Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“BeanBoozled?”

Anne blinked in confusion as she beheld the colorful box Sasha was holding up. She and Sasha sat on the couch in the living room of the apartment they shared with Marcy, who at the moment was searching through the board game cabinet for a suitable game for their weekly game night.

“Picked it up while I was out running errands today,” Sasha said. “Thought it could be a fun way to spice up game night.”

“How are jelly beans gonna make game night more interesting?” Anne asked with a furrowed brow.

Sasha grinned and gave the box a shake, the candy contents rattling within. “Ah, but these are no ordinary jelly beans. There are ten colors, but twenty possible flavors. Each color can be something really good, or really really bad, and the only way to tell is to pop one in your mouth and hope for the best. Take a look.”

Sasha passed the box to Anne. Her eyes widened as she beheld the flavors on the back. “Birthday cake or dirty dishwater? Coconut or spoiled milk? Peach or barf!? Jeez, it’s like Russian Roulette with candy!”

“Nah, at least with Russian Roulette the odds are five-to-one in your favor,” Marcy said as she walked over to the couch, a huge stack of boxes in her hands. “With those it’s more like a coin flip. Heads you get a delicious bean, tails you get one that’ll make you wanna die.”

“Exactly,” Sasha said with a smirk and a mischievous glint in her eye. “What do you say, girls? Wanna raise the stakes this week?”

“Sounds potentially disgusting and humiliating,” Marcy said, setting the board games on the table and taking a seat on the couch next to Anne. She grinned. “I’m in.”

“Me too,” Anne said, smiling and handing the box back to Sasha. “What did you have in mind?”

Sasha hmmm’ed as she looked over the games Marcy was offering. “We need a simple game. Let’s see here... Clue, no… Cards Against Humanity, Settlers of Catan, Boss Monster… no, no, nope… Ah, perfect! Would You Rather. ”

Sasha opened up the game in question, took out a stack of cards and began shuffling them as she continued speaking. “So here’s what I’m thinking: we each take turns drawing a card and asking an either/or question for the other two to answer. Anyone who picks the less popular option has to eat a random bean out of the box. Sound good?”

Anne and Marcy nodded. Sasha set the deck of cards down and drew the top one. “Cool, I’ll start us off then. Anne, Marcy, would you rather… punch a pilgrim or eat an avocado?”

Anne sputtered out a laugh. “What kind of question is that?”

“That’s just the game,” Marcy said with a shrug. “Some of the choices have logic to them, others are just completely random. I think I’d rather eat an avocado, they’re loaded with nutrients and can be used to make guacamole.”

“Avocado it is,” Sasha said. “Anne?”

Anne pursed her lips. “Well from what I remember from history class, the Pilgrims were kind of dicks… But I think I’ll go with the avocado too.”

“And those are your final answers?” Sasha asked her girlfriends. Anne and Marcy nodded. “Well congratulations! According to the card fifty-nine percent of people agree with you.”

Marcy and Anne high-fived. Sasha discarded the card and Anne reached for the deck to draw her own card.

“Okay Marcy, Sasha, would you rather… have no teeth or have no tongue?”

“Oof, that’s a tough one,” Sasha said. “Either one of those would make eating a pain in the ass.”

Marcy rubbed her chin. “I think I’d rather have no teeth. ‘Cause at least if you have a tongue you could still taste stuff.”

“But how would you chew with no teeth so you don’t choke and die?” Sasha asked.

“Well that’s what blenders are for. Plus no tongue means you can’t talk either.”

“Oh, that’s a good point. Yeah, I’ll go with no teeth too.”

Anne nodded, discarding her card. “You and sixty-three percent of people. Congrats girls, no one gets to try the beans yet. You’re up Marbles.”

Marcy drew a card. “Sash, Anne, would you rather… sing everything you say or dance all your movements?”

“Sing everything,” Sasha said with a proud smirk. “After all, I’m a heart-stomper~! Stompin’ on hearts~!”

Anne and Marcy laughed. “Oh man I haven’t thought about our old garage band in years,” Marcy said. “We should break out the instruments one of these days, for old time’s sake.”

“Yeah but it’s been so long we probably suck,” Anne said. “Dancing was always more my thing, so that’s what I’m going with.”

“Ooh, first time two of us have picked different options,” Marcy said. She reached down for the BeanBoozled box. “Those are your final answers?” The other two girls nodded. “And the jelly bean goes to… Anne!”

“Aw, for real?” Anne asked as Sasha pumped a fist in the air. Marcy nodded and showed the text on the card: fifty-six percent of people would rather sing as opposed to forty-four who’d rather dance. “Damn it. Okay, let’s see what we’ve got here…”

On the back of the box was a circle of the ten jelly beans with a built-in spinner. She gave the spinner a flick and watched it slow until it settled on brown. “Okay that’s… chocolate pudding or canned dog food? Oh boy.”

Anne picked through the box of candies, pulling out a single brown bean. She held the candy up between her thumb and forefinger, gulping audibly. “Well. Here we go…”

Marcy and Sasha watched with great interest as Anne plopped the candy in her mouth. She slowly chewed… and a smile graced her face.

“Oh thank God, it’s chocolate pudding!” She said, swallowing.

“Aw, well that’s no fun,” Sasha said with an exaggerated pout. “You were supposed to get a gross one so me and Marcy could laugh at your misfortune.”

“Hey, the night’s still young,” Anne said. “Don’t forget you could also end up with a gross bean, Sasha.”

“Well not this time, ‘cause it’s my turn to ask the question.” Sasha drew the next card of the deck. “Would you rather… be dangled over the edge of the cliff or forced to speak in public?”

“Dangled off a cliff,” Marcy said instantly.

“Really, Mar-Mar?” Anne asked flatly.

“You girls know how I am about public speaking! Why do you think I did most of the work during our group projects back in school and left the actual presentations to you two?”

“Yeah, but we’re talking about public speaking vs. being dangled off a cliff! ”

“It doesn’t say anywhere that you actually get dropped!”

Anne rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll still go with public speaking.”

“You and seventy-eight percent of people,” Sasha said. “Sorry Marcy, but the price of not having to speak in public is a gross jelly bean.”

“Totally worth it,” Marcy said defiantly. She picked up the box and flicked the spinner. “And I get… toasted marshmallow or stink bug.”

She plucked a brown-and-white bean from the box and plopped it in her mouth. She slowly chewed, and her neutral expression slowly morphed into disgust.

“Oh. Oh that doesn’t taste good,” she said. Her jaw moved again and she gagged, hand going to her mouth. “Oh that’s really not good!”

Anne tried to cover her giggle with a closed fist. “I don’t think she got the toasted marshmallow,” she said to Sasha, who openly laughed and slapped her knee. Marcy hunched over, face contorting.

“Ugh, it tastes like how stink bugs smell,” Marcy said with a grimace. “That sucked .”

“Could’ve avoided it if you just did a little public speaking,” Sasha said in a sing-song voice.

“Bite me, Sash,” Marcy grumbled. “Let’s see how you like it when you get one of those beans. Draw a card, Anna-Banana.”

Anne nodded and did so. “Would you rather own a mini horse or own a regular horse?”

“Ooh, I’d love a mini horse,” Sasha said with a smile. “They can actually be kept as house pets, right?”

“Yeah, but they still require a lot of upkeep,” Marcy pointed out. “If you’re gonna have a horse, it might as well be a full-sized one you can actually ride. I’d rather have a regular horse.”

“Well I’ve got good news Marcy, so would fifty-nine percent of people.” Anne said. Sasha crossed her arms with a hmph as Marcy smirked. 

“Go ahead, take a bean Sasha,” Marcy said, holding the box out and giving it a taunting rattle.

“Fine, I will,” Sasha said haughtily. She accepted the box and spun the spinner. “And I got… buttered popcorn or rotten egg.”

Sasha quickly fished a yellow-and-white spotted jelly bean out of the box and quickly popped it in her mouth, face full of determination. Seconds passed as she chewed, Anne and Marcy watching her expression closely.

Finally, Sasha smirked.

“Buttered popcorn it is!” She said triumphantly. “Once again Sasha Waybright comes out on top.”

“Seriously?” Marcy plopped back on the couch, crossing her arms and letting out a frustrated exhale. “I can’t believe I’m the only person who didn’t get a good bean yet!”

“Cheer up Marbles, I’m sure you’ll get a tasty bean at some point,” Anne said. “Now draw the next card, this is getting good!”

---

“Green,” Marcy said. It was a few questions later and she’d picked another lower option, choosing to only have access to games online along with thirty-three percent of people, compared to sixty-seven percent who’d rather have access to only Youtube. The spinner had given her a light-green bean to sample. “That’s juicy pear or booger? Oh jeez…”

She picked a green jelly bean from the box and popped it in her mouth, chewing tentatively. She retched, cheeks turning as green as the candy she just ate.

“Oh God it’s booger,” she said with a retch, to Anne and Sasha’s shared amusement. “ Blech, plech! Oh that’s foul!”

“Okay, so you got two bad ones in a row,” Anne said between giggles. “I’m sure you’ll have better luck next time.”

---

“More people would rather drink tea than coffee, are you for real?!” Marcy asked, incredulous.

“Well coffee is an acquired taste, and there’s like a million different varieties of tea,” Anne pointed out, having picked the tea option to the question Sasha had given.

“Yeah but… coffee!”

“We get it Marcy, you love your bean water,” Sasha said. “But you still picked the lesser option, so it’s jelly bean time.”

Marcy gave the spinner a twirl and grimaced. “Strawberry banana smoothie or dead fish?! Oh this isn’t gonna be fun.”

She dug through the box until she found a lightly-colored orange bean with red speckles. With a heavy sigh she tossed it in her mouth, and her face contorted in disgust almost instantly.

“Dead - ack, hack - fish!” She said between gags. Anne looked like she was caught between sympathy and amusement, while Sasha was openly laughing.

“Man Marcy, those beans really hate you,” Sasha said, wiping a tear from her eye.

---

“Oh goodie, I got another one wrong,” Marcy said with a too-wide smile. “Silly me for thinking more people would rather die by drowning in a tsunami than throw themselves in lava.” 

She let out a short, desperate laugh as she grabbed the box of jelly beans. “You know what? That’s fine, it’s fine. So what if three of three beans have tasted like garbage? One of them is bound to be good sooner or later. I mean if you flip a coin enough times, it’s bound to come up heads at some point. That’s just the law of averages, yeah.”

“Uh, I think that’s the gambler’s fallacy,” Sasha pointed out with a raised brow.

“Shut up and let me have hope, Sasha.” Marcy spun the spinner and giggled again. “Oh good, it’s peach or barf. That’s fine, that’s totally fine. Nothing to worry about, I’ve got a good feeling about this one.”

She plucked another jelly bean out of the box, this one a darker orange with red flecks. She kept giggling, one of her eyes twitching.

“You sure you’re okay, Marcy?” Anne asked, concerned.

“I’m just peachy , Anne!” Marcy said, far too brightly. “Peachy like I’m sure this jelly bean will be!”

She stuffed in her mouth, chewing quickly. The smile remained frozen on her face even as her eyes began to water.

“Aaaand it’s barf because why not?!” Marcy doubled over, hacking and coughing. “Oh God it’s on the sides of my tongue!”

Anne gave Marcy a comforting pat on the back. Sasha just shook her head with a chuckle.

“Okay, maybe we should give BeanBoozled a rest before Marcy keels over,” she said. “It was funny at first, but now it’s just getting sad.”

“No no, I’m fine,” Marcy insisted even as she kept gagging. “I can get a good bean at some point, I know I can!”

Anne and Sasha exchanged uncertain glances as Marcy grabbed the next card, it being her turn to read the question. “Okay, would you - blech - rather be a Jedi master or an elite Saiyan?”

“Ooh, I’d rather be a Saiyan,” Anne said instantly. “I love Dragon Ball!”

“Well I guess I’ll be a Jedi,” Sasha said with a shrug. “At least I’ve actually seen Star Wars. I’ve only seen like a handful of Dragon Ball episodes.”

“Well sixty-eight percent of people agree with you, Sasha,” Marcy said. “Sorry Anne, looks like it’s your turn for a bean.”

Anne nodded and spun the box’s spinner with a swift finger flick. Around and around it spun until it landed on blue. “That’s berry blue or toothpaste.”

“Aw man, you got an easy one,” Marcy said with a pout as Anne picked a blue jelly bean out of the box. “Toothpaste doesn’t even taste that bad.”

Anne looked to Marcy as she plopped the bean in her mouth. Marcy, who’d been unfortunate enough to get four terrible-tasting jelly beans in a row. She smiled as an idea formed in her brain.

“Hey Mar-Mar,” Anne said, voice slightly muffled with her mouth full.

Marcy looked up, and didn’t even have time to react before Anne pulled her in for a surprise kiss. Marcy’s face lit up as she felt Anne’s tongue push past her lips, too stunned by the audacity to offer any sort of resistance. Anne pulled away after a few seconds, and Marcy felt a familiar lump in her mouth.

“Oh my God!” Sasha laughed, a splash of red on her own cheeks as she brought a closed fist to her mouth. “Did you really just…? You didn’t! ”

“Yeah, I totally did,” Anne said proudly, blushing herself. “Well Marcy? What’s the verdict?”

Marcy’s face was burning as she slowly chewed, a pleasant taste spreading across her taste buds. “Berry…”

Chapter Text

“Well, looks like Marcy’s gaming again.”

Anne and Sasha stood in the hallway of their apartment building, having just returned from a dinner date. From under the door to their shared unit there came a faint blue glow, and they could hear the sounds of muffled gunfire coming from within.

“She better not have all the lights off again,” Sasha said, producing a key ring from her jacket pocket. “She already spends most of the day staring at screens, the last thing she needs is to make her eyes worse by doing it in the dar - oh goddammit.”

The apartment’s living room was indeed dark, the only light coming from the flat-screen mounted on the wall. On screen, a werewolf-like creature swung a crude axe towards the first-person POV, only to be blown backwards by a shotgun blast. Marcy sat on the long couch that faced the TV, controller in hand, focusing intently on the action being displayed.

“Hey Sash, hey Anne,” Marcy said to her girlfriends as they filed in, not taking her eyes off the game. “How was dinner?”

“Don’t ‘how was dinner’ us,” Sasha said. She flicked the switch next to the door for the living room lights, illuminating the apartment in a soft white glow. Marcy flinched slightly at the sudden brightness, but remained focused on her game. “What did I tell you about gaming in the dark? You’re gonna mess up your eyes, Marcy.”

Marcy shrugged. “I haven’t been playing that long. Besides I’m playing a horror game and wanted to set the mood, you know?”

Anne looked at the screen, taking note of the snowy rural village setting that Marcy’s character was traversing. “This that new game you were telling us about?” She asked. “The one with the nine-foot tall vampire chick?”

Marcy chuckled. “Oh yeah. Can’t wait to get up close and personal with her.”

Sasha pinched the bridge of her nose. “Well at least keep the lights on, okay? It’s a miracle you don’t need glasses already.”

Marcy just nodded, focusing on blasting more of the wolfmen that had shown up. Sasha hung up her coat while Anne crossed into the kitchen.

“Oh and dinner was nice, by the way,” she said, opening the refrigerator to put a styrofoam container inside. “We went to that new Italian place that just opened up. Brought you some fettuccine alfredo, it’s in the fridge when you want it.”

“Cool thanks,” Marcy said, biting her bottom lip as her thumbs furiously flew across the controller.

Anne and Sasha exchanged glances. They’d known Marcy for most of their lives now, and knew her habits forwards and backwards. And right now, Marcy was In The Zone; the state of zen where she was tuning out everything to focus solely on whatever was playing out on the screen in front of her. She wasn’t as bad as she was when they were kids, back when Marcy would get so distracted while gaming that she’d literally walk into walls, but still. Once Marcy got In The Zone, almost nothing could shake her concentration.

Almost nothing.

Sasha glanced at Marcy, then to Anne. She smiled slyly, raising her eyebrows. Anne looked to Marcy, then to Sasha. She smirked and nodded. Wordlessly the girls walked over and sat down on the couch next to Marcy, one on each side.

“So what’s this game about, Marbles?” Anne asked casually.

“Well it's a direct sequel to the last game,” Marcy explained. On screen, she unloaded another shotgun round into a werewolf’s face. “Before you had to rescue your wife from an inbred redneck torture family in the Louisiana bayou, right? Well now it’s a few years later and the two of you have a daughter together, but then she gets killed and the baby gets kidnapped and you travel to this village in rural Europe to rescue her.”

“Interesting,” Sasha said, scooting closer to Marcy.

“Oh yeah. Last game went with a Texas Chainsaw Massacre -style with its setting and enemies, but this one’s got more of a gothic horror/classic horror movie vibe going for it with vampires and werewolves and all that. I’m really digging it so far and I can feel your hand Sasha.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Sasha asked innocently.

“Your hand on my knee right now,” Marcy replied. She stole the briefest of glances downwards before returning her attention to the screen. Sasha followed her gaze, looking down at her hand on Marcy’s knee.

“Oh my, however did that get there?” Sasha mused with a smile, making no effort to move her hand.

“Yeah, it’s a riddle for the ages.” Marcy made the player character whip out a landmine and deploy it, running away just as a huge werewolf came charging on all fours and triggering a huge explosion. “I feel you too there Anne.”

Anne had leaned her head on Marcy’s shoulder. “Oh don’t mind me,” she said, nuzzling her cheek against her girlfriend. “I just wanted a better look at the action.”

Marcy smirked. “I know what you two are doing.”

"Oh?" Sasha raised a brow as her hand moved up Marcy's leg. "And what would that be?"

"You're doing that thing where you get all touchy-feely to distract me while I'm gaming." With no more enemies in sight, Marcy attached a wheel to a stone well, turning it to raise up a bucket that held a pipe bomb. "Well it's not gonna work this time."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Anne insisted. She turned her head, her breath on Marcy's ear as Anne reached up to gently run a hand up and down Marcy's arm. "We just wanna spend time with our Mar-Mar."

Marcy shivered as Anne planted a kiss on her neck, just below her ear. She blushed, but took a deep breath and focused on the TV. Focused solely on blasting werewolves and not how nice it felt to be getting such intimate attention from both of her girlfriends at the same time, their hands on her arms and legs, their hot breath and soft lips on her skin-

“And even if we did have ulterior motives,” Sasha said, pausing to kiss Marcy on the cheek, “you’re In The Zone. Nothing can shake your concentration. Not even… this.”

Sasha gently nibbled on Marcy’s earlobe while Anne gently nibbled on Marcy’s neck. The girl in the middle of the couch went beet-red, letting out a high-pitched squeal as she went rigid.

“Oh screw it!” Marcy said, hitting pause. She tossed the controller towards the coffee table in front of the couch, and before plastic hit wood Marcy had whirled around, grabbing Sasha’s wrists. The blond barely had time to let out a startled cry as Marcy attacked her with a passionate kiss.

Anne nodded and smiled as her girlfriends made out. She glanced over at the clock on the wall.

Three minutes and twenty-two seconds. Marcy didn’t last long this time.

So much for being In The Zone.

Chapter Text

It was a hot evening in mid-June, and the carnival was in full swing. Several empty fields had been transformed into a wonderland of thrilling rides, delicious food and game booths offering colorful prizes. The air was alive with joyful laughter and thrilled shrieks, the scent of burgers and hot dogs and candy floss dancing on the breeze.

Marcy had been walking through the midway searching for a suitable game to test her skills when she saw it: a gigantic stuffed cat hanging from the top shelf of one of the booths, half as tall as Marcy herself. Black with a patch of white on its belly with yellow eyes and a dopey smile, it was a dead-ringer for Domino, the cat her girlfriend Anne had when they were kids.

Marcy whipped out her phone and snapped a picture, sending it to their mutual girlfriend Sasha (who was currently taking Anne on some of the rides) along with the message: Check out what I found!

The reply came a few seconds later: OMG Anne would love that.

Hell yeah she would. Gonna win it for her rn, meet you guys at the picnic area in 20.

LOL good luck Marbles.

Marcy pocketed her phone and approached the booth with a confident swagger.

“Step right up and test your skills, folks!” Said the carnival barker manning the stand. He was a bald man with a goatee, a name tag that read “Hugh” on his polo shirt. The booth itself had a corkboard at the back with dozens of balloons hanging from it, with stuffed animals of various sizes hanging from mounted hooks all around. Hugh’s eyes lit up as Marcy approached. “What about you, young miss? Care to give this game a whirl?”

“You know it,” Marcy said confidently, leaning against the counter. “What’s the game, Hugh?”

“Simple!” Hugh held up a hand with three darts clutched between his fingers like claws. “Just give the darts a toss and pop as many balloons as you can! The more balloons you pop, the bigger your prize.”

Marcy nodded, reading the sign next to Hugh. It was $5 for three darts, or $10 for five. Popping a single balloon earned a small prize, two for medium, three for large, and four for giant. Meaning Marcy would have to spend $10 to even have a shot at the giant cat. It was blatant highway robbery, but then again so were all carnival games.

“Gimme some darts, my good man,” Marcy said, pulling a Hamilton from her pocket and slapping it on the counter.

“You got it!” Hugh said with a grin. Quick as a flash he snatched up Marcy’s money, replacing it with five blue plastic darts. “Good luck young miss!”

Marcy just chuckled. Years of gaming had given Marcy excellent reflexes and hand-eye coordination. She had this in the bag.

Marcy’s eye twitched as her fifth and final dart sank into the corkboard less than an inch from a purple balloon. She stomped her foot and pulled her hair, letting out a frustrated scream through gritted teeth.

Ten times. Marcy had played this stupid game ten times, and each time she’d only managed to pop three balloons, just barely missing the mark that would’ve won her the prize she coveted.

“Ooh, so close,” Hugh said with an awkward chuckle. He’d never seen such an… intense customer before. “Well you’ve won a large prize again, so what would you-”

“Shut up and give me more darts!” Marcy snapped, slamming another $10 on the counter with enough force to rattle the booth. Hugh flinched and sighed.

“Look kid,” he began in a more subdued voice, speaking like a normal human being rather than an overzealous carnival showman, “I’m more than happy to take your money, but are you sure I can’t interest you in one of the large prizes? I mean you’ve won several at this point.”

“I don’t need a large prize,” Marcy said in a clipped voice. She pointed upwards to the giant black cat that was practically mocking her with how close it was. “I need that cat!”

Hugh raised an eyebrow. “What’s so special about the cat?”

“It’s special because it looks exactly like the cat my girlfriend had when she was a kid! Anne is sweet and kind and wonderful and deserves a great gift and I always wanted-” Marcy stopped short, blushing. She shut her eyes and shook her head. “Ah never mind, it’s stupid.”

“What?” Hugh asked. Marcy didn’t answer. “Come on, spill the beans.”

Marcy sighed. “It’s just… I always wanted to win my girlfriend a stupidly oversized carnival prize. Growing up I would see couples doing that in movies and on TV and… I always thought that was sweet and wanted to do it myself, okay?”

A look of determination came over Marcy’s face as she gripped the bill tight in her fist, shoving it towards Hugh. “Now are you gonna keep yammering or are you gonna give me more darts?”

Hugh looked at Marcy, then to the money, then to Marcy again. He shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

Marcy blinked in shock, then glared. “Excuse me?”

“Nope.” Hugh reached up to pluck the giant cat from its hook, shoving it into Marcy’s arms. “I’m gonna give you this instead.”

Marcy’s anger changed to confusion as she accepted the gift. “Wait what? But I didn’t pop enough-”

“Ah forget the damn balloons,” Hugh said with a dismissive wave of the hand. “Besides you’ve technically already paid like four times what that thing is actually worth. Now go give it to your lady friend, okay kid? And I hope she likes it.”

Marcy’s grin was radiant. “Thanks mister!”

The picnic area was a huge cluster of wooden picnic tables set up not far from the food vendors. The tables were presently packed full of people, chowing down on burgers and hot dogs and french fries and funnel cakes and all manner of delicious-but-unhealthy fair food.

Marcy stood at the entrance with her giant black cat in both arms. She scanned the crowd until she spotted Sasha’s blonde ponytail and Anne’s messy brown curls. And they were sitting at a table with their backs to the entrance. Perfect.

Marcy marched through the crowd until she had reached Anne and Sasha’s table. The girls chatted as they ate, completely unaware of Marcy’s presence.

“Special delivery for Anna-Banana!” Marcy said, taking one of the cat’s arms and having it tap Anne’s shoulder. 

Anne turned around and her eyes about popped out of her skull at the sight of the giant cat in her girlfriend’s arms. “Marcy?!” She gasped.

Sasha almost choked on the soda she was sipping as she turned to behold Marcy’s gift. “Oh my God, that thing’s even bigger than I thought.” She said, sputtering.

“Surprise!” Marcy said with a grin as she held the cat out to Anne. “I won this for you over at the midway! What do you think?”

“What do I think?” Anne repeated as she took the gift. She looked at the stuffed cat’s face then to Marcy, eyes sparkling as she smiled brightly. “Mar-Mar, I love it! Thank you thank you thank you!”

Anne leapt up, shifting the cat under one arm so she could pull Marcy in for a kiss. Both girls were blushing heavily when Anne pulled away. She hugged her gift, nuzzling against it while Marcy smiled a dopey, lovestruck smile.

Best $100 I ever spent.

Chapter Text

Sasha Waybright, eighteen and fresh out of high school, reclined on her living room couch as she enjoyed the tranquil June afternoon, sunlight filtering in through the bay window overlooking the family pool. She had her phone out and was browsing apartments, searching for one that was close enough to the university and the Thai Go restaurant.

Sasha stole a quick glance at the time and frowned. It had been almost an hour since she’d texted Anne and Marcy, letting them know that her mom was gone on a business trip for three days, leaving Sasha with the house all to herself. 

In other words, the perfect chance to spend some quality time with her girlfriends. So where were-

The sound of a car pulling up out front interrupted Sasha’s thoughts. She smiled as she leapt up over the couch and sauntered over to the door, throwing it open just as Anne Boonchuy and Marcy Wu stepped onto her patio.

“Hey Sasha!” They said with matching smiles.

“Hey girlfriends!” Sasha said with glee. After all these years of saying that greeting it felt so weird that she could now say that and mean it. Weird but good.

The three pulled in for a group hug, along with their usual greeting: Anne giving Sasha a kiss, followed by Sasha giving Marcy a kiss and finally Marcy giving Anne a kiss.

“Come in, come in!” Sasha said, leading the girls inside. Coolness from the home’s central air unit washed over Anne and Marcy as they stepped across the threshold, providing a welcome relief from the heat of the LA summer.

“So what’s on the agenda, Sash?” Anne asked, shrugging her backpack off her shoulders and tossing it on the couch.

“What isn’t?” Sasha replied with a smile, throwing her arms around the girls’ shoulders. “I got the whole place to myself. Dance party, movie marathon, game night, there’s the pool right out back… I’m down for anything you guys wanna do.”

Anne couldn’t help but smile at Sasha’s offer to let her and Marcy pick the activities. A far cry from their younger years when Sasha would have had their schedule planned down to the minute.

“So what’ll it be?” Sasha asked, looking between her girlfriends.

“Actually I had an idea,” Marcy said. “Didn’t your dad have a billiards table back in the day?”

Sasha raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, we still have it downstairs with the rest of the junk he left here. What, did you wanna play a game?”

“If that’s cool,” Marcy said quickly, holding her hands up with her palms out. “I know that whole business with your parents is kind of a touchy subject-”

“Eh don’t worry about it,” Sasha said, waving her off. “That was years ago and the past is the past. I’m happy to bust out the old pool cues if that’s what you want. Anne?”

“Sounds good to me,” Anne said with a shrug.

“Billiards it is then. To the basement!”

Sasha took the lead as she made her way to the basement door, Anne and Marcy close behind. The stairs creaked beneath their feet as the trio made their way downstairs to the fully-furnished basement: wall-to-wall carpeting with couches and recliners facing a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. The girls’ families may have all been comfortably middle class, but Sasha’s was definitely on the upper end of the scale.

“Why the sudden interest in billiards, Marbles?” Anne asked as they entered a smaller room off to the side.

Marcy shrugged. “No reason. I got to thinking about all the time we spent over here and it just came to me.”

The side-room was mostly empty, aside from a large amount of boxes spilling out of the open closet and a large table covered by a tarp that dominated the center of the room. Sasha whipped the tarp away in one swift motion, revealing the smooth green felt of a billiards table. A quick check of the slot underneath showed all fifteen balls plus the cue ball present and accounted for.

“Man this brings back memories,” Sasha said wistfully as she set the cue ball on the felt, idly rolling it around. “I remember coming down here when I was bored and spent time just taking shots. I wasn’t half bad, now that I think about it.”

Her eyes traveled to a rack mounted on the wall, holding pool cues of various lengths. Sasha picked one up, blew the dust off and lined up a shot. The cue ball took off with a sharp crack, bouncing off the bumpers as it rolled around the table before coming to rest in front of Sasha.

“So how ‘bout it?” Sasha asked, idly twirling the cue stick in her fingers. “Either of you up for a game? Marcy, this was your idea so…”

“Hell yeah I’m in,” Marcy said with an eager grin, grabbing a stick of her own along with a chalk cube resting in an attached tray. “I wanna see if this is as easy as I think it’ll be.”

Sasha kept smiling, but raised an eyebrow at Marcy’s words. “I’m sorry, easy?”

“Well yeah.” Marcy shrugged as she chalked the end of her cue. “When you really think about it, billiards is kind of a nerd's game. It’s all about applying the correct amount of force to your hits and lining up the perfect angle for your shots. In other words, it’s just applied physics and mathematics.” She smirked. “And not to brag or anything, but I did ace both AP Physics and Geometry last year.”

Sasha chuckled as she leaned against the table. “Maybe, but there’s a difference between knowing the science behind a game and actually playing it. You need to play something again and again to build up the skills needed to win. And last I checked, I was the one who actually played billiards all the time.”

“And last I checked, you said you hadn’t played in years,” Marcy shot back.

Anne didn’t miss the competitive tone slowly creeping into her friends’ words. “Hey guys-” she started to say.

“Just what are you implying?” Sasha asked with narrowed eyes, ignoring Anne. “You don’t seriously think your brain can match my skills, do you?”

“Again, skills that you haven’t used in years,” Marcy pointed out with a confident smirk, slamming the chalk down on the table’s bumper.

Sasha stepped right up to Marcy, staring hard. “Are you challenging me, Wu?”

Marcy didn’t back down, looking Sasha right in the eye. “Maybe I am, Waybright. What'cha gonna do about it?”

“Guys-” Anne said again.

“Let’s settle this with a game right here and now,” Sasha said. “And since you’re so confident, why don’t we make things interesting?”

“What did you have in mind?” Marcy asked.

“One round of eight-ball, standard tournament rules. Loser has to do anything the winner says for the rest of the night.”

Marcy blushed faintly at Sasha’s implication. “You mean, anything ‘anything’?”

Sasha nodded and smirked. Marcy smirked right back.

“Okay then. And just to sweeten the deal, winner gets the loser and Anne for the night. Deal?”

Anne blushed heavily, her eyes going wide. “Whoa wait a second-!”

“Deal,” Sasha said, shaking Marcy’s hand. “Sure you don’t wanna give up now and save yourself the humiliation? ‘Cause trust me, there’ll be plenty of that later.”

“Not a chance,” Marcy said. “Besides, I’ve got a few ideas I can’t wait to try. After I finishing wiping the floor with you-”

“Excuse me!”

Sasha and Marcy jumped. They slowly looked over to Anne, who was glaring at them with her arms crossed.

“Um, aren’t you two forgetting something?” She asked curtly. “Like maybe, oh I don’t know, asking me before dragging me into one of your little bets? I got more than enough of that when we were kids, and I thought we were past all that!”

Sasha and Marcy looked down in shame. “Sorry Anne,” they said in unison, her words sending a knife of clarity through their competitive haze.

“Sorry about that, I guess I got caught up in the moment,” Marcy said to Sasha.

“Yeah, I wasn’t much better,” Sasha said with a shake of the head. “Let’s just play a game, forget about the stupid bet.”

“Oh I’m fine with the bet,” Anne said idly. Her girlfriends looked her way, confused, and she smiled. “I wasn’t cool with the way you dragged me in without asking, but I’m more than okay with being a trophy for the winner.” She blushed again, leaning eagerly against the table. “As long as I get a say in whatever the loser has to do too.”

Sasha and Marcy exchanged glances. “I’m cool with that,” Sasha said. “How ‘bout you, Marbles?”

She nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

“Good. Now that we’ve got that out of the way…”

From a slot under the table Sasha produced a wooden triangle frame with rounded edges, setting it down on the felt. “Let’s rack ‘em up.”

Sasha’s palms were sweaty, and she bit her bottom lip as she stared down at the almost-empty billiards table. The game had been slow going at first, with Sasha being years out of practice and Marcy needing time to get the feel of the game. But before long both girls were sinking shots left and right. Now, it was all down to the solid blue two ball - one of Sasha’s - and the black eight ball, which Marcy had just failed to knock into the corner pocket.

“This match is going right down to the wire, folks,” Anne said from the corner of the room as Marcy stepped back from the table, frowning. With nothing else to do, Anne had taken the role of a neutral sports commentator. “Marcy has been commanding a narrow lead over Sasha for several turns now, but just failed to sink the eight. Sasha only has one ball left - if she lands this shot, the eight will be free to both of them.”

Sasha pursed her lips as she examined the table. Based on the position of the cue ball, the corner pocket would have been a perfect shot… if the eight ball weren’t directly in the way. She could try to knock the two around the eight, but if she missed it would leave Marcy with a perfect shot to end the game.

But that worked both ways. The eight may have been between the two and the pocket, but the two was also between the cue ball and the eight.

“Two ball in the corner pocket,” Sasha said, lining up her shot. She gave the cue ball a gentle tap, knocking it into the two but barely moving it and leaving the cue almost directly behind it. A perfectly legal move. Underhanded, but legal.

Marcy narrowed her eyes at Sasha, who smiled innocently. “Oopsie, looks like I whiffed the shot. So sorry I blocked you in like that. My mistake.”

“Ooh, and Sasha goes for a low blow in the endgame,” Anne narrated. “How will Marcy respond?”

Marcy leaned down, putting herself at eye level with the table as she examined the layout. After a minute she stood up with a smirk.

“Eight ball in the corner,” she said as she lined up her shot.

Anne and Sasha leaned in, watching with great interest.

A sharp crack echoed through the room as Marcy struck near the base of the cue ball. The impact sent the ball over the two, where it knocked into the eight to send it slowly creeping towards the pocket…

Where it rolled in.

“Boo-yah!” Marcy cheered, holding her cue over her head in celebration. “That’s game, baby!”

There was a clatter as Sasha’s pool cue slipped from her fingers and tumbled to the floor, followed swiftly by Sasha’s jaw.

“She’s done it, ladies and gentlemen!” Anne said, motioning to Marcy with a flourish. “Marcy Wu has pulled off an impossible shot to win it all!”

“Hell yeah I did.” Marcy leaned her cue stick against the wall and opened her arms. “Can the winner get a victory kiss?”

Anne grinned and rushed to Marcy’s embrace, meeting her with a kiss on the lips. As Sasha watched, her body tensed up and she curled her fingers into fists… before relaxing with a heavy sigh.

“Congratulations Marcy,” she said with a soft smile. “You won fair and square. Good game.”

“Thanks, you played great too Sasha,” Marcy said when she pulled away from her kiss with Anne. “Say Anna-Banana, refresh my memory: what were the terms of our wager again?”

“I believe you agreed that the loser has to do anything me and the winner say for the rest of the night,” Anne said with a grin.

Sasha felt her face heat up as Anne and Marcy slowly turned her way. They fixed her with almost-predatory smiles, a hungry glint in their gazes. A paradoxical mix of fear and anticipation welled up in Sasha’s chest, and she gulped.

I am so screwed…

Chapter Text

Marcy: Are you the big spoon or the little spoon?

Sasha: I’m a knife!

Anne: (sitting across the room) She’s the little spoon.

Sasha: I’m so jealous of you.

Anne: Why’s that?

Sasha: Your girlfriend is so much hotter than mine.

Anne: ? But we’re dating each oth - HEY WAIT A SECOND!

Marcy: Psst, Anne?

Anne: … Hrrm?

Marcy: I want cuddles.

Anne: … Marbles, it’s three in the morning.

Marcy: I said cuddles, not excuses.

Sasha: (introducing Marcy to her mother) Mom, Marcy and I are dating.

Mrs. Waybright: … I see. Well, you certainly have low standards.

Sasha: Mom what the hell?!

Mrs. Waybright: (smirking) I was talking to Marcy.

Anne: Come on, I wasn’t that drunk last night.

Sasha: You kept flirting with me and Marcy.

Anne: So? You’re my girlfriends.

Marcy: Then you asked if we were single.

Anne: …

Marcy: And started crying when we said we weren’t.

Anne: I love you guys, you’re the best thing to ever happen to me.

Sasha: We’re the best thing to ever happen to you?

Anne: Yes!

Marcy: I’m starting to feel a little sorry for you.

(Anne, Sasha and Marcy are having dinner together.)

Anne: Marcy, can you pass the salt?

Marcy: (throws Sasha across the table)

Sasha: That outfit looks great Marcy.

Marcy: Thanks!

Sasha: But I bet it would look even better on Anne’s floor.

Anne: Are you hitting on Marcy… for me?

Sasha: You’re welcome.

Anne: Why are your tongues purple?

Sasha: We had slushies. I had a blue one.

Marcy: I had a red one.

Anne: … oh!

Sprig: … You drank each other’s slushies?

Sprig: Why are Anne and Sasha sitting with their backs to each other?

Marcy: They had a fight.

Sprig: Then why are they holding hands?

Marcy: They get sad when they fight.

(Anne, Sasha and Marcy are playing Twister)

Marcy: Right hand red.

Anne: (ends up on top of Sasha)

Sasha: You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you?

Marcy: I stopped spinning like fifteen minutes ago. I’m surprised you didn’t notice sooner.

Sasha: (looking through her closet) Has anyone seen my favorite top?

Marcy: Anne’s in the kitchen, why?

Anne: Sorry I’m late, I was doing stuff and lost track of time.

Marcy: I’m “stuff.”

Sasha: I’m “lost track of time.”

Chapter Text

The auditorium of St. Flannan Private High School was quiet. The only sounds came from the steady hum of the fluorescent lights overhead in the high ceiling, echoing through the spacious chamber.

Seniors (and secret girlfriends) Anne Boonchuy and Marcy Wu sat backstage, a heavy red curtain separating the area from the main stage and the auditorium proper. Scenery backdrops, racks of costumes and boxes of props were scattered about haphazardly, and it was on one of the largest crates that Anne and Marcy currently sat with their backs to one another. Marcy had her Bintendo Swap out and was engrossed in her latest JRPG, while Anne was mindlessly scrolling through her phone, their faces illuminated by the glow of their devices.

“Any word from Sasha yet?” Marcy asked, breaking the silence.

Anne opened her messaging app. The last text from their mutual friend (and mutual secret girlfriend) Sasha Waybright had said cheerleading practice was running unexpectedly late, and that she’d be at the auditorium as soon as she could. That had been twenty minutes ago, and there was still no sign of Sasha nor another message.

“Nothing,” Anne said with a shake of her head, her messy brown curls bouncing. “Why are we even doing this? It’s not like we can’t practice Sasha’s lines at one of our houses.”

“Something about getting a ‘feel for being on the stage’ or something like that,” Marcy said, rolling her eyes. “I really don’t understand these theater types.”

“Well yeah, you can’t even speak in front of the class during our big group projects,” Anne said teasingly.

“Hey, we have a perfectly good system in place,” Marcy shot back. “You guys handle the presentations to the class, while I do the actual research so you and Sasha can fool around and have fun.” She threw a smirk over her shoulder. “Unless you’d like to spend hours pouring over textbooks, that is.”

Anne scoffed, but smiled. “Please, if me and Sash tried doing any actual work you’d be kissing that straight-A average goodbye.”

“See? No sense in fixing what isn’t broken.”

With that, the conversation died out and the two resumed their respective activities. It was only a few minutes later however that Anne pocketed her phone and let out an overly-dramatic groan, slumping back against Marcy.

“Mar-cyyyyyyy,” she said in a mock whine, “I’m boooored.”

“And what do you want me to do about that?” Marcy asked in an amused tone.

“Fix it,” Anne said petulantly, turning around and poking her girlfriend’s cheek. Marcy giggled and swatted Anne’s hand away.

“You’re a big girl, I’m sure you can find something to keep yourself entertained,” Marcy said, returning her attention to her game.

Anne hmph’ed, but trailed off as she found herself getting lost staring at her girlfriend, drinking in Marcy’s shiny black hair and shimmering hazel eyes. A blush settled across Anne’s cheeks and she smiled as an idea formed in her brain.

Without warning Anne wrapped both arms around Marcy’s midsection, peppering her girlfriend’s neck with kisses. Marcy stiffened and let out a high-pitched meep at such intimate attention, crimson splashing across her own cheeks.

“Anne, what are you doing?” Marcy asked with a giggle, squirming in her girlfriend’s embrace.

“You said find a way to keep myself entertained,” Anne replied, breathing softly in Marcy’s ear. “So that’s what I’m doing.”

“I didn’t mean involving me!” Marcy gasped as she felt Anne gently nibble on the skin of her neck, just below her ear and below her neck. “And we’re at school for crying out loud!”

“So?” Anne asked with a smirk. She let her hands drift down Marcy’s stomach towards her waist. “Classes are done for the day, all of the after-school clubs and activities are in different parts of the building. Until Sasha shows up, we have the whole auditorium all to ourselves…”

Anne slipped her hands under Marcy’s hoodie and shirt. Marcy gasped again as she felt Anne’s cold hands running up and down her stomach, her girlfriend gently nibbling on Marcy’s neck once more.

“We… we shouldn’t be doing this,” Marcy managed to say, electricity racing up and down her spine at Anne’s touch.

“Do you want me to stop?” Anne asked, fingertips dancing on Marcy’s skin as her hands climbed higher and higher.

“I never said that,” Marcy replied with a smirk. She managed to put her Swap into sleep mode, stuffing it into her hoodie pocket before turning her head to meet Anne with a kiss of her own.

Anne was surprised, but quickly closed her eyes and melted into the kiss. Marcy shifted in Anne’s grasp, turning herself around and wrapping her arms around Anne. Anne’s hands danced across Marcy’s back, gently massaging her muscles as the girls made out. As for Marcy, one of her hands found itself on the small of Anne’s back while the other drifted lower to give Anne’s rear a playful squeeze. Anne let out a startled squeak into Marcy’s mouth, much to the nerdy girl’s satisfaction. The kissing went on for several seconds before both girls separated for air, panting heavily and red in the face.

“So that’s how you wanna play, huh?” Anne asked with a smug smile. She leaned in closer and tightened her embrace around Marcy’s torso, hands gripping her sides.

“Anne?” Marcy asked in between pants. “What are you do- iiing!”

Without warning Anne stood up, lifting Marcy along with her. Before Marcy realized what was happening she found herself being turned around and laid flat on her back on the crate they’d been sitting on. Anne leaned forward over her, planting both hands on either side of Marcy as she stared down at her girlfriend with a smoldering gaze, an overhead light directly overhead shimmering around Anne like a heavenly halo. The sight of Anne gazing down at her, combined with the way she’d decisively taken control of the situation had Marcy’s heart hammering in her chest.

“Oh… wow,” was all Marcy could say. Anne giggled.

“Well, I’m definitely not bored anymore,” she said. “How ‘bout it Marbles? Do you wanna go back to your video game or help… keep me entertained?”

Marcy responded by reaching up and grabbing Anne’s shirt collar, pulling her down into a passionate, hungry kiss. Enthralled by Marcy’s boldness but not to be outdone, Anne pushed her tongue past Marcy’s lips. The girls moaned into each other’s mouths as their tongues wrestled for dominance.

Unable to fight the urge any longer Marcy swung both of her legs up, wrapping them around Anne’s waist. Anne responded by planting her feet firmly on the ground and shifting her body, moving against Marcy in a slow, steady rhythm. Marcy in turn started moving her hips, grinding herself against Anne’s core, stomach muscles toned from years of Muay Thai, tennis and other physical activities.

The girls were sweating, their moans increasing in pitch as their makeout session continued. Anne and Marcy moved together as one, feeling the heat building between them. Marcy’s eyes rolled back as Anne shifted above her, putting all of her weight on the smaller girl. Marcy rolled her hips faster. 

Faster. 

Felt the pressure inside of her building and building-

“Ah-hem.”

Anne and Marcy froze, their eyes shooting open. They quickly separated from their kiss and looked up, a thin line of drool connecting their mouths.

Sasha stood nearby, leaning against a costume rack with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at Anne and Marcy with a face devoid of emotion. 

Both girls quickly untangled themselves and returned to a sitting position with their clothes disheveled and their hair messy. Marcy looked mortified. Anne gulped and forced a smile.

“Oh. H-hey Sash,” she said. “Didn’t uh… hear you come in.”

“Yeah,” Sasha said curtly. “I noticed. You two seemed… a little preoccupied.”

Anne chuckled. “Well you were taking a long time to get here, so Marcy and I were just… keeping each other busy…”

Marcy didn’t say anything, the embarrassed expression still frozen on her face.

Sasha sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I can’t believe you two would be so irresponsible as to engage in such lewd acts on school property where anyone could just walk in on you…”

Anne and Marcy looked away, the heat of passion quickly becoming a heat of shame.

“... without me!”

Anne and Marcy looked back to Sasha, confused. The blonde was staring at them, an almost-hurt expression on her face.

“Do either of you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do risky stuff like this in public with you guys?” Sasha asked, throwing her hands up in indignation. “Literally from the moment we started dating, that’s how long!”

Her girlfriends exchanged glances.

“Why didn’t you say something then?” Anne asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I was trying to be a considerate girlfriend and not pressure either of you into stuff you weren’t comfortable doing,” Sasha said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Marcy tugged at the hem of her hoodie. “You’re not mad then?”

“Well I am a little upset that you guys were just going at it without me,” Sasha admitted. She then smiled and walked over to where Anne and Marcy sat, plopping down on the crate beside them. “But like I said, I didn’t think either of you would try something like this, and I didn’t wanna make you uncomfortable by suggesting it. The fact that you went ahead and started doing stuff together on your own… honestly, I’m kinda proud.”

Sasha leaned in and gave her both a kiss on the lips in quick succession, earning lovestruck smiles from Anne and Marcy.

“Thanks for being cool, Sash,” Anne said. “So, did you still wanna practice your lines?”

“Oh there’ll be time for that later,” Sasha said, waving her off. “In the meantime…”

She slid off the crate, turning around and staring at her girlfriends, putting an elbow on the box with her chin casually resting in her palm. “Why don’t you two go ahead and finish what you started? And then I want a turn with both of you.”

Anne and Marcy were happy to oblige.

Chapter Text

It was a cool October evening in suburban LA. High school juniors (and as of a few weeks ago, secret mutual girlfriends) Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu had gathered at Anne’s house for a study date. 

The three girls sat on Anne’s bed, textbooks and loose-leaf notebook paper scattered about as they covered material for their upcoming exams. Specifically Anne and Sasha were the ones doing most of the studying while Marcy, being the straight-A student with the best grasp of the materials, helped by explaining whatever it was that the other girls needed help understanding. It wasn’t easy at times, but Marcy was more than happy to help her girlfriends with their work.

“Hey Sasha?” Marcy spoke up after some time had passed. “I had a question.”

“What’s up Marcy?” Sasha asked, looking up from her history textbook.

“You’ve had boyfriends and stuff before us, right?”

Sasha held up a hand with her palm flat. “Eh, kinda? I ‘dated’ a few jocks back in middle school, but it was more to help my status as head cheerleader, not the real attraction I feel with you guys. Not to mention most of my ‘dates’ were just hanging out at school events and shit, not actually going out to movies and dinner and stuff like we do now.”

“Aw, you hear that Mar-Mar?” Anne asked, lightly elbowing Marcy in the side. “We’re special.”

Marcy giggled. “Right, right. And you’ve already had your first kiss?”

Sasha nodded. “Yup. Bobby Jenkins, eighth grade homecoming. Wasn’t all that great to be honest, he had some wicked bad breath.” She paused to grab her soda off the nightstand and take a few sips.

“And I’ve already had my first kiss,” Marcy went on. “That was with Kevin Foster when we played spin the bottle at Molly Hawthorne’s fourteenth birthday party.”

“Yeah I remember that party,” Sasha said with a nod. She smirked. “So what I’m hearing is Anne is the only one here that hasn’t had her first kiss.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you?” Anne asked with a smirk of her own as she chucked one of her pillows at Sasha.

Marcy chuckled at the display. “Yeah, that’s actually what I’m getting at. It only makes sense if all of us are dating now that Anne should get her first kiss from us, right?”

“Makes sense to me,” Anne said with a nod.

“Right. But… who should be Anne’s first kiss?”

A heavy silence settled over the three.

“That’s… a good question,” Sasha finally said, eyes darting between Anne and Marcy.

Anne found herself blushing as she pondered the problem presented to her. She imagined kissing Sasha and Marcy; both options sounded really good to her. But who should be her first kiss? Could she really choose? What if the girl that didn’t get picked felt cast aside, even if Anne kissed her immediately afterwards?

“Maybe we could flip a coin?” Marcy suggested.

“That feels kind of impersonal for something as big as a first kiss,” Sasha said. “We could squeeze in and both kiss her at once?”

“That seems like it’d be really awkward.”

As Sasha and Marcy continued debating what to do, Anne’s eyes fell on the open U.S. history textbook in front of her. It was open to a section detailing the new states admitted to the union in the 1880’s. She scanned the section about North and South Dakota, and a light bulb went off in Anne’s head.

“I’ve got it!” She said, startling Sasha and Marcy. Anne hopped off her bed and crossed the room to her dresser, digging through the top drawer. She turned, holding out two bandanas to Sasha and Marcy. “Here, tie these around your eyes.”

Sasha smirked as she took the bandana. “Ooh la la, I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing Anna-Banana,” she said teasingly.

“Not like that,” Anne said, blushing. “It’s for solving the first kiss problem.”

“How will blindfolding ourselves help?” Marcy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Just trust me, I have an idea.”

Sasha and Marcy exchanged confused glances, but struggled and tied the bandanas around their own heads, covering their eyes completely.

“Okay, now what?” Sasha asked.

Anne didn’t answer.

Instead she took a deep breath and leaned in, kissing her girlfriend. Then she leaned over and kissed the other. Sparks raced up her spine as she felt her lips touch someone else’s for the very first time.

Sasha and Marcy ripped their bandanas off, eyes wide and blushing. Anne smiled at them, crimson splashed across her cheeks. The girls on the bed looked at each other.

“Did she just…?” Sasha asked of Marcy. “With you…?”

“Yeah,” Marcy said. “And you…?”

Sasha nodded. Both girls looked to Anne, who giggled.

“There, as far as you guys know you were both my first kiss.”

Chapter Text

“Mom? Dad? There’s something I need to tell you.”

Jeff and On Boonchuy looked across the dinner table to their daughter. She spoke with a tone her parents had learned well over the last two decades: it was Anne’s “I need to confess something, please don’t be mad at me” voice. Anne used it when she knew she’d be in trouble (the time when Anne was seven and she broke a window playing baseball in the backyard), or when she thought she’d be in trouble (the time when Anne was ten and she thought she broke the family’s new lawn mower when it was actually just a loose spark plug).

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” On asked.

Anne had her shoulders slumped, eyes darting every which way as she drummed her fingers on the table.

“You guys… love me, right?” Anne asked hesitantly.

“Of course!” Her parents answer instantly.

“Anne, your father and I will always love you,” On said gently.

“You’re our daughter and nothing will ever change that,” Jeff added.

Anne smiled softly at her parents. She took a deep breath.

“I… I like girls. I’m gay.”

On looked to her daughter, eyes wide. She quickly turned towards her husband. Jeff’s face was devoid of expression.

“Oh no,” On said. “Jeff, don’t.”

Jeff’s hand clenched into a fist.

“Jeff…”

His eye twitched.

“Don’t do it… !”

He stood up quickly, chair legs squeaking against the floor.

“Oh God, here it comes,” Anne said with a wince.

Jeff inhaled sharply and opened his mouth.

“Hi Gay, I’m Dad!”

Anne groaned and shook her head with embarrassment. On sighed, bringing an open palm to her forehead as her husband gasped for air.

“Sorry, had to get that out of my system,” Jeff said with a chuckle as he sat back down.

“Uh huh, sure,” On said, rolling her eyes.

“But for real, that’s wonderful sweetie.”

Anne smiled, but there was still a hint of anxiety in her eyes. “You guys are okay with it then? Me… being a lesbian?”

“Of course we are,” On said right away. “It doesn’t matter who you love, you’ll always be our little girl.”

“So, are you dating Sasha or Marcy?” Jeff asked. He frowned slightly at his daughter’s embarrassed blush. “Oh sorry, is it not one of them? You’ve all been friends since you were five, so I just figured…”

“Well no, you’re kinda right,” Anne admitted. She rubbed the back of her head. “It’s sorta… both of them?”

This earned confused looks from both of her parents.

“Wait, how can it be both?” Jeff asked with a furrowed brow.

On’s eyes widened, then narrowed as she leaned forward. “Anne Boonchuy,” she said in a low voice, giving her daughter a stern glare, “if you’re two-timing your best friends so help me God-!”

“No no no, that’s not it at all!” Anne said quickly, frantically waving her arms. “They both know, and they’re both cool with it. They’re, uh… also dating.”

On visibly relaxed. “Oh. Okay good.”

Jeff still looked confused, but less so. “I… think I’ve heard of this? Poly-something?”

“Polyamory,” Anne said. “We all liked each other so we figured we’d just… all date. Is… that okay?”

“Well, I can’t really say I fully understand,” Jeff admitted before shrugging, “but it’s your relationship, not mine. If being with both Sasha and Marcy makes you happy, then I’m happy for you.”

“And I’m just glad you’re not playing around with their hearts,” On said. “Mama didn’t raise a cheater.”

“Yeah no, I’d never hurt them like that,” Anne said, greatly relieved. “Thanks Mom, thanks Dad. I know this was probably a lot to take in, but thanks for being cool with it. I love you guys.”

On and Jeff smiled. “We love you too dear.”

The next morning, Anne was back at her apartment having breakfast with her mutual girlfriends.

“So I came out to my parents and told them about us,” Anne told Sasha and Marcy. “They’re a little confused, but they’re on board with it.”

“Awesome,” Sasha said with a nod.

“Glad to hear it,” Marcy added.

“So what about you guys?” Anne asked. “How’d things go with your folks?”

Sasha reclined lazily on the couch of the apartment she shared with her girlfriends with a bowl of chips in her lap and a rom-com playing on the TV. As she munched on her salty snacks, she picked her phone up off the coffee table and punched out a text with one hand.

Sasha: Hey Mom, I’m bi. also I’m dating Anne and Marcy. like both of them. yes they know, we’re all together.

The reply came a few minutes later: :thumbs-up emoji:

“My mom’s cool with it,” Sasha said.

“Hey Mom, Dad,” Marcy said, sitting in a chair in her parent’s living room. Her mother and father sat on the couch nearby: Mrs. Wu reading a book, Mr. Wu with his laptop on his knees open to some spreadsheets. “I’m… pansexual. Also, I’m dating both of my best friends.”

“That’s nice dear,” Mrs. Wu said with the slightest of nods.

“Good for you,” Mr. Wu said, not looking up from his work. “Are you an architect yet?”

Marcy gave her father a flat look. “No Dad, I just started college.”

“Let me know when you’re an architect.”

Marcy let out a slow exhale. “Yeah, love you guys too.”

Marcy shrugged. “Meh. It went okay.”

Chapter Text

Marcy came home from classes to the sound of yelling.

Marcy frowned as she approached the door to the apartment she shared with her girlfriends, backpack heavy with textbooks slung across her shoulder. From inside she could hear the women she loved talking over each other - not full-on screaming, but still with raised voices. Marcy opened the door to find Sasha sitting at the table near their kitchenette while Anne stood nearby.

“Anne, will you give it a rest already?” Sasha asked, elbow on the table with her chin casually resting in her palm. “You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“Excuse me?” Anne snapped, throwing an arm up in indignation. “Did you even hear what you said today?!”

“Um, is there a problem here?” Marcy spoke up, shutting the door behind her.

Anne and Sasha looked up, their expressions softening slightly.

“Oh hey Mar-Mar,” Anne said. “Sorry you had to come home to this.” She gave Sasha a pointed look. “Someone was acting way out of line today!”

“And someone else is making a big deal out of nothing!” Sasha replied, glaring right back.

Marcy hated seeing her friends fight. She hated anyone fighting but her girlfriends especially. The harsh looks and loud voices from people who should be smiling and laughing together made her want to curl up into a ball in a corner somewhere. In the past, she’d always been one to quickly defuse arguments like this, distracting Anne and Sasha until their fight was behind them.

But Marcy had learned a long time ago that such methods were only good for short-term relief, and would still leave lingering feelings of resentment that threatened to build back up and fuel new fights. Nowadays, she had a different approach.

“Hey!” Marcy snapped.

Anne and Sasha stopped short, looking back to Marcy with wide eyes as she sat down at the table.

“Okay, I don’t know what’s got you two so worked up,” Marcy said in an even voice, “but we’re going to sit down and calmly discuss this like adults until we work it out. Now, what seems to be the problem?”

Anne pointed towards their blonde girlfriend. “Sasha is lusting after my mother!”

Marcy blinked.

Okay, she hadn’t seen that coming.

“I am not!” Sasha insisted. “Okay, so Anne and I went to her parent’s house today to help her mom move some stuff out of the attic, right? Well while we were there she happened to be wearing a very nice outfit and I told her as much.”

“You said she was a milf!” Anne said, mortified.

“She was literally wearing a sweater that said ‘Man I Love Frogs’!”

At Marcy’s flabbergasted look Sasha pulled out her phone, showing Marcy a picture of a smiling Mrs. Boonchuy wearing the sweater in question. Marcy didn’t say it out loud, but the outfit was a good look on her.

“You know damn well what that shirt really meant!” Anne went on, undeterred. “Then you said she should change her name to Mrs. Robinson and kept whistling every time she bent down to pick up a box!”

“Well she thought it was funny!” Sasha said, putting her phone away. “Besides, you have her genes so I’m basically complimenting you!”

Huh. Sasha did have a point now that Marcy thought about it. Anne probably would end up taking after her mother down the road. 

And it wasn’t like Mrs. Boonchuy was un attractive. Far from it, in fact.

“Oh yeah, I’m totally flattered that my girlfriend wants to bang my mother!” Anne said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I do not!” Sasha said. She paused, then shrugged. “Well okay, maybe a little…”

Anne threw her arms up, aghast. “Oh for God’s sake!”

“Look it doesn’t even matter! Your parents love each other and I love you so there’s nothing to worry about,” Sasha said quickly. “All I’m saying is hypothetically if we weren’t together and hypothetically if your mother was single, then… hypothetically I would gladly call her Mommy.”

“Sasha!”

Marcy thought back to her adolescence, and all the time she’d spent at the Boonchuy residence growing up. As much as Marcy loved her own mother, she could be a bit emotionally distant. Mrs. Boonchuy on the other hand was a lot more open with affection towards her daughter and her friends, quick with a joke to make you laugh or a hug if you were feeling blue.

Marcy pulled a spiral notebook out of her backpack.

“So what, are you saying you don’t think your own mother is attractive?” Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow. “Wow Anne, that’s cold.”

“No!” Anne said. “I mean yes! Wait no not- I mean I don’t… Okay that is a loaded question and you know it!”

Sasha giggled at the way her girlfriend blushed and glared at her. “Just think of it this way Anne: I’m admiring what I’ll get to look forward to in the future. And I like what I see.”

“Yeah well you still didn’t need to be so open about ogling my mother!” Anne shook her head, turning her attention back towards her Asian girlfriend. “Marcy back me up here, Sasha’s being a total creep right?”

“Hmm?” Marcy looked up from the sketches she’d been engrossed in doodling. “Sorry what was that?”

Anne glanced down at the notebook in front of Marcy. At the page filled with rough drawings of her mother. One of her in profile. Another of her in that damned sweater. Another still of her in a sundress.

And one of her mom… in a bikini?!

“GAAAHHH!” Anne gripped her hair. “You’re all perverts!”

Chapter Text

It started with a tickle in the back of Sasha’s throat that showed up out of nowhere in the middle of her shift at fitness world. She cleared her throat dozens of times, but that little tickle remained.

Must be dust in the air, Sasha thought.

Then when Sasha left work in the late afternoon, she found herself sneezing as she made her way to her car.

Must be the bright sunlight, Sasha thought.

Then when Sasha got back to her apartment to share a lovely dinner of pad Thai with her girlfriends, she found herself sniffling as her sinuses started to hurt.

Must be the spices in the food, Sasha thought.

Sasha thought nothing of her mildly sore throat and sinuses as she climbed into bed that night, confident that whatever was wrong would clear up after a good night’s rest.

“Uuugh…” Sasha groaned as she stirred in bed, hesitantly opening her eyes. Her nose was stuffed, her throat was on fire, and it felt like someone was squeezing her head in a vice.

With bleary eyes she glanced at the alarm-clock on the nightstand and saw that it was a little after six. Sasha could hear her girlfriends lightly snoring in bed next to her, still fast asleep.

Hesitantly Sasha sat up in bed, and immediately regretted it as head started throbbing. She sucked in a sharp breath through gritted teeth, which in turn triggered a coughing fit. Sasha coughed into the crock of her elbow, trying to keep quiet as possible so as not to wake up Anne and Marcy.

She climbed out of bed, shuffling slowly out of the bedroom and towards the bathroom. The blonde flicked on the lights, the sudden brightness hurting Sasha’s eyes. Her reflection in the mirror had pale skin and heavy bags under bloodshot eyes.

“Shit…” Sasha muttered, her voice a hoarse whisper.

Okay, so she was feeling slightly under the weather. Nothing Sasha Waybright couldn’t handle.

Sasha dug through the medicine cabinet for a bottle of ibuprofen. Though her hands were shaking, she managed to get the bottle open and pop two pills into her mouth. She cupped her hands under the running water in the sink to swallow the pills, grimacing as she did so. It felt like broken glass going down her throat.

Still, she got them down. Give it a little bit for them to kick in and she’d be good as new. In the meantime, Sasha had to get things ready for when her girls woke up.

Sasha stumbled out of the bathroom on unsteady feet. The main room of the apartment was a combination living room/kitchenette. Anne’s cat Domino III was resting on the back of the couch. She looked up as Sasha staggered into the kitchen like a zombie. She flicked the light on over the sink, illuminating the area.

Her head still foggy and her nose clogged up, Sasha got to work. She filled the coffee maker with water, then pulled coffee out of the cabinet and scooped the ground beans into the machine. Marcy needed her coffee first thing in the morning, she couldn’t function without it. Sure Sasha spilled a few grinds with her shaking hands, but she got most of it into the coffee maker.

With the coffee going, she went to work getting the cookware out so Anne could make breakfast. The thought of eating anything right now had Sasha’s stomach doing backflips, but she wasn’t gonna turn down her girlfriend’s wonderful cooking. She pulled a frying pan from the cabinet and tried hard to gently set it on the stove.

But it slipped from her hands and hit the stove hard. The clang of metal on metal echoing through the apartment sent a pang of pain through Sasha’s head, and she gripped the sides of her head with a groan.

“Mmr… Sasha?” Anne sleepily called from the bedroom. “That you?”

Sasha tried to reply that she was fine, that Anne should go back to sleep. But when she tried to talk, all did was trigger another coughing fit.

“Sasha?” Anne asked again as she stepped out of the bedroom, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked at her girlfriend and her eyes widened. “Oh God, you look awful!”

“Good morning to you too,” Sasha muttered in her gravelly voice.

Anne closed the distance between them in a heartbeat, putting a hand to Sasha’s forehead. “And you’re burning up too! Sasha, you’re sick!”

“I’m just a little under the weather, I’m fine,” Sasha insisted, sniffling loudly.

“The hell you are!” Anne took Sasha’s wrists, leading her over to the couch.

“I said I’m fine,” Sasha protested weakly. She tried to pull away from Anne’s grip, but was too weak to break the hold on her wrists. “I need to get things ready for you…”

“You need to rest,” Anne insisted. She put her hands on Sasha’s shoulders and pushed her down onto the couch. 

Sasha’s knees gave out and she landed on the couch with a thud. She tried to get up, but her muscles refused to listen to her.

“Anne?” Marcy asked as she stepped out of the bedroom as well, hand over her mouth as she let out a yawn. “What’s going on?”

“Sasha’s sick,” Anne replied, quickly crossing into the kitchen. “Grab a blanket, would you?”

“Oh crap! I’m on it!”

“I’m not sick…” Sasha mumbled. Once again she tried to force herself to get up, but she felt so tired and the couch was so comfy.

Anne sifted through the cabinets, pulling out medicine and cups. Marcy emerged from the bedroom, carrying a blanket and stuffed teddy bear under one arm, a Valentine's Day gift that Sasha had gotten Marcy some years ago. Marcy laid the blanket across Sasha and stuck the bear under one of her arms.

“I’m fine,” Sasha muttered even as she snuggled the bear. “I have stuff I need to do for you guys…”

“Yeah not happening,” Marcy said bluntly. “You need to rest and replenish your HP. Hey Anna-Banana, we got any cold medicine?”

“Got it right here,” Anne said as she came back to the couch. She had two cups in her hands: one regular cup full of water, the other a tiny plastic cup full of a red liquid. “Lift her head, would you?”

Marcy nodded, gently lifting the back of Sasha’s head. Anne brought the small cup to Sasha’s lips. Sasha winced at the bitter medicine filling her mouth, but quickly swallowed. As soon as the medicine was gone Anne put the other cup to Sasha’s mouth and the blonde eagerly drank it down to get the bitter taste off her tongue, the cool liquid soothing her sore throat.

“That should do it,” Anne said with a nod.

“I’m… fine…” Sasha tried to mutter again, but she couldn’t make herself move. Or even keep her eyes open.

Within seconds Sasha had drifted back off to sleep, snoring gently on the couch curled up with her teddy bear. Anne and Marcy looked down at their mutual girlfriend laying on the couch. She looked so small and vulnerable being sick like this, a far cry from the strong and confident Sasha they were familiar with. 

“Jeez, would it kill Sasha to admit she isn’t invincible?” Marcy asked, rolling her eyes.

“This is Sasha we’re talking about,” Anne said. “She’d sooner die than show any kind of weakness.”

Marcy shook her head. “Well we’re still taking care of her no matter how much of a fuss she raises. Right Anne?”

“Right,” Anne nodded firmly. “But first let’s make sure we don’t get sick too. I saw some immunity-booster multivitamins in the cabinet, I think they’re still good.”

“Good idea,” Marcy said as she and Anne made their way back to the kitchen. “We should also make breakfast for when Sasha gets up. Something bland like oatmeal, so we don’t upset her stomach.”

“Sounds good, but the only one making breakfast is me,” Anne said with a playful smirk.

Marcy rolled her eyes but smiled. “Yeah yeah, I’m banned from cooking, I know. God you start an oven fire one time…”

“Tell you what, you can help by getting things ready. I’m gonna need a measuring cup and a big pot, they’re in the bottom cabinet next to the baking sheets.”

With that the two women got to work on breakfast. On the couch, Sasha mumbled as she tossed in her sleep.

Sasha always took care of Anne and Marcy, and now it was their turn to take care of her. Whether Sasha liked it or not.

Chapter Text

“Honeys, I’m home!” Anne said as she walked through the door to the apartment she shared with her girlfriends.

Sasha and Marcy were on the living room couch watching anime, Domino III curled up between them. The women looked up at the sound of their mutual girlfriend’s voice.

“Hey Anna-Banana!” Marcy greeted. “How was lunch with your folks?”

“It was nice,” Anne said, pushing the door closed behind her and kicking off her shoes. “We tried out my mom’s new chicken khao phat , it was delicious. She gave me the recipe so I can make it myself.”

“Awesome!” Sasha said. She noticed the cardboard box Anne was carrying under one arm. “What’s in the box?”

Anne smiled widely, walking over to set the box down on the kitchen counter. “Oh, my parents also gave me this box of old Halloween decorations. Figured we could decorate the apartment for the season. Check it out!”

Marcy paused the TV, then she and Sasha rose from the couch to join Anne in the kitchenette. She opened up the box to reveal a wide assortment of spooky knick-knacks: electric jack-o-lanterns, styrofoam tombstones, a pile of plastic bones and more.

“Aw, these are adorable,” Sasha said, pulling out cardboard witches dangling from strings. “I gotta ask the landlord if we can hang some of these in the hall around our door.”

“Ooh these are cool,” Marcy said, pulling out some thick silicone squares with skull shapes cut out of them. “Uh, what are they?”

“Novelty ice cube trays,” Anne explained as she pulled out a bundle of old newspapers, unwrapping it to reveal a ceramic black cat underneath. “Lets you make giant ice skulls for like punch bowls and stuff.”

“Hmm, maybe we can have a Halloween party to show this stuff off,” Sasha said, digging through more of the box. “We can invite coworkers or some of our friends from college and - huh? What’s this?”

Anne and Marcy looked over as Sasha reached deep into the corner of the box. She pulled out a bulging envelope, crinkled and tinged yellow with age. Cursive writing on the front read “To Aran, Love On” with a swirly heart doodle next to it.

“Huh, looks like some of my folk’s stuff got mixed in by accident,” Anne said.

“What do you think it is?” Marcy asked.

“‘To Aran, Love On’ huh?” Sasha grinned mischievously as she opened the envelope’s flap. “Ooh, I bet it’s mushy love poems.”

“I mean my mom does like her corny Thai love songs,” Anne remarked with a smirk. “Also ever heard of a little thing called privacy, Sash?”

“Aw come on Anne, there’s no harm in taking a little peak. I’ll put it right back-”

Sasha’s voice trailed off when she pulled a small stack of cardboard squares out of the envelope. She furrowed her brow, then her eyes shot open when she looked at the top square. “... Huh.”

“What? What is it?” Anne asked, she and Marcy coming around behind Sasha to get a look for themselves.

Sasha was holding a stack of glossy photographs, the top one showing Anne’s mother. She was visibly younger, but it was unmistakably Mrs. Boonchuy. She was on her knees on a bed with her hands up behind her head, fixing the camera with a sultry gaze. The black see-through nightgown she wore dipped very low on top to show off an ample amount of cleavage and ended high on bottom to show off smooth legs that went on for miles.

You could hear a pin drop in the apartment.

“Oh,” Anne said neutrally, her face devoid of expression.

“Wow,” Marcy said, crimson splashing across her cheeks.

“Wow is right,” Sasha said with a blush of her own. She started flipping through the stack of photos and smirked, whistling in appreciation. “God damn, who ordered the caramel milf-shake?”

“Did your mom ever do gymnastics or something?” Marcy asked Anne, her eyes widening further as she beheld more of the pictures. “Because she is flexible.”

Being directly addressed snapped Anne out of the stupor she’d fallen into, and her brain finally processed what her eyes were showing her. As a grown woman, Anne handled being exposed to such candid images with maturity and dignity.

“MY EYES!!” She screamed, slapping her palms over her face and stumbling backwards out of the kitchen. “MY EYES!!”

“Aw come on Anna-Banana, it’s not that bad,” Sasha said casually, still flipping through the pictures. “I mean this is pretty tame compared to the kind of stuff you can find online.”

“Plus if it helps, I’m pretty sure this was before your mom even had you,” Marcy said, leaning over Sasha’s shoulder for a closer look. “She looks only a little older than we are now and - oh never mind, some of these pictures look more recent.”

Sasha nodded. “Yup, that’s Anne’s parent’s room for sure, I recognize that gaudy wallpaper anywhere.”

“Aw and look, there’s that picture of Anne at graduation hanging on the wall.”

“THE IMAGES ARE BURNED INTO MY BRAIN!!”

“I think it’s sweet that Anne’s folks still have these,” Sasha remarked. “Shows they still have a healthy love life after… what, over twenty years of marriage?”

“Twenty-five,” Marcy replied instantly. “They just had their silver anniversary not that long ago.”

“Oh right, I think I saw something about that on Facebook.”

“I hope the three of us will be just as happy after a whole quarter-century together.”

Sasha rolled her eyes, but smiled as she leaned down to kiss Marcy’s cheek. “Please, like I would ever stop loving you and Anne even for a minute.”

Marcy blushed, playfully batting her eyelashes. “Aw, Sashimi!”

“I STILL SEE THEM WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES!!”

Sasha opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off by her ringtone. She set the pictures down and pulled her phone out of her pocket, and saw an incoming video call from none other than Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy.

Sasha tapped her phone and Anne’s parents appeared on the screen, both of them looking frazzled.

“Sasha! Marcy!” Aran said quickly. “Listen, we don’t have much time! When Anne came over for lunch today we gave her a box of old Halloween decorations to take home, and we think something very personal got mixed in with them on accident. If you find an envelope in the box whatever you do don’t…”

He trailed off when he saw the looks on the faces of his daughter’s girlfriends. “... You already found it and saw what was inside, didn’t you?”

“Yyyup,” Marcy said, she and Sasha nodding.

Aran sighed and shook his head while On looked mortified.

“How… is Anne?” she asked hesitantly.

Sasha and Marcy looked over at the corner of the room where Anne was on the floor, rocking back and forth in a fetal position and staring off into nothing with a wide-eyed gaze.

“Never be clean, never be clean, never be clean, never be clean…” she muttered in a quiet, broken voice.

“She’s taking it pretty well,” Sasha said.

Chapter Text

Anne’s heart was hammering in her chest as she paced back and forth in her apartment’s living room, waiting for her girlfriends to get home. The boxes in her back pocket shifted with every step, a reminder of just what she was preparing to do. Her cat Domino III lay across the back of the couch, watching his owner with detached disinterest that all cats have.

“Okay, you’ve got this Anne,” the Thai woman said to herself. She wrung her hands together, wincing at how sweaty her palms were. “You’ve been rehearsing this for weeks, you know exactly what to say and how to say it. There’s no reason to worry, right Domino III?”

Domino III yawned, opening his mouth wide.

Anne nodded. “Right, no reason to worry at all. I’ve totally got this, there’s no reason to worry at all. Everything is going to be perfect. Completely, one-hundred percent-”

The sound of the front door opening cut off Anne’s rambling. She froze, feeling her heart skip a beat as her two amazing girlfriends stepped into the apartment.

“Hey Anna-Banana!” Sasha said brightly.

“H-hey guys,” Anne said, gulping. She winced at how nervous she sounded and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “How was the movie?”

“It was amazing!” Marcy said, shutting the door behind her as she and Sasha removed their shoes. She spoke with a voice full of wonder, like she always did when she got going talking about something she was passionate about. “I was wary since you know how Hollywood is with adaptations, but you can tell the writers are huge fans of the games. The characters were perfectly cast, and they packed in so many references to the source material.”

Sasha giggled at Marcy’s impassioned rambling, hooking an arm around her girlfriend’s waist and kissing her on the cheek. “All of that stuff may have gone over my head, but it was still a good movie.”

Anne couldn’t help smiling at how supportive Sasha was of her loved ones, how excited Marcy got about her interests. Just two qualities she loved about her amazing girlfriends.

“So, guys,” Anne said, getting Sasha and Marcy’s attention. “There’s uh… something I’d like to ask you.”

Sasha and Marcy exchanged curious looks.

“What’s up, Anne?” Marcy asked.

Anne took another deep breath.

“Sasha, Marcy, you two are the best thing to ever happen to me,” she said. “You both make me so happy, and you inspire me to be the best version of myself. I know we’ve been through a lot over the years, but in the end we overcame everything life has thrown at us and came out stronger.”

Sasha and Marcy clasped their hands, looking at their mutual girlfriend with stars in their eyes. “Aw, Anne!”

Anne took another deep breath, reaching behind her and into her back pocket.

“We’ve been friends our entire lives, and been together for years now,” Anne went on, fingers gripping the small boxes in her pocket. “And I want us to stay together for the rest of our days. Sasha, Marcy… will you-”

The boxes slipped from her fingers as she pulled them out, tumbling to the floor behind her.

“Shit!” Anne cursed, whirling around. She heard Sasha and Marcy gasp behind her as she knelt down to frantically pick up the boxes. “Hang on hang on!”

She turned back around, holding both boxes out in one hand each. “Will you guys marry me?”

Anne popped the lids with her fingers, realizing too late that she was holding both boxes backwards.

“Damn it!” Anne muttered, quickly turning both around in her hands.

Sasha and Marcy gasped again as they beheld the two rings laying on felt within the boxes: sparkling silver bands with gems set into them; one pink, one green.

“I-I know we can’t actually all get married,” Anne rambled, the words pouring out of her, “b-but I just figured we could all wear these rings and like promise to always be together, and m-maybe we can have a ceremony anyways just to say we had one but if that’s too weird we don’t have to in fact you know what if this whole thing is weird we can just forget-”

Anne was cut off as Sasha and Marcy rushed forward, dropping to their knees and wrapping Anne in a tight hug.

“Yes yes yes a million times yes!” Marcy said with a huge smile.

“Of course we’ll marry you!” Sasha said, nodding rapidly.

Anne froze in her girlfriends’ embrace, her brain not comprehending what her ears were hearing. “... r-really?”

Sasha and Marcy responded by kissing Anne on the cheek. That snapped Anne out of her stupor and she hugged them back, kissing each of her girls in tandem.

“I love you guys,” Anne said with a soft smile. Her voice cracked, and she felt tears of joy welling up in her eyes. “

She pulled her arms back, putting the boxes in one hand and pulling out each ring. “May I?”

Sasha and Marcy extended their left hands. Anne took a ring in each hand, holding them between her thumb and forefingers. She gently placed each one on her girlfriends’ ring fingers.

Then, Anne reached into her other back pocket. From the box she produced she removed a third ring, this one with a blue crystal on it.

She slipped it on and held out her hand, placing it in between Sasha’s and Marcy’s.

The three women said nothing as they stared at the rings on their fingers, symbols of a promise to be together always and forever.

Chapter Text

Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu stood together on the stage, back to back with the spotlight shining down on them. Each woman held a microphone in one hand, a glass full of ice and amber liquid in the other. From the speakers came the sound of steady guitar riffs, punctuated by banging drums. Sasha tapped her foot to the beat as Marcy raised the microphone to her lips and started to sing.

Marcy: “Anne’s mom has got it going on~

Anne’s mom has got it going on~

Anne’s mom has got it going on~

Anne’s mom has got it going on~”

Sasha took a swing of her drink before raising her own microphone to sing, a faint slur to her words. Marcy’s cheeks were slightly flush as she bobbed her head along with the music, interjecting every few seconds.

Sasha: “Anne, can we come over after school~?”

Marcy: “After school~”

Sasha: “We can hang out around by the pool~”

Marcy: “Hang out by the pool~”

Sasha: “Did you mom get back from the restaurant~?”

Marcy: “Restaurant~”

Sasha: “You know that she’s so fine, you know she makes me wa-a-ant~”

Marcy: “Makes me want~”

Sasha: “You know we ain’t the little girls that we used to be~

We are all grown up now, baby can’t you see~?”

Both women whirled around to face one another as they sang in unison, glass raised in the air.

Sasha/Marcy: “Anne’s mom has got it goin’ on~

She’s all I want, and I’ve waited for so long~

Anne can’t you see~

You’re just not the girl for me~

I know it might be wrong but, I’m in love with Anne’s mom~”

Marcy sang by herself again while Sasha took another sip of her drink.

Marcy: “Anne’s mom has got it going on~

Anne’s mom has got it going on~”

Sasha threw her long blond hair over her shoulder as she stepped forward, a sway in her hips and a smirk on her face.

Sasha: “Anne, do you remember when I mowed your lawn~?”

Marcy: “Mowed your lawn~”

Sasha: “Your mom came out with just a towel on~”

Marcy: “Towel on~”

Sasha: “I could tell she liked me from the way she stared~”

Marcy: “The way she stared~”

Sasha: “And the way she said, ‘You missed a spot over there’~”

Marcy: “A spot over there~”

Sasha: “And I know that you think that we’re acting kinda sus~

But since your dad walked out, your mom could use some girls like us~”

Sasha/Marcy: “Anne’s mom has got it goin’ on~

She’s all I want, and I’ve waited for so long~

Anne can’t you see~

You’re just not the girl for me~

I know it might be wrong but, I’m in love with Anne’s mom~”

After the second chorus came a guitar solo. Music blared from the speakers as Sasha downed the rest of her drink and started banging her head, her silky blond hair bouncing everywhere. Marcy moved rhythmically behind her, practically grinding against her girlfriend. As the solo wound down Sasha and Marcy brought their microphones back up, while Marcy hooked the arm holding her now-empty glass around Sasha’s waist.

Sasha: “Anne’s mom has got it goin’ on~”

Marcy: “Got it goin’ on~”

Sasha: “She’s all I want, and I’ve waited for so long~”

Marcy: “Waited and waited~”

Sasha: “Anne can’t you see~

You’re just not the girl for me~

I know it might be wrong but, I’m in love with”

Sasha: “Anne’s mom! Ohhh~ ohhh~”

Marcy: “I’m in love with~”

Sasha: “Anne’s mom! Ohhh~ ohhh~”

Marcy: “Wait a minute~”

Sasha/Marcy: “Anne can’t you see~

You’re just not the girl for me~

I know it might be wrong but, I’m in love with Anne’s mom~”

The song came to an end.

Sasha and Marcy were beaming as they separated and took an exaggerated bow. The rest of the patrons in the bar burst into applause, cheering and hooting.

All except for Anne Boonchuy. Sasha and Marcy’s mutual girlfriend was sitting at a table near the stage, staring at her girlfriends with a gaping mouth and a mortified blush on her cheeks. Over the cheers, Sasha and Marcy could hear Anne shout:

“We are never doing karaoke again!”

Chapter Text

Mae Boonchuy was doing dishes in the kitchen, humming along to the heavy metal playing from the radio beside the sink when she felt something tug at the legs of her jeans. Over the pounding drums and shredding guitar, she heard a tiny voice.

“Um, M-Mrs. Boonchuy…?”

Mae looked down. Little Marcy Wu, one of her daughter Anne’s best friends was staring up at Mae with a teary-eyed gaze, her lower lip quivering.

The sight of a child being upset sent Mae’s maternal instincts into overdrive. Quick as a flash she grabbed a towel to dry her hands, then turned off the radio. She knelt down, putting a comforting hand on Marcy’s shoulder.

“Marcy?” Mae asked gently. “What’s the matter sweetie?”

“A-Anne and Sasha are fighting,” Marcy replied with a sniffle.

Mae raised an eyebrow. She opened her mouth to ask for more details, but stopped and tilted her head towards the ceiling.

Without the loud music playing, she could hear high-pitched voices yelling from directly overhead, where her daughter’s room was.

“What in the world?” Mae asked herself. Shaking her head she stood up, gently taking Marcy’s hand in her own. “Come on Mar-Mar, let’s go see what the problem is.”

Mae led Marcy through the Boonchuy house, up to the second floor. The door to Anne’s bedroom was ajar, and the closer they got the louder the yelling became. Mrs. Boonchuy pushed open the door to see her daughter Anne and her newest friend Sasha Waybright standing just feet apart in the center of the room surrounded by Anne’s toys. They both glared at one another, tiny fists clenched as they talked far too fast for Mae to understand what they were arguing about. In fact, they were so absorbed in their argument that they didn’t even notice Mae and Marcy.

Mrs. Boonchuy put her fingers in her mouth, whistling sharply.

Anne and Sasha froze at the shrill sound. They slowly turned to finally notice Mae glaring at them, still holding Marcy’s hand, the third girl looking at the floor as she huddled close to her friend’s mom.

“Anne Boonchuy,” Mae said sternly. “Fighting with your friends? I’m very disappointed in you, young lady. You and Sasha both.”

“She started it!” Both girls said at once, pointing at the other.

“I don’t care who started it, I’m finishing it.” Mrs. Boonchuy put her free hand on her hip. “Now, Anne? What’s this about?”

Anne stomped a tiny foot, still pointing at Sasha. “Sasha said she’s going to marry Marcy when we’re grown up! But she can’t because I’m gonna marry Marcy!”

Mae blinked.

Okay, she hadn’t seen that coming.

“Why do you get to marry Marcy?” Sasha asked, hands on her hips. “Just ‘cause you knew her first?”

“That’s not the only reason!” Anne insisted. “I’m her bestest friend, I know all her favorite things! Like that she loves Pokemon and mint chip ice cream an-and she has glow-in-the-dark star stickers on her bedroom ceiling! I even helped her and her dad put them up!”

“So what?” Sasha shot back. “I’m the one who knows how to take care of Marcy! ‘Member when Marcy scraped her knee that day we were riding bikes? Or when she got that splinter when we were at the playground? Which one of us went and got help? Me! Who freaked out? You!”

The girls devolved into another round of bickering. Mae heard Marcy whimper as she hid behind her, and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Enough!” Mae said sharply.

Anne and Sasha stopped their arguing and looked back towards Anne’s mom, who knelt down to look them both in the eyes as she spoke in a firm voice.

“Friendship is not a competition, girls,” Mae said. “You can both be friends with Marcy in different ways. You don’t have to let some silly rivalry ruin your friendships with her or each other. Okay?”

Anne and Sasha looked down. Their anger melted away, replaced by shame.

“Yes Mom,” Anne said, at the same time Sasha said “Yes Mrs. Boonchuy.”

Mae nodded. “Good. Now apologize to each other and to Marcy for upsetting her.”

“Sorry Sasha,” Anne said quietly, holding her hands behind her back. “Sorry Mar-Mar.”

“I’m sorry too Marbles,” Sasha said softly, rubbing her forearm. “And I’m sorry, Anne.”

Marcy tentatively stepped out from behind Anne’s mom, sniffling and nodding. “Okay. Just don’t fight like that again, okay? Promise me.”

“We promise,” Anne and Sasha said in unison.

Mae smiled, nodding again. That was one issue down, now onto the other.

“As for why you were arguing,” she said, “none of you will have to worry about marriage for a long time. But when that time does come, Marcy should be the one that decides who she gets to marry. And wether that’s one of you or neither of you, you shouldn’t let her decision ruin what the three of you have. You’re all good friends, and nothing should get in the way of that.

“But… but I don’t want to marry anyone besides Anne or Sasha!” Marcy spoke up, getting the attention of the other three. She fidgeted with the legs of her overalls, her brow furrowed. “And I can’t pick just one of them…”

Marcy suddenly gasped and looked up. Her frustration melted away into elation. “That’s it! I’ll just marry you both! All three of us can get married when we’re all grown up!”

Mae blinked. “Wait, what?”

Anne and Sasha glanced at one another as Marcy’s suggestion hung in the air.

“I’m cool with that,” Sasha said, smiling slightly.

Anne nodded, smiling herself. “Yeah… yeah that could work. All three of us are friends, so all three of us can be wives too! That’s perfect!”

“Um girls-” Mae started to say.

But it was too late. Already Anne, Sasha and Marcy had bunched together, talking excitedly about their future wedding plans with excited eyes and bright smiles. It was as if the earlier argument had never even happened.

Mae chuckled and shook her head, walking out of the room and gently closing the door behind her.

As she walked back downstairs, Mae fished her flip phone out of her pocket and sent a text message to her husband: Looks like we’re going to have two daughters-in-law.

The wordless reply came a few minutes later after Mae had finished the dishes: ?

Taking a seat on the living room couch to relax, Mae texted a brief summary of the last few minutes.

Just the girls being silly, she sent at the end of it all.

Fifteen years later as Mae Boonchuy and her husband sat beside the Plantar family in a beautiful coral park in the heart of Newtopia, watching her precious baby girl standing at the altar, she idly thought back to that day years ago when the girls spontaneously decided that one day they they would all get married.

Just the girls being silly, Mae distinctly remembered thinking at the time.

Now as she watched Anne say her vows in a gorgeous blue dress that sparkled under the Amphibian sun, Marcy in a green dress on her left and Sasha in a pink dress on her right, it wasn’t silly at all.

In fact, it was one of the most beautiful sights Mae had ever seen.