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Amelia doesn’t get sick often.
She has bad days. Nothing serious that she needs special attention. She takes meds for a cold and she rests if she has a headache. She’s a doctor. It’s as simple as making a cup of tea. It’s instinct at this point that she just knows how to properly take care of whatever goes wrong with herself.
That being said, she has no idea what to do about this.
The bathroom mirror is foggy from her shower. Her shirt is half hanging off her shoulder. She doesn't reach up to fix it. She was too busy examining her bare arm.
Scratches. Bitemarks. Little pinpricks of red dotted up the skin from her elbow and around her bicep. It wasn’t serious. Flattering and also really funny when she gets to roll up her sleeve later and watch Calli choke on her soda. But right now, in front of the mirror, Amelia frowns.
“There’s a lot of you to patch up.” She complains to her arm. She thinks about just wrapping it in gauze. It seemed too dramatic for love bites. One of her girlfriends was bound to freak out. They were already tiptoeing around her with their immortal strength. One part of her brain knew they were just being careful. As a human, she was fragile to them. The other part of her brain grins with all teeth and says that’s kinda hot.
It’s the same part of her brain that got her those bites in the first place.
Amelia glowers at her reflection, “You’re my nemesis.”
In the end, she decides to leave it be. They weren’t serious and as long as she wore sleeves they wouldn’t get irritated. Other than that, nothing was sore and she was happy to reminisce about two pairs of fangs trailing along her skin.
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It’s Gura’s turn to decide the date.
The shark only liked to take them to two spots. The bathtub in their apartment and the beach. Typically, Amelia wouldn’t mind. She gets to soak up some sun with the added bonus of watching two immortals try to beat each other up with a volleyball. Not to mention how cuddly Ina gets. The beach is nice.
She grips her arm and thinks, please choose the bathtub.
“Ya guys want snacks?” Gura is yelling from the kitchen. “I can bring pizza.”
“Just tea,” Ina calls back, folding towels into a backpack. “Water, too.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Amelia eyes her swimsuit. She should say something. But, really, was it that bad? No one is going to see. Even if someone did, what the hell did it matter? She could honestly pass it off that she got attacked by a possum or something. The mental image of a rodent with Gura’s hair has her cracking a grin. Okay, she thinks, it’ll be fine.
“I saw on the TV this morning,” Ina is saying, her tentacles looming overhead to grab a sunhat from the closet, “that it might rain. Do you have your jacket, Gura?”
“Don’t need it.”
“Gura.” Ina smiles, “Bring the purple one. It has cute kitty ears on the hood.”
Gura’s face twitches, “I see how it is! Loving me only for my hoodie. Hmmph.” But she’s walking towards her room which means she’s already admitting defeat. Amelia giggles at that. Ina shoots her a wink before handing Amelia one of her raincoats.
“Just in case.” She sings.
Amelia grabs it with a helpless smile. It was purple with a little octopus dancing around the hem, “You’re not subtle, Ina.”
The priestess wiggles her fingers at her, “But you’ll look cute.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t wear it.” She tucks it into her bag. “But you’re no sly tako. Trying to get us to wear your clothes, hm?”
Ina hums. She’s reaching into her backpack at the same time her tentacle brushes Amelia’s arm. Even through the sleeve of her shirt it sends electric tingles down her arm. She jumps. Without looking away from her bag, Ina says, “I was right.”
“About what?” Amelia clears her throat. Her voice had jumped an octave.
“Your arm.” Ina tilts her head to look at her with concern, “Got too rough, Watson?”
God damn it. Amelia hurriedly waved her off, “No. Don’t think that. It’s not sore just, uh, really sensitive.”
“Hmm.”
That didn’t sound approving. Amelia opened her mouth to ask before a pillow nailed her in the head. Gura is yelling down the hall, “Ame is tough, right?”
“I’m going to pound your ribs into confetti!” She chucks the pillow back. It falls short of hitting the smug shark. The face immediately changes to fear when Amelia gets up and bolts down the hall. A high-pitched shriek follows shortly after.
“Stop! No!”
“You’re just a chicken! Chicken shark!”
“Watson!!”
Casually, Ina puts in headphones while her girlfriends pulverize each other four feet away.
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She’s starting to get worried.
Amelia pulls at the hem of her jacket. It’s covering her swimsuit and by extension, her love-bitten arm. It’s taking every bit of self-control not to roll up her sleeve to check. She’s fine. She just has to survive a few hours at the beach.
Two problems.
It’s sunny and nice out meaning she’s going to get a good tan. She would be getting a good tan, that is, if she takes her jacket off. By process of elimination (her jacket ) that means two immortals are going to get an eye full of minced Watson. Three scenarios are likely to happen. She takes off her jacket and they give her bedroom eyes and she gets to be smug about it. In a slightly less fun version, they see it and get smug themselves because leaving marks with their teeth gets the two immortals high up on their ego pedestals. Lastly, they get worried. This is the worst scenario and the one that has her hesitating the longest overtaking off her freaking jacket. Ina’s concern back at the house was only a shadow of the two of them hovering over her with guilt-ridden faces asking do you want to go home?
Amelia would die on the spot. If she somehow survived she’d call Calli just to finish the job.
The other problem revolves around the fact that they already know. Ina is perspective and Gura’s nose could pick up anything from miles away. They know about her arm. Amelia can feel their gazes on her back when she’s not looking. They’re worried.
And because she’s hiding behind a jacket and their ever-growing concern (problem number 1 and 2 respectively) her earlier pride is being beaten to death. This all started as some attempt to prove she wasn’t some fragile human so easily bruised. She knew her limits. Every day she’s aware of her mortality.
But holy shit if she has to sit down and be told her girlfriends are too afraid to top her in fear of her health she’s going to lose it.
So, a jacket as a shield (problem) and girlfriends kept at a distance (big problem). This was manageable. It’d be a little boring and she wouldn’t get to cuddle with Ina (problem number 3 added to the list) but she could handle it.
“Watson?”
“Hmm?” The shade of the beach umbrella at least helped with Problem One. The sunglasses helped hide most of her expression too. Gura wouldn’t be able to see how fast her brain was running away from her. “What’s up?”
Her shark puts a hand on her hip. Amelia lets herself appreciate the view of Gura in a swimsuit, her tail lazily dragging back and forth across the sand. Cute, she thinks.
“You just gonna sit over here all day?” Gura smirks. “Not even gonna take a dip?”
“The dip is over here.” She gestures to their snacks.
“Oh please, you know what I mean.”
Amelia stretches, "Aaaah, I'm good. You go have fun- actually, where's Ina?"
"Looking for In icecream."
"Boo. That was bad."
Gura sticks her tongue out, " Wah tever."
Amelia snorts. She leans back on her elbows. The stinging sensation in her arm has her tensing up- shoot I forgot - and tries to keep a straight face. Gura is looking at her. She's making the face.
"Ame…" Gura's voice is soft. "You need anything?"
Amelia desperately held on to that straight face, "Hm? Why? I'm good."
"Well-" Gura's expression pinches. It's the same way she'd look at a cucumber. "You know, I don't wanna be that shark, but you have a little-"
"I'm fine."
Gura's eyes lower to her toes, "Uh, right."
Oh god. Amelia tiredly runs a hand down her face. In her effort to prevent her girls from feeling guilty, the guilt had turned on her. She's pulling out the eyes too help-
A tentacle is patting Gura on the head.
"Don't be sad, Gura." Ina appears with three ice creams, the first of which is held in another tentacle. She winks down at the time traveler. "Ame likes when you worry over her."
"I do not!" Amelia protests. She backtracks at the smug look Ina sends her. Shit I slipped up. "I'm fine, guys, really."
“So there is a problem.” Gura huffs. The shark crosses her arms. With her small stature, it looks unbearably cute. Ina must think so too when she drapes her arms over the top of Gura’s head. The priestess is humming like a content cat. Gura forges on as if she wasn’t there, “You know what I think? I think Amelia is the one who’s worried.”
Amelia sputters, “What? No-”
“Your arm.” Ina starts.
“The jacket,” Gura adds.
“We miss you.” They chorus like they rehearsed it. Amelia feels an invisible arrow stabbing her with each accusation. Now Ina was giving her eyes too. She was the victim of a joint attack. They had ambushed her!
She points at them, “You two planned this!”
“Yes.” Ina says at the same time Gura says, “No.”
Gura tilts her head back to glare up at Ina, “Whose side are you on?!”
“The side of justice, my good shark.” Ina kisses the top of her head, “And kisses. Lots and lots of kisses.”
Amelia can see when the lightbulb appears over Gura’s head. She dreads the smug grin that comes over her face. Gura places her hands on her hips, “Well if Watson doesn’t want kisses, I’ll take them all for myself.”
“Have fun with that.” Amelia pretends to be interested in her nails.
Ina nods sagely, “Ah, I see.”
Gura is nodding too, “You thinking what I’m thinking, Ina?”
“Two of like minds.”
“Oya.”
And suddenly Amelia has a lap full of girlfriends. It isn’t graceful. One moment she’s relaxing on a beach towel and the next Gura is crashing into her. It isn’t the first time Gura has pounced on her so the weight isn’t all surprising. When Ina falls on her next, all the air gets punched out of her lungs.
“Get off!” She tries to move. The two of them are giggling. Gura is muffling hers into Amelia’s collar and Ina is laughing so hard she’s curling up like her sides hurt. It weakens Amelia’s efforts to escape when they look so cute like that. Amelia can’t help laughing too, “You guys, c’mon.”
“Aww, you hear that?” Gura manages between laughs, “She liiiikes us.”
“Please,” Ina wheezes, “I’m gonna pass out.”
Gura stops laughing, “Oi, we’ll both be trapped if you do that.”
“Not a bad result.” Ina counters.
“ Oi!”
The stinging in her arm flares up suddenly. Not now! It’d been fine before. Was pressure causing it to act up? Amelia bit her lip. Gura was close enough to notice.
“Oh, shoot.” Gura elbows the girl on top of her, “Ina, too much muscle. Abort.”
“I’m not made of glass.” Amelia winces. Her tone was way too snappy. “Uh, I’m fine. Literally, you guys weigh like, paper.”
“Humu.” Ina hasn’t moved. She’s peering down at her curiously. “I guess we can’t doubt the strength of Amelia Buffson.”
“Well, it’s cramped,” Gura complains. She never liked being in the middle. “I don’t want to be a sardine. Ina, move.”
“Ask nicely.”
“Move nya.”
“... Okay.”
Amelia snorts as the two of them move to make themselves comfortable next to her. This feels planned too somehow. With Gura on her left and Ina on her right. No escape, it said. They were both leaning their heads on their hands and peering down at her expectantly.
Amelia can’t help but laugh, “I’m not going to be your entertainment.”
“Please, your face is hilarious.” Gura.
“I just like looking at you.” Ina.
Amelia covers her face. It hides the ridiculous smile there, “Can’t you two go brain each other with a beach ball?”
Gura scoffs, “Those things are made of air, genius. Just like your big head.”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“Excuse you, I have a fish brain. It’s different from airhead time travelers.”
Ina is nodding like she’s making a valid point, “You have been pretty airheaded lately, Ame.”
Amelia opens her mouth and then snaps it shut. The protest is caught in her throat. They look worried again. She really wishes it’d been a normal day at the beach. A part of her is even wondering why this has become such a big deal. It’s just…
“It’s just love bites.” She grumbles. “It’s not a big deal.”
Gura snaps her teeth playfully. She just likes showing off the rows of razor-like teeth she has, “It’s my finest feature.”
Ina playfully pokes out one of her fangs. Amelia flips them both off, “Yeah well, human mouths are sexy too.”
“Wait, is that the issue?” Gura tilts her head. The sarcastic tone didn’t fit with the innocent eyes she was making, “You feel like your mouth is inferior?”
“Watch it,” Amelia warns. “You’re in range of getting your ribs evaporated.”
Ina giggles, “Ame, c’mon, you can tell us anything. If something’s bothering you…”
Amelia crosses her arms. The effect doesn’t go so well when she’s lying on her back. From the expectant stares of two immortals, she feels a little like a kid who has to talk about what they want for their birthday. She can feel heat crawling up her neck. Jeez, these two…
“Okay.” Amelia sighs. “Listen, about my arm-”
“I was right!” Gura cries.
“Shut up, I’m talking!” She swats her. “You guys always get like uhhhh nooo Ame got hurt whenever we have a good night, or, or not just that! We’ll be playing around or roughhousing, or even just now when Gura told Ina to move. It’s-” She cut her rant off with a groan, “Like, I get it.”
Ina is humming, “You don’t want to be treated differently?”
Amelia drops her arms in defeat, “I just don’t want you guys to be on eggshells around me.”
The immortals share a look. Gura picks her words carefully, “Well… you were hiding it behind a jacket…”
Ina is pulling at the hem of Amelia’s sleeve. She looks shy when she says, “We thought you were embarrassed.”
“Like, you know,” Gura awkwardly shrugged, “Ashamed.”
Amelia blinks, “What?”
“I think we were wrong,” Ina whispers to Gura. Amelia snorts. She’s right between them. They were being absurd again. “I think she likes it.”
“I think so too,” Gura whispers back.
“I haven’t even said anything yet,” Amelia complains. She pokes their foreheads. “Morons, I do like it. I guess I just got nervous about how you’d react to seeing it.”
“I mean,” Gura looks like she’s trying hard not to laugh, “We saw a whole lot of it last night.”
Amelia considers swatting her again. She is distracted by Ina carefully pulling at her sleeve. It sends electric tingles up her arm as the priestess delicately rolls it up. The bites have started to bruise. Little scratches look redder than this morning, but that’s probably from being too rough with it. The sight of it makes Amelia’s face warm.
“I guess you could say I’m one delicious detective.” She jokes.
Gura is leaning her head down to Amelia’s collar. She rests her chin there, her expression not giving anything away as she looks at the arm too. If Amelia didn’t know better, she’d think Gura was looking at it for the first time. Ina’s fingers run along the skin, a feathery touch just a hairline away from the marks. It makes Amelia jolt.
“Sorry.” Ina whispers.
“It’s fine.” Amelia breathes. She doesn’t like how her voice has jumped an octave. “Gura stop smirking.”
“I’m not, god.” Gura turned her face to hide her smile, “I can’t be happy my girlfriend is cute? Piss off.”
Gura is currently laying over her other arm that’s not being observed and she can’t use it to swat her. She catches the way Gura’s expression softens and finds she doesn’t mind it too much. Ina looks wistful as she traces shapes down Amelia’s arm.
“Jeez,” Amelia tries to smile, “I’m sorry you guys. You don’t have to make those kinds of faces…”
“It’s your fault,” Gura grumbles. “You got any idea how it feels?”
Amelia furrows her brow, “What? I’m the one who got bitten.”
“She means... ” Ina is dipping her head closer to hers. Amelia can’t remember what she was about to say. She’s caught up in the way the ocean is looking at her, “You’re precious.”
“Can’t let you out of our sight,” Gura adds.
“Can’t even blink,” Ina says playfully.
“That’s right.” Gura is moving closer. Amelia’s vision is filled with both of them, way too close, she’s trapped on both sides. It feels great. “Don’t go where we can’t, okay brainiac?”
Amelia is too surprised to quip back. She exhales heavily, “Okay.”
“Meaning no hiding.” Ina holds up a finger. “No jackets.”
“Can we make a no pants rule?” Gura wiggles her eyebrows. Ina playfully pokes her nose and the shark leans away giggling.
“What if it’s raining?” Amelia jokes.
Ina is still smiling when she leans down. She’s close enough that her lips brush Amelia’s cheek, “I’ve got you covered, detective.”
“Cute.” Amelia breathes. “Are you going to kiss me or leave a girl hanging?”
“Promise to be a good girl?”
Amelia scoffs, “Yes mommy.”
Ina’s hands curl up to cup her jaw. Her thumb is caressing a circle there when she kisses her. Amelia sighs into the kiss, her free but bitten arm reaching up and dropping itself behind Ina’s neck. She toys with the strands of hair. Ina’s eyes flutter closed. Amelia’s heart swells.
“Why are you cute?” She whispers against her lips.
Ina hums, eyes half-lidded, “I get it from you.”
“She’ll suck you dry like a vampire.” Gura is cuddling Amelia’s shoulder. “She just gets more adorable with each kiss.”
“Wah.” Ina fakes scratching her hand in the air. Gura flashes her teeth and pretends to snap at it. Ina giggles, “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten you.”
“You hear that Watson?” Gura nudges her, “I get special treatment too.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Amelia leans back on her elbows. She watches Ina playfully nuzzle Gura. Gura bravado flees in an instant and she’s squirming with laughter. Amelia can see the moment Gura’s giggles completely melt Ina’s heart. She watches her immortals kiss and thinks, okay maybe this wasn’t so bad. Watching Ina run her fingers through Gura’s hair while the shark tries to devour her is pretty hot.
“By the way Watson,” Gura’s voice is rough in that way she gets from getting totally kissed out, “I believe you have another arm on the menu.”
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END