Hey guys! Welcome to my second fan fic, and final one I will be doing for the time being until one of my other series' is finished. The backstory on this is I had started a series of comics on DeviantART about this story, but I ended up discontinuing it as I couldn't get the absolute full story off within those few lines of dialogue per comic, especially with what I was trying to do. This will give you the full, honest story of what is happening. Unlike a comic, it will be easier to feel the emotion characters are going through, and relate to them much better.

And with that, I bid ado, and hope that you enjoy. This is only Chapter 1, so look out for more. Criticism is always appreciated!

Characters belong to Michael & Cary Huang, and Adam Katz. I do not own the characters or the shows they belong to. Credit goes to the respective authors.

Chapter 1: Fan Mail

It was a contestant's worst nightmare. Hearing that you had a 50/50 chance of being eliminated, and having to go through all the more stress as you await the final results determining whether you'd receive another chance to redeem yourself in the competition or not. The contestant would look at their friends and enemies, knowing very well this could be the very last time you work with them. All these colorful and vibrant personalities. They were all chosen by a production team to be worthy for the cameras, as they all had something going for them.

The object's best friend sat next to them, with acquaintances sitting in the odd place on the bleachers. Around them were Halloween-themed decorations, despite it not being Halloween. The object was in the Bottom 2 with an object with two personalities.

"Geez," they thought, "what I'd give to have two personalities. It'd be something at least…"

The object then, all of a sudden, stopped at the thought of their own personality. They had suddenly forgotten why they were there in the first place. They looked down at their own body, only to notice that they were no longer who they used to be. They were now possessing a body of a black question mark. Looking back up, the object noticed all of their friends looking at them suddenly confused.

"Who is he?" whispered one of the objects to their friend.

"He? I thought it was a girl!" replied another.

"I've never seen them before!" questioned another.

The object started panicking that they, nor did anyone else, know who they were. Suddenly, the object noticed their friends and acquaintances the object thought they'd known pull out phones in order to vote them off the show. Turning their attention to the front stage, the host began to reveal the votes, and as their bar towered over the other contestants' bar, signifying that the object was eliminated, a swirling portal appeared before their eyes, growing bigger and bigger as the whispers of the other contestants grew louder. No matter what they did, they could not move their legs to run, or their arms to fight it, and as the portal engulfed them, they slowly lost consciousness…

The next thing the object knew, they were finally able to move. They started to flail about, trying to fight back the menace before realizing that the portal was gone. Confused, the object took a moment to address the situation, before realizing they were face first on the ground, the wooden floor in front of their eyes.

The object took a moment to take a look at themselves. Looking down, they noticed their brownish body and black stick-like legs and feet. They looked at their hands to notice that, they too, were stick-like and black. Looking up, they noticed their yellow hair, curled up and kept suspended in the same state by a silver-like handle. What brought more confusion was the shadow they were casting, in quite the peculiar shape. It almost looked like…

"...a paintbrush," they abruptly said, "I'm a paintbrush."

Paintbrush was starting to understand things again, happy at the thought of remembering who they were.

Paintbrush started to reflect on the experience that had just happened, as they started to their feet. Looking at the wooden bed with its light blue covers all ruffled, they deduced it was all just a bad dream, which would make sense.

Dreams are representations of the person's thoughts and actions throughout previous days, which would explain the question mark, and the setting of the dream. Paintbrush had only just narrowly escaped elimination a few days ago, receiving only a few less votes than another object, Yin-Yang, known for their split personalities and their frequent fights.

Paintbrush had been told by many they're a walking identity crisis. Paintbrush had neglected telling anyone their gender, as it was a touchy subject, but the threats didn't faze Paintbrush. For all Paintbrush cared, they could address Paintbrush as a non-gender, an "it", per say.

So why did Paintbrush have that nightmare?

Oh well. It was probably nothing. What was more important was that Paintbrush get started with the day. It was already late in the day.

Paintbrush opened the door from the house given to Paintbrush as a temporary home for the competition. 10 houses were built as temporary shelters for the contestants to live in while they were part of the competition, but as soon as they were eliminated, they had to move out.

Since there were 19 contestants to start, most of the contestants had to pair up, with the exception of one. Paintbrush had to bunk with fellow teammate and close friend Lightbulb, a energetic and ambitious individual who sometimes let her carelessness get the best of her. She was overly attached to Paintbrush, but not really in that way. In all honestly, Paintbrush was probably the object who understood Lightbulb, and she was still as hard to read as the laws that governed the world they live in. Lightbulb was, of course, saddened at the fact that Paintbrush had elected to move into a spare house without her after both of the contestants living in it were eliminated.

Paintbrush looked up to the sky. Interestingly, it was another cloudless day. "Strange," Paintbrush thought, "it never seems to rain here. Even more odd, since we certainly aren't in a desert. We're in a grassland with tall mountains surrounding us, which would definitely cause at least some clouds to form." Paintbrush preferred not to think about it.

The first thing Paintbrush did in the morning after waking up was check the mail, and then join the fellow contestants in the Mess Hall. As there was no challenge for the next few days, the contestants were given some privileges to goof off. They were allowed to leave the campus in order to see friends and family, as long as they were not told of any kinds of spoilers of the show or such. MePhone4, the host, was real picky about that.

Paintbrush opened up the mailbox standing outside the house, thinking there would be no mail, as there usually wasn't any. However, to Paintbrush's surprise, there was in fact a small envelope waiting in the mailbox. In fact, it was actually fan mail! This was incredibly shocking to Paintbrush, as there hadn't been fan mail from anyone in a very long time. If anything, the mailbox was stuffed with hate mail about being aggressive towards other contestants, or coupons to some obscure restaurant or bowling alley or something. There was never any interest in using the coupons in the first place.

But this piece of fan mail was intriguing. All Paintbrush could do was look at it in the palm of Paintbrush's hand and read the one word on the envelope over and over "Paintbrush". It was incredible! Someone still believed that Paintbrush could win the show! After about a minute of just staring at the envelope, Paintbrush decided to shelve it for now, and read it to the friends that were waiting for Paintbrush to arrive at the mess hall.

As Paintbrush kept walking down the pathway leading from the house to the main camp, where the mess hall was located, Paintbrush couldn't help but wonder what was in the envelope.

Paintbrush had arrived at the Mess Hall and was delighted to see the friend group Paintbrush belonged to, all sitting at the same section of a table. Well, all except the ones who were eliminated.

The first to notice Paintbrush enter the hall was, of course, Lightbulb. Still as ecstatic as ever to see Paintbrush every morning, she welcomed Paintbrush with the typical tackle to the ground.

"Oh Painty, why are you so late? You know I worry when you don't arrive on time. I was scared something might've happened to you!" Lightbulb was shouting to the point that, had Paintbrush had ears, they would've been shattered.

"Lightbulb, get off of Paintbrush, and stop acting like a dog for gosh sake!" exclaimed a high-pitched voice, which Paintbrush easily recognized as Marshmallow.

Marshmallow was very nice and sweet, but grew bitter whenever her on-off friend Apple was around. Apple was the reason Marsh was eliminated in the first season, and she never let Apple forget it. Since then, she's certainly developed a more aggressive side to her personality, but she still meant well.

What was odd was that they were both hanging out with someone who the group usually didn't hang out with; Test Tube. Test Tube had an odd fascination, or addiction rather, to science-y things. Yin-Yang was going on and on about how she even apparently has her own secret lab somewhere on the set's grounds. She had denied the claims, and no one could really blame her. MePhone4, the host, swore that if there were such thing, he'd sue her and kick her off the show immediately.

"I'm sorry Paintbrush. I had told Lightbulb that you were approximately 47 minutes late for our get-together." Test Tube explained with her usual nasal voice.

"You mean our get-together, Test Tube." Paintbrush replied, "Why are you hanging out with Marsh and Lightbulb?"

Test Tube cleared her throat to express her displeasure in what Paintbrush had just said.

"I just thought that since you weren't here yet, the hangout technically never started, so I took the opportunity that I had in my schedule and spent it talking with my peers to become better acquainted with them! That's all." Test Tube explained.

Paintbrush couldn't really argue with that. Arguing was something Paintbrush really did not want to do, as it would only increase the viewers' hatred towards Paintbrush.

"It'd be better to be on good standing with more contestants." thought Paintbrush.

They all decided to sit down again. Test Tube seemed glad that she was able to stay with the group.

Paintbrush had explained to the group of the nightmare experience Paintbrush had been through, of the flashback towards the Halloween-themed elimination, that they'd all been there, and of the question mark and giant portal. Paintbrush was glad that the friend group was being supportive, but was disappointed that they had dismissed it as "having too little sleep." However, Test Tube had given an interesting analogy of how perhaps Paintbrush was insecure about the standing between Paintbrush and the viewers, but Paintbrush had quickly dismissed it, although took it to heart as it was the truth.

Paintbrush quickly changed the subject, but didn't know what to change it to. Suddenly, the piece of mail came to mind.

"Oh yeah!" Paintbrush began, "I found this in my mailbox this morning. I think it might be fan mail!"

"Fan mail? How do you know?" asked Marshmallow.

"I don't know exactly, but it's addressed to me, and apparently whoever this is likes to dot their eyes with hearts. I don't think this is any normal letter."

"Maybe a secret admirer?" Test Tube inquired.

"And you haven't read it yet? Well gosh! Open it already!" Lightbulb frantically added.

All eyes were on Paintbrush, and it appeared there was no way of getting out of this now. Paintbrush decided to submit to the friend group's wishes and read the letter.

Paintbrush took the letter out of the white envelope, and started to read aloud.

Dear Mr/Mrs. Paintbrush

It has come to my attention that we have, like, a whole lot in common, in terms of searching for our place in the world, our personalities, and fan base view! I was actually part of an object show myself, and I too was liked in the first season, and hated in the second. Perhaps we could get to know each other and help each other out? I would love to take the time to, like, get to know you!

Meet me at the Terratopolis Arts Centre 1800, in two days.

Pleasantly

-A friend.

All Paintbrush could do was stare at the opened letter. Someone… related to them? Someone was going through the same thing as they were. The identity crisis, the fan base view… it took Paintbrush a few seconds to realize that the letter was actually a little shady, at the fact that Paintbrush hadn't told anyone some of the written material in the letter, aside from a few friends.

Paintbrush started to realize the doubts in the letter. How could someone have even known all that stuff? It must've been a shot in the dark. There's no way they truly knew how Paintbrush felt. And besides, they never mentioned the whole gender problem. If they related to that, maybe some sympathy could've been given towards the letter.

"Wow! Someone who relates to you AND wants to meet with you?" started Test Tube, "You're lucky... I mean, I get invitations to colleges every off day, but that's cool too!"

"Painty, I'm so proud of you!" Lightbulb's voice began, "You've got someone who looks up to you! And you were worried about other object's thoughts about you. This is all the proof you need!"

"So Paintbrush, are you going to meet with this contestant then? I wonder what they're like!" added Marshmallow, eager for a response.

Paintbrush was once again backed into a corner by the friend group. Paintbrush had no idea what to do, what to say. Joy, anger, and confusion were flowing through Paintbrush all at once. All of the friend group was cheering Paintbrush on, but the confusion started to overwhelm and conquer. After a brief moment of pause, a decision was made that Paintbrush would not give in to the friend group's demands, and Paintbrush let out a simple "No."

Paintbrush's friends suddenly let out stares of disbelief. Lightbulb was so ready for a positive answer, that she fell to the floor. She hadn't shattered, but with the look on her face, she might as well have.

"What do… what do you mean… no?" Test Tube shakily asked.

Paintbrush took a deep sigh, and started to reason with them.

"Don't you see? What if this object is lying, and isn't what they appear to be? What if this object is some stalker that'll just drive me crazy, and will be so self-centered, they'll only want to do things that they want to do?"

"Paintbrush, be realistic now…" Marshmallow started to argue, but was interrupted.

"What if this object is some kind of lunatic that lures objects out into the open, only to torture them into submission, and make their lives a living prison?!" Paintbrush's voice started into a shout.

"Do you want something like that to happen to me?!"

All of Paintbrush's friends sat in silence. They had gotten the attention of all of the Mess Hall now, confused looks on all of their faces. These were all acquaintances of Paintbrush's. Judging. Watching. Leering.

Paintbrush hadn't noticed a small, armless figure walk up next to the seat.

"Aww, look at dear old Paintbrush here. So troubled!" they began in a sarcastic, sneering voice. "And here I thought I was starting to gain some respect for you, but now here you are thinking the world revolves around you…"

Paintbrush lurched over to the object, becoming face to face, so enraged that any reasoning would get nowhere. Paintbrush looked like they were about to punch the object in its pretty face.

"What do you want, Nickel?"

Nickel never let up on Paintbrush's case in the past, and wasn't going to stop now. He was one of the shortest contestants in the competition, but that didn't stop him from showing his ugly face right up against another contestants' face, his sneering voice… his sarcastic tone… same old.

"You tell me, Painty." Nickel said after some time had gone by, both contestants leering at each other, not giving an inch.

Paintbrush hadn't noticed how much time had gone by of standing in place, enraged. When Paintbrush had come to, realizing what had just happened, all Paintbrush could think of was to walk off and just forget what had happened. If Paintbrush were to do something that couldn't be taken back, it could cause a very unpleasant elimination.

Everyone in the Mess Hall looked on as Paintbrush exited the Mess Hall. Marshmallow and Lightbulb had followed for a short distance to make sure Paintbrush was okay, but realized that it'd be best to back off and give some space.

Paintbrush stormed their way back to their house, and slammed the door.

There you guys go! That was Chapter 1 of the fan fic I'm working on! Time to answer some questions.

In the show Paintbrush is from, it's always a running gag of contestants' trying to figure out Paintbrush's gender. To this day, it has never been explicitly stated if Paintbrush is a boy or a girl. To respect that decision, I won't be giving Paintbrush an improper gender (You guys have no idea how annoying it's going to be to refer to Paintbrush every chapter as 'they')

Also, trust me guys. This'll be more than your average lovey-dovey fan fic, pairing two people together in a ship simply because "THEY BELONG TOGETHER" and not give a reason other than that. My friend, it is much more than that...

Any more questions will be answered through Private Messaging. Until next chapter, take care!