Fan and Knife just sit there on the rug. A little time after the hand thing, Paintbrush gave up on the game and later Lightbulb claimed she wasn't feeling well, leaving just Fan and Knife alone.

Fan's POV: Knife looks at his nails and taps the floor with his foot, he's sitting down with his hands around his knees. I copy him

He looks at me and smiles. He puts his hands down. I do the same. He stands up, I stand up too.

He chuckles, his low, gruffy voiced chuckle. I love it

"Okay what do you want? " He sits back down, and I sit. "What do you mean? " He raised his eyebrow. "Your copying me? " I realize that I have been. "Oh. Yeah I suppose. " I fidget with my hands. "Wanna talk? " Knife offers. "Well. I guess? " we sat in silence, even though we just said we'd talk.

"Hey, if I ever needed anything, would you listen? " He looks at me, slightly shocked. Maybe I shouldn't have asked that. "I mean, sure? I don't know why you'd want me to help, like not Lightbulb or Test tube but, okay. Yeah I would listen. " Knife scoots closer, wow. "Do you need to vent? " He asks, which I'm really surprised at. Probably because I do.

"Yeah. I do. " I hold my own hands and he grabs them. "It's okay, I'll listen. " My face turns a little more red. He takes his hand off and looks at me, waiting for me to speak. "Well, after everything ended, I suppose the BrightLights seperated, but not all of them, me, test tube, Paintbrush, and Lightbulb stayed together. And I thought we always would. " I dig my cheek in my knee and try not to cry. "But everyone is different now, Test tube seems to always be busy with something or is talking with someone else. Paintbrush has just, kinda., gotten... Meaner? They just scream and get pissed a lot easier. And lightbulb? I don't know, I really don't think she's doing okay. And when she is happy, she tries to be around Paintbrush, just for them to bring her down or say something to her that leaves her sad. I- I just don't want to loose anyone else. We just to be so close and happy, we all knew each other and liked being around each other, but now we all have problems with each other and I feel like we argue a lot more. We used to be this amazing friend group! Always working together! Best friends! Now. I don't know who is who. " My voice shakes at the last words, I can't let Knife see me cry. He'd make fun of me and call me weak- But I can't help it. Tears roll down my paper as I start to cry.

He pulls me closer and faces me towards him and hugs me. I cried and nobody moved or talked for a bit. I pull away, even if I really didn't want to, and smile. "Thank you. That felt really nice to talk about it. " "Yeah." He smiles at me, seemingly.. admiring me? Me out of all people.



"Hey, if your really bothered by it, just talk to them. I know Lightbulb will listen and try to fix things, I'm sure Test tube just doesn't realize how rude she's been. " He stops as he's about to mention Paintbrush. "What about Paintbrush? " He laughs at me. "They will just be mean." He seems to be hiding something. "Did you tell them anything? " "... I might. " I look at him, is he the reason Paintbrush has been so mean? "What did you say? " I get closer in interest. He looks away. "I told them they're getting soft. I didn't think they'd be this rude after. I'm sorry. " He looks back at me. Knife saying sorry? Might as well be dreaming!

"Okay." I stop and realize that all Paintbrush has done is mostly his fault. He told them to be rude, basically. "Can,.. Can you tell them to stop? Or something like that. " He sighed. "I can try, I'm really sorry, I didn't know how they'd react, and I didn't plan on them hurting you. " What about the others? What about Lightbulb? "Hey, do you wanna play another game? " I think. I'm eager to see what he means. He takes out Clues and asks "Wanna solve a mystery? " I smile and nod.

Later.. .

Knife checks the time. "Oh, it's time for bed." He gets up and cleans up the game. "See you in the morning. " He smiles and walks away. I wave back at him. "Bye."

I walk to my shared room and open the door. Paintbrush isn't there, for some reason. I don't bother, they'll probably come back in the night. I turn of the lights, keeping a single night light on and go to bed.

In the morning I wake up and head down to breakfast, there I see Paintbrush drinking a second cup of coffee. "Did you sleep well? Where were you? " I ask. They don't respond. "I was with Lighty. " They say blankly.

"Wow, you guys were sleeping together? Jeez, did you at least lock the door? " Painty gives me this death stare, it's serious. They're going to rip my paper in half if I don't shut up. I whimper. "Sorry." I say and they wipe their eyes. They have eye bags under their eyes. They didn't sleep?

"I'll tell you so you don't piss me off the rest of the day, Lighty... needed me. She's having some issues. I was just helping her. And don't fucking ask her about it. " Fan flinched.

Lightbulb didn't come out of her room that day.