Chapter Text
“Uh… Ten?”
It's January 1st. The night after New Years. Six, Nine, and Ten had decided to have a sleepover at Nine's house. Six had complained that it smelled of weed and the cheap perfume (because Six didn't go to Bath and Body Works for the sales on Gingham Gorgeous products, obviously.), but was quickly silenced by the fact that it was 2am.
In the morning, Nine had gotten up first. She put on her awesome sunnies, and made hot chocolate. She also made ones for her friends. One with water, one with milk. Six liked hers with water because she's LAME. Ten, however, liked milk with hot chocolate, which was correct. She has a stomachache though. Did she get sick after eating pizza off the ground last night during cleanup? No, she did that a lot.
Maybe- maybe Ten would know? He's smart. And really nice. If he didn't know, he'd ask that worm, Five, for him. Because he's just so-
Nine runs to the nearest trash can. Which is in the living room. Nine didn't cook enough to have it in the kitchen. She coughs into the basket, before a lone petal falls inside. She catches the petal, sniffing it. It smells like oranges.
“Hey Nine! You're up early!”
Oh. It's Ten.
“What're you doing over the trash can? The only thing you drank last night was when you shotgunned 2 Monsters in a row.”
Nine hears Six laugh at that.
“Ugh, yeah. I dunno how you fell asleep… speaking of that, I'll get started on breakfast, I guess.”
Nine hears Six walk off. Ten is hovering over them now. Nine drops the petal. Maybe Ten didn't see it. Nine looks up, and sees the gears click in Ten's head.
“Oh, fuck, man. You know who it is?”
Nine blinks. Huh?
“What…?”
Ten gestures to the trash can.
“The petal? Who're you crushing on?”
Nine does a slow, one eye at a time blink.
“Nine, you have hanahaki?? The coughing up petals thing?? The Christmas Party??”
Now it's Nine's turn for gears to click.
“Oh- oh! Yeah. I UH- “
Nine looks up at Ten. He'd figured it out so easily… guess there was no fooling him. But maybe he could try to hide something else…? Like, for example, who it was?
“No, not yet. I just saw the petals, dude.”
Ten nods. He’s frowning. His expression is full of panic.
“Yeah, right. Okay. Uh…”
Nine smiles, punching Ten lightly in the arm.
“Hey, don’t get all mopey about it yet! We have plenty of time to figure out who it is.”
Ten’s expression shifts. It doesn’t get any lighter. Nine isn’t worried. Besides, she already knows who it is! All she needs to do is figure out a plan to ask Ten out! And she already has an idea.
“How about this? We try to figure it out. X said it flared up when he was around Four, right? We just need to see who it is! Get outside! Stuff like that.”
“Okay- “
Ten’s still nervous. Nine feels his stomach churn at that. This wasn’t working. They should go do something else.
“Hey, let’s go get breakfast. I think Six’s trying to cook. We both know how that’s gonna end”
“...Kay.”
Nine starts to walk over to the kitchen, and Ten follows. Six is making eggs. What kind? Who knows. It looks like it’s scrambled but the whites and yolks aren’t mixed together. Six looks over.
“Morning. The hot chocolate’s cold.”
Nine sighs, taking his mug and taking a sip. Ten grabs his as well.
“Yeah, but then it’s just fancy chocolate milk. Which is awesome.”
Ten drinks about half the mug, and sets it down.
“Yep. Delicious. Juuust like you.”
Ten looks at Nine. Six looks over at the two. She laughs at them. Nine is mostly playing it off as a joke. But her throat starts to itch. She feels warm.
“Ugh, get a room you guys- “
Nine smiles, clearing her throat. She feels something in her throat, and proceeds to swallow what she knows is a singular petal. She decides to crack a joke. They’re both just joking. She decides to pretend that they’re not, for a second. Just to pretend, for a moment. The thought is quickly bashed away into pieces like ceramic. It pricks at the walls of her brain.
“No, we don’t gotta. We can just go upstairs.”
Ten’s face goes red, and he chugs the rest of his un-hot chocolate. He slams his mug down, and a crack appears. A piece falls off the mug.
“Oh, I didn’t mean that- i’ll buy you a new one, Nine.“
Nine smirks, picking up the stray piece with his fingers. Ow.
“Eh, whatever. I don’t care, dude. It’s a mug.”
Nine walks off to throw the mug out. That sharp edge would be too dangerous to use. Also, Six is stupid enough to accidentally cut herself on it. Ten stands there awkwardly as Six turns off the stove to… uh, how did the whole thing turn black? Is that smoke?
“Dude, how the hell did you do that?“
“Uh… “
Six shrugs. She grabs the pan and walks off. Was she going to throw it out while it was still hot? Ten interrupts her.
“You’re gonna burn yourself.”
She stops walking, and turns around.
“I’m not stupid. Waiting just makes it stick to the pan. That’s worse.”
“But you could get hurt- “
“No, yeah, if I'm stupid I would. I’m not.”
Six turns back around.
“Fine. If you hurt yourself, Nine’s patching you up.”
“I’m what?”
Nine’s walking back from the trash can as Six leaves to use it. Nine gives Ten a pat on the arm as she walks by.
“Hey. You wanna head to the playground after she’s done?”
“Yeah. Let me go grab my perfume first.”
“Dude, again with the perfume? Every time you use it, Fourteen chases you.”
Nine grabs her mug, taking a sip.
“Yeah? Just grab an orange on your way out. We’ll toss it to him and it’ll be fine.”
Ten walks off, leaving Nine staring. Six comes back.
“See? I didn’t even burn myself. I uh, did burn the pan, though…”
Nine smirks.
“Oh, I guess you need to get me a new one.”
“WHAT? Nine, I JUST bought you this pan because you didn't have any last time I was here!”
“Oh, guess you need to get another one.”
“UGH- whatever. I'm getting you the pastel blue one with the heart lid.”
“Aww…”
Nine spots Ten walking back towards them, and runs towards him.
“Ten! You're back! And with the Fourteen lure perfume!”
Ten pushes Nine off of him and grabs an orange from the kitchen.
“Not with this it isn't.”
Six blinks, then starts walking outside. Ten and Nine follow, playfully pushing each other around the whole time.
“Hey, who are we testing first?”
Ten mumbles to Nine, who shrugs.
“I dunno. We don't need to check everyone. One, Two, Three, Four, and X are out. Oh, and not the Zeroes. Or Fourteen. Or Fifteen… I mean, if I was coughing up wood chips we'd have to check her. But she isn't a flower kind of person.”
“What are you two on about?”
Nine turns to look at Six, who has stopped.
“Oh, yeah! I got hanahaki. We're trying to see who it is!”
Six squints at Nine.
“And youuu… didn't think to tell me?”
“I thought you saw the petals in the trash…”
“WHY would you want me to look at your vomit???”
Nine opens his mouth, and then shuts it. He's out of thoughts.
“Yeah. If you guys are checking people, I'm out. I HATE Nine.”
Nine looks at Ten, and shrugs. Six hits Nine on the side of his face.
“See? The fact that you didn't explode means I'm clear!”
“That's not a very good method.”
“Yeah, well I'm clear, anyways. How are you going to ‘check’ people? Are you just going to flirt with all our friends?”
Nine nods. Ten also nods, despite him not needing to flirt with all of their friends.
“That… isn't going to work. Did you even think about this at all- Oh, who am I kidding. You two don't think ever.”
Ten gives her a thumbs up, and she sighs. The three keep walking. Maybe it'd be best to start with Seven, then? Then Eight, then Five, then… then confess to Ten. Not Five too early, because he might catch on.
“Maybe try just… hanging out with the person specifically, and see if it flares up? Make sure no one else is with you, though.”
Ten shrugs. Decent enough. Then it can't be mistaken for someone else if it does flare up. Sounds good! Nine also nods. Not like it mattered. Maybe she could try flirting, just for fun? And if no one else was there… she could also ask about Ten! Perfect. She nods. They're at the playground now. Seven is playing on the swings. And there's an empty one right next to him. Yes, good.
“Okay. I'm gonna start with Seven. Wish me luck!”
Nine waves, running over to Seven. She waves, her sunnies almost falling off.
“Hey! Seven!!”