Chapter Text
“So where are we going, Sash?" Anne asked. "Got any grand plans that you’re keeping secret?”
“You wish, Boonchuy. I thought we’d just grab dinner and a drink or two first and see where the night takes us. Nothing too crazy.”
“Sounds perfect.”
Anne smiled to herself before gazing out the window of her old friend’s convertible, feeling a sense of happiness and warmth bubble up inside her that she hadn’t felt in years.
The day she’d been having before Sasha and Marcy had rescued her from the aquarium had been nothing short of terrible. Birthdays were never great days for Anne since they served as an annual reminder for her time in Amphibia, and she usually spent the day reflecting on her time there. Then, the process of reflecting would remind her of what Sprig did on his birthdays, and from there she would spiral every year without fail. After Amphibia, she elected to only spend her birthday with Sasha, and they kept that tradition throughout high school, even if they didn’t hang out all the time anymore. But once they went to different colleges and began drifting apart even further, their birthday hangouts turned into birthday facetime calls that only got shorter and shorter as the years went on.
It certainly didn’t help that Anne had to work this year on top of all of that. Nobody except her family, Sasha, and Marcy knew when her birthday was, and she really didn’t want to go through the trouble of asking her boss for the day off. She probably would have understood– she had a pretty decent boss, but she’d rather save herself the trouble of explaining, and also save herself from the countless birthday wishes from her and her co-workers that would likely follow. Normally, she wouldn’t mind getting to spend the day at the aquarium surrounded by the exhibit she had worked so hard on to honor the friends and family she had made in Amphibia, but the absolute last thing she wanted to do was play the part of the cheerful herpetologist for the countless kids coming through the exhibit on class trips.
So, naturally, the only two people she would actually want to see on this day coming to surprise her was the best birthday present she could have asked for.
Anne took in a deep breath as she stared at the Los Angeles skyline, breathing in the salty ocean air. A plethora of feelings were welling up inside her, most of which she couldn’t name. But looking at the front of the car to see her two best friends live and in the flesh for the first time in years put her at ease. She had almost forgotten the easy feeling she got with them.
“So, how long were you guys planning to surprise me?” Anne asked the girls with a chuckle. “I’m honestly kinda hurt that you did all this without telling me.”
Sasha laughed and looked at her through the rearview mirror, moving her sunglasses to the top of her head to look at Anne. “Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise, you dumbass,” she retorted with a grin.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Anne replied, smiling back at her. She never thought she’d be so happy to hear her blunt, unforgiving tone again.
“We’ve been planning this for about a month, actually,” said Marcy, turning around in her seat to look at Anne. “I’ve been wanting to visit you guys for a while, and then I remembered that your birthday was coming up, so I decided to give Sasha a call to see if you guys had any plans.”
“I was already planning on surprising you,” Sasha interjected. “Since we’re both back in town now and it’s been ten years now and everything, I thought you might enjoy some company on your birthday, like old times. But when Marcy called, I thought it would be even better for us both to swing by, so here we are.”
“God, it’s been a long time since we’ve all been together,” Anne remarked, feeling tears prick at the corners of her eyes.
“I know, right?” Marcy exclaimed, her eyes shining with happiness. “It’s been what, two, three years?” She looked down for a moment before looking back at the girls. Anne noticed tears were forming in her eyes too. “I’m just so happy that we’re all finally back together again,” Marcy finished, her voice breaking as she spoke.
“Alright guys, as much as I would love to continue with all this sappy shit, we should save it for when we’re inside. We’re almost here.” Sasha pulled into a parking lot outside a bar and restaurant that Anne had never been to before.
Sasha led them inside and found a cozy corner booth for them to sit at, gesturing for the two girls to sit. “You guys can sit down, I’ll get us some stuff,” she told them before turning around and heading towards the bar.
Anne scooted into her seat and watched as Marcy took off her jacket before sitting down. “This place looks cool,” she remarked, looking around at the decor. It was a pretty decent bar, nothing too special. Rock music from the 90’s played through the speakers as other customers chatted and sipped on their drinks of choice.
“Yeah, looks like Sash did alright with this place. And look, it’s happy hour right now too! Says here that drinks are half off until 9.” Marcy showed Anne a small sign that was sitting on the table before they got there.
Before either of them could say anything else, Sasha appeared back at their table with three drinks in hand– one pink, one green, and one blue.
“Whoa Sash, how’d you get our colors?” Marcy asked, scooting further down in the booth so Sasha could sit down.
“Some kind of pride promotion they’re doing, I guess. They’re making drinks in whatever color you want. Worked out nicely for us,” she told the girls before handing them their respective drinks and sitting down.
Anne took a tentative sip from her glass, unsure about whatever concoction Sasha had gotten for her. She knew that the blonde was a hardcore drinker and hoped that she hadn’t given her something too strong, but she was pleasantly surprised when the blue drink barely had the faintest taste of alcohol. Her eyebrows raised and she looked up at Sasha with a wide smile. “This is really good dude, what did they put in this?” she asked, taking another, much longer sip.
“Dunno. I told them you like coconut stuff, so coconut? They also said that they’re all pretty strong, even though they don’t taste like it, so I’d take it slow,” Sasha replied, laughing at how fast Anne had been gulping down her drink. “I also got us some fries, they should be out in a minute. The loaded fries here are the fucking best.”
“Thanks, Sash!” Marcy thanked her before trying her own drink. Her eyes widened when she tasted it. “Whoa, this is great! I’m more of a weed girl myself, but this might change my mind,” she exclaimed before going in for another sip.
“Didn’t I just tell you guys to take it slow with those?” Sasha laughed before sipping her own. “But thanks, I’m glad you guys like them.”
“Since when did you become a stoner, Mar?” Anne asked. From what she knew, Marcy had never been one to enjoy substances. She had always said that they either gave her panic attacks or made her feel sick.
“Oh, I don’t smoke real weed, that stuff really messes me up. I usually just use those gummies that are like, half as potent.” Marcy took another sip of her drink before continuing. “They help me sleep when I need it, and it helps me get out of art block. Boosts the creative process along for the webcomic and such.”
“Oh yeah, how’s the webcomic going? I’ve been reading it, it’s amazing!” Anne had been meaning to ask her about the webcomic for a while now. When Marcy had told her about it when she started it about two years ago, she couldn’t wait to start reading it. She had kept up with every single chapter since then. Anne was in no way surprised at what a great storyteller Marcy was. But from the beginning, the story felt all too familiar to her. She had never had the guts to ask her about it, though.
“Aw, thanks,” Marcy blushed, waving her hand at Anne before continuing. “It’s going great! I’ve got a pretty loyal fanbase, they’re all really passionate about it.” She looked away for a moment before looking back at the girls, her expression shifting from her usual cheery self to one more serious. “I actually based it off of our time in Amphibia.”
“I thought it was something like that. The three leads hit pretty close to home.”
Marcy chuckled a bit at that. “Yeah, they’re based off of us, if you hadn’t already picked up on that.” She took in a sigh. “You guys know all this already, but I got really into art after I moved away. It helped me cope with, you know, everything.” She didn’t need to say it with words. Anne and Sasha nodded with understanding. “So when I was in high school, I started writing it. It was pretty therapeutic, and it helped me feel closer to you guys since I was so far away. It was kind of my way of both honoring and remembering the time we spent there, and processing it all at the same time too.” She paused for a moment, taking another sip of her green drink before continuing.
“So a few years later, when I was in college for biochem, I had been working on this thing for years and I thought I might as well start cleaning it up and posting it online. I already had an art account with a pretty decent following, but I didn’t expect people to love it so much. Turns out there’s a lot of people out there who could relate to it. It got more and more popular, so I started focusing on it more than school, and then I thought to myself “what am I even doing going to school for biochem when I could be doing this full time,” so I dropped out and here I am! Half a million followers on this thing. And that’s not all, either!”
Marcy put her hands on the table and started smiling like a maniac, a look that Anne knew all too well. She always got that look whenever she was so excited about something that she could barely contain herself.
“Well, what is it?” Sasha asked, putting her elbow on the table and holding her chin as she sipped her drink.
Marcy drummed her fingers on the table as she spoke. “I’ve been meaning to tell you guys since I found out, but since me and Sasha decided to surprise Anne, I thought I’d surprise you guys too. A couple weeks ago, I got a call from a few executives at Hulu.”
Anne nearly choked on her drink in response, and Sasha did a full-on spit take, both of them getting their drinks all over the table. “Holy fucking shit, Marce! Hulu?” Sasha didn’t even bother wiping her face before yelling.
Marcy nodded, her smile somehow stretching even wider. “I know, right! They said they’re trying to put together an in-house animation department. Said animation is the future of entertainment and they want original ideas from new creators, blah blah blah, and they’re giving me three whole seasons right out of the gate! Crazy stuff, right?”
“Dude, that might be the coolest thing that’s happened to anyone, like ever.” Anne smiled from ear to ear at the news.
“Anne’s right, this is fucking incredible. Congrats, Marce!” Sasha set down her drink and reached over to hug her. Anne did the same, awkwardly reaching over the table to embrace them both and pulling them into a tight hug.
“Thanks guys,” Marcy thanked them, muffled through the embrace of the other girls. “But that’s not even the best part, either.”
Both of the girls let go of Marcy and sat back down in their seats. “You mean there’s more?” Sasha asked. What could possibly be more exciting than this? Anne thought to herself.
“The Hulu execs told me that they want me to pitch it to them officially within the next couple of weeks, but it’s more of a procedural thing since they’ve already pretty much guaranteed the deal. After that, they want me to start putting together a crew to start production at their studio, which just so happens to be here in LA. So that means–”
“You’re moving back to LA?” Anne and Sasha both shouted in unison.
“I’m moving back to LA!”
All three of the girls started pounding their fists on the table and cheering, too excited to form actual words. Sasha grabbed Marcy’s shoulders and started shaking her, and Anne started pumping her fists in the air. It took them about thirty seconds of yelling and celebrating for them to realize there was an employee at the bar who had been standing at their table for god knows how long with their fries.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but did you guys have the loaded fries?” He stood there awkwardly holding the large basket.
“Fuck yeah we did,” Sasha confirmed, grabbing the fries and setting them on their table. “And can we have another round, too? We’ve got some celebrating to do over here.” She threw her arm around Marcy’s shoulders and lightly punched her arm, bringing a smile to both of their faces.
“Sure thing,” the server replied before heading back to the bar.
“I take it back. This is the best thing that’s happened to anyone ever. Holy frog Marcy, why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Anne asked before finishing off her blue drink. Sasha was right, this really was strong. She hadn’t been able to feel the effects until now because of all the excitement surrounding the news.
“I wanted to surprise you guys! Waiting until we were all together in person was totally worth it.” Marcy finished off her green drink and leaned on Sasha, who still had her arm wrapped around her. “Happy birthday Anne, your present is me,” she giggled, pointing at Anne and then at herself. It looked like Marcy was starting to feel the alcohol now too.
“Best present I could ask for.” Anne rested her chin on her hand for a moment, gazing at Marcy and Sasha as they laughed. Have they always been this beautiful? Of course they have.
“Speaking of birthdays,” Sasha began, unwrapping her arm from Marcy’s shoulders and reaching into her bag on the other side, “we got you some presents that aren’t Marcy.” She grumbled as she searched through her bag, and Anne couldn’t help but giggle as she watched. She always gets so cute when she’s frustrated.
“Oh yeah, almost forgot!” Marcy turned around and started digging through her bag too. After a moment of them both being visibly tipsy and struggling to sort through the contents of their bags, they both found what they were looking for and set their gifts on the table in front of Anne. “Happy birthday, Anne! For real this time.”
Before Anne could thank them, the same server from earlier walked back up to their table holding three more of their colored drinks. He set them down with a quick “here you go” before heading back to the bar again. They weren’t on the table for more than a second before the three girls grabbed their respective drinks and began sipping on them again.
Anne set her drink down after downing about a quarter of it so she could start opening her gifts. “Which one first?”
They both shrugged in response as they sipped. “Whichever one you want,” Sasha replied.
“Okay then.” Anne grabbed the one Sasha had set down and unwrapped it to find a small, expensive-looking purple box. Frog, I hope she didn’t spend a ton of money on me. She carefully opened the lid to reveal a small silver bracelet with three stones on it– one green, one pink, and one blue. “Holy shit, Sash,” she gasped, picking it up to look at in the light.
“Do you like it? I know you’re not big on jewelry, but I saw this place near my old apartment that was doing custom-made stuff, and I thought you might like something small, to remind you of us and our time there, you know? I can totally exchange it or take it back if you want, I kept the r–”
“Shut up Sasha,” Anne cut her off, looking at the bracelet in the light. It really was a beautiful bracelet. The stones looked almost exactly like the real ones. She glanced at Sasha for a moment, who was red with embarrassment, before looking back at the bracelet and clipping it onto her wrist. She felt a well of emotions bubbling up inside her, and her heart skipped a beat when she looked back up at her friend. “I love it. Thank you so much, Sash, it’s perfect.” Anne felt herself blushing as she thanked her.
Sasha’s cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red for a moment before she looked away, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. “No problem. Only the best for you, Boonchuy.” The blonde grabbed her drink again. They were all going through this round a lot quicker than the last one, Anne noted.
Marcy, who had been nursing on her drink for the past couple minutes, shoved her gift closer to Anne, almost knocking it off the table. “Me next, me next!” she chanted, pounding her fist on the table.
“Slow down Marce, I’m opening yours, I promise,” Anne laughed before grabbing her gift bag and unwrapping it. After taking out all of the tissue paper, she pulled out a decently sized rolled up cardstock and started unrolling it. Her jaw dropped when she saw was was inside.
It was an illustration of the Plantar’s house, done in watercolors. The sun was out, and it looked like any normal day on the farm. Polly was tinkering with Frobo next to the stable, where Bessie and Microangelo were sitting and watching them. Hop Pop was sitting on the porch, drinking out of a mug while he watched over everything. And at the forefront of the painting, Sprig was looking out of his telescope while Anne held a map, pointing to something far off in the distance.
Anne felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “Marcy,” was all she could manage to say as she studied the painting. It was perfect in every way.
“I used all the pictures I had gotten in Wartwood to do it. Did I get it right?”
“Mar, it’s perfect. Thank you so much.” Anne closed her eyes, accidentally letting a tear fall onto the corner of the page. “Shit, I better put this thing away before I ruin it,” she said softly, her voice wavering as she rolled the illustration back up and put it back in the bag. She reached out across the table and put each of her hands on Marcy and Sasha’s, holding them delicately. “Thank you guys, really. Those were the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever gotten.” Anne didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the presents that were making her so sappy.
Marcy and Sasha both looked at each other before turning their gaze back to Anne. “You going soft on us, Boonchuy?” Sasha asked playfully with a smirk.
“You wish,” Anne chuckled before letting go of their hands and turning her attention to the plate of fries the server had set down earlier. “Let’s get into these before they get cold, I’m starving.”
Anne didn’t realize how much she had missed this until now. Just the three of them, talking and laughing and telling each other about everything going on in their lives. It had been nearly three years since they were last all together like this. They still talked on the phone and texted pretty often, but it was never the same without them by her side. She had always thought that one of the main reasons she and Sasha didn’t stick together as much as she would have liked in high school was because Marcy wasn’t with them. They would still talk on the phone, but it always felt like a part of them was missing without her. It just never felt right.
Being with them now made Anne feel like she had finally come home for the first time in years. They were her home.
Hours went by as the girls downed round after round of their aptly colored drinks, catching up and making up for all of the lost time that they had missed out on. Sasha told the girls that she had just landed a position as a family and children’s therapist at a practice that wasn’t too far from the aquarium. She was one of the youngest people in her field to land a position like that so soon after graduating. “Turns out that saving the planet from an alien robot invasion really does look good on job applications,” she joked. “How’s your aquarium job, Anne?” she asked as she sipped on her fourth pink drink.
“It’s really great,” Anne replied, looking up at the girls. “After I got my degree, I started working there at just the right time. They were looking to redo their entire amphibians and reptiles exhibit, since after the invasion they had decided to shut it down completely for obvious reasons. I pitched all my ideas to my boss, and she loved them. She let me design the entire thing myself.” She looked down at her hands for a moment. “It feels really nice to be able to honor the Plantars and everyone else in a meaningful way, you know?”
Sasha nodded, her expression full of understanding. “I get what you mean. Being able to work with the kids and help them through all their shit is really fulfilling. I’d probably still be that stuck-up bitch that I was when I was 13 if it wasn’t for Grime and you guys. I had so much unresolved bullshit that I refused to deal with, and getting to help others deal with their bullshit makes me feel like I’m doing something meaningful with all my experiences.” Sasha stirred her drink with her straw and looked at Marcy, and Anne did the same.
“What, I already told you guys about the webcomic and stuff, was that not enough?” Marcy raised her eyebrows as she took another drink from her glass, making Anne and Sasha laugh.
“So, I know you’re already gonna be staying with me for now, but when are you gonna officially make the move here?” Sasha asked.
Marcy shrugged. “Hopefully soon, but I’m not sure. I’ve been apartment hunting for a while, but I haven’t found anything yet.” She stirred the straw in her glass as she spoke. Was it her fifth drink? Sixth? Anne was starting to lose count.
Sasha slammed her fists on the table, her cheeks now holding a rosy tint from the alcohol. “Shut the fuck up, Marmar,” she demanded, her words beginning to slur as she spoke. “I’ve been trying to move out of my shithole studio for months. I literally just found a place I was gonna check out tomorrow morning.”
“Seriously?” Marcy yelled, slamming her hands on the table to mirror Sasha. “How many rooms?”
“Three. Was gonna try looking for roommates to make rent easier, but it looks like you solved half of that problem for me.”
Anne, who was now probably more drunk than she had ever been in her life, copied the other two girls and slammed her fists on the table with them, nearly knocking all of their drinks down in the process. “Shutyourfroggingmouth, Sash,” she demanded, her words barely intelligible. “I’ve been living at my parent’s place still, but I’ve been wanting to move out too.”
All three of the girls looked at each other with their mouths open wide, smiles slowly creeping onto their faces. “Roommates, roommates, roommates,” Marcy began to chant, slowly pounding her fists on the table on beat.
Sasha and Anne shared a smile before joining her, all three of them banging on the table. “Roommates, roommates, roommates!” they cheered, slowly getting louder and louder before the chant turned into a bunch of unintelligible yelling and they busting out laughing.
After a moment of laughter, Marcy began shushing them and started rummaging around in her bag. “Fuck, I know it’s in here somewhere,” she grumbled as she searched. “Aha! Here it is.” She turned back towards the girls, holding up a small disposable camera. “We should get a new picture of us, to start our new era of being besties again.”
“Mar, that’s the best idea anyone has ever had in the history of the universe,” Sasha replied before getting out of her seat to go find someone to take their picture. Anne got out of her seat and moved over to sit next to Marcy, scooting into the small booth. She pointed to the camera, silently asking to look at it before Marcy nodded and handed it to her.
Anne inspected the camera for a moment. It was an old-timey camera, the kind you would get from the dollar store in the 2000’s where you had to take it to a photo shop to get the film developed. There was a small plastic dial in the corner that you had to wind up every time you wanted to take a picture. “Where the hell did you even find this thing? I haven’t seen cameras like this since we were kids.”
“I got it at the airport this morning. Thought it would be fun to document the night n’stuff,” Marcy told her before finishing off her drink.
Anne looked at the camera for another moment before Sasha returned to the table with the same employee from before. “Found a guy to take our picture. Move over Anne, I wanna sit next to you guys for the photo.”
Anne chuckled as she obliged, making room for Sasha to sit on the outside of the booth. She handed the camera to the guy as he sat opposite from them, and he looked at the camera in confusion. “How do you work this thing?” he asked, pressing the button at the top to no avail.
“You wind up the thingy on the corner and then you push the thingy,” Marcy instructed poorly, pointing her finger haphazardly at the camera. Luckily, he seemed to get it as he wound up the dial and pointed the camera at the girls. “Okay, one, two, three!”
Anne held each of the girls hands in the air and smiled as the flash went off on the camera. She could feel tears in her eyes as she smiled for the millionth time that night but didn’t bother wiping them away. “There you go,” said the server before handing the camera to Sasha and leaving the booth.
Taking the photo was the last full and coherent memory Anne had of the night before everything got fuzzy. She was only able to hang on for a few moments more before everything turned into a blur, and she couldn’t remember a single thing that happened after that.
Anne slowly blinked open her eyes, gradually coming back into consciousness.
Before she could begin to register her surroundings, she felt an ear-splitting headache throbbing in the back of her head. She slowly pulled her hand to her temple, struggling to even get it to move. When she finally reached her head, she felt a cool, slimy substance touch her instead of her bare hand. She let out a grunt before looking at her hand to find that it was covered in mud.
Everything was covered in mud, actually. She was laying in a giant puddle of it.
What the hell?
She could barely keep her eyes open as she tried to register where she was while fighting her headache at the same time.
She was outside. Somewhere in the woods it looked like. There were trees and foliage everywhere, and she could hear the sounds of birds chirping and bugs in the distance. Did we go to a park or something?
Without lifting her head off the ground as she was physically unable to do so, she glanced around to find Sasha and Marcy near her, both of them face-down in the mud as well. They both looked like they were still knocked out. Sasha was closest to Anne, right around where her feet were. With all of the energy she could muster, she nudged her friend’s shoulder with her foot. “Hey, Sash?” she asked, barely able to get the words out. Her throat was drier than it had ever been in her life. “Did we go to the park last night?”
Sasha grunted something unintelligible before shifting slightly. Good, at least she’s alive. Am I even alive? Anne imagined if death could be felt by a person without actually dying, this is what it would feel like.
Her head felt like it was splitting in half, and her entire body ached with soreness. After a moment of struggle to get her arms to move, she decided to try to get up and wake her friends so they could get home and figure out how in frog’s name they ended up in the woods last night. Fighting the pain with all of the strength she had, she slowly lifted her head out of the mud and looked forward to find a grubble sitting right in front of her staring her down.
Wait.
A grubble?
Anne shook her head and rubbed her eyes, immediately regretting it because she could literally feel her brain was shaking around in her skull. That can’t be right. I’ve gotta be hallucinating, or dreaming or something. Hallucinations are a symptom of hangovers, right?
She opened her eyes again to find the grubble sitting in the same spot. Anne tentatively reached out a hand to try and touch it. I’m just seeing some crazy shit. It can’t be real.
The tip of her fingers made physical contact with the grubble’s nose. It was very much real.
“Guys, what the fuck did we do last night?”