We've Been At This (M! Agent 3 X M! Agent 8)

Determined

   Agent 8 had finished his lesson with DJ Octavio and now was thinking of ways to gift the Small Fry to Agent 3 and Agent 4.

  He was fine with just handing it over to Agent 4 but he wanted to make it special for 3. He wanted to make him happy, to make him surprised by the gift.

  Agent 8 placed around, thinking about what do to. "How should I do it? Leave the it at his doorstep with an unknown writer letter? Wrap up the little buddy and put it in a box and hand it to 3?"

  DJ Octavio chuckled. "Well, first of all, you mean anonymous letter. When you write something without signing your name, it's called an anonymous letter."

  "Ah, okay. Thank you." Agent 8 nodded, then immediately went back to brainstorming.

   "You're putting a lot of thought into this, Agent 8. You must really want to become close with him." DJ Octavio noted, Agent 8 spinning around to look at him.

  "I do! I want to befriend 3! He's the fresh! I want to make friends with him. And to apologize for our fighting. I feel guilty...." Agent 8 sighed, sitting back onto the ground, leaning against the snow globe.

   "You want to make it up to him. You want to make up for all the bad things that happened between you two. I get it, 8. I want to do the same with Cuttlefish..." DJ Octavio muttered to 8 before he saw Agent 4 come in. He immediately shut his mouth, pretending like nothing ever happened.

  Agent 8 perked up, his tentacle swirling around happily. "4!"

  Agent 4 smiled at him, then her eyes immediately locked onto the adorable Small Fry at his heels. "Aww, oh my cod!"

   She ran over to them, scooping one up in her arms. "Where did you get these?"

  Agent 8 laughed nervously, looking at his shoes. "I... Stole them. From Grizz. Salmon Run."

  "Y-You smuggled them from Mr. Grizz?" Agent 4's eyes went wide as she looked down at the other ones on the ground. Agent 8 gulped, nodding slowly.

   "Dude... That's awesome!" She cheered, snuggling the little Salmonid in her arms. The Small Fry cooed, relaxing against her chest. Agent 8 felt himself smile softly.

  "Thank you. Take that one. A gift for you." 8 responded, seeing that Agent 4 had already begun to bond with the one in her arms.

   "I will! And I'll make sure to take good care of it!" 4 smiled widely, then looked at the little buddy, booping it's nose. "That's right, I'm gonna give you a nice home away from the scary Grizzco."

  Agent 4 giggled, then looked back at 8. "Speaking of Grizzco.... In order to rescue them you must've had to work a shift, right? Are you.... Okay?" She asked, her smile fading slightly.

  Agent 8 glanced away, but nodded. "Yes, I am fine. The shift was... Scary. Salmonids are the friends of Octarians. It was hard. Hard seeing them.... T-Them die."

  He gulped, feeling his throat go dry as he remembered the bright beaming sunlight hitting down on him, weapon in hand while hearing the screams of terror that erupted from the quaking beaks of the Salmonids.

  Agent 4 sighed, placing a gentle hand on 8's shoulder. "I know, and they deserve better. They deserve to be taken care of, like friends or family. They deserve love."

  Agent 8 agreed but kept his eyes averted. "I-I just wish that... I could have saved more. All of them. All. Not just three."

   "True, but this is better than none. Speaking of these three cuties, will you be able to take care of those two here at the cabin? I can take one off your hands and take two." Agent 4 suggested but 8 shook his head.