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Surface Sickness

Summary:

Marina had lived underneath the surface all her life, until recently. One of the several challenges of moving to a new location, Marina realizes, is that she’s not quite equipped to deal with the illnesses and ailments the surface-dwellers have come to largely ignore.
But don’t worry! Her bandmate is there to help, even if she can’t quite figure out why a common cold with such few symptoms can take out somebody so tough.

Notes:

uh hi hellooo
self-indulgent pearlina sickfic bc a cold’s beating my ass rn
anyway uh yeah this is my very first fic on ao3, please tell me if yall like it!!!
also my bad for any formatting errors, i have no damn clue how this site works

 

go team nessie !!!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

“This is, like, mega fresh! Where’ve you been all this time?!” Pearl’s cheerful laughter filled the brief silent void left behind by Marina’s laptop. “With beats like these, we’re gonna be the biggest, bestest rap-and-DJ-combo EVER!”

Marina tried to fight back a snicker, but lost the battle. She, admittedly, still hadn’t gripped Inklish as well as she wanted, but knew that ‘bestest’ probably wasn’t a valid word. She opened her beak to gently tease Pearl as a backhanded reward for her antics. However, she was stopped as quickly as she began by a rough, scratchy coughing fit.

Pearl’s face quickly scrunched in mock worry. “Air go down the wrong tube?” she huffed in a light tone. When Marina struggled to wheeze out a chuckle, Pearl’s fake concern turned genuine quicker than a splat brella broke in enemy fire.

When Pearl rested a small hand onto Marina’s back, the taller cephalopod tried to brush it away. “I’m alri-“ another coughing spout sent a shudder through her body. “Alright. I’m alright.”

“Girl, you shook like an accordion - that’s not exactly ‘alright’.” Pearl closed Marina’s busted laptop, placed it down onto the roots of a gnarled tree, and helped the odd-looking ‘inkling’ up onto her quaking feet. “We’re cutting it short today,” the tiny squid declared, “Come on ‘n crash on my couch for a bit.”

Marina opened her beak once more to respond, thought over her possible outcomes of either staying outside in the cold or in the older woman’s house, and ultimately nodded in agreement.

Marina had never seen such a big housing area; it was nearly as large as the Octarian King Octavio’s military headquarters. Pearl had spoken about her house in the past - how she shared it with her parents and two half-brothers with odd names, the basketball court, and other ‘trivial stuff’ like that, as she called it - but Marina couldn’t ever be prepped for how grand the mansion looked.

Despite being hurried in, Marina felt as though she was entering holy space. Being swept into a massive foyer, the two cephalopods quickly passed by a sea of coat holders with expensive faux furs in their grips and thousand-coin shoes on equally-priced shoe racks.

Swiftly passing through the foyer and into the world’s most cozy living room, Pearl shuffled her bandmate right to a large couch that could easily fit all her family and more. One slightly rough shove later, Marina was stuck on the couch under Pearl’s watchful eyes.

The small inkling took her colleague’s boots and set them on the ground with a gentle thud. She took a large blanket that belonged typically in her mother’s lap and tucked the tall woman in.

“Take a nap, weirdo,” Pearl murmured in an uncharacteristically gentle tone. “Take all the time you need.”

Marina wanted to protest, but… who can say no to a comfy couch?

When Marina woke up, the sunlight’s glow had been replaced with a fire’s. It took her a moment to process that she wasn’t stuck in her little fort in the woods - no, no - she was in her new best friend’s home. Sliding the warm blanket off her back, she propped herself up on one arm. Just as fast, she almost fell back down into the groove she made in the couch, propelled down by another cough.

While her wheeze echoed out into the living room, it was quickly overshadowed her quiet gasp of surprise. There was another inkling sitting on the armchair a little off to the side of the couch. Their face was analytical, seemingly busy studying Marina. Glancing to the side, a developing inkling sat legs crossed on an ottoman, an anxious look on their mug.

“Can’t believe she brought someone over!” the older of the two inklings complained.

“We gotta ask Mama to bring over school friends!” the younger one declared.

The two chattered amongst themselves about the new mysterious stranger occupying their extremely-comfy couch, but were quickly interrupted by the flicking of a light switch.

“Hey!” Pearl’s familiar snappy voice filled the silence once more, “Papa doesn’t like it when you interrupt his naps and you know it! Why are you guys interrupting hers?” She scowled at her half-siblings.

Marina piped up, “No- no, it’s perfectly alright, Pearl! I woke up by myself anyway.” Pearl’s face softened into that sweet, caring - hell, loving - expression that Marina had come to adore. The inkling strode up to where the trio of inkfish were and gently placed her hands atop her half-brothers’ head and shoulder respectively. “Marina, meet my annoying little brothers Emperor and Prince. Emp, Prince, this is my bandmate, Marina.”

“This is Marina?!” The pair both squeaked, “Pearl talks about you all the time!”

Marina felt her face rise in temperature. She talks about me? To her family? “The, uh- pleasure of meeting you two is all mine,” she smiled. Her brief flush of embarrassment, happiness, and another emotion she couldn’t quite figure out was quickly discarded as she realized Pearl had still been standing. “Oh! Pearl, come sit down! That hike was long, you must be tired.”

“Hey, you’ve been clonked out for, like, three hours. I’ve gotten enough rest,” Pearl beeped. Marina murmured a quiet “oh” but still propped herself back to a normal sitting position. “Not like I’m gonna say no, though!”
The tall octoling jumped as her bandmate tossed down into the couch, brushing arms with each other. Pearl had since signaled for Emperor and Prince to get out of the room, ‘exile’ she called it, and leaned into her tall pillow.

“You feelin’ any better? Seriously, you were out!” Pearl chimed.

“Actually, now that I think about it,” Marina rubbed her throat, previously sore and raw, that felt as though sweet honey had dripped down and cured her ailment, “I feel like I’m at a hundred percent again.”

“That’s wonderful! Glad you’re up ‘n goin’, can’t have by beloved bandmate to shrivel up on me!” Pearl smiled that massive, goofy, confident smile. In all honestly, that smile was what Marina was after. That precious smile.

When Marina attempted to stand, Pearl pulled her back down with small hands tugging on her leather garments. “Hey, wait,” she muttered, “Would you- uh… How do I put it, er… like to stay over here? With me?”

Marina.exe has stopped working.

“Imeanit’sfineifyoudon’twanttoI’msureyou’rebusyan-“ Marina wrapped her arms around the rapid-word-firing inkling and finally gave a smile of her own.

“Yeah, I’d love that,” She rested her head atop her friend’s, “Pearlie.”

The new nickname made Pearl the happiest she’d been in a very long time.

 

Prince and Emperor sat by the ajar door and quietly watched. The two cephalopods had fallen asleep in a rather peculiar position for ‘just bandmates’. Pearl had snuggled up to Marina’a front, head under head, arm hooked around the octoling’s waist. Marina had her friend in a strong hug that would probably require a crowbar to separate. The rest of their bodies were hidden under a thick yellow and white comforter, but based on the massive lumps wrecking the illusion, the two young inklings assumed they had their own positions as well.

“Prince,” Emperor called to his brother in a hushed whisper, “I think Pearl’s lying when she says that girl is ‘just a friend’.”

Prince nodded, “Totally.”

The two stayed quiet as they began their gentle meander back to their shared room.

“How many years until they get married?” Prince asked his older brother out of curiousity.

“Hm,” Emperor placed a finger to his beak in thought, “I don’t know.”

“I hope it’s soon!” Prince exclaimed. “Miss Marina’s really nice.”

Emperor huffed and glanced over his shoulder back over to the door just a few inches open. “Yeah, me too.”

Notes:

you made it !!! yippee !!!
if you liked this fic please please let me know! also drop some suggestions for fic ideas, writing this one was fun and i wanna do more <3

i have a lame twt for more splatoon shitposts, if this gains traction ill maybe draw some fanart for this and post updates on different future fics !! @/hamjamtwt

anyway bye !! gl to everybody in the splatfest !! also to everybody in the golden rotation for splat2 grizzco heehee