Friends
If you smile,
They'll smile back.
And then you say hello,
And ask their name,
And compliment them
Or ask them about what they're doing.
Then you've got a friend, Mar.
It's easy.
The fourth time someone knocks on her door, Marie cracks. "GO AWAY!" she yells, sitting up from the couch at last. "Whoever you're looking for, they're not here."
"I'm looking for you, Hotaru," snaps the person on the other side of the door, and Marie freezes. That's Drown. "It took twenty minutes for Sync to charm your apartment number out of the landjell, I'm not leaving until I talk to you."
Carp. Marie gets to her feet, looking around. "I'm—the apartment's a mess," she covers, grabbing their awards off the bookcase.
"I don't care. I need to see you. Please," he adds. "Or I'll start shouting through the door."
"Gimme a minute," she says, tosses the awards onto her bed, and makes sure both hers and Callie's—her hearts squeeze—and Callie's doors are closed. She pulls on a hoodie but leaves on the sweatpants she slept in. There's the pink pillow-anyone could have a pink pillow. A few fridge magnets they've had for forever; Marie yanks them off (Callie made this back when they were eight it's not gone forever it can come back out soon) and shoves them in a drawer. Same for a few photographs, except the one they signed; that just looks like she's a fan, not that they were goofing around and gave each other signed photographs for—
Marie's hearts stutter.
"Hotaru!" shouts Drown.
Squit, but she does like him. Marie grabs her mask and puts it on, pulls up her hood to cover her tentacles (long and loose because why bother putting them up when) then opens the door. Drown has Sync with him, and she's far too pretty for Marie's mental state. "It's still a mess," she says, standing back so they can come in and flopping back on the couch. "Why'd you bring her?"
"Because it's been six days since you got back from your dad's and you cancelled a date and haven't picked up the phone," Sync snaps. She tosses her braid over her shoulder. "Drown got whinier than a 14-year-old with a week's turf ban."
"Sync!" Drown says.
"You did," she says, then turns back to Marie. "So whatever happened with your dad, or after you got back, I don't care but you two talk it out or break up or whatever, and I'll be in the kitchen pretending I don't exist." She shoves Drown into the easy chair and twiddles her fingers at them both, then vanishes into Marie's kitchen. "Your cupboards are damn near empty, you know? I'm making you something. Deal with it."
Marie is twenty years old and a famous pop star, and she's never wanted to be someone else when she grew up as badly as she wants to by Sync right now.
"You told me you were sick," Drown says, "and you look like—I mean, you always look beautiful, but you look like shell but not in a sick way. What actually happened?"
Here's the problem: Marie likes Drown. She's not sure she loves him, but she like-likes him, if that makes any sense and she spent three hours going through dictionaries once trying to find terms that didn't make her feel like a kid without success. She likes Sync, too, and before Callie disappeared (Marie does not let her eyes fill with tears) Marie seriously considered inviting Sync on a date, too. She's just not sure... when you're famous, having anyone know who you are, or where you live, is a huge risk.
Even if they don't fankid themselves right out of a relationship, it might end because of the tabloids.
"Did your family give you shit for being with a polamour guy?" Drown asks, and Marie snaps back to attention right then and there because shell no is she letting Drown think any of this is because of him.
"It's not that," she says, but she chews on her lip and plays with the strings of her sweatshirt. "There was—there's some family trouble, absolutely, and it's kind of—I'm having trouble—there's nothing to do with you."
Drown glances down, clenches his hands into fists on his pants. "We've been dating for three months. At this point, if... I want to know, Hotaru." He looks back up, and squit, she hurt him. "Please tell me. Maybe I could help."
Squit, she's as much as shouted she doesn't trust him. But she doesn't. Not with...
Maybe she should.
Callie would tell her she should. Callie always told—always tells her she's too cautious, too untrusting, that she should relax more. Maybe...
Marie swallows hard. "There's, um, something I've—that I haven't told you that, I, uh, I probably should," Marie stutters out. She's been lying to him, really—using a fake name—but she can't say that.
"What is it?" he asks.
There are a lot of things Marie could say. Probably. But nothing in her head. But she is wearing the mask and hood. Maybe...
Before she can talk herself out of it, Marie closes her eyes and takes them off. So he can see her. And he was Team Marie, he said, and—yeah, there's an indrawn breath, not quite a gasp, even without her tentacles done up he knows her. "Oh. Okay. So, your family problems—"
"Yeah," Marie says, before he can finish. She looks at her lap, traces nonsense patterns there. "You can tell Sync, she's here anyway and I know she's gonna—"
"She's gonna be insufferable," Drown says. "She tried to place a bet on this, since you always wear a face mask and you work at the radio station." He raises his voice. "Discussion's over, you can exist now."
"Did I hear right?" Sync calls. "I get to say I told you—oh. Uh, hi." Marie glances sideways to see Sync poked her head into the living room and is now staring at her. Sync clears her throat. "So, I'm guessing the whole 'family issue' is Callie's disappearance?"
Marie further embarrasses herself by bursting into tears. Again. She buries her face in her hands and tries to take deep breaths, because—because—
and then Drown is sitting next to her, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm here," he says, pulling Marie against him. "Go ahead."
"I'm gonna make some soup, then we can put together a list of what needs doing," Sync says, and goes back into the kitchen. "Grocery shopping, for one."
"I'm here," Drown says again, holding Marie close and rocking her. "You're not alone."
Not alone.
For the first time since Callie disappeared, she believes it. And her mind latches on to Sync's suggestion. Make a list.
She's not alone, even with Gramps and Callie and—her breath catches, and Marie fights to breathe. She knows why Callie is gone. She needs to be an agent. She needs to recruit another agent, and not let Gramps down.
But first she needs to pull herself together, and these two can help.