco sat on the seat near the window.setting down her book bag into the seat I front of her “Seem very.. Flustered! About it” Lolli said with a snearing grin. “Ya ya.. *sigh* its a long story.” “not as long as this bus ride, right?” she wrapped her head around the series of events that caused the argument in her head, guilt and regret coursing through her, she listening to the quite engine of the bus as it started up and started moveing. Staring and the blue red and orange gradient seat in front of her she could see Blocky and Woody haveing a convo in through the crack in between the two of them.

“Well.. During the twinkle episode my team got trapped on the moon with another team, and the twinkle and I had to get it off to save my team so I jumped off and landed back on earth and went to find a solution.. I ran into bell and kinda, perhaps.. Maybe… flirted with them- uh accidently! I feel really bad about it. so ya I should apologize..” Taco stared down at her lap shamefully while Lollipop raised an eyebrow at her. “That makes sense, is that it though.. Anymore.. Feelings involved as you did play with hers” “no need to make me feel even more guilty then I already am, ya I might have gained some feelings for her afterwards.. Or before a little, I don't know!!”

She looked up to see Blocky draped over the top of the seat In front of the two girls. “You lesbians talking about girls?” he teased in his raspy voice “shut is gayass, I know what you are” Blocky swiftly ignored lollipops statement. “Sooo, what girl you talking about!~” Woody peaked over the seat with him looking questionably at blocky the the two girls. “None of your business blocky” Lollipop said with a shrug, “well, I'm going to go sit with Flower so cya Taco and Blocky.. And woody I guess.” she glanced over at Flower a few seets ahead in the other Row, waveing at her as she gave a small wave back. “Ya go off to see your girlfriend” Blocku teased and Lollipop ignored the statement, just making there way through the seats, placing her hand in every seat top to keep herself stable. Blocky and Taco watched her go. “Shes no fun, anyways, I'm still curious on what girl your talking about!”

“And I'm not telling you, I don't care if you bother me the whole ride its not that big of a deal.” ‘who does he think he is’ Taco thought to herself, her agitation growing. “Its that a challenge?” ‘Hes just trying to ragebait me, just ignore him and he will leave you alone!’ she grabbed her bag, unzipping it and taking a book out, Blocky would leave her alone.. Eventually..

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Taco watches the blurring forest outside her window as she sat, splayed out over the two conjoined seats. There was about Two more hours on the drive until they would get to the TPOT grounds. She wondered how Teardrop, Profiley, and Ballony were doing. The hardshell hadn’t heard from them in like 2 years, and objects can change quite exponentially in that time.

She had been reading for most of the ride, and even though she always read, it was getting quite tediousthough. So maybe she should listen to music for the rest of the ride for some variety.

She remembered she had packed some crappy wire headphones in her bag; they were probably extremely tangled. Siting up she picked up her green bag and put it between her legs, unzipping the top pocket and shuffling through it. Continuing to open the rest of the pockets and rummaging through each, reaching the largest pocket, she reached her hand inside and weaved her arm through the other objects in the bag and while scanning the bottom of the bag with her hand her fingers hooked into what felt like the headphones. Struggling to pull them out through the mountain of books, she was finally able to wrangle it out.

And as she suspected, the headphones that she grabbed with her index and pointer were indeed tangled past recognition. Serves her right for messily shoving them into the bottom when she first packed for this mystery trip. It looks like it would take at least 30 minutes to untangle the ball of misery to come. Grabbing her bag and dropping it on the floor beside her.

Well, it still would functio,n so that was a problem for another day. Plugging the headphones into the charger port of her phone and putting both earbuds in her ears. Going into Spotify and playing her playlist on shuffle.

’Abbey gover; I wish you liked girls.' Decent song, putting her phone down and looking up at the ceiling, all her mind was plagued with was thoughts of Bell. The way her metal shimmered in the light, her soft voice, how easily irritable she was. UGH! She didn't want to be thinking of this right now and this song wasn't helping. She shouldnt be thinking of Bell in these ways.

Skipping the song it landed on 'Mitski: crack baby' ‘’my playlist hates me. I don't want to sob about Bell now!' she hissed softly to herself as she hastily skipped the song before the water works came in.

’Metallica’ Metallica didn't remind her of Bell much. That would be fine. Setting the phone on her chest, she laid back onto the chair and closed her eyes.

This would be a long bus ride.

When Taco opened her eyes back up after disassociating for 2 hours, they had finally reached the TPOT grounds, ecstatically sitting up, she gazed out the window. Strange.. The grass was yellow? Wasnt grass usually green? Grassys green. Looking back she saw the others starting to make there way down the isle with chatter flowing through the bus of what to expect, noting the large grey building in the window she didnt remember.

She shoved her headphone back in her bag, pulled it onto her back, and made her way out of the bus with the others, hiking down the steep bus stairs until she reached the ground were a crowd had already formed. As her eyes scanned the crowd, she met Bells for a split second. And to her disdain, all she was met with was a surprised look from her that soon lowered to something unreadable from the distance. Should she go over? Or maybe it would be better to leave Bell be.

“So are you going to talk to Book?” Lollipop asked as Taco shifted her attention to the book a few feet from her, fidgeting with her hands, probably waiting for her turn to talk with her or too nervous to talk. Taco should take the initiative and talk to her.. Taking a ragged deep breath in, she approached Book.

“Oh hey Taco..!” Book croaked with a crooked smile, now she knew why she had this dreading feeling in her chest, this was so awkward! Book used to be so obstinate and annoying, but now, well.

“Nice to see you Book.” What to say next? Maybe ask about how TPOT is, but would that sound like she was salty about not going with Book or Book not joining her? This noisy but silent stare was getting more and more exasperating by the second, but it also felt so human. No.. it was that book acted more human, not just a prickly controlling loser like in BFB, her voice was so soft, her eyes flickering around vulnerably.

Two years can change objects. But maybe Taco should wait to talk with her after she unpacked and settled in.

“I'm going to go uh, unpack and stuff, I'll catch up with you another time Book.” Book gave a quick nod and ran back to what she guessed was her new team. And right now, she needed time to think about how to deal with future conversations.

Taco turned to see a green two. “Hello guys! Great to meet you! You have come to stay in the hotel I presume? Great heres your cards!” a red keycard was dropped into Tacos palms. “okay great go get settled! 4th floor.” two rushed them into a group and to the hotel.

They chalantly made their way to the hotel, before Taco went through the door she spotted Bell at the edge of the crowd, her eyes quickly ficking away from her in avoidance. Predictable. She continued into the hotel and packed into the elevator with the others, riding it to the 4th floor

Everyone dispersed in arranged conversations while Taco navigated her way through the hallway and reading off the door numbers until, actually reletivly quickly she reached her room. And she clicked the keycard and creaked open the door. fairly nice room.

At first glance, she could note: A bed that look to be about the size of a queen was sat on the left hand side of the room, a desk and door on the right wall, and most importantly, a mostly empty bookshelf on the back wall where she would definitely store the gallon of books she brought with her. The door automatically shut behind her with a click as she made her way through the room.

Dropping the keycard on the desk and dropping her heavy bag on the bed and pulling out assortment of stuff she brought. Even if the bag was heavy she didnt pack much, she didnt really have a life outside of the competitions, especially recently. It wasnt the time for that she was on what could be considered a vacation. Now to began a perfect start of her vacation, organizing all the books and pens she wanted, like always.

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Bell watched the bfb contestants flood from the bus through the crowd, she didnt have anyone that went to BFB that she missed but it wouldnt hurt to be curious. Lollipop, Blocky, Woody, Taco-.. Taco?! As there eyes meet she felt her heart spring in her chest, chocking in her throat.

Bells expression darkened and frustration filled her head. How dare Taco come back after all she had done to her! But the more bell looked at her, the more unsure she felt. she looked so sorry, so guilty- but why would she care, when taco never cared for her. Focusing back on the situation she noticed taco looking away from her.

How selfish! Taco was totally horrible. As she turned to just sit at the edge of the crowd all she felt was the unsetingly familiar pang of guilt and disappointment.

Exasperating - extremely annoying or displeasing, irritating.
Chalantly - opposite of non chilant. Messy?

Chapter Text

Taco slid the final Book Into place on the bookshelf and stepped back to admire her work, organized In alphabetical rows, perfect!.. What now? She should probably go downstairs, get a snack, maybe, talk to book. If It even mattered to her-No it must, she helped her bfb 13. she needs to stop overthinking it.

Turning around, Taco made her way out of her room and down the stairs, holding the door frame she spotted Blocky chatting with Grassy on the pink couch in the lobby. hoping to the floor she strolled over to the two.

"Oh Taco! Finally emerged from the depths of your room I see, were you putting your books in color coded order?" Taco was quick to defend herself
"no!.. Well I was organizing my books in alphabetical order which makes it a lot more sense and is more handy than color ordering them! in my opinion"

"And it took you three hours to do all that?" Blocky raised an eyebrow.

It didn't, it dawned on her that she was actually quite unmeticulous; In spending almost all of the past three hours organizing her books loosely then pacing for twice the time it took to organize books, she was always in the moment! Did the bus scramble her up? Must have.

Finally recovering through that daze of realization she answered. "Yes, it's harder than you think, plus I was also thinking about TPOT and such, what to expect, stuff like that."

Grassy tapped Blockys side. "Grassy needs to go, bye Blocky!" Grassy said, waved bye, and walked off to the elevator.

"Any idea where he's going?" Taco asks, turning back to Blocky. "I don't know.... Eliminations I think"

"Oh right there being eliminated, maybe that's why Two was in such a rush, where are they being eliminated again?"

"The roof I think, that's where it usually happens. Doubt you can get there in time while waiting for the elevator"

"who said I was using the elevator?"

Taco walked up the stairs like the trooper she knew she was, blocky should know she took track a few years ago! climbing a few flights of stairs is clock work. she swore everyone forgot about her skills. At the hotel roof and seeing the old bathrooms and floor brought back a rush of her best and worst memories. These lands are always changing so she's used to it but woah, still crazy.

She peaked over and saw The Strongest Team On Earth, specifically Bell, waiting for two to get started with the eliminations. As she sneaked over, Bell noticed her, her expression was only a disappointed glare that made her stop in her tracks. taking a deep breath she persevered and walked up to her. "hey Bell-" she was immediately interrupted by her insensitive comment.

"I don't want to hear it, Taco, Two is almost finished with the intro. sorry." The way she said Taco. Like it tasted bad on her tongue made her throat tightened, making her struggle to utter her next words. "oh, I'm sorry.."

"good luck bell"

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Taco slammed the door behind her and collapsed on her new bed, she could feel her ingredients shift slightly from the jerky movement, lifting up to her knees she held her head. What is wrong with her.. was she even trying? She never really deserved her beauty, she would never treat her the best. The way she said it without hesitation or regret.

She finally noticed the tears that drenched her face and shakily wipes them away. What even was so special about Bell to her, she hadn't even apologized to book yet, why did she try to apologize to Bell now? It's all so stupid, she was so stupid to feel this way about her. Tacos head spun so hard she felt like she needed to get a bag before she threw up. She was such a wreck. The first day she's here and she already broke down like an idiot.

Collapsing onto the bed, taco wrapped her body around a random pillow as she tried not to sob too loudly. Too afraid someone would hear and force her to talk about her feelings. For bell to figure out how she felt would be horrendous.

What's wrong with her, why was she like this, why does she cry so much over one girl. If bell saw her right now would she feel bad? of course she would. Everyone would feel bad to see a pathetic heartbroken girl.

The more she thought the more distressed she felt, covering her mouth with a hand just to not embarrass herself. And to hold back that nausea that kept hitting her in waves, it helped that too.

Would it be pity feeling though?

Or would she actually care about her.

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Watching taco slump down the stairs made her immediately regret her words, was she too harsh? She didn't intend to be mean like that. Did taco take it the wrong way?

She was just very nervous and agitated waiting for the elimination results, she was never the most popular. What if she gets eliminated and those were her last words to taco. Shit. If so. She really fucked up didn't she. this new possible contender made her shiver. her stomach churning until she heard her name.

"And bell. you got 2951 and 2559 respectively" Hearing her name being called lifted a huge weight off her back. She was so nervous thank god. But now she would have to go get food from two or something, she wasn't focusing much

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Taco picked up a bag of food for 4 and x, storage to see them again after such a long time. They just kind of disappeared after the competition. Other then that she was exhausted as she sat on the couch. Last night was a lot, Jesus. She was such an over reactor, nevermind. She should really stop thinking about it before she cries herself a river again.

Saying she cried for an hour was even an understatement, She probably cried for the whole night, at least she managed to sleep. she opened her bag and took a bite of her burger, this was actually surprisingly good.

"Taco?" Taco looked up to see, bell?! out of all people. She looked at her confused, her mouth to full of food to answer and look alright. "Sorry I was so harsh, I didn't mean it like that. I hope you didn't take it the wrong way." Searing her apology made her nearly choked on her food, ugh what was she doing, she needed to stop acting like an idiot. "Oh uh, don't worry bell. But thank you for the justification." This was her chance to make small talk!

"Happy to see you're not eliminated, did the challenge go well?" Bell gazed at the wall.

"Like any other. it was nice though."

"Ya I was waiting for the episode to be published last night." She was totally lying but it earned a look of  surprise, then turned her face again after a short moment.

"I didn't know it was released that early!- Oh right I have to do something, bye taco." She turned away and disappeared out of the building. The doors closing behind her. that girl really gave taco conflicting emotions

Maybe she did care.

She continued with her food with a soft smile on her face.