Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was pouring on Inanimate island. The rain beat heavy against the outside walls and windows of Hotel OJ, letting every resident there know how angry the weather seemed today. On the outskirts of the island, the surrounding seas were wild, and winding. The ocean being forever unforgiving for any ship or vessel that may be on the waters.

This includes a small raft, that had long since overturned, and washed up on the shores of Inanimate island. Along with this ruined raft, was an object. Weak, and small, and shivering, as they blurred in and out of consciousness, stumbling towards the only building visible, a beacon of light in the dark, dreary and scary weather. This small object made their way, after several minutes of the rain pouring down on them, to the front doors of the tall, tall building.

They weakly hit themselves against the door, knocking the best way they could as they didn’t really have arms. They desperately needed to get out of the rain, this weather. They had been nearly taken out at sea by the storm, but they were stubborn. They refused to be this weak. Eventually, the door to the building opened, and the small object felt their legs buckle, falling into the arms of the object who had answered. They were safe now-- at least, surely they’d be out of this weather now. The rest of the evening was a blur, being passed around between a few objects, carried through several different rooms, none that they could really make out through their exhausted haze. Maybe they'd feel better if they got some rest. Yeah. That sounded nice.

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MePhone and OJ sat on the couch with a few others. It was one of the hotel's monthly 'movie nights' where any interested resident would vote on a movie to watch, and they'd hold a small viewing party. This time was more crowded than usual, considering the very poor weather outside, and most objects just being here to block out the noise of the intense storm, and honestly as crowded as it was, he was just glad he and OJ were able to get a spot on the couch. Though the movie was loud to combat the storm noise, MePhone couldn't help but hear a noise that he knew wasn't from the movie-- having seen the chosen movie of this month several times, and though he tried to ignore it, it kept happening. It almost sounded like knocking, like someone was outside, and at the door to the hotel. It was clear other objects started hearing it too, their gazes moving towards the door, rather than the TV.

"Hey, can you go check the door?"
"Yeah, fine," MePhone spoke quietly, to not be heard over the movie by others, before he got up, quickly stepping out of the way of anyone's view. He didn't even think about the rain as he opened the door, but that wasn't an immediate concern either, when a small, gray-ish blue cup fell into his arms the moment the door opened. MePhone let out a panicked noise, certainly not having expected this as he stumbled back, letting go of them by accident, as they fell to the floor completely now. At this point, the movie was paused, and all eyes were on him, and this cup, who was trembling, and soaked.

"Uh-- um, help?" MePhone said, almost awkwardly, desperately looking over at the other objects for assistance with… whatever this was. OJ immediately sprung into action, getting up and walking over, this was his hotel after all. The cup's eyes were open, but their gaze was far away, and unfocused. Their breathing was heavy, too. As OJ called out to them to try to get their attention, nothing came out of them. After about a minute or two of this, he decided this was going nowhere, and he picked the cup up as carefully as possible, heading towards the hotel infirmary. This was going to be a weird night, wasn't it.

TestTube, being the best shot for a possible medic, or at least an object who knows how to deal with sick, or hurt objects, was called down from her room to the infirmary to check this out herself. As OJ brought the cup into the infirmary, they seemed to fall asleep in his arms, further sinking into the comfort of the bed once placed down.
"Um… okay, so this is new… this is weird…" OJ was pacing, quietly speaking to himself as MePhone peeked into the room.
"Uh… I asked around, nobody who saw them knows who this is…"
"How did they even get here in this weather? No wonder they're soaked." OJ stopped pacing, glancing over to the cup, whose breathing was even, and slow, though despite them being asleep, they still seemed to tremble.
"This is weird, right?"
"Yeah, um… I don't actually know what we're going to do about this… I guess we just wait for TestTube to check up on them and for them to wake up… Right?"
"Yeah, I mean I think that's all we can really do about this." MePhone shrugged, glancing away as OJ just worriedly stared at the new, sudden addition to his hotel's infirmary. It was silent in the room for a bit, before both OJ and MePhone jolted, the door slamming open.
"Ah! Sorry, I just, uh.. yeah! I'm here to check up on… this object?" TestTube raised an eyebrow, wasting no time as she stepped into the room, over to the side of the bed.
"Yeah, them,"
"When did they show up? What happened?"
"Um, they just showed up at the door during the middle of the movie," MePhone shrugged again.
“Weird.” TestTube muttered, checking the object's pulse, and state. “They just seem exhausted. We should really dry them off, they aren’t going to stop shivering until we do that, one of you go grab some towels, please?”
“Yeah, okay,” MePhone offered, before stepping out, heading to the ‘spa room’ of the hotel. If towels were anywhere, it was probably that room.

As MePhone left the room, that left OJ and TestTube.
“What are we going to do with them?”
“Phrasing it like that sounds ominous… Um, I guess we see where they came from and get them back there when they recover?” OJ shrugged.
“Hm. Right, seems fair enough.” TestTube would just nod, taking a towel from MePhone, as he returned to the room. She carefully used it to dry off the cup, noticing as she tossed the towel away for someone else to take out of the room, that the shivering lessened.
“Yeah I think that helped. Should someone stay in here in case they wake up?”
“Um, well I gotta go call off the rest of movie night, and I’m not sure about MePhone, but…”
“Um… Yeah, I mean if I have to,” MePhone shuffled nervously where he stood.
“Great! I’ll be off then. Let me know if anything happens.” TestTube gives a thumbs-up, before ducking out of the infirmary. That was weird. MePhone just sighed, standing himself up against one of the room's walls to wait.
“I’ll come back to keep you company in just a bit, okay?” OJ smiled softly towards MePhone, before stepping over to the door.
“Yeah, okay,” MePhone offered a smile back.

…

And so the night went on, the storm kept raging outside, and the cup remained very much asleep. It wasn’t until much later-- The next afternoon, when MePhone was absolutely bored out of his mind, waiting for something to happen, that the cup jolted awake with a scream.

“AAAAA!” They shouted, sitting up, and heaving in air. MePhone jolted at this, letting out a small yelp of his own, caught very much off guard by this. The two immediately made eye-contact, before MePhone glanced away, but still nervously looking in their direction;
“Um, hello? Are you… Okay?” MePhone slightly trailed off, as the cup just stared at him with a curious look. MePhone was about to say something else, but both him, and the cup jolted as the door slammed open;
“I heard yelling! What happened?” OJ stepped in, showing his skill at having the world's worst timing.
“Oh-- sorry, uh, hello?” OJ immediately noticed the cup being awake now. They still didn’t say anything, almost seeming… timid. They curled up a bit on themselves, looking between the two.
“Can you speak?” OJ asked, using a soft tone as to not startle, or alarm the smaller object.
The shorter cup glanced away, seeming to think about that for a moment, before opening their mouth;
“Um… yeah,” They kind of croaked out, immediately blinking harshly at the sound of their own voice, shocked at how hoarse it was. They attempted to clear their throat, but that did little to help.
“Ah, um, here, I’ll go get you some water,” OJ quickly ran back out of the room, leaving MePhone and the cup alone, the air once again immediately awkward, neither of them talking. MePhone never found himself that fond of children, and well, this certainly wasn’t an exception, especially since this one had passed out in his arms, and ruined movie night… Well, no. It was stupid to hold that against an object who clearly needed assistance. He shook the selfish thought off, thankful when OJ returned, helping the cup, which seemed to be an armless object, get some water.

“Um… thank you,” The cup stared only at the sheets on the bed they were sitting on, kind of shuffling in their place, uncurling from themselves a bit.
“Okay, well, if you remember, can you tell us how you got here? You were in… not great condition when you stumbled in,”
They just shuffled a bit more, clearly anxious, before meekly admitting;
“I was kicked out, so I ran away…” They looked ashamed of admitting that.
“Ran away from where? How… How did you even get on this island?” OJ asked, with clear concern in his tone.
“I took a boat, I- I didn’t want to be there anymore if they didn’t want me, I thought I’d live on the seas and become a pirate or something but…” The shorter cup sniffled, a big frown on their face. This was definitely a child.
“Hey, it’s alright, you’re um… Safe now, you’re going to be safe. You don’t need to talk about it if you can’t.” OJ assured.
“The pirate life isn’t for everyone anyways, don’t worry about it,” MePhone joked, trying to lighten up the mood, a bit too nervous himself to be around an emotional child. This seemed to work well enough, as the cup let out a half-hearted giggle at this.
“Um, where am I, anyways?” the cup raised an eyebrow, glancing around the room.
“You’re at Hotel OJ.” OJ grinned, putting his hands to his hips, as if he were proud of being able to announce it-- which he was, but that wasn’t the point. The cup’s expression seemed to shift into focus, staying like this for a few seconds, before the child let out a gasp;
“Oh my gosh, like THE Hotel OJ?”
“Uh… Yeah?” OJ’s confident demeanor fell a bit, caught off guard that this child seemed to actually recognize the location.
“Oh!!! Oh! That’s so cool!” The child’s face lit up immediately with excitement, both OJ and MePhone just being left confused as the child continued; “I shoulda’ recognized you! You’re that TV host!” The cup’s gaze immediately moved to stare at MePhone, who immediately took up an expression that made him look guilty of a crime, before shifting to false confidence.
“Pff, yeah, I’m pretty famous, huh.” He grinned, crossing his arms, trying to make himself look cooler.
“Yeah! I mean, my uh… my parents used to put on that show all the time to keep me busy while they did other stuff! I never really paid much attention, but I do remember seeing you on the TV!”
MePhone’s expression faltered a bit at the implications, but he kept up the false confidence, not wanting to disappoint, or ruin someone’s image of him. Something in MePhone’s systems was making him feel vastly uncomfortable about all of this, but he wasn’t going to say anything. Especially not in front of a child who apparently already has too much going on in their life.
“Anyways, do you know where you’re from originally?”
“Um… I wouldn’t be able to tell from here, it was a big island with a city, uhm… I… Don’t really wanna go back there though,” The child pouted, thankfully the previous topic being dropped meant MePhone didn’t have to keep up the false confidence, immediately dropping it for a neutral expression as he just kept thinking about this more, mostly blocking out the rest of the conversation.
“I don’t know if I can… Legally let you stay here, is the thing…” OJ frowned.
“Oh… Are… You going to kick me out too?” The child glanced up at OJ, a look of sadness in their eyes. OJ immediately felt guilty, knowing all too well they couldn’t just say no, and do that to them. It wasn’t like he ever faced legal trouble for letting the cherries stay here too, so…
“Ah, well… I’m sure we can figure out a work-around if you don’t have anywhere to go,” OJ offered, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. The child’s smile immediately returned.
“Oh thank you! I- I really don’t-- uhm, you’re OJ, right?”
“Y-yeah, this is MePhone,” He gestured to his partner, the awkward air still lingering, at least for him.
“Yeah, I know,” The child looked genuinely happy, pausing for just a second, before continuing; “I’m Cuppy, or Cup, or uh… Something along the lines of that, anything works, really!”
“Well then, I guess let’s get you a room? I can definitely arrange another resident to be roomed with you if you’d like, I figure you wouldn’t mind company?” OJ offered, not exactly wanting to leave this kid on their own just yet in a room.
“Oh? Who?” They tilted their head a bit.
“I think you and the Cherries would get along-- and uh, not just saying that because you’re both young, but…”
“Oh! Okay.” Cuppy hopped off the side of the bed, wobbling just a bit, before fixing their balance, following OJ as he led them out of the room, MePhone just completely silent now as he let the two go on without him.
This was reminding him too much of things he didn’t want to think about. Though obviously this was nowhere near the same situation, it still felt eerily similar. He needed to go sit down for a bit, or something.

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It was strange, to say the least, dealing with a new resident at the hotel. Though it wasn’t that big of a deal, it was still an entirely new object that was staying at the hotel now, and well, most other residents were curious. Rooming situations between several residents were moved around, and changed a bit to make it so The Cherries, and Cuppy would share a room. Though the child was social to anyone who talked to them, they didn’t say a word about where they came from, often changing the subject if anyone asked. It was definitely curious, for sure.

Today, Cuppy was hanging out on the floor of their room, doodling with The Cherries.
“So, what do you do for fun around here, ummm besides this?” Cup asked, struggling to draw without hands, having to hold the crayon in their mouth, which wasn’t the most pleasant taste, but it wasn’t the worst thing ever.
“Oh, we like to pull pranks!” The right one spoke, fully focused on the conversation as the left one was drawing.
“Ooh, what kind of pranks?”
“Well, we can’t really do anything that causes property damage anymore, but we just like doing silly harmless stuff anyways! Like one time we replaced one of the paint bottles in the art room with glue. Paintbrush got really mad about that.”
Cuppy made an ‘O’ shape with their mouth, before speaking;
“There’s an art room!? I wanna see!” They smiled, shooting up from their spot. The hotel room felt a little stuffy to them, anyways.
“Oh! Yeah, okay! I’m sure Paintbrush wouldn’t mind as long as we don’t touch anything this time,”
“Or we could plot another prank,” The right one smirked, mischievously.
“Oh! Yeah! Let’s pull a prank! Cuppy, are you in?”
“Yeah! Sounds fun!” Cup hopped in their spot, excited for where this day seemed to be going. This was already so much nicer, and much more welcoming compared to how things had been before. They could really get used to this.

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OJ sighed, his head propped up by his hands, as he leaned forward on his desk, absolutely exasperated. Sat in the two chairs across from him were the Cherries, and Cup, who had been immediately caught while in the middle of setting up a prank in the art room. They were attempting to glue all the canvases together-- which despite how silly and harmless it seemed, would have absolutely ruined the supplies. Thankfully though, Paintbrush had walked in before they could even put the first two canvases together, catching all three of them red handed.
Cuppy stared down at the floor, absolutely guilty. Pranks were supposed to be fun, right? So why did they feel so bad about it when it didn’t even happen? Were they just guilty and upset because they had been caught? The Cherries on the other hand, were used to this. It wasn’t the first time the two of them had been caught pulling pranks, and they knew exactly how to get out of trouble most of the time, but OJ really seemed disappointed this time, so they decided maybe this time they’d take the blame-- that, and they didn’t want the blame shifting onto their new roommate.
“Look, I know it gets boring around here, but you can’t just ruin art materials to be funny. It’s not funny when someone has to go out and buy replacements.”
“OJ, aren’t you a--”
“Not the point.” OJ quickly shut the left cherry down before they could say anything.
“That, and this is your first real day here, Cup. You can’t just do things like this! I know you’re new here, but we have rules in this hotel.” OJ sighed, realizing how much he seemed like a school principal. It was embarrassing. This was not the way he wanted to be perceived, so he immediately softened his expression and posture.
“Look, I’ll let you off this once, but please don’t do something like this again. Pranks can be fun, sure, but not when they upset people. Okay?”
“I’m sorry,” Cuppy sounded genuine, their posture timid and scared, as if they were absolutely terrified at the idea of getting in trouble.
“Okay! Great lesson OJ, we better get going,” The right cherry attempted to move out of the seat, ready to leave, but OJ just sighed; “I was talking to Cuppy, not you. This is the third time you’ve broken the rules with one of your pranks. Cup, you can go, I still need to lecture the cherries about this.”
“Okay,” Cuppy’s tone was quiet as they slid out of the seat, trudging out of the room a bit, the guilt around them almost tangible. They festered a bit as they walked through the hallway, not noticing the other object walking by until it was literally too late, the two of them bumping into each other. Cuppy stumbled back, before looking up at whoever it had been, seeing it was MePhone, who also just must’ve been not paying attention, having fallen into a sitting position.
“H’what, uh-- oh, it’s… you,” He let out awkwardly, glancing to the side, before getting himself back to his feet, dusting himself off.
“Uh… sorry about that, was thinking too hard I guess. Y’know, because I’m really good at thinking.” He cringed at himself, knowing that sounded really stupid. Cuppy didn’t think so though, the guilt falling to the backburner as they spoke; “Oh? You’re good at thinking? That’s cool! That seems like a good skill to have,” They smiled, their optimism returning. They weren’t going to let that small pang of guilt ruin their day. Not when they still had fun to have, and people to talk to. Especially MePhone! They didn’t pay much attention to him on the TV, but they were sure he must have interesting stories from whatever he was doing on that show;
“You really think so?”
“Yeah! Thinking is fun… Uh, most of the time!”
“...Yeah?” MePhone almost seemed amused, or at least he would have if it weren’t more of a nervousness. He just seemed very nervous around them, and Cuppy wanted to fix that!
“What was your show about?”
“Didn’t you say you watched it?”
“Only sort of,” They admitted, a bit embarrassed. MePhone sighed, letting go of some of his nerves.
“You could go claim the tv in the lobby and watch it, I’m sure hearing it on will drive anyone else in the room away.” MePhone grinned, realizing how funny that would be, something to make the ex-contestants roll their eyes or avoid the lobby completely, lest they’re faced with their old selves on live television from all those years ago.
“Ooh! Yeah, sure! Will you watch it with me? I don’t like it when people put shows on for me only to not pay attention…” They frowned a bit, before shaking that off, and smiling again.
MePhone didn’t have anything better to do, so…
“Yeah, sure, why not?” He shrugged, leading the shorter object to the lobby. For once, the TV was not occupied, so MePhone made his move, turning it on, and searching for his show. Of course, it wasn’t on a streaming service or anything, season 3 didn’t even really officially air anywhere, just being dropped online sometime after it wrapped up, but that meant it was easier to find for free. Sure, he could’ve looked for the original harddrive he had… Somewhere, with all the seasons, but that would take forever. He didn’t really remember where he left that anyways, so it was fine.
“Let’s start with season one. Everyone kinda hated it, but I think my passion was in the right place… Even if it… uh, got rough at times,” MePhone glanced away, not bringing up the obvious. As the two watched through the season, Cuppy would point out the residents-- or in this case, contestants, that they had already run into at the hotel, simply stating if they liked their company or not with the ones they did interact with. Eventually, they reached an episode where another phone showed up. MePhone4S.

“Yeah I don’t actually remember most of what happened after that, but OJ said it had something to do with time travel, uh… Yeah.”
“Who’s the red phone?”
“Oh? Um…” MePhone glanced away, not really answering.
“Oh nobody. Just the big, bad, scary 4S!” A voice called out from behind the couch, growing increasingly ‘fake scary’, and loud as the voice continued. Cuppy let out a yelp, whipping around, and promptly falling off the couch to see the same red phone from the TV in person, standing behind the couch.
“Oh come on, were you just waiting for that or something?” MePhone glared at him half-heartedly, pausing the TV.
“No, I just happened to be coming down from my room. It was good timing.” 4S grinned, mischievously, his expression dropping as he looked down at the kid who was still on the floor, a frown on their face.
“Er… sorry for scaring you.” 4S apologized, before walking around the couch to help them up, sitting them back down on the couch. “I can’t believe you’re making this kid sit through your crappy show.” 4S chuckled, sitting down too, next to MePhone, him now being in the middle.
“Hey, it’s not crappy. You don’t get to say that.” MePhone stuck out his tongue towards his brother.
“Yeah, sure. Anyways, I think you should watch something else. Before you reach y’know what.” 4S shrugged, mentioning it with a casual tone to not make it seem like a big deal, promptly reminding MePhone about what happened again, without letting the child catch on.
“Uh, yeah, right, uh… Let’s just skip to season two, the only important thing was that OJ won anyway.”
“Really?! I never would’ve guessed!” Cuppy finally shook off their mild shock, making a joke.
“Really?” MePhone raised an eyebrow, not catching on that they weren’t being serious.
“I think the kid was using sarcasm. Not that you would’ve known.” 4S elbowed MePhone, who elbowed him back; “Hey! Says you of all objects?” And 4S just retorted with a curt laugh, leaning into the armrest.
“Anyways… Yeah, let's just start season two.”

The three of them continued watching for a bit, MePhone’s assumption of nobody wanting to come down and see themselves on TV being right, as the lobby saw little foot traffic that day. Cuppy was just glad to have this peace, not being questioned by random residents. They were starting to enjoy the show they were being shown, too. They wondered if any of the other residents were really into the show they all apparently competed on. They’d have to find that out.
They’d have to check in on The Cherries and see if they got scolded too badly later, but for now this moment was fine. They liked spending this time with MePhone, and his slightly scary brother. It was certainly a fun viewing experience.

Chapter Text

It was later that night, just after dinner when Cuppy returned to their room to find Cherries just sitting on the floor, doodling as if they hadn’t gotten in trouble a few hours ago.
“Um, hi, sorry for leaving you in there,”
“Oh, it’s fine! We get away with it all the time.” The left one waved a dismissive hand, thankfully neither of them seeming bothered.
“What happened after I left?”
“Oh he just told us not to do it again, said we’d be banned from the art room if we pull another thing like that.”
“Yeah, but only if we get caught next time.” The right cherry giggled, mischievously. It was good to see neither of them seemed too bothered by the prank going wrong. Cup wandered over to their bed, hopping up with just a little bit of struggle, due to their height, but they made it up, flopping over to the side their handle wasn’t on.
“How was hanging out with MePhone? We saw you guys watching tv while we were heading out,”
“Oh! He’s really cool, we were watching that show you were all on!” Cuppy sat up, enthusiastic about it.
“What did you think about our performances?” The right one grinned.
“So cool! How did you manage to send that marshmallow girl to mars? That was so crazy!”
“Oh… haha, yeah, we almost forgot about that, I dunno, honestly, it just kinda happened.” The right one spoke, taking up a sheepish tone.
“We definitely deserved getting eliminated for that one,” The left one spoke again, putting the finishing touches on their drawing, before holding it up in Cuppy’s direction. It was them-- the cherries, and Cuppy, a crayon drawing of the three of them on a grassy hill, silly little flowers lining the grass. Cup gasped at this, utterly impressed;
“That’s so cool! I wish I knew how to draw…”
“We could get Paintbrush to teach you, if you want! They hold art classes and have been able to help other armless objects figure it out too, I’m sure they’d be a good help!”
“Oh, I don’t wanna bother them after trying to prank them, I don’t want them to be mad at me or anything,” Cuppy declined immediately, the idea of possibly getting yelled at not sounding great to them, but the cherries didn’t seem to grasp that;
“Oh come on! They’re not gonna be mad at you, don’t worry about it. If they ask why you were trying to do the canvas thing, we can just say we convinced you to help us out-- which that’s totally what happened.”
“Um… Okay! Sure!” Cuppy wanted to decline, but the idea of learning how to draw outweighed the nervousness. That, and it gave them an excuse to be out of their room tomorrow. They let out a yawn, flopping back down on their bed.
“Are you sleepy?” One of the cherries asked.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go to bed,” Cuppy turned onto their side again, nuzzling into the comfort of their pillow.
“Okay! We’ll turn out the light in a sec, just gotta clean up!”
“Mhm,” Cuppy hummed out, already falling asleep. They felt so grateful that the hotel welcomed them so warmly. They were so glad they didn’t have to deal with their old life anymore. They could really get used to this. The bed they found themself in right now was more comfortable than their old one had ever been.
Though, despite the comfort, that didn't save them from their dreams.

…

The waves were harsh, and horrible, and rocking the boat like it'd break apart at every slosh of water against it. It was a miracle they got this far, really. The rain poured down, soaking both the boat, and them. They kept having to tip themselves over a bit so their cup wouldn't fill with water. It was all so disorienting. Dizzy. It hurt, and they were terrified. They didn't know how they were going to get out of this, they just had to get away. After a particularly huge wave, they didn't have time to think about anything else, as immediate panic set in, the boat tipped over completely, sending them into the harsh, horrible waves below. They remember sinking, and sinking, the waters jostling them around, and they didn't think they'd ever get out of this.

And Cuppy jolted awake, once again gasping for air, though this time they cried. They cried, and cried, and tried so hard to not be so loud, the last thing they wanted to do was wake up their roommate and friend, they quickly shifted in their bed, biting down on the pillow as they sobbed. They were so scared, they didn't even know how they survived all this, they didn't think they should have survived under the circumstances. But they made it out, and that scared them most of all, really. Through their muffled sobs, they couldn't hear the cherries shuffling in their own bed, waking up. They couldn't hear them hopping out of their own bed, stepping over. They didn't notice the cherries until they were wrapping their arms around them, trying to comfort them.
Not a word was said as the cherries comforted them, they didn't need to know, they just needed to be able to calm their roommate, and friend down. Nothing needed to be said, as Cup shivered in their hold.
Eventually though, there were no more tears to cry, and they managed to at least stop that flow. They sniffled, finally opening their eyes again, unable to look at their roommate.
"'m sorry…" they croaked out.
"It's okay, we don't mind. We get bad dreams, too. We get it."
Cuppy sniffled again, slightly nuzzling into the hug, this definitely helping. It really did feel nice being hugged by two sets of arms. It helped them feel secure, really.
"Are you okay now?"
"dunno…" Cuppy was having a hard time forming their words, only able to get out simple things.
"We can stay awake with you if you want, until you fall back asleep?"
"... Okay,"
The cherries just smiled. Though they were also young, they were understanding, and compassionate. They weren't going to let anything hurt their friends, especially Cuppy, while they adjusted, if they could help it. They really did care. Cup really did appreciate it. They thankfully didn't have much trouble falling back into rest, falling this time into a dreamless sleep.

Though they were tired themselves, the cherries didn't separate from the hug until they were sure Cuppy had fallen back asleep, laying them back down, and placing their covers over them again, before returning to their own bed. As the cherries fell back asleep themselves, they couldn't help but wonder what spooked Cup so badly. They felt sad that they had to deal with nightmares too, but they supposed it wasn't very polite to ask about it if it wasn't their business. If Cuppy wanted to tell them, they would. The Cherries could leave it at that for now.

…

Paintbrush, Fan, and TestTube were in the art room today, Paintbrush getting ready for their art class that evening, TestTube having offered to help. Fan wasn't helping, but she was still there, at least providing conversation, talking about whatever interest she had really thrown herself into this time, Paintbrush and TestTube just listening as the two of them set everything up. Eventually, Paintbrush spotted a pair of eyes staring at them from the entryway to the room. They stopped in their tracks, raising an eyebrow, as whoever it was whipped behind the door frame, and out of view. Paintbrush stared at the entryway, almost curious for just a moment, before Cuppy, the new object at the hotel was lightly shoved into view, stumbling a bit, but the moment they fixed their balance, the two of them locked into a bit of awkward eye-contact. There was a sigh, Paintbrush assumed from the other object who had pushed Cup into view, before the Cherries stepped out next to them;
“Hi, we’re here to apologize, or um-- we are, not Cuppy.”
“I- I’m also sorry for being involved though,” Cup quickly clarified. Fan and TestTube looked over now from what they were doing.
“Anyways now that we’ve said we’re sorry, Cuppy wants to join your art class!” The left cherry smiled.
“Okay, as long as you don’t pull anything that damages the resources, anyone’s welcome to participate.” Paintbrush shrugged, not seeming angry at all about what happened yesterday, not even raising their voice, or being annoyed. Cuppy thought this was strange, but as long as they weren’t getting yelled at, they didn’t really mind. “Though, it’s much later tonight, we’re still setting up, just come back this afternoon, okay?”
“Okay!” The cherries answered for the both of them, Cuppy still being a tad bit awkward around several of the residents in the hotel. Thankfully though, with that out of the way, The Cherries led Cuppy away, off to do something else, noticing how nervous they were.
“Are you bad with people?” The left cherry asked, raising an eyebrow, genuinely curious.
“Uh- they didn’t mean that in a mean way,” The right one quickly clarified, as the three of them returned back up to their room.
“Um… Just around people I don’t really know much, I um, it’s complicated.” Cuppy glanced away, not really wanting to clarify.
“Okay, that’s fine! I’m sure you’ll warm up to most of the residents here eventually, I get it takes time for some objects, so don’t worry about it!” The right cherry gave a reassuring pat to Cuppy, who gave a small smile.
“So what now?”
“Well… Hm. Good question! Do you feel like doing something specific, or do we wanna go find someone to bother? Maybe we could introduce you to at least one of the objects we like to hang out with, to make things easier?”
“Hm… Who is it?”
“It’s Trophy! He takes us on walks around the island sometimes, and it’s not raining today, which makes it a good day to not be stuck in this stuffy hotel all day!”
“Hm…” Cuppy thought about it. Really thinking about it, they hadn’t been outside in a total of two days! That was way too long.
“Yeah, okay! As long as he isn’t weird, or mean.”
“Uh… I mean, I’m sure he won’t be mean to you,” The right one shrugged, unsure.
“I saw how mean he was on the show, I just don’t want to be bullied or anything,”
“Oh! He’s not like that anymore! Uh, most of the time! But he wouldn’t be mean to you unless he had a reason-- which he doesn’t! And if he is mean to you, we’ll tell on him!” the left cherry gave a thumbs-up.
“Ummm… Okay! Let’s go outside!” Cuppy smiled, immediately turning back around to leave the room again. They much preferred the idea of getting out and being active, they never had much of a chance to leave their house back where they used to be, so they cherished the option any time they got it. Surely meeting at least one of the residents would be fine for now.

…

“So… What are we going to do about this?” OJ tapped a pen against his desk, glancing up at MePhone, who was spinning around in the chair he was sat in.
“Dunno, not like it’s our problem. Just treat them like the cherries, it’s just another kid, right?” MePhone shrugged.
“Yeah, it’s ‘just another kid’ but I- I don’t mean to be mean by saying this but there’s clearly… um… Y’know.”
MePhone stopped rolling around, looking at OJ; “What do you mean?”
“I know you picked it up too, MePhone. That kid’s troubled or something. Obviously not their attitude, they seem just fine, but… Some of the stuff I’ve heard them say to others has been… Concerning. Not to mention how scared they were when Paintbrush caught them and the Cherries yesterday in the middle of a prank.”
“I’m sure any kid would be scared after running away from home, OJ.” MePhone paused, blinking before realizing what he had said, before clarifying, clearing his throat; “Um, not that I’d know what that’s like-- but that’s not important! I’m sure they’ll be just fine.” MePhone shrugged again, trying to play what he had said off. OJ already knew what had happened with MePhone, the two definitely having talked about it before, being together and all, but that didn’t mean MePhone was any more open about things than he was before. OJ just sighed at this.
“I just think they could use a positive influence, or something. To help them not be so anxious, or scared around the residents here.”
“So what are you suggesting?” MePhone raised an eyebrow, now continuing to spin in the wheely chair.
“Maybe um… Hm… They seemed to enjoy hanging out with you, right?”
“I’m not good around children. They freak me out.”
“You seemed fine the other day,”
“... Crap.” MePhone sighed. He just really didn’t want to be stuck with that task. He also didn’t see himself as a good influence on anyone-- especially a child. He was terrible, and awful, and he was the last person a child needed to be hanging around.
“I really think you and them could get along, MePhone. Just think about it… For me?”
MePhone let out a groan. He couldn’t just say no to OJ when he was asked like this.
“Fine. I’ll think about it.” He just left it at that, continuing to spin, a bit annoyed at how easily he caved.
“I just… Don’t think I’m a good influence. You should know that.”
“I mean… Sure, I would’ve agreed with you at some point in the past, but I think you’ve definitely changed.”
“I’m not getting out of this, am I.”
“Probably not. Listen, if I agree to help you be a positive influence to this kid, will that make it any less worse for you?”
“Probably not, but I’m keeping you to it now, because you said it.” MePhone stopped spinning again, getting a bit too dizzy for his liking, as he grinned at OJ.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” OJ sighed again, this one being more light-hearted.
“So uh… What if this kid ends up hating me? Then what?”
“I’m sure they won’t. They seemed just fine around you yesterday,”
“But wh--”
“Please try not to overthink it. You’re just going to stress yourself out,” OJ softened his tone just a bit. MePhone glanced away.
“I’ll… Try.”
“Thank you. I know this’ll turn out fine.”
“Gods, I hope so.”

…

“So this is the new smallfry?” Trophy raised an eyebrow, looking down at the shorter, gray-ish blue cup, who stared at him with nervous eyes.
“Yeah! This is Cuppy! They’re super cool!” The cherries exclaimed, excited.
“Okay, cool. You’re not lame, right?”
“I don’t think I am,” Cuppy finally glanced away, not being too fond of eye-contact.
“Good enough for me.” Trophy shrugged. “Anyways, you guys wanted to go on a walk?”
“Yeah! That, and we wanted to introduce Cuppy to you! They’re trying to get used to people.”
“Oh, uh… Okay,” The four of them began their walk, already having stepped out into the warm spring weather by the time the conversation started. Trophy was tall, and despite being an object, not having to wear clothes, he wore what looked like a varsity jacket that wrapped around the frame of his body nicely. Cuppy saw plenty of objects that wore clothes around the city they used to live in, but it wasn’t something they had seen at all during the time they were at the hotel-- even if it had only been two days at this point. It wasn’t weird though, just different to see here. Cuppy, despite enjoying the nature, and the nice warm weather, was still incredibly intimidated by Trophy. Watching the beginning half of season two of Inanimate Insanity yesterday with MePhone, they saw he had blackmailed another contestant on the show, and was incredibly rude, and physical towards others on the show. Though he thankfully seemed a lot more mellowed out now, Cuppy was on edge that he could snap at any moment. Most of the walk was filled with the Cherries maintaining a conversation, Cuppy’s involvement in it being brief, and small responses, not really focused much on it. Eventually, the three of them seemed to reach the outskirts of the island, one of the many beaches on it. The waves were calm today, the storm that brought them here having long since passed. As the group made their way to the beach, they stopped, spotting something. The broken apart boat. Or well, it really was more of a raft, but it had been easier for Cuppy to call it a boat. It was cracked, and damaged all by the ocean, and how harshly it had been jostled around. Cuppy could feel the strong, negative emotions swirl in their stomach as Trophy approached the rubble.
“Woah, what is this?”
“Looks like it used to be a boat or something! Maybe there’s a pirate on the island?” The right one suggested, excited.
“Or it just washed up on shore…” The left one added.
Cuppy stood on the line between the sand and grass, not daring to step over. They could feel their posture drop a bit.
“What do you think, Cuppy?” The right cherry turned to look, but by the time they glanced back, Cuppy was walking back in the direction of the hotel.
“Hey! Wait, where are you going?”
“... Back to the hotel, you guys can enjoy the rest of your walk, though.” Their tone was quiet, but loud enough for the Cherries, and Trophy to hear.
Trophy glanced at the raft, then over to Cup, connecting the dots. Quickly, he decided to do some soft damage control, realizing this must’ve been how they had gotten to this island;
“Nah, we can all go back together. It’s fine,” Trophy tool one of the Cherries hands, leading them over to catch up with Cuppy,
“No, you don’t have to do that for me,” Cup gave a soft smile as Trophy didn’t take long at all to catch up.
“It’s fine, really.” Trophy glanced away. Thankfully, the Cherries didn’t question this, or say anything, though Trophy knew they would ask later. “Just don’t worry about it. It’s getting later in the day anyways, and the Cherries said you guys wanted to do that lame art class thing, so I don’t wanna make you miss it.”
Though Cuppy was still definitely nervous, this… Helped a bit. They felt so unhappy seeing their absolutely destroyed raft, especially after their bad dream last night. They were glad neither the Cherries, nor Trophy were making a big deal about it, and that things could just be normal. That’s what Cup needed right now.

…
Thankfully, they were able to shake off most of their nerves by the time they reached the art class. Trophy just waved a simple ‘bye’ wave, before heading off to do his own thing as they all made it back into the hotel, Cherries leading Cup to the art room again. They liked this room a lot. It had a certain smell, and vibe to it that they liked, even if they weren’t too skilled of an artist, on account of them being armless, and it being hard to draw with just their paws.

“Just take any seat that’s available, we’ll get started soon, we’re just waiting for a few more objects to show up.” Paintbrush gestured to a few empty stools, all with canvases at the ready. Cuppy shuffled over to one in the front row of stools, wanting to be able to hear and see clearly. The Cherries moved to take the stools next to them, the three of them waiting, not for long though, as a few more objects showed up. Eventually, Paintbrush started the class, explaining the subject of today, which was… Certainly something? They watched as Paintbrush placed a stool onto the stage in the room, the thing sitting on the stool being a small, red crab.
“Today’s subject is to draw Baxter, but in an abstract way. Something a bit different than usual, I know, but I’m just kinda running out of ideas.” Paintbrush ran a hand through their bristles, sighing sheepishly, as the other objects in the room began to paint, and start their projects. Cuppy glanced at their canvas, then to the crab, who was completely still, the only movements it seemed to make was the way its body slightly bounced as it blinked. Crabs were weird, Cuppy decided. Despite thinking this was weird though, they took the brush in their mouth, dipping it carefully into the paint palette they had set between them and Cherries, who were gleefully painting away, theirs looking… Well, definitely abstract. Cup held the brush in their mouth, really thinking about how they could make this abstract. They wondered if their not-so-great artstyle would count, if they just drew the crab basically, but that would be lazy, wouldn’t it. Maybe they could just… Focus on a certain shape? And go from there. Yeah, that would work. They glanced around the room a bit, seeing all the other objects painting away with varying focus. Paintbrush was busy having a hushed conversation with one of the other objects, a purple candle, so they couldn’t really ask them for assistance right now. They sighed, looking back at their canvas, the idea of squares, and rectangles finally coming to mind for the shape. It wasn’t… Entirely creative, but it would work. They struggled a bit, this being hard to do with their mouth after all, but they eventually found themselves getting used to it.

Their finished piece was nothing to be proud of, but they were happy with it anyways, if not just at the feat of being able to paint something at all.
As the class wrapped up, as it was getting closer to the hotel’s dinner service, Paintbrush was going around checking out all the different paintings, placing them all on display on the stage for everyone to see. Theirs was far from the best, most others being a lot more interesting, and colorful, but the proud feeling lingered. Even if art might not be their thing, this had still definitely been fun. They left the room feeling thankfully much happier than they had felt coming in, knowing they’d definitely enjoy coming back for the next art class, though they had to hope they’d be less nervous so they could actually ask for tips on drawing next time.

Now though, they found themselves on the couch with MePhone, who was fiddling with his hands, trying to explain something that Cuppy hadn’t actually been paying enough attention to listen to-- though they didn’t mean to ignore him, immediately trying to focus again;
“So yeah, um, if it’s okay with you, I’m kinda sorta gonna be looking out for you for a while?” MePhone shrugged, glancing away, unable to explain it any other way. Cuppy raised an eyebrow, a bit confused.
“What?”
“Uh… OJ thought it would be a good idea if someone kept an eye on you.”
“Am I in trouble?” Cuppy immediately worried, shrinking in on themselves a bit, before MePhone quickly clarified;
“No! No, you’re not! Don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble, it’s just… um, crap… Uh… It’s just to make sure nothing bad happens, okay? Not something bad like ‘you caused it’ bad, just like, so nothing bad happens to you. Yeah. Sorry, I’m bad at words today.” MePhone sighed, sliding a hand down his face.
“Oh. Okay. But you promise I’m not in trouble?”
“No? Why would you be? Did you do something bad?”
“No! I didn’t, I just… um, never mind…” Cuppy mumbled out, glancing away too.
MePhone shuffled awkwardly where he sat, feeling like this was going worse than expected. He had already screwed up, hadn’t he?
“It’s fine, okay? Everything’s fine.” MePhone assured, trying to help the nervous kid not feel so bad about this.
“Okay..” Was all they answered, now just neutrally staring down at the carpet.
“Do you want me to grab you some dinner?”
“Sure,” They glanced up, their expression still mostly neutral. Really, Cuppy didn’t know why they felt so bad. They had been assured that this wasn’t a bad thing, that this wasn’t some sort of punishment, but they still felt bad. They didn’t want to feel bad, so they just hoped whatever dinner was would distract them from these feelings.
They hated how hard it was for them to feel normal, really. They just wanted to be a happy, fun kid. The Cherries were like that, so why couldn’t they be like that, too? They didn’t want to say they were jealous, but… Envy was definitely a part of what they felt.

Thankfully though, they were at least distracted as MePhone brought back a plate of whatever had been made for dinner. They didn’t actually know what this was, curiously asking MePhone.
“I think it’s uh…” MePhone paused, taking a bite from his own plate, trying to determine it for himself;
“Tastes like some sort of beef. I dunno.” He shrugged, speaking while mid-chew. “Harmless enough, I think.”
“Oh, okay,” Cuppy proceeded to take a bite of it themselves, thankfully unbothered by the taste, liking it enough to finish it, with a little assistance from MePhone, since eating stuff with a fork was hard with no arms. It was just a little awkward, but it was fine.

This had been a long day, with really a lot of ups and downs, but Cuppy was hoping things wouldn’t stay this weird forever. They were getting used to things just a little bit though, at least. They surely just needed to sleep this sad feeling off, and they’d be fine. That’s what they usually did on days like this, anyways, residing in their room not long after dinner was done, not waiting up for the Cherries today, who were still out of the room. Things here were definitely not as bad as they were back at their old home, but it was still just a little hard mentally. They couldn’t really do much about how they felt though, unfortunately.
Maybe tomorrow will be better.
They hoped it would be.