Kart Krazy

Paper had been making his way down the hotel hallways, looking for something to do. He'd been cooped up in his room all day, trying to entertain himself with whatever he could find lying around his room. Writing, rereading his favourite Warrior Cats novel for the hundredth time... he wasn't even in the right mood to rewatch Desperate Housewives. It was honestly getting pretty frustrating...

So, now, he'd turned to his last resort.

Actually talking to the other residents at the hotel.

How fun.

He made his way to the stairs, waving at anyone he saw pass him by on the way to their rooms. And then, he saw Pickle and Bomb gaming on the couch together.

...Huh. He'd never really... given gaming a shot before. Maybe it was worth a try? Pickle was his friend, after all, and he didn't really mind Bomb now. It'd be a good opportunity to get closer to them.

He approached the two with a calm smile on his face, watching as the TV was on some sort of victory screen, Bomb punching the air and earning a scoff from Pickle.

"Oh? Whatcha guys playing?"

Bomb turned to him, a calm smile on his face, not minding Pickle's obvious sulking.

"W-Well we were j-j-just finishing up a-a-a game of M-Mario Kart."

"...Mario Kart, huh? D'ya think I could join?"

Pickle glanced over at Paper, probably a little surprised to see him taking interest in gaming, of all things.

"You wanna join? Really?"

"Why not? It sounds fun."

Pickle shrugged a little to himself, handing Paper a spare controller.

"Alright, then. You know how to play, or do you want a basic rundown?"

"Well, I've never played this before, but it's just about trying to win the race, right?"

"Mhm. B-But there's a-a-also other items th-that can help o-o-or hurt you."

Paper nodded, moving to sit down on the couch with them, an enthusiastic smile on his face as the game booted up.

And... it was honestly really damn fun. Paper never really saw the appeal of games like these, but it was actually sort of... thrilling, he supposed.

He obviously didn't get 1st, but he didn't think 5th was that bad for his first go, in a game with 12 total racers.

"So? What do you think?"

"I actually like it! How do we play again?"

The three continued playing a couple more tracks, and every time Paper improved he felt a little better about himself. Listening to Pickle and Bomb's banter whilst he sneakily climbed the leaderboard was really entertaining, for some reason.

He kept it up for quite a while... and after just a few rounds of practice, he even managed to get first! He was so proud of himself that he almost leaped up into the air.

That was when he heard a voice yell his name.

A voice he knew very well.

"Paper? Heelllooo, are you ready for-"

He looked towards the staircase, seeing a certain cylindrical glass of orange juice on the steps, meeting his gaze.

He just... stood there, staring, completely frozen in place.

Pickle glanced over at OJ, smiling at him and gesturing for him to come over.

"Oh, hey there OJ! Paper's playing Mario Kart with us, and..."

OJ couldn't focus on the rest of whatever Pickle was going to say.

Because why.

Was Paper.

Sitting.

So.

CLOSE.

To PICKLE.

He felt his anger start to stir something inside him... but thankfully his juice wasn't boiling - yet.

He had to hold himself back from tearing that ignorant, brain-dead cucumber apart limb from limb-

No... no, no no no... he'd banned violence in the hotel, he wasn't going to start a fight over this, he needed to get a grip on his emotions.

Instead, he put on one of those classic 'manager smiles' he'd gotten so used to practicing, a somewhat bitter chuckle leaving his mouth.

"Oh, really? That sounds nice..."

It was an obvious lie, but maybe the dumbasses wouldn't be able to tell.

Paper would, though. And it was definitely no coincidence that he was now smirking at him, leaning back in his seat.

"Oh, yeah... I'm having such a great time with these guys, y'know?"

He shuffled just a little closer to Pickle on the couch, who just gave him a slightly confused look.

OJ's hands clenched into fists, his entire glass shaking with envy.

Why was this bothering him so much? Paper was allowed to have friends... and Pickle and Bomb were good guys - even if he didn't have the best history with one of them...

And he'd kept Hotel OJ afloat for... countless years, facing every problem that came his way with a level-headed mind, approaching them and finding rational solutions... his boyfriend hanging out with other objects shouldn't bother him in the slightest...

"Oh, really? Can I join?"

God, why did he say that? He couldn't play a video game to save his life, he'd get his ass handed to him and it'd look so embarrassing-

"Oh, y-yeah, 4-player w-w-wo-works. Good th-th-thing Soap a-and Mic are o-o-ou-out."

OJ slowly made his way down the rest of the steps, sitting on the couch beside Paper.

He still wasn't close enough to him, and it took every ounce of restraint he had to stop himself from yanking Paper away from Pickle and to his side.

"Alright, well... we'll explain how this-"

"No, no, I got it."

Pickle was a little surprised to hear how quickly he'd been shut down, by that stoic voice OJ used when he seemed disinterested in something. But he handed him a controller nonetheless... the manager was probably in a bad mood, anyway.

"Uh... okay...?"

He booted up the game again, and every second of the match OJ was two seconds away from throwing his controller at the TV. He knew Paper was purposefully trying to make him jealous; even a blind man could see that. But what made it worse was that it was working...

OJ finished the match in 12th, with exactly 0 points. He didn't even come close to finishing a single race, and Paper pouted a little, feigning disappointment.

"Awww! It's okay! I'm sure you'll get it next time!"

OJ rolled his eyes, setting his controller down and getting up.

"Yeah yeah, maybe video games just aren't for me."

He walked over to where Paper was, and oh god he was LEANING ON HIM okay he couldn't fucking take this anymore.

He could HEAR his juice start to boil...

He scooped his lover off the couch, making him drop his controller and earning an adorable surprised little squeak from him.

"...C'mon... let's go watch more Desperate Housewives, yeah?"

He saw the way Paper's eyes lit up, and his frustration immediately dissolved... god, how was he so cute...

OJ carried Paper all the way to their room, and the moment they arrived and the door was shut behind them, Paper burst into a fit laughter.

"Oh my GOD that was SO funny!-"

"Shut up, just shut up..."

Even when they were snuggled in bed, the laptop in front of them as Paper's favourite episode of Desperate Housewives came on, he still couldn't hold back a giggle or two as the memories replayed in his mind. He got to try out a fun game, make his boyfriend the most jealous being in existence, and they were now cuddled in bed together.

The only thing on his mind was that he needed to play Mario Kart more often...