Started writing: December 3rd, 2023.

To my biggest fan. Wait, scratch that... To my air conditioner.

No POV:

Cheesy.

Cheesy had been plaguing Trophy's mind like a virus lately, and it was getting unbearable.

He told himself he was being "too nice" recently, and needed to stop going soft... But it was hard to do that with Cheesy.

Trophy saw Cheesy as this pure, innocent, opposite version of himself. He found it kind of endearing.

He would never admit to liking Cheesy, even in a platonic way. Whenever anybody would ask about their relationship status, he would always say they were "allies" and nothing more. Sometimes he would even insult Cheesy in the conversation to prove it, whether it be about his tooth gap or his short and stubby legs, he would go out of his comfort zone just to prove him and Cheesy aren't, and were never a thing.

He felt extremely bad for dropping Cheesy yesterday, and wanted to apologize. At first he beat himself up for even thinking of the word "sorry", but he felt as if Cheesy was the exception to that twisted mindset.

If you told him a year ago that he would be head over heels for, objectively, the most obnoxious person to be around in the hotel... he would've laughed hysterically in your face. Instead, he's thinking about what Cheesy would look like with his shirt off.

Trophy sat up and got out of his bed

'Okay Trophy, just go out and apologize to him. Simple! No gayness involved. A perfectly normal apology.'

Trophy made his way out of his room...

And spent the next 30 minutes looking for Cheesy.

Cheesy was absolutely nowhere to be seen. He wasn't in his room, he wasn't in the lobby, he wasn't in the performance room, or on the roof, Which Trophy was actually quite glad for.

He walked over to the front doors of the Hotel and debated if he should check outside.

He sat there for an entire minute thinking, until he heard the door open.

Standing before him was the Cherries, looking mischievously happy, and Cheesy, who looked like he just got beat up by a wild animal.

Trophy immediately ran up to Cheesy.

"CHEESY! Where were you?! What the heck happened?! Are you okay?!"

"Woah woah Troph, calm down! Cherries just invited me to play outside with them, and...I fell out of a tree."

The Cherries giggled.

"Yeah! We got a piggyback ride too!"

"Yeah, you almost broke my back..." Cheesy said jokingly.

"I thought your boyfriend did that last night." One of the cherries said, glancing at Trophy.

".....WHAT?!"

Cheesy yelled so loud that half of the hotel could probably hear it. The Cherries started laughing hysterically on the ground, tears forming in the corners of their eyes as they forgot how to breathe.

Trophy just stood there, mouth agape and absolutely FLABBER-SMACKED by what the Cherries just decided to say.

"H-how dare you?! That is extremely inappropriate! Besides, I don't even have a boyfriend, and I d-don't want one!" Cheesy lied, staring at Trophy for a moment before looking away. He didn't want Trophy to see him blushing.

Trophy swore he could feel his heart crack a bit after hearing that, but decided not to say anything.

As Cherries were having an asthma attack on the ground from laughing so hard, Trophy pulled Cheesy aside to talk to him.

"Uhh... Hi Trophy, what do ya need?"

Trophy wanted to apologize to him, but the words weren't coming out of his mouth for some reason.

Cheesy stared at Trophy in slight confusion, as the urge to kiss Cheesy became harder and harder to bear for Trophy.

"IJUSTWANTEDTOSAYIMSORRYFORWHATHAPPENEDYESTERDAYOKAYBYE" Trophy said briskly, before immediately running away from Cheesy and into the hallway.

He speed-walked his way to the stairwell, he needed to talk to someone, and he knew exactly who to turn to.

Candle moved into the hotel shortly after her elimination, and some people had talked to her kind of as a therapist. He had heard that she was exceptionally good at keeping secrets, and even the largest attempt at bribery wouldn't budge her, so he felt comfortable talking to her.

Eventually he got her room. He hesitated before knocking on the door swiftly.

"Come in, Trophy." she said in her elegant voice.

Trophy opened the door, only to be met with the piercingly strong scent of lavender in the air, and smoke from incense burning. Her bed had a beautiful purple canopy, as well as purple LED's on her ceiling that gave the room a relaxing atmosphere.

"Uhm hi... how did you know it was me at the door?"

"Your knocks are petrifyingly loud, so it was obvious. Now take a seat and tell me what's on your mind." Candle said calmingly.

"Ignoring the roast you just threw at me... uhm, I think I'm like... not straight."

"Ah, another one I see. Can you tell me more?"

"...What do you mean "another one"? Are there other people having a sexuality crisis at the same time, if not before me?"

"That's not important, just tell me what you came here for."

"...Okay. It's about Cheesy." Trophy started.

"I hate how his jokes are terrible, but in a charming way. I hate how whenever he talks to me, I feel really weird but kind of euphoric at the same time... I hate how I tried to talk to him earlier but I could barely form a sentence because the urge to just... to just kiss him is so much to bear... And I hate how his voice is a mixture of extremely annoying and angelic... And I hate how he kind of looks like a girl and it makes me question my sexuality... I hate his weirdly beautiful eyes and his stupidly endearing smile... but I'm STRAIGHT!"

"Trophy. What you just described to me is definitely not straight. I think you love Cheesy."

"Love? LOVE?!"

Trophy didn't want to admit that he loved Cheesy, he liked girls after all! ...right?

"I don't even like Cheesy in a platonic way, let alone love!" Trophy denied.

"Trophy, denying these feelings are only going to make it worse and the feeling stronger. You've made yourself believe that loving anything other than the opposite gender is bad, I can tell. Just be yourself, don't let other people's opinions define you. Especially if someone in the past made you believe those things." Candle explained.

Trophy just sat there. He didn't want to believe his own feelings, but Candle was right. If he didn't let himself feel these things, it was only going to get more unbearable.

"...I don't like Cheesy. End of story."

Trophy was lying to Candle. He knew that, and he felt kind of bad for it.

He left the room and closed the door, his cheeks redder than when he entered.

Cheesy's POV:

"Did you fix it yet?" I asked.

Test tube opened a drawer in her table and pulled out Trophy's camera.

"Indeed I did! It was actually easier to fix than I thought it would be..." She said, handing me the camera.

"Omg, thank you so much! I hope he still isn't too angry like before... I hope I can get him to apologize to Fan, or get Fan to apologize to him." I say, grabbing the camera.

"I'd be pissed if someone broke one of my special belongings too, so I don't see it as that big of a deal." Test tube said, shrugging.

"Okay thanks, I'm gonna go see Trophy now!" I say cheerfully, leaving Test tube's lab.

Test tube was so nice for fixing Trophy's camera, and I'm so glad she did! I hope Trophy will feel a bit better once I give it to him...

~TIME SKIP~

No POV:

Trophy was in his room with his face in his pillow. He couldn't believe he actually fell for Cheesy of all people. It was like a nightmare come true.

His face was probably redder than Stephenson 2-18 at this point. (A/N sorry guys I'm a space nerd) The only thing stopping him from confessing was his crippling fear of rejection.

Earlier he kept telling himself over and over that he didn't like Cheesy, and he got so frustrated to the point where he punched his wall, creating a small but noticeable hole.

"I'm so sick of myself..." Trophy said to himself out loud.

Then, he heard a knock on his door.

He quickly pulled himself together and walked to the door, desperately praying to "our true savior" that the person on the other side of the door wasn't Cheesy.

When he opened the door though, he was met with a familiar face.

"Hey Troph!" Cheesy said, grinning ear to ear.

Trophy internally screamed.

"Why are you smiling? Are you up to something?" Trophy said.

"Weellllll... I have a present for you!~" Cheesy said in a sing-song voice, letting himself into the room and waddling in.

"No offense, but why do you walk like that? It's weird... and kinda cu- ANNOYING. It's annoying."

Cheesy looked at him in a skeptical way before shrugging.

"I dunno. It's just how I've always walked, since I was a kid!" Cheesy said, sticking out his tongue after.

"Ugh...Cheesy, why do you always have to act like you're six years old?"

"Maybe I am, you don't know that!" Cheesy teased.

"Just because you're the size of a six year old doesn't mean you are a six year old."

Cheesy dropped his jaw and scoffed dramatically, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Didn't need the insult, but if you didn't want my gift you could've just said so!"

"No no wait, I do want the gift."

"Then here it is!"

Cheesy pulled Trophy's fixed camera out of his pocket, before Trophy quickly snatched it out of his hands and inspected it, turning it in different directions.

"You... you fixed it?"

"Actually Test tube did... she's a really sweet gal-"

Cheesy was interrupted by Trophy pulling him into a tight hug, with his camera still in hand.

"Cheesy, you really shouldn't have..."

"Aww, no worries! I love making people feel better, especially you, Troph!" Cheesy said, booping Trophy's nose.

Trophy could feel his face heat up with how close they were, and after a few seconds of just standing there in awe, he pulled away and put his camera in the pocket of his sleek yellow letterman jacket.

"T-thanks...I guess."

'Really Trophy, stuttering?! You're losing your heterosexuality by the second!' Trophy thought to himself.

"You're so welcome Troph, I'd do anything to make you feel better!"

'I bet he wouldn't give me a big fat smooch though. OKAY WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME'

"Uhm... Y-yeah, whatever twerp. Now get out of my room." Trophy said, trying to appear intimidating while painfully failing.

"Okay, bye Troph!" Cheesy said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Trophy walked over to his bed, placing the newly fixed camera on his nightstand, falling face first into his pillow shortly afterwards.

"I fucking hate being a homosexual..." He muttered to himself.

He needed to find the courage to confess to Cheesy, and soon.

Stopped writing December 6th, 2023.

1,861 words