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Normally, Marie could handle horror movies. Callie was the one who would be scared of them. Even the movies she starred in would freak her out on her first viewing.
So when Marie and Agent 4 arranged to watch a horror movie for a date, she expected Agent 4 would be the one clinging to her for comfort. Instead, Marie found herself gripping her girlfriend tightly, her fingers digging into her sleeves. She was almost ashamed to admit how the jumpscares made her turn away from the television, hiding her face in Agent 4’s shirt. Their shared bucket of popcorn had long since been spilled over the couch.
In retrospect, Agent 4 not being scared made sense. Even during her closest calls in Octo Canyon, she never faltered. If that wasn’t enough, her career at Grizzco was also a sign of her unflappable nature. Well, unflappable to all but socializing.
Nevertheless, Marie didn’t expect Agent 4 to be laughing for most of the movie.
Her experience with Salmon Run likely played a part in this. The movie was about a cruise ship that wandered off course and found itself trapped in Salmonid territory. Marie might not have seen salmonids in person herself, but the grotesque creatures that commandeered the ship seemed pretty accurate to her.
Meanwhile, Agent 4 kept mumbling amused comments under her breath. Things like “That looks nothing like a Cohock,” or “A hit like that wouldn’t splat someone.”
One scene that really got to Marie was when an old man was cornered by a crazed Goldie (“Where’s the glowflies?” Agent 4 asked no one). He acted nothing like Cap’n Cuttlefish, but visually, he was the spitting image of her grandpa. Seeing him so panicked… Watching the fear as the salmonid drew nearer and nearer…
The gore didn’t help. When an inkling was splatted, their entire body turned into a blob of ink. They didn’t have stray organs flying everywhere like this movie claimed.
An older inkling doesn’t splat. They usually dried out their bodies to extend their lifespan. It was how Cap’n Cuttlefish could be shot by ink unharmed, or why he couldn’t change forms. So when the goldie bashed the old man in the movie with a frying pan, it was probably the most realistic death it showed yet. And it dragged it out.
Marie had to look away after the third hit, but she could still hear a voice that resembled her grandfather’s crying out in agony, screaming for help. Then he went silent, but the slams kept coming.
She was finally brave enough to spare a glance at the screen when she heard two different characters talking to each other.
She felt an arm wrap around her. She was shaken lightly. A quiet voice asked her, “Are you okay?”
Marie looked up at her girlfriend’s face. The compassion it showed reminded her of one of the reasons she fell in love with her. For better and for worse, Agent 4’s first priority was always to others. There was no real threat. Even if the emotions felt real, this distress was only artificial. And yet Agent 4 was worried for her all the same.
Marie smiled at her. “Totally, just… This movie is way more violent than I thought it would be. How are you holding up? You fight these things all the time.”
Marie was never a big fan of Agent 4’s job at Grizzco. They’d had a few arguments about it in the past, and she fully expected it would be the cause of more in the future. But now wasn’t the time to chastise her. Agent 4 had a bad habit of hiding when something bothered her. She might have been laughing at the movie the whole time, and her laughs sounded genuine, but Marie just had to assuage the fear that it could be a facade.
“I don’t fight these,” Agent 4 said. “These aren’t salmonids.”
“Yeah, they’re CGI, but they are pretty convincing.”
Agent 4 shook her head. “Not really. They don’t look right, and they don’t act right. Salmonids would attack a ship like this in their territory, but they wouldn’t go for the engine first. Or at all. They want intruders to leave, so they would make sure they had a way out. Even if uh…” Agent 4 avoided Marie’s gaze. She often tried to downplay how dangerous Salmon Run was, so Marie figured the hesitation was her trying to figure out how to gently word her next point. Even softer than usual, she finished, “Even if they don’t let everyone out.”
“Hmmm…” Marie hummed. Agent 4’s meaning was clear, but before Marie could say anything else, Agent 4 brushed a finger on her cheek. Agent 4 pulled the finger back wet. Marie must’ve been crying. Callie could never know about this. Marie would never hear the end of it.
“Should we stop the movie?” Agent 4 asked.
“Nah, it’s cool,” Marie said as she started to pull herself away. She regretted not being as close to Agent 4, but she was trying to show her bravery. “Besides, I want to see how it ends.”
She chose a bad time to look at the screen. Pretty quickly she was buried into Agent 4. It took a lot of restraint to not enter squid form to better curl up against her.
“Two?”
Marie could feel Agent 4 struggling to reach for the remote. Her voice muffled, Marie said, “Really, it’s fine Four. I’ll just… watch it like this.”
“Mhmm,” Agent 4 hummed an acknowledgement. Marie felt something press against her head.
Amused, Marie looked up at her and said, “That’s not fair.”
“Hmm?” Agent 4 gave her a questioning look.
“How come I get a kiss and you don’t?” Marie asked. While Agent 4 failed to stammer out a response, Marie planted one on her cheek. This only made her more flustered. Cod, how Marie loved the smile that grew on her face as she turned away. How could one inkling be so cute?
Eventually, Agent 4 stopped stumbling over her words and kept her mouth shut. She looked back to Marie and, with her spare hand, signed out the phrase, “ I love you. ”
“I love you, too,” Marie said.
Agent 4 pulled Marie closer, then looked back up at the television. There was disappointment on her face. “Oh.”
Marie looked over and saw the credits scroll up the screen. “Whoops, guess we missed the ending.”
“Want me to rewind it?” Agent 4 asked.
“No,” Marie answered too quickly. Agent 4 giggled at that. It almost felt cruel to shut her up with another kiss on the cheek.
While her girlfriend stammered over her inability to process affection, Marie straightened up her sitting position without moving away from Agent 4. Removing her hands from Agent 4’s sleeves, Marie wrapped an arm around her instead. She pulled her close and used her shoulder as a pillow. It was a little awkward when Marie was taller than Agent 4, but she made it work.
She didn’t get to do this very often. Normally, when they sat close together like this, it would be Agent 4 leaning into Marie. Not that she minded, but it was nice to be on the other side of it for once. She felt so comfortable and warm. No wonder Agent 4 did this so much. Marie could definitely see herself getting used to this.
Inconveniently for her partner, who intended to return home after this date, Marie inadvertently fell asleep. But it would be incorrect to call her unfortunate for this, because Agent 4 soon found herself falling asleep just as easily.
When the two woke up the next morning with a blanket draped over them and a pair of pillows stuffed under their heads, they would find themselves to only suffer a little teasing from Callie.
A little, of course, meant all the way until Agent 4 left after breakfast.