Work Text:
POV Pillow
The graphite of the pencil Pillow was using to write in her notebook broke. The breaking of it left a black dot in the middle of her notes, and she lifted the pencil away from it.
“Darn…” Pillow muttered out. She lifted her gaze above the bush she hid behind, observing Four and X’s behavior for a moment longer before getting up and heading inside the hotel. She returns a few minutes later, pencil in hand as she flops back down where she sat before, continuing her notes on a new page.
Algebrailians, mainly Four and X, always intrigued her. They acted so… strangely. Like right now for example: They were both just standing near the hotel's entrance, staring blankly into the distance for no particular reason that Pillow could think of. She remembered hearing something about the two of them doing that when they were about to host the next challenge during BFB… but they weren’t hosting TPOT! No.. Two was hosting, so what were they doing…?
Pillow had a few theories in her mind already, she sketched down a small drawing of Four and X staring into the distance along with the text: ‘Exhibits strange staring into distance. Possibly evil? About to host a challenge? Evil MASTERMINDS?’. She tapped the eraser of the pencil against her bottom lip, thinking to herself about more potential theories.
“Hm… pretty accurate research you have there” Pillow heard an unfamiliar voice beside her.
She whipped her head around to see… someone new. Another number floated next to her, a few inches off the ground. It was a one? Two, Four, and X had never mentioned a one before. Pillow stood up and approached the one-shaped algebrailian, staring blankly at it before reaching her hand out and poking the one.
“..Who are you?” Pillow inquired, the one’s smile widened.
“Good idea..!! Let’s get to know each other…” the one got closer to Pillow, their face right in front of hers. Pillow could feel the warmth of their breath fan over her face from how close they were. Pillow took a step back, she blinked and suddenly.. they were teleported to another room? Was this one creature the one who teleported them? Pillow felt more intrigued than anything, in fact, this one creature was much more interesting for research compared to the pesky Four and X.
Pillow took a quick note of the room's layout: A small starry themed area with two chairs, she sat in one and on the other side of the small table in front of her laid the other chair that the number sat on. A bookshelf, a chalkboard…
“My name’s One! I’m assuming you’re Pillow? Correct?” The one- er- One spoke up. Pillow nodded, clutching her notebook to her chest. One’s eyes flicked down to Pillow’s notebook.
“Ah, yes! Your research” One commented “Very accurate findings about Four and X there… they are.. Evil” Pillows head perked up.
“Accurate? Do you know Four and X personally?” She tilted her head to the side as One nodded.
“Let’s just saayyyyy… I have a first-hand experience of how ‘evil’ they are..”
“Then you can help me with my research!” Pillow chirped.
“Hmm” One hummed to herself, averting her gaze for a moment as she leaned back in her chair. She looked back at Pillow “What would you like to know?”
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“This information was useful! Thanks One” Pillow closed her notebook, thanking One who was floating next to her again.
“Anytime Pillow!” One replied in her usual cheerful tone “It’s about time you head back now, however, you’ve been gone from the hotel for quite some time.”
One sighed and Pillow shrugged “Oh well! I can conduct more research with you tomorrow.”.
“Tomorrow it is then” One teleported Pillow back to the bush where they first met. She looked around, Four and X were gone, and the sun was setting. Pillow hummed to herself as she wandered into the hotel, placing the notebook and pencil back inside her pouch. Her mind wandered back to One… she intrigued Pillow a bunch! An interesting subject indeed, her behaviour was much different compared to Two, Four, and X. Next time they meet, Pillow will have to perform some research on One instead…
She stepped into her room in the hotel and shut the door behind her. Taking her notebook out, she plopped herself onto her bed, flipping to an empty page and making a small sketch of One in the corner of it. She was going to write down notes of everything she knew about One so far !!!
“Let’s see…” Pillow murmured, beginning to write down a few of her observations.
- Very informative about other algebrailians
- Strange powers? Always had powers? Gained them?
- Isolated for a long time
- Leans into touch
Nice to talk toCuter than most algebrailians I’ve seen
Pillow smiled to herself, flipping the notebook shut.. That was good enough for today! She’d be able to learn more tomorrow… since the sun had set, it was probably a good time to head to bed. She placed her notebook and pencil on the nightstand, laying down fully in her bed and closing her eyes.
~
POV One
One hovered in her room, looking down and observing the contestants from her little room. Her eyes were set on Fanny currently… she had been missing her mouth for a while now, it was stuck at the ocean floor.. perfect for one of her precious deals. Now would be a good time to grab Fanny for that deal… but not yet, it was risky, there were other objects nearby. She’d have to find someone else for now…
One began looking through all the other contestants, but eventually came back to Pillow. Her sleeping form was curled up tightly in her bed, eyes shut tight, and that stupidly cute smile on her face that she always had.
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Cute…?
One shook her head, what was she saying? She huffed and took a few steps back from her view of the contestants in her room.
… It was getting close to midnight. She should be resting.
One created a bed in the room for her to sleep in and flew into it, laying down on her back and staring up at the ceiling. Her mind traced back to her interaction with Pillow earlier today. She seemed… touchy? Like, touchy as in physical-touch… One knew Pillow was interested in algebrailians and their anatomy and what-not, but the closeness was affecting One more than she’d like to admit. After being trapped in the moon for 16 years, it’s no doubt she’s become touch-starved.
One rolled onto her side and blinked her eyes closed, attempting to shut off her brain so she could actually get some rest. Tomorrow was another day, she could ponder on the thought of Pillow then.
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The sunlight poured into Pillow's room, One watched as it did so.
She had ended up waking up in the middle of the night earlier. Unable to fall asleep, One decided it would be best to watch over Pillow instead. So she moved from her bed to the overview of the contestants she had, she’d been watching Pillow for hours. Now, here she was, watching every twitch of Pillow's face, every slight movement of her muscles…
One wanted more than just watching Pillow.
Hesitantly, One teleported into Pillow's room, floating on over to her sleeping form. Her pupils expanded ever-so-slightly as she took in how peaceful Pillow looked… her soft, content smile, her curled body.
One floated over to the side of Pillow and sat on her bed right next to her. She laid down gently, slowly curling into Pillow’s body and feeling the heat radiating off of her. One’s heart felt warm, soft as she closed her eyes and just focused on the feeling of Pillow’s body against her own.
She’s never felt like this before…
And… she couldn’t stop thinking about how much she missed this, how much she missed physical touch. Not like she got a lot of it before she was trapped in the moon anyways. One was starting to lean into the touch a lot, her eyelids were heavy from lack of sleep; she let them sink, closing shut softly as she breathed.
“mm..” Pillow groaned in her sleep, burying her face into her bed sheets. One’s eyes snapped open as Pillow started rolling onto her back.
“Eep!” One let out a quiet yelp as she darted upwards and pressed herself against the wall, as far away from Pillow as physically possible. Was she waking up? One gaze darted to the window, the sun was rising farther above the horizon. Pillow was beginning to slowly blink open her eyes, and in a panic, One just teleported back to her starry room. Her eyes were wide and her breathing heavy out of fear of getting caught in that moment, she gently shook her head and deepend her breathing to calm herself down.
The emptiness set in almost immediately after the panic settled: the unbearable awareness of the absence of physical touch. Her body felt cold as the feeling of Pillow’s earlier warmth remained, stuck in her mind.
A heavy sigh escaped One, and she floated upwards lazily, wandering over to her bed and sitting down gently on it. She wouldn’t have to meet Pillow until later today, so a bit of sleep couldn’t hurt her. She flopped onto her back and let her eyelids fall shut. Sleep should come easily.
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POV Pillow
“Eep!” Pillow heard a familiar voice yelp, along with the shuffling of… something behind her. Too lazy to see what it was just yet, she rolled onto her back, and heard something move on her bed again. She squinted her eyes open, and was able to make out a blue blurry shape out of the corner of her eye for a few moments before it just… disappeared. She opened her eyes fully and looked at her wall, sitting up slowly and blinking. No figure in sight. Was she just imagining things?
Pillow shrugged it off and looked out her window, the sun was slightly above the horizon, still very early in the morning. Perhaps she could conduct more research on Four and X? Maybe even a bit of research on Two as well before she meets One later today.
She hopped off her bed and grabbed her notebook, heading out of her room and throughout the hotel. Not many objects were up yet, it was early in the morning so that was expected, but it gave Pillow some time to herself to brainstorm theories.
Pillow sat outside the hotel at a picnic table, still so curious about the mysterious One. If she remembered, One made a strange purring sound at physical affection, and she always seemed slightly disappointed whenever Pillow stopped. Were other algebrailians the same way? She’d have to test it on Four and X eventually. But back to One, Pillow opened her notebook and went to an empty page, making a small doodle of One… then another doodle of her petting One, then another doodle, and another. Eventually, the page was entirely made up of sketches of One.
Pillow lifted her pencil away, staring at the page blankly. The ends of her mouth slightly curled up in what appeared to be a content smile, she never thought she’d like One as much as she did… yes, an interesting test subject, but one that made her insides flutter in a strange way. Maybe she should conduct research on herself, these were weird feelings she’d never felt before.
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Eventually, it was midday, and One was still nowhere to be found.
Pillow sat in her room, bored with no research ideas in mind. She couldn’t get One out of her mind, she wanted to see her now so she could conduct more research on her !! … Right on cue, she heard the sound of One’s teleportation behind her. Pillow shot up, notebook in hand excitedly as she turned to face One, who was now hovering a few inches away from her.
“We meet again!” One giggled, Pillow smiled and got up from her seat.
“Yes, yes. I can research some more, finally!” Pillow replied, she bounded up to One and basically jumped at her. One’s breath audibly hitched as Pillow wrapped her arms around her waist, and Pillow took note of her breathing getting more shallow.
“Ha-hah! Lets.. go to my room now!!” One stuttered, only slightly, but Pillow's keen ears picked up on it easily. Once One teleported them to her room, Pillow let go and took out her notebook and Pencil.
“Great! Now I can begin my research!” Pillow chirped out. One tilted her head to the side.
“What’re you gonna research this time?” She asked”
“You!”
“M-me?”
“Yes, you,” Pillow turned to face One and approached her again “I have a few experiments in mind already”
~
POV One
One was sat in her chair, Pillow sitting on the armrest beside her, her hand on One’s head petting her as if she was a dog. One was leaning into her touch heavily, her stomach twisting into knots as she let out purrs of contentment. The way her stomach twisted made One feel sick… but in the best way possible, her heart swelled as she imagined Pillow in her mind, despite Pillow being right next to her and petting her.
Pillow eventually lifted her hand away from One, and One let out a tiny involuntary whine at the loss of contact. Pillow pressed her finger against One’s lips, then took it away to open up her notebook. One, wanting to see what she was even researching in the first place, tried to look over Pillow's shoulder to see her notes. As Pillow flipped, One briefly saw a page dedicated to notes about her, and her eyes landed on the crossed out bullet point “Cuter than most algebrailian I’ve seen” for only a moment before Pillow flipped away. One leaned back in her chair, her face heating up. Pillow found me cute? She was screaming internally as her stomach twisted even more.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that when she felt Pillow lift her off the chair, she let out another tiny yelp… the sixth one so far.
“Wh-what are you doing next?” One decided to ask.
“You’ll see.” Is all that Pillow responded with.
One gulped down the nervousness building up in her stomach, but felt confused almost when Pillow plopped her down on her bed. Suddenly, Pillow hopped into One’s lap, and One had to hold her breath and stare with wide eyes as Pillow did what she was doing. Pillow straddled One’s lap, wrapping her arms around her, burying her face into One, and pushing her down onto her bed. What was she doing?? Was Pillow cuddling her?
Her heart pounded in her chest as Pillow let out a content hum, but One’s mind was racing thoughts. She took a deep, shaly breath to calm herself down, but it barely helped. Pillow really did know how to pull on One’s strings…
But… was all of what One was feeling just because she was touch-starved?
One really hadn’t pondered much on the thought of why she felt like this. Sure, she was touch-starved, but she had physical interactions with a few others before Pillow, but none gave her reaction quite like Pillow did. She glanced down at Pillow again, she could get a brief view of how happy Pillow looked like this, and her body reacted almost immediately. Her heart pounded, her stomach twisted… One shut her eyes closed tightly. Yea… Pillow was no doubt doing something to her, but what?
She had never felt like this before… but One figured she’d have time to figure it out eventually. She shut her eyes and just breathed, letting her body relax to just enjoy the moment.