Work Text:
"Anne! I need to show you something!" Was the first thing that Anne woke up to one rainy Saturday afternoon. Well, not just this Saturday, most days really since summer had started. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Marcy to be let in by Anne's mother or father after biking to their house as soon as her dad would let her. Nor was it out of character for her to barge into the teens' room with a purpose and without a warning.
Whether it be about a book Marcy was reading, something going on with her or Sasha, or even a game Marcy was 100%-ing, Anne was there to listen to her ramble for hours. It was almost comforting to Anne to know that things hadn't changed too much between them since they were 13.
Anne groaned but sat up nonetheless and prepared themself for a long listening session. Marcy was already talking, mostly to herself however, as she began pulling out one of her numerous sketchbooks and a random journal Anne isn't sure they'd seen before.
It wasn't unusual for Marcy to fill a notebook about a topic and then use her allowance to buy a new one for whatever she wanted to write about next. It was expected at this point, and sometimes if her parents had the money for it, they'd buy her notebook sets every once and a while to keep her occupied and help her get her thoughts out.
Marcy began laying the books open, flipping them to different pages, attempting to find pages in either book that correlated to each other. All while this was being done, Anne had gotten up and began getting changed into her day clothes.
Anne knew that Marcy's mouth and brain were racing to see who could go faster, so they were fine to get dressed in the bathroom connected to the bedroom. They heard Marcy flipping through pages at an immense speed and smiled. I love that girl.
Ever since Anne had met Marcy, they had loved her. It started as platonic love. When they were younger, Anne would braid Marcys' hair as she talked about whatever she could, almost as a way to get her energy out. Marcy was one of the only people Anne felt comfortable sharing aspects of her culture with. Marcy wouldn't judge her.
But things weren't always perfect of course. Marcys' parents had a bad divorce when they were both nine, and suddenly Anne didn't see Marcy as much. Anne didn't know why it bothered them so much. Of course, they missed their best friend, but it was more than that. After a few months, Marcys' dad received full custody of Marcy, and things were good again.
Anne and Sasha were invited to her dad and his new wife's wedding a few years later, they were 12 at this time. Anne and Sasha watched Marcy trip on her own feet while trying to dance, a wide smile on her face during the father-daughter dance. Watching the bright and cheery nature swell inside Marcy made Anne swear to herself to never let Marcy feel the way she did during her parents' divorce.
Marcy was shy, but sometimes lashed out when she was frustrated. Her emotions were so much for her sometimes that she sometimes felt like she would never be like Sasha or Anne, or that she didn't deserve them "putting up with her" as she would put it. She felt alone in how she felt, and it hurt Anne because they couldn't do anything to stop her from feeling the way she did.
Anne felt that she and Marcy were drifting apart, and all while this was happening, Sasha was getting worse. She was getting meaner and more controlling as the days went by, but only ever to Anne. Sasha and Marcy got closer as Anne grew farther, and Anne began feeling like they had no one left.
When Anne turned 13, things changed. Sasha was gone. Marcy was gone. Anne had never felt so alone. She had Sprig of course, but it wasn't the same. Sprig didn't fully understand Anne, and Anne could never blame him for that. Amphibia was just so different than Earth, and even though they had similarities, Anne couldn't stop thinking about their friends.
But when Anne saw that familiar raven hair and heard that ever so passionate voice in the air, analyzing its surroundings, something changed in them.
They called out to her with the most hope that had ever been in their heart and saw those familiar hazel eyes turn to look at them, their heart grew.
When the air left her lungs and their voice broke in a scream of her name, something changed.
Then when she broke out into a sprint faster than any relay they had ever done in their years of track, they nearly collapsed into her embrace.
When Anne Boonchuy realized they wanted to hold onto Marcy Wu and never let go. That was when the love changed. That was when Anne's heartbeat began to speed up around the girl and their cheeks would flush whenever they made physical contact. That was when Anne Boonchuy realized they were hopelessly in love with Marcy Wu.
It seemed that Marcy was done with setting up what she wanted to display, so Anne finished brushing their hair and grabbed some snacks from a mini-fridge that took months of convincing for their parents to let them buy it with money they had saved up.
She looked at Marcy, whose eyes were beaming with excitement, and sat down on the opposite end of the full mattress. She tossed her a can of v8 and some veggie straws and laughed as Marcy tore into the bag like a rabid animal. Marcy would get so busy researching that she would sometimes forget to eat. But Anne and their parents were happy to provide food,
Annes' mom loved Marcy. She's one of the most respectful friends Anne has ever had, and also loved her food, and that was always a plus. Same thing with Annes' dad, but with birds. See, Annes' dad had a bit of a hobby: bird watching. Let's just say Marcy was thrilled.
Anne opened her bag of food and munched as Marcy downed her drink, getting up to go throw the can in the recycling bin in the other room. While she was gone, Anne glanced at the pages strewn across their bed. There were odd and disturbing drawings, and seemingly unconnected notes covered different corners.
Anne patiently waited for Marcy to return, to put Anne's mind at ease with whatever these notes could have meant. A few minutes passed, and Anne stood and left their room to look for the girl. She entered the kitchen to see Marcy sitting and talking to Annes' mom. Well, more like Annes' mom relaying the weekly work drama to Marcy, who was listening intently.
Marcy was easily distractable, that was something that had proved true since she was little. As was the way that Marcy didn't always fit in and struggled to understand others. It was no surprise to either of them when Marcy was diagnosed with ADHD at age 15. At 16, Marcy had become proud of who she was, ADHD and all, and Anne and Sasha couldn't have been happier for her.
Mrs.Boonchuy must've noticed that Anne was there, as she gestured for Anne to sit with them. She placed some rice porridge down for the teens in small bowls and handed them wooden spoons. "Dig in sweethearts," She said with a smile, kissing the two on their foreheads and ruffling Anne's hair. She took a third bowl and presumably took it to Mr.Boonchuy.
Mrs.Boonchuy had practically adopted Marcy, but she wasn't dumb. She could recognize lovebirds when she saw them. The only person oblivious to Anne's feelings was Marcy. She smiled at the two as they ate from the hallway entrance. Just like me and your father... She thought to herself.
Marcy scarfed her food down and quickly got up to rinse and dry her bowl. Man, Marcy must've skipped out on dinner last night too...Anne knit her eyebrows together but shook the worry from their brain. They focused on how Marcy was at least eating now. Marcy sat back down and stared intently at Anne, waiting for them to finish eating.
"So...what's the thing you wanted to talk about?" Anne said with their mouth partially full. They scooped the remainder of the rice porridge into their mouth and got up to begin washing their bowl. "Those drawings you had were pretty scary," They placed their bowl in the sink and turned on the faucet.
"Okay so, it's this thing called the SCP foundation, and- oh right! My books!" She smacked her forehead with her hand. "I completely forgot I brought my notebooks with me." She laughed. "I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached to me," Anne smiled and set their bowl on the drying rack.
Marcy grabbed Anne's hand and began pulling her out of the kitchen and to her room. "Thank you for the lunch Mrs.Boonchuy! It was delicious!" Marcy thanked Annes' mom as they passed her in the hallway. "Thank you, dear. Now have fun you two!" She exclaimed with a smile as the two entered Annes' room.
Marcy holding Annes' hand wasn't a new thing, it was something they had done since they were little, but that doesn't mean it didn't make their cheeks turn crimson at the display of affection. Anne thanked a higher power that Marcy was as oblivious as she was.
"So the SPC foundation or whatever?" Anne asked in an attempt to get Marcy's attention. Anne knew what they said was wrong but wanted to get Marcy started before she forgot again and pulled out her switch.
"Not SPC- SCP, Anne." There she is. "It stands for secure, contain, and protect! It's a foundation that hunts down and observes anomalies appearing in the world. Isn't that cool?" She spun around on her heel for a moment before flopping onto Anne's bed and flipping through pages again.
"Is this a real foundation or something someone made up?" Anne asked as she sat down, scooting her pillows up against the headboard to give herself room. They curled their knees to their chest and grabbed the bag of veggies straws they had left on the bed.
"It was started by someone online and people just started adding their own entries! The fans built their own canon!" She held up a printed-out screenshot that appeared to be the first post relating to the SCP foundation. "There are over six thousand entries and almost all of them have their own backgrounds!"
Six thousand?! How many of those did she read-? Anne swallowed. Marcy did look pretty tired. They hadn't noticed until now how raspy Marcys' voice was or the bags under her eyes until now. Anne wouldn't put it past her that she would stay up to read a lot if not most of them and take in-depth notes and make sketches.
"My favorites are SCP-1730 and SCP-835! Their stories are so interesting!" Marcy took a breath and flipped to a specific page in her notebook. "SCP-1730 is about an old foundation site that contains anomalous properties, the main one being that they never even built the place! It just appeared one day! Isn't that interesting?" She showed Anne the notes.
"Yeah, that is pretty interesting- Is that the only weird thing about it?" Anne said in an intrigued tone, knowing that for how much Marcy wrote that what she said couldn't possibly be all of it. This was Annes' way of encouraging Marcy: asking basic questions to get Marcy really excited to talk about it.
"Nope! There are fan-made entries and stuff about what happened at site 13, and they're so- just- they're so-!" Marcy squeaked out. Sometimes she would be so excited to talk about something but her mouth couldn't make the right words. It frustrated her, but she didn't mind, because Anne never rushed her. That was always something Marcy always appreciated about them.
When they were little and Marcy would get picked on for talking either too much or too little, Anne would always sit with her and listen. Sometimes they would talk along with her, but someone to listen was all Marcy needed sometimes. It wasn't until they got older that Anne started talking a lot more, and her parents say that Marcy had some influence in it.
When Marcy was in Newtopia, she felt alone. She had King Andreas to listen, but it wasn't the same. He wouldn't play with her hair when they talked or crack jokes based on what she was rambling about even if he didn't fully understand what she was talking about. But she tried to not let it bother her, because in her mind she was needed. The newts of Newtopia respected her, and that's what Marcy thought she wanted.
But when she saw that tan skin and curly hair and heard her name called out with such desperation and adoration, she knew she wanted more. When she found out that Anne felt dumb around her, she felt horrible. She never wanted to do that to her ever again. Because she knew just how smart Anne was.
Anne had something Marcy was always jealous of because she could never quite get a full grasp of it. Anne was so good at emotions and relationships. It made Marcy wonder what they saw in them considering they could probably be friends with whoever they wanted. Why did she want to be friends with clumsy klutzy Marcy when she could have anyone else? When she could have Sasha as her best friend? Why her?
It was only when she had to let Anne go back to Wartwood with the Plantars that she realized it. That's when Marcy suddenly knew that she never wanted a kingdom's respect or a fantasy world of her own that she could be the hero of. She didn't want that if Anne wasn't there with her for it. She never wanted fame. She wanted Anne. She always had. That's when Marcy Wu knew she was in love with Anne Boonchuy. So she let her go.
When Anne came out to Marcy she was ecstatic. Both she and Sasha quickly got used to their new pronouns and were quick to accept them when she said she was a lesbian. That lead Sasha to come out as bi and asexual, and Marcy as bisexual. It's funny looking back on it, considering how they all wanted to tell each other but were afraid of getting judged.
Marcy then knew she had a possible chance with them. Marcy wanted to tell Anne so bad, so she did was she did best. She researched. She did her best to try to show Anne how she felt. Her numerous romance manga weren't exactly the best sources...But she tried nonetheless. She got close to Anne and only felt encouraged when she didn't push her away.
Ever since their adventure to Amphibia, Anne had become more vocal about their wants and needs and if things made them uncomfortable. Marcy knew that if she was making her uncomfortable that Anne would tell her. She always did. And that made Marcy get a new objective: Confess to Anne +1000 XP.
"-alright Mar-Mar? You okay?" Anne asked, snapping Marcy out of her trance. It wasn't odd for Marcy to zone out mid-sentence, but she was staring so intensely at Anne that it was kind of freaking them out. Their cheeks were flushed as they rubbed the back of their neck. Marcy blinked a few times and chuckled. "Sorry," Anne did a hand swap and told her it was okay.
She managed to take a breath before trying her sentence once again. "I just think it's so interesting that people could come up with stuff like this and that others can just add to it." She pushed out. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to say, but it would be good enough. Anne smiled as Marcy yawned.
"And what's the other one about?" Anne tilted her head and asked with a smile. Marcy grinned and snatched her notebook and began searching again. "SCP-835? That one is about a coral-like growth made out of human material and it's huge! I'm pretty sure the article said it weighed eight tons!" Anne gaped. Why did she have to research creepy stuff?
"There are plenty more, but I didn't have time to read them all of course...I wish I could have though." She trailed off and yawned once more. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms above her head.
"Ughh why do I need eight hours of sleep? Why can't I be like a horse and only need three hours..." She held out the 's' in hours and flopped backward on the bed. But as usual, Marcy's luck was never that good. "Marcy!" Anne shouted as Marcy fell directly off the bed.
"Why isn't your bed biggerrr..." Marcy groaned, rubbing her head but not making an effort to get up from her crumpled position. Her head and upper part of her back were on the floor while her legs crinkled up in the air with her feet resting on the end of the bed.
"I have a full bed, Marcy. You just happened to be on the edge of it," Anne leaned over the edge of the bed and looked over her. "You gonna move?"
Marcy shook her head. "I'll lay here until I die." Anne stood up and lied down next to her. "Then I'll lie here with you." Marcy felt her face heat up. What are you doing to me? She thought to herself. Anne's face was so close to her own, her brain was overheating.
"How much sleep did you get last night anyway?" The Thai girl asked, raising an eyebrow at the other. Knowing Marcy, it wouldn't be enough. Marcy did a nervous laugh. "About that..." She pressed her pointer fingers together.
"Marcy." Anne scolded. "We talked about this! You can't keep pulling all-nighters," they said with a frown. "It's not healthy,-" She propped herself up on her elbows. "-And neither is drinking a monster every day to stay awake." They squinted their eyes in a glare. Marcy laughed again and rolled her legs off the bed to lay on her side fully on the floor.
"I know, I know...but there's just so much I can get done if I stay up!" She threw her arms up in the air as is to punctuate her statement. "Yeah, and you'll miss stuff in the day if you're too exhausted to do anything," Anne added and rolled onto their side to look at her. "Seriously Mar-Mar, I'm getting worried. It's not healthy. You're gonna crash too hard one day and I'm not gonna be there to help,"
Marcy realized that the other wasn't making eye contact and frowned. "I'm sorry...I'm gonna try to not overdo it so much," Marcy hated when Anne would worry so much, but part of her couldn't deny that she liked the extra attention from her.
"Thank you. Sasha and I care about you a lot, you know." Anne looked her in the eyes. "I care about you a lot, and I don't want anything to happen to you." Marcy flushed. We're so close...
"I care about you a lot too, Anne," Marcy whispered out, almost afraid that if she spoke any louder she'd scare the other away. "More than I think I tell you sometimes,"
Just tell them. They both thought to themselves. "Mar-" Anne started. "Anne, I-" Marcy accidentally interrupted. The two laughed. "Sorry, you go." Marcy offered and twiddled her thumbs.
Anne wracked her brain for the right thing to say. So many things flew through their brain, but she couldn't land on anything that seemed right. Anne took a breath. Like a bandaid.
"I like you, Marcy. I have for a long time now, and I was scared to tell you because you're one of my best friends and I didn't want to ruin that with you." Anne looked down at their hands that always seemed too far from each other to Annes' liking.
Holy crap! I did it! Oh god, she isn't saying anything- why did I say that?! For once, Anne was the one with a racing mind. Their face was burning and they almost felt a lump forming in their throat. Anne was good with relationships but never pressure.
Marcy grinned with her eyebrows upturned. "I like you too...I was worried about the same thing if I'm honest," She sat up and placed her hand on top of Annes'. Anne looked at her and smiled.
With red faces, Marcy was pulled into a rib-crushing hug which she quickly reciprocated. Neither of them thought that this would be the way that they would confess, lying on a bedroom floor tired out of their minds. But they were together, and they never wanted to let go. They didn't know much, but they did know that they loved each other. And that was enough for them.