Class had begun for everyone, and lunch would follow the period. Balloon and Nickel stayed in Candle's office during this time. She didn't mind, as she had no appointments scheduled and allowed them to stay, especially since their next class was with Baseball and Suitcase, whom they weren't ready to face. Candle ensured they were both comfortable, even making them a cup of herbal tea with her personal kettle and teacups she kept in her office. She often gave this tea to students experiencing anxiety, providing them a moment to breathe and relax.

Balloon and Nickel continued to vent while Candle listened attentively, offering valuable feedback. She wanted things to go smoothly when they eventually faced Baseball and Suitcase. Candle could see how upset they were, uncertain if the other two wanted to be their friends. Deep down, though, she knew that this group couldn't split up—they were too strong. She had faith that everything would eventually work out.

"Just remember, you can't push them to understand. You can't force them to get it. They need their time to process, just as you both did. I know it was a lot for you two as well, and I still think you're both processing and getting used to this. Imagine how they feel—they weren't at the camp. You both come back, and suddenly, they feel forced to accept that you're dating. It takes people time to adjust to new things," Candle said as she sipped her own tea.

Balloon and Nickel knew they were expecting a lot. They had been so focused on themselves and their own feelings that they hadn't considered how Baseball and Suitcase felt. Instead of giving them time to understand and process, they had tried to convince them to simply accept it. They should have seen things from their perspective instead of getting upset and defensive. It was new and overwhelming for everyone. When they first confessed, it was a lot for Balloon to wrap his head around—and quite frankly, Nickel was still trying to wrap his head around it too. Pretending to hate the person you love for years has been painful. Now, Nickel had the opportunity to make up for lost time and give Balloon the love he deserved. It hurt when Baseball and Suitcase couldn't accept it, but if he stepped back and looked at the bigger picture, he could see how truly bizarre it all was. Now, he was starting to feel a pang of guilt for not understanding Baseball and Suitcase's feelings and where they were coming from with their emotions.

While Balloon and Nickel were reflecting on how they could have handled things differently, Test Tube and Fan sat in class, anticipation coursing through them. Fan could barely sit still, fidgeting in his seat, shifting his position, and constantly moving his hands. Test Tube noticed Fan's nervousness; she knew how much this meant to him and how much his friendship with Knife mattered.

Test Tube wanted everything to work out. She wanted to see Fan happy, reuniting his friend with his boyfriend, and she also wanted her boyfriend back to herself. At this point, she felt she was 'sharing' him with Knife, and she hated it. Only time would tell if Knife would get Pickle back, and if not, had they done all this for nothing? She didn't want that to be the case, knowing how much Fan valued his friendship with Knife. If they couldn't get Pickle back, Fan promised he wouldn't be Knife's friend anymore to keep himself safe and for Test Tube's sake. They both understood why that needed to be done, but Test Tube still felt guilty about it. She just hoped their plan worked, especially given that Pickle's parents were very strict and always checked their emails. They worked as much as Balloon's parents did and were always on top of things. Test Tube hoped they hadn't missed the email.

Test Tube didn't want Knife to get away with what he did either. It wasn't fair that he could just kiss her boyfriend and then have a good deed done for him. Knife had put Test Tube through hell the last few days, and now she was helping him? It didn't seem fair. He should face consequences for his actions, not just get away with it. How would he learn his lesson if nothing was done? At this point, bad behaviour had earned him a reward! Test Tube hated that—it wasn't just. She had promised Fan she wouldn't mention what happened to Knife, but she simply couldn't keep that promise.

Test Tube leaned over and whispered to Fan.

"I'm going to confront Knife."

"What?" Fan quickly whispered back, panicked. "You can't–"

"Yes, I can. He shouldn't just get away with kissing you, Fan! We can't just sweep that under the rug. He needs to know it's not okay and understand how it made me feel. He can't just get away with things and be rewarded for bad behaviour. If anything, this is a lesson for him. If you truly care about Knife, then let me confront him." Test Tube protested, keeping her voice down.

"I–" Fan knew he couldn't argue. His mouth dropped closed. "Fine..." He huffed, throwing his head back. Now he had even more to worry about!

As the class ticked away, getting closer to lunch, Fan grew increasingly paranoid. He could only imagine the worst outcome from Test Tube confronting Knife. He just wanted to forget about it and move past it. Once he had Pickle, Knife wouldn't even bother with him anymore! How did Test Tube not see that? Oh, right—it's the 'principle that counts' or whatever, because Knife can't just get away with it. Fan understood that to an extent. He overreacted a lot himself, made impulsive decisions, and tended to lash out when things weren't just. In that way, he and Test Tube weren't so different. Still, it didn't change his genuine concern for what was to come.

The bell soon rang, and everyone started leaving their classrooms for lunch. Fan took his time packing up his stuff, not particularly looking forward to what was about to come. Test Tube, on the other hand, seemed very eager to leave. She probably had a lot of anger bubbling inside her, knowing exactly what she was going to say to Knife. She was so eager, in fact, that she started helping Fan pack up his stuff and then grabbed his hand, practically dragging him along.

Fan was sweating profusely, feeling like he was going to be sick. His girlfriend confronting his 'possible' crush about the kiss? Lord, what had his life come to?

Knife was sitting alone, eating a sandwich. He leaned against the cafeteria wall, away from everyone else. He wasn't exactly in the mood to talk with anyone. YinYang had gone home early, as he often did—part of his learning plan or something. Knife hadn't really paid attention when YinYang explained it. Nevertheless, he was once again alone as all his friends had something better to do. He assumed he'd continue to be alone until he saw a very frustrated Test Tube heading toward him, pulling poor little Fan along with her. Welp, here goes nothing, he supposed. He already knew what this would be about.

Knife pushed off the wall, scrunched up his paper bag, and tossed it into the trash. He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms and looking nonchalant.

Test Tube stood in front of him, letting go of Fan's hand. She crossed her arms over her chest. Fan anxiously hid behind Test Tube, worried about what was about to come.

"Knife," Test Tube glared at him.

"Hmph, is this about what I think it is? If so, I'm sorry or whatever." Knife shrugged. What else could he do but say sorry?

"Sorry? You can't just kiss someone's boyfriend and say sorry, then shrug it off like it's nothing! What is wrong with you? What happened to the fact you weren't trying to steal my boyfriend, huh?" Test Tube snapped at him.

Knife huffed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm not." He scoffed. "Look, I'll be honest with you, Test Tube, I don't know why I kissed him. Maybe I was mad? Maybe I just wanted him to go away and leave me be, because he's better than that... maybe I wanted to get on your nerves, who knows." Knife shook his head. "I just did it, and I regret it."

Fan frowned, feeling a little upset that Knife said he regretted it. Did he not like the kiss? Wait—no! Why was he thinking like this? He should be glad that Knife didn't like him!

"You can't just..." Test Tube felt frustration bubbling inside her. "You—ugh!" She couldn't seem to get the words out. Knife was just too relaxed about all this, leaving her with nothing to work with!

"Look, don't waste your anger on me, okay? I swear to you, I am not going to steal Fan from you. To be honest, I instantly regretted kissing him—no offence, Fan..." he added quickly, seeing Fan's offended expression. "I know how much Fan means to you, Test Tube. I wasn't thinking. I am genuinely sorry." He sighed.

Test Tube wasn't expecting him to be so... real? She had assumed he'd argue or be cocky about this, that it would be a big ordeal. But Knife seemed genuinely disappointed in himself, like he truly regretted his actions. Test Tube felt... guilty, like she couldn't yell at him. He didn't even seem like he wanted to kiss Fan! She wanted to be so mad, to get her anger out and lecture him about how this wasn't okay, and yada yada... but she couldn't. It seemed Knife had been battling himself in his own head and already knew everything she was going to say.

"Knife... are you okay?" Test Tube suddenly asked. This threw Fan off completely. Test Tube was asking Knife if he was okay? What the hell was going on? This was not predictable, and Fan hated when things weren't predictable.

"I'm fine," Knife answered, looking away from Test Tube, trying his best not to show his emotions.

Test Tube looked at him closely. He didn't look fine; if anything, he looked like he was hurting. This wasn't the Knife she once knew, not the Knife she saw at the camp. Maybe she had misjudged him. Maybe Fan was the one who got him to release his vulnerable side and stop holding everything in. Maybe their friendship was actually important. Huh. Test Tube was starting to realise things she hadn't seen before. She was so busy judging Knife that she didn't see he was human too, that he had feelings... he was just really good at hiding them. And Fan was sort of that outlet, the one person he felt safe talking to about how he felt. It made sense now. Maybe Knife wasn't actually trying to steal Fan; maybe she had overreacted. Maybe he was just trying to fill the void where Pickle once was.

Test Tube stepped back and took a deep breath. She couldn't believe what she was about to say, but screw it. She turned to Fan and took another breath. "Go sit with him," she spoke firmly to Fan.

"What?!" Fan exclaimed, now overly confused. What was even happening?!

"I said, go sit with him. He clearly needs someone to be there for him. I'm seeing now he opens up with you, so go sit," Test Tube urged him.

"Are you sure?" Fan asked anxiously. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable or—"

"I'll sit too, come on." She took his hand and walked over to Knife. They slid down against the wall beside Knife. Fan sat next to him, and Test Tube sat next to Fan.

"What?" Knife looked up from his phone at Fan. Why were they doing this? Why did they care?

"Are you okay, Knife, really?" Fan asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking into his eyes. He could see the pain.

Knife shakily took a deep breath and gripped his phone tight. "No. Okay? Is that what you want to hear? I am not okay. I've been a jerk—yeah, I get that's my whole thing, but not like this. I've been going too far," Knife huffed out, finally letting out everything that had been on his mind. "Ever since I lost Pickle, I felt this change in myself. I turned... bitter? I didn't care anymore about anyone. I was hurt, and I wanted everyone else to be hurt too." He continued, "I started to push my friends away, I started to seek revenge... I tried to cause havoc." Knife couldn't stop spewing everything out. He really needed to be open. "I would've been able to keep this facade up if it wasn't for you, Fan." Knife grumbled. "You came along... and you were nice to me? It didn't matter how much of a jerk I was or how much trouble I caused. It didn't matter that I was clearly trying to sabotage or get you in trouble. You kept trusting me and seeing this good in me. You didn't want to believe everyone else. You made your own stupid judgement! You wouldn't just leave me be... and then you started to make me care about things again, like when I had Pickle." Knife felt his voice becoming shaky. "I am sorry for kissing you." He looked away. "I thought that maybe if I kissed you, you'd finally go away and leave me be, but... fuck, I was wrong, wasn't I? Because here you are, again, being there for me. Now you guys know... know things that others don't know about me, that I actually have feelings." Knife huffed and looked back at his phone. He felt it buzz but didn't bother to check the notification.

"I'm sorry..." Fan finally spoke. "But you aren't a bad person, Knife." He looked up at him. "You're just hurt, and it's okay to be hurt."

Test Tube gave a faint smile, grabbing Fan's hand and squeezing it. She was proud of her boyfriend—he was able to help someone like Knife all on his own. She had always loved his kindness and persistence to make things better.

"Knife, I know we got off on the wrong foot..." Test Tube spoke up. "But I don't mind being your friend. Heh, maybe we can just share Fan, hey?" She joked playfully. "I'm kidding—please don't kiss my boyfriend again!" she quickly added.

"Pfft, nah, keep him. I don't want your dorky-ass boyfriend." Knife teased back. "But thanks... I guess we could start over and be friends." Knife smiled faintly. He felt... oddly happy? The weirdest part was that he felt no shame in becoming friends with the two biggest nerds in the school. Who cared what others thought? He was done caring. School was almost over anyway, so he might as well spend the last bit of it being happy, right?

Fan couldn't stop smiling. Was this a dream? Knife and Test Tube getting along? Honestly, it would have been a fantasy if Test Tube hadn't joked about sharing him and Knife agreed—whatever! This was awesome too! He happily wrapped his arms around both of them and squeezed them into a hug.

"I'm glad we can put everything in the past!" Fan cheerfully exclaimed.

"Me too." Knife chuckled, pulling away from the hug.

Knife glanced back at his phone to check the time and noticed a new message. He could have sworn his heart stopped for a moment. He quickly swiped to unlock his phone and read the message:

[Hey Knife, it's been a while. Can we hang out after school?] – Pickle

Knife felt his hands grow sweaty, his eyes welling up with tears. He was trembling. He didn't usually cry, but this was a special occasion.

Test Tube and Fan exchanged bright smiles.

"Uh, you good now, Knife? We're going to get some food," Fan asked, understanding that Knife needed a moment.

Knife quickly hid his phone and wiped his eyes. "Huh—oh, uh, yeah, whatever..." He tried to act nonchalant.

Test Tube stood up, dusted off her pants, and smiled down at Knife. "Have fun catching up with Pickle," she said casually before she and Fan walked off.

"How did she—" Knife thought for a moment before it clicked. He wasn't sure how those two did it, but somehow, they had managed to get Pickle back.

₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

Elsewhere in the cafeteria, Balloon, Nickel, and Bot were enjoying lunch together and chatting. Bot wanted to make sure they were okay after what happened that morning, feeling guilty about disappearing and not talking to them until now. They just needed to talk with Suitcase and Baseball first... Bot hoped what they had said had gotten through, and it seemed that it had.

Nickel was happily rambling about what happened at camp, kicking his legs under the table as he spoke. Balloon had his hand resting gently on Nickel's, smiling idly as he listened, admiring him without words. He truly loved Nickel and was upset it had taken him so long to realise it, but he was glad they were finally together.

As Nickel continued to ramble, their attention was drawn away when Baseball and Suitcase plopped themselves down at the table. Nickel immediately stopped speaking, Balloon removed his hand, and the three of them turned to face them.

"Hey," Nickel greeted simply.

"Hi..." Suitcase responded nervously.

There was a moment of silence, and Balloon's nerves were on edge. Baseball and Suitcase had clearly joined them for a reason—was this a good thing or a bad thing? Were they about to make up, or were Baseball and Suitcase going to tell them they didn't want to be friends anymore? The uncertainty was palpable.

"Uhm, are you guys talking about the camp you went on?" Suitcase asked curiously, tilting her head.

"Yeah... heh," Nickel replied awkwardly, crossing his arms and looking at them both.

"I don't think we've had a chance to hear how it went," Suitcase said with a faint smile.

Balloon felt himself relax, a smile beginning to spread across his face.

"Heh, I guess we haven't really caught up, huh?" Nickel said, smiling a bit.

Another moment of awkward silence followed. It was expected; they had all fought only a few hours ago, and it was still a lot to process. But it seemed like Suitcase and Baseball were ready to try to understand and accept. As for Balloon and Nickel, they planned to take it easy this time and not shove their relationship in their faces.

Bot couldn't wipe the smile off their face. They were actually talking again!

"Well? What are you waiting for? We're dying to hear!" Baseball said with a smile.

Balloon glanced at Nickel and then back at Baseball and Suitcase. They really wanted to hear about the camp? Balloon was eager to share, and Nickel was too. It felt odd not telling them everything—they always shared everything with those two! Plus, they had a lot of drama to cover, and they were slightly excited to see Suitcase and Baseball's reactions to the events. Nickel quickly started rambling about the camp from the beginning, with Balloon adding little details here and there. Balloon wasn't great with words, but he enjoyed Nickel's enthusiasm.

Suitcase and Baseball listened, engaged in the conversation. They laughed, joked, and were even shocked by some of the camp's events. The conversation was lively and happy, back to how things used to be. The only difference was that Balloon and Nickel were now a couple, but somehow that difference didn't seem so significant. Nothing had really changed—they were still themselves. Even midway through the story, they started bickering about how certain things had unfolded. It felt just like old times.

Baseball and Suitcase felt at ease. They knew things would change—things couldn't stay the same forever—but they had to accept that. Besides, they had never seen Balloon and Nickel so happy before. They really did love each other, didn't they? Baseball and Suitcase were willing to accept this change, it would still take them time to get used to it, but at the end of the day? Balloon and Nickel were still the same.

They still fought and joked the same way; their feelings had always been there, they were just too afraid to show them. The only difference now was that they weren't afraid anymore. Baseball and Suitcase could accept that. They loved their best friends and wanted them to be happy. They realised that maybe they had overreacted a bit this morning. Things could have turned out differently if they had taken a moment to understand. But maybe things happen for a reason, right?

We can't change what happens or rewrite the past. Things often unfold in unexpected ways, and we'll make mistakes along the way, and that's okay. What matters is how we move forward from those experiences. Instead of dwelling on what should have been, we can accept the past and focus on learning and growing from it. Maybe everything happens for a reason, because without our past and our mistakes, how would we ever grow? Change can be intimidating and hard to embrace, especially when it comes suddenly. It's perfectly okay to take your time to adjust and process it. No one expects you to accept change instantly. While change can be challenging and unpredictable, it's a crucial part of growth. If we resist change, we limit our ability to evolve and improve.

. . .

Before lunch ended, Nickel and Balloon were pleasantly surprised. Baseball, Bot, and Suitcase had just left to prepare for their next class, and Nickel and Balloon said they'd join them shortly. After a few minutes, Knife approached their table with a more relaxed demeanour.

"Hey," Knife greeted, catching their attention as the two were lost in each other's gaze.

Nickel's smile faltered upon seeing Knife. "Go away," he snapped, unwilling to give Knife a chance.

Knife took a deep breath, understanding they might need time to forgive him. He knew he couldn't face Pickle without first making amends for the pain he'd caused. He needed to address it to ease his guilty conscience, even if he didn't want to admit it. Not expecting a warm reception, Knife placed a note on the table and walked away, his hands shoved in his pockets and a faint smile on his lips. He was looking forward to seeing Pickle that evening.

Nickel and Balloon exchanged glances of disbelief as they read the note, which simply said, 'Truce.' They looked around, but Knife was already gone. They wondered what had led to this change of heart—perhaps Candle's influence? Regardless, it seemed that things were beginning to settle.

With Knife seeking a truce, Baseball and Suitcase open to understanding, and Nickel and Balloon finally together after all these years, it felt like the turmoil was coming to an end.

Balloon and Nickel exchanged wide smiles, and it didn't take long for Balloon to throw himself into Nickel's arms, kissing him deeply. This was their happy ending.

Author's Note!

And just like that, it's finally over. I won't lie—I teared up when I wrote the title for this chapter. This project has been my passion from the start, and it marks the longest fanfiction I've ever written, totaling about 139,500 words, 253 pages, and 32 chapters! It's truly incredible.

I want to extend my deepest thanks to all of you for reading, supporting, and loving this fanfiction. When I began, I never imagined it would become such a long, meaningful project, yet here we are. I'm deeply honoured to have completed it and am incredibly grateful to everyone who read, commented, and shared. I never anticipated its popularity, but here we are.

While I'm sad to see it end, I'm also relieved to move on to new projects. Keep an eye out for some BFDI/II oneshots I'll be working on! And don't worry, there will be more Nickloon content coming your way!

Would you be interested in a bonus chapter to see how things unfold afterward? Let me know!

But for now, this is the end. Thank you all so much.

Words: 139,500+

Chapters: 32

Pages: 253