miscellaneous knifan one shots

headache [human college au]

knife strenuously pushed open the large doors of his dorm building's lobby, making a B-line towards the lone elevator on the southwest side. his arms were full with two plastic bags, filled with their own miscellaneous necessities, a large bottle of water, and two small-sized coffees he bought at a drive-thru café. refusing to make two trips was proving rather difficult, but still he pushed on.

to occupy his brain as he walked, he scanned the room. he watched a man in a medical face mask and stained teal hoodie walk past him, chatting with two pairs of conjoined twins. he turned his attention to the other side of the lobby and saw 4 people sitting on parallel sofas, the two pairs separated by a low table. one of these pairs consisted of a tall, fat redhead that was seated next to a short, scruffy looking man with a condescending smirk, the latter chatting up a storm.  the other pair, two poor souls, were forced to listen to his incessant drabble. one of these unhappy saps was clad in brown overalls and a more unamused face than the boy next to her, who wore a red turtleneck and a deeply anxious and troubled expression. baseball, nickel, suitcase, and balloon respectively. they were a strange group to say the least, but knife didn't have time to ponder on their dysfunctionality before he had to stop short. he readjusted his grip on the drinks with a strained grunt and frustrated grumble, which caught suitcase's attention.

"do you need any help, knife?" suitcase called from across the way, cutting off whatever nickel had been saying and gaining her companions' attention.

"nope, i got it," knife responded before lurching forward to stop one of the drinks from slipping out of his arms.

the other four watched, three of them showing visible concern. "oh yeah, it totally looks like you got it covered there, knife," the remaining one remarked, earning glares all around. suitcase rolled her eyes and turned to balloon.

"i think you should go help him," she said, nodding her head towards her struggling classmate and giving a knowing smile. balloon, in turn, let out a small sigh of relief and smiled himself.

"yeah, i should." he stood and began to head knife's way, but not before leaning towards suitcase and letting out a quiet, exasperated, "thank you." he trotted over to knife and took one of the bags and one of the coffees. the unwanted help caused knife to let out an annoyed growl, but he hesitantly accepted it with a roll of his eyes. better than having it all splattered on the floor.

"thanks," he mumbled quietly. the two made the rest of their way to the elevator, unspeaking. they listened to the echoing sounds of their shoes against the linoleum, and to nickel's ever fading voice. an eternity had past in the seconds it took for them to get to the elevator. balloon asked knife what floor he was going to, and pushed the buttons for him, laughing timorously to calm his nerves. knife leaned against the back wall, and balloon stood next to him. they watched the elevator doors close in dead silence. their bodies tottered and swayed for a brief second as the elevator began to move. with the both of them smothered in a conspicuous awkwardness, balloon's knees felt like jelly.

"so... what's all this for?" he asked, desperate to kill the tension.

"hm? oh, fan's got another one of those headaches. 'asked me to get some stuff for him," knife responded, slightly annoyed. i wonder if this is better for him than sitting with nickel.

balloon nodded and let out a hum at knife's response. he looked at the floor, his grip tightening on the bag he held. he hesitated, then spoke. "y'know, i've been thinking about what you said to me that one time - when you said i hadn't changed."

knife raised an eyebrow, caught off guard. "oh, c'mon, man, that was months ago," he mumbled with a shrug, a smidge of sheepishness in his voice.

"hey, that's my line," balloon laughed a little, playfully nudging knife with his elbow. "i know it's been a while since then, but... i wanted to thank you for it." the elevator stopped and the doors opened. they began to walk down the hall. "i was always so obsessed with the thought of changing that i didn't see how my approach to it would affect the people around me... or even how i'd affect myself..." he seemed to zone out for a moment, then shook his head quickly, stopping himself before he could lose focus and go on a tangent. "the things you've told me helped me a lot, so thank you." he looked up at knife with a smile, and even received a small one back.