Work Text:
Dedf1sh glanced down at their phone again, making sure they read the time right.
Callie usually was never late to their meetups, even arriving much earlier than the agreed time most of the time. They sighed, about to put their phone away.
“Hey! Sorry I’m late!” the pink squid yelled, running up to the table before taking a seat across from the sanitized octoling. Dedf1sh looked up at their datemate with a faint smile, quickly losing it as they noticed Callie pulling the sleeves of her hoodie down.
“Cal...”
“It’ll be okay, though! We still have time to do anything you want to do!”
Blue eyes watched carefully at hands grabbing pink sleeves to pull down again.
“Cal.”
“You wanted to make a few stops in Arowana Mall, right? We definitely have time for tha-”
“CALLIE.”
The hand quickly pulled away from the fabric, quickly falling down to the table almost in a moment of panic.
“What’s wrong Ded?” she said, voice shaking as she tried to lie her way around what she knew Dedf1sh had noticed.
The octopus held out their hand, waiting for Callie to take their hint.
The squid sighed and put her arm into Dedf1sh’s hand, avoiding eye contact as she felt their claws grab the fabric around her wrist. The octoling kept silent, looking up at the pink inkling before letting go of the fabric.
“Cal, are you okay?”
Callie stayed silent, taking quick glances to see if Dedf1sh was angry, trying to process their tone.
“Callie, I’m not mad.”
She took another look at their face. When all she saw was worry, she made an attempt to make eye contact again.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
Callie sighed, moving to rest her head on her hand. She started to tear up, making attempts to blink them away any time she tried to say anything to her datefriend.
“I can’t always stick to just my side. That would be dangerous.”
“Cal, hurting yourself anywhere is dangerous in the first place,” Dedf1sh sighed, “I’ll listen whenever you’re ready to explain.”
“You’re not mad…?” Callie asked, trying to hide in her hoodie. She knew it was hard for her datefriend to get mad at her, her mind just always jumped to worst case scenarios. She couldn’t help it, the thoughts in her mind always got so loud about how anybody close to her would abandon her. She was already scared some day Marie would get sick of her and send her back into octarian territory with how often her cousin found her with cuts up, down, and across the tattoo that stayed on her side no matter how hard she tried. What if Ded left her over it? What if they got tired of how impulsive she was? What if they got mad about all the scars along her arms when she didn’t feel real? What if they didn’t want to be with her anymore? What if-
“I can’t be mad at you. I’ll help you find anything to help later, okay? It makes me sad to see you like this.”
“Alright...I’ll tell you when I’m ready…”
“That’s alright. I love you, Callie. I hope you know that.”
The pink inkling couldn’t help but smile.
“I love you too, Ded.”