Work Text:
Five People Who Love Marie (And One Who Might, Someday)
Craig's hands are full, so he knocks on the apartment door with his cane. Then again. On the third time, Marie opens it, a mask on, her tentacles down. “I don't wa—gramps?”
“Hey there, squiddo.” Craig shoulders his way in. She lets him, and closes the door behind him, and when he sets the pot down on the stove he hears her coughing behind him. He turns the heat on low and turns to his grandsquid. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shell, Gramps,” she croaks, and Craig frowns. Her voice does not sound good. “You shouldn't be here. Callie is already staying with—” she stops, coughing again.
Without hesitation, Craig crosses the room and wraps his arms around her. He can't hold her up, not when he needs his boozler to stand, but she leans against him and that's enough. “I'm here, squiddo. I'm here and I'm gonna take care of you.”
Callie eases the door to Marie's recording studio open a crack, listening. The second Marie ends her segment, before the recording's even stopped, Callie slams the door open. Marie jumps a foot, turning and reaching for a charger that isn't there before realizing it's just her. “Cod, Callie, you—”
“No time for that!” Callie shoves past Marie to stop the recording herself, then grabs Marie's hand and pulls, tugging Marie out of the room. “Come on, come on, hurry!”
“Callie what—it's 1 AM!” she cries, even as Callie pulls her along and shoves her shoes and coat at her. “What in the world are we—”
“We're gonna miss it, just come on, hurry!” Callie bounces in place as she waits, actually getting down to tie Marie's shoes for her because she's taking too long. “Soon as we're in range you need to superjump with me to the square, so we can get to the canyon!”
“I need to what—”
“Just come on!” Callie yanks Marie to her feet and out of the apartment despite her protests. The door locks behind them, and Callie has her keys, and she runs too fast through Inkopolis for Marie to have questions.
Only when they've both gotten to the drain does Marie actually manage to stop. “Callie, I don't know what you're doing, but—”
“It's a surprise,” Callie says, and when Marie crosses her arms, Callie sighs. “Marie, just trust me? This is gonna be good.”
Marie rolls her eyes, but she squids first, through and into the canyon. Callie follows.
When she emerges, she finds Marie stopped in her tracks, staring at the sky. This far from Inkopolis the stars can be seen clearly. The stars, and the meteor shower predicted for the night, another streaking across the sky every few seconds like slow rain, the meteor shower Marie had been talking about for weeks before getting so caught up in work that she clearly forgot about it.
Callie leaves her there and goes into the cabin. She emerges with a groundmat to roll out, big enough for both their sleeping bags, the extra pillows, the bags of snacks and sodas. “Come on,” Callie says, once it's all set up, and Marie tears her eyes away. “You won't hurt your neck lying down.”
Marlin pounds on the door. When Marie opens it at last, Marlin scowls at her and shoves a package in their arms, then turns around.
“Wait!” Marie calls, but Marlin doesn't stop. It's only when Marie darts after them and grabs their arm that Marlin glances at her. “I didn't expect you here today,” she says. “And I didn't order anything from Annie.”
Marlin snorts. “Did you seriously think I wasn't gonna get it for you? Annie had a skull bandana with respawn punisher for sale this week. Just the squit you need for your splatoween costume. I know you've been—”
“Wait, you got that?” Marie drops their arm. “I just—I couldn't justify spending that much on a splatoween costume when I could just have the regular—”
“Yeah, well, I'm your captain now,” Marlin says, scowling, “so get justified, agent!” They throw up their hands and stalk away.
They don't turn around until they get in the elevator. Marie's just standing there, beaming at them. It's not something they get to see often.
The elevator doors close, and Marlin lets themself have a solo squid-party. Worth it. COMPLETELY worth it. She never saw that coming! Absolutely worth eating ramen for a week.
...maybe they'll let Lucky get the bill at their next supper together. Maybe.
“I don't know if this is a great idea,” Marie murmurs as she tugs on her mask.
“Oh come on, Hotaru!” Lucky emerges from her changing room in her ranker clothes and darts across the room, then stops. She frowns and bends to adjust the fit of her shoes. “You told me you loved playing ranked.”
“Yeah...” she murmurs. “but that was before I got famous. Everyone just cares about who I am, and nothing goes right.”
“Well,” Lucky says, “they won't care today.”
Marie raises an eyebrow at her. “Cocky, are we?”
“Oh, shell no,” Lucky says, sitting on the floor and spreading her legs. She leans forward, trying to lie on the floor, and Marie can feel her stretching from here. “Trainee Olympiscian Lucky Sepia-Todarodes doing Partners League with some unknown friend of hers? It's not gonna be you they're watching, you're B-rank.”
Marie snorts. “I was S rank, it's just been so long it got lowered.”
“And you probably deserve an X more than I do, your charger is that good,” Lucky says, and Marie snorts. “But come on, let's just have fun. It's Tower Control! I practice my worst mode, you work off some steam from that talk show you've been grumbling about for two weeks, and then I buy us both Seanwiches.”
Marie smiles. After a moment, she opens her locker and puts her charger away.
“You okay?” Lucky asks.
“Yeah.” Marie pulls out a blaster. “Like you said: it's time to work out some frustration.”
Lucky's laugh makes Marie laugh, too, then she grabs the blaster from Marie. “If you really wanna beat some squids up,” she says, “get a brush. Get up close and murderous.”
Marie laughs and pulls out her old inkbrush. “I don't know if this is still turf-legal,” she mutters, eying the number of dents in the handle, the sheer amount of bristles missing. “I may have to get it re-certified.”
“You can borrow mine,” Lucky says, digging into her locker again.
“Since when do you have more than one weapon?”
Lucky laughs, just a light dance up and down. “I have money now! Come on, lemme treat you.”
“When you're ready,” Ashti says.
Marie adjusts her grip on the charger, makes sure she stands solidly in the inked circle, and nods. “Ready.”
Eight ducks behind the controls, and Marie waits.
A balloon drifts up. Marie takes it out. Another. A third. Two at once. Three. They come in patterns, one after the other, or with small gaps, and slowly, they're releasing in larger groups, with less time between the groups, and refilling her ink is
Marie misses.
She growls a curse, but Ashti pops up all smiles. “That was a streak of a hundred eleven!”
“Not my best.”
“No, but in your top ten,” she says.
Marie shakes her head. “Gimme a minute, then we'll do this again.” She spreads her legs to brace herself. She can do this.
But Ashti doesn't duck down to prepare the balloon releaser. “We've been doing this for hours.”
“You said you had the afternoon free for training,” Marie reminds her.
“We've been doing this for hours,” Ashti says, “and your hands are shaking, and you skipped lunch.”
Marie growls. “I'm ready, Agent Eight,” Marie snaps. “Start the course.”
“No.”
Marie throws down her charger and stomps over to set it up herself, but Ashti stands in the doorway, and as soon as Marie's in range, Ashti pulls her into a hug. Marie pulls against it, but Ashti just tightens her grip, holding Marie in her arms while her tentacles rub Marie's back, massage her shoulders, and after a few seconds Marie sags into it. Tears sting her eyes, and she screws them shut.
“We're done, Agent Two,” Ashti says. “We're going inside, and I'll make us both tea and grilled cheese sandwiches, and we'll sit and talk.”
“Yeah,” Marie chokes out. “Yeah, that sounds... that sounds good.”
“You're having problems holding the charge.”
Terry scowls at her. “I am not!”
“Your hands shake when you're at full charge for more than a second,” Marie says. “I get it; it's a strain. I had to practice holding it.”
Terry glares at her. “Charger's stupid anyway,” he says. “I just have Tribble and my hero shot, that's all I need.”
Marie does not roll her eyes. “Except some kettles won't let you take Tribble with you, or the hero shot,” she reminds him. He's been trying to avoid those, but he's being really obvious about it.
He snorts and draws up another shot. His arms shake with the effort as he aims, and the shakiness makes him miss. He swears under his breath in Octarian, and Marie frowns.
This time, when he pulls up a shot, Marie steps close. He flinches, but she puts her hands over his. “Relax,” she says, holding it with him. “Hold it right here. You feel that?”
After a moment, he nods, looking up into her eyes then away.
“Okay,” she says. “Do you feel how steady your hands are now, with me holding onto them?”
He nods again, and when she takes them away, the shakes start again.
“We need to work on this,” she says. “I want you to just hold the charge, and aim at the dummy, and relax. Your aim's gonna get worse for a bit, as your muscles learn to handle the strain, but in a week or two you'll be able to handle it.”
“I can handle it now!”
“New Three,” she says. “This is an order.”
He sighs, but brings up the charger and aims. And holds.
He'll listen. He'll be bored, she should bring over a TV or send Callie over to talk, since she finds it a lot easier than her, so she turns away.
But she's only a few steps away when he mumbles, “Thanks.”
She pauses. But when he doesn't say anything else, she keeps going.
Marlin was just this stubborn when they got recruited as Three, and Lucky was even worse about good charger habits. She'll get through to the new recruit yet.