Work Text
i think i forgot to turn the fan on before i slept last night. i woke up, and i felt so disgustingly sweaty… it really didn’t help that my apartment building was not very cold. i sigh in frustration and just move to the bathroom- i could really use a shower. i see myself in the mirror and i note the eyebags and the somewhat sickeningly yellow bob cut hair. i also had a random tiny scar- not sure where that came from…
after i shower, i plunge into a deep thinking-
for some reason, everything felt like a hazy memory. i know i’m an inkling; but what
is
an inkling? i knew that as well- it’s the evolution of humans merged with squids- but i felt like i didn’t really… know. the same was with every other memory i had… i knew i fought the octarians at some point, but why…?
shellendorf had the answer to my first question; that, i’m sure of (for some reason). it’s a museum- it’s supposed to have info. but, i guess i just wanted peace. my apartment complex, besides being not-so-cold, also tended to be really noisy, the source of noise being a band from the ground floor… although, i like their music; just… not feeling the noise right now.
i saw a hoodie and cap, and decided to put it on; i didn’t really have the energy to go through my closet. i grabbed my phone and saw a text- the sender’s name finally made me remember something. it was from marie, who was the one who wanted me to fight the octarians for a double motive: getting her cousin and the great zapfish back. i’m not sure what she really wanted from me, so i opened the text.
marie
hey 4 are u awake
do u wanna go to a cafe or sumn
sent: 5:00PM
oh… she wanted to go to the cafe. and then, the timestamp made me realize that i had woken up in the afternoon… it was 6PM already… marieeee, i am so sorry…
but instead of leaving her in the dark, i guess i’ll send a text. it’s better than nothing- maybe she’s just concerned about me or something.
four
Um im going to shellendorf
Maybe see me there or something
sent: 6:14PM
marie
oh SHIT i sent that an hr ago
what a coincidence im at shellendorf rn
sent: 6:14PM
four
Oh really
Whats the occasion?
sent: 6:15PM
marie
mv shooting or sumn
its solo work tho so callie isnt here
sent: 6:15PM
four
Oh i see
See u there
I guess
sent: 6:16PM
marie
aight gurl 👌
sent: 6:16PM
well, that should settle it. i should make my way to the museum now. maybe a conversation with marie would actually make me feel like i remember something. and, i think there’s a cafe at shellendorf too- i remember the fossil themed drinks there, they’re really good. i should definitely get one.
i open the door and am greeted by the beauty of inkopolis at sunset. inklings and octolings chatting here and there- it really set a mood for my walk to shellendorf. i’m actually kinda surprised they’re still open at this hour.
i begin to take the long, but relaxing walk, to the validation i need.
i got here, but the guard wouldn’t let me in… he said that it’s off limits due to “idols doing their mv thing”. well, i can’t just tell him that i know the idol in question, so i don’t really know what to do… plus, they looked pretty much done to me. i had no idea why this guard was blocking me off…
but, fortunately, my saving grace had arrived. i saw a gray-haired inkling, sporting her iconic idol outfit, lazily walking by the entrance with an espresso in hand. heavily-lidded eyes met mine and she had realized it was me. she began to walk a little more faster and went to the entrance. the guard, still towering over me and blocking me away from my answers, was finally stopped and spoken to by marie.
“hey, big guy. i invited her here.” she said, ever-so-boredly.
“o-oh, really!? sorry miss marie! ma’am, you may pass through.”
“ah, drop the miss. it makes me feel old.” marie said, and trailed off with a chuckle.
i make my way inside while me and the guard bow slightly to each other out of courtesy. we had walked lightly to the cafe, and near it, marie came to a halt. i had halted too. she turned around and gave a smirk that looked halfway genuine- but i knew she was happy to see me; marie and i had learned how to read each other's moods after a while because of octo canyon work.
“hey. didn’t expect you to actually come.” she says, taking a sip of her espresso; i note the slightly disgruntled expression at the bitterness of the coffee.
“um, me neither… i expected that i’d get lazy halfway while walking…” to be honest, my legs were about to give up.
“oh, what a mood… t’was a pain in the ass to walk here for me too.” marie gave a slightly pained laugh. i laugh back a little, too.
marie gestured me to sit down at where she was sitting before, and i relaxed in the chair, finally getting some rest after all that walking.
she placed her espresso on the table- giving a slightly dissatisfied look at it- and sat down, doing her iconic slouch. i have no idea if she’s had bad posture since the beginning or if it was part of her “image”- out of curiousity, i asked.
“marie, do you really have bad posture?”
marie gave a surprised look.
“um… okay, gotta admit, i’ve been slouching since like what, high school.
but, err, thank god people love my lazy image. saves me from posture training.”
“what about callie?” she usually stood up pretty upright- but i found that she tended to slouch at times, too.
“ah- cal actually had bad posture before too- but not as bad as mine- she was the only one to receive posture training.
honestly, callie, thanks for taking the bullet, i’ll miss you, slouchy callie…”
i laugh lightheartedly at her little comment at the end. we did some small talk- mostly about how tiring idol work and grizzco jobs were. nothing too big- but marie always made me smile, no matter the topic.
the sunset continued as we exchanged our humoresques.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
we chat a bunch more, and after a while, marie places her chin on her hand. she then eyes the espresso with disdain. after contemplating whether or not to drink it, marie takes another sip of the dark black liquid, and blows a raspberry in disgust- why is she drinking something so bitter, anyway?
“why
are
you drinking that? i noticed you don’t really like the taste.”
“um. i thought i could stomach the bitterness, but it turns out i really
can’t
, after all.” marie sighs and lifts the coffee cup up and down, probably thinking about throwing it out.
“you felt like getting black coffee but you can’t drink it…”
“look, i’m tryna keep up my image of disgruntled and grumpy, okay.” she pouts- that’s reaaally cute.
“well, a little magic can solve your coffee problem.”
i run over to the counter and ask for 4 packs of sugar and creamer. the octoling at the counter was kinda busy on his phone, but quickly realized someone was talking to him. he slides me the 4 packets i asked for and gives a thumbs up. i nod and say a small “thanks” and he goes back to using his phone, mostly scrolling on twitter. i guess there aren’t many customers today.
i go back to our table- the octoling saw me sit down with marie, he was
shocked
- and place the sugary packets on the table. marie scrunched up her nose and raised her eyebrows. i rip open the packets and mix them into the espresso.
“there. it’s as sweet as you now~ ♪” marie chuckles awkwardly.
“ahhh, thank god… i fuckin’ love you, four.” marie smiles. she’s awfully smiley today.
marie takes a satisfied sip and makes a huge “ahhhh” sound. she looked very happy with her sugary coffee. the fragrance of coffee in the air went really well with the image of marie, somehow. the orange sky was slowly starting to blend into a gorgeous violet and blue, and marie against that backdrop was absolutely stunning; i was left in silence.
i felt a warmth in me. i had gone out of my dazed and unsure state earlier this morning, and was certainly sure of reality. i knew a little conversation with marie would bring me to reality. i guess that sounds like something else, huh… i am not really sure, but this certainly doesn’t feel like a “i’m so glad she’s friends with me” thing…
maybe i’m overthinking. or, maybe not… but back to the situation, i moved my chair over next to marie’s and sat there. she looked over and i had also turned my head- our eyes met, and we stared at each other for a solid while. marie turned her head away embarrassedly- but, um, to be honest, marie’s really pretty… seeing it up close, even if i have a ton of times (not going to lie, i saw her a lot at octo canyon), was ethereal. maybe it was the now-starry sky, or the coffee fragrance, but… wow.
marie glanced a little at me and began to talk.
“um… anything on my face, four?”
“ah- no, not really.”
marie scratches her head and places her hand on her chin once again.
“y’know, i kinda noticed you aren’t cheerful as usual today. something happen?”
“um, i… woke up in a pretty bad mood. and, um, i think i still am, but you’re a great mood booster, sooo, uhhmmm, it’s not as bad as earlier…” i really didn’t know why i was so down today.
“mmm. maybe you’re just not feeling it today. happens to me a lot.” she silently trailed off with what sounded like “almost everyday in fact”, but perhaps i misheard.
“ah… maybe.”
we sat in silence for a few minutes, until marie’s production team waved goodbye to her. she waved back out of courtesy. her manager then came after the team, and she began to talk to marie. miss manager was actually somewhat tall- she’s taller than marie, in fact, and she looked pretty nice too.
“aren’t you going home yet? you should eat dinner, i noticed you’ve been skipping meals- oh, and take your pills, plus it’s getting late, you sh-”
“yeah, yeah, yes, ma’am. ‘m ordering a carbonara later don’t worry. ‘nd ‘m going home late ‘cause ‘m talkin to four ‘ere.” marie mumbles, annoyed, but not too much as to offend her manager.
“ahhh, marie… you better… take care of yourself, okay? callie’s concerned about you, and i am, too.”
marie fell into a silence and simply nods. that must’ve hit her hard.
miss manager then walks off to the entrance, but before that, had told us that shellendorf was closing at 10PM today. who would still be at a museum at that hour? well, us, i guess. marie had crossed her arms on the table and buried her face in her arms.. maybe my bad mood is contagious… i put my head sideways on the table, and marie lifts her head up, takes her arms off the table, and puts her head on the table. she turns her head my way and sighs.
we were looking at each other again for a solid long while. marie eyes looked so sad- they always did, but it was much more solemn this time. she lifted her head up eventually, so i did, too. she stared off into the distance while i look at her one more time. marie was pretty- but she also had a very lonely air to her.
it’s a random thought, but i’ve been looking at marie’s cheeks for a while now- they just look
so damn pinchable
. it might not be appropriate for the situation, but it
miiiight
cheer her up.
“marie, you’re in a bad mood, and this is totally random, but can i…” i trail off; this feels
reaaaally
inappropriate…
“can i…?”
“can i pinch your cheeks.”
“u...um…”
a slight tinge of green graces marie’s face, but she looks left, looks right, her mouth curls a little, and nods lightly. hell yes. i wanna feel the squishiness. i hope she doesn’t get too grouchy from this- errr, okay, i guess i am embarrassed too… but i must…!
i go ahead and well, squish. oh my goooood, this is so
sqwuisheeeee.
i could do this forever! but, out of embarrassment, i guess, she puts my arms down and laughs a little. marie gave me a a really nice smile. i was really happy, too.
“thanks for your… random request. really cheered me up- don’t know why, but it just did.”
i just smile in return. i guess i’m in a good mood again! marie laughs again- she’s also feeling pretty nice now.
“...hey, wanna go and wreck the displays?”
“nooo, that’s mean!”
marie gave a short chuckle. “how ‘bout… let’s get on top of the glass roof up on the second floor, and stare at the sky?”
“you can do that outside of turf war?”
“hell yeah you can.”
she grabs my arm and runs off so we can watch the beautiful, dark, and starry sky.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
i pull four by the arm and rush up the stairs. it was getting pretty late- and, if i’m gonna be real, the guard should be kicking us out by now- but the big guy didn’t care; mayhaps he was a fan and didn’t want to “disrespect” me. after a long set of winding stairs, we make it to the floor where everyone usually did their turf wars. you’d expect it to be dirty ‘cause of all the inking, but surprisingly, it’s clean.
the lights were off, with the only light source being the moonlight coming in from the windows. i really liked this quaint, moonlit, and quiet scene. i usually found solace in being alone, but, to be honest, it gets really lonely at times. i pass that thought before i overthink about it again- and continue to walk. since we can’t ink turf and swim up the walls, four and i had to figure out how to jump around on all the platforms. thanks to tag-team boosting, we got on top of the glass roof- this spot was one of my favourites, ‘cause you could just snipe people from up here.
i sat down and crossed my legs; four sat down too, hanging her legs over the edge. before speaking to four, i thought about all those weird looks she shot at me- to be honest, i shot her kinda weird looks too. i mean, i guess they weren’t weird… they were… starry-eyed? like, the looks i get from fans, but it feels different. and, oh, right, that moment where she just… asked to pinch my cheeks out of the blue. t’was random, but i can’t say it didn’t cheer me up. maybe four’s lowkey flirting… or i’m just hallucinating.
‘cause god, if that’s true, i think i’d- i think i’d combust into flames.
yeah, i’m stupid marie with a crush on the cutest girl… ever, and i. don’t know. how to deal with it.
i catch myself staring at four the same way she did to me- and i am extremely guilty. the dandelion yellow her hair had felt like i was staring at the sun. seeing the sun during the night sure is… something. if i’m going to be honest, i can’t really sort my thoughts out right now- really felt like my brain was, uh, shorting out, is that the term? are there even words to describe this? i can’t believe myself- having a meltdown over how cute a girl is. um, uh, callie, help, sos call from marie, she needs you, she need the lesbian queen of advice.
four yawned and placed her hands on the surface of the glass roof, supporting her back. i guess she hasn’t noticed that i’m silently panicking, cause, uh, i didn’t really expect it to feel this tense. usually i’m the one smirking and taking initiative, buuuuuuuuut, to be honest, i always regret my choices afterward… marie got too cocky asking her fucking crush to be alone under the moonlight with her in some picture-esque scenario and is now in a state of panic. panic at the museum, baby.
anyways, despite all that, i still kept making regrettable decisions. i was feeling kinda sleepy, so i gave a big yawn and lied down on four’s lap. a horrible decision, really- especially since i’m bad at controlling my blush. i breathe in- and just sigh. as embarrassed as i am, this felt really nice. four didn’t seem to have a care in the world. i place my hand on my eyes and just- peek at four through my fingers. she smiled, softly, with a lot of feeling.
four gave me a little pat on the head.
i just smiled like an idiot.
“we’ve been embarrassedly laughing at each other for, like, what, hours already…” four said.
i reaaaally wished she was wrong- but she’s right. i turned my head and looked at the museum windows dyed a dark blue, with the moonlight shining in. the cool breeze made its way in through a single opened window, and i felt it softly graze my cheek. i contemplated for a second about whether i should say something- but, maybe not. i miiiight do something stupid again. and, i’ll be a bumbling mess again.
honestly, fuck that.
tonight, i’m taking a leap of faith. i think i’ll go crazy if i keep hiding it. secrets get out eventually.
i clear my throat.
“um… four?”
“yeah, marie?”
“i…”
the words slowly in rust my throat. i need to get them out. i can… do this.
four gulps; perhaps because she knows what’s coming- or she’s just… anxious, too.
“...like you. a lot.”
it came out cleanly but quietly, only loud enough to be heard by four. it felt like i finally got a weight off my back- i was satisfied, until i remembered that four had to answer me back. i won’t be left off that easily, huh… four, unexpectedly, grabs my hand and cups it on her cheek, then softly, almost like an angel, began to speak.
“...me too.”
i felt really… dumbfounded. but happy.
i slowly sat up and tried to collect myself; i-i mean, would i be okay after hearing that!? i could see four try to gather herself too- i guess we were both, um, thrown off guard…
“i was holding my breath four oh my god.” i try to pass off as not-currently-in-a-crisis.
four giggles, and smiles, as always. cute.
she cups my face in her hands and looks at me with a starry-eyed look, once again.
we’re getting really close to each other.
i know where this is going.
“...m-may i-” four silently mutters.
“yes. you may.” did i just say and think that at the same time?
and, then, before four even does an initiative, i pull in for the kiss. it was not too long- yet, it felt like absolute euphoria. forgetting the surroundings, and just living in the moment- against a starry backdrop, we forgot about the world, and the stage was centered on us.
agent 4 breathes a sigh of relief and hugs the biggest hug she’s ever given me- that’s a new record. i bury my face in her shoulder and let the tears of joy flow out- i’ve never felt so happy.
“so… are we a thing now? four asks.
i answer without hesitation.
“yes.”
overjoyed, four pulls in for another kiss, albeit this one’s a bit shorter. i could hear the guard opening the doors, and he was probably going to tell us to leave, but we didn’t really care.
this was our night, and our night only.