Nickels pov

I throw my sandwich plate in the sink and walk upstairs with balloon by my side. Ever since this morning I've been getting this funny feeling in my stomach, and I just know it's the nervousness of what I'm about to do today. I tried thinking through my lines last night, but I only ended up flusteredly cuddling closer to a sleeping balloon. I even kissed him on the forehead once, because I couldn't help it. Which i have to admit, is the best thing i've ever felt.

"OJ literally makes the best grilled cheese" balloon says, starting a conversation. I nod in agreement as he opens the door and walks inside.

"It's always so good" I reply. 

"Say, what makes a sandwich it's best?" Balloon wonders. We fall into a deep conversation and start talking about fillings, spices and bread types, and end up in a debate on whether pan-seared or toasted bread is better.

"Pan-seared bread has got that authentic flavour though!" Balloon says.

"But if you toast the bread you get the crisp texture on both sides!" I argue back.

"You can't put butter in a toaster with the bread, but you can put it in a pan!"

"You can put the butter on after though! And you can put it on both sides, unlike your idea!"

"What's the point of tha-" balloon starts, before being interrupted by my ringtone. I look at it confused, because I have no idea who's calling. I pick up the phone and baseball's voice comes out of the speaker. 

"Hey, I'm outside if you're ready," he says. 

"uUuuUhhh for wha- oh yeah sure, I'll be down in a second" I say, suddenly remembering my thing. I hang up and look at balloon, who is on his phone as well.

"I'm going out for a bit" I say.

"Oh yeah sure, go ahead" he says. I start to walk out but I realise, I haven't even invited him yet.

"Oh, and one more thing" I say, turning around to face him again.

"Yeah?" I hesitate before saying the next line, slightly unsure if I am ready or not. But I blurt it out anyway.

"Could you meet me in the orchard garden house at 4pm today?" I say. The nervousness was evident in my voice.

"Sure!" He says, smiling brightly. That smile I think about every sleepless night. I say goodbye and leave the room, heading downstairs.

Ok nickel, you've invited him. You HAVE to do the confession now.

It'll be fine.

I hope so.

Baseball pov

"Now, don't give him a clue that you know about anyone confessing, alright?" I explain to suitcase. She nods her head while jumping around fired up. She came along to get balloon ready for the confession, but by how hyper she is, I think I might have to tell her twice to not spill the beans.

Nickel slowly emerges from behind the hotel door, smiling when he sees me. 

"Heyy" he waves, walking towards suitcase and I. He does a double take at suitcase.

"Wait, why are you here?" He asks.

"Why can't I be?" She replies, trying to mask her excitement. 

"Are you coming with us?" He says. Suitcase shakes her head no and runs into the hotel.

"She's just visiting balloon" I explain. Nickel nods and looks at the time, before signalling to follow him.

"So.. How'd you get to know this place?" I ask curiously. Nickel starts explaining how it all started with OJ needing strawberries and balloon introducing him to the orchard, and how balloon and suitcase and a few others got a hold of the property. They collected the fruits from there and they were delicious, and how there were so many flowers and butterflies. He has never been this engaged talking about... ANYTHING really, so it gets me excited to see this place in real life.

We walk and talk for a fairly long time, about half an hour or so, before we reach two young trees, covered in pearly white buds. Nickel stands right in front of them and turns towards me.

"This is it," he says, stepping under the low branches. I step in after him and my eyes widen in awe. There are flower bushes everywhere, dotted with flowers of every colour. The grass shines a bright green in the sunlight and butterflies are fluttering absolutely everywhere. In the distance, you could see berry bushes and apple trees, and right in the middle is a gentle slope with a large oak tree on top. The tree has a built-in glass garden house which looks breathtaking in the sun.

I walk around, taking in everything i am seeing, while nickel watches me, laughing.

"That was my first reaction too" he says.

"Th-this place is stunning" i reply, managing to find my voice.

"It's not even the best part" he says, motioning me towards the garden house. I climb the tiny hill with him and he opens the glass house with a key. He then hands me one.

"You can come here whenever you like, with this key. I took it off balloon, he has tons of them" he says, stepping inside. I come in too and he is right, this is the most amazing part of the entire orchard. You could see the whole place from here! 

"So .. this is where you're gonna propose?" i say smirking.

"wha- PROPOSE?! I'M GOING TO CONFESS BASEBALL. IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL" he shouts, getting more flustered by the second.

"Looks like it's a big deal for you though" I say. He rolls his eyes in response, still blushing heavily.

"So what are you going to give balloon?" I ask. He looks at me confused.

"I have to give him something?" he asks. This guy...

"It would make the confession nicer stupid, did you really not think this through?" i say. If I had arms I'd be face-palming right now. He looks down, thinking.

"Maybe give him a bunch of flowers from around here" I suggest.

"Hey wait, that's a great idea!" nickel says, standing up. He almost leaves the room before stopping himself and turning back.

"Wait no.., I can collect the flowers with him and then give him the bunch!" he says. I smile at his idea.

"Wow, you can actually come up with good stuff?" I tease.

"Oh shut up" he says, before looking at the time.

"Oh shoot, it's already 3.40. He'll be here in 20 minutes" nickel says.

"Well then I should start going" I say, walking out of the garden house.

"Wait, baseball" nickel calls out, i turn around to face him, and he looks down to his side.

"Are you... sure this'll work?" he asks with a lack of certainty. His voice cracks slightly.

"Hey hey, don't doubt anything, alright? I know he's going to say yes" i say, walking towards him to comfort him.

"It's just, if it doesn't, I might risk our friendship too," he says. I could sense the sadness from him. 

"Look, balloons not the type of guy to cut you off like that, ok? And besides, it's obvious he likes you back, im certain he'll say yes"

"You mean it?"

"I mean it" I say.

"Now you go get him!" I say cheerfully, trying to light up the spirit. He giggles and we do a 'low-five'.

"Thanks baseball" he says, before I leave the garden house.

"No problem" I say. I climb down the hill and make my way out of this beautiful garden. I'm definitely visiting this place soon. But for now, I'll leave it to the soon-to-be boyfriends.

Suitcases pov

"Heyyy balloonnn" I say, walking through the door with a smirk on my face. Balloons sitting on his bed, clearly thinking about something.

"Whatcha thinking about?" I question, sitting next to him.

"Oh uh, it's just, nickel invited me to the orchard at 4 today and I'm just wondering why"

"WAIT HE DID?" I shout, pretending not to know anything.

"Y-yeah? What's the big deal?"

"O MY- BALLOON! THIS IS LIKE A DATE. DON'T YOU THINK HE'S ASKING YOU OUT?"

"N-NO! I don't think so?"

"Oh my GOSH, not with the uncertainty AGAIN, you have to look your best" I say. Balloon looks at me worriedly.

"Hey hey wait, that would be weird! What if he just wants to hang out?" He says, his voice shaking slightly.

"You still have to look nice, so nice that you will make him go crazy over you!" I say enthusiastically.

"Oh my gosh suitcase..."

"When do you have to be there?" I ask.

"Uhh, 4pm?" He replies. I check the time to see that it's 3:10.

"C'mon you have 20 minutes to get ready, go wash your face!" I say, pushing him to the bathroom door.

"Wha- why twenty only?"

"Because it takes half an hour to get to the orchard silly, now go quickly!".

"Oh suitcase" he says, shaking his head and smiling. He washes his face and comes out of the bathroom.

"Alright... now which perfume?" I say, opening and showing him the options I brought in me.

"PERFUME? SUITCASE WHY ARE YOU JUST CARRYING THESE?" He says. Right, he doesn't know I knew about their confession beforehand.

"Just want to smell nice. NOW WHICH ONE". I place the options on the bed. He thinks for a second.

"Perfume is a bit much though, don't ya think?" Balloon says.

"Nahh, NOW PICK ONE" I say.

"Whichever has the least overwhelming scent, I guess. Nobody likes being suffocated by too much perfume"

I pick up a light pink forest berry scent because it is the least suffocating one, and balloon sprays it on himself. He hands it back and I store the bottles back inside of me.

"Ok, now you should be good to go..." I say, but I look at him again, thinking.

"No actually... something's missing" I say. I furrow my eyebrows in concentration and balloon looks at me, confused.

"What do you mean?" 

"You need some sort of... accessory. Like, a bracelet.. no not that.." I scan the room, looking for anything that'd suit.

Then I spot a pink origami flower on balloons side of the nightstand.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Oh, nickel and I made origami flowers for each other. That's the one he made for me"

"It's perfect! He even made it for you" I say. 

"Huh?"

"Put that on your head" I instruct. He does what I say and adjusts it in the mirror. He looks back at me, smiling nervously.

"AAAAHHHHH LOOK AT YOU!" I say, fangirling. 

"He's totally gonna fall for you, if he hasn't already that is" I continue, smirking.

"SUITSS PLEASEE" balloon says.

"Hey, don't go back to denial, I know you want that"

"Finee, I guess I do," he says, giving up.

"Now you have to go quickly, you can't be late!" I say. We hug and I follow him out of the hotel. 

"Bye suitsy" he says, waving and walking off

"Byee have fun with your boyfriend!" I call out. 

"He's not my boyfriend!" He shouts back. Hehe, not yet...

Balloons pov

I breathe in the crisp cool air while walking towards the orchard. I also catch the scent of the forest berry perfume suitcase gave me. I honestly wonder why she got me to get all ready for this. Now that I think about it, was this meant to be a date? Did I miss the message? No, probably not. I can't help but feel a little nervous to meet nickel, even though I saw him an hour ago. But at the same time I can't wait to see him, and hear his voice and his cute smile, and...and...UGHH. EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM JUST DRIVES ME CRAZY. I just want to be with him SO BAD. If only I didn't have the constant feeling that he's going to reject me. I would've confessed already if it wasn't for that.

What am I even thinking? That's the ONE and ONLY REASON you wouldn't want to confess to someone. Why don't I just do it? I'm just... can't.

I speed up my walking to take my mind off all these things. I realise my fingers are all tangled together due to how hard I was thinking and fidgeting. I take them apart and check the time. Ten to four? I'll have to speed up a bit to be there on time. I pick up the pace and put on some tunes while I'm at it. 

Eventually I spot the two young trees. I take my earphones out and walk through the entrance. It honestly feels like walking through a portal, from the real world into a fantasy. Almost immediately a little butterfly lands on my nose. I giggle at its greeting and it flies away, so I walk towards the garden house.

I could see nickel inside the glass house once I was halfway up the little hill. My face is already starting to heat up. He seems to notice me and he smiles brightly while the sunlight reflects off of him and makes him look so radiantly stunning, enough to make my heart speed up quickly. I stop for a second, smiling back and staring at him, before taking out my key and opening the garden house door.

"Hey nickel" I say, walking inside.

"Holy sh- oh my gosh balloon" he says, eyes widening.

"Y-you look... amazing". I blush hard at the compliment and look down shyly. I didn't know what to say for a second.

"T-thanks" I stutter, giggling a little.

"And that's the origami flower I made you...." He says, cracking a smile.

"Yeah, i'm so happy we get to hang out here" I continue, looking up at him in the eye. He stares back for a second before quickly looking away.

"Y-yeah, it's been a while since we visited the orchard, so I- I thought, why not?"

"It is the best place to relax" I say, smiling warmly. He stands up and walks outside, looking at the garden for a bit. Then he starts to speak up again.

"Hey, I've been thinking about picking flowers" he says. Then he turns back around and looks at me.

"Wanna join?" He asks. I nod quickly and we both end up racing each other down the hill. We're tied up until half way, when I start to fall behind. Nickel reaches the ground first and jumps in victory.

"Hehe, I won, who's the faster one now?" He says. I quickly catch up to him and frown.

"Aww, no fair" I say, but he leaves as fast as he came. He runs off to a patch of land covered in yellow and white daffodils.

"Hey wait for me!" I say, running up to him. He stands in the middle of the tall flowers, making him look even shorter than he is. It makes him look even more impossibly cute. I take my phone out and snap a picture before joining him. He picks a tiny young one, with looks just as cute as him. I pick one too and we walk towards the pink chrysanthemums.

"Woah, these have so many tiny petals" nickel says. We pick one each and I run off to a rose bush while nickel admires the flowers design. He then follows me and looks at the roses in awe. He walks to the other side of the bush and gasps.

"Balloon look! This one looks like you!" He says, signalling me to come there. I walk towards him and he attempts to pluck it. But the stem spikes him and he winces in pain, quickly backing away.

"Owww fFfFff-"

"You ok?" I ask, putting a hand on his head.

"Yeah, no I'm fine" he says. 

"But look at that rose!" I look at where he is pointing and see a fully bloomed light salmon coloured rose.

"You're right! It does look like me!" I say smiling. I pick the rose carefully, making sure I didn't touch a spike. Nickel rushes off to collect more flowers left and right. I watch him from a distance and smile. I go around and pick my own likings of flowers, like daisies and lavender. I also find a tall orange flower, which I didn't know the name of. It looks very interesting, so I add it to my collection.

"Balloon!" I hear a rough voice calling. I turn around to find nickel on his tip-toes, trying to reach a bundle of blue flowers with five petals, attached to a wall.

"Hehe, shorty" I tease, just as I reach him. He tries to stretch his toes higher but obviously doesn't come close to my height, or the flowers.

"Aww, don't try so hard" I say, slightly pushing him down, which causes him to stand normally again. He grumbles under his breath.

"Just, help me get those down, will ya?" He says, acting annoyed. I know he's acting because he can't stop smiling.

"Aw sorry, sorry, I will" I say giggling. I reach up and take 5 flowers and. I keep two, and I give two to nickel. And the last one I place on his head.

"Huh-wha-" he stutters, confused for a second. He steps back and looks up at the flower. Then he looks down and shuts his eyes, giggling.

"Oh-heh balloon.." he says, still giggling in between syllables. His voice dips to a very low tone when he says my name, and I suddenly feel sparks in my stomach. He looks up and his eyes shine in the sunlight. I stare at him in awe while my mouth curls into a nervous smile and my face heats up. I stare at his lips and quickly catch myself, looking away. I feel his stare move away too.

"S-SOOO UHH, we should.. get back to the garden house now" nickel says. He sounds nervous and he's looking in ten different directions.

"M'kay," I say, following him back to the glass room.

Nickels pov

I hold the door for balloon and he thanks me, sitting down on the cushions on the ground. I sit down next to him, still pretty heated up by the situation that just happened. I have no idea what that feeling was, but I could feel the desperate thirst for that feeling again. It was like, nothing mattered other than balloon and I at that moment. I look at the flowers in his hand, then I remember the flower bunch idea.

"Hey balloon"

"Yeah?"

"Could I take those flowers for a second?"

"Sure! But why?" He asks curiously, handing the flowers over.

"It's a surprise" I say, giggling. I turn away from balloon and use a daffodil leaf to tie all the flowers together. I put the salmon rose right in the middle and position all of the other flowers around it.

"Nicks, what are you doinggg" balloon says.

"Don't call me that" I say swiftly. I turn around and show him the flower bunch.

"This is for you" I say, tilting my head to the side and smiling while blushing a little.

"F-for me?" He says. His eyes widen and he hugs the bunch.

"THANK YOUU IT'S SO PRETTYY" he squeals. I smile at the fact that I made him happy.

"I-it's no problem, rea-" I start, before balloon interrupts me by hugging me tightly.

"Seriously nickel, you're the best" he says softly into my ear. That soft voice sets fireworks off in my heart. I remember the confession plan and start blushing again, wondering how to tell him. But all of a sudden, I blurt it out.

"Balloon I need to tell you something" I hear my voice say, before I could even think. I shut my mouth and clench my jaw tightly. Nickel you did NOT.

"Yeah?" Balloon says, pulling back, but keeping his hands on my shoulders. His eyes seem to search through mine, like he's looking into my mind to find the answer. I look away and gulp nervously. 

"I...i.." my voice trails off. He looks at me confused. I start sweating a little and my face is probably redder than a tomato right now. I've never been great with this kind of pressure. I shuffle back a tiny bit.

"Nickel, you can tell me anything," he says. His hand cups my cheek and he moves closer. My eyes widen a little and my heartbeat speeds faster than I think is healthy.

Breathe nickel, breathe

"I-i just.." I try to calm myself down a little by remembering the fun little things that balloon and I did.

But that could all change today. What I say in this very moment could absolutely ruin our chances of ever being close, or even friends again. What if he rejects me? What if he gets disgusted by it and leaves me forever? What if everything we did today becomes a painful memory? Is it too late to go back? I have to stop it now, I have to say something else, I have to, I have to-

"I LIKE YOU"

...

I notice how desperate my voice has gotten. 

"What?" I hear him say. His hand is still cupping my cheek.

"I like your smile, your voice, your personality, the way you take everything positively and give everyone a chance, your love of nature and flowers, your poetry, your style, and I LOVE those nicknames you call me, your face, your eyes, your lips... I like every single thing about you. Every night I think about being with you and how it would feel, and, and, I really want to know how it would be"

My voice is shaking. I am shaking.

Balloons other hand cups my other cheek

"But if you don't want to it's fine, it's totally fine, it's fine, really, I don't mind I can bear it, I can, but please can we still be friends, please don't leave me, plea-"

"NICKEL!"

 I hear balloons voice. I look up to see his eyes, glimmering in the sunshine.

"Yeah?"

His hands bring my face close to his. So close that they are almost touching.

An electric feeling spreads from my lips all the way through my body. My eyes widen in shock.

They are touching

I scoot closer and melt into the kiss. Sparks enlight from my heart and my eyes close slowly. His arm slides from my cheek to my side and he pulls me closer. This is the feeling I've been waiting for. Except it's a thousand times more energetic than before. I love this feeling. I love it so much. 

Too much.

Suddenly, my thoughts cut off.

Balloons pov

Nickel falls limp into my arms.

"Nickel? Hello? NICKEL!" I say worriedly, shaking him a little. I check his pulse and he sure has one. Except it's beating way faster than it should. 

I shake him a little more, becoming more worried by the second. What happened? Why is he unconscious?

But thankfully, he stirs.

"Wha.. what happened" he says, in a low voice.

"OH MY GOSH YOU'RE OK" I shout, hugging him tightly. He nudges me, signalling that he's returning the hug.

"Nickel what happened? You got me worried sick!" I say, shaking him slightly.

"I guess I fainted from shock overload... I... really didn't expect you to return feelings like that" he says, blushing.

"Oh, I can still... kiss you right?" I say.

"Please, please do" he says, smiling.

"And just so you know... I like you too" I say, kissing him on the nose. He blushes harder and giggles a bit.

"You smell nice" he says.

"Thank suitcase for that, she gave me the perfume"

"She did?" He asks.

"Yeah, she was going crazy when I told her you invited me here," I explain.

"Wait... I only told baseball about the confession" he says.

"You planned this?" I say, blushing at the thought.

"Yeah, I uh, I liked you for a while now, actually, heh"

"Same here- wait... are you saying that suitcase might've known about the confession?"

"Yeah, I swear if baseball told her... wait actually I don't really mind" he says.

"Well... what does this make us?" I ask.

"I guess, we're dating now..." he starts.

"... Me? Dating THE balloon? Pinch me" he continues.

"This is real nickel"

"Pinch me anyway"

I pinch him on his leg.

"Ow.." he whispers.

"See, I told you!" I say laughing. He laughs along with me and we both lie down next to each other.

"I'm so glad you first asked why we weren't friends" nickel says, kissing me on the cheek.

"Well I'm glad you actually gave me a chance" I say back, blushing at the kiss.

We cuddle into each other and look into the sky above us, smiling, giggling and laughing together for the rest of the day.

I love him.

__________

WELL HELLOO PEOPLE

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THAT CHAPTER

4016 WORDSSS YEAHHHAHHAHA

THEY. FINALLY. DID IT LES GOOOOO

MY FINGERS WERE TINGLING WHEN I WROTE THIS

I DIDNT GET TO PROPERLY PROOFREAD THIS AND MY KEYBOARD WAS LAGGING ALOT TODAY SOO SORRYY

AND GUESS WHAT?

ITS NOT THE END YET

THERE STILL A LITTLE MORE TO COME!!!

SO STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT PART

___________