Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Arowana Mall at night was...strange. Without all the Jellies, Inklings and Octolings bustling around it almost felt creepy. The windows darkened, the displays hidden inside the stores that wouldn't open for several more hours, all in all, it was strange, yet serene. Not a single sound could be heard, not even in the stage that was built in the middle of the usually so busy mall. Instead of Inklings and Octolings fighting for turf or one of the ranked objectives, the stage lay silent, moonlight reflecting off of the few pools of water that were dotted around, giving it a silvery shimmer.

And in this quiet stage sat one single inkling, legs dangling as he observed a pool of water down below, contemplating the stars that were reflected on the surface. With this trusty cap resting on the ground beside him, Backwards leaned back, tilting his head to the sky to look at the stars directly. Like so many nights, he couldn't sleep, and instead of bustling around the apartment and risking waking up his roommate, he had decided to go explore some of the stages at night.

Technically, he shouldn't be here. Nobody was allowed inside any of the stages when they weren't currently in use. But there was something so magical about seeing these usually so busy places devoid of any movement or sound, only the light of the moon to illuminate the ramps and slopes, it was so unlike how the stages looked during the day, or even during a splatfest.

Backwards knew that he should return home soon, the sun would be up in a few hours, and if Safari woke up to find him missing from his bed yet again the poor guy might actually have a heart attack. And yet, the green inkling found himself lulled into staying where he was, something about the absolute silence of this place just kept drawing him in, making his thoughts drift off and everything else seem trivial.

"Aw shit, shit shit shit fuck- OW!"

Well, almost absolute silence.

Backwards was startled by the sudden noise, jerking up from where he had leaned against the wall, blinking as he looked around for the source of the ruckus. He spotted it quickly enough, it seemed that some unfortunate inkling had taken a tumble down one of the ramps. Tilting his head, the green inkling grabbed his cap, putting it on as he hopped down from his perch, heading over to where the other inkling had fallen.

"Hey uh...you alright?"

Leaning over the dazed Inkling, Backwards wondered what they were doing here. A pair of hazed pink eyes finally focused on him, the squid they belonged to blinking a few times before finally sputtering.

"Fuck, did that fall kill me? Why's there an angel here?"

Backwards could feel a small flush spread over his cheeks as he leaned away slightly, letting out a soft chuckle.

"Not really buddy, although that fall did look nasty. C'mon, let's get you up."

Without really waiting for the other's answer, Backwards moved to grab the Inkling's hands, effortlessly pulling him to his feet. He easily stood almost two heads taller than the green inkling, and in the light of the moon Backwards could make out the Snorkel Mask covering half of his face. Something about this guy seemed familiar, although the green inkling couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"W-Whoa chief, careful, don't wanna fling me across the stage, do you?"

The pink inkling gave a chuckle, slouching slightly where he stood. Now that Backwards really looked at him, he looked a little intoxicated. It might explain how he had ended up here, not a lot of inklings would willingly go explore any of the stages at night. Before he could really continue his train of thought though, he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder, snapping him out of it.

"Soooo...whats a cute lil thing like you doing out here in the middle of the night? There's more fun places to be y'know."

"Ah, uhm, well, y'know...Just taking a late night stroll I guess. Couldn't really sleep and I didn't want to bother anyone..."

Scratching the back of his neck a little awkwardly, Backwards wasn't sure why he was telling the other this, after all, this guy probably couldn't care less, not to mention, he shouldn't go around telling just anyone what he was doing in the middle of the night, its bound to get him into trouble. Not that he really had enough self preservation instincts to realize that.

Scuba seemed to process the answer still, giving Backwards ample time to simply look the other inkling over. He knew him from somewhere, that mask and that shirt almost looked too familiar. Or perhaps he was just imagining things, thinking that he knew this guy while it really was just a random stranger. Either way, Backwards finally moved to slowly wriggle out of the other's grip.

"So uh, anyway, what are you doing out here?"

He couldn't help but be curious, after all, technically the stages were off-limits, nobody was supposed to be here. The pink inkling finally seemed to snap out of his daze, blinking for a moment before looking around for a moment.

"Y'know, now that you're saying it, I got no clue. I swear I was at a pretty damn good party a few minutes ago. What is this place anyway?"

"We're in Arowana Mall, I kinda like to come here once in a while, the stars always look so pretty from here. Like there, see? It's the constellation Hydra! If you connect the stars the right way it looks just like the splatling, see?"

Backwards pointed up towards a cluster of stars, Scuba tried to follow his gaze, although he kept finding himself glancing back at the green inkling, unable to really tear his eyes away.

"Oh oh or over there, its Nautilus! It's rare to see both of them this clearly! Man, I wish I brought my phone to take a picture."

The green inkling kept his head tilted up at the sky, pointing to another cluster of stars that vaguely took the shape of a shell. After a few moments, he finally turned his attention back to the other inkling, smiling at him a little.

"Stargazing is always fun, you can even make up your own constellations! Like, uhm....oh! There!" He pointed towards a few bright stars speckled right above them. "If you connect them that way, those kinda look like a suction bomb, don't you think?" He drew the imaginary line with his finger before turning to beam at the inkling beside him.

Scuba couldn't help himself but simply grin, watching the other excitedly point out a few other clusters of stars. Truth be told, to him, they all looked the same, but hey, his angel was having fun, he could humor him. After all, that pretty smile of his seemed to light the night up more than the stars above ever could.

They spent almost the entire night like that, sitting on the edge of a platform, Backwards pointing out stars that looked like different things and occasionally rambling about this and that while Scuba simply listened and occasionally threw in a few words of his own.

It wasn't until the sun slowly started to rise on the horizon that Backwards finally realized just how long he had spent rambling about stars to this random inkling. After a moment of falling into silence he finally moved to get onto his feet. "Sorry for taking up so much of your time, you probably missed your party because of me. I should...probably head home."

Scuba tilted his head, only now seeming to realize that yes, it was already morning. He had been too caught up listening to his angel talk and watching his face light up with that cute smile of his to really take any notice of the time that passed. As Backwards moved to go, Scuba scrambled onto his feet, stumbling a little before managing to grab a hold of the green inkling's hand. "Whoa whoa whoa wait. You're gonna just leave? Am I at least going to see you again?"

Backwards was completely caught off guard by the other's actions and his words, blinking as he processed the words. "Oh. Uhm...I mean, I come here more often so....I dunno...if you ever wanna talk again, I really wouldn't mind." He gave the pink inkling a soft smile, although when the sun slowly started to cast its glow onto the stage, Backwards slowly tugged his hand out of Scuba's grip. "I...I really gotta go though. See ya!"

Before Scuba could do anything else, Backwards had dashed off. The green inkling could feel his face heat up slightly, but he ignored it in favor of jumping over the fence that surrounded the stage before making his way back to his apartment. As he arrived, he realized with a sigh of relief that Safari was still fast asleep. Kicking off his shoes and hanging up his jacket, he slowly made his way to his room.

And as he sat down on his bed, his thoughts returned to that pink inkling, would he see him again? A feeling of familiarity still nagged him, but he still couldn't quite place it. After a few minutes, he decided to at least get one or two hours of sleep before he had to get up for turfing practice. Cuddling into his bed, his eyes slowly fell shut.

-------

[Aloha~ is online]
[Safari is online]

 Aloha~: safari

 Aloha~: safari please

 Aloha~: saaaafaaaari :(

 Safari: What.

 Aloha~: hello love~

 Aloha~: i have an important question

 Safari: Shoot, but hurry, I have to get back to practice.

 Aloha~: you haven't by chance been sneaking around at night yesterday have you

 Safari: What? Should I even ask why you're asking this?

 Aloha~: well

 Aloha~: scubas been crying about "a beautiful green angel who showed him the stars"

 Aloha~: and while i wanna think it's just him having a little too much fruit punch and imagining things yesterday night

 Aloha~: you can never be sure

 Safari: Well it wasn't me. I was asleep in my bed. Who in their right mind wanders around at night anyway?

 Safari: Wait.

 Safari: Oh no.

 Aloha~: ??

 Safari: Are you FUCKING serious right now.

 Aloha~: love??

 [Safari is now offline]

 Aloha~: ????? :((

Chapter Text

With a sigh, Safari tucked away his phone, the conversation with Aloha still buzzing around his mind. A green inkling wandering around at night and rambling to some total stranger about the stars, huh? There was just about only one person he knew that would do that. Picking his .Gal back up, he wandered back over to his team.

“Backwards, can we talk for a moment?”

The Green team leader looked up from his phone, everyone had just taken a break to relax in between practice matches, the girls having gone off to get something to drink. “Yeah sure, what is it Safari? Something the matter?”

“Well…” the .gal user moved to settle down next to the other, giving him a once over. “I’ve heard people talking. More specifically, people are talking about a green inkling wandering around at night and showing people stars. You wouldn’t know anything about that, do you Backwards?”

Uh oh. Busted . Backwards shifted to look away from the other, suddenly finding the contents of his sloshing machine that much more interesting than the inkling next to him. “I have no idea what’cha talking about Safari. You shouldn’t be listening to gossip like that, I didn’t peg you as the type honestly.”

“ Backwards .”

In an instant, the smaller inkling’s ears folded down and he looked away. That was all the proof Safari really needed. “I told you to just wake me if you can’t sleep. You can’t keep wandering around at night, you’re gonna get in trouble one of these times, or worse!”

“I knooooow but I don’t want to wake you up every night. You get grumpy when you don’t get enough sleep.” Backwards pouted slightly, hugging his weapon as he looked at the other. “I was just taking a stroll, looking at the stars and I just, y’know, met this guy.”

“A guy. Just a random guy in the middle of the night somewhere out on the street- Backwards are you even listening to yourself? They could have been dangerous! What if something had happened?” Safari gave his team leader a disapproving scowl under which Backwards shrunk down slightly.

“It was fine though….we just did some stargazing ‘n all….and he seemed okay enough, he was really nice actually. Let me ramble all about the constellations and stuff without telling me to shut up. And man, you should have seen him, he didn’t look half bad honestly, although its weird to wear a snorkel mask when you’re not actually snorkeling haha…”

Backwards quickly quieted down when he saw the other’s stern look, letting out a soft sigh, his shoulders slumped. “I just don’t want to bother you constantly, okay? You’re already doing a bunch of stuff for me, and you actually need your sleep.”

Safari gave the other a look before sighing, his own shoulders slowly slumping. He was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it, if Backwards wanted to do something, no Inkling in the world could really stop him. “Just….don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Don’t worry, you know I can handle myself when it comes down to it. Plus, I really don’t think that guy was all that bad. Now come on, Cleats and Beanie should be back any minute now!” With that, Backwards deemed their conversation over, moving to tug Safari along as he waved to the girls returning with their drinks.

-----

Scuba felt a pit of anxiety slowly coiling in his stomach. Having to tell the others that he wouldn’t be at the party tonight had been bad enough, between Octoglasses and Straw drilling him for information and Aloha whining that he would feel alone, it had already taken a toll on him. But the closer the party squid got to the mall, the more intensely he could feel the coil in his stomach.

This was just like every other date, he’d just attack the other with his charms, get him to fall for him, have his fun, and then move on to the next best thing like he always did. It was just the Pink Team way.

...right?

Then again, he couldn’t quite get the other’s face out of his head, the way those green eyes had twinkled brighter than any of the stars, the smile that by itself managed to make his heart beat just a little faster, the voice that lulled him into staying with the other until the sun had almost risen, where usually he would have lost interest in mere minutes.

All of it just kept pulling him back towards the closed stage, climbing the fence with relative ease before looking around. This had been where he had first met the green inkling. Thinking back on it, what exactly were they doing here? He couldn’t remember everything from last night, considering he had had a few too many shots before wandering away from the party.

“Oh, hey there!”

Before Scuba could really ponder on it, a voice from above snapped him out of it. Looking up, he could see the same green inkling from last night sitting on the ledge above, although they soon moved to get up before jumping down, grinning as they walked over to him.

“I almost thought you wouldn’t come, which...I guess makes sense, we didn’t really make any solid plans or anything but uh….”

As the other trailed off, Scuba tried to relax, putting on his usual smirk. If he just calmed down and acted his usual self, this should be no problem. “Hey, it's fine. I mean, who wouldn’t show up for a cutie like you?”

Success! The smaller inkling’s cheeks dusted a nice green color, making Scuba’s smirk slowly melt into a more genuine smile. He wasn’t sure when he had last been so interested in one particular inkling, in fact, it might have never happened before, now that he thought about it. Sure he had chased a few skirts before, chatted up some cute guys in the square, but he had never actually put in the effort of putting off one of his teams parties just to meet up with someone.

Just as he was about to sink even deeper into his thoughts, he suddenly felt a small nudge at his side before his hand was suddenly taken. Scuba had to catch himself so he wouldn’t stumble, sputtering for a moment before quickly falling into step with the pace the smaller inkling set on.

“Come on! I know just what to show you!”

“Uh, sure chief, but where are we goin?” Not that Scuba entirely objected to being lead through the night by his little angel, but he would love to know exactly what he was getting himself into. The glint of excitement in the other Inkling’s eyes as Backwards threw a grin back at him seemed to make his heart pound just a little faster.

“Somewhere special! Not something I get to show many people, and tonight's the perfect night for it!”

That...really didn’t answer anything, but the pink inkling couldn’t find it in himself to deny the other his obvious joy. Whatever it was the other wanted to show him, it must be pretty amazing for him to be this excited. In all honesty, Scuba liably shouldn’t follow the other without question like this, but really, he was never known as the most cautious inkling, he was sure that nothing bad could come of this as he followed the other through the night.

-----

“You want me to do...what now?”

“Man, its like you weren’t listening at all! I told you, you need to stuff some of those herbs into your shirt, maybe rub em on your skin too. They’re not poisonous, they just smell horrible. But that's the point! We don’t wanna be spotted, or else we’ll be in big trouble.”

Exactly what had he gotten himself into? When this inkling had dragged him to the outskirts of Inkopolis, he hadn’t thought much of it, other inklings had dragged him to far weirder places. But once the other actually lead him outside the city, towards the cliffs that protected the residents of Inkopolis from the harsh waves of the sea below, Scuba suddenly wasn’t so sure about this anymore.

Well, until the green inkling had once more stumped him by suddenly stopping, dropping to the ground and crawling on all fours until he finally found what he was looking for. Some sort of rare herb growing around these parts, Scuba didn’t know much about plants, but he had learned enough in school to know that this one in particular tended to emit a foul odor to deter most animals from drawing close.

“Is this some sorta thing you’re into? I’m not sure I get the whole point of this.”

“Into? Mhn, not really, but I do like going glowfly watching when they’re in season, its great!” The smaller inkling almost chirped back, already having stuffed a few of the herbs into the pockets of his jacket, rubbing another one against his neck. Scuba still wasn’t entirely sure exactly what the other was talking about, or why they were doing this, but he decided that fuck it, he has done far weirder things for much less reason.

The scent the herbs emitted certainly wasn’t pleasant, and he promised himself to take a shower the second he got back to the team base, and perhaps burn the shirt he was wearing, but once all was said and done, he had a few of the herbs stuffed into his shirt, another one tucked behind his ear considering he wasn’t keen on actually rubbing it into his skin.

Only moments after he finished, the other was already tugging him along again. “Whoa whoa whoa, slow down chief, where are we going-” Before he could get out another word though, the green inkling whipped around, pressing a finger to his lips, indicating for him to quiet down as they slowly approached the edge of the cliff.

Once again, Scuba could find his nerves starting to flutter, for a moment considering tugging his hand out of the other’s and turning on his heel to head back home. Usually, that wouldn’t have been a problem for him, he had never had issues abandoning anything that didn’t seem fun, and yet, the thought of leaving the green inkling was one that struck a sour note with him.

So, despite his nerves slowly rising through the roof, he slowly followed the other. The closer they came to the edge, the clearer he could see that something was going on on the shoreline down below. The green inkling motioned for him to get lower, and soon they were crawling to the edge, slowly peering over.

Down below, where the waves lazily rolled onto the shore, a school of Salmonids had gathered. Scuba didn’t know much about them, only the fact that they were one of the few natural predators Inklings faced nowadays, although with their numbers quickly dwindling, they weren’t much of a threat anymore. He also faintly remembered that they had an amazingly keen sense of smell, and with that, the herbs suddenly made a lot more sense, they could hardly sniff out an inkling when they smelled like this.

For a moment, Scuba thought to ask why the other had brought him here to watch some Salmonids lumber around the shore, but as soon as he had opened his mouth, he noticed the sand below slowly starting to shift, the Salmonids seeming to grow restless, wild chattering and the clanging of pans slowly filling the air.

Scuba found himself mesmerized as the sand below slowly seemed to shift and coil before he realized that it wasn’t the sand that was moving, it was millions of little insects. As the first of them slowly rose towards the sky, they almost seemed to glow a solid gold, twinkling against the night sky as the Salmonids below became even more restless, shuffling around the beach, disturbing the sand even further and causing more of the glowing insects to take to the sky.

Soon enough, a whole golden swarm was slowly passing over the two inklings on the cliff, filling the area with a soft light before they dispersed over the ocean into different directions, their shining lights competing with the twinkling stars above to grab the attention of anyone watching this spectacle happen.

Scuba wasn’t sure just how long they laid there, watching this wonder of nature as the glowflies woke from their hibernation, spreading out into the night to start the cycle of life anew. By the time the last of the insects had flown off and the Salmonids had retreated to their home beneath the waves, the pink inkling finally found his attention shifting to the Inkling beside him.

And just as he had thought he had seen the most beautiful sight that night, he was once again proven wrong. The sheer wonder that twinkled through the green inklings eyes made Scuba’s heart beat just a little faster, the excited, happy grin they were sporting seemed almost infectious as the pink inkling couldn’t stop himself from grinning back at him.

“That was….amazing.” He breathed in a voice so quiet and soft, he hardly could believe it was his own. Having seem so many spectacles, concerts, parties, celebrations that even the most renowned of inklings couldn’t resist, but he had never once felt so stunned by a spectacle of lights before.

“Told ya its worth it. The Glowflies always emerge from hibernation around this time, its always a pretty sight, even if you do have to smell like three week old laundry to see it without getting mobbed, heh…” Letting out a soft chuckle, Backwards scratched the back of his neck before slowly moving to crawl away from the edge of the cliff, getting up once he deemed the distance safe enough.

Scuba wasn’t far behind, he had to admit, the other was right, for a sight like that? He would EAT one of those damned herbs if he had to. Although, now that the magic of it slowly started to wear off, his nose was once more complaining about the assault it had to put up with this whole time. Perhaps it was about time he headed back to base and took that shower he promised himself. Although…

“Hey chief, why don’t you come back to my place for a bit? We could always take a bath together, I’m sure we both need it~” Nailed it.

“Aw man, I’d love to, but my roommate’s gonna get worried if I’m gone when he wakes up. Not to mention, taking a bath is weird, you just sit in your own dirt for like an hour.” Or perhaps not. Scuba felt a little disheartened at the refusal, but hey, can’t get em all on the first try, can he? Even if it did feel like his heart just sank quite a bit.

“Yeeaah, guess you’re right. Well, at least lemme walk you back, ‘s the least I can do.”

-----

Walking his green angel home had been easy enough, Scuba knew the streets and alleys of Inkopolis better than his own room, really, it shouldn’t have been a problem getting his little sweetheart back home and then make the trip back to pink team base.

Well, it shouldn’t have been, if not for the downpour that decided to surprise them. While rain wasn’t as harmful as getting thrown into a pool of water, each droplet still stung uncomfortably on their skin. When it started, they were considerably closer to the pink team base than the green inklings apartment, and luckily, his little angel didn’t need much convincing to at least take shelter there until it stopped.

By the time they made it through the door, both of them were just about soaked, Scuba hissing and throwing off his wet shirt without a second thought, grateful for the fact that his mask protected his face, he really didn’t need his eyes to sting for days to come.

The green inkling at his side sadly didn’t seem as lucky, his thick jacket drenched and heavy, his hat had done little to protect his face, even when he turned it the right way around. Scuba didn’t hesitate to help him out of his soaked jacket, moving to toss it over one of the heaters before ushering the other upstairs to where his room was.

“Don’t worry chief, I’m sure its gonna stop soon. I’d say just get comfortable while it lasts, make yourself at home. If you wanna take a shower I’ve got a bathroom connected to my room.” As they stepped into his room, Scuba wished that he was a little less messy when it came to this space. Clothes were strewn about the floor, empty bottles of juice and a few energy drinks were slowly spilling over from the trashcan in the corner, and his desk was a mess of papers, registrations for tournaments he had yet to fill out, interviews he would have to prepare for, and quite a few numbers from other inklings that he had collected in a surprisingly neat little notebook like a trophy case.

The green inkling didn’t seem to mind too terribly, giving a small nod at the suggestion before sighing. “A shower sounds really nice, but I don’t really have any clothes to change into….” With his ears dropping slightly, the smaller inkling gently tugged at the tank top they had been wearing underneath the jacket, while not completely soaked, it was still wet, and not to mention the remains of the herbs still clung to it, it would quickly nullify any shower if he put it back on.

However, if there was one thing Scuba couldn’t take, it was the sad face of a pretty inkling. His mind was already racing with what to do, and before his brain really caught up with him, he already felt himself blurting out the first thought that came to mind. “I can always lend you one of my shirts.”

“Eh?” The confusion on the other’s face was almost adorable enough to make Scuba forget what he just said. Right, shirt. “Yeah, I mean, hell it might be a bit big on ya, but its better than nothing, right?”

While the green inkling seemed to contemplate what the other said, Scuba already moved to his closet, digging around for a clean Logo Aloha shirt. Pink team was notorious for losing their tops, so each of them had about a closet full of them just in case, or in Aloha’s case, two closet fulls. They’re still not quite sure how their team leader had managed to lose one of his shirts in the middle of a turf war.

“Here, go on, you can go shower first, I’ll wait.” Without much fanfare, the pink inkling tossed his green companion one of the shirts, the shorter one catching it after a moment of being stunned. He seemed to contemplate it for a moment before giving a nod, and another one of those radiant smiles that made Scuba’s poor heart beat just a little faster. What was this inkling doing to him?

By the time the green inkling stepped back out of the bathroom, Scuba had busied himself with cleaning up at least a little. He couldn’t do much about the mess on his desk or the overflowing trashcan currently, but at the very least most of the clothes from the ground had disappeared into the laundry basket, and the bed now sported a new set of sheets than before.

“Hey, thanks for lending me the shirt again, I hope my clothes are gonna be dry by the time I have to leave…” Scuba was just finishing up with pulling the cover over one of his pillows when he heard the voice behind him. Turning around, his heart nearly came to a full stop. If the other inkling had looked small before, he seemed almost tiny now, swallowed in the red fabric of the logo aloha shirt, making it look more like a nightgown than anything.

“Are you alright? You’re looking flushed, wait, you didn’t get sick, did you?”

The growing concern in the other’s voice did nothing to help the poor bastard as Scuba felt his face slowly flush bright pink. Quick, think of an excuse, anything will work! “I just….uh….c-cold. Y-Yeah! I’m cold. I’m gonna go take a shower now, okay? Just uh- make yourself at home.” Before the other inkling could so much as open his mouth to answer, Scuba already rushed past him and into the bathroom, locking the door before taking a moment to calm his nerves.

Why was this one inkling affecting him so much? He had seen plenty of adorable, cute, even sexy inklings wearing his shirt, and yet, this one green idiot seemed to be the one that did him in.

Okay, relax Scuba, calm down. You can deal with this. All he had to do was make it through this, he practically had this in the bag. Hell, he already had this cutie in his room, wearing his shirt! What could go wrong, really? Instead of trying to consider the worst case scenario, Scuba instead decided to get on with his shower, sighing as he undressed, stepped in and let the warm water run over his body.

By the time he finally settled his nerves, finished up his shower and stepped out in a pair of boxers, Scuba found the other inkling curled up on his bed. How much faster could his heart be fluttering before it would finally stop and give him the sweet release of death? He wasn’t sure, but with how things were going, he was liable to find out.

“Are you feeling better now? You had me worried back there.”

Ah, he has been noticed. The green inkling had sat up at the sound of the door opening, and Scuba wondered if he was only imagining the green dusting his cheeks or if the other really was looking him over as carefully as he thought he was. “Yeah, much better, sorry I was just uh, I don’t know, colder than I thought I was, heh.”

“Are you sure? You seemed awfully flushed earlier, I was super worried.”

Scuba had difficulties to keep up his facade when the other frowned at him like that, he felt like lying to this little angel was like committing a great sin. But really, wouldn’t it be worse if he admitted the truth? He was just doing the right thing here.

“If you’re still cold, the best way to warm up is with a snugglebuddy!”

He would have to make an appointment with a doctor soon, Scuba was pretty certain that having his heart stop this many times in one day wasn’t healthy. “I’m sorry, what?”

“A snugglebuddy! Y’know, someone you snuggle. Me and my roommate do it a lot when the heating cuts out in our apartment again. There’s no better way to keep warm!”

The way he said it, without any undertone to his voice, without any other motive behind his words, Scuba wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t used to this. He was used to underhanded suggestions, he was used to picking through someone’s words for the true meaning. He wasn’t used to such brute sincerity, and quite frankly, it left the pink teamer no option but to respond in kind.

“...Sure. Scooch over darlin.”

Before he knew it, his body was moving for him, his mind reeling and unable to catch up as he slipped under the covers with the other. That itself wasn’t an unusual feeling for him. What was unusual was that soft, tugging sensation in his chest that only seemed to grow stronger when the green inkling moved closer, wrapping one of his arms around the pink inklings middle in a surprisingly tight hug.

“This’ll warm you up in no time.”

Scuba felt warm alright, his cheeks were warm with the flush that was coloring them a nice shade of pink, his head felt warm as this odd fuzzy feeling slowly blanketed his mind with the beginnings of sleep, and his chest felt warm as he slowly moved to wrap an arm around the other inkling in return, the last thing he was aware of being the soft, steady purr that emitted from the other in his arms as their own body fell lax, both of them drifting off to sleep without realizing it.

-----

[Safari is online]

Safari: Aloha!

Safari: Aloha please this is important, I’m having a panic attack over here!

[Aloha~ is online]

Aloha~: hi sweetheart~

Aloha~: whats on your mind

Safari: I can’t find Backwards anywhere!

Safari: I told him not to go out at night

Safari: I told him to wake me up when he can’t sleep

Safari: I knew that weird guy he met would be bad news and I knew he would go out again and I let him anyway!

Safari: He didn’t come home last night, and he’s not answering the phone!

Safari: WHAT IF HE’S HURT OR DEAD OR WORSE

Aloha~: darling

Aloha~: darling calm down

Aloha~: im sure hes just fine

Aloha~: mabe he got caught up in a party or something

Aloha~: happens to me all the time

Aloha~: youre never that worried about me :((

Safari: Aloha you’re an S+ who like

Safari: Squidnaps people for a hobby

Safari: If anything I should be worried about Inkopolis when you’re missing

Safari: Backwards isn’t….

Safari: I mean

Safari: I’m just worried

Safari: He’s my best friend…

Aloha~: its okay sweetheart

Aloha~: hang on ill ask scuba

Aloha~: maybe he has seen him around

[Aloha~ is offline]

Safari: Thanks….

[Aloha~ is online]

Aloha~: darling

Safari: ?

Aloha~: im not sure if this is going to make you worry less or worry more but

[Aloha~ sent a picture]

Aloha~: i found him

Safari: …

Aloha~: safari?

Safari: I don’t know if I should skin him alive or use him as target practice, any suggestions?

Aloha~: oooooo ill get the popcorn~

[Safari is offline]

Aloha~: lets hope the team base survives this

[Aloha~ is offline]