BFDI (Ask and Dare)

[Bonus] Between Rounds

Donut sat with Pin and Coiny, looking slightly disgruntled. The other two were talking and laughing, but Donut was pretty much zoning out, not listening to anything they were saying. He liked the fact that he was finally out of the crowded TLC, but was frustrated since it wasn't for the reason he thought it was. BFDIA wasn't happening anymore, or at least not for a while! What he wanted was to compete, not to play some pointless game for who knows how long while the speaker boxes were missing.

Another thing he couldn't stand was that his team was bigger, and that four of the 25+ objects he had been stuck with for months had joined it. He much preferred the original W.O.A.H Bunch; it felt much less crowded and more familiar to him.

"How long is this going to last?" he suddenly asks, making Pin and Coiny stop chatting and look at him. "That ruler thing only comes out for a couple minutes a day and then disappears again. Where do they even go? There's no elimination system and our host is missing, so who's to tell how long this is going to drag on?"

After a moment, Pin shrugs, looking clueless. "I don't know. Maybe we can ask them next time they come up?"

Coiny nods in agreement. "That sounds like the best option. It's been a couple hours since they left, though, so it's going to be a while until tomorrow." Donut flops back and groans, covering his face. It's going to be a really long night.

"Hey now, come on," Pin taps him on his side, making him uncover one eye to look at her. "You should get up and get to know the rest of your team! You're going to go back to the TLC when this is all over, so you might as well."

Donut covers his face again. "Yeah, sure. Make friends and then not see them until the contest ends, yeah, no big deal." He hears Pin sigh.

"Go on, Donut. I have a feeling you're gonna regret not going out and getting to know some people." Coiny states, nudging him. "Come on, Mr. Crankypants."

Pin nudges him too, and Coiny keeps doing so, the two of them endlessly tapping and nagging him to get up and socialize. He pretends to ignore them, but their persistence is becoming very annoying, so after a minute, he finally breaks. "FINE," he sits up, rubbing his eyes and crossing his arms. "I'll talk with them. Just stop POKING ME." Coiny jokingly goes to touch him one more time, and he jerks away, scowling, making Coiny and Pin smother their own laughs.

Donut brushes himself off, moving his focus to the rest of the team he's been stuck with. He scans over them, not knowing who to talk to, but eventually decides to talk to Bomby. The more he waits, the more he doesn't want to socialize, so he might as well start somewhere.

——————

Leafy sat, content, surrounded by Woody, Rocky, and Gelatin. Her smile was genuine and the boys looked like they were having fun, too, all taking turns drawing on a large piece of paper. Gelatin had drawn a building, saying that it was his restaurant. Woody had drawn nothing but patterns and shapes, looking calm and happy. Rocky covered a corner of the page in scribbles.

Woody has his hand on the pencil at the moment, carefully adding to his continuous pattern of zig-zags across his side of the page.

"Aaaand..." Leafy begins to say, counting down in her head... "Time's up! Give the pencil to Rocky!"

Woody makes a small whine of protest, but hands the pencil to Rocky, who takes it clumsily. Leafy immediately moves to hold the pencil with him, guiding him on how to hold it properly without the assistance of hands. Rocky draws nothing but shapeless lines again, overlapping with the previous ones, but looks delightfully proud of his work when he's done. He beams at Leafy, and she laughs, patting his head. "You did good, Rocky!"

"It's just a pile of scribbles, what's good about that?" Gelatin asks, gesturing at Rocky's corner of the page.

Leafy gives him a gentle but stern look. "Don't insult his art, he's trying!" She says, pointing the eraser end of the pencil at him.

Gelatin holds up his hands innocently. "I didn't mean to insult it! I'm just saying!"

Leafy flips the pencil in her fingers a couple times. "Well, even if you think it isn't very good, some things are better left unsaid. Do you understand?"

Gelatin nods, seeing her point. "Makes sense. Can I have my turn now?"

"No, now I need you to apologize to Rocky!"

Gelatin looks a smidge incredulous, squinting at Rocky. "Can he understand me?"

Leafy scoffs, an amused smile on her face. "Of course he can! It's rude to assume someone can't understand you!"

"Sorry, sorry! Gelatin waves his hands. "Sorry I said your drawing sucks, Rocky."

Leafy rolls her eyes, shaking her head, but her smile never leaves her face. "You have a funny way of putting things, Gelly. Here, take your turn." She hands him the pencil.

Rocky suddenly jumps up on his feet, running happily over to where the rest of the team is sitting. Leafy automatically stands up to follow him, walking close behind him just in case he trips. Rocky weaves through teammates until he approaches GB and TB, gleefully catching their attention.

Golf Ball looks up at him, then notices Leafy shortly after, her expression noticeably changing to a negative one. Tennis Ball remains casual, though, greeting both Rocky and Leafy with a small smile. "What's going on?"

Rocky nudges him with his foot, making little noises and pointing behind him, trying to get TB to notice the area where Woody and Gelatin are still drawing. Leafy sees what he's trying to convey, and smiles. "He wants to show you what he's drawing!" Leafy speaks for him, and Rocky quickly starts running back to the large piece of paper.

"Oh, wait up!" TB heaves himself up, turning to his counterpart for a quick 'be right back', following Rocky closely. Leafy starts to follow the two of them, but she's stopped with a hefty sigh.

She turns around a bit slowly, and when she finally faces GB again, she's being glared at heavily. "Not even a 'hi'? Ignoring your teammates doesn't really seem like 'trying to be better'." Golf Ball scowls.

Leafy frowns, nervously clasping her hands together, looking to the side. "Sorry, GB... I didn't think it was very important at the moment..."

"Well, it was." she replies sharply, huffing. "Next time, when you see your team leader, you should at the very least greet her."

"Alright, I will," Leafy says quickly, turning to leave. She doesn't want to deal with GB anymore, no matter how much she wants to prove herself to be improving. Immediately after turning around, she bumps into TB, and instantly yelps out a short apology, slipping to the side and jogging back over to the three boys. As she sits down with them, she hears TB call "it's alright!", but she doesn't look up to acknowledge it.

Woody is back on his turn, meticulously drawing a swirly line beside his zig-zag pattern, the line flowing smoothly on the page. Leafy lets out a long, quiet sigh, watching him draw. She enjoys the company of these three much more than the rest of the team, as the others haven't quite forgiven her yet. It's calm and comforting around them, and she much prefers this calmness versus the tension of talking to people who don't like her.