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Sorry y'all it took me an extra day to get this done

Enjoy this REALLY LONG chapter :)

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Nickels pov:

"Grab some popcorn too, will ya?" I call out to balloon while looking around for the crisps. It's an hour after dinner and we're getting snacks for our night in with suitcase and baseball, and we're trying to do it as discreetly as possible. Even though most of the hotel inhabitants are sleeping or in their rooms right now, we're gonna get in trouble if someone catches us stealing half of the hotel's grub. 

"Nickel calm down with the asking, i have to hold everything!" he replies, coming through the pantry door with hands full of food. 

"Well it's not like I can grow hands" i retort, widening my eyes as i spot the familiar red and blue packaging at the bottom of the shelves.

"Oh, and I found the crisps" i say, pulling it out with my foot. I take out four packets and toss them at balloon, who misses all but one.

"NICKEL!" He shouts. 

"Damn, sorry. What do want me to do about it"

"NOT THROW THINGS MAYBE"

"Ok ok sorry!" I say. I pick up two of the packets with my teeth and toss one onto my head.

"Happy?" I say through my gritted teeth, trying not to drop the packets I am holding with them. Balloon nods while smiling and I feel myself heat up at the thought that he looks kinda cute. He checks to see if the coast is clear. Soon after he signals to me to come and we both run to the elevator as fast as we could to avoid being seen. We get in and wait for the elevator to reach our floor. 

I'm just minding my business when the camera on balloons phone flashes in my direction.

"Did you just take a picture of me?" I say, struggling with the packets still between my teeth.

"You have no idea how hilarious you look right now" he laughs back, getting only a deadpan stare in return.

"Aww someones angry" he says, booping me. I get taken aback by the gesture but I try my best to stay mad at him.

Didn't quite work.

As the elevator finally comes to a stop, we both walk out. One rushing to the door with the key and the other behind him, walking slowly and most definitely blushing at the other. You can probably guess who's who.

Balloon finally gets the door open and drops all the snacks on his bed. Soon after I walk in and add the crisps to the snack collection.

"You think this'll be enough" He asks

"No, but we could always rob the hotel at 3am" I reply. He laughs as I sit on my bed and go on my phone, waiting for suitcase and baseball to arrive. He sits at the bottom of my bed, watching something on his phone too.

After a while, his phone rings. I'm guessing it's suitcase by the way his eyes -that I definitely wasn't staring at- light up. He stands up to get off my bed but ends up tripping. His phone flies out of his hand and he lunges forward to catch himself from falling and successfully lands onto the bed again, facing me. His hands grip onto the pillow behind me to stop him from the fall.

"Dude you're so clumsy. Are you ok?" I ask, slightly giggling. He opens his eyes, realising he isn't on the floor, and he sighs in relief. 

"Yeah, I'm...o..k" his voice breaks up at the end. I suddenly realise how close we are.

Reference drawing:

Oh god. He's too close. My whole face heats up as I look into his eyes and then immediately look away. A raging storm of butterflies releases in my stomach and I can hear my heartbeat quicken. I wanna kiss him so bad

Wait. If I can hear my heartbeat will he? Crap. He'll definitely know if he hears it. Please please don't let him notice please I-

He gets up and looks at me with a worried expression.

"I-im- so sorry, nickel... Are you ok?" He says. His voice is a lot higher than it already is.

"Y-yeah i-" I say, my voice unwantedly cracking. I look at him and we stare into each other's eyes for... god knows how long. 

Until our door opens.

"Balloon! I called you, why didn't you answer? We were waiting out there for-" suitcase stops, looking at both of us.

Suitcases pov

Are they ON THE SAME BED? AHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

"Oh hey suitcase" balloon says, getting off the bed to come hug me. Nickels eyes follow balloon the whole way. He doesn't know I noticed that he even gulps nervously afterwards. He looks down lost in thought, probably all about balloon. Ughh I can literally feel the aura of love in this room. It's driving my CRAZY that they aren't together yet. 

"I'm so sorry I didn't pick up your call suits, I... kinda tripped while trying to answer. Uh, where's my phone?" He looks around and finds the salmon-colour cased phone halfway under the nightstand.

"Oh. Yeah it kinda flew out of my hand" he says picking it up.

"Oh that's fine" I assure him.

"Baseball!" Nickels voice says happily.

"Hey guys" he greets, walking through the door. We all greet him back and sit in a circle next to nickels bed and have some light conversation.

"So, what are we gonna do during this night in?" Nickel asks.

"We should start with a board game or something" baseball suggests.

"Oooh let's make it competitive" I say excitedly.

"Wanna play Go fish?" Balloon asks, taking out a deck of cards from under his bed. We all agree and get playing.

Timeskip bc I'm not describing the entire game lol

~~~~~~~

"Go fish" I say. Nickel picks a card from the deck and as soon as he looks at it, he screams in happiness.

"OH MY- NICKEL SHUT UP" balloon says, covering his mouth and holding him in place. Nickel drops his cards on the floor, revealing his win, as he struggles to break free from balloons grasp.

"MPHHPMHMHPHHH" Nickel attempts to say something. After a minute he stops kicking his legs around. He leans into balloons touch and looks up into his eyes. Balloon looks back down at nickel and holds the gaze, clearly blushing. But soon after, balloon lets go of him looking disgusted.

"AUGHHH HE JUST LICKED MY HAND" he yells, vigorously shaking it around. Ugh, so much for wishing that they would kiss right there. Nickel celebrates his freedom by running around the room and laughing at balloon.

"You're pretty fast for a shortass" baseball says to him.

"SEE BALLOON? I AM FAS- HEY WAIT DON'T CALL ME THAT" Nickel shouts, stopping mid run. Balloon comes out of the bathroom after washing his hands.

"Nickel calm down, the entire hotel is sleeping" he says.

"Geez sorry" nickel says. "But I won!"

"Yeesh I definitely didn't know that" balloon says. "Ooh his sarcasms rubbing onto you" I say, smirking.

"Shush suitcase" balloon replies lightheartedly. 

We clean up the cards as baseball plugs in his laptop that he brought with him. 

"Woah, you have one? I was going to ask fan for his" nickel exclaims.

"It's not like fan could give his laptop to us anyway, it was broken when I last saw it" balloon explains.

"I bet it was paintys anger issues" nickel replies back.

"Hey c'mon, you can't just say that!" I say.

Baseball finally gets his laptop to turn on, so while we wait for it to load, we talk about random topics that cross our mind.

"Y'know, mephones taking a while to announce the next contest" I say, attempting to stir up some conversation.

"What do you think the next challenge is?" Balloon asks.

"I bet he's gonna make you guys do something ridiculous like save him from a lawsuit" nickel laughs.

"Or maybe he's gonna make us play a sport again" baseball replies

"With four people? I don't think so" I say.

"Maybe he's gonna ask you to think of a challenge for the competition after that one, and the one that he likes the most gets immunity" balloon wonders.

"Actually, that's probably what he'll do at this point, considering how has like, no ideas"

* insert windows startup sound except it's meeple laptops *

"Looks like it's finally done," baseball says. He logs onto Metflix and scrolls through TV shows and movies as we watch and pick.

"What genre do you guys wanna watch?" He then asks. Nickel says horror just as balloon and suitcase say romance.

"What NOO I HATE HORROR" Balloon complains.

"I just wanted to see you scream" nickel says, smiling maliciously.

"Oh, and for him to cuddle into you cuz he's scared?" Baseball says smirking.

"Wha-n-NO W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN I-" Nickel splutters, blushing madly. I would've kicked baseball for that but, I think he started something great here...

"Maybe watching some romance will help you get your life together with... you know who..." I say, looking in balloons direction. He's blushing too, staring at nickel. Heh. Perfect.

"N-no I don't know who. What are you t-talking about!?!" Nickel says. It's absolutely hilarious when he's flustered. I wish I could take a video but with the whole trophy thing balloon told me before, I don't think it's gonna be very appropriate right now.

"G-guys, shut up" nickel finally finds his voice to say.

"Let's just watch some 'battle for dream island'" baseball says.

(Yo imagine it's just like a reality show in their universe. Like those TV shows that we watch that have irl people in them ykyk)

Baseball puts it on while we all grab snacks from the pile on balloons bed and start watching. We breeze by the first five episodes of bfb, but by the sixth one, we run out of snacks. 

"What? How are we out already, there was so much!" Balloon exclaims.

"That's just how it is, when you're eating while watching something good, the food always runs out quick" baseball says, sighing. I pick the litter up with nickel and throw it out while balloon and baseball talk about why that could possibly be.

"Y'know, since you're watching something, you don't really pay attention to the food, so-" 

"Ugh, stop being nerds and help me sneak in some more." Nickel says, interrupting balloons theory.

"Are you saying... we should go downstairs in the dark to get some more?" Baseball says.

"Yeah, the hotels so cool in the dark" nickel replies.

"I.. dunno, I've never been quite fond of the dark..." I say, fear starting in me. Balloon seems to notice and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"You don't have to come, suits. I'll stay with you" he says. I smile at his kind words. Nickel looks at me with worry.

"Oh, we won't go if you don't feel comfortable, suitcase. We don't really need any more snacks anyway." He says, genuinely concerned. I look at him surprised. He would've never said that back at the competition. 

He really changed, huh.

"Thanks" I say, smiling at him. "But, I don't really mind if we use flashlights or something, and we stick together, I guess"

"Let's just explore the hotel, instead of getting snacks." Baseball suggests.

"Yeah! That's ok with you, right suitcase?" Nickel asks.

"Yeah, that's alright" I assure him.

Baseballs pov

I look at nickel as he makes sure suitcase is ok with the plan. I'm proud of him for that. It feels great when your best friend changes for the better. I close my laptop and place it on the nightstand while grabbing my phone and turning on the flashlight. Everyone else does the same and we leave the room, spilling out onto the main corridor. Balloon locks the door and we make our way to the lift.

"Wait, don't you think the lift will be too loud?" Nickel wonders. I shrug in response, as I don't know this place, but I head for the stairs anyway. Everyone follows me as I go down them slowly. Nickel shortly takes the lead.

We head down to the lobby area, whispering to each other. Balloon walks into the kitchen and looks around.

"I thought we weren't getting snacks?" I ask. 

"Yeah, I'm just looking around" balloon says. Nickel and suitcase wander off and I stay with balloon.

"Do you like cooking?" I ask, watching as he observes the spices in the cupboard.

"Yeah, I sometimes make snacks here when I'm hungry. OJ doesn't really mind as long as we're not ruining anything." He says, holding the cinnamon shaker.

"Oh wow, what kind of things do you make?" I say. I didn't really interact with him during the competition, so it felt nice talking to him now. Our friend group did bring us all closer to one another.

"Simple things, like sandwiches and salad and maybe just tea if I wasn't too hungry. But I've always wanted to bake something. I just, never did since I was too afraid that someone would notice I was baking."

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why were you afraid?"

"I... don't really know. I guess doing things openly was never a thing for me. I'd just do stuff on my own, that didn't concern anybody or make people ask what I was doing. I'm not too interactive. So, I guess I'm just afraid to do something that people will definitely notice on my own. Like, if anyone's baking, the entire hotel will know cuz of the sweet oven baked smells. Someone's gonna ask what I'm doing."

"Oh.." I start.

"Y'know, if you ever want to bake a cake or something, you can always ring us, and if we're not in a challenge we'll gladly come help! You won't have to deal with people asking stuff on your own, we'll help. And I'd love to try your food, I already know it's good!"

"Oh wow... thanks baseball. That really means alot. I will call you guys" balloon says happily. I smile at his expression.

"And if anyone tries to act up, we have nickel." I laugh. Just then nickel shouts over to us.

"Guys, come here!"

"Speaking of the devil.." I say, as balloon gestures to nickel to be quiet. Nickel and suitcase were standing at the front door. Balloon runs up to nickel and wraps his arm around him. I sigh happily at their actions. They're just so cute together, I wish nickel already confessed. I walk towards the three smiling.

"What's up suitcase?" I ask, wanting to know why nickel called us over.

"The moon! Look!" She walks outside into the slightly cold breeze and points at the end of the sky with her foot. I look up, and my jaw drops. The full moon, shining brightly in contrast with the dark navy sky. Even the stars just resemble tiny white dots around the main beauty. 

Nickel and balloon walk out and look up, both equally in awe. Balloon tightens his arm around nickel, bringing him closer. This catches nickel off guard, as I can tell in his eyes, but he tilts his head and rests it onto balloon. Both of them are clearly focusing on each other more than the moon. Their blushes are very noticeable and nickel is staring at balloon instead of the moon.

Suitcase is also looking at them, melting because of how cute they are.

"Look at them," she whispers to me. "They are so for each other".

"Couldn't agree more" I say. Just then, nickel shivers a little.

"Hey- are you cold?" Balloon says in a gentle voice. Nickel nods slightly and whispers a barely audible 'yeah'. I quickly take the hint and call everyone outside. Suitcase complains that she can't get a proper picture of the moon so she just snaps a bunch of them and hopes that one looks good.

Everyone rushes inside from the cold and goes back upstairs into our room. Nickel curls up in his bed and balloon sits next to him, his hand on nickels head. Suitcase is scrolling through all of the moon pictures and slides down the bed post on nickels bed, upset that they are all just white circles in a black background. I put in my earphones and decide to listen to some music, since everyone is just warming up for now. I go through my playlists until I find a good song. I click on it, expecting the sound to blast in my earphones. But- 

"MY HEARTS A STEREO

IT BEATS FOR YOU SO LISTEN CLOSE"

Everyone suddenly looks at me. I quickly turn off the song and check why my earphones aren't connected. Even nickel stops being cute for balloon and sits up.

"Woah wait, don't plug in those earphones" he says, now standing on the bed.

"Yeah" suitcase agrees.

"Heh, alright" i say, hitting play.

"HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS IN EVERY NO-O-OTE" suitcase starts singing.

"MAKE ME YOUR RADIO,

AND TURN ME UP WHEN YOU FEEL LOW,

THIS MELODY WAS MEANT FOR YOU,

JUST SING ALONG TO MY STEREO"  nickel hypes it up, saying "(Gym Class Heroes Baby)"

Then nickel starts rapping (A/N: IM SORRY I CAN HEAR IT HELPPPP)

"If I was just another dusty record on the shelf

Would you blow me off and play me like everybody else?

If I asked you to scratch my back, could you manage that?

Like it yikky yeah, check it Travie, I can handle that"

"Furthermore, I apologise for any skipping tracks

It's just the last girl that played me left a couple cracks

I used to, used to, used to, used to, now I'm over that

'Cause holding grudges over love is ancient artefacts" he stops for a breath here. Balloon looks at him, both surprised and in awe. Then suitcase and i sing the next bit together.

"If I could only find a note to make you understand

I'd sing it softly in your ear and grab you by the hand

Just keep it stuck inside your head, like your favourite tune

And know my hearts a stereo that only plays for you"

We all break into the chorus, enjoying ourselves and super hyped.

"MY HEARTS A STEREO,

IT BEATS FOR YOU SO LISTEN CLOSE,

HEAR MY THOUGHTS IN EVERY NO-O-OTE.

MAKE ME YOUR RADIO, 

AND TURN MY UP WHEN YOU FEEL LOW, 

THIS MELODY WAS MEANT FOR YOU,

SO LISTEN CLOSE TO MY STEREO."

"...to my stereo

(Oh, oh-oh, oh) just sing along to my stereo

Let's go!"

Nickel starts it up again.

"If i was an old school 50 pound boombox

Would you hold me on your shoulder wherever you walk?

Would you turn my volume up in front of the cops?

And crank it higher every time they told you to stop"

"And all I ask is that you don't get mad at me

When you have to purchase mad D batteries

Appreciate every mixtape your friends make

You never know, we come and go like on the interstate (never know)"

He stops, and I continue

"I think I finally found a note to make you understand

If you can hit it, sing along and take me by the hand

Just keep me stuck inside your head, like your favourite tune

You know my heart's a stereo that only plays for you"

And we all go back in for the chorus.

"MY HEARTS A STEREO,

IT BEATS FOR YOU SO LISTEN CLOSE,

HEAR MY THOUGHTS IN EVERY NO-O-OTE.

MAKE MY YOUR RADIO, 

AND TURN ME UP WHEN YOU FEEL LOW,

THIS MELODY WAS MEANT FOR YOU,

SO LISTEN CLOSE TO MY STEREO"

Suitcase and balloon do the next verses

"I only pray you'll never leave me behind (never leave me)

Because good music can be so hard to find (so hard to find)

I take your hand, hold it closer to mine (yeah)

Thought love was dead, but now you're changing my mind"

Balloon looks at nickel while singing the last two lines. Suitcase and i notice and look at each other smiling.

Then we put in our all for the final chorus, nickel and balloon looking at each other.

"MY HEARTS A STEREO,

IT BEATS FOR YOU SO LISTEN CLOSE,

HEAR MY THOUGHTS IN EVERY NO-O-OTE.

MAKE MY YOUR RADIO, 

AND TURN ME UP WHEN YOU FEEL LOW,

THIS MELODY WAS MEANT FOR YOU,

SO LISTEN CLOSE TO MY STEREO"

As my phone quiets down and the song stops, we all cheer happily. That was the best karaoke of my LIFE. Everyone compliments how well we sang and nickels busy acting like a superstar on the edge of the bed.

"Thank You Thank You" he says bowing, to the compliments he received. Balloon giggles at this. "Stop being so full of yourself man" balloon says, laughing. 

"Hey! Nickel says. "Well, you didn't rap half the song so i'm clearly better" nickel then retorts. 

"Wha- no!" balloon says, throwing a pillow at nickel. The force knocks nickel off the edge of his bed and he almost bumps into me, but he catches himself and throws the pillow back at balloon. Balloon catches it swiftly, but looks at him lightheartedly angry.

"oh, you know what this means" he says slowly.

"PILLOW FIGHTTT" i declare excitedly. There are only two pillows though, so we use the blankets aswell. This is about to get ROUGH.

Balloons pov:

I grab my blanket and run towards baseball, who has nickels. Nickel and suitcase are already going OFF on each other with the pillows. 

"LAST STANDING WINS" nickel shouts.

"I'm gonna make sure that'll NEVER BE YOU" suitcase says, swinging the pillow at nickels face, and missing. Nickel swings back at full force, almost getting suitcase down.

I look at baseball as i wrap my blanket into a tightly swirled rope. I hit baseball in the side and he doesnt budge. Damn, this guys strong. He hits back and i miss it by just and inch, and we go on like that for a good ten minutes. I see nickel struggling while suitcase is still up. Baseball joins suitcase and nickel is almost on the ground.

I should help him.

By him, I mean baseball hehe.

I run towards him and swing at nickel.

"WHY ARE YOU ALL AGAINST ME?!" nickel shouts, running to the other side of the room.

"CMON BALLOON HELP ME!" he says, barely dodging suitcases pillow.

"Imagine i said ok" i say playfully. Somehow nickel swings at baseball and it catches him off guard. Baseball becomes the first one out. 

"He's strong" he warns, as i run past him to hit nickel back. Both suitcase and i start swinging at nickel from wherever we possibly can. Finally, suitcase swings at nickel and while he is busy dodging her weapon, i hit him where he's not looking. Shorly after, he ends up on the floor, on his face. He desperately tries to say something, and i help him up, laughing at his mad expression.

"How does it feel to lose, shorty?" i ask, putting my hand on his side.

"Shut up" he says, looking away.

"Hehe, thought so-AGHCK" i get hit in the back and fall onto the ground. I look up to see suitcase standing in front of me.

"Sorry, was i too harsh? Not that i care, cuz victory is MINEE" she declares jokingly. We all laugh and congratulate her as she helps me up. We all sit around, exhausted and catching our breath, but laughing.

"This was the best night in EVER!" nickel says happily. He lies down on his bed and i lie down next to him. 

"Yeah" I agree, too exhausted to say anything else. I start feeling extremely sleepy. 

"We should probably sleep now," suitcase says. 

"Yeah... what time is it?" I ask.

"4:38am" baseball says, yawning.

"Oh my g- we're gonna miss breakfast for sure tomorrow" nickels says, sighing. Suitcase lies down on my bed while baseball is somehow already asleep on the floor with a blanket. Nickel also isn't fully aware of the world around him anymore, as he's lightly snoring next to me. Suitcase is on my bed, looking at me.

"Hehe, stay right there" she says, hinting about how nickel is already asleep next to me.

"Shut up" I whisper.

"Good night," she says, turning the other way. I look at the ceiling and smile at how much fun we had tonight. I glance at nickel. I couldn't help it, so I kiss his forehead lightly.

"G'night" I reply, feeling the world fade...

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HEY GUYS

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THAT CHAPTER

IT WAS SO FUN TO WRITE 

4044 WORDS WOOOOOO

SOME STUFF I WANNA RAMBLE ABOUT:

I was gonna add "darkside by Alan walker" as the song cuz the first lines are

"We're not in love

We share no stories

Just something in your eyes"

And the first time nickel realised he liked balloon it was cuz of balloons eyes shining in the morning sun. When he called his eyes pretty.

But although it fit the story, it didn't fit the mood lol.

I was also gonna add "stressed out by twenty one pilots"  but yeah, I think a classic like "hearts stereo" is good.

SO ANYWAY 

THANKS FOR READING

GOODBYEE SEE YALL NEXT CHAPTER

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