A.N. — Howdy! This isn't my first Amphibia fanfic, but it was my first posted exclusively on AO3 first. I saw the prompts for Sashannarcy Week 2022 and thought, 'I can do a 500 word drabble a day for that.' So, I attempted a daily posting for a week on a poly relationship, something I've never really tackled before. It was more friendshippy than romance most of the time a lot of the time. The title was mainly because it's the last letter of the alphabet I hadn't used to start a fanfic with. On this site, I'm posting this as one story rather than seven individual chapters, since I am uploading this on the final day of the prompts. Finally, I do not own Amphibia or profit off this work monetarily in any way.
X Marks the Spot (on this map we're filling in)
Day 1: Love confession
Sasha was the woman of action among her trio of friends. Anne fell in with her plans, and Marcy tagged along. So when Sasha had a plan that neither of them could know about, she found herself stymied.
How, exactly, does one confess that they're in love with both of their besties?
Big displays were Sasha's style. The bolder, the better. But Anne got overwhelmed, and Marcy would shrink away from brash actions. Since Sasha's heart was putty for the two, she had to consider their feelings. And that, possibly, was the hardest part.
Anne could tell something was eating away at Sasha. The blonde's gaze lingered on Marcy and her, and it wasn't always filled with its usual burning drive. Instead, a sheen of indecision had the most confident person Anne knew solidly in its grasp. Anne wouldn't abide that; she had to set things to rights!
Marcy didn't outwardly show the byplay between Sasha and Anne affected her. But her brain could not be shut off; it was cataloging every discrepancy in behavior and plotting corrections. But waiting to see if things worked out was Marcy's go-to when their personalities clashed in the past.
Things came to a head when Sasha finally acted.
She sat them down on a set of swings in the park where they'd met, herself in the middle and Anne and Marcy to her left and right. They idly kicked back and forth, now cognizant that Sasha had more on her mind for the day than a simple after school get-together. That motion stilled as Sasha started speaking, laying bare what she'd held inside for so long. Anne's eyes grew wide, and Marcy's started tearing up.
Finally, Sasha had no more to give, her speech trailing off. She bowed her head and waited for the others' reactions.
Anne didn't like letting uncomfortable silences linger. But she didn't have the necessary words at the moment, either. When Sasha said love, in the context of all of them, something clicked into place in her mind. A sense of rightness settled in, suffusing Anne's body. She dove gracelessly off her swing to crash into Sasha's, enveloping her in a crushing hug.
Marcy, once she compartmentalized all the feelings she was experiencing, just started nodding her head. Eyes now warm with pride turned to her other friends, currently tangled in a pile below the swing they'd fallen off of. She'd analyzed the situation wrongly, and she had to let them know.
"Hey Sash, Anne?"
Two curious heads turned Marcy's way.
"I kinda, sorta... thought we already were together-together?"
Each looked back at their past interactions, and it was easy to draw the conclusion Marcy had. They might not have been calling it dating, but they'd been intertwined in every way that matter for quite a while now.
Then Sasha grabbed Marcy's leg to drag her into the mess in the dirt, and their laughter couldn't be contained. Yup, they were stuck with each other, for better or worse.
Day 2: First date
They'd gone out before, tons of times, but never had it been classified as going out.
Sasha was all for the classic tropes: hitting a diner, sharing fries and milkshakes, and cuddling while watching a movie after. But that felt tired, and too much like what they had already been doing. So Sasha's idea was rejected.
Anne had a ton of (nervous) energy at the prospect of going out on an actual date with Sasha and Marcy. So, to burn that energy, she proposed outdoor activities. Tennis at first, but when that was shot down, then mini golf and swimming. But those didn't feel enough like a date, so Anne's choices were out of the running as well.
Marcy wanted a quiet study session at the library with her girls all to herself. But that lacked any semblance of fun to the others, so Marcy upgraded to a gaming party at an internet café. Bonding through leveling up made sense to Marcy, but Sasha and Anne only saw the possibility of screens separating them during supposed together time. Marcy, too, crashed and burned.
This left the trio with a bunch of pent-up feelings and still no closer to exercising them productively. If they couldn't even agree on a simple thing like where to go and what to do on their first date, what did that mean for their future?
They were reluctant to bring their parents in, for many reasons. Not every home situation was created equal, as they well knew. Why add in another potential hardship? But also, telling someone else would make it official. Anne, Sasha and Marcy were riding high on the newness of their relationship, and didn't fancy quashing that feeling anytime soon.
That still left the girls grasping at straws as to their next step. Hanging out was all well and good, but it suddenly wasn't enough. The idea of more dominated their thoughts, distracting from both school work and home life. And when put together outside of those two environs, that chaotic energy was clamoring to be let out.
Anne, they decided, had been on the right track. All this pent-up emotion was becoming detrimental, rather than beneficial like it had been. So they grabbed their jackets and hoodies and took a stroll around the neighborhood. And if Sasha's attention was caught by every street food vendor, Anne and Marcy indulged her. When Anne took off running ahead, looking over her shoulder in a clear declaration of a race started, Marcy and Sasha picked up their pace. Marcy wandered off often, but now she had two followers willing to go on her unplanned jaunts.
The afternoon darkened to evening, and the spontaneity of their ever-lengthening walk didn't wear off. Marcy was flagging a bit, but Sasha was pumping her up while Anne wrapped a supportive arm around her shoulder. Turns out, when they combined all their interests, it made for a pretty eventful day. And that certainly boded well for their continuing combination, too.
Day 3: Sleepover
Staying awake was never usually a challenge at one of their sleepovers. The Dare Book (and Sasha's devious mind) saw to that. But awkward tension keeping the three of them from falling asleep was new.
Typically, conversation flowed easily between Anne and Sasha, with them being able to draw Marcy in if they mentioned something that piqued her interest. Tonight, stilted silences reigned. No one wanted to bring up that Dare Book, for fear of what, exactly, was now on the table as far as dares went. The three of them were still too new to this whole relationship thing to try pushing boundaries in such an uncomfortable manner.
But it was never going to stay quiet forever.
The rest of the Boonchuy house was fast asleep when Anne couldn't keep her thoughts to herself anymore. She propped herself up on an elbow in her bed, looking at the equally-awake forms of her friends in their sleeping bags on the floor. They shifted as they heard her movement, and now there was awkward staring to go along with the unnatural lack of talking. So, Anne remedied that.
"Did we screw this up?"
She spoke the question quietly, not just because of the late hour, but because of how much she didn't want to say it in the first place. Putting it out there validated the concern. And, after hours of what was supposed to be fun being anything but, Anne was desperate to fix this. But what, exactly, was the problem?
They'd had a date, and were still supposedly full of glee from how well that turned out. But when they fell back to a routine they'd performed many times before in deciding to hold a sleepover, their new dynamic interfered. And no matter how much Sasha blustered and Marcy placated, Anne felt that the blame lay with her as host.
But, as she watched her friends (girlfriends, now, she had to remind herself) both go through what she'd been — thinking it over in their heads and coming to the conclusion that they were at fault — Anne wished she'd just shut up and dealt with the discomfort. Now she had to witness Sasha try to muffle her distress, and soundless tears start trickling down Marcy's cheeks. Anne, too, was falling apart, chuckling involuntarily while also choking on sobs she was withholding.
The out-of-place sound of laughter, even when it sounded torturous, got the other two to snap out of their funks.
"It's funny, this isn't even our first fight or anything. So why did this suck all of a sudden?" Anne rambled on, "I should be thankful I've got you here with me, but that's just not enough. We worked as a best friend trio; why are we butting heads when we all agreed to try being more out?"
There were no easy answers. Anne lay back down, putting her pillow over her head. Staying up till dawn, always the goal at past sleepovers, had never felt so hollow before.
Day 4: Memories
Memories lingered on after what became known to the trio as just "The Night" — memories of the ruinous get-together, but also memories from well before.
For Sasha, it meant accepting that this was a situation she wasn't totally in control of. They were in this together. She could be the Sleepover Queen all she wanted, but captaining the ship alone was gonna lead them to flounder. She spent the time apart from Anne and Marcy in school pondering what else she could've done, to avert their first rough patch. In what ways was she inadequate in comparison to them?
It was a toxic mindset to be in, but when separated from her better halves, it was all she could think about. Because of the way her parents quarreled seemingly at all times, Sasha had gotten used to having to raise her voice and be demonstrative in her actions to get her points across. But maybe that wasn't always a good thing, when it served to steamroll Anne and Marcy's suggestions. What others thought of her alpha bitch personality, Sasha could care less about. But Anne and Marcy's favor? Sasha would kill for that.
Anne wasn't holding up any better. She was glad she didn't have any after school activities today; she'd probably be a danger to herself and others with a tennis racket in her hand. And perhaps her full slate was one of her problems. It wasn't just after school athletics eating into her time. The restaurant always needed help, and Anne would never say no to her parents when it really mattered. That left precious little time to actually spend with her newly minted girlfriends.
She didn't want to let any of her obligations falter, but by doing so Anne felt she was letting each of them down. Her parents thought she was a slacker, when she really was trying her best. Her coach called her dedication into question, not noticing when tears mingled with the sweat dripping onto the court. And Sasha was always demanding attention, which Anne was more than willing to give, while Marcy needed the attention to save her from her unintentional isolation. Anne had to juggle everything, and it was causing this dating thing to fall like so many bobbled balls.
Marcy was accused of being the oblivious one, off in her own world. Just because she was more withdrawn didn't mean she was unobservant, though. Marcy saw things others didn't pay attention to. It stemmed from her home life, where if she wasn't perfect, she was a failure. Her parents meant well, but it was a hefty burden to place on a teen. So Marcy escaped, behind screens and into books. But that made her seem aloof, and uncaring, and Marcy was neither. Anne and Sasha knew this, but even they grew tired of her habits, she knew.
She wasn't perfect; none of them were. Why, then, when their flaws were thrust into the open, did it shake their resolve so badly?
Day 5: Fears
After school, the girls drifted together, though nobody said anything. It felt uncomfortably like obligation, the way they huddled together. It was just days ago they were laughing in the park under the glow of a setting sun; could their relationship's sunset already be upon them?
Sasha would not take that quietly.
Still not uttering a word, Sasha grabbed one of Marcy's and Anne's wrists in each hand and started marching off toward her house. She was the one in charge normally, and she wasn't going to have a repeat of their last trip to Anne's house. Marcy's parents preferred the trio didn't linger in their "perfect" house. So, Sasha would retreat to a place of familiarity, and hope that the safe surroundings would in turn lead to an easing of the tension between the girls.
Even once she had them all sequestered up in her bedroom, fear was still eating away at Sasha. Just because her home was their most frequent hangout spot didn't mean there weren't hazards. The biggest wildcard, of course, was just how they were going to interact after a day spent self-loathing instead of studying. And the other major potential pitfall...
Mr. and Mrs. Waybright started yet another row downstairs, uncaring of their audience a floor above. Whatever positive vibes that'd developed dampened. It was clear to Sasha that Marcy was biting her lip to keep from spilling her own guts on the difficulties of living with over-the-top parents. And Anne was restraining herself from leaning across the bed and enveloping Sasha in a hug.
And didn't that fucking hurt, right where it mattered, for Sasha? Their friend group was touchy-feely before the declaration, and now Anne was so unsure of how a sympathetic hug would be received that she was holding herself back. Marcy's hands were constantly in motion, flailing for a solution to the overarching issue. Well, to Sasha, the issue had started with discourse. Perhaps adding to that conversation could set things right.
But Sasha opened her mouth with only a half-formed idea of what she wanted to say, so what came out was, "Cut it out, you two! As if it isn't enough I have to deal with that," and she gestured to the floorboards and the argument still audible through them, "now there's whatever's wrong with you."
"Us, you mean," Anne bit back. She knew Sasha ran hot, but dumping blame solely on them was harsh. "We all have made mistakes, clearly. What we aren't agreeing on is what exactly those are."
"Do we have to do this now?" Marcy mumbled. "Mr. and Mrs. Waybright aren't exactly the best example to follow..."
"Oh, that's rich, coming from you," Sasha, now fully riled up at having her words flung back at her, retorted at Marcy. "You, with the parents who wouldn't know emotion if it bit them!"
Marcy hunched in on herself, and Anne leapt to her defense.
"Sasha, back down."
And Sasha decided: no. This needed to be settled now.
Day 6: Snow day
"You can leave, if you want to. Nothing's stopping you."
Sasha said those words in dead seriousness, but even as they were leaving her mouth, she knew they were just driving Anne and Marcy away. Which, granted, was what she was implying she wanted, but below the turmoil, she knew she needed the other two to hold her frayed edges together.
Marcy made an aborted move toward the door, but Anne's hand on her arm stilled her movement. Anne leveled an icy glare at Sasha; none of the warmth it usually held was present.
"I don't get what you're playing at, Sasha, but chill. You want to kick us out? Fine. Just don't drag us down in your drama," Anne then gestured at the (thankfully closed) door. "Plus, you think we want to make a scene by leaving with your folks having it out downstairs? They'd assume we left 'cause of them, then come up here and take it out on you. So think this through, Sasha. C'mon!"
Anne was huffing by the end, and Marcy's resolve had hardened. She burrowed further into her sleeping bag in defiance, as if to tell Sasha, 'you're not moving me!' A flurry of mutters came from within her cocoon; the other two glanced her way.
"What was that, Marcy?" Sasha asked, throwing a lifeline out to save herself with. Angry eyes glared at her over the edge of the barrier Marcy had hidden behind.
"You accuse my parents of being emotionless," Marcy started. "But, the only frozen heart around here is yours!"
Anne choked on a laugh at Marcy using a movie line, of all things, to shut Sasha up. Sasha full-faced blushed, before snapping back.
"You damn Disney nerd! You know it's not like that!" Sasha reasoned. But she could tell she'd struck a nerve with both of them.
"Then tell us: what is it like?" Anne asked. A telling silence greeted the query. "You don't know, do you? None of us does. So let's find out, together."
For an impromptu motivational speech, Anne thought it hit the right notes. It got Marcy to crawl out of her sleeping bag and tackle Anne bodily across her own temporary bedding. Sasha was gaping at them, but she was leaning forward as if she wanted to join them. Marcy spoke up again, to give her that final push.
"We're all flawed. I hide behind screens, Sasha bosses people into submission, and Anne just goes along with it all and never complains. I'm sure there's more, but we won't ever know unless we discuss it. So get over here so we can hug it out and talk it out. Then, maybe, we can finally make out!"
If openly expressing feelings is what got them moving from hugs to kisses, well, Sasha and Anne weren't going to turn that down. Sasha jumped down off her bed, into the middle of Anne and Marcy's pile. They could all agree: they were ready to move on beyond this.
Day 7: Free day
Despite Marcy's insistence, assisted by some persuasive puppy dog eyes, the girls parted that next morning hickey free. They had just made up after a pretty serious falling out; moving straight (ha!) from that to smooching was a tad too fast for them. That did nothing to quell the stirring desire in Marcy, though.
While her house might not have parents engaged in bickering, what it did have was an oppressive nature. Anne gave her a parting wave and a rueful smile as their paths diverged, much the same that Sasha had opted for when showing them out earlier. When Marcy stepped in, her mom and dad gave her a perfunctory interrogation: Are you caught up on homework, did Anne or Sasha try to distract her from studying, etc.? Tuning it out was second nature to Marcy, so she retreated to her room as quickly as possible.
But trying to do homework alone in her room, with the specter of parental expectations suffusing the whole place, wasn't flying — not after the night Marcy'd had. So she loaded up her backpack and told her parents she was off to the library while stepping out the front door. Once out in the fresh air (which had a faint whiff of oncoming rain), Marcy felt free. And once she got to the library, she felt safe, too. Combined with the squirming in her belly left over from last night, Marcy was just a bundle of energy.
She dutifully pulled a test prep book off a shelf and snagged a table. Marcy knew she had this in the bag; standardized testing was old hat by this point, and the increased difficulty level for a college admissions exam was a welcome challenge. But daydreams of Anne and Sasha kept parading through Marcy's mind, and her phone within easy reaching distance was another distraction. It buzzed out a series of texts, and Marcy again gave up studying as a lost cause.
An hour later, and Marcy still hadn't made it to that meet-up downtown. Instead, she was cursing her recent run of fate. The past week had been a rollercoaster, and today was taking the cake: a midnight low to a daybreak high, followed by a midday malaise with a quick afternoon rise and fall. If it weren't for the promise of her waiting girlfriends, she'd find some sheltered spot to break down in. But that wasn't an option; the other two needed to know. Marcy couldn't face her home right now, but she was in no fit state to meet Sasha and Anne.
Marcy leaned against a glass storefront, letting her racing heart calm itself, when a glinting caught her eye. Marcy pulled out her phone, verifying what she was seeing meshed with what she'd observed earlier in that dropped book. Well, if everything else they'd tried hadn't completely patched up their relationship, perhaps an adventure in another world would provide the perfect bonding experience. Grinning, Marcy snapped a photo, and sent two fateful texts.
