Chapter Text
“Gah...”
She emerged from a deep sleep, filled with drowsiness. Aquwa, now a teeny-tiny bit alert, checked what interrupted her rest.
The sun was already high, not even casting shadows in the window of her room.
Aquwa, still in a state in which she was acting on muscle memory, reached for her phone on the drawer on the left side of her bed. Her hand tried to grip on something, but it wasn't there.
She rubbed her eyes clearly, until she looked over at the side she reached for.
To her surprise, it wasn't there. In fact, she placed it on the other bedstand before bed, probably because of how horribly yesterday went.
The meeting with Vedal, and all that work exhausted her to the point of not being able to think correctly. Aquwa isn't even thinking correctly as she's trying to grab the phone.
A breath came out, a sigh, maybe even a groan. ‘Why did he react so casually?’ ‘Maybe it's a good thing that he did, Vedal probably doesn't like us.’ ‘...Kind of want him to-’
Slap!
To her surprise, instead of gripping the phone, she used the hand to land a clean hit to her own cheek. Not even realising it, she looked at the nightstand, her eyes not even showing a single thought behind them. “Huh..? Wait, what did I just do?”
Completely oblivious to her own actions, she proceeded on as if nothing happened at all. ‘Uh huh... and you still think we deserve him?’ Aquwa's inner thoughts collided. ‘You think THAT's enough to change my mind? Think otherwise.’
Back into reality with our favourite alien. The phone was opened and she just discovered that Camila of all people sent her a message before she was knocked out from all that mental stress yesterday.
Of course, Aquwa was extremely confused, but still was happy that one of her friends wanted to talk or tell her something at the very least. This matter seemed to be a compliment, for what?
She thought nothing of it, completely overlooking how Camila never sends messages when she knows Aquwa’s not available to read them. But this is Aquwa we’re talking about, don't you remember?
Reading it out for everyone in the room to hear, which primarily are blankets and pillows, Aquwa focused on the words.
“Congratulations... on your...” She paused, like a calm before the storm. “MARRIAGE WITH VEED-UHL!??” Yes, Camila did infact, spell Vedal like that.
‘HOW in THE WORLD does she know!?’
‘Maybe Vedal told her?’
‘Why would he!? Wasn't he the one who said we shouldn't tell anybody?’
‘Well, we failed that favor long before he even asked us to do that.’
‘What's the point in saying that now??’
She walked in circles aimlessly, biting her lip as she tapped the letters on her screen. Describing Aquwa as bewildered in the moment would be an understatement.
Mindlessly clicking and finding words that wouldn't convince anyone otherwise. Even then, she still desperately tried to change Camila’s mind.
aquwa [💙CREW] 10:43
what do you mean?
Hesitating to write a simple sentence, but she quickly overcame that fear to at the very least, do damage control.
That was until Camila immediately replied with a message of her own. And the contents left her without words to respond, truly speechless.
The reply contained the entire 8 minutes and 23 seconds of Aquwa and Vedal's meet-up, and even some of the things he said before leaving.
If she found out, it'll take a lot of willpower to convince herself not to invade her new husband's privacy... If she even thinks twice before listening to it.
Back to Aquwa, she was full on panicking, her legs were trembling, shaking, jittering with distress. ‘Calm down-’ ‘Calm? CALM? CALM!?? YOU EXPECT ME TO STAY CALM!??’ The two sides of her brain had completely opposing reactions.
‘She KNOWS exactly what's up, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO HOPE LEFT!’ ‘Narrow-minded, as always, you realize being hysterical won't help this situation, right?’
‘It is still salvageable-’
“IT'S NOT!”
The sudden outburst surprised Aquwa, yelling before she had a second-thought. Her face turned red as she realized what she just did.
Aquwa covered her mouth as soon as she realized her unconscious shriek, embarrassed. Though there wasn't anyone around to hear it, she still was extremely flustered. If she wasn't covering a part of her face, her blush would be visible from the International Space Station.
Continuing for a few more seconds, she regained her composure with a deep breath. Yet she couldn't push it out of her memory, seems like this is gonna be another embarrassing moment her brain will remind her when she's trying to sleep.
“Frrrr-rick... I can't do ANYTHING! Buh...” She fell on her back, sprawled out on the bed. “Well, I've still got a stream scheduled today, Camimi knowing things won't stop it from happening.” Aquwa stood back up.
Her hand rested on her forehead, staring into the ceiling. Aquwa deflated, a breath leaving her mouth as she stumbled on her way to the kitchen, where she would prepare her breakfast for the day before continuing her usual routine.
| × |
The day went by smoothly, not a single large issue visible in sight.
That was a complete lie, here's how it actually went.
“Hmm... Oh, hey!”
The person on the other end paused, taking a deep breath before actually talking. Aquwa knew this person, they were actually pretty great friends. Though she didn't know why they joined the call, she was pretty happy they were here-
“...CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MAR-”
The call ended with a single click of her mouse. Her reflexes weren't all that great but when Aquwa heard the word congratulations, her fingers reacted before her mind could.
What was a problem though, was that Twitch Chat was there. Well, why wouldn't they be? It was a scheduled stream after all. ‘Vedal's going to kill me!’ Aquwa assumed.
‘I already failed on what he told me to do!’ The only instructions Vedal gave her were simple, ‘“I'll be leaving now, don't tell anyone about this,”’ Aquwa could remember it as clear as day. “I'm so cooked, chat.”
The sound of the doorbell ringing on her front door interrupted the stream. She wondered, ‘Who could it be now...’ Her thought lacking the usual eagerness, replaced with something lamenting her current situation. ‘Who can it be knocking at my door..?’
Stepping in a typical and normal way... Except that her face looked like she experienced trench warfare, tired mentally and what Vedal would do when he found out, the thought drained her.
Finally at the door, she forgot to check the peephole, another mistake made in this entire ordeal. Twisting the doorknob and pulling it away, she found that the person on the other side of the door was none other than-
“MINI!?”
Mini was about to say something, but the door was shut and locked in record speed before her. Aquwa leaned back on the door staring at the ceiling, her chest tightened mid-breath when she saw her.
Aquwa thought that this circumstance was full of awe, awful. The sound of metal clicking could be heard from behind the wooden entrance, she was puzzled by what Mini was doing.
Before she could even realize it, the door opened. ‘Hah!? Wait, hold up!’ Aquwa stood up, stumbling on the way up. Her hand hit the doorknob as she rose, Aquwa sucked in a sharp breath.
As the pain set in, Aquwa connected the dots. ‘Hang on, isn't the stream still on? FRICK-’ Aquwa stumbled forward as she sprinted to the room.
The door was in sight, she left it slightly open earlier. Aquwa could've swore that Mini was on her tail, but there was no looking back. If she did, Aquwa would be forfeiting her pride, and Vedal's trust.
Aquwa forced down the lump in her throat, her breath quickened as she pushed the door open. Mini's hand grabbed the side of the doorway.
Gazing at the catgirl's hand for a singular second, Aquwa jumped, no, dove towards the monitor. The VTuber model on the screen jittered as she entered the webcam's range.
She spoke what seemed like gibberish on the mic as she announced that there were a few complications that caused the stream to abruptly end.
“UGH! CHAT- SORRY- END STREAM! MIN-” “AQUWA AND V-”
The stream ended before chat could process it. Though offline chat continued on, the questions piling in.
guhcat78: what happened?
inmadeascii: was that captain?
seethatmoon2: min?? what does that mean?
| × |
Aquwa panted, glaring at the catgirl in front of her. Mini watched with a blank smile. ‘W-guh, why does she know how to lockpick? That was... cough, a close one.’
Once she regained her breath, Aquwa huffed and pointed at Mini with all of her strength.
“HOW do you know, and more importantly, WHY DID YOU TRY TO DO THAT!? ”
“AH-” The catgirl covered her ears as a response to how loud Aquwa yelled. Though it's not like she noticed the volume of her own words in her fury.
“Uhm... thought it would be funny..?”
“Didn't seem so funny to ME!” Mini snickered, annoying Aquwa even more than she already was. Captain was going to ask why she was about to laugh but Mini answered before she could.
“...It was very funny for me, actually.”
Aquwa grit her teeth, before ultimately releasing it, along with her anger. The cat in the room giggled. Mini began walking outside.
“Toodles!” Saying it in such a manner that Aquwa felt Mini was mocking the well-known British accent. ‘She's leaving? Thank god...’ Mini looked from behind the front door.
“Also...” With her smug eyes peeking out, she annoyed her friend once more. “Congratulations, on your marriage with Vedal...987.” A small pause between each number.
Aquwa sighed deeply, like her sanity was going away along with it. A long creak, with a loud thud came from the entrance, signaling Mini was no longer in the house.
Stepping on the floor, to a carpet, she sluggishly walked to the sofa. That was until she received a notification.
Slowly tapping through her phone, Aquwa found out that it was actually Vedal. ‘Ehh? Vedal?? ...sorry I couldn't keep it a secret, I'll have to apologize to him in person.’
She read his message out loud.
“I am sorry, I let them found out. Camila placed a small microphone in the shirt I was wearing yesterday.” Her mouth opened, yet no words left it.
‘I can't really blame him...’ she thought. ‘And yet you easily blamed yourself?? That's weird.’ ‘Well, of course, after all she is in-love with him—’ ‘SHUT!’
aquwa [💙CREW] 14:43
it's fine, no need to apologize
‘Of course you say that, you're head over heels for him,’ Aquwa sighed at the internal thoughts breaking her reputation further.
| × |
thud thud
The noise from the steps on the ceramic floor tiles echoed back, Aquwa moving through the aisle in a speed faster than her usual walking speed.
‘Mmm.. No, these aren't it... Where is the aisle that has locks when you need it? Pretty sure I passed- Hold on, It's over there!’
A single glance to the ceiling revealed where she needed to go, the signs overhead showed the way. ‘Huh, those signs are actually usefu- eek!’
While in the middle of her thoughts, she accidentally bumped into something. Aquwa lay on the floor after a collision. ‘Ah, hope I didn't push the candy stuff they put on the end of the shelves!’
When her eyes finally met what she bumped into, she gasped. Aquwa desperately tried to apologize to the person who she bumped into.
“Ah, I'm sorry! I wasn't uhh... paying attention.” The man glared at her, his gaze piercing her like a bullet. Aquwa nervously smiled, but a hand appeared on his shoulder. The man's attention moved to who placed their hand on him.
“Don't worry, I know this person. She didn't try to do it intentionally.”
The sight of Vedal slightly relaxed her, ‘Thank god... Oh right, I should probably uh, apologize to the guy I bumped into...’ She stood up, dusting off her back from when she fell.
As she returned her gaze to the person who she accidentally shoved into, Vedal introduced them to each other. “Hey, Aquwa, this is Dom. Dom, this is Aquwa.”
Carefully patting their shoulders when he introduced them, Vedal adjusted the situation, the air felt lighter already. ‘Wow... He's such a reliable guy...’ ‘That is correct, can't object to that one.’
Continuing the conversation, he faced Aquwa. Her attention went to him. “Aquwa, Dom's not in the best of moods currently, he just fought a punching bag and it won. So just... actually...”
‘WAIT! Hold on a second! What do you mean he lost to a punching bag-’ “Dom, sorry, I actually have something I need to talk about with Aquwa. I'll see you later.”
‘What? Huh- EHH???’ It took a few seconds before Aquwa realized what was happening. Vedal shifted to Aquwa's side, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along as he moved away.
“Hm? Alright, take care.” Dom waved goodbye, focusing back on the products in the shelves beside him.
It seemed like he was completely oblivious to what was even happening, or he did understand but just didn't care or have a reason not to.
‘Vedal's saving me from an tricky situation, like a knight in shining armor!’ ‘Hey! Dom person, help us! We didn't consent to being snatched out of nowhere!’
In reality, Aquwa simply walked along with Vedal when she got taken. The two of them walked to a different aisle, where he finally stopped pulling on her.
Awkwardly clutching the wrist that he grabbed, Aquwa stuttered on her words while asking why he did what he did. “Uh... Ved- Vedal? Why did you- uh, do that? Heh... heh..?”
It took a few seconds before Vedal could reply, he looked around, searching for something, and for some reason had a look that expressed for it not to be here.
Eventually, he checked everywhere and came to the conclusion that it wasn't there. He turned his attention to Aquwa, when he did, Aquwa blushed and looked away. ‘Can you STOP being a SIMP for ONE SECOND!?’ ‘I can't promise that, hihi!’
“While I was introducing you and Dom, I saw Camila. She was outside the window and I think she didn't see us, I'm not sure though.”
‘...So he didn't take us to confess his undying love,’ ‘Yes- why did you think that!??’ ‘Wanted it to happen, I guess?’ As the personalities in her head argued, Vedal moved to a different topic.
“While we're here, is there any reason why you went to the supermarket? Seemed like you were heading to the lock aisle.”
‘Lock aisle? Aren't those called mechanical tools-’ ‘Do not correct my oshi, he is perfect and you understood it perfectly so there is no problem whatsoever.’
“Lock... oh right! I need a lock that works even if, ahem, someone tries to get in using a lockpick.” A lot of emphasis placed on the word someone.
Surprisingly, well, for Aquwa that is, Vedal already knows what happened even when she tried being subtle. He immediately pointed this out.
“Oh, so Mini broke into your house? When did this happen?”
‘How the f-’ ‘Because he's the best,’ Even when Aquwa didn't expect him to predict what happened without her explicitly telling him, she answered his question with the best of her ability to not freak out.
“H- Uhh, earlier this morning..? How did you know that??”
Beginning with a sigh, Vedal told her how Neuro convinced Mini in a call that she was taken hostage and needed Mini's help to escape from “the evil Vedal”.
Ending his story, he sighed once more, unintentionally expressing his view of the situation, slightly pitying Aquwa on her experience that he didn't need to know.
“...Long story cut short, I know how it must've felt when a random cat-girl breaks into your house without warning.”
With such a sentence and how deadpan Vedal's face looked when he said it, Aquwa's laugh came out. A snort moving up and evolving into a chuckle.
Vedal had no clue why she was laughing, but like an unconscious response, he started chuckling along.
As they finally stopped, Aquwa didn't even notice him laughing along with her. They continued on with the topic, ignoring the slight conversational detour.
“The thing you need is on the other side of the store.” The both of their footwear thudded along the floor, moving to their destination. ‘Are we really just gonna ignore that?’ ‘Ignore what?’ ‘The- buh, forget it.’
She crossed her arms unintentionally, her eyes moving to the window. It had been raining, how long? ‘It definitely wasn't raining before I came here,’ she recalled. The muffled sounds of pitters-and-patters on concrete came from the window.
Aquwa shivered from the cold air in the mall, her hands moving up to her shoulders. The temperature outdoors was definitely cold, and unfortunately for her, the chiliness indoors was almost, if not as cold.
Faintly, just barely, she could even see her own breath. She briefly thought about if these conditions were even allowed for such a public space. Apparently she was focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Crash!
The collision sent her stumbling back, falling on her rear. A loud thump could be heard as she hit the concrete. Once again, Aquwa was on the smooth, hard, tiled floor.
“Ow...” she reeled. Patting her back as she rose up once again.
“Oh, I'm sorry! I was... distracted...” Aquwa tried to quickly explain and apologize to Vedal, who didn't seem all too agitated. But something in the window caught her eye.
On the windowsill, outside, was a small sticker... of a cat? Was that always there?
She hovered on the topic, for a bit longer. ‘Hey, that looks pretty new, and It doesn't even have a single scratch or clawed out marks on it!’
‘If you left me alone with a sticker for a single minute, you would have five more! That is to say... I was bored and ripped them apart-’
whoosh!
Suddenly, without warning, Aquwa felt hands pull her body to the side. In a flash, she stood uncomfortably close, so close in-fact that she could feel the sweater’s fabric as if it was her own.
“V-MmmMMHH!?” Before she could say anything, her mouth was covered by hands. Hands that smelled faintly of... vanilla?
Come to think of it, she too sniffed apples coming from Vedal’s hair. Aquwa took a whiff and smelled vanilla all over his hoodie, most-likely from a deodorant spray.
Aquwa, with the survival instincts of a block of butter, got carried away by the scent of Vedal. But she pretty quickly got back to reality when she realized that this was out of the blue for the programmer.
‘Hold on, he’s still covering my mouth. Wait, WHY even is he stopping me from talking??’ Finally, she returned to her senses.
A glance to Vedal's face revealed to her that he seemed to be... Hiding? What are the two even hiding from? And why did her include her, going as far as silencing her to avoid something?
He looked to the aisle on the left, if Aquwa was facing the entrance of the store. Vedal looked focused, eyes narrowed and sensitive to any movement in the direction he looked at.
The hand that was stopping her from even getting a word out just, casually was removed. Well, casual as in the best you could describe it. He was still cautious in not revealing their location.
Vedal covered the side of his mouth closest to the aisle he observed. “I think the coast is clear, let's keep searching for what you need.” Whispering, his breath felt warm for as close as he was.
He stopped holding her close, something that she weakly missed. Pouting, she followed Vedal, who proceeded to continue walking.
‘Just like that?? Are they really gonna move on without addressing the elephant in the room?’
“Hold on wait! Why did you uhm... Why did you like, pull me close and... do that??” Aquwa stopped her saunter, just for a second.
It took a few second for Vedal to realize she wasn't walking along, and actually answer. Though there was some hesitation in present in his voice. “Saw Camila entering the building, couldn't risk more problems if she saw us together.”
A part of her flinched. “Oh... Okay.”
‘Like she wouldn't place a tracker on your jacket, Ved. Though that would be psychotic, I would probably praise her on her dedication to this... messy objective of using the marriage as blackmail.’
‘That’s not helping, and surely he didn't mean that we're less than friends to not even hang out, right?? It's just that the circumstances call for desperate measures, right???’
She sighed, following him once again.
A whisper, faintly audible. Not even she could hear it herself.
“I... I don't like him, right?”
| × |
Aquwa was outside, she just recently left the store. It stopped raining a bit ago, but she still had to watch out for puddles that she could slip on if she didn't pay attention.
More notably, Vedal wasn’t next to her. He left earlier when he decided to distract Camila, pushing her away and letting Aquwa leave un-harassed, to say without making it complicated.
She did mutter an expression of gratitude, but it felt like Vedal left without acknowledging it.
Now, she was on her way home. But it was quickly interrupted by a certain someone sitting on a bench, looking depressed.
Vedal looked uncharacteristically sad, with his shoulders slumped and drooped posture. Well, as uncharacteristic as Aquwa would think.
“Hey, Vedal! Uh, are you okay? You look... down. Is everything alright..?” Captain asked, worry evident in her face.
Without a word, Vedal just patted the seat beside him. He even used the sleeve of his sweater to atleast keep her clothes from getting wet.
Hold on, was he asking her to sit beside him? ‘HUH!??’ Why else would he do that though?
After a bit of back and forth between the two sides of her head, she obliged.
She sat down, placing her bags full of groceries and other products to her side. With a sigh, Aquwa relaxed her shoulders, one of which she used to hold up a bag.
She looked to her side, to see Vedal blankly looking at the distance. Probably the direction of the closest Greggs.
Then, he mumbled something. The mumble was too quiet though, Aquwa couldn't hear a thing he said.
“Oh, could you say that again? I didn't understand.” She asked, confused and slightly red? Wonder why...
“-m sorry, ” he apologized? But what was he being sorry for??
Was it because of the contact they had earlier? If so then she could just reassure him that it was alright. “Sorry? What are you sorry for, Vedal?” she asked, hesitantly, her voice shaking invisibly.
“...The bench is freshly painted.” Then her world shattered all at once, all together.
“No...” Aquwa whispered, her voice cracking.
“Just-KIDDING!!!”
A voice from behind rose and broke the sad mood without warning. The voice sounded a little raspy, as if this wasn't the first time it shouted today.
The sudden roar startled the two of them, especially Aquwa. Her fight-or-flight reaction activated and decided to escape.
Well, she would've been able to, if not for the insane grip Camila had on her shoulders to keep her in place. It felt like something the weight of a fully-stocked fridge was on her.
Usually, with great power comes great responsibility, but here she was, using her strength to keep a poor, innocent Aquwa sitting.
Eventually, Aquwa stopped resisting. Camila continued, “Hehe~ You actually believed it, dude! It was just water from the rain earlier, don't worry~”
The two sighed in relief. Vedal looking like he was about to hit Camila with a wiffle bat, but he ultimately resisted to wipe that smug smirk on her face.
“Buuuuut~ You should be worried about,” she took out her phone, showing them a picture of the two sitting on the bench. “THIS!”
It didn't help at all that the picture looked kind of romantic, like it was from a romance novel or anime.
“So, I have all the power here.” Smugly declaring her victory, “I can also send it to both of your discord servers,” the two flinched in unison, “OR... you accept my terms~”
An evil laugh ensued as she dangled her newly attained blackmail material in a pinch.
“Ughh... Fine! What are your terms, then!?” Aquwa yelled.
“Okay, so. Theres this... festival or something in around two days.” Camila explained, trying to be as clear as possible.
“Mhm.” Vedal murmured, affirming that her brief exposition was transparent.
“You two are going to join me there!” She finished.
Aquwa took a breath before replying, “And why sho-” But she was almost instantly interrupted.
“Or else~”
Camila showed the blackmail material once again, pinching on of the corners to dangle it infront of the two.
Then, Aquwa tried her best to grab it but all she got was a flick on the forehead when she failed.
“So, what do you two think? Hm?” she asked.
Aquwa, who was still reeling from the forehead flick looked at Vedal. She hoped to find something that signaled that Camila didn't have all the card in her deck.
What greeted her told her otherwise though. He shared the same mortified face as Aquwa, the two gulped as they locked eyes.
Vedal turned away, slowly nodding.
“We agree.”