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"Are we almost done?" Patty groans from her spot on the bed.
Marcie pokes her head up from a textbook and adjusts her glasses. "Sir, we just started fifteen minutes ago."
Patty runs her hands down her face and groans in response before flopping back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.
A history test was coming up next week, meaning that they had to study over the weekend. Which, she adds, is absolutely ridiculous. Like, what kind of person has people study over the weekend of all times?? Why not something reasonable? Like never.
She should be outside throwing balls around or something! Not be kept as a prisoner within her own home!
"This is stupid. This is like prison. I'm in a prison." Patty says matter-of-factly. Because it is a fact.
"Have you ever been in a prison, sir?"
She looks over at Marcie, confused. "Well, no. But—"
"Then you wouldn't know what being in a prison would be like, now would you?" Came her reply, and Patty swears that she's smirking.
The jock instantly sits up and stares at her girlfriend in complete shock. As time passed, Marcie has started to become more and more comfortable being a little shit apparently, most specifically towards Patty, not that she minds. She's actually very proud of how far Marcie has come when it comes to being a normal kid.
But that doesn't mean she's gotten used to it just yet.
"You little smartass!" Patty exclaims, she basically leaps towards Marcie, causing her to squeal in surprise.
After little struggle, Patty successfully pins her to the bed. She grins victoriously.
Marcie stares up at Patty with a wobbly smile, obviously trying hold back giggles.
But before Patty can enact one of her famous tickle attacks that she reserves only for her girlfriend, a familiar sounding rumble cuts through her train of thought. She gets off of Marcie and looks through the window, only to see gray clouds and a slight drizzle.
"Rain?" Patty asks to no one in particular. "Are you serious? Now?" She sits back down on the bed next to Marcie and crosses her arms. "I swear, the world is against me today, Marcie."
Instead of a short reply like she was expecting, she was met with utter silence, but she brushes it off when she sees that Marcie is nose deep in the textbook again. Usually she gets so engrossed in those things that she stops listening or forgets to respond.
So Patty tries again.
"Marcie?"
Still no response.
Now thouroughly confused, and slightly concerned, Patty spares Marcie a longer glance. Now, if there was one thing you need to know about Peppermint Patty, is that she is not book smart, or even that street smart for that matter. But she is smart in a couple if other things such as sports and, more importantly, Marcie. So she knows if something bothering her.
Marcie might pretend to be focused on the book she's reading, but after getting a closer look, Patty sees that her eyes are unfocused. And she is also gripping the book so hard that her knuckles are turning white, and then she notices that her hands are shaking.
On top of that, she is also rocking back and forth, which she immediately recognizes as a self-soothing gesture. Which signals to Patty that something is very wrong, because usually when stressed or scared Marcie is very careful not to do anything like that, especially in front of others. She has been trying to unlearn the shame though and has been unmasking around people that she trusts more. But still, it has been a slow process and the fact that she's stimming without a second thought is concerning all on its own.
"Marcie?" She tries again, but much gentler. She reaches out as if she was approaching a spooked animal. The moment she places her hand on Marcie's shoulder, she notices that she is unbelievably tense.
Her girlfriend jolts and turns her head towards Patty, her eyes wide with downright terror.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Patty asks, giving her shoulder a squeeze. The bespeckled teen opens her mouth to form a reply, but gets cut off by the sudden crash of thunder.
She lets out a yelp, flinches, and swiftly covers her ears, but Patty doesn't retract her hand. She puts the pieces together quite easily after that.
"Oh." Is all she can say at the moment.
Ever since they were kids, Marcie had been terrified of storms. She said that they were loud and unpredictable, but that was seven years ago. Patty can't remember a time after that where she was shaking like a leaf during a storm, but that's probably because she hasn't been around Marcie when another thunderstorm took place after that.
That's when it hits her, all those times when it was raining out, Patty had sulked in her bedroom and complained the whole time about being stuck in one place, while Marcie was sitting in her own house, petrified.
Another crash of thunder interrupts her thoughts. Marcie lets out a half-shriek half-yelp, but made no effort to move, she remained stuck in once spot. Instead, she clasps her hands over her ears harder and brought her knees up to her chest.
Upon seeing the state of her girlfriend, Patty wraps an arm around her and practically pulls her into her lap. Marcie doesn't say anything and allows Patty to hug her.
Patty is about to whisper some reassurances to her before pausing. Usually that only really works regarding her parents or personal insecurities, but this is a different case. The thing Marcie is currently worried about is the noise. So what would probably work best is a distraction.
"Hey. Marce." Patty practically whispers in order to not frighten the black-haired girl anymore than she already is. Marcie doesn't look at her, not that Patty expects her to, but does make a noise of acknowledgment to let her know she's listening. "Wanna watch a movie in the living room? It'll muffle the noise a little bit."
She patiently waits for a response from the girl in her lap. Marcie's mouth parts open slightly, probably going to say that they should keep studying and to forget about this whole thing, but then a loud BOOM sounded, resulting in her frantically nodding her head.
Now with a new task in mind, Patty gets off of the bed and picks Marcie up bridal style, resulting her to bury her head into her neck when another boom sounded.
After putting her down on the couch, Patty decides to put on one of those cheesy romcoms that her dad likes, but she knows Marcie also enjoys a romance movie every once in awhile. Patty might not be a fan of those movies, but if she has to suffer through one in order to make her girlfriend feel better, than so be it.
So, Patty cuddles up to Marcie on the couch and prepares to sit through almost two hours of the worst genre to ever exist. The hours go by painfully slow, but every time Marcie flinches and whimpers due to the thunder, Patty starts stroking her hair and tells her it's going to be okay and that the storm will pass.
And miraculously, it does by the time the movie is (thankfully) over. The storm has lessoned into the same drizzle that it had started with, and then Patty takes notice of how Marcie relaxes into her.
Patty bites her lip, considering asking her the question that has been on her mind ever since the storm started, but she didn't want to ask her any questions that could make her uncomfortable.
Selfishly, the curious side ends up overpowering all logic.
"Marcie?"
"Hm?" Marcie mumbles through half-lidded eyes, looking as if she's five seconds away from falling asleep on Patty.
"I didn't know you were still scared of storms." She says softly, rubbing Marcie's shoulder with her thumb when she noticed an embarrassed blush spread across her face. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Marcie shifts uncomfortably in her spot, constantly opening and closing her mouth to try and say something. "It's embarrassing…" Is what she settled on.
"I don't think so. Everyone has a fear, and your's just happens to be storms and loud noises. So what?" She tells Marcie.
The bespeckled teen finally turns to her and the first thing she does is huff. "Yeah, if your five." She snarks. "I'm sixteen years old! No normal sixteen-year-old should be scared of something as childish as storms."
Upon hearing that, Patty instantly frowns. "And who told you that?" She asks, already knowing the answer.
At the question, Marcie begins to fiddle with her fingers in an attempt to stall.
"… My parents."
"Well, your parents are idiots." Patty says firmly. "We have addressed this many times, Marcie."
"I-I know," Marcie stutters out. "it's just… nevermind. Can we drop it?" She asks, voice breaking slightly along with her lip quivering.
Patty cups her cheek. "Hey, it's alright. We can drop it, yeah. I'm sorry." She apologized before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Marcie sniffles and nuzzles into Patty. "We should probably get back to studying, sir."
"After what just happened? No way!" Patty scoffs, rolling her eyes. "You look like you're about to have your first nap in twenty years, studying can wait."
"Really? Now you're using me as an excuse not to study?" Marcie manages to tease yet sound unamused at the same time.
"Hey, I'm doing this for your sake! You're welcome!"
Marcie shakes her head and breathes out a laugh. "Thank you, sir. You're so thoughtful."
Patty squeezes Marcie in a hug before letting them both fall back on the couch. She runs a hand through Marcie's hair, speaking softly. "Hey, next time there's a storm, you could always try calling me. You know how bored I get when I have nothing to do anyways. I could even just give you a distraction if you needed it."
After a moment of consideration, Marcie smiles shyly. "If it's okay with you, sir."
"It's more than okay."