Work Text:
3rd POV
Having work in the morning meant going to sleep earlier than Anne would like. While the aquarium didn't open until a little before noon, Anne had to wake up at the crack of dawn, slowly get out of bed and ready, then be at work a few hours before they opened to get things set up and ready.
Marcy, however, didn't always allow this.
Not through any purposeful or conscious decision, just simply because they enjoyed playing video games! And was that truly a crime?
Squishing a pillow against her head, Anne attempted to muffle out the sounds of shouting and guns firing, she decided that Yes , yes it was a crime.
Now Marcy could be... Excitable, sure. They fell into new hobbies like clockwork, spiraling into new fascinations all the time and losing themselves to their fixations. They also Loved to tell Anne about something they enjoyed, a new drawing they had made, or even just to show her something they were REALLY into. Like when they started a leaf collection to document the life cycle of the trees around their city!
Video games, however, were something that had stuck around for a long time. It started out simple enough, Marcy enjoyed playing on their Switch back in middle school, to the point that they would actively run into, or trip over, basically everything. With the incident, the Calamity Box, Anne figured they'd be more down to earth, less into trying to escape reality.
She was wrong.
Marcy still blamed themselves for everything which, while Anne and Sasha have told them multiple times that they were forgiven, they never truly forgave themselves. The worst thing that could've happened was being forced to move away, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. While they tried to continue communication, Marcy kind of... shut themselves off. Not just from old friends, but from everyone. Still doing amazing in school, (This is Marcy we're talking about), they would just go to their room and shut themselves away. Playing video games, watching new anime, drawing Fanart, anything that could be done alone, they did.
But Anne never gave up on re-connecting.
It took a long time- TEN YEARS! - but Anne was eventually reunited with her friends, Sasha helping drive Marcy over to her job for a surprise visit. While a little awkward at first, they eventually relaxed, simply talking about their lives up to this point. What was really shocking was Marcy saying they planned to move back! Despite feeling guilty and barricading themselves away, they couldn't help but miss the two childhood friends they had made so long ago.
The problem was, Marcy was planning on living in some random apartment!
Yeah, not happening on Anne's watch.
Marcy tried to argue about 'Not wanting to burden you' and 'How can you trust me after-', but that was quickly shut down, Anne refusing to take no as an answer. Eventually, Marcy relented, moving into Anne's place within the day. Of course, they lived far away before, so it would take a while for all their stuff to make it, but they brought a handheld Switch to keep them company in the meantime.
And things were nice. For a while, at least.
Marcy was a great roommate, cleaning up after themselves, willing to respect privacy for privacy in return, and they never had arguments! Of course, not because there weren't issues, but being lifelong friends, (with only a small ten year gap, nothing to worry about...), they were able to get through most problems.
Leading us to the current situation.
Marcy was nice, excitable, and always learning something new. They didn't have a problem with anyone, are getting better at learning what is and isn't appropriate to say in a conversation, (No Marcy, info-dumping about Monster Slayer Academia to a random guy on the street is NOT BECOMING FRIENDS!), and is overall the sweetest person alive! At least, in Anne's humble opinion.
But they became a completely different person when playing video games.
Single player wasn't an issue. They would grumble about dying, pull out paper to write down passwords or solve a puzzle, and mumble under their breath about how easy a specific task was, or if a quest didn't make sense.
Multi player was where the problem lies. Whatever it was about it, brought out Marcy's inner demon. Grinning sadistically as they mowed down enemies that would be yelling insults in their ear as they died, shouted whenever they were being 'spawn killed', and yelling insults back at people as if it was nothing!
Now, the content of the speech wasn't a problem. Anne understood it was a game, and not to take anything Marcy was saying as serious. The VOLUME, however, was the problem. Sure, she had talked with Marcy about keeping it down, not yelling as loudly, or to please turn the volume down lower, but it never seemed to stick.
As Marcy shouted at someone about how they were a 'CAMPING CHEATER!', Anne sat straight up from bed, hair mangled as the pillow fell from her face.
She was DONE with this!
Getting out of bed, she grumbled to herself as she slammed her door open, the sound being drowned out by Marcy's gaming. Stalking down the hallway that was their house, (just because it was technically Anne's, doesn't mean she doesn't consider it Marcy's as well), Anne took a deep breath outside Marcy's room, wincing as she heard them shout incoherently.
Slowly opening the door, she watched Marcy playing the new Modern Warfare, grin plastered across their face as they leaned closer to the screen, hands flying across the controller as they expertly jumped around a corner, demolishing the poor fool hiding behind it.
"TAKE THAT YOU CAMPING MOTHER FU-"
"MARCY!"
Confused for a second, Marcy slightly turned their head, keeping the screen in view as they noticed Anne sternly looking at them.
Clicking a button on their headset to mute, they focus back on the game. "Oh, hey Anne. What's up?" They ask, half paying attention.
"Turn it off." Anne demanded. She didn't mean to sound so rude; but she was just... tired . "Sorry, only half-awake right now." Anne quickly apologizes, but not stepping down. "But could you please turn it off?"
Marcy was still focused, and barely took a second to respond. "Sorry Anne, can't. Got a streak going right now, can't drop it and make these bastards on the other team think they can actually WIN!"
For most normal people, staying up at, Anne glances at the alarm next to Marcy's bed, 11:30 PM? How long has Anne been just laying there, trying to sleep?
She was gonna be so tired tomorrow...
But Marcy was a digital artist, already having a book published and working on a new one as well. They could make their own schedule, which was really inconvenient, when they considered staying up for two or three days in a row no problem.
"Marcy, please. I NEED to sleep, and I can't with you playing so loudly!" Anne complained, annoyed and wanting to go back to bed already.
"Give me a minute, gotta finish this!" They replied, narrowing their eyes as they picked up a sniper, aiming across the map to headshot some poor fool.
Yeah, Anne has heard that before. Marcy would be going for another hour at least .
Time to pull out the big guns.
Sneaking back out of Marcy's room, Anne quickly made her way back to her own. Not that she needed to be stealthy, Marcy was only half paying attention anyway. Grabbing her blanket, she stepped back into Marcy's room. Standing behind them, blanket in hand and a subtle blue glint to her eye, she scooped Marcy up into it and out of their chair, trapping her as she carried them bridal style.
Not really understanding what was happening, Marcy was just blankly staring into space, trying to piece together what was occurring. Anne, with a victorious grin across her face, started the journey back to her room, Marcy in tow. Finally realizing what was happening, Marcy spoke up in protest.
"Hey! My game-"
"Can wait." Anne cut them off sternly. "The game will turn off automatically. I know you won't go to bed if I tell you to, so we're going to sleep. Now." She said with a firm tone.
Realizing that she was actively being carried by Anne, Marcy felt their face heat up, looking away from Anne in embarrassment. After a couple more steps, they gathered their courage, facing Anne once again.
"But that's not good for the system! And I absolutely could go to bed!" Marcy protested. At Anne's stern stare, they relented. "I-I mean... I can..."
Making her way through the hallway, Marcy in hand, Anne opened the door to her bedroom, stepping closer to the bed carefully. Laying Marcy softly onto the bed, Anne crawled over them, preventing them from immediately leaving and going back to there game. Flopping onto her pillow, Anne let out a sigh of relief. "Goodnight."
Staying quiet, Marcy waited for a few minutes, wanting to make sure Anne was sleeping and not alert. Carefully, as to not wake her up, Marcy slid slowly to the side of the bed.
Unfortunately for her, Anne was expecting something like this. Hands quickly grabbing Marcy's waist, they were pulled towards Anne in a swift motion, arms coming around to capture her. "Nope. Go to sleep."
Face on fire as Anne pulled them closer, Marcy tried to protest. "But-"
"Nope. Sleep."
"We're-"
"Not hearing it! Now go to sleep." Anne finalized, not relenting in the death grip she had on them. Thankfully for Anne, she was asleep in no time.
Unfortunately for Marcy, it wasn't nearly as easy.
With Anne's arms wrapped around them, their face was probably close to a fireplace by this point with how hot it had gotten in here. Mind racing as she stared at the wall, she could only focus on how Anne was essentially cuddling them! ANNE. WAS. CUDDLING. THEM! Feeling her warm arms wrapped around them, they felt safe, Anne had always been there for them! Even after...
Marcy was an overthinker, they knew that. It simply wasn't possible for them to just shut off their brain, their thoughts. So, when they started thinking about the events in Amphibia, their good mood evaporated. Anne deserved more than some 'friend' who betrayed them. Marcy didn't deserve comfort! They didn't deserve Anne! They didn't deserve to sleep-!
As if sensing Marcy's downward spiral, Anne's grip somehow got even tighter! Pulling Marcy even closer, stopping both Marcy's spiral, and their heart. Face resembling the sun, Marcy lay frozen, enjoying the moment for what it was. Feeling Anne's warmth, arms wrapped around her and chest beating on her back, it was...
Relaxing.
Marcy didn't have time to fully appreciate the moment, as Anne decided to shift in her sleep, getting a tighter hold on Marcy, and burying her face in their neck. Frozen once again, Marcy stared blankly at the wall, waiting for the moment that she died, because it had to happen soon, right? All of her Good Karma has to have been used for this one moment. After a minute, they decided that before things get any worse, (better a small part whispered), they should try to go to bed.
Thankfully for Marcy's sanity, staying up for two days in a row meant she was extremely tired, and passed out almost immediately.
Unfortunately for both parties involved, morning came all to quick.
Morning - Dawn
Anne hasn't had a good night's rest in a long time.
Working full time at the aquarium, where they had to be up WAY too early, along with trying to fit in time to hang out with her friends and family, trying to find free time to relax-
Safe to say, she doesn't typically feel great in the morning.
Which made it all the weirder that she felt refreshed! It was easily the best night's sleep she's gotten, even after going to bed late! As the alarm went off, Anne slowly opened her eyes, not wanting the feeling to end.
She wasn't expecting to see MARCY IN HER BED!
Stifling a noise of confusion, last night finally decided to come back to her, including how she CUDDLED UP TO MARCY!
To say her face was on FIRE right now would be an understatement!
Quickly turning off the alarm, (Which she had to reach OVER MARCY TO DO! ), Anne proceeded to get ready for the day as silently as possible. Any movement would go unnoticed by Mar-Mar, but sound was a different issue. Anne never really understood why they didn't wake up from any amount of movement, the sheer time wasted TRYING was ridiculous to even think about, but any sound over a certain volume usually woke them up fast.
Anne thanked the Guardian that their Alarm wasn't too loud, not needing much noise to wake up themselves.
Quickly leaving the room, deciding to deal with this situation later , she made her way to the kitchen, resolving to have some cereal and get a good start to her day. As she entered the kitchen however, a feeling of guilt overcame her. She... did kinda force Mar-Mar to sleep next to her, so she should make something to apologize, right?
Yeah, that's a great idea!
Brightening up at the thought of fixing what she did, Anne rushed over to the fridge, opening up to see what she had to use!
...
There wasn't anything good .
Don't get her wrong, there was FOOD there, and drinks and stuff. But nothing that really screamed 'I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me!'. Checking the time, Anne winced as she figured she wouldn't be able to make Marcy's favorite dessert, cupcakes with Ube frosting. Sighing as she closed the fridge, she opened up the freezer, hoping there would be something to help her out.
Nothing.
Blankly staring into the freezer, Anne felt the world crawling to a halt, life crumbling as she saw Marcy yelling at her, calling her the worst person ever, packing up her stuff and leaving, finding a better place to stay as Anne withered away into dust, never to see them again-
As Anne plummeted into a downwards spiral of self-loathing and worthlessness, her eyes wandered over an innocent tub of Vanilla Bean ice cream.
And dots started connecting in Anne's mind.
Smile quickly returning, Anne did a little fist pump as she found the perfect thing to get!
Mint Ice Cream!
It was obvious! Sure, while not Marcy's favorite dessert, it was still their favorite ice cream! Something they got on special occasions! The only reason they didn't get it more often was because of some slight money issues, but they loved it nonetheless!
Determinedly marching over to the front door to get her shoes, face shining with a confident grin, Anne was ready to conquer the world!
This was the Best idea ever!
An Hour and a Half Later
This was the Worst idea ever!
Groaning as they entered back into their home, Anne glared at the innocent looking tub of Mint ice cream in their hands. They went to 5 DIFFERENT STORES! How did THAT many stores run out of MINT ICE CREAM? IT WASN'T EVEN THAT GOOD!
Grumbling to herself, she took a breath, trying to relax. "Don't take it out on the ice cream." Anne whispered to herself, trying to calm down. "It didn't do anything wrong." Anne actually did like Mint ice cream; she knew she was just highly annoyed right now. Glaring at the time on her oven, she heaved a resigned sigh. There wouldn't be enough time for her to actually sit down and relax before work now...
A small, sincere smile rose onto Anne's face. At least Mar-Mar will be happy!
Grabbing Marcy's favorite spoon from the drawer, Anne carried the tub over her bedroom, cracking the door open to see Marcy still soundly asleep. Lightly stepping over, she carefully placed the ice cream tub on the desk with the alarm, putting the spoon on top of the lid.
"Marcy?" Anne whispered out, shaking them slightly, before remembering that that won't work Anne you idiot!
Sighing at herself, she continued nonetheless. "Come on Marcy, it's time to wake up." She spoke a little louder, causing Marcy to shift in their sleep.
"Mmmm... don' wanna..." They mumbled out, burying themselves further into Anne's blanket. A gentle sigh left her, endearment in her heart.
"Come on Mar-Mar." Anne got slightly closer. "I got some Ice Cream for you!" She enticed, trying to get Marcy back to the land of the awake.
"...Ice crem?" Marcy spoke a little clearer, still not fully awake as their mind tried to come back.
"It's Mint flavor-"
"MINT!" Marcy bolted straight up, almost running into Anne as she lurched back, barely avoiding collision. Marcy immediately regretted this decision, as her eyes went fuzzy from sitting up too fast, letting out a groan as she dropped her head into her hands.
Patting her back softly, Anne reassured her. "Don't worry. You can stay in bed and eat if you want." A guilty expression crossed Anne's face as she glanced at the time, realizing she would have to speed things up a bit. "We can talk later, but I'm sorry about last night." She quickly got out, confusing the half-awake Marcy. "Gotta go to work, see ya later! Have a good one!" Anne sped out the door, leaving a delirious Marcy behind.
Absently gathering their bearings, Marcy's mind slowly came back as she looked around the room. Which was NOT their room. This was Anne's room.
And last night highlighted back into their brain.
Face heating up just thinking about it, they turned to the ice cream, sitting dangerously close to a hungry Marcy. Putting the tub into their lap, a soft smile appeared as they picked up their favorite spoon. Anne really knew how to start a morning!
As they absently ate, the flavor making them hum in delight, they started on deciphering what Anne was talking about before she left. Just waking up meant they mainly heard gibberish, but Anne was definitely sorry about something.
But what?
Their mind raced, trying to figure it out. Was it about the game? Doubtful, since Marcy was keeping them up in the first place, no reason to be sorry about that. Was it the cuddling? Shaking their head, banishing the memory to the back of their mind as their blush returns, they decide no, Anne likely doesn't even remember that.
Maybe... Making her sleep?
Possible, but also not too likely. Marcy knows they don't have the best schedule, their job allowing them to work whenever they want, but having Anne tell them they HAVE to sleep isn't anything new! Admittedly, being forcibly taken from their room and trapped on their Best Friend's bed was a new development, but it wasn't like anything happened!
They just slept, no problems anywhere!
As their spoon thunked against the bottom of the tub, they glanced down, sighing in disappointment as they realized they were almost out, just a little ice cream clinging to the sides of the container. Grumbling as they got up, stretching their body a bit to get the stiffness out, they made their way to the kitchen.
Time to start the day and ignore the situation at hand.
Marcy was great at that!
A Few Days Later
They never actually talked about anything.
Anytime they were in the same room, whether in the kitchen, passing through the hallway, or near each other's rooms; Anne stayed silent, seemingly feeling guilty about something, while Marcy was more uncomfortable, not really used to Anne NOT talking to them daily.
But that could potentially be dealt with, they would eventually crack and have a heart to heart. THAT wasn't the problem.
The problem was, they couldn't sleep anymore!
Whatever happened that night changed them more than they thought. Waking up the morning after had them both feeling the best they had since the sleepovers as kids! Suddenly going back to their normal schedule, sleeping alone?
It was torture.
But Marcy was DONE with it.
Despite not having talked for a WHILE now, (Not as long as Amphibia or when they moved away, but those were special circumstances!) Marcy found themselves standing outside Anne's room, an hour or so after she should've laid down. Shifting uncomfortably where they stood, the considered going back to their room, having another restless night without the sheer warmth that Anne could provide, having to settle with an unsatisfactory blanket in her place-
No, Marcy steeled themselves. They were going to finally face one of their problems head on. No more running, no more hiding!
With only a slightly hesitant hand, ( They're getting better at this! ), Marcy knocked lightly, hoping Anne was still awake to let them in.
Luckily for them, she was.
With muffled movement, Marcy heard Anne cross the room, opening the door to a, frankly disturbing sight.
Anne stood there, bags under her eyes, clearly barely awake as her room had stuff everywhere! Clothes strewn about, pills on her dresser, ( Since when does she take those? ), and a slight sway to her movement.
Clearly, she wasn't used to being awake as long as Marcy was used to it.
"Marbles?" Anne mumbled out, squinting her eyes at them, like they weren't the only other person in the house! "What are you doin' here?" She asked, clearly out of it.
"Are you alright?" Marcy asked, putting their request to the side for now as they focused on their friend. "You look..."
"Like what?" Anne narrowed her eyes challengingly, not as intimidating as she wanted to appear.
"A mess." Marcy finished, grabbing Anne by her arm and leading her to the bed. Sitting her down, refusing to remove their hand from her arm, they gently sat next to her. "Anne." They softly said. "What's going on?"
Anne lasted a total of five seconds of not backing down, before she crumbled. Tension falling from her shoulders, eyes drooping, she fell into Marcy. "I can't sleep." She bluntly stated, before sighing and correcting herself. "Not that I can't fall asleep, it just doesn't... happen as easily anymore. And with my schedule, I can't afford to stay up extremely late every night, and I want to have some free time in the evening after work, but there isn't enough TIME! And day after day of less and less sleep just-"
As Anne rambled all of her worries out, explaining her current situation in-between correcting previous statements and expanding on others, Marcy felt their worry skyrocket. Had Anne been taking pills to sleep? Glancing at one of the bottles next to her alarm confirmed their suspicions, a generic bottle of sleeping pills laying on its side, empty next to a full bottle. How many has she been taking?
"Anne." Marcy interrupted her speech, bringing her attention back to them. "You need to stop taking pills." They firmly declared, holding Anne in a side hug by this point. "It's unhealthy, and not going to be a long term solution!" They continued, softening their voice as they went.
"But I can't sleep! " Anne argued, frustration clear in her voice. "No matter what I try, it takes too long! At least with the pills I can typically go to sleep somewhat on time, but even they're starting to lose their effect!" Turning her head to face Marcy, they are shocked when they see the tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know what to do? "
Pulling her into a hug, Marcy had a death grip on Anne. "Talk to me!" They desperately stated. "I can't help if you don't tell me!" Pulling back a little, they put a smile on their face, trying to comfort Anne with it. "We can get through this together, ok?"
"... But-"
"Nope!" Marcy shut down. "Together, ok?"
"... Ok." Ane relented, a small sincere smile rising up on her face. "Together."
With the immediate situation talked about, Anne's face scrunched up slightly in confusion, questioning tone to her voice. "Wait, why were you at my door anyway?"
Welp, there it was. The consequences to Marcy's bravery and actions.
Face heating up, thankfully slightly harder to see due the darkness of the room, Marcy tried to deflect. "Ah, I- I mean- it doesn't matter now. It's, uh- not too important anyway, so-"
Eyes narrowing, Anne grabbed Marcy's shoulder's, making them face them. "Marcy." She sternly started. "What. Were. You. Doing." She demanded.
Silence for a minute as Marcy squirmed, clearly not wanting to answer. But with Anne's stare, how could they last?
"... wan... sle... you." Marcy murmured, barely audible to Anne's exhausted self.
"What was that?" Anne asked, not quite catching it.
"I ... wit... you."
" Marcy- "
"I WANTED TO SLEEP WITH YOU!" They blurted out, face turning bright red as they realized how that sounded. "NOT LIKE THAT! Just... together... like last time."
Admittedly, it took Anne a few moments to catch up to what was said, but once it registered, Anne's face was the same as Marcy's. Full blown tomato mode.
"But- Ah-" Anne tried to say something, anything at this point, before finding the problem. "What about last time though? I thought you were still mad at me about that?" Anne asked, confused.
Marcy felt the same, looking at Anne with confusion in their eyes. "Mad? I mean, I was a little embarrassed that night, and wasn't really expecting the cuddles..." They trailed off for a second, before shaking their head, refocusing on Anne. "But I wasn't Mad about anything."
"But I forced you to sleep! Completely against your will!" Anne accused, desperate for something to grasp onto. "I wasn't sure if you accepted my apology gift the next day, but we haven't talked for days now, so-"
"THAT'S what the ice cream was for!" Marcy sounded relieved, flopping backwards onto Anne's bed, accidently dragging her with them. "My mind was racing trying to figure it out! I thought I was going crazy!" Marcy waved her hands in the air, hands making gestures to things Anne could only imagine. Settling back down, Marcy spoke back up, relief and caution in their voice. "I wasn't sure why we hadn't talked for a while now, but I figured we'd get through it." Shifting a little, Anne glanced at Marcy's embarrassed face. "I was uh... actually done waiting. That's kinda why I came here." They admitted, catching Anne off guard.
"So..." Anne started. "We could've been talking this entire time?" She asked, an undertone of something that made it clear she didn't want the past couple of days to have been wasted from avoiding Marcy.
Her hopes were crushed however, by Marcy's casual shrug. "Yeah, likely cuddling too." They absently stated, before their eyes widened in panic, snapping over to Anne. "I- I mean, if you want to of course! I wouldn't assume that you'd want to do the same, and I can absolutely go back to my room, we can pretend this didn't happen, I'll stay away and there won't be any more problems, and-"
Cutting her off with a smirk and a tug towards her, Anne calmly refuted them. "Nah, you're stuck with me now." Shifting into the same position as last time, Anne sat their head on Marcy's back, cuddling into them. "This is fine, right?" They weakly asked, hoping it was.
"Of course..." Marcy drowsily whispered back, the past few days of being awake hitting them now that they were comfortable. "Good night." They yawned, relaxing into Anne's warming arms.
"Good night." She whispered back.
Waking up the next day, they were both refreshed. It took a little bit to get into a comfortable routine, since Marcy has a different schedule than Anne, but they never slept in separate beds anymore, deciding to share Anne's, eventually selling Marcy's for some money.
It wasn't being used anyway.