Work Text:
Immy was in trouble. Major, inconvenient, undeniable trouble.
Vee was pretty and funny and kind and amazing and it was slowly killing her. She'd had plenty of crushes on girls before, but never a girl from another planet. This was entirely uncharted territory. They barely had the capacity to deal with it on top of the everything else they were already dealing with.
There's absolutely no way I'm her type. Why would Vee ever find a human like them attractive? She probably thought they were weird and sweaty and gross. Sure, she smiled at them and asked questions and laughed at their dumb jokes, but Immy couldn't help but wonder sometimes if they were just a curiosity to her. Just something to "shake up the day," as she'd put it.
Vee is so cool, and I'm just a sad, sweaty hairless ape, they lamented miserably. Then Clayre's booming voice promptly cut into her wallowing with all the grace of a sledgehammer.
"You seem awfully distracted today, hon."
Immy startled and frantically adjusted their grip on the de-atomizer they were helping Clayre carry to the display area (though, admittedly, she was the one doing most of the heavy lifting).
"Ah! Uh—sorry, Clayre."
Clayre studied them with an expression that wasn't unkind, but still indecipherable enough to make Immy nervous. After a moment, she offered them a gentle smile, her large fangs poking through in a way that Immy would have once found intimidating.
"Y'know," she said finally, "Vee was goin' on and on about you to Xancis the other day. You shoulda heard 'er."
"O–Oh. Really?"
Clayre chuckled.
"Actually, she almost never stops talkin' about you. You two are practically attached at the tail, these days."
"Oh. Well. I don't have a tail, but—"
Clayre gently pulled the de-atomizer from Immy's grasp, nearly lifting them off of the floor, and effortlessly hefted it up onto one shoulder. Immy blinked.
Did she even need my help?
"All I'm sayin' is, sweetheart, life is short. And sometimes things don't turn out the way you expect."
Immy laughed weakly, adjusting her glasses.
"You can say that again."
"Sometimes, we just gotta go after the things we want. Otherwise, how will we ever know what coulda been?"
"That's...some really specific but also non-specific advice. Uh...thanks?"
"Just think about it, okay, hon?" Clayre winked and lowered her voice, which Immy previously hadn't thought was possible. "And anyway, I saw the way you were lookin' at her in that suit."
All of the blood in Immy's body rushed instantly to their face. Before they had the chance to defend themself, Vee suddenly stuck her head out of an aisle several feet away. Immy's heart stuttered unhelpfully at the sight of her.
"Hey, Clayre, have you seen the mop? There's a—"
"Nope!" Clayre interrupted. She slung one massive arm around Immy's shoulders while still holding up the de-atomizer with the other. "But I'm sure Immy here would love to help you look."
One of Vee's antennae twitched quizzically as her eyebrows scrunched briefly in confusion. She gave the two of them a bemused smile that Immy could only return with a wide, nervous grin.
"Uh, okay! Sure! C'mon, Immy."
Immy helplessly moved to follow her, feeling like her stomach was full of bees. They looked back to see Clayre giving them an enthusiastic thumbs-up. They held up their hands in a gesture conveying WHAT THE HELL, DUDE? to which Clayre only responded with a shrug and a grin.
Vee let out a confused chuckle, casting a glance over her shoulder.
"What's up with Clayre?"
"Uhhh...don't know," Immy choked out. Change the topic! "Hey, um...I was just wondering...what exactly did you say about me to Xancis?" NOT THAT TOPIC!
Vee smiled, for once oblivious to Immy's inner turmoil.
"All good things, I promise. I told him that you're kind, hardworking, a quick learner, always ready to help."
Unbidden, something warm and funny-feeling bloomed in Immy's chest.
"Oh. Heh." They awkwardly scratched the back of their neck. "It was nice of you to talk me up like that."
"What?" Vee glanced back at her. "I wasn't just saying that stuff. I meant it."
Immy's heart was now doing somersaults in a way that felt dangerous to their health. Before they could say anything, the two of them reached the supply closet tucked away at the back of the store. Vee yanked the door open and surveyed the dark and dusty space with her hands on her hips.
"Okay, it's gotta be in here somewhere."
"What's it look like?"
Vee shot her a teasing grin.
"You do have mops on Earth, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, but for all I know this is one that cleans by itself, or shoots lasers, or...something."
Vee let out a snorting laugh, and Immy thought to themself that if there was any sound in the universe they could put in a bottle, that would be it.
"I'm pretty sure it just looks like a mop."
Immy followed her into the small, dim space, stepping carefully over the buckets and various bottles of disinfectant that littered the floor. Maybe stuff wouldn't go missing every week if we organized this closet better, Immy thought absently. That was a task for another day. Though she knew Vee had only been teasing her about the mop, she couldn't help but let out a small, self-conscious sigh.
"Sorry. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so clueless about...non-Earth stuff."
"Hey, don't worry about it, dude. You're not clueless." Vee cast a furtive glance at the doorway and leaned in conspiratorially. "And honestly, I still think you're more competent than Kip on his best day."
Immy snorted, grinning in spite of themself.
"You're lucky he didn't hear that."
Vee shrugged as she resumed her search for the mop.
"Besides, you're the coolest human I know."
Immy laughed softly at that.
"I'm the only human you know."
"Well, I may not know any other humans, but in my professional opinion you are definitely the coolest," Vee replied matter-of-factly as she rummaged through the cleaning supplies. The warmth filled up Immy's chest and surged through her veins all the way to her fingertips. She knew she had a big, dopey smile on her face, but they didn't think they could suppress it if they tried.
"I think you're really cool, too. You're, like, the coolest person I've ever met, here or on Earth. I don't think I've ever met anyone like you," Immy admitted quietly. Vee paused with her back to them, one antenna flicking back in their direction. When she turned to meet their eyes, her expression was uncertain but warm, and a little embarrassed in a way Immy had never seen before. What Immy then noticed was a pale blue glow in the dark, reflecting off of the shelves and faintly illuminating Vee's freckles.
"Thanks, Immy," Vee said softly. It took them a moment to realize that the light seemed to be emanating from her, like a firefly's glow. They blinked, awestruck.
Whoa.
Abruptly, DeeDee's blindingly bright yellow face popped up between them from Immy's wristband.
"HELLO!"
They both yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards, Immy banging their head painfully against a shelf. Vee let slip a chirping Cicinian swear word that Immy now understood to be something akin to "fuck."
"Just a friendly reminder that those sentences aren't going to work themselves off!" DeeDee continued cheerfully. "We don't not-pay you just to stand around and chitchat! Hahahahahahaha!"
There was a moment of awkward, drawn-out silence as Immy rubbed the back of her aching head.
"Remember, if you have time to lean, you have time to clean! Toodles!"
With that, DeeDee vanished in a flash, leaving only the gentle blue glow between them.
"Are you okay?" Vee asked Immy. They nodded dazedly. Vee gave a defeated sigh, her antennae drooping wearily.
"Sorry about that. DeeDee pops in to 'check on us' if we're away from the shop floor for too long." She gave Immy a halfhearted smile. "That's why I never spend more than five minutes in the fridge during open hours."
Immy, however, could do nothing but stare.
"Uh, Vee? You're...glowing. Like, literally."
The glow brightened a little as Vee made a strangled noise of embarrassment, frantically patting her face as if that would somehow put out the light.
"Oh! Haha, sorry, it's just—it's a thing, don't worry about it. Or, well, it's nothing, I just—"
Immy waved their hands apologetically.
"No, no, it's okay! I—I think it's really pretty. I mean, you're always pretty, but..."
Vee froze, her antennae standing on end, and met Immy's eyes. Their brain suddenly caught up with their mouth and they stumbled over their words, red-faced.
"That's—I mean—um—"
Vee broke eye contact, her antennae flicking back nervously, fidgeting silently with her hands in a way that was unlike her. Immy's stomach twisted itself into knots. Oh, no, I fucked up. All the while, the soft blue glow from Vee had been growing steadily brighter, illuminating the dark closet like light from a lantern. Still avoiding Immy's eyes, Vee's gaze landed instead on something in the corner, tucked away between the shelves.
"Oh, uh...there's the mop," she mumbled weakly. "Haha."
Immy reached out with one hand before she could think about it, lightly brushing her fingers against Vee's now-luminescent arm. Vee's eyes snapped back up to hers, widening a little. Immy often felt like they could drown in those big, dark, starry eyes, but especially now. They chewed on their lip uncertainly before opening their mouth.
"Vee, I—"
"Hey, Vee, you in here?" came Kip's drawling voice from the doorway. The store's harsh fluorescent light flooded into the closet, drowning out the previous gentle glow. Immy flinched and sprang away from Vee like she had been burned, but she wasn't quite fast enough, and Kip froze in his tracks when he spotted them. His mouth stretched into a smirk and Immy immediately knew that they were never going to hear the end of this.
"Whoa. Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt."
Vee had a look on her face like she wanted to strangle him.
"You weren't interrupting anything," she responded tersely. Kip shrugged and flashed them an impish grin.
"Hey, I'm no snitch. S' none of my business what you guys get up to on your breaks."
Immy's face was on fire. She desperately wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.
"It wasn't—we weren't—"
Vee cleared her throat and pointedly stepped in front of Immy, offering him a strained smile.
"Did you need something, Kip?"
Kip looked her up and down, still wearing the same shit-eating grin.
"Wow, somebody's glowing."
"Thank you, Kip. Don't you have some pissed off customers to ignore, or something?"
Kip waved one prickly hand dismissively.
"Fine, fine. I'll leave you lovebirds alone."
He finally sauntered off to the customer service desk, though not before calling "Lock the door next time!" over his shoulder. Vee slowly dragged both hands down her face with a loud groan. She peeked at Immy between her fingers before letting her shoulders slump with a sigh and a rueful smile. The blue glow from her skin was much fainter now in the light, but still there. Immy couldn't stop staring at it.
"Sorry, Immy," Vee said finally. "Ignore him. What were you gonna say, before?"
Immy's heart seized in their chest. Oh, no.
"Um—"
She was interrupted by Gub's nervous voice as it came crackling over the intercom.
"Uhhhhhhh...Vee to the front, please? There is a very large puddle of acid in aisle five very quickly eating its way through the floor."
"Oh, [%#@&], I forgot about that."