Chapter Text
Flour dusted the counters like fresh snow on a yoyleberry field, and the oven sang with the promise of something... edible. Or at least, survivable for the next disqualification round.
Four stood at the center of it all, humming contentedly as he kneaded dough with surprising precision. It felt good... really good to be hosting properly again. No more just lurking in the kitchen as backup chefs while Two fumbled through challenges. The show was back in capable... numbers. "Mmm. This batch is coming along nicely," he said, his voice carrying a signature of rare smug satisfaction. "Contestants these days need a proper challenge. None of that half-baked nonsense."
X swayed his head nearby, happily stirring a bowl of vibrant, suspiciously glowing batter. His movements were all silly enthusiasm, arms flailing just a bit too wildly as a bit of mix flew onto the ceiling. "Baking is so fun when we're in charge again! Look, I made it into a smiley face! Do you think the winners will like it?"
Four allowed himself another small, rare chuckle, glancing over at his co-host with a fond (if slightly exasperated) edge. "Of course they will like it! After all, the food we make is the one they demand the most here in the hotel."
The two worked in companionable silence for a moment, the clatter of utensils and the warmth of the oven filling the space. Then X's stirring slowed, his usual light energy dipping just a notch. "Hey, Four... have you checked on Two lately?"
Four's hands paused on the dough. His expression shifted... judgmental, but undercut to genuine concern. "Two." He said the name like it left a bad taste. "Still moping in their room, I assume. Depressed wreck ever since Gaty got kidnapped."
The yellow algebralien nodded, his face scrunching up sadly. "Yeah... Poor Two. They were so happy running things, all classy and easygoing with everyone. Then One took Gaty... *poof*, right out of the kitchen!... and Two just... shut down. Shocked, laying on the bed, not responding to anything. It's like they blame themselves super hard."
Four huffed, resuming his kneading with a bit more force than necessary. "Two was always too soft for this. Letting contestants push them around after a while, getting attached like that. Gaty's disappearance is a mess, sure, but wallowing instead of stepping up? Pathetic. We stepped in to keep the show going for a reason." His tone was harsh, the old harsh host shining through. But after a beat, his voice quieted. "Still... I'm worried about One more than I'd like to admit."
X's eyes widened further, his stirring spoon nearly slipping from his grasp. "One is like... scary, I still can't believe she broke out of the Moon after all those years you put her there. I thought the prison would hold forever, but... yeah, she just cracked it open somehow like it an egg." He shivered dramatically.
Four's hands pressed deeper into the dough as if it were a stand-in for the problem at hand. "After what she did to Three... shattering her value like that, turning her into broken fractions... it was unforgivable. I didn't think..."
He trailed off, jaw tightening. A shadow crossed his face... regret that made his shoulders stiffen. Four stared down at the floured counter, kneading harder, the rhythmic thump of dough the only sound breaking the brief silence. He didn't voice it. He never did. Not the guilt that still gnawed at him for how things had spiraled, for the choices that led them here.
X noticed immediately. His stirring slowed to a gentle halt, and he set the bowl aside with a soft clink. Without missing a beat, the cheerful yellow Algebralien moved over, wrapping his arms around Four in a hug from the side, squeezing just tight enough to be comforting without toppling the host.
"Heyyy, don't do that gloomy face... Even when stuff gets all cracked and messy, we always manage to overcome it. Like... like how we're baking this super amazing challenge right now! Besides, if anyone can handle One, it's you. You've done it before, you sure can again. Plus you've got that whole 'host powers' thing going on. We'll figure it out together, okay?"
Four exhaled slowly, the tension in his frame easing just a fraction. He gave X a small, reluctant nod, the corner of his mouth twitching upward despite himself. "...Yeah. Together."
The oven timer dinged cheerfully, cutting through the moment like a perfect cue. X clapped his hands with renewed energy. "Ooh! First batch ready!"
X walked up the hallway of the hotel, a bright yellow tray balanced precariously in his hands. On it sat a warm, slightly lopsided slice of the fresh cake they'd just pulled from the oven, glossy with a vibrant pinkish glaze that still faintly glowed from whatever extra “X-tra” ingredient he'd added. A little smiley face made of berries grinned up from the top.
"Third time this week," he murmured to himself, his voice still light and singsong but carrying a clear determination. "Gotta try! Two needs fuel if they're gonna feel better..."
The door to Two's room was ajar, just like it had been the last two visits. X nudged it open with his foot, peering into the dim space. The curtains were drawn tight. Two lay sprawled across the oversized bed, their large, lazy arms draped limply over the sides like forgotten weights. They stared at the ceiling, barely blinking.
"Heyyy, Twooo," X called softly, keeping his tone bright but not overwhelming. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him with a quiet click. "It's me again! X! I brought something super special from the kitchen. Four and I baked it together. It's still warm and everything!"
Two didn't respond at first. Their eyes flicked over slowly, full with exhaustion and the guilt of everything that had happened. A faint grunt escaped them, more acknowledgment than words.
X set the tray down on the nightstand, careful not to knock over the untouched glass of water from yesterday. He perched on the edge of the bed, swinging his legs a little. "You haven't eaten much lately. I know things are all... cracked and messy right now with Gaty and One and the whole kidnapping thing. But you can't just stay in here forever... The contestants are still out there, and the show needs its energetic host too. Even if it's just a little bit."
He picked up the fork and held out a small piece of cake, the smiley face berry wobbling cheerfully. "Just one bite? For me? Pleasee.? It's got that special sparkle, your favorite kind of sparkle, I think... Or at least it will be once you taste it!"
Two shifted slightly, one of their large arms twitching as if considering reaching out, but it fell back onto the blanket. "Not hungry," they mumbled, their eyes drifting back to the ceiling.
X's face scrunched up with worry. He didn't drop the cheer entirely. He couldn't. But he leaned in a little closer, trying to sound more reasonable as if to make a bet.
"You said that yesterday. And the day before... and the day before. But your arms look all heavy and tired, and I bet your insides are even heavier. Eating something will help! Even if it's just a nibble. Then maybe we can talk about Gaty... or not talk. We can just sit here quietly if you want. But the cake's getting cold, and cold cake is only okay sometimes."
He wiggled the fork gently, making the berry smile dance. "C'mon, Two. We're all worried. Four's pretending he's not, but he is. And I miss you too. The hotel feels emptier without you..."
Two let out a long, tired sigh. Their head turned just a fraction toward X, eyes half-lidded. For a moment, it seemed like they might reach for the fork.
X waited patiently, still holding the bite steady, his usual flailing replaced by quiet, hopeful energy. "Just one bite," he repeated softly, like a little mantra. "We can do this together... Okay?"
In the fractured veil between dimensions, where the fabric of reality thinned like overworked dough... She hovered in her private sanctum, a beautiful moon-like dimension. Before her floated a peculiar magical television, its screen a warped portal conjured from her own volatile power. It wasn't standard broadcast, it was a direct tap into the Hotel, tuned precisely to the dark glow of Two's room.
She watched in silence, her eyes narrowing as X held out that ridiculous, glowing slice of cake. The berry smiley face wobbled innocently, an annoying difference to the heavy stillness in the air. Two's large arms hung limp, their usual boisterous posture reduced to a deflated heap on the bed. One's fingers, long and almost scary twitched involuntarily at her sides.
"Just one bite," X pleaded in that eternally upbeat tone. "We can do this together..."
Stress coiled tight around her like multiplying fractions, pressing against the vast emptiness she'd cultivated. Everything had spiraled so far from her original intent.
The kidnapping of Gaty, such an impulsive snatch had been meant to destabilize Two, to draw out the weaknesses in their hosting, to prove that the "Power of Two" was a stupid illusion built on fleeting connections. But now, staring at the aftermath, guilt gnawed at her like an unresolved equation.
She was still weak with emotions and she knew it.
Most of this mess was her fault, the breakout from the Moon after fourteen long years of this isolation, the targeted strikes at the contestants, the deals, the timeline fractures from tampering with powers best left buried. Yet here she was, watching the fallout, her arrogance fracturing under waves of regret she refused to fully name.
She shifted her gaze through the portal's secondary view, pulling focus to the infinite dark floral dimension she'd exiled Gaty into.
Endless fields of shadowy, bioluminescent yoyle-like blooms twisting under a starless void sky. Gaty wandered there now. She looked... resilient, still muttering to herself about "doing the right thing" and worrying for Two and the others left behind in the hotel.
One felt a pang of reluctant admiration with irritation. Gaty wasn't like her. Not at least yet. But the dimension's subtle disorienting effects, endless looping paths, floral scents that induced hazy memories of better times... would wear on anyone eventually.
She had placed her there to sever that irritating bond with Two, the one that had blossomed so visibly during TPOT's run. The easy camaraderie, the way Gaty supported Two's style, offering advices, chatting, it had all seemed so... enviable.
One's form dimmed slightly as she leaned closer to the magical TV. Her thoughts drifted unbidden to the growing likeness she'd taken to Two.
It had started subtly, back when she'd first tuned into their show right after escaping, watching from afar as Two stepped up after BFB, co-hosting with that easygoing energy that Four and X had once monopolized.
Even though Two had ignored her pleas and warnings in the past, just like the others, something had shifted. A weird flutter in her numerical essence whenever Two laughed off a challenge or rallied the contestants with unforced optimism. Impulses she didn't understand, the sudden urge to reach through the screen, to disrupt not out of pure vengeance, but to... insert herself? To test if that warmth could extend her way?
One closed her eyes slowly, the motion mechanical and familiar, just as she had done countless times during her long imprisonment on the Moon. No dramatic sobs escaped her. Not anymore. No expression twisted her blue, delicate features, only the silent, invisible tracks of tears that slipped down her cheeks.
She compared it endlessly to what she'd once had with Three. Back in the Equation Playground days, before the catastrophe. Three and she had shared a harmony, a quick but still a relationship. Or so she'd told herself. But it paled against the vibrant dynamic she observed between Two and Gaty. Theirs was genuine attachment...
One envied it fiercely, a burning subtraction in her core. Why couldn't she have something similar? Why had her own attempts at connection always fractured so violently?
The stress mounted as she paced her dimensional perch, the floral exile view flickering beside the hotel scene. She felt bad, deeply, confusingly bad, for the pain radiating from Two's room. The way Two had shut down after Gaty's disappearance mirrored too closely the isolation One herself had endured.
Unconsciously, she wished for Two to be happy again. It wasn't logical. It contradicted her vengeful plans, her need to prove superiority after years of being cast aside. But the liking had grown anyway, without questioning her first, a quiet admiration with Two's resilience as a host.
Those sudden impulses... to ease their burden, to maybe even return Gaty if it meant seeing that spark reignite, felt alien, like variables she couldn't solve.
Did she like them?
The thought made her edges scented with denial, more silent tears tracing their invisible path. Loneliness, perhaps. The pain of it all, confusion, stress, this unwanted softness... left her form trembling faintly in this moonlight.
On the screen, X's hopeful voice echoed faintly through the portal "Just one bite... Okay?"
One's form trembled. She could intervene, pull strings, manipulate further. But for the first time, the impulse warred with something softer. Stress etched deeper lines into her being as she glanced back at Gaty's lonely trek through the dark blooms.
"This was supposed to be simple," she muttered to the empty void. "But it all feels so wrong..."