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“Hey Nickel. Nickel wake up.” Nickel stirred a bit, mumbling “five more minutes Balloon..” before being shaken by the decoration.
The coin groggily opened his eyes, groaning in annoyance.
“What’s your problem? It’s still dark outside!!” Balloon seemingly ignored his complaints, other than a quick glance outside, before getting up to his feet. He looked back at Nickel, gesturing for him to do the same.
“No use sleeping now…” He rolled out of bed and got up next to Balloon.
“Why did you wake me up anyways? You usually do it after sunrise.”
“I wanted to show you something.” He starts walking towards the cabin door, and Nickel follows him assuming that’s what he wants. They walk towards the woods, silent apart from the crinkling of leaves and sticks under their feet.
“Wow, if I didn’t know any better I’d assume you’re taking me out here to murder me. Totally feel safe here in pitch darkness.” Balloon gave him an annoyed glance, barely visible to Nickel but his eyes had adjusted to the dark by now.
Balloon suddenly stops, Nickel bumping into him. He makes a disgruntled noise, but Balloon seems more occupied with touching the wall of vines in front of them.
“If you really woke me up so early to look at vines, I’m voting you out next time we lose a challenge.” The threat was empty of course, Balloon was more valuable to him than Tea Kettle at this point.
“Wait a second, okay?” He keeps feeling the vines and then he perks up, moving some to reveal a opening behind it.
A cliff with an amazing view.
“So, what’s this all about? Gonna throw me off?” He looks at Balloon with a slight grin. He just rolls his eyes.
“I’m considering it.” He then sits down and pats the space next to it. Nickel realizes he wants him to sit down next to him and hesitates, before awkwardly sitting down.
“I found this place after the last challenge. I needed to find a place to relax after… well, you know.” Nickel just nods, understanding what he meant. He’s been laying in bed for hours at a time, feeling guilty build up over what happened with Box. Tea Kettle seemed to be not handling it well either, seeming to focus on making hors d’oeuvres that no one would eat to keep her mind off of it.
“Why’d you bring me here, then?” He looks at Balloon, who’s looking at the sky, but mind seems to be more occupied. Nickel noticed his hands fidgeting but didn’t comment on it.
“Well, I thought that since Box isn’t with us at the moment, we could try actually bonding more I guess. Beyond the alliance with him.” He’s still looking away from Nickel, scared to hear his response.
The coin just looks out at the view, seeing hints of light and orange in the dark sky.
He thinks about Balloon’s offer. He’d hate to admit this, but he did feel some guilt about keeping Balloon at a legs distance. Balloon was trying to, and has been improving. Nickel just ignored it at first, but it’s obviously something he couldn’t just ignore now. Balloon was genuinely caring, and he was surprised he’s tolerated being around Nickel and working with him for so long since he made it clear he didn’t like him before. Especially how things were in the show and in Hotel Oj. Why should he even stay here? He should leave.
He doesn’t though. He sits there, thinking as the sun rises. Then Balloon speaks up.
“You know, I was relieved when I found this cliff.” Balloon doesn’t know if Nickel is listening, but keeps going. “I knew a similar one, back even before season two. I went there a lot when I had to ground myself. Especially during the show. I showed Suitcase the same day Soap was voted out I think.” Nickel looked at him, thinking over what to say.
“Why show me? You and Suitcase were friends, and I’ve made it clear before I don’t want more than a alliance with you.” Balloon seemed to flinch a bit at the last comment, making Nickel feel bad. Which he shouldn’t, he wasn’t wrong.
“I wanted to try being friends.” There was a pregnant silence between them.
“You sure about that?” Balloon just looks at him with confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Balloon, you’re not dumb. I’ve been an ass to you, and as you said we only became close because of Box. Why try to get closer?” Balloon is silent for a bit, mulling over a response.
“You didn’t have to, though.” Nickel flashes a look of confusion. “Starting an alliance with me and Box, hang out with me all the time, tolerating me at all honestly. But you have, and that’s something, right?”
Balloon had a point. For all the grievances of the past, Nickel did enjoy just talking to Balloon. More than he’d like to admit. Everyday he’d go to complain about something, whether it be a contestant or a slight annoyance, or he’d wait in the cabin for Balloon to come with the food he sneaks for Nickel from the pic-nix table. He usually joins him, keeping company while Nickel eats, having his own snack. They’d sometimes even have a actual nice conversation, or just sit in comfortable silence. After the few first times there was barely any tension between them during that time.
“I guess,” Nickel tries to find more words, “but that started out of necessity. Can’t go in without an alliance, and Box was never much of a talker.” Balloon just gives him a look. Was it of disappointment? Nickel assumed so.
“I guess you can go then. You can sleep in if you do, I won’t bother you and I’ll make sure TK let’s you sleep.” He looks back at the sky, more colors creeping in.
The offer was tempting, but Nickel didn’t get up, much to both of their surprise. They continued to look at the sky.
The sunrise was beautiful. Nickel never wakes up early enough to see it, and probably wouldn’t do it every day. But he understood why Balloon might. There was a comforting feeling, sitting next to someone he knew for so long. Even if they hadn’t had the best experiences. As the sky became lighter and the oranges turned into yellows, Nickel came to an answer.
“Sure.” Balloon looked at him in confusion.
“We can try being friends. I can’t deny how you’re actually cool.” Nickel struggled for his next words, sputtering a bit before choking out a “Sorry.”
“Huh?” The decoration’s eyes was wide in genuine shock.
“I’m sorry. For being horrible to you, even when you clearly wanted to change. You improved a lot and I should’ve recognized it sooner. Being your friend couldn’t hurt.” They both sat in silence.
Nickel didn’t expect a sudden hug; barely any strength in it as Balloon wasn’t known for his strength, but it was still jarring for a second. After the initial shock, he settled down and leaned into it.
“Don’t expect me to accept hugs all the time. Only doing it now since I apologized.” Balloon chuckled, before replying with a quiet “sure, you got it.”
He let go of Nickel but still kept an arm around him. He’d tell him off, but it was nice. They just sat there as the sun finished it’s rising to a new day, and there were no worries from either of them right now. No challenge, new or old, plaguing their head right now. Just a warm blanket of comfort over the both of them.