Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Salt, do you ever think that like we could rule the world if we wanted to?” 

Pepper has always had some trouble sleeping at night. 

When she was younger she would have awful nightmares that would keep her up at night. Later in her life, those nightmares seemed to come and go, however, meeting Salt must have been a miracle because ever since that fateful day she has been having a full night's rest again. Pepper and Salt have been on each other's sides ever since they met, and Pepper wouldn't have it any other way. Thinking about salt seems to help her sleep better at night. 

 Well, before he showed up.

 When Pepper was eliminated it was the worst time of her entire life. Those awful nightmares came back, she would go days without sleeping and desperately wanted to see salt again while locked up in the hell-hole that was idiotic island.

When Salt showed up at idiotic island it was the happiest moment of Pepper's entire life. 

But... something felt different, her salt wasn't the same salt she was forced to leave behind months prior. Salt had buddied up with another contestant on the show in her absence. Since returning to Pepper, salt couldn't shut up about some stupid boy. That stupid boy being…

OJ.

Salt has gotten boy crushes before, god was high school terrible for Pepper, but this one seemed less like a crush and more of an obsession, one that Pepper couldn't seem to get her out of. 

When OJ won inanimate insanity and he decided to open a hotel with his prize money, it seemed like such a sweet thing to do, at first. It wouldn't have bothered Pepper so much if it wasn't for Salt's weird obsession with the glass of orange juice. All of a sudden she found herself permanently living in that annoying boy’s hotel, every day being forced to watch her best friend swoon over some guy…

 For the first time since she met Salt, pepper was having a hard time sleeping at night. 

 No this isn't real...

I would never do that to her...

SALT!

“SALT!” Pepper yelled in the dark empty void of the room waking up in a cold sweat. She carefully props herself up on the headboard of her bed and sighs.

 “It must've been a nightmare,” Pepper says, trying to calm herself down.

Pepper looks around her and salts shared hotel room, it's dark and chilly devoid of any movement or noise. Pepper looks down to see that in her sleep she had kicked off her blanket, that's why the room seems so cold. 

Pepper looks up to look towards Salts bed.

She isn't there? It's late, why wouldn't salty salt be here?

Pepper gets up in a rush “I have to look for her, why would Salt be out in the middle of the night, something must be wrong.” she thinks to herself. As she's about to open the door to go searching she hears a sound. 

*BEEP*

 Before Pepper can even put her hand on the door it begins to open.

“Salt? Where were you?” 

Salt walks into their room and locks the door behind her.

  “Ah, it was nothing pepper, I just needed some fresh air..” Salt says a little bit out of breath and not making eye contact with her. 

“I... I don't believe you..” 

“It's none of your business pepper... Just go back to bed, please.” salt says passing by Pepper and bumping her shoulder in the process.  

Recently anytime salt would touch Pepper, pepper's heart seemed to flutter like a thousand butterflies were bouncing against her ribcage however right now her heart seemed to sink with salt's touch. 

“Salty, we used to tell each other everything..” Pepper says as her voice barely audible 

“What happened to being BCFF’s…'' Pepper says, choking back her tears. 

Salt pauses on the way to the other side of the room, she stands there in silence before turning around.

“I'm sorry..” salt says softly

Salt sits on her bed facing away from Pepper. Pepper proceeds to sit on the edge of her bed closest to Salt's bed.

“I had a nightmare..” Pepper says softly.

“I know.” a hint of sadness overtakes Salt's voice.

“I woke up to you making noise, I didn't know how to help you..”

Pepper looks up towards Salt, she wants to desperately tell her everything about how she shouldn't be scared to comfort her or how much it breaks her heart seeing her like this. She wants to tell her it's okay, she's okay, we’re okay. She wants to tell her her true feelings, but she can't seem to get the words out.

Even though she's only a few feet away, salt seems so distant like she's miles away from Pepper. 

“My dream..” 

“You were in it..” 

Silence.

Silence so deafening that they were able to hear Trophies faint snoring from across the hall.

“We were... The hosts of inanimate insanity but it was called inanimate insanity infinity.” pepper continues even though Salt hasn't said a word, she can't even tell if she's even listening to her.  

“We were awful to our contestants and we were basically ego maniacs” 

“And lightbulb and that green science tube were also there, they were trying to escape us. We had the green girl tied up and we were threatening her..” Pepper says, trying to catch her breath.

Salt slowly tries to scoot over toward Pepper to comfort her, she may have a lot on her mind but Pepper was still her friend and she can’t stand seeing her in this state.

“We were fighting…” Pepper says trembling

Salt stops, she’s frozen in place.

“I- I was so angry, I was jealous of you..” Pepper's trembling begins to turn into shaking

“ I got so mad... I- um I punched... You into some like black hole” Pepper feels a hand on her arm.

Pepper turns towards Salt and clings to her, Salt reacts by giving her a smothering hug.

“I was so angry. I w-would never hurt you that wasn't me... I couldn't stop myself... I'm sorry.” Pepper says in between sobs.

Salt shushes her while rubbing her back trying to comfort her.

“I'm sorry for not being there for you Pepper..” 

“I've been an awful friend to you recently..” 

Friend…

“It's okay, salt, I understand…” Pepper's sobs begin to slow down into mere sniffles.

Lies, she doesn't get it. 

She doesn't understand why Salt spends all her time trying to get OJ’s attention instead of spending time with her. She doesn't see what's so special about that bumbling fool of juice, she's clearly way better than him. Better for her than him. 

“No,” Salt says, grabbing Peppers shoulders startling pepper out of deep thought. 

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Pepper wipes away stray tears from her cheeks trying to ignore the pounding in her chest and praying internally that Salt doesn't hear it.

“I've been an awful best friend, I've ignored you chasing after stupid OJ..” salt sounded so strong throughout her sentence but once she said OJ she seemed to shrink. 

“Salt?” pepper said worriedly, I mean don't get her wrong, pepper is glad Salt was finally seeing how stupid her actions were but not even 24 hours ago she was still chasing after that guy. What changed…

“I'm sorry. I've been so caught up in my own delusion to see my best friend was struggling.” Salt says slowly moving her hands from peppers shoulders to envelope their hands together.

“I was lost in my own delusion but tonight shook me out of that weird haze..”  

Pepper stares silently into Salts eyes, waiting for some sort of answer to the millions of questions swarming her head.

“I’ve had..a long night .” Salt says gently.

“Ugh..” Salt sturs awake and turns to see the time on her phone.

It's 3 am.

Salt doesn’t usually wake up at this time but there’s been this sound coming from peppers side of the room that awoke her.

Salt sat up from bed, with eyelids half open and trying to adjust to the dark lighting of the room Salt finally realizes what was causing the sounds that rudely woke her up from her beauty sleep, rustling on the bed beside her.

“Pepper?.” Salt whispers in a concerned tone

Pepper is rustling and moving in her bed frantically.

“Pepper, are you awake?” Salt says as she starts to get up from bed. Pepper doesn't respond. 

“Pepper, are you okay?” Salt begins to slowly walk towards peppers bed.

Salt hangs over peppers bed. When Pepper turns in her bed, salt stands in place stunned she can see dried tears staining Pepper's face. 

“She's having a nightmare…” Salt says to herself, she slowly reaches out to Pepper to wipe away the tears from her cheeks.

“S-salt..” pepper murmurs in her sleep.

Salt stills. She slowly retracts her hand and quietly stares at Pepper with dread painting her face. Quietly salt walks past peppers bed.

The only noise in the room now is the sound of salt moving around the room and then later the sound of their bedroom door opening and closing.

*BEEP*

Chapter Text

 “Stupid tears… ” Salt says wiping away stray tears as she walks down the hotel hall.

Salt takes the elevator down to the lobby, she would usually never go out of her room without touching herself up or putting on a bit of makeup but right now she isn't worried about looking a mess right now it's 3 am who would be awake at 3 am she reminds herself. 

Salt walks through the lobby, she doesn't know where she's going but she wants to be as far from her room as possible. 

 Salt walks towards the hotel entrance but before she can even reach the door she hears a familiar voice. 

“Salt?”

Shit.

“O-OJ!” salt says surprised, she starts to try to make herself look more presentable before eventually giving up and turning around towards the familiar glass of orange juice, tightly hugging herself as she can feel the cold night summer breeze from her close proximity to the entrance door.

“I thought it was you, I got worried for a second. I thought there was a ghost in my hotel,” Oj says, letting out a little chuckle at the end.

“Hehe..” salt lets out a small fake chuckle before going back into a poker face. 

“What are you doing up so late?” Oj asks with a concerned look.

“I should be asking you the same thing, handsome” Salt says in a flirty tone.

She's upset but not too upset to try to flirt with her crush, even with no makeup she is confident that she can still pull him.

“I'm just gonna ignore that last part,” Oj says in a deadpan tone and face 

“I was busy doing hotel business you know how it is.” OJ says slowly walking towards Salt.

 “Such a hard-working man, perfect husband material if I say so myself” Salt doesn't move from her original spot from where she was caught earlier but still makes an effort to make heart eyes towards OJ.

“Salt, you never answered me,” OJ says 

Salt snaps out of character but quickly plays up the facade again.

“What do you mean OJ?” she says with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Is something wrong? I mean why are you leaving the hotel at 3 am?” he says slowly walking towards Salt. 

Salt lightly blushes at how close OJ is, it's rare for him to even try to make contact with her or even be in the same area as her, he usually tries to stay clear of her presence. She doesn't know why but she thinks it's because he's embarrassed to be in such close proximity to a very beautiful stunning woman like herself. (she tells herself this but she knows the truth.)

Salts slowly starts to lose the facade she put up as she starts to remember the whole reason why she was even in the hotel lobby in the first place. 

Pepper…

“It's nothing, just needed some fresh air..” she quickly says, turning away from him.

She slowly begins to walk towards her original distention.

 But before she can even reach the door to the outdoors OJ grabs salts arm quickly.

Instead of blushing salt is stunned, why would OJ try to initiate contact with me? This is very out of character for him. Salt thinks

“Do you mind if I join you?” OJ asks hesitantly.

Can this finally be the moment he confesses his undying feelings for me?!? Salt thinks to herself.

“Of course!” she says happily, well as happy as she can be. Even though she is finally getting the attention she's been craving from her crush she can't help but feels an ache still in her heart. That aching, yearning, worry, for someone who isn't the person who she is currently with. 

They both proceeded to walk outside, the moonlight brightening the surrounding area. The night was cool, the chill breeze and the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind was calming. 

OJ and Salt walked beside each other as they made their way toward the side of Hotel OJ. Salt has been here countless times, to just think or to take a breather. OJ seems to look confused as he just follows Salt.

When they get to the side of the building salt leans her back towards the building's wall. 

Salt calms down a bit as she's finally made it outside, she breathes in the cool night air thinking about the whole reason she's out here, she just couldn't stand staying in that room any longer. The nagging feeling of dread filled up her head as she watched Pepper in bed, but also something else in her heart. disappointment in her own actions, she doesn’t know how to express or how to deal with these feelings…

“Hey, Salt..” OJ spoke breaking the silence.

Salt snaps out of thinking and quickly turns over to OJ.

“I know we aren't exactly close but…” OJ pauses before continuing his sentence, rubbing the back of his arm as he tries to think of his next words.

“If something is bothering you, you know you can confide in me right?”

“I mean we were teammates for a while and I consider you a friend.” OJ stares at Salt looking for an answer in her expression.

“Hehe…” Salt lowly chuckles

OJ’s expression turns from worried to confused in a split second.

“Y-you..” salt says softly facing down so OJ couldn't see her expression

“ You really have zero interest in me right?” Salt says almost in an almost tired tone.

“Salt-”

“No.” Salt interrupts

“I-im sorry I'm such a nuisance to you, I just... I just..” she couldn't find the words, Salt rolls her hands into a fist still facing downwards towards the grass that was dancing in the cool night air.

“I was so confused when Pepper was eliminated...we were always together, she was always there for me, I didn't know who I was without her. So I pushed all that affection for Pepper towards you..” Salt starts to slightly tremble as she goes on.

“But after a while, those actions turned into pursuit. I-I really like you OJ..” Salt has expressed her feelings towards OJ over a dozen times before but this time was the first time it hit OJ that this wasn't just a silly crush Salt was truly IN to him. 

There's a moment of silence. The only thing that could be heard was the silent howls of the wind as it swept by the two people.

“Salt…” OJ is conflicted on what to say. He cares for Salt even if he's always irritated around her presence, he has to accept the fact that those weirdly flirty pickup lines and clinginess were her ways of expressing her feelings.

“Salt I’m..”

“I'm Gay.” 

Chapter Text

“Salt I’m..”

“I'm Gay.” 

“Like what? I never noticed he was GAY?!” Salt says as she animatedly explains to Pepper OJ’s confession.

Pepper sits at the edge of her bed with Salt right beside her with a bored expression on her face.

“You really didn't know?” She admits to salt.

Salt turns dramatically towards Pepper gasping out loud at what she just said.

“NO?”

“He didn't give off the vibe to me like it was not obvious at all.” salt says towards Pepper kinda loudly.

“I mean trophy gave off HUGE gay vibes but OJ…never..” she wavers towards the end of her sentence. Salt puts both of her hands together trying to seek some sort of warmth.

“I just guess I was just so blindsided I ignored all the big neon signs pointing out the fact he's..” Salt trails off.

“It's okay salt, I'm just glad we can talk to each other like we used to.” Pepper moves closer to salt, even though they were already unbearably close. she gives Salt a side hug and leans her head to rest on her shoulder. Pepper begins slowly closing her eyes.

Salt gives Pepper a gentle tight-lipped smile. She hadn't exactly explained to her best friend the whole reason she walked out of the room. She just brought up the OJ stuff and gently breezed over the ‘unimportant’ details.

“I'm sorry for being so distant lately pepper, I was so blindsided that I chose to ignore you for some stupid boy. We used to be so close and used to tell each other everything after a while we lost that spark. I'm so sorry.” Salt gently says staring down out her and peppers legs dangling off the bed. 

“We used to be so close…” Salt repeats.

“I think all this OJ stuff has helped me open my eyes, it's made me look at the good that I already had in front of me instead of chasing someone else for something I already had. You have all the love I needed, and ill give you all the love you need.”  Salt gently says, her heart beating so hard she swears if her ribcage weren't holding it in place it would beat out of her chest.

Salt feels the weight on her shoulder get heavier and she hears light breathing next to her. Pepper has fallen asleep on her shoulder. 

Salt smiles gently. 

“yeah, your better off not hearing that corny confession.” Salt says as she moves her best friend's head from her shoulder onto her lap. 

Salt stares down at Pepper's sleeping face, “I'm sorry it took me so long to realize some things, it used to be you and me against the world. I'm sorry I got distracted, ill never lose sight of you again…” 

 “I'm gay..”

Silence. 

OJ turns toward Salt waiting for anything, tears, yelling, but nothing comes. Salt is completely silent.

OJ continues.

 “I'm- I'm sorry if I gave off the wrong impression to you, I wasn't trying to lead you on or something if that's what you think. I just hope you can accept me for who I am.”

OJ seeks any kind of sign that Salt is listening but with her face still facing the ground he couldn't get a read on her.

OJ stands there silently waiting patiently for Salt to answer, “Maybe she's homophobic? Ehh come on OJ give her the benefit of the doubt, she's literally friends with Pepper she can't be homophobic…” OJ thinks to himself  

“Hehe..” 

OJ jumps out of thought as he hears a low chuckle come out of Salt. 

“GOD. I'm such an idiot aren't I...” Salt says sounding slightly exasperated facing up toward the sky and grabbing her forehead.

“W-what?” OJ says kinda startled by her reaction.

“You.. you don't hate me right?” OJ asks watching Salt closely.

“God no OJ, I could never hate you for who you are. I must have scared you away from girls altogether honestly, I don't blame you.” salt says half-heartedly in a joking manner.

“I'm just so… embarrassed on how I spent years of my life chasing after you when you, let's face it, frankly never gave a single shit about my romantic advances.”   Salt says finally looking up towards OJ as they stand side by side. 

“I'm sorry Sal-” 

“No.” she cut him off

“don't apologize, you have no reason to apologize.”

“I was a little lost, and you were my lighthouse in the dark muddy ocean water.” 

OJ is stunned to hear something so poetic from Salt, usually she speaks as if she's a teen girl in a very trope-heavy K-drama. 

“I relied on you so much to distract me from the world around me, You were the safe warm light that I surrounded myself with without realizing that I was still drowning in the sea of darkness.”

OJ stood in silence as he admired Salt, She had this faraway look in her eyes like she was trying to remember a faint distant memory. 

 Salt continued “Pepper was my safe house…and when she got kicked out of inanimate instantly I was so lost. I latched onto you for security and even after the show I couldn't seem to let you go, I took her for granted, I took our friendship for granted. I should have never gotten so caught up in my emotions…” 

“I'm a horrible friend OJ…” 

OJ can see Salt visibly shaking, she was breathing rapidly and he could see unshed tears on the edges of her eyes. OJ slowly moved closer to Salt and enveloped their hands together.

Salt looks up towards OJ and wraps her fingers around OJs hands as she continues “I was afraid, I was blinded by the sheer thought of losing her, that I pushed her away until we no longer had that bond, the bond I craved and sought from others. Others like you…” Salt gripped OJs hands tighter trying to steady herself on him. 

 “She was always there for me and now… I don't even think I have the right to be her friend. I love her so much. I know she loves me but I don't know if she loves me the same way I love her. I want her to feel safe with me, the way she could complete any sentence I said, the way id just look at her and she knew exactly what I was feeling and what I was thinking. She grounded me, I didn't need anyone else, I just need her, and I want her but I put her through so much that I left her because of my own selfish actions and cowardness.” 

Silence enveloped them, OJ gently tightened the grip of his hands against Salts. He understood completely what she was going through. He went through the exact same thing with Paper…

“Your not a horrible friend salt...I understand what your going through. It's hard and difficult to understand” OJ says carefully and brushes his thumb gently on salts hand, so gently like she was a delicate glass on the brink of shattering.

“ Your friendship with Pepper isn't your most powerful weapon, it was your love for each other, your connection, your history with one another. I promise you that things will get better, one little hiccup on the road of self-discovery will not derail your love for one another. I've known you two for many years now and just from seeing you two interact I know nothing will ever change that.”

“What if she hates me… I've been such an asshole, honestly, I wouldn't even forgive myself.” Salt says as tears drip down her cheeks.

OJ reaches towards Salt's face and gently brushes her tears away “Trust me she will forgive you, you guys are THE salt and pepper. Nothing will ever change that.”

Salt silently cries as she leans toward OJ and tightly hugs him.

“Thank you, OJ…”

“Dont mention it, we are friends after all,” OJ says with a sly smile

1 week later…

Salt and Pepper lay on a couch in the lounge area of the hotel, the hotel was weirdly quiet, maybe because everyone was in Pickle's room after Pickle challenged Trophy to a competition on who can win the most rounds of smash against each other. The only sound coming from the hotel's first floor was OJ and Paper in the lobby only a few feet away discussing something about the hotel. Salt sat on her phone mindlessly scrolling on some app and Pepper was focused on the sitcom that was playing on the tv. 

 Some time passes and Salt and Pepper are now alone on the lounge enjoying the silent presence of one another. Pepper slowly loses interest in the TV screen and turns to Salt who was still on her phone, typical.

Pepper stares at Salt and begins to remember the dream she had a week ago, that night was such a whirlwind of emotions but she can't seem to get that dream out of her head. Punching salt into the dark abyss in her dream plays on repeat in her head for a while, it terrifies her.

“Pepper!” salt shouts 

Pepper shoots up. 

“God I've been like calling your name for like three hours!” Salt says with a playful grin. A beat passes by and Salt relaxes her shoulders and turns serious in a split second.

“What's wrong you looked a bit out of it?” she asks gently

Pepper smiles gently “I’m all right, just thinking”

“That's a dangerous pass time.” Salt says jokingly as she focuses her eyes back on her phone screen.

 Pepper keeps her eyes on Salt, even though she had that awful nightmare, ever since that night she doesn't seem to be having any more lately. Actually, she's been having that same dream but with a happy ending where she and Salt lay peacefully on the purple grass and sunbathe until the sun sets in the distance. The idea of them being in an alternate timeline where they were always together no matter what and they had all the control over others l didn't seem that bad, as long as they were together everything will turn out well.

“Salt” Pepper calls out

Salt quickly turns towards Pepper, she stares at Pepper anticipating her question

Pepper gently smiles toward Salt

 “Do you ever think that like we could rule the world if we wanted to?”