Chapter Text
“Paper! Paper! Wake up, wake up!”
Paper slowly blinked his eyes open, the first sensation he registered being OJ shaking his arm like a madman. He groaned quietly to himself as he sat up from the overgrown pile of grass he’d chosen to lay in for the night.
He’d been friends with OJ for about a year now. Throughout that time they’d been through countless challenges together, various ups and downs and struggles of all kinds…
But not once had he ever seen OJ be this excited over something before. Whatever had happened, it must’ve been really important to wake him up before the sun had time to fully rise in the sky.
“Ah… good morning OJ. What’s got you so excited this early in the morning…?”
He was practically bouncing on his heels, the childlike, giddy grin across his face only growing wider and wider by the second. He let out what was possibly one of the most adorable noises Paper had ever heard, reaching a hand out to pull him up from the ground.
“Come see for yourself!”
Paper stared at the hand outstretched to him, hesitating for a moment as he considered whether this would be the right idea. Or if he even had the energy to deal with… whatever was making OJ of all objects so ecstatic.
But when he looked up into OJ’s eyes, and saw how they sparkled with pride, wonder and curiosity all at once… it made it infinitely harder for him to even think about saying no.
So he took OJ’s hand, letting the glass pull him up and lead him across the open field. Paper tried not to let himself dwell on how perfectly their hands fit together.
The further OJ dragged him from his original sleeping spot, the more Paper began to laugh at their current situation. OJ reminded him of some sort of hyperactive child who’d had way too much sugar for their own good…
But eventually, something came into view in the distance.
It was… a building. A very tall, sophisticated, yet somehow… extremely unappealing building. It was quite literally themed around OJ, being such an eye-scorchingly bright orange colour with ‘Hotel OJ’ scribbled on a sign across the side.
It was… a real eyesore, in Paper’s opinion.
“Look! The hotel’s finally done! Isn't it beautiful, Paper? Just look!”
Paper was tempted to tell OJ the cold, hard truth. That he had never seen a building so ugly and outlandish before, and that he really needed to rethink his design choices.
But at the same time… he was just so proud of it, and it really was so… so OJ.
And he definitely knew how he felt about OJ…
“…Yeah, it really is.”
OJ nodded along to Paper’s words, already leading him inside.
“C’mon, I’ll show you around!”
The two entered the building together, seeing how pristine and barren the entire entrance's interior was. Just a couple of simple, grey walls surrounding them and a tough, yet fuzzy and comfortable beige carpet beneath their feet.
“So this is obviously gonna be the lobby, but I was thinking maybe we could turn this into a kitchen…”
OJ led Paper to another room around the corner on the ground floor, already pointing to the cabinets and listing what sorts of food would go where.
It was… honestly so adorable to see OJ get so thrilled over something. Something he was truly passionate about.
“Obviously upstairs is where all the residents are gonna stay… I’m already making plans on who’s rooming with who, but you can review and help me finalise them if you want. There’s a few obvious pairs, like Baseball and Nickel, Marshmallow and Paintbrush, me and you…”
Obvious.
He and OJ were an obvious pair.
The very thought made Paper’s heart skip a beat. OJ wasn’t wrong in that assumption, not in the slightest… and there was no other object he’d rather room with than him, but…
To hear him say something like that out loud?
It… it warmed his heart a little, that’s for sure… that OJ thought they were as inseparable as he did.
Then, another question popped up into Paper’s mind.
“How many rooms are there?”
“Like… I dunno, 15-ish? Maybe 20?”
Paper nodded along to his words, before coming to a realisation.
“…Doesn’t that mean we have enough to give everyone their own separate rooms? They’d probably be more comfortable that way, right?”
OJ was extremely quick to shake his head at the idea, chuckling somewhat nervously to himself… and was that a faint hint of blush on his face, or was he only imagining it?
“Oh! Uh- well, we might get new residents along the way, y’know? Plus, we’ll be saving space, and if anyone new comes along we can give them their own rooms and they won’t have to disturb anyone else’s arrangements and-“
Paper only laughed at his rambling, his smile warm and somewhat teasing. It was cute seeing him getting so defensive over something so simple…
“Okay, okay! I was only asking…”
OJ breathed an internal quiet sigh of relief at his answer, placing his hand on his hips as he took another quick look around the place.
“I’m thinking we can maybe start on furniture now? Maybe the hotel will even be ready for everyone to move in by tomorrow if we work hard enough.”
Paper let his lips curl up into a delicate smile, nodding along to his words.
“Alright, sounds good. We’ll start bringing things in.”
OJ had already bought most of the stuff he’d need for his hotel earlier, so it was only a matter of calling MePhone and asking him to bring their supplies over to the hotel before they got started.
The two worked together in perfect sync to make sure everything looked as organised and aesthetically pleasing as possible (even if Paper knew the hotel’s exterior was absolutely done for). When they worked together, playing into each other's strengths and covering their weaknesses… it really felt like there was nothing they couldn’t do. They’d already proven how strong their bond was in the competition itself - they’d come up with such creative plans for challenges together, always made time for one another, powered through rough patches in their friendship…
…They really felt like some sort of dream-team.
“Aaand done!”
OJ cheered, having just finished hanging the picture of him and Paper rescuing Apple on the wall. it was slightly tilted, and looked somewhat odd… but right as Paper was about to bring that fact up, he took another look at OJ’s endearing, proud smile and decided not to.
“I think we’re doing great decorating!”
“Yeah… I couldn’t agree more.”
OJ took a moment to look over at Paper, feeling his smile slowly soften into a look of… pure amazement.
Because that was when everything really started to sink in for him…
He was going to run a hotel. With his best friend by his side.
His best friend who was so sweet, and helpful, and loyal all the way to the very end… his best friend, always willing to try new plans and ideas with him… his best friend, who he wouldn’t trade for anyone in the entire world…
“Hey, Paper?”
He asked, his voice a lot calmer and more sincerely vulnerable than it had been the entire day. The tone shift caught Paper off-guard, but he tilted his head at OJ’s words, curious to learn what he had to say as he let his own voice soften a little, too.
“Yeah?”
He took in a quick breath to prepare himself.
“I just… I’m so thankful that you agreed to be my co-manager in this crazy new situation. I couldn’t have won Inanimate Insanity without you, and it really felt like we… we really bonded in there, y’know? And I guess… I guess I’m just glad that that isn’t just going away now that the game’s over. That we’re starting the next chapter of our lives… together.”
Paper went completely silent for a moment, staring right into OJ’s eyes as he took in the meaning behind those words…
His heart suddenly felt so warm. So full. And Paper knew in that moment that there truly was no other object that was more deserving of that million dollars than OJ was. So selfless in investing his prize in something everyone could enjoy, and so kind as to not leave him behind, to not forget about him and instead ask Paper to join him on this new endeavour…
“…Yeah. Me too… and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Paper knew being a co-manager was going to be hard. Exhausting, even. But with OJ by his side?
Maybe… maybe things would turn out just fine.