Despair's Insanity - an II x DR fic

OFDH - FTE 3

Hour One
9:57 A.M.
Water Height: 3 inches

As I headed upstairs, somewhat unsure of what all I can do, I guess I forgot to look where I was going. Before I knew what was happening, something soft smacked into me, and I landed right on my ass. A horrified gasp soon followed, and a pale hand opened up in front of my face.

"Oh my goodness- are you ok?! I'm so sorry- I didn't realize you were there! I was checking the time- and all of a sudden I saw you on the ground!" I couldn't see who it was at first- just seeing a dark red blob and a hand- but then I realized it was probably Baseball. I grabbed his hand, and suddenly felt myself get pulled up so fast, I actually got some air time before he put me down. I dusted off my suit and huffed. "I'm sorry, again. I didn't-"

"I heard you the first time- I wasn't looking either," I said dryly. We then stared at each other for a minute or two before he leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets. I eventually did the same and tried to find a comfortable position to stand in while he began to talk.

"This motive thing isn't what I wanted to hear today- I had plans!" I nodded, and then Baseball continued, probably because if he didn't, we'd end up in awkward silence. "I was going to ask Trophy and a few others if they wanted to play some kind of game together. I know there's board games and decks of cards in the faculty lounge, and I figured why not have a bit of peace around here, even if it is just for a day. But- I don't think anyone's in the mood anymore... now I'm just focusing on my bucket list." I raised an eyebrow.

"You have a bucket list? What the hell are you gonna be able to do here?" Baseball laughed and pulled out his MonoPhone.

"Well- I don't have many things on it, because I'm generally a pretty content person! But if I'm gonna die here, with these people, I have some stuff I wanna do with them. My top priority is to apologize to Balloon." Balloon? I know Balloon apologized for the season one stuff, but did he deserve an apology from Baseball of all people? Baseball could probably tell I was confused based on my facial expression, which again prompted him to elaborate. "In season two, none of us gave him a fair chance. We all kinda thought he was still a monster... I wanted to give him a chance- but Nickel didn't, and he's my best friend... so I didn't know what to do. And because of my negligence, everything fell apart."

"Fell apart?"

"Nickel, Suitcase, and Balloon all kinda wish I wasn't around. I was too conflicted, and that pissed everybody off. I was picking Nickel's side to Suitcase and Balloon, but I wasn't doing it well enough to make Nickel happy. And I never really got to move past it all, and was left in the dust by Nickel and Balloon- who ended up replacing me. It sucks, but I just want to have some part of it out of my conscience if I end up dying."

I stared at him for a while, completely baffled. I remembered bits and pieces of season two- but it was so long ago, and I didn't pay a lot of attention to Baseball even though he got to the final two. But that sounded vaguely similar to the Bomb/Oj situation in season one. I didn't do a whole lot to save my alliance, and everyone dumped me by the end of it except for Bomb... and even then, it took me years to empathize with him because he "ruined everything". I glanced over at Baseball's bucket list on his phone, reading through each one to myself.

"Maybe," I began, still reading, "maybe we can spend today doing all the other stuff. Of course apologizing to Balloon is entirely on you, and I don't know if I want a role in that, but your other items don't seem too bad... I mean- I've never baked a pie either."

"Right?! Why haven't half of us gotten around to such simple things?" Baseball laughed, and I ended up laughing as well- his laugh is pretty infectious apparently! Doing all this today would probably be a bit of a bucket list for me too- a lot of his list was so basic, and yet I never did any of them either. So for the rest of the day, we did everything we possibly could while there was still the bottom floor to hang out in.

First thing we did was bake a pie- we made raspberry in particular, and it was the grossest thing we'd ever tasted... then again- we did eyeball the entire thing, and I don't think pies take so little time to make and bake. I imagine when Soap finds the mess we made in the kitchen, she'll just about kill us!

Hour Three
12:42 P.M.
Water Height: 9 inches

Next was finishing a round of solitaire. The two of us got a deck of cards out of the faculty lounge on the fifth floor, and sat together to solve it. It took a couple redos, but eventually we managed to complete a whole deck with nothing but our minds. I even made a couple moves for him, which surprised him! Who would've guessed I had some actual smarts?

Hour Five
2:26 P.M.
Water Height: 15 inches

After that, he'd written a bit of a weird one: bench pressing a person. I was a bit hesitant to be his new weight, but he just laid down on his bed expectantly. Eventually I got on his arms, and thankfully nothing too bad came of it. It was actually a little thrilling to be up in the air, as lame as this all sounds, and I closed my eyes to pretend I was actually in the clouds... He only got about twenty reps before he had to put me down, though, which still thoroughly impressed me!

Hour Six
3:13 P.M.
Water Height: 18 inches

The second to last thing on the list was to try and chug a gallon of milk in one go... I got very sick, but Baseball managed to down it. He even threw his hands in the air for a bit of a victory stance, but he didn't end up feeling great either, so we laid down in the nurse's station on the third floor for a while.

Hour Nine
6:46 P.M.
Water Height: 27 inches

The very last thing, was to go into the spa room on the second floor. It was on our rooms' floor, but Baseball in particular was always nervous about wearing swim trunks in front of other people, because he'd only go to sit in the hot tub. I just never wanted to go in. It took a couple minutes of encouragement, but we eventually got changed and just sat in the hot tub for a few hours, talking about whatever came to our mind. Nickel, this whole game, the rules, the little facts about the people here that surprised us... just about anything.

I didn't even notice the entire day had passed until the tv in the spa switched on to show Fan again.

"Hi everyone! I'm still workshopping my catchphrases and whatnot, buuuuut that's not why I made the announcement. It's officially night time, which means that the kitchen and cafeteria are now locked until eight in the morning- not that you can go in there without drowning! Remember to stay in your rooms if you wanna sleep, and have a great night! Fan, out!"

"Aww man," I groaned, trying to fix my hair. "So we can't stay?"

"Pretty sure we can- we just can't fall asleep in here," Baseball huffed. He was still relaxed, arms outstretched on the sides and technically around me, not that I really cared enough to move. Today had been a lot of fun, and I don't think I realized just how much of life I'd been missing when I was locking myself away for days at a time. I wish I'd done this all sooner- but I'm glad I did it at all. And Baseball of all people was the one I did it with! He's actually pretty chill, and I wish I'd known that before too.

But of course, all good things have to come to an end. I was beginning to lose control over my eyes, with them just getting heavier and heavier on me, so I got out of the hot tub and dried myself off. "I should probably head to bed," I said as I put the towel around my shoulders (cause that's how they do it in the movies). Baseball nodded and got out as well.

He waved me goodbye as we began to part ways down the hall. I waved back, got into my room, and began to change. I heard Baseball's voice out in the hall one more time before he disappeared.

"Hey- I had a lot of fun today, Pickle. Thanks for hanging out with me."

"You're welcome dude. I needed to make some friends...anyway..." Before I knew it, I was in my bed and blackness suddenly fell upon me, that being the very last thing I remembered for the night.

Hour Thirteen
10:11 P.M.
Water Height: 39 inches

Baseball seems pretty cool. I should definitely hang out with him more!