Chapter Text
Pearl woke up to harsh midday sunlight in her eyes and a blaring noise that wouldn't for the love of god shut up, please. She huffed and rolled over in her bed; she pulled the blankets tighter around her shoulders as if the makeshift cocoon would protect her ears. It was worse than nails on a chalkboard, or tin cans skidding across asphalt, or a fork scratching on a plate. It made Pearl want to splat herself.
She sat up sharply, the soft blanket pooling around her waist as she glanced around her bedroom before her eyes landed on her vibrating phone. The sound was like a jar full of angry bees accompanied by a default ringtone. She still hadn't changed it since she dropped it in a pool at Inkblot during a Turf War. Pearl stared at the object like it offended her, ignoring the itch in her fingers that made her want to punt the damn thing at the wall.
She resigned to her fate, reaching over to snatch the phone off the bedside table and silencing the ringtone, lifting it up to her ear. If she hadn't woken up in the worst mood of her life, Pearl might've answered the call with a bit more tact or professionalism. Instead, all she managed was a-
"What the fuck do you want?"
Well. Maybe she should've checked the Caller ID first. All she could do was hope that it wasn't Grizz or a potential sponsor, or worse, their manager. Oh god, she and Marina could lose their jobs because Pearl failed a Phone Etiquette 101 class. She would have to go back to stealing from her parents to pay their bills. They'd become known as the pop idols who lost their career because one half of the duo didn't have a filter. They-
"I hope you aren't answering business calls like that."
Pearl exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Of course not, Marina." She defended, a nervous breathy laugh following her statement. That was close.
"Uh huh..." A melodious voice chimed, tinny through the speaker and the edges worn with an accent. "Anyways, I'm about to head home. You almost done with your whole party planning business? I don't really get it because parties back in the Valley weren't for fun, really just integration or promotions into the..." Marina kept talking, but Pearl stared unfocused at a spot on the wall opposite her. Party? What party? They finished a Splatfest a week or two ago, so that's not it.
Her gaze landed on her discarded laptop, the illuminated screen blinking with a reminder. Oh. Shit. Marina's birthday.
She fumbled for a response, a weary laugh accompanying her blatant lie. "Of course! You know me, just working away over here. Happy birthday, by the way. And hey, totally unrelated, but I need you to run over to Sheldon's and drop off a request for me if you don't mind."
"Pearlie, that's all the way on the other side of town, with the traffic it'll take me like an hour to get back." Marina pointed out, and when Pearl was about to accept the fact that she was doomed, her roommate huffed out a reluctant sigh. "Well, I guess if it's important. I guess your dualies did get a little damaged during the Splatfest, you should really be more careful."
Oh, thank god. She bought it. Now Pearl had to pull this thing off in an hour. "Yep! I know. Be more careful, don't cause property damage, yadda yadda yadda. Okay well, I got a lotta work to do so I'll see ya later! Bye!" She rushed, ending the call before Marina could even stumble out a reply and tossing her phone onto the mattress. It was go time.
Pearl clambered out of bed, grabbing one of Marina's stray hoodies and pulling it over her head as she staggered out into the hall. A clock hanging on the wall displayed that it was three in the afternoon, how did she sleep in that long? She ran through a mental to-do list. Clean up the living room, make sure they had enough blankets and pillows for everyone, wrap Marina's present, get out some board games and movies. Easy. Pearl was killing this thing.
---
Pearl was not killing this thing. Fifteen minutes had already passed and she'd accomplished approximately... nothing. Unless you count getting distracted by finding her old Squidtendo 3DS as something. She sighed, pushing herself off the plush carpet floor and stretching her back. This sucked. Marina's birthday would suck because Pearl couldn't be trusted with any task. It would be her fault. She flung the device across the room, watching it hit a beanbag in the corner with a dissatisfying 'thwump'.
When Marina had come to the surface, it was nice to feel needed. Pearl hiked up Mount Nantai almost every day, lugging the books on Inkling culture and mannerisms in a beat-up backpack. She sat with Marina by a cliff's edge, while the Octoling questioned her about everything. Like why she had piercings, or why she wore boots with a platform that made her a passable five-foot-one. Pearl felt her lips quirk up at the memory of Marina commenting on the ineffectiveness of such a clunky shoe in battle. Marina was the best thing to ever happen to Pearl.
Before they met, the Inkling felt alone in Inkopolis, even with her band. She had moved out of Calamari County, away from her oppressive family and their expectations, away from the bad memories she had there. Her and Marina were their own ragtag team up on Nantai, and everything that followed that was amazing—better than amazing, even. She smiled wistfully, rubbing at the faded scars spiderwebbing up her forearms before checking back into reality.
Another glance at the clock showed that five more minutes had passed, shit. She needed to get to work like, forty-five minutes ago. Pearl began organizing their scattered music equipment from many all-nighters spent writing music; putting it into a corner out of the way. For the next forty minutes, she worked on throwing away takeout containers, gathering scrap pieces of paper with lyrics scrawled on them, and getting everything ready to celebrate.
---
When Marina finally got back to their apartment—thoroughly exhausted after running errands all afternoon—the last thing she expected to see was Pearl in the middle of the living room, the vacuum in her hand whirring angrily as the Inkling tried to keep the cord out of reach. She held back a laugh at the display, tossing her set of keys into the ceramic dish on the kitchen countertop. Pearl looked like she was wrestling with the cleaning tool, and Marina half-expected her to pin the thing to the ground until it let out its last electronic breath.
She kicked off her white sneakers, stepping into the room unnoticed. The Octoling watched Pearl tango with the vacuum cleaner for a few more seconds before she snorted, bending down to yank the plug from the wall. Her roommate whipped around in a second, the cord wrapped around her legs in a cat's cradle and. Oh. She was wearing Marina's hoodie. She felt her face warm considerably.
Her gaze locked on how the soft teal fabric draped across Pearl's small frame, the sleeves pushed back and the hem brushing the tops of her knees.
"Oh! You're back." The blonde grinned, freeing herself from the cable's hold so she could gesture exuberantly to the room.
"Ta-da! Whaddya think? Pretty fresh, right?" At the prompt, Marina's gaze flitted around the room, a hand hiding her smile. In all honesty, she didn't actually expect Pearl to follow through and clean, but their space looked livable for once. There were pictures of the two of them from concerts displayed on a cork-board that hadn't been there before. Pearl had also cleaned up the trash and clutter left over from music sessions.
"It looks great, Pearlie!" She beamed, picking up the smaller girl and spinning her around.
"Hey! Woah woah woah, watch the spinning! I'll ralph all over the clean carpet!" Pearl warned, tapping her hand against her roommate's back in defeat. She swayed a little bit when her feet touched solid ground again, Marina put an apologetic hand on her shoulder. "Please don't."
"Roger that, captain."
"So...." Marina started, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking forward onto her tiptoes. "We should get ready for the party, right? Should I wear something nice?" Pearl looked at her incredulously.
"What the- No! You wear your pajamas. That's like, a crucial part of a sleepover." She explained, gesturing animatedly. "You gotta be comfy and shit."
Marina laughed and nodded, tugging on the fabric around Pearl's shoulders with her claws, careful not to rip it. "Seems like you already got that part down. I was wondering where all my hoodies went.”
Pearl huffed, mumbling under her breath while her cheeks tinged pink. "Whatever. Go get changed, Marina!" She insisted, pushing Marina towards her room. And Marina, still giggling, allowed herself to be lead down the hall.
---
It was a couple minutes later when Marina came back into the conjoined living room and kitchen, wearing a loose gray sweatshirt and pink pajama shorts. Pearl was standing in the kitchen, hunched over a recipe book; she was still wearing Marina's hoodie and old sweatpants.
"Whatcha doing?" The taller girl inquired, leaning over her roommate's shoulder. Pearl hummed and moved Marina's tentacle off the book where it had landed. "Ice cream. I thought I could try to make some homemade."
"But you can't cook?"
A scandalized gasp from Pearl. Marina barely avoided getting clocked by her head when the Inkling winded back. She watched as Pearl opened her mouth—scrabbling for a retort—only to come up empty-handed.
"Fine. Maybe so. But I can try, can't I? It's your birthday, it's the least I could do." And holy shit, if that wasn't the sweetest thing Marina's ever heard. She felt her hearts flutter at the sentiment. Pearl glanced over at her and groaned.
"You have that sappy look on your face."
"I don't!" She was given an unbelieving look, and Marina pressed her fist to her mouth to cover her smile. When Pearl went back to reading the recipe without saying anything else, she tried her luck.
"You're so thoughtful, Pearlie."
Pearl was about to say something when there was a knock on the door, interrupting whatever her reply was gonna be. Marina shot upright, beaming as she practically skipped over to the front door and threw it open. Standing on the other side was a familiar Octoling and an Inkling with long green tentacles she hadn't seen before, the latter sporting a look of mild shock at Marina's excitement. She brushed that off, though.
"Ah! Eight! And...?"
"Three." The Inkling finished for her, tone flat and expression unreadable.
"Three! It's good to meet you in person, I'm Marina. Pearl's the gremlin in the kitchen." She chimed, stepping aside to let them into the apartment as she ignored the undignified noise Pearl made.
"I know, I see the news." Three stated, deadpan. Eight forced a pained smile and elbowed her in the side.
"Ignore her. She's enjoying being rude. It is nice to see you again, Marina! Hi, Pearl." Eight greeted as she passed the kitchen on the way in. Pearl paused her task of measuring out a cup of sugar to wrap Eight in a one-armed hug. "Sup kid! How's Inkopolis treating ya?"
Eight smiled, looking more alive than she ever had in the Metro. "Good! The sun is so nice, but it gives me a headache sometimes. And Three is letting me stay with her, she helps me learn Inklish when she's not busy. Did you know that she has been all over Inkopolis? She even fought Octavio before! It is no surprise she succeeded, I have seen her do Turf Wars and Three's technique really is amazing!" And hey, if Eight's face seemed a little red while she gushed about her partner, then who was Pearl to say anything?
Three, who had been held up in conversation with Marina, walked up behind Eight belatedly. "It's nothing big. Four's done the same thing, remember? That's why Callie's back." She crossed her arms, still bothered that she was too preoccupied with research at The Cape to save the idol.
"And she is so modest!" Eight exclaimed, patting Three's shoulder sympathetically, who looked uncomfortable being at the center of attention.
"Well, bitches get stitches. God knows he deserves it." Pearl remarked, turning her attention back to finishing up the recipe when there was another knock on the door. Three huffed out a laugh, jumping up to sit on the counter. "You can say that again. Although I think I have a personal vendetta against old-timey telephones now too." Eight nodded along to the conversation, but upon seeing who was at the door, let out a quiet gasp and almost ran over to greet the members of The Squid Sisters.
Pearl glanced over to where Marina and Eight were now chatting with Marie and Callie in the living room, the two Octolings clearly a little starstruck even now. She wouldn't admit it if she looked for a little too long at how excited and happy Marina was, her eyes alight and her tentacles swaying energetically. "So..." She began, flitting her gaze back to Three. "You and Eight, huh?"
Three scoffed, leaning back on her hands. "As if you can even bring that up now when you were just making goo-goo eyes at your girl over there seconds ago." She retorted, adverting her gaze before continuing. "Eight's not interested in me. She probably doesn't even know what romance is."
The shorter Inkling hummed, putting a container into the freezer and hopping up to sit next to Three on the counter. "I doubt it, she seems to pick up on things quickly. Besides, she thinks you're super cool, it wouldn't surprise me." Pearl said sagely, holding out a hand of chocolate chips to the other Inkling. "Want one?"
Three sighed, taking one and popping it into her mouth. "And like, why would she ever forgive me in the first place? I wasn't exactly the star model of-" Her face screwed, searching for the right words. "Of tolerating Octolings. The opposite, in fact. I wouldn't be surprised if they taped pictures of my face to their punching bags. I would go into their territory, wreak havoc, beat 'em up, and leave! And that's happened twice now!" Three propped her chin up on her hand. "She has every reason to hate me." Pearl blinked.
"Three!" Eight suddenly exclaimed, walking over and taking hold of her hand, tugging on it. "Come say hi! I was just telling Marie and Callie how amazing you were in the Metro, like when you saved my life! They said you have more stories to tell me, too!" Three flushed, gently taking her hand out of Eight's.
"Yeah, I'll come over in a second." She resolved. Eight nodded and went back over to the couch where everyone else was sitting.
"Doesn't seem like she hates you."
"Shut it, short stack." With that, Three pushed herself off the counter and trailed after Eight into the living room, schooling her expression back into her normal bored one.
And wasn't that just ironic? Pearl was giving relationship advice to other people when she still had issues of her own to figure out. Speaking of, Pearl looked over into the other room, her eyes meeting Marina's. Marina who just smiled that silly grin that could light up cities and put the Great Zapfish to shame. Marina who was mad smart and came up with an entire plan to save Inkopolis. Marina who held her when she cried and didn't need to say anything.
She couldn't forget the one night when the Octoling asked out of the blue why she didn't sing anymore, because Pearl was so easy to solve, wasn't she? She had tried to switch topics without answering the question, but that plan was tossed when Marina had put an old newspaper on the table. Pearl didn't have a particular penchant for singing, her voice was too pitchy and she couldn't carry a tune. But her parents pushed, and pushed, and pushed. They wanted her to be amazing, the next big thing. So they signed her up for the singing contest and she practiced. Pearl practiced until her throat was raw and her voice was weak; all because she wanted to mean something to her parents.
She had no way of knowing what a little amplification did to her voice, not until she blew all the power out and made headlines in Calamari County the next day. It was mortifying, she didn't leave her room for weeks. The reporter said that nobody was injured, but the electrocution scars going up her arm begged to differ. She didn't sing after that until she moved to Inkopolis, and Pearl, deciding to leave the past in the past, started a band. And it went well, for a while. No crazy electrical mishaps. She practiced up on Mount Nantai, where she couldn't hurt anyone, and then Marina came into the picture. And then Pearl blew out another speaker during a concert, and they got banned from the bar, and her band ditched her.
And Marina was still there. She said that Pearl didn't need them, that she would sing with her instead. Marina didn't know what happened, but Pearl felt like the little girl from a big name family who ruined a whole event again. Marina was gentle and understanding when Pearl told her why she gave up on singing and never pushed the topic further. The Killer Wail was the only exception to that.
She's over it now, no point in holding onto bad memories, but she would've been lost back then without her partner. And when she looked back, it was hard to tell when she fell in love with her instead.
Pearl realized that she was still staring at Marina, and Marina was still staring back with an eyebrow raised. And then her roommate was standing up, and then she was walking over to her. Pearl hastily wiped her eyes, just to make sure she wasn't crying or anything.
"You okay?" Marina asked once she was close enough to keep the conversation private, resting a gentle hand on Pearl's shoulder. "You looked like you were about to start crying, did Three say something to you?"
"No! No, she didn't say anything. I'm fine, promise. I was just thinking." The Octoling didn't look like she bought it, but didn't press further. Pearl sighed. "Really, 'Rina. Come on, let's go get our party on." She joked, trying to lighten the mood as she hopped down from the countertop.
---
"Oh my god, what is this stuff?" Pearl shuddered when Marina pressed a handful of cold mud to her face.
"It's a face mask, Pearl." Marie supplied, shuffling a stack of playing cards. Her mud was already drying, since she had it on for a couple minutes already. Pearl and Three were the only ones delaying their fate.
"I'd rather go dunk my head in the ocean." Three stated, leaning farther out of Eight's reach, who had been trying for five minutes to smear the gunk on her face.
"Let it happen!" Eight protested, leaning closer. Callie nodded, pumping her fists in the air. "Yeah! You'll feel like a whole new squid afterward."
Next to Pearl, Marina giggled at the interaction, drawing the Inkling's attention to her. Her long tentacles were tied back in a ponytail and there was a fluffy headband holding the shorter ones back as well. Pearl cleared her throat and looked away as Marina spread the mixture on the last clean area of her face.
"Aaaaand... There! All done, Pearlie."
The wet slap that echoed through the room made her cringe. She looked over and saw Three with a handprint of mud on her pained expression and Eight looking extremely pleased with herself.
"I win."
"And Three's out!" Callie cheered, standing up on the sofa with her hands in the air. Marie rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth twitched.
"Alright, who's playing? I'm the dealer." Marie lifted the stack of cards in her hand. Callie leaned over excitedly, the look in her eyes bordering on mischevious.
"Poker?"
"...Uno." Marie looked conflicted. "You could see the cards, why would you think we're playing poker?"
Callie shrugged. "Dunno. But deal me in!"
"Three and I will play!" Eight raised their conjoined hands, looking like she was announcing the winner of a wrestling match.
Pearl shrugged, leaning against the couch from her position on the floor. "We're in too." She looked around, noticing an absence. "Hey, where's Four?"
Marie huffed, beginning to count out the cards in multiple piles. "She wanted to patrol the Canyon again, she's with Gramps. Couldn't pry her away."
"She still acts weird around me. Maybe 'cause she had to fight me and junk when my brain was a smoothie, but it still hurts! Four obviously likes Marie more." Callie interjected, grumbling the last part.
"Well yeah, I had to train her for a month. She just doesn't know you as well." Callie only hummed in response, sifting through her cards.
Three placed a green card down onto the pile. "Damn, I would rather train with Marie. Don't get me wrong, Cap'n's good at what he does but he's a little..."
"Absent." Eight finished, topping Three's card with one of the same color.
Marina smiled, putting a draw-two card onto the stack and handing Pearl the two cards off the top of the deck. "I still think it's funny how he tried to out-rap Pearl after knowing her for five seconds."
"Can't beat the pro-" Pearl started, grinning even as she added extra cards to her hand.
"Don't. Pearl."
"I'm on the flow, got rhymes for fucking days, yo!" She shouted as Callie put down a card.
"A little rusty." Three added, clearly instigating. "I think a toddler could out-rap you."
"You wanna take this outside?" Pearl offered. Callie looked up from her hand of cards, already reaching for her phone. "If you two are gonna fight, can I record it for my blog?"
"Nobody's fighting." Marina interjected.
"Three would win." Eight chimed, unaware that she was starting more shit. Three grinned, pleased. "Take that, princess."
Marie rubbed her temples. "Why can't we just play the ga-"
"Eight! What the hell?" Pearl groaned, leaning backward into Marina's shoulder. "I'm being teamed up on." Marina and Callie exchanged a look, a silent vow to not get involved.
"She has training in combat. You make music." Eight pointed out, placing her card down. "I think Marina could beat her since she was high ranking. But you haven't trained as we all have."
Pearl bit her cheek, staring at a spot on the wall intently. Did it matter? She still knew her way around a pair of dualies, she wasn't incapable. Sure, part of their whole act on Inkopolis News is Marina teasing her for getting splatted a lot, but that doesn't mean it actually happened. It was just played up. On air, Pearl is the ditzy, clumsy, hotheaded one; Marina is the collected, smart, capable one. She doesn't mind being the joke—it loosens up on the backlash against her partner—but she would like to be taken seriously sometimes, was that too much to ask?
"Whatever. I can still cook you guys at games, Uno." She declared, pushing the negative thoughts aside as she threw down her second-to-last card.
---
She spooned a bit of ice cream into her mouth as she watched the brightly colored characters move on the TV screen. Pearl, unsurprisingly, was shouting and clutching a video game controller, tilting it left and right. Her character, some sort of round ghost in a go-kart, swerved over the track in response. Marina's lips quirked up into a smile at the sight, having another spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice cream. She watched as Three's character, a short stout humanoid figure dressed in yellow, passed where the ghost had just been on the track. The number displayed on Three's screen switched from two to one, which seemed to frustrate Pearl.
Callie's pink princess character was somewhere around fifth place, although the number changed more often than the other Inklings'. Eight, however, had a twelve on her screen, and she seemed to have just as much fun keeping her go-kart stationary on the track, moving it whenever Three made a lap so they would hit each other. Marie leaned forward from where she was sitting crisscrossed on the couch next to Marina, eyes focused intently.
It was nice to see everyone having fun and relaxing, especially after everything that had conspired in the last couple of months. Marina figured that this would be a good tradition to start between the six of them— seven if Four ever took a break from patrol.
Pearl's face was screwed up in concentration, her character hovering behind Three's. It was the third lap and the finish line was in sight. Marina felt her hands ball up in anticipation of their own volition.
With a victorious shout, Pearl's character passed Three and she jumped up, hands in the air. "Fuck yeah!" She yelled, spinning around and jumping. "I win!"
"That wasn't fair! You snaked me!"
"Uh, yeah, which is allowed. Duh."
"Some of us are still playing!" Callie huffed, eyes narrowing at the screen. Her character—Peach, Marina noted–finished in fourth place. Eight automatically got a finish for being in the last place, but she seemed unbothered.
Pearl skipped over to the couch, bracing her hands on Marina's knees and leaning in. "Whatcha think? Am I the best at this game or what?" Marina grinned, poking her forehead. "Or what." She replied.
"Marina! Your turn." Eight said, handing the other Octoling the remote. "I don't like this game very much." She said with a small smile.
"Yeah, cause all you did was try to mess me up!" Three complained. Eight looked like she was holding back a laugh.
“You were the one who kept on hitting me, Three.”
Marina scrolled through the character selection, pausing on each one. They didn’t have any visible stats displayed, just the varying sizes. Pearl groaned. “Don’t take forever to choose one.” She moved her cursor through the options one more time, settling on the one named Rosalina.
“Get ready to be cooked, Marina.” Pearl teased, falling back on the couch next to her as they all selected the pieces for the go-karts. “I’ve been the reigning champion all night.” And that was true, they had played four rounds already and Pearl managed to get first place on all of them.
“We should give Pearl a handicap.” Three piped up, selecting a motorbike.
“How the hell do you handicap Mariokart?”
“Choose the worst vehicle, duh.”
“Why do none of these damned things have any stats?!” Marina shouted, brow furrowing in frustration as she ran through the options again. Pearl sighed, reaching over to press a button on her controller. A window popped up with all of the statistics onscreen. “Oh.”
“Brainiac. Nobody actually pays attention to those. Ya just gotta choose what looks coolest.”
“Looks won’t matter when you’re in dead last, Pearlie.”
---
Pearl shifted around, unable to get comfortable and fall asleep. She sat up, looking around the dark living room. There was only a small amount of light shining in from the streets below, projecting shapes onto the unmoving lumps of blankets. She gave up on her endeavor with a sigh, kicking the blanket off her legs and standing up with a stretch. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness as she carefully made her way across the room, stepping over people like she was a spy trying to get through a laser maze in an action movie.
Eventually, she made it to the sliding door that led out to the balcony and stepped out into the cold winter night. The breeze blew through her clothing, ruffling it in the wind. Pearl looked down below at the city lights, watching the people who were still out late on the weekend. She wondered where they were going, if they were still continuing their nightly escapades or if they were going home to somebody.
Having the luxury of being able to afford a high-rise apartment meant that the wind was stronger and unforgiving from the elevation, it bit at her cheeks and left them numb and tingling. On nights that they had Splatfests, Pearl would be down there with everyone. She’d be on stage, jumping around with an energy that could only be faked for how long they would perform and her voice would be raw but she always felt alive.
Being on stage was electric, just like being with Marina always was. She smiled, leaning on the railing as she thought about how lucky she had gotten to make it to this point.
The sound of the door opening again made her turn around, seeing Marina step out onto the balcony while blinking sleepily. She walked over and stood next to Pearl. The Octoling was silent for a minute, following Pearl’s gaze until she was looking down at the Square too.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“Nah, did I wake you up? Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I couldn’t sleep either.” Marina said softly, the lights reflecting in her half-lidded eyes.
“Oh.” Pearl didn’t really know what to say to that. Her roommate looked conflicted, before blowing out a breath and closing her eyes. The shorter girl spoke up again. “Why?”
Marina smiled, but it wasn’t her normal one, it looked forced—closer to a grimace than anything. “Seeing Agent 8, it makes me think about Octo Valley again.” She whispered, opening her eyes and looking over at Pearl. She looked pained, and it made the Inkling’s hearts twist. Pearl hated seeing that look on Marina’s face.
“It’s been three years already since I escaped. But even now, I still think about everyone I left behind.“ She traced patterns onto the metal of the railing, adverting her gaze from Pearl. “I told them to come with me. They heard the Inkantation too, they could’ve left.” An anger bit at her tone, her hand clasping the railing so tight that her knuckles paled. “They were scared, they said I was stupid for leaving. And they’re still down there, unaware of the life and the people up here.”
Marina shifted closer to Pearl, resting her cheek on the top of the Inkling’s head. “I dunno, it just makes me feel bad for not trying harder, you know?”
“Yeah, I get that. Maybe one day we’ll go back down there and get everyone.” Pearl replied, wrapping an arm around Marina’s torso. “But for now, it’s still your birthday. So turn that frown upside down!” She said, blindly reaching a hand up over her head to poke at Marina’s face, causing the Octoling to giggle.
“You’re so silly. It’s your turn now, why couldn’t you sleep?” She asked softly, looping both her arms across Pearl’s shoulders. “You’ve been acting weird all night, is it related to that?”
“Kinda. I’ve just been thinking a lot lately.”
“Uh oh.” Marina teased, her smile evident in her voice.
“Shut up.” Pearl laughed, twisting around in Marina’s hold so they were facing each other. “It’s nothing important though. Just stupid stuff.” Marina hummed, looking down at her.
“I don’t think anything you think is stupid. Unless it’s like, that time you wanted to buy a swimming pool and fill it with mayo, that was pretty stupid.” Pearl huffed indignantly, a goofy smile on her face anyways.
“Was not.”
“It absolutely was.”
They were both silent for a minute, allowing Marina to register how close they were. She knew Octolings were generally more touchy-feely than Inklings, but this was way past the borders that they’ve set. Pearl watched as Marina’s expression shifted to a more nervous one as she let go of Pearl, stepping back a couple steps.
“Sorry, I forgot that you like to have your space. I’m gonna go back inside now.” She rambled, reaching for the handle on the sliding glass door. Pearl huffed. She didn’t mind the proximity, but she was slightly annoyed that Marina backed out so easily without prompt.
“Oh for the love of-“ With a couple swift steps, she reached out to ball her fist in Marina’s sweatshirt, tugging her down to Pearl’s height. The kiss was messy and clumsy, their teeth clacking together ungracefully at first, but it still sent a shockwave up Pearl’s spine. She pulled back and laughed nervously, an apology bubbling. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I just acted impulsively, I- Sorry.” She let go of Marina’s shirt, shame hot on her heels. Pearl expected Marina to either say something in shock or disgust or go back inside quietly. She was so stupid for-
Marina pulled her back in wordlessly, the kiss going much smoother this time. After a couple seconds, she realized that she hadn’t reciprocated yet, just standing there frozen. Oh shit. Right, she was supposed to kiss back. Pearl felt arms loop around her neck and instinctively reached out to rest her hands on Marina’s waist, kissing her back. She could feel the Octoling smile against her lips, setting off a chain reaction of warmth spreading through her chest.
They pulled away from each other, resting their foreheads together as Marina started laughing, a bubbly, happy sound that was like glass windchimes on a breezy day. Pearl laughed too, holding Marina close like she would lose her if she didn’t.
“Happy birthday to me.” Marina whispered, leaning in for another kiss.
And maybe Pearl didn’t have to be spectacular. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t sing, or that she wasn’t trained in combat. It didn’t matter that she struggled with simple tasks like vacuuming a carpet, cooking, or waking up on time. Pearl Houzuki wasn’t anything special like her parents wanted, but she wouldn’t trade what she has right now for anything in the world.
And Marina totally cheated at Uno, by the way.