Chapter Text
The following day, Pin went to seek out Leafy. “Alright. When am I going to meet another friend of yours?” As much as she continued to detest the idea, it was something that Leafy wanted to do so really, her own opinion of it didn’t matter. What mattered to Pin was that she got it done and if she got it over with faster, then maybe they could go back to how things were.
Meaning her only real important, emotionally meaningful relationship was with Leafy and Leafy alone.
“I don’t get it. I don’t get it. I don’t get it.” Her thoughts repeat with an increasing level of frustration on the way to Leafy’s garden. “What am I missing?” What’s the point of friendship? It kept her more awake at night than usual, going as far as disrupting her scheduled sleeping time. The more she desperately dug for, the more it continued to elude her. “Is this another repeat of my… feelings towards Leafy?” Oh no. She couldn’t go through that experience again. To this day, Pin didn’t know how to define the cursed “L” word. The only thing she was sure of was that it made her feel strongly towards the lemon leaf and bend any rule that stood in her way. It made her occasionally sick to her stomach and made her skin prickle almost painfully if she was tempted to… stand close to her girlfriend.
She didn’t feel anything different when seeing Bubble. “I at least felt sick whenever Leafy was around—“ Sick with longing, but what had she felt towards Bubble?
“Competition…” Competition. That was it. Bubble felt like competition to her. Any of Leafy’s friends struck her with that sensation of having to out-compete them. In this game, the ultimate prize was more of Leafy’s attention and that was one prize she couldn’t let slip from her fingers.
Perhaps this was all an elaborate test that her second in command was setting up? To further test her character and competence? Leafy deserved the best. “Surely she’s testing if I’m still good and worthwhile. Leafy shouldn’t be with someone so weak and I surely would not want myself either if that were the case.” Definitely, this was the reason.
Nothing made her feel better than coming out on top of an important test.
Leafy patted the empty space on the blanket next to her. They were outside out in the grassy valleys with the sun shining brightly above. No cloud was nearby to disturb it, creating the perfect environment to photosynthesize for as long as the lemon leaf felt like it. She tended to throw down a blanket or a beach towel to make the experience more comfortable for herself as she could spend up to hours lying down. “I want to talk with you for a little bit. It’s nothing too big, just some good communication between us.”
“What is it that needs to be communicated?” asked the thumbtack, sitting exactly where Leafy invited her to sit. “Do you need something done?” A leaky sink or broken floor tiles, there was nothing that she couldn’t do for her dear deputy!
“I think I threw you to the sharks too early,” admitted Leafy. “With trying to introduce you to Bubble all of a sudden. I’m sorry about that, Sweetpea.” As much as she was aware that Pin refused to take any of her apologies, that didn’t stop Leafy from still saying them when she knew she had done wrong. “I guess for me… it’s so easy to jump in and get to know somebody, but haha… You work on a different kind of system.”
“No, I don’t,” replied Pin automatically. “I work like you do.”
Leafy clicked her tongue apprehensively. “Er… Ah… Are you… you sure about that? I don’t mean it in a bad–“
“My system is completely normal. Everyone else is just broken and that is the truth.” She blinked once, looking at Leafy as she did so before adding; “except you. Your system is not broken and that is also a fact.”
Leafy breathed in, letting the warmth of the sun envelop her as she sat up. This was going to be a long process, but it was okay, she was willing to continue no matter how long it took. She loved Pin, she loved her entire being including the strange, slightly more negatively inclined quirks. That was part of the deal when it came to loving someone with the full extent of her heart as she did. She simply had to know more in order to better work with her little leader. “Okay Pinny, let’s say you’re on the lookout to form a new alliance because a leader can’t be a leader without an alliance to look after, riiiight?”
“Technically, leaders would only make alliances once they already have their own group to look after,” corrected Pin automatically. “External alliances are only for when it's beneficial for both groups, whether its sharing information, resources, and/or compatible ideologies. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time and effort.”
“Okay then, I stand corrected on all that, but I guess that means you have to make your own group then! Like a team!”
Pin narrowed her eyes. “Not a team. That assumes they are equal to me, which no one is.”
Leafy tilted her head to the side. “Am I not on your team?” she asked.
The thumbtack blinked, immediately getting what her previous response had painfully left out. “Yes!” she answered enthusiastically. “You are on my team! You are my deputy, my second-in-command! You are my equal, Leafy.”
The lemon leaf smiled, feeling a bit warm with how quickly Pin backtracked to not let her feel overlooked. Her Pin could be so sweet and warm; would there ever be a chance that she could get comfortable around others like she was with her? “But we still need a group, Pinny. You need a group and that’s why you should be… nice. Because that attracts people to follow you and I think you’re gonna feel so much better when you have more people that you can…” Rely on? No, if she said that, it was going to jab a hole through her leader’s very intense independence and self-reliance. She needed something that could still assert her girlfriend’s independent nature without having to imply she needed to be a complete loner. “…back you up when you need it. I mean, won’t it be fun to be able to inspire others with your sparky brand of charisma?” Leafy winked at the short object, wrapping her arm along her shoulders.
“But what if…” Pin went quiet before she could finish the thought. It was the first moment of hesitance that Leafy had heard from her in a while.
“Mm?”
Pin looked away. “It’s nothing. That slipped.”
“No, no, if you feel it’s something important or something you’re worried about, you should tell me,” urged Leafy quietly, brushing up against her smooth body. “I was gonna give you a week off from trying to introduce you to someone else so you can cool down, but if you need more time, just let me know.”
Every sense of hers strained themselves; listening for the tiniest sign of more hesitation. After Bubble, even Leafy wasn’t sure if she was… helping no matter how worried she was about Pin’s tendency towards solitude. A leader with no followers? A leader with a reputation of being nearly as bossy as Golf Ball with a bit of a mean-spiritedness as well; Pin was so much more than that. She could be kind, she could be delicate, she’s just…
Awful at showing all of it. Downright abysmal even. Leafy had never realized someone’s social skills could be… in the negatives like this.
Pin tapped her fingers together with apprehension yet her lips continued to remain sealed. Leafy remained glued to her side, waiting patiently for her girlfriend to summon the courage to finish that single concern of hers. It would be pretty big, the leaf thought, it wasn’t like concern was uncommon in Pin, but it was rare that it was in regards to herself. It was easier to admit that she felt concerned about the timing of an event than anything about her own boundaries.
Pin never finished.
“Sorry about what happened the past weekend. I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand like that.”
She was accompanying Bubble to the store, helping her with her store run as well as having a body double that would force her to also complete her errand at the same time. She could always pull Pin to do these trips with her, but she wanted some more time with Bubble, especially with what happened. The last thing she accounted for was for Pin to berate Bubble (even though she should have really seen it coming).
Even after a day had passed by, Leafy didn’t know how to bring it up to Pin. Would she get it? Her girlfriend was arrogant and self-centered when it came to the needs of others; if it had no impact on herself or Leafy, she did not care for it one bit.
(Or maybe she did care? Leafy wanted to think she cared, but again, only found it difficult to express it.)
Bubble put down the bottle of dish soap on the shelf. The plastic rows were slightly yellowed from age, clashing against the countless bottles of colorful soapy liquids. Blues, greens, yellows, the entire rainbow as far as the eye could see. “Oh, I didn’t mind. I kind of forgot about it,” replied her best friend. Bubble’s memory wasn’t… the best, but for right now, it worked to her advantage. “I still had a good time and that’s all that matters at the end of the day… Even if it didn’t work out like you hoped.”
The lemon leaf let out a tiny sigh. She picked up a red colored dish soap but inspected it half-heartedly as her issues took center stage. “What am I gonna do, Bubs?” she sighed quietly. “I wanted you to meet her because… you’re important to me and so is Pin, but she’s just… not the greatest at being nice.” The words flood out of Leafy’s mouth in an instant; all her worries and fears out on display right in front of her best friend. “And I thought that maybe if I have her practice with someone as gentle as you, I thought maybe she can be more approachable. Y’know? Just in case I’m not there for whatever reason; I wanna know she doesn’t keep holding on to that belief that she needs to fly solo.” Friends could be useful! And she wanted to ensure Pin saw that they could be useful as well; she could make her relationships whatever she wanted them to be, but as long as she had someone.
“She’s very affectionate.” Leafy dared not to let that thought slip out verbally. Pin dedicated a lot of time to crafting her social appearance — an overly uptight, fierce heroic leader. She didn’t want to ruin that image even though she didn’t comprehend why the thumbtack wanted to keep it a secret.
She bit her bottom lip. “I know all the good parts of Pin, but she won’t let me say a word of any of it.” How was her girlfriend supposed to make friends? Why must it all be secrets between herself and the Plant? Only in Pin’s world did the reason make sense and Leafy did not live in it. She put the dish soap back on its shelf. “I just… I don’t really know what to do next,” she admitted both to Bubble and to herself. “Maybe I shouldn’t have stuck my nose in a place it doesn’t belong.” Maybe Pin preferred shunning almost every kind of social interaction possible and keeping everyone far from her emotionally.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
But Bubble didn’t see it like that. The lack of context the clear object had served to her benefit, avoiding the information that weighed Leafy down and go beyond the current picture. “Maybe we weren’t right for each other,” she spoke after giving her best friend a moment of silence to collect herself. “And that’s completely understandable. We can’t exactly befriend everyone we meet.”
Leafy immediately looked at her, a look of mild defiance painting her expression. “That’s not true!” she replied.
Bubbles may not think often, but Bubble herself chuckled and rolled her eyes at the reply. “Leafy, you can befriend everyone, but Pin isn’t you,” she replied. “You might have to think a bit differently like you’re in Pin’s shoes.”
Her best friend was… strangely insightful today, but Leafy was going to take advantage of the opportunity. It wasn’t like she had a better idea at this moment. “You two weren’t right for each other.” Her mind pulled up the facts as she continued to reflect. She was going to have to pull teeth from Pin to get her to admit anything for certain, so the lemon leaf was unfortunately used to running on theories instead.
Apart from being her best friend, Leafy picked Bubble for her mild temper and tendency to avoid conflict. Her bestie worked well with almost anybody for that fact. “But with Pin? All she wanted to do was try to dominate Bubble.” Leafy should have picked it up during the pre-meeting they had; Bubble was a floundering, wounded seal and Pin was the shark excited by all the blood in the water. “Weakness… might be a trigger that I have to avoid next time.”
What did that tell her? “Pin can be a bit of a bully if she sees weakness and I need to be there to mediate it.” In the off-chance she and Bubble were in the same room, it was most likely a bad idea to leave her girlfriend alone with her best friend.
But what else? Leafy rattled her brain to squeeze out more information. “What if…” she said out loud to engage Bubble in her thought process, “… what if Pin needs someone more… ‘outspoken’?” It was the nicest way she could put it verbally. “Someone more able to stand their ground because as much as I love you, Bubs, you don’t have much of a backbone.”
Bubble snapped her fingers at the suggestion, smiling in approval of Leafy’s genius suggestion. “That’s good!” she exclaimed. “W-Wait! I think I might know a good friend to try introducing Pin to! Have you heard that Liy found a new cave to go spelunking in? I don’t think she’s been there yet, but it sounds like a perfect opportunity!”
Leafy gasped. A new plan fell right into her hands and it… made sense! Of course, Liy! All that adventuring she does naturally made her candid, capable, and confident! More importantly, her girlfriend wouldn’t feel the need to subjugate her (as much, fingers crossed). “Bubble, that’s perfect, oh my tree!” exclaimed the lemon leaf. “That’s all brilliant! Liy might be the perfect new friend with Pin!”
It was all coming together. Leafy rubbed her hands together excitedly. She couldn’t wait to get in contact with Liy the moment she got home.