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It's hard.
Really, really hard.
Returning to society that is.
Callie clenched the beanie and pulled it down even further on her head.
After Marie's new agent, agent Four, freed her, Callie had been struggling with her return to society.
She wanted to go back out and finally, finally start the acting career she'd been hinting at on her socials before she put the hypnoshades on.
But she was too scared too. Every time she tried to leave her and Marie's apartment to go schedule an audition, she was hit with a sudden spike of fear.
What if someone hated her? What if her outfit was bad? What if she got caught outside by a fan, and they hated her cause of her makeup, or her clothes, or her tentacles?
The possibility of thousands of eyes being on her was too much.
Every time Callie wanted to go outside, even just to breathe in fresh air or admire the sky, she had to be with someone else. Someone better than herself to divert attention away from herself. Someone to divert her attention to, so she could actually enjoy the outdoors.
Even then, she still felt watched, constantly. She had to hide her face, even when she was with someone else. You can't be outed if no one knows who you are.
But still, she was scared. She couldn't take it. The possibility of eyes, the possibility of embarrassment, the possibility of disgust.
The hypnoshades helped her. When she put them on, she didn't feel scared anymore, she didn't feel watched. She felt like herself.
It was a guilty pleasure. She hated how much they helped her. She felt how they twist her mind when she puts them on, but she can't help it.
It's like the hypnoshades lock her in a safe and protected room, then throw the keys away. Away from judgement from everyone around her, while still being around them.
Callie reaches the square. Finally. It's the dead of night, but there's still so many eyes on her. She just doesn't know where they're watching from.
Callie walks over to the grate. Her arms are tied to herself, hugging herself as tight as possible, as she walks When she reaches the grate she jumps in and swims as fast as possible.
She lets out a shaky breath as she swims through the tunnel. Finally somewhere small and enclosed. Away from everyone she doesn't know.
Callie feels her body slowly warm up as she swims, becoming more and more comfortable. She feels saf again.
But she knows it's only temporary. As the stream of ink slowly dissipates, Calles sees the subtle starlight shine through the grate she's heading towards.
She knows there's no one there. No one other than Octavio at the outpost. But it still feels like she's being watched, being judged, being laughed at. Though it's way less there than in the square.
Callie slowly pops out through the grate, her arms clutching herself tight as she reforms. The instant her head and ears reform she hears-
POP!
"Gya!?"
Callie falls backwards and lands hard on the grate as the loud pop fades through the normally Silent Tentakeel outpost. Her eyes are slammed shut.
"Huh? Oh Agent One!"
Callie hears the clattering of what sounds like metal and plastic and the heavy but quick sound of boots on concrete.
"Ohmygosh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you with that!"
Callie opens her eyes to see the face of Marie's recruit, and her own best friend, Agent 4, leaning over her. Her tentacle bangs covering her eye.
"Four..?"
"I'm sorry!"
Callie sees Four reach out her hand. And after a moment of confusion she takes it, and is swiftly pulled up and into a hug, which confuses her, but she doesn't shy away.
Callie feels the warmth and safety she felt only moments ago return to her as she huggs her BFF.
"What are you doing here?"
Four ends the hug after Callie asks the question. It makes her sad but she doesn't say anything. Four goes back to where she was and picks up her hero dualies off the ground, spinning them and holstering them.
"Don't tell Marie but... I was training..."
"Training? For what?"
Callie watched as Four walked over to the couch and sat down. She follows behind and sits down next to her. Four picks up a bottle of inkling-safe water and chugs the entire thing in little more than three seconds.
"Hah... Well... Nothing, I Guess."
Callie tilts her head confused.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing. I just feel like something's going to happen, and I want to be prepared. It's stupid, I know."
Callie looks at her friend. Four was looking down and twittiling her thumbs, with her arms haled tight against her sides.
"That's not the full reason, is it?"
Four jolts a bit then sighs, she had seen right through her. Four never was a good liar.
"Yeah..."
Four gulps and lets out a shaky breath. Callie sees this and scoots over, nudging Four's shoulder with her own.
"We both know I won't leave until you talk. And that I'll keep nudging you like this until you do"
Calsays that with another bump of the shoulder. Her own problems can wait. She can get the hypnoshades later. She feels safe right now, so until Four leaves, she doesn't need the hypnoshades. Untill Four leaves, she won't feel watched.
"Hehe..."
Callie sees a weak and waning smile go across Four's face.
"I'm serious, you can talk to me, and I won't leave until you do."
Four's smile wavers a bit as she lets out a shaky breath.
"Am I..."
Callie looks at Four as the words struggle out of her mouth. She can see how hard it is for her to say this, whatever it is. She stays silent letting Four speak.
"Was I just..."
Four's hands start moving up towards her head, and Callie's eyes widen as she immediately recognizes what Four is about to do, having done it so many times herself. Callie quickly reaches out her hands and grabs Four's arms before they can reach her tentacles.
Crying without tears. Callie has heard of it, but never seen it. It's supposedly some sort of trauma response.
Callie lowers Four's arms then grabs her head, then makes her look at her.
"Breathe Four. In, and out."
Dry and silenced hics of air come out of Four's mouth.
*She probably came out here, hoping that training would distract her from whatever she's thinking.*
Callie sneakily pulled her phone out of her pocket as she pulled Four into herself, forcing her into a hug, which was met with violent want.
As Four's fingers dig into Callie's back, and she continues her dry, silent crying, Callie turns on her phone and sends a message to Marie.
*FunnySideUp: Octo canyon. Now. Urgent. Four. Come quickly and quietly.*
Callie quickly switches off her phone and silences as she keeps hugging her BFF. As much as she wants to help Four, she knows there's only so much she can do. Four's girlfriend would surely help more.
What feels like hours, but was probably only minutes pass by. Four dryly and silently hiccupping in Callie's arms the whole time.
As time passed she only got worse. Callie felt as Four started shaking over the course of her dry breakdown.
"It's okay..."
Callie whispered into Four's ear as she held her. As she does this, the familiar bubbling of the grate reaches her ears and she looks up to see Marie popping out in her full agent gear.
Immediately Marie trains her charger on Callie and Four, Callie slowly raised a finger to her lips and mothed "be quiet" to Marie.
Marie lowers her charger in confusion as she looks at the two. Callie grabs her phone and turns it on, moving slowly so Four is none the wiser. She opens the notes app and types.
'Dry crying. She needs help from someone who knows her better. All I know is that it's something about herself.'
Callie flips the phone around and shows it to Marie, who was taking off her heavy gear as quietly as she possibly can. It becomes quick and quiet after she reads the message.
"Hey... Four? Can you sit up for a second..?"
Four shakily nods and releases her bear grip from Callie, it takes a long time because her joints had locked themselves in that position.
"-------"
Four's voice was too hoarse to say anything. To dry to vocalize, too warped to hear. Callie watches as Marie quietly walks behind Four and rests on the couch, wrapping her arms around Four's back. Four jolts at the touch, but leans in when she recognizes who it was.
"I'm going to go get you some water. I'll be back."
Callie stands up from the couch and walks into cuttlefish cabin. The second she gets inside she sees the hypnoshades, places precariously in a glass case in a shelf not far from the door.
She stares at them and they stare back.
Callie spacks herself. Hard. Then turns to the small kitchen area and grabs a gallon jug of water and a cup. After she's done she starts walking to the door with the cup I jug in hand.
Just before she opens the door, she looks back at the hypnoshades and swears to herself she'll grab them after Four is better.
Walking back out, Callie sees Four and Marie in almost the same position, Marie hugging Four and Four Holding herself, though Marie was also resting her head on Four's.
Callie walks back to the two, sets the gallon jug of water on the ground, and softly sits on the couch.
Four tries to reach for the glass, but her hands are too shaky.
"No, I'll pour it in for you."
Marie releases an arm from Four and holds it out to the glass. Callie hands the cup over to her cousin and watches as Marie lifts it up to Four's mouth and she starts to slowly drink it.
"There you go..."
As Four drinks from Maries hand Callie sees her shaking visibly subside.
'She calmed down almost instantly... I was right to message Mar-Mar. I really wasn't helping her, was I?'
Callie rests a hand on Fours shoulder and starts rubbing it, and watches as it calms her even more.
The three sit like this for what feels like forever. Untill Four speaks.
"A-Am I j-just... a t-tool..?"
Fours voice was hoarse and weakly cracked at every word. Callie and Marie looked at Four with confusion and worry.
"What? You're not a tool, you're you."
Marie hums in agreement.
"T-Then a-am I a r-replacement..?"
The two cousins quickly respond.
"What?! No! No one could ever replace you!"
"You're my bestie! Of course not!"
Marie hugs Four even tighter, wanting to put as little distance between her and Four as possible.
"Sun... Why would you ever think that..?"
Four tightens herself.
"Y-Yu and agent o-one always t-talk about a-agent T-Three and t-the captain a-and where t-they are... A-And when I a-ask i-if you t-two need m-my skills f-for anything you a-always let m-me down e-easy o-or brush it o-off..."
Callie stands up off the couch in surprise, catching Marie and Four off guard. She was crying.
"Four, you're not a replacement for them! You're the bestest friend I could ever ask for, and I probably wouldn't be here now if it weren't for you!"
Callie scoops Four and Marie into a hug with her unnatural strength, still crying.
"Me and Mar-Mar always talk about three and the captain because they're missing and we're worried! We didn't want you to get hurt trying to find them so that's why we always brushed it off!"
Callie kept hugging them, and eventually Marie stopped resisting the hug and joined in, squeezing Four even tighter.
"We have no leads to where they are at all... We didn't want you to chase any rumors or myths and go missing too... I'm sorry Sun..."
Marie was crying too, after finding out how much she had been hurting Four without even knowing it.
Callie lowered them onto the couch but never released her hug. Still sobbing while hugging Four, saying some incoherent apology.
"T-Thank you..."
Hours later.
The three haven't left the couch. It was silent now. Four was laying on her girlfriend's lap, who was fast asleep, laying back on the couch. Four was awake, and she could tell Callie was wide awake on the other side of the couch, staring at cuttlefish cabin.
"Agent one..?"
Callie jolts and tenses up at her name being called. She keeps looking at the cabin and speaks without turning.
"Yeah?"
Four's now soft and calmed tone of voice flies through the night air.
"Why did you come to the canyon..?"
Callie tenses up even more and turns away from the cabin, Four catches this but doesn't note.
"I, uh.. Just wanted to get outside of the house..."
She wasn't entirely lying. But it was a very twisted truth.
'It hurts not telling her, but she doesnt deserve to have to deal with her problems and mine.
Four stares at Callie, and doesn't say anything. She knows of Callies fear, even if Callie doesn't know she knows.
"I'm glad you did."
Callie looks back at the cabin, then shakes her head and leans into the couch, turning away from it.
"Me too."
The two sit in silence for a very long while, before they both succumb to sleep.
The next day.
The sun broke through the horizon and slowly shined itself onto tentakeel outpost. The rays of the new morning sun slowly angled themselves onto the two individuals on the couch.
As the sun shines through Callie's eyelids, she feels a little nudge on her legs.
"Cal... It's time to wake up..."
Slowly, like a dragonflies wings, Callie's eyes buzz and flutter open. She winces as the sun beams into them, and slowly moves her hand to block it.
"Ughh... Everything's upside down... Was I drinking again..?"
Callie hears a small snort and chuckle come from her right.
"No Cal, you're just upside-down-"
"Huh..?"
Callie feels her body begin to slip and before she can catch herself she slides off of the couch and her head connects with the concrete.
"Ow..."
Marie continues her snickering for a few more seconds before moving to help her cousin up. As she stands, Callie rubs her head and the now growing bump.
"Where's Four..?"
Marie raises an eyebrow and smirks.
"So you do remember where you are."
Callie playfully shoves her cousin which garners a laugh.
"She left earlier to go back to the apartment. She wanted to 'do something as a thank you'"
Callie frowned and shook her head.
"She's too selfless! You're gonna have to change that Mar-Mar!"
Marie playfully scoffs. As she starts walking towards the grate to the square.
"Yeah, I know. Now let's go before she gets worried and comes back for us."
Callie tenses up at the mention of leaving, and her fear from the night prior returns. There will definitely be people out during the day.
But Marie can take most of the looks off of her. She can hold the focal point, for strangers and for herself.
"I know, I know, I'm coming-"
Callie turned back to the cabin before running after Marie and standing on the grate with her. Once there the two swim inside.
Callie let out a small breath of relief when she walked inside her and Marie's apartment. It was easier to be out while with Marie, but it was still scary.
It still felt like eyes were on her, though instead of the thousands like the night prior, now it felt like billions.
She was glad Marie was there. She has been "jokingly" hugging her for comfort while they walked back to the apartment, saying things like "You always look like no one hugs you" to get away with it.
Marie, like Four, knows about Callies Agoraphobia, and she, like Four, doesn't comment on it. She knows how hard it is for her, so Marie doesn't stop her when she lies about things like hugs in public. Besides, her cousin does give good hugs. If not very, very tight hugs because of Callie's herculean strength.
As the door to the apartment closed and the sounds of the ever-active city were cut, the squid sisters heard the sizzle and pop of food cooking in the kitchen, tied together with the subtle hum from a voice they both knew.
"Breakfast!"
Before Marie could stop her, Callie was speeding off into the kitchen. When she arrived, Four almost dropped the pan she was cooking food in.
"Bwah!-"
Callie was directly behind Four, watching her cook as if she were a wild dog.
"Hi Four!"
Four starts laughing as she sets the pan down.
"Hi agent one! Before you say it, the food is almost ready."
Marie walks into the kitchen with a smirk, as she watches the interaction between her cousin and her girlfriend.
"if you go change into normal, clean, clothes it'll be done by the time you come ba-"
Before Marie said the last word, Callie has zoomed off to her room to change.
"Well now you just put me on a timer!"
Marie Snickers as she moves to help Four cook.
Callie races down the hall and stops just before her door, practically breaking it down as she barrels inside.
Callie quickly dashes over to her dresser, and reaches for the handle to yank it open. But before she does, she stops and her eyes widen.
"I'll always be there to save you. Friends don't leave friends behind. Just like you didn't leave me. Don't hesitate to ask for help
- Four"
They were sat gently on top of her dresser with a little pink ribbon, and a cute orange bow tied onto them. Directly on top of them was the note.
The hypnoshades.
Callie stared at the note with tears threatening to break.
"So she knew..."
Callie smiled warmly at the hypnoshades and wiped her tears before the even started to drip.
As she grabbed her clothes and got dressed to go eat breakfast, she smiled at the hypnoshades and sat them on her shelf.