Chapter Text
Marshmallow woke up the next day with the worst hangover of her life. Her head throbbed and her eyes were so dry they burned, and she felt like she was made of lead. She groaned and tried not to move, lest she have to add nausea to the list too. Suitcase was setting a glass of water on a table beside the bed that Marsh hadn't noticed last night, though when Marsh groaned she turned and smiled.
“Oh, good, you're awake! How’re you feeling? I brought you some water.”
“Uurgh…” Marsh managed, rolling onto her face and pushing herself up slightly. She narrowed her eyes against the sunlight that managed to break past the curtains in the room and rubbed her mouth with the back of her wrist. She took a deep breath. “Like I got hit by a truck,” she choked out. Suitcase gave a sympathetic smile, and nudged the water closer.
“Yeah, I figured. You kind of look it, too,” she said, hopping onto the bed to sit next to Marsh, who huffed and drank the water in a few large gulps. Her stomach twisted and she belatedly realized she hasn't eaten anything in several hours, and especially not since downing two and a half bottles of alcoholic soda, and she figured that probably wasn't her best decision. She fought down the stomach pains, and stretched as Suitcase watched, kicking her feet calmly. Marsh met her gaze and blushed, lowering her arms and rubbing her cheek.
“Uh-” she started gracefully, “thanks. For letting me stay with you. I mean, I know it's my house, but I would've left if you wanted me to-”
Suitcase shook her head, smiling. “It's alright! I wouldn't do that to you, Marshmallow. Besides, you looked like you were gonna fall over or puke on yourself or something, I couldn't just leave you alone all night.”
Marsh grimaced and she sank into herself shamefully. “Yeah, haha. Sorry about that…”
“It's fine, really. And it helps me sleep when I have someone else nearby anyway.” She paused, humming, and they sat in a comfortable silence for a moment. Suitcase turned back to Marsh, “Did you know you talk in your sleep sometimes?” She asked innocently, with an amused and playful smile. Unfortunately, Marshmallow just flushed harder, burying her face in her hands.
“No, I didn't.” She squeaked. Suitcase laughed light-heartedly.
“Aww, don't worry, it was cute! You talked about Apple mostly, I think you missed her. Hey, speaking of-”
Marsh waved her hands, stopping Suitcase. “That's enough, please. I think I'll die of embarrassment.”
Suitcase laughed again, making Marsh smile, and she nodded. “Right, right, sorry. But, actually, what I was going to say was-”
She was interrupted by a loud crash from the floor below and the muffled sound of overlapping voices arguing. Marsh let out a worried ‘eep-!’ and jumped off the bed, swaying. Suitcase followed to catch her. “Hey, careful!” She said as Marsh wrapped an arm around her. Now that Marsh was so close, she could notice some of her sugar coating had rubbed off onto Suitcase's straps, and she shook her head to clear her mind of the thought that she might have been cuddling Suitcase in her sleep. As if Marsh wasn't struggling enough, a loud bang of someone throwing open the door sounded. She gripped her head as her headache throbbed in protest, shutting her eyes tightly and grimacing. Strong arms pulled her into a tight hug, and she recognized the feeling almost immediately, sighing fondly even as Apple crushed her into a fine paste.
Apple was rambling incoherently, face buried in Marsh’s shoulder, and Marsh patted her girlfriend affectionately and tried to pull away from the hold. Apple was saying something about how badly she had missed Marsh, how she was so scared when she couldn't find her, and Marsh felt a small pang of guilt but it was overruled by the lingering thought that she usually was out of bed before Apple anyway, and that Apple was being a little bit more clingy than usual, in an overdramatic and overacted kind of way that gave Marsh the sneaking suspicion that she was being not entirely sincere.
The train of thought broke when Apple stopped ranting to kiss Marsh profusely along her cheek and neck, burying herself even deeper into Marsh's fluff as Marsh abandoned her suspicions and giggled and batted at her. “Okay- Apple, please, I'm alright! I have to go make- mmph!” She was interrupted when Apple worked her way to her mouth, kissing hard. Apple always gave everything her best, and kissing was one of her favorite activities, so she gave that even more. Marsh sighed again, a mix of annoyed and fond, and resigned herself to let Apple go long enough that she'd be satisfied with whatever display she was trying to make. Eventually Apple pulled away, sticking her tongue out and screwing up her face. Marsh just harrumphed, shoving Apple playfully. “And that's what you get for kissing me before I could brush my teeth.”
To the side, Suitcase took a chance on the pause in affection and cleared her throat. Suddenly aware of her surroundings again, Marsh wiped her mouth with the heel of her hand and chuckled sheepishly. “Right- ahem-” she patted herself down, reshaping her form back to normal. Apple reached around her again and pulled Marsh tightly to her side. The overt display wasn't technically unusual, but Marsh still gave her a sideways glance before turning back to Suitcase. “Thanks for letting me stay, again. I'm sorry for intruding and for waking and running, but I really gotta go make breakfast for everyone and-”
“It's ok!” Apple interrupted, “We all heard you were feelin’ bad, so OJ an’ Paper took over breakfast. Mmm, and lunch. You were sleepy for a while.”
Marsh blinked then started to struggle against Apple, pulling away slightly to face her. “Lunch?! How long was I sleeping exactly?” She asked at Apple, who blinked back at her and shrugged. Suitcase kicked her feet into the floor.
“Yeah, a while,” she said, “Probably almost twelve or so hours, I guess? I was gonna tell you when you got up. Actually, I was gonna try to wake you up earlier, too, but OJ seemed to have it handled and Bow said you were cute when you were sleeping and we should leave you be, so I just let her take over which was maybe not my best idea ever, now that I think about it…” she trailed off. There was another loud argument from the floor below and Marsh felt her eyebrow twitch.
“Great…” she said through a strained smile. She sighed, taking a deep breath and counting to calm herself. She may have had the worst headache ever and accidentally been starving, but she was still significantly better than last night, and she could survive this too. She exhaled and let the emotions leave her, rationality taking their place. “Okay. It's fine. They haven't broken anything yet, have they?”
Suitcase chuckled and shook her head, though Apple paused and hummed thinking it over. She snapped her fingers, grabbing Marsh urgently. “They did! They smashed a bottle of soda on the wall!” She exclaimed.
“Oh, well that’s-” Marsh started, chuckling and embarrassed.
Apple held her tighter and her eyes narrowed angrily as she continued. “And they all say it wasn't them, but there's no one else around. I think we should kick them all out and make them sleep on the lawn, Marsh.”
Marsh blinked, then pulled back again slightly. “Apple!” She said, genuinely surprised, “what's gotten into you?”
Apple's eyes were still narrowed and she turned her vitriol to Suitcase briefly, who blinked back with a confused: “Uhhh-”. Apple pulled Marshmallow more towards herself again and stage-whispered to her.
“Let's not talk about that here.”
Marsh sighed, rubbing her temple. She had thought Apple had gotten over her possessive streak, but it looks like having so many sudden new roommates was taking a toll on both of them that Marsh hadn't accounted for. ‘Okay,’ she thought, ‘Big things first’. Priority One: Making sure her kitchen was still a kitchen. Priority Two: Talking some sense into Bow and OJ. Priority Three: Apple. And she was probably the easiest, so Marsh didn't feel that bad about holding off, for now.
“Whatever,” she mumbled, then added, louder, “we'll talk about this later. Right now, let's go make sure our kitchen is still attached to the house, okay?”
Apple smiled widely, nodding. “Whatever you say, Marshie! Let's go!”
'Marshie?'
Before Marsh could bring it up, Apple scooped her into her a bridal carry and spun towards the exit, only giving Suitcase enough time to awkwardly shout ‘see you!’ after them before the wind Apple had generated racing by slammed the door shut. Marsh held on, shutting her eyes tightly to fight the wave nausea that rose from being manhandled. She groaned. It was going to be a long day.