(Chapter originally written by worstfailure)
"It's just, um," you struggled with your inner doubts, not wanting to come off as insecure, even though that's exactly how you felt after watching Selena low-key flirt with your girlfriend right in front of you. Unfortunately your pride was beat out by your insecurity.
"Do you... ever get the feeling that Selena... may have feelings for you?"
"Oh! Um. I, uh... I never really thought about it," Mari stammered, looking embarrassed. It bothered you that she was very clearly lying and she must've caught on to that from your expression, since she carried you towards the edge of the pool, obliviously avoiding a curvaceous, ill-tempered blonde in the process. "I mean, I guess I've... maybe thought she might," Mari admitted. "But, even if she does, it doesn't matter right? Selena's just my friend. You're the one I love. Even if Selena's got a teeny crush on me, she's never tried anything. She knows I'm in a committed relationship and respects that."
For some reason you doubted that. Mari was making reasonable points but it didn't make you feel any less uncomfortable.
"It's just... don't you think she was flirting with you just now?"
Mari's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"You call that flirting? That was just being friendly! It's what friends do. Besides, you don't see me getting upset every time Ashley flirts with you by shoving her T&A in your face... or shoving you into her T&A."
"I honestly wish you would! I've lost at least two years of my life in her T and A respectively!"
"The point is I trust you," Mari said. "No matter how many compromising positions I find you in with other women, I don't get jealous and I don't assume the worst. It's because I don't just love you, I trust you. Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I trust you!" you said quickly. Though a small part of you was bothered Mari hadn't acknowledged how much of your life you spent trapped upon or within other women, fixing the wounded look on your girlfriend's face was more important to you. "I'm sorry, I was being stupid and jealous. I wanted to hog you for myself today, but diving sounds really fun! You should do it!"
Mari's wounded expression turned into a gentle smile as she raised you up to her lips for a long kiss.
"Thanks, babe," Mari said. "But don't go thinking you're just gonna get a free show. You're diving too! In fact, let's make it interesting. Winner gets to pick the movie for date night on Friday."
"Really?" you said intrigued. "Even--"
"Yes," Mari said with an exasperated smile. "Even that anime movie about the high schooler who leads a triple life, first as an affected who pilots a giant (to him) robot shaped like himself to blend in with his unaffected classmates, then as a superhero who hides his identity to fight giant space monsters and get the most popular girl in school."
"You'd really sit through One-Sun Mecha Samurai X: Cosmos is Incalculable?!"
She closed her eyes and sighed. "Yes."
"Oh, in that case, you're going down Fuertes!"
Mari smirked at that as she carried you out of the pool, "Better be ready to put your money where your mouth is, Big Man."
"You know, technically, the hero isn't an affected blending in with unaffected, because the original manga was published prior to the shrinking virus. That's why he's the only shrunken character in the setting and needs to conceal his identity from his classmates. He's actually the last surviving member of an alien race that was harvested to extinction by oni aliens for food. He needs to keep his status secret because the principal is an oni scout whose race has perfected cloning technology and she wants to catch him so her race can feast on his kind again. She keeps summoning the giant kaiju to flush him out. The series was really successful but the creator didn't want to keep it going because initially she just wrote the story as a cash grab based on the story of Issun-bōshi, but when she gave birth to an affected son, she rebooted the series as a love letter to him. She began writing the hero's struggles more dramatically instead of playing it for laughs and really explores the hero and main cast's psyche in a way she didn't touch on before. The movie's actually the premiere of the rebooted anime series before it launches this fall."
"My god," Mari said in mock-horror and awe, "you are such a nerd."
"A studly nerd!"
Mari snorted. "Can't argue with facts."
Selena was seated on the lifeguard chair, looking for all the world like a beautiful goddess sitting upon a throne who somehow found herself working a deadbeat job that didn't pay her anywhere near enough to deal with everyone's bullshit. When she saw Mari approaching, however, the silver-haired goddess brightened up considerably.
"Hey, you made it!"
"Your offer was too tempting," Mari smiled. "And this little stud needs to be taught who's the superior diver."
It took Selena a second to realize you were on Mari's shoulder. When she did, her smile briefly faltered. "You, uh, you sure you're up for that, little dude? Isn't it kinda dangerous for you?"
"You kidding? I laugh in the face of danger!" you said, trying to act more confident than you felt.
Selena had the presence of mind not to say, "It's your funeral," but it was written all over her face. Despite the fact you underestimated yourself here, seeing Selena agree with you really annoyed you for some reason. It was probably just your petty jealousy getting to you, but you really wanted to prove to this woman that you were just as capable of diving as any unaffected. Just as worthy of being in a relationship and being loved as any unaffected!
Yeah, surely a diving competition will prove that, you thought bitterly. Especially since you hadn't ever dived before.
There were three diving boards at this side of the Oasis. The smallest was 9 feet off the ground, second biggest was 16.5 feet, and the highest was over 24 feet. The smallest gave you vertigo just from looking at it, you couldn't imagine how horrifying it would be going off the high dive.
"Oh, I can't wait to jump off that one," Mari said, looking at the high dive in awe. She must've heard the pitiful squeak you'd tried and failed to suppress in response, since she looked at you soothingly. "Don't worry, babe. We're using the smallest one for this."
"Boo," Selena said, giving a thumbs down. "I expected a show! You're wasted on the low dive!"
"First of all," Mari said, approaching the lifeguard chair with a confident strut, "I'm awesome on any board and you know it! Second, I'm going to hit the high dive after I put this little cutie in his place. Now, you gonna be our judge or what, Morrow?"
Selena smiled. An excuse to watch Mari showing off her flexibility in a skimpy bathing suit? No way she'd miss out on that!
"Hell yeah, Fuertes!"
"Great, now keep an eye on Matt for me."
"Sure thing," Selena said, doing an admirable job at concealing her irritation at your presence.
It wasn't that Selena hated you or anything. You seemed... alright, she guessed. Not that she'd spoken to you much. Tinies were... whatever. They would do their thing and Selena would do hers, and outside of that she didn't see much need to think about them a lot of the time. Unfortunately, not thinking about them had resulted in accidents every now and then, which she shrugged off after removing the little dudes or dudettes from under her feet or on her chair. So, she didn't hold any grudge against you for being tiny... it was just really easy to envy you for your relationship with Mari, and resent you for constantly ghosting the hottie, leaving her upset for days, weeks or even months at a time. Okay, technically you weren't ghosting Mari, you just kept going missing. Selena could understand that might not be your fault given your condition. But with how often and how long you went missing, and the places you ended up being found, made your absences seriously sus to her. Like you ending up in her bikini somehow. Mari convinced her it was an accident and you didn't seem like you were acting when you told her what had happened, but just how many "accidents" could someone end up in? It wasn't hard for Selena to assume, with some accuracy, that she'd spent almost as much time with Mari in the past year as you had in the past ten.
For your part, you wished you'd been asked before being placed on the armrest of Selena's lifeguard chair, which was very high up, with your only protection being both a practical stranger and someone you considered your romantic rival. But your concerns melted away as you watched Mari's generous backside swaying back and forth as she walked away.
When she got to the diving board, she jumped once, twice, and on her third gained enough height to perform a perfect somersault at the apex of her ascent and then transition to a perfect dive. Nearby spectators broke out into applause as Mari emerged, water streaking down her perfect body, skin glistening in the sunlight.
"She's so amazing," you said with an entranced sigh.
"Yeah, she is," Selena said in the same tone. Then she realized who she was talking to and hurriedly wiped the lovestruck look off her face and began clapping.
Though the applause of the crowd and Selena was much louder, you frantically added your own as Mari waltzed back over.
"What's my score, judge?"
"I'm feeling charitable, so... perfect 10."
"Ha! Beat that, stud!"
"Just watch me," you said as Selena handed you to Mari, and, maybe pigheadedly wanting to hammer in your relationship, asked, "How about a kiss for luck?"
"Hmm," Mari tapped her chin. "I would... but I really don't want to watch an anime on date night," she teased.
"A what?" Selena asked in genuine confusion.
Mari giggled. "I'll tell you after I take Big Man to the diving board."
Yep, that worked perfectly, you thought.
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