So Side Order has now been released and passed, so time to return to this story once again. Lots of ideas circulating in my head now and I believe I see the path forward, so let's jump right into this one. It ended up way longer than I thought it would, but I'm always happy when that happens without me meaning for it too! I hope you like it too.

Shiver POV

Boss Marie's assistant was giving her, the Cap'n, and the old Squid a hug to celebrate Agent 3's success at stopping the big, dumb, bear up in space.

Even the Cap'n herself could be seen with a smirk to the whole situation. Or at least it could be seen if Shiver and Frye weren't currently rubbing her hands over the treasure that Boss Marie had given to them.

The group had broken up their hug and were now looking over to the group of bandits. Big Man wasn't indulging in the treasure with the other two, but was standing by them and had been watching the others before turning back to his friends.

Big Man: Ay... (I wouldn't mind if we celebrated with a group hug...)

Shiver: A hug to celebrate getting all this treasure, huh?

Big Man: AY! Ay! (NO! For saving the world!)

Frye: A world we can sell this treasure in?

Big Man just sighed realizing the other two only had a single-track mind when dealing with treasure.

Boss Marie: I take it you three are going to be getting out of here soon?

Shiver: Yep, treasure doesn't sell itself.

Frye: Could you imagine how helpful that would be if it did?

Boss Marie's assistant giggled at Frye's comment causing Frye to smile before turning back to Boss Marie.

Frye: By the way, let us catch those digits, Boss Marie! That way we can keep in touch!

Shiver: Good thinking, Frye.

Shiver said as the three flipped out their phones.

Boss Marie sighed and pulled out her smartphone as Callie just smiled at the three.

While Marie was giving the three her number, Frye received a call.

Frye: Oops, let me take this real quick.

Frye said as she answered the call and started walking away while Shiver rolled her eyes.

Frye: Ayo wassup?

The assistant lady was still watching from over Boss Marie's shoulder as Frye walked away.

Assistant: Ooh, someone getting an emergency call from the missus?

She said teasingly.

Shiver: Well it's her boyfriend, so you're not far off.

Shiver said in an uncaring tone while Boss Marie and her assistant lady were actually left a bit shocked at the matter.

Boss Marie: She's got a boyfriend?

Shiver: Sure does.

Assistant: So what you're saying is... there's a chance?

Shiver: Yeah, whatever. Can you just hand over your number, Boss Marie?

Marie: Oh right, yeah, here you go.

Marie said snapping out of it after hearing Shiver's annoyed tone over the questioning which she chose not to question.

Big Man: Ay! (Thank you, Boss Marie!)

Shiver: Yeah, thanks.

Shiver said with a bow.

Marie: No problem, Big Man.

Frye had ended her call and was now grabbing the treasure.

Frye: I'll get the deets from the other two, Boss Marie! Shiver, Big Man, let's GOOO alreadyyyyyyyy~!

She said in a whimsical tone, causing the other two to walk over.

Shiver summoned Master Mega to help them with carrying the treasure, as the three made their way out of the Alterna facility while giving their goodbyes, which, aside from Big Man's, felt a little half-hearted due to the two girls' focus on getting the treasure.

Frye: And tell Agent 3 she can hit us up whenever if she's ready for a rematch!

Frye said as she and Shiver gave a devious laugh as they left the facility, with Big Man just giving a nervous laugh along with the two.

Marie POV

Marie: Those three are going to be a handful, I can already tell.

Callie: Come on, Marie, not like you can't handle being the boss. You've got experience with that.

Marie: Yeah, well you're more than enough trouble for me.

Marie said with a teasing smile on her face as she turned back to the other three left there with her.

Elizabeth: I'm sure you can find a good use for them, granny.

Marie: Granny? Who was the one who threw out their hip and couldn't help Agent 3 during the mission?

Elizabeth: I sprained my tentacle! Not my hip!

Callie: Is it just me or is she louder than she's been for the past little while?

Marie noticed it after Callie pointed it out and called attention to it.

Marie: Oh, I see, the captain here is too shy to speak up around all the new people that we've brought in, huh?

The captain just blushed at her comment.

Elizabeth: No...

Callie: Aw, you're making her blush, Marie, stop it. But for eel though, you used to act so edgy before.

Elizabeth: Don't bring up how I was before!

Marie: Yeah, I guess we shouldn't. Agent 3's almost back. Don't want to ruin the captain's rep around our newest member. Speaking of which, should I bust out a snow globe for the one flying in our dear Agent 3?

Cuttlefish: Nah, don't bother with it this time. He helped us out. We can at least wait to see what he does now after helping us out with this whole situation.

Marie shrugged.

Marie: I'll take your word for it, gramps.

Callie: Besides, they're clearly not good at keeping him locked up anyway.

She spoke while shrugging off the idea.

~~~

Shiver POV

The trio were moving through the desert with the treasures they now had.

Frye: So, where we headed to with all this luxurious booty we have collected today? Mincemeat?

Shiver: Nah, we can probably find someplace at Hagglefish Market willing to take this off our hands.

Big Man: Ay!

Shiver: And fins.

Just then Shiver felt like she kicked something and looked for what it was that was barely sticking out of the sand while the other two kept walking with Frye in the lead.

Shiver picked it up and found a smartphone shaped like a squid. She immediately was thinking about how much she could get for this at Hagglefish as well before Big Man looked back and noticed what she was holding.

Big Man went back to her.

Big Man: Ay? (What is that?)

Shiver: Some dumb phone. How much do you think it's worth?

Big Man: Ay, ay. (Wait, that might be (Y/N)'s phone he lost out here.)

Shiver held her fan to her chin while still holding the phone.

Shiver: Okay, but how mu-

Big Man: Ay!

Shiver: I know, we'll give it to him... But if it's not his, I'm good to sell it, right?

Big Man just sighed and nodded.

Frye: Hey! What are you two slowpokes up to? It ain't getting any colder out here..! Well... technically it is as it gets closer to nighttime, but still!

Shiver pocketed the phone and the two continued after Frye.

~~~

The trio entered the hideout.

Frye: WHERE IS MY BOYFRIEEEEEND?

Just then, (Y/N) was walking out of the kitchen area.

(Y/N): I'm in the kitchen.

Frye: My favorite!

She said while sprinting at him before basically tackling him into the air.

(Y/N): OOF! Do you have to get the full speed whenever you do that?

He asked while she was holding him up.

Frye: The speed is where you get most of the force!

The two laughed as she dropped him down.

Shiver meanwhile was just mimicking barfing with Big Man being the only one who noticed as they all were making their way to the kitchen now.

Shiver: Can't you two do all that mushy stuff when you two are alone? What did you make for dinner anyway?

(Y/N): Well, it's-

Frye gasped.

Frye: MY FAVORITE!

She screamed as she jumped into a seat and immediately went to start eating it, almost forgetting to use any utensils too.

(Y/N): I thought you might like it.

He chuckled after saying that, already seeing her cheeks stuffed with the food.

(Y/N): So how was your three's day?

Frye then swallowed the food she had in her mouth.

Frye: It was CRAAAAZY actually. Listen to this-

Shiver: Oh, before I forget, speaking of doing something someone might like: is this your phone?

She asked while taking out the smartphone and sliding it over to him.

He looked at it for a moment in silence without moving as if he spaced out.

The three were confused at him just glaring a hole into it.

Frye: Yo, you good?

Suddenly, he snapped out of it, looking at Frye who had asked him the question, and then back at the phone again.

(Y/N): Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's my phone.

He picked up the phone for a moment, holding it up, and suddenly sand just started pouring out of the charger port on the phone, seemingly an endless amount of sand.

After that, he smiled again and laughed.

(Y/N): Guess it's broken.

Big Man looked sad at the realization that it was broken. Shiver was disappointed her surprise for (Y/N) turned out to be no good. Frye patted him on the back to reassure him.

Frye: It'll be fine. Can't you fix it?

(Y/N) just smiled and shook it off.

(Y/N): I don't know if I can do it for something like this.

Shiver then reached over and took the phone back.

Shiver: Don't worry, I'm sure we can find someplace that can fix it.

(Y/N) gave a nervous laugh.

(Y/N): Great to hear.

The four of them just sat silent for a moment watching at how the phone had made a line of sand across the area and was still pouring sand.

Frye: Now I know I ain't the brightest of the group, but I'm not sure if that much sand in that phone is possible...

Shiver turned the phone upside down to stop the sand from coming out.

Shiver: We'll deal with that when it comes to it.

(Y/N) then went back to smiling.

(Y/N): So, you three had a "crazy" day?

Big Man: Ay! (Way crazier than usual even!)

(Y/N) was stuffing his face with food almost as fast as Frye was.

Shiver: First, we found some huge treasure trove in a crater out in the desert.

Big Man: Ayy, ay. (But we had to fight someone else for the treasure though, and they beat all of us.)

(Y/N): I can't imagine that sitting well with you three.

Frye: Of course not, so we eventually caught up to the four of them and were going to fight over the treasure, but then, BAM, they just said they were done with the treasure and we could have it! DONE WITH TREASURE! Can you believe that?!

(Y/N): Well that was nice of them.

Shiver: Which is precisely why we decided to let the lady be our new boss too.

This is the part that confused (Y/N) a bit.

(Y/N): Just that easily? You made them your boss?

Big Man: Ayy... (It made me feel worse for fighting them when they were so nice...)

(Y/N): Besides Big Man, you two don't seem like the type to listen to someone else's orders that well though...

Big Man: Ay... (I'm not sure how to take that...)

(Y/N): So is that it?

Frye: Oh, then we met Mr. Grizz, the Grizzco boss, he was a huge, telepathic bear. Real piece of work, that guy, I tells ya.

(Y/N) just stared and blinked making sure he heard that right.

(Y/N): Okay.

Shiver: Yeah, he took off on some old Human rocketship into space to try and destroy the whole world, which, just so happens to include the Splatlands.

Big Man: Ay! Ay... ay... Ayy. (We helped the girl who beat us up get into space after him! Well... Shiver and Frye did... I just helped get them a helmet so they could breathe in space.)

(Y/N): And then what?!

Frye swallowed her food.

Frye: They fought up there in space a bit, but in the end... we got to bring the treasure back with us and sold it for a ton of coin.

Frye said with a magnanimous smirk on her face.

(Y/N): What about the space fight?!

Shiver: Oh yeah, the girl beat him I guess.

(Y/N) was just left dumbfounded. They had brought him an epic story, hooked him in, then just left out the best part.

(Y/N): Is that it?

Frye: I think there was a giant fish there too.

(Y/N) just sighed and chuckled to himself before deciding to just go back to enjoying his meal with a bit of disappointment.

Just then, Frye had finished the meal (Y/N) had made for all of them, along with some off of his plate while he wasn't paying attention.

Frye: Ugh, now that's a great meal to come back to after a long day, thanks for that!

She said followed up by her giving him a kiss on his cheek leaving a bit of a mess behind from the food she hadn't wiped off on her lips, but immediately causing him to be unable to stop a smile from forming on his face because she had kissed him.

(Y/N): Anytime.

He said with a slight blush, his smile, and his eyes were even closed enjoying the moment, causing him to miss putting his own food in his mouth twice before actually getting it right.

Shiver just looked a bit pouty at the situation before looking down at her food and just pushing around a bit of it on her plate.

Frye: Well, if you dorks ever finish eating so slowly, I'll be playing video games, awaiting any challengers!

She said with a snarky smirk, feeling happy about the great day she had.

Big Man waved off to Frye, but then he saw how downtrodden Shiver looked, unbeknownst to the other two since Frye had left and (Y/N) was living in blissful ignorance right now while eating his food.

Shiver: I think I'm full.

She said while pushing her plate away from her a bit before walking off to head to her room. Big Man went after her since she seemed upset.

Big Man: Ay? (Are you doing okay, Shiver?)

He asked her in a quiet, caring voice to her before she turned back to him to respond.

Shiver: Big Man, I keep telling you, I'm-!

She took a moment to settle back down, and when she did, she looked like she was back to normal and spoke in her usual tone.

Shiver: I'm fine, Big Man, you can stop asking, but thank you for caring enough to ask.

Big Man: Ay, ayyy. (Shiver, I don't think it's healthy to just try and pretend like everything's fine and you don't feel the way you do.)

Shiver: I told you this was better before, Big Man. One of my best friends is happy and together with another good friend of mine. What's not to be happy about? I'll support them both gladly. I'm just not hungry.

Big Man realized he wasn't going to break through the hard shell she was putting up around her, or at least not right now, so he decided to just be supportive of her for now.

Big Man: Ay... (I'll put your food up in case you get hungry again later...)

Shiver: Thanks, Big Man...

She said while turning back around to return to her room.

When she got there she just dropped herself onto her bed face down before rolling over onto her back with her arm covering her eyes as she just tried to relax after the long day she had.

However, despite trying to relax, she hated that she kept playing back the memory of what happened in her head.

~Flashback~

Shiver hated to admit it, but Big Man's talk had really been making her accept the idea of her feelings for (Y/N), and even that she was capable of these kinds of feelings at all, but it was just making her more anxious than ever.

(Y/N) was still gone for now, so it wasn't too bad, but she was still thinking about what she would even say to him, how she should act, and tried thinking of every scenario.

She realized she was overthinking it and just tried to relax, but she couldn't help the funny feeling in her chest that was there the entire time she kept thinking about going about the situation at all.

Big Man was still with Shiver supporting her through all of these new feelings of hers, helping her make ideas, convincing her of her own ideas and feelings, etc.

At some point, the two had heard the sound of someone entering the place and noticed (Y/N) and Frye coming in.

Big Man was still chipper and jolly from all the kinds of talks he'd done with Shiver that day and greeted them warmly.

Big Man: Ay! (Welcome back, guys!)

Frye: Heya! Something great happened, you two! Guess what?!

Shiver: You got a free meal somewhere?

Shiver said with a chuckle and her usual mischievous smile, mixed in with a hint of warm emotion.

Frye: NOPE! We're dating now!

Frye said with a huge smile while lifting up (Y/N) to his embarrassment and shock at her sudden strength.

Just then, Shiver felt the funny feelings in her chest turn into sharp daggers as if they were stabbing her and blocking her breathing.

Big Man was shocked as well and understood the way Shiver must be feeling right now contrary to the happiness exuding out of Frye right now.

Big Man: Ay? Ay? Ay? (You two? Like, you and you together? With each other?)

Frye: Sure are!

Frye exclaimed happily while letting (Y/N) back down.

Frye: Geez, do I gotta clean your ears out so you can understand clearer?

She said with a hearty laugh.

Big Man put on a nervous smile.

Big Man: A-Ay! (C-Congratulations you two!)

Frye: OOH! Wait, (Y/N), come with me real quick!

She said while dragging him by the hands to her room, to which he cheerfully followed after her, trying not to trip from being dragged so much.

This left Shiver and Big Man sitting in silence again by themselves.

Shiver couldn't form any words to speak at the moment, still feeling the heavy weight of the revelation on her.

Big Man: A-Ay? Ay, aay- (Sh-Shiver? It'll be okay, I know you must be sad right now-)

Big Man did his best to comfort her while being so worried because he understood that there really wasn't a way to make her feel better in this sort of situation, but he had been cut off by Shiver's sudden ability to speak returning at the notion he had made.

Shiver: Sad? Me? Pssh, naw. It's whatever. I told you this is the exact stuff lo-lo-liking someone opens up, so really this is a blessing! My friends get to be happy together, and I don't have to worry about ever feeling this way again. Back to normal.

She said while standing up trying to look like everything was okay, but while it may have looked fine on the outside, Big Man understood the outside wasn't where the battle was happening and stood up worried about his friend.

Shiver: Phew, that was a close call, huh?

Shiver said with a nervous laugh. The more she talked about this, the heavy feeling in her chest grew tighter as if it was restricting how much she could talk more and more. And the more and more it did so, she started to feel her lip quiver a bit while getting the words out, causing her to bring out her trusty fan to cover whatever this strange issue she didn't understand was.

Big Man: Ay... (Shiver...)

Shiver: It's fine! Some people just aren't made for this type of thing! I'm just glad I was stopped before I had the chance to embarrass myself and tried actually doing something! Now these pesky feelings can go away!

Shiver was using her fan to cover her mouth, and her hair always covered her left eye, but in that one eye visible on her face, Big Man had never seen it look the way it did right then. Neither had he heard her voice the way it was now before, with it steadily growing a bit louder in a hysterical manner the more she talked.

Big Man didn't want to say anymore, and instinctively gave her a pitying expression.

The look on Big Man's face stung her like a needle of emotions. Pity? What could Shiver ever need to be looked at with such pity over? Her life was great! She had just been saved in fact! She couldn't be happier than she is now! Everything was going the perfect way for everybody! Maybe it hurt a tiny bit... but that's exactly because of what she said before! This sort of thing only leads to you getting hurt! This is like a small scratch compared to what could've- would've happened if she had let this go any further than it has already!

Shiver in a rush slammed herself a full 180 and made her way to her room, making up a quick excuse to shout to Big Man as she did so.

Shiver: I'm feeling a little tired! We've been so busy today, I'm exhausted!

Big Man didn't think to chase after her, knowing she didn't want to be seen right now, and he'd comfort her later when she was ready for support.

She closed the door behind her and laid on her bed, covering herself up trying to go to sleep.

She was lying on her back covering her eyes with her arm before throwing the blankets off her after a moment. Her chest felt heavy enough without it right now, so it felt so constricting.

She stayed there lying down, waiting for this to all go away once she fell asleep, but before her body could manage to be forced to sleep, she started feeling her forearm that was covering her eyes getting wet, and she couldn't understand why at first before she pulled her arm away and started feeling around her eyes with her hands and could feel all the wetness forming in them.

Shiver: Oh...

~Flashback ends~

Shiver stayed in her bed, not moving much. Still unable to sleep. Still having her arm covering her eyes as the wetness once again formed against her arm, but this time without any reaction from her over it as the wetness would sweep out past her arm and down her cheeks.

~~~

(Y/N) POV

(Y/N) was yawning as he walked into the main room and smelled something good cooking, assuming Big Man was making them all breakfast.

However, when he got there, he saw it was actually Shiver who was cooking.

(Y/N): Shiver?

Shiver: Hm? Or, you're awake, good!

She said with a cocky smile.

Shiver: Thought I'd try putting a couple of those cooking lessons Big Man gave and put them to the test by making some pancakes.

(Y/N): How have they been turning out?

Shiver: Eh, first couple? Not so great... But these ones are turning out pretty good!

She said while trying to flip one of them, but it ended up on the floor.

Shiver:   . . .

(Y/N):   . . .

Shiver looked annoyed at the pancake for a moment before breathing and brushing it off.

Shiver: Besides that one.

The two laughed at the situation as (Y/N) picked up the floorcake and threw it away.

Shiver: I think Frye would've still possibly been willing to eat that.

(Y/N): Maybe, but she really shouldn't.

Shiver: Anyway, I've even tried making a couple of shapes with them too! I tried doing a shark, buuuut... it didn't turn out so well... It didn't look anything like a shark, and it was burnt too. Master Mega didn't mind too much though.

(Y/N): At least we aren't wasting any food then.

Shiver: Just don't tell Master Mega that you threw out that pancake instead of giving it to him, or else you'll be the one supplementing that food.

(Y/N): He won't know... will he?

Shiver just gave her usual chuckle at the question instead of giving an answer, which did slightly make (Y/N) nervous when giving a chuckle as well.

Shiver POV

Just then, Shiver put some pancakes on a plate for (Y/N) and slid them over to (Y/N) along with some syrup as well.

Shiver: Tell me how they taste.

(Y/N) looked at the pancakes while pouring the syrup. They were hardly round, but they looked fine, so he gladly took a bite and thought they tasted pretty great.

(Y/N) was chewing the pancakes happily while giving Shiver a thumbs up causing her to perk up in excitement as she went back to the other pancakes as she realized they were still going.

Frye soon came running into the kitchen.

Frye: I smell flapjacks!

She ran up beside (Y/N), giving him a kiss on the cheek, and then taking advantage of that closeness to guide his hand with the bite of pancakes to her mouth instead of his.

(Y/N): Hey!

Frye: Ya snooze, ya lose!

She said while chewing the bite.

Shiver: Don't worry, Frye, I've got some cooking for you too.

Shiver said while grinning over Frye's insatiable hunger.

Shiver: In fact...

She slid the pancakes off onto a plate and slid them to her.

Shiver: Just finished them. Tried making a heart for you, but it's... a bit lumpy.

Frye: Aww, Shiver!

Frye quickly got herself a bite and ate it, with a single tear of joy as she ate it.

Frye: It tastes even sweeter than you doing that. And luckily, not as mushy as you either.

Shiver just gave a light thwack on Frye's head with her fan while smiling.

Shiver: You can always make your own pancakes if you'd like.

Frye: No no no, we're good! At least until Big Man's awake as a Plan B.

She said jokingly before the group continued eating as Big Man also entered the room sleepily.

Big Man: Ay? (Are those pancakes I smell?)

Shiver: Sure is, just getting done with yours now, Big Man.

Big Man looked a bit skeptical over the thought of Shiver's cooking, but gladly accepted them and was happy to try out how they had done, to be elated at how they tasted pretty good.

Shiver was happy seeing the smiles on all of her friends' faces as they ate her cooking. She really did enjoy making her friends happy and being with them above all else.

Shiver: [This is good... isn't it?]

She then smelled something strange.

(Y/N): Shiver? I think you're burning another pancake.

Shiver: [That isn't though!] OOPS!

She quickly went back to her cooking and made sure to save the one that had burnt for Master Mega again, before once again smiling at the scene with all of them going on, blunders and all.

4254 Words

February 26, 2024 - 5:13 P.M.