(*Small Warning!! Minor talk about eyes staring! [i guess...] - a/n*)

*1 week later*

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*Balloon's P.O.V*

Today is the day.

Today me and Taco leave the hospital and go back to the hotel.

I'm super nervous. And for good reasons!

For starters, I've been gone for over a year now!

And second, I'm literally missing an arm!! I'm going to get stares everywhere!!

Oh god! They're all going to be whispering about me when I get back!

Ah!! I don't wanna go back now!! I can feel my insecurities creeping up on me.

I feel tears forming and I try my best not to cry or have a mental break down. The tears keep forming as I keep wiping them away.

"Balloon...", I hear Taco call out.

I look over to her and she frowns a little bit.

"Are you okay?", she asks.

Not feeling like talking, I shake my head 'no'. She nods and pulls me into a hug. She must know I'm feeling insecure.

"Feeling insecure again huh?", she reads my mind.

I nod my head 'yes' as she hugs tighter. I return the hug and let the tears fall.

"Shh~... It's okay Balloon. It's going to be okay.", she comforts.

We stay like this for about 10 minutes. After that, she lets go and smiles.

"Feeling better?", she asks.

"Y-yea. T-thanks Taco..", I thanked.

"Of course bud.", she says.

We continue to talk while we waited for our ride. I'm not sure who was coming to take us home, but I was excited to see who it was!

"Hello Balloon and Taco.", I hear a voice call.

We both look over and see my dad, Dr. Fizz! I smile and wave at him.

"Hi dad!", I greet.

"Heh. Hey kid. Anyways. I just need you two to sign these and you two are free to go.", he explained.

"Oh. Okay dad!", I say.

I get up and walk over to him and grab the clipboard with my name on it. Taco does the same and we both sign the papers.

"Thank you. Okay! You can come in now bro!", he shouts.

'Bro? Wait! Uncle Lifering!', I exclaim in my mind.

And sure enough, Uncle Lifering enters the room.

"Uncle Lifering!", I shout.

"Hey there sport!", he exclaims.

I go up and hug him which he gladly returns. I missed him soo much!

I haven't seen him in 2 whole weeks! Work got the better of him so he couldn't come to visit then.

"I missed you tio!", I say with glee.

"Heh. I missed you too sport!", he says.

"I'm guessing your our ride to the hotel?", Taco asks.

"Yep! I'm heading over there anyways for work, so I came to pick you up!", uncle says.

"Cool! Thanks tio!", I say.

"It's no problem mijo!", he says.

"Well. If that's everything, then I'll see you later son.", my dad says.

"Actually... There's something I should tell you..", I say.

I hadn't told them that I was genderfluid. So I was going to, since I felt comfortable to tell them.

"Oh? What is it mijo?", my dad asks.

"I'm genderfluid....", I confess.

"Genderfluid? Oh! You feel like more than 1 gender right?", uncle asks.

"Y-yea. H-how did you know?", I questioned.

"Heh. I've been doing a little bit of reserach. Trophy told me so I looked it up.", tio explained.

"Wait. Trophy told you!?", I asked.

"Just me.. he didn't tell anybody else.", tio said.

"That pendejo idiota...", I mutter.

"I see... well.. we love you and accept you for who you are mi hijo...", my dad says.

"Gracias papa y tio...", I thank in Spanish.

"De nada mijo..", both my dad and tio say.

I hug them both as they hug back. I'm so glad I have people who accept me...

"Do you have pronouns bud?", my tio asks.

"Yea! He/She/They/Xem!", I say.

"Oh, that's nice bud.. What are you feeling like today then?", my dad asks.

"I'm feeling like.... nothing! So 'Xey/Xem' please!", I announce.

"Alrighty then.", my dad says.

I smile and they both smile back. It feels good to be loved.

"Welp! Let's go then you two!", my uncle announced.

"Okay tio!", I say.

With that being said, me and Taco grabbed our stuff that we had. We head over to tio Lifering and waited until tio was done signing more papers.

"And... You two are free to go!", dad announced.

"Alright! Let's go you two!", uncle exclaims.

"Sweet!", Taco says.

"Yay! Bye dad!", I say.

"Goodbye my child. Ring, take care of xem okay?", he says.

"Of course bro! I wouldn't let anything happen to xem!", tio says.

I smile at my dad and uncle. They really care about me and my gender/pronouns.

"Let's go you two. There's a nice surprise waiting for you both.", tio says.

"A surprise?", Taco asks.

"Yep! I can't say what though!", tio said.

"Awe man!", I pout.

"Hehe.. Let's get going so we can see what it is!", Taco says.

"Heck yea!", I say.

"Welp. We'll be seeing ya bro. Take care!", tio says.

"Goodbye you three. Be careful out there.", dad says.

"We will dad!", I say.

With that, we leave the room and begin the trek down to the lobby floor. I sometimes wish my room wasn't on a high floor, so the journey down isn't so long.

After a while, we make it and pass the receptionist. Oh! It's Kai! I'm gonna go say hi to her!

"Hi Kai!", I greet.

"Oh hello Balloon! Gosh, it's been so long!", she greets back.

"I know! How have you been?", I asked.

"I've been great! What about you?", she asks.

"I've been better.. I'm heading home today!", I say.

"Oh yea! Your father told me! Haha. Well. I'll be seeing ya!", she says.

"Bye Kai!", I say.

"See ya!", she says.

I skip over to tio Lifering and Taco and walk out the door. Wow! I haven't been outside in a while! 

"Man... The breeze feels so good!", Taco comments.

"It does.", I agree.

"Heh. Let's get going you two.", tio Lifering says.

We both nod and head to his car. Once in, tio starts the engine and drives away from the hospital.

Me and Taco while tio drove to the hotel. We talk until I notice the scenery started to change from buildings, to forest.

We were close. I started to feel nervous again. But I couldn't let Taco or tio know. So I do my best to hide it.

Taco notices the change in scenery and looks outside. I guess she missed the forest. I did to, but the city was nice too.

Another 5 minutes and we had made it to our desination....

Hotel OJ..

In all it's orange glory. We were here at our new home. Well, Taco's new home. This was my old 'home'.

God. I'm getting more nervous by the minute.

"Okay you two! We're here!", tio announced.

I look over at Taco and she looks over. She looks a little nervous. At least I wasn't the only one.

"You ready Balloon?", Taco asks.

"Not really... but yea.", I confessed.

"Nervous?", she asked.

"Yea... You?", I answer.

"Yep...", she answers.

"It's going to be okay you two...", tio comforts.

We both nod and stop out of the car. We grabbed our stuff and walked to the front doors.

*Knock* *Knock*

My tio knocks on the door. After a minute, the door opens to reveal OJ.

"Oh! Hello Lifering!", OJ greets.

"Hey there sport! I brought the special guests!", tio says.

He steps out the way to reveal me and Taco. OJ gets a little surprised but calms down.

"Oh! Hello you two! I didn't know you were coming here with Lifering! I thought I was going to get them?", OJ says shocked.

"Well yea... But I live close to the hospital. And I pass it when coming here, so I thought I would go get them.", tio explained.

"I see.. Well thanks for getting them Lifering!", OJ thanks.

"No problem kiddo!", tio says.

"Hey there OJ...", I greet.

"Hi..", Taco greets.

"Hey you two. Come in! I'll show you to your rooms.", OJ says.

We walk in and I take in the surroundings of the hotel. Nothing much had changed since I've been here.

"Nothing's changed since I left..", I point out.

"Heh. Yea. I would've.. but with everything that went on. I didn't have the time or motivation to do so.", OJ said.

"It's so orange... It's kinda agitating to look at.", Taco gags.

"Sorry.. I had no idea what went through my head back then.", OJ apologizes.

"Let's move on! Your guys room is on the 4th floor!", OJ says.

The 4th floor? Again? Damn. I can't catch a break from the 4th floor!

We start heading to the elevator as tio walks to the pool, I'm assuming. I wave over to him and he waves back.

"Bye tio!", I say.

"See ya sport!", he calls back.

I walk in the elevator and we head up to the 4th floor. Once there, we start walking to our room. Or rooms? I don't know.

"Are you two okay with sharing a room? I know your opposite sex, but Bomb and Soap share a room...", OJ suddenly asks.

"Um.. Taco? Are you okay with it?", I asked.

"I don't mind.", she says.

"Ah. Good! If you ever want to switch rooms, let me know okay?", OJ says.

"Okay OJ!", I say.

"Sure.", Taco quickly says.

We walk a little further and make it to our room. Room 410 huh? Not bad.

"Okay! Here's your room! I'll let you both settle in. Come down to the party room once you're done unpacking okay?", OJ says.

"The party room? Why?", I asked.

"It's a surprise! See ya down there!", OJ says.

After that, he hands us a set of keys and leaves. I hand one to Taco and open the door. The rooms hasn't changed yet either.

"This room looks so nice.", Taco says in awe.

"It does. Which bed do you want?", I asked.

"I'll take the one closest to the door. You can take the window one.", she says.

"Are you sure?", I asked.

"I'm sure. Besides. You seem more comfortable near a window.", she points out.

It's true. I am more at ease when I'm near the window. I really love looking outside when I get sad or really anxious.

"Okay then. Let's unpack and head down.", I suggest.

"Alright.", Taco nods.

We sart to unpack the stuff we had. But while unpacking, I noticed that our other stuff were already in here.

Stuff we left at the cave/cabin... With the other stuff being what I left in my old room. I look in the desk and I see my poetry notebook and my diary!

"Balloon... Do you think they set up our room ahead of time?", Taco asked.

"I think so... Cause I found my diary and poetry notebook in the desk.", I said.

"Well shit. You think Mepad grabbed our stuff?", she asked.

"Maybe. But who grabbed my stuff from my old room? And how did they find my secret department?", I muttered.

"Who knows... Anyways. I'm done unpacking. You?", she commented.

"Yea... Let's go down now. I'll give you a small tour on the way down!", I say.

"Heh. Alright. Let's go!", she exclaims.

I giggle and walk out the room with Taco behind me. We walk down to the elevator and head to the lobby floor.

I show her the main areas like the living room and kitchen. After showing her around a bit, we stand in front of the party room.

This room is mostly used for parties as the name implies. Sure the party comes out the room at times, but for the most part we all party in there.

Those kind of bigger parties are more like the holiday parties. Like Christmas and Halloween. Those are the bigger parties we have.

"We're here. You ready?", I asked.

"As ready as I can be.", Taco says.

I nod and open the door. The room is kinda dark. What is this a surprise birthday party?

"It's kinda dark in here..", Taco mutters.

"Yea.. hang on.. I think I know where the light switch is.", I mutter.

I place a hand on the wall and blindly search for the switch. Come on.. Where is it?

Aha! I found it! I turn on the lights and-

"WELCOME BACK!", everyone shouts.

"Holy fuck!", Taco exclaimed.

"Oh god!", I shout.

"Haha. Sorry for the scare you two.", OJ apologized.

"But we wanted to throw this 'Welcome Back' celebration for you two. To show how much we missed ya.", OJ said.

"You... You did this... for us?", I asked.

"Of course! Seeing as how badly we treated you both, we felt like this was a nice 1st step into welcoming you back into society.", he explained.

I look around and see everything looked so nice. There was a banner saying 'Welcome Back'. Along with some streamers. It wasn't anything big, but it still felt nice.

"Balloon!", I hear a shout.

I look over and see Suitcase rush over. She tackles me into a hug which I return to the best of my abilities.

"Hey Suitcase!", I greet.

"I'm so glad your back!", she said.

"Me too...", I said.

We let go and she goes back to the crowd. OJ motions me and Taco to follow him. We do and he leads us to a small stage.

"Hey everyone! As you can see. Balloon and Taco are here at the hotel!", OJ starts.

OJ continues to talk to the other residents and introduces Taco to the season 2 peoples. I'm just awkardly standing there looking around.

I could feel and see everyone staring at me. I start to get nervous. I shift a bit and just try to hide my arm.

God, this was insufferable! I don't want to be up here any longer! I could feel eyes staring daggers into me!

Just look away please! I don't need to panic right now! Why can't they just-

"So! Let's give them both a nice warm welcome to Hotel OJ!", OJ finished.

I look over to him and sigh in relief. Thank god he was done! I think I would've passed out if he kept going.

Me and Taco step down from the small stage and... Well. We just enjoyed ourselves, to the best of our abilities.

Taco was mostly close to Mic and Pickle, but she had some small convosations with some of the others. She talked to Pepper, Paper, and Trophy. She seems to be having some fun.

Me? I'm so nervous. Not nervous. I just feel insecure... I don't wanna talk to anyone too much, or I might start panicking.

I did have some small talk with Lightbulb and Paintbrush. It was nice, and they know my current pronouns.

"Hey Balloon!", I hear a person.

I turn around and see Cheesy. I smile and wave at him.

"Hey Cheesy! How are you?", I asked.

"I'm gouda!", he semi-jokes.

He does the signature knee slap which I giggle at.

"Glad to see ya back bud!", he exclaims.

"Heh. It's nice to be back. I missed this place.", I say.

"Hah. Well, I'll see ya!", he says.

"Alright. See ya later.", I call.

He walks away after the small talk. I'm near some snacks so I grab a mini sandwich and eat it. Tasty!

I'm just hanging out when I feel eyes on me. I look around but don't see anyone looking at me.

Oh god. The feeling gets bigger. I don't know if I can deal with this for much longer.

I've felt panicky for the past few minutes, and it's getting worse! I need to get out of here...

I quicky walk out of the party room and head to the life guard hut. Tio Lifering isn't in there since he's at the party.

Which is a good thing at the moment. I make it to the pool area and try to open the door to the hut.

Shit! It's locked. Oh wait! There's a key under the mat! I bend down and-

"Looking for the keys?", I hear a voice.

I turn around and see Trophy. He's standing there with the set of keys in his hand.

He walks over and opens the door. He must've noticed me leaving the party. I walk in and he follows.

"Are you okay?", he asks.

"....", I don't say anything.

I can't say anything.. I just feel scared. I shake my head 'no' and he smiles warmly.

"Are you feeling insecure?", he asks.

I nod my head 'yes' since I couldn't speak still. He nods understanding why and pulls me into a hug.

"It's okay man. You're safe with me.", he comforts.

I instantly feel calmer with his voice and words. The feeling of eyes on me fades and I calm down.

"Better?", he asked.

"Y-yea..", I mutter.

"That's good. Wanna go back?", he asked.

"N-no... I-i might-..", I start.

"Don't worry. I understand. We can stay here if you want.", he suggest.

"Okay.... Thanks Trophy.", I thanked.

"Anything for ya bud.", he smiles.

He sits us on the couch and turns the t.v on. He puts on the old TMNT movie. Specifically, TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze.

"Ooo~! I like this one!", I shout.

"I know. That's why I put it on.", Trophy smirks.

He pulls me closer to him and I rest my head on his shoulder. We watch the movie in a comfortable silence.

About half way into the movie, I start to get sleepy. I guess all the worrying and panic made me tired.

I scoot closer to Trophy and he gets the hint that I was tired. He rubs my head in a soothing way which makes me more sleepy.

"Tired huh?", he asks.

I nod my head and I end up laying down on Trophy's lap. He doesn't mind and rubs my side. I yawn as I get more droopy.

"Get some rest. I'll wake you later.", he whispers.

I nod and slowly let sleep get the best of me. The movie continues to play as the sounds of fighting pulls me closer to sleep.

My eyes close and before I drift off to sleep, my mind wanders as it plays memories and thoughts. And the last of these thoughts were....

I'm back at Hotel OJ.... With friends this time by my side...

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*End of Chapter 48*

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Yay!

A new chapter!

This was nice and 'short'!

I'm glad you all like my story!

We are nearing the end... kinda!

Hah. We still have a ways to go! 

And we haven't gotten to our main ship yet!

Now, I have some bad news....

I won't be able to update next Friday..

Don't worry!

It's nothing bad!!

I'm just going on vacation that week!

But I still want to get a chapter out by then!

So I'll be writing on Monday and Tuesday and then schedule it to post on Friday!

I hope that's okay!

Anyways...

I hope you like the chapter!

And I'll see you all later!

:)