Liar.

Chapter 9

Hiraeth

(n.) a Welsh word characterising homesickness for a home you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, grief, longing and yearning for things lost to the past.

Nickel fell down, scrambling backwards until he was backed up against a wall. She stared down at him, her hands balled into fists at either side of her.

He tried to make himself smaller, pressing himself against the wall until his back hurt.

She tensed up, and he froze. She raised a fist and he flinched, shrinking away from her every movement.

"You." She hissed, taking another step towards the cornered boy. Nickel had nowhere to run now.

"Me..." He murmured, meeting her stare with a shaky smile.

She stormed forward and slammed her heel into his leg, digging it deeper in response to his cry of pain.

"Why can't you do anything right?! You've been nothing but a fucking thorn in my side all your life, and of course you had to mess this up for me too!" She growled, grabbing his face and yanking it to her level.

"I-" Nickel began, his voice and body both trembling.

"DON'T TALK BACK!" She dug her nails into his cheeks, making him wince.

Nickel was still shaking when he woke up.

A sharp mechanical beeping cut though the nightmare, the light filtering through the curtains spearing though his eyelids. A crackling pain shot through his head.

On the other side of the room, Balloon was stretching and sitting up, turning off her alarm clock with a soft click.

Nickel stared at her, trying his best to hide his shaken expression. Judging from her puzzled expression, he didn't hide it very well.

"Nickel, what's up? You look like-" She yawned. "Like you've seen a ghost."

"I'm fine." He mumbled, sitting up and fidgeting with the bedsheets.

"Uh huh..." Balloon replied, giving him a sceptical look that made his jaw clench.

"I just have a bad headache! God, fuck off." He spat back, standing up and rummaging through his dresser.

"Woah." She replied, looking taken aback. "You suddenly get your memories back or something?"

He scoffed, pulling out an assortment of hoodies and shirts and tossing them to the floor without a second glance. "Don't you wish."

"No honestly I think I like you better like this." She watched as Nickel snapped his head around to stare at her, eyes wide. "Baseball certainly doesn't though."

"Yeah, well, Baseball is weird." Nickel begrudgingly settled on one of the hoodies and haphazardly stuffed the rest back into the drawer.

"Not really, he just really cares about you."

"I think he's just clingy." He rolled his eyes. "It's uncomfortable."

Balloon cringes. "Well... I guess? You've never really had a problem with it before, though."

"Well that was then and this is now. He expects me to be someone completely different!"

"Right..." She sighs, rubbing her eyes.

"For all it matters, that Nickel is dead, and as long as I'm around he's not fucking coming back."

~~~

Nickel yawned, dragging himself down the stairs and slumping into one of the empty chairs at the dining table. Baseball turned to him, fixing him with a startled look.

"Uh? Y-"

"You're..sitting next to me?" Baseball interrupts, straightening himself out.

"Yeah? What's with that look?"

"Huh? What look? I-" Baseball begins

"You can go sit somewhere else if you're gonna whine about it." Nickel cuts him off.

"No I didn't mean it was bad- I just... didn't think you liked me very much."

"Well I don't hate you."

"Ah." He replied. He says that a lot, huh?

"You're fine, all things considered." Nickel gives in, groaning the halfhearted confession.

Baseball oh so kindly responds with silence.

"Mh." The silver-haired boy half hisses, annoyance dripping from it.

"I... sorta assumed you only really tolerated me. You're so different now— harder to read, I suppose."

"Harder to read?" Nickel echoes, slightly quirking an eyebrow, "But not impossible?"

"No," Baseball replies, "You're still human, you know. You still have those same quirks, however much you try to hide them."

He scoffs, crossing his arms and slightly cocking his head to the side. "I don't try to hide anything."

Baseball smiles, though his eyes aren't in it. "Suuuuure."

"Wh- I'm not kidding!

"Your eye twitched."

"What."

"It's a dead give away you're lying."

"I-" Nickel began, but stopped himself, "huh... I dunno if that's impressive or really creepy."

"Well I've known you for ages, you tend to pick up on those things after a while. You know, the way you move, the way you talk, all those micro-expressions and stuff."

"You're weird, Baseball, you know that?"

He sighs. "You don't pick up little things like that?"

"Footsteps and voices, yes, but not enough to read everyone like an open fucking book." He rolls his eyes with a slight smirk.

"Heyyy! It's barely different, I'm not weird 'ya hypocrite!" Baseball huffs with a grin, tousling Nickel's hair.

Nickel flinches away, but tries his best to maintain his smug smile. He thinks he notices a tiny flicker in Baseball's expression, but it's gone before he can really be sure.

He is weird, though. Perhaps Nickel doesn't mind it though, perhaps his terrible jokes and strange stares didn't annoy him as much as he let on. And if he saw the guy as a safe space in this cursed hotel, he'd take that to his grave.

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A/N 

Aaaaand we're back, finally. Short chapter this time because I was struggling a 'lil bit. Here's a lore drop for the wait and a tiny trace of sorta-fluff to keep you all sane