Instant Family (SWSH Fanfic)

The Problem with Perfection

Marnie's heart sunk. Rose's voice made her skin crawl. Why couldn't she just ignore the call...

"... to what do I owe this pleasure..."

Marnie huffed and turned away. Rose blatantly played favorites amongst the gym leaders— and with her lackluster record with the media— Marnie was pretty low on his totem pole. It didn't matter that she was ranked highly in the major leagues, dwarfing Nessa and Milo in total wins. Spikemuth won with her every time as well, the local economy getting a massive boost since she took over the gym.

What could she say? She grinned. The naughty girls always rake in the cash...

Her pride was short-lived when she heard Rose's orders to Gloria. Tomorrow. Noon. Stow-on-Side. FUCK. Tears began to well up in her eyes against her will. She forced herself back into her usual steely composure, eyelids beating back the fledgling tears. She sprawled out on her back just in time to see Gloria fix the clasp on her bra, adjusting the straps in the mirror, subtly checking herself out before turning to face her, sadness in her eyes.

"Well I figure that means you can't stay the night then..." 

Gloria crawled in bed next to her, sighing and spooning Marnie. Here come the excuses...

"I'm sorry baby, you know I have a job to do..."

"Of course..." Marnie huffed "Ms. Money-making gold mine." She turned and glared at Gloria

"...whoa, hey, you heard the same phone call, where is this coming from?" Gloria retracted herself from Marnie, sitting up in bed next to her.

"What do you mean where is this coming from?" Marnie sat up as well, bunching the sheets up to cover her chest as she confronted Gloria.

"It's been two years of skirting around, having you prioritize Rose over everything. You're such a different person around him. Can't you just say no to him once?"

"Marnie..." Gloria reached her hand out to comfort her, she recoiled from her touch.

"Please understand, it's my job... he does an awful lot for my family and I just don't want to make him mad..."

"Oh. So it's okay to make me mad then?" Marnie arose from the bed, storming over to her dresser to get a t-shirt.

"it's okay to put others in second place for him? For what? Money?" She spat aggressively as she pulled the shirt over her head.

"Just break the rules every once in a while—" she stumbled as she hopped into a pair of panties "say no to him sometimes. I say no to him all the time!"

Gloria sank into the bed, shielding herself from Marnie's words with the comforter. She hated these conversations, there was never any winners, not that winning even mattered.

"Marnie— I— I ju—"

"Just look at you! You've seen me get mad about this for years now. Does anything ever change? No. Don't you get tired of being his little bitch all the time?"