SkaterCheese's Snapshots Collection (Inanimate Insanity fanfiction)

Her Jacket [Apple x Marshmallow]

Marsh can't believe how shameless her not-girlfriend can be.

 I wrote this for a colleague of mine to match a headcanon of theirs in January 2018! I am not proud of it, but it's Lesbian Day, but my next few Snapshots are not lesbian-filled, so I went, "what the heck!" I grabbed this from the nether to share; I can't even remember proof-reading this, but it's late at night here and I'd like to sleep. Suffice it to say, Marshple is a wintery ship, they're ambiguously humans in high school in this one, and there's slight mentions of other ships. I hope you enjoy!

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"Marshmallow? Are you cold?"

"Y-yeah," she muttered in response, hoping her teeth weren't chattering too much. She stuffed her hands further into her pockets. "It's only three more laps we have to do, though. We'll warm up soon..."

Apple looked at the size of the track they were walking around. It was a little bit "only," sure, but three laps was almost a mile. "But it's still a long way."

Marsh huffed, her breath billowing in front of her. "I'm fine..."

"No, here, borrow my jacket."

"No! I can tolerate this. T-this is pretty warm clothing here, I imagine y-your thing won't make a-"

Apple was already wrestling it off, although it took her several seconds and movements that were the opposite of graceful. She handed it to her all balled up.

"No. I can't wear this."

"But M-"

"You aren't even wearing long sleeves," Marsh replied. "And that shirt has My Little Pony on it. Y-you shouldn't be wearing that."

"Never mind that. If you don't put on my jacket right now, I'll throw it in the snow and leave it here. Then neither of us will have a jacket! And I'll have to buy a new one because a penguin will steal it."

"Hey! Y-you can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"You c-can't force me to! And there are n-no penguins here. I'll come back and get it myself."

Apple bumped the red clothing into her arms insistently. "Save yourself the trip by just putting it on. Or I can rip it up so it's pointless for you to find it!"

Marsh finally sighed and put on the jacket, if just to save Apple from herself. Somehow she didn't expect it to be so soft; the inside was apparently lined with fur like the stuff on Santa's coat.

Still, she did have to admit, it was a lot warmer with it on.

Apple grinned smugly for a moment, then said, "There. You look cute in red."

It was not something Marsh would ever wear. Apple, of course, would; she always wore red and collected the strangest of clothes.

But it'd be blatantly obvious to any classmates who happened to look their way that it was Apple's, which just flustered her.

Fan sometimes wore Test Tube's jackets, and Paper made no secret of smelling OJ's when he wore them. But the difference was that they were dating. And Marsh and Apple... simply weren't like that. There was no romantic connection.

Rumors flew, of course, but they weren't true. First of all, she and Apple had only become friends a few months ago. It didn't make sense that they'd already be dating long enough to do half the things that went around. Especially considering that they were enemies, it didn't make sense for them to date already.

Second, Marsh was way too busy with schoolwork and tutoring Apple to ever consider dating someone. That'd take away time from her studies; her grades might slip! Plus, they were technically master and pupil, so it was incredibly inappropriate to begin with.

Third, Apple wasn't Marsh's type. She may have been nice, but Apple was also super plain. And simple. Marsh liked to think that if she dated anyone in the grade, it'd be someone a bit more sophisticated and rich. Someone with class. Like... her usual wardrobe contained overalls. Overalls? Really?

Finally, and most importantly, Marsh wasn't gay. Not even remotely did she ever think about dating girls. She was really more asexual. Boys and girls didn't interest her. In fact, maybe she was more sapiosexual; that'd really disclude Apple from her list of potential dates, which was as already short or nonexistent, because she wasn't that smart.. Recognizing that someone was attractive wasn't proof that you were attracted to them.

Apple did clearly have a lot of strength. Her arms were toned, probably from tossing around apple bushels like they were nothing or whatnot from the apple farm. It was hard to tell during the winter, what with the big jacket. She could respect fitness. And... okay, maybe that soft ol' stomach would make a great pillow and added softness to her. It was big, but in the appreciate-food sense, not the glutton sense. And those eyes were always so alert and interested in whatever they were seeing, so young and bright.

But that was it! She could think of what was so attractive of most her classmates, if she put her mind to it!

'Shoot. I'm staring.'

Marsh looked pointedly away, feeling her cheeks heat up a bit. She had no feelings for Apple whatsoever, except those of friendship. Obviously...

"You warm?"

"A-a little," Marsh stuttered, and huffed. "H-hope you're happy. Now I owe you one."

"Hm, I guess so... Maybe you can bake some cookies for me. Or you could call me that cute nickname you came up with."

She was about to reply, but then she noticed the smell of the jacket. A orchard-y, apple-y fragrance fell over her.

'S-she does smell nice, too... She is a bit charming. Not for me, o-obviously, though!'