Work Text:
Rain hit the windows of an old lecture hall. The students who had just been residing inside were now rushing out the doors, excitedly escaping to whatever it was the rest of their day had in store. The lecturer, an elderly isopod with a long scar going down his left cheek, was gathering up his things and was arranging to take his leave before he noticed the face of his favorite student; only she was lying down face first on the desk. He sighed, exhaustion, disappointment, and the slightest bit of anger all mixing into the motion of the isopod rubbing his temples. However, he did as he knew he had to and walked over to where the cephalopod rested.
“...My cod, Ayumi… Ayumi!” The isopod’s claw slammed down on the plastic desk the Inkling was lying on. Her head immediately shot up before she noticed she was still in the lecture hall on her university campus. She gulped nervously and turned her head upwards to see who had shouted at her.
“Oh! Uhhh… Mr. Woodlouse! I- uhhh. I was just-,” Ayumi looked around once more, noticing that all except her and her professor were left in the massive room. “Wha- What happened?”
“Miss Ayumi, please. You are not a child anymore. You can not be sleeping in my class and during my lectures.” The Isopod let out a quiet sigh, before turning and walking back towards his desk, “I know what happened with your parents was…. Listen. I would just like to remind you that you must pass this class if you want your diploma, so I suggest you listen and study thoroughly if you want to leave with at least a passing score.” The old crustacean crawled back to his desk and hooked his satchel with his claw before returning his gaze to the other creature. “Oh, and it’s almost six.”
“Wha- Oh shrimp! Right, thank you, professor.” The Inkling shot up and quickly shoved her belongings into her book bag before sprinting up the steps leading to the exit.
“Ayumi…” The Inkling turned quickly and looked down at the disappointed face of her professor, which only made her grimace in shame, but the isopod need not say anything for his message to get across. He began to make his way towards the other exit away from where all the other students departed, but stopped in his tracks when he heard the same tired voice say, “I won’t fail you, prof. I’ll do better, I promise.”
All he could do was nod and hope.
“Late again, Ayumi? Ya know I should really fire you at this point, but ya know I like ya too much fo’ that. At least for now.” A lanky garden eel looked down at an exhausted-looking Ayumi, who had somehow managed to arrive only fifteen minutes late despite the distance between her school and the grocery store.
“I’m sorry boss. I just… class was brutal and, writing my finals for the semester has just been rough, and oof-”
The eel shoved one of the boxes he was carrying into the arms of the cephalopod. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard all your excuses before. Go fill in the shelves n’ whatnot. Don’t fail.”
“Ye-Yes boss.” Ayumi didn’t dare argue with her higher-up and quickly got to work.
Despite her hatred of her monotonous job, the Inkling did the best she could. This was practically her only income, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to screw it up. Or at least she had hoped.
“Almost done… I’m almost done.” Ayumi stuffed the last of the canned goods onto the shelf she was working on. She picked up her empty box and made her way to the back of the department store. The former agent walked down one of the many isles of racks that contained the spare produce and began her next usual task of organizing the next day’s goods. Ayumi’s strength had not faltered even years after her retirement as an agent, and she carried each box of goods as though it were nothing. But her klutziness was also a poor attribute she had carried over.
“Oi’ watch it kid.” The slithery eel from before zoomed past the yellow inkling, who nearly toppled her over from the speed of his movements.
“S-Sorry,” Ayumi whispered in return. The Inkling just shook her head and continued with her organizing, trying her best to ignore the situation with her schoolwork. Leaving her head in the clouds, however, didn’t end well.
“Ayumi! Watch it.” The eel slid on through again while the girl was distracted and thwacked the rack that she had been organizing. Ayumi saw the entire thing about to fall but luckily was able to catch it before it did.
“Holy-” She held it steady, her entire body shaking in anxiety. “Thank cod. It didn’t fall-”
“Move it, kid!”
She didn’t even have time to react again before another thwack of the eel’s zooming tail finally knocked everything over, and all right onto Ayumi’s head. The Inkling whimpered as several cans fell on her head and around her, a few breaking open and leaking everywhere in the aisle. The yellow squid rubbed her head where the cans had hit her and was about to stand up before a scaly flipper tapped her shoulder.
“Ayumi…go home.”
“But boss I-” Ayumi quickly tried to stand up but ended up slipping on the liquid from the broken cans. She looked back up at her boss, and only saw the familiar face of disappointment.
“I really don’t want to hear it. Just get out.” Ayumi’s boss quickly slithered away but not before she heard him mutter under his breath, “stupid squid. Coddamn failure-”
The sound of a loud door slam radiated throughout the empty halls of what looked to be a small apartment. An Inkling with once-bright vibrant yellow, now dull, tentacles let out an exasperated sigh. She looked up at the plain white walls, exhaustion written on her face as she lumbered over to the small living room that acted as the main hub of the minuscule apartment. Ayumi slumped down on the old sofa she had had since she first moved out. It was as uncomfortable as she remembered, made even worse by the events that had just transpired. Ayumi stared down at the dirty floor of her apartment, and time seemingly passed without her noticing it, as the only things that raced through her mind were all of her failures. Every last mistake, down to their finest little detail and second repeated in her mind as if it was a recording playing on a never-ending loop. And every loop made her feel worse and worse, until, before she knew it the floor she had been staring at for who knows how long was littered with tears. She heard rustling, a door open, but it didn’t process in her mind that someone was there, another body in the room. That was until she spoke.
“Babe? Are you dead? Ayumi!” Ayumi jumped, startled at the intrusion but quickly recovered. She looked up and saw a short but slender Purple-inked Inkling looking down at her.
“Oh! Uh, Ame. You’re… home.” She quickly wiped away her tears and smiled at the other cephalopod. The other girl chuckled and simply sat down next to her partner, wrapping her arm around the once sobbing girl before bringing her in close to kiss her on the cheek. The Inkling twitched a bit but leaned in for the most part. She already knew what was coming next.
“What happened?” Ame stated softly, trying to comfort the other Inkling.
“What… do you mean ‘what happened’?” Ayumi felt a chill go down her spine and suddenly regretted not having shoved herself into her room.
“I mean why did I find my girlfriend crying? You don't do this, or at least not that often.” The girl’s purple tentacles flicked a bit in tandem with her upset notion. Ayumi tried to respond but the words she had in her mind couldn’t escape past her lips. “Hun?”
“I...” She tried to hold back her tears. “I-” Ayumi started crying, hard. “I-I-” What had once been a silent sob was now loud and emotional crying. “I did everything wrong! That's what! All I did today was fail and all I have been doing is failing.” She stood up now and began pacing around the room. Her arms were crossed around her abdomen with her nails digging into her elbows. “I’m nothing but a damn failure. All I can ever accomplish is messing up over and over and over again! I can’t do work right! I can’t do my assignments right! Sometimes I wonder why I try because it sure as shell ain’t working! I can’t ever do anything!” She crumpled to the ground, the wind having been knocked out of her from all the screaming, but the Inkling didn’t move from her new uncomfortable position on the floor. Instead, she just did what she had done before and returned to staring at the ground, tears flowing down her cheeks in dead silence. “Is this why my parents didn’t want me anymore?”
“Ayumi, n-no. That’s not it, no.” Ame stood up and quickly walked over to her partner so she could kneel down and bring her close to her. Ayumi didn’t have much strength to even move.
“I just. I don’t know what to do anymore.” The yellow inkling finally calmed down. She leaned closer to the other Inkling before feeling her stand up.
“Come on. We’re going on a walk. I have something to cheer you up.”
Both Inklings trudged along as the cold wind swept by and took a few fallen leaves. Snow was almost nonexistent as it was never cold enough to allow for it, making the slight chill seem more annoying than exciting. Even so, Ayumi had finally cooled down.
“So, now that you’re alright, this came for you from Inkopolis.” Ame handed her partner a bright red letter. Ayumi slowly grabbed it in her gloved hands and began to inspect it. She looked it over before finally finding its author and saw it was an all too familiar name. “I remember you talking about this Midori person forever ago, so I assume she’s pretty important.”
“Well uh, yeah, but it's been like four years since we last talked. So… why would she send this now?” Despite this, she was already moving to open the letter, and was hurriedly pulling out the paper, excitement already starting to show on her soft face.
“Dearest Ayumi: Hey, it’s been a while. I know I should have written sooner, University is hell and, well, I know high school wasn’t much nicer to you, so please excuse my tardiness with this one. Anyway, back to the reason I’m sending this and not just calling you. We’re having a Christmas party! Ayano really wants to have everyone back together just like old times. So, yeah. If you can come that’d be great! We’re all wishing you the best, and we can’t wait to see what you’ve been able to do for these four years you’ve been gone. PS. please call me to let me know if you can come. I only sent the letter because Ayano said it would be ‘more polite’.
Sending you lots of love,
Midori and Ayano
“I’m not going.”
“Great I’m so excit- Wait What?!?” Ame nearly tripped from the shock. “What do you mean you’re not going?”
“I mean, I’m not going. How am I supposed to face them when I’m like this.” Ayumi motioned to herself and started to put the letter back into its envelope before Ame quickly responded.
“What do you mean? You’re amazing, Ayumi! Come on, just because you messed up a little doesn’t mean-”
“A little? Do you think I mess up a little? You have got to be joking.”
Ame sighed, and grabbed the other girl’s hand, “Ayumi.” The purple Inkling once again brought her in close and gently pecked her on the former agent’s adorable button nose. “Listen. This is just a bump in the road, okay?”
Ayumi looked down at the other girl, a few tears beginning to fall again, “it never feels that way. I feel like I’m getting worse.”
“No, no that’s not true. Yeah, things have been rough as of late, but it's nothing you can’t overcome. And I bet Midori, whoever she is, would love to see how far you’ve come.”
Ayumi’s gaze turned up to Ame, her yellow eyes locking on to Ame’s purple pupils. The agent looked over the letter one last time and finally, after so long Ayumi smiled.
“Yeah, I’ll show them just how far I’ve come.”
The salty-sweet smell of the ocean, the crashing waves against the pier, and the soft descent of crystalline snowflakes marked what could only be described as a perfect winter day. The seagulls that would normally be flying about were instead hiding away from the cold wind, and yet a couple of cephalopods were waiting patiently in the blistering air.
“Do you know how much longer until she gets here? I’m just really worried. Do you think she’s okay? Should we be worried, hon?” A well-dressed and well-fed Octoling chirped up towards the towering figure next to her.
The figure turned to look at her partner, and a soft smile appeared on her face, “give it a bit, Ayano. Ferries aren’t exactly known for being punctual.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Midori, but… I’m just really worried. After everything that happened in the Academy. I just hope she’s doing better than back then…”
“Hey, come on, it’s Ayumi we’re talking about! She’s the strongest girl I know, and no way in hell she’d let Uni kick her ass.” Midori smiled softly and gently squeezed the Octoling’s clawed digits, with the younger girl returning the smile and nodding in agreement.
“Right! Of course. Our Ayumi is a strong one.” Ayano nodded in fervent agreement.
The two could only stay lovestruck for only a few moments longer before they heard a happy and familiar shout from the dock, “Midori! Ayano!”
The cephalopod couple quickly turned to the docks and saw a familiar face running towards them. Before either could react, however, their companion whom they had been waiting for almost four years was finally in their arms.
“Ayumi!” Both of the older agents quickly returned the hug that had nearly knocked them over, and happily brought the friend into the strongest, warmest embrace imaginable. The trio was finally united.
“Ayumi! You have to tell us what you’ve been up to! How is school? I hope things haven’t been too lonely.” Ayano was already bouncing with excitement, and despite Midori’s stern expression, the excitement on her face was hard to hide.
“Oh uh, actually, there is someone I wanted to introdu-”
“Sup.” Ame suddenly appeared behind Ayumi, before she quickly held out for a handshake, “A pleasure to meet you! I’m Ame, Ayumi’s partner in crime.”
The duo of agents were a bit taken aback, but both smiled and returned to their happy banter. “A pleasure to meet you! Well now that you’re both here, how about we get home? It’s really cold out here.”
“Yes, please! I swear I’m gonna turn into a squid pop at this rate.”
The trio, now a quartet, set off on their way back home. Ayumi began telling the other two about her own four years, the good, and the very bad. Midori simply chuckled and patted her younger friend’s head, a warm smile on her face.
“I’m glad you never let anything stop you. You’re the strongest girl I know, Ayumi. And we are so proud of how far you’ve come.”