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"Man, that was so long ago." Ernie says, sighing happily as he reminisces. Then, somewhat abruptly, he starts chuckling. "Oh yeah, wasn't that way back when you still had a huuuuuge crush on K.C.?"
"Wait. What?" K.C. asks, her sandwich falling through suddenly limp fingers, and it lands on red and white checkered paper messily, scattering its contents. Mustard splatters across her white Adidas sweatshirt; she ignores it.
"Oh my God," Marisa groans loudly. "Don't remind me, I'm still embarrassed about it!"
Ernie snickers and Marisa grins, laughing along with him and shaking her head.
"No, seriously, you guys, what?" K.C. demands when no one answers.
Ernie blinks at her slowly from behind his glasses. "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean 'what do I mean?'" K.C. rebuts, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation.
Marisa's eyebrows furrow. "K.C., are you feeling okay?"
"I'm. Fine." K.C. manages through gritted teeth, annoyed, as Ernie starts a counter of what's sure to be an endless "What do you mean what do I mean what do you mean?"
"Actually," Marisa notices for the first time, and her concern only deepens as she takes in the sight of yellow streaked across stark white. "You've got mustard all over your - you know what? I'm going to go get napkins." Marisa places one soft, manicured hand gently on K.C.'s shoulder, then stands up and leaves.
"Take your time!" K.C. calls after her. "I'm fine, really!"
A couple a few table over turns and stares.
"What?" She asks loudly and stares right on back. The couple give her one last look - eyes flickering between her and her mustard stain - and then turn away at last.
K.C. scoffs.
And then she swivels to face her brother, who starts choking when she slams her palms down on the table. "Ernie!" She hisses softly. "Focus! What did you mean by that when you said Marisa used to have a crush on me?"
Ernie pounds at his sternum with one fist and coughs.
"She's going to be back any second." K.C. whispers angrily, eyes darting quickly to scan the cafe for Marisa, who already has collected the napkins.
Ernie heaves out the finally dislodged fry and takes a frantic gulp of his soda, sputtering slightly as he does.
K.C. leans back slowly as Marisa approaches the table.
Marisa pauses. She takes in the sight of the half chewed fry and the spraying of soda. She sighs. "Here." She says, and hands the stack of napkins to Ernie, who accepts them with a rough wheeze of acknowledgement. "K.C., I'll be right back."
"'M 'kay, thanks, no rush though!" She gives Marisa a slight wave. Her smile drops as soon as Marisa turns her back. "Ernie."
"I don't know what you mean." Ernie says, voice raspy. "And even if I did, why, exactly should I tell you? You didn't even give me the Heimlich!" Ernie coughs pointedly.
K.C. rolls her eyes. "If I promise to give you the Heimlich the next time you choke, will you tell me?"
Ernie considers it for a moment.
K.C.'s fingernails tap impatiently on the tabletop.
"Deal," He decides. "Now, what exactly is your question?"
"Marisa." K.C. says, deciding to break it down for him in chunks since he hadn't been able to understand it the last two times she was asking. "You said she used to have a crush on me."
"Right," Ernie nods, and he's obviously still following her at this point.
K.C. waits.
So does Ernie.
"Well," K.C. says, trying to sound patient but acutely aware that Marisa could be heading back any second now. "Did she?"
"Did she....what?" Ernie asks, staring at her blankly, as if K.C. makes no sense.
"Have a crush on me! Did she have a crush on me?"
Ernie bursts out laughing.
And then abruptly stops.
"Oh my God," He says, mirth falling from his face. "You're being serious."
"Is that a no then?" K.C. asks and nods knowingly like everything once again makes sense to her now.
"Uh, no, it's a yes." Ernie says, dumbfounded. He pulls off his glasses, rubs the lenses quickly with the hem of his shirt, places the glasses back on, and squints at her heavily. "You are my sister, right?" He asks, sounding uncertain.
K.C. stares at him flatly, severely unimpressed. "If I really was Bernice, did you think I would just tell you because you asked?"
"I don't know!"
"Sorry!" Marisa says, face pulled into an apologetic grimace, as she approaches. "They were out of napkins, and the manger had to approve the - " Marisa stops, pauses as she gets close to them. Her eyes flicker between the two siblings. "Is everything okay?"
"Wellllll - " Ernie begins to drawl, and K.C. gives him a rough nudge with her sneaker underneath the table.
"Everything is just fine, Marisa." K.C. firmly says but doesn't take her eyes off of Ernie as she says it.
Marisa takes a seat. "Is it - " She lowers both her voice and her eyes, peering at K.C. through dark eyelashes. "Is it you know? A mission? Do you guys have to leave?"
The idea, frankly, has merit now that Marisa's brought it up.
"Yeaahhh." K.C. lies, and she scratches at her neck awkwardly. "Kinda."
Marisa smiles; she doesn't seem surprised, just sadly resigned. "Oh, well..." Hesitantly she extends her arm and offers her bounty of napkins. "I guess you'll take these to go, huh?"
"Yeah, uh, thanks." K.C. takes the vast amount of napkins and stands up.
Ernie grabs his burger and sighs mournfully at the rest of his meal. "You can have my pickle, Marisa. And my fries."
"Gee, thanks" Marisa scoots further away from the basket of food that still is covered in spit and chewed pieces of food, clearly unimpressed with the offer. She's as unsubtle as she's ever been about everything - and yet apparently she used to be in love with K.C. and K.C. had never realized.
Ernie turns one last devastated look to his food, pauses, and hastily scoops up a handful of the pickle along with some miscellaneous fries. He quickly stuffs them in his pocket and hastens to do the same to his other pockets.
K.C. clears her throat, doesn't look at where Marisa's pink mouth is pinched in horror. "Ernie."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be there in a second, K.C.." Ernie promises.
K.C. lets out a sigh, tapping her foot impatiently and acutely aware that her friend is staring at her.
"What about you?" Marisa asks, sounding worried. "Don't you want to bring your TLT?"
K.C. did not actually order the tofu lettuce tomato, and she knows that Marisa knows it. She just enjoys calling every vegan sandwich a TLT ever since K.C. made the mistake of ordering one in front of her.
"Nah," K.C. goes to shove her hands in her pockets and remembers that she's holding enough napkins to equip a cafeteria; she crosses her arms instead. "I'm good."
At that, Marisa's smile turns more authentic, although K.C. can't pinpoint how exactly it does that.
"Stay safe and call me if you need me?" Marisa softly reminders her, a plea more than anything.
"When have I ever - " needed you is what K.C. had been about to say, but she really doesn't want to get into an argument right now with her best friend. Her best friend who may or may not have had a crush on her. " - not done that?" She finishes instead, sounding awkward even to her own ears.
And thank goodness for Ernie - which is something she's not used to thinking about her brother - because he chooses that precise moment to finally be ready to leave.
"See ya." K.C. says quickly, and proceeds to drag Ernie out of the cafe and away from Marisa.
"We don't actually have a mission, you know." Ernie reminds her, as if she could have forgotten, and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a fry as soon as K.C. has let go of his arm.
"I know."
K.C. frowns.
"But you're not leaving the house until the 'mission' is over."
"Wait, what?" Ernie gapes, and the fry falls right out of his mouth.
"I can't have Marisa see you galavanting around town when you're supposed to be helping me with the mission." K.C. points out.
"There is no mission!" Ernie protests.
"There is now." K.C. assures him darkly.
_____________________________________
"Do I really have to be here for this?" Judy complains, folding her arms as she stares doubtfully at K.C., who called the entire family together.
"Oh, trust me," Ernie assures her conspiringly. "You're going to want to be here."
"Did any of you guys ever...." K.C. awkwardly laughs, and her hands move in a nonspecific rolling motion. "....ever get the feeling that maaaaaybe, just possibly - did it ever for even a split second - " K.C. shrugs and lifts her hand to rub at the back of her neck. " - get the feeling that Marisa.... used to have a crush on me?"
Judy bursts out laughing and she doesn't stop.
The rest of her family just stare at her for a moment - Ernie gleefully amused and her parents shocked.
Judy continues to howl with laughter.
"Oh, sweetie." Her mom says finally, and comes around to sit next to her on the couch, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Oh boy." Her dad remarks under his breath, fingers rubbing at his forehead wearily, and also makes to sit down.
Judy still is laughing.
"Okay, Judy, we get it." K.C. snaps in irritation.
"Oh, sweetie." Her mom says, yet again, and she stares at her pityingly. "I know this probably comes as a shock to you - "
"Does it?" Her dad mutters. "Does it really?"
" - but, hey, at least the toughest part is already over!" Kira continues, ignoring Craig, "At least you've already moved past all those awkward stages that come with when your friend likes you."
"Oh my God." K.C. drops her head into her hands. "So she really did have a crush on me?"
Her mom's arm tighten around her shoulder consolingly.
"Whew," Judy wipes at her eye as if she could actually produce tears.
"I told you!" Ernie remarks excitedly.
Kira levels a flat and deeply unimpressed look over towards the stairs.
"But now that it's over," Ernie says quickly, "I'm going to go play some League of Legends." And then he runs up the stairs.
"Judy," Craig addresses the robot child, who is still watching with avid glee, "Do you mind giving us some privacy?"
"Actually - "
"Judy." Kira interrupts warningly.
"Fiiiiiine." Judy non-enthusiastically sludges up the staircase.
"Now," Craig wonders. "Where were we?"
K.C. doesn't even lift her head. "We were at the part where everything I ever knew, ever, wasn't true."
"Now, sweetie," Kira says softly. "That's not true."
"It is true!" K.C. protests, lifting her head from her hands. "You all knew that Marisa had a crush on me! How come I didn't know?"
"Sometimes we want our lives to stay the same so much that, if something has even the possibility of changing things, we pretend not to notice it - and hope it'll go away."
K.C. stares at Kira in bewilderment. "You think that I noticed Marisa's crush and - what? Just pretended not to?"
Kira shrugs. "Maybe. Look, all I'm saying is that when Marisa was in love with you - "
K.C. lets out a yelp of alarm. "She was in love with me?"
Kira gives a soft pat to her daughter's knee. "Baby, she was so in love with you."
K.C.'s face contorts as she tries to process that information.
"Okay." K.C. exhales. "Okay, let's say that Marisa was in love with me - "
"She was." Craig assures her.
"Well, what happened?" K.C. asks.
Kira frowns. "K.C., you obviously broke that poor girl's heart."
"I - okay, you know what? I have no idea what you're talking about. I did not 'break Marisa's heart.'" She scoffs.
"Honey," Craig says. "Marisa Clark might be as subtle as a hurricane...but she can take a hint."
"A hint? I didn't give any hints. Not even a hint of a hint."
Kira removes the arm from around K.C.'s shoulder to avoid her flailing gestures.
"You kept cancelling plans with her." Kira reminds her.
"I was busy saving the world!"
"You made time for your boyfriend." Craig points out.
K.C. flushes. "I thought we as a family agreed not to talk about any exes." She grumbles. "Besides, that's different. Everyone knows that people make more time to hang out with their significant other."
"Exactly." Kira says patiently. "After a while, Marisa must have finally realized that."
K.C. waits but her mom doesn't continue. "Realized....what?"
Kira and Craig exchange a look.
"Well," Craig says after a moment when neither of them speak. He scratches at his neck in a gesture that reminds K.C. uncannily of herself when she's nervous. "That she should move on."
____________________________________
K.C. spends the rest of the day sprawled across her bed, just staring up at her ceiling in bewilderment.
____________________________________
"Heyyyy." Marisa grins as she throws open K.C.'s door.
"Oh. Hey," K.C. says stiltedly as Marisa steals a corner spot on her bed.
"I tried calling you, but I think your phone is out of battery?" Marisa continues, unaffected by earth shattering revelations like K.C. currently is. "And Ernie texted me that you were having some sort of crisis and weren't leaving your room?"
Ernie is the worst, and K.C.'s definitely going to leave her room now just to reign her wrath down upon him.
"So what's up?" Marisa asks, worry clear in her voice.
K.C. groans. She sits up, and she ends up being a closer to Marisa than she expected. Marisa smells like the peony perfume that K.C. keeps buying because Marisa keeps stealing it, and her makeup is pristine everywhere except for around her eyes, where she clearly had applied and taken off liquid eyeliner numerous times until she was satisfied by the results. She's even brought a bedazzled clutch purse with her despite her tendency to forget them everywhere; K.C. has three in her closet and none of them belong to her.
Obviously, Marisa has fortified herself with her safety net and comforts because K.C.'s worried her. Another reason to make Ernie suffer.
"Was it the mission?"
It's cute how Marisa continues to whisper those words, even inside K.C.'s own house.
"Nah," K.C. says, and lazily she stands up and stretches.
"Oh."
"Yeah, no, I'm fine." K.C. promises her, face twisting like the thought of her being anything otherwise would be preposterous. "Just needed some me time. You know. Just needed time to unwind, but I'm fine."
"Oh." Marisa stands as well. "Well, I'll just - " She moves to the door. "I'll just be off then." She smiles, lipstick pink and perfect and probably taken off and reapplied at least three times before she came to K.C.'s house. "And I'll let you unwind."
Marisa glances at her one last time and then slips through the door, closing it behind her.
K.C. stands alone in her room for barely a few seconds before she follows after her.
"Hey," She says from the top of the staircase and Marisa turns. "Can we talk?"
Marisa smiles. "K.C., of course."
K.C. nods, following her down the stairs, a lump in her throat and butterflies in her stomach.
____________________________________
Marisa gathers her skirt before she sits down on the couch, arranging it around her with automatic and practiced ease to prevent the fabric from wrinkling.
K.C. just sits down. She folds one jean clad leg underneath her and sits on her ankle even though she know's it's probably going to start falling asleep if she stays in that position for too long.
She wonders if she shouldn't insist that they should go back up to her room, but - that would be awkward, wouldn't it? They just both came from her room.
"K.C.?" Marisa asks, brow creased. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"
"I'm positive." K.C. promises. "I just - My family told me the strangest thing, and it took me off guard."
"Well?" Marisa prompts after K.C. doesn't elaborate any further. "What was it?"
"Ha, they said - they said," K.C. shakes her head, still astonished at the thought. "They said that you used to have a crush on me?"
Marisa visibly stiffens.
"Oh," She breathes, looking shocked.
K.C. grimaces and fakes a laugh. "Yeah. Obviously, they were wrong, but I just kept - "
"They weren't wrong though." Marisa interrupts, confused now.
K.C.'s thoughts all stutter to a halt.
"You really had a crush on me!" K.C. gapes in disbelief. "
Marisa gapes right back at her. "Why do you sound surprised?"
"Because until four days ago, I didn't know!"
"Four da- Are you kidding me?" Marissa's jaw has dropped open, and she looks horrified. "K.C., I flirted with you for years! I invited you to the Sadie Hawkins dance freshman year!"
"As friends! And we didn't go!" K.C. rebuts.
"No, you stood me up!"
K.C. squints. "Huh."
"Oh my God." Marisa says, as embarrassment starts to set in. "I even invited you to a Hayley Kiyoko concert after that. No wonder you stood me up."
"I actually did want to go to that concert." K.C. remembers.
"Wait, you cancelled because of spy stuff?"
"My dog didn't really have bronchitis, Marisa. I don't even have a dog."
"I thought it died of bronchitis!" She points out defensively.
Unimpressed, K.C. rolls her eyes.
"Besides," Marissa sniffs. "What was I supposed to think when first you kept cancelling our dates and then you kept ditching me?"
A pang of guilt courses through her. "Oh. Well. Mm."
Marisa sighs.
"I suppose now you're going to start avoiding me again?" Marisa asks dejectedly.
"What? No! No, why would - Marisa, that doesn't even make any sense! Why would you think that?"
Marisa stares at her. "You locked yourself in your room because of me."
"The door was open. Sometimes." K.C. grumbles. "Ernie was just being dramatic." She lets out a sigh. "Marisa," She says somberly. "I promise - nothing's going to make us stop being friends."
"Yeah?" Marisa asks, hesitant smile blossoming on her face.
"Oh yeah." K.C. assures her. "I mean, pff, so you used to have a teeny tiny crush on me? No big deal, right?"
Marisa's eyes widen. "Um."
"Right?" K.C. tries again.
"See, that's the thing, K.C." Marisa winces guilty. "I, uh, I still do."
K.C. blinks.
"You still do what?" She asks, hoping but needing to hear it.
Marisa inhales deeply, seemingly bracing herself. "Don't, uh, don't freak out....But I still have a crush on you."
"Oh my God!"
"K.C.!" Marisa wails.
"I'm good!" K.C. promises, barely containing her excitement. "But oh my God!"
"I'm just gonna - " Marisa stands up.
K.C. immediately follows. Before Marisa can so much as take a single step, she leans in and presses a kiss right on Marisa's lipstick covered mouth like she's always wanted to do.
"Oh." Marissa says, shocked, and stares at K.C.
She sits back down, gracelessly and in a dazed stupor.
K.C. watches her raise a hand to touch fingers softly against her mouth and then quickly pull them away, the pads of them messily imprinted with pink transfer like K.C. is sure her own mouth is.
Marisa's mouth curls into a smile.
"Oh, K.C.," She gently says, full of reverence and warmth as she stares up at her best friend. "Why didn't you ever say so?"
K.C. shrugs. "Why didn't you?"
Marisa's eyes gleam.
"Get over here," She laughs, reaching out with both hands to grab at K.C.'s hoodie where she can reach it. Her right hand is probably going to leave pink fingerprints that are going to be a huge pain to clean.
K.C.'s never been happier.
_________________________________
They're still on the couch hours later, cuddling, when Marisa bites down on the freshly reapplied pink lipstick on her bottom lip and then asks, voice softer than K.C.'s ever heard her, "So you really never noticed?"
"Marisa." K.C. assures her. "I really never noticed."
"Some spy you are." She tries to tease, but the tone is clearly lacking in its usual amount of cheer. Her eyes avoid K.C.'s, and her hands smooth away wrinkles from the peplum of her shirt. Now that the kissing has slowed down and her makeup has been reapplied, she's clearly already starting to worry about their relationship.
"You know me." K.C. says nonchalantly. "Sometimes I'm too caught up in things to notice what's going on right in front of me."
Marisa is assuaged. "I still can't believe you never noticed." She says and shakes her head in disbelief.
"Believe me," K.C. agrees, "Neither can I."
Marisa's eyes flicker up as she seems to realize something. "Hey, is that why you didn't get me flowers?
"Flowers?" K.C. asks blankly, wracking her brain trying to figure out what her friend means.
"For the dance." Marisa explains, in clear exasperation. "When you disguised as a guy and invited me as your date to the dance."
K.C. folds her hands together and points her thumb and index fingers together, motioning with them in annoyance as she speaks. "I didn't get you flowers. Marisa, because it wasn't a date. It was a mission."
Marisa's eyes narrow. "K.C., are you serious?"
"It wasn't a date!" K.C. asserts again firmly.
"You know what?" Marisa lays out her hands and flattens her palms against her skirt. "Alright. I can live with that. Relationships are built on compromises."
"....Seriously?" That makes K.C.'s eyes narrow in suspicion.
"Sure," Marisa continues and offhandedly adds, "You can just bring me flowers when we go to the party tomorrow." Despite her act at nonchalance, she can't resist smiling. There's pink lipstick on her teeth.
"We're not going to a party tomorrow." K.C. states, unimpressed, and she wonders if there's also pink lipstick on her teeth.
"Sure we are! It can be our first date! You know," Marisa hedges. "Since you claim that we haven't had that yet."
K.C. pinches her nose and closes her eyes. "Okay, fine! How about this..." She counters. "You can have the dance as our first date."
"And?" Marisa raises her eyebrows, as if unimpressed, even though she's can't keep the ridiculously wide grin off of her face for more than a few seconds at a time.
"And I'll bring you flowers to our second date." K.C.'s eyes fly open. "Don't tell me - we've already had a second date?"
Marisa laughs. She simply looks at K.C. for one delighted moment and then she leans forward and presses her mouth the K.C.'s cheek, pulling away as soon as K.C. realizes what's going on.
Marisa leans back and then stands up from the couch. She winks.
"I'll let you figure that out on your own." She teases.
"I thought we established this." K.C. warns her as she walks around the living room and heads to the front door.
Marisa pauses, amused. "What did we establish?"
"That I had absolutely no clue that you were in love with me! Let alone, what our dates were!"
Marisa drops her clutch. Her face is quickly turning red.
"Lo- love?" She says unconvincingly. "Pff, who said anything about...being in love with you?" As she picks up her purse, she laughs nervously. "Love. That's real funny, K.C."
"Soooo...." K.C. eyes her thoughtfully and lifts her eyebrows. "Are you saying that you aren't in lo- oh, I'm sorry, that you weren't in love me with?" The deliberate slip up is obvious in its intent.
Marisa opens her mouth but doesn't reply.
K.C. stares. "Huh."
"I'm just gonna - " Marisa doesn't break eye contact as she jerks one thumb toward the door while one hand reaches backwards and scrambles for the door handle.
"Yeah, sure. See you later, bae." K.C. says casually.
Marisa gapes. K.C. waves at her cheekily. It spurs her into motion; she throws the door open and dashes out.
The moment that she's gone, K.C. starts punching up in the air, excited.
"Someone's in a good mood." Her mom remarks as she descends down the stairs a few minutes later. "What's got you dancing?"
It's a light shimmy at best. Parents. They always have to be so dramatic.
"...Is that lipstick on your face?" Kira asks, squinting at the pink lip print Marisa must have left behind.
"Marisa's in love with me." K.C. reveals smugly, eyebrows wagging as she dusts off her shoulders and laughs.
Kira looks deeply and utterly unimpressed. "Honey...."
K.C.'s victory celebration slows down. "You've got to be kidding me. You knew?" She scoffs, taking in the knowing gleam and pity in her mom's eyes. "What happened to 'oh she was so in love with you, baby, and you broke that girl's heart'??"
Kira coughs, looking vaguely guilty, as she turns into the kitchen. "Well, back then, I didn't think you were interested in her. I was trying to get you to let her down gently."
"You know what," K.C. remarks dryly. "It's a good thing we're all spies because this family is amazing at keeping secrets, especially from each other."
She exits the living room and storms up the stairs.
"What bee flew in her bonnet?" Craig asks, huffing, having just walked through the front door with both arms full of groceries.
"She just found out that Marisa is still in love with her." Kira moves to help him. "Would it kill you to take two trips?" She asks, unimpressed, as she relieves him of half his grocery load.
"Ah." Craig nods in understanding. "And for the record, Kira? It just might."
She levels an unimpressed stare at her husband.
"So?" Craig asks as he sets down a bag on the counter. "How'd she take it."
"Rather well, I think." Kira remarks as she sets down her bag as well
"Well, that's good." Craig begins to unload the groceries.
____________________________________
"Anything interesting happen at school today?" Kira asks the next day, expecting more of the typical daily recollections - they did well on their test, their substitute was evil and tried to kill them, the cafeteria food was lousy, that sort of thing.
"Well," K.C. says, grinning. "I have a girlfriend now."
Craig starts choking on his carrots.
"Nobody tell Marisa..." Ernie starts to joke, and their mom shoots him a distinctly warning look. He shuts his mouth.
"Oh," K.C. smiles. "I won't if you won't."
Kira folds her hands together and leans them on the table. "When do you - are you thinking about introducing her to us?"
K.C. grins. "Sure. How's tomorrow sound?"
"That sounds fine!" Kira promises her, smiling gently.
"What's her name?" Craig asks.
"Hm? Oh, it's Marisa." K.C. answers honestly.
Ernie spits out his milk.
"Ernie." Their dad scolds, mostly sounding tired, and moves his plate away from the mess.
"Oh my God." Ernie says, aghast, "You really can't tell Marisa. That'd be way too mean, K.C."
K.C. shrugs.
And she hides her amused smile behind her bite of eggplant.