Work Text:
“Rina! I’m home.”
Pearl opened the door to the shared penthouse, exhaustion written on her face as she dragged in her briefcase behind her in one hand while balancing several paper bags in her arms, and all the while she attempted to balance a phone in between her shoulder blade and ear. The inkling quickly signed off one of the many calls she received on her way home. She took off her blazer and hung it up along with her suitcase before entering the main living space of the massive dwelling. She quickly glanced at the area before making a ninety-degree turn towards the dining area and spotting what she had been looking for. An octoling, dressed in an ever so fluffy sweater that only just covered her generous frame, was drinking some tea while reading a novel. The inkling noticed that her partner was so entranced by said novel that she hadn’t even noticed the older cephalopod enter, and Pearl was quick to take advantage. She made her way behind the octoling and wrapped her arms around the other woman’s paunch, nuzzling into the nape of the tall Octo’s neck. She felt the girl in her arms almost jump at the touch, a small shiver running down her spine, but quickly calmed her down with a few soft whispers, “Hey Rina. How’s the book? You sure seem to love it.”
“Pearlie! Don’t scare me like that. You could have given me a heart attack!” Marina pressed a hand to her breast, her heart palpitating rapidly as her body tried to recover from the surprising embrace. It was a feeling she was unadjusted to, at least, not in the same manner as she was in her very active past. The adrenaline sent her heart pounding, in a way she hadn’t felt since their anniversary concert, and it almost made the Octarian feel dizzy once she began settling back down. Slowly, she relaxed and allowed her body to move from its rigid state. She looked over her shoulder, tentacles moving rapidly while her hand still rested on her chest. “Just as sneaky as your turfing days, aren’t you?”
“You bet. And now that I’m here early, we can do something we haven’t done in years.” Pearl leaned in and nuzzled up against Marina’s neck before stepping back. She then turned to make her way to the kitchen, grocery bags still in hand.
“Which...is?” Marina asked.
“Let’s make dinner together. Used to do it all the time back then. I just thought it’d be nice to sorta reminisce. You know, for old times’ sake?” The older inkling made her way over to the kitchen before looking back towards her octoling lover, who simply sat with a surprised expression. “Well? You gonna help or what?”
“Oh! Yeah, sorry. I’m just… shocked I guess. I never thought we would ever do something like this again.” The younger girl chuckled a bit as she stood up and assisted her partner with their meal prep.
“So I brought some stuff from the store. I didn’t bring any rice because I’m pretty sure we have some left over, but if not we can call up Amy to bring it.” Pearl dropped three large grocery bags on the island counter in the center of the kitchen. The produce hit the quartz with a slight bump before quickly being assaulted once again by the inkling’s hands. She rummaged around before pulling out a plastic container, and held within it was a large slab of fresh salmonid sashimi, goldie sashimi to be exact. “Well? You excited? This stuff was so fucking hard to get, you don’t understand.”
Marina’s eyes were practically glowing in delight. She reached over and snatched the goldie right out of Pearl’s hands, almost like a child, and tried to tear the container open. Before the Octoling could manage, her lover snatched the fish right back and sighed. “Pearlie! I’m famished. Just let me have it.” She tried to grab her treats again but was met with resistance as the inkling tried to hold back her much bigger and stronger partner. The octoling finally gave up the ordeal but not without pouting and turning away from the squid. “I know I tease you from time to time, but this is too far.”
“Babe,” Pearl giggled and tried to calm her partner down with a quick peck as she put down the sashimi and once again rummaged around the bags again and pulled out even more of the rich seafood; smallfry, cohock, snatcher, and even some maw. The inkling heard her partner whimper behind her as more and more food was pulled out of the bags and placed on the countertop. Pearl quickly pulled out the remaining ingredients, salmonid roe, vinegar, and sugar, and then turned back towards her partner. She quickly took note of how the octoling was practically drooling, her eyes were ablaze, and her tentacles moved rapidly. “Alright, alright, calm down. I wanted to make some sushi together like we used to after our concerts. Thought it would be fun if we, you know, actually tried this time instead of just eating the slabs of fish. But I’m suddenly starting to remember why we never were able to get to the second step of this procedure.” Pearl’s eyes looked down at Marina’s heavy paunch, then back up at Marina, and then over to the fish, where one of Marina’s tentacles was trying to sneakily snatch up a container. Again, the shorter woman grabbed the fish and moved it away slightly, before wrapping her arms around her partner, kissing her cheek tenderly. “So love, you wanna just inhale the fish again, or should we make something even tastier? I even brought some gold standard nori.”
The octoling’s tentacles calmed down, twitching a lot less as she seemingly relaxed and began listening to her lover. Her head tilted from side to side, as though she was tossing the idea around in her head. But after a few seconds, Marina sighed and nodded. “Fine, but this better be the best damn sushi we’ve ever made.”
“I think this will be the only sushi we’ve ever made. Pretty sure slicing and then eating the fish doesn’t count.” Pearl replied with a bit of a smirk on her face.
The octoling playfully jabbed Pearl’s side before walking to the cabinets and searching around for more of the ingredients. She pulled out a large bag from one of the top shelves before taking it back to the island and tossing it alongside everything else. She turned to look at her partner who pulled out an old wooden cutting board and her trusty and expensive knife. Pearl spun the knife on her finger a few times before accidentally letting it go, the blade slamming into the cutting board, and getting stuck in it. Pearl turned back to look at her partner and saw that the octoling looked upset, but also as though she was trying to hold in a chuckle. “Very cool, Pearlie. Glad to know all these years have not worn out your switchblade skills.”
“Oh hush.” The pearlescent inkling tugged on the knife for a bit before managing to pull the thing out of the thick slab of wood. Her partner appeared at her side, fish in hand, and a smug smirk on her face. She left the fish on the board without a word, only a quick kiss on the forehead and a gentle squeeze on her wrist.
“Try to be a bit more careful next time. I don’t think a hospital visit should be a part of this date.” The octoling said in a somewhat snooty manner. She strutted off towards the other side of the fairly large kitchen, before kneeling down and grabbing a few measuring cups from a cupboard. She quickly pulled them out and began measuring out the appropriate amount of rice only to then wash it and dump it into a hefty rice cooker. She heard a quiet cursing behind her and turned around to see her partner. She sighed as she saw the shorter lesbian try to slink away sneakily towards the hallway, her phone pressed up against her oversized ears and her voice in a hushed tone. She could hear her trying to be quick, but it wasn’t working well as the person on the other line was jabbering on, much to both of the stars dismay. “Uhh… Pearl?”
“Listen, I gotta go. Yes… no, that’s not… no please, Natalie. I’m really…” Pearl turned to see Marina looking down at her tentacle. The turquoise inked octopus messed with the ends of her tentacle with the long tendrils wrapping themselves around her finger in tandem. She visibly looked upset, and the sight of the unhappy girl made Pearl’s heart hurt. The inkling whimpered and quickly added, “I’ll call you back later, okay?” She quickly hung up the phone and walked over to her partner, before reaching out for her hand. Pearl grabbed Marina’s hand and intertwined her pale fingers with her lover’s darker digits. “I’m sorry, just had to take a quick call. I promise I won’t let work get in the way of things, okay?” Her left hand let go of the octoling’s and she cupped her plump cheek, the inkling’s thumb gently rubbing the squishy surface.
Marina perked up a bit, and looked up at her partner, “promise?”
Pearl winced. She knew full well that there was going to pick up the next call from her secretary, and the last thing she wanted to do was to lie to her lover. The inkling just looked back up and replied in a weak voice, “I will do my best, alright? I just don’t want to break any promises. Let’s… let’s just finish with the meal.”
Marina did not want to be a downer. While she knew that her partner was a bit of a workaholic, and she desperately wanted to spend some R&R with her beautiful inkling, the former idol also knew that Pearl’s work is what allowed them to have the luxurious life they lead. However, another part of Marina’s mind kept shouting at her, telling her that she had to get Pearl to promise to push aside work for just a few hours, that they had so much money in the bank, Pearl could easily retire and they could live equally luxurious existences without even putting a dent in their wealth. But being the non-confrontational person that she was, she just nodded and smiled, “Alright, baby. Let’s get back to it.”
The workaholic woman made her way back and quickly got back to work, hoping to repay for her distraction. She once again picked up her knife and began to cut away at the salmonid delicacies, each slice surprisingly well-cut despite the fact that Pearl hadn’t picked up a knife since, well, her old punk days. The squid chuckled silently to herself, remembering that that was around the time she first met her partner. To her, it was one of the greatest moments of her life, maybe the greatest now in analyzing it. Pearl finished up slicing up the golden salmon as the mental echo of the first demo of Ebb and Flow reverberated around her mind, before moving on to cutting the Smallfry to small, thin slices. Sensitive ears quickly flipped upwards as the timer on the rice cooker went off. Marina ran over to the bright red appliance and began to scoop out the sticky rice, placing it in a bowl before sliding it over to the older squid.
“You got the nori ready?” Marina wrapped her arms around Pearl’s waist and rested her head right atop hers.
“Yep! Let’s finally do this.” Pearl giggled and gripped her partner’s wrist.
The two got to work, clumsy work but there was at least an attempt. Marina would scoop up the rice on the spread-out piece of seaweed, while Pearl would grab the previously sliced up pieces of salmonid and place them towards the left side of the square of rice. Finally, the last step before they could indulge their creation was to roll the entire thing into one concise piece. Neither of them knew exactly how to curl up the roll without rice and fish spilling out of one of the ends, but nonetheless, Pearl made her best attempt to roll up the fishy treat. After a few initial fails, the two managed to make the roll while only losing a single piece of salmon, which Marina quickly snatched up and devoured. Pearl simply rolled her eyes as she motioned to her partner to grab a plate, to which she happily obliged before skipping over to the dining table.
Pearl quickly sliced up and plated up the little treats, adding roe to decorate the tops of each and a little ginger and wasabi flower to add a bit of flair to the plating. She smiled and carried it over to the table where a very hungry Marina awaited. “Yay, yay, yay! Finally, I’ve been waiting for so long.”
Pearl simply snickered and placed the goodies in front of her partner, replying with a snarky comment, “we were only working for like an hour, babe. It wasn’t that long.”
“Well I was starving the entire time, so it felt like a lifetime to me.” Marina pouted and crossed her arms over her heavy breasts. She just grabbed her chopsticks and shoved a thick piece of Maki into her mouth. However, her mood changed almost immediately as her eyes lit up from pure joy, her face following suit with a bright green blush. She happily hummed as she ate, her tentacles moving to and fro as the octoling excitedly enjoyed her meal.
“Well, you certainly are a fan, aren’t you?” Pearl teased her companion as she plopped down on the opposing side. She popped one of the pieces of the home-cooked dish into her mouth and smiled. She certainly understood why her partner enjoyed this, but before the girl could finish her meal she heard the familiar ring of her cell phone and instinctively stood up and walked away from the table. Again, she spoke in a hushed voice, and again Marina sighed.
The octoling heard the familiar voice of Pearl’s secretary and the usual “I’m kinda busy,” but, again just as always, her partner again got swept up in the conversation, and now all of her attention was diverted towards what was going on at her office. Yet again, Marina did not confront her. Why would she? She would come off as rude, especially since she was living under Pearl’s roof. And yet, once again, the other part of her head kept telling her to stand up for herself and actually communicate with her wife about her feelings, but she kept quiet. Marina simply kept eating, doing her best to ignore the growing feeling in her chest that was most certainly anger. After a few minutes, Pearl returned and continued her meal, pretending the call had never happened and merely continued eating. The two ate in relative silence, the awkward tension making the two almost nervous to continue their meal, let alone start a new conversation. But the two continued, wrapping up their meal, and cleaning up the table.
Once that was complete, the two returned back to the dining area and sat back down, and Marina lowered her face. “Just tell her. Just talk to her.” The octoling looked up, only to see Pearl getting up on the table.
“Alright, you’ve been fed, so now it's time to repay your end of the deal.” The pearlescent idol leaned over the table and lowered herself onto her elbows, her face directly in front of the octoling she called her lover. A slight smirk adorned her face, her eyelids relaxed into a loving, almost dreamy expression. She lifted up Marina’s chin and forced the younger girl to lock eyes with her. “I want my massage and my cuddles.”
“Jeez, Pearlie, you don’t have to climb over the furniture to say that, you know.” The octoling giggled as she leaned forward to gently peck her partner, another soft laugh following right after the smooch.
“I feel as though it gets the point across better like this,” Pearl replied sheepishly. Her confidence was diminished just a tad, she was really hoping the bedroom eyes would make her partner swoon, but then again, this was a former soldier she was talking to. The girl’s ears lowered themselves a bit as the slight embarrassment fully settled in.
“Zapfish, you’re so cute,” Marina snarkily replied.
“Wh-Whatever, let’s just go.” Pearl quickly hopped off the table and grabbed her partner’s hand.
Marina’s giddy giggles filled the room as she was gently dragged to the nearby couch and plopped down. Pearl sat down right next to her lover, only to tackle the octoling and pin her. Marina kept giggling as Pearl gently kissed her cheek and made a line of soft kisses leading down towards the octoling’s neck. Her laughter was contagious, however, and Pearl started to break out into her own hysterics. The two laughed as though they were young idols again, cuddling and nuzzling each other while the sounds of their joy echoed around the room. The octoling felt as though she was on cloud nine. Finally, after so long the two could spend intimate time together, not just laying in the same bed, but actually feeling the heat of each other. She adored the soft feeling of Pearl’s lips pressing up against her own, as it sent loving shivers down her spine and through her tentacles. It made her body tremble in a way she couldn’t explain, all she knew was that her body went rigid from all the endorphins shooting through her body. She bit her lip when she felt the inkling’s fangs gently nip at her ear, her tentacles wrapping around Pearl’s own lobe. The soldier-like strength that she normally exerted was all thrown out the window when it came to being intimate with her precious Pearlie, and this time was no exception. It all felt perfect, and at that moment Marina felt as though she as On High, nothing could ruin this moment, besides… another phone call.
They both heard it, almost in unison, the familiar ringing of Pearl’s cellphone. The two cephalopods stopped their loving assault almost immediately, Pearl sitting up and looking down at Marina with almost fearful eyes. She bit her lip, her ears drooping as she sat back on her legs and spoke up, “I’ll be back, give me a few.” Despite the fact that Pearl was still shaken from fully embracing her partner, she hopped off and pulled out her phone, quickly tapping the green button and holding the device up to her ear. Pearl sighed and began to speak to the inkling on the other side of the line, “this better be good, Natalie….I was kind of… in the middle of something….Natalie please just get to the poi- Hey!”
Marina snatched the phone out of Pearl’s grasp and held it up to her own rounded ear, “Hi, Natalie. Unfortunately, Pearl is kinda busy right now, can this please wait till a bit later?... Thank you! Thank you, darling.” Marina hung up before handing the phone back to her shorter companion who simply stood there in both stress-ridden shock and impressed awe.
“Wh-Wha-... What the fuck? Marina that was-”
“An important business call that couldn’t wait for another second? She was only calling to tell you that she was finished filing the paperwork for the new shipment, you know, not exactly a ‘the company is about to collapse and also everything is on fire’ situation. This could have waited a bit, Pearlie.” Marina replied with a touch of annoyance in her voice. Yet her eyes read as understanding. She knew where the conversation was going, that Pearl’s anxiety over her job was going to act up again and that the other girl would start her panic-induced ranting. This time, however, she would be a bit more prepared.
“Okay well, listen. I need to make sure that everything and I mean everything, goes right. Okay? I can’t run the risk of anything bad happening because what if something goes wrong with the shipment, or suddenly the investors want to back out, or what if something happened to Natalie and I need to go deal with that or what if-” Pearl’s anxious jabbering was brought to an end with a quick kiss from the octoling. Marina held Pearl’s face with her claws while the other instinctively reached to grasp onto Pearl’s own digits.
“I know you work hard for us, and baby, I appreciate it more than anything else in the world; I mean that, but I don’t think you ever learn to, well, rest. And right now, I think you need to rest just a little. Please, just calm down and take a deep breath. Everything is going to be fine.” The octoling pulled her inkling lover closer, pressing her turquoise tinted lips against the soft pink ones of the other idol. They held there for a good long while, neither wanting to retract from their position, but both knowing full well that they would inevitably have to. Luckily, the former rapper was the first to retreat, finally breaking the spell that was their kiss. She smiled as she ran her thumb delicately over the other’s cheek.
“So uh, wanna get back on the couch?”
“Oh definitely.”
“I think, for at least the rest of the day we drop the work, the stress, everything, and just enjoy this time together in silent peace. You think you can promise me today, at the very least?” Marina cupped her partner’s cheeks with her gentle claws, her thumbs gently rubbing her soft pale face just as the squid had done to her.
The Pearlescent popstar sighed happily, her face turning bright pink. She settled her head against Marina’s strong hands, her smile widening. “Promise. Might even do this more often, I forgot how amazing it is cuddling with you.”
Both of the cephalopods settled back down to their previous position, with Pearl on top of Marina, the former settling her head down on the latter’s heavy breasts, nuzzling her head up against her beautiful octoling. She smiled as she finally relaxed, for once after years of nonstop work and constantly thinking about her ever-growing business empire, she could genuinely settle her body down and rest right alongside her loving partner.
“I love you, Rina.”
“I love you too, Pearlie.”