Work Text:
I should really start checking my phone more often. Especially after being engrossed in my work for so long. I swear it only felt like an hour! How was I supposed to know it was 3 am?
And now I’m having a face off with a sluggish Anne and Sasha. They’re both standing in the kitchen entrance, wide eyed. Sasha’s peering over Anne’s shoulder with her phone flashlight in my face and Anne is holding her water bottle ready to swing. Wow I forgot how terrifying she could look.
They visibly relax when they notice it’s just me, and before I can get an explanation in, Sasha steps out from behind Anne and yells “MARCY WHAT THE HELL!? YOU SCARED ANNE AND I SHITLESS!” She still has her phone gripped tightly in her hand waving it around enthusiastically in my face. I notice Anne wander over to the lightswitch, feeling around the wall until she finally finds it. The light blinds me for a second before my attention turns back to Sasha as she’s waiting for an answer.
You see this all started when I was craving pancakes.
I had been working on my webcomic when Anne and Sasha said they were heading off to bed. I remember faintly hearing them tell me not to stay up too late, but of course I just waved them off with a “Yeah yeah, I know I know.”
I don’t look up from my screen, but I hear Anne kiss Sasha on the cheek, saying she’s gonna fill her water bottle before joining Sasha in bed. Anne pads down the hall leaving only Sasha standing in the doorway. I can almost feel her gaze on the back of my neck and I know her arms are crossed before I even turn around. I put a finishing touch on the panel I’m working on, and spin around in my chair to face Sasha. She’s giving me a stern look and yup, her arms are crossed. Knew it!
“Marce…” she drags out my name, “We’re not going to have a repeat of last time, right?”
“Sasha I promise. I’m just finishing these last couple panels. I had the greatest idea while I was sitting on the couch and I need to draw them out before I forget.”
Sasha gives me an exasperated look while gesturing towards me. “Well can’t you just write them down and work on it in the morning?” Her face looks worried now. “You haven’t been sleeping as much, do you really need to draw everything right now?”
I clasp my hands together and plead, “I know, I know. But you don’t understand. It’s not the same as writing. These things just have to be drawn.”
Sasha lets out a sigh knowing she won’t be able to convince me. “Fine.” She smiles and walks over, cradles my head in her hands, and gives my forehead a peck. “Goodnight Marcy.”
“Night Sash, night Anne.” Anne passes by, finished filling her water bottle, and grabs Sasha’s hand. “Love you guys.” I say, and finally turn around to get back to my comic. I hear them walk down the hall as they both reply “Love you too!” before disappearing into Sasha’s bedroom. We all have our own rooms, but most nights we crash together in Sasha’s bed. It’s the comfiest.
I obviously turned my room into an office. There’s still a bed in case I need to be alone or if I stay up later than the others, like tonight. But I’ve been doing that less and less. Sasha and Anne have been pretty convincing, enticing me with cuddles if I go to bed at a reasonable hour. And who can say no to that?
However, tonight I really need to get my ideas out, and as much as I do want to go to bed, I don’t think the energy drink on my desk will let me. In hindsight, this probably wasn’t the best idea, but there’s no stopping now. I have a good flow going. I wince as I take a sip of my drink, pick my stylus up and get back to work.
Time stands still as I immerse myself in my story, sketching out all my panels before I finally decide to call it quits. I’m guessing it’s only been maybe an hour or two. I hit the save button on my work and actually remember to plug my stylus in for charging. The amount of times I’ve forgotten is ridiculous but not surprising. I watch the progress bar slowly creep across the screen, but I’m interrupted by my stomach growling. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a quick snack before bed. In fact, I’ve weirdly been craving pancakes recently.
I figure it’s fine if I make myself some pancakes, it’s not that late. I do need to be careful though. Anne and Sasha have to get up really early and I don’t want to deal with them being sleep deprived. It’s not fun or cute. I’m lucky that I don’t have a day job to worry about. I work on my own terms. It’s probably better that way, I’ve always been a night owl.
I sneak through the hallway, illuminated only by a night light, and step into the kitchen, but not before I bang my shoulder on the doorway. I hope it doesn’t bruise. I feel along the wall for a light switch for the lights underneath the counter. I don’t need to be blinding myself with the harsh overhead lights. Plus, the cool light just feels wrong. I’d rather a room be bathed in the warm glow of a lamp instead. I reach into various cabinets for a mixing bowl, whisk, pancake mix, and anything else. I try to carefully scoop the pancake mix into the bowl, but I miss and it spills all over the counter. Typical.
I sigh, grab a paper towel, and start to clean. Thankfully there’s no more casualties as I whisk the batter. I go to pour it on the stove and stop myself, realizing I forgot to grab a pan. I set the bowl on the counter and crouch down in front of the cabinet next to the stove. Anne must have put the dishes away again because all the pots and pans are playing a balancing act. I try to figure out the quietest way to pull the pan out but it’s too late. I wince as they all crash onto the floor and scramble to stop them. I really hope Anne and Sasha slept through that. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
I stay crouched for another couple seconds, waiting with baited breath to see if Anne or Sasha make an appearance in the kitchen. They don’t. I let out a sigh, carefully shove everything into the cabinet, and turn my attention back to the stove, only now I have a pan to actually cook with.
For the second time tonight I become engrossed with what I’m doing. My tongue peeks out between my lips as I concentrate on my pancakes. I didn’t even hear the door to Sasha’s bedroom creaking or the hushed whispers.
I spin around to grab a spatula off the island and nearly jump out of my skin when I notice two figures slowly creeping around the corner. I yelp and stumble backwards, waving the spatula out in front of me in self defense. I then notice it’s only Anne and Sash and lower my spatula, letting out a sigh of relief. Anne and Sasha don’t seem as relieved as I am. They’re standing there in shock until Sasha breaks the silence by yelling at me.
Anne flips the overhead lights on and I wince. I see her slump into one of the barstools at the island and sigh as she scrubs at her eyes. I turn back to Sasha who’s still staring at me waiting for an answer, her phone flashlight a little too close to my face. I reach out my hand to gently lower Sasha’s arm before I sidestep and gesture to the stove.
Sash gives me an incredulous look before pinching her nose and asking “Mar-mar, why are you making pancakes at 3 in the morning.”
I give her a confused look and scoff. “It’s not 3, isn’t it like midnight?” But the second I say that I have less and less confidence in what time it is.
Anne speaks up, “Marbles, it’s 3:03 A.M.” She has her head resting in one hand and pulls her phone out with the other one. The screen flashes on and sure enough, it says 3:03 A.M.
I stand there in disbelief. “I swear I was only working on my comic for like an hour, maybe 2, not 4 hours.” My brain is trying to process how I lost track of time for that long only to be pulled out of my thoughts by the smell of burning. “Shit!” I rush over to the stove to try to salvage my burnt pancake and realize it’s too far gone. I move over to scrape it into the trash before placing it back on the stove and pouring more batter.
Sasha comes up behind me, slowly wraps her arms around my stomach, and rests her forehead at my nape. “Oh Marcy, you’re gonna be the death of us.” She yawns.
I stiffen a little before quickly relaxing, hoping Sasha doesn’t notice, and chuckle nervously. “Well, if you really think about it, that statement is technically true.” I know she didn’t mean anything by it, and maybe it’s the fact that it’s just really late, but my emotions get the better of me. I think my eyes start to tear up a bit, my vision gets a little blurry, and I let out a sniffle.
Sasha immediately notices something is up and lifts her chin to rest on my shoulder. I bring my arm up to wipe my eyes. Huh, I guess I was crying. I turn to face Sasha and she’s giving me a concerned look. She straightens up a little to tenderly kiss my temple, then my cheek, then my nose, and finally my lips. Some more tears slip as she deepens the kiss a little and pulls back to whisper reassurances. How Anne and her forgave me such a long time ago, but these thoughts still plague me from time to time. I know it’s silly, and I know deep down I believe her and Anne, but, sometimes the guilt consumes me again.
I sniffle again and give Sasha a reassuring smile, silently telling her that I’ll be okay. She returns my smile and goes back to hugging me; squeezing me a little too tight but I don’t mind. We both hear a snore coming from behind us. We turn around and realize Anne fell asleep at the island with her head in her hand. We try to hold in a laugh as we watch her head ever so slowly start to fall towards the counter. Anne’s head jerks up and she squints trying to get a bearing on her surroundings before she notices us quietly giggling.
Sasha speaks first. “Anne, why don’t you go to sleep, you have work early in the morning.”
Anne scoffs “Pshh, I’m fine guys, seriously. And how could I go back to sleep when you two are promising delicious pancakes.” She smirks
Sasha snorts and walks over to Anne before giving me one last squeeze. I can hear them giggling and turn around to see that Sash planted herself right in Anne’s lap. She seemed to be struggling to hold Sasha’s weight and it was almost comical how she seemed to dwarf Anne in size. But Sasha paid no mind to Anne’s struggling as she had her arms wrapped tightly around Anne’s neck and was peppering kisses atop her head.
I turn back in time to flip my pancake and land it perfectly in the pan. Time begins to pass by again, but this time I’m in the moment, trading barbs with Anne and Sash and trying not to make a mess when they inevitably come over and try to help. Pancake better somehow ends up all over the place. Some in my hair and some on Sasha’s face but Anne seems to somehow escape scot free.
We move to the couch, laughing and enjoying our pancakes at 4 in the morning. Anne sets her empty plate on the coffee table and snuggles into my shoulder, trying to hide her yawn behind her hand. I place a kiss on the top of her head and rest my cheek, also starting to fall asleep.
Sasha has been passed out for a while sprawled across the whole couch with her head resting in Anne’s lap. She’s snoring quietly. I run my fingers through her hair and wrap my hand around Anne’s waist, squeezing ever so gently, and finally begin to doze off.
We should probably move to the bed if we want to avoid being sore tomorrow, but how can I possibly wake either of them up. As I’m falling asleep I realize how lucky I am to have fallen in love with my best friends.
Bonus:
Anne was so warm and comfortable, all cozy in Sasha’s arms. She snuggles deeper in Sasha’s chest letting out a content sigh. Nothing is better than being wrapped up in your girlfriend. Well, being wrapped up in both of your girlfriends sounds infinitely better, but Marcy didn’t join them tonight.
Anne starts to doze off again before hearing some creaking down the hall. Probably just the old apartment. She hears another small bang and thinks nothing of it until a few minutes later there’s a loud crashing sound that definitely came from the kitchen.
Her eyes are wide open now and she feels Sasha shoot up, knocking Anne’s head to her lap in the process. Anne let’s put a quiet groan before locking eyes with Sasha. They have this mutual agreement to sneak out of bed, down the hall, and into the kitchen, but not before Anne snatches her water bottle to use as self defense.
Sasha turns her phone flashlight on and follows closely behind Anne as they make their way down the hall. They hear some shuffling through drawers and hope this intruder hasn’t found their knives yet.
They’re slowly rounding the archway that leads from the hallway to the kitchen-living room area, when they hear a yelp. They stand frozen, Anne holding her water bottle like a bat and Sasha flashing her phone light at the supposed intruder. They stand down when they notice it’s just Marcy.