Only visible by the gleam of moonlight on his blade, Knife sat on a cliff in the forest, looking at the stars. He preferred being away from the other contestants when they weren't competing, leaving him with plenty of time alone with his thoughts.

He'd usually reflect on the state of the show; his performance, what the next challenge might be, and more recently about all the conflict among his fellow contestants. But lately, there was something... or, rather, someone else on his mind as well.

Knife prided himself on being one of the more mature contestants as of late, keeping level-headed while everyone else had some sort of issue to work out with people they considered friends. He didn't get involved and tried his best to keep to himself no matter what he noticed others going through.

Sure, it got lonely sometimes, but he was content with the person he'd become, especially in comparison to how he used to act.

But, of course, he had ended up making one exception; Pickle.

He had known Pickle ever since the first season of Inanimate Insanity. They were on different teams, and so they'd never really talked to each other. Knife hardly ever thought about him beyond an acknowledgment of his presence.

After OJ won the first season of Inanimate Insanity, it was decided that everyone would live together in his new hotel, at least until the next season of the show. During the first few weeks living there, Knife had somehow ended up playing video games with Pickle on the regular.

They ended up being each other's go-to second player since they both liked video games and didn't hate each other, requirements that a surprisingly small number of people met on Knife's end.

Pickle ended up becoming his friend in a way, though most of their conversations were about whatever game they were playing, so their friendship didn't seem to be anything notable. It just worked out, whenever one of them wanted to play, the other would join. It was comfortable and didn't feel like it needed to be anything more.

There was the rare occasion where their conversation would deviate. Pickle had mentioned Taco a couple of times, never in a positive light, but never in a particularly bad light either, Knife had noticed. He just assumed Pickle had a lot of feelings about her that he was sorting out on his own, so he didn't involve himself. None of his business. He just obliged with throwing the letters she'd written him into the fireplace; who doesn't like an excuse to set something on fire?

After a few months, MePhone4 came back to host the second Inanimate Insanity season. Once everyone who would compete had been chosen, he did admit, he was a bit disappointed to see that Pickle hadn't joined alongside him. He'd realized that Pickle was the closest thing he had to a friend (besides his Dora doll, of course) at that point.

Nevertheless, Knife continued with competing in the season. He tried his best in every challenge, got blackmailed, broke his leg, and had his most valued possession and the only thing he considered a friend destroyed-

...Actually, things weren't going too smoothly so far, and he'd given up on expecting them to start getting any better.

Before everyone began competing in Episode 7, MePhone4 had ended up in jail for a day, resulting in OJ hosting in his place. He had the contestants clean his hotel; but more importantly, everyone still competing had a chance to talk to eliminated competitors and everyone who hadn't competed. Knife had planned to go and talk to Pickle but hadn't found an opportunity to do so besides defending him when Balloon had insulted him.

But... noticing how Pickle had reacted at his mention of Taco, Knife felt like it had become more important to talk to him. Of course Knife was going to break his own rule of minding his own business, it was obvious Pickle needed some sort of advice or comfort, and he'd feel awful about it if he didn't at least try.

After cleaning a few windows and sweeping a few rooms, Knife took a break to try and find Pickle. He eventually found him on the couch in the lobby playing video games. On the small table next to the couch sat a picture frame of him and Taco having a picnic, which worried him even more. He took a breath, began forming some sort of plan, and walked over to the couch.

"Mind if I join?" Knife asked.

A chance to at least give him some sort of advice. To try, at least.

"Yeah, sure, I guess... as long as you're not here to break the controller or whatever."

Knife instinctively growled. He wasn't sure if it was because Pickle assumed he'd do something like that, or because he didn't want him to. He didn't dwell on the thought for too long before trying to bring up the photo.

"So, that's an... interesting photo you got there."

"Yeah, okay."

He felt defeated- why did he even care that Pickle was brushing him off like this?! Just bring up Taco, it shouldn't be so-!

"Ugh! I can't get past this level, I'm done with this."

Okay, okay. Here goes nothing.

"Pickle! You can't play the game that way. You have to be willing to go back in and try again. Just because you failed once doesn't mean you'll fail every time."

"...Wait, what do you mean?"

"You can't let one bad experience ruin it. Otherwise, you'll... never move on to the next stage."

Pickle paused, seemingly contemplating his words.

"...Wow, that means a lot, Knife. Nobody's really been there for me lately." He hadn't heard Pickle say his name in so long.

"Um, I was just talking about the video game." He hoped it was obvious.

"Really." Pickle said, unconvinced.

The knowing look on Pickle's face made something deep inside him tremble, a feeling he couldn't bring himself to name.

"I was! Um, goodbye!"

Despite Knife's embarrassment, Pickle seemed to appreciate the advice, so he walked away, swinging his arms and looking aloof. But he couldn't stop himself from taking a moment to look back and smile. He didn't say everything he wanted to, but he was still glad that he could be there for Pickle, and that he got to see him and talk with him after so long. Now, back to the challenge.

After MePhone4 came back from jail, Apple was eliminated, and the episode ended, everyone who wasn't competing in the season waved goodbye. Even Pickle had left the hotel to give Knife a wave as he left with the rest of the contestants, prompting a grin and a finger-gun in place of an urge to run back and hug him.

And so there he was, weeks later, still thinking about Pickle and all of the missed chances he had to talk to him when they were still together in the hotel. Over time, those thoughts trailed off into wondering about when he could see him again, and those inevitably trailing into a realization that he swore to himself he would repress and deny for the rest of his life:

He... might be just a little bit in love with Pickle

Not even because he's one of the few people he considered a friend! He'd had plenty of friends over the years, but had never felt this way about any of them.

Pickle was just easy-going, and had a great sense of humor, and enjoyed the same things as him, and was always caring and lovely...

And wasn't it just his luck, that falling in love would ruin the entire identity he'd been building up for years.