Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

To be honest, Charlie only really signed up to be a camp counselor for the community service hours on his record. It's not that he doesn't like kids, it's just that… If he didn't have to do something, he wouldn't bother. But between Quackity and his mom's insistence, he signed up, figuring that at least camp counseling wouldn't be boring. Unfortunately, he had failed to consider that one of the other camp counselors would so endlessly get on his nerves. The worst part was that not only could he not just change his mind, but the two of them were assigned to the same group of kids. He was going to go insane and he didn't even have service to call someone to complain about it.

Charlie was snapped out of his thoughts by the other counselor clearing their throat- now that he thought about it, he didn't actually know their name. "Hola niños, me llamo Mariana y este es Charlie, nosotros somos los supervisores del campamento para tu grupo" He jolts a bit at his name, apparently the lack of name knowledge was one-sided. Mariana, huh? "Yo hablo español y ingles, pero soy mejor con español"

Mariana clears their (his? her?) throat again, deep brown eyes flicking over to Charlie (and letting the golden rays of sunlight flash through them) as they stumble a bit over their words "Uh- en ingles… Hello kids, I am Mariana and this is Charlie, we are the…" Mariana glances at him, seemingly having forgotten the word. "Camp counselors" Charlie supplies after a moment of just staring at the way the sunlight shone through their near-black hair and outlined their body, impatiently tapping his foot. The other counselor flushes a bit, stuttering to continue "De acuerdo, sí, the, uh, camp counselors for your group. I speak Spanish and English, but I'm… better with Spanish." They nod a bit to themselves.

Charlie waves, forcing his gaze away from where he'd been staring at Mariana to address the kids "I only really speak English, sorry. Still, feel free to come to either of us if you need help with anything. If you have any concerns with not being able to do an activity or something, just say so. We can adjust it, the important part is your safety." As he finishes speaking, Mariana fumbles to translate it to Spanish.

And that's how it started, six weeks of counseling with the most annoying man in the world. (He'd figured out Mariana was a guy because one of the kids had asked for their pronouns, thank god he didn't have to ask himself. He/she, he reminds himself) Mariana had seemingly made it his personal mission to ruin Charlie's day. Any time he'd make a suggestion, Mariana would refute it, seemingly just to make his life harder. More than once, they'd forgotten to watch the kids because they were busy arguing and the kids had taken the opportunity to cause chaos.

Mariana would repeatedly give him all the bad jobs and Charlie would make a point to do them in such a way that Mariana would be forced to go over them herself just to share that suffering. With the help of some of the kids, he and Mariana got into a prank war of sorts, intentionally making each other's life harder. They would take turns to visit civilization on Saturday afternoon and grab new materials, often grabbing prank materials and things the kids request. Charlie learns so many Spanish insults from arguing with Mariana. The only line neither dared cross was something that would hurt the kids.

One kid was definitely a soft spot for the two camp counselors, since her allergies meant the largely outdoors activities of the camp were often too much for her. Why she was here, they rather quickly deduced, was largely due to her parents just simply not caring enough to take care of her themselves or even just to find a camp that fit her needs better. If there was one thing they agreed on, it was that Juanaflippa deserves way better than those bastards. Whenever they'd have an activity that she couldn't participate in, one of them would take her and any other kids who couldn't or just didn't want to participate and do some fun inside activity and the other would take all the rest to do the original plan.

Despite Mariana, he found that he was genuinely enjoying his time as camp counselor. Maybe Quackity had a point with all his begging Charlie to join him out here, even if the one year he'd actually signed up he found out last minute that Quackity wasn't even doing it. Something about a law internship, or whatever. Out of spite, he refused to use his every other week shopping trips to call Quackity and update him.

It was also Mariana's first year volunteering as a camp counselor, actually. He's kind of surprised, because you'd think they'd have more reservations about pairing two first-timers together. They probably just didn't have enough recurring counselors to pair the newbies up with more experienced volunteers.

Overall, it was going surprisingly well. Don't get him wrong, they made plenty of mistakes, but… It's not been as bad as it could have been.

Unfortunately, as if sensing his positive thoughts and being drawn to them like a plague to society, Mariana returns from shopping with a vengeance. It's week three, and he's decided that the best use of their camp time is gathering the kids to hide tiny dinosaurs around camp and declaring whoever's dinosaur is found last wins. Inside only, of course, but still. He keeps finding dinosaurs. There aren't even this many kids in their group. Charlie's pretty sure Mariana hid like fifty on his own. There was a toy dinosaur in his water bottle. His water bottle.

Charlie's revenge, delayed by his lack of supplies up until his own shopping trip, is teaching the kids how to make slime and letting them decorate the cabins with it. Mariana just smugly reminds him that he has to clean it up afterward. He wants to strangle her.

Two days later, they split the group into two teams and have an art contest to create the best representation of the other team's counselor. It ends in a tie after Charlie tries to waterboard Mariana for insinuating that the slimy green blob her team made was a better representation than the evil witch caricature of Mariana his team made. The next day, Mariana returns from a shopping trip to find that all her clothes are badly dyed yellow. (Thank god one of the kids knew how to make yellow dye from natural ingredients and could teach all of them)

And that's how it goes. One day at a time, prank after prank after prank, teaching kids useful skills like how to dye someone's hair without them knowing (Charlie's hair is now lime green), how to not wake up your canvas (Somehow, they managed to cover both his arms and his chest before Mariana woke up), how to plan behind someone's back (Charlie still doesn't know how Mariana and the kids managed to coordinate that haunted cabin trick) and how to trick someone into eating slime (Mariana claims that the aftertaste never really leaves but Charlie knows from experience that he's exaggerating)

Overall, terrible for his sleep schedule, and probably going to get the camp some complaints if certain kids tell their parents about all this, but that's not their problem. Before Charlie knows it, the six weeks are up. He'll miss the kids, he knew that, but his breath catches when he realizes that he might… Also miss Mariana, when this is over? She's a bastard and he hates him but… The thought of the permanent marker drawings being finally washed off her thinly defined musculature makes his heart race in a way that he tries to convince himself is rage at the revenge being less permanent than the hair dye. But he has to admit that it'd be just as easy to re-dye his hair brown as it would be to scrub the marker off her pale flesh. (He tries not to think how his imagination pictures him helping her scrub it off) Alarmingly, he finds himself lost, adrift, at the thought of the prank war ending. At the thought of Mariana no longer being around to be a thorn in his side, a rose bush encircling his limbs.

He puts off the thoughts until he can't anymore, and when he goes to say goodbye his words get caught in his throat. In the end, their goodbye is less an exchange of words and more of a stumble, a fall. A push, and then a collision.

Kissing Mariana was somehow both exactly and nothing like he imagined. She's bright, like the sun taken mortal form, and just as hot as that too- he scorches Charlie just as much as she brightens up his life. He's a breath of poisoned, intoxicating air. But when it comes to actually kissing her, most of Charlie is just focused on the heat of her breath against his, the softness of their lips interlocking, the rapid heartbeat in both of them. They feel a proximity that had previously been reserved for assault, and he almost forgets that they're falling to the ground in the sheer intimacy of it. Mariana grunts as she barely stops them from falling to the ground, but just as he pulls away they interlock once again for another round of it. Even more background than the falling is the audience and his already red face only gets redder as he remembers the small detail that all of the kids are still there and watching.

He almost turns a breath of air into this reminder, but their mouths meet once again and he can't help but melt into it rather than end the dizzying rush with awareness.

Both an eternity and no time at all passes before they're pulling back for real this time, equally red and giggling a bit even as the high wanes and worries rush back in. The audience is a mix of cheering and jeers, all in good fun, the regular ews of a bunch of kids watching people kiss. Charlie can't keep the grin off his face, not that he's really trying. Even though they've ended the kiss, they're still holding each other. Reluctantly, Charlie pulls away a little more.

He watches as Mariana's brow furrows at this, pulling him back toward her a bit, but keeps back as he wordlessly hands him a post-it note with his number messily scribbled on it. Looking down at it, Mariana's eyes widen. She looks between him and it a few times before lunging forward to lock him into yet another kiss. When they break apart that final time, Mariana breathes "So, dating?"

Charlie, somehow, manages to be stunlocked by this. Mariana kisses his forehead and suddenly reeling, he nods rapidly "Yes, yes I'd-" Charlie breathes raggedly "-I'd like that. Dating."

And in the end, he thinks that this is definitely the best way this community service thing could've gone.

…He's so not looking forward to explaining this to his friends.

Chapter Text

As soon as he can without being seen as rude, Charlie shuts himself into the room he's borrowing for his stay. They're saying that it'll be at least a month before they can go back home, probably longer. They're also saying that it won't be the same afterwards. Apparently the hurricane completely decimated their house and their evacuation was almost too late. It's only been two days and he's already sick of it here. The poorly hidden disgust, the pity and false compassion… Charlie hates rich people so bad. They're just a charity case, a poor helpless family whose house was destroyed by the hurricane. It's taking all his willpower to not snap.

On the plus side, despite generally being a dick, the rich pricks' son is hot. He's also around Charlie's age, not that it really matters. He would rather stab himself in the eye with a fork than actually talk with the asshole for any longer than necessary. Unfortunately, none of the adults seem to care if the way they keep telling him to hang out with the bastard is any indication. According to every adult ever, a shared age is all it takes to be friends.

This, along with a variety of other snide comments, is the reason Charlie darts into privacy as soon as possible. He'd rather not get in trouble because he maimed the son of a bitch, even if it's deserved. He knows none of the rest of them would see it the same, and he'd rather not get kicked out of his only shelter.

One of the many downsides of evacuating the only home he's ever known is the fact that he doesn't have anything to do. Aside from assault, of course, which isn't an option for the aforementioned reasons.

Charlie is a social person. It's just how he is. He spends many of the hours of his day talking or messing around with his friends. It's part of the reason all of this is so distressing; He can't do that here. Most of his time spent not with friends is spent on chores or rotting in bed. Here, he doesn't have chores and he doesn't have friends. He has nothing to do but waste away and listen to rich assholes try to discreetly insult him and his family.

He abruptly stands up from where he'd been laying loosely on the uncomfortably fancy bed. These fuckers are rich, surely he could read something? He's not much of a reader- it's boring and hurts his eyes- but it's probably better than contemplating the exact way he'd maim each of their "charitable hosts" if he was in a world without consequences.

There's one flaw with this plan: he has no fucking clue where they keep their books. Which means he has to ask.

His first plan is just to wander until he (hopefully) eventually finds it, but this hope is quickly crushed when he almost immediately runs into the son. Luckily not literally, though only barely. It's fine. He can just ask where they keep books and then move on with his day, as long as the bitch doesn't try to strike up a conversation!

"Oh, hi. Are there any books I can borrow?" Charlie asks, trying to be polite if only so that the interaction would go faster.

The idiot nods "I think you're allowed free reign of the library. Are you much of a reader?"

"Not really" Charlie admits "Just bored. Where's the library?"

"I'm not much of a reader either" Dickhead shares conspiratorially, grinning "I'll show you"

Fucker shows him the way and, to Charlie's dread, continues to try to strike up conversation between the two of them. Something in his abysmal sense of direction is telling him that if he ever wants to return here, he's going to have to ask again and then the son of a bitch will take that as interest rather than an inability to remember places for the life of him.

Charlie's very glad that by the time they've reached the library, Bastard has seemingly gotten the memo and stopped talking. That doesn't mean he leaves, but it does mean that Charlie is able to focus on the guy's looks rather than his annoying ass rich boy attitude. He grabs a book, but between every few words he gets distracted adjusting his position or staring at the fucker flaunting his hotness by just sitting there, writing something on a piece of paper. He's sitting at such a distance that there's a vague fuzziness to his shape and there'd be no way for Charlie to get close enough to read whatever he's writing without the dumbass catching on.

Boredly, Charlie flips to where he's laying halfway off the chair, head facing the ground, and despite the blur he can see how the bitch double-takes when he glances over at him. Really only his own fault if he's not experienced enough with seeing people sit in chairs wrong to just accept it immediately.

He's not entirely certain what he's reading, he hasn't been paying attention. The book is still flipped to page one, he's just been rereading the first few sentences for the past however long. Or, well, he's mostly been trying to figure out how to discover what the dick's writing based on arm movements and getting intermittently distracted imagining what he would look like up close. Because of the blurriness. Not for any other reason that would involve closeness.

Charlie doesn't realize how long he's spent in the library until some girl- a servant, he's pretty sure- comes in saying that they've been looking for them because it's dinner time. Reluctantly, he puts the book down, and follows the servant to the dining room with the asshole at his side.

Dinner is just as terrible as the last two times, and he still goes to bed right afterwards. The next day after breakfast he gets the idiot to show him back to the library and spends that day in a similar fashion to the last. He doesn't even have to ask again after lunch, the bastard (Mariana is his name, he thinks) just gestures and guides him back over. He doesn't even really try to talk with Charlie, which he appreciates. Once again, he likes talking but Mariana is a bastard and he would rather commit great bodily harm to himself than talk to him for longer.

From then on, that's how his days go. Maybe Mariana notices Charlie's staring, maybe he doesn't. Either way, he doesn't mention it. He doesn't even mention how little Charlie's read of the book, in fact in front of the adults Mariana implies that he's read more than he has and is super invested in it. From listening in on dinner conversation, Charlie figures out that he was writing letters to his grandparents while in the library.

Even as Mariana finishes the letters, he still stays with Charlie in the library every day. Despite telling him that he wasn't much of a reader, Mariana consistently finds some book or another to fill his time with. Based on the couple of times he's caught Mariana staring back at him, he's pretty sure the rich bitch has similar reasonings to him. He can claim he's studying all he wants, Charlie isn't buying it.

This arrangement is also how he finds out that the room he's staying in is just across the hall from where Mariana sleeps. He's not entirely sure why a guest room is so close, since this place is absolutely massive and there's surely other places, but it's not his place to question, really. Probably something to do with the whole pity goodwill thing.

One day, a week or two into his stay, Mariana breaks the routine and speaks. "So Charlie, how do you feel about sneaking out?"

Charlie squints at him from his usual spot barely clinging to the chair "Is this a trick question?"

"No" Mariana promises "I know a route"

Charlie flips back around to where his legs are the things hanging off the chair rather than his head "Like, right now?"

"Later" He corrects "Meet me in my room after dinner tonight if you want to come"

Charlie stares at him for a long moment, and ends up just returning to the status quo without responding. Despite that, when dinner is over and done with he finds himself in Mariana's room, listening to Mariana quietly explain the route.

They meet up with one of Mariana's friends in the park.

"¿Quien es este?" The red-cloaked stranger asks, gesturing towards Charlie.

Mariana grins "Roier, este es Charlie, he and his family are staying with my family because of the hurricane. Charlie, this is Roier, a good friend of mine"

Charlie nods politely, still in that autopilot be-polite-so-his-parents-don't-yell-at-him state.

"So you invited him out?" Roier asks, tilting his head a bit.

Mariana shrugs "Why not? It's not like he has anything else to do"

"Maybe next time I'll invite the girl my family is sheltering" He jokes "She'd probably tell on us"

"You also got someone?" Mariana inquires, surprised (for some reason).

"Sí, and her family" Roier nods "Her name is Jaiden"

Charlie perks up a bit at the sound of his friend's name "Jaiden? As in Jaiden Animations?"

Roier grins "I think so, yes, do you know her?"

"I do" He confirms, grinning.

That would not be the last time he snuck out with Mariana, and later Roier would actually bring Jaiden. It was nice to actually talk with a friend again, even if it meant more interaction with Mariana. (He fondly recalls the one time he got away with pushing the prick into a river)

Jaiden has at this point taken the opportunity to tell Mariana several stories from back home, which has unfortunately emboldened the man into pestering him to talk even during the day. Apparently the only thing stopping Mariana from continuing to be a complete bitch was the perception of Charlie not being talkative and now that Jaiden's corrected him, he's gone back to his asshole-ish ways.

They get into quite a few fights now that Mariana's ceased to be able to shut the fuck up. Jaiden and Roier seem to delight in his suffering because they only add fuel to the fire.

It all culminates into the one day when they've snuck out, just the two of them. Roier and Jaiden made up some excuse last time why they wouldn't be there, but Mariana and Charlie figured they might as well sneak out anyway. There's a lot more to do outside the house.

They end up playing catch with some random ball they found in an empty park, and the game of catch devolves into a wrestling match. Somehow, they end up collapsed onto each other in a random field with the ball rapidly rolling away. Someone passes by and they rush to pretend nothing was happening and end up in a somehow even more compromising position. They bonk their heads together in an attempt to untangle and somehow that turns into a kiss.

The actual feeling of the kiss is mostly overshadowed by the realization that Mariana was kissing back.

(…Maybe, if they do it again some other time, he'll actually get to savor it.)

They untangle and return home and mutually, unspokenly, decide not to ever mention it.

Their dynamic changes from then on, though. They may not ever talk about it, but they both know what happened. No matter how much Roier or Jaiden presses, it's their secret to keep.

They'll probably tell some day.

Chapter Text

Mariana wasn't supposed to be there. She wasn't supposed to go down to the mortal plane for another few hundred years, but he missed her husband. Even if it wouldn't be able to see him, she wanted to see its face. Hear its voice.

Slime was just kind of staring off into space, curled up in a ball and melting into themself. They weren't looking too hot, and Mariana just kind of stood, invisible, staring at them. He missed them. She wishes more than anything that taking that deal hadn't taken them from him. Maybe she wouldn't have agreed if he had known.

She would've moved closer, maybe touched his face, but being new to this form he wasn't sure how to. It was different than it was back in the void where she had been learning. Still, he tries to take a step forward and only succeeds in making herself dizzy. He whines a bit, she just wants to hold his husband in her grasp like before. He just wants to touch him. Suddenly, Slime's head snaps up and he looks directly at her.

For a moment, he's sure that despite everything she's ever been told, his husband can see her. Maybe Slime's just special. But then she gets up and Mariana, to his embarrassment, realizes that she was standing between Slime and the door. She was just looking up to see who was knocking on the door.

Mournfully, he watches as her husband invites a friend into its house and tries to pretend it hadn't just been rotting on the floor. He soaks in as much of her husband as he can and then, reluctantly, pulls back. She opens his eyes back in the void feeling no better. She still misses it, and he gets the feeling that she always will.

*****

Once upon a time, there was a man who lived a tumultuous marriage.

The man was devout in a way that his husband just wasn't, praying to the Goddess of Life every day and every night. And just as often as he prayed, he fought with his husband over the littlest things. Everyone who knew them had an ongoing bet on how long until they divorced- no one had faith they wouldn't.

Life, likewise, did not feel their connection was strong enough to be a reason not to visit Mariana to thank him for the devotion with a Gift.

One night, the man went to sleep and dreamt of wings. Life appeared to him in a flutter of feathers and the barking of dogs, light shining through like the sun through leaves. Through the fog, a hand reached out and a halo was gifted. A thanks, from a little-worshiped Goddess to Her most devout.

When he woke up, the man remembered little more than flashes but knew what had transpired due to the ring of light atop his head and the pure white wings on his back. An Angel newly made, and an argument shortly to follow.

Relations between the man and his husband only spiraled further from there, and the man looked to his Goddess for guidance. After many long nights and even more long hours, She replied with an offer.

This time appearing as a chorus of chirping and a stampede of hooves, the Goddess once again reached Her hand through the fog and gave the man a choice. Join Her in Godhood, gain extraordinary powers and true immortality, or remain as Her Angel in the mortal realm and keep trying to fix his failing marriage.

The answer was obvious.

*****

It's been hundreds of years since Mariana last saw his husband, but she's been cleared to visit the mortal realm for the first (official) time since he became a god. She's not going to waste the opportunity. He's even allowed to appear, just this once!

She knows what the other gods think of his continued determination to see her husband again, namely that it's a waste of time and that he deserves better than him, but she also knows they're wrong. They don't know Slime like he does. She's very glad his husband is mostly immortal from his slime side so Mariana doesn't have to worry about losing him.

It doesn't take long to find her. She's kept track of his husband as much as possible and it proves useful now. Invisible, she warps into the mortal realm to find Slime alone. Perfect.

She approaches his husband, directing the wind to brush against it. She lets himself fade into visibility from her spot a few feet behind it, trying his best to look like how she looked when he left. She clears his throat.

They look behind them, eyes widening at the sight of Mariana. Their gaze rakes across her body, greedily drinking it in even as they sit clearly in disbelief. "Hola" Mariana greets awkwardly, well aware of the way his voice doubles up on itself like a small choir even as she tries to wrestle it into one solid thing "I missed you"

Slime's response is little more than a choked sob. Still, Mariana makes out his name in the garbled mess that is her husband's return greeting.

"I'm sorry for leaving" He says "I would've returned sooner if I could have"

Her husband makes another garbled sound, and then- "Why then? Why'd you leave?"

"I didn't have a choice" Mariana tells them, earning a snort "No, seriously, try to tell me that it's a choice when a God asks if you want to Ascend to Godhood"

Slime kind of stares at him for a long moment, but eventually he brokenly replies "I missed you too. Next time, fucking tell me"

Mariana lets out a short burst of laughter "I wasn't exactly given a warning beforehand, man! One night I was going to bed on a normal night and then I have a dream that I get offered Godhood and accept it, and then I wake up in a void and I'm told it'll be a few hundred years before I gain enough power to appear to mortals again" Her voice softens "I'll try, though. Just for you"

Slime blinks a few times and pinches itself "Enough power- Do you have to leave again?"

Mariana freezes a bit "...Sí. Pero yo- But I will try to stay in touch. It may be hard"

"...Okay" Slime says "Kiss me"

He sputters a bit, not expecting that "What?"

"You heard me" It stares at her, daring him to disagree. She breathes one long breath, just admiring it. Then, he rushes forward and presses her lips against its.

It's not quite the same as before. Slime tastes of slime less than before, and every so often Mariana forgets to uphold collision and they slide into each other, but it's good. Really good. He missed this.

The moment is over far too soon. She pulls away, feeling the tingling that he knows means she has to leave. He takes a breath, commiting her husband's scent to memory "I have to go. I love you"

Slime gapes a bit. Even before this all, they never really said 'I love you'. She still manages to respond before he disappears "I love you too. You better fucking stay in touch."

Mariana grins at it, allowing herself to fade away with the final words of "I will try"

He blinks and she's back in the void. He already misses the feeling of her husband's skin against his, but it's time to be a God again. She smiles a bit, though, because at least he got to see them. She knows that right about now, they'll be noticing that their injuries have rapidly healed. Maybe one day, they'll be his Angel like she was once Life's.

For once, he's looking forward to the future.

Chapter Text

"Festival day!" Slime chirps right in Mariana's ear. Ove groans, turning to oves side in attempt to avoid ser attempts to wake vum up.

The two of them would be on Riso for the next few clocks, but the Life Festival only lasts one clock. At least according to Slime, it was important they woke up on time and participated in each sector. Admittedly, this was their first festival since they started dating, so ove guesses a bit of excitement is warranted. Still not worth waking up at standard sunrise, but a bit more understandable. Mariana would argue that one could celebrate the 6 sectors of life at any time, but since they were in Riso, Slime wanted to go on the guided history tours at four after noon.

Reluctantly, Mariana narrowly opens oves eyes. Slime is beaming at vem, bouncing up and down. Ove fondly remembers how difficult it was when they first met to get used to Slime's body language, but now ove can proudly say that se's fairly easy to read. That being said, ove's pretty sure ove would've been able to read the excitement in Slime even back then.

Just for sen, ove gets up, rolling oves eyes fondly. "C'mon" Mariana pushes sen "I can't get ready if you're sitting on me"

At that, Slime's eyes widen and se rushes to get off, still bouncing in place, practically vibrating. Mariana chuckles a bit and moves from oves nest to grab some clothing from the pile. Se truly is like ser namesake, probably because se chose ser name serself.

Ove doesn't spend long getting ready, aware from the clock on the wall that they only have a part before the festival starts, even if sector 1 is for family. Mariana's glad Slime got ready before waking vem up, se would take the whole first sector getting ready if se wasn't up early.

As mentioned, sector 1 of the Life Festival is for family. Traditions vary across the galaxy, but Mariana grew up with the first sector being spent spending time with oves family and preparing the meals that would be eaten throughout the rest of the day. Since all Mariana has at the moment is oves partner Slime, that's who ove'll be spending time with this sector. The only other Life Festival ove's known Slime for, they celebrated separately, so ove's not actually sure what ser traditions are.

"Oh, uh" Slime stutters when ove asks "I don't- didn't really have a family until you, so. Sector 1 was, uh, I mostly spent it alone since all my friends would be with their families. As for uh- General traditions? I never really celebrated till I left home, so I kind of picked up assorted stuff from whoever I met along my way. I dunno. I don't have anything concrete"

They end up agreeing to just make it up as they go along. While Mariana has oves own traditions, ove doesn't want to impose that onto sen. Besides, maybe it'll be more fun celebrating if ove mixes it up a bit.

(Admittedly, this decision is heavily influenced by the fact Mariana hadn't been able to get Slime a gift beforehand and agreeing to this meant they could just go shopping during sector 3 instead. Not that ove'd ever tell sen that.)

They still end up cooking something during sector 1, even though neither of them really fully know how to and they only barely have a kitchen. Mariana learns that Slime has never used an oven before. Neither of them even vaguely remember more than three recipes and they don't have any cookbooks. Slime doesn't believe in measurements and Mariana doesn't know how to hold a knife. Surprisingly, Slime does. It's a disaster, but it's a fun disaster. The time passes without them even noticing and the only reason they realize it's sector 2 is because of Roier continuously buzzing them about joining the call.

A few clocks back, they had arranged with Roier and a couple of other friends to call during sector 2 of the Life Festival since they wouldn't all be in the same place. Sector 2 is all about friends. The plan is to catch up with said friends, and then if they have time and manage to stay on topic, they can play a game over the shitty cross-system signal.

Of course, they don't end up doing that, because they're too busy waiting on the people with bad signal to say much. Slime starts a running commentary with Baghera on the signal strength indicator and Mariana is content to lean back and listen. At one point Slime jokingly asks Quackity where ove is that the signal's so bad and when the elytrian grumbles something about being in Sertyn se loudly exclaims at that, saying "Sertyn?!? No fucking wonder your signal's shit, we're in Riso! Sertyn's, like, far novside!" much to the amusement of the rest of the call. It's admittedly quite impressive that se was able to pinpoint the relative location of a secondary planet in an end cluster system based on just a name. Probably comes with being untethered, not that Mariana would know. Ove's not traveled very far overall, especially in comparison with Slime.

Overall, they didn't get much done during sector 2, but it was nice hearing from some of their friends even if it was through a pretty large amount of static and interference. Soon enough, though, it's sector 3 and time for community. They're just tourists in Riso, so technically exploring the city they landed by doesn't entirely count, but it's close enough. Mariana's not sure where Slime grew up, but ove grew up on Zezale and has no interest in connecting with the community ove technically belongs to. Ove's left Zezale for a reason, and ove's not going to let the past ruin the present. For as much as people claim Zezale is stunning, it's still primarily a colonized planet, even if it has the unique privilege of being an overworld primary.

It's fine, though, because Riso isn't Zezale. Riso is the home of the harengons.

"How's it going, my goopy glunkers?!" Slime shouts into a microphone, holding up a video camera to show them as they exit the ship "Today's the Life Festival and we're going shopping!"

"Do you have to?" Mariana asks dryly. Slime cackles.

"It's in my culture, cariño!" Se grins, expertly dodging Mariana's attempt to hit sen with oves wing "I thought sector 3 was for community! Do you not want to participate?" se jeers

Mariana makes a show out of thinking for a moment "Hmm. How about… No."

And with that, ove takes off into the air with a mocking salute and a beaming grin, knocking Slime over and leaving sen sputtering on the floor.

"Wh- Where are you going!? Mariana!"

Mariana cackles, not turning back for oves partner. It was time to buy sen a gift! …And maybe some things for veself.

*****

By the time Mariana finds Slime again, ove's bought several bags worth of stuff. Slime, at that point in time, was carrying one bag, the video camera, and- a random child??? Or maybe that's just what the species looks like?

Slime is looking at ove with wide, desperate eyes "Help. I found a child."

"You-" Mariana looks between sen and the child. Welp. There goes oves hopes that the species just looks like that. "How??"

Defeated, Slime lifts the child into ser arms "The kid's the same species as me"

"...And?" Mariana prompts after a long moment of- well, silence isn't quite the right word, given the background noise.

Slime sighs "We don't, uh, live on overworld planets. I don't think the kid knows Standard. Or has parents, for that matter"

"Oh" Mariana says, then "Are you suggesting we keep- the kid?"

"Maybe" Slime says in a way that means yes

Fuck. Mariana checks the time. There's only 2 change until sector 4. "We're taking the third slot for the history tours. Right about now we're going to go back to the ship and figure this out"

Oves partner cheers, clearly reading Mariana's acceptance in the way ove worded it. As soon as se recognizes the shift in ove's expression, though, the color drains from ser face and se starts running.

"Race you there!" Mariana chirps mean-spiritedly as Slime just barely evades being knocked over by ove once again taking flight. Slime, of course, stood no chance and both of them knew it. Even if there wasn't a child involved, ser running is just plainly slower than Mariana's flight.

Two change later, Slime shows up at the ship doors out of breath and flips off a smug Mariana, momentarily forgetting about the child. Se coughs a bit "F-fu-ck you"

"Child" Mariana reminds sen, tilting oves head to indicate the kid.

"Right" Slime makes a face, before addressing the kid in some language Mariana doesn't speak- ser native language, maybe? Regardless, the kid seems to know it too if the quiet response se recieved was any indication.

"The kid says ae snuck aboard a ship and got kicked off here" Slime informs ove

Mariana warbles, messing with one of oves bracelets "Mierda, okay, and ae doesn't speak Standard?"

"Yeah, no" Slime confirms "I doubt anyone else speaks the same language as aer"

Mariana hold oves head in oves hands for a moment before "Okay then. Guess we have a kid now. Want to see what I got you? We can go buy stuff for aer after"

"I'd love that" Slime grinned, finally moving into the ship and setting down the bag.

Fucking moron. But that's why ove loves ven. Maybe they will work everything out eventually. Only time will tell.

And gods damn, ove's going to fucking enjoy this festival.

Chapter Text

It was a normal day when he met her.

Charlie was in the woods, outside the fae realm to check up with the local animal populations. As prince, it was his job to conduct most of the surveys of the forest.

He was asking a family of deer their opinion on the new water management rules when he felt it. An outsider had stepped far enough into the forest to trigger the detectors. Charlie goes still, and quickly politely excuses himself from the conversation in a way that wouldn't spoil what actually happened so as to not alarm anyone.

Charlie warps to the intruder, hiding in the trees as he watches a human push aside plants, trudging forward into the woods with a basket on her hip. She squints into the foliage, a determined expression on her face.

Weaving a quick glamor to look human, Charlie steps into her view, wanting to figure out her intentions. The human jolts a bit at his appearance, but waves a bit.

"Hola? Qué haces tan en lo profundo del bosque?" She asks, still squinting.

"Uh" Charlie says, having forgotten not all humans spoke English "No hablo? Do you speak English?"

She huffs "Sí. I asked what you're doing so deep in the forest."

"Um. What are you doing so deep in the forest?" He totally didn't forget to plan what he was gonna say. Not at all.

"I asked first!" The human refutes stubbornly, taking a step back.

Charlie admittedly panics a bit, blurting out "Talking to the animals?"

The human squints at him some more "...Tú- Que?"

"Your turn!" Charlie rushes, crossing his arms in hopes of just rolling with it.

She furrows her brows at him "...Fine. My uh- My daughter is sick, so I'm gathering herbs to help her"

"Oh." Charlie isn't sure what he expected, but not that. Either way- "Could you not find them elsewhere? The forest's kind of dangerous, y'know"

"I know" The human snaps "Yo sé. There is nowhere else." Then, she scoffs "Also, speak for yourself. You don't even have a good reason to be here!"

"I do!" Charlie refutes hotly, then, all but giving away that he's fae "Can I have your name?"

She stares distrustfully at him, and yet "Mariana. Y tú?"

Charlie stares at her for a too-long moment, processing that the human just gave him her true name even though she said she knew that the forest was dangerous- "And you?" She prompts again, seemingly taking his silence as not understanding rather than sheer disbelief.

"Ch-" Charlie pauses, realizes what he was about to say, and then corrects himself "You can call me Slime"

Mariana (and gods, he can't call her by her true name all the time, can he?) raises an eyebrow "There's no way that's your real name"

"Of course not" Slime says, a bit high pitched in his sheer agony at her ignorance "I'm not dumb enough to give my true name in a fae forest"

He's not sure if she realizes that his comment is a poorly disguised questioning plea, because he's too busy internally wailing at her next comment. She scoffs "Fae aren't real, pendejo"

Just to spite her, he drops his glamor while staring right at her "Oh yeah? Then what am I, Mariana?"

"Un pendejo" The human automatically responds, then stops, reevaluates, and confirms "Sí, un pendejo"

"Still don't speak spanish, asshole" Charlie mopes, aware enough to realize she was insulting him.

"See? Point proven." She says smugly "Fae would speak spanish. You're just a bored wizard or something"

Charlie sends her an offended look "Fuck you, man, we're not all knowing. I had to learn English."

"I do not believe you" She informs him.

He groans "Fuck, just leave?"

"Not until I get those herbs" The human counters, stepping forward once again.

Charlie pauses at the reminder, offering "If I help you get those, you'll leave after?"

Mariana narrows her eyes at him once again "Do you have to help?"

"Yes" He replies "Either I help so you leave faster or you leave now"

She huffs "Fine. I'm looking for-"

"One last thing" Charlie interrupts, an evil grin spreading onto his face as he snaps to visibly indicate to her that he's applying a glamor to make the human look like another fae "A small illusion so we don't get questioned"

She looks down at herself, visibly processing the changes. He didn't really do too much, just enough that the animals won't be up in a frenzy seeing a human in the forest. The human's fingers have shifted to black-tipped golden claws, and that gold flakes up her arms and shows in little patches across her skin, most notably across her cheeks and now-pointed ears. Her legs, too, have shifted to a golden gradient, though this time it turns black by the time it reaches her feet. Her shoes are no longer visible, being replaced by blackened talons. Her clothes now look to loosely fall off her in a much more traditionally fae style. Her eyes are slitted gold as opposed to the original dark brown. Her shoulder-length black hair is now home to an array of feathers and a golden laurel wreath sits atop her head alongside a set of antlers that fade from gold to black.

He thought about giving her wings and deer legs, but he figured that the closer to her original form the glamor is, the more natural it would look.

Apparently, Mariana thinks that he did too much if her screech of rage and subsequent murder attempt are any indication. He's able to quickly put a stop to said attempt by teleporting out of range, freezing her in place, and reasoning with her until she promises not to try again.

"It'll be gone once we're done" He promises, and then when that doesn't reassure her "It's just an illusion! I could've actually changed your body, y'know"

Apparently, this wasn't a very good persuasion attempt and it ended up taking several more minutes for her to agree not to try again. Oh well.

Her eyes are still dark with rage in the end, but he thinks it'll probably be okay. He technically could've just forced her to do it since he knows her name, but he knows humans generally disagree with that, so to be nice he won't.

The human tells him what herbs she's looking for, and one by one Charlie brings her to them. He would've just brought them to her, but apparently that's "untrustworthy and definitely a trap". Her words, not his.

The only incident is when he realizes that some other faes came out looking for him because he was taking too long and pulls Mariana into a random bush to hide. The human, of course, opens her mouth to loudly question him and he in a panic kisses her to shut her up. It's, uh, effective? At first she just kind of froze (and admittedly he did too) but after an awkwardly long moment she melts into it and ends up being the one leading. The kiss was kind of upsettingly nice, because why the hell did the best kiss he's ever had have to be with a human? That's so unfair.

By the time they pull away, the other fae is gone and both of them are kind of speechless. After a long moment of just breathing next to each other, Charlie stands up and asks about the herb they were looking into. A glance back at Mariana reveals that she's furrowing her brows and opening and closing her mouth as if she was about to ask a question but thought better of it. In the end, she just responds to the question and stands up herself.

They don't really address it. Charlie doesn't ever plan to. They finish collecting the herbs and the human goes back home. Charlie just kind of stands there for a few moments after she's left. Then, he shrugs and goes back to interviewing the animals. Time to pretend that never happened!

*****

Unfortunately, if the rumors going around are any indication, he can't exactly pretend it never happened because someone saw it. The thing about disguising the human to look like a fae is that instead of them thinking he was an idiot who was going to lead them to their deaths, they just thought he was secretly courting a fae from another forest. He's not sure whether that's better, though, to be honest. Several people have entirely separately questioned why he didn't mention it and laughed at him when he tried to defend himself in a way that didn't reveal that the fae they think he's courting isn't a fae and isn't being courted. He fails miserably, but in the way that feeds the fire rather than the way that gets him overthrown.

It's this situation that he's thinking about when the door to his throne room gets thrown open by one of his guards, who's dragging- is that Mariana? What the fuck is she doing here? -and throws her at his feet. She looks up and recognition visibly dawns on her. She's also very clearly extremely confused.

He just barely stops himself from blurting out her name in pure shock, but he knows there's no way he can pretend not to know her. Thoughts going lightspeed in his head, he devises a plan to get Mariana safe without outing the previous encounter as being with a human, reasonably explaining why he knows her, and while being incapable of lying. Easy.

"What happened?" He asks the guard. The exact circumstances are going to be really important for his plan to work, and it seems like the human is too busy gaping to interrupt quite yet. He's careful to speak Sylvan so as to not alert the other fae as to what was happening, but he subtly weaves the magic so as to allow the human to understand. If she hasn't already messed everything up, the next step means bumping this up to speaking it.

"I found this human after she stepped into my mushroom circle" The fae responds promptly "She exercised proper caution and didn't provide me with a name, but since she was already here I decided to bring her to you. What should I do?"

"Did she say why she came?" Charlie asks, ignoring the part of him that was proud she listened to his warnings and didn't give out her name again. The fae shakes their head, and Charlie huffs a little before turning to address the human. He carefully makes sure that the other fae has at this point disabled his translation magic, because he knows that this one, like most fae, didn't bother actually learning English and instead relies on translation magic. The guard has in fact disabled it, and Charlie maybe possibly shifts the magic so that can't put it back up until after this. He puts up some soundproofing so that the only fae he has to worry about is the guard.

In English now, he speaks up "Hey, asshole?"

"What?" Mariana asks, immediately annoyed

"First of all, why the fuck are you back?"

"The herbs didn't last forever!" She protests "They didn't like, magically fix her illness or anything!"

"It's dangerous!" Charlie reminds her "Seriously, you just got lucky that first time. If I had been any other fae, you would be a slave right now"

Mariana narrows her eyes "And you didn't because? Do you already have enough or something?"

Charlie takes offense to that. "No! I just generally don't do that! Fuck you." The human snorts, but he rushes to continue before they can continue to argue "Fucking anyway, my second point was congrats on not giving away your name again, you're gonna have to play along now"

"Thanks" She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means people saw us last time so you get to pretend to be a fae from another forest who was sneaking in to talk to me" Charlie explains, a bit gleeful to share the pain he's been experiencing for the past few weeks.

"Wh-" Mariana starts to question it, but he's already placing the glamor from before back on her and sending the guard away with no memories of this encounter. This time, he doesn't hesitate to add the deer legs and black-and-white bird wings, because if he gets to suffer so does she. If she complains or someone starts to see through it, he can always make it physical.

He ushers the human to his room, grinning at her glare and the staring from all the fae that they pass. It's at this point that he remembers to make her automatically speak Sylvan, and he's glad that he does if only to see her baffled face when she opens her mouth to yell at him and she hears Sylvan instead. Even if she can understand it, it still very much sounds like it actually does.

He puts some extra magic into soundproofing the room, and then turns his attention to her.

They spend several hours alternating between arguing and planning, but eventually she agrees to the plan. Every so often, in exchange for permission to gather those herbs, she'll visit pretending to be a fae from another forest that's courting him. He did give her the option to not be courting him and it to just be a misunderstanding on the part of the other fae, but she thought it was funny enough to go along with. He has a feeling he's going to regret this deal.

She's already established that there's no way she's staying here full time, and Charlie's established that he's not leaving here full time either. Mariana has a kid and Charlie has a forest that he's leading. Visits, though? That's definitely on the table. By the actual terms of the deal, the human's free to go as soon as she stops needing the herbs, but they haven't actually planned an exit strategy, so she'll probably have to come back at least once or twice afterwards to figure that out.

To his glee, Charlie managed to convince Mariana to let him do an actual physical transformation for her fae form as long as it's reverted every time she goes home.

This particular interaction ends with Charlie giving Mariana a necklace that lets her inform him that she's on her way so he can pop by and do the transformation and bring her in, and a last-minute reminder to give her more herbs. Charlie gathers them all up, and this time Mariana just takes them from his hands and doesn't call it untrustworthy. Mariana, presumably out of spite, gives Charlie a goodbye kiss and then bugs him about not warping her back immediately because he was too busy freezing up to do so. Charlie barely remembers to clear his magic off her before the warp. Then she's gone and Charlie has to confront his court.

This is going to go horribly, but fuck it. Why not.

Chapter Text

Mariana wanders through the streets of Venice, adrift. The skies are dark and she can only see the path forward through the soft orangey glow of lanterns. Even long lost in the city, she can hear the soft lapping of water against stone. There are few others out and about now. She's been walking for the past few hours.

Humming softly, she spots the glow of an open storefront with a sign, faded to the point of unreadability. Curious, she steps into it.

The door opening is greeted by a soft tinkling of windchimes, and the cold of the night recedes and leaves her to a comfortable warmth. The store is jam-packed with various trinkets and devices. Crystals line uneven shelves, packed between scrolls and jewelry and little figurines. In the back corner, a cabinet packed with boxes of cards is barely standing, sandwiched between pendulums and crystal balls. The other corner is the location of a counter, barely visible past the shelves. A man jolts awake from where he was resting his head on the counter, sitting behind it.

He waves her over, and she carefully moves past the robes and herbs to see him. He's almost invisible in the clutter of the shop, dark robes matching some of the ones hanging up on the wall by the entrance. Similarly, his neon green wizard hat that would stand out anywhere else is accompanied by the vibrancy of crystals and other such eye-catching items. He's almost like a walking shelf with how many pieces of jewelry adorn him. He swipes brown hair from where it sat over his glasses with long neon nails, and she almost forgets to question the way his eyes shimmer several colors like the opal on the shelf.

"Mariana!" He greets her with a warm familiarity despite being a complete stranger "What're you doing back here so soon? The boyfriend not work out for you?"

Mariana eyes him warily, shifting the weight of her bag "How do you know my name?"

Something shatters in his eyes and he deflates, looking so tired "Right…" He bounces right back, eyes hardened in determination "Sorry about that, you can call me Slimecicle! I'm a wizard, y'know"

"And…" She says slowly, furrowing her brows "...That doesn't answer my question"

Slimecicle looks desperate for a split second before he's just flat enthusiasm "I'm a wizard, silly! I can see your name, right there above your head!" He chirps, gesturing animatedly to the area he spoke of.

"Wizards don't exist" Mariana refutes, taking a step back from the crazy person.

"Yes they do!" A hint of frustration leaks into his voice, but it's quickly covered over with glee "I exist, after all! I can show you a spell, if it's really that hard to believe"

That doesn't sound trustworthy at all. "...What kind of spell?"

"Whatever you'd like" Slimecicle tells her, a small lightshow twirling around his hand "A fortune reading, changing the color of your hair… Whatever you can think of, I'll see if I can do!"

She thinks for a moment, but eventually replies "Can you show me what my ex-boyfriend, Foolish, is up to right now?"

An expression too fast too name passes through his face, but he nods with a grin "Can do! One moment!" He dips down and grabs a bowl from inside the counter he's sitting behind and then twirls around and fills it with water. Afterwards, he sets it on the counter. He just barely hovers his hand over the water "Okay! Now, can you just stick your hand in the water and think of him?"

Mariana hesitantly follows the instructions. For a moment, nothing happens, but then Slimecicle touches the water and it lights up with an image. It flickers through a couple different images that she doesn't quite process before settling on Foolish, sitting on the steps of his house holding Mariana's break-up note, staring out into the canals. He's crying. Mariana removes her hand from the water and the image breaks as soon as it's completely out. She shudders, and wipes her now slightly wet eyes with her dry hand. Slimecicle pulls out as well, looking a bit pained. It's quickly hidden, though, as he smugly grins at her, a sparkle in his eyes.

"Okay," She says, "Fine. You're a wizard." His face lights up in relief, though it's still nowhere near as bright as those first few moments from when she first entered. Speaking of- "That still doesn't answer what you meant at the start when you said back here so soon"

Slimecicle's expression shutters for a moment, but he continues smiling and waves away her concerns "So sorry about that! I probably had you mixed up with someone else"

Still distrustful but aware she isn't getting any answers, she replies "Alright, I guess. What's this shop, anyway?"

His shoulders untense ever so slightly, and he gestures around "It's a magic shop! Any magic stuff I find, or make, or just cool stuff I want to sell, I put here! Feel free to look around, or talk to me if you're wanting something cast by a professional"

Mariana glances around, thinking. She's not really interested in buying any magic stuff, but… "Why're you open so late, anyway? It's like, midnight."

"You never know when a customer might come in!" Slimecicle does finger guns "We're open basically always!"

"Who else works here?" She asks, staring at him unimpressed

Slimecicle once again shutters up for a moment, tiredness seemingly getting to him as he snaps "It doesn't really matter. Just buy something or get out"

"I don't think I will" Mariana pushes, propping her elbows on his counter as she leans in. From this close, she can see how he's applied makeup to hide eye bags and the slight glow of his eyes in the dim lighting of the shop. She notes the thinning of his eyes and the way the grin is falling into something closer to a grimace. His nose is pierced, but he doesn't have anything in there.

"What do you mean, you don't think you will?" Slimecicle nearly growls, voice low and choking. Her eyes flick down from his face to see how he's pushed himself up with his hands, knuckles turning white.

She grins, still right up in his face even as she has to raise to match him "I mean that I want an answer to my question."

His breath is hot against her face, expression incredulous as air hisses through his teeth. A wordless growl precedes his next statement "Get out. My shop, my rules, and if you're not buying anything then get out."

Mariana presses further "And if I don't?"

His eyes flash, and suddenly she's sitting on the floor, word spinning as Slimecicle stands above her. "I work alone" he growls "Is that what you wanted to hear? I'm the only employee and the boss and my shop is open always because I have no other option"

Mariana wheezes, unable to reply even as her heart squeezes with guilt. Her vision swims with dots, both black and various neon colors. Green wobbles into her peripherals like creeping poison ivy. She can barely see a thing, even as colors swirl around her vision.

"So?" Slimecicle speaks again, voice low and loud, digging into her head like a chisel "What do you have to say for yourself?"

She tries to squeak in a way that indicates her inability, but she can't really tell if it works.

The next words he says are lost to her, and so are the ones after that. It's not long before she succumbs to sleep, even as ants crawl across her skin and colors dance across her vision.

*****

Mariana wakes up in the hospital. When she asks what happened, they exchange worried looks and tell her that she came here early that morning with a concussion. They had been surprised she had been able to come in by herself, but they're extra concerned now they know she has no memories of the encounter. She tries to mention the shopkeeper, but every attempt leads to the medics giving blank looks or shortly thereafter forgetting about it. Sufficiently weirded out, she stops trying and just says she doesn't remember what happened. They check her over some more.

It's several days later that she's finally cleared from the hospital, now with a couple new prescriptions, a doctor's phone number, and colors dancing in the corner of her eyes. Foolish ends up picking her up, despite the breakup, and she spends the whole drive staring at the way her eyes now shimmer with extra colors like the wizard's rather than address it. He tries to start a conversation several times, and she resolutely ignores him.

Mariana's said exactly nothing to him by the time he drops her off at her house. She grabs her stuff, and enters. She pretends like she hasn't been in the hospital for several days and gets back to unpacking. She sets a reminder on her phone to take her medications.

She spends the next few hours on the internet trying to figure out wizards. Apparently the internet has nothing, which is weird because surely someone would have had an experience like hers for them to post about. How are wizards not common knowledge if they are some as obvious as Slimecicle?

She decides to go back to the shop, partly to apologize, but mostly to figure this out.

He doesn't greet her warmly this time, but he also doesn't act aggressive. He acts like he's never seen her before, and she almost pretends nothing happened but in the end she blurts out "What the fuck is the deal with you? You're so fucking obvious and there's nothing on the internet and you fucking injured me? Like, sorry about pushing, just."

Slimecicle freezes, eyes wide as soon as she starts speaking. Then, suddenly desperate, "You remember that?"

"Yes?" She's so fucking confused "Of course I remember that. Kind of hard to forget."

He laughs, high and reedy and a perfect mix of desperation and relief "Fuck. I wish it was that simple."

"So?" Mariana raises an eyebrow, because clearly he knows something

"No one remembers" He says, melting a bit, and oh. She probably should've realized that "No one ever remembers me. But you did! Just now!"

She stares at him for a good long moment, and then makes him explain.

He doesn't know much, as it turns out, but it's so much more than she got from the internet.

*****

Five years later, they're married and co-own the shop together. She makes him take breaks and they work together to choose what customers remember and what they don't. As it turns out, owning a shop is a lot easier when people can actually remember shopping there to tell their friends about it.

It's hard, but they work it out.

Chapter Text

It happened on a friday.

The moon barely shone through the heavy cloud cover. Smoke rose through the air, embers sparking from the brand new gaping hole in the side of some random building. Under unstable roofing, a fight raged on. Light flashes, overpowering the steadily increasing glow of fire as it crackles from the edges of the crater. Something bright flies up on feathered wings, barely missing the ceiling as a shooting vine of goo ensnares it and flings it down to the ground. A figure on the ground bounces up and catches the flying light, standing on it and dripping acid.

Outside, chaos reigns, a good distraction.

Something creaks, once, twice, and no one seems to notice, too engrossed in battle. The light shines in the slime's eyes, and then uses the advantage to scramble away and stab into it. The ground is strewn with blood, slime, and glowing white feathers. The two forces continue their deadly dance, even as the building creaks around them and their respective teammates get further and further away.

The slime is the one to finally notice, when being slammed into a wall causes the building to sway dangerously behind its back. The light doesn't notice, and cannot see the way the slime's eyes widen behind the mask. As soon as it can, the slime runs out, barely stopping to think where its going even as the light follows close behind, calling taunting remarks. The light shifts, and in the dark neither can help the way they fall into a hole that was not there a moment before.

The darkness swallows them, and it seems like no one notices their absence.

*****

When Charlie wakes up, it's dark and hot. Pain radiates through his entire body, and he has a moment to wonder what happened last night before everything hits him like a truck. Actually, more like several, because he's been run over before and it honestly was less bad. He groans, feeling for blood on his head. He already knows he's pretty screwed in terms of everywhere else, but it still very much pains him to admit that yes, he very certainly has a head injury. Fuck.

Just as he's about to count his blessings that Angel doesn't seem to be here, something lights up right beside him. He's very glad his gas mask has tinted eyes, because that's all that's stopping him from curling into a little ball at the bright light directly beside him- scratch that, partially on top of him. He had kind of assumed that that was like a rock or something, but nope. Superhero looking to kill him. On the bright side, at least Angel looks to be as injured as him, so it's not like he'll really have a chance to do so.

Still, he nudges the hero off of him best he can despite the overwhelming pain, grunting. Angel looks over at him at the sound, eyes widening as he takes in Charlie's- Slime's, since he was in costume- state.

"Slime?" Angel asks, and Slime hisses at the noise. Shit, does this fucker not also have a concussion? He's so fucked. Actually…

"'ave pots" Slime slurs "bag"

"You-" Angel twists, and he's trying very hard to remain lucid right now. "In your bag?" he whispers, seemingly haven gotten the memo.

Slime nods, instantly whining a bit at the pain that doing so causes him. This sucks.

The next few moments are very painful, as Angel wiggles until he's able to reach into Slime's bag, which is strapped to his belt, and grab some healing and regen. They both make a variety of hisses and groans as they do so, because this is presumably as painful for Angel as it is for Slime.

Slime, at this point having given up on critical thought, reaches for the potions. Angel pulls them away, hissing. Slime whines in response, and receives a sigh. Top tier communication. His brain is mush.

Shortly after pulling away, Angel leans in and pours some of the health potion on Slime's chest, to his relief. The healing is followed by some regen to drink. Distantly, he acknowledges Angel doing the same for his own wounds, and tying off any major injuries with torn off bits of his cape.

Safe in the assumption that he's not going to die, he finally lets himself sleep.

*****

It's still almost painfully hot when she wakes up next, but even past Angel's light there's now a bit of orangey light peeking through where Angel is currently trying to shove a rock out of the entrance to a tunnel.

"Nghh" Slime says intelligently, causing Angel to look over.

"Feeling any better?" He asks softly, and Slime's honestly not sure why he's asking.

"Hng" She grumbles "Yeah"

Angel smiles at her "You good to help me out here?"

Slime looks at him with one eye closed "What're y'doing?"

"Trying to find a way out. The way we came in is all sealed up, and this tunnel is seeming like our best shot"

She stares at him for a long moment, but it's pretty reasonable "Yeah, sure. Can't imagine you're any better off than me"

So, without really ever talking about it, they settle into a temporary truce to not fight each other until they're out. Later into their adventures, when they were crawling through a dark, cramped tunnel, Angel explained that while he had a tracking device on his belt for emergencies, it had gotten crushed at some point. That reminds Slime to check her own, and she admits that hers was also destroyed. So yeah. Working together to escape the cave. Why the hell did a city have a random self-sealing cave opening, anyway?

Anyway, the end of the tunnel very quickly reveals why it's so hot considering it opens up to a massive fucking lava lake.

What the fuck. This is under the city?!?

Angel and Slime exchange a bewildered glance, and then carefully shimmy onto a nearby red-rock ledge. Now that she thinks about it, she's pretty sure all the rock's she's seen since she woke up here have been red, which is weird because most rocks in the city are gray. She's not sure what that means.

They continue walking across the red rock ridge.

*****

Several hours later, they're thoroughly tired of both walking and heat, which is not helped by their injuries and lack of food or water. For some reason, neither had thought to bring basic survival stuff into battle. It's almost like no one expects to be randomly dumped into a cave while fighting, universe!

Just as they're about to take yet another much-needed break, they spot a hint of blue on the horizon. Seeing as this place is just a sea of red, red, orange, and (who would've guessed!) more red, it wasn't hard to spot. They exchange a look, and unanimously and silently come to the conclusion they're going there next. Regardless, they do take that break.

*****

As it turns out, the speck of blue was a forest of cyan tree-like mushrooms. Those exist, apparently. Slime's starting to get the feeling that there's a bit more to this than just a cave under the city, but honestly he has no fucking clue what the hell that bit more could be. Angel, when prompted, seems just as clueless and lost.

In the mushroom forest, it's not long before they find a tall dark entity with purple eyes- and hold on, is that a fucking from the myths enderman? The cryptids that he was prior to this moment certain didn't exist? Oh god, oh fuck, they are so dead. He grabs Angel and bolts. It seems Angel hadn't heard of them, if the way he resists, glancing back at the creature of myths, is any indication. A warbled screech comes from behind them, and Slime just barely tucks them into a short enough opening that they should be safe.

"Fuck- That's an enderman, man, don't fucking look at them!" Slime scolds

Angel, ashen white, shakily replies "Too late"

Slime sighs, but his voice is shaky too "Whatever, we're safe now, it can't fit in here. We just have to wait out its anger."

"How'd you know what that was? Have you seen one before?"

Slime shakes his head "Fuck no, they're a myth. I just know my stories, man"

"They're a-" Angel breathes in shakily "Mierda, okay, myths now. This place is not normal"

"You don't say so?" Slime snorts, waving his hands a bit "But yeah. I really hope we can find a way out soon"

"Yeah" Angel agrees, color finally returning to his features.

*****

Angel's the one to figure out that they can extract water from the mushrooms. They still don't have a food solution, but that's a bit less urgent anyway. It's hot enough that they need a lot of water, so they stuff their pockets with fungi and get a move on before one of them looks at an enderman again. Apparently they're quite common here.

*****

The unfortunate part about being underground is that it's very hard to keep track of time. All of their devices with clocks in them have broken. That being said, they're fairly certain it's been at least a day, probably more. They mostly slept in short portions, with the other watching over their sleeping body. They didn't really have the time or safety to stop for long or with both sleeping. They've discovered several new creatures, namely the rotting pig-people and the giant white floating tentacle monster that blows fireballs at them anytime it notices them.

The next forest is red and has not-rotting pig people who are much more interested in shooting them than cultural exchange, as well as hog-like creatures that become their new source of food. It's easier and less ethically dubious than eating the pig people, although that's not to say it's easy.

Once again, they are both injured.

Slime learns a lot about Angel over the course of however long they travel, just as they're sure Angel's learned a lot about them. At some point they even bothered to explain their pronouns rotating while the two of them waited in a hole for an enderman to forget about them, and Angel admits that he's never really thought about his own. Both to annoy him in a way that won't get them killed and as a way of helping, they make a habit to refer to him with random pronouns whenever possible, noting his reactions to each instance.

At some point they start getting sick of waiting for endermen to calm down and start just killing them to the best of their abilities. They're healing decently, and it's time to take advantage of that even if the opponent has the ability to teleport. As it turns out, the legends had enough details to get Slime locate where enderman's pearls are so he can collect them once the creature dies and use it to teleport places. They mostly use this to get around the fact that only one of them can fly and only the other of them can actually squeeze into tiny spaces.

These confrontations do often leave them with brand new injuries, but it's a crazy myth cave. They're going to get injured no matter what they do.

*****

One day, Slime's gas mask gets cracked and he keeps almost dying because she can't see through the glass in front of her left eye. Angel convinces her to just take it off, and ends up taking off his own to reassure her.

It's at this point that how much trust he's been putting into Angel really hits her, and she barely stops herself from showing the dawning realization on her face. Her last thought before she shuts up her introspection and gets back to surviving is this is going to hurt when it's over.

*****

They figure out the pig people like gold mostly out of coincidence. Technically, Angel's been wearing gold this whole time, but they were usually too busy trying not to die to note how the pig people focused entirely on Slime until Angel hit first. One day, though, Angel finds them first. They don't attack, and that's how they find out that this entire time one of many threats could've been avoided if Slime had just been wearing something gold. In the end, he takes Angel's ruined cape and they trade with the pig people for some random items. They can't really fully communicate, but they try.

*****

Angel tells Slime his name not long before they find the fortress. Mariana is his name, apparently, and he sees no point in hiding it since they've done face reveals anyway. Slime just snorts, waving off the implied request for recriprication with a "I don't actually legally exist, so have fun finding out on your own"

Mariana was disappointed, but despite his barrage of questions never actually insisted for an answer. He was still asking questions when they saw it. A dark structure, like a net of bridges, stretches out in front of them.

This structure is made of dark red bricks, and contains threats such as fiery floating death creatures that shoot fire at you and black walking skeletons that decay you when they hit you- that was fun. Mariana got hit and started withering, and it was only because Slime's able to absorb potion effects without actually suffering the effects of them himself that Mariana survived that. They were a lot more careful after that.

*****

Slime finds out they were dating when Mariana proposes to it some time after their first kiss. The ring is crude, because neither is a blacksmith and they're still stuck in a myth cave, but it accepts. And, finally, tells Mariana its name. Charlie Cicle. She grins, and continues pretending to be a third party officiating their wedding.

*****

They find their way out through a blackstone staircase and an opening to the city that's open the second time they explore there. Hesitantly, they rejoin the world.

Very quickly, they realize that not only has it been a year, but they have been presumed dead.

Charlie was right. It would hurt when it was over.

Chapter Text

Unlike the movies, the end of the world isn't all at once. It's slow, city by city, country by country, and America was not first. The end of the world also isn't preventable. It isn't a zombie plague waiting to be cured, and it isn't an incoming global disaster.

Like the movies, the end of the world isn't truly the end, merely another beginning. There is hope for a new normal, despite the odds. There are monsters at humanity's doorsteps and not all of them are humanity itself. There are raiders, and there are communities. There is paranoia.

In reality, the end of the world is more of an incomprehensible shift than a manmade plague. The end of the world is something you anxiously wait for, because fleeing your home will only delay the inevitable, so you might as well stick to what you know. The end of the world is not knowing if you'll survive another day, but equally not knowing if anyone you know will survive either. The end of the world is not knowing if the monsters are still people but not having a choice but to fight back.

The end of the world is the breakdown of community and the normalization of murder.

Blood stains the streets, neon and bright and shifting in a way that hurts your eyes to look at. Red mixes with the shifting, iridescent colors in a grand mural of death and rebirth. Even in safety, the end of the world is not knowing if that day will be your last.

The end of the world is the death of indecision, because you may not be alive to say I love you if you wait. It's a terrible time to love, but it's glorious and bright in its attempts. All gestures are grand in life or death.

"I promise to protect you" is a promise to die, "til death do us part" isn't very long, and "I loved you" is an anthem of grief that everyone sings. Everyone's lost somebody. It's just a matter of whether you let yourself find new people to lose.

Mariana meets Charlie before the apocalypse hits America, but after it makes the first headlines. Everyone was cowering in fear, and Mariana was falling in love.

Charlie is everything. He is a jovial light, the funniest guy that Mariana has ever met, an endless source of humor. He kisses like his life depends on it, and he knows how to survive. Where Mariana fumbles with any weapon given, Charlie deftly spins knives and shoots guns. He's quiet when he needs to be, but just as able to be loud. He went to the gym regularly prior to the end of the world. Charlie is the only reason Mariana has lived to this day.

He is also the reason for most of Mariana's near death encounters. He's smart, but he's also kind of an idiot. He tries to be a hero, or makes a joke that doesn't quite land, or overestimates Mariana's abilities one too many times. He's also an annoyingly picky eater, which isn't great for his continued status as the more physically competent of the two. Not to say Mariana isn't fit as well, he's just not as knowledgeable in practical applications.

To the survivors they met and said they were married to, he's not sorry. They had a wedding ceremony one day with just the two of them, resources high enough that they could spare the day, and Mariana's of the opinion that that's close enough. They promised to protect each other. Secretly, Mariana promised himself that if Charlie ever mutated, he wouldn't give up on him. He'd prefer to die trying to reason with a beast that was no longer him than live having killed a version of him that was still there.

He'd be lying if he said that he never expected that secret promise to come up, but he doesn't think he could've guessed the method in which it did.

There was a monster, nothing special, yet still uniquely horrifying like all the monsters passed. It rose into the air in spiraling ribbons of iridescent guts. Feathered wings, hundreds of them, flapped in unison from their places at random intervals in the spirals. Teeth jutted out from the wrinkled pile of flesh sat at the base of the massive creature. Mariana and Charlie planned to go around, but had stopped to watch another survivor try to fight the beast. They knew the human had little chance of survival, yet stood affixed to that spot, unable to tear their eyes away.

The human dodged once, then twice, and swiped at the nearest ribbon with a knife. The blade hit the flesh, and a spout of iridescent monster blood spilled forth. Another string of guts made a swipe at the survivor, and they caught the attack with their knife. They did not survive the impact.

A roar sounded and the ground shook as before their eyes the human twisted and morphed until there was nothing but a sea of blood and two monsters sitting in the center of the street. The new monster stood on seventeen malformed limbs, claws scraping against the road. A dozen mismatched eyes opened across the body, stitching together ever-bleeding gashes. They were almost glad they watched, because it's good to know the situation, but mostly they just felt sick.

The new monster sniffed the air and spread newly formed wings. It was at this moment that Mariana realized that they needed to leave. He pushed Charlie in a scramble to get going and whispered quiet, urgent words to his husband to convince him. It didn't take much convincing, but it still took too long.

A horrid creature they just watched be formed stood above them, casting a large shadow. In the distance, it had looked barely bigger than the human had once been, but now that it was in front of him Mariana could tell that it was the size of a large car. The wingspan completely engulfed the street.

For a moment too long, everything stood still, and Mariana remembers thinking that it might not attack. Then, it lunged.

Charlie bolted forward, putting himself between the creature and Mariana. The claw impales through him, and scrapes into Mariana. Charlie convulsed.

Mariana ignored the tingling in his body and unhooked himself from the creature's claws. He took out his knife and, utilizing the creature's preoccupation with his husband, stabbed into it. Its blood was still a bit red, but even the red was iridescent. Mariana stabbed it again and again until it stopped moving, dodging its attacks as he went. If the street hadn't already been covered in monster blood, it was then.

It was only after the monster was dead that Mariana dared to look at his husband. He had been speared through with the monster's claws, but it was clear that there was more than just the injury at hand. His form, even coated with blood as it was, was clearly distorted. Mariana's heart sunk into his chest, and he reminded himself of that secret promise. He carefully removed Charlie from the corpse, and carried him into an alleyway where he hoped he could give his husband medical attention without being interrupted.

The first thing he did was do his best to clean off the blood so that he could properly assess the damages. Charlie had a big gaping hole in his abdomen, but it wasn't actively bleeding so Mariana theorized that the transformation sealed it up. His organs were likely either rearranged or obsolete. In terms of injuries, Mariana noted nothing else. However, that was very much not all.

In terms of transformations, the differences were fairly mild. Charlie was still humanoid, even if his legs now had an extra joint, ended in hooves, and he had a long whip-like tail. Black horns jutted out of his head, and his skin had turned a neon green. His ears were now pointed, and in general Charlie looked like he was melting. His skin now had substantial give, assuming this could still be considered skin, and felt slimy and wet. Charlie was cold to the touch. He had claws. Rolling him over revealed half-developed bat wings and spikes across his spine.

Once again, mild in terms of transformations. Mariana had never actually seen a humanoid that had been transformed before this.

Charlie didn't end up actually needing much medical care, and woke up shortly after Mariana finished examining him.

Charlie's first reaction when he woke up was growling. His second was confusion. His third was panic. It was at this point that Mariana realized he had completely forgotten to wash the blood off himself, and attempted to wipe it off. Meanwhile, he talked soothingly at Charlie and ignored the mysterious pressure at the base of his throat.

Charlie eventually calmed down, which is better than Mariana expected, and even talked! His first words post-transformation were a very strangled "...Why the fuck do you have a halo?"

And that's how Mariana found out that he had been hit by a bit of the transformation too. Presumably, that was why Charlie was so much more humanoid than any of the monsters they had encountered.

After a thorough cleaning, Mariana discovered that he had somehow missed sprouting wings. They were underdeveloped, but it was still a wonder how he managed that. Slightly more understandably, he also missed a variety of random patches of feathers, a halo, and the slightest hint of claws. He would later find out that the mysterious pressure in his throat was a chirp.

As a whole, Mariana generally wouldn't recommend the experience. On one hand, cool new abilities, but they also still get hunted by monsters, with the side effect that they can no longer be around survivors without being mistaken for the full monsters. At least now they know they probably won't be randomly transformed?

It has its pros and cons, that's all he'll say.

Chapter Text

Charlie doesn't see the person in front of him until he's covered in coffee and holding them in his arms. Their cup hits the floor and rolls a small distance, creating a small puddle despite the amount that fell onto Charlie himself.

"Mierda- lo siento" The person says as they pull back from where they'd fallen into his arms. At the same time, Charlie gives his own apology.

Now standing on their own two feet, they tuck a black lock of hair back behind their ear and look over his ruined outfit, wincing "Really, I'm sorry-"

"-I wasn't looking where I was going" Charlie interrupts, eyeing the other's medical scrubs and eyebags "It's my fault, really"

"No, it's mine" They say, "I can- Do you need help cleaning up?"

Charlie shakes his head "Nah, it's fine. There's not much you could do, anyway"

They frown "Are you sure? One second- I'll get you some napkins" the person turns and darts away.

Charlie stands there for a moment, but then he remembers the cup on the floor and picks it up, wincing a bit at the feeling of his wet clothes against his skin. It's fine. He has spare clothes in his car.

He throws away the cup and then goes back to standing there until the stranger comes back, because he thinks it would probably be kind of rude to just leave. It doesn't take that long, anyway.

"Here you go!" They hand him a bunch of napkins.

He fumbles with the napkins and then looks between them and the person "Thank you-? It really wasn't necessary for you to get these-"

"-Shush, I spilled coffee on you!" They refute "It's the least I could do"

"Well," Charlie says awkwardly, stepping away "I'm gonna… go get my spare clothes from my car"

The stranger raises an eyebrow "Why do you have spare clothes in your car? Did you expect to get coffee spilled on you or something?"

Charlie provides a strained chuckle "Nope! That'd be weird, I'm just, uh… On my way to a friend's house"

"Oh, okay" The hot stranger says, and Charlie flees from the conversation to go do as he said and change into spare clothes. This particular shop has a single restroom rather than stalls, but he still chooses to change in the car rather than bring the clothes in.

The napkins admittedly end up being a huge help in making sure his skin is dry before he changes into his new outfit. He's mostly just glad his laptop's safe in its case.

Charlie's kind of tempted to not come back, but he needs the free wifi for his work and he hasn't even gotten his drink yet. So yeah, he does come back, and ends up thanking the stranger for the napkins too.

"I'm Mariana, by the way" They inform him "I'm a doctor at the nearby hospital"

"Did you just get off work?" Charlie asks. Mariana nods, which prompts a "What the hell, it's, like, 2 am" from Charlie.

Mariana chuckles at that "Well, that's how it is when you work in a hospital. What're you doing here so late, anyway? You know why I'm here."

"I couldn't sleep" Charlie gestures offhandedly "Thought I might as well go to the café and get some work done"

"Oh? What kind of work?"

Charlie sets his laptop case on one of the tables "I'm a software developer- one second, I want to order"

Mariana nods to let him pass and he comes back a few moments later with a drink "Are you going to get a new coffee, since you spilled it?"

They bolt upright "Right! Yes, I totally forgot"

It's another few moments before they're both sat down at one of the many empty tables, with Charlie's laptop open and on. They each have a drink by their side.

"I'm Charlie" He says "he/him"

Mariana straightens a bit "Oh, if we're saying pronouns then I use he/she"

Charlie nods at her, distractedly opening a new tab to research something he needs for his current project.

"What kind of software do you develop?" Mariana prompts further conversation.

"Uh, just kind of whatever I get assigned" Charlie types something on his laptop "Mostly back-end stuff. Connecting databases to websites without being a major security issue and stuff like that"

"Huh" Mariana says "Do you work at home?"

Charlie gestures a bit with one hand as he types with the other "It's mixed. Mostly I go to the workplace, but I also do a decent amount in cafés like this one"

"That's cool" She tells him.

It takes a bit, but eventually he realizes that Mariana's trying to continue the conversation and gives up on getting work done. They end the encounter by exchanging numbers and promising to get in touch. Charlie drives back to Quackity's apartment and goes back to crashing on his couch.

*****

They end up texting each other regularly. They only meet up a couple times, but they grow to consider each other friends. Eventually Charlie admits to Mariana that he's kind of homeless and she insists that he moves in with him. Mariana supports Charlie as he launches a youtube channel and even appears in some of his videos. Charlie's there when Mariana finally quits his job and tries to balance a retail position with starting his own youtube channel, building off the success of his portion of Charlie's channel.

They separately realize that they feel for each other romantically, and it takes a year for them to turn realization into action and actually start dating. Their friends end up playing a big role in that decision. Despite this, they don't take very long to go from dating to engaged, even if their wedding planning was an absolute mess that took several times longer than it should have. Despite everything, they manage to gaslight their audiences into thinking that their marriage was just an ongoing bit. Even after getting legally married, as far as the internet was concerned they were just friends joking around, much to the equal amusement and frustration of Mariana, Charlie, and their friends.

Even after they adopt a child, their decision to not show her on camera led the audience to think they were just joking or referring to a pet. Many audience members still don't believe they live together, despite them frequently recording in the same room, because neither showed their faces often.

Chapter Text

Every day when Charlie gets back from work, she hangs up her red-lined gas mask by the decontam door and grabs a bottle of alcohol from the cabinet. As Mariana approaches, having been alerted to her re-entry by the camera on the doorbell, she takes a sip straight from the bottle and enthusiastically greets her. The way Charlie lights up at the sight of her despite the tiredness makes Mariana's day every single time.

Charlie works night shift, and Mariana works day shift, so they only have a few hours together each day. Often, they get no time at all. On days they do, though, Charlie gives Mariana a kiss on the lips as soon as she's in reach. Depending on how tired she is, they'll either cuddle by the TV watching cartoons or go to the bedroom and fuck. It's been years since they last ate together, but it's fairly unpredictable when exactly either of them will get home or go to work. They don't have time to start cooking a meal for two, and then have to eat it all alone because one of them got called in.

Back when Charlie worked day shift too, they'd at least be able to sleep together, but then she got fired and the job she found wasn't day shift anymore.

Today was a cuddle day.

Mariana carefully guides her slightly drunk girlfriend over to the TV. Charlie takes another swig and sets the bottle on the counter with a nice clink. Bzzt-bzzt the TV goes, crackling to life in the way a half-broken TV was ought to do being turned on for the first time that week.

"—lifeblood samples stolen from federation vaults—" The news blares, somehow always being the first thing on despite their aversion to ever watching it. Quickly, Mariana switches the channel, listening in to the static for the snatches of words she's looking for. "—the search for who killed all those—" then "—repair service—" then "—game of a lifetime—" and finally, "—stay tuned for a rerun of episode 1 of The Codebreaker…"

Satisfied she had found the channel fairly quickly, Mariana sits on her girlfriend's lap. She's normally a clingy drunk, but she's clearly not drunk enough because Charlie immediately pushes her off, loudly complaining about her blocking her view.

"It's literally just ads right now!" Mariana protests, fighting a grin all the while. Charlie goes on a rant about whatever, but Mariana mostly tunes it out in favor of admiring her. She's really so lucky to have a girlfriend like Charlie. She's smart, athletic, hot… What's not to love? Her short brown hair perfectly compliments her sky green eyes. Her glasses, half-broken and held together by duct tape as they are, only amplify her cuteness. Charlie's so good at makeup, and the only reason Mariana doesn't force her to do the makeup for both of them is because she's not normally home when Mariana wakes up. Charlie also has a ton of cute outfits, even if she habitually forgets to cover all her skin when going outside and has to put on undersuits that would completely ruin the look if she was anyone else. On her, they somehow make her look even better.

Speaking of undersuits, she has one on right now. Mariana wrinkles her nose, interrupting her girlfriend's rant "Charlie, cariño, please change. The show shouldn't start for another thirty minutes"

Charlie rolls her eyes and gives a verbal jab back, but stands up and does so anyway.

It doesn't actually take Charlie thirty minutes to change, of course, not even close, but it's still a close race between her and the advertising time. Mariana hadn't realized how much time Charlie had been ranting and accidentally gave a too generous estimate. As she would later reveal, her girlfriend was, in fact, aware of this. She just didn't correct her.

The TV starts broadcasting episode 1 of The Codebreaker only a moment or two after Charlie sits back down. She gives Mariana a nasty side-eye, but keeps her comment to herself, presumably so that the show won't be drowned out by an argument.

The opening music plays and after the show logo, the title of the episode– Episode 1: Too Deep Dive– is shown on the screen. The screen pans down from a looming black-and-green stormy sky to show the main character, a cucumber named Etoiles, yelling at the storm. The sounds of the storm drown out his actual words, but they aren't anywhere near as loud as a real storm. A narrator begins speaking, that Mariana knows to be Etoiles' future daughter as an adult since she's watched the show before "Once upon a time…"

*****

They're on an ad break when Mariana feels a scar on Charlie's hip that she knows for a fact wasn't there before. It's been three days since they last got to be together, but she knows that if Charlie had had this scar then, Mariana would have noticed. This is recent.

Charlie clearly feels her hands against the injury, because she freezes. Mariana almost doesn't say anything. In fact, she hesitates so long that her girlfriend relaxes again.

She does still ask though. "Cariño- What's this scar? It was not there last time"

Charlie freezes again, and she almost feels bad, but mostly feels betrayed "It's- um- uh… not important?"

"Your health is important to me" Mariana counters

"Yeah" Charlie says flatly "I know"

"Do you?" She presses "You're deflecting"

Charlie huffs "I literally just tripped, Mariana"

"...And got cut on the hip?" Mariana asks, suspicion coating her words

"Yes!" She shouts, throwing her hands up "That happens! There was something sharp nearby, and I caught myself but my hip hit it"

"Okay" Mariana says "Sorry. I believe you."

Charlie relaxes "It's fine. The next show is starting"

They go back to watching TV.

*****

SLIME: mariana almost found out lolol

CROW: what did you do

CAT: join the club

SLIME: NOTHING I SWEAR she just saw the scar on my hip /:

CROW: sigh

SHARK: ISN'T MARIANA BLUE???

SLIME: does it matter?? she didn't ACTUALLY find out

SHARK: hide it better next time

DUCK: yeah, slime, hide it better!

BLUEBIRD: ^^^

SLIME: i hate you guys

BLUEBIRD: no you don't

DUCK: aww thank you

CAT: me too

SHARK: i love you too

*****

And so life goes on.

Chapter Text

In a single moment, her vision shatters with gilded cracks. There is a cave, dark and green. There is a palace of pristine white pillars. There is a clawing, grasping, a scramble, a hunt. There is a throne of gold and red. There is a spreading static and a dark screen. There is a church. There is divinity, and there is an infection.

There is a mistake.

Something clicks where it's not supposed to, and a spiraling thread of red forms before his eyes. He and the monster take a newly synched, hitched breath. Everything is too slow, too fast. Mariana floats through the air, suspended in space, watching herself bleed out in slow motion even as her heart rate doubles in speed. Objects speed past, hovering in air as if frozen rather than slowed.

The golden ichor of a fellow god decorates the cave even as her own spills gold-red-green.

She is covered in blood, and it is her soulmate who is killing her.

*****

Soulmates are an inherently mortal concept, and yet they are not the ones with tied souls and shared fates. No, soulmates are for gods.

A group of gods heard the stories of mortals and turned to their jurisdiction, another pantheon, and enacted a series of checks and balances.

All gods must have overlapping domains so as to prevent corruption

Any god that acts without care for the mortals will receive a soulmate in the mortal realm

Major changes must be passed through the Federation

All gods must be held accountable to deals they make

No god may directly speak with mortals

It proves effective.

*****

There had been reports from some of the soulmates of other gods that there was a creature that kept trying to kill the demigods under their protection. Or more accurately, a group of creatures, since the different groups all lived in completely seperate locations and reported attacks at close enough intervals to make it impossible that it was just one creature. The only descriptions of these creatures were rather similar. Black, neon green, sharp claws, and 1s and 0s.

They decide to call them code monsters.

They eventually found the lair of one of them and sent Jaiden and Mariana. Jaiden was the god that this monster was indirectly attacking, since it targeted Roier and Bobby. Mariana was also there because Jaiden wasn't the best fighter so he came as backup.

The code monster tried to run at first, but once Jaiden hit it, she was screwed. Her ichor decorated the walls before Mariana could even react. She'd be okay, gods can respawn, but it still wasn't a great start. It turned to him, raising back from four legs to stand bipedally. Its tail smeared her ichor across the floor, swaying. It growled, but didn't attack until Mariana went to attack first.

Only, as soon as the first hit connects, one that sends Mariana flying into the air, something happens. Before her eyes, the monster she is fighting is tied to her.

The code monster does not continue killing her like it did to Jaiden. It just stands there, staring.

It's silent for a long moment after Mariana hits the ground. Her vision is fading in and out as she bleeds out, but even still she does not move. He just stares at his newly assigned soulmate, merely wondering why.

"Fuck." The code monster's voice is distorted to the point of being hard to understand, but Mariana's jolt is at the realization that it can speak at all.

His vision blacks out for a few seconds, and when it comes back his soulmate is closer and still approaching.

Mariana exerts some of her energy to heal her physical form a bit, though she intentionally keeps the main injury open. She just fixes enough so that her vision won't be going in and out and she won't have to respawn quite yet.

The code monster reaches her, pausing "...1'm n0t 5ur3 wh4t just h4pp3n3d, but y0u s4w th4t t00, r1ght?"

"The thread?" Mariana inquires without entirely meaning to.

"Y34h, th3 thr34d" Her soulmate nods "...4nd th3 v1s10n sh4r1ng th1ng?"

"That too" Mariana admits "You can speak?"

The code monster freezes, both 'eyes' turning to zeros where one was previously a 1 "D0n't t3ll 4ny0n3!"

Mariana raises an eyebrow "Why would I do what you want?"

"1 c0uld ju5t k1ll y0u" The code monster growls

"I'm a god" Mariana reveals "I think you'll have trouble keeping me dead"

The code monster looks at the blood "...1s th4t why th3 bl00d 1s g0ld?"

"It is"

Her soulmate growls a bit, offering "1f y0u d0n't 54y 4nyth1ng, 1'll 5t0p try1ng t0 k1ll th3 d3m1g0d?"

Mariana blinks a bit "How did you know he was a demigod but not know we were gods?"

"1 d0n't g3t br13f5 for g0d5 try1ng t0 k1ll m3" The creature flicks its tail aggressively, gesturing with its hands "4nd th4t'5 n0t 4n 4nsw3r t0 th3 0ff3r"

Mariana heals his body that last bit because he did already say that he was a god. "Fine, okay, I'll pretend this was a normal fight that ended in your death if you actually act like you died and don't attack"

"Why d0 1 h4v3 t0 d13 1n y0ur st0ry?" His soulmate whines.

"Because if I don't say that you're dead then people will come back to kill you regardless of your promise?" Mariana offers

"F1111n33" The code monster mopes "1t'5 4 d34l"

Belatedly, Mariana adds "Also, what happened is that we're soulmates now for some reason"

"...Wh4t."

*****

Later, after Mariana told all the other gods that he killed the code monster, he confronts the Federation. He's already had to dodge questions about the soulmate thing, since gods can actually see soulmate bonds if they're looking. Someone was checking up on the bond of someone else, and caught sight of Mariana's thread going down. Mariana responded by saying he had noticed it after the fight but hadn't gone looking for the soulmate yet. He then proceeded to avoid all proceeding questions.

During the conversation with the Federation, he quickly finds out that the soulmate thing was an accident, but they can't remove it. He yells at them, and they tell him that he probably needed one anyway.

Afterwards, he goes down to the code monster and tells it the bad news.

They get into an argument that ends when the code monster injures Mariana and she goes back to the god realm.

*****

It takes admittedly way too long for Mariana to come to terms with the fact that she can't just never mention her soulmate. He talks with the code monster and after much argument they reluctantly come up with a cover story. Apparently code monsters can shapeshift, so with some difficulty it takes a human-like form and the name Slime.

They can't quite convince anyone they don't hate each other and they don't really try, but they do succeed in pretending that Slime isn't a code monster. They fight and eventually, they kiss.

They were never supposed to be soulmates, but they certainly aren't the worst pairing out there.

Chapter Text

Mariana's husband died five years ago.

Mariana's husband is currently standing in front of him.

"Heyyyy" Slime says, looking up at him from where he's half-crouched behind a shelf "Fancy seeing you here?"

"You're alive?" Mariana chokes out

Slime looks intensely uncomfortable, glancing around for an escape "I mean, yeah. I'm kinda hard to kill" He winces, doing finger guns at her.

She hugs him.

"Oh-" He eeps "Um, okay, hi. Hi there. Wasn't expecting that."

Mariana laughs wetly "Pendejo. You idiot. I love you, don't ever do that again"

"Do what?" Slime dares

"Mierda— Don't fucking make me think you died!" Mariana scolds, pulling back a bit to look him in the eyes. His bright green eyes stare back at her, the same eyes of the one Mariana fell in love with all those years ago.

Slime looks away, doing seemingly all he can to not look her in the eyes for more than a second. He's stiff as a brick.

"Slime." Mariana pleas "Look at me."

Reluctantly, Slime looks back at him. Slime has a new scar, thin across his cheek. She wonders how it happened.

"Te amo" Mariana tells him as soon as he's looking at him "I love you. Even if you're an idiot, and I don't understand how you're alive when I thought you were dead"

Slime chuckles uncomfortably, quietly admitting "I don't understand"

"What don't you understand?" He asks, somewhat fearing the answer.

"You know." Slime huffs, only continuing at Mariana's imploring look "Fine, fuck! I don't understand why you love me! I fucking abandoned you! I almost got you killed! I've lied to you, and you never should've found me after I faked my death! I don't deserve you!"

Mariana scoffs at Slime's outburst "Cariño, I don't care what you've done. I love you. I'm mad at you, sure, but anger doesn't override love. Right now, I'm just glad that my husband is back, okay?"

Slime stares at her distrustfully "I don't trust that"

"Guess I'll just have to prove it to you then" Mariana tells him.

"What made you think I'm staying?" Slime counters, crossing his arms.

Mariana scowls "I'm not letting you leave and never come back, Slime. I don't have anyone to return to, you're not getting rid of me."

Slime stares at him for a long moment before "I go by Charlie now. And I do."

Mariana grins victoriously, before being bopped by Sli- Charlie "That doesn't mean you get to come with, asshole."

"Why not?" She pushes, to the annoyance of her husband.

"They don't know about my past and I'm keeping it that way" Charlie stands up "Don't follow me"

"Wait!" Mariana shouts as his husband turns to leave, desperate "You don't even have to tell them, I'll— Please, I don't want to lose you again"

Charlie stops a few steps before the exit. "Stop. I know you don't—"

"Por favor!" Mariana cries "I've missed you so bad, you can't just reveal you're alive and then leave again!"

Slime's fists clench, and Mariana dizzily watches as his frame shudders "Stop it— Stop" He sobs loudly, shakily "Nonononono— Please, no, I don't---"

Mariana stands up "Slime?"

Another sob "I do-don't want to— No! No! Please, no! MARIANA! NO! Nononono— 'm sorry, 'm sorry, I didn't want to, please!" Mariana steps towards him "No! I didn't— Please"

She doesn't know what to do. She places a hand on his shoulder, and he does a full-body flinch. Mariana recoils.

"NO! Please, please, please— No, nononono! I don't—"

He continues in this vein for several more minutes as Mariana tries to calmly, quietly talk to him in hopes that it'll help ground him. He feels like he has to do something. This was undoubtedly his fault.

Eventually Charlie's eyes refocus, and he shakily breathes. Quietly, Mariana asks if he's back with her.

Charlie's breath hitches, but he responds, no room for argument in his voice "You're not coming with me."

Mariana tries not to feel heartbroken "...Okay. I'm sorry. I still… I still love you, but… Okay. I don't want to hurt you."

Charlie breathes for a second, something like regret in his eyes "...Meet me here in three days, same time. I don't… You aren't coming with me."

"Are you sure?" Mariana asks despite himself "I really don't want to make anything worse for you"

"Yes" There's that same steely determination in his voice "See you in three days. Adios"

And with that, he gives a lazy salute and leaves the building.

For the few moments after Charlie leaves, Mariana just breathes. He can't believe that just happened.

Chapter Text

There's a moment in your life when you realize that everything you've ever known is built on a cracked foundation. You are twenty-seven years old, sitting on the throne your father once sat at, and the man you are destined to kill is kneeling at your feet. In that moment, the ring of imagined slime around your arm, covered as it is by your sleeve, is almost as heavy as the crown sat on your head.

You are sat on the precipice, staring into a dark, shadowy chasm that the once unheard of enemy stalks. Tendrils of shadow reach for you, not to grab and yank but to show subservience. Your world is shattering not because of an attempt on your life, but an attempt to serve.

Your first meeting with your destined enemy is nothing like you imagined for all those years.

He looks normal. This practical myth, someone you've only seen in the psychics' visions, is not a towering beast of black and green and storms like you were told. His hair is brown and his eyes are an almost normal green and he wears the clothes of a peasant. He looks human. He's attractive. You expected a monster.

You try to act normal in front of the man you are meant to kill. If the visions are right— and you don't know if they are, anymore— then he doesn't know that you are to kill him. You learn his name is Slime. It makes a sickening amount of sense. He is to serve you.

As soon as no one can see you, you collapse. You don't know how to react, how will you ever act normal when one of your servants is your enemy? No one knows except you. Should you tell someone?

You don't tell anyone.

You make sure to carefully monitor Slime though, more so than the other servants. He may seem normal, but there has to be reason for you to kill him. It's your destiny, so he must deserve it, right?

*****

Slime is infuriatingly informal and bad at his job. Nothing he touches is ever fully clean. He's also way too good at avoiding getting in trouble for things. Even with your special surveillance, you can never seem to actually do anything about his misbehavior.

One day, you complain about Slime to your friends and they ask why you don't just fire him. You sputter and make up excuses, because you can't tell them that he's the one you're meant to kill. They would probably see that as even more of a reason to fire him, even though keeping him employed is the only way you'll ever be able to find out more about him. You are desperate for this lead. Your friends look at you weirdly, and you quickly steer the conversation away. You learn better than to complain about it to them.

*****

There is a rancid stench coming from somewhere near the servant's quarters in your castle. You casually comment on it to Slime and he freezes briefly. If you hadn't been keeping an extra careful eye on him, you wouldn't have even noticed. He makes a joke about it, and a few days later no one's complaining about the scent anymore.

You don't know what happened, but something tells you Slime has something to do with it.

*****

You find out what Slime's deal is one fateful night a month after you first meet him.

You also find out why he has an aversion to dishwashing duty, because you're bothering him as he washes the dishes when you see it. Faded, as if hidden by half-washed foundation, he has a small emblem of wings on his left arm where your slime ring is on your right arm. You cut yourself off, breath hitching. You know what a prophecy mark looks like, because you have one yourself.

Slime clearly notices this, because he looks over at your ashy face and then follows your gaze. His eyes widen when he notices the now–visible mark. He curses under his breath, and then his eyes narrow.

You barely process it before you're up against the wall with a knife to your throat. Slime hisses "You saw nothing, okay?"

You look into his eyes "Threatening the king isn't a great idea, you know. I could have you executed"

Slime snorts "I'll kill you one day"

"Not without dying yourself" You helpfully inform him, tilting your head a bit away from the knife.

"What makes you say that?" He growls, eyes scanning your face.

You shift a bit, but quickly realize you can't roll up your sleeve while pinned. You settle for words instead "You haven't seen my arm"

Slime's eyes widen a bit, and he backs up just enough that you can show him. You delight in seeing how the color drains from his face at the sight of the ring of slime on your arm. He knows what that means. "Fuck, truce? No wonder they didn't tell us both parts"

You chuckle a bit "Sure, unless you plan on deserving it"

He wrinkles his nose at you "Fuck you, man. Same to you."

You grin, and he grins back. You cover your mark again, and he goes back to washing dishes. His knife is nowhere to be seen.

*****

Despite your attempts to not talk about Slime much around your friends, they still regularly make fun of you for how often you talk about him. You haven't said anything about that conversation to anyone, so you make up for that part of you that yearns to by talking about other aspects of Slime.

He's a lot more openly critical of you now that you both know, not that he wasn't before. At times you threaten to fire him, but you both know that'll never actually happen. You find yourself hanging around him at any possible opportunity, at times neglecting paperwork to do so. He nudges you to do so on occasion, but he's also skipping work to hang out so you ignore him.

The rest of the castle staff gets used to finding you and him arguing in random spots. You get him to start eating with you, saying that it's to keep an eye on him.

You try really hard to not space out in meetings thinking about him.

*****

At some point the questions of why you haven't fired Slime yet turn to why you haven't started dating yet. You're not sure why. He's going to kill you and you're going to kill him. You don't like him, let alone love him. You barely tolerate him, if toleration includes regular arguments.

He's admittedly attractive, but looks aren't everything and his personality is insufferable. He's funny and infuriating. Once again, he's going to kill you. Slime has expressly admitted that he got a job at your palace so that he could get close enough to kill you. You're going to kill him. That's the only reason he hasn't killed you already.

You can't tell them this, unfortunately, so your defense is pitiably weak and the rumors are as strong as ever.

*****

You meet Slime's friends when they come storming into the castle to make sure he's okay. Apparently he's been failing to give good enough responses in his letters. You're pretty sure they know he's here to kill you. Your theory is proven correct when Slime casually mentions it once they get out of earshot of the rest of the castle staff. They're mostly shocked he mentions it in front of you rather than the fact he's here to kill you. You and him explain the whole situation, and you absently mention that you haven't even told your friends about Slime being the one that you're supposed to kill, let alone the other half. Slime already knew, but his friends seemed shocked.

They move into the castle in the end, because if Slime's not coming back they're not going back. You give them duties to do to pay for the ability to stay.

You still don't explain to your friends.

*****

One day in a conversation with Slime, you casually slip a mention of your friends nagging you about what they perceive as your crush on Slime. You take note of how he tenses slightly, and then jokes about what the other castle staff have said about the two of you. You laugh and move on.

Later that week, you take a moment to actually consider it, despite yourself. You can't ignore the fact that you will kill him and he will kill you, but you have to admit your friends have a point. Their arguments are not enough to mask the genuine care you feel for him, and him for you. Now that you're no longer worrying about his intentions, you can't pretend that your constant thoughts about him are a bit more than just uncertainty. Maybe you do have a crush on him. You're still not going to do anything with this knowledge.

*****

You do something with that knowledge.

It's dumb, but you can't help it. Maybe, possibly, now that you're out of denial, you've started to mix flirting into your insults. Slime reciprocates the flirting, blushing like mad and stuttering every time. He's embarrassingly bad at taking compliments. Slime's friends have seemingly caught on.

At some point, though, you gift Slime a ring and he asks if it's a marriage proposal. You're taken off guard, because it's not, but you run with it. Admittedly, you're not supposed to marry your servants, but Slime made up an identity to get the job anyway. He can make another if it's really needed. (And it is, because you have to at least pretend to care about the sanctity of your lineage)

Some time later, you realize that this means you two got engaged before you started dating, and it wasn't even an arranged marriage. You joke about this to Slime and you two laugh at it for a good while. You officialize your relationship as romantic, though.

Your friends would be so smug if they knew.

Chapter Text

Princess Charlie 'Slime' Cicle is used to being pitied. She's a cursed princess, of course she is. She doesn't enjoy it, mind you, in fact she hates it. She just knows to expect it.

That's part of why it's so notable that Princess Mariana of the kingdom across the lake doesn't pity her. No, she just hates her. No pity in sight. She's very blunt about it, actually, in a way so different from the suffocating formality of regular royal life. If not for the intervention of basically everyone else in their lives, the two would be picking fights every time they meet. Publically, that is, considering the fact they very much still do try.

"I've figured it out!" Cellbit, the son of the head librarian and one of Charlie's friends, bursts into Charlie's room one day, a crazed look in his eyes. Philza, one of her parents' advisors, trails a bit behind.

"What'd you figure out?" Charlie asks as she sets down her card in the game she's playing with Jaiden and Baghera. Cellbit does this often.

Cellbit ignores her, walking in to continue his train of thought "That princess you hate! Kissing her would definitely count!"

"What?" Charlie's not at all following, but as she looks around at the others they seem to have caught on before her.

Jaiden scrunches up her nose "Man, I really don't envy you"

"Okay, but how would we convince her to go along with it?" Baghera raises, leaning forward.

Charlie sputters "Wha- What's the logic behind this? I'm lost."

"Your curse!" Cellbit runs a hand through his hair "You hate that one princess, don't you?"

"Well yeah, but-" Charlie tries to argue, but is interrupted.

"Don't you want to get rid of your curse?" Philza asks, pinioned wings spreading out behind him. Charlie feels a bit guilty for the part of her that doesn't. She knows Phil would love to have that kind of option to get his wings back. Phil would kiss his enemy for flight.

Charlie's not Phil.

Defeated, she brings the topic back to what Baghera said. She's totally not avoiding the question, what are you talking about? "She's not just gonna kiss me. I'm fairly certain the whole point of the hate kiss thing is that no one who actually hates me would kiss me"

"We could trick her?" Cellbit suggests hesitantly. It seems he hadn't thought of it yet.

Jaiden shakes her head "No, I don't… That feels immoral. I certainly wouldn't want to get tricked into kissing someone"

"...Good point" Cellbit reluctantly admits "But what else can we do?"

"I don't think there's a way" Charlie says, trying not to hope that she's right.

"I don't think it hurts to ask" Phil argues, because of course he does.

Charlie hides her hands under the table to pretend like her fingers aren't gooping into each other and after glancing around the room says "I guess not"

Jaiden seems to catch on to her discomfort because she says "You don't have to if you don't want to. We don't even know if it'll work on the off chance she does let you kiss her."

Phil looks like he wants to protest, but at Jaiden's glare he doesn't. Baghera backs Jaiden up "Yeah, if you don't feel comfortable, you don't have to. We can always wait for the next person you hate"

Charlie relaxes a bit, but she's still tense "Thanks" she says quietly "I'll think about it"

They all nod at that and drop the subject. The girls continue their card game.

*****

That conversation pops into her head a few weeks later when she sees Princess Mariana again. Charlie almost doesn't do anything special, just does her usual almost-fighting with the other princess. Only, at some point they go into a seperate room alone so that they can more overtly fight without getting in trouble. Princess Mariana was up in Charlie's face to insult her and she couldn't help but think to that conversation,

"Kiss me" She blurts out.

Princess Mariana's eyebrows immediately raise "Qué?"

"Kiss me" Charlie doubles down "Right now"

The other princess's brows furrow and it's silent for a few long seconds. Charlie feels her face heat up, but she refuses to show the embarrassment of actually asking. Then, a cold hand is placed on her cheek, and Princess Mariana leans closer. Her mouth drops open in shock of that actually working and the other takes the opportunity to slide their lips together into a kiss.

Charlie tries her very best to not literally melt into the kiss even as she figuratively does. Mariana tastes sweet in a way that she just doesn't act. Her lips are soft, and Charlie can't help but remember that she's never actually kissed another girl before. Not that she's kissed many guys either. Her entire body shakes with adrenaline, and she pushes further into the kiss so as to not start crying. She does so anyway.

She's starting to melt a bit as Mariana pulls away, brows furrowed once again. "¿Estás bien? What's wrong?"

Shakily, Charlie holds onto Mariana's arms in an attempt to keep from collapsing. She's still cursed. "I'm good, it's fine. Soy bien."

"You're crying" Mariana reminds her gently, wiping Charlie's tears.

She notes that she can't move her legs, so she just grips tighter onto the other. She doesn't reply, mostly because she can't.

Mariana glances down and clearly realizes her state, because she guides her down to the floor, muttering soft reassurances.

*****

Charlie isn't sure how long they just sat there together, but eventually she figures out how to speak again. "Sorry. I'm fine now."

"What happened? Did I kiss bad?" Mariana asks, and Charlie chuckles a bit.

"No, no, it's not your fault" Charlie takes a breath, trying to solidify her extremities "I, um, you know how I'm cursed?"

"Sí" Mariana says "It's all anyone talks about when it comes to you, which is truly a shame because there are so many better reasons to hate you."

Charlie snorts "Yeah, um. It came with a thing to break it, right? 'Cause curses need a way to break them- Mine was, uh, True Hate's Kiss. Basically, if someone who truly hates me kisses me, the curse breaks"

"Oh" She's too tired to process the complicated expression on Mariana's face "Is that why you wanted me to kiss you?"

Charlie winces "The curse didn't break. I dunno how to feel, honestly"

Another complicated expression "Why do you not know how to feel?"

Charlie purses her lips "On one hand, this was the only idea for how to break it and it didn't work. On the other hand, I just kissed you and I don't really know if I want the curse broken?"

Mariana looks- shocked? maybe? "You don't want the curse broken?"

Charlie groans "Please don't give me shit for that. How people treat me about it really annoys me, but honestly the curse itself isn't that bad and I'd have to basically relearn how to use my body if it actually broke"

"I won't give you shit for it" Mariana promises, still looking conflicted "...Did you not want to kiss me?"

"I don't know" Charlie melts a bit "You're a good kisser"

"Would you kiss me again?"

Charlie tilts her head "Is that an offer?"

"If you want it to be"

Charlie considers for a moment "Give me a moment to reform, but yes."

Mariana grins at her.

Chapter Text

Mariana falls in love on a nice autumn day. A friend of his, Roier, dragged him to see a traveling circus on the day they were in town. It was an overall great show, but the thing that really stood out to Mariana was one of the acrobats. She was stunning, and so very flexible. Unlike the other two girls, her hair was cropped short. The way the lights were led to follow her made it look as if she were glowing as she swung through the stage. She bounced easily off of all the others, and he could tell it was more than just practice. What little he heard of her voice was like music to his ears.

Roier, as he later discovered, was just as enamored by the performance, though his sights were set on one of the boys. They giggled together like the lovestruck idiots they admittedly were.

Still, it's not like they had any chance with their crushes. They made some plans to see them perform again, but they fell through with the realization that the circus didn't really have a set route. Plus, what if they noticed and thought they were weird or something?

Life moved on. Neither Mariana nor Roier could quite get their circus crushes out of their minds, but they moved on.

…Only then that same circus visited their town again three years later.

*****

"This is so dumb" Charlie whines, head in her hands "We're so dumb for this"

"You're the one with the crush, dumbass" Cellbit reminds her.

Charlie glares at him through her fingers "You say that like you don't also have a crush"

Cellbit scowls "I don't! I-"

"Guys" Jaiden peeks in through the curtain "Shut up, we're about to start"

"You're not the boss of me!" Charlie protests

"We're about to start" Philza tells her long-sufferingly from behind Jaiden.

"Oh" Charlie lifts her head up and leans back, crossing her legs with a shit-eating grin on her face "Well, if you say so, I guess I could be quiet…"

"Phil! Tell Charlie I don't have a crush!" Cellbit begs

Phil gives a tiredly stern look, and Charlie pipes up, elbowing Cellbit "Dad said be quiet! Shhh!"

"He literally didn't!" Cellbit argues "Jaiden did!"

"Shhhh" Charlie hushes over him. Cellbit pouts.

Phil sighs, fighting a smile "Where's Baghera?"

"She's getting snacks" Charlie replies

Phil glares at her "Now? Can't she wait until after the show?"

"I was hungry, Dad!" She looks at him with puppy-dog eyes "How am I supposed to perform well when I'm hungry?"

"We have granola bars" Phil reminds her gently "You don't need to send Baghera for snacks right before we start"

"Ughhhhhh" Charlie groans.

"I'm back!" Baghera yells as she walks into the tent with a bag of various snack foods.

"Let's go!" Charlie exclaims, shooting her fist up in the air. She rushes to grab some.

Phil sighs.

*****

The second time is just as magical as the first. It's all the same performers, but a completely different routine. This time, his crush sings. It's stunning, absolutely jaw-dropping. And yet, Roier was too busy staring at some guy to even acknowledge her beauty.

They inquire around and apparently in the three years of interim the circus actually figured out a route. They could theoretically travel to see them again.

Roier and Mariana start planning.

*****

The opening includes all five of them. They introduce themselves, Phil using magic to handle the lighting even as he does his own part. It sets the tone for the whole show, and as such they make this one special, because it's a very special show.

*****

They don't go see every single show, because while they are willing to leave town for this they don't want to actually straight up stalk these people. Instead, every few shows they go see, and while they do they stop at all the towns and explore. They do various odd jobs, because although Mariana can fly, travel isn't free.

The two of them learn all the performers' names, and get to know more about the world while they're out chasing crushes. After a while, the performers start occasionally referencing them and joking about having regulars at their shows. At one point, they get out of a show and Roier has to listen to Mariana sputter about how his crush— Charlie, is her name— made eye contact with him. Some time later, the roles are reversed and Roier's the one who made eye contact with his crush.

They fall into a new sort of rhythm.

*****

Charlie goes first, because Cellbit still refuses to admit his crush on one of their regulars. She sings a love song she herself wrote during an acrobatics routine, making eye contact with her crush throughout. At the end, she holds a pose and winks. Phil turns the lights off, and she scurries off into the back to make space for the next part.

*****

They almost didn't go to the show that it happened at. Not because they didn't want to, but because they started traveling later than they should've and almost didn't make it.

They did though, and they're very glad.

*****

It's a bit later on, but eventually, Cellbit does his.

*****

They end up actually talking with their crushes after the show and getting together.