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Chapter Text

“With a twenty vote difference,” Two announced cheerfully, lifting their arms into the air, “one of you is leaving the game and opening that door for Anchor!” They said, gesturing at Coiny and Needle.

The hotel lobby was dark, only adding to the terrifying nature of their situation. The air was tense, each of the contestants on edge despite most of them already being declared safe from elimination. Their infected friends had scaled the building, infecting those… roof guys one by one.

On a night like this, Pin wasn’t expecting to lose her boyfriend, the person she’d been closest with since the start of BFDI, her W.O.A.H. Buncher pal. They’d been through hell together, and through their experiences, they’d formed a deep bond. They’d share nights together, stargazing, talking about whatever. He’d make one of his stupid jokes and she would laugh and roll her eyes. She always looked forward to competing alongside him, even if they’d fight sometimes. But she’d look forward even more to the nights they’d spend alone together, snuggled closely under the dim moonlight, whispering sweet nothings and giggling.

She felt helpless to do anything. Needle and Coiny were both favorites, as far as she could tell. She wasn’t ready to lose him. Not yet. Not ever!

“And that contestant is…” Two continued, trailing off to keep the suspense. 

Pin’s heart sank slightly.

“Coiny! Who is out with 4,870 votes! Needle narrowly survives, with 4,890 votes.”

She stopped listening to Two after Coiny’s elimination was announced. Her heart had fallen to the floor, jaw opening in surprise and sorrow. She watched his expressions shift, as he frowned in disappointment, trying to look happy for Needle, only to look down at the ground again with a frown. He was defeated- and she’d failed him. Somehow, in her head, it was her fault.

She sprinted over to Coiny gently holding him.

“Coiny– No! I-I’m so sorry!” She cried out, not knowing how else to express how horrible she felt.

Coiny inhaled deeply, steeling his nerves before responding.

“It’s fine… I’m just letting Anchor in,” He said, trying to reassure her, placing a comforting hand on her chest. 

“It’ll be okay.”

“Not just about the door, Coiny!” She explained, stepping back, “You’re out of the game and… I’m sorry! I wanted to go further with you! How can I do this without you?”

Sorrow plagued her tone, usually flat and almost robotic. She took his hands in hers, looking into his eyes. He shared the same expression, sorrow and fear mixed together. She loved him so much- she depended on him more than she’d ever depended on anyone. She needed him. 

Suddenly, the door burst open, the boards which covered the doors to keep them closed snapping off and breaking. Splinters flew through the lobby, Pin and Coiny turning in surprise. Behind it was their friend Barf Bag, infected and zombie-like from the mixture of barf and lava within her. She held a two by four over her head, undoubtedly what she’d used to break open the doors.

In a flash, she lunged at the first person she saw– Coiny. She latched onto him, biting down on the top of his head. He winced in pain, but it was too late. He fell forward, his orange, metal body taking on the same sickly green which Barf Bag was as well.

“Gah!-” Pin yelped, taking a step back.

She watched as he fell, as he was infected, her heart leaping into her throat and pounding in her ears. She felt tears forming in her eyes already, staring at him.

“Coiny!” She cried out, voice shaking, “No!”

As much as she wanted to shove Barf Bag aside and hold him and cry, to try and take the infection out of him– she knew she couldn’t. She had to be safe. She turned away from him and ran towards the stairs where the other contestants were, trying to convince herself that she was doing this for him. She couldn’t help but look back as Coiny sluggishly rose to his feet, staggering forward.

It wasn’t him anymore. It was obvious. His mouth hung open, drooling hungrily, his eyes empty and without thought. Tears caught in her throat. She already missed him.

The rest of the challenge felt like a blur to her. She couldn’t stop thinking about Coiny, about how she’d failed him as a friend, a teammate, and a girlfriend. She wanted to say so much more to him, to at least tell him she loved him one more time. She couldn’t stop thinking about it, about how that might be the last time she’d ever see him as his normal self again. She couldn’t stop thinking about how she wouldn’t be able to keep going without him. She was bound to get voted out soon after– what was she without him? 

It didn’t help that she kept seeing him. No matter where she or her team went, they couldn’t shake him. Everywhere she turned, there he was, his dead eyes boring into her soul, arms lazily outstretched toward her, like he wanted a hug. She’d even started to convince herself that maybe he was still in there, following her out of love.

She knew that wasn’t true.

Soon, she found herself trapped in an underground cave, water rapidly rising as she grabbed onto the edge, trying to dig out of the ceiling with her hands. Donut was dead, ripped in half by the infected contestants. Needle was dead, crushed in the walls of the crack that had formed, which had been somehow closed back up. She was alone, the infected contestants finally dead from a rock.

Panic set in, her mind reeling from the haze, the water rising faster and faster. Dread settled in her chest, a pit forming in her stomach. She pounded on the ceiling as hard as she could, adrenaline rushing

“No, no- Nonono! Open up again!” She demanded, “Why is it CLOSED?!”

She couldn’t die there. If she died there, it would only be confirming what she’d been thinking the whole time.

“Open! Open!” She continued to shout, futilely clawing away at the dirt above her.

Suddenly, she stopped. She had to face the truth. She wasn’t going to make it out of there. She wasn’t going to get anywhere trying to dig through the ceiling, not while the water was rising so quickly. It was useless. It was over. Her arm fell to her side, closing her eyes in resignation.

“I… Can’t do it…” She muttered.

A moment of silence passed over her, adrenaline draining as she placed her forehead against the wall.

A splash sounded off behind her. She gasped, turning her head. A sickly green filled her vision, hard against the blue of the water and greys of the cave walls.

There he was again, his empty eyes boring into her, drool still dripping from his mouth. She thought he was dead– but somehow, part of her was glad he was alive. He stayed there, staring at her, not trying to attack. For a second, she thought she could see a hint of admiration in his blank expression, the same admiration he’d held for her through the years.

“Coiny!” She said, his name rolling off her tongue naturally. 

“I’m- so sorry you got out… I don’t even know if I can figure this out alone,” She said again, as if he could understand her and respond, still in denial.

He suddenly let out an angry growling noise, lunging out of the water at her with his mouth open, hungry.

Before he could latch on and bite her, she switched which hand held onto the wall, extending her free arm and leg to hold him away from her. He flailed his arms, struggling to grab her. His eyes were empty again, filled with nothing but hunger.

“No!” She exclaimed, adrenaline rushing again, “Needle was right! Right now, you’re not you, but– I can figure this out!”

She paused for a second to think, her first thought being to use him as a shovel. And yet, she hesitated. Undead or not, he was still her boyfriend. She didn’t want to hurt him or cause him harm in any way, but– would he even remember any of this once it was all over? And it was her only option, she couldn’t think of anything else.

She didn’t have much time to deliberate over it. She looked back at him, locking eyes with him despite his gnashing teeth and struggling arms.

“I’m sorry, Coiny,” She said softly, “hopefully you can forgive me if you even remember any of this.”

With that, she turned, slamming his round body against the dirt ceiling. He let out a pained grunt, flailing his arms in protest. She tried to ignore it, especially because it was somehow actually working, despite him not even being shovel shaped.

Eventually, she broke out of the other side, water rushing through the opening she had made. She held her breath and swam to the surface of the water, taking a deep breath.

“Gosh, I did it!” She cheered, holding the infected Coiny’s now dead body above her head.

“I… Did it,” She muttered again, more softly to herself. A part of her couldn’t believe it.

Another voice spoke from above her, immediately recognizing it as Black Hole’s.

“Oh, hey Pi- uh…Wuh- Did- Did you KILL Coiny?!” He accused, a hint of anger in his voice.

She stopped for a moment, glancing over at the green body in her hand. She hadn’t even realized he actually died while she was using him as a shovel.

“Uh…” She trailed, “it’s not what it looks like?” She said nervously and with a shrug.

Black Hole was silent for a moment, just hovering there. Sometimes talking to him was extremely unnerving.

“No, seriously! I was trapped in a cave down there. If I hadn’t used Coiny as a shovel, I would have drowned!”

Black Hole seemed to sigh, backing up slightly.

“Okay, okay. It’s– fine, I guess,” He said, before floating back up to talk to Tree.

Pin watched him float away, then looked back at Coiny’s body. She frowned. He wasn’t himself. He hadn’t been himself for an hour now. But she couldn’t help but still feel bad for killing him, zombified or not. She hesitantly hugged his body close, closing her eyes.

Suddenly, she wasn’t floating in water anymore, her arms strangely empty. She opened her eyes again, confused, and found herself standing in front of the hotel again, standing in a circle with her fellow contestants, though noticeably missing many of them.

Before she could do a headcount, a familiar voice piped up besides her.

“Pin! You also survived!” Gaty cheered, turning to her.

Pin smiled. 

“I’m so happy to see you, Gaty!”

She then frowned, glancing at the ground as she continued; “That was honestly rough today, seeing Coiny like that.” 

“Yeah, I saw the same thing in Two,” Gaty responded, nodding softly, “But… I saw a good side of them, as well. Even when they were… like that,” She said, her voice shaking slightly. 

“Two could have killed us, but they didn’t! It’s just nice to hold onto that.”

“I really didn’t think I could play this game without Coiny,” Pin admitted, nodding in agreement, “But… He kinda… pushed me towards fighting for myself down there. Yeah. I think that’s a good way to look at it. Thanks Gaty.”

Before Gaty– or Eraser, who had just stopped behind her– could get another word in, Pin gasped in near excitement. 

“Wait!” She exclaimed before rushing past the two, skidding to a stop in front of the Recovery Center. 

Quickly, she typed in Coiny’s name, grinning excitedly. She couldn’t wait to tell him how well she did that challenge, how she didn’t let his elimination get to her entirely, and now that she thought about it, he would probably get a kick out of her using him as a shovel. She pressed the green confirm button and–

She froze. Her heart dropped, smile fading immediately.

Coiny came out of the machine, but he wasn’t right. She wasn’t greeted with his usual, welcoming, warm orange color. He was still sickly green, those same dead eyes staring at the sky as he landed on his back, his mouth still slightly agape, still drooling.

Why didn’t it work? He was supposed to be back to normal. Why wasn’t he normal? Why wasn’t he back?!

Coiny’s dead eyes locked onto Pin, quickly pushing himself up and lunging at her with a hungry, angry growl. Why isn’t he normal WHYISNTHENORMAL-

Pin yelped, just barely managing to stagger back before he could grab her. Her mind was racing, adrenaline pumping through her body, her heart pounding in her ears again. He’s supposed to be normal! He’s supposed to be NORMAL!

“Wha- Pin, what did you do?!” Golf Ball shouted over to her. All eyes were on her, each contestant with varying expressions of fear and annoyance.

“I–” She stammered, briefly glancing behind her. 

She staggered back again as Coiny lunged at her, catching one of his arms and attempting to push his face away with a grunt.

“I–I thought he would be back to normal again!” She shouted back to Golf Ball, her voice strained and shaking as she struggled against the infected object, his teeth gnashing and growling, tears forming in her eyes again.

“He’s gonna cause another outbreak!” Winner shouted, pointing at Coiny.

“I don’t want to be a zombie again!” Pen shouted, putting his hands on his head.

“Who had the antidote?!” Tennis Ball shouted over everyone, looking around at the teams.

“Oh, oh! We do!” Bottle said happily, flailing her arm around and hopping on one foot, “Yellow Face, get some to Coiny!”

“Okay!” Yellow face said, reaching behind himself and pulling out an… empty jar. 

He stared at it for a moment before throwing his arms into the air.

“WE’RE OUT OF ANTIDOTE!!!” He announced, shouting as loud as he could.

The crowd of objects began to panic, talking amongst themselves and hugging onto their friends and teammates. All the while, Pin continued to struggle.

Coiny reached his free arm around and grabbed onto hers, trying to pull it closer to his mouth. She grit her teeth, a tear falling from her eye as she released his other arm and punched him in the face. He fell with a grunt, but quickly got back to his feet, glaring at Pin and growling.

“Two, DO SOMETHING!” Gaty yelled, her voice projecting over everyone else’s, shrill and strained with panic.

The host looked overwhelmed, fearfully glancing around at everyone with a frown, their hands hovering over their ears. Gaty’s voice grabbed their attention with a shaky gasp, their eyes quickly flitting over to her, then towards Pin and Coiny, just as the infected object lunged at her again.

“I got it!” Two announced frantically, snapping their fingers.

Just as Coiny was about to bite down on Pin’s outstretched arm, a metallic cuff formed around his ankle, connected to a large steel ball with chains. The ball fell, immediately taking Coiny down with it as he let out a growly yelp, face planting into the ground.

Pin gasped, falling onto her back and scrambling away, staring down at Coiny, breathing heavily. He stood up again quickly, attempting to lunge again, but to no use. He winced slightly, face planting once again due to the weight of the ball and chain. This time, he pushed himself to a sitting position, finally noticing the thing holding him down. He growled, grabbing the chain from his leg and gnawing on it.

The fields fell silent. Only the gnawing and rattling of chains filled the air.

Pin stared at him, her breathing ragged and hoarse. Her arms shook as they kept her up, tears rolling from her eyes. She watched his mannerisms, stared into his dead, angry, hungry eyes, the way his jagged teeth fought to break the steel chains, despite how futile his attempts were. She listened to the way he snarled and growled like a wild animal, yanking on the chains and wincing when it hurt his teeth.

She hadn’t even noticed Gaty next to her, gently nudging her arm over one of the points on her head. She helped Pin up and led her back towards the circle of teams, talking to her quietly, probably attempting to console her.

Pin wasn’t listening. She couldn’t concentrate. There she went again, thinking about Coiny. How could this have happened? He died a zombie. He shouldn’t have come back as a zombie. It’s the same way Snowball dying while made out of metal shouldn’t carry over after being recovered. He’d be made out of snow, like always. Why was this different? Was this the universe’s sick and twisted way of punishing her for something? She hadn’t done anything wrong the whole season, or even during BFB! Cowards. If the universe was going to punish her, it should punish her directly, not target the people she loved! Not Coiny. Coiny didn’t deserve any of this. He didn’t deserve to get eliminated. He didn’t deserve to be turned into a zombie. He didn’t deserve to be stuck to a ball and chain! She glanced back at him.

Coiny had given up on trying to bite the chain, instead opting to glaring at it and occasionally trying to rip it apart with his hands.

“What do you think, Pin?” A voice said, cutting through the business of her mind.

Pin blinked, looking back at the remaining contestants like a deer in headlights, not expecting to be addressed. They stared back, expecting an answer. She realized Gaty had been the one talking to her again.

“Um.. Sorry, I wasn’t listening,” Pin sheepishly admitted.

“It’s okay, Pin,” Gaty reassured, smiling sympathetically at her, “We were asking you what you think we should do with Coiny.”

“I think we should leave him out here,” Eraser suggested, his hands on his hips and his eyes closed.

Winner nudged him with a stern look on their face. “How would you feel if that was Pen instead of Coiny?” They asked.

Eraser paused at that, then furrowed his brows, his arms dropping as he looked away and muttered a “nevermind.” in response.

Pen smiled at Eraser’s response, snickering slightly. 

“As much as I’d hate to be a zombie again, Coiny is still our friend,” He explained, agreeing with Winner.

“Maybe we can kill him and not bring him back!” Bottle suggested, barely thinking.

“No!” Pin shouted, appalled at the suggestion. She hesitated before lowering her voice. “No. That’s– that’s not a good idea.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Tennis ball asked, tilting his head gently.

Pin looked at him, then down at the ground. Her thoughts were still fuzzy, struggling to concentrate on a single one of them. She stood there for what felt like hours before finally managing to focus on an idea.

“We can… put him in a room. Keep him in there. Maybe GB and TB can use him to figure out another cure, if they can’t do the same thing,” She said slowly, the slowest she’d ever spoken before. Her brows were furrowed, staring at the ground again.

“He still needs to eat, doesn’t he?” Basketball asked, stepping towards her after a momentary silence.

Pin perked up almost immediately. 

“I can bring meals to him three times a day,” She offered, an eagerness in her voice.

“Are you sure you can handle that, Pin?” Black Hole asked, concerned.

“We all know how close you and Coiny are,” Winner added, nodding.

Pin nodded as well. 

“It only feels right,” She said matter of factly.

“It’s settled then!” Two piped up, putting their hands on their hips, “I’ll put Coiny in one of the bedrooms on the same floor as mine, so he can be more comfortable.”

They lifted one of their hands, a soft green glow appearing around it and Coiny. He made a short startled noise, looking at Two, then began gnashing his teeth, flailing his arms towards them. He was so hungry.

Without another word, Two started their way towards the hotel, whistling with a carefree spirit. Pin watched, a solemn look on her face. She felt so bad for Coiny- for her boyfriend.

Golf Ball and Tennis Ball approached the recovery center, looking nervous.

“Well, we shouldn’t try to recover any of us who got infected,” Golf Ball said, “but we can recover those who died without getting bitten.”

With help from the other teams telling them which members died without getting infected, they recovered many of their lost friends. First, they recovered Barf Bag, then Needle and Donut, the three walking over to Pin and Gaty.

“You did it, Pin!” Needle cheered, running over and hugging her sharp friend. Pin yelped slightly, then chuckled.

“Yeah, I did,” Pin said wearily.

“What happened?” Barf bag asked, scratching the back of her head, “TB and GB didn’t explain last time I was recovered.”

“Oh, right. You were technically the first infected,” Gaty blurted, looking past the two and watching the two balls recover TV.

“Infected?” Barf Bag repeated.

Pin zoned out again, her eyes shifting back to look at the hotel doors, where Two had disappeared off to. Her heart ached, thinking about Coiny being left in the dark, alone with a ball and chain on his ankle. She fidgeted with her hands, desperate to go inside and sit by him for the rest of the night. She felt so guilty, even though she knew she didn’t cause this. Well– maybe she did. Maybe it would have been better if she let him stay dead. Would that really be better than being locked up in a room, in the dark? …Truthfully, she didn’t know.

“PILLOW!” 

A sudden, angry voice burst through her thoughts, clearing the fog with a flash of bright white. She jumped, whipping her head around to look at where it had come from.

It looked like TB and GB had recovered Just Not. Nickel stood in front of Book, Bomby, and Price tag, Pillow facing the four of them with her usual unnerving smile. Nickel looked beyond furious, along with Bomby and Price Tag. Book simply looked uncomfortable, fidgeting with her hands as well.

“Why did you do that?! Now thanks to you, we’re up for elimination!” Nickel shouted, his voice shrill and gravelly.

“I was only following the challenge,” Pillow said flatly, “It’s not my fault the connection in there was bad.”

“You don’t just assume things like that!” Nickel rebutted, getting in Pillow’s face, “There is no way Two would EVER make KILLING EACH OTHER the challenge!!”

“I don’t appreciate you getting so close to my face,” Pillow said with a frown, her brows furrowed.

“Well I didn’t appreciate you bashing my face into a BED FRAME!!!” Nickel screamed, his anger boiling.

“Stop fighting!!!” Marker interrupted, pushing the two away from each other. 

Nickel grit his teeth, glaring daggers at Pillow. She simply continued to smile.

Pin zoned out again as they argued. This conversation didn’t concern her, and frankly, she didn’t really care. She looked back towards the doors of the hotel, as if she was waiting for something. Maybe for Two to walk out with Coiny magically fixed, or maybe just Coiny walking out, bragging about pranking them somehow.

But neither of those things happened.

Instead, Two just poked their head out and told Pin that Coiny was all hers, and which room he was in. Pin couldn’t help but smile excitedly. Without a word, she sprinted towards them, impulsively giving them a very quick hug, and rushed into the kitchen.

She skidded to a stop looking around, then opening the fridge. She rummaged around, mentally going through which foods were Coiny’s favorites. After making her selections, she placed them on a tray, then entered the elevator, pressing the button to go to the third floor.

As the elevator slowly raised up, her smile slowly fell as well, thoughts racing once again.

How was she meant to get the food to him without him taking a bite out of her? She could just slide it across the floor, but then she would risk making a mess. She didn’t want to make the room messy. She looked back down at the tray, looking over the food she had gathered. She didn’t think anything on there could make a mess. The gasoline she prepared for him was in an empty, reused soda bottle, and everything else was in bags so he could open them easily. The only thing that could make a mess was the dirt cake.

She sighed. She’d just have to slide it gently enough so the cake wouldn’t topple.

The elevator dinged softly, the doors sliding open. She took a deep breath and stepped out, slowly walking down the yellow hallway. With each step, she could feel her confidence draining. She wasn’t actually sure if she could handle seeing Coiny the way he was again. She didn’t know if she could bear to see that sickly green, or the hungry look on his face and in his eyes. Sure, he probably had no idea what was going on, but– it hurt her just as bad to see him chained up.

She inhaled deeply, turning to the door of room 5, steeling her resolve.

“It’s okay, Pin,” She muttered to herself, closing her eyes, “just in and out. You don’t have to look at him. Slide the food, and get out. Easy.”

She shifted the way she was holding the tray so she could handle it with one arm, her palm pressed against the bottom of it, fingers splayed out. She took hold of the doorknob and slowly turned it, pushing open the door.

Light flooded the dark room, her own shadow stretched and projected onto the floor from the hallway light. The room was the same size as Two’s, nearly identical in furniture placement, though it lacked the same amount of decoration. It made sense, though. Why would Coiny need decorations? He’s just a zombie. In front of her, within the darkness of the room, a pair of white eyes stared back, blinking slightly at the sudden brightness.

Once his eyes adjusted to the light level again, he rubbed his eyes, then snarled, lunging for Pin again. Startled, she took a step back. The chain attached to his leg caught and pulled him back down with a metallic thud. He let out a frustrated growl and sat back up, aggressively gnawing on the chain again with reckless abandon.

Pin frowned. Her heart ached. She winced at the clanking sounds of his teeth against the metal. It was painful to watch, yet she couldn’t look away. 

Slowly, she stepped a little closer, enough to be able to slide the tray to him, but not too close. She crouched down and placed the tray in front of herself.

“Are you hungry, Coiny?” She asked quietly, her voice soft.

He didn’t respond.

Wordlessly, she slid the tray to him and stood up again. She was supposed to just turn around and leave. Why did she stop? Why couldn’t she get her legs to move already?

He stopped gnawing as the tray slid over to him. Slowly, he lowered the chain from his mouth, staring at the food in front of it. There was a hint of confusion behind his empty eyes, drool dripping onto the floor. 

She watched him intently, either because she wanted to make sure he ate or… some other reason. She didn’t know why. She felt like she had to stay. She couldn’t leave him. Not yet. She wasn’t ready. It hurt so much to see him in this state, but she couldn’t find it in herself to leave.

Slowly, he reached for the dirt cake, sloppily grabbing a handful of it and shoving it in his mouth. He chewed for a little bit, then started to scarf down the rest of the food on the tray. He really had been starving.

She softly exhaled in relief, having been worried he wasn’t going to eat. With a soft smile, she sat down on the floor where she’d been standing, watching him recklessly eat. Bags were ripped open and dug into, gasoline drank with excitement.

“You were hungry, huh?” She asked him, her voice tinged with a hint of sadness. 

Coiny didn’t respond again, tunnel vision on the food in front of him.

Her smile faded and she sighed, leaning forward and putting her head in her hands.

“Oh, Coiny…” She trailed, despair thick in her voice, “I’m so sorry.” 

Pin sat there for a moment, head in her hands, finally trying to sort through her thoughts, decluttering the mess in her head. Coiny continued to ignore her, viciously ripping into the food she’d brought him.

She slowly inhaled, her breath shaky. Steadily, she let the words in her head fall from her mouth, her voice meek and quiet. She had to just… let it all out. She was alone. No one would see her be vulnerable. It was fine, right?

“...Maybe,” she started, “Maybe, if I had just been a little quicker to react– maybe you wouldn’t be… like this.” 

She lifted her head again to look at him, her eyes focused on the ball and chain.

“You… You don’t deserve to be chained up like this, locked away in a room, used as a lab rat…” She looked away with a sigh. “But I know it’s for the best. They… They need you to figure out a new antidote.” 

She put her head back in her hands, a sense of dread hovering over her.

“GB and TB are smart,” She said, mostly to herself, “they’ll get you back to normal in no time.”

The air hung heavy with grief as she continued to mumble to herself. Regret swam around in her gut, what-if’s circling her mind, things she could have done to prevent his infection. Regret mixed with grief and sorrow and a hint of anger, forming an awful bubble in her throat. Pin felt tears well up in her eyes again as she spoke, her voice beginning to shake and crack, arms trembling with misery and anguish. She tried to hold the tears in, to no avail. They came pouring out like a waterfall, her chest heaved with each sob, her breaths heavy and shuddering. She’d never cried this hard before. And it hurt. It hurt so much. Her chest and shoulders felt like they were getting sore already, her eyes burning from the salty tears. Her head began to ache from the sobs and her furrowed brow.

She felt so alone. Coiny was right there, but it wasn’t him. It was some messed up, hungry, angry version– undead and rotting and only driven by instinct, like a feral animal. Her heart broke to see him like that.

Part of her felt like she was overreacting. Her rational side told her that there was no point in crying and feeling all this grief. It didn’t take Golf Ball and Tennis Ball very long to figure out the antidote the first time, why would it take them long to figure it out this time? She was just wasting energy.

But she knew that didn’t change how horrible she felt. The guilt she felt, the way her heart ached when she looked into his empty white eyes which were once filled with love. The little voice in the back of her mind which told her this would be different, that it would take them longer to find a proper antidote, wasn’t helping. A blanket of doubt wrapped itself around her, suffocating any fleeting feeling of hope in her head. She felt like she was drowning.

Slowly, Pin’s sobs slowed down to mere hiccups. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, her breathing slowing and turning back to normal. She felt exhausted now, her face wet and eyelids puffy. Her arms continued to tremble as she looked at them, flicking off any tears which had landed there. She finally looked up.

In her breakdown, she hadn’t even noticed Coiny finished eating, the tray completely empty. Despite how messily he was eating, even the floor was clean, which probably meant he ate whatever crumbs landed on the floor. She didn’t think about it, her mind focusing on something much more important. 

He was staring back at her. She thought he would just go back to gnawing on the chains to continue his futile attempts at breaking free, but no. There he was, sitting still and quietly, staring at her. He wasn’t even drooling anymore. Just… looking. It almost freaked her out. His soulless eyes bore into her, almost like he was seeing through her.

She blinked in confusion and wonderment, her heart skipping a beat.

“...Coiny?” She spoke softly, hopefully. 

She thought she saw a hint of sympathy in his rotting eyes. Slowly, she reached out towards him, her hand shaking.

His eyes drifted to look at her outstretched arm. He blinked, watching it inch closer. And closer. And closer.

And suddenly, he lunged again. 

She gasped and yanked her arm away before he could clamp his teeth around her hand, scrambling back. He face planted again with a clang, landing on the edge of the tray and sending it hurdling into a nearby lamp, knocking it over and shattering the lightbulb inside. He didn’t get back up this time, probably in defeat.

She stared at him, then over at the shattered lightbulb. Just like it, her hope had shattered just as quickly as it formed, the blanket of doubt tightening around her.

Frustration turned into anger as she stood up again, hands clenched by her sides. But she didn’t shout. She stormed over to the tray, picked it up, then stormed back out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She huffed and puffed, arms shaking by her sides, her grip on the tray forming dents in the plastic. 

Stupid infection, stupid Coiny! Why did he have to get her hopes up?! Why did he just stare at her like that?! How dare he! How…

Her angry thoughts came to a stop, her anger fading. She sighed, exhausted. There wasn’t any point in getting angry. He wasn’t himself. He didn’t know what he was doing. It wasn’t his fault.

She sluggishly walked down the hall again towards the elevator, pressing the up button to call it. For the first time in the past few hours, her mind was blank, fuzzy and static, white noise drowning out any idea or thought that popped into her mind. She was exhausted. Her heart had enough.

The elevator dinged. She stepped in and pressed the button to go down to the lobby again. Once there, she walked out of the elevator, ignoring the other contestants standing around and heading straight to the kitchen, putting the tray in the sink. She walked back and sat down in front of the couch, leaning against it.

“...How’d it go?” Gaty asked, leaning forward slightly. She was sitting on the couch… alone, strangely enough. She wondered where Two was, though she didn’t care to ask.

Pin shrugged in response. 

Gaty frowned, worried, but she didn’t pry. Pin appreciated that.

“Oh, finally!” Golf Ball exclaimed, grabbing her attention.

Without an explanation, Golf Ball, Tennis Ball, and Bottle began making their way towards the elevator, Bottle holding a jar of… barf. What?-

“Wait, where are you going?” Pin asked, her voice hoarse.

“We’re gonna go give Coiny the antidote!” Bottle exclaimed, pure unbridled joy never wavering from her voice. Pin’s frown deepened. 

“Oh. Okay.”

“Be back in a jiffy!”

“Bottle, get in here already!” Golf Ball demanded, impatient as ever.

“Oop!- Coming!” Bottle sang, skipping into the elevator with the antidote held above her head. Pin rolled her eyes.

The lobby fell quiet for a moment after they left. Though, not soon after, quiet conversation sparked up between contestants again. Pin couldn’t help but overhear.

…

“Are you sure we can’t just kill me and bring me back?! I’m tiny like this!” Yelled Snowball, now a tiny clump sitting on Grassy’s head. Pin hadn’t even noticed him.

“Y’know, I kind of like you better like that,” Bell joked, a smug smile on her face.

“If I had arms, I would PUMMEL you!!” Snowball shouted, somehow louder than he had before.

“Snowball, stop yelling!” Grassy protested, kicking his legs as he sat on the floor, “You’re making my head hurt!”

Snowball simply resorted to angrily staring at the ground. Basketball sighed.

…

“How do you guys think Tree is doing?” Marker asked.

“Probably sleeping, if I had to guess,” Black Hole responded quietly, talking to them through the open window.

Fanny nodded in agreement.

“I hope he’s okay,” Marker said again, “I miss him.”

Fanny’s brows furrowed, sadness in her eyes. She pressed herself against Marker a little, attempting to comfort him. He smiled, hugging her.

…

“Are you feeling better now, Nickel?” Book asked, standing next to Price Tag. Nickel was sitting on a stool, his legs up on the chair as well. Bomby was sitting in a different chair next to him, an arm wrapped around the coin.

Nickel sighed. “A little.”

“Still mad at Pillow?” Price Tag asked.

“Of course I am,” He said with a huff, “I don’t think I’ll ever not be mad at her. But– now I’m mostly worried about the elimination.”

“I hope the voters are sensible enough to not vote to save Pillow,” Bomby huffed, trying his best to lower his squeaky voice.

Nickel nodded in agreement. “I hope so too. I don’t want to lose any of you three.”

Book, Price Tag, and Bomby all smiled softly at that remark.

“We don’t wanna lose you either, Nickel,” Bomby said, squeezing his teammate gently.

…

“I feel bad for Teardrop,” Winner said suddenly, breaking the silence between them and yellow face.

Yellow face simply turned to them, acknowledging they were talking.

“She sacrificed her safety to save everyone else,” Winner continued, “we should do something to commemorate that.”

“Ooh!” Yellow Face exclaimed excitedly, “I can grab supplies from my commercial dimension so we can have a memorial!”

Winner gave him a look of confusion and disbelief.

“...Yellow Face, she isn’t dead. She’s just eliminated.”

“Oh, right. All of this grief is messing me up!” He said, rubbing the back of his head.

“You shouldn’t–” Winner started, then sighed. “Nevermind. I think getting stuff from your dimension is a great idea, Yellow Face.”

“YAY!”

…

“...And then suddenly, you bit me! And I don’t remember the rest because, y’know. Zombie,” Eraser explained, talking to Pen.

Pen nodded along, listening intently.

“That sounds intense! I’m kind of glad I got bitten first, haha,” He joked, rubbing the back of his head.

 “Oh, uh, sorry for biting you. Hopefully it wasn’t too hard.”

“Not as hard as you usually bite!” Eraser said with a laugh, nudging his side gently.

Pen chuckled too, a little embarrassed judging by the blush on his cheeks.

A rainbow flag slowly faded in on TV’s blackened screen, a question mark next to it. Neither Pen nor Eraser seemed to notice.

…

Pin’s attention was grabbed again by Barf Bag, Needle, and Donut walking over to them.

“How are you holding up, Pin?” Needle asked, sitting against the wall adjacent to her.

“I… Feel exhausted,” Pin answered honestly.

“Jeez, your voice is raspy. What happened up there?” Donut asked, sitting down as well, in front of Pin this time.

Pin’s heart sank a little bit. Vulnerability was always hard for her. She’d been headstrong for most of her life, only getting comfortable to show that side of her around Coiny… oh, Coiny… She frowned.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to answer,” Donut said with a reassuring smile.

She looked back at him, a look of mild surprise on her face. 

“Really?”

Donut nodded.

“We know you’re probably going through a lot right now,” Barf Bag said, sitting across from Needle so the four were in a square now, “we want you to know we’re here for you, but you don’t have to open up if you don’t want to.”

“We aren’t going to force you to do anything,” Gaty said in agreement, nodding carefully.

Pin looked around at the four of them, her heart swelling. She smiled– genuinely smiled– and wiped a small tear which had formed in the corner of her eye.

 “I appreciate it,” She said, her voice full of emotion.

Just then, the elevator dinged, the doors sliding open, catching everyone’s attention. Golf Ball and Tennis Ball exited, looking nervous, but–

“Where’s Bottle?” Winner asked, their face immediately filled with concern.

Pin assumed the worst.

“She’s not infected!” Tennis Ball immediately clarified, “But, um, Coiny did shatter her while she was trying to hold him back.”

Winner groaned, rolling their eyes. “I’ll go–”

“No need,” Tennis Ball said, already making his way towards the doors, “I’ll recover her.”

“Why do you look nervous, GB?” Donut asked.

Golf Ball’s expression dropped, only looking more nervous. She glanced around, then at the ground, sighing.

“It didn’t work.”

Gasps scattered around the room, whispers spreading, glances were shared.

Pin’s heart only broke even more. Her eyes widened, staring at Golf Ball. Her mind, once fuzzy and silent, erupted like a volcano, thoughts spiraling and angry engulfing the static and haze in a raging storm. Her mind, once without color only moments before, exploded in reds and blues and blacks and purples, painting a scene mixed with anger, devastation, desperation, disappointment, hopelessness, and sorrow.

“What do you mean it didn’t work?” Pin asked, her voice harsh and rock solid as she stood.

Golf Ball turned to her, her brows furrowing slightly at her tone. 

“It just didn’t work! I’m not sure why though. We mixed Barf Bag’s barf with water, just like we did before, but nothing happened. He only spat it back out,” She explained, trying to remain calm.

“How did it just not work?!” Pin asked again, raising her voice. She stepped around Barf Bag, approaching Golf Ball, emotions boiling over, cramming together, overwhelming her. 

“How did you screw that up?!”

Golf Ball took a step back, but then furrowed her brow further.

“I already told you, Pin, I don’t know! There must have been another factor we didn’t account for– But until I can test more, I don’t have a clear answer!”

“Pin, please stop yelling!” Marker said from across the room, his hands pressed over the sides of his head, “You’re hurting my ears.”

Pin looked over at him, mind still reeling with emotions, screaming and wailing, hurting her head. She glanced around the room, finding herself met with expressions of concern, distress, and alarm. Their expressions of panic, clearly affected by their situation and the tension in the air, hit her like a truck. Her expression softened, the anger draining once again. She sighed, putting her hands on her head. It ached. 

“I… I’m sorry, Golf Ball,” She said, voice shaking, “I’m just overwhelmed, I think.”

Golf Ball simply rolled her eyes

“Whatever. I get it.”

“Golf Ball!” Tennis Ball shouted, rushing back into the lobby almost frantically, interrupting what Pin was about to say.

Golf Ball turned to him as he stopped in front of her, out of breath, Bottle happily skipping in after him and plopping down next to Winner and Yellow Face.

“What is it, TB?”

“I-I was talking to Bottle about what happened and– she brought up something we completely overlooked!”

GB gave him a curious look.

“Teardrop! We didn’t use just any water, we used Teardrop! She must be the key!” He said with a smile, excited. Pin noticed Winner giving Bottle an incredulous look.

Golf Ball looked excited if only for a second before she stopped herself, then deadpanned.

“Oh. This is… less exciting,” She said, looking down.

“What? What does that mean?” Pin asked, her heart racing from the ups and downs. 

Today felt like a rollercoaster. Her head and heart ached, her chest throbbed, her arms sore, her whole body still trembled.

“...Oh… Right,” Gaty said, nervous, “Two… left.”

Pin froze in place, her heart dropping yet again. She didn’t even know what to say. Or what to do. It felt like her brain just shut down. Slowly, she turned to Gaty, her expression blank and her voice flat.

“What?”

“They left because they had to go run an errand,” Gaty explained, “but they… didn’t say anything else.”

“Wh- What about X and Four? They’ve gotta be back by now!” Pin said, desperation seeping into her tone. She just wanted this nightmare to be over already– no, she NEEDED this nightmare to be over already! She just wanted to see Coiny back to normal again. 

Gaty sorrowfully shook her head. “They’re still on their kitchen bonding retreat. Sorry, Pin.”

The world seemed to freeze. Everything around her stopped. Her heart crashed to the floor and shattered, immediately replaced with an awful, horrible crushing feeling in her chest. The solution was right there, and yet… There was nothing she could do. Nothing she or anyone could do. Two was gone. Four and X were gone. Nobody knew when they were coming back. There was nothing she could do. Nothing she could do. NOTHING SHE COULD DO. Coiny was going to be stuck like that forever. They weren’t coming back. She felt helpless all over again.

Her world cracked and crumbled, dread and grief and sorrow and emotions indescribable hung in the air around her. Her mind raced, thoughts of the worst possible things rushing around her mind with reckless abandon, spiraling downward, a storm overhead with angry shores crashing along a beach. It echoed with screams and sobs, shouts of rage and shrieks of terror. She felt trapped, standing in the middle of it all, wind rushing past her at aggressive speeds, threatening to knock her over. The noise in her head grew louder and louder, brimming with overwhelming emotions and feelings. Her body felt tingly, like pins and needles. She wanted to move, to do something, but she knew she couldn’t.

In the loudness of her mind, the horrible crushing feeling in her chest, holding and breaking her down piece by piece until she was nothing, she saw Coiny. She saw his face– his orange face– smiling and laughing and holding her hands, beckoning her to follow him. The feeling in her chest grew heavier, a sense of longing nestling itself into the pit in her stomach.

He faded and the screams grew louder. She winced and shut her eyes tight, tears forming in her eyes, putting her hands on her head. Too loud. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her, watching, judging, whispering. She was going to cry again, but– everyone was watching. She needed to get out of there. She had to go. She needed to go somewhere safe!

Without another word, Pin turned, shoving past Golf Ball and running out of the lobby, adrenaline shooting through her veins. Tears were already falling from her eyes as she ran faster than she’d ever ran before, wiping frantically at the falling tears. Her footsteps were uncoordinated, frantic and rushing and unbalanced. She didn’t care where she ended up, she just wanted to run, to get as far as she could.

Eventually, she found herself in the a-two-sment park, slowing down and running out of breath due to the adrenaline fading. She stopped briefly, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, catching her breath. Her heart still pounded in her ears, her mind still loud, screeching sirens blaring. Despite her shaking, throbbing legs begging her to stop, she continued forward, making her way to the stage Team S! had built.

Sitting behind the stage, her back to the hotel, she curled into herself, sobbing softly into her knees. She trembled with each sob, a cold breeze wafting over her. Her throat tightened around her sobs, threatening to suffocate her as she tried to hold her tears in. Her chest tightened around her lungs and she wanted to scream and yell and hit something, to tell the universe off for punishing her, for punishing Coiny when he had already been through enough. It wasn’t fair– if anything, she should be in his place.

Slowly, her thoughts grew louder again, no longer distracted by the urgent feeling to run, the feeling of danger which had plagued her mind. Now it was only left with anger, sorrow, and despair, swirling guilt and longing to feel his touch again, hear his voice calling her name, see his face, smiling, shining, and beautiful. 

In the buzzing, nauseating noise in her head, she heard his voice again.

“Pin, c’mon!” He beckoned, his voice surrounding her, echoing off the walls, “What’re you doing, sitting on the floor? Get up! Let’s go for a walk!”

He sounded so excited, so real– but she knew she was just imagining things. He wasn’t here. He was still in that room, alone on the cold, carpeted floor, that steel ball and chain still on his leg. She saw his face again in the static. She tried to reach for him, to pull him towards her. But the image faded, swept away like a cloud in the wind.

She grit her teeth.

Damn the universe. Damn it all. How could it go and make such a loveable guy, a lover of fun and chaos, a guy so loyal that he’d do so much as to forgive her for betraying him, someone who would throw the world away if it meant saving her, her perfect soldier, and destroy him in such a way. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Why him? Why not her? Why did he apparently deserve this more than she did? 

The grip she had on her head tightened, her breathing quickening from the building anger, bubbling in her chest, boiling and festering with a stronger fury than she had ever felt, stronger than the outrage she had towards Freesmart in BFDIA, melding with her everlasting guilt. Her mind sounded like thousands of violins, screeching and intense, overwhelmed with angry static and buzzing, loud and violent as she struggled to hold herself together.

Suddenly, through the buzzing of her mind, she heard a voice, soft and high pitch next to her, asking her name. She gasped in surprise, pulling her hands away from her face and looking up.

It was Needle, one of her closest friends since the second season, her grey metal glistening in the moonlight. She sported a soft, sympathetic smile, leaning forward slightly to look down at her over the stage.

“Hey,” She greeted after grabbing Pin’s attention, “Can I sit?”

Pin didn’t say anything. She simply scooted to the left and patted the ground next to her. The sound in her head had calmed already.

Needle sat down beside her, adjusting to get comfortable, then looked up at the sky.

The two were silent for a while, enjoying each other’s company as they watched the stars dance, slowly making their way to the horizon. Another cold breeze washed over the two. Pin shivered.

“...Nice night tonight, despite everything, right?” Needle offered.

Pin shrugged.

“The stars are pretty.”

Another silence. Pin wondered if Needle was messing with her– if she had been selected to do this, instead of saying she would. It wasn’t like Pin’s reputation was all that good anyway.

Needle sighed.

“Pin, I know you’re hurting,” She said finally, looking at Pin. Pin made eye contact, but didn’t say anything.

“...and I know you struggle with vulnerability. You should probably talk to someone about all of this,” Needle finished. She wasn’t great with words either.

Pin stared, blinking. Then she sighed, looking back at the ground.

“I know that,” She muttered, “but I don’t know who would want to listen.”

Needle simply stared, her brow furrowing. A silent question.

“I-I know our team said they would listen, but– none of them would understand how much Coiny really means to me. Other than… you, I guess.”

Needle’s brows raised.

“I’m here to listen if you need, Pin. Pointy Pals for life, remember?” She asked with a smile, gently nudging her.

Pin put on a fake smile, rubbing her arm. 

“I know.”

Silence again. Pin stared at the ground between her feet, her mind buzzing again. Thankfully it wasn’t as loud as before. Needle watched her closely, examining her friend. 

Her heart broke to see her like this. Pin had always been so full of energy and spunk, bouncing around and making strides like no other. But now, she seemed like a shell of her former self, tired and exhausted, an air of despair about her, the smallest gleam of irritation in her eyes.

Needle nodded to herself and leaned back against the blocky stage, relaxing.

“We don’t have to talk about it now,” She said softly, “it’s late. But I’m always here if you want to talk. And I mean that.”

Pin looked back at her, physically relaxing. She smiled again, this time genuine. Her heart felt warm.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Needle smiled as well. 

They both stayed against the stage for a long time, both watching as the sun began to rise. Pin felt herself growing exhausted, her mind finally quieting down as she relaxed. The night had been so emotionally charged, much more than she was even used to. Her body ached in places she didn’t know could hurt, her head throbbed as if it was being pounded on with hammers. She yawned.

“...Let’s go back inside,” Needle said softly, her voice slightly groggy with sleep. Pin nodded, finally standing as Needle did.

The two walked back to the hotel together, in step with each other. Once they returned, they found the rest of the contestants had gone off to their rooms to sleep. It was fair, all things considered. The night felt long, and all parties were exhausted from running around and trying to survive. Well, most were.

“Are you going up to bed?” Needle asked before Pin entered the elevator.

“Yeah. I’m going to check on Coiny first,” Pin answered, stopping in front of the elevator, “what about you?”

Needle thought for a moment.

“I’ll come with you,” She said with a shrug, following Pin.

Pin blinked. 

“Are you sure? It’s… kind of hard to look at him the way he is.”

“You don’t have to bear it all by yourself, Pin,” Needle said, sliding into the elevator.

Pin stopped for a moment, looking at Needle. Her words sent a pang soaring through her chest, a bittersweet warmth in her heart. It felt like a weight lifted from her shoulders. For a long time, she’d felt like her only friend was Coiny, but… maybe she was wrong. She stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to go to the third floor again.

Now that she thought about it, that assumption wasn’t right at all. She had a friend in Needle, obviously, but she knew Gaty was her friend too. And… Maybe there was more. She was probably going to start paying more attention to how others interact with her after this was over.

The elevator let out a gentle ding, the doors sliding open. She stepped out of the elevator with Needle, tensing slightly as they made their way down the hall. She didn’t know what she was going to see in that room. Maybe he was still awake, trying to claw his way out of the chains, or ripping up the wallpaper, or clawing at the windows. Or maybe he had broken free and was about to restart the nightmare– She froze in front of the door again, hand hovering over the handle, shaking with uncertainty. 

Needle placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Pin looked up at her, relaxing slightly. The taller of the two gave a nod of encouragement.

Pin looked back at the handle. Finally, she grasped it, turning the knob and pushing the door open. It creaked loudly.

The yellow light from the hallway poured into the dark room, lighting up the room’s surfaces and reflecting off of shiner surfaces, like the fallen lamp which Coiny seemed to have been chewing on and whipping about, judging by the way it was bent and contorted, thrown into the drawer which sat against the wall, the TV now on the ground with the screen shattered.

By the window, sitting against the wall and unmoving, there was Coiny. He was asleep and laying on his side, curled in an uncomfortable ball, one leg outstretched to accommodate for the short chain attached to his leg.

“...How did he get to that lamp?” Needle asked.

“It’s a long story,” Pin said, sighing and walking in. 

She headed for the TV, picking it up off the ground and lifting it back onto the drawer.

“What are you doing?” Needle asked, stepping in as well and fidgeting with her hands.

“I’m… I’m gonna clean up in here. He’s not a monster.” She paused. “You can stay and help, if you want.”

Needle thought for a moment, then grinned. 

“I’ll be right back,” She said, then raced out of the room.

Pin glanced back at Coiny after Needle left, frowning at his condition. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. Part of her was surprised– he was undead, so he didn’t really need to sleep. But at the same time, she was glad he was able to sleep. It reminded her that he’s still in there– he’s still an object. He’s just… not all there right now. Still, he looked… cold, hugging his arms and curling his knee to his chest.

She turned on her heel, stepping over shards of glass, and went to the bed on the opposite wall, pulling off the pillows, blankets, and sheets. She brought them over to Coiny, carefully moving him out of the way before putting together a little bed on the floor for him. She formed the sheets in a circle on the floor, using the comforter as padding against the hard floor. Around the edges, she lined the pillows to give him something to rest his head on, making sure to fluff them as well so they would be as comfortable as possible.

Needle returned with a dustpan and a broom as Pin rested Coiny back in the spot he’d fallen asleep in, gently placing his head on one of the pillows.

“That looks cozy,” Needle commented, putting the dustpan and broom against the wall and picking up the broken lamp.

“Thanks. He at least deserves a bed,” Pin said, nodding to herself. 

She walked to the broom and dustpan as Needle set the lamp outside, picking it up and beginning to sweep up the broken glass on the floor. They tidied up the room together, moving any other fragile objects away from Coiny. As a final touch, Pin closed the curtains, covering up the window in case his eyes were sensitive to light. She backed away a little, placing her hands on her hips and admiring their work.

Behind her, Needle yawned.

“Okay, I’m exhausted. Good night, Pin,” She waved, turning towards the door and walking out.

“Oh– Goodnight, Needle. Sleep well.”

Pin heard her give a “I will!” from down the hall. She stood in the middle of Coiny’s room, listening as the elevator doors slid open, Needle walked in, and the elevator dinged, taking her to a different floor.

She let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in, glancing back at Coiny. He had flipped onto his back, sprawled out on the bed like a bug. She smiled softly. Stupid. Then she looked over at the alarm clock which sat on the bedside table.

“7 AM?” She spoke out loud to herself, her voice groggy from exhaustion. She yawned and stretched. “Sheesh.”

And with that, she walked out of the room, tiredly dragging her feet and closing the door behind her. Before she went to bed, she went back downstairs and to the kitchen, preparing Coiny’s breakfast for him - pancakes, three sausages, and gasoline - then went back to his room, leaving the breakfast a little ways away from him, but close enough for him to reach. Then, finally, she left, going to the elevator and taking herself to the fourth floor. She slowly walked down the hall, making her way to her room, and flopping onto her bed. She fell asleep almost instantly, despite the sun filtering through her blinds and landing over her face. The exhaustion had finally gotten to her.

Chapter Text

…

A lovely, warm breeze washed over her, the sound of bushes distantly brushing against each other in the wind permeating around her. Long blades of grass brushed against her as she laid in the soft grass, bathing in the warm sun as it spread across her face.

“Pin, c’mon! Get up!” Called a voice, cheerful and warm and familiar.

It was Coiny’s, rough and deep.

She sat up, opening her eyes with a squint. Fields of long, purple grass spread as far as the eye could see, waving in the breeze with bushes of green with purple fruits dotted on them. The sky was a pleasant yellow, soft, fluffy clouds moving with the breeze, casting shadows and speckled shade across the dancing fields.

A little ways away from her, within the tall grass, stood Coiny, his copper body gleaming in the direct sunlight. He stood with his feet planted in the ground, waving at her from afar.

“Pin! Over here!” He beckoned again, a huge smile upon his face.

She smiled back, getting to her feet and running to him. He laughed, turning on his heel and running into the tall, purple grass. She laughed as well.

“Hey, get back here!” She playfully shouted, chasing him.

“You gotta catch me first!” He called back to her, pure joy in his voice.

They ran around the fields, laughing and giggling like children on a warm, summer day. They lunged over bushes, climbed in trees and hid in the grass like they did before Battle For Dream Island. They had no care in the world, as if the only objects on the planet were them. They had no responsibilities, no needs or wants– all they needed was each other and the joy they shared between them.

Eventually, Pin caught up, lunging at him from a Yoyleberry bush and tackling him to the ground with a tumble. He yelped, yet continued to giggle the whole way down the hill.

Once at the bottom, they stopped tumbling, Pin on top of him, her arms planted down in the soil on either side of his head. They laughed and laughed, giggling like a high school girl talking to her crush. Pin rolled off of him, her sides rolling her around so the top of her head was near the top of his. Their giggles slowed to a stop, and soon, a comfortable silence fell between the two of them, sprawled out in the grass, staring up at the yellow sky.

She felt nothing but bliss. There she was, laying with her favorite person, the only person who truly understood her. She was next to him, and him next to her. There was nowhere else she would rather be than by his side. She could stay like this forever. She wanted to stay like this forever, staring at the clouds as they rolled across the sky, feeling the cool breeze wash over her body, the long grass grazing her sides.

“So, what do we do now?” Coiny asked, still full of energy.

“...Can we…” Pin started, reaching up and squeezing his hand, “just lay here a while? This is nice.”

Coiny took a moment to respond. She could feel his eyes on her, admiring her as she lay there. She wondered how she looked from that perspective.

He laid back down. 

“Absolutely.”

A comfortable silence fell over the two again, soft and gentle like the breeze.

Eventually, Coiny started up again, pointing at a cloud. 

“Doesn’t that kind of look like Snowball to you?” He said, snickering.

Pin stared for a moment, then started giggling. “Yeah, it does.”

They would stay like that for a while, laying in the purple grass and pointing out interesting shapes in the sky. One looked like Four, another looked an awful lot like Two. A few even looked like their friends, like Gaty, Needle, and Barf Bag. Coiny specifically started laughing a lot when they found one shaped like Donut. They even saw ones shaped like Pencil, Match, and Ruby, though. Pin didn’t find those particularly amusing.

Coiny suddenly burst into laughter, startling Pin slightly.

“What? What’re you laughing about?” Pin asked with a snicker, finding his laughter to be contagious.

“That one looks like Black Hole!” He said through laughs, pointing up at a round, dark cloud looming over them.

She squinted at it, a strange sinking feeling in her stomach. That didn’t look right. All the clouds around them were fluffy and white, perfect against the yellow sky. But this one looked… out of place, as if someone had placed it there by hand. It was dark and stormy looking. She tried to play off the sinking feeling, reaching up to squeeze Coiny’s hand again as she chuckled wryly.

Another silence fell between the two, the dark cloud dissipating in the sky. She relaxed again, basking in the sunlight. Coiny seemed to be done pointing out funny shapes, letting the breeze simply blow over them as they rested.

“Hey, Pin?” He suddenly spoke up again, his voice softer now. He took her hand in his.

Pin looked up and towards him.

“Yeah?”

“You mean the world to me. You know that, right?” 

A warm fuzzy feeling planted itself in her chest, smiling softly at his words. He had such a way with them.

“Of course I do, Coiny. And you mean the world to me, too,” She responded affectionately, her tone full of love and passion.

Silence befell them again. Something felt wrong though. The air had shifted slightly, the atmosphere shifting. She felt itchy, like something bad was about to happen. The sky began to darken, a rumbling coming from across the field.

“Then why did you let me die?” Coiny’s voice asked, his tone flat and empty.

Pin’s heart dropped like a hat, frantically pushing herself up and looking back at where he was– or where he had been. Coiny was gone. All that was left was the impression of his body, arms, and legs in the grass, flattened from their tumbling.

“Coiny?!” She cried out, standing up. 

Suddenly, the storm was right above her, the wind hitting her in the face. She stumbled slightly as a grass blade caught her leg, causing her to fall right back down. Her heart raced with fear and anxiety, rain pounding down around her heavily, lighting flashing from above and followed by heavy booms and crackling thunder.

She called out Coiny’s name again and stood, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the raging storm, the wind howling past her. She stumbled and staggered from the force of it all, her feet slipping on the wet grass as she climbed back up the hill she and Coiny had tumbled down. She grit her teeth, gripping onto grass blades and digging her fingers into the muddy soil to keep herself moving upwards.

“COINY!” She cried out again, tears welling up in her eyes. 

Where could he have gone? Why did he say that?! She didn’t let him die– it wasn’t her fault! It couldn’t have been her fault. Was it her fault?

Once she made it to the top, she froze. Something flat and green and shiny caught her attention, lying lifelessly in the thrashing tall grass.

Everything seemed to freeze. The water pouring from the clouds stopped in their tracks, the wind no longer gushing past her, the grass frozen where it had been waving. She held her breath.

Slowly, she approached. With each step, it became clearer. She pushed the grass out of the way as she walked, pushing around the raindrops as she approached.

It was Coiny. There he was, lying lifelessly on the ground, green and rotting. Half of his body was dented, decomposing into the ground. Strange blue mushrooms grew from his back, small yoyleberry bushes sprouting around them as well.

Her breathing suddenly hitched, the storm resuming, yet somehow it was louder. Lightning struck the ground nearby, but she hardly even flinched, dropping to her knees beside Coiny, tears falling from her eyes, mixing with the rain. She screamed his name, her voice hoarse and shrill, breaking with her sobs. Trembling, she grabbed his arm, shaking him gently, her cries barely audible in the noise of the storm.

Lightning boomed, striking closer and closer to her, almost in a circle around the two. Thunder crackled across the clouds, shaking the ground and threatening to split the Earth in two. The rain came down harder on her, almost enough to hurt, as the wind whipped around with even more aggression, enough to leave lacerations in her and Coiny’s body. Not that it was hard. For him, at least. His body was soft. Rotten.

“COINY, PLEASE!” She cried, tears pouring out of her eyes like a waterfall, “SAY SOMETHING!” 

She shook him harder and harder, sobbing loudly as she tried to wake him up.

Suddenly, she heard a snap.

She looked down.

His arm laid in her hand, snapped in two from the force of her grip.

A voice cut through the wind, squeaky and familiar.

“Pin, wake up.”

Her eyes shot open, though she didn’t move or scream. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, blinking away the tears in her eyes, which she hardly even noticed. Her eyes drifted to the side of her bed.

There stood Donut, looking at her with an expression of concern on his face.

“Are you okay?” He asked cautiously, “You were crying in your sleep.”

Pin blinked slowly at him, tired yet alert. She slowly sat up, wiping the grime out of her eyes.

“I’m fine,” She mumured dismissively, “I just had a nightmare… about Coiny.” Her voice lowered when she mentioned his name.

Donut frowned, stepping closer and pausing. He deadpanned.

Pin looked at him with a confused look, but then snickered.

“Did you just try to pat my shoulder?”

“Just come downstairs when you’re ready,” He grumbled, turning away and leaving her room, pulling the door shut with his foot, grunting with some struggle.

Her smile faded as soon as the door closed. She looked in her lap, at the wad of blankets which sat between her legs, and sighed. Glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside table, which read 9:30 AM, she wondered why they needed her downstairs. It wasn’t like they had a challenge, since their host was missing. Unless they were just going to ask her to feed Coiny even though she already had, though it’s not like they would know that. She grumbled to herself, finally throwing off the blanket and groggily heading out of her room.

She walked down the hall, completely zoned out. She hadn’t gotten under at least eight hours of sleep in a while, and now she was only running on two hours and, like, ten minutes. She groaned, rubbing her temples as she stepped onto the Elevator and pressed the button to go to the lobby.

When Pin walked out of the elevator, she found everyone in the same spots as yesterday, though her team actually managed to fit onto the pink couch with Gaty. She walked over to the group of them, confused.

“What’s going on?” Pin asked.

“Golf Ball has something, I guess,” Barf Bag said, shrugging.

Pin blinked, then looked up again, where the balls and TV were discussing something quietly in the middle of the room.

“Get on with it!” Demanded Eraser from across the room.

Golf Ball turned to him, angrily.

“For the last time, Eraser, I’m not going to start until everyone is here!”

“Uh, GB-” Basketball spoke up, nodding in Team8s’ direction.

She looked over, her expression going blank when she saw Pin. 

“Oh. Everyone is here.”

Pin cocked a brow at her.

“Okay,” Golf Ball said, clearing her voice, “before I start, would you like to go feed Coiny, Pin?” She asked, attempting to soften her tone. It didn’t work, though.

“I already did,” Pin stated, arms crossed, “I went to sleep late.”

“Oh. Well, in that case, uh.” She blinked. She hadn’t prepared for this.

“GB, TB, and I have decided we’re going to look for Two, Four, and X,” Basketball said, stepping forward, “We think they have a specific energy signal, given that they’re aliens.”

“We don’t know how long it might take, since we aren’t sure what frequency that signal might be at, but we’ll make sure to keep you all updated!” Tennis Ball added

“We’ll be using Basketball’s Above Ground Factory if we are needed.” Golf Ball finished with a nod.

“Any questions?” TV finally asked in his robotic, strangely scottish sounding voice.

The room fell silent for a moment, varying degrees of disappointment, confusion, and simple blank stares looked back at the four of them.

“...That’s all this was?” Nickel finally spoke up, asking the question everyone else was thinking, “A public service announcement?”

Golf Ball scoffed.

“It’s not just a public service announcement, you–”

Basketball cut her off, putting a foot over her mouth.

“What she means is, we just wanted to let you all know that we’re going to do everything we can to get everything fixed. We aren’t just going to sit here complacently and wait for Two to come back.”

Pin visibly relaxed at her reassurance. 

Once Golf Ball confirmed there were no more further questions, the balls and TV made their way into the elevator.

“Wait!” Price Tag called out to them before Golf Ball hit the button to go to floor 4. She looked up.

“What do the rest of us do?” They asked, gesturing at the other contestants in the room with their leg.

Golf Ball blinked in confusion, her brow raising in a silent question.

“Whatever you want,” Basketball answered. 

The elevator doors shut.

It was silent in the lobby for a moment. The atmosphere between them all was so… different. It was so full of energy usually, friends laughing, enemies giving glares from across the room, a general sense of competitiveness blanketing over all of the ruckus. But now, it felt tense and awkward. They were all so drained from their usual competitiveness, leaving an empty hole in the air around them.

“...Whatever we want, you say,” Pillow said with her usual sinister tone, smiling over at her team.

Nickel’s brows raised in surprise before he furrowed them again and jumped up to stand on the stool he was on.

“Oh NO you don’t!” He growled.

“Let’s go check on Tree!” Marker exclaimed excitedly, throwing his arms into the air.

Fanny nodded in agreement, getting to her feet just as Marker did, the two walking out of the lobby together. Black Hole followed behind them.

“What are you talking about?” Pillow said in response to– something. Pin didn’t know, she wasn’t paying attention. 

“I just wanted to play Yoylechess!”

“No, Pillow! We aren’t going to play games with you,” Book spoke up, still uncomfortable near Pillow.

“Yeah, not after what you pulled last challenge!” Price Tag added, stomping one of their feet.

“What do you mean?” Pillow asked, her arms folded behind her back. Still smiling.

“Grrr! You’re being dense on purpose!!” Nickel shouted, “GO AWAY!!!”

Pillow simply shrugged, unbothered, and turned on her heel, walking off. 

Nickel huffed. “Good riddance.”

“What do you think we should do, Eraser?” Pen asked, smiling at his friend.

“Let's mess with Death P.A.C.T.!” Eraser cheered, throwing his arms in the air.

Pen frowned.

“Bro, c’mon– we’re not even competing right now! We could just… hang out or something. Relax a little,” He explained, rubbing his arm slightly.

Eraser looked at him, examining his expression for a little too long before nodding.

“Okay, you’re right, bro. Let’s go to Gelatins Steakhouse and eat scraps!”

“That got blown up, remember?” Pen corrected, deadpan.

“Oh,” Eraser muttered, expression blank, “yeah.”

“...You guys wanna go play Goikys & Dragons?” Book offered.

“Absolutely!” Price Tag cheered, jumping to their feet.

“This time Pillow won’t ruin the entire campaign,” Bomby added, standing as well. 

Nickel simply stood, not saying much. Book frowned, wrapping her arm around him.

“Hey, it’ll be okay, Nickel,” She said softly, her voice nearly too quiet for Pin to hear, “After all of that, the voters are sure to get Pillow out. I can feel it.”

Nickel sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

“C’mon, let's get your mind off of it, buddy!” Bomby exclaimed, picking Nickel up and running up the stairs.

“Hey!” Book yelped in surprise, running up the stairs after him with a smile.

“It’s not a race!!” Price Tag called out, skittering after them.

The front doors shut suddenly, grabbing Pins attention. Pen and Eraser had just left, Pillow following slowly behind them. That was bound to cause some shenaniganry…. Pin didn’t really care though.

She zoned out again, staring at her hands, fingers intertwined together in front of her. Though this time, her mind wasn’t running rampant with thoughts. Instead, it was static again, foggy and tired. She felt so sluggish and exhausted, her eyelids heavy. She blamed the nightmare.

Silent, listening to the buzzing of her own head, she began to notice a dull feeling. Slowly, it got stronger and stronger until it became painful. She blinked, refocusing her eyes as she tried to focus on the source of the pain. Soon, she realized it was her hands and the way her fingers were intertwined. She noticed how tense she felt, especially with the way her arms shook with how hard she was gripping her hands. Her fingers ached from the pressure on either side, her thumbs pressing into the backs of her hands. She gradually let her hands relax, separating them. She stared blankly as she flexed her now aching fingers, not a thought in her head, only a sense of melancholy lingering.

“Pin?” Barf Bag’s voice cut through the haze. Pin looked up.

The lobby was mostly empty now, each team having filtered out, aside from hers and team The S!, who were talking quietly in the corner.

“Yes?” Pin responded, finally looking back at Barf Bag.

“We’re gonna go outside and find something to do. Wanna come with?” Donut offered, smiling sympathetically at her, his voice soft and comforting. Well, as soft and comforting as his voice could get.

Pin looked back down at her hands. They trembled. She looked back up.

“No. I should… stay here and keep an eye on the time. I have to bring Coiny lunch.”

The rest of her team frowned, varying degrees of worry on their expressions.

“Okay,” Gaty said with a sigh, placing her leg on Pins shoulder, “We’ll be outside if you need us, okay?”

Pin nodded, blank expression unmoving.

Gaty, Barf Bag, Donut, and Needle finally left, carefully closing the doors behind them. She watched them walk out toward the grassy fields, inaudibly talking to each other. She imagined Coiny and herself out there with them, walking to wherever, joking and talking, almost like a happy family. She could imagine Coiny jumping up just to give Needle a noogie, Barf Bag and Donut laughing at them and then laughing even harder when she snorts. And herself, standing next to Coiny and Needle, giggling at the both of them. She frowned softly.

Her daydream was suddenly caught off guard by Winner’s hand waving in front of her face. She flinched back slightly, startled, which also startled them.

“Oh!-” Winner exclaimed, “Sorry for scaring you, Pin,” They said nervously, itching the back of their head.

“It’s okay,” She reassured, “Did you need something?”

“Well, Bottle, Yellow Face, and I were wondering if you’d like to help us set an appreciation thing up for Teardrop. You wouldn’t even have to leave the lobby,” Winner offered with a smile.

“...Why do you want my help?” Pin asked, a genuine question.

Winner frowned, glancing around, trying to think of how to word what they were going to say. Pin sat there, just watching the gears turn in their head.

Winner sighed.

“Look, I know we don’t talk much or really know each other, but I don’t like seeing others down in the dumps. I thought– I don’t know, maybe giving you something to do would help take your mind off of things. It always helps me… not think about Loser.”

Pin paused. She wasn’t expecting Winner to care. She looked over to the rest of their team. Bottle was looking at the two of them, a subtle worried look on her face. When she caught Pin’s eye, she smiled big and wide, waving. Yellow Face had his back turned to her.

Even Bottle cared. She felt a warm feeling in her chest again and managed a smile.

“Okay. I’ll help,” Pin agreed, hopping down from the couch. 

“What do you need me to do?” She asked, a soft eagerness to her tone.

Winner smiled. “Great! Okay, it’s pretty simple. Bottle and I are gonna head into Yellow Face’s commercial dimension, grab stuff we think would be fitting, and toss them out. All you need to do is set it up! We can change things if needed when we come back out.”

“Okay!” Pin said, mild excitement in her tone.

For the next two and a half hours, Pin stayed in the lobby, taking whatever came flying out of Yellow Face’s portal and putting together the appreciation table for Teardrop. A table, of course, an ocean blue tablecloth with white streaks resembling the waves of the ocean, a golden brown picture frame, which Pin put a recent image of teardrop in, light blue, rain-scented candles, sky blue, ocean blue, and white balloons, and a number of other small decorations all came out of the portal, one by one. She set it all up, the table against the wall in the corner, right in front of the stairs. 

She gently draped the table cloth on the table, then gingerly placed the large picture frame of Teardrop in the center. On either side, she placed the four rain-scented candles, opting not to light them just yet. She made sure to symmetrically align the decorations she was given on either side. There were small aquamarine gems, white pearls, opals, lapis lazuli, and howlite. She arranged the gems to form the shape of teardrop on either side of the table, smiling at her work.

Finally, she blew up the balloons with a helium tank Winner threw in, tying them to weights that Bottle struggled, and ended up shattering, to bring to her. She set them next to the table on either side. She stepped back a bit, smiling at her work with her hands on her hips.

“Okay, it’s done!” Pin called into the portal.

Winner and Bottle hopped out, Yellow Face’s… face returning to him. They walked up beside her.

“Wow, Pin! This is so pretty!” Bottle admired, her eyes sparkling, hands squishing her cheeks.

“Thank you! I really hope it’s to your guys’ liking,” Pin said, rubbing the back of her head.

“You did great. This looks perfect. Thanks, Pin!” Winner said, patting her back with their hand.

“YAY!” Yellow Face cheered. He and Bottle took each other’s hands, going to the middle of the lobby and jumping in circles in celebration.

“No, Winner,” Pin said, “thank you.”

Winner looked at her, an expression of surprise on their face.

“You were right. Doing this– it helped a lot. My head doesn’t feel as foggy anymore. So, yeah. Thank you,” She said, a warm feeling in her stomach again.

They smiled softly, genuine and warm in every way. 

“Don’t mention it. Helping friends in need is what I do,” Winner said, closing their eyes proudly.

Friend…

“We finished right on time too!” Yellow face announced, “It’s time for lunch!”

A pang of dread shot through Pin’s heart.

“Oh… right,” She muttered, her smile wiped from her face.

Bottle frowned, going next to Pin and softly placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“Do you want someone to go with you?” She asked gently, her cheery charm still evident in her voice.

Pin shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. I can do it,” Pin reassured despite the shake in her voice, “Thanks for the offer, though.”

Bottle simply gave her a big, bright, beaming smile.

“Alright then!” She exclaimed, “Have fun!”

The corner of Pin’s mouth tugged up for a moment, and only just for a moment. She turned away from The S! And walked towards the kitchen, hugging her arms.

Her feet dragged against the carpeted ground, scuffing her heels softly as she approached the room. She knew she had to do this; she volunteered to do this. She said she could do it, and do it alone.

…But deep down, part of her didn’t want to. Even as she prepared his lunch- and some for herself- she warred with her own thoughts. Thinking about him, abandoned and alone and rotting, in that dark room- it hurt her soul, her very being. Dread seeped into her bones and bloomed into blackened flowers, wilting and rotting away just as her lover did. 

Seeing him would be like a knife through her chest. But for him, she would endure a thousand stab wounds. Giving up on him, not caring for him, felt like a betrayal of the worst kind, even worse than what she had done to him in BFDIA. He never gave up on her. She wouldn’t give up on him either.

Yet, as she exited the kitchen, tray in hand and her own bag of lunch in the other, she couldn’t stop thinking about how much she didn’t want to see him again. It would ruin how she still imagined him. Smiling brightly, orange, coppery body reflecting the sun into the eyes of others, laughing as they staggered back, looking confused and impressed at Pen when he wouldn’t react.

“He’s just taking a long nap,” She’d tell herself, “He just has the flu and doesn’t want to get anyone else sick. He’s fine.”

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. She stepped inside, pressing the button for the third floor.

The doors shut in front of her and her mind wandered again.

She knew the balls had just gone to basketball’s lab to figure out a way to locate their hosts only a few hours ago, but… maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask how they’re doing after this.

The elevator let out another soft ding and she stepped out and onto his floor.

She simply stood there for a moment, staring down the hall. Apprehension settled into her chest and her arms tensed up. Her heart raced, and she slowly took a deep breath in, steeling her nerves. She exhaled, using the force of it to finally take a step forward.

Her mind fell quiet as she walked forward. It felt as if the world fell completely silence, and she knew this would never get easier.

Soon, she found herself in front of the door again. Floor three, room five.

Carefully, she placed her bag down and grasped the doorknob, gently twisting it. The hinges gave a quiet creak as the door opened.

The zombie inside snapped his head around to look at her, his white, dead eyes blown wide open- as per usual. His brows furrowed and he let out a growling noise, attempting to lunge at her again to no avail. He flopped on his face again with a thud.

Pin flinched back slightly, gripping onto the tray as if she was about to throw it. Frowning, she turned to face him again, walking in with his and her food.

“When are you going to learn that you’re stuck?” She said, as if he could respond to her.

Coiny pushed himself off the ground and simply stared at her, almost expectantly. And for a moment, she thought it meant something.

No. She knew it didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t mean anything. He was just a zombie. He can’t think for himself. He’s braindead. He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t even recognize her. She had to keep telling herself that, otherwise she feared she would go insane.

So, carefully, she sat down on the floor just outside of his reach. The tray made a gentle thud against the ground, sliding across the carpet as she pushed it toward the coin.

Without hesitation, just like before, he ripped into the contents of the bags atop the tray. The dirt cake, the gasoline she carefully put in a cup, the various pieces of raw meat– he took no time getting to all of them, snarling and grumbling like a rabid animal.

Pin sighed, watching him go to town. 

She thought about the first time he took her to dinner. She’d been having an off day, drowning in the guilt of her past seasons because of something she saw. She couldn’t even remember what it was now.

He had brought her to a restaurant to take her mind off things. It wasn’t anything fancy, of course, but it was a restaurant. A date. Somehow, he read her like a book; despite how much she tried to feign joy, it wouldn’t get past him.

He was good at that. Good at picking up underlying emotions. Or maybe he was only good at it when it came to her feelings. They knew each other so well and she would feel honored if that was the case. If he only memorized her mannerisms, and no one else’s. 

Once their food was given to them, Coiny hadn’t hesitated. Just like he was doing now, he ripped into his food on purpose, making a huge mess of himself and the table, and she laughed. She laughed harder than she ever did before. And even though he had made a huge mess, he smiled too. Smiled because he got to hear her laugh. Smiled because he cheered her up with his goofy antics, just like always.

Just like always. 

Only now, all she felt was a dull, bittersweet feeling. Her mind returned to the present, reaching for where she had set her food bag- only to pause. It wasn’t there anymore.

Confused, her eyes drifted over to where it should have been. There was a tearing sound, and she looked back at Coiny.

…He grabbed her bag. Somehow, he was holding it between his rotting fingers, tearing it open with his other hand and pulling out the sandwich she had made for herself. For a moment, he glanced at her, before scarfing that down too.

She was stunned. Not only did she have no idea how he managed to even reach the bag, she also wasn’t expecting him to eat the sandwich she made. It had lettuce and tomato and she thought zombies only ate meat and… dirt, apparently.

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she let out a chaste chuckle at the absurdity of it. And slowly, she started to truly laugh. Because she knew that was something Coiny would consciously do, too. His chaoticness never failed to amuse her, even now, even…

She looked back at his face, the remnants of a smile playing at her lips… before swiftly disappearing.

Right. He wasn’t doing this on purpose, of course he wasn’t. He’s a zombie. He doesn’t care. All he can think about is hunger. 

She stared into his undead eyes, her brows furrowing. Her arms wrapped around her knees and she drew them closer to her chest, frowning as she watched him. Her breath caught in her throat.

“...Is this how you felt?” She wondered aloud, voice cracking.

“During BFDIA, when I… When I was faceless. Useless.” Her eyes drifted to look at his hands.

“Did you feel this… overwhelming dread? This ugly sadness? Is… Is this what I put you through?”

Her lip began to quiver, brows furrowing even further. Her throat started to hurt, muscles tightening as she grew tense, fighting to hold back the tears. Her voice shook.

“I’m so sorry,” She sobbed, “I-I had no idea– This is– this is awful. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Slowly, she hid her face in her knees, muttering soft apologies which fell on deaf ears. All the guilt she had harbored for so long washed over her all at once, toppling the pillars she had built up high, to protect her confidence, protect her. And yet, as easily as that, they came crashing down, flattened by the cascading waves of shame and sin.

She knew why, though. Her guilt– it mostly stemmed from what she did to Book, and Ice Cube, and the rest of FreeSmart. She knew they were in the wrong, but now, she realized she’d taken it too far. So far that she had betrayed Coiny. This caused her the most guilt, even after they’d made up.

But now– now she thought. She thought about how long he carried her around. How long he cared for her. How much he did for her. The nights he laid beside her lifeless body, staring, wondering if she would ever be back to normal. It was almost like she was seeing it from his point of view now. His love, ever full, eating away at him since she’d become a husk. A broken version of herself, and the way she’d changed when she returned. She remembered the look of relief on his face, the tight hugs he’d give her at the end of each challenge, how he said he never wanted to let her go. At the time she thought he was just being clingy, but now– now she understood.

He was hurt. And scared. 

This was punishment. A divine curse set upon her for hurting the one person she cared about so much. For hurting the most perfect person, the one person who didn’t deserve to be treated in such horrible ways. The universe hated her and it was right to. This was her fault. This was her fault.

The world spun around her like a hurricane, sharpened knives spun around her in a dance, stabbing and slicing with anger. Every new thought provoked a deeper stab and she could feel her organs and bones cracking and tearing under the pressure, plastic cracking and splintering. 

Coiny’s rotting eyes bore into her curled form as she broke down on the carpeted floor again, cold air washing over them as the Hotel’s A.C. kicked on. She trembled and shivered, her red body flinching and jolting with every cry. And yet, she bit back her sobs, not wanting to be heard, not wanting to be found in her moment of weakness.

…And slowly, she began to calm down. Sobs turned to soft hiccups and sniffles, vigorous attempts to swipe her tears and fears away. She struggled, silently, to regain herself, focusing on her breathing, running her hands over the soft rug.

As she forced her mind to be calm, shooing away any lingering thoughts of despair, the sound of scratching came apparent to her ears. Exhausted, she looked up.

To no one’s surprise, it was Coiny, scratching vigorously at the wall, as if trying to dig out. The paint was already tearing off, caked beneath his fingernails and shredded along the carpeted floor. Like a rabid animal fighting for freedom from a cage.

She frowned at the sight, lips tugging downward. Shakily, she sighed, climbing to her feet and picking up the tray.

Without a word, she left the room, movements slow and sluggish again. The door thudded softly and clicked as she closed it by leaning her back against it. She felt… broken down, her chest and stomach aching deeply and dully. This wasn’t healthy and she knew it. She couldn’t have a breakdown every single time she went to feed him. What was she supposed to do? Asking someone else was off the table. But maybe, she can… ask for someone to come along. Like last night, with Needle.

She stared at the ground for a moment, her expression blank with sparks of uncertainty. Her thoughts twirled around her mind, in a dance of trepidation and turmoil, many falling due to the instability, the thickness of the air suffocating.

She shook her head, throwing them into disarray, before pushing off the wall.

There was no point in thinking about it, she thought. Not now, at least. Instead, Pin opted for the elevator, the doors creaking open. She stepped in, hesitantly pressing the button to go to the fourth floor. The lift let out a ding and the doors opened again, revealing the green hallways, and next thing she knew, she was outside Basketball’s Above Ground Lab.

She raised her hand before freezing, a sense of sudden anxiety and apprehension shooting through her. Golf Ball didn’t like to be interrupted. Pin knew that for a fact. And she wasn’t exactly in the mood to have bossy-bot Golf Ball yelling in her face. But Tennis Ball was mostly nice, and so was Basketball…

But still, she wanted to know if they’d made any progress locating their hosts. She had to know. She had to know.

Knock knock knock!

Pin took a step back as someone let out a loud, unamused grumble, tiny, angry footsteps approaching the door.

Suddenly, it swung open.

“For the last time, Donut, I can’t make arm replacements–” Golf Ball paused when she caught a glimpse of red instead of beige from beneath her closed eyelids. She looked up, her expression flattening as she noticed who it actually was.

“Oh. Hello Pin. What do you want?” GB asked, her tone as stony as ever.

Pin blinked down at her, startled by the switch up.

“Um. I wanted to ask how your progress is going,” She intertwined her fingers, fidgeting with her thumbs and averting her gaze, “On locating Two.”

“Oh!” GB exclaimed, excitement coating her expression, “Well, you’ll be happy to know that we…” She trailed off, glancing back into the lab. Pin followed her gaze.

Tennis Ball sat at one of the working desks, staring blankly at wires and metal pieces and other materials. Meanwhile, Basketball typed away at her computer, coding… something. On another screen was a bunch of graphs and data.

“...Have made… zero progress,” She finished, noticeably more disappointed than excited.

“BUT! I promise you that we are working on it!”

“...Oh. Okay,” Pin muttered, disappointment softening her tone.

“Now if you’ll excuse me-” 

“Oh, Pin!” Basketball interrupted, making GB’s eye twitch, before approaching from behind.

“How are you holding up?” She asked, giving Pin a weary smile.

She glanced away. A silent admission that she was worse for wear.

Basketball's brows tightened slightly more.

“...Why don’t you come in?”

“What?!” Golf Ball exclaimed incredulously, her expression turning to mild annoyance.

“Oh, lighten up, GB,” Basketball rolled her eyes, “She’s not going to hurt anything. Watching us work might be just what she needs to clear her head a little.”

GB opened her mouth to retort.

“Besides,” Basketball interrupted again, “this is my lab. Not yours.”

The smaller ball let out an angry grunt before turning and storming back to her station, where the graphs and data and charts were. Basketball simply rolled her eyes at her overdramatic counterpart.

“Wanna come in?” She finally asked Pin, turning her attention back to the smaller object.

She stared for a moment. Truth was, she did want to watch. She never really cared about science and graphs and engineering and… whatever else TB and GB did, but– for once… For once she wouldn’t mind the rambling. It wasn’t likely she would understand much, but if there was anything that she could do to help get Coiny the cure faster, then it was worth it. It had to be worth it in the end. 

Pin nodded, ignoring the blatant hunger swirling in her gut.

Basketball gave her a gentle nod back, moving out of the way to allow Pin room to step into the lab. She fidgeted with her fingers again, looking around at all the wires and computers and monitors. Her eyes landed on what was on Golf Ball’s screen, looking at the ways the bar graphs flowed and moved and crossed over each other. Her footsteps echoed slightly, approaching the screens with a curious eye.

“What are these?” She asked.

Golf Ball glanced at her.

“These are the power readings of each of our hosts, color coded accordingly…”

She started to ramble. And for once, Pin actually listened. She explained how each of their hosts displayed a different power frequency from each other, depending on how powerful each were. X’s frequency was large… somehow. The peaks of his waves were nearly going off the chart, yet they were smooth and looked like actual waves. Two’s were similar, except theirs looked more like hills than giant mountains. Four’s wavelength was much more jagged and pointed, just barely shorter than the peaks Two’s had.

Their wavelengths also had different distances between peaks. X’s were much more far apart, Two’s were a little closer, while Four’s were barely distant at all. 

“These wavelengths are what we have to sync up with our location device. However,” GB continued, swiveling her chair around to face Pin.

“They are extremely hard to isolate. Locating the wavelengths of a living creature– a living alien creature like them– is much harder than simply isolating the wavelength of a radio tower. There is really nothing quite like it.”

“What’s worse,” Basketball added, “is that we can’t exactly trace these wavelength into space. We already know there is lots of alien life out there; there’s a chance frequencies out there would match the frequencies of our hosts.”

Pin frowned.

“So that means…” She trailed, a questioning tone in her voice.

Basketball sighed.

“If any of them left Earth for whatever reason, we wouldn’t be able to track them.”

Her frown progressed.

“Hey,” Basketball said softly, “It’s alright. If we can’t find Two, then we’re bound to find Four and X. They just went fishing. How hard could it be to find them?”

Pin stared at her, before simply nodding again. She didn’t have it in her to say much else.

She stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, listening to the scientists talk to each other, explaining code and graphs and blueprints to each other. Occasionally, an argument would break out between Golf Ball and Basketball, though quickly diffused by Tennis Ball. Halfway through it, TV left the room for whatever reason. Pin assumed he was just bored. Too tired to ask.

As the hours passed, Pin shuffled around the room to watch each of them individually. Though, she found herself watching Tennis Ball work the most. She couldn’t tell why. Maybe because the creation of the blueprint was interesting to her, or if she just found the only hands-on activity going on more captivating than all the computer work the other two were doing. 

And yet, even though she’d been watching them the whole time, her mind couldn’t stop drifting back to Coiny. About what he would be doing if he were there with her, watching them do their thing. At first she thought he would poke fun, like he always did, but she knew that wasn’t actually true. She imagined what he would actually be saying.

“Wow, Golf Ball! That’s really cool! I like the colors.”

“You make drawing blueprints look so easy, Tennis Ball! Can I try hitting the metal with the hammer?”

“Is this code? I can’t read.”

She couldn’t help but smile at the thought, no matter how bittersweet it was. Imagining him here with her, making his stupid little comments, pissing Golf Ball off with how simpleminded he was… it was helping. Somehow, it was helping. To remember him how he was, instead of what he was now– sure, it hurt before, but now, maybe it was okay.

As Pin hovered over Tennis Ball’s work station, her eyes came back into focus, looking over his blueprint again.

“...Hey,” She said, her voice slightly raspy, “this looks a lot like the Leafy Detector.”

Tennis Ball seemed to flinch a little, like he hadn't noticed her standing there. He gave her a quick glance, before looking back at the scraps of metal which were slowly forming into a frame.

“Oh! That’s because I’m reusing the old blueprints from it,” He explained, “It’s relatively the same tech, just needs to be tweaked to be a little more complex given what we’re working with.”

Pin nodded. 

A comfortable silence befell the room again, before Pin spoke up again.

“How did the Leafy detector work, anyway?”

The three balls stopped what they were doing and turned to her.

Uneasiness settled into her body as she felt all of their eyes boring into her. She glanced around at them.

“I mean, this new one works off of… power frequencies or something. Leafy doesn’t have special powers. How did it connect to her if she doesn’t give off a frequency?”

Silence again. This time, though, there was no comfort in it. Just a general sense of confoundment. She watched as their expressions shifted into ones she had never seen GB nor TB bear. Confusion, bewilderment, annoyance, and frustration, as if each of them were going through the ten stages of grief all at once.

Suddenly, the room erupted as both GB and BB began speaking at once. Golf Ball, as per usual, was the loudest, yelling about how Pin was absolutely right, it made no sense, and now she was royally peeved. Basketball tried to explain how it worked by using logic, though she kept coming up short, growing more and more frustrated. Tennis Ball simply laid his head down on the desk and let out a loud, muffled groan.

Pin stood there, stunned for a moment, before laughing.

“Okay, okay! Think about it another day, you have more important work to do,” She tried, waving her hands.

“NO!” Golf Ball shouted, “Now that’s all I’m gonna be able to think about!”

Pin laughed a little more, rubbing the back of her head.

“Sorry,” She said, before pausing. Her eyes glanced around the room before finally landing back on GB’s monitor. Squinting, she took note of the time.

7 PM.

“Oh, Pin Factory. I, uh, I have to go.” Her smile fell, eyes falling to the ground.

Basketball glanced at the time too, before looking back at Pin. 

“Okay. Thanks for staying, Pin. I hope this helped you.” She offered a smile.

Pin smiled back. It didn’t quite reach her eyes. Without another word, she left the room, her body tensing as she closed the door.

Apprehension seeped back into her bones. She was nervous again.

Ugh. She hated this. Her inability to face him was going to get her killed someday, she just knew it. How long was she gonna have to do this, she wondered. Usually it takes Two at least two months to come back. Could she make it two months? Two months of repeating the same cycle, with no clear answers? With no way of knowing when, exactly, Two would return to end this torment? Her fists clenched just thinking about it, floorboards creaking beneath her feet as she walked down the hall.

Just don’t think about it, she told herself. Don’t think about it and it’ll be fine. It will be fine.

The elevator dinged. She stepped in. First floor. She stepped out.

And in the lobby, she was greeted by the rest of her team, all sitting on the couch together again, with Barf Bag and Donut sitting on the floor.

“Oh, Pin!” Gaty called, smiling, “We were just looking for you.”

She blinked at them, confused, then walked over.

“You were?”

“We wanted to check up on you,” Needle explained, “I told them you weren’t doing to well, so…”

She felt a warm, fluttery feeling in her chest.

“Where were you?” Donut asked her curiously, almost falling backward. Luckily Barf Bag caught him.

“In Basketball’s lab,” She explained, flatly.

“Huh. Surprising,” Barf Bag commented.

“I… Uh, wanted to check up on how they were doing. With locating Two,” Her eyes fell to the floor again, fidgeting with her hands, “and Basketball let me watch them work for a while.”

“That was nice,” Gaty said with a nod.

“Did you get kicked out?” Donut wondered.

“No. I have to feed Coiny.”

“Oh!” Needle suddenly exclaimed, hopping off the couch and to her feet, “We should come with you!”

“Oooh, yeah, good idea!” Barf Bag agreed, standing as well.

“Wh-what?-” Pin protested, “No, you don’t have to, I-”

“But we want to,” Donut interrupted with a nod, standing with some struggle.

“Remember what I told you?” Needle said vaguely, giving Pin a knowing look.

The red-clad object stared for a moment, trying to think of an excuse to not let her team come with her… but then she sighed. Needle was right, after all. And besides, she was just thinking about how good having others go with her would be, so… Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

“Okay. Fine. But he’s gonna be aggressive with all the objects in the room,” Pin explained almost haughtily, crossing her arms.

“We’ll be fine,” Gaty said, waving her foot.

Pin shook her head and walked off to the kitchen, her team following behind. As she began to make his dinner, the others watched. 

She wasn’t really sure what to think, but she hoped they’d be relatively normal about his condition. She knew Donut would likely get the most afraid, but Barf Bag and Gaty- Well, she wasn’t so sure. At least she also knew how Needle would be; defensive.

“...Wait, so he actually eats dirt?” The bag asked, cutting through her thoughts.

“Yup,” Needle answered, “I never figured out why.”

“It’s so gross,” Donut grimaced, drawing one leg towards his body.

“And you don’t think I’m gross?” Barf Bag asked, sending Donut a knowing look. He blushed in response and glanced away.

“Maybe he’s just building his immune system,” Pin offered, “you never know.”

“Do you know why he eats dirt?” Needle asked, nudging Pin softly with her elbow.

Pin stopped to think. She thought back to each time Coiny shoved dirt in his mouth and actually ate it, to the times she’d see him shoveling grass and soil into his mouth when he thought no one was looking. Despite how many times she had seen him do it over the years…

“Nope.”

“You never asked why?” Gaty asked, raising an eyebrow.

Pin shrugged. “He thinks it tastes good. Why else would dirt cake be his favorite food?”

“It’s his favorite food?” Donut asked, louder this time, leaning forward with his brows raised, as if this was the most mindblowing information ever. Pin just blinked back at him.

“...Yah.”

“I’m having a hard time believing this,” Barf Bag noted.

“He also drinks gasoline.”

“WHAT?!” Donut shouted, astounded.

Just then, the oven beeped. She pulled out the hot dirt cake, placing it on the tray she had pulled out, along with the bottle of gasoline and other various food items. She glanced around the kitchen, checking to make sure she had everything else.

Suddenly, her stomach growled. The ambient chatter of her teammates came to a full stop. She stood there, feeling her face warm up and turn a shade of green.

“...Pin,” Needle said slowly, her high-pitched and light voice dropping slightly, “have you eaten anything today?” 

She sounded so concerned it almost hurt.

Pin slowly turned to face her, smiling nervously. “Uh… No?”

Needle frowned, pushing herself off the counter where she was leaning to quickly make Pin a sandwich.

“Needle-” Pin started.

“Let her do this for you,” Gaty said. “You can’t care for someone if you can’t even take care of yourself.”

Just then, the taller object turned to her, holding the plate with the sandwich out to her.

“Here. Eat,” She said firmly, but not too firmly as to sound angry. 

Pin sighed. She knew how stubborn Needle was, and frankly, she was too tired to object. She began to chow down on the sandwich, and soon found herself eating it just as recklessly as Coiny would. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until just then, scarfing down the sandwich like it was the sweetest food she had ever tasted. And in that moment, it really did taste like she was eating gourmet cooking. 

“Jeez,” Barf Bag whistled, “You’re eating that like you haven’t eaten in days.”

“Because she probably hasn’t,” Donut huffed.

“Listen,” Pin said, covering her mouth with her hand as she spoke, “I meant to eat lunch, but then Coiny stole it.”

Needle and Donut started to laugh, Gaty letting out a soft chuckle as well.

“That’s a classic!” Needle said fondly. Pin smiled bittersweetly.

Once she’d finally finished the sandwich and placed the plate in the sink, she finally picked up the tray of food. The others shimmied out of the way as she made her way past, headed to the elevator. Once they all filed in, they ascended to the third floor, the elevator letting out yet another soft ding. She wondered if it would break from her using it every few hours.

“Which room is it?” Barf Bag asked, walking up and next to Pin.

“Oh, uh. The fifth one.”

“On it!” She said, sprinting ahead of the group. This confused Pin, but she didn’t say anything. It was only when they got up to the door that she realized what her teammate was doing.

Barf Bag pushed open the door for them.

Coiny whipped around to face them. Just like last time. Mindless eyes blown wide open, a dribble of drool dripping from his gaping mouth, jagged teeth glinting in the light. He hadn’t stopped clawing at the wall since she had left, his fingernails chipped and broken. The wall, once a dark orange color, was now splotted white, stained with bits of mint. His blood.

Pin frowned at the sight of the wall as Coiny let out a feral, inhuman growl, lunging forward at the group before, like always, slamming back into the ground. Donut stumbled and fell backwards with a cry of fear, while Barf Bag and Gaty took a spooked step back and Needle put her fists up.

In the middle of them all, Pin remained unphased, staring down at him with a disapproving look.

“Every time, Huh?” She said, stepping in closer, “You’re gonna rip your ankle off one of these days.”

She placed the plastic tray down on the carpeted ground and slid it towards the infected Coin. It gently bonked the top of his head and he shot up to stare at it. He looked back up at the group of objects, mouth drooling even more.

Pin stared back, almost deadpan. Behind her, Barf Bag carefully helped Donut back to his feet, Gaty peeking out from behind her friend to look at him.

“Go on,” Pin muttered, “Eat.”

And as if he listened, he dug in.

But Pin knew. Finally, she had gotten it through her thick skull. He was braindead. Empty. There was no Coiny left in that green, rotting husk. It didn’t matter how long he happened to stare, or when he happened to start eating. It was all coincidence, whether she liked it or not. Just a coincidence. Just a coincidence. Just a coincidence.

Pin slowly got to her feet, suddenly feeling empty.

“...Wow. It’s weird to see him like that,” Donut commented, his brows furrowed. “I knew he was a messy eater, but– jeez.”

“It’s weird to see him in any color but orange,” Needle added, agreeing.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him not smiling before,” Gaty said, “Well– not smiling for long at least.”

“He looks so…” Barf Bag trailed.

“Dead.” Pin finished, her tone flat, shoulders squared as she stared down at her former lover.

“...Pin?” Needle asked, concern intertwined with her tone, her hand gently landing on her friend's shoulder.

Her mouth opened then closed again a few times, struggling to find the right words. She wanted to say what was wrong. To yell. To scream. To tell everyone in all of Goiky how much she hated this. How much she hated this stupid green version of her Coiny. Her Coiny. She wanted to break down again, to latch onto Needle and never let go.

But she didn’t. She didn’t because she couldn’t. She couldn’t let herself let go. She couldn’t lose herself in her emotions. Not now. Not in front of her whole team. They’d think her weak, she thought. She wasn’t weak. Like… Like Coiny would say. She’s their fearless leader. Like Coiny would say. Like Coiny would say.

Coiny would say it’s okay to cry, wouldn’t he. He would say it’s okay to be scared. To be sad. To be distraught. As long as she knew she was strong and that she could get through it no matter what. 

But what did it matter? He wasn’t here. Only his body. Only his stupid, green body. Her fists clenched. She hated it. She hated his broken nails. His rotting limbs. His jagged teeth. His lifeless eyes which bore into her very bones, her very soul, her very being.

“I’m fine. Let’s go.”

She shrugged Needle’s hand off her shoulder and turned away, walking out of the room. She couldn’t bear to be in there for another moment. It took a second, but the others followed her.

As they reentered the elevator, Needle pressed the button to take them to the first floor. Pin pressed the button for the fourth floor.

“What? Why-” Needle started.

“I’m going to sleep,” Pin interrupted, clearly biting back her frustration.

“...Are you sure? We were gonna watch movies,” Gaty offered, unease in her voice.

“I’m tired.”

“...Okay.”

The elevator let out a gentle ding. The doors opened. Fourth floor.

“Goodnight, Pin,” Donut said wearily, “Sleep well.”

Pin simply nodded, stepping out of the elevator and beginning her trek back to her room. The elevator doors closed, taking the rest of her team back down to the lobby. Her fists clenched again, entire body tensing up. She grit her teeth, biting back her anger and sadness. Once she reached her hotel room, she slammed the door shut, flinching slightly at the loud noise.

She stood there for a moment, standing before the door, her eyes trained on the ground, her brows furrowed into tight peaks. Slowly, she focused on her breathing. Deep inhale… long exhale. Her nerves gradually calmed, and she stepped forward, lightly walking across the carpeted floor and climbing onto her bed. 

Immediately, she shoved herself under the covers, the blankets rumpling up as she rolled onto her side. Her hand reached out, grabbed the nearest pillow, and pulled it close to herself, curling up around it. Her eyes slowly fluttered closed.

She knew it was only 8 PM. She knew that she didn’t have to go to sleep so early. But she didn’t care. She wanted to. Exhaustion had taken over. She didn’t feel like interacting with anyone else. Not now.

Her eyes fluttered closed. And as she began to drift, She couldn’t help but imagine herself cuddling Coiny’s small body, instead of the pillow resting in her arms. She could feel his arms wrapped around hers, his legs intertwined with hers. She could just faintly hear him gently snoring, his chest vibrating with each inhale as she held him just a little tighter. She hated his snoring. Always had. But now… Now, it was the only thing she wished she could hear. She imagined him nuzzling his cute little face against her hand, placing a gentle, sleepy kiss on her palm, and telling her that he loved her in his cute groggy voice.

Her breath caught in her throat, her body beginning to tremble. Her breathing grew uneven, her eyes screwing shut, tighter and tighter, as to not let the tears fall out. Her throat hurt as she held the sobs back, nuzzling her head into the back of the pillow.

She imagined him nuzzling back, humming softly in contentment.

And she began to weep.

Chapter Text

The morning sun filtered gently through the blinds. Birds let out loud caws, flying over the hotel and casting shadows, flying south. Despite the rough day prior, for once, Pin managed to sleep well. Not a nightmare or dream in sight. She lay there, fighting to stay asleep as the rays of sun landed over her eyes, coating her face with a sense of warmth and comfort. The warmness of her face made her sleepy again.

Yet, no matter how well she had slept, the bed was still a mess. The blanket was rumpled and all over the place, tangled in her limbs. And still, within her arms, she cradled that pillow tight and close to her chest. She grumbled as she slowly rose from her slumber, nuzzling into the plush fabric before her face.

Regardless of her attempts to get comfortable again, she couldn’t fall back asleep. She groaned, rolling onto her back, her eyes fluttering open just for a moment before closing them again. She didn’t want to wake up. She’d give anything to sleep for the whole day. But she knew she had obligations. She had to take care of her beloved.

Her ‘morning routine’ felt like a blur. Her eyes were crusted over from the tears she had shed that night, and as she remade her bed, she wiped it away. Sighing, she looked at the clock by the door.

7:30 AM.

Time to feed Coiny.

Pin stiffened slightly at the ding from the elevator, the shiny grey doors sliding open, welcoming her onto the third floor. She felt like she had already done this a billion times over, despite this only being the fifth time feeding him.

She inhaled slowly, letting the oxygen and clean air of the hotel fill her lungs, then exhaled through her mouth, attempting to ease the tension in her shoulders. For a moment, it worked. For a moment, she felt calm. Collected.

And yet, as she walked down that hall, approached the fifth room, the tension returned. The air around her grew thick with anticipation. Why, though, was beyond her. Pin knew what she was going to see behind that door. Coiny, still green and dead, would be sitting on the floor, gnawing at the chains or scratching at the wall or chewing on the bed she had put together for him. His nails would be chipped and broken and bleeding still, and his teeth would still be rotting, and his eyes would still be white and lifeless. She knew this, and she was glad she knew it, but still, the tension wouldn’t cease for long.

Why? Why not? What part of this did she not understand? 

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt as she reached his room. For a moment, she hesitated, glancing down at the pancakes and bacon and gasoline she prepared for him.

The door creaked, slowly opening.

And Coiny was there, picking at the carpet with his botched fingers. His head snapped up as he smelled the food, very quickly standing. He didn’t lunge this time, but instead attempted to run at her. He fell, as per usual, from the weight of the steel ball pulling on his leg.

She snickered this time, crouching down and sliding the tray to him. And again, as he always did, he tore into the food like it was nothing.

Pin sat back again, crossing her legs as she watched him eat.

The tension was gone now that she was actually looking at him. The air remained coated with a feeling of uneasiness, but for once, it wasn’t suffocating. Her mind wandered back to what she was thinking about before; the apprehension she felt, despite knowing he was still like this behind the door.

She had never been good at self-reflection. At least, not on her own. Usually someone was there to buffer, like Leafy or… Coiny. But she wasn’t here right now. And neither was he. She closed her eyes, placing her hands on the rim around the top of her head and tried to think. Tried to figure out what was wrong with her, for her to still feel so anxious walking towards this room just to feed him. He couldn’t attack her, she knew what to expect, so what was wrong? It was like taking care of him when he’s sick like with the flu, or a cold. She felt fine. Everything was fine.

…Eventually, she sighed, lowering her arms back to the ground. Whatever. She couldn’t figure it out. 

Coiny snarled, and she looked up at him, only to catch him with the whole tray in his mouth, shaking it like a chew toy.

“Hey!-” She exclaimed, quickly getting to her knees and grabbing the other side of the tray, tugging on it, “Let go! Bad zombie, bad zombie!” 

He growled, pulling back on the tray, almost as if they were playing tug of war. Like he was a dog. He whipped his head around some more, nearly throwing Pin off balance.

She grit her teeth together, furrowing her brows. Forming a plan, she leaned forward slightly, letting him drag her towards him for a moment only to put all of her strength into one intense and hefty tug. 

She yelped as his jaw gave way, sending her falling backward, the tray slapping her in the face. A low groan escaped her throat, laying there on the carpeted ground. Coiny whined.

At least– she thought he did. She pushed the tray off her face and sat back up to look at him.

He went back to picking at the carpet.

… Well that was weird. She chose to pretend she hadn’t just heard him whimper.

Her eyes drifted from him over to the corner of the room, where she noticed a hint of red against the oranges of the room. Squinting, she realized what it was.

A pile of trays. He had apparently done that exact same thing to them, slamming them into the wall and out of reach once he was done with them. She exhaled, having completely forgotten she left the trays the last three times she fed him. 

Carefully, her feet planted into the ground, standing back up. The carpet shifted as she walked over to the stripped bed in the room, climbing over it and reaching down to pick up the three trays, stacking them on the one from his breakfast. She carried the trays beneath her arm as she stood and turned to leave– but before she did, she turned to face Coiny again.

The carpet was stained now with his blood, pieces of it frayed from the picking. His expression was blank, staring endlessly at the ground, his movements sloppy.

She frowned, and left.

The elevator doors slid open again, welcoming her into the lobby. She stepped out, looked up from where she was examining the trays– and froze.

The floor was cluttered, filled with bins and plastic containers and other various bits and bobs. She glanced around the room, confused at what all of this was.

Just then, the front doors opened. Winner and Pen walked next to each other, carrying two more bins over their respective heads and laughing. They stopped when they noticed her.

“Oh! G’mornin’, Pin!” Winner greeted with a smile, placing their bin down.

“Hey,” Pen said, placing his bin down as well.

“What’s going on?” Pin questioned, surprised to see the two working together, “Where’s the rest of your teams?”

“Asleep,” Pen answered, rolling his eyes, “Eraser is not a morning person. Oh, but– TV and TB are in Basketball’s lab again.”

“It’s December 20th, Pin! You know what that means, right?” Winner asked, hopping up on one of the bins to be eye-to-eye with her.

Pin stared blankly.

“....Christmas is coming up soon!” Pen finished, looking a little nervous, “It… probably isn’t good timing with everything going on, but–”

“We thought it’d help bring everyone’s spirits back up!” 

She thought for a moment. She almost wanted to be upset, that they would even decide to start setting all this up when everyone was stressed. It felt too early to even consider Christmas and decorations, but– but then she truly thought about it. How much good it could do everyone else, how much good it could do for her. This was a good idea, she thought. Coiny would think it was a good idea. She smiled softly.

“I can help after I wash these trays!” She offered, cheerfully.

Pens face lit up. “Awesome! See, I told you the others would be willing to help,” He bragged, nudging Winner.

They rolled their eyes at him.

“Luckily we just brought in the last of the decorations. We’ll start opening up the bins while you wash those dishes, yeah?” They offered, giving a thumbs up.

Pin nodded.

“On it!” She replied, turning and happily trotting towards the kitchen.

Surprisingly- at least surprising to her- she felt excited to help decorate the lobby. Putting up décor was one of her favorite things to do. In fact, decorating anything was one of her favorite things to do. That was a huge reason why she loved baking so much. Also, this might let her get to know Winner and Pen better. They called her ‘friend’ the other day, and Pen– Well, he seemed nice enough. And he was one of Coiny’s best friends all the way back in BFDI, so– maybe she could get along with him too!

…Baking. She should bake something soon. Maybe she could bake something for the two of them. It could be a token of her friendship maybe? A peace treatie- wait, no.

She shook her head softly, focusing on washing the trays, two of which she elected to throw out. Coiny had somehow managed to put a hole through one, and bit off a whole chunk on the other, despite his rotting teeth and jaw. It amazed her, honestly.

Pin walked back out into the lobby, looking over the opened bins and plastic ornament cases and other miscellaneous knickknacks. She spotted Winner preparing to put up the christmas tree, delicately placing the decorative rug in the corner of the room. Pen was on the other side of the room, standing up on a ladder to hang garlands with lights in them on the walls.

“Need some help?” She offered, standing behind Winner.

They glanced up at her, standing up with a smile. “Sure! You set up the tree, and I’ll fluff out the branches.”

“Sounds good!” Pin chirped, immediately diving into the box. She pulled out the stand which the tree would be inserted to hold it upright, placing it in the center of the rug. Then, the bottom of the tree, the midsection, the other midsection, then the top. As she placed them, Winner got to work going around and around, fluffing out the branches and artificial pines. After a few minutes, the tree was ready for decoration.

“Lights first, right?” Pin asked.

“Bingo!” Winner chimed, reaching into a bin and pulling out a long strip of Christmas lights. They handed Pin one side.

The two circled the tree, laying on the lights row by row, crossing a few times in the front of the tree.

“So, uh,” Pin started awkwardly, “How are you liking your team?”

“It’s…” Winner trailed, “..Okay. Bottle is fun and surprisingly competent despite how often she dies,” They joked, chuckling slightly. Pin smiled.

“Yellow Face– not so much. But he’s manageable, all things considered.”

“Oh yeah– didn’t your team lose that one challenge because he grabbed a… weird scribble instead of what you actually needed?”

“Yeah!” Winner huffed, their sections crossing, “I scolded him for that.”

Pin laughed a little and glanced away briefly, thinking about Coiny again, and the amount of times she scolded him. And the times she… told him he was doing a good job. And that she was proud of him. Like when they were chasing FreeSmart–

“Oh.” Pin muttered.

“What about Ice Cube?” She asked, glancing over at Winner from behind the tree. There was a sense of apprehension in her tone, like she was nervous. She hadn’t actually spoken to Ice Cube since BFDIA, since FreeSmart and her face— 

“Oh, yeah. Uh… I don’t really know her too well. She doesn’t talk much.” They answered, taking a moment to think.

“I suppose she’s not a bad teammate, though. She’s useful.”

Pin nodded, circling the tree again.

“How about-” “Are you-”

The two paused, looking at each other.

“Sorry, you go-” “No no, you spoke first-”

They stared. Winner gestured at her. Pin gestured back. Winner raised a brow, then Pin sighed.

“I was going to ask, how are you doing? With getting used to the competition?” She finally asked, resuming her work of fitting the lights.

Winner stood there for a moment, their expression shifting now and again as they considered their response.

“...Fine, I guess,” They finally said with a shrug, resuming as well.

She felt a pang of guilt, nervousness.

“I’m sorry, did I-” She started, clocking their change in demeanor.

“No, it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to burden you with my issues,” Winner explained, offering her a soft smile.

“I… I wouldn’t mind listening,” She offered, returning the smile, “Coiny says I’m a good listener.”

Winner chuckled a little at her mentioning Coiny.

“You two are really close, huh?” They asked, moving to cross over Pin’s line again, changing the subject.

“Oh yeah,” Pin confirmed with a proud nod, “We’ve been in it since the first season.”

“But you got closer in the second season, yeah?”

“Yeah, I–” She paused, freezing, a sense of dread snaking its way into her bones.

“...How did you know that?” She asked, turning to face them, brows furrowed.

“I watched the-” They started with a proud smile, before it quickly left their expression, replaced with a sudden realization.

“I-I don’t judge you for what you did! I don’t really care, to be honest. That’s not who I know you to be, so– don’t feel ashamed,” They noted, speaking almost too quickly, trying to reassure Pin.

Pin looked at them for a while, relaxing slightly.

“You mean it?”

“Whole heartedly.”

She smiled warmly. “Thank you.”

Winner smiled back.

And suddenly, there was a yelp, cut off by the loudest BANG known to objectkind. The two jumped at the sound, whipping around to look in the direction of the noise; in the kitchen.

“...Pen?” Winner called, “Are you okay??” They asked, an urgent tone to their voice.

“Y-yeah!” He called back after a moment too long, a thumbs up shooting from behind the bar counter.

“What happened?” Pin asked, worried.

“The ladder fell…” He groaned, his arm falling back to the ground, “Just give me a second.”

The purple-clad object held back a snicker. “Do you need help?”

“Nope. I’m good. Thanks.” He uttered, his voice strained, like he was trying to lift the ladder off of him.

“Okay, if you’re sure!” They said cheerfully before turning back to Pin. “Boys, amiright?”

Pin barked out a laugh at their remark.

They resumed working on setting the tree up, finally putting the rest of the lights on. Immediately after that, they brought out the ornaments, putting those up on the tree as well. Midway through, Pen joined them in decorating the tree, stating that he was done with ladders for the next billion years.

“...Just don’t tell Eraser, please?” He asked, “He wouldn’t let me live it down.”

“Your secret is safe with us,” Pin promised, placing a shiny, orange ornament towards the top of the tree.

“Thank you,” Pen sighed, looking defeated for a moment. She snickered.

“After this, what’s next?” Pin asked, stepping away for a moment to look at the Christmas tree.

“Well, we have more garlands we can use…” Winner stated, trailing off.

“Those would look good wrapped around the uh… What’s the word…” Pen mumbled, furrowing his brow to think. Pin stared at him, Winner turning to look at him too.

“Agh- that thing!” He said finally, pointing at the stairs.

“The banister?” Winner and Pin corrected in unison.

“Yeah! That would look good wrapped around the banister.” 

Pin snickered, beginning to understand why Pen and Coiny would get along so well. She wondered why they’d stopped talking much, though quickly remembering that Pen had been shoved into the L.O.L. for all of Season 2 and IDFB.

“That’s a good idea, Pen,” Winner said, picking up another ornament and placing it on the tree. Pin did the same, their movements reminding her what she was even doing.

As time wore on, the trio maneuvered around the lobby, putting up stockings on the bar counter for each of the remaining contestants, wreaths in the windows and on the front door. All the while, Pen and Winner kept cracking jokes and puns. Pin couldn’t help but giggle at them, even throwing in her own jokes. 

Pen reminded her so much of Coiny. Similar humor, the same kindness- and the more she listened to him speak and laugh, the more she realized how alike they sounded too. Her heart fell slightly as she thought about her copper knight.

He would have loved to join in on this. Christmas was his favorite holiday after all. He always said it was for the gifts, but a part of her knew that wasn’t true. He always would admire the decorations, the joy it brings his friends, the shared laughter and fun. That’s all he ever wanted. To have fun. Her smile faltered ever so slightly.

Pen seemed to notice, carefully walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?” He asked.

She jumped a little, having zoned out and into her thoughts. She shot him a smile. “Yes!”

He smiled back, looking relieved. “Good!”

The moment Grassy stepped into the lobby, he gasped and squealed excitedly. 

“Christmaaas!” He cheered, rushing over and looking up at the tree. His eyes shined with pure childlike wonder.

As per usual, Snowball was still on his head, though this time he was still sleeping. He stirred slightly.

Pen snickered at the sight, hauling Grassy up and into his arms.

“Good morning, lil’ guy!”

“Hiii Pen! Is it Christmas time???” Grassy giggled, hugging Pen’s side.

“Almost!” Winner said from the top of the ladder, hanging some more wreaths, “It’s December 20th!”

“Just five more days!” Pin said cheerfully, turning to him with her hands on her hips.

“YAAAY!” Grassy yelled, his arms flinging into the air.

Snowball groaned. “Grassy, shush…”

Grassy gasped a little, having forgotten Snowball was even there. Pin snickered at the expression he made.

Quickly, the kid pulled Snowball off his head and turned him around to look into his eyes as he shook the snow poff.

“CHRISTMAS IN FIVE DAYS!!!!” He cheered, even louder than earlier.

Snowball’s eyes shot open. “Okay, okay!” He yelped, closing his eyes tightly again, “Stop yelling!!”

He plopped Snowball back on his head and turned to look at Pen again. 

“Where’s the rest of Grassy’s team?”

“Um…” Pen trailed, misremembering.

“Bell and Robot Flower went outside,” Pin answered. 

“Not before attempting to break the tree in half…” Winner muttered under their breath, clearly still upset. Grassy didn’t seem to notice.

“Okay!” He said, hopping out of Pen’s arms and rushing to the doors, “Bye!!!”

The entrance closed again with a ding. The trio shared a laugh, before continuing to decorate the lobby. 

The longer they worked, the more their friends and fellow contestants made guest appearances, finally waking up from their slumbers. Some only waved as they left the hotel, others stayed to chat as they made their breakfast, and Needle even joined in on the decorating, only increasing the amount of jokes being made. 

Pin felt… warm inside. Her heart swelled with joy and laughter, her smile rarely fading. For the first time since yesterday, Coiny remained off her mind- for the most part. She was genuinely having fun, enjoying the company of her friends- and even making a new friend out of Winner and Pen. Today was a good day, she thought. 

The four of them sprawled out on the floor of the lobby, feeling spent, but still giggling and making a few jokes. Pins body was slick with ooze, breathing a little heavily.

“That was… some good work, team,” Winner said between breaths, “We got the whole lobby done before lunch.”

“We still gotta decorate the banister, though…” Pen whined, putting his hands over his eyes, “I completely forgot.”

“S’okay, Pen,” Needle spoke softly, reaching over to attempt at patting his head– though she missed entirely and ended up patting his stomach instead, “We can do it together.”

“Yeah! We gotcha Pen,” Winner agreed.

They all fell silent again, the air around them light. Though for some reason, Pin felt it shift, if only slightly. She felt tense again, and it wasn’t just the ache in her muscles. Why did she feel nervous again? There wasn’t anything happening. All they were doing was laying on the floor and– oh. 

“Wait– what time is it?” Pin asked, pushing herself up and into a sitting position.

“10:45. Why?” Pen answered, briefly checking his phone.

Pin frowned, looking over at the kitchen where Bomby and Nickel were making themselves some breakfast.

“...Oh,” Pen uttered quietly, realization dawning on him.

Silence again. This time, a foreboding feeling clung to the atmosphere like a parasite, sucking away any remnant of joy. The air was thick again, and Pin felt awful for ruining the mood. She didn’t want to be such a downer for everyone, to ruin the fun they were having. She hugged her arms, inhaling to speak, a bubble forming in her throat.

“Why don’t we follow you up the stairs?” Needle suggested, standing.

“Huh?”

“Oh yeah!” Winner exclaimed, realizing what Needle was doing. They hopped to their feet as well, turning to the two girls. “We can chat while we wrap the banister, and wait for you once we get to the third floor.”

Pin blinked. “...Are you sure?” She asked, hesitant to agree. 

She wanted to keep hanging out, but– were they just trying to make her feel better with this? Or did they actually want to hang out more? She couldn’t tell– she could never tell with other people. Ugh, and she thought she was over her trust issues.

“I think that sounds like a great idea!” Pen chimed in, getting to his feet as well.

Pin stared at him for a moment before sighing. “Okay, fine. I guess I have no choice.”

“Yup!” Needle chirped. Pin shot a friendly glare. And to the kitchen they went.

“So what did you get for him this time?” Needle asked, pushing the end of the garland between the first two bars and up towards Pen.

“Dirt cake, gasoline, and some chicken nuggets,” Pin answered flatly, staring at the tray in her hands.

“Woah woah–” Winner interrupted, astounded. Here we go again. “Dirt cake and gasoline?”

“They’re his favorite foods. I don’t know why,” Pin answered with a shrug.

“...Fair enough, I guess.”

Needle snickered at their reaction.

“He truly is an enigma,” Pen said, sounding very proud of himself.

Pin snorted softly.

“Did Tennis Ball teach you that word?” She teased.

“Golf Ball, actually! You guys don’t give her enough credit, she’s seriously talented,” He said, wrapping the garland around the top of the banister before feeding it back down to Winner.

“Gosh, Pen, you’re such a suck-up,” Needle said with a huff, clearly joking.

“What, is praising my teammates illegal now?” Pen asked, chuckling.

“Yes,” Pin answered, “but only when its bozo-brain Golf Ball”

Needle, Pin, and Pen laughed. Winner looked at them with a frown.

“Aw c’mon, she couldn’t have been that bad,” They said, looking between the two beside them as they fed the garland through another set of bars.

“You watched the earlier seasons, right?” Needle asked them, “She was awful.”

“We’re only joking,” Pen corrected, reaching over their head to lightly shove Needle’s shoulder, “Golf Ball was fine.”

“We were all young and stupid then,” Pin added, nodding in agreement with Pen, “She’s mellowed out now. Somewhat.”

As they slowly made their way up the stairs and through the floors, Pin’s mood continued to rise, jokes being thrown around like a bouncy ball. For a moment, she’d forgotten all about feeding Coiny, all about the tray that she held in her hands, all about the dread which normally planted its way into her stomach on her way.

“Okay,” Winner spoke, interrupting their laughter, “third floor. Go do your thing, Pin,” They encouraged, smiling at her.

Pin blinked, then nodded, speed walking away and down the hall. The dread seeped in again. She reminded herself of what she was going to see behind that door. Green, empty, broken, scratched, chained. It was fine and she knew what was going to happen. There was no need to feel this stupid sinking feeling. 

Whatever. Whatever. No use in lingering on the why, right? She pushed the door open and stepped in with a sigh, closing the door behind her. She paused there for a moment, staring at the wall, as if waiting to hear the chains rattling, signifying a lunge.

But it didn’t happen.

Confused, concerned, and a little bit hopeful, she turned around– and had to do a double take.

Coiny laid face down on the ground, and when he heard her take a step closer, he snapped upright… and ripped a huge chunk of carpet out of the floor. The orange fabric was all over his face, sticking to him like a fungus. Half of his face was covered by the chunk he just ripped up, staring at her with wide eyes.

She stared back with a similar expression, though hers was mostly of… confusion and amazement.

“...He was eating the carpet?” She wondered out loud, biting back a laugh.

She took another step closer, barely flinching as he lunged at her again, the chunk of carpet falling from his mouth, covered in his saliva. He fell to the ground again, and she shook her head.

“Is the fabric not filling enough for you?” She joked, kneeling down and sliding the tray to him. It took him a moment, but sloppily, he pushed himself up and indulged.

As she sat there, watching him eat, her lingering smile faded. 

…Christmas in five days, huh. They’d never spent a holiday without each other before. They were always by each other’s side, whether it be Christmas, or New Years, or Halloween- it was always Coiny and Pin. “Us against the world,” as he used to say.

She still remembered the first Christmas they spent together as a couple. He’d gone all out, using every dollar he had been given by his mom to make it the best Christmas ever. He took her out for breakfast, let her get anything she wanted without worrying about the cost, and then let her pick something she wanted from the mall. No matter the cost. And then, once it was dark out, they exchanged gifts under the moonlight, in the fields of Yoyleland.

For him, she got- or rather made- a bracelet. It was purple with orange stars and lettering that read “W.O.A.H. Bunch.” She learned how to make friendship bracelets, just for him. Just to make the most important gift, all for him to keep. She remembered the expression on his face when he opened the carefully wrapped gift, the beaming smile he gave her and the small tear he swore was never there. She remembered how tightly he hugged her, and for a moment, she thought she could feel it again.

And for her– Many, many gifts, all with different meanings. A green bow she wore on her point for a few years, an apron he customized to say “Kiss the fearless leader,” a tiara with orange and purple gems. But more importantly, the one gift he had saved for last…

A promise ring. It was rose gold, the metal twisted into two infinity signs at the front. Between those two infinity signs was the prettiest stone she had ever seen. A bright, glistening orange carnelian, beautifully cut and shaped into a perfect heart, delicately placed right in the center of the ring. Beside it were smaller gemstones, garnets, placed between the first half of each infinity sign and above and below on either side of the heart.

She remembered how she felt at that moment. The way her heart swelled and melted all at once, blooming love and flowers sparking to life within her chest, and she found herself falling for him all over again. She praised his choice of ring, praised how gorgeous the stones looked- teased him a little for being such a romantic- and flung her arms around him, kissing him lovingly.

And for the rest of the night, they stayed under the stars, cuddling in that field, talking about nothing and everything at the same time. At that moment, she couldn’t care less about her reputation. About when the next season would start. All that existed was her, and Coiny, and the twinkling stars which danced above them, telling of promises and the joy of years to come.

…She snapped back to reality. And white eyes stared back.

Ironic, wasn’t it. That night, he had filled her with nothing but joy and love. And every night, now, all he filled her with was dread and sadness.

She wondered what she had done to deserve him. Why, of all people, did he decide to cling to her. Maybe she should ask him after he’s cured. Or maybe, she’ll never know the answer.

She let out a melancholy sigh, standing back up and grabbing the empty tray before Coiny could get his grubby little hands on it again. Without a word, she left the room, feeling a little sadder. But she put on a brave face, forcing a smile.

The others perked up when they saw her walking towards them, Pen giving her a little wave. And yet his smile faltered a little, as if he could tell something was wrong.

“How’d it go?” Needle asked, her voice somehow softer than usual.

“Same as the last six times,” She said, shrugging, then paused, her forced smile turning to a real one. “Well, maybe not the same. He was trying to eat the carpet when I walked in.”

Pen immediately started laughing. Needle gasped along with Winner, but then she just started laughing too. Winner stared incredulously, but a smile was evident on their face.

“Finally done!” Winner exclaimed, feeding the last bit of garland through the last bar. The four of them cheered, sharing high fives and whoops of pride.

“And now I’m gonna go take a nap,” Winner spoke again, already making their way back down the stairs, “Cya later, mates!”

The remaining three watched them walk down the stairs for a moment. Pen itched the back of his head nervously and Needle seemed to glance between the two of them. Awkwardness suddenly sunk in, and Pin wanted nothing more than to run away now.

“...Hey, Pin,” Needle started, catching her attention, “Me and the rest of Team8s were gonna watch some more movies. Do you wanna come?”

Pin stared at her for a moment, considering. She moved to speak, but then paused, glancing back at Pen.

The air around him had shifted. He looked unsure, glancing around the roof of the hotel as if he could find what to do up there. His brows furrowed, lost in his mind, and almost looking like a lost puppy. She frowned.

This whole time, she hadn’t really gotten to get to know him like she wanted to. She knew he was like Coiny, but– she didn’t want to make assumptions. That was rude. So, the corners of her mouth raised into a smile.

“Actually, I… I think I want to hang out with Pen some more.”

Pen snapped his head over to look at her, his eyes wide and brows raised, wearing an expression she could only describe as shock. Needle looked almost equally as surprised, and maybe even a little proud.

“Oh. Okay. I’ll see you later, then.” Needle said, and Pin nodded. And once Needle left, it was just her and Pen. She turned to him.

He tensed a little, but then smiled. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” He admitted, rubbing the back of his head again. Weird habit.

“I like to keep my enemies on their toes,” She joked, smiling a little more. He laughed.

“Well, uh…” He trailed, “What do you want to do? I don’t… really have any ideas.”

“Wanna learn how to bake?” She suggested, smiling with her teeth this time.

He smiled right back. “Sure!”

“So what are we baking?” Pen asked, leaning against the wall. He watched Pin as she prepped the counters and brought out various ingredients, happily putting on her apron.

“Cookies!” She answered, gesturing at the cookie sheet, “Basic chocolate chip cookies, to be exact. They’re the most beginner-friendly thing to bake.”

“And in season,” Pen added.

“And in season,” She echoed with a nod.

“Now come here, I have an extra apron you can use,” She instructed, rummaging around in a drawer while signaling to him with her hand.

Curiously, he walked closer to her, watching her dig. 

And then she pulled out the frilliest pink apron he had ever seen in his entire life. His face fell.

“D…Do I have to?”

“Yes! Making cookies can be extremely messy, especially as a beginner. It's important you wear the proper items to ensure cleanliness,” She explained haughtily, raising the apron to him. “You should’ve seen Coiny after his first baking attempt. You could have mistaken him for a completely different object with how much flour he was covered in.”

Pen simply let out a sigh, reluctantly taking the apron from her and putting it on. Pin smiled, then began to explain how baking cookies worked.

The kitchen fell mostly quiet now. The oven was preheating, and Pen was mixing the wet ingredients together while Pin mixed the dry ingredients. She could feel his eyes on her, glancing at her every few seconds. It wasn’t that she was weirded out by it– she just wondered why. He’d never really paid attention to her before, and she thought he would be focused on mixing. She always found the wet ingredients to be the hardest to whisk together, but then again, Pen was extremely strong.

Still, she glanced over at him.

“Is something wrong, Pen?” She asked, pausing her mixing for a moment.

He froze like a dear in headlights, surprised she had even noticed his sudden anxiousness. He cleared his throat a little, brows furrowing again.

“I was just wondering– Why did you want to hang out with me?” He asked, “I mean, I don’t mind, I love getting to know others, but Needle offered you to hang out with people you already know, so…” He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head.

She stopped mixing again, staring up at him. The atmosphere between them changed as she looked back into her bowl. She tried to think of an excuse. For a reason that had nothing to do with her lover, a reason that maybe she could get away with. But truth be told, she couldn’t think of anything. He was right, her decision really didn’t make any sense. She sighed.

“...To be honest, it’s… You remind me of Coiny,” She explained, wincing at how pathetic she sounded. Briefly, she glanced up at him, searching his face for some kind of reaction. His brows only furrowed a little more, into a look of concern. She looked back into her bowl.

“You have the same confidence, you make the same jokes, you’re- you’re both incredibly kind to people who maybe don’t deserve it. You’re competitive. He’s a little more aggressive than you are, but- You even sound similar!” She looked back up at him, her voice shaking ever so slightly. His face hadn’t changed.

Her heart sank in her chest, a broken feeling jabbing through her. When she said it out loud, it hit her how pathetic all this sounded.

“I just wanted to… be friends with one of his friends. One of his first friends,” She continued, her voice quieter, “I wanted to get to know someone I knew I could get along with.”

Silence. It was deafening. She couldn’t bear to look up at Pen, her arms tense and shaking. She felt guilty again.

Her feet scuffed against the kitchen ground, turning her back to him and placing her mixing bowl on the counter.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have– This– …I’m sorry.”

“No– hey, Pin, it’s- it’s okay-” Pen stammered, quickly putting his mixing bowl down as well and stepping towards her, reaching his hand out- though hesitating to put it on her shoulder.

“I… I get it,” He said, quieter this time.

She felt a flutter in her chest. And finally, she looked up at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. When you lose a person, you- you start looking for them in everyone else. That happened to me, when we came here and Blocky wasn’t with me and Eraser anymore,” He explained solemnly, holding his arm. “I know my example isn’t as… uh, intense, as what you’re going through, but… Yeah. I understand the feeling.”

He paused again, glancing around a little, considering his next words.

“And honestly, I’m honored. That you found that in me,” He admitted, offering her a warm smile. “I’m glad I could help, even if it wasn’t on purpose.”

Slowly, she smiled back at him. Her heart swelled again, and she felt as if the room had brightened up again with bursts of color, of delight and warmth.

“Thank you for that.” She said, then snickered, “See, this is what I mean!”

Pen giggled a little.

She took a deep inhale, steadying her nerves again, before exhaling.

“Okay, back to it! These cookies won’t bake themselves!” She exclaimed, the joy of baking reentering her.

“You got it, boss!” Pen replied, giving her a salute- with the wrong hand- and returning to his mixing bowl.

She snickered, thought about Coiny again, and returned to her own bowl as well.

The oven beeped, catching both bakers' attention. They lunged off the couch they were sitting on and raced to the kitchen, Pin somehow managing to beat him there. She shoved on an oven mitt, opened the door, and pulled the final batch of cookies out with a smile.

“They’re done!” She cheered, placing the cookie tray on a hot pad.

“YES!” Pen cheered, holding his hand out. She slapped it with her un-mitted hand and whooped along with him.

“You should have the first cookie,” Pin stated, gesturing at the other three cookie sheets, “Since this is your first time baking them.”

“I can’t say no to that!” He chirped, already reaching over. He picked up a cookie from the very first batch, carefully holding it, as if it might crumble into dust at the slightest movement. Then he lifted it to his mouth, sinking his teeth into the warm, fluffy pastry.

Immediately after, his eyes widened, a smile forming on his face as he chewed. Pin smiled even wider, her hands clasping together and resting over her flared bottom.

“How is it?” She asked.

“This is the best cookie I’ve ever tasted!” He exclaimed, muffled slightly from his mouth still being full.

“Good! I’m glad!” Pin chirped, reaching over and grabbing a different cookie. 

She bit into it, the sweet flavor exploding in her mouth. It was warm and welcoming, and tasted like a mothers hug. The chocolate chips added the perfect kick of something else, adding to the homey vibes of the cookie as a whole. She hummed in approval, closing her eyes as she savored the taste of their combined effort.

And then she heard some very heavy footsteps enter the kitchen. She looked over.

“Do I smell cookies?” Said a deep voice.

“Eraser!” Pen gasped, putting his cookie down and walking over. He held his hand out, the two of them doing a handshake. Pin blinked at them.

“Have you been sleeping this whole time?” Pin asked.

“Yeah.” Eraser answered, flatly.

“...Seriously, bro? It’s 4 PM.”

“I know.” He said, before wordlessly shuffling past Pen and snatching a cookie off the tray, eating it sloppily, crumbs getting everywhere on the counter and on the floor, and on his face. Normally she wouldn’t mind– Coiny used to eat the same way– but this just upset her. Whatever happened to keeping the kitchen clean? She took another bite of her own cookie to distract herself.

“These are good. Who made them?” Eraser asked, looking between the two, his mouth still full.
Pen smiled proudly at him, walking over and wrapping an arm around Pin. “We both did! Pin did most of the work though.”

“Huh?! No I didn’t, I just told you what to put in! You did the hard part of mixing the batter,” Pin protested.

“...That was supposed to be hard?” He asked, a nervous tone seeping into his voice. Pin deadpanned.

“Okay, we get it, bro, you’re strong,” Eraser teased, rolling his eyes, “You don’t gotta brag.”

“I’m not bragging!” Pen defended, putting his hands up, “I was just asking a question!”

Pin giggled. “Sounds like bragging to me.”

Eraser laughed, swiping another cookie and shoving it in his mouth and Pen let out an exasperated sigh.

“Oh my artist, you two are impossible,” He groaned playfully.

Pin chortled, Eraser cackling around the pastry in his mouth.

She finished the rest of her cookie as Pen did as well, the air light and warm. She had never truly gotten to know Eraser- at least, not from what she remembered- So she didn’t mind this much either. She thought about what she knew Eraser for back in season one; his arrogance and laziness, to the point where she thought he assumed he was too cool to do anything. She remembered his attitude bothering her a lot back then. But now, seeing as he’s changed and grown, somehow more passionate and competitive and compassionate than before, she actually didn’t mind it. And his antics were kind of funny sometimes.

“...Anyways-” Pen suddenly spoke up, awkwardly adjusting his footing, “Did you just come down here for cookies?” He asked, looking at Eraser.

“Yeah,” Eraser confirmed, shoveling a third cookie into his mouth. “Unless you wanted to hang out,” He said, talking with his mouth full. Pin cringed.

Pen smiled. “I do, actually. It’s getting colder outside, we should do something! Oh–” He turned to her again, “and you can come with us, if you want, Pin.”

She blinked, then smiled, happy to be invited. It felt a little rude to think this way, but she was glad Blocky and Snowball weren’t with them. Out of everyone in Coiny’s former friendship, those two were the worst. Snowball was just arrogant and rude and aggressive, and Blocky was… Well, he was Blocky. His deadly pranks were annoying at best and infuriating at worst.

“Sure! I’ll tag along,” She agreed, holding her hands in front of the flare of her lower part.

It was, in fact, much cooler that day. She hadn’t fully realized how much colder it had been getting each challenge, each day that went by, and she assumed it was because she had been so focused on… well, the challenge. Either way, she felt herself tensing slightly from the cold air.

“Are you two cold?” She asked, glancing up at the two boys beside her

“No.” Eraser answered, smugly. He gave Pen a look, and she didn’t understand why.

Pen glared at him for a second, before looking back at Pin. “Don’t worry, I’m cold too.”

She giggled. “I’m not surprised.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked defensively, putting his hands on his hips. Pin laughed again, Eraser snickering.

“You’re stupid skinny, bro,” Eraser explained between giggles, wrapping his arm around the taller object.

Pen huffed. “I can’t control that! You two are lucky.”

They laughed some more, and continued to walk. She wondered what they would do. Maybe they’d goof off by the shore of the Goiky Canal, or skip rocks, or something. Maybe they would just enjoy the cool fall-almost-winter air, shoot the breeze and chat, relishing each other’s company… It would be nice. They didn’t have to get into shenanigans. Though, knowing Eraser… that wasn’t likely.

“Hey,” Pen said suddenly, nudging her a little, “did you hear me?”

Pin blinked up at him, stopping as he did too. “Uh. No.”

He chuckled softly.

“I wanted to know if you thought we should put Christmas decorations outside the hotel too.”

Pin gasped, her face lighting up. “Oh! Yes, that would be a great idea! We can ask Winner later.” She agreed, nodding. Eraser started snickering.

“What’re you laughing about?” Pen asked, jabbing him with his elbow.

“Balls on a tree…” Eraser said with a dopey smile, before he and Pen started laughing. Pin rolled her eyes and forced a smile.

Okay. She could handle stupid dirty jokes like that, sure. But for whatever reason, it just annoyed her this time around. She thought it was just because she was one of the few who put effort into setting the decorations up, or maybe it reminded her of Coiny because he would make that joke too. 

… No. That wouldn’t make any sense. Pen made jokes that Coiny would probably make too, and she found herself laughing the hardest at those. It didn’t matter.

As the three walked through the beige and green land of Goiky, around where the hotel was, Pen and Eraser continued chatting. They’d crack jokes, laugh, and sometimes Pin would laugh too. She found her spirits lifting again, ever so slightly, and even made a few jokes too. Though she found Eraser wouldn’t laugh too hard at her jokes. She wondered why, but didn’t linger on the thought.

“Ooh!” Pen suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Tree and Black Hole in the distance. “We should go say hi to Death Pact!” 

“Uuugh, do we have to? They’re so uptight,” Eraser whined, slumping forward a little.

Pen’s smile faded slightly, though quickly restored itself. She could tell it was forced though.

“Oh. We don’t have to—“ He started.

Pin frowned. “I agree with Pen! Let’s go visit them. Marker is his brother after all!” She said, turning and almost marching in the direction of the team. It took a second, but the other two caught up to her again. 

The blue-capped object looked much happier now, excitedly walking beside her and almost walking faster. She smiled at the change in attitude, glad to help out. 

She couldn’t deny it, though. That interaction— it upset her a little more, to see Pen be discouraged by his own friend like that. She wondered if Eraser was really a good friend for Pen, or maybe he was just sensitive. Maybe Pen seeked validation from his friends more than she thought he did.

… She couldn’t exactly blame him though. She’d never admit it, but she felt similarly. With the help of Coiny, though, her self-confidence had been getting better. Much better. That made all the difference. 

Her brows furrowed, hugging her arms. Her mind wandered back to him, back to her boyfriend. She felt a pit form in her stomach. 

Before she could spiral— a voice echoed down to them.

“HIIII GUUUYYSS!” Marker shouted, leaning over the edge of Tree’s head and frantically waving at the three of them. He was far, but she could tell he had the biggest smile on his face.

“HI MARKER!” Pen shouted back, waving up at his little brother.

“Mind givin’ them a lift, Black Hole?” Tree asked the cosmic entity. Black Hole seemed to back up slightly, as if startled.

“Oh— uh, yeah,” He said, floating down. He scooped the three of them into his gravitational pull and floated back up to Tree, placing them on his head.

Immediately, Pen and Marker embraced in a hug.

“Yaaaay! Hi Pen!” Marker cheered, squeezing him a little.

“Hi! What’re you guys up to?” 

“Keeping Tree company!”

Fanny nodded behind him. She looked bored.

“I’ve been telling them they don’t need to,” Tree insisted, his eyes closing briefly.

“Nonsense!” Marker huffed sternly, patting the top of his leaves, “We’re your friends!”

Pin giggled softly at him, finding the sentiment to be very sweet. And, once again, being reminded of her precious coin. She sighed a little, glancing around and finally noticing Eraser. His arms were crossed, a bored look on his face, tapping his foot.

“So you’ve just been up here chatting?” Pen asked.

“Yeah! It’s fun! Black Hole is really funny,” Marker said, giggling a little. He gave Black Hole a happy smile.

“Haha… yeah.” BH muttered, as if he didn’t agree.

“What about you guys?” Marker asked, rocking on the balls of his feet a little, “What’ve you been up to?”

“Nothing much,” Pen shrugged, “We finished decorating the lobby, Pin and I made cookies, and now we’ve just been wandering.”

“COOKIES?!” Marker echoed, eyes wide and shining with excitement, grabbing Pen’s shoulders.

Pen’s brows raised, surprised by both his strength and the suddenness. “Yeah! They were really good. I would’ve brought you one if I knew we were gonna run into you guys.”

Fanny raised an eyebrow, though he didn’t notice.

“Pen did all the work,” Pin added with a smug grin, “I just told him how.”

Pen scoffed in disbelief, smiling and giving her a playfully exasperated look.

“Is this… revenge for giving you all the credit earlier?”

“Maybe,” She hummed, folding her arms behind her back and swaying side to side, putting on an innocent look. She giggled a little.

He playfully rolled his eyes at her, chuckling and shaking his head. Marker laughed.

“You’re funny too, Pin!” He said gleefully, clapping his hands.

“Ugh, this is boring.” Eraser complained suddenly. Pin’s smile instantly disappeared, her arms dropping to her sides as she stared at him. Way to ruin the moment.

“Oh, come on, Eraser,” Pen said after a moment of hesitant staring, walking over and nudging his arm, “there’s nothing wrong with just sitting and chatting.” He defended, sounding anxious again.

“Sure,” Eraser shrugged, “If someone is actually funny.”

Pin wanted to slap that smug smile off of his face. But instead, she simply crossed her arms, glaring at him.

“But– I just said Black Hole and Pin are…” Marker trailed, visibly upset.

“Hey– It’s alright, Marker, I agree with you,” The taller utensil tried, attempting to help keep his spirits up. He offered him a smile.

“Ignore him,” Pin huffed, her face softening as she turned to the purple object, “He’s just trying to get a reaction out of you.”

“You need to get your friends under control, Pen,” Tree commented, his leaves swaying slightly in the wind, as if he had just shook his head. She felt a hint of protectiveness in his tone.

“I know– I’m sorry,” He said almost too quickly, lowering his head and clasping his hands together in front of himself. She frowned, and Eraser did as well. 

The air around the group shifted, a certain tension rising, suffocating the earlier lightness of the conversation. Silence blanketed them all, and Pin shifted slightly under the weight. She felt uneasy, anxiously fidgeting with her hands. Her eyes drifted away from the main group, eventually landing on Fanny, who was still seated a little ways away.

Her brows were furrowed in a similar look of unrest and irritation, staring at Pen, and occasionally glancing down at where Tree’s face would probably be. But soon, she caught Pin’s gaze, and they stared at each other for a moment. And for a second, Pin thought she could hear what Fanny was thinking. 

She knew she was wrong though. That was a thing only she and Coiny could do with each other and no one else. 

She remembered wondering how that even happened back in BFDIA. It didn’t make much sense to her at the time. But as the seasons went on, she realized what it really meant. They were soulmates. No doubt about it.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Black Hole said suddenly, catching everyone’s attention. Pin turned quickly to look at him.

“Doesn’t Eraser have a high kill count?” He asked, moving ever so slightly closer to him, “He shouldn’t be up here with us.”

Fanny suddenly jumped to her feet, her brows furrowed deeper than before. Now she was pissed, an angry muffled shout from her throat, as if meaning to yell. Black hole flinched at the noise, Marker even moreso. 

“Wh-wha?– C’mon Black Hole, you don’t really mean that-” Pen started, a nervous smile playing on his lips.

“There is no need to escela-” Pin started, but was quickly cut off.

“What about your kill count, Black Hole?” Eraser asked, glaring up at him, his arms crossed. Pen gasped, Pin and Fanny’s brows raising before furrowing again, into anger and annoyance. And for a moment, everything seemed to slow down.

Marker put his hands on his head, distressed and scared, almost like he was preparing for an argument. Tree’s leaves rustled, and this time there was no breeze. Fanny stormed forward, muffled anger bubbling from her throat again, unable to form words due to her missing mouth, as Black Hole backed up slightly. Pin staggered in the whirlwind of it all.

“Why would you say that?!” Pen yelled, frantically waving his arms about in disbelief.

“What? It’s true,” Eraser said, shrugging, without a care in the world.

“He’s trying to get better though…!” Marker butted in, attempting to end the argument before it started. His voice shook slightly.

Eraser raised a brow. “He’s the reason the whole zombie thing happened. Doesn’t sound like getting better to me.”

Pin tensed.

“Bro, stop!” Pen shouted, and Black Hole shrunk away a little more. Pin glanced at him, and for a second, just for a moment, she finally understood the celestial being.

“Alright!” Tree finally said, cutting Eraser off right as he was about to give another insensitive retort, “The three of you, get off my head!” 

Pin watched as Pen’s expression shifted from emotion to emotion. Fear, hurt, defensiveness, understanding, then anger. He lowered his head, hugging his arms, then opened his mouth as if to speak, but winced.

“Why should we?” Eraser said smugly. Pin squinted. 

Suddenly, Pen smacked his friend upside the head, and without a word, grabbed his arm.

“Sorry, Tree.” He muttered, before lunging off and into the Goiky canal, Eraser’s shout of protest fading into the wind. Pin stood there for a moment, stunned, before realizing that meant her too. She half sprinted towards the edge of the leaves where the two had jumped off, before pausing, glancing towards Black Hole again.

She couldn’t tell where he was looking. No one ever could. But somehow, for some reason, she could tell how he was feeling. The hidden sense of guilt, carefully bottled within the void. 

And finally, she lunged, diving into the water below.

They were back to walking again. Just the three of them. Water still dripped off their bodies, a reminder of what just happened. The air felt much colder now that they’d been submerged in water, so much so that Pen was shivering. Pin found herself holding her arms, and Eraser had his crossed over his chest.

The atmosphere was noticeably different. Dissonance washed over them just as the water did, animosity circulating over the three. She glanced up at Pen, her heart sinking as she saw the way his face contorted into a conflicted look. She looked over at Eraser, and somehow, he wore a similar expression. She frowned, finding herself frustrated. 

She didn’t know Eraser well. In fact, she barely knew him at all. But from what she could gather, he never acted like that before. Getting under peoples skin on purpose- that was Blocky’s thing. It made no sense, and she hated when things didn’t make any sense. She hated when things weren’t fair.

“...Why did you do that?” Pen asked suddenly, a somber note to his voice.

“‘Cause I don’t like them.” Eraser answered, plain and simple. Except it wasn’t. There was more to it, and she knew that. She wondered if Pen did too.

Stillness blanketed over them again, strife between the two guys growing more and more apparent. Pen looked back at the ground, rubbing his arms to create warmth through friction, his brows furrowing just a little more.

“You’re not telling the truth.” Pin stated, looking back at Eraser. He raised an eyebrow, and Pen looked at her with a worried look.

She didn’t say anything more. She simply stared at him, maintaining eye contact. Pen looked back at Eraser.

“Bro?” He muttered, a pleading tone to his voice. Desperation.

…

Eraser sighed. “Okay. Fine. I don’t think they’re very good friends for you,” He finally admitted, looking away, his shoulders relaxing slightly.

Pin felt a sudden burst of resentment shoot through her. Her heart felt like it hurt for a moment, her grip on her arms tightening enough to leave marks.

No. No, that wasn’t fair. She knew it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to Pen, to have someone tell him whether or not his friends are good for him or not. She hated that. What did Eraser care? If anything, they seemed better than him and Blocky ever did. She wanted to say that to his face.

Pen sighed, somehow relaxing a little, and it snapped her from her spiraling.

“Eraser…” He said slowly, considering his words. “I get you’re protective, but they really aren’t that bad.”

“They told you to get me under control,” Eraser reiterated, lowering his arms.

“Because you were acting out! You upset Marker and insulted Black Hole, did you seriously expect that to be ignored or something, bro?” He asked sincerely, as if desperately trying to understand Eraser’s thought process.

Eraser didn’t respond.

The silence was back. Unwanted tension. Animosity blanketing, suffocating, drowning any sense of calm. She wondered how they would come back from this. She wondered if they had ever gotten into actual arguments like this before.

She wondered if they ever argued like she and Coiny did, all the way back in BFDIA. She didn’t like to think about it. It was rough, and hard, and she hated to see him like that- hated to see herself like that. But she knew that, through those arguments, their bond had grown stronger. They learned from those mistakes. They were better for it. At least, that’s what Coiny would say. That’s what she’d been trying to convince herself of. 

“Okay, okay- I’m sorry,” Eraser finally spoke, rubbing the back of his head. “I don’t like seeing my best friend hurt. That’s all.”

Pen smiled warmly. Almost too warmly. He slung an arm around Eraser’s shoulders. 

“And I appreciate that,” He said, “But there’s better ways of going about that, y’know?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eraser groaned, rolling his eyes, “Can we do something now? This boredom is killing me!”

“Absolutely!” Pen grinned, pointing at a far away tree, “Race you to that tree!” He shouted, before taking off.

Eraser gasped in offense. 

“CHEATER!” He shouted, running after him.

Pin stood there, dumbfounded. 

That was all it took?

“...And that’s why I’m two hundred vigintillion dollars in debt,” Pen finished, shrugging a little, as if it was nothing.

“Wow,” Pin mused, “You’re really bad at money.”

Pen and Eraser laughed.

The three of them were sitting at a nearby picnic table, next to the outdoor pool all of them had completely forgotten about. It’d been an hour or two since they went for a swim in the Goiky Canal, for lack of better word, and all that walking around had both Eraser and Pin’s legs hurting. The sun had long been set by then, stars twinkling softly in the neverending sky. There were few clouds in the sky to block the view of the bright stars, casting the smallest of shadows over the grassy plains of Goiky.

“Hey, at least I paid a bunch of it off,” Pen stated, crossing his arms.”

“You paid some of it off?” Eraser asked, as if surprised. He leaned against the edge of the table, bracing his elbow on the surface, faced away from Pin. He held a few rocks in his free hand, fidgeting with them.

“Yeah, I- Were you not listening?” Pen asked, nudging him slightly.

“No,” Eraser said plainly, “You’ve told this story 2,763 times.”

Pin rolled her eyes.

Pen sighed, shaking his head playfully. “Well, I was originally sixteen trevigintillion dollars in debt, but I reduced it to two hundred vigintillion.”

“Yeah? And how’d you do that?” Eraser asked, throwing a rock into the air and catching it back into his hand.

“Painfully slowly,” Pen answered, slouching slightly.

“At least you did it!” Pin said cheerfully, gently punching his arm, “If you keep being responsible with your money, maybe you can pay it off.”

“Yeah, in a billion years,” Eraser snorted, tossing a rock at a bird flying overhead. She quickly sat up, brows furrowing as she watched the rock just barely miss.

A momentary silence settled over the three again, only barely broken by the sound of rocks clicking together. Pin watched as Eraser surveyed the sky, as if looking for the next bird to harass. Her jaw tightened, before shifting her attention back to Pen.

“I’ve been wanting to ask,” She started, catching his interest, “What was it like in the L.O.L. all those years?”

Pen blinked in surprise, like he nearly forgot about those years.

“Oh. It was…” He trailed, squinting and glancing away, struggling to find the right words.

“Boring.” Eraser interjected, and she barely spared him a glimpse.

“...Okay,” Pen finally said, doing a so-so motion with his hand. “It got kinda scary after a while though.”

“Scary?” Pin echoed

“Some of us started to get… violent in the later years,” Pen admitted, rubbing his arm a little.

Eraser scoffed. “As if everyone in there wasn’t already violent.”

Pin stared blankly, finding his interjections extremely unnecessary. 

“There were plenty of people in there who weren’t violent,” Pen defended, putting his hands on his hips, “Like Pie, Remote- and me!”

His friend gave him a look, and she balled her hands into fists. Pen just laughed.

Eraser threw another rock at another fleeing bird. She hissed through her teeth. It missed again.

“...to hang out with my friends every day,” Pen said, and Pin quickly realized she hadn’t been paying attention to what he was saying..

“Sorry- can you say that again?” She asked, offering a nervous smile.

“I said, it wasn’t all bad. I got to hang out with my friends every day,” He repeated, still smiling. He swayed a little bit in his seat, the happiest she’d seen him since the afternoon.

She smiled too. “Yeah, that does sound nice.”

Another rock. Another miss. She felt her eye twitch, agitation rising. Why did boredom always have to lead to violence with this one? Did he just enjoy seeing others in pain? Maybe he got it from blocky. She turned her attention back to Pen, squeezing her hands together a few times. Don’t say anything. It’s fine.

“Oh!” Pen exclaimed, startling her slightly. “What’s your favorite thing about christmas?” He asked excitedly, bouncing slightly in his seat.

“Spending time with others,” Pin answered nearly immediately, a warm smile on her face as she thought about Coiny again. “Baking christmas cookies is a close second though.”

Pen nodded. “I agree! On the “spending time with others” part, at least,” He admitted, laughing. Pin laughed as well, the sound warm and mirthful. Their laughs melded together well, she thought. Almost as well as hers and Coiny’s.

…Man. It’d been hours since she thought of Coiny too–

Thunk.

She flinched slightly as one of Eraser’s rocks slammed against a nearby tree following a missed throw. She deadpanned.

“What about you, Eraser?” She asked in a passive-aggressive tone, insincere, her jaw tense as she talked through her teeth.

“The food,” He said immediately, without a single hint of hesitation or thought. Her brows tightened and she simply sighed, rubbing her temple.

“Hahaaa, classic Eraser,” Pen said anxiously, patting the other man’s chest.

Pin gave a tight-lipped smile and looked away again, slouching slightly. This was grating, honestly. And of course it was only when Eraser did so much as speak. He was annoying, and she was starting to remember why she never tried to engage with him or any of the other guys, for that matter.

“Anyways, uh–” Pen’s voice cut through her rampant thoughts, “What are you hoping for the most this Christmas?” He asked cautiously, as if he could sense her growing apprehension, like she was a snake, poised and ready to sink its teeth into its prey.

She frowned, staring back at him with a blink. She appreciated the attempt, but he had to realize how dumb of a question that was, right? Surely it was easy to tell what she wanted.

Pen stared back, looking noticeably more confused and concerned, glancing around and checking if anyone was behind him. 

She simply sighed, pinching her brow. “All I want is for Coiny to be normal again. That is what I’m hoping for.”

He paused for a moment, looking surprised— which she found aggravating— before he frowned and slouched slightly.

“Oh… Yeah. I’m sorry, Pin, I probably shouldn’t have asked-“ He started, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“You’re fine, Pen—“ She reassured, before being cut off.

“Yeah, man, even I could’ve guessed that,” Eraser said with a playful scoff, hurling another rock at another bird.

Her eye twitched subtly. A festering, boiling rage bubbled in her chest, her fingers digging into the hard wood of the picnic table. She took a deep breath, trying to push the anger back down from her throat, inhaling as if to speak—

Suddenly, a hard thok followed by a pained squawk echoed from the sky and across the field, reverberating in her skull. She opened her eyes again as Eraser stood up and cheered, watching as the bird he’d hit with the rock came careening down and to the ground.

Pin abruptly slammed her hands down and pushed up and off the table, standing as an explosion of anger burst through her at the sight, bright white and colorful like a firework. Her heart pounded in her ears, thrumming and thundering like an angry god, her breathing slightly labored as she attempted to keep her cool, to not make it apparent how furious she was. How dare that pink bastard hurt an innocent creature just because he was bored, how dare he cheer after killing it! 

She hardly noticed the way Pen flinched back, or the way Eraser had swiveled around to look at her, her eyes trained on the way her hands clenched the wooden table.

Pen reached over, and the movement near her face caused her to quickly look up. He flinched back again, his brows raised and mouth downturned in a deep frown, body stiff and startled.

“…Um…” He trailed, “You good?”

She stared, blinking, before averting her gaze, thinking. She wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation, nor was she in the mood to continue hanging out with the two idiots. Her shoulders relaxed, slowly straightening herself back out.

“I… Just…” She said slowly, before her eyes snapped back to look at Pen.

“What time is it?”

“Oh- it’s, uh-“ He started, fumbling to pull his phone out. “9:30.” 

She internally cheered.

“I have to feed Coiny.”

“Yooo, we should come with you,” Eraser said, placing his hands on his hips and walking over to her, smug in all the wrong ways. Or was that just his face?

Her face fell flat. Nooo… “What.”

“Oh, yeah!” Pen exclaimed, excited for some bizarre reason. “I’m kind of curious to see how he’s doing.”

“No— No, you shouldn’t come with,” Pin said, waving her hands frantically, “It isn’t that special.”

She just wanted to get away from them damnit. Her head hurt.

“C’mon, please? You won’t even know we’re there,” Pen insisted, clasping his hands together.

“He’s our friend too,” Eraser stated, “We should get to see him too.”

“Okay, now you just sound like you’re trying to guilt trip her,” Pen said, turning to him with a frown.

As the two began to bicker, Pin found herself glancing between the two, barely paying attention to whatever nonsense they were saying. Her head ached, a sense of exhaustion and frustration wafting over her once again. She closed her eyes, rubbing her temples and letting out a groan.

“Fine!” She shouted, cutting the two off, “Fine. You can come. Just don’t— do anything stupid,” Her finger went between the two, glaring and pointing at them, before she started towards the hotel doors. Eraser pumped his fist and high-fived Pin. Her eye twitched again.

“You two better behave in there,” She said as the three walked down the yellow hall, food tray in hand. 

She hadn’t spoken the whole time she was prepping his food, or even in the elevator, not until they were halfway down the hall. Instead, she spent the whole time listening in on Pen and Eraser’s conversation, and it only made her feel more and more bitter. She couldn’t tell why though. No matter how funny she thought their jokes- Pen’s jokes- were, she never managed a smile or even an exhale. Maybe it was just the headache. Or maybe she just wasn’t in the mood anymore. Or maybe she hated them. 

All because of Eraser. All because he couldn’t help but be a complete nuisance to not only Death PACT, but also to random birds he would see. Seriously, how much of a prick do you have to be to throw rocks at birds?! 

“We will!” Pen promised.

“No promises,” Eraser said with a snort, before Pen elbowed his side and told him to stop. She felt her grip on the tray tighten in annoyance, her brows tightening.

They arrived before the door to Coiny’s room and she stopped abruptly, turning to it. Without stopping to wait, she grabbed the knob, the hinges creaking as she pushed the door open. Eraser and Pen peaked out from behind her.

Light from the hallway flooded the dark room, hues of dark, murky orange turning yellow from the fluorescent light. Inside, laying on the small nest of pillows and blankets, was Coiny. His eyes were closed, curled up in a fetal position, one leg stretched off of the nest due to the ball and chain.

She felt her posture loosen up, her expression softening. He looked so peaceful, drooling away…

“Pfft, he’s like a dog,” Eraser commented. Her brows furrowed— if only for a moment.

Suddenly, Coiny’s dead white eyes shot open at the sound of Eraser’s rumbling voice. He quickly pushed himself up to stand with an angry grumble, staggering ever so slightly. She heard the two boys behind her yelp and scramble back a little.

“Good going, Eraser,” Pin muttered bitterly, walking further into the room and doing her usual routine; place the tray on the ground, then lightly slide it forward in reach of the zombie. 

He looked down at the tray of food, then back at Pin. Then, he lunged at the tray, as if he was a predator hunting prey, and tore into the gently prepared food, ripping apart the steak Pin cooked just for him.

She stood again, taking a step back to watch as he chowed down. And for a moment, the room was quiet, aside from the feral snarls and grunts of his messy eating. It was peaceful, which she found almost concerning that she would find this peaceful.

But then it wasn’t.

“He’s kind of cute in a feral animal way,” Pen said, walking beside her- then past her.

“Pen, I don’t think you should-“ She started.

“What, you gonna pet ‘im?” Eraser asked, standing next to her with his arms crossed and a stupid look on his face. Her fists clenched, glaring at him. She hated to be interrupted.

“It doesn’t hurt to try!” Pen said, “He’s distracted right now.”

Coiny stopped as the taller object approached, looking up at him with a blank expression.

“Hey, lil guy…” Pen said slowly, soothingly, reaching his hand out. Like he was actually talking to a dog. Treating Coiny like an animal. Like something that could be tamed. Her blood boiled.

Just then, Coiny jolted towards him with a hungry gargling sound, snapping his teeth together in an attempt to bite. Pen yelped and yanked his hand away last second, staggering backwards and hitting his back against the dresser, nearly knocking the TV over again.

Her eyes remained trained on him as he backed up from the zombie, his hands up, anxious.

“Uh… Nevermind,” He said softly, hardly noticing the death glare Pin was giving him. Eraser didn’t notice either.

The pink object barked out a laugh.

“Real smooth, Pen!”

“Hey! I didn’t know he was gonna do that,” Pen said, crossing his arms, “Most animals let me pet them.”

“He’s not an animal.” Pin grumbled, her voice more monotone than before. Deeper. Her tone was sharp, but taut, as if biting back her true anger.

“What?” Eraser said, finally looking at her. He didn’t react to the intense glare she was giving him, but Pen did, his brows raising.

“I said he isn’t an animal!” Pin shouted, fully turning to them, “Are you dense?! Are you seriously that stupid?! He’s a person! Not a dog! Not a pet!”

Her voice was tight, aggressive and venomous, pouring all of her pent up fury and frustration from the day just in those few words.

“Ever since Eraser showed up you both have been nothing but infuriating! First it’s Death Pact, then you start throwing rocks at innocent birds— and now you have the audacity to come in here and disrespect Coiny?!” She bit, stomping forward and jabbing her finger into Eraser’s chest. She grit her teeth, her body shaking from the overwhelming, burning feeling of rage and aggression.

“Hey,” Eraser said plainly, “You let us come along. You should’ve expected this.”

Pin’s eye twitched, her fist clenching. This guy. This GUY. Her mind buzzed with intensity and vehemence, a want, a need to punch this guy in his stupid face.

“No I didn’t!” She shouted, louder, “You insisted! And I told you to behave and neither of you did! You’ve been pushing,” she shoved him, “and pushing,” again, “and PUSHING,” again, but rougher now, “my buttons! I have had enough!”

“Pin—“ Pen tried, “W-we’re sorry-“

“No!” Pin shouted, cutting him off, “Sorry isn’t gonna cut it!”

“Dude,” Eraser started, his brows furrowed now, finally catching on to the intensity of her emotions, “it’s not that big of a deal. Why are you throwing a tantrum?”

Something shattered. Her brows raised yet remained tight, her body tensing. Her heart skipped a beat and her mind got loud and angry.

“…Tantrum?” She echoed, quietly, but there was a bite in her tone. A viciousness she hadn’t heard from herself in years. “A TANTRUM?”

She fell silent again, her fists balled so tightly her palms began to hurt from her fingers pressing into them.

The air was tense, thick and suffocating. Stagnant, like the ventilation stopped working. She felt the urge to tackle Eraser to the ground, to beat him to a pulp, to make him feel how she felt, to make him bleed and cough and hurt. Her fists shook with power and ferocity, and she heard Pen take a step back in anticipation.

“Get out.” Pin said flatly, tone masking her outrage.

“…But-“ Pen started.

“I said OUT.” Pin said again, storming to the door and swinging it open. She glared at him with a fiery rage, and he flinched back slightly in fear before he lowered his head.

Eraser rolled his eyes at her. “Dramatic much?” He commented.

“Dude,” Pen said, shoving him out the door with more force than he usually would, “Shut up.”

As soon as the two were out of the room, she violently slammed the door shut, closing her eyes tightly as the force of the slam shook the wall and rattled the framing, the sound reverberating through the room and her skull, echoing back the blood-boiling rage which fueled her body and heightened her strength.

Her breaths came in ragged gasps and shuddering inhales, labored and anguished. She leaned her head against the wall, her hands against it as her body trembled with the force of her rage. She hated them. She hated them so much. How dare they. How dare they treat him like an animal. How dare they try to make a fool out of him. She grit her teeth and let out a guttural, angry scream, slamming her fist against the door again. Tears pricked her eyes, her hand tingling from the pain. The floor creaked, feet landing softly and uneven behind her. She fell to her knees, gasping and flailing her hand.

Slowly, she forced herself to calm down, gliding her hands over the fluffy carpet and dragging her fingers through it, forcing her breathing to even out. She tried not to think about the two of them again. The blatant disrespect, the cruelty, their stupid jokes. She’d punch the floor again to stop the thoughts from reoccurring, or gently hit herself in the head. And as she finally started to relax, she lowered herself to the floor, laying on the cool ground. 

Exhaustion set in. Her eyes felt heavy. Her muscles ached from the tension. She didn’t want to get up and wondered how safe it would be if she slept on the floor like this.

Pin found herself staring at Coiny again. And this time he wasn’t staring back. Instead, he was curled up in the little nest again, flat on his back, his eyes closed. Sleeping. 

Her mind was blank as she watched him. As she noticed the way his body didn’t move or tremble. The way he looked like a normal corpse when he was sleeping. There wasn’t a shred of life like this. No slight expansion of his sides like he was breathing, not a single twitch of his injured fingers. It was as simple as that. He was dead.

…

It finally hit her. The one thing she’d been trying to figure out— the reason why she’d feel dread every single time she went to feed him, despite knowing what she was getting, what she was going to see behind that door, despite knowing that he was going to be green and dead-

She still thought about what he’d be doing if he were still alive. She’d still think about how he would interact with everyone else, how he would hold and console her, how he would have mediated that argument, tried to calm her down, held her hand and let her squeeze it as hard as she wanted. She still talked about and thought about him as if he were alive. 

Pin frowned, pushing herself back to a sitting position. There she was, thinking she finally accepted it all. But that wasn’t how grief worked, was it? No. No, of course it wasn’t. Grief doesn’t only last two days. She knew that. 

Her knees scuffed against the ground as she stood, stumbling slightly from the heaviness of her body. Her eyes drifted around the room, landing on Coiny again. Her heart ached.

Oh, how she yearned to hold him, to cradle his dying body in her arms and caress the rotting copper. Her finger twitched against her side, adjusting her footing. Even just a gentle touch. Just for two seconds. That was all.

She shuffled closer, careful. 

Just a gentle touch. Just for two seconds.

Just a gentle touch. For two seconds. That was all.

She stood before him, her heart in her throat. Miraculously, he hadn’t been roused from his slumber, his body still and unchanged.

And slowly, she reached down, gently caressing the skin on his arm. Softly, she squeezed—

Squelch.

She froze. Her eyes turned white and her brows raised. She felt something wet coat her fingers, gross and sticky and bodily and oh pin factory she was gonna be sick.

She staggered up straight again and backed away, holding her hand away to keep herself from looking at it. But she saw his arm.

The rotting skin broke away at her light squeeze, a permanent indent of her fingers. At the breaks, his broken down, rotten decomposing muscles spilled out, slimy and lumpy and disgusting. Darkened mint blood oozed from the breakage, dripping from the coagulated and mushy muscles. And suddenly it smelled like a dying animal.

She gagged, tears forcing from her ducts as her breath hitched. She refused to look at her hand. But she couldn’t look away from the wound. The muscle looked mashed and horrid, like sausage meat but worse. A bug crawled out from within and she screamed in terror, turning away from him and rushing out into the hallway. But she didn’t stop there. Frantically, she rushed down the hall, found the nearest bathroom, just about slammed into the toilet, and—

She wretched and heaved, clear liquid with half-digested cookies erupted from her mouth, splashing into the water. She panted, breaths ragged as she stood there over the toilet, half sobbing all the while. She was never going to get that image out of her head.

Midnight rolled around. Pin lay in bed again, staring at the ceiling. She had taken a bath before bed, using it as a stress reliever, and to try to get that awful stench off of her.

Her head still ached. Her body still ached. She felt so tired, but she couldn’t close her eyes. Not yet. She didn’t want to. Being awake meant she could daydream without the fear of something bad happening. She controlled the narrative. 

But asleep? …She couldn’t control that. Whether or not she had a dream wasn’t up to her. And that was scary. Especially that day.

Just the night before, she dreamed about accidentally ripping his arm off. Because he was rotting. Because he was dead. And then she goes and squeezes his arm and—

She shuddered. Stop thinking about it.

And as she began to drift, she thought to herself.

When will the grief finally end?

Chapter Text

It felt like the days were starting to blend together. Wake up, feed, feed again, feed once more, sleep. Over and over again. Even though it had only been just three days… Ironic, wasn’t it?

The sun filtered in through her blinds, highlighting the surfaces and the dust coating her room. Beams of twilight landed on her face, filling it with a sense of deep, fake warmth. It was like a natural alarm, except there was no loud, blaring noise. Just a gentle glow past her eyelids. An unwelcome glow.

Pin hated it. She wasn’t ready to wake up. She didn’t want to wake up. She didn’t want to face her peers again, she didn’t want to see Pen and Eraser. Not after yesterday. She tensed just thinking about it- how disrespectful they were, as if that wasn’t still their friend sitting there, in front of them, dead and rotting and horrible.

She let out a soft groan, flipping over in bed and facing away from the window. Grabbing the nearest pillow, the one she’d used to cuddle the other night, and stuffed it over her face, curling into a tight ball around the plush, soft fabric. She didn’t want to wake up. She wasn’t ready.

Birds chirped. Fewer than before, but they were still there. Loud. As if it wasn’t December, as if they shouldn’t be down in Southern Goiky already. Whatever. It didn’t matter anymore. It never did.

She moved again, an attempt to get comfortable, as her window rattled from the force of the wind outside. It howled and swept around the hotel, as if a storm was coming. But she knew that wasn’t true. The sun was still beaming, of course. She could imagine the sky; bright and blue and vibrant, the sun bright and warming, light on her face, a few clouds scattered across the expanse. Beautifully perfect, as if nothing horrific and appalling wasn’t happening just beneath it, as if everything was fine and normal. Life moves on.

She shifted. The sun rose higher in the sky, slowly but surely. Her room grew warmer and warmer, and she shimmied, kicking the blankets half on and half off of her round body.

…

She groaned again. She wasn’t tired anymore, and the warmth from the sun was making her uncomfortable and sticky. The fabric rustled as her weight shifted to lay on her back, limbs sprawled out over the queen sized bed. For a few moments, she stared into the ceiling, as if it was her favorite show. As if she was staring into Coiny’s eyes again. Her eyes felt heavy, but she wasn’t tired. Her body felt like someone had strapped bricks to all of her limbs, holding her down. The bed felt like a coffin, warm and inviting. She didn’t want to leave, but she knew she had to. 

After what felt like way too long of struggling, Pin finally managed to push herself into a sitting position. Her arms shook with the effort, and suddenly it felt like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her body urged her to lay back down. She felt lethargic, like she didn’t want to do anything but rot in bed all day. She couldn’t. She had to get up. There was too much to do. She had to take care of Coiny. Bring him breakfast. Protect him.

Reluctantly, she stood, sluggishly picking her phone off the ground and checking the time.

10 AM.

She frowned. Late. Hopefully no one would be in the lobby.

And luckily, for the first time, it felt like, her hopes were answered. The lobby was empty. Whether or not that meant no one else was awake, or everyone was outside already, she didn’t care. It didn’t take her long to prepare his and her breakfast, already used to the routine. Somewhat. She had to clean up after someone, who she could only assume was Nickel, given the floury footsteps on the ground and counters. She wondered why Bomby or Book would let that little moron ever make pancakes by himself. She rolled her eyes.

Soon enough, Pin found herself in front of that orange door again. Her mind felt so foggy, like everything around her was distant. Sounds were muffled, her own feet felt like they barely hit the ground. Her hands tingled a little where she was holding the tray. 

Without even thinking, she reached out, grasping the door knob and pushing the entrance open.

And there he was again. Green and harsh against the warm oranges of the room. He stared at her, eyes white and wide, his mouth slightly agape, showing off his jagged, unnatural, yellowing teeth.

She barely even frowned, stepping into the room and closing the door behind herself. She knelt down, slid the tray of food towards Coiny, and watched as he… stared at her.

She paused, the fog of her mind clearing up ever so slightly. Her eyes widened just a little, surprised and hopeful.

Silence enveloped the room, a sense of uncertainty as they locked eyes. His ghostly eyes bore into her still living black pupils, her red hues reflecting off his green, slightly shiny body. She wondered if… Maybe he recognized her. His expression wasn’t any different, but maybe– maybe Needle was wrong. Maybe he was still-

And suddenly, he tore into the food in front of him with a vicious snarl, cracked and broken fingers and fingernails tearing into the pancakes, his teeth gnashing as he chewed on the bacon.

Her face fell flat. Of course. Just another way to get her hopes up, just for it to come crashing down like an airplane out of fuel. Of course. Why did he have to do that? To make her think, just for a second, that curing him might be easier than getting Teardrop? It felt like the universe was baiting her into doing something wrong, into getting herself bitten and infected, into giving it another excuse to punish her, to unfairly punish her beloved Coin.

She scooted away from him a little, grabbing the lunch box she had packed for herself, and for a moment, the feeling of the rough fabric against her hand startled her. Her chest rumbled with a sigh, pulling the pack of food in front of herself and carefully unzipping the pouch.

The lunch box wasn’t anything special. It was a simple maroon color, not with water bottle pouches on the sides and one big pouch for the actual food. The inside had the typical reflective inner lining and insulating pads, keeping her bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich warm and fresh.

She pulled the sandwich out and looked at it for a moment. She hadn’t had a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich in… years, maybe. And as she glanced back up at Coiny, she remembered the first time she ever tried one.

“Okay,” Coiny said slowly, holding her hand as he led her towards yoylecity, “I know we both agreed I’m a horrible baker, but! That doesn’t mean I can’t cook!”

She rolled her eyes. “Coiny, you couldn’t even work the oven.”

“That’s irrelevant,” He huffed, puffing his chest out a little bit, “I can work a stove just fine, so it doesn’t matter.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they walked through the abandoned city. On any other day, this place would seem creepy. No sign of life, decaying buildings, rotting food items, moss and plants crawling up the walls and through the cracks of the concrete jungle. But with Coiny, all that scariness vanished.

The sun gleamed above them, birds flying over the city, twirling in the air, playing. Weightless. She felt weightless too, holding his hand. The yellow sky reflected brightly off of Coiny’s shiny back, polished to perfection twice a day. She always found his bathing habits funny. It was almost like how she constantly sharpened her point, if she thought about it. 

“You’re so bright today, Coiny,” Pin said, muttering softly, dreamily.

“What was that?” He asked, turning to her.

Her heart leapt out of her chest, her face warming, not just because of the sun. Gosh, he looked so cute when he was clueless. 

“I said–” She stammered, flustered, “You’re so stupid, Coiny!”

He blinked, then giggled. “Yeah, I know! But that’s what you like about me,” He teased, winking at her before looking forward again.

Her heart only melted, squeezing his hand ever so slightly. Did he have any idea what he did to her? His stupid smile, his laugh, that dumb wink. It drove her crazy, but in the best way possible. She kind of wanted to shake him, like, affectionately. Is this what cuteness aggression was like?

Finally, he stopped outside what looked like an old restaurant. 

“We’re here!” He chirped, spinning on his heel to face her and striking a pose, gesturing grandly at the front doors.

A letter of the sign fell off. The two stared at it for a second.

“...Are you sure this is a good idea, Coiny?” She asked, unsure if she even wanted to step inside.

“Sure it is!” He reassured, reaching towards her and squeezing her arm, “I tested out the stoves in here before, they work perfectly! Somehow.”

He turned again and took a hold of one of the door handles, going to push it open… And instead of opening like a normal door, it fell forward, as if it was never attached to the hinges, and slammed into the ground, the glass on it shattering on impact.

He stood there and stared at it, his hand still outstretched, as Pin approached, standing beside him.

“...So how did you get in here before? Without breaking the doors?” She asked.

“Vents.” He answered plainly, before stepping in and over the glass.

The inside of the restaurant wasn’t terribly run down, all things considered. The floors were checkered with huge black and white squares, tilted diagonally to look more like diamonds. Parts of the walls, the chairs, and stools were all a light aqua color, accented with whites and lights which gave off a gentle pink hue. Different pictures and paintings littered the walls, many crooked, a few fallen, and most weathered to the point distinction was impossible. As the two made their way towards the kitchen, Coiny pulled her a little closer to himself, guiding her over ceiling debris and broken gasp. She couldn’t help but smile at his gesture. Such a gentleman. 

A rat skittered by. Suddenly, she yelped, and jumped, and just then her weakened legs decided to give out from beneath her. Stumbling forward, she ran right into Coiny. He let out a yelp, staggering backwards, catching her with one hand and bracing himself against a counter behind him with the other.

“P-Pin?-” He asked, opening his eyes again, “Are you oka–” He froze. And for a moment, she was confused. Why was his face getting all minty colored and bright? Was he embarrassed to have let her fall? What?--

Then she looked down, finally realizing the predicament they were in. Her heart jumped, suddenly beating faster than before, her face flushing, before she very carefully got off of him.

“Oh– I’m sorry, I– There was a rodent-” She stammered, flustered and embarrassed, fidgeting with her hands.

“No, it’s cool,” Coiny reassured, pushing off the counter to hold her hands, “I don’t mind catching you.”

She stared at him. That… wasn’t really what she was talking about, but she wouldn’t be lying if that little bit of reassurance didn’t help. She gave a smile, the warmth in her face dissipating slightly.

“You always know just what to say, huh, Coiny?” She asked, giving him a playful nudge.

He chuckled, rolling his eyes, “I just know you really well, that’s all,” He said, tugging her arm a little.

“And humble too!” She teased, and they both laughed.

“Okay, finally in the kitchen. Sheesh.” Coiny said, sighing in relief.

“Who designed this place? That was like a maze!” Pin complained, jumping up on one of the counters after making sure it wasn’t dirty, her legs already sore and shaking. She crossed one leg over the other, leaning forward slightly to gaze at the orange coin.

He hadn’t even stopped to rest, already rummaging in the cupboards for anything useful. She raised a brow at him, tilting her head.

“So what are you going to make for me, chef?” She asked with a smile, a teasing tone etched in her voice. She loved to tease him; getting him all riled up was one of her favorite things to do.

“A bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich!” He chirped, climbing onto the counter to reach better. Shortie. She snickered at him.

“Really? I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those before,” Pin admitted, looking away to think. She scrounged through her memory, thinking back to what she’d eaten before, the meals she’d had through her lifetime. 

Suddenly, a slam rang through the vacant kitchen. She flinched, straightening up in fear. 

Coiny had slammed the cabinets he was rummaging through closed, staring off into the distance for a moment. Her heart dropped, dread sinking in. Had she said something wrong? Was he upset? Did he hurt himself? Did she hurt him??? What-

Slowly, he turned to her. And on his face was the most intense expression she had ever seen him wear before. Brows furrowed, frowning, eyes whited out.

“You’ve… never had… a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich before?” He echoed, staring her down like she was his prey, like he was about to lunge at her.

She swallowed harshly, her mouth suddenly dry.

“...Um. Yeah?”

He took a deep inhale, his eyes closed. She winced slightly as he jumped down from the counter, worried that he would hurt himself because his eyes were closed. Without opening them, he meandered across the floor, closing the distance between the two counters, and climbed up onto the counter she was on.

Her heart jumped as he approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“Pin,” He said slowly, trailing for a moment, as if considering his next words.

“I’m about to blow your MIND,” He said finally, his eyes opening with the most determined look in them, a fiery passion burning within, squeezing her shoulders as if he wanted her to feel the excitement too. She could see herself reflected in his shiny body, white and… wrong. But she shook her head, focusing on him again.

“Over a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich?” She asked, slowly becoming more and more confused. What motivated him alluded her to the highest extent. It was just food, wasn’t it? She’d never even seen him make an actual meal– usually he would just shove a clump of dirt in the oven for a few minutes and call it a day.

“Absolutely! It’s the one thing I know how to make, and I know how to make it good!” He boasted, puffing his chest out and looking smug, a big, stupid grin on his face. She giggled.

“Okay, okay. Color me intrigued,” She said playfully, rolling her eyes at him.

“YES!” He cheered, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. He hopped down from the counter again and resumed his plundering of the cabinets, searching for ingredients, all with a newfound pep in his step.

She couldn’t help but watch him closely. Seeing him so excited, so eager to show her something new, gave her butterflies in her chest. Pin wouldn’t admit it- at least not at the time- but his being so energetic and full of joy made her feel the same way, like a feedback loop. If she wasn’t so weak, maybe she would join him, prancing about the kitchen, grabbing ingredients…

She blinked as she watched him open a cabinet and exclaim in relief, pulling all the ingredients he needed out and plopping them onto the counter.

“...Um.” Pin muttered, staring. Was all of that safe to eat?

“Yup!” Coiny answered, having read her mind. For a second, she forgot they could even do that. She blinked again, leaning back a little.

“I pre-bought all of this yesterday and planted them here!” He bragged, patting the bacon and leaning against the counter. He looked smug again.

“...And then you forgot where they were?” She asked, stifling a giggle by covering her mouth. She couldn’t help it, he was so silly.

His face dropped, and she started to laugh. Coiny crossed his arms.

“Well!-- At least I was prepared! Whatever!” He defended, his face flushed a minty green, flustered from the embarrassment.

Without another word, he turned on one of the stoves, and Pin physically stiffened. She knew he was immune to fire- for the most part, but he could still get hurt, and she was well aware of how clumsy he was. After the last season, she couldn’t bear to see him get hurt anymore. Not after everything she had done to him, everything she made him do.

And yet, despite her fear, everything went smoothly. The smell of bacon radiated from the kitchen, wafting towards her and throughout the restaurant no doubt. The soft sizzle of the oil against the meat filled the air, and it made her mouth water. She watched him closely as he worked, more focused than she had ever seen him. He flipped the bacon like an expert, cracked the eggs carefully enough that no eggshells fell in, toasted the bread, and meticulously placed the cheese on top of the egg.

And finally, he scooped up the egg and cheese off the frying pan, carefully shaking them off the spatula and onto the sandwich. Then he turned and grabbed a few pieces of bacon straight from the oil- which made her brows furrow- and placed them over the cheese and eggs in some sort of fancy design. He slid the plate over to her, turning the stove off.

“Bone apple teeth!” He chirped, giving her a big smile.

The plate gently tapped against her thigh and she looked down at it, gingerly picking up the ceramic plate off of the counter. She moved the top bun, which was apparently actually a bagel, and placed it on top of the carefully crafted sandwich. And she stared.

Despite the shake in her arms, she felt… warm. Strong. Strong because he was strong, strong enough to make her breakfast, strong enough to be there for her. He’d been by her side for so long, especially as she regained her strength, he stayed with her even when she was being horrible. And it all leads to this, huh? Her sitting on the counter, looking down at the breakfast he so lovingly made for her, smiling at her with that stupid smile and those big white teeth.

“Well?” He said, “You gonna eat it?”

She glanced back at him, then back at the plate. She placed it back down on her thighs, feeling the warmth seeping into the ceramic material from the hot food, feeling the way it was coarse on the bottom, rubbing against her legs.

She picked the sandwich up, juice and oil from the bacon dripping back down and landing on the white surface beneath. She squeezed it a little, feeling the toasted bread give way to the press of her fingers. Then, she took a bite.

The flavor of the bacon exploded in her mouth, salty and savory and smoky, the peppery taste of the egg complimenting it perfectly. The bacon crunched between her teeth, and even the bread crunched too. Her eyes widened, her chest filling with a warmth she couldn’t describe. Joy, love, the taste of a good meal. Whatever it was, she kicked her legs a little. In the corner of her eye, she saw Coiny grinning even wider.

“You like it?” Coiny asked, bounding over with the energy of a golden retriever.

“Like it?” She echoed, her mouth full. She swallowed. “I love it! This is the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten! Do I taste a hint of paprika?” She asked, looking at the ingredients smashed between the bread.

“Guilty as charged,” He said boastfully, putting his hands up. “I know how much you love Paprika, so I thought I’d add it to the eggs.”

She gasped with glee. “Awww, Coiny!” She exclaimed, sliding the plate off her lap and jumping off of the counter. 

Her feet landed on the linoleum ground, and the impact sent an awful, shooting pain, like metal bolts, through her legs, tingling and igniting every pain receptor. She stumbled a little, but before she could fall, she threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

“You’re so thoughtful!” She praised, ignoring the intense shake in her legs from the impact and pain.

He seemed to stiffen for a moment, his round body heating up just slightly. Then he exhaled, hugging her back.

“Only the best for my favorite person,” He hummed, speaking quieter than he normally did. Her heart fluttered, and she squeezed him tighter, tears pricking her eyes.

“Pfft, you’re such a romantic, Coiny…” She teased.

“You know you love it,” He teased back, caressing her sides and lifting her up slightly, as if he could tell her legs were about to give out from beneath her.

She blinked, slowly returning to reality. Her hands were still wrapped around her sandwich, only a single bite taken out of it. It was cold already, like she had just been staring into it.

It looked nothing like what Coiny made all those years ago. The eggs were burnt, the cheese too melted and starting to drip. The bacon was flat, sadly slumping over the edges of the bun she used, as if they were barely cooked. The bread wasn’t even toasted, and she wondered how she managed to mess that up.

Her face fell flat, frowning at the sad breakfast she’d made for herself. Finally, she looked back up.

Coiny was still sitting pretty much in front of her, the edge of the food tray in his mouth as he quietly gnawed on it, drool and slobber getting all over it, like he was still hungry. Like a dog. She shook her head, hearing Eraser again.

“Here,” She said, tossing her sandwich to him. She lost her appetite.

It hit him square in the face and fell onto the tray, coming apart on top of it. He blinked, almost in surprise, before he released the platter. It clattered to the floor and he quickly scooped up the remains of her sad sandwich, tearing into the stale bread and ripping apart the bacon like it was the toughest meat he’d ever eaten. He fell backward from the force of the tugging and snarled.

She snickered, watching him struggle against her poorly made meal, snarling and getting oil all over himself and the carpet. Silently, she reached over, pulling the plastic tray away from him and towards the door. Her eyes wandered back to him, focusing in on his arm. The one she’d held last night. The one she squeezed. The one she’d broken the skin on, that was oozing decomposed muscle and plasma. The putrid meat fell to the floor with a disgusting squelch, and she quickly came to realize small blotches of the decaying tissue were scattered around the room. 

She cringed, drawing her knees inwards and looking back at him. She… She had to figure out a way to stop all of his muscles from just falling out. Who knew how permanent the damages would be. She didn’t want him to go through what she had to. All the physical therapy, the aching limbs, needing to be cared for…

… Actually, knowing him, he’d love being cared for. She huffed out a chuckle at the memory of all the times he’d fallen ill. No matter how severe, from a simple cold to the worst flu he had never experienced, he was always so overdramatic about it. Begging for her to bring him soup because he just couldn’t get up, or needing her to run him a warm bath and carry him to the bathroom because he just couldn’t walk more than 5 steps. Sure, sometimes he wasn’t lying, but usually- usually he was. She would merely chuckle and roll her eyes. Truth be told, she loved caring for him. It felt like she was repaying a favor, but more importantly, she was helping out someone who she held dear to her heart. Seeing him smile was worth the constant running around.

…Not like this though. This– this hurt. No matter how much she fed him, he wouldn’t smile that goofy smile. He wouldn’t thank her in his cute groggy, sleepy voice. He wouldn’t lean into her touch as she held the side of his face. He wouldn’t warn her not to get too close otherwise he would get her sick too. Nothing.

Just a soulless stare. Just the violent thrashing and gnashing of his teeth, snarls and growls ripping from his throat. An empty vessel. 

She wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them close to her chest as she watched him stagger to his feet and limp his way over to the wall.

Scritch, scritch scritch scritch scritch.

She frowned. She didn’t want him to claw the walls either. His fingernails were already broken down to the nailbeds, and after that, he would start wearing his skin and muscle down to the bone. And who knew if there was a way to fix that once he got the cure.

She pushed herself back to her feet as well, considering a way to distract him from the wall. Her eyes wandered around the room, searching, examining— before pausing on her phone. 

1 PM. Lunch already? …Well, it made sense. She fed him breakfast late. She hoped he was still hungry.

Letting out a sigh, she turned on her heel, leaving the room, hoping, begging that no one was in the lobby again. Maybe the universe could be nice to her again.

But it wasn’t. It wasn’t. The elevator let out its usual cheerful ding and she entered the lobby and there, right in front of the elevator, was Pen and Eraser, sitting on the couch together, arms wrapped around each other, watching something off of TV’s face. 

Pen turned to look, curious about who it was, before quickly turning away, his eyes getting wide at the sight of her. His brows furrowed as he focused on TV again. Eraser looked at her too, but he didn’t react, looking back at whatever stupid show the two of them had playing.

Pin’s brow furrowed, a dull feeling of anger bubbling in her stomach again. Of course, out of everyone who could be in the lobby right now, it had to be those two. Wasn't that just perfect? 

“Just don’t look at them,” She muttered to herself through gritted teeth as she walked past and into the kitchen.

It was hard not to be mad at them after yesterday– especially Eraser. If she didn’t know any better, she would be chewing him out all over again, calling him an idiot, the worst person to ever live, even worse than Leafy. Sure, that wouldn’t mean much to her, but to him that would probably be the worst insult he’d ever been given. He treated Coiny’s condition like a joke, just like FreeSmart did to her, and Coiny didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve any of this. And the way Eraser treated him in that moment was just– just!--

She inhaled sharply at the sudden stabbing pain in the side of her hand, the knife she was using to cut up some carrots slicing into her hand. Shakily, she took a deep breath, then exhaled, trying to calm herself. The floor squeaked as she turned and grabbed the first aid kit out of the closet, applying a bandaid to her cut. 

Once returned to the counter, she glanced back up and over the bar, over at the two numbskulls. 

Despite her anger, out of the two, she was less upset at Pen. At least he looked like he cared. He looked like he felt bad. But of course that was too much to ask of Eraser, of course he didn’t care about how much what he did upset her. It was infuriating to her how much he just– couldn’t care. Brushed it all off like it was nothing. How do you go through your life not caring about anything but yourself, and be a massive idiot at the same time? 

Whatever. It didn’t matter anyway. As long as he stayed away from her and-

“Yo,” said a deep, rumbling voice. She hadn’t noticed the show turned off. Eraser and Pen were now sitting in front of her at the bar, though Pen looked noticeably uncomfortable.

She deadpanned, her eye twitching.

“What?”

“What’re you making? It smells good,"he asked, tapping his finger against the counter.

“You don’t get to have any,” She replied, narrowing her eyes, “Especially not after yesterday.”

She turned her back just as Eraser rolled his eyes and she froze, her heart lurching as if it was trying to lunge at the stupid pink idiot itself.

“Oh c’mon, you’re still on that? It was–”

“A very rude thing to do!” Pen interrupted and she heard a startled grumble from Eraser. “We’re both really sorry about it,” he continued, followed by the sound of him patting his companion on the back.

“I want to hear Eraser say it,” She demanded, finishing up Coiny’s dinner.

The kitchen fell silent. Eraser grunted.

“Dude. C’mon,” Pen urged. Somehow she could tell he was elbowing his side.

“I’m not gonna apologize for something that was funny.”

Her grip tightened on the bag of food she had prepared for herself. Don’t attack him. It’s not worth it, Pin.

“Then leave,” She growled, gritting her teeth.

“Oh, come on,” Eraser pouted, “Coiny would have found it funny.”

“Dude-“

“Well,” Pin started, interrupting Pen, as she turned to face them, food tray and first aid kit in hand, “Until he gets the cure and confirms that I POLITELY ask that you both leave me alone!”

Before the two could react to her passive-aggressive request, she stormed out of the kitchen, speed-walking past the bar where they sat. Before the elevator doors closed, she heard a voice, monotone and scottish-sounding.

“You both suck at this,” TV said.

She almost smiled. 

Pin glared down at the tray as she walked down the yellow hallway, approaching Coiny’s room.

This was the reason why she didn’t want to talk to anyone that day. She didn’t want to deal with anyone’s bullcrap, and that’s all her co-competitors knew, at this point. It felt like she was the only one taking all of this seriously anymore, and it had only been three days. Three days, and they were all already moving on as if Coiny wasn’t rotting away above all of their heads!

They’re all so stupid. Of course none of them would realize there could be long-term effects to this.

She huffed angrily, pushed open the door— then paused.

Despite it being midday, Coiny was curled up on the makeshift nest of blankets and pillows, fast asleep. She couldn’t help but smile at the scene. Even as a zombie, he wore the same content smile he always did while he was sleeping.

She glanced down at the first aid kit in her hand.

She thought she was going to have to fight him in order to bandage his fingers and arm where she had squeezed the muscle out, but… He was asleep. And since he was a zombie, maybe it would make it harder to wake him up. Yeah. She just had to be sneaky.

In front of the door, she crouched down, placing the tray and first aid kit down. Quietly, her fingers deftly fidgeted with the clasps, quickly popping them off and pulling the lid of it off. She rummaged through the contents for a moment, before pulling out a roll of bandages, absorbent pads, and safety pins.

Determined to keep him from causing further bodily harm to his rotting body, Pin slowly got to her feet, carefully approaching him and the bed. She kept her eyes on him, occasionally glancing at the steel ball to determine how far she’d have to jump back if he woke up.

She crouched down beside the coin, bandages in hand, and hesitated.

She thought back to last night, when he was asleep in the bed, in the same position. When she grabbed his arm and squeezed just to comfort him- or herself— or something— but then his rotting muscles broke through the skin like yogurt and—

Pin shook her head, snapping her mind away from the guilt.

She just had to be more careful this time. Wrap his fingers too tightly, she risks them falling off. Wrap his fingers too loose, and the bandages fall off. She needed to find the sweet spot and take things slow. Just wrap the tips of his fingers, don’t go past the joint. That’s all she had to do. Simple.

As she worked, carefully holding his hand palm up in her own, she reminded herself of the steps, over and over. Apply padding to the nailbed and tip of the finger. Wrap bandages around it, don’t go past the joint, and keep it not too tight and not too loose. Three layers should be thick enough that he can’t wear it down by scratching on the wall. Secure bandages in place with a safety pin, being careful not to stab into the skin beneath the bandages. Finally, apply strong adhesive around the bottom of the bandages near the joint to ensure no slipping off. Repeat nine more times to cover each digit.

Once she finished, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and spared a glance at his face.

Still sound asleep. He hadn’t moved an inch. 

For a moment- and only for a moment- she thought he might’ve been faking sleep like he always did, just so she would coddle him for a little longer. 

She quickly pushed the thought away. Of course he wasn’t faking. He was barely conscious enough to realize when he was hurting himself, there was no possible way he would be conscious enough to fake sleeping.

One more thing to bandage for him, then she could bring the food in and wake him up. The spot right above his wrist, where she had caused his muscle to spill out. She swallowed harshly, reminding herself that she wasn’t going to do it again. 

Not too tight, not too loose. Not too tight, not too loose. Not too tight, not too loose. Three times around. Safety pin. Done.

She sighed again. 

“There we go…” She muttered, gently thumbing over the bandages, “All better, right? Nothing is gonna fall out anymore.”

She looked at his face again.

His eyes were wide open. Staring. Dead, faded white eyes boring into her. Her heart sank, her body tensing, quickly glancing over at the steel ball again. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense compared to just a few seconds ago, comforting and bitter sweet and quiet.

“Um. G…Good afternoon, Coiny,” She said cautiously, a soft shake in her voice. Slowly, she got to her feet, making sure not to make any sudden movements. As if he was a feral animal. He just stared, watching her move.

She took a step back.

His eyes jolted to something behind her. She didn’t know what, but the moment he laid his eyes on whatever it was, he jumped to his feet and lunged at it and at her.

She let out a yelp in surprise, adrenaline bursting through her body as she quickly jumped back and stumbled. Her hand slapped down on the actual bedframe to keep herself from falling, her heart pounding in her chest. At the same time, the chain around Coiny’s ankle snagged on the ball and, as per usual, he faceplanted. For a moment, she could’ve sworn she heard the sound of tearing skin.

She stared at him, brows furrowed, panting, her body trembling, mind a buzz from the sudden panic and adrenaline. What was– any of that? Why did he lunge so suddenly?!

The zombie pushed himself up and into a sitting position, reaching his arms out towards the doorway, quiet groaning sounds rumbling from his throat. Confused, she followed his gaze.

“Oh,” She said, “you saw the food. You’re just hungry.”

With that, she stood from the bedframe and walked over to the doorway, putting the bandages, safety pins, and absorbent pads away in the first aid kit before picking it and the tray up. She closed the door behind herself as she reentered the room, sitting down just a little ways away from him. He leaned forward in an attempt to snatch her bag of food off of the red tray, but she pulled it off before he could.

“Ah-ah-ah! That’s mine, you glutton,” She said teasingly, before sliding the tray of his food towards him. 

He stared at her for a second before digging in, ripping apart the burger she prepared for him. Grease got everywhere, all over his hands and fingers, down his face, on the floor. Maybe she shouldn’t have made such greasy food for him.

Despite the subtle sense of regret, she still chuckled, scooting back and against the foot of the bed. She leaned on it, opening her own food.

“You’re such a mess, Coiny,” She commented with a soft smile, listening to his snarls and growls as he indulged. 

Her smile faded slightly, taking a bite of her sandwich. She stared at the ceiling as she chewed, her mind kicking into gear. Thoughts swirled, slow and droning and draining. Her heart sank, her throat feeling as if it was tightening. Her eyes stung. She took a shaky breath.

“I’m a mess,” Pin muttered, her voice shaking.

It would be weird, right? To talk to him like he was still there? …But she wanted to. She wanted to tell him so badly. He was the one person she knew she could tell anything and everything, and he would do the same. She didn’t want to talk to anyone else, she wanted to talk to him. Her coin, her love, her man. Her special someone.

“I–I don’t know what to do, Coiny,” She started. She couldn’t help herself.

“I tried to distract myself. I know you wouldn’t want to see me so… stressed. And- And sad.” She put her sandwich down, no longer hungry.

“But I can’t help it. I miss you. I-I miss you more than anything else in the world. And I can’t- I cannot stand anyone else,” Pin grit her teeth, thinking back to Pen and Eraser and their stupid shenanigan. She sharply inhaled, closing her eyes and allowing the congregating tears in her eyes to fall.

She just sat there for a moment, regulating her breathing, listening to him fling around the plastic tray. She’d hear him let out a loud growl and a thud, followed by plastic clattering against the carpeted ground and some sort of chortle, like a laugh.

“I don’t understand how you could tolerate being around Pen and Eraser and their friends.” She opened her eyes again to stare at the ceiling.

“Pen was nice, at first,” She explained, “We baked cookies together. You two are a lot alike, you know? The only difference is that he’s better in the kitchen,” She joked, chuckling, just as he let out another chortle at the clattering tray. She spared him a glance. He looked happy.

“...But then Eraser showed his ugly face, and the whole day got worse from there.” She continued, hugging her arms. 

“They even went so far as to treat you like an animal- like this was some big joke.” Pin huffed, and the tray clattered again.

She took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, calming her nerves.

“…So, yeah. Distracting myself… isn’t going well.”

She fell silent again, staring down at her legs again. Coiny started to get more aggressive with the plastic tray, stomping on it so hard it would fling and slam into the wall before falling to the carpet once again. It was almost like a toddler, how his rotting brain found this fun. She didn’t think zombies could have fun, but there he was.

Her eyes drifted to her own hand, at the glistening gem placed on her middle finger. The promise ring. She raised her hand to her face, examining the glittery stones.

“Christmas is coming up. It’s… gonna be weird, not sitting with you in the snow.”

Tears pricked her eyes.

“I was hoping— maybe this year, since we have a— a place to go now that… Maybe we could cuddle in bed and make hot chocolate and watch bad movies together, like you always wanted to,” She explained, speaking slowly, cautiously, her voice shaking once again. She hated this feeling, this yearning for something she knew she wouldn’t get.

“When I win the island and the money,” Coiny would say, standing on a rock just to be taller than her, his hands confidently placed on his hips, “I’m gonna buy us a nice cabin with a fireplace, and we’re gonna get us all comfortable and cozy on the couch and watch really bad movies together!”

She would simply laugh at him, charmed by his determination, by his want to live together, with her.

“Yeah, if,” She would retort, raising her brows at him, “And if I win, I’m doing none of that!” She would joke.

“Aww, hey!” He’d pout, and they would laugh together.

She sniffled, wiping her eyes. She missed talking to him. She missed his antics, his way with words, his stupid smile.

She heard the telltale sign of him starting to scratch at the wall, her eyes snapping over to him. She watched for a moment, to make sure the bandages would withstand the friction.

Pin sighed when they did and Coiny paused for a moment to look at them, before returning to his futile scratching. She looked away again.

“I hope Two comes back soon. I can’t stand to see you like this anymore,” She muttered, fidgeting with her hands, with the ring.

“I know I don’t say it a lot but you… You mean so much to me, so much more than you think.”

She stopped for a moment, carefully considering her next words. As if anyone could hear her. As if he could hear her. She knew he couldn’t, but she just— she had to say it.

“I like to think that you saved me.”

“From… from myself, from FreeSmart. You showed me what it was like to be loved, even with my flaws. You showed me what it was like to be wanted and needed, and how to be vulnerable.”

“You’re the only person I want to be vulnerable with, Coiny. Not Needle, not Gaty. You.” 

“So…. Please. Please make it out of this. I can’t do this without you.” She said finally, her eyes shut tightly, tears leaking from the corners of them. Her fingers dug into the fluffy carpet, her arms trembling.

For once, the room was silent, aside from the gentle rush of air from the vent. She didn’t mind it. At least, not at first. It was peaceful.

Until she realized it wasn’t right. Silence wasn’t normal for him, he’s a zombie— silence means something was wrong or he was asleep, but he had just woken up, there was no way he had already gone back to sleep. Her heart sank.

“Coiny?-“ She asked, turning to look at him.

There he was, sitting on the floor next to the ball and chain, chewing on the rotted skin above the shackle. Bite marks littered his other ankle and wrists, chunks of tissue missing. Like he was trying to eat his own flesh.

Anger and worry and frustration all shot through her at once, immediately standing up and stamping her foot to grab his attention.

“Hey!” She shouted, her voice booming.

His head jolted up to look at her, yet his jaw didn’t unclamp from around his skin. A large chunk of rotten skin and muscle tissue tore from his leg, still lodged in his mouth, the goopy muscle grossly dripping from the injury and the flesh inside his mouth like milk that had gone bad. She suppressed the urge to throw up, gagging.

“Y—you- You’re not supposed to do that!” She yelled, pointing at him. 

She didn't know what to do. How was she supposed to get close enough to bandage the patches he was trying to eat? And his leg, oh god his leg— The tissue he just ripped out of his ankle was only going to make it easier for the whole foot to come off.

He continued to stare at her, watching her expression shift as she thought of what to do next. He swallowed the flesh already in his mouth before leaning to try and eat more.

“STOP!” She yelled again, stomping. He jolted and stared at her again.

“Just— l-let me—“ She stammered, reaching down to grab the first aid kit. She just had to do this. No protection against his biting, but— maybe he was used to her enough at this point, right?

“Let me- bandage you. Y-you can’t eat your own flesh, you might do permanent damage.” She tried, taking a step closer. And another step. And another. She reached down towards him.

He lunged forward ever so slightly, attempting to bite her hand. She yelped and stumbled back, panic setting in. 

Pin knew she couldn’t just leave him there like that. He was going to eat and eat until he was just bones and at that point he wouldn’t be a zombie anymore, and at that point there would be no point in getting him the cure, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it would lead to permanent death and there’s no way she would survive that either.

She glanced around the room. Maybe she could find something to restrain him with, or something to shove in his mouth so biting her was off the table, or- or—

She shook her head. No, no, no! There was nothing! What was she gonna do— GOLF BALL! Golf Ball would know!

She dropped the first aid kit and quickly turned on her heel, pulling the door open almost violently and racing down the hallway. She barely slowed down as she turned and rushed into the elevator, basically slamming into the doors before spamming the button to call it faster.

As soon as the elevator let out its usual ding and its doors slid open, Pin shoved herself in, slammed the button for the fourth floor, and began spamming the button to close the doors again.

“Come on, come on!” She exclaimed impatiently, frustrated and panicked, “Of all times for you to be irritatingly slow!”

The doors finally closed, and everything suddenly felt like it was in slow motion. She tapped her foot, staring at the screen just above the elevator doors which told her which floor she was on. It felt like it’d been stuck on “3^” forever before finally changing to “4.”

The elevator chirped, the doors slid open, and she raced out of the machinery, barely managing to turn before hitting the wall and sprinting down the hall. 

She slid to a stop in front of Basketball’s laboratory, immediately knocking on the door, quick and loud and aggressive and never ending.

The door swung open, revealing a very annoyed Golf Ball.

“WHAT.” She barked.

“Coiny ripped off a chunk of his own skin and I need someone to restrain him so I can bandage it!” She quickly explained, her voice shaking, words bursting from her faster than ever before.

“What?!” Tennis Ball exclaimed from inside the room.

Golf Ball stood there stunned for a moment before nodding.

“Right! Of course! TB, Basketball, let’s go! And bring the artificial cure so we can test it!” She ordered, running out and past Pin.

“Artificial cure?” Pin asked as Tennis Ball rushed past her.

“I’ll tell you on the way!” He said quickly, Basketball following suit with the aforementioned cure sitting on her head.

The four of them raced to the stairs, quickly rushing down to the third floor. The way back to Coiny’s room felt much faster this time around. Pin made it a point to speed up and get in front of the balls, stopping before his door with her hand on the doorknob.

“Just— To warn you. It-it smells like rotting flesh in there, and he’s going to be aggressive.”

“That’s fine,” Golf Ball said, “Just in and out.”

Pin nodded at her. Then, she turned the knob, pushing it over. She watched as all three of their expressions contorted into disgust and Tennis Ball gagged at the smell.

The rancid stench emanating from the room didn’t seem to deter them though. Golf Ball stepped in just as Coiny growled and tried to lunge at her. 

“Basketball, get his arm! TB, you go for his leg, and I’ll grab his other arm!” Golf Ball instructed, already wrapping her legs around one of the zombie’s arms and hoisting him into a sitting position.

“Don’t— don’t hold him too tightly! You’ll squeeze out his muscles!” Pin said, her heart sinking as she watched the other two grab the designated limbs.

Coiny started to thrash, garbled angry protests and growls erupting from his throat. It almost made her want to cry, seeing him distressed and angry and confused. But she knew this was for his own good. It had to be. 

Quickly, she picked up the first aid kit, rushing over and kneeling down in front of him, in front of the leg pulled tight on the chain. She popped open the kit, quickly fished out the bandages and the safety pin, and started to bandage the large gash in his ankle. She pushed the padding into the hole he’d gnawed out of his ankle, fighting back the need to throw up at the texture, then began bandaging.

“I’m sorry i’m sorry i’m sorry i’m sorry-“ She muttered as she worked, guilt wracking her form, her arms shaking. 

She went around, making quick work to bandage all the little gashes and bite marks in his ankles and wrists, all while he thrashed and attempted to bite all four of those around him.

Soon, Pin was done. She took a few steps back before nodding at Golf Ball, Tennis Ball, and Basketball for them to let go.

They all did at the same time, jumping back from Coiny as he lunged at them again, faceplanting into the carpet.

She stared down at him, panting, her body trembling. 

He pushed himself to his feet again, trying his damndest to run at them, his arms outstretched, angry growls rumbling from his chest, hopping on one foot as his other was bound behind him by the ball and chain.

She didn’t look away, even as Golf Ball started to shout at Basketball, scolding her for forgetting to administer the cure. Basketball shouted something back but Pin couldn’t make out what. She couldn’t listen. The world around her blurred, her focus solely on Coiny. She hadn’t seen him show such anger in this state. It was always hunger. Pure hunger. But this time it’s— he was angry. Visibly angry. She wondered if he would remember this and be mad at her.

“Pin,” Tennis Ball said beside her, Basketball and Golf Ball’s arguing voices fading into the distance. She’d left.

She didn’t look at him.

“Uh… Here.” He said, placing something down next to her. “It’s the artificial cure. Just— put it in his food or something. Tell us if it works.”

He was quiet for a moment. She heard his footsteps walk away.

“Good luck.”

The door closed.

Instantly, tears filled her eyes. He stopped thrashing but that didn’t matter. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was so angry and hurt. She let them hold him down against his will, she— she thought back to his ankle. The way his skin and muscle squelched and squished out from behind the padding she used, the way it touched her finger, warm and wet and mushy, the way she could feel the cockroaches and bugs wriggling around beneath the surface. 

Her breathing became labored, her throat burned, she could feel the bile traveling up her throat. 

Quickly, she turned and stumbled, falling to her hands and knees before wretching, her body convulsing violently as she regurgitated the little food she had that day, her throat and mouth burning from the acidity.

She sat back on her knees, panting, trembling, tears pouring from her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look at him again, to look at herself. She felt like if she moved she would throw up all over again, her heart racing, nausea prominent.

Pin closed her eyes, trying to regulate her ragged breathing. In… and out…. in… and out… 

Slowly, her body stopped trembling. Tears slowed to a stop. Nausea dissipated. Her mind stopped running wild. The adrenaline coursing through her body finally dispersed.

She let out a rough exhale and stood back up. 

She knew what she needed to do first. Glancing at the clock, she knew it was time for dinner. She couldn’t go to the lobby looking disheveled, though, and she certainly wasn’t going to leave puke all over the floor. 

She sighed.

Pin huffed as she kicked the door to the closet closed, finally finished cleaning the pile and half-digested food out of the carpet. It was insane to her how quickly the carpet cleaners could clean up something like that. She’d have to thank Golf Ball later. Unfortunately.

She glanced down the hall at Coiny’s room again. Guess it was finally time to get his dinner. It would be an hour late, but all of his meals were an hour late that day. Whatever.

She decided to take the stairs this time. Sure, it would only take her longer to get to the lobby, but frankly, she didn’t care. She just didn’t want to go back into that stupid, slow elevator. She huffed softly, shaking her head.

“Pin?” said a higher pitched voice, just a little ways ahead of her. She looked up, surprised to hear anyone at all.

There at a table sat Needle, Donut, Gaty, and Barf Bag, all looking at her surprised- all except for Needle, that is.

“What’re you doing down here?” Needle continued, turning in her seat to fully face her friend.

“...It’s dinner time. For Coiny,” She answered slowly, disinterested. She glanced towards the kitchen.

“Oh- right,” Needle said, nodding. She glanced away, and the atmosphere felt tense. Pin couldn’t tell why. Nothing was wrong. She was just there to make food.

“This late?” Gaty asked, her head tilting slightly.

“It’s been a day,” Pin said with a sigh, finally making her way to the kitchen. 

She decided she’d make steak this time. It would take longer, but that was fine. At least she knew he’d choose a huge slab of meat over pieces of his own flesh. She shivered.

“We haven’t seen you all day though,” Donut stated, leaning forward ever so slightly to look at her over the bar.

Pin didn’t answer, focused on seasoning the steak. She didn’t want them getting in her business either, even if they were her teammates or her closest friends. Yet still, she heard one of them get up from their chair. Then the rest of them followed, now sitting at the bar.

“Pin, have you been in Coiny’s room the whole day?” Needle asked, concern etched in her voice.

“Why does it matter?”

“That’s not healthy.” Needle said.

“Yeah, you’ve gotta spend time with other people if you don’t wanna lose your mind,” Barf Bag added, nodding along.

“I tried to yesterday,” Pin said bitterly, gritting her teeth, “You saw me, Needle.”

She frowned, glancing around the room, eyeing the christmas decorations 

“...How did that go?” Needle asked, leaning forward, “Hanging out with Pen?”

“It was fine until his boyfriend showed up,” Pin grumbled, angrily speaking beneath her breath.

“Eraser?” Gaty asked.

“Eraser.” Donut sneered in the same tone as Pin. She appreciated the similar feeling about that idiot.

“Oh brother…” Needle groaned, pinching the bridge between her eyes, “What did Eraser do?”

“Be a huge jerk!” Pin blurted, looking back up at them, “He pissed off the entirety of DEATH Pact just because he didn’t think they were good for Pen, even though he’s worse than them! He’s a hypocrite!” She ranted, frantically gesturing with her hands, “He threw rocks at innocent birds just because he was bored and celebrated when he killed one! Who does that?!” 

She paused for a moment, expecting one of them to interrupt. But none of them did. She huffed thankfully.

“And then he insisted he and Pen come with me to feed Coiny dinner, then have the gall to treat him like some sort of pet! Like a big joke! So I told them both off and kicked them out.”

The room fell silent for a moment. She refused to look up at the rest of her team, knowing that they would be staring at her with nothing but judgment. She wondered if they would defend what happened. It was just a harmless joke! You shouldn’t have kicked them out. I bet Eraser had good intentions.

“I would’ve done the same.” 

Pin looked up at Barf Bag.

“Wait. Really?” She asked, confused.

“I mean, yeah. If someone treated my zombie partner like that I’d be pretty peeved too,” She said with a shrug.

“Especially knowing your history, Pin– Yeah, I don’t blame you,” Needle added.

“He was throwing rocks at birds?” Gaty asked, clearly distressed, “Why would he do that?”

“Because he was bored. Weren’t you listening?” Barf Bag answered, giggling.

“Well yeah, but– Why? Why was that his first thought?”

“I was wondering the same thing!” Pin exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air.

“C’mon guys, he’s friends with Blocky. It would be more surprising if that wasn’t his first thought,” Donut sighed, leaning forward as if he was about to rest his arms on the counter. Needle grabbed his side to stop him from faceplanting.

“I guess that’s true,” Gaty agreed, glancing around.

“Still. It’s wrong.” Pin huffed, crossing her arms before realizing she needed to wash them.

“How come Pen isn’t like that though? He’s friends with Blocky too.” Barf Bag asked, smugly leaning against the counter, as if she just busted Donut’s whole argument over.

He simply blinked at her, then snickered at her pose and expression.

“Unfortunately some people hang out with the wrong crowd. We’re just lucky he’s not easily influenced.”

“Oh geez. Could you imagine? Two Erasers running about?” Needle suggested, feigning a shiver.

The group laughed, even Pin.

“Thank you for being normal about this,” Pin said sincerely, her mood significantly improved. She smiled at her team, remembering they were her friends too.

“Of course, Pin,” Gaty responded, “We’re your friends. We always have your back.”

“Yeah,” Needle nodded, then pointed at her pointy pal, “and that includes talking about how you feel.”

Pin’s heart sank. She wasn’t ready for that. 

“Uh. Hey!” Pin blurted before anyone could say anything else, moving to the sink to wash the dirty dishes. She had to keep herself occupied. “What were you guys talking about at the table?”

The other four glanced between each other, before Donut nodded towards one of them.

“Well,” Gaty started, “You’ve been avoiding our movie nights for whatever reason, and we can tell you’re… struggling, so we thought, y’know…” She trailed.

“We thought we’d bring the movie night to you,” Needle finished for her, holding up a DVD.

Pin looked up from the dishes, her brow furrowing. She thought back to before she left, how angry Coiny looked. Her eyes flicked back down to the dish in her hand, a swirling sense of anxiety burrowing in her chest.

“I don’t know,” She said, “Coiny’s a little aggravated right now.”

“He’s a zombie,” Donut commented, “isn’t he always aggravated?”

“Even more aggravated than usual, Donut,” Pin answered, deadpan.

“How so?” Gaty asked.

Pin’s heart sank. She didn’t want to have to tell them what happened. She didn’t want to dig up the memories she had just put away. But they deserved to know, didn’t they? Coiny was their friend too.

“Pin?” Needle asked, her voice noticeably softer, worried.

“Oh. Sorry. Um. It’s kind of gruesome,” Pin warned as she unplugged the sink and started the dishwasher.

“It’s okay, we can take it!” Barf Bag said confidently, placing her hands on her hips. Gaty looked unsure.

“I’ll just keep it short,” Pin sighed. Barf Bag frowned.

As she finished making herself and Coiny’s dinner, she explained what happened earlier. How she realized Coiny had gone quiet, only for her to realize he was trying to eat his own flesh. The panic that shot through her as she rushed to Basketball and asked her, TB, and GB to help. The anger on Coiny’s face as the three balls held him back so she could bandage his ankles and arms. She didn’t go into detail on the gory parts though. She didn’t want to scare anyone, or ruin her own appetite. Once she finished explaining, she looked back up at her four team members.

Etched on their faces were various degrees of concern and mild disgust.

“...His own flesh?” Donut echoed after an awkward silence that lasted far too long.

“Yeah. I don’t know why he would do that,” Pin admitted, rubbing her arm.

“Jeez. I’m sorry you had to go through that, Pin,” Needle said, reaching over the counter to pat her shoulder.

“I’m okay. But I still don’t think you guys should go in there. Not only that, but it smells like a dead animal in there.”

“I mean, we have to smell Barf Bag every day-”

“Hey!”

“-It wouldn’t be any different,” Donut teased, nudging the paper bag with his knee.

“It’s worse than that,” Pin grimaced, “I’m serious.”

Needle frowned, as if she was trying to give Pin puppy eyes, a silent plea to just let them in. Pin tensed, frowning too. She felt awful. And they were right– it did feel like she was trying to avoid them on purpose. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to hang out, she just… She had to take care of Coiny. She sighed.

“The answer is no, Needle. I’m sorry.”

With that, she picked up the food tray and turned around, guilt pooling in her chest. Was it selfish to say no to the invitation? It felt like she was being selfish. 

No. No, it wasn’t selfish. It was selfless. As much as she wanted to hang out with her friends, she couldn’t. Saying no was for their own good, not hers. They probably didn’t want to see Coiny like that, or smell his rotting flesh and muscle and organs. They probably didn’t want to see the evidence of him clawing at the wall, his minty blood dried in streaks over the ripped paint. The TV in his room was broken anyway. They couldn’t watch a movie there, even if she said yes. Yeah. That was another thing she was protecting them from.

Disappointment.

Pin took a deep breath, standing in front of his door. Her hands shook slightly in anticipation. Whatever was on the other side, she could handle it. She had to handle it. There was no other option. For a moment, she wondered if she would have to bandage all of his limbs.

Still, she pushed the door open, holding her breath.

Inside, Coiny was sitting against the wall, one of the food trays beneath his feet in front of him, dented and torn and broken in half. She blinked.

“Is that how we get our anger out?” She asked him, walking in and closing the door behind herself with her foot.

He stood up with a groan and she stiffened. Instead of lunging, he slowly approached, right up until the chain snagged his foot and stopped him from going any further. He stretched his arms out towards her with a grunt.

“Yeah? You smell the food?” She teased with a soft snicker, stepping closer.

She stopped just before she was in reach of him, remembering earlier. The artificial antidote.

“...Wait. I know you’re starving, I just need to do something. Call it a finishing touch,” She explained before turning and kneeling down.

She placed the tray on the ground in front of her, turning and grabbing the antidote she’d left on the ground. Before pouring it onto the steak, she held it up to the light and swirled it around.

…She wished she knew what the antidote looked like in liquid form. Sure, it probably looked like a vial of puke, but maybe… Maybe if it looked similar, it could work. She didn’t know anything about chemistry, or science. She just had to trust Tennis Ball that this would work.

The cork came off the vial of green liquid with a swift pop, and Pin made sure to catch it before it flew off somewhere Coiny could get to it. Carefully, she poured the artificial antidote on top of the cooked meat she prepared, watching the color of it shift as the liquid melted and fused with the dish.

Her heart lurched. The color of it– now that the antidote was fully fused with the meat, its color was exactly the same as the steak they fed to all the zombies in the first place. This could work. This could actually work! No more waiting for stupid Two or stupid Four to come back, no more waiting for Golf Ball to locate their hosts. He was going to come back to her, and she wouldn’t cry anymore or worry about him rotting or eating his own flesh.

The room felt like it was full of color again, hope beaming and blooming through her chest. She happily turned and slid the tray towards Coiny, an optimistic smile on her face.

This was it. Everything was going to be fine. She wasn’t going to have to hold him down just to bandage him anymore, she wouldn’t have to distract herself with anyone else, she could tell off Pen and Eraser and have Coiny to back her up, she–

…Why wasn’t the green fading?

He took a bite of the steak. He was eating it. His teeth sank into it, he tore off a piece and swallowed it, why wasn’t he turning orange.

Her smile fell just as quickly as it had formed on her face. With every bite he took, another piece of fleeting hope was broken and shattered and tossed away, into the abyss. The room turned dull again.

The steak was gone. And Coiny was the same. Sickly green. Rotting. Dead eyes. Infested with bugs. Gone. Empty.

Pin slouched with a sigh, watching as he stood up and trotted over to his makeshift bed. He just about threw himself into it, flopping backwards into the cushiony pillows and comforters. And right as he hit the bed, he closed his eyes and didn’t move a muscle.

“Someone was exhausted,” She joked with a wry chuckle, pulling her knees to her chest. “Tuckered himself out by destroying that plastic tray…”

Attempts to cheer herself up were futile.

Of course the universe just had to find a way for her to get her hopes up just to immediately destroy it once again. She wasn’t even surprised anymore– just… tired. She wondered if that was concerning, considering it was only day four of this torture. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. She didn’t exactly care.

Before she could spiral any further, she heard a gentle knock on the door. Her body went rigid. For a second, she just sat there, thinking she’d hallucinated the knock.

And then it happened again.

Okay, definitely not hallucinating.

She stood up with a grunt of effort, dragging her feet all the way to the door and pulling it open. And as soon as she saw what was on the other side, she froze.

In front of her was the rest of her team. Needle stood beside a cart which carried a TV, a DVD player, and a bunch of wires as she smugly leaned against it. Across from her, Barf Bag and Gaty stood together, each holding a bowl of popcorn. And finally, next to Needle, was Donut, who held about five Febreeze spray cans in his mouth.

“What are you-” Pin started, before being interrupted.

“Abupbupbup! You aren’t allowed to say no. I told you we’d bring the movie night to you,” Needle said proudly, her hands on her hips.

“...Seriously?” Pin groaned, deadpan.

“We even brought a bunch of Febreeze to help with the smell!” Barf Bag announced, gesturing at Donut and almost smacking the bowl of popcorn off of Gaty’s head.

“Oh my Pin Factory,” Pin exclaimed, shaking her head, “You all thought of everything.”

“I mean, we’ll still have to steal pillows and blankets from the nearby rooms, but yeah, pretty much,” Gaty agreed, shrugging with her foot.

“Alright alright. Just– be quiet. He’s asleep,” She moved out of the way, allowing Needle to pick up the flatscreen and bring it through the door.

“Zombies can sleep?” Barf Bag asked.

“Apparently.”

The five of them spent the next few minutes setting everything up. While Needle set up the TV and the DVD player and set them on the ground near the door, Pin and Barf Bag de-odered the room. In the meantime, Gaty and Donut ran around to the other nearby hotel room, snatching pillows and blankets for all of them, even taking the time to teach Donut a thing or two about doing stuff with just his feet.

“Oh wow,” Pin whispered, “You two got a lot,” She said, looking over the pile the two armless objects dropped.

“Everyone’s gotta be comfortable. We’re gonna be here for a while,” Gaty stated, nodding as Needle and Barf Bag began to set up the pillows and blankets on the floor.

“How long is a while?” Pin questioned.

“Well!” Barf Bag said, grabbing the small stack of movies from the bottom of the cart and tossing them on Coiny’s bare bed, “We usually just pick two movies, but we brought a selection!”

“We wanted you to decide which ones we watch tonight,” Gaty added.

“Oh! Um, okay.” 

Her eyes scanned over the movies on display, briefly eyeing over the five DVD cases. Megamind, The Wild Robot, Transformers One, The Thing, and A Bugs Life.

She tapped her chin a little, thinking. A horror movie definitely sounded good right about then…

“These two,” Pin said after a few minutes, picking up the DVD cases for The Thing and Transformers One.

“YES!” Donut cheered.

“Nerd,” Barf Bag teased, nudging him with her hip.

“A horror movie? Really?” Gaty asked, looking at the cover for The Thing.

Pin shrugged. “I felt like a horror movie tonight.”

“Okay, so what are we watching first?” Needle asked, plopping down on one of the pillows. The rest of the team followed suit.

“The thing first, and then Transformers One as a pallet cleanser?” Gaty suggested, “So we all don’t watch a horror movie directly before sleeping?”

“That’s really smart actually,” Barf Bag agreed.

“It’s settled then!” Needle announced, popping over the DVD case and carefully extracting the disc. She pressed the CD against the spindle, slowly taking it in.

Soon enough, the movie started, and Pin found herself half paying attention to it. As it played and the others reacted to the horrors happening on screen- Gaty leaned against Needle, occasionally closing her eyes to keep herself from seeing the gore while Needle kept her eyes on the tv, and Donut cowering behind Barf Bag as she watched with great intrigue- she stared at Coiny.

He was as still as a mountain, laying there on the nest of blankets and looking like a proper corpse. She couldn’t help but think about how he would react to a horror movie. She could imagine herself cuddling up against his side as he wraps his arm around her, holding her close, kissing her forehead. Or maybe he’d be hiding his face in her side, scared of the monster on screen, trembling as she held him close. And then after, he would tell her he wasn’t scared at all and was totally just playing it up as an excuse to cuddle her. She smiled at the thought, a bittersweet taste in her mouth.

Her smile didn’t last long though. She let out a soft sigh, turning back to the movie, wishing she had someone to hold, or someone to hold her.

“I’m glad that's over,” Donut muttered, still shaking as the credits of the movie rolled.

“You’re such a baby,” Needle joked, laughing.

“Bathroom and popcorn refresh break?” Barf Bag suggested, shaking the empty bowls of popcorn.

“You guys ate both of those?” Pin asked, pointing at the bowl.

“Well most of them were lost from Barf Bag trying to throw them into their mouth and-” Gaty started, before the mentioned spikey friend slapped her hand over her mouth.

“C’mon Gaty lets go get more popcorn!” She exclaimed, standing up and dragging her out of the room.

Needle giggled at the two of them, standing as well to stretch.

“...While they do that, I’m gonna use the bathroom,” Donut said, struggling a little to stand without his arms.

“Transformers One next!” He cheered on his way out of the room, clicking his heels.

Needle rolled her eyes, ejecting the DVD for The Thing out of the DVD player and putting it away.

Pin looked back into her lap, spacing out as she stared at her hands. Slowly, she flexed them, as if they weren’t her own, getting used to the feeling of them touching other things. And truth be told, that was kind of the case. For some reason, they didn’t feel like her own hands. They felt foreign. Wrong. Her brows furrowed, balling her hands into fists and squeezing as hard as she could.

“Hey,” Needle spoke, pulling Pin from her thoughts. She looked up, relaxing her hands.

Concern was written all over the metallic object’s face, and she looked almost nervous. Her mouth hung open just a little bit as she glanced to the side, considering her words.

“How was the movie?” She finally asked. Pin could tell that wasn’t what she wanted to ask.

“Oh,” Pin mumbled, turning to the TV. “It was good.”

Needle sat down beside her, the case for Transformers One held between her hands.

“You weren’t even watching it, were you?” She asked, her sharp voice taking on a more teasing tone.

Pin glanced at her, then looked away.

“Was I that obvious?”

“No,” Needle said, wrapping her arm around her shorter friend. “But I know you.”

Pin groaned. “You’re so annoying.”

“I know, but you know I need to be.” She glanced at the door. “It’s Coiny, isn’t it?”

“It’s always Coiny…” Pin muttered, drawing her knees to her chest.

“I keep thinking about what he would be doing if he was here. Really here, not over there, dying in the corner.” Pin explained, her voice shaking softly.

Needle nodded slightly.

A comfortable silence blanketed the two, Pin eagerly awaiting some kind of response. Her eyes drifted toward Coiny again, his body still in the same position. 

“Tell you what,” Needle started, and Pin looked back up at her, noticing the soft smile on her face, “When Coiny gets the antidote, we’ll all come back in here and have a movie night with him. Deal?”

Pin blinked up at her, wide-eyed and mildly surprised. Then she smiled, her heart warming at the thought.

“We’ll put on a horror movie for him, right?” She asked eagerly, lowering her knees.

“Whatever you want, Pin,” Needle said, squeezing her side.

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”

“Everybody comfy?” Needle asked, disk in hand, poised in front of the DVD reader.

“YES!” Donut cheered, overpowering everyone else’s voices.

She nodded and slid the disc into the disc reader, quickly scrambling back and getting comfy beneath the blankets, this time next to Pin. She smiled up at her, and Needle smiled back.

She found it easier to pay attention to the movie this time. It was loud, and vibrant, and funny, and action packed, the kind of movie she knew Coiny would probably love. And she knew she would tease Donut for being such a nerd for liking it at the same time, because he was like that. He was hypocritical and mean but that was just fine with her.

She had to resist the urge to call Donut a nerd herself, actually. All through the movie, he would bounce his legs, or mutter a quote word for word right as it’s said, or glance over at the rest of them for their reactions at big plot developments. She had never seen him so excited about something before.

In the middle of the movie, she heard a shift. For a moment, she assumed it was just Barf Bag or Gaty adjusting their sitting position.

But then she heard the sound of a rattling chain.

She froze, her heart sinking. She knew what it was, but she hoped she was wrong. She hoped she was just hallucinating. 

Pin spared a glance over at the rest of her team to make sure they hadn’t been alerted either. To her luck, they were all still engrossed by the movie, their eyes glued to the TV.

Then, slowly, holding her breath, she looked over her shoulder, over at where Coiny was.

He was awake. And standing. Staring. He’d staggered out of the bed and walked forward a few feet. She stared at him, watching as he took a few more, almost hesitant, steps closer. But then he stopped, his arms lowering to his sides, and he just stood there, quietly, staring. 

She was confused for a moment, tense and worried, watching him stare. She reached over towards Needle, going to tell her to turn the movie off, but then she stopped. She took a double take.

Coiny wasn’t staring at her. He wasn’t staring at Needle, or Gaty, or Barf Bag, or even Donut. He was staring at the TV. The movie. The colors reflected off of his white eyes, and he moved just a little bit at every camera adjustment. It was like he was in a trance, distracted completely and entirely by those sentient robots on screen. It was amazing. It was toddler-like. 

She watched him for just a moment longer before turning her head back to the TV.

“Guys,” She said, her voice hushed, loud enough for the others to hear but quiet enough that it wouldn’t catch Coiny’s attention.

“Don’t be alarmed…” She continued, speaking slowly, cautiously, “but Coiny is awake.”

She glanced over as her friends glanced over at her, and at Coiny, squinting at his dark figure within the blackness of the room. She saw each of their expressions shift and scrunch and meld into expressions of nervousness and fear.

“…What’s he doing?” Needle asked, matching her volume near perfectly.

“He’s just… Watching the movie. I don’t think he noticed any of you.”

“So what do we do?” Donut asked, almost frantically.

Pin paused for a moment. Coiny didn’t move.

“Just enjoy the movie, I guess. He’s okay.”

So they did. They all turned their attention back to the TV just in time for the second half, and eventually, they all managed to forget he was even there. Everyone except for Pin, of course. As she watched, every few minutes, she would spare a glance towards her zombified boyfriend, watching him barely react to the movements, the movie beats, and all the emotional moments.

It was… Nice. He almost seemed alive like this, if she ignored the green skin and copper for long enough. For once, she didn’t have to worry about him hurting himself accidentally, even if it was just for a fleeting moment.

“...Wow,” Gaty muttered as the movie ended, the credits beginning to roll.

Donut sniffled, Barf Bag reaching over to wipe the tears from his eyes. “No matter how many times I watch that movie, it always gets me.”

“Talk about a messy breakup,” Needle joked, gaining a giggle from Pin.

“Hold on- Chris Hemsworth?” Gaty said, brows raising, “As in Thor?”

“Yeah! He did a great job, didn’t he?” Donut said gleefully.

“I didn’t even realize that was him,” She admitted, glancing over at Donut.

“I didn’t either. He sounded so much like the original voice actor for Optimus Prime at the end,” He said, nodding.

The two continued to chat about the movie and its plot, Needle and Barf Bag occasionally adding on as they helped Pin clean up the pillows and blankets and snacks.

“Thanks for letting us have our movie night in here, Pin,” Gaty said, gently nudging her.

Pin blinked, looking down at her after staring at Coiny a little more.

“Yeah. And thanks for coming. I… Didn’t know how much I needed this,” She admitted, rubbing her arm.

“See? I told you,” Needle said to what felt like everyone, folding up the last of the borrowed sheets, “it was gonna be fine.”

“Yeah, yeah, no need to gloat,” Barf Bag teased, rolling her eyes as she flicked the light on. 

Pin’s eyes darted over to Coiny as he let out a garbled yelp, staggering back and tripping over the steel ball at the sudden light.

“Oh. Oops. Sorry, Coiny.”

Pin sighed. She’d have to check on him after they left.

Speaking of leaving, Barf Bag pulled the door open, yawning as she did so.

“We better get going,” Needle said, finally putting the TV and DVD player back onto the rolling cart, “It’s almost midnight.”

“Goodnight, Pin,” Gaty said, leaving the room after Donut.

“Goodnight Gaty. And goodnight Donut, Barf Bag,” Pin responded, waving.

Slowly, carefully, Needle backed up and out of the room, turning the cart to face down the hall before stepping back into the room and hugging Pin.

“Goodnight. Make sure you get some rest, okay?” She said,

Pin stood there, silent, her eyes wide. Stunned. She wasn’t expecting a hug. That was the last thing she was expecting out of that night. But as Needle stood there, still with her arms around her, squeezing her a little tighter, Pin realized how much she needed it. She felt her lip start to quiver, her vision growing blurry as her arms started to shake, slowly hugging Needle back. Her heart wavered and she closed her eyes tightly, trying to bite back a sob.

“I– I will,” She choked, her voice shaking.

“Good. You better.” Needle said, patting her back before letting go. She gave Pin a comforting smile before turning and leaving the room. She waved as she closed the door, Pin waving back with a weak smile.

The door clicked. Her smile disappeared in an instant.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, her body shaking as she gathered her composure, as the tears came to a stop. Her friends were gone, off to bed. She was still there, with Coiny. Alone again.

She turned her back on the door, looking over at where Coiny had finally started to get up. He wobbled as he stood, nearly tumbling over his chain again. Pin flinched, as if she was about to go catch him, but he steadied himself. She sighed.

“Are you okay, Coiny?” She asked, clasping her hands together in front of her flared bottom.

He just looked at her and grunted. Then, without a second thought- or even a first thought- he turned and started scratching at the wall again.

Pin sighed, watching him rub his bandaged fingers over the paint-stripped wall. Slowly, she sat back down on the floor, legs criss-crossed, her hands in her lap. She stared down at them.

Her limbs felt distant again. Wrong. Not hers. Like she couldn’t feel her blood running through them, or feel her arms resting overtop her ankles. She couldn’t feel her legs touching the fluffy brown carpet, or the way her body pressed against the ground.

She squeezed her fists closed again, her nails digging into her palms, threatening to break the skin, to draw blood. It stung, but it reminded her that those limbs belonged to her. She opened her hands, breathing heavily, letting go of a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. The carpet jumped and flicked as she ran her palms over the fabric, making them feel itchy. Then her legs started to feel itchy too.

She sighed in relief, relaxing ever so slightly.

Slowly, Pin laid down on the floor, her arms folded across her chest.

It was easy to stop those feelings from getting to her, the sudden thought that her limbs weren’t correct. Ever since Golf Ball got her limbs back for her after BFDIA ended, she dealt with them, developing methods to stop them before they got too bad over the years.

Coiny helped her with most of them…

“Pin!”

His voice echoed through her mind. Distant, muffled, like a static scream, but it was there, it was real, bursting through the noise, the buzzing of her thoughts, her own panicked breathing and gasps for air.

She’d collapsed in the middle of Yoylecity, alone, her heart racing, feeling as if she couldn’t feel her limbs, as if they were wrong and horrible and not there. Her chest was tight, her head reeling, breaking, feeling as if it was cracking, shattering into a billion pieces as she sat there on the sidewalk, vision blurred with tears falling like a waterfall.

“Pin, talk to me, where are you? What’s going on?” He asked, his voice slightly clearer, sounding out of breath, like he’d been running. He sounded frantic, worried.

“Can’t breathe-” She responded, closing her eyes as tight as she could to concentrate, “Limbs. Wrong. Big tree.” 

She gasped, her eyes shooting open. Breathing felt impossible, wrong, and she coughed. She thought she was going to die.

“I’m on it! I’m almost there! I’ve got you, Pin, I got you!” He reassured, his voice even clearer now.

Next thing she knew he was right in front of her, his arms wrapped around her, squeezing her tightly, pressing his round copper body against her, his voice soft, soothing, pulling her back down and to reality.

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Breathe with me, okay? Follow my lead. I’ve got you,” He said, his tone warm and kind and important.

Slowly, following his lead, she regulated her breathing, matching his. Slow, deliberate. Deep. Inhale for three, hold it, then exhale for four. Her pounding heart slowed as well, feeling the tempo of his own heart, calming. Relaxing. The tears stopped flowing and she closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall limp against him.

“Good… Good job. I’m proud of you,” He said slowly, softening his hug and rubbing slow, comforting circles into her back. Gradually, he helped her to stand, leading her over to a nearby bench. And after a few more minutes of breathing and regulating, he spoke again.

“What happened, Pin?” He asked, pulling away ever so slightly to look into her eyes.

She looked back into his, amber in the sun’s lighting, his copper body reflecting her own white body back at her. She glanced away, feeling ashamed.

“C’mon, Pin…” He said slowly, sadly, rubbing her arm, “You can talk to me. I’m your guy.”

“It’s stupid,” She admitted, looking back at him.

“It’s not stupid if it makes you have a panic attack. Nothing you say is stupid.”

“You’re not gonna know how to help.”

“Let me try.”

Pin pouted.

“Please?” He begged, clasping his hands together and giving her puppy eyes.

Pin groaned, long and loud, rolling her eyes. She dragged it on for as long as she could before glaring at him.

“Fine. You’re so stubborn.”

“Says you.”

“Shush. Let me talk,” She said, weakly putting her hand over his mouth before wincing and letting it fall back onto the bench. She inhaled slowly, then exhaled.

“...I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like my limbs aren’t supposed to be there. Like they’re hallucinations. Today just got… extra bad,” She said finally, looking away from him.

Coiny frowned, deep and upset. He looked down at her hands, intertwined with his, noticing how she wasn’t squeezing his hand as much as he was squeezing hers. He sat there like that for a little while, Pin occasionally glancing back at him.

“...I told you,” She said finally, sorrow deep in her gut.

And suddenly, he sprang out of his seat. She yelped in surprise, her heart lurching, his footsteps thudding against the pavement.

“Where are you going?!” She called, already frustrated.

“Just trust the process!” He shouted back, bolting for a utility store. She groaned.

The door hinges screeched as he pulled the door open, quickly barreling in and disappearing behind the wall. Before she could even look away, he came barreling back out of the door, rushing over to the water fountain in the middle of the street with a bucket in hand, only deepening her confusion. 

Quickly, he scooped up the water inside the fountain, then walked back over to her. Carefully, he set the bucket down on the floor in front of the bench, then grabbed her legs and put them in the water.

Instantly, a shiver ran up her back, her posture straightening up immediately.

“Hey! Th-that is way too cold!” She shouted, swiftly yanking her legs out of the ice cold water and kicking over the bucket. The metal bucket made a harsh crashing sound as it hit the pavement, the water splashing out, on Coiny and all over the sidewalk and road. It gushed down the slight decline, bringing a vibrant color out of the asphalt and concrete.

“It worked!” Coiny cheered.

“What–” She started, before pausing. 

Her legs felt normal. She looked at them, stretching her legs out carefully. They didn’t feel so distant. She could feel the blood rushing to them, to her feet, to shake away the cold of the water.

“...How did you do that?” She asked, looking back at him. Her heart swelled, her eyes sparkling with gratitude, “I tried so hard to stimulate my legs and my arms by rubbing them, but all you did was- dunk my legs in cold water.”

Coiny looked at her, then at her legs and the water pouring onto the road, then back at her.

“I don’t really know, to be honest,” He said, hopping back onto the bench beside her, “I was thinking about how you throw cold water on people’s faces when they faint, so I kinda just… did that.”

She stared at him.

“Something about blood and sudden jolts of pain?” He guessed, shrugging.

Pin just sighed. “At least it worked. Thank you, Coiny.”

“Of course!” He chirped, throwing an arm around her and tugging her close to his side, “Anything for my beautiful girlfriend.”

…Anything. She sighed.

She remembered bringing Coiny to Golf Ball’s underground lab to ask her how that worked later that week. She didn’t have a definitive answer, but said that Coiny’s “hypothesis” was somewhat right. When the body is suddenly hit with cold temperatures, it constricts the blood vessels and increases blood pressure to conserve heat. The sudden increase in blood pressure Pin experienced in that moment was enough for her brain, whichever part of it which was having that delusion, to be silenced and stunned out of its thinking. She then mentioned that pain stimuli could have a similar effect, and suggested for Pin to try it next time.

And she did. And it was successful. She remembered praising Coiny for it, celebrating his discovery, how he somehow knew exactly what to do. Sometimes it was infuriating just how lucky he was, but for once, she was glad. She was happy. Happy to be his. Happy he was hers.

…

And now she was alone with him again, and he was the unluckiest person in the room. Green and rotting and broken. Not a single thought behind his eyes.

She pushed herself back into a sitting position, looking at him. He was gnawing on the chain links again, the rattling of the metal like nails on a chalkboard. 

“You shouldn’t do that, Coiny,” She said, her voice quiet. Frail. 

“You might lose a tooth.”

She knew telling him otherwise was in vain. He didn’t care. He was a zombie. He was dead. He wouldn’t listen. But she wanted him to. 

She glanced over at the clock, ticking away the seconds on the wall.

1 AM.

She knew she had to get up, she knew she had to take the used trays from today down to the kitchen to wash and put them back. But she didn’t want to. She couldn’t. She couldn’t leave his side. Not right now. She had to protect him. She had to keep him safe, from himself and from the room. 

2:30 AM. 

Pin had scooted herself over, pressing her back against the footboard of his bed again, talking out loud, at the ceiling, reminiscing about pastimes. She would talk about conversations they had, stupid jokes he made, dates and gifts he had given to her. He would never respond, but to her, it felt like she was having a real conversation with him.

“Remember the last date we had before BFB started?” She asked after a momentary silence.

“You took me all the way across Goiky, to a side we had never been to before, and you brought me onto this huge red bridge right as the sun was setting,” She explained, her voice soft and light and warm. She smiled, blinking slowly, her eyes feeling heavy.

“The view was beautiful. You looked so handsome with the sunset reflecting off of you.”

She closed her eyes, envisioning what she saw all over again.

The sun slipped towards the horizon as if it had decided to melt its own heart into the sea below, the red bridge glowing as though someone coaxed fire into its cables, warm and quietly aflame. The world felt briefly slowed, as if time decided to rest there, allowing them to enjoy their time together. The air held a soft salt-sweetness, the taste of ocean and distant laughter. Clouds drifted in like gentle ribbons, curling around the sun like silk scarves tossed by an elegant God. The sky blossomed into deep tangerine and rose, then folded itself into wine-dark violet. It looked like a painting, elegant and wonderful and special.

She turned to Coiny, and her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened with bursts of love and admiration as his orange, coppery, metallic body reflected all the best colors of the sunset. Golden orange, pinks and violets danced across his surface, highlighting every perfect angle, every ridge in his side, every perfect gleam. It was like a mirror. He was glowing, as if that same fire within the bridge burned within him too.

“How’s the view?” He asked after a long stretch of silence, finally turning to look at her. He paused when he saw her face, wide-eyed and flushed lime green. He chuckled bashfully.

“Heyy, I’m not a sunset,” He joked, reaching over and rubbing her arm.

“Can I kiss you?” She suddenly blurted, reaching over and grabbing his sides.

He jolted slightly, now his turn to blush a bright minty color.

“What?” He asked, as if he hadn’t heard her.

“I- I just-” She stammered, fumbling over her words. “You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Coiny. I can’t wait any longer. I want to kiss you. Can I? Please?” She asked, pulling him just a little bit closer, her throat going dry, her voice breathless and soft.

He blinked at her, flustered and surprised. But then a loving smile crossed his face and her heart exploded in her chest.

“I would be honored.”

He leaned in. And so did she, closing the distance between them. 

They spent a few hours on that bridge, kissing, touching, cherishing and praising each other. And by the time they started heading back to everyone else, it was the middle of the night, and they were giddy and drunk on love and sleep deprivation.

On the way back, she remembered something. A question she’d been wanting to ask him for a while.

“Coiny,” She said, cutting him off.

“Yes, my angel?” He answered, giggling at the nickname.

“Do you-” She paused, giggling, “Do you think we’re like this in every universe?”

He stopped for a moment, looking at her, and for a moment she felt her heart sink. But then he smiled, big and loving and wide, beaming at her.

“Of course we are! Why wouldn’t we be?”

Pin found her vision blurred again. Tears fell from her eyes, her body trembling as she sobbed and cried uncontrollably. She leaned forward, sniffling and whining as she wiped her eyes, trying her hardest to brush away the neverending tears.

“I miss you…” She sobbed, her voice high pitched and shaking, “I miss you so much.”

Her sobbing only grew stronger. A lump formed in her throat, making it impossible to breathe, her chest tight and angry. Her hands flew up, gripping at the halo around her flared top, as she pressed her forehead to the ground.

“I wish this universe was the exception!” She wailed, closing her eyes tightly, “I don’t want to love you like this! I can’t do this, Coiny! I can’t! I can’t!” She bellowed, her voice hoarse, rough, broken and shaking and raw. She hated this feeling. She hated it more than anything. She would do anything, anything, to make it go away. The pain in her chest, the stabbing, throbbing feeling in her throat, in her head. The hole in her heart, this awful, awful feeling that she is never ever going to see him as normal, happy go lucky Coiny again. Her love, her man, her one and only, was going to to be trapped here forever, until the day all of his skin and muscle melt off and his eyes turn to mush in the back of his head and he’s dead and gone and he’s never coming back and–

Suddenly she heard a voice.

And she froze.

“I’m sorry.”

It was quiet. Distant. But she recognized it. It was deep, and handsome, and gruff. It was Coiny.

She gasped, slamming her hands into the plush carpet and frantically pushed herself up to her feet. For a moment the room spun and her vision went black, but it was gone, and she stared at him, at his green body, at the rotting corpse trying to dig into the brown carpet like it was dirt.

She panted, wiping the salty wet tears from her face.

“...Coiny?” She asked and then coughed, her throat raw and stinging, voice quaking.

“Hey,” He said back. Nothing changed.

“Why won’t you look at me?”

“I can’t. Not like this. Remember our headspace?” He asked. It sounded like he was underwater. But he wasn’t, he was there. He was with her. He could understand her. And everything would be alright.

“Oh. Right, our telepathy. I forgot,” Pin said out loud, turning to look at the clock again.

3:20 AM.

“I love you.” She said almost too quickly, looking at him again and hugging her arms.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to?” He asked. He sounded monotone. She wondered why.

“I do want to, Coiny. I’m just… scared,” She answered, sitting down. “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to feel like this.”

He didn’t respond for a few minutes. She felt her eyes growing heavy, closing them briefly.

“I know,” He finally said, “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes snapped open at his voice again and she blinked, looking at him again. He had opted to slapping the floor instead of trying to dig.

“Do you like the meals I give you?” She asked, her words slurring, though she barely noticed. She rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand, smiling ever so softly.

“I like dirt cake!” He said, more enthusiastic this time.

“I know. I’m glad you like my dinners. You always did like my cooking, didn’t you?”

When she said dinner, Coiny perked up. But he didn’t make a noise, not even a sound of interest telepathically.

“Coiny?” She asked, her heart wavering.

“Sorry.” He answered after a moment too long, “got distracted.”

His tone was off now, as if the words were being unnaturally strung together. But she ignored it, because this was real. How else could he be talking to her, right? He was talking to her, they were having a conversation.

She chuckled.

“That’s fair. I guess you aren’t all there, huh?” She asked teasingly, lovingly. He placed her elbow on her leg, resting her cheek in her palm.

“Rotting. Will do that to you,” He said, sounding a little more muffled.

She frowned.

“You aren’t leaving, right?” She asked, “You’ll stay here with… me?”

Her voice slowly got softer, fighting sleep as she sat there. Her eyes drifted closed again, just for a little.

“Yes.” He said, snapping her awake once again.

She quickly sat up, startled. But then she smiled, lowering her head back onto her hand once again.

“Thank you. I love you…”

He didn’t answer. But that was okay. He was just thinking. It was hard for him to think. He was a zombie after all, can’t think if there’s nothing left to think of.

After a few minutes, she glanced towards the clock again.

5:02 AM.

She blinked slowly at the clock, brows furrowed.

“Huh. How’d that happen? …I guess time flies when you’re talking to your favorite person–” She started, turning to look at him.

He stared back. He finally turned to her, staring at her with his big white eyes. And she froze up once again, a horrible realization dawning on her.

“...No. That wasn’t– It couldn’t have been—” She muttered, her heart starting to pound again, her body trembling.

But it made so much sense. The underwater sound, the monotone way of speaking, the unnatural strung together words– that wasn’t Coiny. It was all her. 

She had hallucinated before, back in BFDIA when she was eliminated, when she hallucinated herself being given her arms, but she didn’t think it would happen again. She thought that would be a one-time thing, just once. That’s all. Never again.

But no. It happened again. That whole conversation, every I love you, every compliment, every apology, it wasn’t real. Of course he wasn’t talking to her through telepathy, he’s a zombie. Thinking was impossible, concentrating was impossible. How could she be so stupid, so delusional-

She squeezed her upper arms tightly, hyperventilating as she did so, sitting back against the footboard of the bed again, staring at the ceiling. The world was spinning, caving in on itself, shrinking, suffocating, breaking her down and ripping her apart to her rawest, barest form. She just wanted to be with him again. She just wanted to hear his voice again, listen to his heart beat, hear his laugh, cuddle him, feel his skin against hers. Was that too much to ask for? Was that too much to want, to need?

The walls closed in closer, the ceiling falling closer and closer to her, slowly, with the weight of a thousand suns, the gravity smothering. Her breaths came in short gasps, desperate, hoarse wheezes, fighting to get air to her lungs. She wanted to scream, she needed to scream, her heart pounding in her ears, her mind buzzing with fear and frustration.

She closed her eyes tightly, a shrill shriek tearing from her throat, bloodcurdling and angry and terrible.

Pin writhed there for a few more moments, trembling, fighting, struggling. She hadn’t even noticed, but even Coiny was backed up away from her, pressing his flat back against the wall as if he was afraid.

Suddenly, the door burst open. She heard someone shout her name, but she couldn’t make out who it was. Next thing she knew, a pair of arms, strong and solid and real, slid beneath her and lifted her up. She hardly noticed the colors of the hallways were changing until she was outside, sitting in the yellow grass, hands on her shoulders, a familiar face looking down at her with an expression of fear and worry and panic.

“...Pin? Pin talk to me!” She demanded.

It was Needle. Of course it was Needle, her best friend. One of her favorite people ever. Her cool metallic body barely reflected the beginnings of the sunrise, red and orange gleaming off the grey surface.

“...Needle,” Pin murmured, her voice groggy and hoarse.

The taller woman breathed a sigh of relief, pulling Pin close for a hug, tight and comforting and scared.

“Oh thank the universe,” Needle said, “you scared me half to death.”

Pin’s breath hitched in her throat- but she was too tired to cry. She closed her eyes and weakly lifted her arms, letting them flop over Needle’s back.

“I’m sorry,” Pin murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

“What happened? Why did you scream?” 

Her heart sank. She couldn’t admit it. She didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want to make Needle worry about her more than she already did.

“...I don’t want to talk about it.”

Needle paused for a second, but then sighed, slouching over Pin ever so slightly.

“Okay. Fine. We don’t have to talk right now. But– later, when you’ve gotten enough sleep, then we talk. Okay? You’re not allowed to say no.”

Pin nodded weakly. Not much else was going on in her head anymore. She just wanted to sleep. She just wanted to hide under her blankets and sleep for a whole day. Her whole body ached.

Without another word, Needle stood up, Pin still in her arms. She turned, carefully pulling the door into the hotel open and stepping inside.

“I love you, Pin,” Needle said, her voice soft and gentle. It felt sisterly, like a warm hug, talking as she padded across the lobby towards the stairs.

“But you can’t do this to yourself. I know you’re just doing it because you care, or because you think you have to, but I–” She paused again, chewing on her lip, considering her next words. She sighed.

“I think Coiny would rather have you live your life without him than have you by his side all the time and destroy yourself.”

“It’s good that you care,” Needle continued, “What you’re doing, taking care of him- it’s admirable, really. But you need to take care of yourself too.”

Needle stopped, finally in front of Pin’s bedroom.

“You’re just as important as he is,” She said, pushing open the door to the hotel room, “You’re just as deserving as he is.”

She carefully laid Pin down in bed, on her back, then fixed her comforter. Gently, she tucked her in, pressing the blanket in on Pin’s side to make sure she was snug. Then she grabbed a weighted blanket from the closet, laying that over her friend too.

“...You probably aren’t going to remember any of that, are you?” She muttered, watching as Pin’s eyes slowly fluttered closed. She let out a sigh.

“Goodnight, Pin. I hope you sleep well. I’ll take care of Coiny while you’re asleep. I promise.”

Pin never heard her leave. The moment Needle promised to feed Coiny, she finally relaxed, sinking into the comforting warmth of her bed. Her mind and body surrendered to the calling voice of sleep, drawing her away from the stress of her reality… If only for a few hours.