Melting Feeling

Lollipop slowly awoke from her nap. Or maybe her sleep? She didn't know what time it was. She hasn't for days. She just trusts her instincts and sleeps when she gets tired. It would've been so much easier if they were just back home. When they all knew when nighttime was. She missed the ease of just hanging with her roommates all day without a care in the world. Her roommates... Her friends...

She hated to admit how much she missed them.

She tried so hard to force those feelings away to be the best she could be. But in the end, none of that even mattered anymore. Now she was alone. Alone in this cold, quiet room. What would they think if she showed up now? They'd hate her. She wanted to apologize though, even if they didn't forgive her. But she'd wait a little while, it's barely morning, she assumes. Why would anyone be awake?

So she leaned back against the cold metal wall, hoping she could sleep it off and be ready to apologize.

- - -

I shot up in my bed, drenched in sweat. I've been having horrible nightmares. I quickly regained my composure and got out of bed. I have to get dressed. Slipping on my usual T-shirt and slacks, I stumbled over myself grabbing for my lab coat. The small yelp I heard broke me out of my process.

Oh right, I have no job!

Hah!

I peeked into my lab coat pocket, to find Snowball, curled up inside. I delicately pulled him out.

"Snowball, what are you doing here? Why aren't you with everyone else?" He frowned.

"I just like your coat more! Is that not allowed?" He seemed a little scared.

"Of course it's fine Snowball, I was just curious!" I reassured him.

"I'm going to do some chores, maybe you should stick with the others in the living room till I'm done!" I tried to keep my voice calm and friendly, to let him know he was safe. He just nodded quietly and ran out of the room.

I yawned and walked out into the kitchen. Seems like Teressa wasn't awake yet. I'll start on breakfast and then do some quiet cleaning.

Breakfast was easy to make, if not just a little tedious. And I swept the whole kitchen! I'm feeling very productive! I should probably do my laundry too, I haven't in a couple of weeks and I'm running out of clothes. I grabbed my overflowing laundry basket from my room and quietly stepped into the guest room to grab Teressa's, who was still sound asleep.

I opened the washer and dumped a mixture of red and yellow clothes into it. Easy enough, I'll just switch it over in a while.

- - -

An hour passed and most of the objects were awake. Snowball stepped up the building block steps and into the house he built with his friends yesterday.

"I'm a little tall for this..." Snowball said, hunching over to get through the doorways.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr.Tallest person alive! We told Xavier to buy some more, we'll fix it later." Fan said in her usual hateful tone. It confused Snowball. She spoke of accommodating him, but she also insulted him? She didn't seem to hate him though and that made him happy. Meanwhile, Lightning was still flying overhead,  adding bricks to the roof. Snowball stepped into a side room and could see Fan looking out the brick window.

"I wish it was taller, we're definitely making this taller!" She said to herself, looking down at everyone outside.

"Hey Fan, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"When our room was first made back in the lab, were you actually going to talk to me?" His voice was quieter as he talked. She didn't turn around.

"...yeah. But I didn't. And I suppose I owe you an apology for believing Pencil of all people," she turned to look at him.

"But that doesn't matter, now stop asking dumb questions!" She walked past him out of the room as she spoke. Snowball stood quietly, a small smile on his face. He turned and peeked out the window.

"Hey Ice Cube! Want a tour?" Snowball yelled out the window, Ice Cube looked up from her conversation.

"Maybe later! We're going to explore around more!" She yelled back. Snowball smiled and gave a thumbs up. Not dealing with all the drama was the most relieving thing to happen to Snowball. He didn't feel the intense anger about all the rumors and lies, and it also meant he didn't feel the intense loneliness. The ache to be included. To even be recognized as someone who could be normal. It was a dream come true.

Flower held her knees to her chest, looking out the window next to the front door. She saw flowers on Xavier's TV, kept in little vases, displayed as pretty decoration. She liked that idea, being admirable and pretty...She felt the petal that covered her eye. Even though Xavier kept establishing that nothing was "weird" about them, no matter the difference, she still felt like an odd one out. A lot of people were missing one or more limbs, and a couple could fly, but Flower was the only one missing an eye. No one could understand her the way they could understand each other, she was constantly worried that people thought she was somehow worse than everyone else. She sighed, trying to tune out the people in the living room, happily chatting and playing together.

"Wow, this is a good hiding spot!" A high-pitched voice spoke behind her. She yelped and jumped back.

"Oops! Wasn't tryna scare ya!" Ruby said in her ever-happy tone. Flower stayed cowering away from her. Ruby sat near her, staring at her quietly.

"...Why are you up here?" Flower asked defensively. Ruby's smile was friendly.

"I saw you climbing up earlier and decided to see what was up! You remember me right?! We were in the same room!" She stood proud as she asked. Of course, Flower remembered her. She was friends with Pencil, Match, and Bubble. Bubble didn't seem bad at all but Pencil and Match could be mean if they wanted to. But even they seemed to be neutral on the whole situation by the end of it.

That didn't mean Flower trusted any of them.

"Sure. I remember. Doesn't explain why you needed to follow me." Ruby frowned at this response but sat down and scooted closer to Flower anyways.

"Well, now that all this is done I thought it would be nice to get to know you! You seem really cool!" Flower turned away, hiding an anxious grin.

"Cool huh?" She asked. Ruby laughed.

"Yeah! And pretty!" Flower turned back to her and stared.

"...you actually think I'm pretty? Like actually?" In the flurry of emotions, Flower let her petals go and they all stood uniform around her head. Ruby looked in awe.

"Definitely! The prettiest!" Flower smiled. Ruby giggled.

"I got you to smile!" She said with her own giddy grin. Flower laughed along with her.

"I guess you did!"

Golf Ball paced the room, Tennis Ball close behind her. She was incredibly frustrated. It was hard for her to adapt to all this. She could barely understand everything in the lab, and yet it was somehow worse now.

"A radio! With SOUND WAVES! I need you to write this down TB!" He quickly sat down and began writing. Xavier gave them all the little science books he could make but it wasn't enough. She hated how lost she felt here. She sat near him, both of them sitting in the hallway next to the bedrooms. Xavier rushed by and Golf Ball stood quickly.

"WAIT! Where are you GOING?" She demanded to know. They looked down at them.

"Oh! Didn't see you two down there! I'm going into the laundry room!" They explained quickly.

"Why?" Xavier looked around.

"To do laundry?" She narrowed her eyes.

"What's laundry?" Xavier grabbed at his shirt.

"Humans wear these clothes. We have to wash them. You call clothes you wash laundry. And I'm moving my wet clothes into the dryer!" She huffed and turned to Tennis Ball.

"Did you get all that TB?" He nodded, writing quickly. Golf Ball watched through the doorway as they moved the mass of red and yellow clothes into the dryer.

"Bet you 'Laundry room' isn't in any of our science books." She said with a huff.

"I'm sure they can get us a book about how they work!" She rolled her eyes.

"That's not the point..." She sat back down, leaning against him.

"I hate feeling so uninformed! Xavier knows all this stuff like it's easy! How am I ever supposed to live like this! I can't get over it like everyone else, all goofing off with electronics and toys!" She continued to rant, leaving Tennis Ball to listen quietly, paying attention to every complaint she could spew. After a few minutes,  she got quieter, letting herself calm down.

"Feeling better GB?" He asked quietly. She sighed.

"Yeah. Thanks, TB." It was a rare moment of vulnerability from her that Tennis Ball rarely saw.

"What! You guys have nicknames?! That's so cute!" Teressa said, kneeling down to look at them. Golf Ball jumped up.

"Don't sneak up on us taller person!" She yelled, back to her calculated demeanor. Teressa laughed.

"You guys are adorable!" She laughed more as she walked by the two. Golf Ball gritted her teeth.

"This is ridiculous..." she muttered, standing back up.

"Let's go study different things in the kitchen or something." She had already started walking away before Tennis Ball responded. Tennis Ball smiled and quickly followed after.

Lollipop jolted awake, breaking into a cold sweat. An explainable pain shot through her face. What was happening to her? She tried to stand but something felt wrong. She grabbed at her face to figure it out and...

Something was...

Sticky.

She quickly twisted her head in horror, now seeing the damage.

Her face.

It had melted to the metal.

She was now aware that this metal was shaking. Not only shaking but extremely warm. The loud whirring of the machine made her more upset and confused. She planted her hands against the hot machine and pushed, attempting to pull her melted half away. She finally managed, despite the mess the melted candy had left.

She stood on her feet, pressing her hand to her face. It didn't help too much, as the purple candy just melted past her hand and onto the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain. It was hard to walk with her now asymmetrical head, but she managed to slowly make her way to the doorway.

"What happened to you?!" A voice yelled. She looked up at an unfamiliar face. She was a pencil sharpener. Lollipop stared in confusion, did she really not remember someone?

"Wait here- or maybe follow-No! Wait here! I'll get help." Lollipop wasn't in a state to complain. As soon as the sharpener left she dropped to the ground, still holding back tears. She wanted to run but even blinking felt like her face was on fire. Which it kinda is.

"Okay! She's over here!" More people she didn't recognize. Maybe it was her injury.

"Jeez, she's melty! One of us needs to get papa." One of the pencil toppers said. He and the pink one volunteered, running off.

"Maybe if we like...push it back where it goes?" The red crayon suggested, pushing at her face, which was a little less melty. Nonetheless, she immediately shouted in pain and shoved him away.

"Well, maybe not that?"

"OBVIOUSLY not that!" The orange crayon yelled.

"Man why would I know that! I'm a crayon! And I have yet to have half my face melt off like some monster!" They both glanced at Lollipop.

"You guys are mean." The green crayon said before they all turned to loud footsteps.

"Lollipop!" Xavier yelled anxiously, scooping her up off the ground. They held her up to their face.

"Oh no! What happened?!" He asked, already walking towards the bathroom. She stayed quiet.

"The metal wall...it was warm." Xavier thought for a moment.

"The laundry room? You were next to the dryer Lollipop?!" Lollipop stayed quiet. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the cold water wash over her face.

"That should stop the melting. Now, what were you doing in the laundry room?! You had me worried when you vanished like that!" Lollipop glanced up at them slowly.

"Do I have to talk about it?" Her voice was quiet. Xavier walked to the hallway and stood still.

"...No. Of course not. Do you want to hang out in my room for a while to calm down?" Lollipop looked down the hall towards the living room, still bustling with the noise of all the people she knew, happy and loud.

"I want to go see everyone." She said, her voice more confident.

"Of course!" Xavier set her down near the living room.

"Let me know if you need anything." With that, she was off. Her balance was still a little off, she reached her hand to her face. Still had both eyes, even if one was half closed, but a big chunk was missing from the side of her head. She sighed, suddenly sighting them. Her friends. They hadn't noticed her. She slowly approached them.

"Lollipop?! What happened!" Ice Cube asked.

"Why bother coming here? We know what you did!" Book added. Lollipop stared at them all, motionless.

"Well?! You have some nerve after what you di-"

"I wanted to apologize." Book was surprised to hear this. She crossed her arms.

"All of a sudden huh?" Lollipop looked at her, a somber look in her eyes.

"Yes. Because I realized how cruel I was. And decided I should apologize for my actions. You don't have to forgive me. You can be mad. I just needed to finally express my guilt to you all." Everyone looked on quietly. Book spoke up.

"I can't believe you'd-"

"I forgive you!" Ice Cube interrupted.

"We do too!" Saw cheered, grabbing Gate with her. Teardrop nodded as well. Book looked around, then back at Lollipop, tears welling in her eyes.

"I...I should forgive you too."

"You don't have to." Lollipop said.

"Yeah, but everyone you hurt has forgiven you, I shouldn't speak for them." Book wiped a tear away with a smile. Lollipop smiled too.

"Yay! Teams back together!" Saw cheered happily, rounding them all up into a hug.

"Glad to have our Lollipop back." Gate told Lollipop with a soft smile.

"I'm glad too." She said, hugging them all back. She had finally apologized. And she finally had her friends back. She couldn't think of anything better than this.

Hi!!!Ignore how long this took

Which for anyone curious was about 10 months

Omg ANYWAYS

I REDESIGNED THEM ALL!!!

I love them 😻

I redesigned the others too but idk where those went so 🤞

:•)