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Dressing rooms were strange things. They seemed so empty yet so full at the same time to Ellie. It was a large room with various dressers, cupboards and mirrors. It all looked expensive and glamorous.
For Ellie though it all paled in comparison to the inkling sitting in front of a mirror, fiddling with her hair so it was perfect.
Marie never liked to admit it out loud to her but she knew she got nervous before going on stage, which was why she fretted over small details. It was also why she was there – to help calm her nerves.
She wasn’t sure why she had asked her though.
“Els can you come over here for a sec?” Marie asked after a pause, lowering her hands from her hair to her lap.
Ellie put down the book she had brought over and walked over to stand behind the pop star awkwardly, fighting to control her blush.
Marie looked up at her and tilted her head questioningly. “Is anything wrong?” she asked gently. “Your cheeks are all flushed.”
Ellie felt herself blush even more as she fumbled to sign that she was okay.
Marie read the signs skeptically, looking up at her in disbelief. She stood up from her chair, lifting a hand to her forehead. Ellie had to force her breathing to remain normal at the contact.
The idol sighed deeply. “Normal temperature,” she murmured quietly, hand dropping to Ellie’s cheek, which made her jump slightly. “You’re sure your okay?” she asked gently.
Ellie smiled and nodded at her friend. “I’m fine, just a bit warm,” she signed quickly, trying to come up with an excuse.
Marie snorted in disbelief but let the topic go. She began to fidget with her headpiece and gloves nervously, turning away from her. “It’ll be fine,” Marie mumbled under her breath.
Ellie reached over and placed a hand on Marie’s shoulder to try and give some comfort. The older inkling jumped slightly at the touch but relaxed slightly once she realized it was her. She offered a small smile in response. Ellie quietly noted her cheeks going slightly green.
“You’ll be great,” Ellie signed confidently. “You always are!”
The idol blushed at the compliment, scratching the back of her head. “Thanks Els,” she chuckled awkwardly. “It…means a lot.” She reached over and squeezed her shoulder gratefully. She had expected Marie to retract her hand immediately after.
She didn’t.
Instead it moved up to press against her cheek once more. Ellie blushed at the action, which caused Marie to chuckle knowingly. There was a small glint in her eyes that Ellie didn’t recognize. She only got more confused as Marie stepped forward slightly so there was barely any space between them.
Ellie internally flailed as she realized how close they were. Their faces were almost touching at this point and she was unsure what to do.
Marie was looking at her curiously, trying to figure out what the younger inkling was thinking.
Callie just had to choose that moment to enter. She burst into the room with no warning, door swinging open with a bang as it hit the wall. “Hey!!” Callie greeted excitedly, as full of energy as always.
Marie and Ellie flew away from each other as fast as possible.
“Oh, did I interrupt something?” Callie asked innocently, noting their faces. Marie was fighting to control her blush and keep a straight face while Ellie was staring into space looking rather stunned. “I can leave…?”
“No!” Marie blurted out quickly, internally flinching at how quick. “I mean…what did you come here for, Cal?”
Callie blinked and shook her head, not believing her for one second. “I came to check if you were ready,” she said slowly. “Pearl and Marina have almost finished then we go on.”
Marie nodded silently, her focus on Ellie who was refusing to make eye contact. “Yeah, I’m ready,” she muttered quietly after a while. “Let’s go.”
“But – “
“Let’s go, Cal,” she repeated firmly. Callie sighed and walked back towards the door with a nod. Marie followed her to the door where she turned back to face Ellie. “I’ll see you later, Els.”
She received no response.
The silence between her and Callie was palpable as they waited their cue to go on stage. Marie stubbornly refused to look at her cousin, knowing that she’d ask about what happened.
“Marie, what did I interrupt?” Callie asked innocently, trying to get her to look at her.
“Nothing, Cal,” Marie sighed stubbornly. “I told you already.”
There was a sort of half laugh of disbelief. “That wasn’t nothing,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Ellie refused to make eye contact with you.”
“So?”
Callie sighed in frustration. “Surely you must have noticed, Marie!” she muttered quietly so only she could hear.
“Noticed what?” Marie snapped irritably.
“Ellie usually can’t take her eyes off you.”
Marie was stunned into silence. “She does what?”
“It seems everyone but you noticed it, but,” Callie explained reluctantly. “I’m pretty sure she has a crush on you.”
“R-really?” Marie asked in amazement.
“She never takes her eyes off you and she’s just a lot happier around you than the others,” her cousin continued. Marie remained silent as she processed the information. “And I know for a fact that you feel the same way,” she finished. “So what happened?”
“I…I was going to kiss her,” she mumbled quickly, feeling her cheeks warm as she said it. “I don’t know why, but…”
“You don’t necessarily need a reason why,” Callie comforted gently.
Marie began to reply but was cut off by the first notes of Fresh Start beginning to play. “We’ll talk about this later,” she said quickly, rapidly putting her mic on.
What the hell had just happened?
The question never seemed to leave her head as she entered the small backstage lounge – the place she went to during concerts until it finished. It was small but fancy with comfy sofas, a polished glass coffee table and a TV screen showing the concert. Callie and Marie were currently performing
Sky and Grace – or Agents 8 and 3 as she first knew them as – were sat on one of the sofas. Grace was trying to teach the octoling how to play a card game and seemed to be succeeding though she had to correct something every now and again. Sky was as eager to learn as ever though she got a little irritated every time she got something wrong.
She idly remembered Grace saying that she found the way Sky scrunched her nose up in frustration when she got something wrong adorable.
She had thought back to see if Marie had any similar habits. When she was annoyed, Marie was quite expressive about it, usually slapping a hand onto her forehead or slouching over. She found it cute.
Ellie felt her cheeks warm at the memory and the image of what had just happened flashed in her mind.
“Hey Ellie, you okay?”
She jumped and whirled around to see Pearl and Marina sat on another sofa. Pearl was looking at her curiously while her girlfriend’s attention was on the other two agents (well, most likely Sky).
“You’re just kind of staring into nothing,” Pearl elaborated casually, motioning for the girl to come closer. Ellie shuffled closer shyly. Though she had talked to the two idols many times in the past, she still felt shy and awkward around them.
She hastily brought out a notepad and pen that have clearly been used over and over, scribbling down a few words. She resorted to this when no one could read sign language. “Just daydreaming.”
Pearl frowned as she read the paper before looking up at her with a smirk. She chuckled and shook her head slowly in disbelief. “You act as if I don’t recognize that face,” she chided playfully.
“What face?”
“Y’know that far off daydreaming look you just had,” Pearl explained idly, leaning back against Marina. The small inkling began to examine her fingernails. “The look of someone with a crush.”
“Who has a crush?” Marina asked suddenly, head snapping to look at both of them.
“Ellie here has a crush on someone,” Pearl informed her girlfriend, grinning at Ellie smugly. The damn inkling knew that just mentioning someone having a crush would peak Marina’s interest.
The octoling looked at her blankly for a second before her mouth slowly lifted up into a grin. “Really? On who?” she babbled excitedly. “For how long? Oh, do you get that warm fuzzy feeling when you look at them?”
Ellie simply stood there awkwardly, feeling incredibly uncomfortable but unable to stop her. Fortunately it seemed someone noticed.
“Mar, that’s enough,” Pearl said quickly, noticing the younger inkling was getting slightly overwhelmed by the flurry of questions. “You’re freaking her out!”
Marina blinked slowly and noticed that she was correct in Ellie feeling uncomfortable. “Oh,” she mumbled sheepishly. “Sorry, I got a bit carried away…”
Ellie shook her head with a small smile, scribbling down a note. “It’s fine, honestly. Just caught me off guard.”
Marina seemed to cheer up and began to ask something but was cut off by a crewmember entering the room. “Oh, that’s our cue to go back on,” the octoling sighed miserably, fiddling with a small microphone that was lying next to her. “We’ll see you after the show, Ellie!”
Ellie nodded and waved goodbye as the two pop stars rushed to get on stage. She was left standing in the middle of the small lounge. She sighed internally and moved to sit near Grace and Sky.
They had finished their card game a while ago it seemed and were now watching her.
“So, who is it?” Grace asked calmly with a small smirk. Ellie blushed and looked away from the pair. She heard a string of rushed octarian from Sky who was still not very good at speaking inkling. “Sky wants to know too.”
Her blush only got harder as she wrote something down. “Who’s what?”
Grace snorted quietly in amusement as she read the note before passing it to Sky. “Don’t play stupid, El,” she chuckled lightly. “We heard your conversation with Pearl and Marina. Who do you have a crush on?”
Ellie grimaced slightly at her bluntness. With a sigh, she wrote down a single word and passed it along to the taller inkling..
“Marie.”
Grace nodded but didn’t look surprised in any way, almost as if she had already known. She seemed to note her accusing look and chuckled sheepishly. “Everyone’s already pieced it together,” she admitted quietly, scratching the back of her head.
Ellie frowned and tilted her head questioningly. What did she mean ‘pieced it together already?
“We all saw how you looked at her,” Grace elaborated. “And you always get that daydreaming look when we mention her. It wasn’t too difficult to piece together.”“Yes,” Sky piped up from behind her. “Obvious.”
Ellie blushed fiercely and looked away from them quickly.
Grace put a hand on her shoulder gently. “If it makes you feel any better,” she comforted. “Marie may feel the same way.”
Ellie whirled around to face her again, writing hastily. “What do you mean?”
“She was doing the same thing when you weren’t looking,” The taller inkling sighed. “And you’re all she seems to talk about on missions. It’s always ‘one time Agent 4 did this’ or ‘agent 4 always does this’” Grace smiled and shook her head. “You can’t tell me that Marie keeping track of your online matches doesn’t tell you anything.”
Ellie thought over her friend’s words, left speechless. The audience screaming and the music coming to a close dragged her out of her thoughts. Sky was as quick as ever to respond, leaping out of her seat and running out of the lounge.
“Sky wait!” Grace called out in exasperation. She shot Ellie an apologetic look before chasing after the octoling.
Ellie sighed deeply before following after them.
Backstage was crowded with crewmembers, the 3 agents and 4 idols. Pearl and Marina were focused on Sky who had run over to meet them. Grace hovered halfway between them and Ellie. The green haired inkling offered Ellie a supportive smile though her main focus was on Sky.
“She’s really not subtle about it, is she?”
Ellie jumped and turned to face Marie who had snuck up to stand beside her. She tilted her head curiously at the idol.
Marie grinned mischievously. “Grace has a crush on Sky,” she chuckled lightly. Ellie smiled awkwardly at the mention of a crush, which the other inkling noticed. “Hey, uh,” Marie began quietly. “Do you want to go somewhere more alone? I need to talk to you.”
Ellie tried to keep her breathing as even as possible but she could tell it was a losing battle. Maybe she should just say no. Maybe that was the best plan and deal with this later.
She nodded anyway.
Marie gave her a small but genuine smile, grabbing her hand without a word and leading her away from the crowd.
Marie led her into her dressing room. It was empty and far away from the others – perfect for a private conversation. Ellie couldn’t help but recall what had happened earlier and blushed.
Marie reluctantly dropped her hand and turned to face her, pulling her gloves off as she turned.
“First of all, I should apologize for earlier,” Marie began with a sigh. “It may have freaked you out a little so for that I’m sorry.”
Ellie smiled at her. “It did a little but it’s fine,” she signed comfortingly.
“I want to offer a bit of an explanation,” Marie continued, more confident in herself. She paused causing Ellie to try and prompt her to continue. “I like you,” Marie blurted out eventually, cheeks flushing green as she said it.
Ellie’s heart almost stopped for a full minute and she could hear her breath hitch.
“I don’t know when it happened exactly,” Marie rambled shyly. “It just happened after a while I suppose. You kept on coming over to visit me and Callie and Gramps and I guess that got to me after a while.”
Ellie eventually got her act together and grinned widely. “I like you too,” she signed happily.
Marie’s rambling stopped instantly as she processed what she had been told, eyes flickering between Ellie’s face and hands. After a while, a grin slowly appeared on her face, both overwhelmingly and sheepish. It was one of the few times Ellie saw Marie caught off guard.
There was a moment of silence between them but it wasn’t awkward in the slightest. Marie stepped closer to her like earlier but it wasn’t confusing this time. Marie chuckled airily. “I wanted to do this earlier,” she mumbled in a low voice, lifting a hand to Ellie’s cheek. “Stop me now if you don’t want me to.”
Ellie huffed in annoyance and shook her head.
The corner of Marie’s mouth curled up in amusement before she leaned in, pressing her lips to Ellie’s before she could doubt herself.
It wasn’t a long kiss but she liked it, Ellie decided as they pulled away from each other.
Before the idol could say anything, Ellie leaned over and wrapped her up in a hug. Marie was slow to respond but eventually returned the hug, burying her head in the smaller girl’s shoulder.
They didn’t notice the door opening and closing quickly as Callie begun to enter then left.At that moment they didn’t care for much else other than each other.