Chapter Text
It was only natural that Two would give the contestants a small break after such a scary couple of months.
Nobody was expecting it per se, but it didn’t come as a surprise when they announced that they wanted to give everyone some time to recoup following the events of the battle royale challenge. Of course, challenges would resume in the next few days; for now, though, a bit of relaxation was on the docket. Price Tag watched them walk off to the hotel elevator, Gaty in tow.
(Price Tag suspected that the break was an opportunity for Two to spend time with Gaty, who had been missing for quite some time. Not that Price Tag had a problem with that, the time off was certainly appreciated, but it was hilariously obvious who Two’s favorite was.)
Small groups broke off soon after, meandering off to who-knows-where. Everyone was eager to catch up and take their minds off of the frankly traumatizing encounter they’d all had with One.
Book and Price Tag stood together in silence while they watched everyone else scatter. The two had been apart for what felt like ages; they may have been dead for most of it, but the separation hurt all the same! Since then, after their recovery, they had been attached at the hip, anxiously keeping each other in sight at all times. There was no real need to, now that the threat was gone; but it didn’t hurt to be safe, did it? They had been in the thick of the royale together, and concern for the others’ safety had only grown more and more intense.
Price Tag broke their stare from the crowd and glanced over at Book. She looked tired. Upset. They followed her intense gaze, only to realize that she was staring at Pencil from across the way.
Right. The situationship.
They decided it would be best to interrupt and get her mind off of Pencil. Tugging at her hand, they smiled up at her. “Let’s head upstairs, yeah? Maybe catch up over some snacks?”
Book held her stare a bit longer, sharply inhaling. She blinked, smiled, and relaxed into the exhale. “Yeah, that sounds good.” She replied. Her expression quickly became bewildered as she realized what they said. “Wait… You can’t even eat!”
“Look, I just want things to feel normal again. Even if that means pretending a little.” Price Tag shrugged, choosing to not press her about Pencil. They knew that she would bring it up herself soon enough.
She couldn’t argue with that. The two of them made their way to the elevator, and up to Price Tag’s cluttered room, collapsing onto the couch as soon as they could. They sat next to each other in comfortable silence. Price Tag sighed, breaking the quiet.
“You know, Book… I could really go for a biiiig turkey dinner right about now.” They shot her a cheeky look and a big grin. “Do you… think you could whip that up for me real quick?”
Book stared at them in disbelief. “What are you- ohhhh. Very funny.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “I get that you’re pretending, but at least keep your demands reasonable.”
“Pretending? Demands?! I’m hurt, Book.” They dramatically raised their arm to their forehead, putting on the most obviously fake sad voice they could. “I thought it was a simple enough request…and for you to think so low of me…”
(All those tabletop roleplay games were great practice for things like this, Price Tag mused. Book seemed to become way more open to riffing off of Price Tag’s dumb improv bits the more they played together.)
“Get a mouth first, and then I’ll think about it.”
“Oh-hoh! I may take you up on that.” Price Tag winked at her. “Don’t make any promises you aren’t willing to keep.”
Groaning in annoyance, Book got up from the couch, walking to the cupboards to poke through them. “I think I’ll be fine. I’m gonna take YOU up on your snack offer, by the way. Want me to grab you anything?” She looked back over her shoulder at them, giving them an equally cheeky grin. “Besides a turkey dinner, of course.”
Price Tag stuck out a text tongue at her. “I’m good. Help yourself.” They watched her rummage for a bit.
This was nice, spending time with her again as if nothing had happened. They briefly wondered if she’d want to stay overnight. The idea of sleeping alone in their room tonight didn’t sound very appealing, and they weren’t very pleased that they had to sleep in the same building as Liy or Pencil, either. Everyone else seemed to be fine with this arrangement, though, so they were just going to have to learn to live with it.
“So, Taggy…” Book spoke up, interrupting their train of thought. She headed back to the couch, chips in hand. “What happened after, uh…well, after what happened with Pencil?”
Just jumping right into it, huh. They knew it was coming eventually. Book can’t keep her mind off of anything if it’s bugging her.
“Oh, right. Winner carried me off to the other debuters. Not on purpose, I think. We just kinda happened to go to their room.” Price Tag started, scooting over so Book could sit next to them.
“That must’ve been nice! I mean, seeing some familiar faces.” She plopped down next to them, ripping open her chips. “Then what?”
“Ehh…” They looked away. Book started munching on a handful of chips as they continued. “I… don’t think they like me or Winner very much.”
(That was an understatement. The debuters even went so far as to think of the two of them as traitors! As if they had any say over the debut votes! Maybe that’s why the lot of them didn’t get in, Prince Tag wondered. The voters don’t usually like a foul attitude like that.)
“Oh…right. I guess that makes sense.” She frowned. “Sorry about that.”
Price Tag answered quickly, cutting her off. “It’s fine. Well, anyways, we asked them to help us take down Pencil and save you. Outnumber her, y’know? And we were out in the hallway, heading down to you, and that other new girl Liy showed up and totally did all of us in! None of us saw it coming.”
Book thought for a moment. “Yeah, that tracks. She’s always been a weird one.” She laughed to herself a bit before lightheartedly adding, “And thanks for trying to save me, but I didn’t last long after you abandoned me.”
“Wh- abandon you!” Flustered, Price Tag was quick to start defending themself. “Winner picked me up! With their big, gross hand! I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter!” Book just kept laughing, though they seemed to be genuinely distraught. “You know I wouldn’t just leave you, right?”
“I know, Taggy! I’m just giving you a hard time. I know you wouldn’t do that.” She explained, leaning against them. “Apology accepted, though,” she paused for a minute to think before finishing her thought, “…and I won’t tell Winner you called their hand gross as long as you don’t do it again.”
“Hah. Deal.”
Price Tag smiled up at her and leaned back against her. The conversation slowed to a lull; exhaustion was setting in and neither of them had the energy to continue their bantering.
The pair soaked in the afternoon sun filtering in through the blinds. Price Tag was the first to doze off, curling up next to Book, with her following shortly after. It wasn’t uncommon for them to nap together like this; they’d fallen asleep together so many times that Book knew to avoid laying across Price Tag’s “arm” and made a point to avoid it while getting comfortable for an afternoon nap.
(One time, she fell asleep on her side, and accidentally fell over onto them in her sleep. That turned out fine after a quick trip to the recovery center, but since then she’d made sure to sleep on her back, just to be safe.)
Hours passed as they dozed on the couch together. Price Tag drifted in and out of sleep, their dreams benign or forgettable. Eventually, though, their mind drifted off to that ambush in the hallway.
Liy stood in front of them, silently. Unnervingly. They watched their friends, the other debuters, get picked off one by one. Unable to look away, their mind raced as everything replayed in excruciating detail. As soon as Liy turned to face them, Price Tag finally turned around and tore downstairs in a sprint to their room.
Frantic, Price Tag looked through their cluttered piles of stuff; they knew it was futile, they knew how this dream would end, but they didn’t know what else to do. They couldn’t bring themself to turn around as they heard the door slowly creak open behind them, they just squeezed their eyes shut, waiting for-
Price Tag jolted awake, panting heavily.
It was well into late afternoon now, the warm sunlight a vivid orange on their face. Book was still sound asleep next to them, lightly snoring. They exhaled in relief, knowing she was safe and sound. They were shaking, but everything was ok now. Price Tag and Book were safe.
It took a bit, but they eventually fell back asleep for a while longer. This time, no dreams whatsoever.
When they stirred awake again, they were laying on top of Book, gently held in her arms.