Work Text:
she ran into the forest, guilt and regret washing over her. she thought she would win, she thought her plan would work, she had it all planned out, but luck was never in her favor. she knelt down over a tree stump, vomiting up every emotion she had. the anger, the sadness, the pure hatred for that damned orange juice, and a lemon.
what did he do to deserve to win? get carried to the end by his boyfriend? she let out a loud grunt, wiping her mouth and sitting on the tree stump, facing towards the contestant grounds. why did she do that? she could’ve at least salvaged her friendships, maybe she could’ve gotten closer with oj and stole the million from him later on, but no, she had to let her anger get the best of her.
why did she even want the money so bad? she had nothing to do with it, no home, no family, no life that she could think of clearly other than this game. why was she so dependent on it? she felt as if it were the only thing keeping her alive, but it was slowly killing her at the same time.
she slowly curled in onto herself, letting out quiet sobs. she wasn’t sad, she was just angry.
right?
no, she wasn’t right. for the first time in what she could remember of her life, taco was sobbing over someone. her tears hit her legs before she tried wiping them, calling herself as many names as she could.
useless, pathetic, utterly moronic. how could she let this happen? how could she fail? she felt her head spinning. all these emotions were so sudden, she had never felt like this before. she just didn’t understand.
suddenly, her pathetic sobs were cut short. there was a rustling sound coming from a nearby bush. she snapped her head towards it, wiping her tears frantically as she slowly stood up. “hello? who’s there?” she shouted. the rustling stopped, and an all too familiar voice called out to her.
“taco?”
it was balloon. great.
he popped his head out of the bush, and she felt a sudden wave of anger wash over her. “what are you doing here? what, do you wanna scold me? laugh at me in my face for losing?” taco said bitterly, crossing her arms. “wh — no?? I just came here because oj told me I wasn’t gonna be allowed in his hotel, and I don’t really have anywhere else to go, so..”
“wait hold on, hotel?? what do you mean?”
“yeah, he’s using his prize winnings to make a hotel for the whole cast! but, he has a blacklist, and the only people on it are me & you. not even bomb!”
taco scoffed. “marvelous.” the 2 stood there awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. “so.. I guess we’re gonna have to stay together for a while, yeah?” balloon flashed an awkward smile.
taco sighed. “I suppose so.”
. . .
“will you just take the damn food? for crying out loud, balloon, you don’t have to be so petty!”
“no! I can get food on my own, I don’t need help from you!”
“yeah, like you can do anything without people following you around, praising you.”
“hey — I can do things without praise! I’m a very confident person!” he put his hands on his hips, clearly lying.
taco was holding a pear in one hand, her other hand on her hip. she sighed. “fine, if you don’t want my help, you can have fun sleeping on the grass tonight.” balloons eyes widened. “afterall, this tent is mine. you can put up another one on your own!” she shrugged, walking towards the tent. “whatever! I didn’t like sleeping in that small tent anyways!” he crossed his arms, sitting down on the grass with a dramatic huff.
taco sat in the tent, staring at the pear in her hands. it was a beautiful shade of green, it reminded her of pickle. the now familiar feeling of guilt came over her, stinging her stomach. she sighed, biting into it. things will work out eventually.
. . .
balloon woke up to a loud groan, followed by the aggressive rip of a paper. he opened his eyes, looking next to him. the tent was pretty dark, but from what he could make out, taco was trying to write yet another letter to pickle.
“seriously, taco? you woke me up!” she scoffed. “as if your snores don’t keep me up all night.” she crumbled up another piece of paper, throwing it out the tent. “I just — need to write the perfect letter. one he would respond to. I don’t care what it is, I just need .. something.” she said, dipping her horridly out of shape feather into an old & tiny vase of ink. balloon sighed, attempting to go back to sleep. he couldn’t, though. it wasn’t because of taco, he could easily block out her .. rather aggressive writing, it was moreso the guilt of his own actions. using everyone he could to his advantage so that he could win, knowing it was wrong. when he tried to apologize to oj, he would barely even listen to him. he basically just told him to find new people before handing him an umbrella and locking him out of the hotel. there was no use. he turned over, facing the opposite direction of taco, but he could feel her eyes on him.
“goodnight.” she whispered. he should really get rid of that paper soon.
. . .
taco left an envelope on the doorstep of hotel oj, knocking & running behind a nearby bush as quickly as she could. she needed to see what was done with her letters. she watched as the door swung open. it was oj. she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the sight of him, wearing his over the top fancy suit & a pair of sunglasses that were far too big for him. he picked up the letter, calling out to knife. “it’s another one from taco!” he screamed. knife took the envelope out of ojs hand, laughing a little. “damn, she really is desperate, huh?” oj looked around a bit before closing the door. taco felt her heart beating, swallowing down a lump in her throat as she looked at the window. she felt as if she could cry. was she really coming off as desperate? no, knife was just brutish, that was expected from him. it’s no big deal, he already hated her to begin with, anyways.
knife walked over to the couch. “yo, pickle. new letter from taco. ready to burn?” pickle turned to knife, pausing his game. knife was smirking, holding the envelope in front of pickles face, but instead of taking it and burning it like he usually did, he stared at it. “knife, I .. I think I wanna try reading this one.” knife was appalled. “what?! no! that’s exactly what she wants!” he pulled the envelope away from him, walking towards the fireplace. “c’mon, pickle, don’t give in. you could live without her.” pickle got up, taking the envelope from knife. he stared at the horribly done wax seal, feeling a mix of anger and sadness at the same time. he was conflicted. “paper told me that to move on I have to at least hear her out. I don’t have to forgive her, I don’t even need to respond, but I should read it to get it out of my head.” knife looked at him, then at oj, who nodded. “alright then, I mean, if it’s what you think is best for you.” he patted him on the back, walking off.
pickle opened the envelope, taking out the thick piece of paper inside. he unfolded it carefully with shakey hands, reading its contents.
“Dear Pickle,
It’s been a while. I’m not sure if my letters are getting through to you or not, considering the lack of response. If they have been going through, and you’ve just been choosing not to respond, I completely understand. It’s reasonable for you not to give me one, but I do want a response. I’ve been feeling unbelievably guilty about my actions during the finale, and it wasn’t supposed to end like that. You weren’t supposed to get hurt like you did, but now it’s far too late, isn’t it? I truly did enjoy my time with you, even if I wasn’t being my true self during those times. But, I will let you know, my happiness was genuine. I will never forget you, or what I did to you. You did not deserve it, and I am sorry.
-Best regards, Taco.”
pickle re-read it over and over again. it all just seemed so .. fake. he now knew taco was a good actor, why wouldn’t she use those abilities again to regain his trust? why did she even want his trust in the first place? if she truly cared about him, why couldn’t she have just turned down his offer for friendship and spare him of the pain? she completely ruined him, and he will not let her back into it, no matter what. he walked up to the fire, throwing the empty envelope into it. he then grabbed a blank piece of paper, writing on it as fast as he could. he’s glad he read the letter, because now he’s certain that taco will never be worth his time. not now, not ever. he folded the paper, walking out the front door & placing it in the mail delivery box.
the last thing taco heard before the door shut was pickle calling out for paper, likely to ask him to deliver the letter. she was over the moon, happy and anxious at the same time. pickle had finally responded to her, but she has no idea what it may be. would it be good? would it be bad? she’d only be able to tell when the letter had finally delivered. she quickly ran through the forest. she could hear paper and pickles faint conversation as she ran back to the tent, ignoring balloons questions and forcing herself to fall asleep. time goes quicker when you’re away from the entire world.
. . .
balloon paced around in front of the tent, taco inside of it. she was crying, and this was the first time balloon actually witnessed it. she usually hid in the bushes to cry, which he couldn’t really judge, since he did too. he had no idea how to help, he felt horrible. he stopped pacing and opened the tent a little. “taco, are you sure you don’t wanna talk about what happened? I mean — I understand the feeling .. of not being forgiven. it’s hard, but —“
“no, balloon! I don’t want to talk about anything with you of all people! just leave me the hell alone!” she buried her face in her hands, sobbing even more. that’s when balloon thought of an idea. “..I’m gonna go to hotel oj. I’ll talk to them for you, I swear!” taco sniffled. “and what’s that gonna do? get you yelled at? it’d be a miracle if they’d even think about treating either one of us as equals to them, so it’s really no use.” balloon sighed. “but, it’s worth a shot. I’m going, I’ll be back.” he closed the tent, walking towards the hotel.
“..hold on.” he heard her say.
“balloon!” he turned around to see taco standing in front of the tent. “..I’ll wait for you.” she sat on the tree stump. balloon faintly smiled, waving goodbye.
1 hour.
2 hours.
3 hours.
4 hours.
5 hours.
6 hours.
7 hours.
8 hours.
9 hours.
10 hours.
11 hours.
12 hours.
13 hours.
14 hours.
16 hours.
17 hours.
18 hours.
19 hours.
20 hours.
21 hours.
22 hours.
23 hours.
24 hours.
it was cold, dark, and extremely windy out. where was he? did he abandon her? he left all his stuff in the tent, though. he couldn’t have just .. left. she walked towards the tent, picking up balloons bag. underneath it was a small folded paper. she unfolded it carefully. written on the top was “my sorrows”. scribbled all over it were horrid ideas to try and strike up a conversation with oj, trying to get him to forgive him, to let him into the hotel. somewhere written on the paper, she saw “I HATE TACO!” as a conversation starter. she tried to keep it together, it was stupid anyways, but she just couldn’t. she felt a tear run down her cheek, and then another. of course, he was planning to leave her all along. he just needed some shelter, he didn’t truly care about her, nobody ever would. she ripped the paper, curling herself up into a ball, and letting out more sobs.
what a stupid thing to cry about. she should’ve expected this from the start.
a few hours later, the tent was ripped apart. taco was known to be destructive.
. . .
balloon stared at the path to perilous forest. this episode was, from mephones words, “lowkey”, but in reality, it was just filler. this gave him all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted. he wondered if taco was okay out there, and if she was worried about him. being forced into season 2 when he was supposed to go back to her was really inconvenient, and it’s been weighing on him for the past few hours. why now, though? he shook his head, he’s got bigger things to focus on, like proving to everyone that he has changed, and that he is good enough. he sighed, walking up to a hill & staring at the sunset. it truly was beautiful.
suitcase walked up next to him, sitting down. “this place is beautiful!” she said, smiling at the sun above them. “up here, everything’s below us. and we don’t need the approval of others.” he blurted out. he quickly covered it up by adding onto the sentence. “plus, the sunsets nice!” he forced a small smile. suitcase leaned her head on balloons shoulder. “..yeah. solid 8/10, would watch again!” she giggled at the rhyme. they both stared at the sky, silent, before she continued. “..wait, approval? that sounded a little off.”
“oh, trust me! there was a time I thought I needed their approval!” suitcase was confused, what was he talking about? suddenly, balloon was on a whole rant about the time he tried apologizing to oj. how he gave him a cheap umbrella and locked him out in the rain after finding him outside with a piece of paper. “you see? oj wouldn’t let me talk!”
“balloon, you can’t just manufacture an apology like that. it has to come from a place of truth!”
“it never works! nobody even cares.”
“well, i care. you just need to believe in what you say, otherwise, no one will.” she walked off.
he sat there in silence, thinking about it all. the paper, oj’s words, everyone’s faces upon seeing him there, the umbrella, the sound of the door slamming, .. and the paper. that paper, he left it there. he left it under his bag by the tent. he left it for taco to see, and he didn’t even realize until now. he felt his heart drop.
surely if she saw it she wouldn’t take it seriously, right?