(Emetophobia warning)
Tissues snored loudly, till he slid off the side of his bed and landed to the floor with a thud. He grumbled something to himself, and looked up, and to his surprise Trophy was standing over his bed, making it. He set the last pillow down and he turned, but flinched in surprise at Tissues.
"Ouh! Good mowning Trouphy. How are yew?"
Trophy didn't answer. He just stared at Tissues somberly. Tissues, understandably unnerved at this, scooted slowly away from him, eyes still locked, and put a hand on the doorknob.
"Yew..yew going do-dow- aaAACHOO!!"
Sniff....
"Yew going down..?"
Trophy didn't answer him again. Tissues simply went outside, closing the door behind him.
As he walked, he stopped. He rubbed his eyes, sniffling. Something was stinging his eyes, and it was making him tear up. Someone put a hand on his shoulder, which instinctively made him slap it away. When he opened his eyes, he saw Fan looking at him.
"Woah! Hey, what's wrong?"
Tissues stared at him. Behind them, Cheesy was spraying something in the air. It made Tissues cough, and more tears escaped from the corners of his eyes.
"Whatevew youw're spraying, it heurts my eyes."
He answered. Fan slapped his forehead, as if realizing something.
"OH! That? That's just disinfectant spray. It smells nice, right?"
"What pawt of heurts my eyes did yew not hear."
He shot back. Fan laughed awkwardly.
"Ehehe..well...we just need to get the smell out of everything."
"What smell?"
Tissues asked. Cheesy turned to face him and mouthed: "Smells like Soap"
Tissues stared back at Fan, understanding. He hadn't even noticed the scent when he left his room, as the acid scent had attacked his senses before he could. Though, that was probably why they were doing it in the first place. He sighed.
"Fine. Just- pwease finish, I feel light headewd."
Fan giggled. Tissues looked at him curiously.
"Wut?"
"He-hehehehe..sorry, it's just you said pwease-"
Tissues punched Fan in the arm, while not very hard, it shocked the red object.
" I can't hewp how I talk. Shut up."
With that, Tissues left, still coughing into his hands. Fan looked at Cheesy in surprise.
"He-hit me?"
He stammered, almost bemused. Cheesy nodded.
"He's a bit sensitive. Actually, wrong word, it's more like hot-headed."
Fan looked back. He hadn't thought of Tissues to be hot-headed, but then again he hadn't known Tissues that well. Not like he got the chance too, and even if he did, he might just get sick, which was the last thing he needed at the moment.
As Tissues made his way down into the kitchen, he caught sight of Microphone, who was just staring out the window. Only problem was, she was sitting in his usual spot. He walked up to her, tapping her on the side.
"Testing, testing, one tew twee. Micwophone?"
She flinched, at first looking all around, then down at him.
"Oh. Hey Tissues, what's up?"
She asked, conversationally. Tissues tried to scooch himself into the seat, as if shoving Mic over. She assumed he wanted to sit with her, so she made some room.
"You look terrible...didn't sleep either? I honestly don't think anyone did. I myself couldn't catch a-"
"Shush."
He interrupted her.
"What?"
"You're sitting in my chaiw. Move."
He repeated, and tried to push her off again. Microphone understood, and with a scoff walked away.
OJ had caught sight of this interaction, and watched as Tissues sat back, repeating Microphone's own words.
"Yew look Terribwl...Wew I always look like this. Psh."
He mocked.
OJ was disgusted by this behavior, and noted that he would confront Tissues later on. The Cherries were also staring at him. Cher was the first to speak up.
"Reese, I'm worried."
"About what?"
"Everyone is scared and angry, and I think...we'll fall apart. We can't let anything else bad happen this week. At least."
Reese blinked at him. Then nodded.
If she could help keep the peace, maybe she could absolve herself of the guilt of what she'd done to Soap. Yeah, one good deed to outweigh the bad.
The Cherry twins stood up, running out into the hallway and towards the turquoise tissue box. OJ looked up, noticing they hadn't cleaned up their plates. He hung his head, then walked over to place them in the sink. He knew they were young, and it would be wrong to hold them for this, but it was at least common decency to clean up after oneself after eating. Even they must have known that.
I swear to god, the next time I'll make them wash each and every plate until their fingers are sore from scrubbing the grime.
OJ paused, and frowned. He would not let himself think that way about them, no matter how bad things were, they were kids. And he'd never actually force them to clean up. So begrudgingly, he scrubbed away at the plates. He could just barely hear the Cherries and Tissues distinct chatter, but he wasn't sure exactly what they were talking about. However he did notice that Tissues was sneezing and coughing a lot more then usual. Now he was nervous, what if he got the Cherries sick? Just another thing to worry about. What's more, it irritated him. The sound became more and more jarring as it continued. It didn't help that Tissues lacked basic decency, and wouldn't even sneeze into his arm. He'd just turn away and sneeze on anything and everything in that direction.
Every ACHOO! And AAAAHCHOO! Drove OJ closer to boiling anger, and he gripped the plates harder and harder, still cleaning.
It was the final, disgusting disease-ridden hacking cough that made OJ drop the plate in the sink, shattering it, and he stomped over to the Tissue box, cuts still on his hands.
Pepper giggled and kicked her feet as she rolled around on her bed. She was still giddy from her night excursion, and was convinced she'd go out again tonight. She just couldn't contain her happiness, seeing Salt again brought her more joy than ever. It was like trying to quit an addiction, till you actually cave and do it again, it's better than ever before.
She was packing blankets and pillows into a sleeping bag, not for her, but so that Salt wouldn't have to sleep in the disgusting trash bag anymore. She paused, suddenly forgetting her anger at OJ. How the HELL could he have decided to put her in that? And why wasn't Salt more upset?? She'd need to discuss that with her. For now, she just kept packing things away. But, just before she closed the bag, she thought.
Salt was still in the process of falling apart, and if it got too bad, maybe she wouldn't be able to speak anymore. Pepper needed to fix her, all the way back to her normal self again. But what to fix glass with?
Pepper recalled a time when they were both very young, Salt had crawled atop the slide in her backyard, and Pepper watched as she slipped, and fell off. A teeny-tiny crack was visible just below her lip. She remembered how Salt cried, and cried, and cried. Not even from pain, but because she thought she looked ugly. Pepper held her close as Salt's mother applied a substance to the crack, and soon enough, it vanished. Some miracle medicine? And where would she find that?
Oh. It was probably just glue.
But, she would need an excuse to ask for glue. If she didn't have one, it would look suspicious. She stared at the tall mirror in the cover of the room. She walked up to it nonchalantly and pushed it over. It fell over with a thundering crash, and she winced, not expecting it to be so loud. Just sure enough, it was broken. She liked it back up, seeing it wasn't too badly shattered, and definitely fixable. Great! This way, she'd fix the mirror and her friend.
Before she could even leave the room, the sound of people running for her door came from outside, and suddenly about 7 people sung the door open, yelling:
"WHAT'S WRONG??!"
"ARE YOU OKAY?!?"
"ARE YOU HURT!!?"
"WHAT HAPPENED!!!"
And she just stood there, stupefied. At first she didn't get it, but then she looked at her own reflection in the broken mirror. The people had heard a crash from her room, the object made of glass. They had assumed she'd had an accident and shattered. She smiled, as it was nice to know that so many people would come running to her if she was actually hurt, though this was probably a common reflex after the events of the past few days.
Paper was the first to run up to her, looking around for cracks on her body.
"What happened?! Did you get hurt?? What was the noise?!"
She shoved him away slightly, scoffing.
"I'm like, fine! My mirror fell over. That's all."
The crowd around the door looked relieved, some even laughed to themselves for the absurdity of it.
Pepper scanned their faces, wanting to remember distinctly the objects that had come to help her. They were Bomb, Paper, Fan, Cheesy, Microphone, Trophy, Pickle-
Pepper flinched, shocked at Trophy's appearance. His eyes were listless, almost unblinking. Whereas everyone around her had calmed down, he was still staring at her, trembling and breathing heavily. He looked gray, almost dirty, as if he hadn't bathed in a while, gross. He looked even visibly unhealthy, as his shiny exterior looked dull, and even his eyes lacked a shine. Even the straggled remains of her friend looked more alive than he did.
The people slowly dispersed as Paper helped her collect the broken shards, though she told him she'd rather fix it than throw it away.
"Have we got any glue?"
"Oh sure! Here, let me get you some."
Bingo. She'd done it. She actually felt immensely proud of herself, her little scheme having played out perfectly. However, when paper left to get the glue, Trophy did not leave. Instead, he stayed there, standing beside the door frame. She was getting more and more unnerved by the second, so she decided to finally look away from him.
He finally left, just as Paper re-entered.
"Here you go, Pepper!"
"Thanks.."
"So uh.."
Paper looked behind himself, then closed the door.
"You saw Trophy, right?"
"Oh GOD! How could I not?! What is wrong with him?!"
"ShhhHH! Keep your voice down.."
She definitely didn't like to be told that, however, she was more interested in learning what had happened, so she let it slide.
"He hasn't left his room in days.."
"Okay, well like neither have I, and at least I showered."
"After what happened to Soap..and the other things..I think it broke him..Pepper?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you get over Salt so quickly?"
She froze. Of course, she wasn't about to tell him the truth. He would flip and tell OJ that she was acting hysterical. Her mind thought of an excuse, something, anything to say. Suddenly, it struck her.
"Excuse me..?"
She responded in a shaking voice. Paper twiddled his fingers anxiously.
"W-well, I just thought-"
"Do you think I forgot about her? JUST LIKE THAT?!"
"No! N-No of course not!"
"GET OUT. GET THE HELL OUT RIGHT NOW!!!"
She screamed, shoving him out the door and locking it.
Paper sighed, turning to walk away, however the other six people who ran with him prior were waiting outside, watching him. Pickle was the only one to speak up.
"So...I take it..she's not well?"
Pepper waited a moment for him to leave quietly, and she smiled. The 'act-hysterical-but-in-a-way-that-makes-sense' plan worked perfectly. She'd have to tell Salt all about it, right after everyone in the hotel was fast asleep.
As she placed everything she needed inside her bag, she was already daydreaming about Salt. She couldn't wait to be able to fix her, and be able to hold her friend again. Pepper yearned so badly to be able to recreate the night they had fallen asleep in each other's arms, and soon it would be possible. And her eyes, oh those beautiful eyes would be only hers, and she would hang on every word, every single-
"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU HUNDREDS OF TIMES!!!"
She was knocked out of her trance by screaming from downstairs. She wasn't sure who it was the voice belonged to, so she was immediately on edge. Though, it sounded familiar. Screaming was normal in this place, so that wasn't the part that frightened her. Regardless, she made her way outside, and crept downstairs to the source of the noise.
She didn't even get all the way down when she saw OJ, towering over Tissues. His voice was deafening, as he was shouting up a storm at him. Tissues, however, didn't look frightened in the slightest. In fact, he looked angrier than OJ.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?? NO REALLY, GENUINELY, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!??"
Again, Tissues did not reply. Pickle stood at the bottom of the steps, observing all this. Him being closest to her, Pepper tapped him on the shoulder, whispering:
"What the hell is going on?"
He just shook his head.
"I don't know."
The Cherries were cowering behind Tissues, frightened at the sheer volume of OJ's voice. However, once they saw Trophy enter the room they fled to his side, trembling. When they looked up, however, his expression was empty. Despite this, they went to hide behind him.
"WHAT IF YOU GET THEM SICK??! AS IF WE NEED ANYTHING ELSE TO WORRY ABOUT, YOU CAN'T EVEN BOTHER TO COVER YOUR MOUTH."
So that was it? The crowd that had gathered exchanged bewildered looks. Tissues never did this, so why was OJ so enraged now? Sure, they didn't need anymore stress, but Tissues had never actually gotten anyone sick.
Paper had run into the scene as well, and he seemed more shocked than anyone else. No wonder Pepper hadn't recognized his voice, OJ had never raised his volume to such an intensity. Paper's eyes were glossy, and he just shook his head. It was like he couldn't recognize the man in front of him.
Tissues was still not responding to a single thing OJ said, no matter how frightening his voice sounded. He had nerves of steel, and other than the occasional sniffle and cough, he said nothing.
This reached a breaking point, however, when Tissues coughed right in OJ's face, out of sheer spite. OJ wiped the disgusting spit and snot from his glass exterior, and everyone in the room held their breath. Some onlookers swore they could see the juice inside the glass cup bubble up, as he raised a hand up to Tissues. Now, Tissues flinched, moving away slightly.
But OJ stopped, slowly putting his hand down. He was better than that. Better than adding to the senseless violence already going on in this hotel.
The hotel's residents looked on, still horrified. Tissues slowly opened his eyes and met OJ's.
"Just..cover your mouth."
He said at last. Tissues did not break eye contact with him for almost a minute, until he shook his head.
"No."
Tissues blurted out. OJ's calm demeanor melted away once again, fizzing up with rage. OJ clenched his hands together and gritted his teeth.
"And...why not?"
"I down't feel loike it. How about that?"
He retorted immediately. OJ held the rim of his glass head, as if trying to stop himself from spilling over. He again stated:
"You. Will. Cover. Your. Disgusting. Cough."
Tissues shrugged.
"I. Down't. Feel. Loike. It."
Pepper actually had to hold back laughter, this scene was absolutely hilarious. Though it seemed the other hotel residents didn't agree with her, and Pickle made a 'shush' motion with his hand. She scoffed, but chose to be silent. After all, it was funny that it was happening to anyone else but her. Not to mention Tissue's hilarious remarks. Pepper made a mental note to convince Salt they should hang out with Tissues sometime, as she knew Salt would appreciate his sassy attitude, even though she'd never seen this side of him before.
OJ paced back and forth in front of Tissues, now laughing a condescending and mocking laugh.
"There must be something wrong with your head. There just has to be. Your sickness is making you act irrational and idiotic. You don't give a damn about the people here, so why should I care about you?!"
"My..condishawn? Is that what yew mean?"
Now, Tissues dropped the poker face, looking quite offended at OJ.
"I'm not contagious. Thewre is nothing wrong with me talking to the Chewries.'
"There IS a problem when you get them SICK, you stupid-"
Cheryl spoke up, peeking out from behind Trophy.
"We..don't feel sick..I feel just fine.."
OJ turned to them, glaring daggers at the little fruit. Cher quickly hid behind Trophy again.
"Look at them. Defending you, and you could've-"
"-I could've wat? Got em sick? OJ, let me explwain something to yew...Yew think a cold or fever is bad? Yer scared they can get the sniffles? Be bed-widden for a few days?"
Fan and Cheesy were the last ones downstairs at the scene, observing the two. Fan especially hung on every word Tissues said, completely entranced by his manner of speech. It was almost poetic.
"Every day, I wake up and everwything hurts. My nowse, eyes, and throat are sore from coughing, and I'm too tired to get out of bed. I get headaches, stomach aches, everwything aches, OJ. Yew understand??! I have to eat slowley, I can take hours to eat a single meal because I down't want to puke it all out, curse my sensitive stomach. So, sorrey, If I stopped caring to cover my cough. I hardly care to dew anything, but I'd rather TRY to move around than stay bedwidden for months. Yew don't like my cough? Yew can fuck off, man."
This time, Pepper couldn't hold back a laugh, and let out a giggle at Tissue's insult. Several people turned to look at her judgingly, so she went quiet once more. Whether those looks were telling her to shut it because it was disrespectful, or because they were frightened of OJ was unclear.
OJ stared solemnly at Tissues. He couldn't tell if it was a look of pity or disgust, but he didn't appreciate it regardless. OJ shook his head.
"That isn't my problem. Nor is it anyone else's to deal with. So you can cover yourself, or you can get out."
To this, Cheesy and Fan ran over to OJ's side. They waved their hands at him, still holding the spray bottle and cleaning supplies.
"Wait-! OJ, you gotta think about this, Tissues has a point! It's not his fault he sneezes! And- you can't just-"
OJ swung his hand back at the red object, making him stumble back a bit.
"Get lost, Fan. This doesn't concern you."
"But, OJ, isn't that what you're yelling about? That we might get sick?? We don't care! So just calm down! I mean, where is this anger even orange-inating from?? Haha!"
Before he could slap his knee, Cheesy looked around at the judging expressions of his fellow residents. He slowly put his hand down.
"Both of you, get lost. Unless you want to get the boot, too."
"Hah! Who do you think you are, MePhone?? This isn't a game show, OJ! You can't kick Tissues out- IN FACT! We won't let you."
Fan proudly proclaimed. Tissues raised an eyebrow at this, as he hadn't expected anyone to come to his aid, not that he needed it.
"Besides-! This isn't you, OJ, all this stress is just getting to you. It's getting to us too, but you can't blame Tissues for it!"
Cheesy piped in quickly.
OJ stopped to think. They had a point, he was letting small things get to him, and it was all because of the 'incidents.' And sure, Tissues was abhorrent and disgusting, but not malicious. If anything, OJ looked like the crazy person here.
But what would they think of you now? You have to go through with it, or else you're a quitter. Do you want them to respect you or not?
Those thoughts again filled his mind, but now he could not shake them away. It was right, but fear did not equal respect. Then again-
"aaaaAACHOO!"
Tissues sneezed. No, he didn't just sneeze, he dared to shoot his sick spray of germy snot in OJ's face. He couldn't tell whether or not it was intentional this time, but he didn't care, as when OJ finished wiping his face, he saw red.
Reaching behind him, he violently took the bottle of cleaning spray from Fan's hands and sprayed it right in Tissue's face, getting right in his eyes, 'nose', and mouth.
Immediately Tissues wailed in pain, frantically rubbing at his face and gasping for air. OJ pulled him back once more, and held his face with one arm. With the other, he kept spraying the cleaning solution into Tissue's face. The small box kicked and waved his arms in distress, trying to reach back around and push OJ off, but to no avail.
"YOU WON'T STOP BEING DISGUSTING?!! HERE!!! I'LL HELP YOU!!"
"G- GWETT THE FUCKK AWF ME"
Tissue's protests were followed by coughing fits, which only made OJ keep spraying him. Every other object in the room was scared shitless, how could OJ do this? Since when was he capable of such violence and meaningless rage?
It wasn't until Tissues could no longer suck in a proper breath that someone ran to help him. Cheesy pushed OJ off, and Fan was helping rub out the detergent from his eyes.
"It-it's okay Tissues! We're here!"
"WHY DIDN'T YEW HEWLP ME?!!"
He coughed violently and painfully, holding his hands over his eyes. Pickle ran to the bathroom and came back with a moist towel, putting it over Tissue's eyes. He rubbed it aggressively over his face, still screaming.
"YEW ARE ALL COWARDS!!! WHAT IS W- w.. Euww...."
Tissues stopped, stumbling back a bit, as if he couldn't keep his balance.
OJ looked at the bottle in his hands. It felt light. When he had picked it up, the bottle felt much heavier. He held it up seeing it was now nearly empty. Then, he dropped it, realizing the gravity of what he'd just done. He crawled over to Tissues, who was now dry heaving on the floor. OJ put a hand to Tissue's face, looking like a concerned mother helping her child get back up. He spoke soothingly and calmly.
"Tissues! I'm so sorry, let me see- is it bad-??"
As if on cue, when OJ moved Tissue's hands off his face, the teal box projectile vomited onto the orange glass. It wasn't just a bit either, a nice bucket's worth of puke just sprayed onto and into OJ. A bit of it had made it's way inside the glass, and was turning the juice inside a sickly brown color. The audience watching this scene all now felt sick, many running to the bathroom to puke.
Pepper was the one who made it to the bathroom on time, locking it behind her and letting everything out of her system. Many people were banging on the door, begging to be let in, followed by the sound of retching. She listened silently as the chorus of the nauseous let out a symphony of pain and gargled distress. She sat on the toilet lid right after she flushed the contents of her stomach down the drain.
Trophy thought he too would be spared from the sickness, but then he felt a warm liquid drip down his back, as he turned around to see the twin cherries throwing up onto him. They looked up in horror.
"I-Im so sorry.."
Said Cheryl. Trophy immediately ran to the bathroom, knocking on the door. As he calmed, he took one more look back at the still puke-covered OJ, and it was enough to make him wretch onto the floor.
Paper was one of the few who didn't puke, surprisingly. As he stepped past and over the people who had just and were still in the process of emptying their stomachs onto the hotel floor. When he got to OJ, he tapped on the side of the glass. He didn't respond.
"OJ..?"
Still no answer. OJ just stood up, and walked calmly up the stairs to his room, Paper following soon after.
Pepper, still sitting on the lid, almost laughed at the sheer absurdity of all this. Sure, it was completely disgusting and revolting, but it was also ironic. OJ was worried Tissues would get everyone sick, when it seemed OJ had done just that. It was only ten minutes later that she opened the bathroom door, looking down at the people on the floor. They looked up at her with malice, and others with embarrassment.
"Uh...like, my bad."
She spat out.
She then casually walked past them, and back to her room. Microphone, who had just finished cleaning her own mess off of the floor, was helping others get back up. With some effort, they all regained their composure and started cleaning the mess.
OJ was busy too, violently scrubbing the puke off himself in the shower. He then proceeded to empty his entire glass into the drain, now completely empty and slowly filling up with shower water. Sure, it gave him a screaming headache, but at least he felt clean.
Fan and Cheesy had cleaned up Tissues, who had passed out just after his projectile hit OJ in the face. Now clean, they lay the still Tissues into bed. He looked very uncomfortable in his sleep, making tiny noises of pain and his face twitching. Cheesy and Fan sat on the far end of the bed, sleeping across from him. It was only an hour later Trophy went in and went to sleep in his own bed, not paying the other two any mind.
As the cherries went to bed, Reese held her brother's hand for comfort.
"I still feel sick..."
"Me too..can we just sleep please?"
"What if Trophy won't talk to us anymore after this?!?"
"Don't say that. He knows it was an honest mistake."
"Did you see his eyes..?"
Reese hesitated. She had seen his face, and it wasn't a nice sight. Most definitely not the Trophy they thought they knew. But then again, she was partially to blame for that herself, so she held her tongue. She just looked back at Cher, smiling a hopeful smile.
"It'll all be okay. Say! We should go talk to him tomorrow. He needs us right now, y'know."
Cher just stared at her, then hugged her quickly.
"How are you so calm..I wish I was like you more, Reese.."
She flinched, but calmed again, hugging him back. She hoped he wouldn't be like her, not at all. She was a murderer. And he was just her brother.
"Let's just go to bed, okay?"
And with that, they retired to their room.
Pepper waited until all was still in the hotel, and snuck out of her room. She carefully made her way down each step, so as to not make noise, and winced as she opened the creaky front door. Once she closed it, she knew the coast was clear, and ran to the circle of stones.
She quickly tapped on the ground where Salt would come up, calling her name.
"Salt! Hello, Salty-Salt?"
No response. As she waited for Salt, she started to take out the blankets and and pillows from the sleeping bag. Just then, the ground began to rumble. Pepper smiled with sick glee as her friend's form protruded from the floor.
"Hi Pepper! Gosh, I am just DYING to talk to you!"
"Me too, Salt. Me too."