Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Welcome back, Lightbulb.”

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TestTube’s P.O.V:

I watched as Lightbulb walked through the hotel garden. She was wearing a white sundress with blue flowers that reached her knees. Lightbulb reached for the flower bush, touching the petals of each flower, looking for the perfect one. She finally picked one out, and started smelling it.

I set up a blanket and an umbrella to sit on for our little picnic together. I had sent Lightbulb away to go walk around while I got everything ready. I set down the basket of food that we had made earlier today for our hang out.

I sat down and waited for her to come back, but in the meantime I jotted down notes on a small green notebook Fan gifted me for my Birthday this year.

//
Lab 26: Subject was feeling fine. Notes
Lab 27: Subject was feeling fine. -Subject
Lab 28: Subject was being defensive. appears to
Lab 29: Subject was being silent. have
Lab 30: Subject was feeling fine. sudden
Lab 31: Subject vomit before outbrusts
getting a response out.
///

I could hear footsteps coming towards me, and I looked up to see Lightbulb standing over me with her hands behind her back.

“Whatcha writing about?” She asked, tilting her head.

“Just a new project.” I didn’t want to elaborate further, but that only seemed to make her more curious.

“Can I s-“

“No.” I cut her off before she had any funny ideas.

“What! That’s not fair! You always talk to Fan about your experiments! Why can’t you talk to me about them!” She started getting upset and raising her voice.

“Hey, hey.. Lightbulb, sit down. Remember to breathe like I told you.”Lightbulb sat down and took deep breaths, “Good. I know you're upset, but you have to understand that I come to Fan for these things because.. well, he’s very close to me. I’m not saying you aren’t, but I come to different people for different things.”

I brought my hand up to Lightbulb’s cheek and I cupped her face in a loose grip.

“And right now, I just want to relax and have some fun with my friend. Okay?” Lightbulb finally calmed down.

“Fine. Keep your secrets then.” She joked. “Oh, by the way! I got you this!”

Lightbulb handed me a dark red rose, and I gratefully accepted it.

“It’s very nice, Lightbulb.”

“I know.”

Chapter Text

Lightbulb's POV:

Test Tube scurried across her lab, grabbing and picking tools and specimens. Or at least I think that's what she was doing, she never really explained what she does in her lab. I would've liked to ask her, but I'd never get anything more than hums in response.

I looked around the room from the stool I was sitting on. I usually come here to hang out, but Test Tube invited me to the lab this time. She said she had something important for me to do. I was willing to help out, I just wish I knew what she wanted from me.

A lot of clattering could be heard from where Test Tube was working. She was slaving away like always it seemed. I started to wonder if she'd been talking good care of herself, she's been very tired recently.

"Ughhh.. I'm missing something... Lightbulb you stay right here. I'm going to ask Fan if he's seen it." Test Tube left the room.

"Hmm.. if he's seen what?" I asked myself.

I heard the entrance open slightly once again and Test Tube popped her head in.

"Don't. Leave."

I sat there for a while, kicking me feet, whistling, anything to pass the time. It had been about 14 minutes, and I decided to walk around the lab for a bit.

"Ughhh.. this is so boringggg!" I groaned.

I went over to the periscope and looked through the lense, hoping to see a sign of Test Tube. Nope, she's not back yet. Geez, what was she be looking for? I debated just going to the hotel and waiting for her there, but she wanted me to stay here at the lab.

Eh, I'm an adult, I can go wherever I want. If it's that important then Test Tube can just call me.

I left the room through Test Tube's secret passage into the hotel and walked through the empty halls. I was thinking about going to Fan's room to find Test Tube myself, but I was kinda hungry. I walked down the hall, my mind wandering as I thought about what food I wanted to eat.

I turned the corner and bumped into someone.

Umph! I fell backwards from the force and landed on my bum. The person I bumped into felt tall and somewhat buff, and his voice was firm and sharp.

"Hey, watch it! Oh. Hi, Lightbulb. Sorry, are you alright?" Trophy offered me a hand.

I gratefully accepted and he pulled me back onto my feet. "Yeah, I'm alright, I just fell is all."

I saw box come up to stand beside Trophy. She was wearing a pony tail and her clothes seemed athletic. Now that I payed more attention to it, they both seemed to be in athletic attire.

"Woah, where are you two going?"

Box answered me first. "We're just going to play some volleyball-"

"-And tennis!" Trophy interrupted, absolutely giddy.

"And tennis." Box rolled her eyes playfully.

Trophy chuckled and they both randomly started roughhousing each other for a bit before Box turned her attention back to me.

"Say, you wanna join us?" Box was always inviting people to hang out, I think it's because she was never truly here for season 2. Or maybe she's just nice, who knows?

"Omga! You're inviting me? Well of course I'll join!" I replied joyfully. I didn't have anything to wear for the occasion, but I don't think that was a main concern.

Trophy grumbled something under his breath which caused Box to nudge him scoldingly. He didn't seem too happy about sharing his time with Box, but he wasn't totally against it.

Box hooked herself onto both of our arms and led us outside of the hotel. She was a tad bit shorter than us, but she had a firm grip, and she led us through the halls like kindergartners.

We finally escaped the hotel and she let go of us. I never noticed how different the air quality was in the hotel compared to the outside. Outside was cool and fresh, and the air had a floral smell to it, but inside it was just mostly the way-too- cold air coming from the ac.

Box and Trophy both started to set up the volleyball net, laughing and giggling as they bantered and chatted. I tried to help them out, but I wasn't very good at it. We finally got the darn thing up and ready, and I would've cheered with them, but I was staring off into the woods at the edge of the hotel property. Something about those woods gave me goosebumps.

"Lightbulb, Lightbulb!" I only just noticed that Box had been calling my name and waving me over. "Hey, you okay Lightbulb?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm alright! Whose team am I on?" I brushed her question off, I didn't really have an answer for her anyways.

"You can be on Trophy's team! He can show you the basics."

I joined Trophy on the other side of the net, and he started to explain the rules and the moves of volleyball. I kind of understood, but I already had a feeling that I wouldn't be very good at it. Box had the ball and she was getting ready to toss it towards us.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

She started off the game by giving the ball a strong whack. Trophy was doing most of the work while I watched. I would've been more help, but I was too scared to mess up. At some point Trophy scoffed and shoved me closer to the game. I managed to land a few hits although they were quite sloppy.

The game finally ended and I sighed out of relief. I was kind of sweaty and tired, but Box and Trophy somehow looked more awake then they were before the game. How do people do that?

"Hey, Lightbulb! That was your first time playing volleyball, right?" Trophy asked.

"Oh, yeah it was! Was it that obvious?" I said with a bit of worry. Did they notice all the mistakes I made?

"No, no! That was pretty good for a first try. I mean, you should've seen Trophy the first time he played volleyball." That statement seemed to make Trophy cringe and grumble.

"Well you can take a break, and then we'll head to the tennis court." Box said as they all went to sit down on the grass.

"Hey, while we rest Trophy could tell you about Tennis." Box suggested, which of course made Trophy light up.

I watched as Trophy passionately spoke about Tennis. He talked about all his favorite players, and his favorite moves. All the teams he's played in.

"Wow, you're such a Jock." I pointed out.

"And you're such a jerk." His smile fell the moment he said that, but it was only for a split second.

Box noticed his upset demeanor, and she was about to comfort her friend, but we heard a shout from the distance.

"Hey!" That voice.. was that Test Tube?

I watched as she ran over to where we were sitting. She looked worried.

"Lightbulb! What are you doing!? I told you to stay in the lab! Not to play some weird Olympic Games with Trophy and Box!"

I stayed silent. I've never seen her get so panicked. Did I do something wrong?

"… Sorry. I don't know what's been having me so stressed lately. You're fine.. Deep breaths Test Tube.." She mutter the last part to herself.

That was an odd thing to say..

"Of course, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Right. Right.. Just come back as soon as you're done. I'll- I'll be waiting." Test Tube avoided eye contact with Trophy and Box, almost like she was refusing to acknowledge that they were actually there. She immediately walked back to her lab after her little outburst.

Trophy and Box looked at each other, and then they looked at me.

"Is Test Tube doing okay?" Box asked.

"I don't know.. I haven't been able to tell lately… I should go, I don't want to keep her waiting." I excused myself from the conversation, promising to come back some other day to play tennis. The two were pretty understanding and they told me to keep a close eye on Test Tube.

That's probably a good idea. She's been out of sorts lately.

Chapter Text

TestTube POV

I finished preparing all my equipment. Everything was perfect, now I just had to wait for Lightbulb to come back down to the lab. She was taking her time, and I was starting to wonder what was taking her so long. Since she was already wasting precious time I took this as an opportunity to do some much-needed reflection.

I walked over to my desk and opened the bottom right drawer. I digged throught the various papers of failed projects until I finally reached the papers in the bottom. These one's were different, they were worn out and the paper was a different material from the usual paper I used. These paper's weren't mine, actually they were made by the other's in the hotel. They were missing posters.

Knife, Marshmallow, Microphone. Their faces were plastered on the articles, pictures of them smiling. Beside the picture was a description of their physical features, and a paragraph describing when and where they were last seen. A phone number was left at the bottom, but some of the numbers were illegibal from the harsh forces of nature that bombarded the area a few days after the posters were set up.

But that's quite enough on the posters. I want to think of what happened on the day of there dissapearances. Not all of them went missing the same day. Knife went missing first, disappearing about 3 years ago. The last time anyone saw him was at 4:32 AM of April 4th, 2025. Trophy saw him go downstairs to the lobby, just thinking that he was going down to the kitchen area to sneak a snack back to his room. Trophy blamed himself after the disappearance saying that "Knife wouldn't have been gone if he just decided to join him on that day." A statement which I highly doubt. Trophy shouldn't feel too bad though. Knife did indeed go to the lobby, but he was so tired and he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. He was perfect.

I heard someone cheer as they came down from the tube leading to the lab. Only Lightbulb was that noisy when entering the lab. Lightbulb finally landed on the ground with a thump.

"Heya Tube! I'm finally here!" She walked over to me and gave me a squeeze. "Hope I didn't worry ya too much, eh?" She paused, looking at the posters in my hand. "Hey.. is that-"

"It's not important. Just uh, go the the Jam Room, I'll be there shortly." I ordered.

Lightbulb was about to ask another question, but she decided against it. She nodded and turned away to the Jam Room. You may be thinking, what is the "Jam Room"? Well it's simply just the surgery room, but that's probably not what you wnated to know.

The story is quite weird, but a few weeks ago I was checking in on Lightbulb. Just the regular; finding out how she's been, if she's been feeling any pain, asking her if she's been taking those pills I've been giving her, and lastly I did an x-ray scan. The omly thing out of the ordinary was the X-Ray scan. I found something weird in her abdomen, and I just had to take a closer look, so I took her to the surgery room to see what had shown up in the X-rays. Now this is the important part, Mid-surgery Lightbulb woke up despite the heavy anesthesia she was under and she saw her innards. All she managed to say was, "It looks like jam.." before she fainted back into unconsciousness. Ever since that day we've just called it the Jam Room, which is kind of gross, but it makes her feel less scared about the room.

I got up and headed to the Jam Room where Lightbulb was waiting on a stool. She seemed to be whispering something to herself, but she immediately stopped when she saw me enter the room. She looked up at me and smiled. Her smile was weird. What are you thinking about Lightbulb?