Risks and Rewards (Of a Life so Simple)

Cold Ramen

It was somewhere around 3:36 in the afternoon when Meep got a text from Three.

[🏅🏅Three🏅🏅]: hey do you have time I'd like for you to come visit
[🏅🏅Three🏅🏅]: it's chill if you don't I was just wondering

Meep squinted. It was a very rare thing to get invited to Three's apartment, and even more so when the invitation was out of the blue like this.

She had no reason to say no, or course, so she replied as such.

[Meep]: I'd love to! I'm free right now, were you thinking right now, or later?

[🏅🏅Three🏅🏅]: now is good if you're free
[🏅🏅Three🏅🏅]: no need to rush tho take your time

Well if that wasn't a mixed message, she didn't know what was. But...meh, it probably wasn't worth worrying about.

[Meep]: Ok! See you soon 💙

[🏅🏅Three🏅🏅]: see you soon 💛

———————

She got to the apartment about a half-hour later. It was midday, sun high in the sky, peering through a spattering of clouds occasionally as they moved with the wind.

When she knocked on Three's door, she heard a sound. But no one came to let her in. She waited a few minutes, concerned but not wanting to be the annoying person who knocked incessantly. And then she did knock again.

"...Three? It's Meep. Are you home?" She said loudly, not quite a yell, but hopefully audible through the door.

A few moments later, the door swung open.

Three was...well, a mess was an apt enough descriptor for what Meep could see. Her eyes had bags under them, which considering her mask, it was a feat that they were in any way visible. She was wearing a long sleep shirt, a cluster of fresh wet stains just below the collar. And, notably, her tentacles were bundled up in a messy ponytail. Meep had never seen her tentacles any other way than straight down.

Immediately, her chest swelled with worry. "Are you-"

Three cut her off, face forced into a smile, awkwardly laughing. "H-hey there, Meep! It's good to see you! Here!"

Meep grew even more worried. "Yes....you invited me."

"Aha...I did do that! Yep!" She leaned, arm braced against her doorframe. The only thing this seemed to accomplish was block Meep's view of the inside of the apartment; it definitely didn't make her look relaxed, that was for sure.

Meep took note of the move, but didn't say anything.

At the silence, Three just stared back at her, looking increasingly nervous.

Then, Meep tried again to ask what she had before. "Are...are you o-"

"H-hey, what about, how about we go somewhere else? I mean, for like, a date, or something?" Three cut her off with a stammer. "I-I mean, not for, for like any reason, or anything, just-"

Meep reached forward and put her hands on Three's shoulders, and her girlfriend went silent. Her eyes also went wobbly. Not a good sign at all.

Meep tried one more time. But this time, it wasn't a question. "Three....you're not ok, are you?"

The Inkling's expression cycled through a couple different looks, clearly feeling conflicted on how to respond, before eventually settling on despondent defeat. She let out the faintest of sighs. "....no. No, I'm not." She removed herself from the doorway, turning and going inside. She gestured for Meep to follow. "Might as well invite you in. Not like my image can get much worse."