Nickel and Balloon stepped out of the cabin and headed towards the campfire where their friends were gathered. As soon as they left the cabin, Nickel grabbed Balloon's hand. He wanted to make it clear to Knife that he and Balloon had a connection, even if they weren't officially a couple. Nickel despised Knife's assumption that he could just swoop in because Nickel and Balloon weren't dating. He intended to make sure Knife understood that, despite their status, Balloon had feelings for him. As they walked past Knife, Nickel shot him a glare. Knife noticed and smirked, his eyes following the pair as they joined the group by the fire. Fan, meanwhile, clutched his coffee mug tightly, his gaze distant.

"Good morning," Balloon greeted Fan with a smile, sensing something was wrong but not wanting to pry.

Fan snapped out of his trance and looked up, noticing Balloon standing beside him with a concerned expression. He returned a faint smile before responding.

"Uh, yes, good morning," he replied quickly, taking a sip of his coffee.

Nickel and Balloon exchanged glances, both sensing that something was off with Fan. They decided not to ask, despite suspecting it might be related to Knife.

In the midst of her rambling with Test Tube, Lightbulb noticed Test Tube had a coffee. She realised Fan had returned without her noticing. She paused and leaned over Test Tube to ask Fan.

"Did you get my hot chocolate?" Lightbulb asked.

Fan's eyes widened. He had completely forgotten! "Geez... I'm sorry, Lightbulb! I completely forgot," he admitted.

Lightbulb smiled faintly. She really wanted a hot chocolate, but sometimes people forget things. She wasn't mad at Fan for forgetting, just disappointed she didn't have her hot drink. Leaning back into her spot, she said, "It's okay," with a bright smile.

Paintbrush, sitting beside Lightbulb, frowned at how upset their girlfriend was. They put an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder, shooting a fierce look at Fan.

Fan gulped and shifted nervously. "I can go make you one now if you like?" he offered, mostly because he was intimidated by Paintbrush. He had learned never to get on Paintbrush's bad side; they could get really, really angry, which was terrifying.

"If you want... you don't have to if it's too much work!" Lightbulb quickly assured.

"Haha... nonsense," Fan smiled awkwardly as he stood up. Paintbrush continued to glare, never taking their eyes off him, making it clear he was to make their girlfriend a hot chocolate this time.

As Fan stood up, Balloon noticed how Knife watched carefully, his eyes following Fan's every move as if he were watching his prey. Balloon felt uncomfortable letting Fan go to the kitchen alone, especially since it seemed Knife was planning to follow him. From what Balloon knew, Fan got a bit weird around Knife, which worried Balloon. He didn't want Fan to make a mistake and fall for any of Knife's tricks, so he decided to speak up before Fan left.

"I'll come too. I think I remember how to make a coffee this time!" Balloon smiled at Nickel. "It's my turn to make a coffee for you," he added with a cheesy grin.

"Whatever you say, looney," Nickel chuckled, letting go of Balloon's hand. "Better be good!" he teased.

Balloon smiled at Nickel before leaving with Fan toward the kitchen. Nickel didn't even think twice about why Balloon decided to go with Fan; he was too sleepy to realise that letting the two most vulnerable to Knife's games go alone might not be the best idea.

Fan and Balloon headed into the kitchen together, relieved that it didn't seem like they were being followed. Once inside, Fan huffed, running a hand through his hair, clearly stressed out.

"I can trust you... right?" Fan suddenly asked, taking Balloon by surprise.

"Did something happen?" Balloon asked immediately.

"No, it's just—" Before Fan could finish his sentence, the kitchen door swung open, and in walked Knife. Of course he had followed them; that was the whole reason Balloon came along in the first place.

To their surprise, Taco stood behind Knife, but that was a minor concern compared to the unease Knife's presence caused.

"Well, if it isn't my two favourite redheads!" Knife greeted them with a charming smile.

Fan's head sank, his stomach churning at the sight of Knife. He trembled nervously and scooted behind Balloon, finding Knife's presence unsettling. At least this time he had someone to shield him from Knife's flirty behaviour.

Balloon stared at Knife but said nothing. He grabbed Fan's arm. "Come on, we have to make Lightbulb a hot chocolate, remember?" Balloon said, trying to distract Fan from Knife. Ignoring Knife entirely, Balloon turned and pulled Fan over to the coffee machine.

"It's not nice to ignore people," Taco spoke up, arms crossed. "Which one of them is Fan and which one is Balloon?" she asked Knife. It was clear Knife had been talking about them to his friend group, which was even more unsettling.

"The one with the ribbon in his hair is Balloon. Cute, huh?" Knife chuckled. "Fan is the one with the yellow in his hair," he pointed out.

"Oooh, right..." Taco nodded. "You say they are your friends, Knife, but they appear to be ignoring you," she pointed out.

"Nah, nonsense!" Knife strode over and swung his arms around both of them. "You boys need help with the coffee machine? I was just about to teach Taco how to make coffee!" Knife smiled sharply.

"Actually, I was going to make tea... but okay..." Taco rolled her eyes. She often wondered why she put up with Knife's weird shenanigans. She made her way over and pulled herself up onto the bench, sitting on top as she turned on the kettle beside her, watching Knife with his 'two favourite redheads,' as he put it.

Balloon shrugged off Knife's arm and ushered him away. He grabbed Fan's arm again and led him to the other coffee machine, determined not to interact with Knife after what he did to Nickel.

Knife crossed his arms, watching as Balloon and Fan ignored him once more. What was their problem? Leaning against the bench, he stared at them as Balloon began to make a coffee for himself and Nickel, already fumbling with the basics.

Fan, anxious, reached for one of the jars on display, grabbing the cocoa powder. He took a spoon and a mug, scooping a generous amount of powder into the mug. Both continued to ignore Knife's presence.

"Fan, why are you ignoring me? We spoke before, and you seemed fine," Knife pointed out, knowing it would get him in trouble since Fan had been told not to talk to him anymore.

Balloon turned and glared at Fan. He spoke with Knife? After Fan's girlfriend strictly told him not to? After what Knife did to Nickel? That infuriated Balloon. He rolled his eyes, clearly pissed off. Fan panicked and quickly defended himself.

"It wasn't my fault, Balloon! He was just in the kitchen when I was making coffee—I didn't know what to do!" Fan blurted out.

"You could've walked out! But instead, you engaged in conversation with him? After Test Tube told you not to! Now it makes sense why you were acting weird!" Balloon snapped.

Knife listened intently. So Fan was acting weird, huh? Their little talk had an effect—excellent, his plan was going perfectly.

"Woah, Looney, relax. Fan is allowed to talk with me if he wants to. It wasn't even that serious; I just helped him make coffee," Knife said, putting a hand on Balloon's shoulder.

Balloon whirled around and shoved Knife's hand off. "Do NOT call me that," he growled through gritted teeth. "Do you seriously think I wouldn't be upset after what you did to Nickel? He didn't deserve that! I thought you were cool once, I actually didn't mind talking to you, and maybe I would've agreed that Nickel was being a little overprotective the other day, until YOU made everything so complicated, just to get back at Nickel!" Balloon snapped.

Taco, meanwhile, poured hot water into a mug with a teabag, watching the drama unfold with curiosity. She had to admit, she was a big fan of drama. Sitting back with her legs crossed and a smirk on her lips, she observed everything go down.

"Well, Nickel shouldn't be such a little menace," Knife rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You know, I bet Nickel never told you this, but we used to be friends," Knife added casually.

Balloon paused, tilting his head in confusion. "What? No way. He was never your friend..." Balloon was baffled. He had known Nickel for years, long before he met Knife. Nickel had only ever been friends with Suitcase, Baseball, and Bot... right?

"Uh, just because we didn't hang out at school doesn't mean we weren't friends," Knife pointed out. "We used to hang out when he sold my friends and me weed. He was super chill. In fact, he used to talk about how he hated you."

Balloon frowned, feeling a wave of nausea. It made sense... of course Nickel would have hung out with them if he was selling drugs. It also explained why Nickel wanted to keep him away from Knife; he knew what Knife was about. "He doesn't hate me anymore," Balloon defended. "We had a rough patch, but that's over."

"Well, you can't blame me for not knowing that!" Knife retorted defensively. "I was under the impression he was just tolerating you at this camp because he didn't have any of his other loser friends to keep him company."

Balloon had thought that at first, but he knew it wasn't true anymore. He wouldn't let Knife make him believe otherwise. Sure, he was a little mad that Nickel never told him or their other friends about hanging around Knife, but maybe Nickel knew what they would say if they found out.

"Then why keep going? He told you how he feels about me, so why did you keep trying to pursue me? I don't get it, just let it be," Balloon muttered, looking down at his feet. He felt overwhelmed by this new information. He knew he shouldn't be upset—he and Nickel weren't even that close—but the fact that Nickel had been hanging out with Knife and talking badly about him? Was Nickel talking about their other friends too?

The whole reason Nickel and Balloon had fought years ago was because Balloon had tried to make himself cool by hanging around the wrong people and talking badly about his real friends to look better. Now he finds out that's probably what Nickel was doing too? It felt so hypocritical! How was it fair that Nickel could do that and get away with it, but when Balloon did it, it was a big deal? This revelation frustrated Balloon. All this fuss, only to find out that Nickel had been hanging around the 'cool kids' himself, boasting by selling them weed.

"Because Nickel is a little rat... He sold us weed, hung out with us a few times, seemed like a cool dude, we actually got along with him. But then one day, we found out he snitched on us! Somehow the teachers found the weed in our lockers, the same weed HE sold us, and then we got suspended, while all he got was forced to do basketball tryouts. It's obvious the teachers made a deal with him; that's why he didn't get punished as severely as my friends and me. That's why they knew exactly where to find the weed. He snitched," Knife snapped, crossing his arms.

Balloon paused, everything was linking together now... Did Nickel somehow make a deal that if he threw Knife and his crew under the bus, his real friends would get off free? Nickel had told Balloon and the others that the teachers found out from the cameras that they were selling. Suitcase had questioned why they weren't just suspended, why they were thrown into tryouts instead. Nickel said he had no idea, but now it made sense... He didn't do this to protect himself; he did it to protect his friends from getting in trouble. He threw his cool new friends under the bus to make sure his real friends didn't get suspended. Nickel really did care about his friends... which made Balloon feel slightly bad for doubting him. Still, it doesn't change the fact he did hang out with Knife and never told them, or the fact he was walking badly about Balloon behind his back.

Balloon wasn't sure how to feel, on one side, he was in awe that Nickel protected his friends from facing harsher punishments, but on the other hand, he was upset that Nickel would talk badly about him behind his back, or even hang out with Knife and not tell any of his friends that he was doing so. Balloon tried to push those thoughts away for now, none of that mattered in this moment.

"I can understand why that upset you," Balloon huffed. "But... can't we put the past in the past?" he asked, though he knew he couldn't fully defend Nickel. While Nickel had snitched to protect his real friends, it had also gotten his other friends in trouble, which wasn't fair to them, especially since they had seemed to genuinely accept Nickel.

Taco slurped her tea loudly to grab everyone's attention. She slipped off the bench and walked over to the group. "In the past? He got Pickle expelled," Taco snapped. "He had already been suspended three times; that was his last straw. But Nickel didn't care, did he? He didn't even apologise. He acted as though it didn't happen, played innocent, and then sent Microphone a message, saying he needed to focus on studying so he couldn't hang out anymore. He played it off like nothing, didn't even have the guts to tell us what he did," Taco spat. "So no, the past is not in the past," she snapped angrily.

Fan and Balloon glanced at each other, completely shocked that Nickel had actually gotten someone expelled. They hadn't expected that twist, but it made sense; Pickle had just disappeared, and everyone assumed he had moved schools.

"Well... you don't know for sure that Nickel ratted you out... the teachers could've found out–" Fan suddenly spoke up.

"Oh no, he definitely did. We aren't idiots, and I know you both aren't as dumb as you appear. Nickel could've prevented this, but he didn't," Knife crossed his arms. "Now, I wasn't going to tell you both, but since you were so adamant about knowing why we hated Nickel, there you go."

This was a lot of information to process at once—the fact that Nickel used to hang out with Knife, possibly spoke negatively about Balloon when he was with them, threw Knife and his friends under the bus to protect his actual friends, and actually got Pickle expelled without saying anything. Nickel had a lot of explaining to do.

"Besides all that, that isn't the reason why I was flirting with you. I thought you were cute, and I still do," Knife smirked at Balloon. Taco simply rolled her eyes at Knife.

Balloon uncomfortably crossed his arms, cheeks flushing a light red. "I am flattered, really... but I told you, I like Nickel," he huffed.

"For now~ but who knows... you might like me down the track. I am everything you like about Nickel, times ten," Knife gloated.

"Do you think I'm cute?" Fan blurted out, feeling a twinge of jealousy that Knife found Balloon cute. It's not because he likes Knife! He just... wants to be seen as cute to one of the most popular boys at school.

"Of course I think you're cute, Fan~" Knife purred.

"Okay, that's enough. Come on," Balloon grabbed Fan's arm and yanked him along.

"What about the hot chocolate?" Fan panicked.

Balloon groaned, reaching the door. "Fine." He let go of Fan's arm, stormed past Knife and Taco, grabbed the coffee beaker, poured milk into it, heated it up, poured it into the mug, gave it a stir, and then said, "Bye," to Taco and Knife before taking the hot chocolate and heading out with Fan.

. . .

Once outside, Balloon took a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed and unable to process everything properly.

"I was going to tell you that I encountered Knife before he walked in," Fan muttered.

"Can you stop trying to get Knife to flirt with you? Can't you see he is deliberately trying to start drama? I get that you think Knife is hot— I mean, I can't say I disagree... but still! He is manipulating us," Balloon tried to explain. "He is using you to get information, and he is using me to upset Nickel. He doesn't actually like us," he continued.

"Well— Nickel isn't innocent! He got someone expelled!" Fan protested.

"On accident! You don't know the full story, okay? He only snitched because he didn't want myself, Baseball, and Suitcase in trouble," Balloon explained. "The teachers found out we helped Nickel, and so he must have made a compromise with them so we didn't get in trouble... it wasn't his fault," Balloon tried to explain. "I... I find it kind of sweet he did that for us... it means he really does care about us," Balloon smiled faintly. "B-But I am still mad at him! I mean, come on! He could have told us he was hanging out with Knife, and apparently, to Knife, he was talking about me behind my back... I get we weren't friends anymore, but was that really fair on me?! No," Balloon didn't realise it, but he had started to rant. Fan awkwardly stood there, nodding and listening, trying to let Balloon let it all out.

Fan was overwhelmed himself, fearful that Test Tube would find out he spoke to Knife now that Balloon knew. He didn't want Test Tube mad at him... he couldn't imagine losing her.

"Please, before we go back, don't tell Test Tube," Fan begged. "About the first encounter... I don't mind if you tell them about this one, but please, don't tell her about the one I had earlier with Knife."

Balloon paused, his expression softening as he noticed how stressed Fan was. He found it unfair that Fan had gone behind Test Tube's back and spoken to Knife anyway. He had no idea what Fan had even said to Knife during that first encounter, and he wasn't sure if he could fully trust Fan, considering it seemed he had a thing for Knife and was easily manipulated by him. However, Balloon also felt it wasn't his place to tell Test Tube. He wasn't trying to start unnecessary drama; he already had enough on his plate with this new information. Taking a shaky deep breath, he nodded in agreement.

"It's not my place to say anything... but maybe the fact that you have to hide this from Test Tube should tell you something," Balloon huffed.

"Are you going to tell Nickel?" Fan asked nervously.

Balloon wasn't sure if he wanted to tell the others about their encounter with Knife and Taco in the kitchen, especially since he didn't want everyone to know about Nickel's drama with Knife. It wasn't their business what Nickel did, and if Nickel wanted to share it with them, he could. However, Balloon planned to tell Nickel about the encounter; he wasn't going to hide that from him. He also intended to bring up what he found out and demand an explanation from Nickel's side of the story. He needed to know the full story of everything. So, he planned to go back, give Lightbulb her hot chocolate, explain that he couldn't work out the coffee machine, and then, once Lifering explained what was happening that day, he would pull Nickel aside and tell him what happened and what he found out. As for Fan, it was up to him whether he wanted to tell Test Tube about his encounter; if he didn't, that wasn't Balloon's problem.

"Not right away," Balloon responded. "I will tell him in private. I don't think the others need to hear Nickel's drama from me. I want to let Nickel explain himself before I make an assumption and make him look bad. If he wants to tell them what happened, he can. It's not up to me to tell them," Balloon explained. "In saying that, you can tell the others, but please wait until we break off. I don't need to embarrass Nickel," he added.

"I probably won't say anything," Fan muttered. "Nothing really happened anyway! Well, besides you finding out why Knife hates Nickel, but that has nothing to do with me! So—let's pretend, if Nickel and you ever do tell the others, that I wasn't there when you found out," Fan stated.

"Sure. Come on, let's get this hot chocolate back to Lightbulb," Balloon answered. He didn't agree with Fan about hiding the fact he had an encounter with the one person Test Tube begged him to stay away from, but it wasn't his business. So he agreed not to say anything.